Chapter 44: Total Annihilation
Facing the firepower of the Japanese heavy machine guns,
The Eighth Route Army troops that were diving down fell down like grass being mowed.
Seeing this, Maeda Tsuyoshi immediately grinned.
Tubalu, let me see how you break through the Imperial Army’s defense line?
However, the next second, the smile on Maeda Tsuyoshi's face froze.
Because the two Type 92 heavy machine guns that were roaring just now suddenly fell silent.
"Baga, what's going on?" When Maeda turned his head, he saw that the two machine gunners were lying on the barrel of the heavy machine gun and there was no sound.
They were shot to death by the Eighth Route Army at the same time !
One of the heavy machine gunners had his head blown off.
"Secondary shooter, hurry up!" Maeda Tsuyoshi roared.
The two assistant gunners quickly pushed aside the machine gunner's body and prepared to take over.
However, before the two assistant shooters could grasp the gun handles, two streams of light passed through their bodies.
The next moment, the two assistant gunners groaned and fell beside the base of the heavy machine gun.
Soon two more deputy shooters took over, but the result was no different. Two more streaks of light flashed by, and these two deputy shooters were also shot dead.
In the blink of an eye, six machine gunners were shot dead.
Maeda Tsuyoshi suddenly remembered something and looked up quickly. Sure enough, he saw about 300 meters ahead, a dozen Eighth Route Army soldiers lying on several hills, aiming their rifles at this position.
These dozen or so Eighth Route Army soldiers were obviously the same group as before, and their shooting skills were terrifyingly accurate!
Just as Maeda was looking at it, there was another flash of light at the muzzles of the guns of these Eighth Route Army soldiers.
Turning his head quickly, Maeda Tsuyoshi saw two more assistant gunners lying next to the heavy machine gun with their heads tilted. These were the seventh and eighth heavy machine gunners to be shot and killed by the enemy.
The heavy machine gun was actually suppressed by the rifle, what a great shame!
"Are you all dead?" Maeda Gang roared at the remaining twelve ammunition handlers, then picked up a Type 38 rifle and aimed at the hill ahead.
We must kill the Eighth Route Army sniper first!
At this time, Maeda Tsuyoshi could not care about the danger.
Because if he loses this battle, he will be dead.
The remaining twelve ammunition handlers woke up as if from a dream. Two of them were assigned to operate the heavy machine guns, while the remaining ten simultaneously picked up their Type 38 rifles, aimed at the hill ahead, and opened fire.
But it missed because the Eighth Route Army soldier was three hundred meters away and lying prone, so the bullet had a small area to hit him.
Maeda pulled the bolt to eject the cartridge case, then pushed the bolt to push a bullet into the chamber, and then raised the Type 38 rifle again to prepare for a second shot.
However, at this moment, an Arisaka rifle bullet rotated at high speed, penetrated into the middle of his nose, and came out from the back of his head, shattering half of his skull while also crushing the brain tissue in Maeda Tsuyoshi's cranial cavity. Maeda Tsuyoshi almost lost consciousness in an instant and fell straight back.
…
As soon as Maeda died, the Japanese troops at the six o'clock direction quickly collapsed.
Because this was almost an encounter battle, the Japanese army did not build any proper fortifications at all.
Moreover, the 1st Infantry Squadron defending the six o'clock direction was a rebuilt unit and its personnel had not been fully replenished, so it was unable to stop the officers and soldiers of the 2nd Battalion who were like a tiger descending from the mountain.
Regiment commander Li Yunlong led the team personally, and battalion commander Zhang Dabiao led a dozen veterans to serve as the assault team. The officers and soldiers of the Second Battalion had gone completely crazy, and they rushed forward with red eyes glaring.
In a blink of an eye, Zhang Dabiao had taken the lead in breaking into the main position of the Japanese.
"Go to hell!" With a loud roar, the machete in Zhang Dabiao's hand chopped down.
The Japanese soldier on the opposite side subconsciously raised his Type 38 rifle to block it. With a slight snapping sound, the Japanese soldier's left arm and the butt of the rifle were cut off.
The Japs let out a scream.
Zhang Dabiao followed up with another upward strike, cutting off half of the Japanese soldier's head.
"Zhang Dabiao, you're a loser." Li Yunlong saw this from a distance and cursed, "Can't you take it easy? Such a good rifle, and you ruined it like this."
"Captain, this is not my fault. I haven't even tried my best."
While Zhang Dabiao was speaking, he turned around and beheaded another Japanese soldier with his sword.
The Eight Breaking Swords of the 29th Army's Broadsword Team are really not just fancy stuff.
In the blink of an eye, more than twenty Japanese soldiers were stabbed to death by the officers and soldiers of the 2nd Battalion.
More than three hundred people besieged twenty or so people, with an average of fifteen people besieging one person. There was no way to win this battle.
As soon as the Japs in the six o'clock direction were destroyed, the Japs and puppet troops in the other two directions collapsed immediately.
Under the leadership of Ge Fugui, the puppet army swarmed towards Yangquan, but the remaining Japanese soldiers gathered together, and dozens of them formed a circular defensive formation with their backs to each other, trying to resist stubbornly.
But the Eighth Route Army did not give them any chance at all. They concentrated their six Czech-style guns and launched a sudden fire attack, which knocked down the last thirty or fifty Japanese soldiers.
The puppet troops were ultimately unable to escape.
Because the Wolf Warriors have already circled to the front.
After the leading few puppet soldiers were killed, the remaining puppet soldiers fled back like a flock of sheep. When they found that they had nowhere to go, they knelt down and surrendered.
Wang Ye looked at his pocket watch.
From the launch of the general offensive to the end of the battle,
It took less than half an hour in total.
Nearly two hundred Japanese soldiers and more than three hundred puppet troops who came out of the Huting stronghold were almost wiped out. Only four Japanese signalmen rushed out to ask for help before the independent regiment surrounded them.
Not many puppet soldiers were killed; most of them laid down their weapons and surrendered.
"Hurry up and clean up the battlefield, the Japanese reinforcements will arrive soon."
Li Yunlong's mouth stretched to his ears, and he said as he walked: "Hurry up!"
The harvest of this trip was quite significant. The weapons and equipment seized were almost enough to arm two main battalions.
What made Li Yunlong even happier was that he also seized two Type 92 heavy machine guns. Haha, the independent regiment finally had Type 92 heavy machine guns. With heavy machine guns, the firepower intensity was a world of difference.
Just when I was feeling happy, I suddenly heard Zhang Dabiao yelling, "Captain, guess what I found?"
Li Yunlong was inspecting the battlefield while cursing, "Did you pick up some gold ingots? Are you so happy?"
"Gold ingots are nothing." Zhang Dabiao laughed, "Captain, mortars, I found mortars, and two of them! Two!"
"Mortar?"
Li Yunlong suddenly became alert.
In the Battle of Cang Yunling, the reason why the New 1st Regiment was able to defeat the Sakata Regiment head-on was because of that mortar. He was just thinking about where to get a mortar, and now he has it?
"Where? Where? Where is the mortar?"
Li Yunlong immediately rushed over excitedly.
Zhang Dabiao carefully dug out two mortars from .
The two mortars of the Japanese were wasted, because in the previous exchange of fire, the Eighth Route Army advanced too quickly, so the machine gun firepower was almost not used, so the Japanese mortars were useless. From the beginning to the end of the battle, not even a single shell was fired.
Now all this benefits the Eighth Route Army.
Li Yunlong asked anxiously, "Hurry up and check if the firing pin is there?"
Zhang Dabiao quickly pried open the tailstock, and his face immediately fell.
Because the tailstock was bare and the firing pin had long disappeared.
"Damn it, I knew it!" Li Yunlong cursed, and quickly pried open the tail seat of another mortar, and found that the firing pin on it was also missing.
Apparently, the Japanese artilleryman pulled out the firing pin before dying and threw it into some corner.
In fact, it was fortunate that the Japanese gunners and ammunition handlers were scattered in the chaos just now, otherwise the Japanese artillery would only need two shells to blow these two mortars into scrap metal.
At least the gun barrel was saved for now.
Li Yunlong was still not satisfied.
"Find it for me," Li Yunlong said, "I'll dig three feet into the ground to find the firing pin!"
Wang Ye hurried over and advised: "Captain, the needle is too small and the battlefield is so large. It would be a waste of time . Why don't we just give up looking? After all, the nearest Niuzhuang stronghold is less than 30 kilometers away and can be reached in three hours by forced march. We don't have much time."
"No." Zhang Dabiao flatly refused, "Without the firing pin, these two mortars are just decorations, and there is no use for us to carry them back."
"That won't happen."
Wang Ye said: "There must be backup parts at the Huting base."
Li Yunlong suddenly realized: "Xiao Wang is right. The most important thing now is to take down the Huting stronghold as soon as possible."
"How about this, the 2nd Battalion, the Cavalry Company, and the regiment's direct teams will stay to clean up the battlefield, and the 3rd Battalion and the Wolf Squad will follow me to the stronghold. Zhang Dabiao, you have to listen to me carefully. You must clean up the battlefield carefully. Not only the weapons, equipment and ammunition, but also the cotton-padded jackets and military boots on the Japanese, and these more than 90 horses must be transported back to Yang Village!"
"Yes!" Zhang Dabiao responded loudly, "I guarantee that not a single hair will be left behind!"
Li Yunlong groaned, then led the 3rd Battalion and the Wolf Warrior Squad to hurriedly rush to the Huting stronghold.
It was at this time that Li Yunlong realized that there must have been a problem with Kong Jie, otherwise he should have taken over the Huting stronghold by now.
