Bang, bang, bang...... Without waiting for the battalion commander's order, several sharpshooters of the first battalion opened fire almost simultaneously. The hapless sentry was shot twice in the head and three in the chest and abdomen, and before he could even snort, he fell headlong from the watchtower.

"Hit!" The commander of the first battalion raised his shell gun and fired a shuttle forward, and the light and heavy machine guns and mortars immediately opened fire for cover. Deng Shijun, the commander of the assault company, shouted: "Comrades, rush with me!" With that, he took the lead and rushed to the station. It was followed by more than a hundred fighters of the assault company. In order to ensure the smooth operation of the assault, the automatic muskets of the entire battalion were concentrated in this company.

The gunshots rang out, alarming the defenders in the station. A patrol of more than 20 people rushed to the scene and collided head-on with the assault team. After a fierce battle, most of the more than 20 devils were annihilated, and only two or three people took advantage of the darkness to sneak into the houses next to the station. The assault company commanders took advantage of the situation and killed the station.

Lieutenant Kameichi Ikeda, the supreme commander of the Nyoshiguan garrison and the leader of the 4th Squadron of the 15th Independent Infantry Brigade, was awakened from his dream by the sudden sound of a Czech machine gun, and hurriedly ran into the office to contact the headquarters of the 4th Independent Mixed Brigade in Yangquan and ask for tactical guidance.

"Moximoxi, toot...... Mossi Moxi! Mossi Moxi! "Dudu ......" shook it several times in a row, but it couldn't be contacted at all. In fact, the telephone line had long been cut off by the soldiers of the Eighth Route Army. Hearing the gunfire outside getting closer, Lieutenant Ikeda threw the telephone to the ground in anger and rushed out with his own katana.

Da Da Da ...... Large forces of the 1st Battalion of the 5th Regiment had completely broken through the blockade and seized several masonry bunkers northwest of the station. Then use it as a forward base to continue to encroach eastward. Although the Japanese army was very tenacious, after all, its strength was limited, and the Eighth Route Army's fighting style was also very domineering. Whenever they encounter cover, they bombard them with anti-aircraft guns. Gun grenades are also very powerful, and the shooters are specially trained, and their skills are excellent, often firing two or three grenades to get one shot directly into the hole.

"Yaga, fight back, fight back!" Lieutenant Ikeda knew very well in his heart that if all the bunkers in the northwest fell. The barracks to the east alone could not hold it. So he tried his best to direct the troops to fight back. However, the Fifth Regiment had already prepared, and under the command of Regiment Commander Chen Zulin, the heavy machine guns and mortars on the top of the West Wall immediately bombarded the eastern barracks. In addition, the firepower of the first battalion itself was far stronger than that of the Japanese army. Ikeda led his troops to rush for a while, and saw that it was not the head. He hurriedly retreated. The first battalion took advantage of the situation to pursue. Took all the bunkers to the northwest. Then the attack on the eastern barracks continued.

While the 1st Battalion was fighting fiercely with the enemy, the officers and men of the 2nd and 3rd Battalions of the 5th Regiment were not idle. At about 21 o'clock in the evening, it was stationed in Dakou Village (located north of Niangzi Guanchengguan. It is also a pass) The puppet army is mostly asleep except for two people standing guard. The sharp knife squad of the 4th company of the 2nd battalion quietly touched in by the night, and captured all the puppet soldiers and plainclothes teams in the village in one fell swoop, a total of more than 10 people, and then the 2nd battalion left a company to stick to Dakou Village, and the rest of the troops continued to approach the city pass.

Some people may wonder that there are only two gates in the city, one south gate and one east gate, so why attack from the north? Because the terrain of the south gate is dangerous, there is a slope of more than 100 meters long before closing the gate, and there are still some strongholds in front of the slope to rely on. The East Gate is the same, and it is the inner entrance of Niangzi Pass, attacking here, it is not good that it will be flanked by the Japanese army in the direction of Jingcheng. Therefore, the Eighth Route Army would rather spend a little more effort and attack Chengguan from the north.

To this end, the Eighth Route Army also specially prepared a ladder. However, the process of capturing the city pass was very smooth, because the Japanese army did not expect anyone to dare to come to seize the pass, and only released three puppet soldiers to sentry on the pass. The three guys were unsupervised, and they all hid around the corner and smoked.

Several scouts and local soldiers of the 2nd Battalion set up a ladder on the north side of Chengguan and quietly climbed up. Originally, I was preparing for a fierce battle, but I didn't expect the enemy to be so loosely guarded. So he pressed the surprise in his heart, and pounced without saying a word. Several puppet soldiers thought it was the Japanese army checking the post, and they couldn't help but be startled, and hurriedly knelt down and begged for mercy: "Taijun spare your life, Taijun spare your life, you don't dare anymore!" ”

The soldiers were angry and funny, and stepped forward and shouted: "Look clearly, we are the Eighth Road!" You've been captured, be honest with me! ”

The puppet soldiers took a closer look and found that it was indeed Balu, and said with a sad face: "Grandpa Balu, we surrender!" We are also Chinese, we are all imperial troops, no, it was forced by little devils! ”

After receiving the signal of the vanguard team, the commander of the second battalion quickly led a large army into Chengguan, and called several puppet soldiers to inquire about the situation of the Japanese army. A squad of 54 Japanese troops stationed on Mianshan was equipped with 5 light machine guns and 4 grenadiers. Organized according to the standard of an independent mixed brigade, each squad consisted of 54 people, two light machine guns, and two grenadiers, which was significantly strengthened here.

Although its forces are seriously insufficient, the terrain makes up for it well. The four cylindrical concrete pillboxes on the mountain are connected by trenches, and barbed wire and trenches are set around them. Its machine-gun fire can control the station under the mountain 700 meters away, and the grenadier can bombard Niangzi Guanchengguan.

The 2nd Battalion attacked from Chengguan to Mianshan to the south, and could only climb up a steep stone staircase. The Japanese could easily block with machine guns and grenadiers. If you do it brutally, there will not be enough people to fill it, and Guan Jiayuan is the best example. So they decided to use a ladder to climb up the side cliff.

The same was true of the 3rd Battalion, which, through a long period of concealment and stealth, also moved to the foot of Mianshan, preparing to attack from the south to the north. Looking at the signal on the Chengguan, the soldiers were a little depressed, they knew that they didn't have to run so far directly, and it was not easy to come directly from the Chengguan? But it's too late to say anything, so let's attack honestly!

Under the cover of the fire of the mountain artillery company, the two battalions secretly set up a ladder, and then each sent a company to climb the hill. However, the Japanese army was not stupid, and immediately detected the movement of the Eighth Road, and used grenadiers to bombard the slopes on both sides. Several ladders were quickly blown up, killing and injuring many fighters. But the soldiers behaved very bravely, and when the ladder broke, they set up a human ladder and continued to climb. At the same time, small troops were constantly sent to make roundabouts. Mianshan, as the name suggests. The mountains are long and endless. The Japanese were guarding only one of the hills. And the number of troops is too small to be able to hold it out.

After nearly two hours of fierce fighting, a platoon finally made its way back to the top of the mountain. The Japanese had to allocate a portion of their forces to deal with the platoon, and as a result, they were overstretched and the defensive line became increasingly difficult to maintain. The Eighth Route Army seized the opportunity to launch a fierce attack, using gun grenades to fire at the Japanese strongholds, and even moved a mountain gun up and pushed it to within 200 meters for direct bombardment.

Under such a ferocious attack, the Japanese army finally couldn't stand it anymore. had no choice but to leave more than 20 corpses and flee to the Dragon King Temple west of Niangzi Pass. The Eighth Route Army moved all four mountain guns up. Then proceed to the attack. The remnants of the Japanese army had to flee again, and they were later wiped out by the local regiments that followed.

So far, Niangzi Guanchengguan and Mianshan have been recovered. At the same time, after more than two hours of hard fighting, the first battalion also took the Niangziguan station. They completely annihilated more than 170 people under Lieutenant Ikeda Kameichi. and captured an infantry gun and a mortar. It is said that this is the time. The battle of Niangzi Pass can be declared victorious.

However, at this moment, a sudden change occurred! From the direction of Taiyuan, a train with more than a dozen carriages suddenly drove straight to Niangziguan Station. Because it's a van. Brigade Commander Guo Tianmin thought that he was transporting supplies, so he didn't care, but just asked the Fifth Regiment to pay attention to the captured materials and not let the enemy go.

Looking at the train from far and near, the head of the regiment, Chen Zulin, happily even showed his back molars, and said: "His grandmother's, more than a dozen wagons of materials were seized at once, Lao Tzu really never dreamed of it!" Quick, immediately notify the first battalion and prepare to accept the congratulatory gift from the little devil! ”

The 1st Battalion, having received the order, quickly cut off the railroad with the help of the rescued railroad workers. When the train arrived before the war, the road ahead was blocked, and it had to stop in front of Niangziguan Station. The soldiers gathered around with joy, shouting for the people in the car to come down and be examined. I don't know what's going on, more than a dozen carriages are locked tightly, no matter how shouting outside, they just refuse to open the door.

The first company commander had a fiery temper and shouted angrily: "The dog is still kicking his nose in the face!" Go, bring me the explosives bag, and blow up these fascists if you don't open the door! ”

The commander of the first battalion reprimanded: "Nonsense, how can you seize materials after the explosion?" All backwards! He shouted at the train again: "Fellow countrymen, don't be afraid, we are the Eighth Route Army, not bandits." If there are Japanese soldiers in the car, as long as you lay down your arms, we will treat you humanely in accordance with the Geneva Conventions......"

Deng Shijun, the commander of the second company, glanced at it by the light, and suddenly his face changed, and he said vigilantly: "Battalion commander, there seems to be something wrong with this wagon!" ”

The commander of the first battalion said disapprenously: "What can be the problem with a truck!" ”

Unexpectedly, before the words fell, a burst of shouts suddenly broke out in the car, and the door of the carriage was directly knocked open, and nearly a thousand people poured out of Hulala. All of them were boys, with ring-legged legs and fierce faces, and they also held all kinds of strange weapons in their hands, such as fire axes, hammers, pipe wrenches, iron bolts on the carriages, shovels for shoveling coal, and even steel pipes removed from the shelf bed.

"Ah, it's a devil!"

"What's going on?"

……

"Onboard!" Before the soldiers came to their senses, nearly 1,000 Japanese soldiers had already rushed up with howls. The front row of fighters was knocked out before they could shoot.

"Heavy, quick!" Deng Shijun, the commander of the second company, shouted desperately while taking out a shell gun and sweeping at the little devil. But there were too many Japanese troops, and they rushed up at once. When the two sides got together, the machine guns and mortars were useless. Although this strange Japanese army is armed with all kinds of "Qimen weapons", and most of them are even empty-handed, they are extremely fierce when they start fighting (it may be more accurate to describe this state as fighting at the moment), and often several soldiers are not opponents of the Japanese army. What's more, there are obviously more devils in this group than Balu. If it weren't for the fact that the soldiers all had horse rings in their hands and could form a formation with bayonets, they were afraid that they would be overturned by the little devils just by taking a look.

Among them, there was a little devil wearing a white-washed military uniform and holding a lancet, which was very powerful, and hacked to death four or five soldiers of the Eighth Route Army one after another. He had just cut down a soldier, and when he looked up, he happened to see the commander of the first battalion who was directing a counterattack, so he immediately waved his command knife and pounced. Several soldiers of the platoon directly under the battalion hurriedly raised their bayonets to meet them, but they were slashed to the ground by three or two of them. This guy didn't stop, and he jumped again, and with a flash of the knife, he slashed straight at the battalion commander.

The commander of the first battalion was shocked and angry, and hurriedly raised his big knife to parry. Material. Listening to the sound of the bell, the broadsword broke in response, and the lancet came unabated, slashing from the battalion commander's left shoulder to his thigh, pulling out a hole in the old man. If it weren't for the battalion commander who stepped back in time, I was afraid that this knife would have split him in half!

When the Japanese devil saw that this knife couldn't be successful, he muttered, and it was another knife that slashed, it was really ruthless and fast. The commander of the first battalion was already reluctant to retreat just now, and now he had no time to dodge. I could only watch the knife fall.

Bang, bang, bang. Only three gunshots were heard, the first shot was right in the right arm of the little devil, and the lancet was immediately out of his hand, and then two more shots hit him in the chest and abdomen. Finally solved this guy.

"Battalion commander. You're all right! Deng Shijun, the commander of the second company, asked with concern.

Half of the battalion commander was stained red with blood. But he endured the pain and said, "Fuck, I can't die!" He said angrily: "What the hell is going on, where did so many little devils come from." ”

Company Commander Deng was also confused. Shaking his head, he said, "I can't figure it out either!" ”

The commander of the first battalion asked again: "Have you asked for help from the regimental headquarters?" ”

Company Commander Deng nodded and said, "Well, we've been contacted." The regiment commander asked us to stand up for a while, and he immediately brought people to reinforcements. ”

The commander of the first battalion saw the heavy losses of the troops, and said angrily: "Dog, Lao Tzu and others must kill all these beasts!" ”

This fierce battle lasted for more than two hours, and it was not until the reinforcements of the second and third battalions that the soldiers eliminated this group of little devils and captured many prisoners. It's a pity that a large part of the Japanese soldiers took advantage of the chaos to run away, and the sky was so dark in the middle of the night that they had to wait until dawn to search and arrest. As soon as the next morning was counted, more than 500 prisoners were captured one after another. However, it was precisely because there were too many prisoners that the commander of the first battalion did not dare to kill them all.

In parallel space, the battle in which the Chinese army captured the most prisoners was the "Battle of the Hundred Regiments", in which more than 280 little devils were captured. The second was the Battle of Xuefeng Mountain in Xiangxi of the National Army, in which a total of 247 were captured. (Note: The more than 700 in Taierzhuang seem to be too wet, far less so.) It is clear to several prisoner camps of the Kuomintang and the Communist Party that there is as much as it is, and this cannot be faked) And this time the skirmishes (perhaps it would be more appropriate to call it a conflict?). More than the two battles combined. How not to be shocking!

Lixian, Jicha Theater Headquarters.

Chief of Staff Zhou shook the battle report and said excitedly: "General seat! The Japanese prisoners at Niangzi Pass have been counted, and there are 577 in total. However, a few of the injuries were serious and could not be saved. ”

"How can there be so many!" Zheng Weiguo asked suspiciously: "Could it be that the little devil's will to fight has slipped to this extent?" Or was there a Japanese communist behind the scenes that instigated the Japanese soldiers to oppose the war? ”

Chief of Staff Zhou smiled, waved his hand and said, "No, speaking of which, Commander Nie, they have picked up a big bargain this time." ”

It turned out that the dozen or so wagons were all retired Japanese personnel who had returned to China. Most of them are health soldiers, as well as disabled and discharged artillerymen and baggage soldiers. In addition, there are some family members. According to the research of experts in the history of the Japanese war after the war, the health soldiers were psychologically unbearable due to too much contact with the dead and wounded of their own troops, so it was not suitable to stay on the front line for a long time, and they should be rotated regularly; The veterans of the first-line combat units of the devils are the backbone and are generally not easily rotated.

Because they were discharged from military service and returned to China, except for a few officers and non-commissioned officers who carried sabers, they did not bring weapons. As a result, after the train arrived at Niangziguan Station, it was found that this place had been captured by the Eighth Route Army. The Japanese soldiers, who were unwilling to be captured, under the command of four officers, including Captain Mitani, of their artillery, collected all kinds of "weapons" in the car in an attempt to break out of the encirclement. But the Niangziguan is an oil gourd, and it is difficult to escape from the two ends.

What's more, these guys don't have the weapons they have in hand, and after the most ferocious infantry is killed, the remaining artillerymen, baggage soldiers, and medical guards will already have a nervous breakdown. Even if there are still people who want to continue fighting, they cannot be the opponents of the second and third battalions with their bare hands.

At the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army, Mr. Peng, who was easy to see with a smiling face, couldn't help but show his big teeth. In the headquarters, Chief of Staff Zuo, Director Luo and others were even more laughing. Even the landlord's aunt, who helped with the laundry, was so happy that she couldn't close her mouth and insisted on making a dumpling.

The neighing of war horses came from outside the courtyard. A cadre of the Eighth Route Army hurriedly walked into the courtyard with a box on his back, and when he saw Mr. Peng, they hurriedly saluted: "Report, boss, chief of staff, Director Luo, and Zhou Anbang of the Propaganda Section have been ordered to report for duty!" ”

Chief of Staff Zuo was puzzled: "Xiao Zhou, didn't you ask Sha Ke to go to Niangziguan to shoot propaganda photos?" Why did you come back alone first? ”

Officer Zhou hurriedly explained: "That's so, Chief of Staff. We took some of the shots first, and Shaq was worried that the headquarters would be in a hurry to use them, so he asked me to get them back first. He still has a lot of good themes over there, and he plans to shoot more and come back. ”

Director Luo's eyes lit up when he heard this, and he hurriedly said, "So you brought back all the photos?" Quick, take it out and take a look. ”

Director Zhou hurriedly took off the box from his body and said with a smile: "This is the ...... that has just been developed" and explained a few more words, but everyone's eyes were attracted by the photo, and no one cared to speak.

These photos were taken by Sha Ke, a photojournalist from the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region, and there are wonderful shots (posed) of the commando of the 2nd Battalion of the 5th Regiment bravely capturing Niangzi Pass and the soldiers of the 3rd Battalion storming the top of Mianshan Mountain. It is worth mentioning that in order to maintain the anti-Japanese national united front, the soldiers in these photos are flying blue sky and white sun flags (national flags), so the title of the photos is "The national flag flutters on the lady's pass".

In parallel space, this group of photos caused a great sensation in the rear. Whether it was Yan'an or Chongqing, major newspapers and periodicals rushed to publish it, causing a sensation: "One regiment of the Eighth Route Army recovered the Niangzi Pass lost by 10 divisions of the National Army in one fell swoop!" "When the soldiers and civilians heard the good news, they were all excited, and they were really happy.

But in this time and space, recovering Niangzi Pass is nothing, and what the common people love to see are piles of live devils! Hundreds of Japanese prisoners were accurately recorded in photographs, which shocked not only Yan'an, the national government, but also the Japanese side. More than 570 people surrendered at one time, which was unprecedented since the Meiji Restoration.

Seishiro Itagaki of Japan's land minister was as anxious as an ant on a hot pot, and it was obviously impossible to hide the emperor from such a big accident. But if you report the truth, you are afraid that the official hat will not be guaranteed, what should you do? (To be continued......)

PS: Well, there's another recommendation next week, thank you!