Bright Sword: From Northwest Shanxi to Changjin Lake, a Hundred Battles, a Hundred Victories

Chapter 159: The 110th Regiment was annihilated after being tricked and killed by the puppet army!

The reaction speed of this Japanese regiment was even slower than Chen Ming had expected.

With an infantry battalion surrounded and its situation unclear, the remaining main force neither immediately dispatched troops to rescue the surrounded battalion nor made a timely and decisive sacrifice.

They actually watched helplessly as the puppet troops were captured by the Independent Detachment and then surrounded them.

It can only be said that this is the only unit that was downgraded from a Class B division to a Class D division, and its combat effectiveness is indeed "well-deserved".

The Japanese 110th Regiment had never fought against the Independent Detachment and believed that the Independent Detachment was at most a little stronger than the Eighth Route Army they had encountered in the Hebei-North region.

They did not believe they were in danger of total annihilation.

The Japanese army was rife with practices of concealing, covering up, and underreporting information.

Despite the numerous victories won by the Independent Detachment, the Japanese claimed that they had only suffered minor losses and still held the advantage.

As for the county towns occupied by the Eighth Route Army, they were lost simply because the county towns had few garrison troops, and the Eighth Route Army mobilized a large force to attack them. The Eighth Route Army paid a price more than ten times for this.

Due to deliberate propaganda by the Japanese, a large number of Japanese soldiers were unaware of the war situation and still believed that their army was invincible.

Of course, another reason for the Japanese soldiers' rigid response was their rigid tactics.

For example, when the Japanese launched a frontal attack, the infantry would charge after the artillery had bombarded them, or they could use the cover of fortifications to hide behind them and use their accurate marksmanship to kill the enemy.

The Japanese army's long-term tactics often proved successful, leading them to become dependent on them.

They were unusually rigid in the face of the tactics of the Independent Detachment, which were different from the tactics of the Japanese army.

The main force of the Independent Detachment launched a direct attack from the flank on the 110th Regiment's position, bypassing the Japanese's strong frontal defenses.

This surprise attack, unlike traditional positional warfare, left the Japanese troops completely disoriented and thrown them into disarray.

The artillery roared, and the flying thunder cannons were set up, beginning to fire explosive charges at the Japanese flank positions.

"Boom!"

"Artillery fire! Take cover!"

Shell after shell was fired, reaping the lives of one Japanese soldier after another.

"Don't panic, take turns providing cover and hold off the Eighth Route Army's attack!"

Colonel Minakami Genzo, the Japanese regimental commander, saw that his flank was under fierce attack by the Eighth Route Army. He roared and ordered his troops not to panic, to maintain order and repel the Eighth Route Army's attack.

But at this moment, the rear of the Japanese regiment was attacked by He Jianxin's troops.

Compared to the flanks, the Japanese rear positions were much weaker.

"Da da da!"

"Da da da!"

The machine guns spewed fire, reaping the lives of the Japanese soldiers.

At the same time, the explosive charges from the flying thunder cannons began to fall directly on the heads of the Japanese soldiers.

The Japanese soldiers on the position heard a whooshing sound overhead, looked up, and saw several explosive charges flying towards them. They immediately screamed in terror:
"Heavy artillery, run!"

The Japanese soldiers were unaware of the Flying Thunder Cannons used by the Independent Detachment; they only knew that it was a simple artillery piece capable of launching explosive charges, with a caliber of over 500 millimeters.

In the mouths of the Japanese, this cannon was naturally called a heavy cannon. It didn't mean that the cannon was heavy, but rather that the power of this cannon surpassed that of ordinary heavy cannons.

Before the Japanese soldier could finish speaking and was about to flee, the explosive charge landed on their position.

"boom!"

"boom!"

A huge explosion rang out, dust flew everywhere, and a large number of severed limbs and blood mist sprayed across the Japanese positions.

The corpses on the Japanese positions and the fleeing Japanese soldiers were blown to pieces by the massive amount of explosives.

A Japanese soldier in the distance stared wide-eyed at the massive explosion on the battlefield ahead.

Suddenly, something flew into his mouth, almost choking the Japanese soldier.

After struggling for a while, the Japanese soldier finally managed to spit out the foreign object that had entered his mouth. Upon closer inspection, he discovered it was a section of finger that had been charred black from an explosion.

The Japanese soldier's spirit collapsed instantly. He ran forward recklessly, but he was killed by a mortar shell that flew in and ran a short distance.

The remaining Japanese soldiers also began to collapse. Logically speaking, the fighting spirit of the Japanese soldiers should not be like this. Even in the face of the danger of total annihilation, they should not collapse so easily.

However, this unit was from the 110th Division, which was considered by the Japanese themselves to be "weak in combat and demoralized."

Faced with the Flying Thunder Cannon, whose power rivals that of a heavy artillery, a single shot could blast a person to pieces. Except for those with strong willpower, most people would break down upon seeing it.

Just like Zhu Ziming, who was captured by the Independent Regiment, he was not afraid of the Japanese soldiers who would shoot him dead. But when faced with the Japanese soldiers who wanted to torture him by a thousand cuts, cutting off all his flesh piece by piece.

It was under these circumstances that Zhu Ziming's psychological defenses collapsed, and he surrendered to the Japanese.

That's the situation on the battlefield now. Under the threat of heavy artillery, a single shot will shatter you into countless pieces, impossible to put back together.

Even the elite Kwantung Army, as formidable as the Japanese invaders, was driven to a mental breakdown by the heavy firepower of the Soviet Union.

This is the deterrent effect of heavy artillery on the battlefield, not only in terms of physical damage, but also in terms of psychological damage.

Even today, the Independent Detachment is so powerful that it has turned the Japanese army's defense zone in Mongolia upside down.

Under these circumstances, Chen Ming would not easily provoke the two county towns in Guoxian County, where eight heavy cannons were deployed in Shuiquan.

Instead, they shifted their attention to the territory of the Mongolian troops stationed in northern Shanxi.

This is the deterrent power of heavy artillery.

Faced with the attack of the Independent Detachment's flying thunder guns, the Japanese began to collapse. Now they had only one thought: to flee the position and escape this area.

They didn't want to be blown to pieces like other Japanese soldiers, whose bodies couldn't even be pieced together after death, and who couldn't even be put into the latrine.

Some Japanese officers tried to stop the fleeing Japanese soldiers, and drew their samurai swords to kill several of them.

"Don't panic, contract in an orderly manner!"

However, no one listens to him anymore.

Amid the massive explosion, many Japanese soldiers were blinded and deafened, unable to hear anything.

The Japanese officer's attempt to stop him was futile. Instead, he was knocked to the ground by the surging Japanese soldiers and trampled by the following soldiers. He coughed up blood and howled in pain.

"Help! Help me up!"

The Japanese officer tried to get someone to help him up to avoid being trampled, but no one listened to him. The retreating Japanese soldiers behind him continued to trample on him.

Gradually, the wailing stopped, leaving only a limp, filthy corpse, trampled beyond recognition, lying on the ground.

The bullying by superiors and subordinates in the Japanese army was indeed severe. They wouldn't even run away on their own during a retreat; instead, they would stick the soldiers' shoes to make them carry them with them.

"Boom boom."

"Da da da!"

The soldiers of the First Independent Battalion continued to charge forward relentlessly, breaking through the Japanese lines.

Some of the Japanese soldiers, who were surrounded and outmaneuvered, saw no hope of escape and began to kneel down and beg for mercy, wanting to surrender.

"Boom!"

A few grenades wiped out the remaining Japanese soldiers on the position.

"Damn it, what kind of conspiracy are you plotting? Don't think I don't know what you beasts are thinking. Trying to feign surrender and plot something? I won't fall for it."

A battalion commander from the Independent First Battalion shouted loudly.

In his mind, only dead Japanese soldiers were good Japanese soldiers.

The offensive is in full swing, and there's no time to carefully discern whether these Japanese soldiers intend to use surrender as a pretext to secretly detonate grenades and perish together with the soldiers of the Independent First Battalion.

After all, we suffered far too many losses at the hands of the Japanese.

After the Japanese flank positions were captured, the soldiers of the Independent First Battalion and the First Battalion joined forces to attack the central and forward positions of the Japanese regiment.

The garrison troops in Hunyuan County also began to come out and fiercely attack the Japanese front lines.

"Brothers, charge with me! Don't let the Brothers' Battalion eat all the meat!"

Within Hunyuan County, the commander of the Second Battalion of the First Independent Brigade led his soldiers in shouting loudly.

"Battalion Commander Lin, you should address him as comrade!" the Second Battalion Political Instructor loudly corrected.

The First Independent Brigade was originally a regiment led by Li Yunlong, and some of its officers had not yet changed Li Yunlong's habit of calling everyone "brothers."

"That's right, the political instructor is right! Comrades, follow me and charge! Let's kill the Japanese and eat their flesh!" the battalion commander of the second battalion shouted loudly.

Ding Wei's main force attacked from both flanks of the Japanese, He Jianxin's force attacked from the rear of the Japanese regiment, and more than a thousand defenders from Hunyuan County attacked from the front.

With the two reinforced main battalions of the Independent Detachment working together, the Japanese 110th Regiment was completely surrounded and its forces were constantly being withdrawn!

Within just over ten minutes, hundreds of Japanese soldiers were killed, and the Japanese positions collapsed completely, constantly being compressed into the encirclement.

"Kill!"

"Second Company, wipe out that lone Japanese squad!"

"Don't steal it! Leave some for me!"

On the battlefield, Japanese soldiers were constantly being divided into small units and then wiped out by the Independent Detachment.

"I surrender, don't kill me, I don't want to die!"

"Mom, I want to go home!"

"Baka, don't block my way."

The battlefield was in chaos; some Japanese soldiers begged for mercy, others collapsed, and still others fled in disarray.

Once an army is in this situation, even a god couldn't save it.

It can be said that without interference from external forces, the Japanese were doomed to defeat.

The Japanese soldiers' pleas for mercy had no effect; the soldiers' guns and grenades continued to relentlessly reap Japanese lives. Apart from the special operations team members, who had learned Japanese due to the nature of their unit's operations, the other soldiers hadn't even fully mastered their own country's language, let alone had the time to learn the Japanese language.
In the soldiers' eyes, the Japanese soldiers were just talking gibberish in a foreign language, plotting some scheme to harm them.

The soldiers of the Independent Detachment never hesitated to kill the Japanese invaders.

At this time, the headquarters of the Japanese 110th Regiment was also in chaos.

"Sir, the First Battalion has been divided and encircled by the Independent Detachment. The forward positions and flank positions have been lost. The Second Battalion has suffered heavy losses," the Japanese chief of staff said in a panic.

"Immediately have the 3rd Infantry Battalion provide alternating cover, and send a telegram to the division headquarters: Our unit is under attack by a large-scale attack from the Eighth Route Army, requesting support, requesting support!" the Japanese regimental commander shouted.

At this point, he stopped spouting any pretense of saving face, like asking for tactical guidance.

The 110th Regiment is in an extremely dangerous situation. If the division headquarters and other units don't know about their predicament and send reinforcements soon, they're doomed.

"Hai!"

Knowing the situation was critical, the Japanese chief of staff immediately sent a telegram without hesitation.

In the telegram, to let the division headquarters and even the command headquarters know their situation, he made the situation sound even more serious.

After the telegram was sent, the Japanese communications soldier ran into the regimental headquarters again.

"Report: The Second Infantry Battalion has collapsed and is rushing toward the regimental headquarters. The Third Infantry Battalion's formation has been disrupted by the collapsed troops of the Second Infantry Battalion. The Eighth Route Army took the opportunity to attack, and the Third Infantry Battalion also suffered heavy losses."

The Japanese communications soldier brought even worse news.

After the Second Infantry Battalion of the 110th Regiment of the Japanese army was defeated by the main force of the Independent Detachment, it began to retreat to the rear and collided with the Third Infantry Battalion, which was providing cover.

These are all our own people, unlike the puppet troops who can be discarded like weeds.

The battalion commander of the third battalion dared not order the machine guns to fire, because the Japanese soldiers were all recruited from the same place, and even though there were regulations for officers, battalion commanders and above could not have relatives serving in the same unit.

But the soldiers below them didn't have this rule.

They weren't a supervisory team, and their unauthorized and indiscriminate shooting of the retreating soldiers of the Second Battalion was a huge blow to their own side.

It's very possible that before the Eighth Route Army even attacks, internal chaos will have already broken out within their ranks.

Furthermore, the Japanese 110th Division was already "weak in combat power and demoralized," unlike other Japanese divisions which were as fanatical.

As a result, the formation of the Japanese Third Infantry Battalion, which came to provide cover, was disrupted by the attack of the Second Infantry Battalion.

Meanwhile, the soldiers of the Independent Detachment, who were in hot pursuit, took the opportunity to launch an attack on the Japanese Third Infantry Battalion.

Once an army's formation is disrupted, its combat effectiveness will plummet.

The Japanese 3rd Infantry Battalion could only launch a hasty counterattack, but it still could not withstand the offensive of the main force of the Independent Detachment.

The Japanese regimental commander, Minakami Genzo's, resistance was so easily breached.

"Report: The enemy is less than two kilometers from the command post. Please retreat immediately, sir."

A Japanese communications soldier ran over, giving a frantic report.

"Immediately destroy all unimportant documents and turn north towards Datong," Colonel Minakami Genzo ordered through gritted teeth.

He was powerless to reverse the current situation and could only destroy the documents to break through.

The division's reinforcements are not coming. Given the current offensive speed of the independent detachment, if they hold their ground and wait for reinforcements, they are very likely to be wiped out.

"Damn it! How can the Independent Detachment be so powerful? Damn the First Army, damn the Mongolian Garrison, they actually lied about military intelligence, causing my 110th Regiment to suffer such heavy losses!" Colonel Minakami Genzo cursed angrily.

"And those damned puppet troops! General Okamura has lost his mind, actually trying to recruit these useless things, which caused our flank positions to be directly exposed and suffered heavy losses."

Because the Japanese First Army and the troops stationed in Mongolia adhered to the principle of not airing their dirty laundry in public, they would underreport the losses inflicted on the Independent Detachment as much as possible.

When Colonel Minakami Genzo received the order to encircle and annihilate the main force of the Independent Detachment, he thought that the Independent Detachment was just a unit that was slightly stronger than other Chinese armies.

Unexpectedly, after the fighting started, a small county town held them off for two days, preventing them from making any progress.

In the battle against the main force of the independent detachment, they lost more than one and a half battalions within a few hours.

This is more than just slightly better!

Instead of admitting that their own troops are not good at fighting, they should blame others.

Colonel Minakami Genzo blamed the 110th Regiment's defeat on the First Army, the Mongolian Garrison, and the puppet troops.

"Immediately consolidate your forces and move northward. Do not engage the Eighth Route Army. Abandon all supplies that can be abandoned!"

The 110th Regiment still has about a thousand men.

Although the 3rd Infantry Battalion suffered heavy losses due to the attack by the main force of the Independent Detachment, it still had about 600 men.

Including the regiment's directly subordinate units such as artillery, communications, and transportation, there are approximately four hundred personnel.

Minakami Genzo still has nearly a thousand troops under his command, and he doesn't think he can't break through the encirclement if he's determined to retreat.

After all, they only needed to retreat 15 kilometers to enter the Datong Basin and receive support from the Datong troops.

Surely a force of a thousand men can't even run fifteen kilometers?

Under the orders of Minakami Genzo, the remaining Japanese troops began to break out towards Datong in the north.

It is said that even a cornered beast will fight back. Even the weakest animal will unleash its potential when it loses all hope of survival. Even a rabbit will bite when cornered.

This unit, described as having "weak combat effectiveness and low morale," actually managed to break through two lines of defense of He Jianxin's troops in the north, despite being a depleted force.

When He Jianxin learned that the Japanese had breached his position twice, his face turned as black as coal.

He completely lost face in front of his comrades from other units this time.

Chen Ming just called his command center and berated He Jianxin, asking him what he was good for.

If you can't fight well, what's the point of staying in the Independent Detachment? You might as well go home and take care of your children. Don't embarrass the First Battalion.

"Damn it, what kind of battle is the Third Battalion fighting? They have three lines of defense with more than 600 men, and the Japanese devils have broken through two of them with a thousand men."

"Ding Wei's Independent First Battalion won such a great victory in the blocking battle in Hunyuan County, so why is it that our First Battalion is no good?"

"Yang Dong is one of the old men in our brigade, but I think he's nothing. After the war, I'll fire him!"

He Jianxin started cursing right there in the First Brigade Command Post!

Shameful, so shameful!
Two of the three lines of defense set up by a battalion were breached by the remaining Japanese soldiers.

He Jianxin had never lost face like this before. A heroic regiment had achieved such a dismal result. He wished he could drag Yang Dong over right now and give him a good scolding.

The Third Battalion's position.

Yang Dong watched as the Japanese troops truly attacked his third line of defense, his face filled with frustration.

This time he underestimated the Japanese army's determination, or rather, his previous victories had made him arrogant and he made the mistake of underestimating the enemy.

This resulted in the defensive positions not being properly set up, allowing the remnants of the Japanese army to break through two lines of defense.

Now only the last line of defense remains. If the Japanese devils break through this last line of defense...

This campaign, organized by Chen Ming to annihilate the Japanese regiment as a whole, is very likely to fail, and the Japanese 110th Regiment will not be completely wiped out.

Yang Dong was furious about this and went to the front lines to personally guard the position with a machine gun, justifying his crime.

Unless the Japanese devils step over Yang Dong's dead body, they won't be able to break through the last line of defense of their Third Battalion.

Shame spurred courage; the soldiers of the Third Battalion, having suffered such a setback, all fought desperately to stop the Japanese advance.

On one side were the remnants of the Japanese 110th Regiment, who were attacking recklessly in order to escape, and on the other side were the soldiers of the 3rd Battalion, who were fighting desperately to stop the Japanese.

The intensity of the fighting that erupted on the entire Third Battalion's position was the highest in the entire campaign.

The battlefield was littered with corpses from both sides, piled up together.

This battle was also the most tenacious one fought by the Japanese 110th Regiment. After all, if they were not tenacious, they would be completely annihilated. Only by fighting desperately could they save their lives.

In the end, the fighting spirit of the soldiers of the Third Battalion prevailed, and with their positions secured, they firmly held off the Japanese invaders at the third line of defense.

More than 500 Japanese soldiers' corpses remained forever on the Third Battalion's blocking position.

The remaining Japanese soldiers were gradually wiped out by other troops that surrounded them from the rear.

"Sir, Captain, we are in a desperate situation!"

The Japanese chief of staff screamed in despair.

The Japanese regimental commander, Minakami Genzo, was also in despair. His final charge into the Third Battalion's position had exhausted the last of his regiment's strength.

Do it all at once, second time tired, third time exhausted.

Now he can no longer send troops to continue the attack and break through the encirclement, and destruction is a foregone conclusion.

"Is this the end for my 110th Regiment?" Minakami Genzo murmured.

He raised the gun and pointed it at his temple.

"I hope the flag-bearing squad can break through or destroy the regimental flag, otherwise even if I commit suicide, I will still be nailed to the pillar of shame."

After finishing his last words, Minakami Genzo pulled the trigger.

"boom!"

Minakami Genzo's body lay on the ground, his final expression still one of resentment.

He couldn't understand why a single reinforcement would wipe out an entire regiment of his troops, turning northern Shanxi into his final resting place.

The other Japanese officers, not wanting to be captured by the Eighth Route Army, followed suit and committed suicide.

In the end, they either cursed the Eighth Route Army or hated the First Army and the troops stationed in Mongolia, but without exception, they were all cursing the puppet troops.

The 110th Regiment was annihilated because three regiments of puppet troops withdrew without notifying them, leaving their flanks exposed to the Eighth Route Army's fire.

The puppet troops really screwed over the Japanese this time!

Thus, the Japanese 110th Regiment was finally wiped out as a whole by the Independent Detachment in the hills north of Hunyuan County, less than five kilometers from the Datong Basin.

(End of this chapter)