The Japanese soldier Shaozuo, who was holding a telescope and puffing out his cheeks, gritted his teeth like the Chinese soldier who was looking at them with a telescope on the mountain.

It was this lone Chinese defender's position, which was completely cut off and surrounded, but it blocked more than ten attacks by his three infantry squadrons. Whether it is mountain artillery or aircraft bombing, the group of Chinese on the top of the mountain, as if they are iron men, no matter how high the intensity of the bombardment, as long as the infantry attacks within 200 meters, their guns will sound again.

The most hateful thing is their grenades, which are condescendingly dropped like this, and at least 60% of the more than 100 imperial warriors who died in the battle died on them.

"Nishikawa-kun, are your warriors ready?" The Japanese soldier put down his binoculars and asked a lieutenant beside him.

"Captain of the new dynasty, everything has been prepared." The Japanese lieutenant replied loudly.

"Yo Xi! Tell them to start shelling, and fifteen minutes later, under your command, the infantry squadron will go on the offensive. The Japanese soldier Shaozo nodded, with a cruel smile on his face: "Zhina, enjoy the gifts prepared for you by the Imperial Army!" ”

。。。。。。。

The lieutenant's face changed when he heard the cannon fire again, "The little devil of the dog day really wants to play tricks again, Lao Zhang, you guys should pay attention to the position, this time it may be even more powerful." ”

Before the words fell, the shells with a scream exploded more than 20 meters away from the trench, but there was no violent explosion like usual, nor did it burst out of the usual black smoke, but a puff of yellow-green smoke suddenly burst out.

"Gas bombs, everyone, put on gas masks for Lao Tzu." The lieutenant's face changed suddenly, and he shouted hoarsely.

As an army that had already clashed with the Japanese invaders several times on the battlefield in Hebei, the 17th Division was no stranger to the Japanese army's green smoke bombs.

Poison gas bombs are a type of ammunition often used by the Japanese when they encounter difficult positions to conquer. Under the attack of this kind of poisonous gas, which can cause severe headache, vomiting, and difficulty breathing, and eventually lead to the death of the poisoned person, the defenders without gas masks have no power to fight back.

The Japanese soldiers who rushed to the defending positions wearing gas masks often only had to throw a grenade into it and then use their bayonets to replenish the knives, and there would not be a single living person on the Chinese position.

This was the last resort used by the Japanese army to attack the fortifications, but in the face of the Chinese defenders without gas masks, they were invincible.

Actually, the young lieutenant didn't know. In the early stages of the war, the Japanese army, which had basically been able to win with artillery and aircraft, had not yet used poison gas in large quantities. It was during the Battle of Taiyuan that the Japanese army that invaded North China encountered unprecedented stubborn resistance, whether it was Xinkou in the north of Jin or Niangziguan in the east of Jin, so they began to use a large number of poison gas bombs.

The number of poison gas bombs delivered to the county seat of Jingcheng was as high as five trucks.

The most common poison gas bomb used by the Japanese army during this period was a poison gas bomb called "red agent", which was not a dye in the literal sense, but a vomiting poison that was soluble in water, flammable, and explosive. It's just the common name of the poison gas bomb developed by the Japanese army who wanted to cover up the thief's heart to circumvent it, and it is referred to by color, and red is the marking color of this vomiting agent, from which the "red agent" gets its name.

It was in the Battle of Shanxi that the Japanese army tasted the sweetness of the use of poison gas bombs, and the red agent poison gas bombs were widely used in the Japanese army, especially in North China. In the near future, with the needs of war and the updating of technology, the Japanese army has also developed four categories of "red agent" weapons: container-type, hand-thrown, launcher, and aerial bomb.

The Chinese military and civilians will fight against the Japanese invaders who are mad and equipped with a large number of poison gas bombs during the long years of the Anti-Japanese War.

According to the incomplete statistics of the "Showa 7-Showa 16 Army Gas Bomb Production Table" in the data seized by the US military from the Japanese Army Arsenal after the war, from 1932 to 1941 (lack of 1940 data), the total output of red agent gas bombs by the Japanese Army alone reached 1,784,067 pieces/unit. The huge production and sufficient reserves have become the main guarantee for its indiscriminate abuse on the battlefield in China.

It is worth noting that although the toxicity of the "red agent" is far better than that of the same kind of poison gas in the German army in World War I, compared with the erosive poison gas such as mustard gas and Lewis agent, it is still not in the same order of magnitude as the latter in terms of killing efficacy. However, the application of the more intense erosive agent required complex decontamination operations or continuous heavy rain to form an attack channel, which the Japanese themselves could not bear.

The reason why the Japanese army loves the "red agent" is not out of humanitarian concerns, but because this kind of poison is relatively simple to produce, fill, and administer, and can be easily used by the division and regimental drug production teams and even any individual soldier, and there is no skin contamination, and the safety is good, and the infantry detachment can wear gas masks and immediately throw itself into the attack under its cover.

On the other hand, the National Revolutionary Army and the Red Army and other anti-Japanese forces at that time, most of them were not equipped with even the most basic gas masks, and the "red agent" was able to repeatedly commit murder on the Chinese battlefield. The famous "Beituan Village Massacre" is a typical example.

In 1942, in order to further strengthen the "public security" in the control area, the Japanese North China Front launched the "No. 3 Operation" to once again carry out a three-light sweep of the anti-Japanese base areas in central Hebei.

In late May, Lieutenant General Mamoru Iinuma, commander of the 110th Division of the North China Front, issued a divisional operational order, which was summarized as follows: "1. The division conducted a sweeping operation against the Eighth Route Army in the middle of the Hutuo River and the Zhulong River in the north of Anping, and the 163rd Infantry Wing attacked and advanced along the area from Baoding to Xushui.

2. During this operation, all units need to work hard to find fighters, verify the attack effect of red cylinders (vomiting agent) and green cylinders (tear gas) on tunnels, and provide feedback after the operation, and provide technical support by Captain Bandong, a military doctor at the wing headquarters. 3. In accordance with the above order, the commander of the 163rd Wing personally led the headquarters of the wing, the communication squad, the first brigade, the second brigade, the third brigade, and the infantry artillery squadron, with a total of about 1,500 people to participate in this operation. “

In the early morning of May 27, the 163rd Wing of the Japanese Army and the 110th Wing of the Japanese Army took advantage of the night to touch the outside of Beituan Village in Dingzhou, Hebei Province, and completed the encirclement at 5 o'clock in the morning, with the 1st Brigade of the 163rd Wing serving as the main 110th Wing 11th Squadron to respond, and launched an attack on this famous anti-Japanese fortress village. The alert Chinese soldiers and civilians immediately put up a stubborn resistance relying on the buildings and tunnel system in the village, while the Japanese army dug communication trenches under the cover of wheat fields.

At about 9:30 a.m., under the cover of infantry guns, grenadiers, and machine guns, the Japanese cleared the perimeter fire points one by one with grenades and then broke into the village. The Japanese recruits were amazed by the deserted villages that had been fiercely resisting a moment before, but experienced veterans and officers knew that the Chinese must be hiding in the tunnels.

After listening carefully to the sounds of the underground and taking some pains, the Japanese soldiers wearing gas masks found a few suspected entrances and exits, and threw the small Type 98 red cylinders into them, and covered the holes with quilts.

The tunnel soon exploded, the Chinese people crowded in the poisonous fog, the infirm were smoked to death on the spot, some people buried their heads and faces in the soil, there were violent wheezing and moaning everywhere, and from time to time there would be gunshots and grenade explosions of the wounded of the Eighth Route Army, when these movements gradually fell silent, showing a hellish scene, in the swirling poisonous smoke and vomit all over the ground, lying horizontally and vertically with their eyes protruding, and the remains of Chinese soldiers and civilians who were flowing everywhere, Many of them were drenched in blood from their own hands on their chests, and their deaths were extremely horrific.

In an enclosed space and at a certain dose, the power of the red cylinder gas bomb can be seen.

This tragedy is only one of the more than 2,000 records of poison gas bomb operations recorded in detail by the Japanese army and very few that have been made public, and the information of the Beituan Village Martyrs Memorial Hall: In the "5.27" tragedy, 224 people were killed in 120 households in Beituan Village, 24 households were killed, 36 houses were burned, and thousands of soldiers and villagers were killed by poison gas. There are more than 800 people with names and surnames on the martyrs' monument.

After World War II, in order to evade responsibility, Japan brazenly argued that the "red agent" poison gas was "a sneeze gas that can only make people shoot inaccurately."

There are only two or three such despicable nations in the world, but one is located on the side of the East China Sea of the Republic and the other is located in the southwest jungle of the Republic. The reason why the Chinese nation is great is probably also related to the fact that it has to deal with these two despicable neighbors in the endless years.

However, at this time, the fifth company of the 102nd Regiment of the 17th Division, which was alone on the position, was not bad, because Liu Lang had predicted before the war that the Japanese would definitely use poison gas bombs, not only in the Battle of the Great Wall, but also in the battle of Shanxi in memory of time and space, the Japanese invaders used poison gas on a large scale. Therefore, when he came to learn that he came to Niangzi Pass to participate in the war, in addition to the fact that each member of the independent regiment had a simple gas mask as standard, he also carried a large number of gas masks with the army to give to friendly soldiers.

More than 2,000 people in the 772nd Regiment of the 386 Brigade are not to mention the third army on the Niangziguan front, the independent regiment also sent 1,500 pairs, and the important ally 17th Division, Liu Lang sent up to 2,500 pairs. However, compared to the 17th Division's 12,000 people, 2,500 pairs were not enough.

Zhao Shoushan could only equip the 102nd Regiment on the front line of Xuehua Mountain with 1,000 pairs, and the rest of the people were prepared with towels and water. If the mountain wind is strong enough, it can generally support until the poison gas dissipates.

The fifth company is a key position, and it is basically a pair of men, not to mention that it has now been greatly reduced, and the entire position plus the seriously wounded is only less than 50 people, which should have been enough. However, unfortunately, because of insufficient experience, the gas masks had not been distributed and stored with some ammunition at the beginning of the battle, but they were hit by a Japanese mountain artillery shell and caused the ammunition to detonate, 80% of the gas masks were destroyed, and only 28 intact ones were picked up by the soldiers and placed in the newly dug anti-gun holes.

But now, they had thirty-four men and eight seriously wounded.

What to do? For the first time, hesitation appeared on the decisive face of the young lieutenant.