Chapter 26: The Second Advance on Xuchang

  Diqin's tactics were indeed unexpected, he found that the city at this time was not like later generations, each central main city retained ancient city walls, which was a closed environment, and almost no need to build fortifications.

  The ancient city occupied by the devils is like this, equivalent to a solid military fortress. On the offensive, troops can be dispatched to attack anywhere. On the defensive, it can rely on the city wall to defend itself. Although its role is not very great under modern weapons, it is also not easy to occupy.

  The National Army defended such places, because the devils had airplanes, tanks and big guns, making it much easier to attack. But when the National Army attacked, they were exposed under the devils' planes and artillery.

  It wasn't until then that Zhai Qin understood why, during the entire period of the War of Resistance against Japan, the Nationalist army had not recovered any important cities. The Eighth Route Army could only engage in guerrilla warfare and could not attack places above the county level. Faced with such ancient city walls, without heavy artillery fire, it was impossible for troops to launch an attack.

  Daiqin does not want artillery, no big guns, not even mortars. He has his own understanding. There is a shortage of ammunition, no cars, and having artillery will slow down the movement of troops. If we can't even match the enemy's firepower, then it's better to have no artillery at all and maintain the mobility of our troops. The enemy has airplanes, so let's just not use any artillery.

  Without artillery support, it was also impossible to capture important and solid positions. The advantage of later generations allowed Diqin to grasp two points: first, at the beginning of the Anti-Japanese War, the devils were very arrogant, with continuous victories making them completely underestimate the Chinese army. Pride goes before a fall, this is an eternal law. Second, the devil's forces are limited and can only occupy important cities and transportation lines, while the vast rural areas have no troops at all. The great leader's tactics "open up the main road, occupy both sides, surround the city with the countryside, 16-character guerrilla warfare tactics" were firmly remembered by Diqin of later generations.

  He boldly designed this tactic, and when the troops safely arrived under Xuan Cheng City, Zhai Qin was exhausted like San Sunzi, but he was very happy, proving that his plan was correct. Indeed, the devils were too arrogant, they never thought that there would be troops passing through the mountains and forests.

  In one night, Qi's independent battalion of 700 people passed through the Green Leaf Mountain and arrived at the foot of Xuancheng City. According to Cheng Shizhong's reconnaissance and the experience of the last attack, this time taking advantage of the dark night, Qi ambushed the first and second battalions on both sides of the west gate of Xuancheng in the wild grass. Each battalion had less than 200 people. All were scattered and hidden in the wild grass, holding their breath and staring at the distant dark city wall.

  Diqin's main force and Li Le's third battalion were behind a mound several hundred meters from the city gate.

  Time passed quietly, and all around was silent. The devils' patrol guards on the city wall did not know that several hundred meters away, several hundred guerrilla fighters were hiding in ambush.

  In the city, the 35th Brigade Commander Handa Shozo was still fast asleep. Yesterday's attack did not go smoothly, and the strong resistance of Yanglin Township exceeded his expectations. According to the intelligence from the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office, the defenders of Yanglin Township were two Chinese army brigades, both temporarily assembled units with average combat effectiveness, which should have been easy to break through. However, after a day of aerial bombing and artillery attacks, although the Chinese army suffered heavy casualties, they did not retreat.

  He ordered the commander of the 116th Division, Lieutenant Colonel Kakizaki Kozo, and the commander of the 124th Division, Lieutenant Colonel Shoji Kojima, to launch a full-scale attack tomorrow, break through the enemy's defense line in front of them, capture Ningguo, and break through Xue Yue's defense line. According to reports, the independent regiment that killed the Great Japanese Imperial Army in Xuancheng was garrisoned in Ningguo, and Lieutenant General Handa Hanzo wanted to eliminate Zhang Qun and avenge his death.

  The sky gradually brightened, and before the sun had risen, the city gate of Xuancheng opened. This is a strategic location in northern Jiangsu Province, an important transportation hub that was once very prosperous, but the war has left it desolate with few people on the streets.

  The garrison troops of the Western City were logistics soldiers, and the main force had all been transferred to Yanglin Township for attack. The one at the west gate was Lieutenant Kame, who led a dozen or so traitors from Xuan Cheng's security team, lazily opening the city gate, moving out wooden fences and deer horn barriers, blocking the entrance and leaving only one exit, and setting up two machine guns in the sandbag fortifications on both sides.

  These are all daily activities, Kameyama doesn't believe that the Shina army will attack Xuan Cheng at all. Last time it was because there were only 800 people in a logistics unit in the city. Now there are two battalions and more, with over 2,000 troops in the brigade headquarters. Moreover, the Imperial Army is currently attacking the Yanglin Township position, I don't know if the Shina army can hold on or not.

  Kameida looked at the sun that was already slightly visible in the distance. Today's weather is good. He stretched his waist: "Yoishi."

  The squad leader Ma San immediately handed over a cigarette to Lieutenant Kame, lit it for him and said with a bow: "Your rest, sir. We'll take care of the sentry duty."

  Kameida nodded with satisfaction, in his view Chinese people are inferior, and sat down on a chair that had been brought over.

  In the distance, Diqin held up a telescope and looked at everything in front of the city gate. The corners of his mouth were coldly smiling. He didn't even know how he had become so ruthless in this era. Zhang Min and Zhang Juan beside him were tense, no matter how much they wanted to fight, but when they really faced the battlefield, their bodies trembled slightly.

  Dai Qin glanced at Zhang Min and said: "When the attack begins, you will stay in place and ambush, don't move recklessly."

  Zhang Min glared at Diao Qin fiercely, snatched his binoculars and looked into the distance. Diao Qin cursed angrily: "Damn it, I'm the captain of the team, how dare you treat me like this, be careful or you'll regret it."

  Zhang Min and the other four were relying on their enthusiasm, but they had never been to the battlefield before. By the time they finished marching, almost two soldiers had to carry one of them. They already felt very embarrassed, and were constantly being criticized by Zhai Qin. At this moment, she put down her binoculars and pinched Zhai Qin's thigh hard.

  "Ouch!" Ji Qin jumped up: "Mom, why do all women love pinching people? Ji Gui, order the attack."

  Dai Gui raised his gun and fired three shots into the sky. "Bang, bang, bang" The crisp sound of gunfire pierced the quiet morning.

  The sudden gunshot made Lieutenant Kameda, who was standing in front of the door, pause for a moment. The sound came from afar, and he quickly stood up to look into the distance, but saw nothing. Before he could figure out what was happening, machine gun fire suddenly erupted on both sides at close range. Lieutenant Kameda's thoughts were cut short as he was hit by bullets.

  Zhang Meng and Zhu Hou's two squads had forty or fifty machine guns, which were lowered to the ground in the tall grass, tightly attached to the ground, and had been staring at the devils in front of the door. When the three shots rang out, the machine gunners flipped over, and the light machine guns swept away in a frenzy.

  To avoid alarming the devils, at a distance of 200 meters away, this distance shooting accuracy is quite problematic, but the biggest advantage lies in the fact that the machine gun density is too high. There was only one devil squad with ten people in front of the door, and more than a dozen traitors from the security team. The bullets like a violent rain made these devils not react before becoming souls under the gun.

  Zhang Meng shouted: "Machine guns suppress the city wall, others charge."

  The soldiers of the first company jumped up and rushed towards the city gate. Zhaiqin's independent battalion was composed of four small teams, each team consisting of ten people, with one machine gun squad for each team, that is, five light machine guns. Two companies were forty light machine guns.

  The machine gunner immediately fired at the city wall in a half-crouching position, advancing forward continuously. The commander of the 35th Brigade, Handa Shozo, who was commanding in Xuanzhou, was too careless, and his soldiers were all stationed below the city, with only sentries on the city wall.

  Diqin launched the attack at a strange time, when anyone would think it should be at night or daytime. But Diqin chose to do so at dawn, just as the sky was brightening and the sun had not yet risen.

  This was the most unexpected moment for anyone, and the intense gunfire and killing cries like a storm made even the well-trained devils somewhat dazed. The 2nd Battalion of the 12th Engineer Regiment was stationed at the West Gate. Before Battalion Commander Ikeda Ichiro could understand what was happening, Zhang Meng and Zhu Hou led two companies to break into the gate.

  For the independent battalion that trains in sprinting every day, a distance of over 200 meters is less than one minute. The devils at the gate and the sentries on the city wall did not play any role under the impact of machine gun bullets, and two companies killed into Xuan City without any hindrance.

  The width of the city gate is limited, and it's impossible for all troops to enter at once. Ikeda Ichiro finally reacted and ordered his soldiers to attack the city gate, trying to drive out the invading Japanese army. The western part of Xuan City has few houses, which were occupied by the devils, burned and destroyed, leaving only a few people.

  An engineering battalion originally had more than 700 people, but after continuous battles, the Japanese army attacked too quickly, and troop reinforcements were not timely. Some soldiers were drawn into combat units, and the entire engineering battalion had less than 500 people.

  The fearless devils are armed with the spirit of Bushido, they just got out of bed and heard gunfire, grabbed their guns and rushed out.

  Lieutenant Colonel Ikeda thought the city gate was narrow and the Chinese army could not enter at once, so it concentrated all its forces to surround it on three sides. These attacking Chinese troops either retreated or were waiting to be annihilated.

  However, Ikeda Ichiro did not expect the attacking troops to be Zhao Kun's unit. Unlike other Chinese armies, they were not only powerful in firepower but also had very special tactics. Under Zhao Kun's orders, they blasted their way into the city.

  The devils who had just rushed up hadn't even formed a dense charging formation, and they were met with a hail of hand grenades. This was a close-range explosion of intense bombing, imitating German hand grenades, all within 50-60 meters under the professional arm strength.

  The Japanese army emphasized accurate shooting and bayonet tactics, so they were also willing to engage in close combat. The devil commander was more confident in their bayonet skills. However, encountering such a desperate tactic happened to counter the devil's attack.

  A burst of hand grenades exploded, causing heavy casualties among the counter-attacking devils, and no encirclement tactics were formed. The attacking devils were blown to pieces, and Zhang Meng and Zhu Hou absolutely grasped this tactic, and then the machine gun squad that entered the city immediately swept forward, making it impossible for the Japanese army to advance and counterattack.

  The two squads that advanced more than 20 meters forward were another round of grenade bombing. After the two grenade explosions, Ichiro Ikeda's engineer battalion was almost gone, and the remaining devils turned around and ran away. They had never seen such a brutal attack and didn't know how to deal with it.

  Zhang Meng and Zhu Hou opened the situation, commanding their own squadrons, machine guns opening the way, hand grenades blasting, and advancing in a fan-shaped offensive towards the south and north of the city. Zhao Kai and Li Le commanded the third squadron and the battalion's force of over 300 people to enter from the city gate, advancing along the middle towards the city center.

  When Handa Shōsuke received the report, he was not panicked at first. According to the reconnaissance plane's report, there were no large Japanese troops around Xuancheng. This should be a surprise attack by a small Japanese unit. He had more than 2,000 soldiers in Xuancheng, which was not a small number of Japanese troops that could win.

  It would be better to attack the city, that is, surround and annihilate them. However, when he ordered the logistics troops and cavalry troops to attack from both sides towards the center and annihilate the attacking Chinese army, the deputy commander of the brigade, Shinkura Takashi, rushed in: "Report, Brigade Commander, the Chinese army has defeated the engineer battalion and is now killing towards the city center. The Imperial Army can't hold on."

  "Eighty thousand, coward! Order the troops to hold their ground. Anyone who retreats will be shot."

  Lieutenant Colonel Asakura Ryūzō trembled, not because he was a coward, but because he had been severely scolded by the division commander and felt ashamed. However, the Chinese army's firepower was too strong, and the Imperial Army was mainly composed of logistics and heavy artillery units, whose combat effectiveness was originally mediocre, so they couldn't withstand such an attack. But looking at the division commander's fierce gaze, he turned around to command a counterattack.

  "A report!" a soldier rushed in shouting: "Commander of the Brigade, Tajima Kiyohara was killed. The Cavalry Battalion was defeated."

  "Report: The entire Engineer Corps has been annihilated, Lieutenant Colonel Ikeda has died in battle."

  Shōsuke's heart was heavily struck, and he felt a thread of fear. Whose troops were these? Their combat strength was so formidable. It was only then that he realized he had underestimated the enemy. Immediately, he shouted: "Order the troops to gather in the middle and block the Shinra army's attack."

  As he watched the orderly go out, he shouted: "Give orders to the 124th Regiment to reinforce the headquarters of the Xuan Cheng Brigade."

  When the 3rd Division of Handa Province ordered the 124th Regiment to return to Xuancheng, the temporary 12th Brigade on the front line of Yanglin Township had already made preparations for a fight to the death.

  Dai Qin stood in front of a dilapidated house, Zhao Kai said: "Captain, the devils are shrinking their forces to defend themselves, we don't have heavy weapons, it's very difficult to attack, and casualties are not small. I think we should withdraw from Xuan City."

  Actually, they were just harassing the enemy, and their goal had been achieved. However, Qi Kun wanted to maximize his gains. Shaking his head, he said: "Let Cheng Shizhong monitor the direction of Yanglin Township, use machine guns to block the devils, and have other troops clear out Xuancheng."

  Zhao Kaili nodded: "Yes" He turned around to pass on the order. The third squadron surrounded the devils. The other two squadrons continued to clear the entire city.

  Deputy Captain Han Chuyin asked: "Captain, are we still using the same method as before?"

  "Need you ask? Since Captain didn't say anything, we'll just stick with the old plan and continue."

  Han Chuli said: "Understood".