Chapter 8: Diqin's Tactics

  Commander Nokaze Sakomizu received the order and led his battalion to Yangjiapu without hesitation, not worrying about the Chinese army in front of him. The 1st Battalion attacked the Qing Shan Town position head-on, where a Chinese regiment was holding out to cover the retreat of the government troops who were regrouping.

  For a stronghold that the regiment was determined to defend, the deputy commander of the Liangjiaokou Regiment dispatched a battalion and also a company to cover the flank and launch an attack. This was a sure-win battle. However, for some unknown reason, a company attacking Yangjiapu was annihilated, with only over 30 people escaping back. That was a company that had just been replenished to full strength, with 180 men, more than 140 of whom were wiped out. This was no small matter. It is said that it was done by a Japanese army company.

  What's the point of Honmura Goro not believing, it must be the Chinese army bragging. One company annihilating a battalion? Give them a regiment and that would be about right. So Lieutenant Colonel Honmura Goro didn't care at all, commanding his own battalion to rush quickly to Yangjiapu in Liyang, he wanted to teach the Chinese army a lesson.

  But when he crossed Zhangjiagou, Honmura Goro had already gone mad. The Chinese army was too shameless, they actually stripped the Great Japanese Imperial Army naked and abandoned their bodies in the wilderness. This was simply unbearable, and the furious Honmura Goro ordered that all villages along the way be killed and burned to ashes.

  However, because of Yoshida Ichirō and his men's advance, the surrounding civilians had all fled without a trace, making it impossible to vent their anger on anyone. Along the way, the Japanese were left with nothing but burying corpses.

  Originally, Japanese soldiers who died in battle were to be cremated and their ashes brought back to Japan for burial. However, as the village of Kakuei was advancing, these soldiers were buried on the spot. They couldn't even figure out their names and numbers because all their clothes had been stripped off.

  This nearly made Benmura Kōtarō's head spin with anger, and he ordered his battalion to advance at top speed to the third company's blocking position at Yangjiapu.

  This is a low hill with no trees on it, apparently the Chinese army has cleared it to maintain good fields of fire.

  The highway runs right at the foot of the mountain, and this position is well chosen. If we can't take down this slope, the troops passing through the highway will be attacked.

  According to Imperial Army intelligence, there is only one company of troops here. Based on the judgment of Captain Kakunori Honma, the Chinese army heard that the Imperial Army was a large battalion and estimated that no one would be left in this position.

  When his troops stopped to rest, they found that the mountain slope position was defended by a Chinese army. This army, which did not know life from death, must be the unit that annihilated the Imperial Army.

  This is the post-meridiem hour, and Kakuji Kakimoto has not ordered the construction of temporary positions, nor does he intend to stay here. He believes that these Chinese troops can't even withstand a single charge by the Imperial Army. After occupying this place, they will directly enter Yangjia Pu and then surround Qingshan Town from behind, which can not only annihilate the 626th Regiment but also capture Langxi, allowing the 116th Brigade to complete its encirclement of Hangzhou.

  Looking at the quiet array, Murakami Kōhei ordered his artillery company to open fire on the mountain slope, covering a small infantry squad's attack.

  Diqin looked at the devils in the distance and suddenly remembered what he had seen on a forum, saying that during World War II, the devils' offensive was a three-act play: shelling, attacking, and retreating. Then shelling again, attacking again, and retreating again, it's just this three-act play, which made the National Army fail.

  "He hastily shouted: 'Pass on the order to withdraw from the battlefield and come to the back.'"

  Zhao Kai was already dissatisfied with Zhai Qin's arrangement, and now he found that he was shouting to let the soldiers withdraw from the position. He immediately pulled out his gun and asked: "Zhai Company Commander, what do you mean? Are you planning to escape?"

  It's too late now. At first, I didn't think of it myself, but seeing Zhao Kai's appearance, Zhai Qin's bad habit came out again: "Let your mother's fart go, you want to run away now."

  Zhao Kai was speechless, what the hell is Jia Qin doing, the battalion commander let him take charge here, thinking he had some clever tactics, but looking at the arrangement it's okay, but at the critical moment this performance. Has he forgotten that he is a commanding officer? He immediately asked: "What do you want to do?"

  While asking this, he shouted to the soldiers on the other side: "Do not retreat, anyone who leaves the position will be shot on the spot."

  These soldiers were at a loss, who to listen to? Both of them were company commanders. But these were the soldiers of two companies, Zhao Kai's guard company would naturally listen to Zhao Kai, while Wang Biao, Zhu Hou and Li Le would listen to Di Qian, immediately retreating to the back. Zhao Kai's guard company returned to the battlefield again.

  At this time, the sound of shells came from the sky. Boom, boom, it was the 92 infantry guns of the Japanese army artillery company. Although the shells were only 70 caliber, they were not something that a simple position like this could withstand. It was a hillside, and after the shells exploded, dust, smoke, and shattered rocks flew everywhere.

  Diqin was experiencing such a bombardment for the first time, and he was somewhat afraid, his heart racing. But when he saw the scene on the position, he forgot about being afraid: "Zhao Kai, you son of a bitch, you got these brothers killed."

  The Japanese artillery fire was accurate, although it was blind fire and there were no specific targets to destroy, but these were shells, not hand grenades, and the Guardsmen returning to their positions were blown to pieces.

  The Japanese army had only two 92 infantry guns in an artillery battalion, and the shooting was not very dense. However, they didn't have to worry about being counter-attacked by artillery, so they could take their time aiming and adjusting the firing angle, killing many soldiers.

  This was just a probing attack, and after firing more than ten rounds of shells, the artillery fire stopped, and the attacking troops also advanced halfway.

  Dai Qin fiercely glared at Zhao Kai: "You wait, I'll settle the score with you later."

  "Everyone get into position, prepare for battle."

  Wang Biao, Zhu Hou and Li Le immediately led the soldiers to retreat to the mountain ridge; they ran crouching towards the slope of the position. Di Qin also didn't hold back his tactics, although the big guns just now made him fearful, but seeing his men being blown up made him forget his fear, and he followed them running over. As he ran, he shouted: "Wang Biao, Zhu Hou, Li Le, remember what I told you, don't forget!"

  "Understood, don't worry, Lieutenant." The three of them replied in unison, then let the soldiers take their positions.

  Dai Qin said to the four machine guns following him: "All of you remember, transfer positions in half a minute, if you're slow, you'll be dead, got it?"

  Four machine gunners and ammunition handlers nodded repeatedly. They had already memorized the tactics taught by Zhai Qin, although they didn't know if they were useful, but fighting like this was very interesting. It was like playing a game.

  The lieutenant, Kameda, looked at his soldiers who had already advanced to within 200 meters of the enemy's position, but there was still no movement. He wondered if the Chinese army had escaped. This kind of situation often happened to them. When they finally reached the position, they found it empty.

  A small team of fifty devils, they advanced in a scattered state, the slope was not very steep, it was a low and gentle slope, the attack was not difficult, this place had also been cleaned up, there were no cover objects.

  When they were one hundred and twenty meters away from the enemy's position, Lieutenant Kameyama drew his sword and shouted: "Charge!"

  These cautious devils quickened their pace and charged up the slope. Their tactical movements were practiced, constantly changing terrain, lying down to fire, getting up and advancing again.

  Dai Gui said with a puzzled expression: "Who are they performing for?"

  Dí Qín also laughed. Dí Guì was very clever, not as foolish as others, and quite humorous: "Don't worry, they'll see it for themselves soon."

  Dai Qin picked up a rifle and put it on his shoulder, taking aim at a Japanese soldier who had just stood up and was now within his designated range.

  Bang! The gun fired, and this was Zhai Qin's first time shooting a gun. He didn't expect that it wasn't like the guns in games, and the recoil made his shoulder move. Who knows where the bullet flew to, maybe even to Guawa Country.

  But this was the signal for battle, and after Chui Chin's shot, a burst of fire broke out from the first line of trenches. The distance was so short, less than a hundred meters away. At this time, shooting was still very accurate. The devils were immediately knocked down five or six, and the others all fell to the ground, firing at the trenches that had opened fire.

  The devils reacted quickly, and at that time the dust was flying on the battlefield, but there was no movement on the battlefield. The machine guns behind the devils also frantically swept the first row of positions.

  With the support of machine guns, Lieutenant Kame crawled up and led his squad to advance forward. With more than a dozen machine guns suppressing the position, the devils began to attack boldly.

  Dai Qin gritted his teeth and raised his gun again, taking aim. Dai Gui said: "Let me do it, young master."

  Diqin scolded: "Fart, look down on Young Master or what, looking at"

  He fired his gun, this time stronger than before, but the bullet hit the side of the aiming devil, scaring him to fall to the ground, but it was just a blank shot.

  With Daiqin's gunshot, a row of gunshots rang out on the second line of defense, and this time more devils were killed.

  Because the commander of the large unit, Motomura Kakō, had determined the position to be intercepted, all the machine guns were firing at this place, and it was believed that the enemy would not be able to stand up on their position. To intercept the Imperial Army's attack, they would be annihilated by the machine guns.

  But the people on the battlefield didn't fire again, and the shooting came from another side. The attacking devils were completely unguarded and more than a dozen were shot dead. The new blocking position was not covered by the devil's machine gun, and Zhu Hou's soldiers on the position could aim calmly, of course, they didn't run away.

  Kameda, who was in the front, was frightened and trembling, while Motomura, who was behind him, held up a pair of binoculars, panting heavily, ordered the machine guns to open fire, sweeping the enemy positions on both sides, suppressing their firepower, and ordered Kameda to continue the attack.

  But Honmu Kaku lost his calculation, this was the tactic that Chai Qin came up with. The attacking devils had just stood up when the third row of Li Le's gun rang out, and several more devils fell down.

  Kameyama Lieutenant had to order a retreat, as after three shots, his squad had suffered more than half casualties and had no choice but to withdraw. This was a probing attack, encountering resistance of course retreated, but did not expect such heavy casualties.

  Watching the retreating devils, this time Zhaoqin didn't forget: "Quickly, order everyone to withdraw from the position and enter the second position."

  Zhao Kai has been watching Dai Qin's command with a cold eye, this is a strange tactic. Indeed, the enemy's suppressive fire made it impossible for people on the position to lift their heads, how can they shoot? As soon as they lift their heads, they will be shot dead by machine guns.

  Dai Qin did not expose all his positions at once, using one position to attract the enemy's machine guns and counterattacking bullets, while another position could aim calmly. The enemy's attack was repelled three times with heavy casualties, and they retreated after losing half of their men.

  This time, Diqin ordered the withdrawal from the battlefield. Zhao Kai didn't say anything because he already understood what Diqin meant by doing so.

  He didn't even think of this, and it made him blush. But Zhao Kai was puzzled, how did Zhai Qin know that the devils would shell again? Sure enough, just after these people retreated to the back of the mountain slope, the sound of artillery whistling and explosions shook the position.

  The 92nd Infantry of the devils began to wreak havoc again, and although there were only two large cannons, they also shrouded the position in smoke. Looking at the excited soldiers, Zhao Kai said with embarrassment: "Commander Zhai, I apologize to you."

  Dai Qin looked at Zhao Kai: "No, you're not apologizing to me, you're apologizing to those dead soldiers. They shouldn't have died."

  Zhao Kai lowered his head, and Zhai Qin said: "Remember what I said, fighting is about using your brain, not just being brave, that's stupid."

  Zao Kai knew that Zhai Qin was also scolding Xiang Dong, so he said: "On the battlefield, you command and I'll listen to you. After the battle, I will report to the battalion commander."

  Dai Qingen was about to speak when a soldier left behind to observe shouted: "Company Commander, the devils are attacking again."