The 68th Regiment of the 22nd Brigade, under the personal command of the brigade commander Xie Pingcai, immediately left Si'an and forcibly marched to Songjiapu east of Yixing. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

Songjiapu is a small town on the west side of Taihu Lake, but because it is an important road to Taihu Lake in Yixing County, it is still relatively prosperous.

After the Japanese army occupied the Taihu Lake Basin, Songjiapu, as an important fishing port town on the Taihu Lake, naturally sent troops to garrison it.

When the 21st Brigade attacked Yixing, it originally wanted to send troops to occupy Songjiapu, but the troops in their hands were really insufficient, and Songjiapu was thirty miles away from Yixing, and more importantly, according to the information obtained from reconnaissance, Songjiapu alone had two squadrons of the Japanese army, plus more than 200 puppet troops, and built strong fortifications, so it had no choice but to put it aside temporarily.

Now that the Japanese army is very likely to land from Songjiapu through Taihu Lake, Liu Tianshu naturally wants to send troops to capture Songjiapu first.

An hour after Xie Pingcai and the 68th Regiment set out, Sun Xuexuan received an urgent telegram from the lurking personnel, saying that a large group of Japanese troops had boarded a ship from Suzhou and left, and a large group of Japanese troops had boarded a ship from Wuxi and left.

Liu Tianshu was in a hurry, and hurriedly sent a telegram to Xie Pingcai and Shi Qiang, telling the 68th and 69th regiments to arrive at the predetermined location within six hours, and quickly prepare to block the Japanese army from going ashore.

As for letting the Taihu guerrillas contain the enemy in the lake, Liu Tianshu finally gave up this idea.

The number of Japanese troops dispatched was too large for the guerrillas alone to stop them, and the two Japanese brigades passed through Taihu Lake, which was naturally heavily guarded, and once the two sides fought, the guerrillas' losses were too great.

However, although the guerrillas cannot contain and block the attack, they can monitor all the way. After Liu Tianshu arrived in Changxing, he equipped the Taihu guerrillas with a radio station.

As the deputy commander of the 22nd Brigade, Shi Qiang was responsible for directing the 69th Regiment to rush to the lake north of Changxing. It's all base territory, so it's natural to move very quickly.

Four hours later, Shi Qiang and the 69th Regiment rushed to Xia Yu Village, north of Changxing, and immediately built fortifications on the hillside of Xia Yu Village Lake.

Xia Yucun is the only way to go from Taihu Lake to Changxing, especially the devils transport troops are steamboats, and the general place can not be landed, and Xia Yucun has a simple wharf, and there is a highway directly to Changxing County.

Of course, after the seventh detachment at that time recovered Changxing County, it stationed troops in Xia Yu Village.

The Third Squadron of the County Brigade stationed here had already received an order from its superiors, and when it saw Shi Qiang personally coming over with a regiment of the New Fourth Army, he immediately ran over to greet Shi Qiang.

Shi Qiang learned that the devil had not yet appeared, and after briefly asking about the situation, he immediately ordered the first and second battalions to fortify in Xia Yu Village, and the third battalion was deployed in the east of Xia Yu Village as a reserve, and the third squadron of the county brigade could join the battle at any time.

Although Xia Yucun was the best landing site, it was not ruled out that the devils would land from other places near the lake, so Shi Qiang used the 3rd Battalion and the 3rd Squadron of the County Brigade as mobile troops.

At the same time, considering that the devils were very likely to arrive here, the local cadres quickly evacuated the people of Xia Yu Village under Shi Qiang's instructions.

When Shi Qiang commanded the troops to be tightly defended in Xia Yu Village, the 68th Regiment commanded by Xie Pingcai finally arrived at Songjiapu after a six-hour forced march.

As soon as he arrived at Songjiapu, the fighters of the reconnaissance company of the brigade headquarters in charge of reconnaissance immediately reported to him about the situation of the enemy.

Xie Ping couldn't help frowning when he heard that the devil had built a deep fortification outside the town.

He didn't expect that in just two days, the devil would actually build positions on the high ground in the three directions of the town, south and north. In order to prevent the enemy from landing, it is necessary to destroy the enemy in Songjiapu before the enemy's fleet reaches Songjiapu.

Time was pressing, so Xie Ping summoned the cadres above the battalion level of the 68th Regiment and the cadres of the mortar company of the brigade headquarters to quickly assign tasks.

Half an hour later, the 1st Battalion of the 60th Regiment was in the west, the 2nd Battalion in the south, and the 3rd Battalion in the north, simultaneously launching an attack on Songjiapu.

As soon as the battle began, the 68th Regiment launched a fierce attack, with the mortars of the artillery company and the infantry guns supported by the division bombarding the Japanese hilltop position, and the troops serving as sharp knives followed the shells forward.

The enemy guarding the hill did not expect that as soon as the New Fourth Army came up, it launched a thunderous attack, and the outer positions were blown into flames in a blink of an eye, and the puppet troops guarding the positions suffered heavy casualties and had to abandon their positions and retreat to the main position.

As soon as they retreated, the sharp knife companies in three directions rushed into the forward position, and then along the position, they used 60 mortars, grenadiers and heavy machine guns to carry out fire strikes, rushing to the sharp knife platoon in front of the sharp knife squad, cooperating with each other to constantly approach the main position of the devils.

The Japanese troops guarding the main position were bombed by artillery shells and couldn't raise their heads, and after discovering that the New Fourth Army was approaching, they had to desperately block the attack regardless of casualties, but it was a pity that this time Liu Tianshu's order to Xie Pingcai was to occupy Songjiapu as quickly as possible.

Therefore, after discovering that there were fortifications such as the Japanese bunker in front, the incendiary grenadiers who followed the advance, under the cover of the soldiers, shot the homemade Molotov cocktails towards the devil's bunker.

After a few incendiary bombs hit the devil's dark bunker, blue flames immediately rose, and the devils guarding inside were blocked by the firelight, and they couldn't see the situation outside at all, at this time, a soldier holding an explosive bag quickly rushed closer, pulled the lead, and threw the explosive bag into the flame-blazing shooting hole.

The devil inside was scorched by the flames, and found that a black thing fell into the shooting hole, and he was in a hurry, and he didn't pick it up before he grabbed it, and the explosive bag exploded, and the devil's dark castle was overturned, and after the smoke dissipated, only the smoking ruins were left.

Destroying the devil's hidden fortress, the attacking warriors rushed forward with a shout, and the devils behind saw that the New Fourth Army was coming too fiercely and had to retreat.

The 2nd Battalion took the lead in tearing through the Japanese defense line and slaughtered the town in a blink of an eye, and then sent troops to attack the devils to the west and north from behind the devils. The devils in these two directions were attacked by the enemy on their backs, and they were immediately panicked, and they kept asking for reinforcements from their superiors.

It is a pity that at this time, the Japanese troops coming from the direction of Suzhou and Wuxi were still on Taihu Lake, and there were still forty miles away from Songjiapu, and no matter how fast they were, it would take an hour to land.

Xie Pingcai also received a telegram from the division headquarters at this time, knowing that the Japanese fleet was less than 40 miles away from Songjiapu, so he immediately gritted his teeth and ordered a general attack.

Half an hour later, the 68th Regiment finally wiped out all the Japanese puppet troops in Songjiapu.

Seeing this, Xie Ping immediately ordered the first and second battalions of the 68th Regiment to build a blocking position by the lake, and the third battalion was responsible for clearing out the remnants of the enemy and evacuating the people of Songjiapu at the same time.

The infantry artillery company supported by the division at this time quickly formed an artillery position on the shore by choosing favorable terrain.

However, thinking that the devil's artillery fire should be fierce, the infantry artillery company prepared a reserve position in advance.

Fujiki, the commander of the Japanese army who was in charge of directing the enemy ships from Suzhou and Wuxi to support Yixing, was the wing commander of the 15th Division, and he was sitting on the boat and was about to arrive at Songjiapu, but he received a telegram from the division headquarters saying that Songjiapu had fallen into the hands of the New Fourth Army, and that the city of Yixing had also been breached, and the division headquarters ordered his troops to quickly go south and attack Changxing.

At the same time, the division commander told him that the Japanese army in Huzhou would cooperate with him and launch an attack on the independent division of the New Fourth Army from the east.

The intelligence agencies of the Japanese army still have some ability, and they know that in order to ensure that the 21st Brigade captures Yixing, Liu Tianshu has transferred all the troops in Changxing, and there is only one regiment of the 21st Brigade in Zhujiaxiang, west of Huzhou.

And the guards of Changxing are basically county brigades with weak combat effectiveness.

In order to hold back the New Fourth Army occupying Yixing, Commander Doze had ordered the Japanese troops in the direction of Wuhu to attack eastward with all their might.

Xie Pingcai set up a blocking position in Songjiapu and prepared to meet the reinforcements commanded by Fujiki, but who knew that he received a telegram from the division headquarters saying that the devil's fleet had turned around and rushed to the direction of Changxing.

At this time, Shi Qiang of Xia Yucun had received an urgent call from the division headquarters, knowing that the devil was rushing here, Shi Qiang checked the layout in front of the positions of the first and second battalions with a cold face, and then sat in the temporary headquarters and studied while smoking with Geng Zhiguo, the commander of the 69th Regiment.

With the surveillance of the Taihu guerrillas, the approximate strength of the devils has been clarified, and they are two infantry brigades.

However, the devil is in the lake, he has built a blocking position by the lake, and the infantry artillery company in the division is also ready for artillery bombardment, and Shi Qiang is confident that with the 69th Regiment in his hand, the devil will be stopped in the lake.

Besides, he still has the third squadron of the county brigade in his hand, and judging from the strength of the troops, there are not many devils who are weak.

The fleet commanded by Fujiki finally reached the lake in the summer fishing village after two hours.

Seeing the shore in the darkness in the distance, Fujimori felt uneasy.

These damned New Fourth Army always take advantage of the darkness to attack the Imperial Army, otherwise, their own troops can be supported by aircraft, and then it will be much easier to land smoothly.

It's a pity that there are still two hours before dawn at this time, is it possible that I have to wait for two hours in the lake?

Thinking that Yixing had fallen into the hands of the New Fourth Army, Fujiki had a strong fighting spirit in his heart, and when he saw Xia Yucun in front of him, he immediately ordered two armed motorboats to approach the shore from both sides, and at the same time, the artillery fire on the ships immediately roared.

The two armed motorboats of the devil were refitted, and each of them was equipped with two seven-five mountain cannons, and at this time, the four cannons suddenly became powerful, and a sharp whistling sounded in the night sky of Xia Yucun.

Shi Qiang heard this voice and suddenly felt a pang in his heart, when he was in Shandong, he had fought against the devil's artillery wing, and knew that the power of the Qiwu Mountain Cannon far exceeded the power of the infantry artillery.

He didn't expect that the devil who came from Taihu Lake would still have such a powerful dongdong on the boat, and immediately called the first and second battalions, asking the soldiers to pay attention to anti-artillery.

Fortunately, when the devil fired the cannon, the flares also began to rise into the air, illuminating the area around Xia Yucun as if it were day.

In the hidden command post, by the light of the flares, Shi Qiang held a telescope and carefully observed the movements of the Japanese fleet on the lake. (To be continued.) )