Chapter 470: County Brigade
readx; After climbing two mountain beams in a row, and then turning a mountain col, the joint defense team came to the edge of the battlefield, only to see a high mountain a few kilometers away, densely covered with soldiers in khaki uniforms, who were attacking upwards along the steep slope, and the machine gun positions arranged at the foot of the mountain kept spraying flames to the top of the mountain, splashing sparks between the mountains and rocks, and hundreds of meters away from the machine gun positions were the artillery positions of the Japanese army. More than a dozen mortars and several infantry guns were continuously firing out one fireball after another, and they landed far away on Tanglang Mountain, igniting a raging fire. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info Strangely, there is not even a single figure to be seen on the top of the mountain, only the charred branches and torsos that are scattered all over the mountain are tormented in the flames, making a 'crackling' sound.
Fang Zhenqiang waved his hand to signal everyone to be quiet, and then poked his head out of the middle of the dense woods to carefully inspect the surrounding terrain. The chattering members of the joint defense team all closed their mouths in unison, subconsciously clenched the weapons in their hands, and looked at the attacking army with an atmosphere.
Suddenly, there was a loud burst of gunfire on Tanglang Mountain, and dense bullets erupted from the cracks in the rocks, beside the tree roots, and from the top of the boulders, clinging to the ground and sweeping towards the Japanese army, and the dozen or so soldiers who rushed to the front rolled down the hillside with screams, and finally stopped shouting on the hard rock. The rest of the army hurriedly lay down on the hillside and fired at the defenders, while the machine-gun and artillery positions below the hill poured out as much ammunition as they could.
Fang Zhenqiang turned around and said to the captains of the joint defense team: "There will be no problems with the fifth column for the time being, let's discuss how to support them first." ”
Several captains formed a circle beside Fang Zhenqiang, watching Fang Zhenqiang analyze the situation intently.
Fang Zhenqiang said: "Although we have more than 200 people, we don't even have a machine gun, and there are only more than 100 grenades. ”
Then he picked up a fist-sized stone from the ground and placed it in front of everyone, and then picked up a few smaller stones and placed them around, detailing his thoughts: "This big stone represents Tanglang Mountain, and the small stone represents several small hills around it, including the mountain we are on. The terrain around Tanglang Mountain is relatively flat, and it is now daytime, so it is impossible to go over to reinforce under the nose of the Yue army, so I want to bring the troops to the hill on the flank of the artillery position of the Yue army, quietly build fortifications, and then set fire to the woods at the foot of the mountain, the strong wind will blow the smoke and ashes to the Yue army, affecting the effect of the artillery bombardment, so that the enemy will definitely divide his forces to attack, and we can take the opportunity to meet the head attack. ”
After hearing this, everyone nodded in agreement, so Fang Zhenqiang said again: "Since everyone agrees to do this, then let me command it in a unified manner!" Then he instructed: "First select a few members of the team who are good at their legs and feet, and go to the foot of the mountain with the arsonists, and kill the personnel sent by the enemy to extinguish the fire, and force them to send troops over." Since we have no machine guns to use, and there is no guarantee of continuous firepower, we must pay attention to the use of four earthen cannons -- only when the army is approaching within 40 meters of the defensive line can we open fire, and hand grenades must also be spared! ”
Seeing that several captains had no objection to the plan he formulated, Fang Zhenqiang immediately began to assign tasks, and the team of more than 200 people quickly moved. At the same time, the Yue army on Tanglang Mountain was once again defeated and retreated to the foot of the mountain under the stubborn resistance of the fifth column.
Half an hour later, when the army was about to attack again, a thick cloud of smoke suddenly rose from the mountain forest on the right side of the artillery position, and under the blowing of the mountain wind, it drifted straight towards the army position, which immediately caused a violent cough, and tears and snot appeared on the faces of the artillery at the same time. The commander hurriedly ordered his subordinates to put on gas masks, and then sent more than a dozen soldiers to investigate and extinguish the fire in the place where the smoke came out.
After a few crisp shots, three of the soldiers fell, and the rest of the soldiers hurriedly lay down and opened fire into the woods, but the children who grew up in the woods had changed their position, aimed at the exposed enemy and fired again, and then chose the sniper site again. Under the flexible and mobile strikes of the snipers, although the small detachment of the Yue army lost more than half of it, it still had no way to approach the woods, and the smoke coming out of it became thicker and thicker, and the Yue army, wearing heavy gas masks, could not maintain the offensive on Tanglang Mountain at all, so they had to turn around and deal with the threat around them.
The two squadrons approached the woods in a loose attacking formation, and the snipers, knowing that their mission had been successfully accomplished, hurriedly retreated with the arsonists behind the first line of defense halfway up the mountain.
Looking at the gradually approaching figure of the army, Fang Zhenqiang silently calculated the distance between the two sides: 150 meters, 100 meters, 80 meters, 50 meters, the position was still as quiet as death, as if there was no army at all!
The army just wanted to speed up, but suddenly a violent explosion sounded in his ears, iron sand and an inch long iron nails shot out from the muzzle, and the four earthen cannons formed a smoke belt dozens of meters wide, completely enveloping the dozens of soldiers in the front, the sound of gas masks and ** being penetrated and the terrible screams sounded at the same time, and the soldier who was shot immediately fell on the hillside, struggling in pain. Immediately afterwards, more than a dozen grenades flew out and exploded above the heads of the Yue soldiers, and the flying shrapnel hit the Yue soldiers again, and it was only at this time that the sound of rifle shooting was sparsely heard.
The frustration of the attack made the commander of the army Yamaguchi angry: he led an infantry wing to pursue the fifth column, and was constantly attacked by local troops along the way, in order to ensure the safety of his rear, he had to divide his troops to block the attack, and just after pursuing a hundred kilometers, there were only more than 2,000 people left, I thought that no one would come to reinforce in such a remote place, but I didn't expect a team to emerge out of nowhere, disrupting my plan!
Annoyed, Yamaguchi decided to deal with the imminent threat first, and immediately ordered the artillery to aim their guns at the hill and bombard them violently, while sending two squadrons of troops to reinforce them.
The earthen artillery exploded after two rounds of fire, and the joint defense team lost its most powerful weapon, and had to rely on rifles and a limited number of grenades to fight the army.
Fang Zhenqiang ordered his troops to retreat to the top of the hill less than ten minutes after the artillery bombardment began, while he and the other five snipers hid in the dense forest, attacking the enemy with a continuous stream of cold guns, forcing them to slow down their advance.
Half an hour later, Fang Zhenqiang retreated to the top of the mountain, and only three of the five snipers came back, and he was indeed very surprised by the excellent shooting skills and reaction speed of the soldiers: from the discovery to the shooting of the target, it was completed in ten seconds! The two sacrificed team members were hit by the army without changing positions in a short period of time!
From time to time, shells fell from the top of the woods, and exploded large and small dense craters on the hard hillside, shrapnel flew and swirled between the branches and leaves, and from time to time there were piercing sounds and painful groans; The blast shook the leaves all over the sky, and the pungent smoke choked the members of the joint defense team who coughed violently, and their eyes kept flowing with tears, and they could not see anything; Some of the dry branches were ignited by the shells, and flickers of fire erupted between the trees.
Fang Zhenqiang lowered his body as low as possible, squinted his eyes and looked down the mountain, at this time, he suddenly found that the smoke fifty meters away was rolling violently, and hurriedly picked up his rifle and fired a shot at the center of the smoke, and then heard a scream. Fang Zhenqiang pulled the bolt of the gun, retracted the cartridge case, and pushed a new bullet again, continuing to look for a new target. Under his infection, the joint defense team members slowly recovered from the initial panic and fired back silently, and more than a dozen members of the original earthen cannon hurriedly sharpened more than 100 pieces of bamboo nails and inserted them diagonally around the top of the mountain.
With the passage of time, the balance of war gradually tilted in favor of the army! The earthen artillery had been damaged, the grenades had been depleted, and the two hundred rifles of various kinds could not resist the enemy's attack.
"Everyone, retreat down the mountain!" Fang Zhenqiang shouted loudly, and at the same time loaded his bayonet, preparing to stay and fight hand-to-hand with the army.
"Uncle, let's go together!" Ah Ming grabbed his arm and shook it vigorously and said, The joint defense team members of the same village want Fang Zhenqiang to withdraw with them.
"Uncle can't walk with his legs and feet, he can't run away, it's still too late for you to leave now!" Fang Zhenqiang said in a loud voice: "If you want to become a qualified soldier, you must obey orders!" ”
Amin wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes, untied the grenade from his waist, and then bent over and ran towards the back of the mountain, with the rest of the joint defenders following closely behind.
Fang Zhenqiang unscrewed the lids of all five grenades, lined them up in front of him, and then quietly waited for the final moment to come. At the same time, in order to cope with the battle here, the fifth column took the initiative to attack the Japanese army, however, the enemy's dense machine-gun fire formed a dense net of fire, wrapped them in it, and could not break through, and had to give up after sacrificing more than a dozen people.
Dozens of steel helmets emerged from the top of the hillside, Fang Zhenqiang threw the grenade as fast as he could, and then stood up with a hard push on the ground.
The frightened Yue Jun found that there was only one Chinese on the top of the mountain, and his arrogance suddenly rose, howling and rushing over, and Fang Zhenqiang rushed up with more than a dozen bayonets.
The soldiers at the front suddenly felt a chill on the soles of their feet, and the severe pain suddenly came, and their bodies fell to the ground as soon as they were crooked, and several soldiers behind hurriedly stopped and inspected the ground.
Suddenly, the sound of intensive rifle shooting sounded from behind Fang Zhenqiang, and the soldiers in front of him fell to the ground one after another, and then Ah Ming's voice rang out: "Uncle, the county brigade is here!" ”
For the joint defense team, the county brigade with strict discipline and better equipment can be called a regular army, so after encountering this team of more than 500 people at the foot of the mountain, the morale was immediately boosted. The two armies converged, the soldiers were strong and strong, so under the command of the county captain, they came back with a bang, and as a result, just in time for the hand-to-hand fight between Zhenqiang and the army, they unceremoniously beat the enemy back with a random shot.
After the county brigade entered the position, it immediately began to strengthen the fortifications, and the joint defense team retreated to the back of the hillside to rest and recuperate, as a reserve. In the more than a year since the outbreak of the war, I don't know how many Chinese regular troops have collapsed and fled in despair.
Captain Yamaguchi thinks that perhaps these local troops have not yet grasped the benefits of the Papal Army, and they must be taught this with a bloody lesson!
The two squadrons of the army were once again assembled at the foot of the hill where the county brigade was deployed, and more than 20 light machine guns and four heavy machine guns were lined up, with the muzzles of the black holes pointing forward, ready to attack at any time.
Four mountain guns and more than a dozen infantry guns began to fire at the same time, and the mountains trembled in the deafening explosion, and the light of fire and smoke suddenly rose from the middle of the dense forest covering the top of the mountain. The shells continued to fall on the hillside, and large trees fell with a bang in the dense explosions, revealing patches of mottled clearing, and as the shelling continued, more and more trees fell, and the area of the open space at the top of the hill became larger and larger, and finally only a dozen bare tree trunks were left standing on the empty position.
The heat from the explosion ignited the branches and weeds and shrubs on the ground, and the entire hill was shrouded in flames several meters high, and the smoke and smoke filled the sky over the position, and the only little sunlight was blocked, and the dense woods at the foot of the mountain entered the night early.
The infantry began to advance slowly towards the top of the hill, and from time to time the grenadiers fired miniature grenades, fiercely attacking the positions that had been completely exposed. The shelling continued, and the shallow trenches and shelters made of wood and rock, which had been dug with great difficulty, were dissipated by the sound of earth-shaking explosions, and the defenders could only crouch behind the bare rocks to stop the Japanese army.
The fierce artillery bombardment did not stop until the attacking troops advanced to the front of the position less than 100 meters, and the infantry immediately rushed forward with rifles, and at this time, the two companies of the county brigade that first entered the position had already suffered more than half of the casualties, so they had to transfer all the remaining three companies.
The members of the joint defense team behind the mountain experienced the cruelty of the war from the fierce shelling just now, and also realized for the first time the strength of the Japanese army, and if the enemy attacked so fiercely as soon as they came up, it is estimated that few of the 200 people in the team would be able to return alive.
Fang Zhenqiang, who had been on the battlefield for a long time, was not intimidated by the offensive of the army, but listened intently to the increasingly fierce gunfire and shouting on the top of the mountain, after a while, the sound of fighting not only did not disappear, but got closer to the top of the mountain, he hurriedly stood up and looked towards the top of the mountain, but his eyes could not penetrate the dense gunsmoke.
"Brothers, get up quickly!" Fang Zhenqiang realized that the problem was serious, and hurriedly shouted to the joint defense team members: "The county brigade may not be able to withstand it!" Let's find a way to help! ”
Several joint defense captains were frightened by his solemn expression and looked at him at a loss, and the surrounding team members also turned their eyes to him, waiting for him to make a decision.
Fang Zhenqiang knew that time was pressing, and it would definitely be too late to discuss again, so he said bluntly: "We have a little human gun, if we rush up directly, it will not be enough to stuff the teeth of the Yue army, and it will not help much, so we will simply stab it from the back of the enemy!" After saying this, he commanded: "If there is no bayonet on the rifle, don't go, and besides, put a bullet in each gun first, and then fight the bayonet when the fight is over, and those who are good at marksmanship will hide behind and shoot cold guns." ”
Two minutes later, the selected more than 80 joint defense team members, under the leadership of Fang Zhenqiang, quickly disappeared into the mountain forest and quietly detoured to the front of the hillside.
At the same time, the battle on the top of the mountain is raging! As soon as the defenders threw two waves of grenades, the army rushed to the front of the position, and the two sides engaged in fierce hand-to-hand combat. Although the defenders relied on the initial shooting to defeat more than a dozen soldiers, the enemy quickly relied on skillful stabbing skills and strong bodies to turn the situation around, and beat the defenders back again and again. The sound of the blade piercing ** and the screams of dying were intertwined, and even the gunshots that rang out from time to time were muffled.
Wing Commander Yamaguchi saw through the binoculars that the Chinese soldiers were constantly falling under the bayonets, and with a cruel smile on the corner of his mouth, he turned around and ordered the artillery to turn the muzzle and bombard the front of the fifth column's position, while at the same time let the machine gun position at the foot of the mountain closely monitor the movement above, so that it could not support the battle on this side.
To the surprise of the army, although the county brigade suffered heavy casualties, it did not retreat from the fight to the death! The soldiers already knew the huge gap in the combat effectiveness of individual soldiers, and gave up the idea of competing with the Yue army, and then adopted the ferocious fighting method of fighting for the enemy's life: the brothers who were stabbed by the Yue army either grabbed the rifle with both hands, or dragged the enemy to the ground until their hands were cut off by the Yue army next to them, and used their lives to fight for the opportunity for their companions! One by one, the brothers fell, and the comrades around them immediately plunged the blade of revenge into the chest of the army; In order to avoid being caught by the opponent's body and the body of the gun, the army had to move his body more quickly and stab at the fastest speed, the accuracy of his movements was greatly reduced, and the speed of the assault slowed down.
"Kill!"
With Fang Zhenqiang's roar, the joint defense team members rushed towards the back of the army like a tiger descending from the mountain. With the sound of gunshots, more than 20 Yue troops fell, and several gaps immediately appeared in the originally dense formation, and the soldiers of the county brigade took the opportunity to rush forward and quickly split the Yue army into several large pieces together with the joint defense team.
Ah Ming roared again and again, rushed to a soldier on the opposite side, the bayonet in his hand stabbed with the sound of the wind, the body of the military rifle slammed down, the bayonet brushed over, and then quickly turned around, and it was a thrust at Ah Ming's back; Ah Ming was led by the huge habitual surname and ran forward, unaware that death had come, and at the moment when the blade was about to pierce into his body, a bullet flew out of the woods and came out of Yue Jun's chest, and Yue Jun immediately fell straight down like an empty sack.
At this time, Amin had already rushed to the front of another short and stout soldier, he had learned the lesson just now, and did not rush to attack, but stared at the other party, looking for flaws; Yue Jun also looked at Ah Ming gloomily, moved his steps to the side, and confronted each other, while ignoring the fierce fighting around him.
(To be continued)