under fire

The world-famous Grand Canal is an important waterway for transporting grains between the north and the south.

It has been known as the "grain transport river" since ancient times.

After the invaders occupied the city, they used this convenient transportation line to transport grain, cotton, silk, oil and various materials plundered from the Central Plains in the south to Tianjin, and then loaded them onto ships and shipped them to their homeland.

Various weapons and ammunition were shipped to Tianjin by sea and then transported to various parts of the south via the Grand Canal to meet the needs of the combat troops in the war.

In the early years, the Chairman blew up the Yellow River embankment at Huayuankou, and the Yellow River flooded southward, which did delay the Japanese offensive.

As for the millions of people in the Yellow River flood area whose homes were destroyed by floods and who were forced to leave their homes and starve to death or freeze to death, the price of life paid for this was not within the consideration of the person in Chongqing.

A few years later, a severe drought in the Central Plains caused food shortages, and more people died of famine.

Perhaps even God couldn't bear it, and the severe drought brought only one benefit to the people suffering from the disaster: canal shipping was completely suspended.

The cathode generates positive energy, and the anode generates negative energy.

Continuous heavy rains some time ago caused the water level in the dry canal to surge.

The railway was damaged on a large scale.

The Japanese turned their attention to the canal again, and restarting canal shipping was quickly put on the agenda.

Due to the frequent activities of various anti-Japanese forces along the canal in the early years, they took advantage of their familiarity with the canal terrain and ambushed the canal fleet day and night.

It is very difficult to ensure safe navigation on a canal that is nearly a thousand miles long.

The North China Command believed that it was better to cut off the source of the problem than to guard against it for a thousand days.

Launch the inhumane "Eighteen Autumn" bacterial warfare plan, intending to eliminate all people along the canal, the area where the anti-Japanese forces rely on for survival and activities!

In this way, shipping can remain unimpeded.

Neihuang section of the Grand Canal.

Locals usually call it Wei River.

A fleet of more than twenty flat-bottomed boats and five iron-hulled ships was heading north along the canal.

Ahead of the fleet, a small motorboat flying a plaster flag led the way.

There was a circular sandbag fortification at the bow, with a light machine gun mounted on each side.

Following behind on each flat-bottomed motorized wooden boat were four Japanese devils escorting them.

There was a medium-sized gunboat escorting each side of the fleet.

More than twenty large flat-bottomed wooden boats connected together were half a mile long. They were fully loaded with cargo and had a deep draft, making them very difficult to navigate.

They had been ambushed by anti-Japanese elements many times before.

To ensure safety when the fleet sailed again this time, an infantry escort team of more than 200 Japanese and puppet troops was dispatched to both sides of the canal where the fleet would pass.

The escort team used three-wheeled motorcycles to lead the way, and the Japanese and puppet infantry advanced on foot along the canal embankment. Li Ying's troops of the North China Autonomous Army were stationed along the way. Despite such a large-scale deployment, they still encountered constant attacks.

A few miles ahead of the fleet, on the river bank, there were a large number of traitors from the bicycle detective team, searching for any suspicious situations along the way.

Their mission was simple: to see if there were any signs of an ambush set by the Eighth Route Army within a few miles of the river bank.

The Eighth Route Army is very cunning.

With the support of the air force, the Japanese have repeatedly repelled the Eighth Route Army who emerged from the far bank of the river and rushed to the seemingly deserted bank to attack the transport convoys in the river.

Behind the machine gun position of the leading motorboat, the Japanese observer was holding a telescope, constantly observing whether the traitors in the detective team on the river bank ahead were giving warnings through flag signals.

I don't know what he saw, but he suddenly shouted: "Alert, everyone on combat alert!"

On the iron-hulled ship, the Japanese lieutenant raised his telescope and looked forward.

In the field of vision, two detectives in black were signaling with flags on the right bank of the river.

"Order...send flag signals to the escort troops on the river bank!"

"The fleet slows down immediately!"

"Radio calling for aviation support!"

More than twenty minutes later.

Buzz buzz.

Four Type 95 biplane fighters that had been retired from service flew slowly from the south.

Scouting along the canal

Search and attack possible threats.

The plane quickly passed over the convoy and headed north along the canal.

Soon, the aircraft's machine guns began to spit flames at a point outside the river bank.

Countless scattered black dots fled away from the river bank.

From time to time, someone was caught up in machine-gun fire.

He fell down immediately after being shot.

The Japanese lieutenant on the boat looked annoyed. He was not afraid of the Eighth Route Army, but they were always as fearless as mosquitoes.

Knowing they will be slapped to death, they still come forward to die.

The fleet was more than ten miles ahead.

About three miles east of the river bank.

In a camouflaged pit, more than a dozen commanders in different uniforms were gathered together.

".The Japanese relied on the heavy machine guns, artillery and other heavy firepower on the iron-hulled ship, and the aircraft escort, and easily broke through our seventh layer of ambush."

“The soldiers suffered heavy casualties”

"I think that as long as the traffic sabotage team can take down the Japanese planes, I can take down those Japanese on the river even with a bayonet!" Gao Yidao's face was as black as the bottom of a pot.

"Now, the enemy and our side have deployed hundreds of thousands of troops in the Changde battle. The war is tense, and all the national army fighter planes are fighting desperately with the Japanese!"

"Let them bring in one plane to take care of the lagging ones."

"Gao Yidao, shut up! Captain Liu is one of us!"

"He is wearing a national army uniform, so he is not one of us!"

"Although I'm wearing the uniform of the National Army, I'm also an Eighth Route Army soldier. Don't push your luck, you bastard!" Captain Liu was furious.

"The Second Battalion didn't have the chance to fight the Japanese with bayonets, so he was in a bad mood." Ma Liang interjected.

Ma Liang was clearly trying to stop the fight, but he ended up adding fuel to the fire.

Gao Yidao immediately got angry and pointed at Ma Liang: "Do you have the right to speak here?"

Ma Liang turned to look at Captain Liu and said, "You said those planes flying in the sky were eliminated by the ghosts?"

Captain Liu smiled bitterly: "The new Zero fighters of the Japanese are the most terrifying. Although the Type 95 aircraft has been eliminated by the Japanese, it is still ten times more powerful than those of us who can only run on the ground with two legs."

"In other words, if we can't take down the Japanese planes, we can't do anything about the Japanese fleet?"

Captain Liu nodded: "The Japanese Type 95 has a limited range. It takes about half an hour to take off from Kaifeng to here. It seems that we can only wait for the Japanese fleet to go a distance to the north before taking action."

"In addition to Kaifeng, the enemy planes can also take off from Jinan," the district official in charge of intelligence suddenly said, "The canal is narrower in Guantao, which is more suitable for night ambushes."

"The Japanese fleet camped overnight at Xiaoxing, and there are a large number of Japanese guarding both sides of the river. In addition, Li Ying's security forces are nearby and can provide reinforcements at any time. This is not going to be easy."

"If we attack by force, it will probably end in a stalemate. If we fail to capture the Japanese fleet in the canal before dawn, the Japanese planes will come over. At that time, we will have no chance of winning except to retreat!"

"According to you, there is nothing we can do to them?"

"Based on the current situation, it seems that there is really no way."

"How about we borrow the division's armored vehicles?"

Captain Liu was stunned for a moment: "You have armored vehicles?"

"Do you really think we are so poor that we don't even have underwear to wear?"

"how many?"

“Just one.”

"One? There are Japanese planes in the sky, that thing is not very useful"

“That’s a Japanese armored vehicle.”

“American style doesn’t work either!”

"I mean, disguised as the Japanese army..."

"Stop talking nonsense..."

"Further north is the autumn mopping-up operation range of the Japanese in western Shandong. If we go there with such a small number of people, we will be walking into a trap."

The communicator entered the tent and said, "Report, the superior has forwarded a report on the battle situation in the third zone."

Captain Lu took the message and read it: "The Third Division reported that the Japanese raid suddenly stopped last night and they are gathering towards the Guantao position on the canal."

"Or, let the main force of the division, the 23rd Regiment, help."

"Commander, the 23rd Regiment suffered heavy casualties and they are short of manpower. How about I go there?" Gao Yidao quickly suggested.

"It's nearly three hundred miles from here to Guantao. Are you a fast runner?" Captain Lu rolled his eyes at his general.

"You've seized a lot of bicycles recently. If you give them all to me, I think we can get there in one day. The 300-mile distance!"

"Tonight, the Jidongnan Military Division is about to launch an attack on the Second Brigade of the East Asian Allied Forces. I think we cannot miss this opportunity." The superiors have issued the combat order, and this news no longer needs to be kept secret from the commanders. (End of this chapter)