Chapter 244: The Second Battle of Saibei - Attack and Defense of the Four Forks (2)
The defeat in the first battle greatly annoyed Lieutenant General Yasui Toji, and his hideous face was twisted even more ugly, and a desperate telegram was sent to the front line of the four forks.
At the temporary headquarters at the fork in the road, Suzuki Shigeichi Saku looked at the officers under his command, pulling their heads one by one, looking listless, which was really insulting to the military prestige of the Imperial Japanese Army. Annoyed and angry, Suzuki Shigeichi said gloomily: "Ladies and gentlemen, two hours ago, our army lost more than 600 excellent soldiers, of which 325 were shattered. The loss of the first line of defense was a mistake on my part, so I will ask His Excellency the division commander for punishment. But I hope that the next battle will not embarrass the Imperial Japanese Army, let alone yourself. The elite 2nd Division lost the line in two hours, and you were greatly disappointed. Just now, His Excellency the division commander sent a telegram, ordering our troops to stop the enemy at all costs, and Jidong could not withstand the ravages of the Chinese army again. As long as you let go of a soldier, not only will you lose your head, but even I myself will save the honor of the soldier in a special way. With that said, I now order that the five infantry brigades of our division, with the exception of the Yamada brigade, which suffered more than half of the casualties, as the general reserve, the remaining four brigades take turns to defend the second line of defense, and must not let that army pass. Ladies and gentlemen, please" All the officers' hearts sank, and the words of His Excellency the Wing Commander made them feel a little frightened, and what was said to save the honor of the soldiers in a special way, all the officers knew in their hearts - suicide by disembowelment.
Even His Excellency the Wing Commander is ready for a caesarean section, so can they, the junior officers, stand it well? There is no doubt that if they get to that point, I am afraid that none of them will make it out of here alive. Therefore, almost all the officers immediately shouted: "Long live the Great Japanese Empire, Long live His Majesty the Emperor"
In fact, the Japanese army advocating the spirit of bushido was far more powerful than the outside world imagined; first of all, they were not afraid of death, believing that death was the highest honor of a soldier, and the most common sentence that most soldiers on the battlefield said to each other was: "Let's meet at the Yasukuni Shrine." Secondly, these people have a tenacious will to fight, which can be seen from the Japanese army, which rarely took the initiative to surrender in the nearly two years since the start of the war, compared with the scene of thousands of people lining up to surrender by the Nationalist Government, the Japanese army is undoubtedly powerful. When they heard that His Excellency the Division Commander had given a death order, the first thing that came to mind for these officers who had been poisoned by bushido was not to be afraid, but to be loyal to His Majesty the Emperor.
The second line of defense at the four forks was less than 200 meters away from the first line of defense, and the terrain of the second line of defense was slightly lower than that of the first line of defense, which meant that the troops of the independent 77th Division would attack in a dive, rather than a difficult back-attack. Compared with the independent 77th Division, the Japanese army was much more troublesome to defend.
Master Chen did not give the Japanese army much time to breathe, and after only more than two hours of taking the first line of defense, Master Chen ordered the 88th Regiment to continue to attack the second line of defense of the Japanese army as the vanguard of the whole army. Because the breakthrough of the first line of defense was somewhat fluke, Master Chen sent a long telegram to Jiang Mingyuan, the head of the 88th Regiment, to fight steadily. With the lessons of the past, the little devil will not be fooled a second time, and the second line of defense is bound to be an unprecedented and tragic offensive and defensive battle.
Jiang Mingyuan is also an old Red Army, and he has a very accurate grasp of the priorities of things. More than half of the first battalion had already suffered casualties, and even the daring Wang Yunkai was injured and was pierced in the arm by a stray bullet, so the task of this attack Jiang Mingyuan was handed over to the second battalion commander Da Dahai.
Speaking of this huge sea is also a figure of the military region, it turns out that this guy is a famous bandit leader, with his five or six hundred brothers living in the northern part of the Saibei area, plus this guy is tall and can carry an 81mm mortar to run hundreds of miles of mountain roads, and this guy also has good marksmanship, 38 big cover 100 meters and 100 shots. So in Saibei, there is a famous evil god, this guy is obviously a bastard, he not only robbed the devil, the Jin Sui Army, the Central Army, and even the Eighth Route Army also robbed. It's just that this guy hasn't arrived home yet, and he knows who to kill and who to release, so when he robs, the Japanese kill them all, and the Chinese only seek money. It was precisely because of this guy's unscrupulous behavior that he annoyed Lieutenant General Lian Nupan, the commander of the Mongolian Corps at the time, and was sent by the Japanese military police to secretly encircle and suppress them. In which battle, the bandits led by Da Hai suffered heavy casualties, and when five or six hundred people finally escaped, there were only more than one hundred and fifty left. However, the Japanese troops who went to encircle and suppress them did not catch any good results, and when a reinforced squadron withdrew back to Sui, there were only more than 50 people left, and the gendarmerie squad also lost 11 people, which did not achieve the expected goal. ,
After the huge sea escaped, he felt that it was undoubtedly unrealistic to avenge the brothers with his own strength, so he gritted his teeth and defected to the Eighth Route Army, Han Yunhua saw that he was good, and he was not bad-eyed, so he accepted his team, and also gave him a platoon commander, Han Yunhua also specially ordered him to participate in the first two officer trainings. After the expansion of the unit, he first served as a company commander, deputy battalion commander, battalion commander, and deputy regiment commander in a local unit. Later, he was transferred to the main force as the commander of the main battalion, and now his official position is the commander of the second battalion of the 88th Regiment of the 77th Independent Division.
After receiving the order from the head of the regiment Jiang Mingyuan, Da Da Hai was overjoyed and exclaimed excitedly: "His grandmother's, it's finally Lao Tzu's turn." Every time, Wang Yunkai's guy with a bad stomach eats dry, and our second battalion can only drink soup, hehehe, this time is good, there are so many Japanese devils waiting for us to clean up, brothers guys. "Although Panghai is now the commander of a main battalion, this guy still uses the same way to manage the troops as a bandit, and he is full of swear words and arrogance, which makes Han Yunhua very helpless. Fortunately, this guy is a little ruthless, and he still knows the depth of things. So Han Yunhua turned a blind eye and didn't see it. And this guy really doesn't want to say, he has his own set of ways to fight, if Wang Yunkai is a regular tactician, then the huge sea is an eclectic form of wild road expert, if you insist on a character, then this huge sea is the same as the Li Yunlong in "Bright Sword". Running the train with his mouth full of words, he doesn't play cards according to common sense.
The 2nd Battalion occupied a favorable position and was not inferior to the Japanese in terms of firepower. However, due to the limitations of the terrain, the troops used for the attack could not be fully deployed, and the first line of defense and the second line of defense were separated by a dry riverbed, although the first line of defense was a little higher in the terrain, but the height was very limited, and with this riverbed, both sides hardly had any advantage.
After seeing the positions of the two sides, Da Dahai said depressedly: "His grandmother's, these little devils are not stupid, they know that if we build fortifications across the riverbed, we will become a live target for the little devils, if we don't go down, it won't work, it's really his grandmother's difficulty." ”
"Battalion commander, if we don't rush desperately once, and then let those grandsons of the artillery regiment cover the cover, I think it shouldn't be much of a problem to rush across this riverbed." The commander of the first company, Jiang Dayuan, said sullenly.
"Get out of the way, you don't have a hard fight like this. You rush over like this will only increase the casualties of the brothers, see, there are three trenches on the Japanese position, and those trenches are a little higher than the rest of the heavy machine guns, I just counted, his grandmother has 27 heavy machine guns in the first trench alone, this is not counting light machine guns, it seems that the little devil is ready to block this riverbed with heavy firepower. We can't fight hard, otherwise even if our second battalion is left here, it won't play much role. The huge sea head did not reply to the capital, holding a telescope to observe the Japanese positions on the opposite side, while explaining to the three company commanders of the second battalion.
Xu Ergou, the commander of the third company, said: "The big boss, then what do you say, you have an idea, the brothers listen to you, the head has a big scar, and after eighteen years, he is a good man." Since following our commander, the little devils have not been killed, and this life is enough. "Xu Ergou is the former brother of the huge sea, after participating in the **, because of the courage of the battle, he is like a mad dog on the battlefield, the highest record is a person holding a 38 cover to single-handedly challenge a combat squad of the Japanese army, and in the case of his own unscathed, all the thirteen devils were picked, the bayonet technique is extremely good, and he is the pillar of the second battalion.
"Let the artillery regiment beat me hard first, and don't let the Japanese artillery affect our battle, their task is not to support us, but to suppress the Japanese artillery. When the first battalion was fighting, I found that the strength of the Japanese artillery was not below that of our artillery regiment, and once the Japanese artillery came to their senses, our casualties would definitely be not small. Ergou, you go and transfer the heavy machine gun company in the division to me, I need their support. Dayuan, have you done what I asked you to do, that is the key to us fighting this battle. Huge Hai asked, he has never been unsure of the battle.
"It's all done, all the 30 iron launchers have been completed, and according to the battalion commander's orders, all the thick springs used under the poles are removed from scrapped cars, and a large stone of more than ten catties can be launched for more than 120 meters. However, we were more than 200 meters away from the Japanese position, and the range of the launcher was simply not enough. Besides, we don't have any suitable shells, battalion commander, you won't be going to send a few grenades, that thing is useless, and it is not as good as a small steel cannon. Jiang Dayuan said in a puff that when the first battalion attacked just now, the battalion commander ordered him to go to the logistics department of the division headquarters as soon as possible to ask for some iron pipes and springs removed from scrapped cars. And then he made some improvised transmitters.
Jiang Dayuan used to be a carpenter when he was at home, although he couldn't say that he was spiritual, but the work under his hands was still very skillful. I often do a bellows, coffins, furniture and other woodwork for my fathers and fellow villagers. After participating in the **, this craft is abandoned, but at least the production principle is still clear. After Danghai told him what it would be for, he made the launcher out of rope and irons and the like. Of course, this launcher is not complicated, to put it bluntly, it is an old-fashioned steel version of a stone thrower.