Chapter 339 Chasing Desire

The Japanese wing commander was on the makeshift artillery position and witnessed the failure of this round of attacks in all directions.

When the heavy machine gun on the position of the Eighth Route Army began to fire angrily, he forcibly suppressed the urge to let his own artillery fire hit it - through the exchange of fire in front, it can be determined that the opposite position is basically a linear arming, whether it is a mortar or a grenadier in the vast night, it is too difficult to accurately hit this slender skirmish line. After all, the purpose of Kosuke Otsuka's trip was to outflank the Tongpu railway line, and he didn't want to consume too much ammunition in a half-way assault.

After the Mongolian cavalry regiment was converted into infantry, the Japanese wing commander still did not have much hope, he only wanted this group of Mongolian cavalry to attract the heavy machine gun fire of the Eighth Route Army in the front as much as possible, so that the two infantry squads under his command could secretly succeed.

But the ending still disappointed him. The infantry squad on the right flank had even attacked the front line of the opponent's position, but at the critical moment, the heavy machine guns of the Eighth Route Army turned their guns to this side, and a group of fierce soldiers broke out of cover and threw bombs at close range, and in the end, the two squads attacking both flanks were helpless to retreat.

The Mongolian army in the middle was the last to withdraw, and of course, this round of their attacks really can't be called forward. Du Dongqiang and several other officers were terrified to speculate whether they would be punished by the military law of Wing Commander Dazuo again. To their celebratory efforts, Kosuke Otsuka left them aside, and only gathered a few lieutenants from the Imperial Army's infantry squadron to discuss matters near the truck behind.

The Japanese wing commander had already decided to suspend the attack and wait for the second support army from Fengdian County to arrive. Among the reinforcements will be a machine gun squad of the machine gun squadron directly under the Nomura Brigade, they will carry four Type 92 heavy machine guns, and Kosuke Otsuka will use these four heavy machine guns to strangle the opposite Makqin with all his might.

As the most common heavy machine gun model in the Chinese army, Kosuke Otsuka has a considerable understanding and feeling of Makqin. Long before the start of the war, the armies of the two rival countries had imported standard heavy machine guns from Europe, with the German-made Maxim for the Chinese army and the French Hatch for the Imperial Army. These two heavy machine guns are very famous in Europe, and now they are copied in large numbers in the Eastern theater, and they are generally used against each other.

Otsuka is naturally optimistic about the Hatch Cash, that is, the Type 92 heavy machine gun. The heavy cooling water cylinder on the outside of the barrel of the Makqin (they themselves named it the People's 24th Style) of the Chinese Army looked extremely stupid and ridiculous, and it was simply incomparable to the clean and bright air-cooled heat sink of the 92 Heavy Machine.

And the point that Wing Commander Dazuo is extremely reluctant to admit in his heart is the huge damage caused by Makqin of the Chinese Army to the soldiers of the Imperial Army, which has been reflected in both the Hebei battlefield and the Shanxi battlefield in North China. As for tonight's sudden battle, the reason why the positions of the opposing Chinese army have been held so far is precisely because they have a damn Makqin. Therefore, Kosuke Otsuka chose to wait, waiting for his four 92 heavy machine guns to be pulled up, and he wanted to give Makqin of the Shina Army a perfect funeral!

At the same time, the large-scale battle on the Tongpu railway line near Lingshi County also entered a temporary stage.

The 1st Battalion of the 391st Regiment of the Central Army completed the tactical deployment next to the road on Tongpu Road, with two companies in front and one company in the rear, flanking the Japanese truck fleet driving on the road. It's just that the intensity of the attack has weakened a lot. Since the colonel of the Central Army had ordered the siege of the Japanese army to be stopped, and the units began to withdraw in stages, there was no need for the first battalion on the side of the road to desperately block the meeting of the two Japanese troops.

Qin Zhongxiao's latest order to the commander of the first battalion was: flank and monitor the Japanese truck team, allow the truck team to move closer to the army column but strictly prevent it from sending infantry to rush down the road, and after receiving the order from the regiment headquarters again, it can directly retreat east to the direction of Guanmen Mountain.

After several desperate resistances, the Maori captain in the military column was always nervous, and when the heavy artillery of the Chinese army suddenly began to bombard, and directly hit and destroyed a passenger car, the deputy captain of the Japanese army even felt the despair before the end. There is obviously more than one large-caliber heavy artillery carried by the Chinese army, and one of them seems to be a Quadruple Mountain Cannon made in the Empire! If it is so overwhelming, I am afraid that the carriages of the eight small trains will be blown up into the sky in a few minutes, including the front of the train.

It wasn't until most of the shells swished and screamed over his head and exploded in the wilderness on the other side of the railway line, until the heavy artillery on the opposite side stopped rumbling and roaring, that Captain Maori suddenly realized that the shelling of the Chinese army was over, and the unskilled artillerymen saved him, his men, and the army. The frightened Japanese deputy captain began to refocus on the reinforcements arriving on the road, and continued to shout through the walkie-talkie that Lieutenant Ushijima's truck team would come closer at all costs.

Eventually, Ushijima's infantry squadron stumbled to the rear of the column, and to Captain Maori's surprise and relief, Lieutenant Ushijima, who had joined the division, reported to him that the Shina Army, which was blocking his convoy on the side of the road, had suddenly weakened in intensity, and had changed its initial posture of desperate interception.

Before Maori could figure out the reason, one of his captains sent someone back from Lingshi County to report that he had made contact with the defenders in the county and had not encountered any Chinese troops along the way. This squad was sent to Lingshi County just now on the order of the Wencheng Brigade and Regiment Headquarters, and the squad followed the railway line to the north gate of the county seat, and according to the report of the commander of the county garrison, the attack of the Chinese army on the east gate of the county town had also stopped.

The Chinese army withdrew!

The Maori Captain, who was in a state of ecstasy, almost shouted, and these common signs from the county town, the military trains, and the direction of the highway should indicate that the Chinese army had completely ceased the offensive (before that, there was no fire from the attacking columns of the Chinese army on the west side of the railway line), and it could not be ruled out that they were withdrawing along the railway line.

But the ecstasy lasted only a moment, and the deputy captain of the Japanese army immediately realized that except for the Ushijima squadron, which had just arrived from Wencheng by road, the rest of the reinforcements had not yet moved; The previous Hagiwara Brigade Headquarters clearly ordered him to hold back this Shina Army on the railway line and wait for reinforcements from all walks of life to carry out counter-encirclement. Unexpectedly, the once fierce offensive China Army took the initiative to leave the battlefield! Captain Maori, who was caught off guard, suddenly lost his mind and shouted to the telegraph soldier beside him:

"Immediately send a telegram to the brigade headquarters to inform the battle situation here, the situation has now changed, and ask for instructions on the next step."

Dozens of miles away in Bunjo, the Hagiwara Brigade Headquarters who received Captain Maori's telegram was also quite surprised and shocked: this fierce Shina army launched a surprise attack on the railway line town with heavy artillery, and then ambushed the Imperial Army army column that went to support. However, the battle lasted for more than two hours, and the Chinese army neither occupied the county seat, nor was it able to encircle and annihilate the reinforcements, and the tactical goals of both besieging the city and sending reinforcements were not completed, so did they give up so willingly?

"Where have Otsuka's troops arrived, and have they broken through the blocking position of the Eighth Route Army?" The brigade commander, Major General, asked with a grim face.

"General, Captain Otsuka just called, the first batch of reinforcements led by him is still attacking and defending with the Eighth Route Army, and Dazuo has already taken the initiative to ask the Fengdian garrison to send another infantry squadron and strengthen the machine gun squad to support."

Listening to the answer of the combat staff officer, Hagiwara Akira could not hide his anger and anxiety, in the plain area at the foot of Guanmen Mountain, how did the Shina Army block the imperial army reinforcements, including hundreds of cavalry of the Mongolian Xinjiang Army, without the support of barriers? ! Otsuka, this bastard, fought the battle of Niangzi Pass, and the aces of the Central Army of the Central Army of the China Army, which were guarding in the Snow Flower Mountain, were all defeated by him, could it be that the Eighth Route Army squatting on the bare wilderness tonight was able to make him stagnate!? If this bastard wing commander could move faster and outflank the rear flank of the Zhina Army on the Tongpu Railway Line in time, how could it happen that the Zhina Army would leave the battlefield! What a damn one!

The brigade commander, Major General, calmed down his emotions for a while, walked to the huge military map hanging on the wall, and thought nervously: If what Captain Maori said is true, then the current Lingshi County and the railway line have turned into safety, and the retreat of the Zhina Army is undoubtedly in the direction of Guanmen Mountain, which is vast, and can not only enter Guanmen Mountain, but also turn downstream along the Qinglong River. At this time, the sky is not clear, once it cannot grasp the tail wing of the Chinese army and cause it to disappear in the area of Qinglong River and Guanmen Mountain, it can be said that the mud ox enters the sea, and it is difficult to find.

Thinking of this, Hagiwara Akira couldn't help but feel a little hot, he set his eyes on a mahogany floor clock in the corner of the house, the two infantry squadrons of the Kato Brigade who came by train from Linfen still needed an hour to reach Lingshi County, and it was obviously unrealistic to expect them to launch a pursuit of the Shina Army after their arrival! It was necessary to let the two squadrons that Maori now had at hand to pursue first, bite the Shina Army and not be able to escape, and wait for the two squadrons of the Kato Brigade to arrive, and then force it to fight the Imperial Army in the plains. After dawn, the advantage will be fully transformed to the side of the imperial army, and it will become inevitable to gather and annihilate this stubborn enemy.

The commander of the Japanese brigade made up his mind and immediately telegraphed to Captain Maori to leave one infantry squad to maneuver outside Lingshi County, and the other squad to guard the military columns and truck fleets, and the rest of the troops to fully turn to the pursuit of the Chinese army.

At the same time, Kosuke Otsuka, who was stranded in the northwest corner of Guanmen Mountain, was strictly ordered to break through the blocking position of the Eighth Route Army with all his might, quickly interspersed with the western foot of Guanmen Mountain, and blocked the retreat of the Shina Army head-on. In order to carry out the project smoothly, troops can continue to be drawn from the garrison of Fengdian County. All in all, at all costs, we must completely annihilate this army that jumped onto the railway line!