Rise From Eight Hundred

Tang Dao and Lei Xiong's first battalion reunited much faster than he thought.

Less than 3 miles away from Licheng, they saw a convoy that stirred up dust all the way.

If it weren't for the telescope that showed a bunch of people standing, lying, and hanging on it, all wearing blue military uniforms, Guo Shouzhi almost ordered to stop the enemy.

Yes, although it was a Japanese car, the people on it were Chinese.

The first battalion led by Lei Xiong had successfully completed the blocking mission!

The time when they defeated the Japanese army was even earlier than the Battle of Shentouling!

The reason was that the Japanese army from Shecheng was too "fast".

Shecheng is only more than 20 kilometers away from Licheng. The closer distance is only one aspect. The main reason is that the Japanese army in Shecheng happened to have a part of the cavalry regiment of the 108th Division and a part of the baggage regiment.

The Japanese cavalry regiment was placed in the permanent division. It was a real cavalry with war horses and sabers! War horses have speed and endurance, and the cavalry riding on them is also very powerful. Even in the war era dominated by hot weapons, if there is not enough continuous firepower, the highly mobile cavalry is still very lethal, especially in the Chinese battlefield, or more precisely in the northern battlefield. The firepower intensity of the Chinese army is really hard to describe when facing the Japanese cavalry!

But as we all know, war horses are precious things. If you want to maintain the strength and speed of horses, you have to eat and drink well. Just giving them grass is not enough. The Japanese army's baggage warehouse in Licheng County has stored tens of thousands of kilograms of soybeans, corn and other concentrated feeds, which are prepared for war horses and pack horses.

And for this Sino-Japanese War, the Japanese Army had a total of 24 divisions in 1937, and 21 were deployed. By 1938, 32 of the 34 divisions in the country were deployed, accounting for 94% of the total number of the national army. The consumption can be imagined.

The consumption is too high, and we have to find ways to cut expenses, especially at the Imperial Conference, the Japanese Army and the Japanese Navy, the "lifelong enemy", kept dragging their feet. The expenses of the 17 permanent divisions cannot be touched by anyone. Those division commanders are all protected by the big bosses, so we can only start with the second-line divisions, such as the permanent divisions like the 108th Division.

Therefore, the so-called cavalry regiment of the 108th Division is actually a mixture of motorcycles and war horses.

To put it bluntly, the cavalry regiment of a permanent division like the 5th Division has 4 cavalry squadrons under its command, which are cavalry with hundreds of strong war horses, but the 108th Division has two real cavalry squadrons, and the other two rely on motorcycles.

Anyway, in terms of mobility, everyone is about the same, and they don’t need to run with two legs. The only difference is that motorcycles only consume oil and don’t consume feed, which saves a lot of money.

Besides, the Japanese army's logistics regiment, if compared with Germany, Britain, and France in the current Western world, the Japanese army logistics equipped with a large number of pack horses and carts is like a bumpkin meeting the future Jack Ma, one in the sky and the other on the ground, but if compared with the Chinese army, it will be upgraded to a local rich man in a blink of an eye. Each logistics regiment has more than 100 trucks, which is a configuration that even the principal's direct troops dare not think of.

Therefore, when the Japanese army in the direction of Shecheng received Licheng's request for help, they immediately organized two infantry squadrons and a "cavalry squadron". More than 20 sidecar motorcycles carried nearly 100 Japanese soldiers, 13 trucks carried 400 Japanese soldiers, dragged two artillery pieces, and carried 4 heavy machine guns. The rescue force with a total strength of more than 500 people rushed to the direction of Licheng.

Although the road between Shecheng and Licheng is bumpy, as long as the trucks do not race, it is enough to move forward at a speed of 20 kilometers per hour.

Originally, according to the speed of this "mechanized" force on the Chinese battlefield, it could reach the battlefield within an hour and a half.

But this Japanese army was much more cautious than the 1,500 Japanese troops that set out from Lucheng. The distance between the leading motorcycles and trucks was more than 2,000 meters, and they had to stop and search every time they reached a dangerous area. This was also because they were scared by the harassment of the 921st Division in the past few months.

Although this would slow down the time to reinforce Licheng, from the perspective of the Japanese army, no one would have thought that the Sixth Infantry Battalion with a solid wall and 1,000 troops would fall in less than an hour.

Moreover, to love others, you must first love yourself. If you are finished, who will reinforce Licheng?

The commander of this Japanese army has enough life experience to fundamentally avoid the fate of being ambushed.

Lei Xiong sent out special forces from the special operations squadron long before entering the battlefield. After observing the marching method of the Japanese army, he immediately adjusted his tactics. Since the Japanese were cautious, he changed the ambush to a blocking attack.

The battalion with 2 150mm heavy mortars, 8 82mm mortars and 2 92mm infantry guns completely crushed the Japanese army in terms of heavy firepower, which was why he dared to fight the Japanese army head-on.

The location where Lei Xiong chose to stop the Japanese army was called Yubei Valley, which was between Licheng and Dongyang Pass, which had just been occupied by the Japanese army, about 6 kilometers away from Dongyang Pass and 7 kilometers away from Licheng.

Just by hearing the name Yubei Valley, you can know what kind of terrain this is. Standing on the highest peak several kilometers away from here, you can see that this piece of terrain is like a fish, narrow and slender.

It looks like a suitable ambush battlefield.

However, forget about attacking from both sides of the road. There are smooth stone mountains on both sides of the road. It is difficult for even a good climber to climb up in a short time. The two warring parties have given up on fighting just by looking up. It's the commanding heights. On this mountain, without any bullets, most of the climbers can be killed just by climbing.

However, the originally quite curved road had to make an almost 90-degree turn here, because there is a hill here. The same basalt material is placed in the future. Maybe a tunnel will pass through it, or it may simply be blasted away. It’s done, but in this era, we can only surrender before the uncanny workmanship of nature, and the road curves around the mountainside.

And this mountain is the main blocking position chosen by Lei Xiong!

Zhao Daqiang's 1st company is the main company stationed on this position. Cooperating with them is the 1st battalion fire support company, which has 6 heavy machine guns and 10 light machine guns!

This is only the light and heavy firepower on the surface. 400 meters behind the hill, there are 8 Type 82 mortars and 2 150-heavy mortars! That is Lei Xiong’s final killer weapon!

Nearly a hundred cavalry were responsible for guarding the safety of the artillery, while the other two infantry companies, the 3rd company, were left as reserves. Wei Donglai's 2nd company had been under the leadership of the guide in the high mountains as early as when the 1st company was frantically building fortifications. Traveling through the small roads in between, they will launch another ruthless attack on the remaining enemies at a location more than 3,000 meters away from the battlefield.

Lei Xiong's idea is that even if he fights hard, he must break the heart of the Japanese and let them know that they are nothing without the advantage of firepower.

At six o'clock in the morning, it was just dawn, and the first wave of Japanese troops consisting of eight motorcycles had just rounded the hilltop. With the sound of Zhao Daqiang's gunshot, the battle began.

The only shortcoming of the four-line regiment in fighting this kind of mountain warfare is that there are no mines.

According to Tang Dao's tactical vision, the battle should not be started by gunshots, but by detonated landmines on the roadside. The violent explosions can not only stun the opponent in the first wave, but also completely destroy the highway. , blocking the opponent's way.

It is much easier to move forward and out of the range of fire than to think in one place and exert all your energy in one place.

Unfortunately, although equipment like land mines is not a high-tech gadget, with the current industrial level of the Four Lines Group, it is really impossible to make it. Teacher Xiao He’s team can now make simple things with limited mechanical processing level. Equipment modification.

If you want to really start manufacturing, you need various finishing lathes!

However, for Japanese motorcycles without the protection of armored vehicles, bullets are enough!

The hail of bullets composed of semi-automatic rifles and submachine guns at a range of 50 meters made the Japanese soldiers who were caught off guard feel like dying!

Just the first wave of attacks made more than 20 Japanese soldiers hate the mountain road. 7 of the 8 motorcycles were stopped. Another one panicked and fell into a deep ditch more than three meters high on the side of the road. Even if you are not dead, you will be crippled!

To the condescending Yilian Company, the counterattack organized in a panic was like a child's desperate little fist!

More than 50 melon-style grenades thrown from the mountain gave the remaining 10 or so Japanese soldiers a good experience of what Imperial Japan's military manufacturing is!

To be honest, although the melon grenade designed as a shrapnel-killing type has a small charge and cannot blow people away like the German long-handled grenade, the cliff of shrapnel flying everywhere can make the unprotected infantry desperate.

Especially when there are so many.

By the time the Japanese troops behind them reacted with gritted teeth, the first company on the hill had already eliminated the first group of Japanese troops with a hail of bullets and a storm of grenades.

Chinese, set up a defense line here!

Its purpose is nothing more than to prevent reinforcements from the Imperial Army! The Japanese commander in the rear easily got the answer!

What should you do if you encounter this situation?

We must fight! For the Japanese army who advocated martial arts, there was no such thing as a southern wall in the world. Even if there was one, it should not belong to the Chinese.

Yes, you can say that the Japanese army is brutal, or you can say that the Japanese army is inhumane, but in terms of their ability to execute the military orders of their superiors, the Japanese army during this period was definitely at the forefront of the world's military.

Of course, being too arrogant is also the main factor that gives rise to this mentality!

Moreover, this kind of almost iron-headed execution is from top to bottom, even if you are a lieutenant general or a general.

The Battle of Hengyang, which will be known as the "Eastern Defense of Moscow" in the future, will be the most stubborn battle of the Japanese army under the influence of this mentality!

In this battle, the Chinese army participated in the battle with a total strength of 17,000 infantry corps, while the Japanese army besieging the city had more than 100,000 troops in five divisions.

In terms of the strength comparison between the two sides, this battle even exceeded the strength ratio of the 67th Army that held off the Japanese Tenth Army for four days and nights in the small town of Songjiang six months ago.

China will definitely lose! This was the prediction of all military strategists in the East and West who were paying attention to this war before the war began.

However, they predicted the ending correctly, but no one expected that the process would be so bloody!

This battle lasted 47 days and nights! The Chinese defenders increased from 17,000 to 1,200, but what about the Japanese troops? 20,000 people died in the battle and nearly 60,000 were injured. Even Zuo Jiujian, the commander of the 68th Division, was killed in the battle. The battle losses on both sides were jaw-dropping!

So much so that at the end of the battle, the Japanese army, known for its iron-headedness, relented and publicly promised that as long as the remaining troops in the city surrendered, they would not do any harm to the wounded soldiers or civilians who were still alive in the city!

This is probably the first battle in the history of the Sino-Japanese war in which Japan seemed to have won but was far away from victory.

But no matter what, the iron-headed temperament of the Japanese was fully exposed in this meat grinder-style city defense battle. They might not have attacked so hard, but in order to show the imperial bravery, they fought hard.

So, a bloody head!

Even if they can fight such a battle, just a hill in front of them and a few Chinese people can stop their determination to reinforce friendly forces? How can it be?

Parking the car on a mountain road 1,500 meters away from the battlefield, two infantry squadrons dragged two infantry cannons and four heavy machine guns and headed towards the battlefield!

That momentum is awesome.

As a result, they encountered a head-on attack from Zhao Daqiang's company. The firepower network composed of 6 heavy machine guns and 10 light machine guns confused the Japanese infantry.

Are these Baga fighting against a Chinese infantry regiment?

Fortunately, they still have two infantry guns!

As soon as the artillery fires out, the Chinese will be finished. This is the battle mode that the Japanese army is accustomed to!

Continuous clouds of gunpowder smoke rose up on the hilltops covered with bushes. The Japanese infantrymen, who were so pressed by the light and heavy machine guns that they could not even lift their heads, almost wet their eyes with excitement at that moment!

Seeing that the onboard cheers were about to linger in the mountains of China, "Boom! Boom! Boom!" A cloud of bullets rose in the area where the two Japanese infantry guns were located.

The reason why the eight 82 mortars and two 150-heavy mortars remained silent for more than ten minutes before the battle started was because they were waiting for the Japanese infantry artillery.

Because of the twists and turns of the mountain road, the Japanese infantry artillery would never stay too far. The fact is that in order to maintain the hit rate, the two infantry artillery were actually pushed to 500 meters away from the first company position. Artillery observers at high altitudes could use telescopes to The area where the Japanese artillery was located was clearly discovered.

The intensity of the concentrated fire attack by eight mortars did not give the two 92-inch infantry guns a chance to move. In just 5 minutes, this infantry artillery team was already a thing of the past.

If the stunned Japanese commander Fanfan had a clearer mind at this time and led the infantry to turn around and run away, with more than 400 troops, Wei Donglai's 2nd company would probably be helpless, and at most it would just rub salt into its wounds.

Unfortunately, no!

"Don't worry, the Chinese won't have too many artillery shells!" Seeing that his most important heavy firepower, the infantry artillery, was destroyed, Captain Takahashi Saikora, then the 1st Infantry Squadron of the 3rd Infantry Battalion of the 108th Infantry Regiment, unexpectedly I brought a bowl of poisonous chicken soup to my subordinates.

Without Ikkyu's mind, and even suffering from Ikkyu's brother's illness, Takahashi Saiku perfectly performed the consequences of walking on stilts in the air.

Name this! It's also a technical job, so I really can't do it.

The eight Type 82 mortars that have been exposed gave the Japanese army a good experience of what they mean by not having too many shells.

During the offensive and defensive battle for more than half an hour, eight 82-guns fired a full 300 rounds of artillery shells, taking away the lives of at least 150 Japanese soldiers and four heavy machine guns.

At this time, Takahashi Saisora ​​considered whether he wanted to love himself or his loved ones. Then, the second door finally received the 150 heavy force from the position of the Japanese truck and opened fire.

With only five rounds of artillery shells, four Japanese trucks were blown into pieces flying in the sky, blocking all the Japanese truck queues on the mountain road.

'idiot! Leave the first team to stop the enemy, and the rest will retreat! ’ When Takahashi Saikong issued the military order with a dejected face, he painfully discovered that there were only 200 people under his command, and he barely had an infantry squadron.

Then, the remnants of the Japanese army, which had a "mechanized" temperament, completely returned to their two legs and could run fast.

It was impossible not to run, and the remaining infantry team was completely defeated in only 3 minutes.

Because Lei Xiong even "crazy" ordered 10 artillery pieces to clear the infantry team's defense line. It was so prodigal that it even made the Japanese heartache. The Chinese were crazy!

Of course the Japanese didn't know that Lei Xiong had an idea about the truck that had not been bombed on the mountain road. In order to prevent the Japanese army from having time to cause damage to the truck, he had to end the battle as soon as possible.

When the charge bugle sounded and the rumble of horse hooves sounded on the mountain road, Takahashi Caikong almost peeed in shock. The Chinese even had cavalry. What kind of magical army did he encounter?

Regardless of blowing up the trucks still on the mountain road, the Japanese troops made a decisive decision to leave the road and drill into the mountains. They saved their lives, but left behind 8 trucks and 13 motorcycles that could still be driven.

Motorcycles are actually very easy to control. Most of the veterans of the 88th Division in the first battalion have played with them. Trucks are a little more difficult to control. However, the special forces from the special squadron have all received driving training during the thousands-mile march of the Four Troops. It's still no problem when the driver pulls the big guy back.

There are just a lot of people to pull. There are more than 40 people standing in the compartment of a car, and there are more than a dozen 'hanging up' outside. Plus the dozen three-wheeled motorcycles, it is hard to pull two infantry companies and a firepower The support company was all pulled up.

The artillerymen have their own pack horses, and the cavalry who do not continue to pursue the Japanese army will protect them as they move towards Licheng!

"The Great Luo of All Worlds"

Wei Donglai's 2nd Company has its own mission, and they also need to be vigilant in the direction facing Dongyangguan, and they need to stay in the mountainous area for the time being.

The first battalion that was ordered to return to Licheng turned into a motorized battalion, at least on this early morning.