"Captain Li, the gunfire in the village has stopped for a long time. Deputy Squad Leader Lin and the others may have already" A soldier in a gray cloth uniform without a military rank looked at the smoke-producing village in front of him with a sad expression on his face.
"Deputy Battalion Commander Zhou, you and I have a total of more than 60 brothers trapped inside, and they are dying or corpses! Even if they have all died, I will snatch all their bodies back today. If you don't want to snatch them,
Then I'll grab it." Li Jijin, who was looking at the smoke ahead with a telescope, twitched his muscles fiercely and replied with an extremely rare fierceness.
The Japanese army's move to attack from the east to the west really caught the garrison troops in several villages near Zhaojiazhuang by surprise. By the time he gathered all the capable troops from the 7th company in Lincheng County and arrived, it was already after dark.
What makes Li Jijin, the supreme commander of the Fourth Army Regiment in Lincheng County, even more painful is that the Japanese army seemed to have expected that a large Chinese force would come to support them, and actually prepared a full infantry brigade in advance to set up a defense line around Zhaojiazhuang.
Tanks and mountain artillery assisted.
For the first time, the Japanese army only defended and did not counterattack. In the absence of large-caliber artillery, if he wanted to break through the Japanese defense line, he would have to pay far greater casualties than the more than 60 soldiers in the village.
Moreover, when the news reached the regiment headquarters, Tang Tuanzuo ordered him to be complacent and use the veterans of the 7th company and hundreds of new recruits to attack the Japanese defense line.
Of course, Li Jijin knew Tang Tuanzuo's difficulties. If he rushed to the defense line regardless of casualties, it would be possible to break through the defense line and provide support to Zhuang Nai. However, this would not only cause a large number of casualties in the company, especially those of new recruits who had only been in the army for a month or two.
In the future, it will seriously dampen the enthusiasm of the people in the base area to join the army.
This is a completely normal mentality. Just after sending your baby to the army, only a few dozen days later, every family has received a death notice. The psychological gap is too big. Who will be willing to join the army in the future?
In addition, the more internal reason is that the Japanese army has obviously carried out careful planning this time. The more than a thousand Japanese troops seen on the periphery now may be only part of them, and more Japanese troops may be waiting for them not far away.
If he breaks through the defense line and enters Zhaozhuang at the cost of casualties, then when a larger number of Japanese troops arrive, they may trap the entire 7th Company and even the more than a thousand people who are gathering in the 80th Group Army.
Therefore, Li Jijin could only wait for the battalion artillery company's six 80-mm howitzers and eight 7mm anti-aircraft machine guns to arrive.
When those big guys come, those Japanese people nesting in shallow trenches will know what heavy firepower is, and how rubbish those little bean tanks that the Japanese put behind the fortifications as fixed machine gun firepower points are.
But after waiting and waiting, until daybreak, the fierce gunfire that had been ringing all night in Zhaojiazhuang gradually stopped, and the artillery battery had not arrived yet. Li Jijin's anger could hardly be suppressed, and now he heard the Eightyth Army Group
When the top commander of Lincheng, Deputy Battalion Commander Zhou, said this, it didn't happen immediately.
The soldier in gray military uniform showed an angry look on his face, slammed his military cap, and pulled out his pistol: "Damn it, you Li Jiujin are not the only heroes, Captain Li. Don't you feel sorry for me? You are the only one in the village."
Brother, you are so anxious, but there are 60 of my comrades in there, who are fighting for their lives with the little devil! Captain Li, you are the highest military commander in Lincheng, you gave the order, I will be the death squad
Captain, rush in without anyone, I will come to see you with your head raised."
Seeing that this person got angry, Li Jijin was silent for a long time, calmed down his emotions, and handed this person a cigarette: "I'm sorry, Lao Zhou, it's my fault. I just heard you talk about the gun in the village.
The sound stopped, in my heart"
Li Jijin poked his heart hard, tears welling up in his eyes: "It hurts!"
"Lin Peng has been following my regiment and me for at least a year and a half. He was a defeated soldier whom our army took in on the road when we retreated from Songjiang. That boy is really good. He is smart and brave in battle. He could have been promoted a long time ago.
As a squad leader, he just can't bear to leave his brothers in the squad and refuses to leave.
Now the dog days are better! We will all die together."
"Captain Jiujin, I don't blame you, I don't blame you!" After venting his anger, the soldier in gray took a few puffs of his cigarette, with sadness flashing in his eyes. "It's us commanders who underestimated our opponents.
, resulting in such heavy losses, I will ask the commander for punishment after this battle is over."
"Well! That's a good summary. You two, the highest military officer in Lincheng County of the Southern Hebei Administrative Office, need to think carefully about the mistakes you made in this battle."
A metallic sound came from the trench outside the bunker.
The two people in the bunker were slightly stunned, and Li Jijin's face showed ecstasy.
That's the sound of Tang Dao!
It was not because Tang Tuanzuo rushed more than 160 miles to the Zhaojiazhuang battlefield in just ten hours, but because Li Jijin knew that when the regimental commander came, he would be accompanied by elite guards, reconnaissance companies or mountain infantry companies.
It only took an instant to break through the Japanese defense line and support Zhaozhuang.
"Hello, sir!"
"Hello, Chief!"
Before the two men could greet him, the tall Tang Dao had already bent down and entered the frontline command post that had been built all night long. The two men quickly stood at attention, but neither of them gave a military salute.
During wartime, the 80th Army Group and the Fourth Army Regiment have strictly stipulated that military salutes cannot be performed, even at the command post.
"How is the battle situation now?" Tang Dao walked into the command post without any pleasantries and went straight to the topic.
"The Japanese army has four lines of defense. Each line of defense is equipped with an infantry squadron plus a heavy machine gun squad, 6 infantry guns, 2 mountain guns, 4 Type 94 light tanks, and a lot of cavalry.
According to the report of the militiamen who withdrew from Zhaojiazhuang, there are still nearly 400 infantry and other attached personnel attacking Zhaojiazhuang, and the total force is approximately 1,800 people!" Li Jijin reported quickly.
"We currently have 283 people in the original 7th company, 348 people in the newly established recruit training department, 2 companies of the regular army in the Lincheng division of the 80th Army and 1,138 people in the county armed brigade. The total strength is almost the same."
"Where are the blocking troops deployed further out?" Tang Dao looked serious.
"On the periphery, there were 380 people from the 1st Company and 2nd Company of our Fourth Army Regiment and 1,200 people from the 80th Group Army, which were urgently mobilized from two neighboring counties at 8 o'clock last night. They arrived at the scheduled location at 6 o'clock in the morning and began to build fortifications. Only the Japanese army
Without an infantry regiment, they should still be able to stop it." Li Jijin replied.
"Not enough! On the way, I have already ordered the 4th Company, 5th Company, and 10th Company to allocate two more platoons each to the battlefield in Lancheng. An independent battalion from the Jinan Division of the 80th Group Army is also on its way here."
Tang Dao shook his head.
"Then, sir, there are those who arrived here with you." Li Jijin was stunned.
Tang Tuanzuo told him not to act impulsively yesterday afternoon. Why does he feel that Tang Tuanzuo is more impulsive than him now?
Compared to Li Jijin, the soldiers in gray uniforms were even more stunned.
The Fourth Line Regiment once again mobilized 6 platoons with about 600 troops. It was nothing, but he knew the current size of the Jinan Division. He was the deputy battalion commander and the top military officer of the Lincheng Division. He led two ordinary
The size of the infantry company has reached 1,600 people.
How many people are there in an independent battalion directly under the Jinan Division? He is not very clear about the specific number at present, but before May, it was already as high as 3,000 people. It has been two months, and a large number of guns and weapons have been added.
After the ammunition is exhausted, 4,000 people may not be able to fight.
This adds up to nearly 10,000 Chinese troops in Lincheng. What does the commander of the Fourth Army Regiment want to do? Have an infantry division-level battle with the Japanese?
"In addition to the escort company remaining at the regiment headquarters, the guard company, reconnaissance company, mountain infantry company, 1st cavalry company, regimental artillery company, air defense company, engineer company, and baggage company are all on the expedition this time!" Tang Dao looked at the battlefield.
The eyes were calm but clear, and the two of them could see the beating flames in them.
Anyone who is familiar with Tang Dao knows that it is very dangerous.
Not only will it burn people, it will also explode!
"In addition, the main force of the 772nd Regiment of the 683rd Brigade is heading towards southern Hebei overnight. At 7 o'clock in the morning, our Chinese units in southeastern Shanxi are ready to take the initiative to attack and block the main transportation channels in southeastern Shanxi!"
Tang Dao's voice did not stop, and the determination to mobilize tens of thousands of troops seemed to be just a game of chess.
The two of them were completely stunned.
A small Zhaozhuang, not only did the Tang regiments mobilize all the troops in southern Hebei, but even the southeastern part of Shanxi was set on fire.
This is not a division level at all, it is completely at the group army level.
"Yoshio Shinozuka just wants to use the blood of our soldiers and civilians in Zhaojiazhuang as bait to draw out my main force so that he can use his Class A division to fight me decisively? Okay! Then I will satisfy him once this time and let him see.
With similar troop strength, can the Japanese Class A division be invincible?" Tang Dao's eyes suddenly turned ferocious, and his voice was so cold that the two major-level officers couldn't help but tremble.
"He used the lives of our 66 Chinese officers and soldiers as bait, so I will use the more than a thousand Japanese soldiers in front of me as bait, but I have to swallow it in one gulp before he comes, and then digest it well and wait for him."
Tang Dao's blazing pupils suddenly looked at the two Chinese majors who were standing straight.
"Two battalion artillery companies have arrived 2,000 meters away. The guard company, reconnaissance company, mountain infantry company, and cavalry company have arrived with me. I will place my headquarters in Zhaojiazhuang in an hour, waiting for Xiao
Tsuka Yoshio comes to fight, you two tell me, can you do it?"
"Report to the chief, we can do it!" the two shouted loudly without thinking.
As the charge horn sounded, soldiers entered the front-line trenches one by one, waiting for artillery fire to cover the Japanese positions before launching a charge.
This time, a full infantry brigade of the Japanese army faced the attack of 4 infantry companies of the Fourth Line Regiment and two infantry companies of the 80th Army with more than 1,000 people. However, the artillery fire they had to withstand first was not enough.
It was a violent bombardment of 12 80mm mortars and more than 40 60mm mortars.
It is no exaggeration to describe it as bullets coming down like rain!
In just ten minutes, China threw nearly 2,000 artillery shells at key breakthrough areas, and the intensity of the artillery fire was even close to the level of American cowboys beating Japanese troops defending the islands in the future Pacific battlefield.
The mortar teams of the four infantry companies of the four regiments that participated in the battle almost emptied 90% of their ammunition capacity in just 10 minutes. It is not an exaggeration to say that they used everything they had.
The defense line of an infantry squadron of the Japanese army is no more than a thousand meters wide. If 2,000 artillery shells are dropped, it is equivalent to two artillery shells falling from a distance of one meter. Not to mention that the artillery shells will explode, even with pure copper warheads, it is estimated that it will be able to hit them.
Many Japanese soldiers were killed.
The Japanese army's civil engineering work is actually very good. The yellow soil in southern Hebei is very sticky and is very suitable for excavation. However, trenches up to 5 meters deep and simple anti-gun holes cannot stop the explosion of artillery shells with such density.
!
An unknown number of artillery shells landed in a trench that was less than 2 meters wide, or even landed right in front of the entrance of an anti-gun cave, killing an unknown number of Japanese soldiers and burying them in the loess.
The Japanese heavy machine gun squad, which had been marked as a target long ago, was the focus of the mortar group. It fired 1,700 shells at the Japanese infantry trenches and the Japanese heavy machine gun positions in the direction where the focus was to break through.
A full 300 pieces.
Using 300 artillery shells to fire four heavy machine guns seems to be like killing a chicken with a sledgehammer, but if this sledgehammer chops a chicken, it is really a crunch!
The four heavy machine guns, the shooters, and the ammunition handlers were blown to pieces all over the ground. Even if there were still people alive and the heavy machine guns were gone, would they go to the battlefield with armfuls of bullets?
The muscles Tang Dao showed off were not just mortars of different calibers. After preparing the artillery fire, the main machine gun used by China to cover the charge of its own soldiers was not the MG42 or MG34, but the terrifying 7mm heavy machine gun.
.
In order to ensure the hit rate, 16 7mm heavy machine guns were moved to the front line only 400 meters away from the Japanese trenches!
The Japanese commander had a good idea. The thousand-man brigade only defended but did not attack. It just attracted the Chinese troops on the periphery who wanted to rescue them. Once the opponent's troops gathered enough, the main infantry force from Xingtai and Handan would come.
They encircled and wiped out the main Chinese forces in the Lincheng area in one fell swoop.
It is somewhat similar to the tactics used on the Panzhai battlefield, but the difference between the two is that this time they have already secured Zhaojiazhuang, and it is already their spoils. Regardless of whether the main Chinese force comes or not, they are already guaranteed to make a profit without losing anything.
And this time, under the dispatch of Yoshio Shinozuka, there were 4 infantry brigades and 2 artillery brigades on standby. Together with the 1,800 people near Zhaojiazhuang, that was an infantry brigade.
Do the Chinese have the ability to create an infantry division?
Based on the comparison of combat power, they are not afraid at all. Even if the Four Lines Group is fierce in combat power, so what?
There is also an infantry brigade of the 4th Division in Handan City! In the southern Hebei region, Shinozuka Yoshio can mobilize more than 20,000 troops, and he can kill them by relying on a mass of people.
It is based on this tactical guiding ideology that the four Type 94 tanks surrounded a circle of sandbag fortifications outside, completely using them as fixed heavy machine gun points.
There was no problem with this originally. The two machine guns of the Type 94 tank with sandbag fortifications and 10mm frontal steel plates could shoot at the wide area ahead without any scruples. No matter how brave the soldiers were, they could only lie down sadly 100 meters away from them.
Meters away, it was an indestructible firepower point.
Unless the 80mm howitzer hits directly, there is nothing you can do against this iron turtle, let alone the shock wave and shrapnel caused by the small-caliber mortar. Landing on the steel plate will only make the Japanese sing.
But the mortar can use shock waves to peel off the not very thick sandbag fortifications surrounding the tank layer by layer!
When the Chinese 7mm heavy machine gun started roaring, the Type 94 tank realized how terrifying this thing was.
At a distance of 400 meters, for such a large-caliber machine gun, the 10 mm thick steel plate is just a thicker cardboard, which can be penetrated with one blow.
The Type 94 tank in front of the soldiers' assault was focused on by four 7mm heavy machine guns. It did not fire a single bullet until the end of the battlefield.
Only the Japanese soldiers who were nearby could see with horror that the bullet holes on the front steel plate of the 94 tank, which they once thought were powerful enough to run rampant on the battlefield, were like honeycombs. Patients with trypophobia could feel their scalp numb and unable to bear to look directly at it.
The steel plates had been shot like this, and there was no need to think about what would happen to the tank members inside.
The three tank soldiers had long been torn into pieces by the huge warheads that penetrated the tank and flew around in various postures.
The defense line that was once thought to be impregnable was broken through in just 15 minutes after Tang Dao arrived at Li Jiujin's command post.
.........
"The Chinese must be crazy!" Colonel Tazō Numata of the 39th Infantry Regiment of the 8th Infantry Brigade, who was the supreme commander of the Japanese side on the Zhaojiazhuang front line at the time, could only express himself with this sentence when he saw the crazy artillery fire.
mood.
Although he still didn't know how many reinforcements the Chinese had arrived, he already knew from the fierce artillery fire that the main Chinese force that the division commander and brigade commander had hoped for had arrived.
"Call the brigade headquarters to request quick reinforcements. The Linmu Squadron will hold on to Zhaozhuang to attract the Chinese troops to rush in. The other departments will shrink their defense lines and wait for reinforcements!" Numata Tazou was frightened but still made a decision based on his battlefield experience that he would not make any mistakes.
Big mistake in tactics.
But he misjudged Tang Dao's determination this time, and this mistake would lead to doom for him and his men.
If he could decisively withdraw from the battlefield, at least half of the Japanese infantry would be alive to see the sun tomorrow.
But with the issuance of this military order, this part of the Japanese army was doomed.
Tang Tuanzuo showed his full strength from the moment he came up and would not let a single Japanese soldier escape alive.
That is the best sacrifice for the soldiers who died under his command!
