Show the sword, start from the guerrillas

The Japanese were short of troops and had to be dispersed in the surrounding counties, so there were not many troops that could be mobilized. Now that the Eighth Route Army had occupied three counties, they also liberated Fenxi County to the west of Huozhou, and arranged a county brigade here to guard this area together with the Fenxi County Brigade. The two idle infantry regiments returned to Huozhou as a reserve force.

In other words, the 8 infantry regiments + 2 artillery regiments of the first and second divisions of Taiyue directly controlled the 4 counties in the middle of the Tongpu Railway, physically cutting off the Tongpu Railway. However, that was all. The comrades of Taiyue did not continue to cross the Luliang Mountains to the west, because that was the range of activities of the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army, and friction would occur if they went there.

Therefore, after some consideration, many cadres in the Taiyue District sent a clear-coded telegram to the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army to see how various parties would react.

The reactions of various parties were soon reflected on the battlefield. Knowing that the Taiyue District had established contact with the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army, the Japanese did not dare to guarantee that the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army would really sit on the mountain and watch the tigers fight, so the Japanese did not dare to relax at all in some cities and defense lines adjacent to the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army, and even strengthened some troops that were planning to fight the Eighth Route Army to the front line against the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army.

The Japanese had few choices. They could either fight the Eighth Route Army on all fronts or split their forces to fight on both ends. Whichever choice was made, it would be a torment for the Japanese. There were not many people to begin with, and they had to disperse a little...

Because of this telegram, the people in the occupied areas were also affected. At least, the people saw hope, and some spontaneously organized armed forces also had the determination to continue fighting.

Hongdong County is a very famous place because there is a big locust tree here. It is a place that many people miss.

Strictly speaking, there are no steep mountains as barriers around Hongdong County, and the nearest one is more than 20 miles away, which is not of much help for the guarding of a small county.

However, Hongdong County is surrounded by the Fen River to the west and the Honganjian River to the south, which just happens to form a semi-enclosed structure for Hongdong County. There are no mountains, but there is water, which is a natural barrier. Don’t ask why the Eighth Route Army was able to conquer Hongdong County, because it is difficult to fight from west to east and from south to north, but it is much easier to fight from east to west and from north to south...

Today, the soldiers of the 114st Battalion of the 381th Division of the Japanese army stationed on the south side of the Hong'an Jianhe River felt that today's battle was a bit precarious - it was too difficult to fight!
The Honganjian River is not a big river, but it is not narrow in Hongdong County. It is about 200 meters wide. Although the river is not very deep, such a wide river is filled with mud, sand and pebbles. It is not easy to cross! Also, who knows if there is a trap under the shallow water? No one can guarantee this.

You mentioned the bridge across the river? There used to be one, but now it's gone, with only a lot of bridge piers in the river.

Actually, this is nothing. The key point is that on the other side of the river, the Eighth Route Army has clearly built a defensive position outside the county town. There are also heavy machine gun positions visible on the city wall. With such an integrated position arrangement, a large number of people will die just to cross the river! As for bypassing Hongdong and continuing north to attack Huozhou?

Believe it or not, when the Japs and puppet troops were making a detour, the Eighth Route Army inside and outside Hongdong City would definitely not stop them! But once the Japs and puppet troops had passed, it would be hard to say, they would just chase and fight them.

"So, we still need an engineering unit to build a bridge across the river first, and then we have to control the positions on the riverside and prevent the Eighth Route Army from threatening the riverbed." After looking at the defense status of Hongdong County, Captain Hashimoto of the 381st Battalion made such a judgment. But what can he do with the more than 1000 soldiers under his command and the more than 2000 puppet troops he brought with him? More than 3000 troops close to 4000 troops, this is the maximum number of troops that the 114th Division can mobilize in the short term. More than that, it will take time, because they plan to mobilize some of the Yuncheng puppet troops...

"Let's attack, organize the engineers to build the bridge, and let the Imperial Army cross the river to see how the Eighth Route Army defends!" Captain Hashimoto made the decision.

"Listen carefully, the locust army said..." Under the translation of the translator, 500 puppet soldiers acted as pioneers, carrying their weapons, went down to the river, and waded towards the north bank.

In Hongdong County, the team responsible for guarding here was from the 2th Regiment of the 18nd Division. The regiment commander at this time was named Zhang, an old Red Army soldier with rich combat experience.

"Have the puppet troops crossed the river? Are the Japs busy tinkering with wood in the back? Very good, tell the artillery not to fire yet, just adjust the coordinates for me! Tell the snipers and precision shooters on the city walls and outside the city that now is their target shooting time, and the target is the puppet troops crossing the river. They are very good human-shaped moving targets!" said Captain Zhang.

"Comrades..." The messenger gave the order to the front line in one phone call. Hearing this order, the soldiers with sniper scopes above their guns were very happy. Of course, there were also some who were worried, that is, the heavy machine gun positions not far from them. In theory, it should be their job to suppress the shooting.

At this time, the puppet soldiers had already walked a hundred meters of waterway, and were now in the middle of the river, which was a good time to attack them halfway across the river. As a result, the puppet soldiers who were slowly advancing in the mud, silt, and gravel felt the sound of bullets flying around them, and also felt a burning sensation in their ears. Of course, these were living puppet soldiers.

But on the river bank, in the eyes of the Japanese soldiers who were in charge of supervising the battle, it was a different scene.

In the middle of the river, 500 puppet soldiers were seen supporting each other, walking one foot after another, and some using sticks to test the depth of the river, looking a bit messy. Then, while walking, a large pool of blood spurted out from the back of one of the puppet soldiers, and then the whole person collapsed in the river at his feet, dyeing a large area of ​​the river red.

This was not an isolated case, but almost every time a dozen or twenty puppet soldiers fell into the river, the Japanese knew that the fallen puppet soldiers would most likely not survive as the river water gradually changed from light red to dark red.
"Find a place to squat down, don't move forward, stop..." Among the puppet army, there were officers who were directing the puppet soldiers to hide.

However, the water under their feet was above their calves. How could you ask the puppet soldiers to squat down? What? Did they really squat down on their own initiative? Well, most of their bodies were soaked through! Although it was the end of October, the weather was not too cold, but... the temperature was not high either. They were soaking in the water with their clothes on. They were not mentally prepared in advance...

Suddenly, many puppet soldiers had cramps, and some were completely submerged in the water, with bubbles constantly gurgling on the surface of the water... (End of this chapter)