Eleven battles, fighting

  The commander of the Miyazaki Brigade in Hejian City was furious, since invading China, the 27th Division had been winning easily, and had not suffered significant losses in direct battles with the Nationalist army on the front lines. The entire unit was inevitably proud and arrogant, but now they were being defeated by a small group of "local bandits" in this broken place, how could Miyazaki swallow this?

  "Come on, assemble the troops quickly, we will show those bandits some color and let them know the power of our great Japanese Imperial Army." Miyazaki was already furious.

  "General, it's getting late now. The enemy outside the city is making unclear moves. The Eighth Route Army is cunning and especially skilled in night battles. Rushing out of the city to pursue them now may easily lead to an ambush." The chief of staff beside him hastily stopped him.

  "Alright, makes sense. Send out the intelligence team tomorrow and make sure to find the trail of the Eighth Route Army." "Yes, sir."

  As for the devils' psychology of hastening to take revenge, the special troops had made early preparations and lay in ambush in a small forest outside the city that night. If it was a small troop, they would prepare to swallow them in one breath; if it was a large troop, they would temporarily avoid the sharp edge. As a result, the cunning enemy did not make any rash moves, and the troops withdrew from the position before dawn.

  "The enemy will not give up easily, they will definitely come to retaliate, and the place of retaliation may be near Caojiazhuang. Therefore, your troops quickly rush to Dacao Village, 4 kilometers southwest of Caojiazhuang, which is the only way from Hejian City to Caojiazhuang. Let's give those devils another lesson there." The next day, He Lao heard the combat report of the special operations team and gave timely instructions.

  Taking advantage of the night, the troops quietly evacuated the villagers from Dacao Village and then tensely constructed fortifications.

  At dawn on the 4th, before daybreak, scouts responsible for monitoring enemy movements returned to report: Over 1,000 devils departed from Hejian City, heading straight for Caojiatun, with a force consisting of approximately 700 infantrymen, 200 cavalrymen, and over 100 artillerymen, equipped with two Type 41 75mm mountain guns, four of the latest Type 97 90mm light howitzers, and numerous grenade launchers.

  There are over 1,500 combat personnel in the special operations team. Except for the difference in heavy weapons, the quality of the combat personnel is no worse than that of the Japanese devils. It's unrealistic to completely wipe out this group of devils, but a sudden surprise attack can definitely catch them off guard. Now, if we request reinforcements from higher-ups again, it will be too late by the time our scattered brother units arrive from other places. The team leader furrowed his brow and considered for a moment before finally making up his mind: "Let's take down these bastards!"

  The troops quickly entered the designated position, and the devils coming face to face were getting closer and closer, 300 meters, 200 meters "Fire!" With the team leader's order, various weapons happily spoke out in unison. (Because there are cavalry in the devil's team, they can't get too close to shoot, otherwise the cavalry will easily break through our army's position)

  Yang Sicheng soon found a big fish from the opposite target: a devil lieutenant. The guy was walking in the middle of the team, heard the gunshot and hastily got down from the tall Oriental horse, threw the reins to the entourage behind him, and lay down on the spot, holding a telescope to observe the movement.

  The Japanese soldiers were also well-trained and did not panic, immediately deploying a combat formation to counterattack. "Rat-a-tat-a-tat..." "Boom, boom, boom" The Japanese heavy machine guns and mortars opened fire one after another, unleashing fierce firepower that instantly put pressure on the Eighth Route Army.

  "The sniper's priority order for choosing targets is: 1. Enemy snipers; 2. High-ranking enemy commanders; 3. Enemy artillery observers and heavy weapons operators; 4. Senior officers or sergeant majors; 5. Enemy signalmen, grenadiers and engineers." Ivan's words had been etched in Yang Si Cheng's mind.

  Catch the thief first, catch the king! I didn't care about the shells exploding not far from my body, still staring at the devil lieutenant 500 meters away. He seemed to be a battalion commander level, and that guy was frantically ordering the mortar troops behind him to quickly set up shooting parameters.

  Yang Sicheng sneered and raised the "Katyusha" to aim at his head, that guy was ignorantly pulling out the command knife from his waist and wildly waving it towards the Eighth Route Army's position.

  With a "bang", the guy's forehead suddenly grew another "eye", and the conductor knife in his hand fell down powerlessly, and the devil lieutenant's body tilted like a broken sack and fell to the ground with a "pa" sound.

  The leaderless Japanese soldiers were suddenly panicked, and at this time, the Japanese cavalry unit that was originally following behind came up. The commander of the cavalry unit quickly took command, and the Japanese soldiers who were originally like headless flies regrouped and became quiet again. Yang Sicheng wanted to use his old trick again, but this guy cunningly mixed in with the Japanese soldiers and couldn't be found.

  The devils went into a frenzied state after their leader was killed, and the cavalry first launched a charge against the Eighth Route Army's position. The devilish cavalry wielded shiny sabers, hiding their bodies behind the rapidly galloping war horses, and pounced on the position with ferocity.

  We can't let the enemy cavalry break through this 200-meter gap! Once this distance is breached, under the high-speed impact of war horses, the casualties of the Eighth Route Army will increase dramatically. What's even more frightening is that when the Eighth Route Army soldiers are entangled with the Japanese cavalry in front, the consequences of the Japanese infantry coming up will be unbearable.

  Yang Sicheng quickly raised his gun and fired, and the remaining 4 bullets in the magazine were soon used up. The 4 war horses fell to the ground with a loud noise. There was no time to reload, as the enemy had already rushed to within 50 meters of the Eighth Route Army's position.

  Yang Sicheng picked up a hand grenade, unscrewed the cap, pulled the fuse and threw it at the Japanese cavalry charging in front of him. His comrades also fired desperately at the enemy, throwing grenades.

  "Boom, boom, boom..." With the massive explosion and billows of smoke rising, a large number of war horses were killed or injured, some fell to the ground with a loud crash, while others let out mournful cries, throwing the Japanese soldiers off their backs. The wounded war horses stood up on their hind legs, their huge hooves trampling frantically on the cavalrymen's bodies, and soon the Japanese cavalry was turned into pulp.

  A dense hail of hand grenades left many deep craters on the devils' charging path, and the war horses rushing forward had no time to react, either stepping into the pits and breaking their legs or being knocked down by the corpses in front of them, becoming new obstacles.

  Due to the proximity, the mountain artillery was unable to fire at the Eighth Route Army's position. Only mortars provided firepower cover for the cavalry in the initial stage of combat. When the cavalry approached the Eighth Route Army's position, the enemy's heavy firepower retreated hastily under the protection of infantry while the cavalry charged forward. The Eighth Route Army, busy dealing with the Japanese cavalry charge, was also unable to spare the strength to counterattack.

  It was as if a year's worth of time had passed, when all the cavalrymen fell in front of the ambush site, the warriors finally could catch their breath. Confronted with the overwhelming killing intent brought by the cavalry charge, everyone would forget to think about anything else, and only have frantic shooting! Shooting! Fighting! Fighting!

  The battle was raging fiercely, the devils' artillery retreated 1500 meters away and opened fire like crazy, pouring high-explosive shells into the Eighth Route Army's position. The shells exploded continuously above our heads, and a large number of shrapnel fell on the ambush site like rain. Many soldiers who failed to take cover fell in the blood pool. When the devils found that the Eighth Route Army soldiers were hiding in the village and the high-explosive shells had little effect, they madly fired poison gas shells at us, which were prohibited by the Hague Convention.

  The devils first fired a large number of gas shells into the village, and with a series of soft sounds, one by one "hissing" white smoke toxic gas fell into the houses in the village. Suddenly, a strong pungent odor that made it impossible to breathe filled the entire space. If you smelled even a little bit, you would have a severe cough, coughing so hard that you would turn over and over, as if you wanted to squeeze out all the air in your lungs and cough up your intestines. Tears, snot, and saliva fell uncontrollably.

  Some warriors who could not bear it rushed out of the room, and the spacious space outside was better. At this time, the devils launched mustard gas bombs into the village again. Mustard gas is a blistering agent that specifically destroys the human nervous system and is known as the "king of poisons" due to its massive killing effect. It has an effect on the eyes, respiratory tract, and skin, with a strong garlic smell. At that time, the warriors of the special operations team did not know these things, and although the garlic smell was unpleasant, it was better than smelling tear gas. Warriors who inadvertently inhaled mustard gas or got toxic liquid on their skin quickly developed breathing difficulties, skin itching, and rashes all over their bodies. The blisters burst easily, and the yellow liquid that flowed out made wherever it touched start to redden and then fester, making people unbearable to look at.

  The captain immediately ordered everyone to hide in the house, covering their mouths and noses with wet towels to continue fighting. The devils must not be allowed to fire poison gas shells into the village again! "Captain, let me go and take out the devil's artillery!" The painful moans of poisoned comrades tore at Yang Sicheng's heart.

  "No, there are so many devils outside the village, it's too dangerous for you to go alone." In the eyes of the squad leader, an ordinary soldier going to fight against nearly a thousand devils with just one rifle was undoubtedly going to get himself killed, and he flatly refused.

  "Squad leader, don't worry, I'm a sniper, I can complete the task. Besides, it's not good to let the devils keep throwing poison gas bombs at our position all the time, and the casualties of our comrades are too heavy."

  The team leader looked at Yang Si Cheng's determined eyes and finally agreed, "Be extremely careful!" "Yes!"