Hu Laohu was already a little tired from climbing a hill south of Beishan Village near Xikou. He couldn't help but take out his pocket watch and looked at it. It was 5 o'clock, the sun was about to set, and there was still no one on the road below the hill.
Could it be that the regiment leader made a mistake in his judgment and the enemy did not leave from here? Impossible. I came to the 18th Regiment late, but I heard from the veterans of the 18th Regiment that the regiment leader has never made a mistake in his judgment. The Xiaoshui battle also proved that the regiment leader
Predicting the enemy's opportunity is like divine calculation! Are you too impatient? Wait, wait, the main force of the regiment hasn't come up yet anyway.
Just when Hu Laohu was getting anxious, the enemy's vanguards appeared. Nine men, holding guns, were walking on the road and looking around. Maybe they knew that the vanguard had passed here safely, but the vanguards didn't seem very vigilant.
, and did not conduct a serious search.
After the leading soldiers passed by, the enemy's leading company also appeared on the highway. Number one hundred and ten men lined up in a loose three-way formation, walking leisurely on the highway.
Hu Laohu knew that this kind of loose formation looked disorganized, but was actually the most difficult to fight. As soon as the gun was fired, those in the front row were unlucky, but those in the back row could quickly lie down or seize the ground and organize a counterattack. If we fight now, the cavalry will
Not only can these 50 or so men not be able to quickly eliminate the enemy's leading company, but they will also immediately allow the enemy's main force to form a battle formation, turning it into a difficult nut to crack. However, as long as time allows, Hu Laohu is still sure to eliminate this leading company.
, after all, of the 50 men in the cavalry company, 40 of them were old Red Army soldiers, and they had enough ammunition. It was not the time when each man only fired 5 bullets. At that time, Hu Laohu was confident that he could defeat or eliminate the enemy with these 50 men.
A company, let alone now?
Hu Laohu sighed as the regiment leader's instructions rang out, and he watched helplessly as the enemy's leading company swaggered and passed under his nose without any hesitation.
When Luo Yan found the main force of the regiment, Liu Yimin was running towards Xikou with the main force. After hearing Luo Yan's report, Liu Yimin was overjoyed. The enemy's 62nd Division Headquarters and Zhong Guangren's brigade had not yet reached Xikou, and the opportunity was right in front of him to pursue them.
Going up there, as long as we can intercept the enemy on the highway, it is possible to defeat this enemy. At the worst, we can defeat the enemy and force them to retreat to Suining, leaving Wang Yuying's brigade far away from Jingwu Prefecture alone. Ask about Luo Yanju Highway again
How far is it? Luo Yan replied 3 kilometers. Liu Yimin immediately ordered Luo Yan to lead the way. Li Qing commanded the fourth and fifth battalions, and the heavy machine gun company to run lightly, resolutely blocking the enemy's main force; Liu Jianli led the third and sixth battalions, and the heavy machine gun company.
The second company, guided by the guide, turned north and outflanked the 62nd Division's back road; he led the first battalion, the second battalion, the engineer battalion, the third heavy machine gun company, and two mortar companies to advance at full speed to seize the peak on the east side of the road;
The communications platoon immediately sent someone to notify the political commissar to follow up quickly.
At this time, in the woods next to the highway in the north of Jingwu Prefecture, soldiers from the 7th Company and 1st Platoon of the 3rd Battalion of the Red 18th Regiment had their bullets loaded.
After receiving the telegram from the regiment leader, the 7th Company and 1st Platoon of the 3rd Battalion and the 7th Company who stayed behind in the passage county immediately took action and tied up all the prisoners of the security group and police station captured when the 18th Regiment occupied the passage with ropes and took them to the center of the county seat and told them,
Anyone who has done no evil and has people willing to claim him can go home with his claimant; anyone who has done many evil things and has no one to claim him should stand here and repent. Red Army soldiers will supervise in the dark. Anyone who dares to escape privately will be shot to death. Soon.
When these people saw someone passing by, they started shouting, and a crowd immediately formed. More and more people gathered, and the scene became more and more chaotic. People from the county town ran there, but there was no one there.
Notice that the 7th Company and 1st Platoon of the 3rd Battalion have quietly moved out with supplies.
After leaving the county town, we headed all the way to Jingwu Prefecture along the highway. Looking at Jingwu Prefecture, the soldiers found a ruined temple to hide their supplies, sent the hired carts away, and crossed Jingwu Prefecture in the woods.
Hidden, waiting to harass the enemy Wang Yuying's brigade.
At about 5 o'clock, the enemy's top soldiers appeared, also nine of them, holding guns and carefully searching and moving forward.
Qi Fengnian, commander of the first platoon of the Seventh Company of the Third Battalion, is a veteran of the 18th Regiment and a veteran in guerrilla warfare. When he received the telegram from the regiment leader, the first thing he thought of was that the regiment leader asked him to engage in guerrilla warfare in the Soviet area. The difference is that
Yes, in the Soviet area there were only 5 bullets in the gun, but it is different now. We will fight this battle.
Seeing the appearance of the enemy's top soldiers, Qi Fengnian immediately told the two deputy platoon leaders that each of them would lead a squad. According to the tactics of a group of three, each team was responsible for one enemy. He led the first squad to be responsible for the first three, and the second squad was responsible for the enemy.
There are three in the middle, and the third squad is responsible for the last three, trying to kill them with one shot.
The enemy's vanguard was getting closer and closer, and he saw that he was only 30 meters away from the ambush point. Qi Fengnian aimed at the first vanguard, shouted "hit", and the bullet came out.
It would be absolutely unreasonable for three or four guns to hit one person at such a close distance. The soldiers quickly collected bullets and grenades from the enemy's leading soldiers, then quickly disappeared into the woods and moved to the other side.
When the enemy's leading company arrived, there were only 9 Hunan Army corpses on the ground, there were no traces of people in the woods, and only dozens of yellow bullet casings were found.
The enemy company commander didn't know whether to continue moving forward or start a search, so he ordered to stay on guard and wait for the order to go up the mountain.
Without waiting long, the enemy company commander saw the figure of the large army. Just as he was considering whether to run up and report or wait on the spot, he heard a burst of gunfire from the left side of the main marching column. He knew that there were another brother and nine of his men.
He went to see the King of Hell like a sharp soldier.
The enemy company commander no longer hesitated and ordered the entire company to outflank to the left, making sure to capture this hateful group of Red Army soldiers.
When the enemy company commander arrived at the place where the gunshots were fired, the enemy regiment commander was already waiting for him with a bullet casing he had picked up. As soon as he shouted a report, the regiment commander's big-eared melon seeds started to stir up, with a Hunan accent.
The Japanese mother-in-law scolded me, causing the enemy company commander to faint on the spot.
After the regiment leader had beaten and scolded enough, the enemy company commander asked with a swollen face for instructions on how the troops should act. This time was good, the enemy commander did not have another attack, but directly told him that this was a small enemy unit, and the purpose was to harass
Our army, slow down our army's marching speed and continue to advance.
In this way, the third battalion and the seventh company were stuck to the enemy Wang Yuying's brigade like a piece of plaster. They shot left, right, front and back, shooting in one place and changing places. The enemy was greatly annoyed, and the marching speed was natural.
It slowed down.
At this time, Hu Laohu, who was ambushing beside the road near Xikou, had reached the juncture of a difficult decision.
Shortly after the enemy's leading company passed by, a large enemy force appeared, apparently numbering four to five thousand men. In front was a company of cavalry, behind were three columns of infantry, then behind were carts of mules and horses transporting baggage, and finally the rearguard.
The troops marched neatly along the road.
To fight or not to fight?
The advantage of fighting is that you can delay the enemy and buy some time for the main force. The disadvantage is that you don't know whether it will affect the leader's plan. The disadvantage is that the dozens of people on your own will be revolutionized to the end; if you don't fight, wait.
When the enemy rushes to the mouth of the creek, it will be difficult for the fighter planes to find it. Because if the enemy quickly passes through the mouth of the creek and continues southward, his main force will have been exhausted from continuous fighting, and it is impossible to catch up with the enemy. If the enemy stays at the mouth of the creek, watch this line
Based on the posture of the army, we knew that the enemy was bound to increase their vigilance. Once it started, it would evolve into an offensive and defensive battle. Then enemy reinforcements might arrive, and the 18th Regiment might be in vain, or even fall into a tight siege.
Seeing that the enemy cavalry company was right under their noses, the soldiers began to take aim and opened the machine guns. Hu Laohu shook his head helplessly. Although the regiment leader repeatedly emphasized that the commander must be flexible on the battlefield, the order
It's not a child's play. The consequences of disobeying orders are self-evident. Hu Huhu decided to take another look behind him. If the main force arrives, he will fight decisively. If the main force does not arrive, he will have to let the Hunan 62nd Division temporarily. After this look
Overjoyed, on the mountain road leading to Xiaoshui at the bottom of the hillside, the main force of the 18th Red Regiment was rushing towards here in a straight line. Hu Laohu did not hesitate anymore, picked up his submachine gun, shouted and fired, and bullets spurted out.
The enemy cavalry company never expected that Hu Laohu would let go of the leading company and attack them directly. There was no defense at all. In addition, the cavalry had a large target, and its reaction on horseback could not be as fast as that of the infantry. Being beaten by Hu Laohu, it was natural that it would
There was chaos, and twenty or thirty cavalrymen were killed at that time. The horses dragged their master's body and ran forward wildly. Some of the remaining cavalrymen bent down and rushed forward risking their lives, and some jumped off their horses and raised their guns to shoot.
There were also those who turned their horses' heads and retreated, creating a mess.
Take advantage of your chaos and kill you. Hu Huhu commanded the soldiers to start shooting accurately. The only machine gun chased the enemy's figure, while the infantry took aim and hit them calmly. After a while, the enemy cavalry company suffered heavy casualties, with only one
The cavalry who had retreated from the beginning were lucky enough to survive.
Seeing that there were no enemies in front of the position who could shoot, Hu Laohu decisively ordered to stop shooting and the troops retreated to the back of the hillside to hide.
Later, when strategists analyzed this battle, they praised Hu Laohu's order. Because this order led the enemy commander to think that a small Red Army unit was blocking the attack, and it was probably an old hit-and-run guerrilla tactic. Therefore,
He developed paralyzing thoughts and lost the opportunity for the entire army to turn around and break out of the encirclement, which directly led to the destruction of the 62nd Division.
Hearing the sound of gunfire, the enemy infantry quickly fell down, and the light and heavy machine guns also began to look for positions to occupy. The brigade-affiliated mortar company in the middle of the team also began to disassemble the cannons from the mules and horses. The enemy regiment commander in charge of the vanguard even ordered the troops to quickly
Seize the hilltop on one side of the road. But the gunfire suddenly stopped. The enemy commander raised his binoculars suspiciously. There was no blocking position on the hillside in front. It was quiet in the woods and no one could be seen. He looked towards the hillside above the road.
Go, there is no position set up, and no one is there. Is it really a small band of Red Bandits that ran away after a fight? Could it be that the small band of Red Bandits are stalling for time, waiting for the main force? Thinking about it again, no
Yes, Wang Yuying's brigade just passed by here at noon and found no enemy. Ignore it for now and prepare to attack.
At this time, the enemy brigade commander Zhong Guangren and the chief of staff came to the vanguard regiment. The enemy regiment commander immediately reported the ambush situation. Zhong Guangren had many dealings with the Red Army. He was once attacked by Xiao Ke's Red 17th Division in Yifeng County, Jiangxi Province.
Shacun suffered a huge defeat and almost lost his life there. After listening to the enemy regiment commander's report, he did not hesitate to order the mortar company to be brought up and use mortars and heavy machine guns to attack the hillside where the Red Army was.
Covered by firepower, the vanguard regiment organized troops to open the passage and cover the passage of the brigade and division troops. Another regiment was ordered to immediately occupy the hilltop next to the road and attack along the mountains to cover the advance guard regiment's attack.
The leader of the enemy's vanguard immediately made an offensive deployment, gathered the entire regiment, and divided it into three attack waves. Each attack wave consisted of one battalion. The distance between each wave was no more than 100 meters, and he tried to conquer the mountain in one go.
After hearing the sound of gunfire, the enemy's leading company quickly turned around and prepared to cooperate with the main force to attack the Red Army. At the foot of the mountain, it collided with the 4th and 5th battalions led by Li Qing. The enemy's leading company was like a wave of waves that only hit the Red 18th Regiment.
A few ripples appeared in the sea of people, and they were quickly swallowed up completely.
Hearing the gunshots coming from behind the mountain, the leader of the enemy's vanguard quickly realized that the leading company was cooperating with the main force in the attack, and ordered the mortar company and heavy machine gun to move faster one after another.
The enemy mortar company quickly found a position, and after a test fire, the artillery bombardment began. The enemy's two regiment-affiliated heavy machine gun companies also began covering fire. The soldiers of the vanguard regiment, led by the officers, began to attack
The mountain where Hu Laohu was located launched an attack. The Battle of Xikou officially started.