Although there were also crazy devils who used suicide counterattacks to inflict casualties on the officers and men of the 25th Division, the final outcome was already doomed, and the 25th Division won the victory with fewer casualties than the devils. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

Artillery was loaded onto cattle carts, or carried on the backs of horses and mules, and the sporadic battles on the battlefield no longer needed artillery support, and they had to rush to destroy another group of devils - the devils from Huangkou Town. The infantry also began to gradually withdraw from the battlefield and regroup.

The devils have been wiped out here, and the battle over there is still raging. The devils from Huangkou Town were also caught in the encirclement, rushing left and right, like a crazy bison, but they were never able to break through the encirclement.

But the battle was very hard, especially in the north and east, and the devils also found that the firepower on these two sides was a little weak, not as fierce as the other two sides.

There is no way, the Eighth Route Army is responsible for defending and blocking on those two sides, and compared with the New Seventh Army, the weaponry and firepower are more than one grade worse.

After judging clearly, the devils reorganized themselves a little and launched a continuous and fierce attack on the east.

100 meters, 50 meters, 30 meters, when the figure of the devil could be clearly seen, the Eighth Route Army opened fire. Platoons, grenades, and the clatter of light and heavy machine guns in the middle of it form a symphony that resounds on the blocking position.

A charge was repulsed, and another batch of devils poured in. The devil organized a team of warlords, coerced the soldiers, and attacked like crazy.

The continuous attacks of the Japanese army caused heavy casualties to the 1st Battalion of the 14th Regiment of the Eighth Route Army, but the leaders of the military region had already given an order that they must not lose face in front of friendly forces, and that they must hold their positions even if they have one person left.

"Defend the position to the death" is probably an order that will daunt many soldiers, but the commander of the first battalion, Chen, who received the order, felt that it was simple. Don't think about anything else, just throw these hundred and eighty pounds here.

Even with a batch of ammunition supported by the New Seventh Army, in the face of the desperate impact of the devils, the battle was still very fierce.

The skirmishers of the devils attacked one after another, fearless of life and death. After breaking through the first line of defensive positions, bloody hand-to-hand combat ensued between the two sides, in which bayonets, butts, daggers, fists became weapons. The devils sent human bombs, and the wounded of the Eighth Route Army also pulled out the grenades on their bodies and died with the enemy.

One was to break through at a desperate end, and the other was to defend the position, and the battle was carried out tragically and abnormally. Charge and counter-charge, attack and counter-attack, as many as seven or eight times, the last two ended in hand-to-hand combat.

At this time, both sides have made no reservations and exerted their greatest strength.

Sometimes it can be said that a battle is a contest of combat power between the two sides, but sometimes it is a contest of will. The first battalion paid a lot of casualties, but it held its position firmly until the regimental headquarters transferred the third battalion of the reserve to counterattack the devil's last charge.

The hope of breaking out was disillusioned, the troops suffered heavy casualties, and the devil suffered a heavy blow mentally. The troops of the New Seventh Army in the south and east continued to launch centripetal attacks to relieve the defensive pressure of friendly forces, and the devils who stayed in place paid a heavy price despite stubbornly resisting them.

The battle has been going on for more than two hours, and with the arrival of artillery and some reinforcements, the end of the devil has arrived. Under the heavy bombardment of artillery, the New Seventh Army and the Eighth Route Army launched a general attack from all sides.

The shouts of killing were earth-shattering, and the two equally brave anti-Japanese teams stepped on the land of the motherland and launched a vengeful onslaught against the invaders, turning one devil after another into cold and ugly corpses.

Almost at the same time as annihilating Yanji Town in the field to aid the Japanese army, two regiments of the 2nd Brigade of the 25th Division were interspersed in place and launched a siege on Yanji Town; The 3rd Regiment of the 2nd Brigade joined forces with the 16th Regiment of the Eighth Route Army and launched an attack on Huangkou Town, another defender whose defenders had been greatly weakened.

The 26th Division of the New Seventh Army, under the command of Chief of Staff Liang Moqing, dispatched a brigade to suddenly insert diagonally from Guo Xinwa, Majing Town, Xiao County, to the north, cut off the railway in the vicinity of Pengxinzhuang, blocking the enemy's road to the west in Xiao County. The other two brigades of the 26th Division, with the cooperation of the local guerrillas, made a roundabout way and attacked Xiao County in a pincer shape, suddenly cutting off the main line of the Xiao Yong Highway, which Miyamoto had spent a lot of effort to build, and isolating the connection between five or six devil strongholds and the county seat.

At this point, from harassment to battle, and then from battle to battle, the New Seventh Army joined hands with the Eighth Route Army to launch a major counteroffensive against the Japanese army in Xiaoxian.

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During the entire Anti-Japanese War, the Japanese army, as an aggressor, was not only unpopular with the people, but also hated, and was always at a disadvantage in intelligence.

A good example is the Battle of the Hundred Regiments, the mobilization of more than 200,000 regular troops, and the mobilization of millions of people to attack railways and highways.

Yang Tianfeng, on the other hand, paid more attention to intelligence and secrecy work, as can be seen from the military operations of the Third Column (New Seventh Army). Secret transfers, blocking news, day and night, spreading smoke screens, giving the devils an unexpected feeling in every battle.

Similarly, aside from the fact that Miyamoto went to Xuzhou to attend a military conference, this counteroffensive was also sudden and unexpected for the devils.

First of all, the New Seventh Army suddenly ended its expansion and rest training, but instead of completing it completely, it launched a military operation. This is very different from the time of the devil's prediction and judgment, it should have been the devil who launched the sweep first, but now it is the New Seventh Army that is the first.

Secondly, the New Seventh Army and the Eighth Route Army joined forces, and actually launched an attack in the north of Longhai Road, launching a raid, ambush, and siege on the railways and strongholds in Xiao County from Feng County, and completely destroying the railways and highways extending west of Xiao County on Longhai Road, and launching offensive operations against the strongholds along the line.

And the smoke screen released by Yang Tianfeng also caused some wrong judgments to the devils. Intelligence shows that Yang Tianfeng was not based in the area at this time, but rushed to Kaifeng to participate in the military meeting in the Henan-Anhui border region. In the absence of the military commander, the devil did not think that the New Seventh Army would launch a large-scale military operation.

Where the military commander is and where the command is is is also a basis for judging the direction of the opponent's actions in military terms. Miyamoto may also have such a judgment, so he was more relieved to go to Xuzhou to attend the military conference.

Moreover, the geographical location of Xiao County also gives the devil an element of taking it lightly. Xiao County is close to Xuzhou, known as the "back garden of Xuzhou", and the county seat is only 15 kilometers away from Xuzhou.

Fifteen kilometers, thirty miles. Not to mention the car, even walking, how long can it take?

Therefore, the devil is not psychologically prepared for the enemy's fierce attack on Xiao County. In Xuzhou, where rapid reinforcements can be brought nearby, there are more than 3,000 devils stationed in Xiao County, highways and railways are being extended, and strongholds are being set up, and the local anti-Japanese forces in Xiao County have been completely suppressed, surrendered or avoided, and it is only a matter of time before they are all wiped out.

In the devil's opinion, Xiao County's defense and vigilance have been expanded, and the periphery is stable, so there is no need to keep so many troops in the county. Therefore, there are only more than 700 devils in the county, and the remaining more than 2,000 are all arranged along highways and railways.

Among them, the largest number of troops were used as the vanguard of the westward advance, and the western end of the Longhai Railway and the Xiaoyong Highway each had nearly one brigade of troops. The strongholds along the railways and highways are mostly guarded by troops at the squad and platoon levels. Significant strongholds, and no more than a squadron.

This arrangement of the devil can be made a visual analogy, that is, "copper head and iron tail tofu waist". Although the troops in the areas ruled by the devils were empty during the entire period of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the troops and defenses in the border areas between the enemy and us were still relatively strong and tight.

When the enemy has a large number of troops and intensifies the "encroachment" and contraction of us, this area will move into the base area; When the enemy's forces are reduced, our forces increase, and the enemy is squeezed outward, this area will move towards the enemy-occupied area.

As the forward positions of the anti-Japanese army and people, if the border guerrilla areas are well maintained, the base areas will be consolidated and expanded. Otherwise, the base areas will be "encroached" and destroyed by the enemy. Moreover, the guerrilla zone along the border is also an expansion line on the periphery of the base area, and a springboard, passage, and bridge for the practice of the "flanging tactic."

Therefore, when Miyamoto stepped up his actions in Xiao County, such as sweeping and suppressing, dividing and disintegrating, and putting the Miyayama Brigade in an unfavorable situation, and constantly retreating from the guerrilla areas along the border, Yang Tianfeng launched a counteroffensive operation, and the timing can be said to be very good.

Just as Yang Tianfeng wrote in "Guerrilla Strategy": When the enemy's forces preparing to attack the base area are very strong, and we cannot stop it head-on, in order to force him to return to the army, our army will attack the enemy's flank and rear direction, and advance the battle to the enemy's occupied area, even the enemy's heart, so that we can more effectively deal with the enemy's encroachment and sweep, and at the same time expand the base area.

Interspersed in depth and in a wide range of detours, not only to cut off the tentacles and claws of the devils extending to the base areas, but also to penetrate the isolated devils as lone troops, to deal annihilating blows, and to strive to push the border guerrilla areas back to the periphery of the county seat.

Correct strategy, rational tactics, forces with absolute superiority in some parts, and the situation of blossoming in many places formed by uniting all forces enabled this counterattack operation to achieve exciting results.

Overnight, Huangkou Town, Yanji Town, and Liutao Town on the railway line were jointly conquered by two brigades of the 25th Division and more than 4,000 Eighth Route Army; The towns of Majing, Dulou, and Dingli along the highway were captured by the 26th Division. From battle to campaign, the New Seventh Army and the Eighth Route Army formed an encirclement of the county seat of Xiaoxian County from three sides. The 3rd Brigade of the 25th Division was used as a clearing force to attack and destroy the enemy's strongholds that had been cut off from contact.

If it is said that the attack and attack operations at night are blinded and the scale and nature of the opponent's actions cannot be judged, by daytime, the situation of all-round passivity is already obvious.

The Japanese army in Xuzhou immediately urgently organized troops and urgently ordered Miyamoto to lead the army back to repel the enemy's attack and stabilize the situation in Xiao County. (To be continued.) )