Bright Sword: From Northwest Shanxi to Shangganling

Chapter 143: Turn, turn, and turn again (6K)

Yoshida Yuma, who was running all the way, received a report from the scouts in the rear that the troops responsible for blocking the Eighth Route Army had been wiped out, and the main force of the Eighth Route Army had also caught up.

"Where is the 53rd Regiment? Have you found any trace of the 53rd Regiment?" asked Yoshida Yuma.

He needs cannon fodder now, and the Locust Army is the best cannon fodder.

"No sign of them," the scout reported.

"I understand. Be alert around you!" Yoshida Yuma ordered.

"Hai!"

"Speed up!" Yoshida Yuma shouted.

Faced with the Eighth Route Army's relentless pursuit, the Japs could only try to maintain high speed.

Although the food of the Eighth Route Army was not good, in terms of leg skills, the Eighth Route Army was not inferior to the Japanese.

Li Yunlong and the New 1st Regiment were chasing closely.

Faced with the Eighth Route Army's relentless pursuit, Yoshida Yuzhen had no choice but to arrange a team to seize Zhangjiadian when passing by the village.

The Japanese squad that received the order was very clear about their fate, but no one complained. Instead, they quickly occupied Zhangjiadian, preparing to rely on the houses in Zhangjiadian to block the following Eighth Route Army and cover the large force's advance to Beiguan Village in the southwest direction.

"Thump, thump, thump." "Thump, thump, thump."
After the Japanese occupied Zhangjiadian, they immediately opened fire on the New 1st Regiment that was chasing them.

Although the three light machine guns were not fatal to the New 1st Regiment, they were enough to have a certain impact on it in a short period of time.

Faced with this situation, Li Yunlong could only order the New 1st Regiment to launch a counterattack.

If the New 1st Regiment chose to bypass Zhangjiadian, not only would the distance between them and the main Japanese force widen, but the Japanese in Zhangjiadian would also take the opportunity to escape, and the New 1st Regiment would not be able to gain any advantage.

Instead of doing that, it would be better to eat up this small group of Japanese devils first.

"Captain, the pursuing Eighth Route Army was blocked by Squad 9 in Zhangjiadian." The scout in the rear reported.

"Yoshi." Yoshida Yuma couldn't help but smile when he heard the scout say that the Eighth Route Army was blocked.

However, Yoshida Yuma's smile did not last for two minutes before he heard gunshots coming from the front again.

Kong Jie's independent regiment appeared right in front of Yoshida's battalion, blocking the Japanese's way back.

"Hit them hard!" Kong Jie ordered as he looked at the Japanese soldiers getting closer and closer.

"Da da da", "Da da da", "Da da da".
"Thump, thump, thump." "Thump, thump, thump."
Seeing that the Eighth Route Army had blocked his passage again, Yoshida Yuma's face changed drastically.

"Bagaya road!"

Yoshida Yuma knew without thinking that the Eighth Route Army around him must be moving towards this side quickly, and he did not have much time to waste.

"Kill the chicken for me!" Yoshida Yuma shouted.

"Da da da", "Da da da", "Da da da".
"Taoci, come on!" The Japanese soldiers immediately began to advance.

"Infantry artillery should fire at full force to suppress the Eighth Route Army's heavy machine guns," Yoshida Yuma ordered.

Yoshida Yuma judged that he probably didn't have the chance to adjust direction again, and quickly breaking through the Eighth Route Army's blockade in front of him was Yoshida's battalion's last chance.

"Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!".
The infantry artillery had a very fast firing rate, and continuous shells hit the independent regiment's position.

Moreover, even when the infantry was attacking, the Japanese infantry artillery showed no signs of stopping.

It seems that the two armies are preparing to fight hand-to-hand.

The independent regiment was not afraid of the artillery fire at all, and everyone was shooting desperately.

However, because the machine guns were suppressed, the Japanese infantry were still getting closer and closer.

"Throw grenades! Put on bayonets!" Kong Jie shouted.

Faced with the Japanese soldiers getting closer and closer, charging with hand-to-hand weapons became the only option.

Once the Japanese rushed into the trenches, they could use the narrow terrain to offset the numerical advantage of the independent regiment.

"Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!".
"Beep, beep, beep, beep"

"Kill!"

"kill!"

When the attacking Japanese soldiers saw the Eighth Route Army rushing out of the trenches, they immediately stopped their scattered advance and quickly gathered together to form small groups to fight the enemy.

In hand-to-hand combat, the one who fights alone will die the fastest.

"It's dark and the card is on board!"

"Onboard!"

The Japs also shouted and rushed towards the independent regiment.

The two sides quickly engaged in a melee.

At this time, the machine guns and artillery of both sides have all lost their effectiveness, and only a bayonet fight can decide the life and death of both sides.

However, just as the two sides were fighting fiercely, Yoshida Yuma suddenly received a report from an outer scout.

The Eighth Route Army has already surrounded us from all sides and will arrive at the battlefield in 10 minutes at most.

After hearing the news, Yoshida Yuma's face became even uglier.

Within 10 minutes, Yoshida's battalion had no chance of defeating the Eighth Route Army in front of them.

"Order the troops to retreat, and the heavy machine guns to provide support! The troops will move to the ditch in the woods in the northeast direction, and use the ditch to hold their ground!" Yoshida Yuma ordered.

Time is running out and Yoshida's battalion does not even have the chance to build fortifications. They can only continue to defend using the existing terrain.

The ditch is the most suitable place. Although it is not as good as a trench, it is better than lying on the ground.

"Hai!"

As the Japanese retreated to the wooded ditch, several regiments surrounded them in three layers, and the Japanese completely lost their large-scale space for movement.

After completely trapping the Japanese, everyone was not in a hurry to attack.

In the temporary command center, the brigade commander looked at the enemy and our situation map on the map and said:
"There are no Japanese troops in central Hebei that can directly threaten the safety of our troops.

According to intelligence, the closest troops are part of the 42nd Regiment of the th Division. They are still a day and a half away from here, and will not arrive until tomorrow afternoon at the earliest, so we don’t need to rush to attack.”

“Although the Yoshida Battalion has fallen into a passive situation, they are not only well-equipped and have sufficient ammunition, but also have rich combat experience. They can be called elite.

Our army is poorly equipped, and we are located on a plain, lacking strong terrain support. A strong attack during the day would certainly result in heavy casualties.

So I decided to adjust the deployment and switch to siege during the day and attack at night!"

During the previous battle, the brigade commander saw the movements of the Japanese through a telescope.

When the Japanese were attacked suddenly, they reacted quickly and their tactical actions were very standard. They were able to find the most advantageous cover for themselves in a short period of time and then launch a counterattack.

Although Yoshida's battalion was beaten and fled in panic, its casualties were not very heavy, and they still have more than 600 combat-capable troops.

Although there are many logistical troops here, the Japanese logistical soldiers are also trained. As long as they pick up guns, they can become infantry. They may be slightly inferior to professional infantry, but not by much.

No one had any objection to the brigade commander's order. Night combat was the Eighth Route Army's specialty, and at night they could balance the firepower gap between the two sides to the greatest extent.

"Since everyone has no objection, I will adjust the deployment." The brigade commander said to everyone.

"This night battle will be led by the 28th Regiment, the New 772st Regiment, and the Independent Regiment, while the New nd Regiment and the nd Regiment will be responsible for the outer blockade and alert."

The New 772nd Regiment and the nd Regiment now have the strongest firepower. Asking them to fight at night would mean giving up their firepower advantage and turning the war into hand-to-hand combat.

Although the brigade commander was confident that the New 772nd Regiment and the nd Regiment were also good at hand-to-hand combat, there was no need to send them out, after all, he still had plenty of troops available.

The 28th Regiment, the New st Regiment, and the Independent Regiment have no firepower advantage over the Japanese, so it is obviously more appropriate to let them fight at night.

"Yes!"

No one said much about the brigade commander's order.

The equipment of the 772nd Regiment was directly allocated by the headquarters, and the new 53nd Regiment now has no shortage of weapons. As for ammunition, there has been some improvement after eating the ammunition of the captured pseudo rd Regiment.

After the Yoshida Regiment is destroyed, the spoils will definitely be distributed among the regiments, and the New Second Regiment will naturally get a share.

After the deployment was adjusted, the 28th Regiment, the New st Regiment, and the Independent Regiment formed a triangle, sandwiching the Japanese Yoshida Battalion in the middle.

As it was just getting dark, the 28st and 1nd Battalions of the 2th Regiment, the 1st Battalion of the New 1st Regiment, and the st Battalion of the Independent Regiment simultaneously launched an attack on Yoshida's unit which was surrounded in a ditch in the woods.

It’s not that they don’t want to send more people, but the battlefield is limited, and after the troops are spread out, there is simply not enough space for too many people.

"Kill the chicken! Kill the chicken!" Yoshida Yuma pulled out his command knife and shouted.

"Da da da", "Da da da", "Da da da".
Seeing that the Japanese heavy machine guns began to fire continuously, the heavy machine guns of the 28th Regiment, the New st Regiment and the Independent Regiment also began to provide fire support.

However, the combined number of heavy machine guns of these three regiments was only equal to the number of the Japanese, and they did not have enough bullets. They could not keep firing for as long as the Japanese, and the Japanese infantry artillery was still bombarding continuously.

This resulted in the Eighth Route Army's attack not being smooth.

After all, the suppression power of heavy machine guns is still very terrifying.

Chen Chengxing stood at the temporary command post of the New Second Regiment, observing the situation on the front line with a telescope.

"The combat effectiveness of this group of Japanese devils is really good. They fought so tenaciously." Chen Chengxing said.

"Commander, when we were in Xiaoxinzhuang before, the First Battalion had a hard time fighting against this group of Japanese devils. They were no worse than the soldiers of the Sakata Regiment." Xu Wu said on the side.

Xu Wu is the most qualified person to speak on the combat effectiveness of Yoshida Battalion.

In Xiaoxinzhuang, the military strength and firepower of both sides were actually similar.

But the first battalion was defending and the Japs were attacking.

Even though the First Battalion had carefully prepared defensive fortifications, it still had a hard time facing the Japanese attack.

Although mountain artillery played a role here, the combat effectiveness of the Japanese should not be underestimated.

"Old Chen, do you want us to help?" Luo Ping suggested.

"That's exactly what I meant." Chen Chengxing nodded.

"Although we are not in the same regiment, we are all members of the Eighth Route Army. I must help them if I can, especially since Li Yunlong, Kong Jie, and Ding Wei are all my comrades in the same squad. It would be unreasonable not to help them."

"Pass on my order! The temporary mortar battalion will attack the enemy's firepower points and defensive positions!" Chen Chengxing ordered.

When the brigade commander was adjusting the deployment, Chen Chengxing had already ordered three mortar companies to build positions and make preparations in advance.

As soon as Chen Chengxing's order arrived, each gun would fire freely with three shells.

"Commander's order! Devil's firepower points and defensive positions!"

"put!"

"Boom~" "Boom~" "Boom~".
"Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!".
After being bombarded repeatedly, more than half of the Japanese firepower points immediately stopped firing. At this time, even if the heavy machine guns were not destroyed, the Japanese had to move quickly. If they dared to continue firing, they were afraid that the next shell would fall from the sky.

"Haha. Chen Chengxing is really nice!"

"Blow the charge! Attack!" Li Yunlong shouted.

Whether the Japanese heavy machine gun was destroyed or was being moved, it would certainly not be able to fire within a minute.

And this minute is your best chance.

"Beep, beep, beep, beep"

The charge of the three regiments sounded almost at the same time.

"kill!"

"Kill!"

With the sound of the charge, the soldiers who were originally lying on the ground immediately jumped up and rushed towards the Japanese position shouting.

"Light machine gun fire suppression!"

"Kill the chicken for me!" Yoshida Yuma shouted.

However, the Type 99 light machine gun is not as effective as a heavy machine gun in dealing with skirmish charges.

Just changing the bullets is enough to give the machine gunner a headache. Five magazines have to be put in one by one, and they have to be put in straight, otherwise he won't be able to fire.

Therefore, although the charge of each unit was blocked and many soldiers were shot and fell to the ground, most of the soldiers quickly advanced to the Japanese positions.

"kill!"

The soldiers raised their bayonets and stabbed at the Japanese.

"ah!"

The Japanese were not afraid of hand-to-hand combat at all, as they had undergone rigorous training in shooting and hand-to-hand combat.

However, facing the Eighth Route Army that was several times larger than its opponent, Yoshida's Battalion could only retreat step by step.

Finally, after suffering more than 200 casualties, the Japanese were forced to retreat to the cemetery on the north side of the woods, preparing to use the graves and earth pits to defend themselves.

"Captain, the enemy is moving this way and may soon launch an attack."

"Damn it! We can't go on like this, we have to break out." Yoshida Yuma's face was so dark at this time that you couldn't even see his expression.

"According to my observation, the firepower of the Eighth Route Army in the direction of Changzhuang is the weakest. Concentrate your forces immediately and prepare for a fierce attack to open a gap!" Yoshida Yuma ordered.

The 28th Regiment was responsible for blocking the Changzhuang direction, but the 28th Regiment had the least heavy machine guns, and even its rifle configuration was not as good as that of the New st Regiment and the Independent Regiment.

Although the New 28st Regiment and the Independent Regiment have fewer troops than the th Regiment, at least these two regiments are fully equipped with weapons.

The Japs were very quick in their preparations and completed their adjustments in half an hour.

"Kill the chicken!" Yoshida Yuma pulled out his command knife and shouted.

Heavy machine guns, infantry guns, and grenade launchers immediately launched fierce attacks on the 28th Regiment's positions.

Then Yoshida Yuma stood up and shouted, "Gentlemen! Follow me and charge!"

"It's dark and the card is on board!"

"Onboard!"

Yoshida Yuma led all the available troops and launched a charge towards the 28th Regiment.

"Hit him hard!" Ding Wei shouted.

There were only 300 Japanese soldiers participating in the charge. Even if they were very strong, could they wipe out more than 28 people from the 3th Regiment?
If that were the case, Ding Wei wouldn't have to fight the Japanese. He would have been so embarrassed that he would have found a crooked tree and hanged himself.

"Da da da", "Da da da", "Da da da".
"Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!".
Although the firepower density of the 28th Regiment was not very strong, it had already caused considerable casualties to the Japanese.

But at this time, the Japanese were already fighting like trapped beasts. They didn't even frown in the face of casualties and continued to charge forward.

Seeing that the Japanese were coming in full force, Ding Wei did not dare to be careless. Although he was confident that the Japanese could not break through the defense line of the 28th Regiment, he still wanted to reduce casualties as much as possible.

"Grenade!" Ding Wei shouted.

When facing the charging Japanese, area-killing explosives are more useful than bullets.

"Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!".
More than 2 grenades were thrown at the charging Japanese, immediately causing considerable casualties.

Moreover, grenades were constantly being thrown out from the 28th Regiment's position.

"Damn it." Yoshida Yuma felt a little desperate as he looked at the attack that was blocked by the grenade.

"Retreat! Retreat immediately!" Yoshida Yuma shouted.

The Japs had no choice but to retreat back to the cemetery.

After recounting the troops, it was discovered that Yoshida Yuma not only failed to break out, but also lost more than 100 lives.

Now, if we count every one of them, there are less than 250 Japanese soldiers trapped in the cemetery.

"Captain, the Eighth Route Army has completed its redeployment and will probably attack again soon!"

"We only have one last chance now." Yoshida Yuma said with difficulty: "Everyone, get ready. When the Eighth Route Army attacks, we will also attack the Eighth Route Army in the southwest direction!"

To the southwest is Kong Jie's independent regiment. The attack between the two sides will inevitably be hand-to-hand combat, and hand-to-hand combat requires finding the direction with the least number of people.

Ten minutes later, the 28th Regiment, the New st Regiment and the Independent Regiment began to move forward again.

Yoshida Yuma had already moved all his troops to the opposite side of the independent regiment, and only two heavy machine guns were placed in each direction.

Yoshida Yuma needed to block the attack speed of the other two Eighth Route Army to prevent the Locust Army from being attacked from behind when attacking the Eighth Route Army from the front.

"Kill the chicken for me! Kill the chicken for me!" Yoshida Yuma shouted.

Before getting close enough to the Eighth Route Army, heavy machine guns were used to provide fire cover as usual.

"Da da da", "Da da da", "Da da da".
As soon as the brigade commander in the rear saw the Japanese's firepower configuration, he knew that they had some plan.

"The Japs are trying to break out from the direction of the independent regiment." The brigade commander laughed.

"Haha. If the Japanese had broken out earlier, we might not have been able to wipe them out completely. But now, even if they jump around, they can't escape the encirclement." Chen Can on the side laughed.

The Eighth Route Army's encirclement was not just this one. There was also a blockade by the New 772nd Regiment and the nd Regiment on the outside. The Japanese could not escape even if they had wings.

At this time, Kong Jie also saw the Japanese's firepower configuration. Seeing that the Japanese had placed most of their firepower on his side, he understood what was going on after just a little thought.

"Do the Japs think the independent regiment is a soft persimmon?" Kong Jie said unhappily.

"Second Battalion Commander, take the Second Battalion to participate in the attack. I think the Japanese want to charge in hand-to-hand and then move away quickly. I will never give him this opportunity!" Kong Jie ordered.

The independent regiment is now participating in the attack with one battalion, and they are in a scattered state. The Japanese will definitely attack in a concentrated manner, and we may not be able to stop them if we are caught off guard.

Therefore, Kong Jie decided to have a double insurance. If the Japanese attacked fiercely, the second battalion could block the Japanese in front, and the troops on the left and right of the first battalion could encircle them.

As long as we surround the Japanese, we can eat them however we want.

Seeing that the Eighth Route Army was getting closer and closer, Yoshida Yuma immediately ordered the infantry artillery to fire a final round of rapid fire.

Then, while the soldiers of the independent regiment were lying down to avoid the shells, he drew out his command knife and shouted, "Taoci, give it to me!"

"It's dark and the card is on board!"

"Onboard!".
Led by Yoshida Yushin, all the Japanese soldiers rushed out of their positions and directly rushed into the line of the independent regiment.

In order to leave himself a way out, Yoshida Yuma did not let the soldiers directly blow up the heavy machine guns and infantry guns, but asked them to follow the infantry as much as possible. If they really could not keep up, it would not be too late to blow them up.

The Japanese attack was very sudden. At that time, the independent regiment had only one battalion of troops on the front, and all the troops were still scattered. The Japanese had a local advantage in force, so the Japanese charge was extremely swift and they rushed directly into the hinterland of the first battalion.

Yoshida Yuma was overjoyed when he saw this.

As long as he could break through the Eighth Route Army in front of him, he would be able to quickly rush into the Eighth Route Army's defense line. Then he could use the trenches to fight against the Eighth Route Army, and then leave a small number of troops as a block, while the others could escape from the encirclement.

As long as they can get out of the small encirclement in front of them and have room to maneuver, Yoshida's battalion still has hope.

However, Yoshida Yongzhen's excitement did not last for a minute before he saw four or five hundred Eighth Route Army soldiers appearing in front of him, rushing towards him with bayonets pointed.

At the same time, the shouts of the Eighth Route Army were heard from both sides.

Yoshida Yushin looked around and found that the Eighth Route Army was everywhere around him.

"Damn it! I seem to have been fooled!" Yoshida Yuma said a little desperately.

At this time, there were four or five hundred Eighth Route Army soldiers blocking the way in front of them. It was difficult for Yoshida's battalion to break through head-on in a short period of time, not to mention the Eighth Route Army positions further behind them.

As for the Eighth Route Army on all sides, they were now forming a siege. I'm afraid that in a few minutes I would be surrounded by them.

"Destroy the weapon immediately!"

"Form a line and prepare to charge!" Yoshida Yuma shouted.

At this point, there is no choice but to fight to the death.

"Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!".
Several grenades exploded, and the infantry guns and heavy machine guns were blown to the ground.

"Everyone! Follow me and charge! Taoci, come!" Yoshida Yuma shouted while holding his command knife and rushed towards the Eighth Route Army in front.

"Onboard!"

The other devils followed closely behind.

The Japanese, who were deeply influenced by Bushido and the doctrine of assault, could only die in frontal combat.

In response to the Japanese charge, the Second Battalion of the Independent Regiment in the front did not say much. The machine gunner fired a burst of bullets with his light machine gun, and the rest of the infantry rushed towards the Japanese head-on.

"kill!"

"Brigade Commander, the work is done and the Japanese have been wiped out!" Chen Can said excitedly.

"What are the casualties?" asked the brigade commander.

"The casualties were not very heavy. The total casualties of each regiment were about 1 to 2 people. We killed more than 7 Japanese and more than puppet soldiers. The New Second Regiment also captured puppet soldiers."

"We didn't seize many heavy weapons. Only four heavy machine guns were seized, and the rest were basically blown up by the Japanese. But we did seize quite a few rifles," said Chen Can.

Although the puppet army did not have heavy weapons, they were well-equipped with rifles, and together with the Type 38 rifles, they seized more than a thousand guns. However, all units are now cleaning up the battlefield, so the exact number has not yet been revealed.

"Okay! Send a message to the headquarters immediately. The boss is still waiting for news." The brigade commander said with satisfaction.

Eight hundred versus two thousand, this casualty ratio is already very good.

"Yes!"

(End of this chapter)