This was definitely an extremely painful choice for Captain Toba, who was in charge of this fully equipped infantry squadron.
The reason is simple. More than an hour ago, there were faint gunshots and explosions in the distance.
But because the distance was too far, he couldn't hear clearly. He couldn't tell whether the surprise attack team led by Major Nishikawa personally had a brief exchange of fire with the Chinese because of exposure, or whether he took the initiative to attack the Chinese defensive positions, or whether the Chinese
There was a fight between the man and other small-scale troops of his own side.
Because, in addition to their elite task force personally designated by Commander Yanagawa Heisuke, I heard that the 6th Division and the 114th Division also sent their own vanguard teams to penetrate behind Matsue. They also had military maps of their movements
It's not surprising at all to get here.
But no matter how much Toba Hatoyama struggled and suffered, the one red and two green signal flares asking for help were agreed with Major Saikawa before he left. No one else knew about it except him, Major Saikawa and the accompanying signal corps.
As for why Nishikawa Shitaka fired off the flares so late at night without caring about the Chinese defenders defending the bridge, that is beyond what Toba Hatoyama could guess.
The infantry squadron led by Toba Hatoyama did carry a field radio, but the surprise attack team disguised as Chinese refugees did not. These questions could only be asked to his superiors when he saw them.
The fact that the signal flare was fired so recklessly meant that his superiors had issued a military order to him. If he did not obey the military order and move to support the direction where the signal flare was sent, strict military laws would be waiting for him when he returned to the division headquarters.
It seems that the Army Major is only one level higher than him, the Army Captain, but the lieutenant officer and the sergeant officer are not of the same dimension. More importantly, Nishikawa Shitaka is the popular man in front of the division commander. The two are not only
They came from the same non-commissioned officer academy and were taught by the same teacher. They were considered brothers in the same discipline.
Therefore, no matter how much the Japanese captain wanted to be cautious, he could only choose to order the entire army to pack up their equipment after a brief hesitation for two or three minutes, and follow the path dozens of meters away from the river bank at full speed to a position about two kilometers away in a straight line.
go ahead.
Although he was impatient, Toba Hatoyama was an officer who had participated in several battles after all. Before the whole army set off, he still followed the army's regulations and sent out a small team of vanguards to conduct reconnaissance 500 meters ahead of the main force.
Because they had sent out soldiers disguised as Chinese refugees to conduct reconnaissance beforehand, the nearest Chinese defense fortifications on the south bank of the bridge were 3 kilometers away. And based on the Japanese army’s understanding of the Chinese army, they would not dare to easily leave the fortifications they had finally built.
, so the Japanese army was much bolder. They directly used flashlights to illuminate the road ahead, speeding up the march, and at the same time, the scouts were able to observe the surrounding environment in more detail.
After all, traveling in the dark, and in an area currently controlled by the Chinese, would be a bit scary for anyone.
Toba Hatoyama has a lot of battlefield experience, but he never imagined that Nishikawa Shitaka had already become a dead ghost, and how Lei Xiong knew that they could only use the contact signal in emergencies, he had to think about it for a long time.
The trick I came up with at night was to try not to accidentally kill Chinese civilians.
The first one to kneel down and beg for mercy happened to be Nishikawa Chimelong's personal communications soldier.
Because the guy was thin and looked insignificant, the soldiers responsible for selecting the Japanese took it for granted that he was weak, so it was naturally safer to stay at the checkpoint.
No one expected that this simple and pure idea would play a big role. The dozen or so Japanese soldiers who stayed at the checkpoint were indeed the weakest group of Japanese people.
Out of a dozen people, one-third chose to surrender to fate.
Just like the signal soldier, since he was the first to kneel down and beg for surrender shamelessly, he was naturally eager to continue living, and in order to live, he could only tell more valuable information.
Unsatisfied with a prisoner's hesitation, Leng Feng came from Qiaobei and mercilessly slashed his throat with a medium-sized bayonet, leaving him with his hands tied like a dying fish in front of the four prisoners.
of twisting.
The Japanese signal corpsmen were so frightened that they peed their pants in an instant. Not only did they tell them the names, ranks, and establishments of Nishikawa Shigaraka and Toba Hatoyama, Major Nishikawa Shigaraka and Captain Toba Hatoyama agreed on three contact signals, they even mentioned the ghost Major Major’s favorite.
The secret history of women's JIO is all revealed through a bamboo tube---it's completely exposed.
No wonder Tang Dao likes to say that Japan is a perverted nation. Erya, who was responsible for recording, almost vomited.
The Japanese troops moved quickly with flashlights in the dark.
A reconnaissance team was in front, and three infantry teams were behind. Each infantry team was 30 meters apart. The team of less than 200 people stretched by more than 300 meters.
This can also be regarded as one of Toba Hatoyama's strategies to deal with possible attacks in the dark, making full use of the wide terrain here.
Of course, another important reason that made Toba Hatoyama decide to take risks and move forward was actually the terrain where they were located.
There are some small hills on the river bank, but most of them are plains and wilderness. Almost no one would choose such a place for a sneak attack.
In this flat location, the geographical location of the attacker and the attacked is completely equal, and even because of the river bank here, it is impossible to form an effective encirclement of the enemy.
The victim can take advantage of the darkness and escape easily.
Toba Hatoyama even used one infantry squad to withstand the opponent's attack, while the other two infantry squads circled the flanks to counter-encircle the enemies who dared to attack them.
It can be said that the Japanese army captain who was forced to march in the dark had already prepared all responses, including only a 20% chance of being attacked.
However, the army captain miscalculated after all.
The Chinese are much more ruthless than he thought.
The flat terrain is not conducive to ambush, but that is only for light infantry. If the two warring parties lie in the wilderness and shoot at each other, then the battle situation will naturally be anxious. The Japanese infantry squadron with nearly 200 troops can last until dawn or take advantage of the night.
Sneak away quietly.
Unfortunately, in order to defend the bridge, Lei Xiong's troops were equipped with a large number of flares, many more than the Japanese.
As a red flare rose into the sky.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!" The first thing that sounded was not the blazing sound of gunfire, but the flares rising into the sky like free money.
More than ten illumination bombs illuminated the advancing Japanese infantry No. 200 in the dark night.
There was no so-called ambush circle. All the infantry and fire support troops gathered by Lei Xiong were waiting about 3 kilometers away from the bridge. A joint reconnaissance team composed of five groups of scouts stayed in the wilderness to serve as the eyes of the entire army.
When they found the Japanese reconnaissance team passing by, it meant that the main force of the Japanese army was not far away.
Niu Er, who was hiding in the wilderness, had long seen the bright flashlight of the Japanese squadron, but did not issue a warning. He waited until the heavy footsteps arrived before sending out a red signal that the enemy had arrived.
An infantry platoon approaching the river bank followed Lei Xiong's military order and fired flares frantically more than 100 meters away.
"Enemy attack! Get down!" Captain Toba Hatoyama's little face looked ugly but still calm in the white light of the flare, and he quickly lay down in the bushes on the roadside.
The Japanese army reacted very quickly. While choosing a hiding place, they fired flares into the wilderness on the opposite side.
Although the gray-blue and black military uniforms were inconspicuous in the dark, they could more or less allow the Japanese soldiers to see that the number of people attacking them was not large.
At least not as much as they imagined.
Toba Hatoyama didn't have time to think carefully about why the signal for help was obviously sent by Major Saikawa, but he was attacked by the Chinese on the way. What was even more frightening was that there was no fierce battle in the dark night.
Or maybe, this is something that is extremely scary to think about.
His attention must be focused on the battlefield in front of him.
When he discovered that there were not as many Chinese people more than 100 meters away as he had imagined, the timid Japanese captain made an extremely wrong decision.
As the gunshots of the infantry squad in the center rang out, the two infantry squads at the front and rear began to move to the wings, starting the old tactics of central attack and two-wing breakthrough that had almost been integrated into the blood of Japanese infantry.
So, they were in trouble.
What Lei Xiong brought was indeed an infantry company, with forty or fifty fewer soldiers than the Japanese infantry. However, there was also a company with two mortars, two machine guns, four heavy machine guns, and two MG34 fire support
Platoon, these things even dare to fight against Japan's Hainan Airlines aircraft, let alone a bunch of Army bumpkins?
And what about Toba Hatoyama? What is there? In order to increase the firepower of this task force squadron, Ushijima Sadao added a light machine gun and a grenade to each infantry squad.
Then, it was gone.
Heavy firearms such as infantry artillery cannot be carried by manpower alone.
In other words, Toba Hatoyama's command can be called suppressive firepower, with a total of 9 light machine guns and 9 grenade launchers. If it is used against an ordinary Chinese infantry battalion, his firepower can definitely suppress it.
But here, you can only be beaten.
Mortars, heavy machine guns, machine guns, and MG34s all stayed in temporarily dug fortifications 500 meters away. The Japanese grenades could not reach them, but they were within their firing range.
Especially the two Japanese infantry squads who overestimated their capabilities and tried to attack the two wings. After entering the wilderness 50 meters, they were suppressed by several heavy machine guns in conjunction with the MG34 machine gun, and they did not even dare to raise their heads.
What the two infantry platoons who arrived from afar wanted to do was not to shoot blindly at each other, but to get closer and throw grenades at the Japanese troops lying in the wilderness.
The combat situation between China and Japan has undergone a rare reversal. One side consumes ammunition at all costs, while the other side can only use its will and body to fight against modern firearms.
The Japanese soldiers, who could only be beaten passively, were surprisingly tenacious. They actually persisted for a full hour. The huge consumption of ammunition made Lei Xiong even feel heartbroken and his cheeks trembled.
But obviously, it was the Japanese commander who suffered more.
What the Chinese lost was ammunition, but what he lost was the lives of soldiers. The number of soldiers that were already few was gradually decreasing in front of his eyes. He had to make the final choice, otherwise the entire army would be annihilated.
The heavy firepower of the Chinese was so fierce that he knew that the greatest possibility of retreating from the land would be to be surrounded by the Chinese again.
Then it can only be done by waterway.
Toba Hatoyama could only leave 30 of the 80 survivors in pain to form a blocking defense line. Under his leadership, the other 50 people jumped into the river, dropped all their heavy weapons, and swam to the other side of the river.
As long as he was given 20 minutes, he could at least escape with an infantry squad without them all being shattered on this bloody river bank.
But here, not all the Chinese defenders are present, there are still some on the other side of the river.
