Bright Sword: From Northwest Shanxi to Shangganling

Chapter 117 Is this the Eighth Route Army?

Although the Japs are second-line troops, the firepower of their equipment is not weak.

除了3门九七式81毫米迫击炮以外，还有27门50毫米掷弹筒和12挺重机枪。

This kind of firepower is stronger than that of the 3st Battalion, which means that there are three guerrilla battalions assisting. Otherwise, the st Battalion may not be a match for this Japanese battalion.

"Kill the chicken!" Yukio Tamura shouted while lying on the ground with a pistol in his hand.

"Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!".
"Da da da", "Da da da", "Da da da".
Although the Tamura Battalion fought very tenaciously, they were trapped in the middle and had little ability to counterattack, especially since the mortars of the New Second Regiment were hidden on the reverse slope and the Japanese could not find them at all, while the Japanese mortars had nowhere to hide, which forced the Japanese mortars to move frequently.

In other words, the mortar is light, otherwise the transfer alone would be enough to make the Japanese bleed.

"Damn it, this group of Eighth Route Army is an elite force!" After only a few minutes of fighting, Tamura Yukio found that the balance of victory was showing signs of tilting.

"First Squadron! Attack that high ground immediately and seize the advantageous terrain!" Tamura Yukio turned his head and ordered.

Judging from the density of firepower, the high ground on the left front had the weakest combat effectiveness, so Yukio Tamura chose it as the first target.

And Tamura Yukio's judgment was also correct. The one defending the high ground was the first company of the fifth guerrilla team. Although there were more than 150 people, their equipment was not complete.

It was during this attack on Lianggou Village that a lot of equipment was seized, and the First Squadron was allocated a light machine gun and some rifles.

However, the light machine guns distributed to the guerrillas were all Type 99 rifles replaced by the first battalion, while all the Czech light machine guns were kept by Chen Chengxing.

The captain of the first squadron saw the Japs coming towards them and immediately shouted, "Comrades! The Japs are coming! Hit them hard! Throw grenades!"

Because of the Erlangdong Arsenal, although the guerrillas did not have many guns, they had a lot of grenades.

"Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!".
"Thump, thump, thump." "Thump, thump, thump."
The Japanese offensive was blocked to a certain extent, but facing the attack of a squadron of Japanese, the guerrillas' firepower was simply unable to stop it.

The Japs quickly captured the top of the hill.

Faced with the Japanese who had already completed the breakthrough, the guerrillas had no choice but to temporarily retreat and reorganize their formation.

Yukio Tamura also quickly rushed to the high ground with the rest of the troops, preparing for a defensive counterattack.

"Commander, I failed to hold our position. Please punish me." The captain of the first squadron of the fifth guerrilla team said with his head down.

"What can we do about this? You are guerrillas, and your equipment is much worse than that of the Japanese. It is normal that you cannot hold the position. It would be abnormal if you could really hold the position." Chen Chengxing comforted them.

Chen Chengxing had anticipated such a situation. After all, this was a large group of Japanese devils. They were just missing a baggage squadron, so their combat effectiveness was not affected at all.

Moreover, this high ground was deliberately given to the Japanese by Chen Chengxing.

According to Chen Chengxing's prediction, the Japanese's usual practice after being attacked would be to seize the high ground as soon as possible. Instead of letting them occupy the place that is easy to defend and difficult to attack, it is better to give up the high ground that is not so easy to defend.

This is also the reason why Chen Chengxing only deployed one squadron on this high ground.

The Japanese were not stupid, they would definitely pick on the weak. Chen Chengxing deliberately sent a weak target to their door, so there was no reason for the Japanese not to be fooled.

After all, in the fierce battle, the Japanese had no time to carefully consider whether the high ground in front of them was the most suitable place.

By the time they discovered it, Chen Chengxing had already completed the encirclement.

"Xu Wu, it's up to the first battalion next." Chen Chengxing said.

"Just wait and see!" said Xu Wu.

The New Second Regiment has not fought any major battles in the past six months, but the training intensity of the three main battalions is not low, and they also fight small battles every now and then during the training breaks.

Compared with the Japanese first-line field troops, the combat effectiveness of the first battalion may still be a little weak, but compared with the second-line troops such as the Japanese garrison troops, Xu Wu is confident that he can hold his own.

After Xu Wu finished speaking, he led a battalion forward and prepared to launch an attack.

The three guerrilla brigades also formed an encirclement on the outside, completely trapping the Japanese in the middle.

"Captain, you're not going to command the troops yourself?" Wei Dayong looked at Chen Chengxing in surprise.

"Next is the battle of attack and defense of the position. I have to command all of this. What else do the battalion commander have to do? I can't do everything, right? Wouldn't that make me exhausted to death?" Chen Chengxing said unhappily.

Positional attack and defense battles depend on the quality of individual soldiers and the intensity of firepower. Even command depends on the ability of the platoon leaders on the front line.

Whether Chen Chengxing personally commands the command has little impact.

At this time, he just needs to provide characteristic bonuses.

After entering the attack position, Xu Wu immediately ordered the 2nd, 3rd and 4th companies to dig trenches, and the artillery company also began to build artillery positions.

The first company began to advance forward in platoons in an inverted triangle formation, and the company's mortar platoon and the heavy machine guns assigned by Xu Wu were also dispersed to each platoon.

(It was released once before, and it was released again. This is almost the deployment of a platoon of troops.)
After making preparations, Xu Wu immediately gave the order to attack.

The first to open fire was the artillery company.

"Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!".
Fireballs immediately appeared on the Japanese positions.

However, the Japanese mortars did not counterattack, or they could not find the target even if they counterattacked. The Eighth Route Army below was not like them who were all on the hilltops. The Eighth Route Army was scattered over a large area, so firing now would be a waste of effort.

Accompanied by the mortar attack, the company began to move forward as a whole, and the speed of the infantry was getting faster and faster.

When Yukio Tamura on the top of the hill saw the Eighth Route Army start to attack, he drew out his command knife and shouted, "Kill the chickens!" The Japanese who had been prepared immediately opened fire at full power, and mortars, grenade launchers, light and heavy machine guns opened fire almost at the same time.

"Da da da", "Da da da", "Da da da".
"Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!".
"Order the mortars to open fire immediately to suppress the Japanese light and heavy machine guns!" Xu Wu and the first company commander Cao Lin gave the order almost at the same time.

The 60mm mortars of a company follow the front-line infantry forward, so their attack speed is also the fastest.

"Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!".
Although not all shells will hit the target accurately due to the problem of hit rate, the mortars are now very close to the front line, which is 700 meters away. As long as the shells fall normally, the opponent will be within the killing range of the shrapnel.

Even if the Japanese had protection, no one would dare to fire there under the bombardment.

However, even though the first company has a certain advantage in medium-range mortar firepower, it only has about 2 people after all, so it is still impossible to attack the position all at once.

"The first company retreats, and the artillery company opens fire." Xu Wu ordered. The first wave of attack was more of a test of the enemy's firepower points. The artillery company had now completed marking and allocation.

Xu Wu finally became the person he hated, and even started to use infantry charges followed by artillery bombardment.

"Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!".
This operation made Tamura Yukio a little confused. For a moment, he felt that the troops facing him were not the Eighth Route Army, but more like the Locust Army.

After the artillery company had fired a round, the 2nd Company, which had completed its rotation, moved forward again.

After repeating this several times, Tamura Yukio's face became more and more ugly.

The 82mm mortars of the Eighth Route Army on the opposite side were similar to our own mortars. Although the enemy had more numbers, we were not without the ability to resist.

However, the 60mm mortars used by the Eighth Route Army hit their own soft spot.

When the enemy is at a distance of 700 meters, our grenade launchers cannot reach them, but our mortars can attack our light and heavy machine guns at will.

Moreover, the enemy's heavy machine gun was firing from the rear and did not move forward. Our grenade launcher could not find the target even if we wanted to exchange it with the enemy's heavy machine gun.

After several rounds of attacks, only 12 of their 4 heavy machine guns were able to fire, and 2 of them kept breaking down. The light machine guns were not destroyed much because of the rapid transfer, but the failure rate of the Type light machine gun (Type light machine gun) itself was very high.

Especially since there were so many artillery pieces on the opposite side, dust was flying everywhere on the battlefield. Once the dust splashed onto the gun, it would easily get stuck.

Yukio Tamura knew very well that once his machine gun firepower was destroyed, he would face the enemy's full-scale attack.

After we lost our heavy machine guns, once the Eighth Route Army's heavy machine guns moved forward to suppress us, we would probably not even be able to raise our heads.

Only those who have experienced it firsthand know how terrifying the fire suppression effect of a heavy machine gun is.

"Signalman! Has the telegram requesting tactical guidance been replied?!" Tamura Yukio said anxiously.

"Reporting to the captain, the commander of the wing said that he has already requested support from Taiyuan, and aircraft will be coming soon for support."

"Yoshi." Yukio Tamura nodded.

"Everyone get ready to break out!" ordered Yukio Tamura.

Even with the support of aircraft, Yukio Tamura didn't think he could destroy the Eighth Route Army with his current strength. At that time, breaking through under the cover of aircraft would be the best option.

On the outermost hill, Li Chishui was looking at the equipment of the first battalion, his saliva almost dripping to the ground.

"Is this the strength of the main force?" Li Chishui said enviously.

Before, they were just following a company and their equipment was not fully displayed. Li Chishui never thought that a battalion could be so powerful.

"No, I have to join the main regiment, even if I can only be a platoon leader," Li Chishui muttered.

At this time, Chen Chengxing was also carefully observing the movements of the Japanese on the hill, and realized that the Japanese firepower points had been almost destroyed.

Chen Chengxing immediately ordered: "Order the fifth and seventh guerrilla teams to advance and prepare to attack the devils from both sides. The ninth guerrilla team will join the first battalion and prepare to launch a general attack!"

"Yes!" The communicator on the side immediately conveyed Chen Chengxing's order.

As the troops moved, Yukio Tamura felt something was wrong.

"Signage soldier, send another telegram immediately to ask whether the plane has taken off? How long will it take to arrive!" Tamura Yukio said anxiously.

If the plane arrives late, I might not even be able to collect my body.

"Hai!"

The Japanese telegraph soldiers immediately began to send messages.

"Report! All troops have been moved to their positions." Several communicators reported.

"Order the fifth and seventh guerrilla teams to move forward and attract the Japanese's attention."

"Tell the battalion commander to concentrate his firepower, hit him at one point, and then break into the enemy's position!" Chen Chengxing ordered.

"Yes!"

After receiving the order, Xu Wu did not hesitate and immediately issued the order for the general attack.

"put!"

"Boom~" "Boom~" "Boom~".
"Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!".
It was still the artillery company that took the lead in launching the attack.

(End of this chapter)