Bright Sword: From Northwest Shanxi to Shangganling

Chapter 129 Peach Blossom Village

Taiyuan, First Army Headquarters.

After listening to Okabe Naosaburo's report, Katsuki Seiji's face looked unhappy.

"The Eighth Route Army is growing too fast. In the past, they relied more on ambushes and sneak attacks, but now an enemy regiment can actually use its positions to fight back and forth with the Sakata Regiment." Kazuki Seiji said in a deep voice.

"Sir, according to intelligence, this new Second Regiment has a larger force and is already a reinforced regiment. It is also equipped with a large number of mortars, which gives it an advantage in mountain warfare. If the enemy leaves the mountains, they will not be able to contend with our armor and heavy artillery." said Naosaburo Okabe.

Although mortars are relatively light, their accuracy is poor. As long as a few sturdy concrete bunkers are built, the enemy will be helpless. Facing tanks, they will be crushed into pieces.

"You are right. The tanks and heavy artillery of the Locust Army have absolute advantages in China. But Mr. Okabe, the Eighth Route Army will not leave the mountains. They will stay in the mountains to develop, and then suddenly rush out to launch a sneak attack when you are not paying attention, and then return to the mountains. In this case, it is difficult for us to eliminate them." Katsuki Seiji said with a headache.

These Eighth Route Army troops are like psoriasis, they can't be killed or driven away. Even if many are killed in a raid, they will appear around the county again in a short time.

"Sir, I heard that General Sugiyama Hajime has proposed a 'Public Security Improvement Plan' and the North China Front Army is formulating the content and measures of the plan. I think it should improve the current situation." said Okabe Naosaburo.

"Let's hope so." Kazuki Seiji sighed and said, "Send a message to the aviation team and have them send out planes to support the Sakata Wing's attack."

"We must break through the position as quickly as possible and make sure to wipe out all the Eighth Route Army troops on Erlang Mountain." Katsuki Seiji ordered.

"Hai!"

The next day, upon learning that two bombers had taken off, Sakata Nobutsu once again assembled a force of more than a thousand people to prepare for a stormy attack on the Nankou position.

Looking at the actions of the Japanese, Sun Xun didn't care much at first. The number of Japanese gathered today was much smaller than yesterday.

We were able to kill nearly 300 Japanese soldiers yesterday, so today is no problem at all.

The Japanese did not take any action after completing their preparations. Sun Xun thought that they were going to bombard again. Just as he was about to arrange for anti-artillery measures, he heard a "buzzing" sound in the air.

Sun Xun's face changed drastically, and he immediately shouted: "The Japanese planes are coming! Everyone, pay attention to the bombing!"

The bombs dropped by the Japanese planes are much more powerful than artillery shells.

The lightest aerial bomb weighs 50 kilograms, while the 150mm howitzer shells used by the Japanese are said to weigh only more than kilograms.

The two sides are not in the same league at all.

It was difficult for the Nankou position to defend against 75mm artillery, let alone the Japanese aerial bombs, which were no different from paper.

“Swoosh!~~”

“Boom!!” “Boom!!” “Boom!!”.
After the Japanese planes arrived at the position, they started bombing without saying a word.

The entire Nankou position was blown into a sea of fire, and the flying soil flew more than ten meters high.

The killing radius of a 50-kilogram bomb is nearly 15 meters, and the direct killing radius is more than meters.

In other words, there is no living thing within 15 meters, and if there is no protection within meters, the shrapnel from the explosion is enough to kill anyone.

Chen Chengxing looked at the Nankou position covered by the explosion, his face full of worry.

After the bombing, the Japanese planes did not leave in a hurry, but circled in the air, apparently wanting to use their aircraft machine guns to cover the infantry attack.

After all, according to Nobutsu Sakata's telegram, the Eighth Route Army had a large number of mortars.

For this purpose, the Japanese bombers specially reserved a few bombs, ready to use when the time comes.

Sun Xun on the position heard the explosions stop, shook the dirt off his head, and climbed up from the ground.

Sun Xun didn't care about being sad, and immediately shouted: "Treat the wounded immediately! Everyone, stay alert! Order the 9th Company to reinforce immediately!"

Just by taking a look at the tragic situation at the Nankou position, Sun Xun could judge that the casualties of the 11th and 12th companies on the position were definitely very heavy. If they wanted to stop the Japanese attack, they must have additional troops.

The Japanese moved quickly. After the bombing stopped, they rushed towards the Nankou position under the cover of mountain artillery and infantry artillery.

"Hit me!" Sun Xun shouted immediately.

Now he had no time to worry about hiding his firepower. The 9th Company had not arrived yet. With the remaining troops on the position, they might not be able to hold out for long even if they opened fire at full power.

Fortunately, Chen Chengxing replenished a batch of mines to the Third Battalion yesterday, and Sun Xun ordered the troops to bury them overnight.

With the help of the thunder array, the Third Battalion still has a chance to catch its breath.

After approaching, the Japanese immediately launched an all-out attack, preparing to seize the Nankou position.

To this end, the Japanese launched several wave-like attacks in succession.

The Third Battalion was no pushover. Although it suffered heavy casualties from the Japanese bombing, it used the thunder array to catch its breath and then stubbornly blocked the Japanese attack.

In the end, Sun Xun even put all his troops into the Nankou position, and the two sides fought back and forth several times on this small position.

Everyone repeatedly occupied the positions, and the mortar battalion continued to fire under the strafing and bombing of aircraft to support the charge of the third battalion.

Fortunately, the mortar is a small target and there are no obvious features when firing the shells. In addition, the positions have been dispersed long ago.

In the end, the Japanese planes only destroyed four 4mm mortars, and the remaining mortars still played an important role.

At night, the Japanese planes withdrew to Taiyuan, and the Sakata regiment also chose to stop the attack. However, Sakata Nobutsu had already mobilized the entire regiment's forces to prepare for a general attack after daybreak.

Late at night, Chen Chengxing climbed up to the Nankou position. At this time, the color of the Nankou position had changed from its original earthy yellow to a little red.

The 2-meter-deep trench dug before the war has basically been filled with loose soil, leaving only a small ditch of about to centimeters.

"Sun Xun, how many people are left in the third battalion?" Chen Chengxing asked in a deep voice.

"Don't worry, Commander. We can guarantee that we can hold our position. No one in the Third Battalion will survive the battle!" Sun Xun did not directly answer Chen Chengxing's question.

"What I'm asking is how many people are left!" Chen Chengxing turned his head and looked directly into Sun Xun's eyes.

"There are less than 600 people who can fight." Sun Xun whispered. Every single one of the battalion, even the kitchen squad had already reached the front line. After the mortar shells of each artillery platoon were used up, the gunners picked up their weapons and started hand-to-hand combat.

The less than 600 people Sun Xun mentioned included the lightly wounded, and only the seriously wounded who could not move were sent to the rear.

After Sun Xun finished speaking, Chen Chengxing did not speak. The Second Battalion had 4 infantry companies, 1 machine gun company, and 1 artillery company, with a total strength of 1150 people, but now only 1/2 of them are left.
Chen Chengxing thought for a moment and said, "We can't fight like this anymore."

"Clean up the battlefield and retreat to Taohua Village." Chen Chengxing ordered.

Chen Chengxing is in communication with the arsenal at all times. They have now completed the transfer and burial of important equipment and are now transporting supplies. They should be able to complete all transportation in another two days.

The New Second Regiment now has two lines of defense to use, so there is no need to persist on this flattened hill.

After retreating to Taohuazhai, there will be new bunker fortifications. Even if the Japanese planes come to bomb again, the casualties of the New Second Regiment will be much smaller.

"Yes!" Sun Xun felt relieved when he heard the retreat.

It’s not that Sun Xun is afraid of death. If he was afraid of death, he wouldn’t have fought to the death at Nankou.

If we can retreat now, the Third Battalion's foundation will still be there. After the wounded recover, we can replenish its strength. With just a month or so of training, the Third Battalion will be a full-strength battalion again.

Although the Third Battalion chose to retreat, it did not just leave. Instead, it buried a lot of bullet mines on the position, and also took out the mines from the original mine array and re-buried them on the Nankou position.

This can at least delay the Japanese for half a day.

Early the next morning, the Japanese rushed to the Nankou position without encountering any resistance.

Just when the Japs were preparing to pursue the victory, continuous bullets and mines made them stop.

After receiving the report, Sakata Nobutsu laughed disdainfully: "The Eighth Route Army thought that such a small trouble could stop the locust army's attack? Ridiculous."

"Order the engineers to go forward and clear the mines, and tell them to do it quickly!" ordered Nobutsu Sakata.

"Hai!" Harada Juichiro stood at attention and said.

The engineers' mine-clearing work is not always smooth sailing. It takes them some time to dig out mines such as bullet mines and iron mines.

However, when they encountered non-metallic mines such as stone mines and pottery mines, they were at a loss and could only step over them with their bodies. There were also many wooden stick traps on the position, and engineers would often step on the traps and have their feet pierced.

Nobutsu Sakata didn't even blink an eye at the casualties of the engineers and directly arranged for new engineers to move forward. After all, these engineers were not from his own regiment.

The Sakata Regiment is an infantry regiment, and this time the combat command specially assigned it an engineering squadron.

After more than three hours of hard work, the engineers finally completed the mine-clearing work and cleared a road leading to Taohuazhai.

Nobutsu Sakata immediately ordered the troops to move forward, and at the same time asked the engineering squadron to continue clearing mines to prevent these mines from hindering the movement of troops in the future.

In front of Taohuazhai, Sakata Nobutsu approached the front line and carefully observed the situation of the Eighth Route Army's position.

Looking at the winding trenches and bunkers everywhere on the battlefield, Sakata Nobutsu felt a toothache.

He was too reluctant to take on such a well-defended position.

"Harada-kun, is there any road that can allow the troops to make a roundabout attack to the rear or flank of the Eighth Route Army's front position?" asked Sakata Nobutsu.

If possible, Sakata Nobutsu wanted to first defeat the Eighth Route Army's front-line positions, so that the artillery battalion could go straight into the hinterland of Erlang Mountain and then bombard however they wanted.

Moreover, the troops can also attack from the west, forming a pincer attack, which will make the Eighth Route Army lose sight of one thing while focusing on the other.

"Captain, according to reconnaissance, there are three routes up the mountain on the eastern foot of Erlang Mountain, but these three routes are not related. If we want to attack the Eighth Route Army's frontal position, we can only take over Taohuazhai position and then launch an attack." Harada Jiro explained.

After hearing what Harada Jichiro said, Sakata Nobutsu didn't even say a word. If they captured Taohua Village, there would be no need to attack the Eighth Route Army on the front line.

Moreover, Nobutsu Sakata didn't believe that the Eighth Route Army would still be on the front line by then, and they would probably have run away long ago.

"Order the Second Battalion to leave an infantry squadron, a heavy machine gun squad, and an artillery squad at the front line, and move the rest of the troops to the west."

"The mountain artillery battalion should also move here and rebuild the artillery positions." Sakata Nobutsu ordered.

Now that there is no way to take shortcuts, I can only face it head-on.

Nobutsu Sakata believed that with the help of planes, the Eighth Route Army would definitely not be able to stop the attack of the Sakata Regiment.

"Hai!"

(End of this chapter)