Rise From Eight Hundred

Changle Village, a small village located 1,500 meters from the Zhuozhang River, is destined to write a strong and colorful chapter in the history of China's Patriotic War.

Don't think that just because there is a river with a considerable amount of water flowing through it, it is a wide plain. In fact, the terrain here is more like a river valley, with mountains on two sides and water on one side, but it is generally wider than other areas in Taihang Mountains.

The village is actually located under a mountain. The cliffs of the mountain are as high as three or four hundred meters. It is daunting to look at. Not to mention people climbing, even monkeys are probably difficult. The dirt road leading to Xiangyuan County, which is accessible to large vehicles, is about 400 meters away from Changle Village. More than 300 meters ahead, there are vast mountains.

This is also the main reason why the 683rd Brigade was able to cut the Japanese infantry regiment that was intercepted here into several sections and then eat them up one by one.

The 771st Regiment, which suddenly rushed out of the mountain, did not give the unprepared Japanese army too much time to prepare for shooting. It rushed to the 300-meter distance within tens of seconds. If the Japanese army was given enough time, not to mention a regiment, even the entire 683rd Brigade would hardly have the opportunity to engage in hand-to-hand combat with the Japanese army.

To put it bluntly, Changle Village is still a small mountain village, but there are mountains and water here, and there is a lot of flat land. The living conditions are considered superior in the Taihang Mountains.

However, when the Japanese came, everything was changed.

The green seedlings that had already turned green were basically trampled, and the village that had long been evacuated and empty was also set on fire by the 108th Division that passed by in a hurry, and half of it was burned. This is because the 108th Division was frightened and eager to escape, otherwise this village with five or six hundred people would definitely be burned to a white land.

If it were not for the war, this quiet little mountain village would be enough to be called a peaceful life, but the war finally burned here, when thousands of Chinese soldiers in gray military uniforms and camouflage hats arrived here.

‘Boom! Boom! Boom!’ The terrifying explosion sounded in the quiet land before ten o’clock in the morning.

The huge explosion startled the flocks of birds in the surrounding mountains and forests. The flocks were so large that they flapped their wings and flew in the sky, almost like a group of dark clouds, which amazed the Chinese soldiers hiding in the mountains and forests.

Having stayed in Taihang Mountain for half a year, they had thought about these wild birds due to lack of food and clothing, but they were reluctant to use guns to shoot birds because they had too few bullets. They mostly used homemade slingshots, but the range and power of that thing were ultimately limited, and they really didn’t taste many bites of the bird meat.

Who would have thought that there would be so many birds in the mountains? If I had known earlier.

Perhaps what Comrade Wang Xiaoqiang said with regret while slapping his thigh represented the voice of many Chinese soldiers: “Damn it, I knew that everyone should have a slingshot.”

The various wild vegetables that had always been the main dishes on the table of the 683rd Brigade were ultimately wasted at the moment when the flock of birds took off.

However, compared to the frightened flocks of birds circling in the sky, the big iron birds flapping their wings and dropping "big shit" were the focus of the Chinese soldiers' attention.

You won't die if you don't eat bird meat, but the things dropped by these iron birds can kill a large number of people.

The power of the 500-pound bomb explosion can feel the scorching heat wave even from a distance of seven or eight hundred meters, and they feel the same fear even if they are hiding in the deep mountains and forests.

Yes, the first enemy that the 683rd Brigade encountered was not the Second Mixed Brigade that was beginning to march quickly towards this side, but the Japanese planes.

Yamamoto ignored the actual geographical terrain of Changle Village, but it did not mean that he would ignore the Chinese army building positions in front of him.

At his request, under Xiang Yue Qingshi's anxious order, the 16 Japanese aircraft formations assembled at Yuancheng Airport took off at full capacity at 9:10, intending to bomb the target area discovered by the reconnaissance aircraft.

When marching to Changle Village overnight, Brigade Commander Cheng knew that with the current intensity of Japanese reconnaissance planes taking off frequently for reconnaissance, the two infantry regiments' large-scale actions of digging defense lines along the river would definitely not escape the observation of the Japanese army, and Japanese planes would definitely bomb the defense areas along the river bank.

Therefore, when he set out in the mountains, he made full preparations.

The two infantry platoons named by him personally all carried three days of military rations and clean water. Except for the necessary weapons and ammunition, the rest of the supplies were handed over to others for safekeeping. Their journey was much farther than the main force of the 683rd Brigade.

Each infantry platoon has three infantry squads, which will be divided into three groups based on the squad. Each infantry squad is about 6 kilometers apart, and the farthest one is about 22 kilometers away from the original city north of Changle Village.

The reason for sending two infantry platoons is naturally because the two directions are like the two tentacles of the long dragon of Zhuozhang River where Changle Village is located to the east and north.

Their role is reconnaissance, but more of a warning, and they are not even defending against Japanese infantry, but aircraft.

The reason for the two directions is based on the terrain of Changle Village. If the Japanese army changes direction to enter the battlefield and the guard troops do not find it, it will cause great losses to the two infantry regiments that are deployed in Zhuozhang River.

The Japanese will never give any chance to the opponent who tries to stop their troops from escaping from the tiger's mouth.

As expected, although the Japanese army did not send all bombers this time, most of them were fighters, but the bombs dropped ranged from 200 pounds to 500 pounds. The huge crater was almost enough to trap a 89 tank.

The 683rd Brigade did not have enough field radios, but it was still able to equip each infantry squad with a telescope, and the method used was also the most primitive beacon fire communication.

The bonfire pile built by more than a dozen people was filled with a lot of wet firewood, and the thick smoke column rising was tens of meters high. When the weather was good, it was enough for people five or six kilometers away to see it.

It was this simple communication method that allowed the officers and soldiers of the 683rd Brigade who were building fortifications along the Zhuozhang River to receive early warning 5 minutes in advance.

Although 5 minutes was not enough for nearly 2,000 people to retreat to the mountains, it was enough for half of the 2,000 people to hide in the anti-artillery caves that had been dug in advance.

That was the fortification that began to be built when they arrived at the Zhuozhang River defense line in the early morning.

The loess in the Changle Village area is upright and dry and difficult to seep water, which is very suitable for digging caves. Therefore, the officers and soldiers of the 683rd Brigade almost dug large holes on the loess slope behind the position according to the model of caves.

The cave roof has a thickness of four or five meters of loess. In order to prevent the explosion of the bomb from collapsing the cave, the cave is supported by tree trunks cut from the mountains as thick as an adult's thigh. The excavated loess is piled in front of the cave to resist the air waves caused by the bomb.

Three hours may not be enough for the two main infantry regiments to dig out all the anti-artillery caves, but it can accommodate 1,000 people, which is basically enough.

The long defense line against the Second Mixed Brigade is not only the 1,800-meter-long defense line on the bank of the Zhuozhang River, but also includes the flank mountains 300 meters away from the loess road, with at least seven or eight high ground positions.

The entire Changle Village area is like a long-necked fish basket. As long as the main force of the Second Mixed Brigade dares to drill in, it will be impossible for it to move forward or come out.

It doesn't matter if they dare not to enter. The army of the Four-Line Regiment behind them is only 20 kilometers away from them. This kind of flat ground march will take at most 3 hours to reach the battlefield.

Unless Yamamoto wants to sit and wait for death, he has no choice but to attack the Zhuozhang River defense line.

The arrival of the Japanese fighter formation actually shows Yamamoto's determination. He wants to use his air advantage to catch the fish but not the net.

To put it bluntly, even if Yamamoto was set up by the Chinese military, he was still proud and believed that the Chinese could not stop his progress with just a small river.

The troops deployed by the 683rd Brigade this time are the guard battalion directly under the brigade headquarters, the two main regiments of 771 and 772, and a supplementary regiment. The newly formed independent regiment has not yet formed combat effectiveness and was left behind by the 921st Division as a reserve behind the defense line against the 16th Division. Even so, the total force is as high as 8,000 people, 6,000 of whom are busy on the high ground on the sides of the road, and only 2,000 people are deployed to block the main defense line of the Japanese army.

It is not that this defense line built along the river is not important, but that Brigade Commander Cheng cannot consume limited troops under the threat of Japanese fighters.

The reason why the Japanese reconnaissance plane observed that nearly 10,000 Chinese soldiers were frantically building positions along the Zhuozhang River was because it was still flying too high.

If he had enough courage and lowered the altitude by 300 meters, the Japanese reconnaissance plane pilot with a telescope might find that the shadowy gray figures on the position were a little bit wrong.

They really didn't need to stand straight when his plane whizzed past.

What, showing military posture?

Those are all wooden people.

When the 683rd Brigade was lurking in the mountains, it ordered the entire army, at least every two people, to tie a wooden man with mountain vines. Not to mention the camouflage on their heads and the officers and soldiers, in order to make it more realistic, many officers and soldiers even put on their new military uniforms that they usually didn't want to wear on the wooden man.

Therefore, in the eyes of the Japanese reconnaissance plane pilots flying at high speed, the Chinese below were like a group of hardworking little ants digging trenches along the river.

Originally, the Japanese pilots who roared into the battlefield from the east had a chance to correct this mistake. After all, it was unreasonable not to run away when they saw them coming.

But the tragedy was that their commander was an old acquaintance of the Chinese military and civilians.

Yes, Captain Sasaki, who had never died in a hundred battles, came again, or in other words, in the Southeast Shanxi Campaign that had lasted for 10 days, Captain Sasaki had participated in the battle for more than 6 days. Every time he was frightened and his face turned pale, but every time he led his men back to the airport unscathed.

For this, he was even named and commended by the Army Aviation Headquarters. If the Southeast Shanxi Campaign won a big victory, it would not be impossible to be promoted again.

Promoted to Major of the Army Aviation Corps, but a captain-level figure, unless it was an important battle, he almost didn't have to fly the plane himself, perfectly achieving Captain Sasaki's dream-surviving until the end of the war.

As for his promotion speed, he jumped three levels from second lieutenant to major in one year. Not to mention in the Japanese army, even in the four-line regiment with the fastest promotion speed due to military merit, only Tang Tuanzuo could match him.

You can tell me, isn't it awesome? Others are promoted by military merit, but Captain Sasaki is just lucky.

Logically speaking, if you encounter such a good thing that real pie keeps falling from the sky, everyone should be proud, but Captain Sasaki doesn't think so. He attributes this to his personal characteristic of being highly alert as long as he sits in the cabin. He has seen too many real cases where his predecessors and even predecessors of their predecessors were shot into turkeys by Chinese machine guns because of a moment of laxity.

Therefore, the height of the Japanese aircraft group diving into the battlefield at high speed was 1,200 meters!

The reason why they had to dive was that they had been at an altitude of 3,600 meters.

At this altitude, let alone anti-aircraft machine guns, even the German 88 anti-aircraft guns, which were known as the strongest anti-aircraft guns on the surface, probably couldn't do anything to them.

The sufficient altitude gave the Japanese pilots enough sense of security, but correspondingly, their observation of the ground was almost non-existent. Otherwise, how could they not find the clear smoke column on the ground?

Of course, even if they found it, the Japanese pilots probably wouldn't care too much. This is a battlefield. They have seen many villages with smoke and fire in the past few days. Maybe it was also the work of the infantry.

The 16 Japanese planes were divided into 4 waves, diving into the bombing area from the mountains in the east, first turning the wide area along the river into a sea of ​​fire.

Then, not satisfied yet, they also dropped nearly ten aerial bombs on the mountains by the river.

Although no Chinese soldiers were seen in the mountains, Captain Sasaki, relying on their intuition, believed that there must be a large number of Chinese hiding in the nearby mountains and forests.

Because it was impossible to stop the Second Mixed Brigade with just one river.

However, in Captain Sasaki's opinion, the fleet he led had successfully completed the mission, and the areas marked by the reconnaissance aircraft had been completely destroyed. No matter how tenacious the Chinese were, they could not escape the air waves of heavy bombs, and they would suffer heavy casualties.

This was the conclusion drawn by two Type 96 fighters in the fleet that had dropped all their bombs and descended 200 meters to observe the battlefield.

Do your own thing well, there is no need to make trouble, and being alive is more important than anything else. This is Captain Sasaki's philosophy.

Unfortunately, Captain Sasaki was promoted too quickly after all. To use an old Chinese saying, his foundation was too shallow, and not everyone obeyed him as a captain.

For example, he had a lieutenant Yoshino Xiaoyang under his command. He was one of the senior pilots specially transferred from Pingbeicheng Airport by the Army Aviation to prepare for the Southeast Shanxi Campaign.

The word senior! It sounds like a compliment, but no senior personnel like it. For example, senior beauties, you know as soon as you hear them, they may be beautiful, but they are also old. In the military, so-called seniority is actually a synonym for those who have long qualifications but are promoted slowly.

A lieutenant who is nearly 30 years old, seeing a guy who is four or five years younger than him and has a higher rank than him, and it is rumored that he got it by offering sacrifices to his comrades, do you think he can be convinced?

Yoshino Xiaoyang stubbornly believed that the Army Aviation should do more for friendly forces, and should not drop the remaining dozen bombs on the already devastated yellow land, but should drop them in the nearby mountains and forests, which may cause a large number of casualties to the Chinese hiding there.

For this subordinate who had only been on the battlefield for a few days, it was difficult for Captain Sasaki to explain to him on the battlefield that the battlefield was dangerous, so he could only acquiesce.

Because bombing the forests was not something Xia Jiba could do in one go, he had to lower the altitude a bit, it would be best if he could see the Tibetans, even if he couldn't see clearly, at least he could determine where the people were hiding, such as in the valley or on the hillside.

So, Yoshino Xiaoyang led the three fighter planes that still had bombs and lowered the altitude by 400 meters.

This was mainly because they had been busy here for a long time, but the Chinese were hiding tightly and hadn't fired a single shot.

Or, it was the relatively smooth bombing in the past few days that made him relax, causing Captain Sasaki's caution to be described by him as cowardly and afraid of death.

But he forgot that the altitude of 1,200 meters was the range that anti-aircraft machine guns could not reach, but 800 meters was within reach.

Brigade Commander Cheng had a good temper, but it depended on the time. Even if his own people made him angry, he would still stare at them! Not to mention the Japanese.

His current 683rd Brigade is not like before. The few heavy machine guns have to count their bullets. If the machine gunners use more bullets than they should in a battle, they have to write a self-criticism.

Now, the two main regiments, the 772nd and 771st Regiments, are equipped with no less than 30 heavy machine guns. He can do nothing but watch the Japanese planes drop bombs at an altitude of 1,000 meters. Now that they dare to come down, he will not indulge them.

"Order, all heavy machine gun positions, shoot upwards for me. Even if you can't shoot them down, you have to scare them so much that they can't lay eggs!" Brigade Commander Cheng ordered with his back teeth gritted.

From this military order, it can be seen that Brigade Commander Cheng is quite determined, but he doesn't have much confidence.

Using heavy machine guns to shoot at airplanes is also a last resort for the Chinese army, but because of the unprofessional equipment and unprofessional shooters, the biggest effect on Japanese planes is just deterrence, so that their altitude does not drop too low.

Moreover, in many cases, the gains did not outweigh the losses. The bold Japanese planes often relied on their high speed to drop bombs on the exposed firepower points on the ground, resulting in the destruction of the heavy firepower points.

Brigade Commander Cheng also saw that the Japanese planes had dropped a lot of bombs, and estimated that they had few bombs left, so he dared to order the camouflaged heavy machine gun positions on several mountain tops to open fire.

As many as 20 heavy machine gun positions opened fire crazily, and the sudden dense firepower on the ground really scared the four Japanese fighter planes led by Yoshino Xiaoyang.

The crazy bullets may belong to Xia Jiba, but the victory is in large numbers, and several bullets even hit the wings of the fighter plane under Yoshino Xiaoyang's seat.

Feeling the fighter plane tremble slightly under the impact of the bullet's kinetic energy, it would be a lie to say that you are not afraid. Yoshino Xiaoyang and several Japanese pilots were so scared that they pulled the bomb gate and quickly dropped the bombs first.

The lighter the plane, the faster it will run. This is common sense.

As for whether it was the flowers and plants in Taihang Mountain or the Chinese that were bombed, that was not considered by the frightened Japanese pilots.

The Japanese plane began to rise, and the Chinese shooters could only pull the trigger in vain, watching the Japanese plane about to escape.

Then, a flock of birds still circling broke into the crazy bullet area.

More than a dozen birds wailed and fell from the sky.

The 20 heavy machine guns of the 683rd Brigade did not kill the Japanese plane, but shot down more than a dozen birds.

This is the rhythm of adding food!

"Fuck, Wang Laoer and his gang of idiots, let's eat their own birds for lunch today." Wang Xiaoqiang, looking up at the sky with hope, punched the tree next to him.

The captain was too cruel. Is it okay to eat your own birds? Should you cut them up and roast them raw? The guards looked at each other in bewilderment!

An accident happened.

The frightened birds scattered and fled in all directions.

Yoshino Xiaoyang's fighter plane just hit it head-on.

It was not very clear on the ground. Perhaps only Yoshino Xiaoyang could see it most clearly. Two groups of blood mist burst out in front of him.

One group hit his windshield, and the other group was the propeller. The two poor birds turned into blood mist without even a cry.

Accidents caused by planes hitting birds will be a stubborn problem that will be difficult to solve in the aviation industry in the next few decades, let alone this era.

Yoshino Xiaoyang, whose face was covered with blood from the broken glass, could not see how his plane's propeller had been twisted. Perhaps only his companions could see the thick black smoke coming out of the engine.

So, 30 seconds later, with Lieutenant Yoshino Xiaoyang's tragic long cry, the Type 96 fighter plane that had completely lost control plunged into the rolling Zhuozhang River, exploding a brilliant firework that was no less than an aerial bomb.

A group of Chinese birds killed the iron bird, it was so magical, but it was a fact.

After all, the situation on the battlefield changes rapidly, and anything weird can happen.

On the tragic battlefield of World War II, a bullet that penetrated the soldier's high play and hit the female nurse's abdomen, eventually leading to the existence of a little baby in the world, and birds can't shoot airplanes?

"Lieutenant Yoshino did not listen to the advice of his superiors and acted on his own, causing the loss of the empire's property. Everyone should take this as a warning!" After Captain Sasaki ordered to return to a safe area, he made the following summary of Yoshino Xiaoyang who had died in the battle on the radio.

Translated, this is just "This is the end of not listening to orders, you deserve it!"

It can only be said that the battlefield has made Captain Sasaki gradually mature.

"Haha, go pick up those birds for me. I'm going to celebrate their success at noon today!" Wang Xiaoqiang punched the tree hard again, expressing his excitement.

Bird: In the end, not even a complete corpse is left!

Tree: Be a human being!