Show the sword, start from the guerrillas

Chapter 237 Chapter 236, Tragic, Retreat (4000 words long chapter)
While Nobutsu Sakata was talking, the battle at Jigongling was entering a fierce stage.

Under the threat of the Japanese devils, the puppet soldiers fearlessly surpassed the walnut tree and rushed to a distance of just over 100 meters from the main position, and were about to reach the ridge.

At this time, the Japanese's Type 92 heavy machine guns stopped shooting, and the Japanese in the supervision team no longer fired bullets at the back of the puppet army because it was no longer necessary.

"Fight, fight hard...Where's the shotgun? Blast them!" Captain Gong's shouts echoed throughout the position, right in front of the puppet army's attacking team.

As Captain Gong shouted, several new recruits from the 12th Company, led by the veteran squad leader, set up four shotguns from the trenches and fired directly at the densely packed area of ​​the puppet troops.

Boom boom boom... Countless iron sand formed four dense iron sand bullet bars, each covering a span of twenty to thirty meters.

A squadron of puppet troops was just like a company, with only more than 300 soldiers. Therefore, even if the puppet troops kept as much distance as possible, they only occupied a span of more than meters in front of the position.

So at this time, the bombardment effect of the shotgun is still very good! With one shot, there must be at least seven or eight puppet soldiers in the covered area. This killing effect is already very good! At least it is better than the recruits with very poor shooting skills who can't hit a puppet soldier even after several shots!

At this time, it can be seen that the three-three offensive tactics are good. A platoon of 27 people can form a skirmish line of about 800 meters. Even if they encounter a shotgun, they will not suffer too many casualties! In fact, the distance of 20 to 30 meters between each soldier is formulated in consideration of the strong enemy artillery fire.

Boom boom boom... tsk tsk tsk... After the shotgun bombardment, the sound of light and heavy machine guns became prominent again. The soldiers of the 12th Company had never fought such a rich battle before. They didn't even have to count their bullets! Therefore, the machine gunners were growing rapidly. The more bullets they fired, the more accurate their shooting skills became.

The machine gunners are growing, and so are the new recruits! Some soldiers who only fired two rounds of training bullets had their first chance to shoot meat today. Before the battle, the battalion commander ordered that each soldier should first receive 100 rounds of bullets, and then receive new ones after they had finished shooting. Therefore, the new recruits fired at an exceptionally fast pace today, and their marksmanship gradually improved as they fired more bullets.

The Japanese didn't know that because they allowed the puppet troops to consume the 4th Battalion's ammunition first, the soldiers of the 4th Battalion had a chance to grow and adapt.

Finally, the sound of gunfire on the battlefield became sparse, and the puppet soldiers lay motionless on the hillside one by one. This time the charge was defeated.

Of course, no one knew that dozens of the puppet soldiers lying on the hillside were pretending to be dead! These puppet soldiers were quite smart. They didn't dare to retreat, because they would be killed by the Japanese war squad; they didn't dare to move forward, because they would be killed by the Eighth Route Army's bullets. So they chose to pretend to be dead on the spot, and some even wiped their bodies with blood from their dead comrades.

In short, due to many factors, the puppet army's second charge ended!

"I worked so hard to recruit these soldiers..." Captain Kong felt so sad at the Imperial Army's position. He was not sad about the death of his men, but about the team he had spent a lot of money to recruit. Now he had lost more than 300 soldiers, and he would have to spend more money later. His salary was given by the devils, and his equipment and supplies were also given by the devils, but his family also spent money.

The key point is that the confidence of a captain of the Imperial Army who has no soldiers under his command is different from that of a captain of the Imperial Army who has fully equipped soldiers under his command!

"Okay, the third platoon will stay scattered on the position, and the rest of you, take the wounded and the sacrificed comrades and retreat!" On the mountain, Captain Gong issued the order to retreat, because he knew that the Japanese artillery fire would come again soon, and he had to keep enough manpower to fight back.

Soon, a large number of soldiers in the trenches withdrew, taking with them the wounded of the 12th Company, as well as the wounded of the 10th Company and the soldiers who remained on the position.

As expected, less than a minute after the main force withdrew from the position, the Japanese artillery shells whizzed down again and continued to bombard the position.

At this time, the wounded who had been rescued from the battlefield had been sent to a forest about 1 kilometer east of Jigongling. The instructor of the 4th Battalion was waiting there with the medical team.

The medical squad of the 4th Battalion had 9 soldiers, 3 of whom were trained by Li Yuexuan, and 6 were trained by the New st Regiment. When the wounded arrived, the skilled medical soldiers immediately checked their wounds and treated those who were in urgent need of treatment and worth treating first. The less seriously injured were treated by the less skilled medical soldiers, and everything was in order.

As the 12th Company withdrew, more wounded were sent into the woods, increasing the number of wounded in the woods.

"All the wounded who have been treated should be sent to Liangjia Village, and the guerrillas should help take care of them! The lightly wounded should be sent to Tianjia Village, and the supplementary battalion should help take care of them!" The instructor of the 4th Battalion knew the tactical arrangement this time, so he divided the wounded. At this time, more than a dozen carriages came outside the woods, and they were responsible for sending the wounded to Liangjia Village and Tianjia Village.

In Liangjia Village, when the wounded reached 500 meters outside the village, the guerrilla sentries came out from the fields and directed the vehicles to go around the baskets on the way into the village.

At this time, the minefield outside Liangjia Village, except for the necessary passages, has been laid with various mines, waiting for the enemy to come! If it weren't for the joint operation with the Fourth Battalion, the mines on the mountain road should have been removed from the baskets, waiting for the enemy to step on them.

"Have the wounded comrades arrived? Well, send them to the tunnel and hide them! The people have all been evacuated, let the wounded go in from this side!" In the yard of a house not far from the village entrance, Zhao Danian pointed to a tunnel entrance that slanted downward and said to the soldiers.

Soon, the soldiers carried the wounded on stretchers into the tunnel, and walked down the slope to a cave entrance that was only 50 centimeters long, wide, and high. Outside the cave entrance, there was a four-wheeled flat-bottomed small cart parked here, with ropes at both ends and tracks under the wheels.

The wounded's stretcher was placed on a cart, and someone on the opposite side of the cave pulled a rope and pulled it for more than ten meters before dragging the cart through the narrow passage to the other side. Then, the cart was towed back to continue transporting the next wounded.

"Our tunnels have more and more functions! Take this soldier hiding cave for example. Our wounded can hide in it. Once the entrance to this cave is discovered, we can directly blow up the passage and let the wounded go out from other entrances." Xing Weiguo was inspired when he saw all the wounded hiding inside.

"The tunnel is the last resort! I really hope that one day we can deploy our weapons and fight the Japanese devils face to face!" Zhao Danian said with emotion.

"When we are weak, we can only use this method. When we become strong, we will naturally have stronger methods!" At this time, Li Yuexuan came over and said. "Comrade Youshun, has your artillery platoon been trained?" Zhao Danian and the others asked happily when they saw Li Yuexuan.

"The training is good, it's not difficult, because the most difficult part is here!" Li Yuexuan pointed to his forehead and said, "I just let them learn the basics of how to quickly set up the mortar, how to place shells, how to add propellant packs, and how to adjust parameters. The rest, such as distance measurement and trajectory calculation, I can do it myself!"

"Ha, so our guerrillas also have a mortar platoon? Haha..." Xing Weiguo became happy.

"It's just that we don't have enough shells. When we have time in the future, we should think about making our own shells! Anyway, we have made grenade launchers and grenades, and mortar shells are not far away!" Li Yuexuan knew that in two years, the Eighth Route Army would be able to make mortar shells by themselves, so he said it easily. In fact, he had the technical information and equipment here, so it was not impossible to manufacture them.

"I'll leave the mortar business to you. Let me tell you about the battle ahead..." Zhao Danian talked about the battle of the 4th Battalion ahead, and then asked, "I'm afraid the 4th Battalion won't hold out until tomorrow morning. So, how should we fight next? Do you have any opinions?"

"How do we fight? Aren't there fortifications outside our village? We will fight first after entering the fortifications, then fight again through the fortifications inside the village, and finally enter the tunnels and wall fortifications and fight again!" said Captain Guo.

"It's not impossible to do so, but I'm afraid that the fortifications we have worked so hard to build, as well as the houses in the village, will be damaged..." Zhao Danian said.

"Let's respond to ever-changing situations with the same attitude! Anyway, there are no civilians around us who need to be protected, so we can fight however we want! It would be great if we can use the empty city plan on the Japanese, let them in, and then go through the tunnel into the firepower points on the partition wall, and then eliminate the Japanese who enter the village! But I can't say whether the Japanese will cooperate!" Li Yuexuan said.

"You really dare to think of it... But it's not impossible! It depends on the situation..." The Japanese did not come, and everyone had no specific way to deal with it. They could only think of as many tactics as possible to deal with emergencies.

At Jigongling, the enemy's artillery bombardment stopped again, and only 12 soldiers from the 10th Company stood up to fight and warn the rear. This time, the 11th Company rushed to the position in unison, and fought with the puppet troops in the more dilapidated trenches.

The puppet troops in front of us were scattered further and further away, and they actually opened up a skirmish line of more than 600 meters in front of the position. Looking more closely, it turned out that there were two squadrons, more than 300 puppet troops in the actual charge.

This time, the 11th Company was under great pressure, but they still did not retreat. They withstood the suppression of the Japanese and the puppet army's heavy machine guns and let the puppet army get closer to more than 100 meters before officially opening fire. For a while, the shotguns from the 10th and 12th companies became the protagonists, and a row of volleys killed dozens of puppet soldiers.

Then, the puppet troops rushed across the 100-meter line and entered the minefield that had been prepared for a long time. As more than a dozen mines were trampled and bombed continuously, the puppet troops were blocked outside the 100-meter line and dared not move forward.

At this moment, the Japanese Type 92 infantry guns fired shells behind the puppet soldiers, driving them to continue their attack. The Japanese were also afraid of landmines, so how good would it be to let the puppet soldiers step on the landmines?

So, under the threat of death, the puppet soldiers charged desperately, and even the puppet soldiers pretending to be dead on the ground got up and charged. There was no other way, the shells just exploded next to them, it was really deadly!
"Damn it, are these yellow dogs crazy?" At the critical moment, Captain Mao led the 10th Company back to the position and immediately engaged in the battle.

Because of the addition of the 10th Company, the defensive firepower on Jigongling was doubled, and the puppet troops who had just charged were immediately frustrated, and the puppet troops in the front row kept falling to the ground. Some of them were unlucky and stepped on the hidden mines, which immediately blew them into pieces and scattered everywhere.

But even so, the puppet army still rushed forward fearlessly, and rushed through the minefield and reached an area less than 50 meters away from the position.

At this distance, hand-to-hand combat can be carried out immediately, which makes the Japanese soldiers watching the battle smile fiercely. These imperial army, are they still very combat-effective if they are forced? Just do it!
At this moment, hundreds of grenades were thrown down one after another on the Jigongling position! That's right, each soldier in our 4th Battalion has 4 grenades. Shouldn't we keep them now?

Boom boom boom... Military grenades exploded in unison, countless fragments flew among the puppet army, and immediately stopped the puppet army's charge. Even more than 200 puppet soldiers were killed in an instant, leaving only dozens of puppet soldiers who could still stand up. There was no way, it was not that the grenades of the Eighth Route Army were not powerful, but that these puppet soldiers caught up later...

"What are you still standing there for? Shoot...shoot, kill these puppet soldiers!" Captain Mao shouted loudly, pulled out his box gun, fired a row of shots at the puppet soldiers, killing 5 of them on the spot.

His shooting made the soldiers who were already holding bayonets ready for hand-to-hand combat come to their senses and immediately raised their guns and fired. The remaining puppet troops were actually targeted by concentrated fire.

At this moment, the sound of artillery shells breaking through the air was heard in the air. The hissing sound, accompanied by a dull atmosphere, made everyone's hair stand on end.

"Dodge the cannons..." Someone shouted loudly, causing everyone to react in various ways.

However, the shell was already approaching and there was no time to dodge, so they could only let the shell explode on the mountain, and countless fragments flew all over the position.

"Evacuate, everyone, evacuate the position! Quickly..." Captain Mao was lucky this time, the shells were far away from him. So, he shouted loudly, and led the soldiers around him to jump out of the trench and retreat to the east.

As he retreated, the soldiers from the 11th and 10th companies followed him out of the trenches, leaving only the soldiers who had died in the shelling and the wounded on the top of the mountain.

The soldiers ran very fast, but the speed of the Japanese shells was not slow either. The second wave of shells landed on Jigong Ridge again, and dust flew all over the sky, mixed with red drops of blood...

"Retreat! Tell the instructor that I will lead the main force to retreat to Tianjiazhai, and let him take the wounded to Liangjia Village! Signalman, call Tianjiazhai and Liangjia Village, then remove the telephones and bury the telephone lines!" Battalion Commander Fan finally decided to retreat. He couldn't hold on any longer.

"Yo, this is the way to fight! Those in front are just some Imperial Army. Just blow them up together. As long as we can inflict heavy damage on the Eighth Route Army, it will be worth it!" Sakata Nobutsu said happily.

(End of this chapter)