Anti-Japanese War: I have unlimited assistance

Chapter 452: Don’t play by the rules!

outside the city.

At the infantry position one thousand meters away from the city wall, more than 12,000 soldiers of the New 1st Regiment of the Eighth Route Army were on high alert, ready to go.

Following the four infantry battalions, four more infantry battalions and some machine guns and machine gun ammunition were brought in by cars in the morning.

There are two infantry battalions outside each of the four walls of Heyuan County, ready to attack.

There was a glimmer of war burning in the eyes of the soldiers.

The regimental commander has ordered that this time the infantry must achieve the same effect as artillery and use more than 500 machine guns to teach the Japanese a lesson.

Before dawn, the Eighth Route Army used hundreds of artillery pieces to fire about 4 artillery shells at the city.

If the houses in the city were made of reinforced concrete, mountain artillery and mortars would naturally not be able to cause much damage.

But the houses in the city are made of brick, stone and tiled houses, and there are even some wooden and earthen houses.

4 artillery shells were fired, almost turning the entire Heyuan County into a scorched earth.

The Japanese soldiers of the 14th Division suffered heavy casualties, and there were a large number of wounded Japanese soldiers in the county town at that time.

However, no matter how fierce the bombardment is, some people can survive.

At this time, the Japanese soldiers who had managed to survive climbed up the ruined city walls again, carrying light and heavy machine guns and explosives.

The rest of the devils set up various weapons among the ruins in the county town.

Even if there were no streets and alleys, the Japanese planned to fight the Eighth Route Army to the death.

After the Japanese planes left, each battalion quickly moved to their designated positions and raised the barrels of their Maxim and MG42 general-purpose machine guns at designated angles toward Heyuan County.

"Machine gun fire, open fire."

Each battalion quickly reported that they were ready, and after the last battalion was ready, the regimental headquarters issued an order.

"Da da ...

“Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…”

In an instant, the sound of Maxim rifles firing and MG42 cloth tearing machines rang out outside the city without any interruption.

at the same time.

Inside the city.

Near the headquarters of the Japanese 14th Division.

After the Eighth Route Army stopped shelling, the Japanese officers of the 14th Division came out of the air-raid shelter again.

Iseki Masataka, Ishihara Shozo, Tate Yuso and Sakanishi Kazuyoshi looked at the Heyuan County town which had almost turned into a scorched earth, their faces turned ashen.

"I really didn't expect that!"

"The people in the city actually hid in the tunnels!"

Colonel Sakanishi Ichiyoshi said through gritted teeth.

"I didn't expect it either."

Ishihara Shozo said, "If the Chinese civilians in the city had been captured a few days in advance and placed on the city walls as human shields, the Eighth Route Army wouldn't have dared to act so arrogantly."

"Count the casualties as soon as possible."

Iseki Masataka was very dissatisfied with Ishihara Shozo's hindsight and pre-emptive behavior: "Immediately request tactical guidance from the headquarters."

"Hey." Ishihara Shozo suddenly lowered his head. "Division Commander, the division communications department's radio antenna was blown up last night. I've sent soldiers to the regiment and battalion headquarters to see if there are any spare antennas."

After the shelling last night, most of the telephone lines in the city were blown down, and the division headquarters had just established contact with the various regiments and battalion headquarters.

Jingguan Changlong snorted coldly: "Waste."

The division headquarters is a concrete and brick-and-stone artillery tower, and its structure remained relatively intact after last night's shelling.

Suddenly, Ishihara Shozo saw several soldiers not far away, who fell to the ground like tree stumps without any warning.

Just as he was wondering, he saw piles of mud, sand and stones rising from the ground.

At the same time, it extended towards the division headquarters.

"Baka!" Ishihara Shozo's face changed drastically: "Get out of here!"

Although they didn't know what was happening, Jingguan Changlong and Guan Yuzong immediately realized that something was wrong. It was too late to go to the air-raid shelter, so the three of them could only hide in a concrete bunker next to the division.

The three old Japanese soldiers who entered the bunker immediately looked out through the firing hole.

I saw the commander of the 59th Infantry Regiment, Kazuyoshi Sakanishi, who was looking for the regimental headquarters, running towards the division headquarters.

But he was soon hit and fell straight to the ground, but it was not over yet. Accompanied by a series of "puff puff" sounds, a large number of blood holes appeared on Sakanishi Kazuyoshi's body without warning.

"what happened?"

Jingguan Changlong and others who saw this scene were shocked and angry.

"Maybe the Eighth Route Army is using new weapons!"

Major General Guan Yuzong said in a deep voice, his expression extremely ugly.

Bullets fell like raindrops. The officers and soldiers who survived the Eighth Route Army's artillery attack last night were killed without any warning. Many Japanese soldiers were still confused before they died.

"It's beyond shooting."

Ishihara Shozo took a deep breath and looked very unhappy.

Jingguan Changlong and Guan Yuzong's expressions suddenly changed. They knew about the overshooting technique, but they had never used it. This tactic killed 6 British soldiers in a single day during the Battle of the Somme in World War I. Heavy machine gun overshooting often did not require a crosshair, but rather required the gunner to memorize the angle of fire. Since overshooting did not allow for high-precision shooting, only a rough range was used as the strike area.

However, this tactic consumes too much ammunition, and since the Japanese army was established, they have always emphasized precision shooting, and they want to kill the most enemies with the least amount of ammunition.

Jingguan Changlong and Guan Yuzang never imagined that the New 10st Regiment of the Eighth Route Army fired nearly 14 artillery shells in one night. The th Division suffered heavy casualties, with only a few officers and soldiers left, and they still used such a cruel tactic!
This also shows that the New 1st Regiment of the Eighth Route Army is not afraid of the consumption of bullets and artillery shells at all.

"It's bad, the locust army on the city wall..."

Guan Yuzang's expression changed again.

The locust army in the city can also hide under the ruins to avoid the rain of bullets from the sky.

However, in last night's shelling, the towers, bunkers and gun towers on the city wall were basically all destroyed. The officers and soldiers on the wall had no way to avoid the bullets falling from the sky.

The facts were just as Guan Yuzang had expected. Countless bullets, visible and invisible, flew into the air from the Eighth Route Army's positions and then fell on the city wall like a parabola.

The Japanese soldiers on the city wall had nowhere to hide and suffered heavy casualties in just a few minutes. Whether they were surviving Japanese soldiers or Japanese divisions, they were all shot like sieves, with bloody holes all over their bodies.

But this is not the end. In order to minimize the casualties of the New 82st Regiment soldiers, Li Yunlong ordered 60mm and mm mortars to fire a large number of pepper bombs into the city.

Hundreds and thousands of mortar shells coated with abnormal and invincible chili powder fell into the city and on the city walls.

At the same time, the soldiers of the New 1st Regiment, wearing gas masks, launched a general attack on the city.

Not long after, the soldiers captured the city wall, rushed into the city, and began to harvest the disabled Japanese soldiers!
The soldiers could not tell which were the injured Japanese soldiers and which were the Japanese soldiers who had lost their ability to move due to the smoke from the pepper bombs.

As long as they were Japanese soldiers, we would fire a volley of bullets at them without any explanation and shoot indiscriminately.

……

Taiyuan.

Japanese First Army Headquarters.

"Nani?"

"Heyuan County was bombarded by the Eighth Route Army's New 1st Regiment and has been reduced to scorched earth."

After listening to Kasai Toshimatsu's report, Yoshio Shinozuka's whole body was shaking.

Mutaguchi Ren'ya's expression suddenly changed.

Colonel Yamamoto Ikki's pupils suddenly shrank.

All the Japanese staff officers were stunned.

All the Japanese soldiers understood what it meant when the New 1st Regiment of the Eighth Route Army bombarded Heyuan County with artillery fire and turned it into a scorched earth.

The brick, stone, wooden and earthen houses in Heyuan County could not withstand the attack of the new regiment's heavy artillery and grenades.

Then the locust troops of the 14th Division in the city would inevitably suffer heavy casualties.

Now Yoshio Shinozuka finally understood why the First Army Headquarters could not contact the 14th Division Headquarters.

Perhaps the 14th Division Headquarters had been hit by a shell and was completely destroyed.

"Hi."

Kasai Toshimatsu lowered his head to confirm and continued to report:
"The 21st Flying Regiment also reported that they had just destroyed three artillery regiments and one tank regiment of the Eighth Route Army during a bombing operation, killing or wounding over a thousand Eighth Route Army artillery and tank troops."

After listening to the report, Yoshio Shinozuka's expression eased slightly.

But when he thought of the elite 27th Infantry Brigade, the 14th Division Headquarters and the 14th Quartermaster Regiment all perished in battle, Shinozuka Yoshio felt a pang of heartache.

These are more than 3 elite locust soldiers and a lieutenant general division commander. Even if they destroy three artillery regiments and one tank regiment of the Eighth Route Army, it will not be enough to satisfy them!

But at this point, Yoshio Shinozuka was powerless to change the situation.

"Order the 28th Infantry Brigade to abandon reinforcements and immediately return to Anhua County. No, immediately turn to Datong."

Shinozuka Yoshio gave the order in a deep voice.

It was too dangerous for the 28th Brigade to continue staying in Anhua County. If the Eighth Route Army launched another indiscriminate attack on Anhua County without caring about the lives of the common people, the tens of thousands of elite soldiers of the 28th Brigade would be destroyed.

This battle was of far-reaching significance. After this battle in Heyuan County, the Japanese did not dare to engage in street fighting with the Eighth Route Army easily.

Of course, these are all for later.

"Hi."

Kasai Toshimatsu suddenly lowered his head and quickly went to convey the order.

"Eighth Route Army Li Yunlong actually showed no respect for martial ethics and played by the rules, directly launching an indiscriminate bombardment of Heyuan County. Does the Eighth Route Army not care about the lives of the Chinese people?"

Mutaguchi Ren'ya, who was standing by, was horrified. After all, it was he who suggested to Shinozuka Yoshio that the 14th Division stay in northwestern Shanxi and fight to the death with the New st Regiment. If they were held accountable after the war, he would probably have to take the blame.

Shinozuka Yoshio frowned, "The Eighth Route Army has always claimed to be a people's force. This is indeed a bit unusual."

"It's just propaganda," Yamamoto Ikki snorted. "Didn't the Nationalist government also claim to be wholeheartedly serving the people? What was the result? In the middle of last year, to stop the locust army from attacking Wuhan, that bald man from the Nationalist government ordered the breach of the Huayuankou levee, directly resulting in the drowning of millions of Chinese civilians."

"There's an old Chinese saying: 'Misfortune may be a blessing in disguise.'"

"After this battle, the status of the Eighth Route Army among the people of northwestern Shanxi will inevitably decline, which is a good thing for the Locust Army."

Taking a deep breath, Yoshio Shinozuka nodded.

But thinking of the 14th Division and the 27th Brigade being annihilated, he could not help but draw out the Lieutenant General's sword bestowed upon him by the Heavenly Locust Emperor and started swinging his sword wildly.

……

(Ask for a guaranteed monthly ticket!)

(End of this chapter)