The Japanese army was beaten by a surprise attack by the avant-garde battalion of the 178th Division, leaving more than a dozen corpses and evacuating in a hurry. The soldiers of the Sichuan army were not happy, and hurriedly picked up the weapons dropped by the Japanese army, preparing for the second round of attacks by the Japanese army. Before everyone could clean up the ropes, the Japanese counterattack began, and this time infantry guns and a large number of grenadiers were used for fire cover.

Probably because they had just suffered a big loss, the Japanese army was very careful in this attack. One by one, they bent down and shrunk their heads, advancing very slowly, and as soon as they encountered a strong resistance from the Sichuan army, they immediately stopped their advance, and quickly moved their troops to other directions to continue the attack. Because the avant-garde battalion occupies the advantage of the inner line, and the enemy is open and dark, it can calmly deploy troops to block the Japanese army back every time.

The company commander observed for a while and felt very strange, so he said to Wu Quanfu: "Tuanzuo, the devil is taking plague medicine or what's wrong, how can the attack be weak!" ”

Wu Quanfu thought for a moment and said, "The devil should be carrying out a tentative attack, you immediately take people to reinforce the avant-garde battalion." Remember! Don't fall in love with war, just rescue the brothers of the Sichuan army. ”

As Wu Quanfu expected, the Japanese army soon launched a third round of offensive after retreating. Since the previous two attacks had basically figured out the troops, firepower, and deployment of the avant-garde battalion, the Japanese attack was obviously more contentious, and the offensive was much more aggressive. Although the soldiers of the Sichuan army fought bravely, they were still defeated and retreated. The Japanese army took advantage of the victory and pursued and occupied the entire town of Xiangtangpu. Fortunately, at this time the first company also arrived, and under their cover, the avant-garde battalion successfully withdrew. However, it seems that even if they don't come in a row, the avant-garde battalion can escape, because the devils have no intention of continuing the pursuit.

The commander of the first company felt confused, and hurriedly ran to report to Wu Quanfu, saying: "The devil is too evil today, first inexplicably bombarded an empty town for half an hour, and then the attack was soft, like a mother." When the Sichuan brothers withdrew just now, I thought it was going to be a tough battle, but I didn't expect that the devils didn't plan to pursue it at all. ”

Wu Quanfu's face was solemn, and he said: "The devil's performance is indeed quite abnormal, there must be a conspiracy in this, and I have already reported the situation to the master." ”

At the Dongyang Pass Headquarters, Zheng Weiguo was also very confused, and said, "Where is the devil singing?" ”

Director Xiong of the General Staff Office took a notebook and made comparisons and said: "The strategic intentions of the Japanese army are indeed very strange, and not only today, but also very strange since the fall of Shexian. ”

Chief of Staff Zhou agreed, saying: "This is true, according to the previous speed of the Japanese army's attack, there is no need to delay nearly two days. ”

Division Commander Li Zongfang was a little annoyed and said: "The ancestors are flat, it is better for us to have a counteroffensive to show the true intentions of the Japanese army!" ”

Zhang Zhihua, chief of staff of the 178th Division, hurriedly dissuaded and said: "The division seat is not allowed!" Now that our army occupies a favorable position, we are afraid that we will take advantage of the enemy if we attack rashly! ”

Zheng Weiguo also did not agree to fight back. It's a pity that Dongyang Pass doesn't take advantage of such a good terrain, and it's not sure that it will rush out of the field battle with the Japanese army. Of course, the strategic intentions of the Japanese army had to be ascertained. Zheng Weiguo has ordered the Intelligence Department and other departments to investigate everywhere, asking them to find out what tricks the Japanese army is playing as soon as possible.

In the afternoon of the same day, the Japanese army left only one squadron to guard Xiangtangpu, and its main force actually retreated back to Shexian. What a way to play! Did you go back like this after a long day of work? When the news reached the headquarters, everyone thought that they had heard it wrong, and the Japanese army was too arrogant, did they think that the strength of a squadron could hold the Xiangtangpu?

Division Commander Li Zongfang was so angry that he slapped the table and scolded: "The turtle son's is too bullying, does Kurume (the commander of the 104th Brigade) think that he can block our two divisions with one squadron?" ”

Zheng Weiguo felt a little happy, the Japanese army's arrangement showed that they did not know that the 33rd Division had arrived at Dongyang Pass, otherwise they would never have put a squadron to death. However, this cannot be said, otherwise it will hurt the hearts of the brothers of the 178th Division too much.

Battalion Commander Luo of the avant-garde battalion was very unconvinced by the loss of the Xiangtangpu position, and when he saw that the Japanese army had only left one squadron to defend, he said angrily: "The little devil is too arrogant, a squadron dares to throw it under Lao Tzu's nose!" I'm going to have to give them a good look tonight! ”

Wu Quanfu was worried that he would be impulsive and misguided, so he hurriedly persuaded: "The terrain of the town is complicated, so don't go at night, it's better to kill them early tomorrow morning." ”

Battalion Commander Luo said proudly: "Commander Wu, tonight I will let you see the ability of our Sichuan people to fight at night!" ”

At that time, the Chinese army, including the Eighth Route Army, was not good at night fighting, one was untrained, and the other was malnourished, resulting in most of the soldiers suffering from night blindness. The exception is the Sichuan people, who are far more nocturnal than people in other parts of China. This may be related to your daily routine or diet.

Just after midnight, Battalion Commander Luo personally went into battle and led the death squad to perform a trick for the commanders and fighters of the 33rd Division to touch the "night snails". With Battalion Commander Luo's order, the loud shop, which had just been quiet, suddenly erupted in dense grenade explosions and gunshots. The daredevils nimbly ran around in the darkness of the night, dropping bombs and strafing back and forth. The devil who was sleeping was caught off guard, was beaten dizzy, and suffered heavy casualties. By the time the devils came to their senses and resisted, our daredevils had swept out of the village like a whirlwind and disappeared into the darkness. What is amazing is that there were no casualties among our troops in this battle.

Early the next morning, the Japanese soldiers in the town dragged the bodies out for cremation in frustration. Our scouts hid on the hillside and counted them one by one, counting them clearly, a total of thirty-two corpses (more than 20 devils were killed in history, and the Sichuan army was supported by weapons from the 341st Regiment in this battle, and the results were greater). The Japanese army dismantled the beams and door panels of the houses in Xiangtangpu Town and piled them up into a large pile, put the corpses on them, poured gasoline, and prepared to burn them into ashes and send them back to China.

The commanders and fighters of the 341st Regiment were very excited when they saw it, and they praised the Sichuan army for fighting well, and asked Commander Wu to order the devils to be ruthless again, so that they didn't even have anyone to burn their bodies.

Company Commander Chu of the mortar company patted his chest and said, "Tuanzuo, you can give an order, I will send all these devils back to their hometown at a moment!" ”

The terrain of Xiangtangpu is indeed not conducive to defense, and it is really possible to kill this squadron by bombarding four 82 mortars at once. Wu Quanfu refused the invitation of his subordinates to fight, saying: "There is an order from the division that our army must not reveal its strength before the main force of the Japanese army appears." You can go if you want, but you are not allowed to use weapons above the grenadier canister. ”

Now the commanders and fighters are a little difficult, and they don't even use grenadiers, how can this battle be fought? However, the commander of the first company was stubborn, and he insisted on selecting dozens of skilled soldiers from each company, ready to find the bad luck of the devil. Under the cover of the ruins of the town, the soldiers quietly took out the Japanese guard posts, and then threw grenades and grenades at the Japanese soldiers one by one.

At this time, the Japanese army was singing around the fire, and they couldn't understand the content. It should be an elegy for mourning the dead comrades. Now it's okay, don't lament the separation of yin and yang, let's go to see Aunt Amaterasu together. With this dense explosion sounded, the limbs of the living and the remains of the dead flew into the sky together.

The commander of the first company, in line with the principle of accepting it when he sees it, withdraws when he finishes throwing it away. By the time the Japanese army came to their senses, it was too late to catch up. At this time, the Japanese army also rushed over from Shexian County, and it was supposed to attack Dongyang Pass. The Chinese army was also hospitable, and they prepared a generous gift for them in the Xiangtang early morning. Seeing such heavy casualties among the defenders of Xiangtangpu, the Japanese commander was furious, and then ordered an attack in the direction of Dongyang Pass.

Due to the repeated sneak attacks by the Chinese army, the Japanese army was very cautious when advancing. From Xiangtangpu to Dongyang Pass, all places on both sides of the highway that were considered suspicious were bombarded with cannons. This section of the road had long been destroyed, and the Japanese had to advance while building the road. In addition, small groups of Chinese troops attacked and harassed from time to time, and the Japanese army did not advance smoothly until 9 o'clock in the morning, and did not reach the positions at Dongyang Pass until 9 o'clock in the morning.

In the meantime, at about 8 o'clock in the morning, the Japanese army dispatched four more planes to bomb our positions. In order to avoid revealing its strength in advance, the anti-aircraft artillery battalion of the 33rd Division was concealed and on standby, and did not organize anti-aircraft firing.

After the main forces of the Japanese army arrived in the Dongyang Pass area, they bullied the Chinese army for not having long-range firepower and swaggered to assemble in front of our army's position. When the artillery battalion found out, they were furious and asked for battle, but Zheng Weiguo thought that now was not the time, because most of the Japanese artillery was hiding in the rear and it was difficult to destroy.

This Japanese army, which has about 20 artillery pieces, is now lining up to bombard our positions. However, at this time, the morning fog on the various formations had not yet dissipated, so the Japanese army could only bomb aimlessly. The main direction of its artillery bombardment is the Catholic Pass position (historically, the Japanese army was the first to attack Xianglu Mountain, probably because the scouts were captured by our troops, so they changed the direction of attack).

The Lord's Pass position has been reinforced by our army many times, and the fortifications are very reliable. In addition, when the Japanese shelled it, the defenders left only a small number of troops to observe, and most of the troops were withdrawn to safety through the trenches. Therefore, although the Japanese bombed hard, the casualties of our army were not large.

Subsequently, the Japanese army bombarded the Yiziling position in front of the Lord's Pass. The hill is very small, and only one reinforced platoon is arranged. Seeing the heavy artillery fire of the enemy, the defenders retreated to the anti-slope position after a slight counterattack. Thinking that the defenders of Yiziling had all been killed, the Japanese army directly crossed the road under Yiziling and launched an attack on the position of Tianzhu Pass without checking.

Due to the fierce artillery fire of the Japanese army, the two men on the position of our army could not hear each other clearly, and the ears of the heralds were deaf. Wang Jiecai, deputy of the 1062nd Lieutenant Colonel Regiment guarding this position, shouted that the heralds could not move, so he had to personally brave the artillery fire, shuttle back and forth between the various positions, and gesture with his hands to convey orders.

Poor command resulted in valuable time being wasted. The Japanese army was accustomed to seeing stitches and needles, and rushed forward before the Chinese troops had fully entered the position. They were accompanied by grenadiers and light machine guns as cover fire, and they fought fiercely and fiercely, as if they wanted to take the Lord's Pass position in one fell swoop.

Fortunately, at the critical moment, battalion commander Yang Menghou finally led his troops to rush back, and resisted desperately with trenches and fortifications. Just when the fierce battle between the two sides was in full swing, the reinforced platoon on the ridge suddenly opened fire on the back of the Japanese army. The Japanese army was caught off guard and suffered heavy casualties for a while, so they had to crawl down the Lord's Pass with a rolling belt. The retreat was so panicked that the wounded soldiers could not even be carried away, so they could only be left to wail on the hillside.