Chapter 8: Unwavering Justice! Seeking Recommendation Tickets! Seeking Bookmarks!

  The night color fades away, and the sky brightens up. A fiery ball rises slowly from the eastern horizon. The sun rises, and a new day arrives for the earth.

  A tough day is also coming for the 29 officers and men on No. 1 and No. 2 heights, the Japanese army suffered heavy casualties last night, lost troops and generals, and lost two strategic heights, it is impossible to give up easily.

  Therefore, the next battle will be extremely fierce. At this time, the Battle of Xifengkou officially entered its most intense phase. Fortunately, the 37th Division reinforcements had arrived, and the 110th Brigade of the 37th Division rushed to Xifengkou under the leadership of General Wang Zhibang.

  On the No. 1 Height, the wounded General Zhao Dengyu had been escorted back to the Xifengkou Pass Castle, and at this time, the No. 1 Height was commanded by Colonel Wang Changhai, commander of the 217th Regiment, while the No. 2 Height was defended by the 219th Regiment, whose regimental commander was the famous anti-Japanese general Ji Xingwen in history.

  More than 200 members of the Big Knife Squad who participated in the counterattack on Position No. 2 also suffered heavy casualties, and after the arrival of reinforcements, it is said that only five people came down from No. 2 Heights, and all five were seriously injured.

  On the first high ground, the officers and men of the 217th Regiment had made preparations for battle. The soldiers held steel guns in their hands, with cold expressions, lying in the trenches, waiting in array.

  Zhang Xinghan and Class Leader Zhao Heita were also lying behind a bunker, not far from them was the Fourth Company Commander Hou Wanshan. Last night's battle had almost wiped out the entire Fourth Company, leaving only the three of them.

  Hou Wanshan was embracing his large iron sword with both arms, closing his eyes to meditate, as if the impending fierce battle didn't bother him in the least.

  At this time, Hou Wanshan was heartbroken and grief-stricken. His entire company of over a hundred strong and vigorous brothers had been wiped out in just one night. This kind of pain cannot be described by any language.

  But with the national crisis at hand, war is imminent, and people are sacrificing every day. Hou Wanshan can't afford to be sad anymore, he can only grit his teeth and suppress the anger and sadness in his chest. At this moment, there are only two words in Hou Wanshan's mind, that is revenge! Use the blood of Japanese devils to mourn the fallen comrades.

  Born in a chaotic world, strong enemies invade, war fires burn the sky, lives are lost, as a soldier, what can be done? The answer is only one, that is to take up arms, rise up and resist, defend the family and country, fight against the enemy!

  Zhang Xinghan will not be sad, Zhao Heita will not be sad, the officers and men of the 29th Army will not be sad, because at this time there is no need to be sad, what is needed is courage, and the courage to continue fighting against the invaders!

  Around 9:00, the Japanese army's attack began.

  This time the enemy's attack was much more fierce than last night, not only with unimaginable artillery groups launching intense bombardments on the 217th and 218th regiments, but also mobilizing tanks and armored vehicles.

  No. 1 High Ground

  The enemy's bombardment had just ended, the entire hillside was still ablaze with flames and smoke. Zhao Hei Ta, covered in dust, pulled Zhang Xing Han out of a pile of dirt.

  In the artillery bombardment by the devils just now, the two men lay prone in the trenches. Due to the intense cannon fire from the devils, the mud churned up buried Zhang Xinghan.

  Zhang Xinghan sat up with a start, shook his head violently and spat out several mouthfuls of mud-stained saliva. He couldn't help but blurt out a curse: "Damn it! These Japanese bastards!"

  "Haha! Zhang Wazi, you little devil has become a local!" Zhao Heita exclaimed, looking at Zhang Xinghan who was covered in mud from head to toe.

  "Everyone be careful, the devils' iron tanks are coming!" Hou Wanshan shouted loudly from a short distance away.

  The officers and soldiers heard the words, and one after another raised their steel guns, with the dark muzzles beginning to protrude from the trenches. Zhang Xinghan pulled the bolt of his gun, loading a bullet into the chamber, and stood up at the same time as Zhao Hei Ta. Below the high ground, two devil tanks were followed by a large group of devil soldiers, who were rumbling towards the top of the high ground.

  Two Japanese tanks with bandages on their fronts charged forward at the forefront, rumbling and emitting blue smoke.

  The devils behind the tank were all crouching down and keeping a certain distance from the tank, also rushing up quickly.

  The devils soon entered the range, and the only dozen or so light and heavy machine guns in the whole regiment began to fire one after another. The dense bullets flew out with a swooshing sound, but the two devil tanks charging forward seemed like steel beasts, rushing forward horizontally and vertically. The dense bullets hitting its body could only splash up sparkling sparks, and could not stop its advance at all.

  The Japanese army actually used not real tanks but a type of light armored vehicle to attack. As early as 1927, in the first year of Japan's Showa era, Japan decided to develop domestic battle vehicles (tanks), including heavy and light tanks. The first domestically produced light tank was the Type 89 light tank, which took one year to develop from April 1928 to April 1929 when it was successfully developed and put into production.

  By 1932, Japan had developed a heavy armored car, the Type 92 Heavy Armoured Car. This armored car was generally used by the Imperial Japanese Army for cavalry reconnaissance units to perform scouting missions.

  And this time, the Japanese devils at Xifengkou used this 92-style heavy armored vehicle. The advantages of this armored vehicle are its fast movement speed, and in Asia at that time, its armor was also considered thick and heavy. However, its firepower is not strong, with only one 13mm heavy machine gun on each armored vehicle, and no tank guns were equipped.

  At that time, the Japanese army had only one type of light armored vehicle equipped with a tank gun, the Type 89 tank. This lightweight tank had low horsepower, thin armor, and poor mobility. In addition, it was only equipped with a single 37mm tank gun and no machine guns were mounted on the vehicle. Without infantry cooperation, its self-defense capability was relatively weak and could be easily destroyed.

  At this time, the Japanese Type 95 light tank had not yet begun development. As is well known, the Type 95 tank equipped with a tank gun and vehicle-mounted machine guns would not be formally produced until 1935. Formal equipment of troops would have to wait at least until 1936.

  Even this 92-style heavy armored vehicle equipped with only one heavy machine gun is not comparable to the Twenty-Ninth Army, which has only hand grenades and rifles.

  The bullets fired by the warriors were like scratching an itch for the enemy's armored vehicle, which couldn't harm it at all. However, the 13mm heavy machine gun on top of the enemy's armored vehicle was like a scythe of death, taking away the lives of the warriors from time to time.

  Watching the devils getting closer and closer under the cover of armored vehicles, the regiment commander Wang Changhai couldn't help but rush to the side of several soldiers and shouted: "Quickly, blow up these two damn iron tortoises for me."

  "Yes!" The three warriors responded in unison, quickly taking the explosive packs from their companions and jumping out of the trenches almost simultaneously.

  "Covering fire!" Wang Changhai personally picked up a light machine gun and loudly shouted, immediately firing the trigger repeatedly, shooting out a dense rain of bullets.

  Zhang Xinghan and Zhao Heita did not waste bullets on the devils' armored vehicles, but instead specifically shot and killed the devils' soldiers who followed behind the armored vehicles.

  Just as Zhang Xinghan and Zhao Heita fired their guns almost simultaneously, killing two devils. The three brave warriors were seen rushing forward with explosive packs in their arms.

  The three men had rich combat experience, and after rushing out, they didn't stay together but quickly dispersed in different directions, charging towards the two armored vehicles that were spewing flames.

  However, their actions were soon discovered by the Japanese machine gunners. Two Japanese machine gunners immediately turned their guns and fired a fierce long burst at the three men.

  Like a swarm of locusts, the hail of bullets instantly enveloped one of the soldiers, his chest suddenly becoming a beehive, and he ran forward several steps before crashing to the ground, the explosive pack rolling to a stop beside the soldier's corpse.

  Two more warriors saw their companions sacrifice, and they couldn't help but burst into anger. One of the warriors' eyes turned red as he roared loudly, hugging an explosive pack and charging straight at one of the enemy's armored vehicles.

  At this time, the Japanese infantry who followed also started firing, and for a while, the sound of gunfire was loud, and the dense hail of bullets whizzed back and forth across the entire battlefield like a meteor shower.

  Just as the warrior was about to approach the enemy's armored vehicle, an enemy sniper took aim at him. The enemy sniper immediately pulled the trigger, and a bullet shot out, hitting the warrior's chest with a loud thud.

  The warrior looked down at his bleeding chest, let out a loud roar: "Little devils, I'll die before you! I'm going to take you all with me!" As soon as he finished speaking, he detonated the explosive pack and charged towards a devil's armored vehicle not far in front of him.

  "Boom!" A loud explosion, flames flashed, and the armored vehicle that was advancing forward was immediately surrounded by flames. The heavy machine gun that was roaring just now also stopped.

  Just as everyone thought that the warrior had destroyed it at the cost of his own life, the armored vehicle roared out of the flames again, and the heavy machine gun on the armored vehicle continued to spit out a wicked flame.

  The explosive pack detonated by the warrior only injured the devils inside the armored vehicle, but did not destroy it. The wounded devil soldiers inside began to operate the machine gun and started firing again.

  The third warrior had not yet come back to himself when he was overwhelmed by the machine gun bullets like a storm, and fell down tragically.

  Zhang Xinghan in the trenches couldn't help but feel a pang of regret and said: "This fool, why didn't he blow up the bottom of the car."

  Indeed, the Type 92 heavy armored vehicle has thicker armor on its front and sides, and with the limited power of domestic explosives, it is difficult to destroy it from the front. To directly destroy it, one can only blow up its weakest undercarriage.

  At this time, the enemy's armored vehicle was still rapidly advancing forward. Just as the injured armored vehicle was about to drive over the body of the soldier who had just been hit, a fierce flame burst into the sky, and the intense explosion sound instantly drowned out all the gunfire.

  That armored vehicle of the devils which was proudly displaying its might just a moment ago started to catch fire from inside out and began to burn fiercely.

  However, the devils did not retreat in response to this. Another armored vehicle bypassed the wreckage of its companion and continued to lead the charge up the high ground.

  "King Chang Hai shouted: 'Hou Wan Shan! Where is the rabbit? Quick, go and blow it up for me!'"

  "I'm going!" Before Hou Wanshan could respond, Zhang Xinghan, with a large knife on his back and a bundle of hand grenades in his hands, quickly jumped out of the trench and charged forward.

  Lian Changhou had saved Wan Shan's life before, and this time everyone knew that blowing up the enemy's armored vehicle was a suicidal mission, so Zhang Xinghan charged out without hesitation.

  Update 2 is here! Seeking recommendation votes! Seeking collection and rewards! Thank you!