"Report, a telegram was sent from the New Ninth Brigade. Two Japanese reconnaissance planes and six fighter jets have passed through Yongping County in northern Handan!" the telegraph operator reported.
Zhou Weihan waved his hand to indicate that he understood.
Zhao Gang couldn't sit still when he saw Zhou Weihan's calm look, and then said: "Old Zhou, are you really going to take a gamble, what if the Japanese plane still comes to Handan?"
"To be honest, I'm not 100% sure, so I can only take a gamble!" Zhou Weihan said with a deep breath.
"Monk, go inform Jing Dagang and the others!"
Zhou Weihan said he would take a gamble, but he still made preparations.
A machine gun position was arranged on the north side of Handan City, including four anti-aircraft machine guns.
The artillery battalion has been moved to a safe area, the cavalry battalion has been dispersed to the areas around Handan City, and the wounded in this battle have also been moved along with the transport team.
In the battle of Handan, there were 300 commandos who acted as sharp swords, 76 of them died and 62 were injured. Only 162 of them were intact after the war.
When the commando team broke through the city, the casualties were not large, and they even caught the Japanese army by surprise inside the city. However, when the two sides fell into a stalemate, the casualties increased sharply.
Even though the Japanese heavy machine guns and tanks and armored vehicles did not join the battle, Zhou Weihan felt heartbroken, knowing that the reconnaissance company was an elite group selected from the entire detachment.
The regiment's first battalion and second battalion, which were deployed at the north city gate, were advancing along the east and west walls. Due to the narrow fortifications of the city wall, the formation was inconvenient to deploy. In the end, they fought hand-to-hand combat with the enemy, injuring more than 260 people in total.
On the contrary, the 2nd Regiment and the 3rd Battalion of the 1st Regiment were deployed in the east, south and west directions. As a feint attack force, they attracted the firepower of the enemy troops in the city wall fortifications. Although there was no large amount of artillery support, the casualties were relatively few, a total of 200.
Remaining people.
In addition to the casualties suffered when the various units later broke into the city and wiped out the remaining enemies in the city, the independent detachment suffered a total of more than 600 casualties in this battle.
In addition, there were comrades from the armed workers' team who captured the Japanese arsenal at the expense of six people and four injured.
This battle also showed Zhou Weihan's improper allocation of firepower to the commando team. Even though the commando team had strong combat effectiveness, all members were equipped with submachine guns.
However, when the battle situation reached a stalemate, and the Japanese army's marksmanship was tricky, the submachine gun's range was too short to suppress the Japanese firepower from a long distance.
This is why the Yamamoto Special Agent Team added light machine guns, grenades, and mortars to the team's firepower configuration.
The words are divided into two parts.
Xing Zhiguo led more than 4,000 local troops to the north along the way. During the march, the troops did not move separately, but gathered together, for fear that the Japanese army would not know that a group of the main force of the Eighth Route Army was heading north.
Of course, there are still scouts from this faction.
Yang Bo, commander of the guard company, led a selected platoon of elites to the front of the marching column, about five miles away from the main force.
Yang Bo looked at the sky from time to time, watching the movement of Japanese aircraft.
"Company commander, can we attract the Japs' plane?" The speaker was also a soldier from the guard company.
"Do you want to attract the Japanese planes, or not?" Yang Bo asked rhetorically.
"Of course I have. There is still a large amount of supplies in Handan City that have not been transported. If the Japanese plane is blown up, I feel bad just thinking about it!"
"Then stop talking nonsense, everyone should keep their eyes open and their ears straightened up. As long as we can detect the movement of the Japs' plane in advance, the team's casualties will be smaller!" Yang Bo instructed.
While he was talking, the roar of airplanes came from the sky, and then several black dots slowly appeared.
Yang Bo also reacted quickly, calling the soldiers to hide in the mountains and forests on both sides.
Then he raised the shell gun in his hand and fired a warning shot.
"Pah!" The gunfire sounded, startling the birds in the forest.
The Japanese aircraft in the sky also noticed this situation. Keita Kawakami, who was flying the Type 92 reconnaissance plane, was the commander of this operation.
"You lucky Chinese, I'll let you go this time!" Kawakami Keita said with a cruel smile.
Taking off from SJZ Airport, we met many Eighth Route Army troops along the way, but this operation was to support Handan City, so Kawagami Keita did not cause any trouble.
In order to reduce weight, the Japanese aircraft were not equipped with radio devices, so they did not know that Handan City had been breached.
The warning gunshots reached the large troops behind. Xing Zhiguo had already ordered that as soon as the gunshots were fired, the troops would disperse and find positions to hide.
After Xing Zhiguo led the team to set off, they did not dare to rest for a moment. For more than half an hour, they marched for nearly 40 miles, and many soldiers from local troops fell behind halfway.
In the blink of an eye, the Japanese aircraft came over the large army.
Keita Kawakami witnessed the panic of the Eighth Route Army troops below through the glass window of the reconnaissance plane, and couldn't help laughing.
Then his pupils shrank. This was the first time he encountered such a large number of Eighth Route Army troops along the way.
Looking at the endless marching queue, there must be at least three to four thousand people.
Japanese aircraft roared over the team, and Xing Zhiguo had been watching the movements of the Japanese aircraft.
"Chief of Staff, the little devil is flying towards Handan City!" Xing Zhiguo's guard said anxiously.
According to the speed of the Japanese aircraft, it would only take ten minutes to arrive at Handan City.
Xing Zhiguo just wanted the telegraph operator accompanying the army to send a warning telegram to Zhou Weihan, but the Japanese aircraft changed direction and flew back.
It turned out that Kawagami Keita was suspicious when he saw the large Eighth Route Army troops appearing in the north of Handan City. He couldn't help but suspect that Handan City had fallen and the main force of the Eighth Route Army began to move northward.
Then he made a gesture, changed direction, and came back to kill.
The order issued by the high-level Japanese army this time was to support Handan City. In the view of the Japanese army, Handan City would not fall before air support arrived, so it did not mention what to do if Handan City fell into the hands of the Eighth Route Army.
The problem of large amounts of supplies.
Kawagami Keita took it for granted and changed the mission to retaliate against the main force of the Eighth Route Army.
"Baga, a bunch of lowly farmers!" He was furious, and then the nose of the plane sank, and the Screamer swooped down.
"Click, click, click!" The two aircraft machine guns on the plane sprayed bullets out.
Two tongues of fire swept towards the road, and some warriors who reacted too slowly had no time to dodge, sending up bursts of blood mist.
The Japanese Type 97 fighter jets also bombed the mountains and forests on both sides of the road.
Aerial bombs were dropped one after another, and the forest suddenly turned into a sea of flames.
After dumping the bombs, Japanese fighter jets strafed the mountains and forests.
Looking at the beautiful scenery below, a smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.
Keita Kawakami piloted the plane and circled in the air for half a circle, then flew away.
Seeing the Japanese plane disappearing, Xing Zhiguo stood up, breathed a long sigh of relief, and said loudly: "Quickly, count the casualties and treat the wounded!"
Looking at the tragic scene in front of them, the flames caused by the explosion of the aerial bomb became more and more intense. Many injured soldiers had no time to dodge and were swallowed by the flames.
Xing Zhiguo couldn't help but feel a little shaken, whether what he did this time was right or wrong.
Fortunately, the formation of the troops was very loose during the march, and the Japanese aircraft gave them more buffer time, so the casualties were reduced a lot.