The Iron-Blooded Army of Beacon Fire

Chapter 335: Five Minutes of Fire Devouring
Seeing that the Japanese army in front of him was fully deployed, Liu Yonggui certainly would not continue to lead his troops to fight to death here. As a veteran who followed He Wei all the way from Xinkou and Jinling, Liu Yonggui knew that the Japanese army would soon use grenades. tubes and light machine guns fired back, so they immediately gave the order to retreat.

The light machine gunners who were about to continue shooting immediately stopped shooting, and the firepower of several rifle teams who were pouring firepower at the Japanese army with rifle volleys also stopped abruptly. The fierce firepower that was pouring towards the incoming Japanese army stopped in an instant.

After stopping the shooting, Liu Yonggui and the other seventeen people immediately dispersed and retreated to the village behind. With Liu Yonggui's order, this group of veterans, who were covered with camouflage branches and knew how to retreat and save their lives, formed a unit. , dispersed and retreated calmly and flexibly. Two veterans threw two long-handled grenades onto the road before retreating.

At this time, the Japanese Machida Squadron, which was preparing to use grenade launchers to focus fire attacks, had not had time to open fire. The Japanese army's grenade launchers were always concentrated in an infantry detachment and were under the unified command of the grenade launcher squad leader.

Before Liu Yonggui ordered the retreat, the three grenade detachment captains of the Machida Squadron were using the Type 93 telescope to quickly search for the location of the Chinese army's machine gun positions. According to normal tactical principles, these three grenade detachment captains quickly He will use the reticle and range-finding functions of the Type 93 telescope to provide shooting elements for his grenade launchers.

However, before the three grenade detachment leaders could accurately observe the location of the enemy's machine gun position, the enemy in front of them stopped shooting. Then, they saw a dozen Chinese soldiers scattering and retreating. , two more grenade explosions came from the highway.

Boom
Two grenade explosions were heard on the highway. The attention of most of the Japanese officers and soldiers of Machida Squadron was attracted by the sudden explosion, and they were startled to look towards the center of the highway.

In this way, under the interference of the sudden retreat of the Chinese army and the sudden grenade explosion, the grenade launchers of the Machida Squadron had lost the best opportunity to attack. When the grenade squadron leaders of the Machida Squadron reacted, they raised their binoculars. When preparing to direct the shooting, Liu Yonggui and seventeen others had already run out of the effective range of the Type 89 50mm grenade and withdrew into the village where the advance column was stationed.

Machida watched a dozen Chinese soldiers disappear into the telescope and hid in the village ahead. He cursed in a low voice: "Baga!"

Soon, the command squad leader of the Machida Squadron also reported the casualties in this small-scale encounter to Machida: "Reporting to the squadron leader, eleven people were killed, five were slightly injured, and four were seriously injured."

Listening to the casualty figures reported by the command squad leader, Machida's face became even more angry.

Yesterday, an infantry unit was lost in the attack by the Chinese army, and now nearly twenty people were injured and killed in this small battle during the pursuit. How could Machida not be very angry?
While he was angry, Machida had a basic estimate of the combat quality of this Chinese army through the tactics of the Chinese army's use of light machine guns in the battle just now.

According to his combat experience, many low-quality Chinese troops will not use burst fire at all when using light machine guns, but will blindly hold the trigger and fire continuously.

In the battle just now, although the Chinese army in front of them caused a lot of casualties to Machida Squadron, the machine gunners of this Chinese army fired continuously throughout the battle. For the light machine gun tactics, The mastery is obviously not very precise.

According to common sense, the combat quality of this Chinese army should not be strong. They just managed to escape from the eyes of Machida Squadron because they ran fast!

The village they fled to may be the camp of the Chinese army. If they can enter and annihilate all the Chinese troops in the village, they will be able to avenge last night's revenge and the losses they just suffered, and the main force of the forward brigade behind them will also be able to get revenge. Only then can we move forward safely.

With a judgment in mind, Machida looked at the village in the distance with a fierce look in his eyes and ordered: "Leave two people to guard the wounded, inform Major Hamamoto of the battle situation, and let the others attack! Capture this place for me." A village!”

"Onboard! Charge!"

Machida shouted at the same time, and more than a hundred Japanese officers and soldiers of Machida's squadron followed closely and shouted "board load", climbed up from the ground, and continued to launch a three-row, three-in infantry squadron battle formation, crying like ghosts and wolves howling to kill. With the bayonet shining brightly, he pounced towards the village ahead.

In the village that Machida Squadron rushed towards, the main force of the advancing column was already ready. After a night of preparation, the cavalry platoon of the advancing column withdrew outside the village overnight. The main force guarding the village was Yang Biao's entire horse-mounted infantry company and the advancing The column's health and communications units.

As the main force of the garrison, the horse-mounted infantry company has completed combat preparations in accordance with the principle of close combat and attrition with the Japanese army.

The village where the advancing column is located does not have a tall fence like the villages in the north. The only way to ensure that the large group of people rush into the village from outside is through the front of the village entrance.

The interior is actually quite cramped, with houses next to each other and houses next to each other. The only thing that can accommodate large groups of people inside is the three small roads distributed in a triangle in the village.

Therefore, the access road in front of the village entrance and the three paths in the village have become the key to the advancing column in the village.

In order to take advantage of the close combat firepower advantage of the Cavalry Infantry Company, under the deployment of Zhao Zhanhai and Yang Biao, the Cavalry Infantry Company, as the main force of the defense, completely gave up the defense outside the village. It did not build external trenches or lay out a large number of obstacles on the periphery. , even the access road in front of the village entrance was generously given away without any defensive measures.

The fighting formation of the Japanese Machida Squadron rushed towards the wide access road at the entrance of the village.

Liu Yonggui, the first platoon leader of the horse-riding infantry company who retreated to the village with more than a dozen brothers, jogged all the way to the advancing column command post in the center of the village. This is the largest and widest courtyard house in the village.

In the center of the courtyard, six 60mm mortars have been deployed in the courtyard. A dozen 60mm mortar gunners are nervously holding the 60mm mortar shells with fuses and powder bags installed, guarding Standing by the 60mm mortar, more than 20 ammunition soldiers prepared boxes and boxes of 60mm mortar shells in temporary temporary fortifications in the courtyard.

Liu Yonggui climbed to the roof along the erected ladder and said to company commander Yang Biao and advancing column commander Zhao Zhanhai, who were looking through binoculars: "Sir Zhao, company commander, I'm back! The mission was successfully completed, and the Japanese rushed coming."

Yang Biao put down the telescope and said to Liu Yonggui: "You did a good job and lured the Japanese in. How are the casualties?"

Liu Yonggui said: "Brothers, no one is in trouble. We probably killed more than a dozen Japanese."

Yang Biao smiled and said to Zhao Zhanhai on the side: "Sir, the Japanese have fallen into a trap."

Zhao Zhanhai patted Liu Yonggui on the shoulder: "Platoon Leader Liu did a good job. I will remember you and go back to your platoon. The fun has just begun. Soon we will let the Japanese see our 60 mortars and German general machine guns." ”

"Yes!"

Liu Yonggui agreed, and after completing his recovery, he happily left the command post and rushed to his first row of defensive positions.

Yang Biao and Zhao Zhanhai continued to raise their telescopes to observe the Japanese troops approaching the village entrance.

At this time, the attacking Japanese Machida Squadron had already launched an attack formation three hundred meters in front. Although the more than one hundred Japanese troops of Machida Squadron adopted a completely spread out skirmish attack formation, they stood on the room. Looking down from the top, there is still a dense sense of oppression, as if the black and dense crowds are coming one after another like the big waves of the ocean.

Looking at the Japanese troops gradually approaching the entrance of the village, Yang Biao was not afraid at all. He even felt excited. He licked his tongue and asked Zhao Zhanhai: "Sir, the Japanese are charging so fiercely. Why don't we wait for the Japanese to rush in and use six weapons first?" A blast with zero cannons?”

Zhao Zhanhai looked at the approaching Japanese attack formation with a pitiful look, and said: "Be patient for a while, it is too early to bomb them with cannons. It is useless to kill chickens with a machete. Wait until they are defeated by the infantry and retreat outside." Then use the 60 gun to serve them well."

Under the tactical principle of fighting the Japanese army in close combat, the horse-riding infantry company directly defended the core area of ​​the village after giving up the village's peripheral defense.

The three subordinate infantry platoons deployed their defenses along the three narrow paths in the village, preparing to use powerful close combat firepower to attack the Japanese infantry on the three paths and buildings.

In addition to the three infantry squads, each infantry platoon of the assault group also has a machine gun squad and a 60mm mortar squad. Since they want to fight in close combat, they naturally have to compete with the Japanese with submachine guns, rifles, and rifles. Machine guns and even bayonets.

Sixty-mm mortars naturally have little use in street battles that occur in tight spaces, so Zhao Zhanhai simply concentrated a total of six mortars from three sixty-mm mortar squads under three infantry platoons at the command post. In the compound, unified command and unified use are used as blockade firepower to block the entrance to the village.

After the Japanese rushed into the village, they were naturally greeted by various melee firepower from the infantry, but if they couldn't bear it and wanted to withdraw from the village, it would depend on whether the 60mm mortars would respond.

"Onboard!"

Machida Squadron's shouts of killing were getting closer and closer, and the attacking Japanese troops quickly rushed to the entrance of the village. After slightly adjusting their attack formation, they successfully invaded the village along the entrance.

After entering the village, without waiting for the order from squadron leader Machida, the three infantry squads under Machida squadron began to disperse, searching and advancing in the village house by house.

The soldiers of Machida Squadron were extremely careful in the initial search. They carefully explored and searched every house and courtyard for fear of an ambush by the hidden Chinese army. But soon, the soldiers of Machida Squadron discovered that the courtyards and houses outside these villages were not only empty, but there were no traces of troops stationed there.

Therefore, the squadron leader Machida immediately ordered to speed up the search. The Machida squadron, which rushed into the village, finally approached the core position of the advancing column approaching the village. The only way to advance to the center of the village was the advancing column's mounted infantry company setting up an ambush. of three paths.

When the first team of Machida Squadron took the lead in advancing to a small road intersection, a Japanese soldier finally discovered something unusual.

When the first team of Machida Squadron advanced to an intersection, the Japanese soldiers searching ahead suddenly discovered several deer villages tied with green branches at the intersection. The narrow intersection was also blocked by these deer villages, and at the intersection. On the small road behind, there are also an unknown number of deer villages scattered here and there.

The first reaction of the searching Japanese soldiers when they saw Luzhai was that there was an enemy attack. They all knelt on the ground and raised their guns. At the same time, they shouted to the rear one after another: "Squad leader, there is a Luzhai here!"

"There is Luzhai! There are enemies!"

The Japanese team leader who heard the enemy situation quickly ran over. When the leader of the first team of Machida Squadron arrived, he did see several deer villages blocking the intersection. However, there were narrow passages and houses on the roadside behind the deer villages. The courtyard was very quiet, and there was no suspicious movement.

The squad leader held up the Southern Type 14 pistol and observed for a moment. After not observing any enemy conditions, he ordered the soldiers lying in front: "You guys, go and move the Luzhai to open a way for the squad."

The Japanese soldiers were very obedient. Several Japanese soldiers who were crawling in front of the team leader climbed to the intersection and quickly moved away the several deer villages blocking the intersection.

The process of clearing Luzhai was still uneventful and there was no enemy situation. Therefore, the team leader immediately ordered the search to proceed and began searching along the narrow path.

The Japanese soldiers who opened the road cleaned up the deer villages abandoned on the path as usual. After clearing multiple deer villages without being attacked by the Chinese army, the Japanese soldiers who broke into the search also relaxed their vigilance.

After all, previous searches outside the village yielded nothing. Although the Luzhai established by the Chinese army was discovered, they were not attacked by the Chinese army during the clearing of the Luzhai, and no enemy was found.

Some Japanese soldiers even suspected that these deer villages were not specially set up by the Chinese army at all, but were prefabricated obstacles that the Chinese army could not take away when escaping and had to be hastily abandoned.

While the Japanese troops were cautiously searching and advancing along the path, in the houses on both sides, the officers and soldiers of the second platoon of the advancing column's mounted infantry company were also watching the Japanese troops.

Each platoon of the horse-riding infantry company deployed on the three small roads in the village used the houses on the side of the road as bunkers and combat fortifications. The three infantry squads under each infantry platoon all got into the houses and shot holes in the walls of the houses. They set up bunkers and opened up the walls in front of each house and courtyard, preparing to use fierce melee firepower to kill and annihilate the Japanese troops who broke in along the path.

The general-purpose machine gun squads under each platoon climbed onto the roof to occupy the commanding heights, preparing to block the intersections of various paths with the mg34 general-purpose machine guns equipped by the general-purpose machine gun squads to ensure that the intruding Japanese troops were wiped out as much as possible.

The first team of the Machida Squadron, which broke in along the path, entered the defense area of ​​the second platoon of the Riding Horse Infantry Company. As the Japanese army cautiously advanced, Ou Yuxiang, the commander of the second platoon of the Riding Horse Infantry Company, was also behind a corner. , through the small observation opening drilled, observing the Japanese troops close at hand.

As the Japanese troops who were leading the way walked towards Luzhai with a red mark on the path, Ou Yuxiang's heart suddenly tightened.

Those red marks were marked by him personally, and their positions represented that the Japanese army that broke in along the path had advanced to two-thirds of the way, and when the Japanese army advanced here, it was also his second row. at the time of firing.

Although Ou Yuxiang was a little nervous when he was commanding an operation on the battlefield for the first time, he was not at all panicked. Yesterday, he had killed a Japanese prisoner with his own hands. After seeing the blood, he already had a solid understanding of actual combat.

Watching the Japanese army gradually approaching those deer villages, Ou Yuxiang winked at the sergeant platoon beside him, slowed down his breathing, and at the same time, he lay on the ground and adjusted the speed of the twenty-ring box gun in his hand to the fully automatic firing mode. Finally, it was stuffed into a narrow shooting hole that was almost touching the ground.

The sergeant next to Ou Yuxiang put a copper whistle into his mouth and raised an MP28 submachine gun.

At this time, the first team of the Machida Squadron, which was searching along the path, had all entered the second row's ambush area. The Japanese soldiers who were opening the way in front of them, just like clearing out the previous deer villages, moved forward and began to move several Luzhai marked in red.

But when they moved the deer villages with red marks, they suddenly discovered that white smoke was coming out of these ordinary deer villages. After removing the green branches on the deer villages, the Japanese soldiers who moved the deer villages were horrified to discover that, Hidden under the green branches tied up on the Luzhai were several long-handled grenades fixed on small wooden posts. The fire rings of each grenade were pulled out and connected with thin wires. When the Luzhai was moved, the fire rings of the grenades The ring was pulled down instantly.

The Japanese soldiers who moved Luzhai had no time to escape. The only thing they could do was to watch the grenades emitting white smoke in horror at the last moment of their lives. With several explosions, the grenades exploded, and Luzhai was blown to pieces and densely packed. Shrapnel mixed with sawdust exploded.

Suddenly, streams of blood mist rose up, and several Japanese soldiers who were moving Luzhai staggered and fell.

"beat!"

Ou Yuxiang, the second platoon leader, shouted and pulled the twenty-ring trigger in his hand.

At the same time, the sergeant platoon also blew his whistle. After a sharp whistle, the originally quiet house and inconspicuous earthen wall exploded instantly.

The MP28 submachine gun rang, the Czech vz24 rifle rang, the twenty-ring box cannon rang, the Czech light machine gun also rang, and the mg34 general machine gun mounted on the roof of the general machine gun squad also sounded like a cloth tearing machine. It rang.

The three infantry squads in the second row are equipped with a total of fifteen MP28 submachine guns, twenty-four Czech vz24 rifles, three Czech light machine guns, three twenty-shot machine pistols, and the general machine gun squad is equipped with one mg34 General-purpose machine guns, two MP28 submachine guns, eight Czech vz24 rifles, and a twenty-shot machine pistol. Compared with the Japanese army, which mainly relies on rifles, the assault force equipped with so many automatic firearms has incomparable close-combat assault firepower. , it is not an exaggeration to say that it is an overwhelming melee firepower advantage.

Under such a sudden and intensive fire attack, the soldiers of the first squadron of Machida Squadron who were caught off guard fell down in pieces.

Because many of the shooting holes in the second row of houses and walls were opened very low, and the height of the firing line was almost flush with the ground. Many of the Japanese soldiers who were defeated were shot in the legs and knocked to the ground. The Japanese soldiers had no time to escape. , let alone discovering the location of the second row's firepower point immediately.

The Japanese soldiers who were lucky enough not to be hit could not find a target to fight back at all. In narrow spaces and close combat, it was difficult for the Japanese army's Type 38 rifles and Taisho 11-year-old crooked light machine guns to exert effective impact. Fighting back, this narrow road soon became a road of nightmare and death for the first team of the Japanese Machida Squadron that broke in.

"Fight, fight!"

Ou Yuxiang, the second platoon leader, shouted and pulled the trigger of the speed machine in his hand. The twenty-ring speed machine pistol in the fully automatic state opened fire in a fully automatic manner. Rows of 7.63mm Mauser Pistol bullets kept flying out, knocking down one Japanese soldier after another.

The huge recoil produced by the twenty-shot shot impacted his wrist, and the hot gunpowder gas produced by the continuous firing of the MP28 submachine gun in the sergeant's platoon beside him burned his face.

The huge gunshots produced by the continuous firing of a large number of automatic firearms in the second row even caused him to have a brief tinnitus. Ou Yuxiang felt his blood boiling and only had one most primitive instinctive thought in his mind - kill! kill! kill!

The automatic firepower network composed of MP28 submachine guns, twenty-ring box guns, Czech light machine guns and mg34 general machine guns fired wildly at the Japanese troops on the path, while the riflemen using Czech VZ24 rifles specifically targeted those who fell on the ground but were not killed. The wounded Japanese soldiers were called out one by one and fired accurately. The firing sounds of various firearms were intertwined, playing a song of death for the Japanese infantry squad that broke into the path.

Boom
Amidst the dense gunfire, grenade explosions also rang out. Soldiers from the general-purpose machine gun squad placed on the roof used mg34 general-purpose machine guns to harvest the lives of Japanese soldiers, and at the same time, they also dropped a large number of long-handled grenades.

Many long-handled grenades produced by the Gongxian Arsenal emitted smoke, drew an arc in the air, and then bounced to the ground. They either exploded immediately, or exploded after bouncing off, and some even landed in mid-air before they could land. The explosion formed dense air-explosion grenade shrapnel.

Amid the gunshots and the booming explosions of grenades, the Japanese soldiers howled at the top of their lungs. Facing the intensive automatic fire attack from the second row, the ambushed Japanese first team had no power to fight back. More than fifty Japanese soldiers broke in. The soldiers suffered more than 34 casualties in the fire attack that lasted less than five minutes, and the captain of the first team had already been beaten to a pulp by the second row of mg general-purpose machine guns placed on the roof.

The few remaining Japanese soldiers were unable to save the wounded soldiers lying on the ground. They rushed towards the intersection where they broke into the path with their guns in hand. However, before they could take a few steps out, they were blocked by the condescending officer responsible for blocking the exit of the path. The machine gunner stared at him, and was beaten to death amidst the intensive and continuous clanging of the machine gun's metal bullet chain.

The second row's intensive fire attack only took more than five minutes. More than fifty Japanese soldiers were wiped out by the second row's firepower.

When the second platoon leader Ou Yuxiang ordered the attack to stop, and the sound of gunfire and explosions gradually faded away, on the path where the second platoon set up an ambush, the helmets, equipment, service caps, rifles, and bayonets of Japanese soldiers were everywhere, mixed with soil. The blood turned into a dark red stream, crawling like earthworms. The blood flowing from the killed Japanese soldiers gradually disappeared into the khaki ground in the strong smell of blood.
The same scene also happened at the same time, in the ambush area of ​​the other two infantry platoons of the horse-mounted infantry company.

(End of this chapter)