Bright Sword: From Northwest Shanxi to Shangganling

Chapter 187 This is a double-edged sword
Nothing happened that night, even the rain stopped in the middle of the night.

After dawn, several captains found Yukio Nara.

"Commander, the weather is getting better now. If the light troops advance, they will definitely be able to catch the Eighth Route Army on its tail."

"No, we can't go any deeper. The troops must return along the same route." Nara Yukio said seriously.

After he calmed down, Nara Yukio's rationality took over again.

If Ishimura Tomoki died, at most I would lose face, but if I died too, that would be nonsense.

When they heard Nara Yukio's order, they looked at each other in bewilderment. They had been chasing all the way and were about to catch up, but now he stopped?
"Pass on my order. The troops will set out in mixed squadrons at intervals of 10 minutes!" ordered Nara Masao.

"Hay!" Although everyone didn't know what he was thinking, they could only do as he said.

"Commander, something is wrong. The Japanese suddenly began to retreat, and they are retreating in small waves!" A combat staff officer hurried into the headquarters and reported.

"Let's go and take a look." Chen Chengxing immediately got up and went to the hill outside.

I saw that each group of Japanese soldiers had about two to three hundred people, and they were five to six hundred meters apart from each other. Their battle formations were very spread out. The Japanese soldiers in the front were about to leave Xiamazhuang, and half of the Japanese soldiers in Luolu Village behind them had not yet moved out.

"The Japanese are quite experienced in this tactic. No matter what, not all of them will fall into our encirclement." Luo Ping said on the side.

In this situation, if the New Second Regiment wanted to defeat this wave of Japanese invaders completely, they would have to storm Luolu Village by force, or wait for an ambush and be attacked from both sides.

"After all, he is a Japanese major general. If he doesn't have some skills, he won't be able to climb up." Chen Chengxing said.

The promotion of Japanese officers is somewhat similar to that of the Kuomintang. Only those who have connections and backgrounds, or are graduates of the Army University, can be promoted to the rank of general.

But these people who led troops to fight did have some skills. No matter whether it was real ability or just talk, at least they were people who knew about military affairs.

After all, the Japanese soldiers would really attack from behind by taking advantage of their inferiors.

Chen Chengxing saw that everyone was a little worried, so he said, "This move of the Japanese is a double-edged sword. Although it is unlikely that the entire Japanese army will fall into our encirclement, this also gives us the opportunity to divide the Japanese and then concentrate our forces to annihilate them one by one."

"Where are the New 1st Regiment and the Independent Regiment?" asked Chen Chengxing.

"It should take another two or three hours to get there." Xu Wu said on the side.

Hearing that there were still more than ten kilometers to go, Chen Chengxing hesitated for a moment and said, "No more waiting, we must launch an attack!"

Now that the Japanese have taken action, we can't delay any longer, otherwise something unexpected will happen.

"Xu Wu!"

"You take the first battalion, the first, second and third guerrilla teams, plus an infantry artillery platoon, and go straight to the high ground of Xiamazhuang to cut off the communication between the front and rear of the Japanese. The mountain artillery platoon will also support you."

"Once the enemy's connection is cut off, they will certainly launch a frenzied attack. Whether you can stop the enemy's attack from both sides will directly determine the outcome of this battle."

"Commander, don't worry, the people are still in the position!" Xu Wu said firmly.

"Okay!" Chen Chengxing nodded and looked at Zheng Hua.

"Second Battalion Commander, you lead the Second Battalion to occupy the hilltop east of Luolu Village and block the enemy's way to break out to the east."

Although the probability of the Japanese breaking through from this side is low, we still have to guard against it.

"Yes!" Zheng Hua stood at attention.

"The rest of the troops must launch an attack quickly when the general offensive begins. If we can cut the Japanese into small sections, we will be able to gain the upper hand."

"Everyone get ready, we'll start in an hour!" Chen Chengxing ordered.

"Yes!"

The headquarters of the first battalion, the captains of several guerrilla brigades and their subordinate company commanders are all here.

"Everyone, our mission this time is of great importance and concerns the situation on the entire battlefield." Xu Wu said as he unfolded the map.

"Captain Xu, just give the order. Although our guerrillas are poorly equipped, we guarantee that none of them are cowards! We guarantee that we can complete any mission, no matter how difficult it is!"

"Okay, you see, this high ground east of Xiamazhuang has a total of four hills. A battalion will be divided into four, with an infantry company placed on each hill. The most critical hills No. 4, 4 and 1, you will each reinforce them." Xu Wu gestured on the map. This way, the balance of firepower can be basically guaranteed.

In order to ensure the combat effectiveness of the first battalion, Chen Chengxing not only did not withdraw the artillery company, but also specially added two infantry guns.

In this way, Xu Wu had more than 2,500 soldiers in his hands, and it would not be a big problem to hold off the attack from both sides in a short period of time.

"By the way, when we attack later, if the Japanese soldiers along the way want to join the main force, let them leave. Our goal is just to cut off the communication between the Japanese soldiers and the front and rear." Xu Wu added.

According to the current marching intervals of the Japanese, there should be one or two waves of Japanese on the road corresponding to this high ground. If we hold them back and do not let them leave, it will take up too much energy of the first battalion, which will be detrimental to the battle situation.

"No problem." Everyone nodded.

"Okay, everyone go get ready."

The assault had to be quick, so they couldn't carry too much stuff, and so all their transportation capacity had to be put into ammunition.

At 9 o'clock, the first battalion was the first to move out. The closer they were to the target, the better.

However, the Japanese had posted sentries on every high ground and pass, so the first battalion was spotted by the sentries as soon as they crossed the hill.

"Bang!" "Enemy attack!" the Japanese sentry shouted while firing.

"Comrades! Follow me!" Xu Wu shouted.

At this moment, time is life, and a delay of one second may lead to the failure of the attack.

"kill!".
The gunshot was like a signal, and the entire battlefield was set in motion.

The Japanese soldiers who were marching on the road reacted immediately after hearing the gunshots and quickly rushed to the high ground.

Xiamazhuang Heights is the most important and largest heights in the vicinity. Whoever occupies it will have the initiative on the battlefield.

Both sides established their lines on the high ridge almost at the same time, but the Japanese occupied hills No. 1 and No. 2, while the First Battalion occupied hills No. 3 and No. 4.

"The artillery company fires! The first company attacks hill No. 1, and the second company attacks hill No. 2! The infantry artillery is ready to strike the enemy's firepower points at any time!" Xu Wu said anxiously.

The farthest of these four hills is only 4 meters apart. Whether it is infantry artillery, mortars or heavy machine guns, they are now at the most suitable attack distance, and there are also mountain ridges for protection.

"First company! Follow me!"

"Second Company! Go!"

Cao Lin and Lin Zhifeng didn't waste a second and led their troops directly towards their respective targets.

"Da da da".
"Boom!" "Boom!".
The first battalion opened fire as soon as they arrived.

The Japanese troops that seized Hill No. 1 and Hill No. were a mixed squadron. Although they had a mountain cannon with them, it was not even as useful as an infantry cannon in this situation.

As a result, the Japanese were unable to raise their heads due to the intensive firepower.

Not to mention the artillery on the opposite side, the eight heavy machine guns alone were enough to make the Japanese unable to resist.

"Push the mountain cannon up! Push it up!" the Japanese squadron leader shouted.

This is the disadvantage of the Type 41 mountain gun. It cannot fire at a high angle and can only be pushed to the top of the mountain ridge to fire directly. The muzzle flame can be seen at a glance, but the Japanese squadron leader can no longer care about it at this time. This mountain gun is the only weapon in his hand that can fight back.

The infantry had already worked hard to help the artillery dig out the position at the first possible moment.

After the Japanese mountain artillery was pushed up, it immediately began to bombard the heavy machine gun position on the top of Hill No. 3.

"Such a small group of Japanese soldiers brought mountain artillery!" Xu Wu was so angry that his teeth were itching. The Japanese soldiers' equipment was too damn good.

Under the attack of the Japanese artillery, the firepower of the first battalion inevitably weakened.

This forced the front-line infantry to slow down their offensive.

Just when Xu Wu was about to send in another guerrilla unit, the mountain artillery of the New Second Regiment opened fire.

"Boom!" "Boom!".
The mountain artillery of the New Second Regiment did not fire anywhere else, but just kept bombarding the Japanese mountain artillery.

Although the artillery hidden in the position is not afraid of the shrapnel flying everywhere, the artillerymen are not made of iron. Once hit by the shrapnel, the artillerymen will die on the spot.

The Japanese squadron leader, who was suppressed again and could not raise his head, chose to retreat temporarily, preparing to gather with the main force before attacking again.

Seeing the Japanese retreat, Xu Wu breathed a sigh of relief and immediately ordered his troops to occupy the hilltop and then repair the fortifications.

Occupying the high ground is just the beginning, the real battle is yet to come.

Just as Xu Wu led his team to seize the Xiamazhuang Heights, the rest of the Eighth Route Army troops also immediately launched an attack on the Japanese in the canyon.

The main focus of the attack was on the Japanese troops in the 2-kilometer canyon from Xiamazhuang to Luolu Village. As for the Japanese troops west of Xiamazhuang, although there were also attacks, they were more of a distraction.

Seeing the Eighth Route Army appearing all over the mountains, Nara Yukio immediately ordered: "Order all troops to gather here! Immediately seize the small camp and several surrounding hilltops and stabilize the position!"

The troops are now under sudden attack. The most important thing is to gather the troops and then stabilize the front line to prevent the Eighth Route Army from defeating them one by one.

After gathering several troops, Yukio Nara ordered the mountain artillery they carried to immediately bombard the guerrillas occupying the hilltop.

At this time, the Japs were still gathering here.

As time went on, more and more Japanese artillery pieces got involved, and the guerrillas' makeshift fortifications were all leveled out.

After suffering heavy casualties, the guerrilla fighters were forced to retreat from the heights.

The devils immediately seized the small school camp and began to repair fortifications.

Chen Chengxing felt a little regretful at this time. The guerrillas' combat effectiveness was still much worse than that of the main force.

If we can cut off the Japanese and prevent them from supporting and joining forces with each other, this battle will be much easier to fight.

However, things have come to this point, and Chen Chengxing can only accept the fact that the mobile warfare has turned into an offensive war.

"Order the county brigade and militia to maintain the outer siege, and then hand over the battlefield to the main force." Chen Chengxing ordered.

The decisive battle cannot be won relying solely on half of the New Second Regiment and the 316th Regiment. We can only wait for the New First Regiment and the Independent Regiment to arrive.

(End of this chapter)