The military headquarters called to inform them that the 79th Division had built defensive positions on the line of Xingta and Zhujing. In view of the favorable situation, Schock ordered the 127th Regiment to implement block tactics and avoid unnecessary casualties. After receiving a telegram from the military headquarters, regiment commander Chen Jun immediately discussed with the brigade commander of the Nationalist Army to let the two regiments of the Nationalist Army serve as reserves and dig trenches and fortifications two kilometers from the rear to assist in the defense. When the brigade commander of the National Army heard that 30,000 men and horses from two divisions of the Eighth Route Army were coming, he was overjoyed and immediately obeyed the command of Chen Jun without complaint.

Moreover, digging trenches in the rear and serving as an assistant defense do not need to fight in the front, and the brigade commander of the national army is naturally happy. After the soldiers of the national army evacuated, the regiment commander Chen Jun summoned four battalion commanders to discuss: "The 79th Division of the national army has built fortifications on the line of Xingta and Zhujing. The commander ordered us to implement the tactics of blocking and delaying the Japanese attack in order to avoid losses. As long as the Japanese army is delayed until dusk and cannot advance to Xingta, the blocking task will be completed. ”

A battalion commander joked: "Regiment commander, I thought that this more than 100 catties would be thrown here, but I didn't expect the brothers of the national army to appear here, this time we are going to have a big fight with little Japan." Several battalion commanders were also gearing up. At present, the Eighth Route Army is organized into an army in accordance with the Ministry of National Defense, and the army has three divisions under its jurisdiction. Each division consisted of 3 brigades and 9 regiments. Each regiment has 4 battalions. The regiment belongs to the reconnaissance company, the engineer company, and the guard company. Each regiment has a strength of 1,650 men, and as a defensive unit, its armament is completely tailored to the operational characteristics of the Japanese army.

"Comrades, due to the unknown situation, the Japanese army did not launch an attack for a while to wait for the order from the top. It is estimated that the Japanese army will launch a strong offensive during the day, and we must fight a battle here. Last night, the Japanese artillery fire was not sharp, apparently the artillery did not come up. All soldiers were ordered to build cat's ear holes to prevent large-scale Japanese artillery bombardment. "The cat's ear hole is divided into individual soldiers to hide, and it can also be divided into a hole where more than a dozen people are hiding, and its main function is to avoid enemy shelling. Cat ear holes can be up to a few meters deep, more than ten meters, and can hide both alone and more than a dozen people.

At the moment, the soldiers are fighting defensively for a short time, so it is enough to build a single soldier's ear piercing. As soon as the order was given, the soldiers immediately began to move, and in 10 minutes, they were able to dig a 1-meter-deep cat's ear hole. A slow quarter of an hour can be done with ease. The soldiers each had a small shovel, and the tools were extremely efficient, and soon the position fell silent. In the regimental headquarters, Chen Jun glanced at his pocket watch, which was already approaching 4 o'clock in the morning, and there were still two hours before dawn, so he ordered everyone to sleep for a while.

As soon as it was dawn, a shell fell on the position. The sound of the explosion woke up the regiment commander Chen Jun, who held a telescope to look ahead, and at this time two more shells fell on the position. "The Japanese artillery test-fired, and the troops were ordered to pay attention to avoiding the Japanese artillery fire." As soon as Chen Jun's words fell, the Japanese artillery fire began to shake and the mountains intensified. At this time, the soldiers quickly entered the cat's ear hole, and the dense shells fell on the position like dumplings. The Japanese mountain artillery regiment was almost entirely engaged in the operation, and the bombardment was completely covered with saturation.

The smoke and smoke of the explosion filled the position, obscuring the sky and the sun. On the side of the Japanese army, a brigade commander personally directed the attack. A subordinate next to him said proudly: "Your Excellency, artillery is worthy of being the god of war. Although the Chinese army was equipped with German armor divisions, it was advanced in light weapons. However, military thinking is very backward. They may not have imagined that the current intensity of artillery fire is no longer the period of the European war. No matter how strong the infantry of the Chinese army was, it was difficult to withstand such a heavy artillery fire. "After the artillery fire was extended, the Kumamoto Wing was ordered to launch a full-line attack and quickly break through the defensive line."

The Japanese soldiers attacked quickly and attacked in a skirmish line, rushing towards the position. On the defensive position, the soldiers burrowed their cat's ears in their disgraced faces and shouted to their comrades to wake up their comrades. In the regimental headquarters, the chief of staff put down the phone and said: "Regiment commander, the intensity of the Japanese army's artillery attack is unimaginable, allowing us to truly see the power of artillery." Battalions reported varying degrees of casualties. The smoke and smoke in front of him gradually dissipated, and the figure of a Japanese soldier appeared in the field of vision of the telescope.

"Damn, the Japanese field division is indeed well-trained, and the attack formation is very orderly. Ordered the battalions to put the Japanese troops close to fight, and the Japanese troops were not allowed to shoot if they did not enter a hundred meters! The regiment commander Chen Jun gave a majestic order. At this time, the soldiers did not show their heads, but sat with their backs to the trenches, and only the observation sentries were closely watching the Japanese approaching. The Japanese soldiers cautiously approached 100 meters, and there was no movement in the position. Suddenly, the Japanese soldiers became bold and immediately ran without scruples, and this distance would only take a few tens of seconds to break into the position. In the past, the Chinese army could not stop the impact of the imperial army at this distance.

Suddenly, countless figures appeared on the opponent's position, and the bright steel helmet was very eye-catching. The Japanese soldiers didn't have time to lie down, and the dense gunfire suddenly rang out, and then ** fell from the sky with a whistling sound, and the Japanese assault troops were suddenly shrouded in a rain of bullets and gunsmoke. At this moment, it was the commander of the Japanese brigade who commanded the operation. It was the first time he had seen such a tactic of the Chinese army, especially the fierce firepower, and he couldn't even believe that the Chinese army was so vulnerable on the other side. Soon the Japanese supporting fire began to be suppressed, and it was meticulously executed in accordance with the Japanese infantry discipline.

The Japanese heavy machine guns formed a supporting fire suppression, the Japanese grenadiers advanced to aim at the enemy's machine gun fire points, and the 92 infantry guns quickly found the position of the enemy mortars and carried out accurate strikes. However, an unimaginable scene occurred to the commander of the Japanese brigade, a heavy machine gun support fire point was hit by the enemy's rockets, and the machine gunner and heavy machine gun were lost after the explosion. He then witnessed several groups of grenadiers being struck separately and engulfed in smoke from the explosion. Seeing this scene, the commander of the Japanese brigade immediately ordered the troops to retreat.

On the defensive position, the regiment commander Chen Jun saw the Japanese retreat and knew that the Japanese army wanted to retaliate, so he immediately ordered the troops to retreat. The officers and men of the unit moved very quickly and quickly withdrew from their positions along the communication trenches. Less than a minute after the troops withdrew from their positions, Japanese shells shook the ground and covered the position. The Japanese did not launch an attack immediately after 20 minutes of shelling, and the commander of the Japanese brigade realized that although the frontal Chinese army was strong, it did not have many troops, and judging by the firepower, the Chinese army would not exceed two regiments. The commander of the Japanese brigade decided to send another wing to outflank and eat all of this powerful Chinese army.

Two hours later, the commander of the Japanese brigade stood on the captured position, and he realized that the enemy had deliberately abandoned the position, because there was not a single soldier on the position. "Your Excellency, the Chinese army is very cunning, in the past, they fought to the death and did not retreat, and took the initiative to abandon their positions, is it a fraud?" While the commander of the Japanese brigade was silent, there were dense gunshots and explosions in front of him. At this time, a cavalry signal soldier Pegasus arrived to report that the Chinese army was two kilometers away.

The commander of the Japanese brigade immediately understood that the intention of this Chinese army was to block the attack and slow down the attack of the division. "Order the troops to advance at full speed, and order the forward troops to break through quickly." The commander of the Japanese brigade rushed to the position of the forward troops, and after the vanity was ravaged, the enemy troops retreated. The commander of the Japanese brigade turned pale and immediately ordered the troops to outflank them on both flanks. But the enemy forces that had intercepted them were nowhere to be seen. The commander of the Japanese brigade ordered to continue the pursuit. At this time, a newspaper operator reported that the division headquarters called!

The commander of the Japanese brigade took the telegram and checked it, only to see that the telegram read: "According to the findings of the air force's reconnaissance, a large number of Chinese troops have appeared on the line of Xingta and Zhujing, and the preliminary judgment is that there are 40,000 or 50,000 troops, and I order your troops to stop the attack and defend on the spot." "The commander of the Japanese brigade did not dare to slack off, and immediately ordered the forward troops to stop the pursuit and defend on the spot. The commander of the Japanese brigade was a little depressed, if the elite Chinese troops appeared on the Xingta line, then the outflanking plan formulated by the dispatch army would be aborted. If the battle was unfavorable, the troops had to retreat north along the east bank of the Suzhou Creek.

In the headquarters of the 10th Army of the Japanese Army in Quangongting, the atmosphere was also solemn. "Your Excellency General, the Intelligence Headquarters is simply a group of rice buckets, Hangzhou Bay suddenly appeared a branch of elite troops, and tens of thousands of horses, they actually don't know anything, the land of China is vast, if we can't achieve the goal of the campaign in a short period of time, the reinforcements of China will continue to arrive, and the consequences will be unimaginable." The division commander Toshio Tani made an unceremonious accusation. Commander Yanagawa Heisuke said: "At present, the air force is carrying out air strikes on the Shina army on the front line of Xingta. ”

Yanagawa Heisuke continued: "The Intelligence Headquarters is urgently inquiring about the number of the elite units of the National Army that appeared on the front line of Xingta, and we must wait patiently until the situation is clarified." The chief of staff of the Japanese army said: "The commander of the Takakura Brigade reports that there is only one regiment of the Chinese army that is intercepted head-on. This enemy army is strong in combat and its soldiers are well trained. In particular, individual weapons and light and heavy firepower are very ferocious. According to the report of the dispatch army headquarters, so far in the Songhu battlefield, there has not been a single such unit in the Chinese army. ”

The chief of staff continued: "If the Chinese army does not put its most elite troops into battle, our 10th Army will be in danger, and you must keep a clear head." The soldiers also knelt down, and the generals present knew in their hearts that the situation in China was very complicated, and any miracle would happen in a country with such a vast land. Japan is fighting with all its strength, and the slightest carelessness will lead to defeat. At this time, the arrogance of the several division commanders present has been much more restrained, and everyone knows in their hearts that even if they eat these tens of thousands of elites, they will lose both. If the Chinese army continues to invest troops, the 10th Army will be destroyed without backup.

The analysis of the chief of staff of the Japanese army made everyone aware of the danger, and at this time an operational staff officer walked in and reported: "Report, the headquarters is urgent!" Commander Yanagawa Heisuke hurriedly took the telegram and looked at it with a refreshed expression: "The efficiency of the intelligence headquarters is very high, and now it has been ascertained that the troops appearing on the front line of Xingta are the army of the Communist Party. The number is the 18th Group Army, the 3rd Corps, the 15th and 16th Divisions of the 5th Army. The total number of troops is 30,000. In addition, the 79th Division of the Shanghai-Hangzhou Railway Garrison Division joined it up. ”

"At present, on the Songhu battlefield, there are signs of retreat of the Chinese army, and the East China Dispatch Army Command judges that the communist army that appears on the front line of Xingta must be covering the retreat of the main force of the Songhu battlefield. The headquarters ordered our troops to immediately go north, destroy this communist army, and complete the encirclement of the main force of the Chinese army. I command! "All the generals stood up like chickens." The 6th Division was ordered to be the left flank, the 18th Division was the right flank, and the heavy artillery brigade and the independent mountain artillery regiment were ordered to immediately attack and advance to the Xingta line. ”