Shortly after the resumption of fighting in Dingyuan, on the evening of April 4, the Japanese alert unit and a search company of ** encountered Huangnigang north of the Shahe River, and ** withdrew from the battlefield after a little resistance.

The Japanese army did not chase after them, this time the Japanese army was very cautious, as soon as the night fell, they strictly held their positions, although the harassing squadron used a lot of means, but the devil came to a mountain of motionless.

"Compatriots in Sendai, I am Konosuke Fujisawa, don't be deceived by the warlords anymore, while you are fighting bloodily, your wives and children are lonely in your hometown."

"The warlords are all liars, and I have been deceived, and we are not here to help the Chinese get rid of suffering, but to satisfy the ambitions of the warlords who are hungry for profit."

"Massacre the defenseless common people, burn and loot the cities and villages, Sendai compatriots, wake up, stop working for this war of aggression of the Japanese warlords......

Here is a recording of the captured squadron leader, wandering around the camp of the Japanese army. Sure enough, this was more powerful than any swearing, and the wing captain Satomi Jinji's heart was on fire.

He looked at the direction of the shouting with a blue face, the Japanese army hated this kind of "traitor and national thief" very much at that time, just as the Chinese hated traitors, and Satomi Jinji hated not being able to personally lead a group of people and horses to smash this broadcast to a pulp.

"Shame on the people of Sendai!" He muttered this, sat back in the tent in a rage, and threw the telegram down in his hand.

"The 104th Wing, don't take the initiative to attack at night, Meiji Yamada." That was the instruction given to him by his brigade commander.

Although the squadron made the devils uneasy, Xu Ming did not have any smugness in his heart.

This kind of means is just a small way, and the war is fought with strength, and relying on these small means will not be able to ascend to the hall of elegance after all.

Xu Ming picked up the latest report on the enemy situation on the table, and the Japanese army was divided into three columns along both sides of the railway, each column was about 5-10 kilometers apart, advancing alternately.

This kind of advance seems unfast, but it is difficult to deal with, at least Xu Ming can't think of a way to deal with them.

"It is reported that the 643rd Battalion of the 2nd Regiment encountered the Japanese army in Xiachong and suffered great losses."

The 2nd Battalion planned to ambush the Japanese army again, but it was discovered by the devils, and the ambush battle became a formal attack and defense, with more than 40 people sacrificed and more than 100 injured.

"Got it, tell Chief of Staff Zhang that the bereavement pension will be prioritized."

After the signal corps left, Xu Ming fell into deep thought, this is not a way, the Japanese army advanced more than 30 kilometers in one day, and at this speed, it will successfully reach the main position of our army the next day.

"The Japanese army must be worried, but who is going to do it?" Xu Ming pondered.

"Call the 641st Regiment Battalion Commander Liu."

Liu Junsheng was brought up by Xu Ming from the security regiment at the beginning, and his mind is very flexible, in Xu Ming's words, it is called creativity.

"Junsheng, do you know what I called you for? Xu Ming said warmly.

"Shizuo, I don't know, but if there is a military order, I promise to complete the task." The officer in front of him replied confidently.

"Well, I have a very important mission, I plan to send a unit to the rear of the Japanese army to guerrilla, so that they can't put all their strength into the frontal battlefield with peace of mind."

"Yes, please instruct the division seat on the main points of the battle." Liu Junsheng did not hesitate to take over the military order, and after a long military life, he was used to taking Xu Ming's orders as a holy decree.

Xu Ming shook his head, he actually had a lot to say, but in the end he only said one sentence: "There are no operational points, everything is up to you." ”

After Liu Junsheng left, Xu Ming smiled bitterly, and it was difficult to say whether it was good or bad to send a force to fight guerrillas. If it was done well, the Japanese army was in a hurry, and if it was not done well, it dispersed its forces in vain.

Hey, since you're at a disadvantage, let's find a way to mess up the situation, maybe there will be gains.

The guerrillas sent by Xu Ming did not stop the advance of the Japanese army. At noon on April 6, the vanguard of the Japanese army reached the outer positions of the defenders, and with the sound of bursts of artillery, the Japanese attack officially began.

In the first wave of the Japanese attack, more than a dozen mountain guns were used, and the shells rained down, and heavy smoke rose from the mountain.

Originally, this hill had no name, but now it has two names, the Japanese army named it "Bamboo Heights", and the squadron called it "1094 Heights." ”

Guarding the 1094 heights is a company of the **643 regiment, the company commander is called Zhang Deshui, and the fortune teller at birth said that he was short of water in the five elements, so he gave this name.

Zhang Deshui was a typical marcher, he never went to any school, nor did he study. He joined Wu Peifu's Third Division at the age of 21 and has been in the third division for nearly 15 years now.

"Company commander, the devil is here." A soldier nearby saw the signal from a lookout post on the hill.

"Okay, brothers, copy guys, the devils are nothing serious, they were beaten up a few days ago, and now they are here to die!" Zhang Deshui spit out the grass roots chewing in his mouth, pulled out the box cannon, and led the team to climb the mountain.

You can see it without a telescope, and the devil is under the cover of smoke * bombs, I don't know how many, and pounces on the mountain.

In the first offensive operation, Wing Commander Satomi Konji personally observed the front line, and he wanted to understand the situation of the defenders in all aspects, and then determine the attack strategy.

The Japanese army has been pushed halfway up the mountain, and the people still haven't shot? Satomi felt that the situation was not good.

There are two possibilities, one is that the defenders have all fled, and the other is that the defenders are very composed. Judging by the analysis of various scenarios, it is clear that the second case.

As if in order to confirm Satomi Konji's point of view, when the Japanese army was less than 100 meters from the top of the mountain, the squadron began to shoot, and the bullets grew eyes, and they couldn't wait to rush to the Japanese army one by one.

The first Japanese attack ended hastily with no effect other than the loss of more than 20 corpses.

"You see, what is the performance of the Shina people?" Satomi asked coldly.

"A tough opponent who puts the opponent close to fight is brave; The point of fire is not used, it is calm; When our artillery fires, it is smart to hide on the back side of the mountain; This is an enemy not to be underestimated. The adjutant of the wing made no secret of his appreciation for the squadron in person.

"Very well, then I will conquer this opponent even more, and we will use firepower to suppress the brave! Defeat the cool with the wild! Submit the smart with strength! Order all troops, concentrate firepower, and attack the bamboo heights with all your might! ”

The Japanese artillery bombarded again fiercely, and it was noon on the blue sky and day, and it was already difficult to see within five meters on the top of the mountain, and the stones on the mountain were splashed, shrapnel flew sideways, and a small tree broke off at the waist of a shell.

If there is any difference between the second attack and the first, it is that the Japanese army's infantry and artillery coordination this time is extremely close, and some of the shells are even fired less than 50 meters away from their own devils.

Zhang Deshui squatted in the trench to cheer up his subordinates: "Don't be afraid, brothers, don't fight if you can't see it!" If you can't fight, don't fight! If you can't die, you can't fight!"

"Company commander, the devil is here."

"Okay, concentrate your firepower and hit the devil with the command knife first."

A devil squad leader, posing in a pose that he thinks is very powerful, wielding a saber. was dancing in the wind and water, and suddenly his head fell to the ground.

Another devil officer took over, and another shot rang out, and the bullet went through his chest, and unlike the previous one, his legs kicked a few more times, like a rooster with his throat cut, and it took a while to hold up before he died.

In any army, middle and lower rank officers are bones. The devil officers were blocked one after another, so that the various parts of the attacking Japanese army could not coordinate for a while. Zhang Deshui grabbed the fighter plane and ordered all light and heavy firepower to fire fiercely.

The devil is very fierce, and in this case, he did not retreat but advanced, roaring "onboard" and charging wave after wave towards the position of the squadron.

But this kind of brute squadron without coordinated cover and no strategy and cooperation is not afraid at all, and the squadron formed a blazing fire net in front of the position, and the devils who hit it headlong were like moths fighting fire, all of them were smashed to pieces.

Seeing that the situation was not good, the captain of the Japanese army quickly ordered the troops to retreat and released smoke shells to cover. But the squadron did not intend to let them go, Zhang Deshui was the first to take the lead, took the bayonet and jumped out of the trench, in the smoke, the sound of "onboarding" had disappeared, and everywhere there were Chinese shouts of killing.

Satomi Konji and his lieutenant also missed one point, the opponent in front of him was not only brave, calm and smart, but also very bold!

The Japanese troops in the direction of Xiaohengshan suffered a setback, and the Japanese attacking troops on the left made no progress, and three consecutive attacks were ineffective, and the positions of the first squadron were not captured.

In half a day, the casualties of the Japanese army have reached more than 300 people, 8 squadrons engaged in the battle, 2 squadron leaders were killed and 2 were wounded, and more than half of the squad leaders and sub-captains below were also killed or wounded. The Japanese army did not even launch its usual evening offensive, and ended the offensive on April 6.

The commander of the division, Ogisu Libing, personally came to Mingguang to command the operation, and he set up his headquarters in a local elementary school to analyze the enemy situation together with the intelligence staff and the operational staff officers.

This is an extremely strong opponent, Ogishu Libing understands that he has underestimated them before, and the two corners of the industry are not wronged, even if he is not ambushed halfway, the first battle of Mingguang will not be able to achieve victory.

On the second day of the attack, the Japanese army adjusted its deployment, and under the cover of aviation, the Japanese isolated the positions of the squadrons in various places, and then concentrated firepower to attack the defenders' positions in turn.

The Japanese army used a 150 mm caliber heavy howitzer unit, this kind of artillery is very powerful, after the shell falls, it does not need to be directly hit, and the surrounding ** is not killed, but also injured, and the casualties of the defenders have increased sharply.

On the 1094 heights, a reinforced company of more than 240 people, at this time there were less than 50 people who could fight, just a fraction of the original number.

Zhang Deshui was also wounded, a bullet hit his left shoulder, and his arm could not move at that time.

At this time, the officer is the root of morale, and as soon as he lies down, the situation will be bad.

A herald finally broke through the blockade of Japanese artillery fire and ran over panting: "Company commander, the regimental headquarters orders to allow retreat." ”

The others next to them looked at their company commander with hopeful eyes.

Zhang Deshui didn't say a word, and tore up the electric order, "Let's withdraw, what about the injured brothers!" ”

Everyone was silent, and at least hundreds of brothers were wounded, and they could not evacuate.

The ridge on the top of the hill sounded another warning, and the devil attacked again.

Dragging his wounded shoulder, Zhang Deshui held a pistol in his right hand and climbed up to the trench at the top of the mountain again.

The Japanese army seemed to know that Chinese reinforcements could not go up, and this time there were a lot of them, at least more than 300 devils, who launched a frenzied assault from all directions.

Zhang Deshui's two heavy machine guns had all been damaged, and not only that, but the defenders' ammunition was running out, and they had relied on the ammunition of the wounded brothers to hold on until now.

Zhang Deshui picked up an M24 grenade*, bit the drawstring, paused for two seconds, and then threw it hard down the mountain, and the rest of the soldiers were also like their company commanders, and the grenade* bullets fell into the queue of devils like raindrops.

Grenades* exploded in mid-air, and the surrounding Japanese troops had no dead ends to hide, and in an instant, the devils were flying blood.

Relying on grenades * to defeat this wave of the devil's offensive, but there are not many grenades * bombs, and at most they can only be used again.

The battalion commander Leng Guangqian heard that the hundreds of wounded brothers on the 1094 Heights could not be withdrawn, and he was also anxious, so he hurriedly used treasure-like artillery through Regiment Commander Xie Jinyuan, and finally supported an infantry company under its cover, and continued to let Zhang Deshui command, so that he must hold out until the evening.

Finally, in the evening, the squadron quietly withdrew from the 1094 heights under the cover of night; In the other southwest, the Japanese also occupied the outer defending positions, and the outer positions of the 107th Division were completely lost.

In this battle, both China and Japan were not satisfied.

The Ogisu soldiers felt that the progress was too slow, and in two days, several small hills could not be taken down, and more than 2,000 shells were fired, and more than 800 casualties were killed and wounded by their own troops.

Moreover, the position of the squadron was not captured by itself, but was abandoned on its own initiative, and if it attacked the internal core position of the Chinese army, would it have to pay 3 to 5 times the price.

Thinking about it, the soldiers of Ogizhou shuddered, so even if they occupied Mingguang, how could they occupy Bengbu, and still have the strength to break through the "Huai River defense line" that the people boasted of being impregnable! Intelligence shows that there are at least 2 elite armies of the squadron there!

The leaders of the Japanese army were dissatisfied, and the commanders of the Chinese side were very sorry.

Xu Ming felt that the position was lost too quickly, and according to his original idea, the outer position had to be held for at least three days, and it had to be a huge attrition to the Japanese army.

He did not blame the troops at the front, they did their best. Of the 8 infantry companies invested, 2 company commanders were killed, 3 company commanders were wounded, and more than half of the soldiers were killed or wounded, almost 1,000 people.

And the vast majority of these thousand people were caused by the devil's artillery. Although Xu Ming did a lot of work, he still didn't expect the Japanese artillery to be so powerful.

The Japanese artillery was not only very dense, but also fired very accurately, many shells fell directly around the trenches, and the defenders' heavy machine guns had absolutely no chance of surviving if they did not move for 5 minutes.

At one point, a howitzer shell fell into the crowd of a squad, and almost all the soldiers of the entire squad were killed. After Xu Ming found out, he immediately conveyed instructions to the whole army that soldiers were not allowed to gather in the same place.

The bloody war has just begun!