Chapter 58: Surround and Ambush

  After the recovery of Hengyang, Chen Jifang ordered a one-day rest for all troops. The ammunition convoy also arrived with six Type 92 infantry guns, twelve quick-firing guns, all anti-aircraft machine guns and guard companies. Gao Huanjie, who was left to defend, felt that the battalion commander's force was still a bit thin to deal with Sakai detachment.

  Qiu Ruiquan now has a dual identity, although he was removed from the above position, but while serving as the commander of the "Divine Eagle" 4th Battalion, he also took over the affairs of Hanshan.

  However, for Chen Jifang, the recovery of Huan Shan was only the beginning of this expedition. The main force of the Japanese Sakai Brigade was his biggest concern. Before that, "Shenying" had been fighting against Japan and winning every battle, but that was because they hadn't encountered the real main force of the Japanese army. If the Sakai Brigade was to deal with the "Shenying" Independent Regiment this time, Chen Jifang could only lead his troops to avoid a road to take.

  Zhongding City sent a telegram, the right group has controlled the road from Chaohu to Hefei and has started moving towards Chaohu. It also informed that the Japanese army's Sakai detachment had fully mobilized and was advancing to attack Hefei.

  Military situation extremely urgent! No matter what, we must help the Hefei garrison. Chen Jifang ordered one side to destroy the road between Ningguo and Heifei while preparing to set out on the other side.

  Qiu Ruiquan's four battalions were left to garrison Hanyang, Chen Jifang handed over all the captured Japanese weapons and ammunition to the four battalions, instructing Qiu Ruiquan to reorganize the Hanyang people's anti-Japanese self-defense army as soon as possible and complete the mobilization of the masses against Japan.

  After arranging the affairs of Huan Shan, Chen Jifang led three battalions, a shock troop and an artillery company to set out for Chaohu.

  Chaohu County is located in the east of Chaohu Lake, adjacent to the waterway of Chaohu Lake and the Yangtze River, and is exactly between Hefei, Wuhu and Nanjing. The transportation by land and water is developed, making it a strategic town in central Anhui. Of course, it is also the most important logistics supply point for Sakai Brigade.

  Chen Jifang and Zhong Dingcheng held a temporary combat meeting in a village east of Chaohu County after joining forces.

  After the meeting, Chen Jifang first called on Zhao Jun, the captain of the reconnaissance battalion, to speak. According to the pre-war plan, Zhao's troops were mainly responsible for conducting close surveillance on Sakai's detachment, including marching routes, logistics transportation, and garrison locations, with particular attention to artillery and cavalry. Without grasping the intelligence of the opponent, launching an attack against a strong enemy would not be done by anyone with even a little military common sense.

  "The enemy's attack is fierce, like a sharp dagger thrusting straight into the abdomen of the opponent, and it cannot be blocked. Hefei City has made defensive preparations, but to be honest, the Nationalist Party's 26th Army in Hefei may not be a match for them." Zhao Jun said with some worry.

  "Twenty-sixth Army Group?" Chen Jifan said.

  "Yes! The 26th Army Group, the commander-in-chief is Xu Yuanquan. Now one division of the 26th Army Group is building a defensive position in Qiaodun to prepare for blocking the Japanese army's advance."

  Chen Jifan waved his hand to interrupt Zhao Jun, saying: "This regiment is definitely not enough to stop the devils. Zhao Jun, you immediately gather your troops and pursue Sakai's detachment. No matter what method you use, sniping, assassination, blasting or harassment, in short, make this Japanese army so annoyed that they can't win. It's best if you can get rid of one or two of their cannons. However, be careful, every soldier in the reconnaissance company is a treasure, and you must bring them all back without losing a single one."

  "Yes!" Zhao Jun turned and left.

  "How is the situation with the Japanese army in Nao County?" Chen Jifan asked Zhong Dingcheng again.

  Zhongding City replied, "The Japanese army has a squadron defending Nao County, and it's not difficult to take down Nao County. The key is that Sakai will definitely send troops back to support if he knows his rear route is cut off. In this case, we'll have to fight the Japanese in a war of attrition, and it's still uncertain whether we can hold onto Nao County."

  "The devils sent a squadron to defend Niao County, indicating that Niao County is the logistics supply station of Sakai Brigade, and the devils built a dock on Niaohu Lake outside Niao County, possibly to supply Sakai from waterway." said Hu Yunfeng.

  "Sakai detachment is so arrogant, with 4,000 men rushing in alone, without even flank protection. Does he really think China has no one to stop him?" This was said by the second battalion commander Luo Yuguang.

  "We can't even concentrate all our forces and engage in a head-on battle with the enemy. What we can do now is to adopt the tactic of 'surrounding the point and attacking the reinforcements'. We'll make a show of force in Nuo County, creating the impression that we're going to attack it. Sakai won't be able to ignore this, but he's currently busy attacking Hefei, so he won't be able to send too many troops back as reinforcements. That's when our opportunity will arise."

  "But Hefei is always in danger of being captured, and even if we can eliminate the Japanese reinforcements, it will be of no use." Regimental Commander Song Guantao said with some concern.

  "Hefei, we can't save it, even if there's another troop, it won't make a difference. Moreover, the main purpose of the devils' occupation of Hefei is to head south along the Hean Highway and join forces with the Japanese army coming from Wuhu for a pincer attack on water and land. Their real target is Anqing. As long as they capture Anqing, their strategic goal of attacking Wuhan will be even more smooth. Remember! Our goal is always to eliminate the devils' living forces, so that we can cooperate with the regular army to the greatest extent."

  The battalion commander has no opinion.

  Chen Jifang saw that everyone had stopped talking, so he stood up and said: "Alright! Now I'm giving orders! The 3rd battalion will stay behind to monitor the Japanese army in Chaohu County and make as much noise as possible. The 1st battalion, 2nd battalion, assault team, artillery company, engineer company, and guard company will follow the headquarters to set up an ambush on the middle of the Chaohu-Hezhou highway."

  As expected, the scout reported that the National Army in Qiaodun was unable to withstand Sakai's detachment and retreated to the outskirts of Hefei after resisting for a day. In this way, Sakai's detachment successfully arrived at the outskirts of Hefei.

  Sakai Tokutarō was originally scheduled to attack Hefei on the afternoon of May 13, but intelligence from Ino County in the rear reported that a large number of Chinese troops were moving towards Ino County. What's going on? Ino County not only had a large amount of weapons and ammunition, but also related to its own retreat route. Once lost, it would have to attack forward with all its might, and it was very likely to be surrounded by the Chinese army. Sakai didn't think twice and immediately ordered the 13th Brigade to send a battalion to reinforce Ino County.

  Since it was a siege and relief, Chen Jifan naturally understood the enemy's movements clearly. Scouts continuously sent back intelligence on the reinforcements. When Chen Jifan heard that the enemy had actually dispatched an entire battalion to reinforce, he secretly cursed in his heart. To know that an enemy battalion at full strength consisted of four companies, not to mention two 92-style infantry cannons and 12 heavy machine guns, let alone grenade launchers and light machine guns! Such a battalion, even a regular Nationalist army division would probably not be its match!

  Chen Jifeng's first reaction was: "We must rely on the terrain and bring back Wen Chuanhao and the sniper squad!"

  The terrain selection was not a problem, before coming, Chen Jifan had inquired about Qiu Ruiquan, and Qiu Ruiquan told him that there was a narrow corridor at the 12-kilometer point of the Nonghe Highway, about one kilometer long, with Xi Lake to the west, and open land to the east, but the soil was soft and unfavorable for marching.

  Upon arrival at the ambush site, the engineering battalion began to lay landmines according to plan at both ends and buried a large amount of explosives on the mountain slopes beside the exit points. As soon as the Japanese army entered the ambush circle, all the landmines and explosives would be detonated to block the road.

  The artillery company is now fully equipped, with six infantry guns neatly arranged behind the high ground after camouflage, and all 20 mortars and 12 quick-firing guns are added to strengthen the firepower on the front line. Li Anju deeply understands the importance of his company in this ambush. If they cannot suppress the enemy's heavy firepower at the first time, the Japanese army will definitely launch a crazy charge on the position. The number of people here is not dominant, and the regimental commander has even taken out the guard company that was supposed to be on watch, and the sniper squad had to rush back. Li Anju kept patrolling each artillery position, repeatedly checking the design parameters of each position.

  The two infantry regiments were desperately digging fortifications. Everyone knew what a big Japanese team was, so the officers and soldiers were both excited and worried.

  "Brothers, the enemy is the Sixth Division of the devils, they are beasts! They are animals! In Nanjing, they brutally killed 300,000 of our compatriots. Today, even if we die, we must make these beasts pay for their blood debt in blood. When the devils come, take aim and shoot them ruthlessly, whoever wants to be a coward, I'll spare him, but the 300,000 spirits of Nanjing won't spare him!" Song Guantou rallied the soldiers back and forth.

  Deputy Regimental Commander Luo Yugang didn't say much, now he is inspecting the machine gun positions of each company. The second regiment has many old soldiers and is the ace unit of the "Divine Eagle" Independent Regiment. They have been educated in this aspect all the time, so there is no need to mention it. The warriors have been holding their breath for a long time, eager to take revenge.

  The assault team hid behind the whole team as required by the regimental commander, Chen Jifan wanted to use this good steel on the knife blade, and wait until the devils were beaten to exhaustion before sending the assault team.

  The sniper squad is specifically targeting the high-value targets of the enemy. Now, Fumikawa Hiro is also strong and powerful, all 14 snipers have undergone rigorous training, and hitting the target in this ambush battle is not a problem. Plus, with Fumikawa Hiro's carefully selected hiding spots, the power of this sniper squad absolutely exceeds that of two ordinary platoons.

  Two hours later, all troops were fully prepared.

  In the early summer, a gentle breeze blew over Chaohu Lake from time to time. The air was filled with a faint smell of fish. The warriors hiding in the "Divine Eagle" array looked quietly at the lower position. The three people in the group command department did not speak, and the communication soldier wearing headphones stood quietly beside the radio.

  Great War! "Divine Eagle" has never experienced a great war before!

  To ambush a fully-equipped and fully-staffed enemy battalion with an army that does not have absolute superiority, this can be called bold, and in the eyes of more people, it can be described as crazy! The most terrifying thing about the devils is not their strong firepower, but the devils' fighting will. If the US military loses one-third of its troops, it can be determined to have lost combat effectiveness, while the Japanese army, especially these arrogant Japanese armies, even if all officers are killed, the remaining soldiers can still organize effective resistance.

  Chen Jifeng could imagine what the situation would be like once the battle began. Perhaps only two words, "cruel and fierce", could describe it. Maybe this war would bring the most severe casualties to the "Divine Eagle" since its establishment. Maybe after this war, the equipment that the "Divine Eagle" was proud of would suffer unprecedented losses. But there was one thing Chen Jifeng believed in absolutely: if they won this battle, the "Divine Eagle" would proudly enter the ranks of first-class troops! The blood of the soldiers would condense into the soul of this troop! From then on, the "Divine Eagle" would become a true iron-clad army!

  The color of the military flag is dyed with blood. The soul of the army is cast with life.

  The devils have finally arrived.

  The dense helmets shone like mirrors in the sunlight, reflecting dazzling rays of light. The neat footsteps seemed to be about to trample the earth. Gradually, the braying of mules sounded, and the two Type 92 infantry guns behind them looked even more ominous under their yellow-green camouflage.

  The air seemed to have solidified.

  "Report! The devils have all entered the ambush circle."

  The entire combat staff of the group department stood up. Chen Jifan sat in his seat, took a deep breath, and slowly spat out two words: "Begin!"