Chapter 226 Give it a try! In front of the vanguard regiment's position, a large number of Japanese corpses were piled up in a mess. The Japanese's charge formation was very scattered, and even though the mortar battalion fired at full speed, it was unable to stop all the charging Japanese. Dozens of Japanese soldiers rushed out of the artillery coverage area and rushed to the front of the vanguard regiment's position under the firepower of the vanguard regiment. "Kill him!" A Japanese non-commissioned officer looked at the Eighth Route Army position which was within reach, waved his non-commissioned officer's knife, with cruelty in his eyes, and led the remaining Japanese soldiers around him to continue charging towards the vanguard regiment's position! "Quick, charge forward! As long as we reach the Eighth Route Army's position, their artillery won't dare to continue firing! Without fire suppression, the Eighth Route Army is no match for us in hand-to-hand combat!" The Japanese were still very confident in their bayonet fighting skills. Of course, this confidence was also because they really had the ability. They were not the new recruits from the independent infantry battalions. Those who were able to rush to the Eighth Route Army's position were all elite soldiers from the 22nd Regiment. These Japanese devils believed that as long as they rushed to the Eighth Route Army's position, the Eighth Route Army would no longer be able to suppress their charge with intensive firepower.
Then they could use hand-to-hand combat to seize the Eighth Route Army's intersection positions, thus opening up a charge route for the troops behind. It's funny to say that in the past, the Eighth Route Army had charged desperately, trying to reach their positions, thus preventing them from using firepower that far exceeded that of the Eighth Route Army to suppress them. But now facing the Vanguard Group, the situation has reversed. It turned out that the Japanese used their lives to open a path for the charge, sent a group of soldiers into the Eighth Route Army's position, and used hand-to-hand combat to offset the Eighth Route Army's fire suppression. It is really a different time now. "Platoon leader, the Japs are coming. Do you want to put on your bayonets?!" At the intersection position of the Eighth Route Army Vanguard Regiment, a squad leader looked at the Japanese soldiers who had rushed to the position less than 50 meters in front of him, and hurriedly asked the platoon leader who had just led his troops back to the position from behind the hillside to avoid the Japanese soldiers' poison gas. "What the hell, are you crazy? Why did the commander give us so many pistols? Why not use a bayonet when you have a pistol? Do you think you are Lu Bu? Are you saving your pistol for having children?! Pistols ready!" After listening to the squad leader's words, the platoon leader slapped the squad leader's head in disappointment and directly pulled out the twenty-gun pistol issued to him by the regiment. The rest of the veterans of the Pioneer Regiment did not need to wait for orders. The team leaders and deputy team leaders who had pistols also took out their Mauser pistols. The soldiers who joined later followed suit and took out their pistols. “Damn it, the Vanguard Group fights because they have money. There were probably at least a hundred mortar shells just fired. And those light and heavy machine guns fired at least 10,000 rounds of ammunition in just one hour." A squad leader who had just joined the vanguard regiment pulled out his Mauser pistol and placed several 20-round pistol magazines on the sandbags. He looked with envy at several Eighth Route Army soldiers who were rushing over with submachine guns on the other side.
"Not to mention that each squad has a Czech light machine gun, there are also so many small machine guns, and each squad also has four or five pistols. I'm afraid the German-equipped division in Shancheng is no better than this." "Look at what you said, how can the German-equipped division compare to our vanguard regiment?" An old squad leader of the pioneer group listened to what the squad leader said and patted his chest proudly. "Let's not talk about anything else, let's just talk about the mountain artillery battalion of our vanguard regiment. The mountain artillery battalion is not fully staffed now. If it were fully staffed, it would have twelve mountain cannons! There is also a regimental mortar battalion and a battalion mortar company... With all this firepower, the Japanese are no match for our vanguard regiment. To put it bluntly, the firepower of our vanguard group is like a scorpion's shit in this area - unique!" "Just shut up, it makes you look like a good talker, right?! The Japs are coming, pistols and submachine guns ready!" Seeing that the Japanese were less than 20 meters away from the position, the platoon leader quickly gave the order. "Fire!" As the platoon leader gave the order to open fire, the soldiers behind the sandbags quickly stood up and raised their pistols. The Japanese soldiers who were charging were shocked to see that the poison gas had just dissipated and dozens of people suddenly appeared on the first position of the Eighth Route Army, which was originally empty. But the elite are the elite. Even these Japanese devils were surprised by the sudden appearance of the Eighth Route Army. But at this moment, the distance to the Eighth Route Army's position is only more than ten meters. It will take at most five seconds to enter the Eighth Route Army's position and seize the Eighth Route Army's position with the bayonet in hand! The Japanese had a good idea, but it was just an idea after all. An idea that cannot be realized is no different from a dream. Looking at the Japanese soldiers rushing towards them, the Eighth Route Army soldiers pulled the trigger without hesitation. A soldier from the submachine gun team held a PPSh submachine gun loaded with a 71-round drum magazine and pulled the trigger at the charging Japanese troops. The Japanese soldier who was rushing in the front and holding a non-commissioned officer's knife was directly hit and flew backwards by the dense firepower of the PPSh submachine gun. The soldiers who used the 20-shot Mauser held the pistol horizontally, used the muzzle of the pistol to jump up, and quickly made a fan-shaped sound in front of themselves. In less than two seconds, all the Japanese soldiers in front of the position were killed with pistols and submachine guns. The closest Japanese soldier could only fall down with reluctance on his face in a bomb crater five meters in front of the position. The Japanese's first wave of charge was completely defeated by the powerful firepower of the vanguard regiment. The two squadrons of Japanese soldiers couldn't even hold out for an hour and all fell between the Eighth Route Army and the Japanese positions. Even the Japanese positions were littered with bullet holes and corpses. Kasahara Koizumi saw that the vanguard regiment's position was not in any dangerous terrain and was very flat, so he thought of taking the vanguard regiment's position directly with a charge. However, the firepower of the vanguard group exceeded Kasahara Koizumi's imagination. The troops he sent out to charge did not even touch the Eighth Route Army's positions and were directly wiped out by the Eighth Route Army.
"The Eighth Route Army in this direction is definitely not the weakest, it's a trap! The reason why the Eighth Route Army made the Eighth Route Army troops here appear so weak is to make us think that the Eighth Route Army troops at Baihuling are the weakest except for the Eighth Route Army troops in the direction of Guzhen. Then we can mobilize a large force to break out here!" "We've fallen into a trap! The insidious and cunning Eighth Route Army! Cunning, cunning! " He saw that the remaining soldiers of Tanaka Battalion had basically fallen on the way to the charge, and that artillery shells were still being fired from the Eighth Route Army's position. How could Kasahara Koizumi not realize that both he and Pinglu Yongfu had been fooled by the Eighth Route Army? The Eighth Route Army took advantage of their concerns caused by discovering the Eighth Route Army's true strength, causing them to immediately change their original mentality of wanting to make meritorious deeds to breaking out as quickly as possible. The change in mentality, coupled with the fact that the 4th Brigade was very likely to be wiped out by the Eighth Route Army, and the pressure brought by the sudden clouds in the sky. So both Hiraru Isamu and Kasahara Koizumi lost their composure. There was no time to think about why the Eighth Route Army performed so poorly at Baihuling. They subconsciously regarded Baihuling as the weakest point in the Eighth Route Army's encirclement of the Fourth Brigade, except for the ancient town. In order to get the 4th Brigade out of Tongshi Town before the heavy rain comes. Pinglu Yongfu and Kasahara Koizumi did not have time to think about it, and directly mobilized the main force of the 4th Brigade towards Baihuling. As a result, when the troops launched the charge, they found that there was no weak spot in the encirclement of the Eighth Route Army in the direction of Baihuling. It's clearly an iron wall! But now it's too late to find out. Most of the troops of the 4th Brigade have been transferred here. If they want to move again, it will be very difficult. The goal of the Eighth Route Army is not to surround or block the Fourth Brigade, but to annihilate the Fourth Brigade! It would be fine if their main force did not move here now. If they moved, the Eighth Route Army in the direction of Baihu Ridge would definitely launch a pursuit and hold on to their main force. Then the Eighth Route Army in other directions would immediately launch an attack on the Fourth Brigade from the other three directions. By that time, the main force would be caught up in the chaos and the remaining troops would not be able to defeat the Eighth Route Army. Once all other troops were wiped out by the Eighth Route Army, even if the 22nd Regiment was extremely powerful, it would not be able to defeat so many Eighth Route Army troops. After all, the Sakata Regiment, which was of similar strength to the 22nd Regiment, fell to the Eighth Route Army, not to mention the 22nd Regiment, which is now one battalion short. So at this moment, no matter how much regret Kasahara Koizumi felt in his heart, he and Heilu Yongfu chose the direction of Baihuling as the direction of breakout. He could only grit his teeth and swallow his anger. No matter how powerful the vanguard regiment's artillery fire was, Kasahara Koizumi had no choice but to continue the attack. "Damn the weather! If it weren't for these dark clouds, the artillery of the Eighth Route Army would not dare to be so arrogant!" Listening to the continuous explosions on the battlefield, Kasahara Koizumi looked up at the dark sky and cursed. At first, no one thought that the Eighth Route Army's goal was to completely annihilate the 4th Brigade, and the 4th Brigade had always been mainly offensive. Therefore, there were no decent defensive measures on the 4th Brigade’s position, and no anti-artillery holes were even dug. This also resulted in the Japanese having to stay on their positions and endure the bombing without being able to escape.
As for abandoning positions and retreating... haha, the Eighth Route Army is not idiots. If you retreat one step, the Eighth Route Army can advance ten steps! Although Tongshi Town is large, it is just a town. If they continue to retreat, once the entire Tongshi Town is covered by the artillery fire of the Eighth Route Army, their Fourth Brigade will no longer have any chance of breaking out. "How did the Army Aviation detect so many artillery pieces of the Eighth Route Army? They didn't even find any. There is also the Special High Section, who have been thinking about inciting rebellion every day, but now there has been such a big revelation. After I return this time, I will definitely hold them accountable! Let them obey the military's orders and collect military intelligence!" "Come here, order the troops..." "Your Excellency, Brigade Commander!" "Mr. Brigade Commander, why are you here at the front line?!" Just as Kasahara Koizumi was ready to give it a try and fire all the remaining artillery of the 22nd Regiment to fire against the Eighth Route Army's artillery, preventing the Eighth Route Army from using artillery to interfere with the charge and seizing the opportunity to let the remaining troops launch a charge and capture the Eighth Route Army's position, Pinglu Yongfu arrived at the position with his men. Seeing Pinglu Yongfu coming, Kasahara Koizumi hurried to greet him. "Your Excellency, Brigade Commander, please return to the headquarters immediately. I will be able to open a passage in an hour at most, and then I will have the tank squadron escort you to break out at the fastest speed. As long as you can leave Tongshi Town alive and return to Taiyuan, it will be worth it even if all the warriors of our Fourth Brigade die in battle!" Seeing Pinglu Yongfu coming, Kasahara Koizumi stepped forward to dissuade him without waiting for Pinglu Yongfu to speak, and asked Pinglu Yongfu to return to the command center. At this moment, Kasahara Koizumi no longer had any hope that the entire 4th Brigade could break out. He now only hoped to open a passage so that the tank squadron and all the remaining cavalry of the 4th Brigade could protect Pinglu Yongfu and break out. As long as Pinglu Yufu can successfully break through, the 4th Brigade will still be there and there will be hope. Even if Kasahara Koizumi dies in battle, Pinglu Yufu will remember his kindness. Hearing what Kasahara Koizumi said, Pinglu Yongfu waved his hand. The current situation is already very clear, and Pinglu Yongfu has also seen how great the crisis the 4th Brigade is facing now. Just as Kasahara Koizumi thought, Hiraru Isamu also knew that it was unrealistic to break out with the entire 4th Brigade. The 9th Brigade is still trapped in Linyuan County, blocked by the 358th Regiment of the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army and the Eighth Route Army, and is unable to advance an inch. If all the troops of the 4th Brigade broke out together, the speed of the infantry battalion would inevitably not be able to keep up with the tank squadron. The 4th Brigade was surrounded by the Eighth Route Army, and its breakout speed was slow, so it would be easily surrounded by the Eighth Route Army. By that time, they would be surrounded in the mountains, and with the Eighth Route Army's mountain combat capabilities, it would be even more difficult for the 4th Brigade to break out. Therefore, the best way at the moment is to leave all the infantry in Tongshi Town to cover the retreat and snipe the Eighth Route Army near Tongshi Town, so as to prevent the Eighth Route Army troops here from being able to pursue. Then all the trucks, tanks, and cavalry were mobilized, and a part of the elite of the 4th Brigade was used to quickly break through with the high mobility of trucks, tanks, and cavalry, and arrived at the location of the 9th Brigade. Only in this way can the 4th Brigade retain a glimmer of hope. But if this were done, even if the brigade commander Ping Lu Yongfu was still alive, most of the troops of the 4th Brigade would be gone, and he would be the brigade commander in name only. Rather than waiting to be transferred back to China and do nothing after returning. It’s better to fight to the death! "Kasahara-kun, do you want me to abandon the 4th Brigade and run away alone?"
"Your Excellency, there is an old Chinese saying: If you have green mountains, you will never run out of firewood! As long as you are still alive, the 4th Brigade will still be there. You will be able to rebuild the 4th Brigade and avenge us!" (End of this chapter)