The Iron-Blooded Army of Beacon Fire

Chapter 374 Night March

As night fell, in the pitch-black sky, He Wei stood on a destroyed Japanese Carden-Lloyd tank, one foot on the damaged British Vickers heavy machine gun on the tank, the other foot on the tank's observation port, standing tall, looking thoughtfully around the battlefield of the encounter that had just ended not long ago.

Not far away, two Japanese tanks whose fuel tanks had exploded were still burning, emitting blazing yellow flames that illuminated the surrounding ground. There were also three destroyed tank wreckages parked quietly, two far away and one near.

Under the bombardment of the 45mm tank defense guns of the assault corps' tank defense gun company, the six tanks were all completely destroyed from the inside out. The body of each tank was riddled with holes, including bullet holes opened by 45mm armor-piercing shells that completely penetrated through, bullet holes drilled by 45mm steel-core armor-piercing shells, and numerous bullet marks left by shrapnel from the explosion of 60mm grenades and mm mortar shells. The broken track fragments and metal parts of the tank body were blown up and scattered everywhere.

Of course, compared to the destroyed Japanese ultra-light tanks, the Japanese tank soldiers sitting in these living coffins were even more miserable. Being in the tanks, the Japanese tank soldiers were inevitably also destroyed by various bullets and shells that hit the tanks. Some were shattered by armor-piercing bullets and steel-core bullets, and some were burned to charcoal alive by the gasoline ignited by the explosion. Their shapes and appearances were also very tragic.

Near the wreckage of the Japanese tank, the bodies of more than 50 Japanese Marines were lying all over the place.

After destroying the Japanese tanks, He Wei naturally could not let the remaining Japanese infantry go, and he immediately and decisively ordered the three infantry companies of Fu Chen's First Battalion to reinforce and cooperate with the special forces company to launch a fierce attack on the remaining squad of Japanese Marines like an autumn wind sweeping away fallen leaves.

Faced with the siege of four elite infantry companies of the Assault Corps, this Japanese squad quickly followed the example of the tank unit. After fifteen minutes of melee, the four companies of the Assault Corps wiped out the Marine infantry squad that cooperated with the Japanese tanks with very few casualties, ending this sudden encounter.

"Captain, we've counted them. There are more than 50 Japanese infantrymen. We killed a captain and dragged a major out of the tank."

The special forces company commander Yang Biao trotted over and said to He Wei.

After hearing that a major was killed, He Wei immediately jumped off the wreckage of the tank and said, "Oh? Killing a major, that's not bad. Come on, take me to see if there is anything valuable on this Japanese major."

Yang Biao shook his head in disgust and said, "Captain, you'd better not go. The body of the Japanese major has been smashed to pieces. His face was beaten into a rotten watermelon by the steel core bullet fired by the machine gun. His briefcase and equipment have been smashed to pieces. Only the collar badge can identify him as a major. It would be a waste of your eyes if you go."

After hearing Yang Biao say that the body of the Japanese lieutenant colonel who was killed had been smashed to pieces and his briefcase and other belongings were destroyed, He Wei had no choice but to give up the idea of ​​collecting intelligence information from the Japanese lieutenant colonel and asked instead, "How many weapons were seized?"

"Captain, we have found a total of 30 intact Type 38 rifles, two Type 89 light machine guns, six Type 89 grenade launchers, and five submachine guns while cleaning up the battlefield. Captain Fu of the First Battalion has sorted out the captured weapons and ammunition and sent them to the baggage platoon of the headquarters company of the First Battalion. Judging from the size of this group of devils, they have the strength of almost a squad."

He Wei nodded slightly, thought for a moment, and suddenly, as if he had made up his mind, he said in a stern voice: "Okay, quickly place the captured items and our wounded brothers in a proper place. Send someone to notify Captain Fu and several other company commanders, and tell them to gather the troops as soon as possible. The order of the troops' advance remains unchanged. From now on, the combat readiness search state will be changed to the combat readiness rapid march state. Your company will also gather together and shrink the front width of the search advance. All troops must prepare for night marches and night battles as soon as possible. After the reorganization is completed, immediately march to the remaining positions of the 18th Brigade of the 54th Division!"

Seeing that He Wei was so eager to have the troops march quickly at night, Yang Biao was a little puzzled. You know, the difficulty of all combat and marching subjects of the troops at night is one level higher than that in the daytime.

It was pitch dark, so problems could easily arise during large-scale marches without any enemy activity, let alone fighting. Some poorly trained troops, when performing tasks such as night marches and night combat, could get separated or even have their camps blown up without the enemy having to make a move.

With the training level and quality of the assault corps, night marching, night search and night forced marching are no problem. However, the enemy situation nearby is unclear and dangerous. There is a possibility of encountering the Japanese army again at any time and anywhere. For safety reasons, Yang Biao still thinks it is better to be cautious.

However, Yang Biao had 100% unconditional and blind trust in He Wei's command decisions. No matter what orders He Wei gave, Yang Biao had only two words to say: "execute". So, after being stunned for a moment, Yang Biao immediately suppressed the doubts in his heart, responded, and ran to pass on the order.

He Wei certainly had his considerations for being so anxious to have his troops march quickly to the remaining positions of the 18th Brigade of the 54th Division at night. Based on the number of enemies killed in the encounter and the organization and composition of the Japanese troops destroyed, He Wei could judge that this small force consisting of six ultra-light tanks and a squad of Japanese infantry was most likely a Japanese outpost or reconnaissance and search force.

He Wei did not care much about the encounter itself that annihilated this Japanese outpost. A squad of more than 50 Japanese Marine infantrymen and six ultra-light tanks were nothing in He Wei's eyes. What he really cared about was the implicit message behind this encounter.

According to He Wei's original judgment, the main force of the Japanese army on the west bank of the Fuchi River is currently either deployed somewhere near the bank of the Fuchi River, or stationed in the positions left behind by the 18th Brigade of the 54th Division. However, the encounter just now took place far away from the bank of the Fuchi River, and was exactly in the opposite direction of the marching direction of the Japanese infantry and tank mixed search force encountered by He Wei's troops.

Based on this, He Wei inferred that the main force of the Japanese army on the west bank of the Fuchi River was most likely stationed in the remaining positions of the 18th Brigade of the 54th Division, far away from the bank of the Fuchi River.

It was for this reason that He Wei asked the troops to speed up and march quickly towards the remaining positions of the 18th Brigade of the 54th Division at night.

The situation of war is ever-changing, and the shape of water is ever-changing. The basic quality that an excellent commander must have is the ability to make timely adjustments to command decisions based on the actual situation at any time and place.

In this situation, if He Wei continues to act cautiously, it would be a bit conservative. The disadvantage of a conservative tactical policy is that it is not aggressive enough and may even lead to the loss of the best opportunity. If He Wei wants to capture the main force of the Japanese army as soon as possible, speed is the first principle that should be followed at this moment!

After basically confirming the current location of the main force of the Japanese army, He Wei had only one idea in his mind, that is, to march at night immediately! Quick march! Get to the remaining position of the 18th Brigade of the 54th Division as soon as possible, find the main force of the Japanese army! Hold on to the main force of the Japanese army! Kill the main force of the Japanese army!
In the sultry summer night, He Wei's heart was particularly hot! He Wei's judgment was not wrong. Except for the six tanks and a small group of Marine infantry that had been killed by He Wei, the rest of the Japanese troops that had landed had already entered the position left by the 18th Brigade of the 54th Division and were ready to hold on and wait for help.

Due to the overall poor performance of the 18th Division, the defensive positions of the 54th Brigade on the west bank of the Fuchi River were actually built very crudely and imperfectly. Although the main reason why the 54th Brigade was almost defeated by the Japanese surprise attack last night was the low tactical level and weak combat readiness awareness, the crude construction of fortifications also played a huge negative role.

There were many problems in all aspects of the fortifications built by the 54th Brigade. Generally speaking, the positions of the two infantry regiments under the 54th Brigade were too far apart, and there were not only no communication trenches or other fortifications between the two regiments' positions that could serve as mutual connections and reinforcements, but there were not even observation posts and foxholes. It was simply a vast open area.

It was also because of this that the Japanese army was able to easily defeat the two regiments under the 54th Brigade in their surprise attack on the 54th Brigade last night.

As for the details, there are even more problems. The fortifications built by the 54th Brigade are mainly communication trenches and shelters. The 54th Brigade did not build any machine gun nests, bunkers, mortar firing fortifications and other supporting firepower points, and also built very few anti-artillery holes.

The front and sides of their position were completely bare, with no trace of the barbed wire, stakes and other obstacles that should have been set up on the front and sides of the position to block the enemy. Moreover, even the communication trenches, trenches and shelters they had built were extremely weak and did not meet the basic requirements for field position fortifications at all.

In short, the position built by the 54th Brigade was a completely shoddy and foolish product with defects everywhere. Of course, all the officers and soldiers of the 54th Brigade eventually paid a heavy price for their foolishness.

However, what the 54th Brigade failed to do was made up by the Japanese troops under Kitaro Tsuchi.

After the Japanese Marines under the command of Kitaro Tsuchiji landed and entered the positions left by the 54th Brigade, in order to concentrate on defending the positions, Kitaro Tsuchiji did not occupy all the positions of the 54th and 107th Regiments of the 108th Brigade. Instead, based on the principle of concentrating troops and firepower, he abandoned the positions and fortifications of the 108th Regiment and ordered the remaining marines of about 107 people under his command to enter and occupy the positions and fortifications of the th Regiment.

After entering the position, the Japanese army quickly began to renovate the fortifications left by the enemy. On the basis of the original position, the Japanese army built a large number of bunkers and machine gun nests, and formed a bunker group with these bunkers. Each bunker and each bunker group were connected by covered communication trenches, forming a multi-level and closely connected bunker group fortification.

In the deep area behind the position, the Japanese army added artillery firing positions, artillery ammunition storage depots, artillery firing observation posts and other position fortifications required for artillery operations, so that the simple infantry positions left behind by the 54th Brigade had artillery support firepower.

In front of the main position, the Japanese army added a large number of obstacle equipment such as stakes, barbed wire and outer trenches to block the enemy's advance, forming an obstacle group to block the enemy's advance, and many concealed bunkers and firepower points were added within the obstacle group.

At the same time, the 54th Brigade's already built communication trenches, shelters, etc. were also urgently reinforced by the Japanese army using various structural materials. In addition, the Japanese army added many auxiliary combat facilities such as searchlights, observation posts, shelters, etc. to the positions.

The reason why the Japanese army was able to complete the construction and renovation tasks in such a short time was due to the excellent tactical qualities and efficient earthwork efficiency of the Japanese Marines.

The second reason was that the Japanese army used all the prisoners of the 18th Brigade of the 54th Division who were captured in the surprise attack the night before as coolies to build the fortifications.

The brutal Japanese army has always had the habit of capturing civilians, forcing them to work as laborers to build fortifications, carry baggage, or even serve as cannon fodder. When they were in urgent need of manpower to build fortifications, they would certainly not let go of these captured Chinese soldiers.

Most of the soldiers of the 54th Brigade captured by the Japanese army were new recruits who had just been conscripted into the army. In essence, they were farmers wearing military uniforms. They had not received any decent training, let alone any fighting will. Facing the bayonets and guns of the Japanese army, they dared not resist. They could only obediently work as coolies for the Japanese army and build fortifications. The addition of these captured coolies increased the speed and efficiency of the Japanese army's transformation of positions and construction of fortifications by several levels.

So, in just half a day, with the emergency work of more than 54 Japanese Marines and hundreds of Chinese prisoners, more than Japanese Marines under Kitaro Tsuchi transformed the inferior positions and fortifications left by the th Brigade into extremely solid, well-fired infantry regiment-level field defense positions.

Just as He Wei was leading his troops on a forced march, in the remaining positions of the 54th Brigade, the highest commander of the Japanese Marine Corps, Kitaro Tsuchi, was standing at the entrance of the command post with a solemn expression, looking up at the sky.

Kitaro Tsuchigumi, who was also feeling the sultry air, blowing the humid hot wind and looking up at the starry sky, had a very different mood from He Wei.

As the saying goes, a dark and windy night is the time for murder and arson. Whether in Eastern or Western culture, it is difficult to describe the night as a positive word. It is often associated with negative words such as evil spirits and scary things.

In the spiritual world of Westerners, the night is the world where vampires are active, while the Chinese believe that ghosts will come out and wander at night. There are also many similar legends circulating among the Japanese folk.

Somehow, Tsuchi Kitaro, who had never believed in ghosts and gods, felt a little uneasy and fearful, and this uneasiness and fear became particularly obvious after the tank and infantry search team he sent out suddenly lost contact.

On the same sultry summer night, Tsuchishi Kitaro felt his heart chilled.

(End of this chapter)