Rise From Eight Hundred

The flanking infantry squad that Songbei Yuki had high hopes for did arrive at the flank of the 3rd squad's position on time.

Unfortunately, they entered the minefield again.

Although the mines here were not so dense, with less than 40, when the Japanese army tried to evacuate from the minefield, another Japanese soldier was killed. The infantry squad of nearly 50 people was really confused to stay in the minefield.

How could you do this? You buried mines on the road to prevent us, but why did you bury precious mines all over the mountain?

It's not that the Japanese don't understand, but the world changes quickly. As soldiers of the 10th Division who have fought with the Chinese army for more than a year, the Chinese army they have seen is characterized by "poverty". It is normal to have no artillery and no shells, and even heavy machine gun bullets have to be used sparingly. It's not like here, it feels like the mountain is full of mines.

The so-called dilemma is referring to these more than 40 Japanese soldiers!

After receiving the report from Mizutani Squadron, Songbei Yuki almost vomited blood. He had already asked for help from the regiment headquarters in the county town, hoping to send metal detectors, but if that happened, the Chinese would have already fled to who knows where.

Captain Songbei Yuki was probably still dreaming of having superior forces to kill the enemy and destroy the mountain village.

He might not have thought that a small Japanese team with two tricycles and a truck carrying four metal detectors, which set out from the county town, was ambushed 3,000 meters away from Panzhai.

They would never reach Panzhai.

After receiving the "beacon fire" for help from Panzhai, Wei Donglai, the highest commander of the Four-line Regiment in Guangping County, issued a military order to block the dirt road to Panzhai.

An infantry squad and an infantry platoon of the 80th Army buried electronic ignition explosive packs on one side of the dirt road. The power of the roadside bombs could blow up the armored vehicles of American cowboys in the future desert battlefield, not to mention the simple small trucks of the Japanese army.

The lack of demining tools was only a secondary issue. At the moment when Songbei Youji launched two consecutive attacks and both failed, the guard soldiers in the rear received a piece of news that surprised and delighted him.

There seemed to be a lot of gray military uniforms in the mountains and forests in the rear, which meant that Chinese reinforcements had arrived.

What surprised Songbei Youji was that he didn't know how many Chinese people had come, but what made him happy was that the Chinese dared to besiege him without knowing their own strength.

Although his two infantry squadrons had more than 50 dead and more than 100 injured, with a loss of nearly an infantry squadron, he still had more than 200 infantry and two infantry guns, which was not something that a group of "local bastards" could bully.

What's more, Guangping County was not just his few hundred imperial troops. As the deputy commander of the first infantry battalion of the 63rd Infantry Regiment, Songbei Youji knew that this military operation to sweep southern Hebei was initiated by the commander of the front army himself.

For this reason, the division that returned to Pingbei City from the front line to rest and recuperate sent 3 infantry regiments to Handan City. If the original garrisons in Handan and Xingtai are added, the Empire has 5 infantry regiments alone. If the auxiliary arms such as baggage, artillery, and engineers and 3 regiments of security forces are added, the Empire's troops in southern Hebei are actually as high as 30,000.

For example, Guangping County has 63 infantry regiments, 2 infantry battalions and a security camp, with a total force of more than 3,000.

This time he led his troops to destroy a village that supported the resistance against the Empire. It was just a test attack by the commander of the regiment. If everything goes well, in a few days, all villages 4 kilometers away from the county will be dealt with in the same way.

The Empire does not want rebels, nor does it need any good citizens. It only wants slaves!

"Yoshi! The Chinese dared to gather here. Send a telegram to the regiment headquarters and tell Commander Kikukawa that the plan to lure out the snake has been successful. Our division will firmly attract the main force of the Chinese and wait for the arrival of the regiment reinforcements!" Matsukita Yuki sneered and ordered.

As a veteran Type A division in the Japanese army, the 10th Division naturally has extremely rich battlefield experience. Even if it is a "killing a chicken with a butcher knife" clearance operation, they actually did their homework before setting off.

It is not as imagined that they will lead people to the mountain village on the map. After all, the vast rural areas of North China have never been their control area. The 80th Army and various resistance armed forces are endless. In order to avoid unnecessary losses, this "Ember Destruction Operation" actually has another hidden tactical code name "luring out the snake"!

If the Chinese reinforcements do not come, then the Chinese mountain village with a population of more than a thousand will be slaughtered according to the original plan. If they really dare to come, it will immediately become an annihilation war with central attraction and peripheral counter-encirclement.

The goal of Jiro Kikukawa of the 63rd Infantry Regiment of the 10th Division is to wipe out the main military force of the 80th Army in Guangping County in one fell swoop.

The lives of more than a thousand Chinese and nearly 500 imperial troops are the bait to make the fish take the bait!

The appearance of a large number of Chinese has basically realized the tactical plan of the secret military meeting of the 63rd Infantry Regiment two days ago.

Perhaps the only two things that exceeded Yuki Matsukita's imagination were that the Chinese actually had a large number of mines, and the combat effectiveness and equipment of a small group of Chinese far exceeded his imagination.

They actually had a lot of German submachine guns, and their firepower was extremely fierce!

In addition, what made Yuki Matsukita most depressed was that the other side had a sharpshooter that even he, a veteran imperial officer, had to admire.

The sharpshooter had killed no less than 10 of his men, including Sergeant Takeo Yoshikawa, who was famous in the infantry regiment!

But until now, the Songbei Squadron, which was killed by the sharpshooter and sweated profusely, did not even see his shadow. Not to mention the grenade launcher, he could not do anything. Even the two infantry guns kept covering the area where he might be, and the deadly bullets were still shot from time to time.

This is also one of the reasons why the two rounds of attacks launched by the Songbei and Mizutani squadrons failed!

Of course, Songbei Yuki did not know that until now, the MG42 machine gun and 60 mortars in the bottom of the box of Lao Suanpan had not been used.

Yang Bicheng, who had improved his marksmanship after the New Year's Eve military competition, was only ranked fourth in the weapons list of the 3rd squad.

The 3rd squad, which was rebuilt after the anti-encirclement and suppression campaign in southeastern Shanxi, only added 4 new recruits, and the rest were all veterans. There were 11 people with the rank of sergeant, 3 sergeants, 4 sergeants, and 3 corporals, plus Lao Suanpan, a second-level sergeant who was comparable to the lieutenant level.

After the counterattack against the Japanese army's "New Year's Day Offensive" in January, the 3rd squad shone with a record of no one dead and only 3 wounded. Perhaps the combat power is not as good as the 4th squad of the 7th company with a strength of 20 people, but if it is said to be the second, no one will disagree.

The first place in the weapons list of the 3rd squad is not the MG42 or the 60-round mortar with a firing rate of 30 rounds per minute, but the overall combat power of the 3rd squad. There are 3 elite soldiers of the level of Yoshikawa Takeo in the 3rd squad.

That is to say, Matsukita Yuki did not launch a full-scale attack. If he invested two infantry squads to attack the 3rd squad's defense line, he would painfully find that no matter whether there were 50, 100 or even 150 people, his subordinates would still not approach 50 meters from the 3rd squad's defense line!

The old abacus's mind is also very clear. He is afraid that these hundreds of Japanese will be scared away and will not wait for the arrival of reinforcements.

This is the spirit of the officers and soldiers of the Four-Line Regiment now. They don't want to stop the Japanese army, but to kill them completely.

At this time, the highest commanders of both China and Japan on the scene were all "having their own agenda", which created the strange situation that the two sides fought each other at the first contact on the anti-mopping-up battlefield in southern Hebei.

At 1 pm, the Chinese army of more than a thousand people had all arrived near Panzhai Village.

The four infantry squads of the Four-Line Regiment were divided into two groups, one group of two squads and two infantry platoons of the Eighth Army and 300 militiamen, a total of more than 600 people, completely blocked the rear of Songbei Youji's troops in the mountains.

The other two infantry squads joined an infantry platoon of the Eighth Army and 200 militiamen, a total of more than 400 people, to set up blocking positions on the periphery of the mountain area to prevent the Japanese army from coming to support.

This is the valuable combat experience summed up by the Eighth Army and the Four-Line Regiment on the battlefield for a year and a half. At any time, do not put all the troops on the battlefield to annihilate the Japanese army.

Otherwise, once the Japanese reinforcements arrived, it would form a dilemma. Neither could they gnaw the hard bones in the encirclement, nor could they face the danger of being surrounded by the Japanese army.

Sure enough, their choice was correct!

Before the Chinese side had fully assembled, the Japanese troops in Guangping County had already marched out of the barracks. A full-strength infantry battalion and a security army infantry battalion, a total of more than 1,700 people, marched along the road towards Panzhai.

There were 10 tricycles and 15 trucks leading the way, and even 4 Type 94 small bean tanks, which fully demonstrated the strength of the semi-motorized A-type division!

At the same time, all the gates of Guangping County were locked, allowing entry but not exit to prevent anyone from leaking information.

But the small radio station purchased by the Four-Line Group at a high price was not only for the front-line troops. The intelligence department commanded by Gong Shaoxun has developed rapidly in the past two months.

In all the counties in southern Hebei, at least two intelligence stations were developed to prevent one from being destroyed and the entire county from falling into an intelligence vacuum.

Although there were loopholes in the reconnaissance intelligence that was not transmitted in time, such as the part of Songbei Youji that dispersed out of the city to attack Panzhai, the large-scale assembly out of the city without any concealment, such as the 63rd Infantry Regiment, could not be hidden from the intelligence station in the city.

"Order the whole company, no matter what method, quickly assemble to Panzhai! Power Battalion Artillery Company, my company needs heavy firepower support. Before 5 pm, I want to see 80mm howitzers put into battle! Inform the head of the Guangping County Division of the 80th Army Group that my unit needs their full assistance! And inform the commander of the regiment!" Wei Donglai, who was located in a plain village in the countryside of Guangping County, immediately issued a general mobilization of the whole company after receiving the emergency intelligence from Guangping County.

The platoons that received the telegram from the company commander immediately ordered the signalmen to run and verbally inform the villages and towns under their infantry platoons that they did not need to meet with the platoons and went directly to Panzhai!

The Guangping Division of the 80th Army Group has two infantry companies and a county armed brigade, with a regular army of 1,200 people. Excluding the two platoons that have already rushed to Panzhai, there are still more than 800 people. After the military orders at all levels were issued, they all began to line up and run towards Panzhai in less than 2 hours.

For a while, on the simple village roads, you can see fully armed gray uniforms rushing on the road from time to time.

The whole Guangping County is like a pot of boiling water, boiling in an instant.

In terms of regular troops alone, the Chinese side has about 1,500 people, and the Japanese army also has 1,500 people. If you add a security army infantry battalion of 600 people, the Japanese army will naturally have a greater advantage.

After all, the weapons and equipment of the security army are at least equal to that of a Chinese Type B division, and they are much stronger than the Chinese militia who only have bird guns and spears.

Tang Dao, which was about 70 kilometers away from Guangping County, made a quick judgment the moment it received the telegram from Wei Donglai. It was easy to fight against thousands of devils, but the Japanese army might have follow-up reinforcements.

Although Li Jiujin's and Cai Yongguan's troops near Guangping County can also provide support, we cannot rule out the Japanese army's "encircle Wei to save Zhao" strategy. If the Japanese troops in those two counties are allowed to steal their homes, it will be a strategic failure.

"Order, the 1st platoon of Longyan of the mountain infantry company, the 3rd platoon of Shen Laoliu of the reconnaissance company, and the 2nd platoon of Qin Wulang of the guard company to support Panzhai at full speed!" Tang Dao looked at his watch.

"Tell them that except for the weapons, ammunition and other equipment necessary for the battle, all other personal baggage should be left at the garrison. It is not me who needs them, but the comrades of the 2nd Company need them to rush to the Panzhai battlefield within 10 hours!"

"Also, order the 1st Company of Yang Xiaoshan of the Guard Battalion to cooperate with the 1st and 2nd Platoons of the Heavy Company, the 1st Company of Mo Songzi of the Anti-aircraft Battalion, and the 1st Company of the Baggage Company to rush to the Panzhai battlefield. The entire army does not need to hide their whereabouts and advance at full speed. I will inform the Ji'nan Military Division of the 80th Group Army to intercept the Japanese invaders along the way!"

10 hours to reload 70 kilometers, this is definitely the most rigorous test for the officers and soldiers of the three most elite special companies of the Four-line Regiment.

You know, in the past time and space, the world-famous infantry regiment of the Chinese army that entered the ice field battlefield also took 14 hours to run 5 kilometers in the mountains!

For roughly the same distance, Tang Dao shortened this time by 4 hours.

Although more than 40 kilometers is not an advantage in the mountains, the individual load of the three special infantry platoons is far greater than that of the infantry regiment.

Since the Japanese grenade launcher was completely eliminated and the 60-ton mortar with the modified Tang Tuanzuo was used, the firepower of the infantry squad has been greatly enhanced, but correspondingly, the weight of the 8-kilogram gun body and 1-kilogram shell of the 60-ton mortar has also increased greatly.

Fortunately, thanks to the emergence of general-purpose machine guns such as MG42 and MG34, the difference between light and heavy machine guns in the Four-Line Regiment is whether to use a tripod or a bipod. Even if a tripod is used to stabilize the trajectory, the weight of the whole set of machine guns does not exceed 20 kilograms. The machine gunner and the deputy gunner plus an ammunition handler can bear most of the weight of a heavy machine gun team. Otherwise, the machine gun alone can make the soldiers tired and vomit blood.

But even so, the soldiers who throw away the individual food and bedding, personal change of clothes and other baggage are still about 15 kilograms.

If they can arrive at the specified time, they will surely create another miracle of long-distance field raid in the history of war.

Tang Dao's judgment is correct.

At 4 pm, when the main force of the Japanese army that arrived in the mountains around Panzhai continued to attack the Chinese side, which was obviously hastily deployed defense lines, Colonel Jiro Kikukawa of the 63rd Infantry Regiment of the 10th Division stationed in Guangping County felt the crisis.

It is impossible for a group of "Tuba" and underground armed resistance personnel to stop the attack of more than a thousand regular troops. If they can stop it, it means that it is not an ordinary Chinese army.

Could it be that in addition to the group of bumpkins in the 80th Army, the Chinese actually have elite regular troops entering southern Hebei?

When he thought of this possibility, Jiro Kikukawa was shocked!

Jiro Kikukawa can be regarded as an outlier among the middle and senior officers of the Japanese army. He is a typical stable personality. Once he feels the crisis, he doesn't care about face or not, and immediately asks for help from his own brigade commander stationed in Handan.

When he heard that his own men had dispatched one and a half infantry battalions plus a security army infantry battalion, they could not guarantee victory, and there was even a risk of being eaten up by two infantry squadrons and an artillery squad, the Japanese Army Major General in Handan was a little confused.

What's the matter? Isn't he in his own occupied area but in Zhongtiao Mountain and the front line of southeastern Shanxi?

After being confused, he was overjoyed. Originally, he was dissatisfied with the tactics of the front army headquarters that used the Type A division to sweep through the barren rural areas of China, which was completely like using cannons to kill mosquitoes. At this time, he could actually encounter such a big fish as the Chinese regular army, which was simply a military achievement falling from the sky.

The two counties closest to Guangping County each sent about 2 infantry squadrons, a heavy machine gun squad and an artillery squad, totaling about 1,200 people, to kill Panzhai in a mighty manner.

With this alone, the number of Japanese regular troops dispatched reached 2,500. If auxiliary arms such as tanks and artillery are added, the strength is barely an infantry regiment.

According to the understanding of the commanders at all levels of the Japanese army, even if they were facing a regular infantry division of China, the imperial warriors of the 10th Division would not be afraid at all.

Unfortunately, what they are facing now is a reduced version of the Four-Line Regiment.

Although the regular infantry is not large, there is only one infantry company of more than 300 people and three special infantry platoons, which is about 530 people at most.

But there are still a lot of large-caliber heavy mortars and anti-aircraft artillery. Its ground-to-air firepower has actually surpassed the full attack of the Four-Line Regiment when it ambushed an infantry regiment of the 14th Division in the Bihe River.

In this afternoon and evening, reinforcements from both China and Japan have arrived continuously!

Both sides are planning to kill the opponent in one fell swoop!

But no matter what the commanders of both sides think, Captain Matsukita Yuki, who is in the center of the encirclement, found out in the evening that the "hiding the sky and crossing the sea" tactics set by His Excellency Kikukawa Jiro is very good, but he really begs him not to use it in the future.

The insidious Chinese actually hid their cannons. Although they were small cannons, the sound of dozens of shells falling like rain was unbearable for anyone!

Compared with the Chinese small cannons, the two 220-kilogram infantry cannons were like iron fools, with no mobility at all!

What does it mean to be beaten? The infantry cannons that had been blown into two pieces of scrap iron were proved by the tragic scene.

Baga! It turns out that no matter how the final battle turns out, he, the ‘bait’, will be gone.

Looking at his subordinates, who only had less than 100 men left, and the wounded soldiers everywhere, Captain Matsukita Yuki was very sad.