After being transferred to Shandong, the 13th Brigade was a strong brigade of the Kwantung Army, and after being transferred to Shandong, except for a few sweeps in the Taixi area and some bestiality that even beasts were despised, it did not engage the [***] team. However, the brigade commander, Major General Morita Masahomi, is a veteran general in the army, and he has also fought against the Volunteers and the Anti-Japanese Union many times in the northeast, and his tactical literacy is still very high.

Major General Morita Masahomi was very clear about the tasks of garrisoning Taean, one was to be the campaign reserve of the 5th, 10th, and 16th Divisions, ready to fight at any time. The second is to maintain law and order in the surrounding areas of Tai'an and create a safe rear for the southern section of Jinpu Road. The third is to ensure the smooth flow of the Tai'an section of the Jinpu Road and ensure that the supplies of the front-line troops can be transported in a steady stream.

Since the establishment of the [***] Taixi Self-Defense Regiment, one after another launched attacks on the devils, although it is a small force that has just been pulled up, weapons, ammunition and military training are seriously insufficient, and the combat effectiveness is also limited, each time can only kill and wound a dozen devils or even two or three devils, the results of the battle are very limited, but the cunning Major General Morita Masahomi has realized the seriousness of the problem. He knew that China had a vast land and resources, a large population and resources, and great war potential. If everyone rises up to resist like the Tessie Self-Defense Regiment, it will soon form a torrent and swallow up the Imperial Army cleanly. After all, the imperial army has limited strength, and no matter how high the shooting technology and how sophisticated the weapons are, they cannot fill the black hole consumed by the war.

Therefore, when receiving the report that Jieshou Station had been attacked and that the Imperial Army had been put on track, Major General Morita Masamumi's first reaction was that it was another damned [***] guerrilla force that had sabotaged it, because this guerrilla group had attacked Jieshou Station some time ago, killing and wounding more than a dozen Imperial troops. They were familiar with the environment of Jieshou Station, and they took advantage of the night to sneak up again. But this time they went too far and derailed the imperial army. This leader is so close to Tai'an City, the guerrillas dare to be so rampant, they simply use the brave and warlike reading power mixed into the 13th Brigade as a puppet! It's too much of a deception! As a result, Major General Morita Masatomi ordered the railway garrison to send ironclad trains to eliminate the sneak attackers, inspect the damage to the military trains, and rescue the wounded. At the same time, the 56th Infantry Brigade was sent to reinforce the guerrillas.

Of course, Major General Morita Masahomi also knew in his heart that it would be a bit difficult to destroy the guerrillas at this time, and those guys would have already fled after the sneak attack.

But the next situation made Morita Masahomi feel in big trouble. First, the railway garrison post reported that the ironclad train had engaged in a fierce battle with the [***] team in the direction of the head of the boundary, and then lost contact with the commander of the ironclad train.

Major General Morita Masahomi was puzzled, there was no main force of the [***] team around Tai'an, and even if there were, it was impossible for them to compete with the ironclad train. Morita Masahomi asked the chief of staff to shake the telephone over and over again in the headquarters, and ordered the radio to send a message to the commander of the ironclad train without stopping, but unfortunately the other party was as dumb as he was and never replied again.

When Major General Morita Masatomi realized that the ironclad train had also had an accident, the 56th Infantry Brigade sent to the Kaishou Station for reinforcements had already arrived by car. This captain knows the rules very well, and soon sent a report to Major General Morita Masaho. However, the telegram was very short: "At Jieshou Station, we have been hit by an unusually strong squadron of [***] with heavy casualties, and we are now using the railway line to hold on, and I beg your Excellency the brigade commander for urgent tactical guidance." ”

At this time, Major General Morita Masahomi couldn't sit still, thinking that the large force of the Central [***] team had made a detour from the Taishan Mountains, and it was likely to cut off the Jinpu Railway and interfere with the southern section of the Jinpu Road of the Imperial Army. He immediately ordered the 57th Infantry Reading Brigade, the Reading Cavalry Brigade, and the Reading Artillery Brigade to urgently assemble and reinforce the 56th Infantry Reading Brigade. He also ordered the railway garrison and the 58th Brigade of the Infantry Reading Force stationed in Wande to quickly reinforce the Jieshou and flank the [***] team.

In this regard, Major General Morita Masaho felt that it was not thorough enough, and directly sent a report to the commander of the Second Army, Lieutenant General Nishio Toshizo, saying that the military column transporting the vanguard of the 114th Division was attacked by the [***] team at Jieshou Station, and the ironclad train sent to support had lost contact, and now he himself was leading the main force of the brigade to reinforce it. The commander was asked to instruct the troops of the 108th Division living in Zhang Xia to prepare for reinforcements.

After sending the telegram, Major General Morita Masahomi led his troops out of Taean Castle and slaughtered the head of the realm.

After Zhang Haitao and Zhao Zhiyu discovered the lights of the convoy of the Fifth [***] Infantry Team of the Yue Army, they immediately led their troops to hide in the Jieshou Station and the village, preparing to destroy the reinforced devils in one go. It's a pity that since the successive victories of the instructors, the vigilance of the commanders at all levels of the devil has been greatly improved. The captain of the devil brigade who came to reinforce was like this, he heard the sound of gunfire at the Jieshou station from a distance, and at first he thought that the ironclad convoy was destroying the guerrillas, and kept urging the driver to hurry up and hurry up, but then he soon couldn't hear the gunshots, and he couldn't see the tracer light produced when the shells and bullets streaked across the night sky. The captain of this devil brigade immediately became suspicious, and when he approached Jieshou Village, he decisively ordered the convoy to stop, and after thinking twice, he ordered an armored car to take the lead and cover a squad of devils to search and reconnoiter at Jieshou Station. He took four squadron soldiers and dragged a large group of infantry guns directly to the railway, and set up artillery and heavy machine gun positions near the station, ready to support the station in battle.

When the devil's armored car drove into Jieshou Station, it naturally found the armored train that had been beaten into wreckage. The machine guns on the armored vehicles began to fire in all directions, conducting fire reconnaissance, and the accompanying infantry squad soldiers also formed into battle formations to search. Seeing that there was no return fire, the infantry squad leader fired a signal flare, informing the brigade to catch up, and he led the soldiers to check the damage to the ironclad train while on guard.

After seeing the signal flare, the captain of the devil brigade ordered the automobile soldiers to drive all the cars into the platform, leaving two squadrons to protect the artillery and heavy machine gun positions and act as reserves, and he took the remaining two squadrons along the railway to enter the Jieshou station.

The devil's convoy came up, and one car after another drove into the station, and the lights illuminated the station, and also illuminated the tragic situation of the ironclad train and the military train in the distance.

When the captain of the devil brigade arrived with two squadrons of reinforcements, he saw the wreckage of the ironclad train and the military train in the distance. The captain of the devil brigade shouted Baga, and ordered the troops to disperse and conduct a comprehensive search.

It was at this time that the fire strike of the eastward advance detachment of the Eighth Route Army began.

Zhang Haitao originally wanted to attract all the devil's reinforcements and bury the devil with firepower, but he didn't expect the devil to be so cunning, and the cars that came in turned out to be empty. Fortunately, it didn't take long, and a team of devils came along the railway, and there were three or four hundred people, so that's it, and it was not in vain that Lao Zhang led the team to wait for them here for so long.

If you don't fire again, the devils may find hidden troops. Zhang Haitao said to Yang Shuren, the commander of the artillery company next to him: "Remember the armored car that killed the devil with one shot." After you kill you, you will be the commander of the artillery battalion of the eastward detachment. ”

Seeing that the poplar man nodded vigorously, as soon as Zhang Haitao raised his hand, he knocked over a devil who was holding a gun, bending over, and searching in the direction of the artillery position. At the same time as the gunshots rang out, the word "hit" was also shouted, and the flat-firing guns on the artillery positions immediately opened fire, and an armor-piercing bullet shot straight into the armored car, and with a bang, the armored car became a ball of fire.

Suddenly, the heavy machine guns and mortars of the eastward detachment hidden in the west of the station all opened fire, and the bullets and shells flew straight towards the devils, and those devils who were standing soon lay on the ground.

These devils are worthy of being born in the Kwantung Army, and they are indeed well-trained, and after encountering a blow, they rolled off the platform as soon as possible, used the platform to conceal their figures, and began to shoot at the Eighth Route Army. However, the eastward detachment was far away, and it was night, so where could the rifle stop.

After the first round of strikes, there were no devils standing on the platform, and the artillery company of the eastward detachment turned to the devils' cars and opened fire, setting those cars on fire.

When the artillery of the devil's [***] team opened fire and destroyed armored vehicles and cars, they immediately retaliated, and after the two 92 infantry guns measured the coordinates, they opened fire in unison to bombard the artillery positions of the Eighth Route Army. Two shells flew in, killing and wounding five or six fighters on the spot. The artillery company hurriedly shifted its position and concentrated its infantry artillery and mortars to fight the devil artillery.

When the eastward detachment was formed, the troops drawn were all the elite of the instructors. The 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Brigades each drew one battalion, the guard regiment drew the second battalion and the supplementary battalion, and the other artillerymen, engineers, cavalrymen, and heavy machine gunners were all backbone companies. The artillery company commander was thinking that he could expand it into an artillery battalion if he went back, but unexpectedly, the devil's artillery lost five or six soldiers with two guns, and these soldiers were the backbone of the battle. Therefore, after the transfer of positions, Yang Shuren, the commander of the artillery company, vented all his anger on the artillery position of the devils, and concentrated his firepower to beat the devil artillery, which not only made the devil artillery dumb, but also killed and wounded the devils of the two squadrons protecting the artillery position, and hurriedly retreated along the railway for a distance to avoid artillery fire.

The captain of the devil brigade has rich combat experience, and when Zhang Haitao's gun rang out, he lay down on the ground, rolled over, rolled to the bottom of the platform, and looked up to see that the soldiers on the platform were hit by the heavy machine guns and mortars of the [***] team, and hurriedly organized the machine gunners who retreated to the platform to shoot, covering the troops to retreat along the railway.

The eastward detachment began to pursue. The soldiers of the two battalions did not fire a few shots in one night, and they were basically talking with heavy firepower, and they could not stand it for a long time. Seeing that the devil was retreating, he naturally launched a pursuit, and one by one the combat squads and combat groups pounced on the devil with the help of terrain cover.

As soon as he saw the attack formation of the [***] team, the captain of the devil team was heartbroken, and he had already thought that he had met the elite of the [***] team, but he didn't expect it to be so elite. Those soldiers were basically in groups of three, one advancing and two covering, and their tactical movements were extremely sophisticated, moving around, slippery, tumbling, like playing tricks, dazzling people, and they couldn't be aimed at all. It was often the Imperial Army soldier who fired a shot, and before he could hit the attacking soldier, he was killed by the two soldiers who were acting as cover. The most terrifying thing is that behind each squad, there are machine guns, mortars and grenadiers, and the machine gun fire of the Imperial Army can be cleared at any time and place.

The captain of the devil brigade did not hesitate any longer, and ordered all of them to retreat quickly and join up with the two squadrons that served as cover.

As soon as this order was given, the devil soldiers began an escape race, and the heavy machine guns and grenadiers were thrown down, and they all rolled off the roadbed, and their buttocks were backwards, and their legs swung rapidly, and they ran south along the east side of the railway.

It wasn't until he joined up with the two squadrons that was covering and re-assembled a dense network of firepower that the captain of the devil brigade breathed a sigh of relief. But as soon as the number of people was checked, the captain of the devil brigade was so angry that he almost turned his back on it, and on this trip to Jieshou Station, he lost more than 200 people, as well as armored vehicles and all the cars.

Seeing that the losses were too great, the captain of the devil brigade hurriedly sent a telegram to the brigade commander for help. After sending a telegram, he was worried that the brigade commander trusted the combat effectiveness of his troops too much, and the rescue was late, so the captain of the devil brigade sent another telegram with earnest words: "The military train has been blown up, the imperial warriors on the car believe that all the jade has been shattered, the ironclad train has been beaten into wreckage, and our unit has lost a quarter of its combat effectiveness. I am anxious for the tactical guidance of His Excellency the Brigade Commander. ”

Seeing that the devil had stabilized his position, Zhang Haitao immediately ordered the pursuit to be stopped, and all the troops withdrew to Jieshou Station to clean up the battlefield and report the battle situation to the division headquarters.

At this time, the team transporting heavy supplies was passing through the Jinpu Road, and Cai Zhong and Zeng Zhongsheng called back, ordering the eastward detachment to hold out for another hour to attract and mobilize the enemy as much as possible, and then the camera was transferred.

After Zhang Haitao received the order, he felt that the terrain of Jieshou Station was narrow, and if a large army of devils surrounded him, he had to think about how to break through, which was very troublesome. Besides, the captured guns and ammunition must be taken away! After thinking about it for a while, Zhang Haitao ordered the engineer platoon to lay a few explosive packs at the station, lay the detonating lead, and lay a trick mine under the corpse of the devil. Then he ordered the troops to take the bodies of the martyrs and the wounded, withdraw from the first station of the Jie, set up a position on the mountain, and prepare to withdraw for the devils again.

After Major General Morita Masahomi left the city, he suddenly thought that something was wrong, this squadron [***] team made a big fuss, and it was a lively fight, and it was attacking the station, bombing the military train, and hitting the ironclad train, and blocking the 56th Brigade of the infantry, judging from their results, they must be equipped with a large number of explosives packs, as well as flat-fire guns with armor-piercing shells, otherwise they would not be able to deal with the ironclad train.

It stands to reason that the squadron is rarely equipped with anti-aircraft guns, probably because they used the anti-aircraft guns and armor-piercing shells on the columns after they blew up the columns. However, if you pick up a flat-fire gun, you will use it, which is definitely not simple, which shows that this squadron has professional artillery, and it is a well-trained and experienced professional artilleryman. By reasoning this way, the size of this force should be very large. Only in this way did they dare to set up ambushes again and again at Jieshou Station. Now the question arises, since they are well-equipped and large-scale, why don't they just wipe out the 56th Brigade of Reading Power?

After thinking about it, Major General Morita Masahomi felt that there could only be three reasons for the actions of the [***] team in the head of the realm: First, the commander of this unit believed that his combat effectiveness was strong, and he wanted to continue to expand the results of the battle at the head of the world, so he wanted to use the 56th brigade to fish, and when he arrived with reinforcements, it might be the time for him to close the net. Second, this unit is a specially organized unit, with strong firepower and full range of special forces, but its strength is limited, and it is unwilling to fight hard with the 56th Brigade. Third, this unit has a greater plan to move in the head of the realm, in order to cover the actions of other troops, and it is playing the tactic of diverting the tiger from the mountain or attacking the west.

When this idea came together, Major General Morita Masahomi was unwilling to take another step forward, and sent a report to the 59th Brigade, the Baggage Brigade and the Engineer Brigade left behind in Taean, ordering all the soldiers to get up and assemble and strictly defend the city defense, and ordered the captain of the 59th Brigade to immediately contact all strongholds and units south of Taean, especially the 60th Brigade of Yori, to inquire about whether there was any enemy.

The captain of the 60th brigade reported that there was a problem with the Beijipo stronghold, because the accent of the soldier who called back was wrong, so he asked him to find the squad leader, and he actually reported that the squad leader went to the maintenance chairman's house to drink and did not return. Now that the war is urgent, it is impossible for a second lieutenant squad leader who graduated from the Army Non-commissioned Officer School to leave his post.

At this moment, Major General Morita Masaho fully understood that the central [***] team must have made a big move south of Tai'an, and the leader of the border must be the Chinese's containment troops, and the scale must not be large. He immediately ordered the 60th Brigade to attack and reconnoiter north along the railway to find out what had happened between Beijipo and Dawenkou. The 59th Brigade left behind in Tai'an was ordered to quickly leave the city and attack and advance to Beijipo, striving to join the 60th Brigade, and the Tai'an Defense Brigade, the Engineer Brigade and the Imperial Allied Army were responsible. The 58th Infantry Brigade and the Railway Garrison in the direction of Wande were ordered to quickly move south, and the 56th Brigade was sandwiched to attack the Jieshou Station and completely destroy the small Chinese forces that were causing trouble.

After sending the telegram, Major General Morita Masafumi led the 57th Reading Brigade, the Reading Artillery Brigade, and the Reading Cavalry Brigade to immediately turn around and rush to the north of Jipo.

Zhang Haitao never dreamed that after he ordered three battalions and a cavalry company, a baggage company, and an engineer company to take the lead in retreating, the troops were too weak to encircle and annihilate the cunning 56th Infantry Brigade. At this moment, he was directing the troops to set up a position on a small hill at the foot of Mount Tai that could overlook the first station of the realm, and planned to wait for the large army of devils to come up and knock it hard to attract devils to attack, fight a beautiful blocking battle under this mountain, and then retreat.

The captured cannons and heavy machine guns had already exerted their might in the battle just now, and the soldiers naturally wanted to transport them. Now, the commander of the artillery company, Yang Shuren, is directing the soldiers to fix the gun positions and calculate the firing range. In the words of the poplar people, it is necessary to make it so that no matter where the devil hides in the corner of Jieshou Station, it must be blown up to the point of crying dad and mother.

(To be continued)