Show the sword, start from the guerrillas

Chapter 244 Chapter 243, the Japanese squadron retreated, but not all of them.

In Liangjia Village, the battle was fierce in the west, but it was deserted in other directions. However, deserted didn't mean that there was no one stationed there. At least the captain and his men had firmly occupied the fortifications in the north and east.

At this time, these comrades could only listen to the gunfire from the west and wait for the opportunity to fight.

Whoosh... The artillery fire just now ignited some corn stalks outside the wall. There were tiny flames burning and black smoke rising, adding a fiery atmosphere and temperature to the battlefield.

In Li Yuexuan's bunker, Li Yuexuan leaned back as far as possible, letting his sweat-soaked back rest against the pillars supporting the top rammed earth wall, trying to leave an opening for Xu Hongying on the opposite side to shoot. Behind Xu Hongying, the tall Yang Gongxun leaned his body against the sandbags on the rammed earth, keeping a distance from Xu Hongying behind him.

Opposite Yang Gongxun, the petite comrade Cai Xiaotian was huddled in a small space, firing a semi-automatic rifle non-stop.

This shelter is no more than half a meter high and 1.5 meters long, and most of it is even exposed to the village. It is the fighting position of Li Yuexuan and his four companions.

Isn't this arrangement a bit crowded? In fact, not all the soldiers guarding this line have the opportunity to shoot! That's right, two combat platoons, a machine gun platoon, and a mortar platoon, with a total of more than 200 people, can't be deployed on this -meter-long wall. After all, it's impossible to put the shooting holes too close together, which will affect the solidity of the earth wall and the outer stone wall.

From the Japanese point of view, this very tall and solid village defense fortification has about 1.5 firing holes at different intervals, about 30 meters above the ground. The lowest height of these firing holes is 30 centimeters, the span is 40 centimeters, and they are in the shape of a "figure eight" with a large mouth facing outward, and even have an inclined angle downward.

This is nothing, because at a height of more than 2 meters from the ground, there is also a layer of very small shooting holes, about 50 in number. These shooting holes are probably only a little bit bigger than the mouth of a bowl, but bullets are shot out from here from time to time.

These more than 80 firing holes obviously cannot meet the needs of everyone! So, up to now, the grenade launcher groups of each platoon, some soldiers with poor marksmanship, and the two mortar squads of the mortar platoon have all stayed in the bunkers facing the street, watching their platoon leaders fight with their comrades with good marksmanship.

There are several such bunkers facing the street, all of which were built during this period. These bunkers all have solid roofs, some with external firing holes, some with internal firing holes, and their functions are different.

For example, Lowe and his team's heavy machine gun bunkers, although protected by the stone walls of the outer wall and the earthen wall above as part of the roof, most of them hid in the bunkers. These bunkers were like small houses built on earthen walls, not very eye-catching, but extremely solid.

From the village, the distribution of the soldiers on the west side of the village wall was very interesting. Some of them fought in a simple bunker made of sandbags and dug pits close to the earth wall. Some soldiers simply stood by the wall and poked their guns out of the holes in the wall to shoot.

The wall was more than one meter thick. The soldiers dug a cavity in the earth wall that could accommodate their arms and heads, then poked open the sand layer in front and pushed out the logs reserved on the bluestone wall in front, thus creating a solid and simple shooting position. With such a shooting position, the range of fire was very small, and the Japanese soldiers that could be seen through the bowl-sized shooting hole were the only targets.

But precisely because the shooting hole was so small, it was almost impossible for the Japanese to shoot a bullet in.

Due to the above reasons, the number of the Japanese attacking team was getting smaller and smaller. Even the four heavy machine guns of the Japanese behind were suppressing the firepower. "Baga...the bunkers of these defenders are too strong!" Sakata Nobutsu did not give up watching the battle. He held a telescope and looked at the muzzle flames that kept spraying out from the various shooting holes, and sighed.

"Sir, if we continue attacking like this, our team will have a hard time! Moreover, such fortifications are not afraid of our artillery bombardment. What should we do?" asked the adjutant of the regiment.

"The Eighth Route Army has heavy machine gun firepower and a lot of light machine guns, so they are not suitable for a dense formation attack! However, we have the advantage in manpower! Give orders to the attacking team in the direction of Tianjiazhai, and tell them to give up attacking Tianjiazhai, go around from the mountainous area in the south, and attack from the east of the village! Also, order the 1st Battalion that is chasing the Eighth Route Army to give up chasing the main force of the Eighth Route Army and assemble here!"

"According to my inference, it is not the style of the Eighth Route Army to build such solid fortifications in the village! It is very likely that this will be an important stronghold of the Eighth Route Army! Therefore, we concentrate our forces and capture this stronghold, which should bring unexpected gains!" Sakata Nobutsu is still very confident.

Of course, he didn't want to lose too many men. After taking a look at the attacking team, he said to his adjutant, "Call and ask the team in front to withdraw! Then, send out guards around the village and surround it! I don't want any of the Eighth Route Army soldiers in the village to escape!"

"Ha Yi!" the adjutant said, and went to make a phone call.

Soon, the Japanese soldiers who were attacking in front also received the signal to retreat, but at this time, it was not so easy for them to retreat safely! However, it was better than continuing to attack and being killed, right? Therefore, the Japanese soldiers covered each other and retreated in a cross-wise manner.

Seeing the Japs' movements, both Zhao Danian and Li Yuexuan knew that the Japs were retreating, so what were they waiting for? So Zhao Danian shouted, "The reserve team, get on the wall!"

Upon hearing this order, the anxious soldiers waiting on the side rushed out of their bunkers and ran to the north and south sides. When they saw the ladders erected on the wall, they grabbed the ladders and climbed up the wall in three or two steps.

Some of those who were good at fighting simply carried their guns, ran a few steps to gain leverage, and then quickly climbed up the two-meter-high wall.

After climbing the wall, they finally had a broad view and saw the fleeing Japanese soldiers, and they opened fire on them. As a result, the village wall, which originally had two layers of firing points, became a three-layer firing point, and the firing points were arranged in an alternating pattern.

It is worth mentioning that due to the terrain, the height of the wall inside the village is a little over two meters, but the height of the wall outside the village is more than three meters.

The battle here continued, and the Japanese retreated quickly and alternately, finally stopping when they retreated to a position more than 100 meters away from the village.

At this time, the Japanese squadron leader counted the number of people and found that of the original standard squadron of 180 people, only 79 were left, less than half.

(End of this chapter)