When the commander of the puppet army led two battalions down the mountain to transport supplies, the commander of the puppet army specifically told them the tactics he had worked out all night long to deal with the guerrilla cavalry. He believed that he would be able to give the guerrilla cavalry a ruthless blow.
A hard blow.
In the cave on Mantou Peak, the guerrillas were also having a meal. There were other exits in the cave, and there were many small gaps. The ventilation inside was very good. Eight large pots were used to cook together, and the smoke produced rose directly upwards.
It flew out of those holes and gaps without choking the people in the cave.
Wang Chengzhu, Wei Heping, Zheng Xirong and Wang Xiaohu were having breakfast around a dining table set up with cannonball boxes.
Wang Chengzhu said: "The little devils launched a surprise attack on us last night and will definitely do so again in the future. This is very dangerous. We must find a way to detect them as early as possible to prevent them from getting too close."
Wei Heping said: "I have also considered this problem, and I have thought of a way. Let's prepare more torches, and at night, light them and throw them on the hillside. When the little devils come up, it will be easy to spot them.
"
Wang Chengzhu said: "This is a good idea. We have stored a lot of firewood in the cave. We pick out the ones with pine oil and tie them into torches. At night, we throw a few in from time to time. It will definitely work."
Wang Xiaohu said: "I also think this method is good. After eating, I will organize people to put torches."
Zheng Xirong did not speak. He frowned and thought for a while, then raised a question and said: "The method is good, but if it rains, the torch will be extinguished soon, and it will no longer be able to provide lighting."
Wei Heping's opinion was adopted. He was originally very happy, but now it was half rejected by Zheng Xirong. He felt a little depressed, so he carefully considered other solutions.
When his eyes fell on a box of Japanese beef cans on the table, his eyes suddenly lit up.
He said: "Didn't we seize the cans from the Japs? After eating the contents, we threw those cans on the hillside. It was too dark and the Japs couldn't see clearly even if they wanted to sneak up on them. They would have to step on them.
It will make a noise."
Zheng Xirong praised: "Brother Heping, you have a quick mind, this method is good."
Wang Chengzhu and Wang Xiaohu also agreed with this opinion.
Wang Chengzhu said: "At noon today, we will distribute all the cans we have stored and give some to the fellow villagers. Hurry up and empty the cans."
Wang Xiaohu responded and said that he would handle the matter.
He said: "Last night, Brother Dalong and the others attacked the Japanese and puppet troops again. Unfortunately, we can't contact them, and we don't know how they are doing now."
Wang Xiaohu's words reminded Zheng Xirong that the guerrillas now have several radio stations, but unfortunately they are not of use yet. They really need to master the radio technology as soon as possible.
After eating, Zheng Xirong came to Lin Xueying and said to her: "We don't know how long we will stay in this cave. Anyway, we have nothing to do. Why not use this time to continue training telegraph operators."
Lin Xueying readily agreed, and immediately organized the students in the training class to place ammunition boxes next to the fire, set up the radio, and Lin Xueying guided them in their studies.
That afternoon, Xu Dalong and others stood guard on the road that the enemy troops must take to transport supplies, waiting for the puppet army transport team to appear. However, they waited until dark, and the puppet troops still did not come.
At midnight, near the city gate of Guancheng County, the guerrillas monitoring the enemy saw the city gate opened and a large group of puppet troops came out with supplies.
Two guerrillas continued to monitor, and one guerrilla flew forward to report the news to Xu Dalong and others.
After receiving the news, Xu Dalong and others held a pre-war Zhuge Liang meeting and asked: "Do you think the enemy uses night to transport supplies? Aren't they afraid of being attacked?"
Sun Desheng said with a smile: "We are all cavalry. They can't do anything to us during the day, so they can only transport food secretly at night."
Monk Wei smiled and said: "These guys don't know that we are also their ancestors in night battles."
Xu Dalong asked: "If you are the commander of the enemy army and transport supplies at night, what kind of preventive measures are you going to take to guard against the enemy's cavalry attack?"
Both Sun Desheng and Wei Monk became worried, feeling that no matter what they did, it would be difficult to deal with the cavalry attack.
Seeing the two of them thinking there, Xu Dalong called all the backbones of the guerrillas from the squad leader level over and asked them to think about this issue as well.
Everyone raised a lot of questions and many ways to solve the problems with each other.
Xu Dalong summarized everyone’s opinions.
Later, Xu Dalong, Sun Desheng and Wei Monk each led some guerrillas to set up ambushes along the way.
As the leader of the puppet army led the team to walk, he felt very nervous. He was now worried about the guerrillas coming, but also worried that they would not come.
The reason why the puppet troops chose to walk at night is because the advantage of the Eighth Route Army's cavalry is too obvious during the day. If they can't see each other clearly at night, the advantage of the cavalry will be much weakened, and they will have the advantage due to their large number.
During the march, the puppet troops only had a small number of troops escorting the carts. The rest of the troops were scattered 400m away from the road. Their teams were very scattered, with each other reaching more than 3m, which could effectively
to avoid damage from enemy machine gun fire.
The puppet soldiers had already loaded their bullets and were looking around vigilantly as they walked, ready to counterattack any sneak attack by the guerrillas.
Before departure, the brigade commander of the puppet army told the commander of the puppet army that the guerrillas would definitely attack them, because the guerrillas would definitely not allow them to transport food and other supplies smoothly. He specifically told the commander of the puppet army to follow his own instructions
tactics to counterattack the guerrillas who came to attack.
Sure enough, the guerrillas finally arrived.
A platoon of puppet soldiers walking in front of the left side of the transport team was suddenly attacked by enemy fire. Because their formation was very scattered, the guerrillas could not see clearly at night, so they did not cause many casualties.
After being attacked, the puppet soldiers immediately fell to the ground. In groups of three, they fired at the flash of the guerrillas' guns.
This tactic seemed to be very effective. As soon as the guerrillas' muzzles flashed, several rifles fired immediately. There was immediately no movement from the guerrillas. They must have been hit.
The guerrillas were few in number, and they also opened fire on the puppet soldiers, also aiming at the muzzle flashes of the puppet soldiers.
The two sides fought ping-pong-pong for a while, and the puppet troops clearly had the advantage due to their large number. The puppet company commander behind the puppet platoon also led other puppet troops to join in the counterattack against the guerrillas.
At the same time, he also sent two squads of puppet troops to bypass the guerrillas' flanks.
The guerrillas obviously couldn't hold on any longer. They took turns taking cover, fighting and retreating at the same time.
The puppet army's fighting style was very methodical. As soon as the enemy opened fire, they would immediately shoot at the enemy with a row of guns. However, the guerrillas did not know whether they were alive or dead and kept shooting at the puppet army.
During the mutual shooting between the two sides, the puppet troops killed and injured more than a dozen people. It is conceivable that the casualties of the guerrillas would not be smaller than them.
Finally, the guerrillas stopped shooting, probably because they could not defeat the puppet troops and fled under the cover of night.
The puppet soldiers were very excited and chased after them. Soon, they came to the place where the guerrillas had just ambushed them.
When they got there, they were a little dumbfounded because they didn't see the body of a guerrilla, and they didn't even see blood on the ground.
The puppet company commander was very depressed. He clearly saw that when the guerrilla gunmen opened fire, the puppet soldiers fired a row of guns at them. The guerrillas stopped moving at that time, and it took a very short time for them to rush over. If the guerrillas wanted to
It was impossible to drag away the bodies of their killed companions in such a short period of time. Even if they could drag away the bodies, there was not even a trace of blood on the ground. This was completely unreasonable.
Suddenly, the puppet company commander vaguely saw some black spots flying in the sky, followed by the sound of a grenade falling on the ground.
He didn't have time to shout to alert the puppet soldiers, so he just fell to the ground.
"Boom, boom, boom, boom." There was a violent explosion, and more than a dozen puppet troops were knocked to the ground on the spot.
The flames of the explosion revealed the panicked figures of the puppet soldiers, and the guerrilla machine guns spit out tongues of fire. The attack lasted only a few seconds, and the front turned into darkness again.
The puppet soldiers lay on the ground and fired in the direction where the guerrillas' muzzles flashed just now. The guerrillas were also firing back. The distance between the two sides was relatively far, about 100m.
Those living puppet soldiers, under the command of the puppet company commander, still adopted the same method. As soon as they saw the flash of the guerrillas' muzzles, they concentrated their firepower and attacked them.
In the gun battle between the two sides, the puppet troops soon lost more than a dozen people.
The company commander of the puppet army felt something was wrong and hurriedly shouted: "Stop shooting. No shooting is allowed without my order."
At this time, the battalion commander of the puppet army rushed over with his troops. He came to the puppet company commander and asked: "What's going on?"
The puppet company commander told the puppet battalion commander what happened to them, and the puppet battalion commander also found it strange.
After thinking for a while, he called the other two puppet army company commanders and asked them to each send a platoon to quietly surround them from both sides.
The puppet troops surrounded us, but the guerrillas had already disappeared.
After the battle just now, the puppet troops suffered about fifty casualties, but not a single guerrilla body was found, not even a drop of blood.
"What a ghost." The puppet battalion commander cursed angrily.
☆☆☆☆☆☆
This is not a ghost, but the tactics used by the guerrillas are very effective.
First, they took advantage of the cavalry and ran to the front of the puppet marching column in advance to select an ambush position.
When some guerrillas fired at the enemy, other guerrillas were secretly preparing.
After the attacking guerrillas opened fire, they immediately hid behind the bunkers they had prepared before waiting for the enemy to counterattack. Naturally, the enemy's bullets could not hit them.
When the puppet soldiers fought back, the muzzle flashes exposed their positions, and other guerrillas opened fire on them. Each guerrilla hid behind a bunker. They only fired once, and then quickly hid.
Behind the cover, when the puppet soldiers' volleys of guns came over, they remained silent, creating the illusion of being hit by the puppet soldiers. When the puppet soldiers stopped shooting here, they quietly crawled to the place they had watched in advance.
Behind other bunkers, and then opened fire on the puppet troops again.
The puppet soldiers responded in a hurry and there were not that many shelters. They lay on the ground and could not block the bullets fired by the guerrillas.
When they discovered that the puppet troops were outflanking them, they used the terrain they had predicted in advance to evacuate quickly, and then re-ambushed them. When the puppet troops were searching there, they threw grenades at them and attacked them with firepower first.
When the soldiers counterattacked them, they had already hid behind the cover they had prepared in advance.
In this way, the guerrillas caused a lot of damage to the puppet troops, but they themselves were unscathed.
The puppet soldiers were not fools. After searching, they saw that the bullet casings on the ground were all behind the cover, and then they understood what kind of tactics the guerrillas used.
However, the puppet soldiers clearly knew that the enemy was using this tactic, but they were helpless because the enemy had horses and could maneuver quickly. God knows where they would set up an ambush in front of them.
The situation was reported to the commander of the puppet army. The commander of the puppet army was very depressed. He complained: "What kind of stupid idea is this from the brigade? It doesn't work at all."
The commander of the puppet army was also a veteran. Faced with this situation, he could only think of a way on his own. He believed that the guerrillas had few people after all. He told his officers that as long as the enemy launched an attack, he would use a small number of people to attack.
Fight back at the enemy and send people to outflank them, forcing the guerrillas to withdraw.
The tactics adopted by the puppet army commander were still very effective. Although they were constantly attacked along the way, the puppet army's casualties were greatly reduced.
However, the puppet soldiers felt that this battle was very frustrating. Although the enemy attacks were driven away every time, there were still casualties among the puppet soldiers.
They looked at the vast night ahead, each of them trembling with fear, wondering if they would be the unlucky one next time.
When the puppet army commander saw that the tactics taught by the brigade commander were not working, he urged his men to speed up their march, hoping to enter the mountains as soon as possible.
Suddenly the team in front stopped, and an officer of the puppet army ran over and reported that there were a lot of stones piled on the road ahead. There was no problem for people to pass by, but they could only stop driving the big car.
.
When the leader of the puppet army saw that the team had stopped and the crowd was getting denser, he suddenly felt something bad. He shouted loudly: "Disperse quickly."
At this moment, the characteristic sharp whistling sound of mortar shells in flight was heard in the sky, and then they exploded.
Immediately afterwards, a second row of artillery shells flew over. After the two rows of artillery shells exploded, calm returned to the wilderness again, with only the injured puppet soldiers wailing there.
The commander of the puppet army was almost going crazy. He wanted to pick up a machine gun and fire wildly to vent his anger, but he didn't have the courage. He didn't want to become a guerrilla who didn't know where he was ambushing.
target.
At this time, he remembered a trick that the brigade commander had given him, so he ordered the troops to abandon the carts and run forward in a panic.
After the puppet soldiers ran a certain distance, they slowed down, some continued to run forward, and some quietly lay on the ground.
Dozens of abandoned large vehicles were left there quietly. Looking from a distance, it was completely dark.
Each cart is covered with a tarpaulin, with bulging grain sacks exposed on all sides. If you look closer, you can see that the tarpaulins covering it are slightly dented in the middle. It does not seem that there are grain sacks inside, as if there is something hidden inside.
Mystery.
Indeed, there was not much food in those large carts. There were two puppet soldiers in each cart. They quietly lifted up a corner of the tarpaulin and waited for the guerrillas to come over and launch a surprise attack on them.
The commander of the puppet army also lay on the ground, waiting for the guerrillas to go to the cart, and then led his men to surround them and eliminate those hateful guerrillas.
However, he was disappointed again. The guerrillas seemed to be in no rush to seize the supplies, and they didn't even have the intention to touch them.
The commander of the puppet army lay on the cold ground, his eyes sore as he looked at the guerrillas who still had not appeared.
It turned out that before the battle began, Xu Dalong mobilized the squad leaders and above to discuss all possible tactics that the Japanese and puppet troops might adopt, and formulated countermeasures.
As for the enemy's large vehicles, they didn't know exactly what was going on there, so they didn't dare to rush forward rashly. There was no need for them to snatch those supplies now. Wouldn't it be better to wait until daybreak to see clearly, and then go there leisurely?
The puppet army commander waited for more than an hour. He couldn't stand it anymore, so he got up from the ground.
At this moment, fierce gunfire rang out again from the front, and those nasty guerrillas came to harass them again.
The puppet army commander had now completely lost the idea of dealing with these guerrillas. He immediately ordered the troops to go back, pulled the carts, and continued to march quickly towards Qiligou Village.
Along the way, the guerrillas continued to harass the puppet troops. The puppet troops stopped and marched very slowly.
At this time, the sky was already turning white. The commander of the puppet army knew that they would have no way to deal with the guerrillas after dawn. He could not wait any longer and ordered the troops to abandon those carts and march towards Qiligou. The people on those carts
The puppet soldiers also jumped down one after another and fled with the puppet army's brigade.
The guerrillas still attacked the puppet soldiers along the way until they ran into the valley of Qiligou and stopped following them.
At dawn, the Japanese commander and the brigade commander of the puppet army heard that the troops sent to transport supplies had returned. They went out to check with great expectations, but found that the puppet soldiers were all very embarrassed. There was no car behind them.
The shadow of the cart?
The Japanese commander was furious. He was now very dissatisfied with the puppet brigade commander. It was this guy who ensured that the supplies could be transported back safely.
The commander of the regiment didn't care so much when he was angry. In front of so many puppet troops, he gave the puppet brigade commander a scolding.
The brigade commander of the puppet army was an old man. Although he was dissatisfied with the Japs' commander for not giving him face, he was responsible for his job after all. In addition, this was his own mistake, so he remained silent and allowed the Japs to unite.
The captain sprayed Tumo Xingzhi on his face.
The Japanese captain roared and got tired of scolding, then left angrily.
The brigade commander of the puppet army was very depressed. He went back and washed his face. He was not even in the mood to eat breakfast and just lay down on the camp bed.
When the puppet brigade commander led his team out of Guancheng County, there were 4,700 people. In just three days, more than 800 people had been lost. It was really unexpected that such a small guerrilla force could be so difficult to deal with.
Now they don't have much food and ammunition. They can last for one day at most, and the supplies can't be transported. I'm afraid this battle can't be fought.
After thinking about it carefully, he went to find the Japanese captain.
The Japanese commander also had little appetite, so he finished his breakfast in a few naps, and then sent a telegram to report the situation here to the division commander Chiba Xunichi of the 32nd Division, requesting tactical guidance.