As the closest stronghold to Xiangtangpu, Lieutenant Kawada, the squadron leader of the Dongyang Pass stronghold, is a middle-level officer from the Kwantung Army, who has accumulated rich combat experience due to the long-term fighting in the northeast and the Anti-Japanese Alliance. When he heard the first explosion, he could feel the tremor of the land as far away as Dongyang Pass. With his familiarity with explosives, it was easy to think that it was dozens of explosives that exploded in a row to achieve such an effect, and then contacted the transport brigade that had just passed by the stronghold, Kawada's first thought was that the baggage troops led by Captain Morita had been attacked.

Just as he was deciding whether to send troops, fierce explosions and gunshots rang out in the Xiangtangpu area ahead. "Yaga, it must be the Empire's supplies that have been attacked by the despicable Shina." Lieutenant Kawada said angrily.

"Order all the combatants to assemble at once, rescue the baggage squad, immediately!" The squadron leader immediately made a decision.

Soon, a complete squadron of 185 people was quickly assembled in full armor, and looking at the elite squadron of imperial troops in front of him, Kawada believed that if he suddenly launched an attack behind the Shina people who were fighting fiercely. With the combat effectiveness of his own squadron, he will definitely deal a fatal blow to the despicable Shina. Thinking of the battle exploits in front of him, the squadron leader began to reverie, and at the same time, he was full of confidence in the battle he faced when he claimed the prize.

The "departure" of a squadron of troops, under the leadership of Hetian, drove out of the Dongyang Pass stronghold and went to Xiangtangpu to kill. However, before they could reach an hour, the avant-garde squad rang out with a burst of heavy machine-gun fire. "Nani?" Listening to the gunfire in front, the squadron leader was stunned, grabbed his war horse, raised his binoculars and looked at the avant-garde squad ahead. Between the 78 imperial warriors fell to the ground, and the four soldiers fought back, again and again closing in on the main force.

Seeing that his troops were being blocked by the Shina people, Wada did not get angry, but laughed. "Yo Xi, since the people of China have set up a blocking position in front, it seems that Morita Nakasa has really been ambushed." Thinking of this, the lieutenant immediately became happy, happy that he had sent troops wisely, and the greatest credit for rescuing the baggage at that time would be his own Wada squadron......

Soon, a soldier who had fled back ran in front of Hotan with a panicked face. He reported the situation of the resistance of the Shina people to Lieutenant Kawada. "Yo Xi!" Hearing the soldier's report that there was only one company at most in front, Wada immediately became excited.

"Woo" Kawada suddenly pulled out his command knife, rode his war horse, and ran to the front of the team: "Imperial samurai, just in front of the ringing hall." The Imperial Baggage Squadron is being ambushed by the Despicable Chinans, and in order not to lose the Empire's war materiel, our squadron is tasked with rescuing the Imperial soldiers who are under attack. Now that there is a company of the Shina people in front of them, I will lead you to rush through the front positions with the corpses of the Shina men. Warriors of the Empire, the time has come to make meritorious contributions for the Empire and His Majesty the Emperor, all of them charge with me, rush through the blockade of the Shina people, rescue the Imperial soldiers who have been attacked, and the samurai of the Empire, rush with me! As he spoke, he raised his command knife and swung it forward, the tip of which pointed at the positions of the two battalions in front.

The devil soldiers behind him picked up their bayonet rifles one after another, lined up in formation under the leadership of their respective squad leaders, and charged at the position of the [***] team in the center.

It was on this position that two battalions of troops were guarded, the first battalion of the second regiment and the first battalion of the new second regiment. As the commander-in-chief, after receiving the order, Gao Yuan rushed to this place without stopping. After reconnaissance, this favorable terrain was found, and the construction of positions was immediately started. Because through the intelligence of the headquarters, the reinforcements of the devils must be more than their own two battalions, and maybe there will be a certain amount of heavy weapons, if there is no complete fortifications, it is difficult to block the continuous charge of the devils, you must know that the commander's order is to let himself hold on to this place until six o'clock in the afternoon, and now for example, there are still ten full hours at this time.

When the Battle of Xiangtangpu began, the troops of the two battalions were already lying in the trenches, waiting for the devils to send them to the door. In order to deal with the possible heavy weapons of the devils, the positions constructed by the two battalions were completely in accordance with the multi-layered defense taught by Liu Hua in Yan'an, with the deployment of troops being light in the front and heavy in the rear, and the firepower in the front and light in the rear. There are three lines of defense in the entire defensive position, with an interval of 30 meters between each line, and only one company of troops is deployed in the first-line position, but it is indeed very powerful in terms of firepower, reaching the configuration of 9 light machine guns of a battalion, two heavy machine guns are configured in the second-line position, providing fire support to the soldiers on the first line at any time, and the mountain artillery company is deployed in the rear of the third-line position.

Waiting is the most proud, the battle in front has been fought for an hour, but the gunshots, cannons are still ringing, and the soldiers are not looking back at the distant battlefield behind them from time to time. Although I can't see it, listening to the sound of gunfire will make the soldiers feel more comfortable.

Just when the soldiers were waiting a little impatiently, a message from the scout lifted the soldiers' spirits immediately. "There is a squadron of devils in front of the village." When the regiment commander Gao Yuan got the news, he immediately ignored the dissuasion of the guards and ran to the front-line position with a telescope.

Raising the binoculars, I watched from a distance as more than a dozen devils walked towards this side with bright bayonets. "Little devil, it's finally here! Grandpa was waiting anxiously," the head of the regiment, Gao Yuan, couldn't help but chatter.

The commander of the "fourth company", Gao Yuan, whispered to the company commander of the front-line position.

"Here." Hearing the voice of the regiment commander, the fourth company commander replied in a low voice, bent down and ran along the trench to the regiment commander.

"Do you see the spearhead of the devil in front of you?" Gao Yuan pointed to a dozen devils in the distance and said.

"Commander, I see, do you want me to call a platoon to go out and wipe them all out." The fourth company commander nodded and said.

"No, according to the report of the reconnaissance battalion, this gang of devils only has the strength of a squadron and is not equipped with heavy weapons, so your four companies will not have the support of heavy machine guns and mountain artillery companies for a while, but I ask you to leave me at least half of the squadron of devils, as for how to fight, you decide for yourself. How, is there any confidence to complete this task. The regiment commander looked at the sturdy fourth company commander in front of him and said.

After listening to the words of the regiment commander, the fourth company commander immediately understood the regiment commander's intentions. "Report to the regiment commander, the fourth company will resolutely complete the task." The commander of the fourth company replied solemnly.

"Well, I'm waiting for your good news! Remember, don't suffer too many casualties in the troops, I will keep an eye on the situation of the position in the future, and the first company of the new 2nd Regiment will be ready to provide you with support as reinforcements. ”

As an old Red Army who came from the Long March in the Soviet area, the commander of the fourth company listened to the words of the regiment commander and immediately became unconvinced, "Report to the regiment commander, the fourth company does not need reinforcements, we will definitely complete the task well and leave the corpse of half of the squadron of devils." ”

After listening to the words of the fourth company, Gao Yuan knew that his words had achieved the effect of agitating generals, nodded, and walked to the rear of the position, because the regiment commander knew that he was standing in the first-line position, and he would definitely affect the command of the fourth company commander, and since he was asked to command the defense, he must believe in his command ability, otherwise he would not be able to serve as a more senior commander in the future.

As soon as the regiment commander left, the devil's spearhead squad came up. That is, a devil infantry squad, in which there is also a light machine gun. Maybe the devil's purpose is to test the strength of our army, and they shoot aimlessly at the position from a distance. At this time, the commander of the fourth company already had a plan for the devil squadron in his heart, and in the face of the sparse gunfire of the devil's sharp soldiers, the soldiers did not return fire. Cao Chang, the leader of the devil's team, saw that there was no counterattack from the [***] team on the position, and his courage became bigger, and he slowly approached the position, and when he was only 150 meters away from the position, he didn't know that there was already a light machine gun asking him and the army behind him.

"Hit" a machine gun next to the fourth company commander suddenly fired, and the first bullet accurately hit the body of the commander of the army, "The bullets of the shuttle were finished, and the devils of a squad were instantly swept to seven or eight, only the four devils who walked at the end of the team saw the opportunity quickly, dodged the machine gun bullets, lay on the ground, and slowly retreated."

Seeing the four devils in the distance, the commander of the fourth company did not pursue them. Because he asked the devil to go back and tell the squadron leader of the devil behind him about the firepower equipment on his position. Of course, the eight sets of devil equipment on the position, the fourth company commander did not forget.

In less than a minute, the fighters of a squad retrieved the captured equipment, including a crooked-handled light machine gun, six rifles, and nearly a thousand rounds of ammunition. What's more, the two fighters directly used the captured grenades to arrange several trick mines under the corpse of the devil, ready to leave them for the devil who was about to charge.

Soon, there was a brief silence on the battlefield, and suddenly, a loud roar reached the ears of the soldiers on the battlefield. The company commander immediately raised his binoculars, and in the distance, more than 100 devils lined up in a skirmish line and slowly rushed towards the position.

"Comrades, get ready for battle, the devils rushed up, they all calmed down, put the devils in and fight again." The commander of the fourth company reminded the soldiers around him while observing the formation of the devils. One by one, the orders were quickly reached in the ears of each of the warriors.

The devil's cry is getting louder and louder. The silhouette of the devil has already appeared in the field of vision of the warriors. Under the leadership of their respective squad leaders, the devils lined up in a skirmisher line, bent over, reduced the area hit by the bullets as much as possible, charged forward, and shot from time to time, but the distance at this time was too far, and the bullets that came from a distance were floating, and it was impossible to cause any damage at all, at most, they were strong and strong.

At 400 meters, there is no movement on the position, at 200 meters, there is no movement, and at 100 meters, there is still no movement. Although the devil officer who led the team was very puzzled, his squadron leader Wada did not give the order to retreat, and he still had to continue to charge.

Gradually, some of the Yue soldiers began to become bolder, and slowly accelerated the pace of the charge, and at the same time, the bent waist also straightened up, one after another, when the Yue army rushed through the 100-meter cordon at the front of the position, almost all the Yue troops straightened up and began the final charge.

(To be continued)