Chapter 20: Shocking Counterattack Battle
Li Baoguo and Nan Weiren's special warfare troops were all three companies, each with 150 people, divided into three platoons, each with 50 people. There were also 50 people who were the number of a platoon but were organized as a company, which Li Baoguo called the "Iron Blood Company". The company commander was Xu De and the deputy company commander was Song Yanchun.
Nan Weiren called his own regiment "Blood Blade Regiment", with Liu Jian as the regiment commander and Zhang Kui as the deputy regiment commander.
Gao Junping is also known as Long Xiao Lian, Lian Zhong Yunze was born, and the deputy commander is Ji Yongqing.
"Xu De, Liu Jian, you and Li's team will charge the enemy battalion headquarters with me. Fu Mali, Li Mutou, Zhu Da, and your three companies will enter from behind and attack to the left, occupying the enemy's central battalion headquarters and clearing out the northern enemies. Wang Gui Xi, Li Hua Tai, Zheng Xiu Lin, you three companies will follow me and Li's team, charging the southern enemy battalion headquarters. Be mindful of strategy, as that area has no houses for cover, it's an open area. After occupying, quickly control the bridgehead and guard against the enemy rushing over. Tong Bing Jun, your company is responsible for blowing up the big bridge. Once we fully control the bridge, quickly blow it up and withdraw from battle. Be sure to consider everything, bring necessary items."
Zhang Bingjun was the company commander of the Gaoping Special Warfare Detachment, and his political instructor was Kang Songgen, an old party member from Kangjiazhen.
Nan looked at Li Baoguo and nodded, indicating for him to speak.
"Pay attention to the three-dimensional combat ideology, act quickly, strike hard, and use any necessary means. Now face up." Li Baoguo added.
The entire special forces team can be said to be the team that Yang Wei and Li Ying invested the most in, with advanced wireless equipment, watches, and weapons, as well as the most reasonable matching; the personnel are also the best.
After Wang Xuehua took over, he found that the expenses of the special forces accounted for one-third of the entire army, and he was a bit reluctant. After Yang Jie listed the achievements of the special forces, he finally knew what the special forces meant.
At half past six in the evening, the dinner whistle had just blown.
The Japanese sentry at the Beilu Road Intersection in Shalingzi Town discovered that a car was coming from Zhangjiakou, followed by a large group of Imperial Army soldiers. The car stopped directly in front of the roadblock, and an officer wearing a battalion commander's uniform got out of the car, walking up with a smile: "Haha, we've arrived just in time, what good luck! Open it, open it!"
Because he spoke in his native tongue, the sentry did not suspect his identity at all. He moved the roadblock aside and asked, "Which unit are you from?"
"We are the Eighth Route Army." He said as he waved his hand back and forth, the car drove forward.
"Which part is the Eighth Army?" The sentry didn't react for a moment.
"It's the Eighth Route Army." Li Baoguo said gently, hugging the sentry who was shot dead by Nan Erwen with a silencer-equipped rifle on the car.
The sentry at the gate was immediately replaced by the imperial army behind, and seven or eight devils' corpses were quickly pulled into the shelter. The car drove in smoothly. The troops behind entered the town in an orderly manner.
Immediately, people climbed up high trees in the town head, tall house tops in the town, and "popping" sounds of special guns came from all directions.
Nan drove the car directly to the garrison of the Japanese devils in the town, and from time to time, the devils were shot dead by people on the car.
The entrance of the Kuomintang headquarters didn't even have a sentry! The car stopped at the gate, and no one had discovered them yet. Nan Erren and Li Baoguo exchanged a smile with each other, this was going to be easy.
Take advantage of you when you're ill, and take your life.
They have never been lenient in this kind of battle.
As they entered the gate, they finally understood what was going on. They saw a Japanese officer directing his soldiers to dig holes all over the courtyard, and a large jar was unearthed from the ground, filled with gold, silver, and jewels.
Without hesitation, without dialogue, various firearms fired simultaneously. At this time, the gunfire in the town had already become a piece of music. In an instant, more than 50 devils stationed at the battalion headquarters were completely annihilated.
Li Baoguo and Ren Zu walked into the enemy's headquarters, collecting various documents. The soldiers began to clean up the battlefield.
"Captain, what about those gold?"
Li Baoguo walked around the soldier, patted his head with his hand: "Are you stupid or are you dizzy from fever? Such good things will of course be loaded and taken away. Take a look if there's anything left, use grenades to blow them up, those little devils are stupid."
Sure, here is the translation:
As expected, several large vats of gold and silver were found again.
Suddenly, shouts came from the courtyard, and the two ordered the soldiers to search and clean up the things in the ghost commander's headquarters.
The devil's company commander had just gone to the toilet and came back to find his soldiers all killed, picked up a Type 38 rifle and stabbed at one of the soldiers, was shot off by a sniper from a distance, the soldiers rushed up and surrounded this desperate company commander.
"Duel! Duel! Who's up?!" The warriors jeered.
"I'm coming!" A big warrior walked up and took over the Type 38 rifle handed over by others.
The captain of the devils also understood his opponent's meaning, and he squatted down with his body, grasping his gun with both hands, facing this soldier.
The big guy swung his gun upwards, immediately pressed down with his front hand, and stabbed towards the little devil's abdomen. The little devil didn't fall for it, using the gun butt to block, and slashed the bayonet towards the big guy's neck. The big guy retreated backwards, but unexpectedly the little devil followed up by swinging the gun butt to smash him. In a state of panic, the big guy used his gun to prop himself up, but was kicked in the leg by the little devil, and fell to the ground with the bayonet stabbing down.
Song Yan-chun swung his sword and charged forward, using his shoulder to violently knock the enemy soldier away.
The devil captain took a few steps back, with his left foot as the axis, his body turned around in a circle, holding the gun with one hand, and stabbed towards Song Yan Chun. This is where he showed off his true skills.
The leader of the devils is not tall, but he looks extremely fierce and is completely different from Song Yan Chun's weak appearance. He probably also bullied Song Yan Chun for being weak, thinking that his strength must be small.
"They say the little devil is not afraid of death, look at this kid in a desperate situation, yet still so brave and calm." Li Baoguo said to Nan Weiren, "However, he will probably not last three moves under Song Yan's hands."
As expected, Song Yan-chun used his gun to push outward and then kicked the devil's wrist with his left foot. The devil captain withdrew his hand and Song Yan-chun's left foot didn't land before his right foot flew up again, kicking towards the devil's chin. The devil captain brushed aside Song Yan-chun's right foot with his left hand, but Song Yan-chun used his gun to prop himself up, exerting force from his waist, twisting his body and kicking towards the devil's right temple with his left foot. The devil captain tilted his head back, dodging the kick.
Song Yan-chun's body flashed in mid-air, his legs spread apart as he landed on the ground, his right hand simultaneously thrusting the gun towards the devil's left ribcage. This time, the devil captain didn't have time to dodge and was stabbed accurately. The long bayonet was left with only a small portion remaining, the devil captain gritted his teeth in pain, covered in cold sweat but didn't utter a sound.
Song Yan-chun exerted force from his legs, leaping up again as the blade slid down the devil's body, tearing apart his internal organs. He withdrew the bayonet and the devil captain stared blankly into the distance, muttering to himself as if saying something. Song Yan-chun said softly: "Don't blame me, who told you to come to China, occupy our land and kill our people?"
The devil's commander's increasingly hollow eyes seemed to see the beautiful and gentle woman in a distant island country, walking slowly under the cherry blossom tree, with a smile like a flower and a gentle face like water. The woman was as close as a dream, within arm's reach. He stretched out his hand with difficulty, holding a worn-out photo, wanting to hold that slender hand again? Wanting to relive the old dreams of youth once more?
The wind blows by, and in the wind, a clear song seems to start singing, lightly, softly, far away, and faintly transmitted. Who is it that, in the evening wind, faces the cherry blossoms drifting down, singing out the thoughts in his heart? Who is it that, playing with the wind chimes under the eaves, sings out the grievances in his heart?
Back home, went back, distant and unreachable home, is near.
A faint smile seemed to play on his lips as he crashed down, releasing all his illusions, following the fleeting song, and died.
The team members, although they had experienced life and death many times and were used to the separation of life and death, were still moved by the ghost's bravery and passion in front of them. They even forgot to applaud their comrades' brilliant and neat movements.
The atmosphere is a bit strange.
Enough to move heaven and earth, let alone these brave warriors who have experienced life and death for many years?
Li Baoguo said with some sadness: "He was a good man, let's give him a proper burial. That's just how cruel war is."
"Captain, we've captured some good stuff!" Zhu Dahe said with a smile as he ran in, pulling people back to the cruel reality. The gunfire continued.
Zhu Da and his men divided into three routes after entering the town, directly attacking the enemy's command center. The snipers occupying the high ground played a crucial role. Often, just as the enemy was about to counterattack or sneak up on special warfare personnel, the sniper would take aim and blow the enemy's head off.
Now these snipers are really cool. Uniformly equipped with German-made Mauser M1924 rifles, Li Kewei's handmade scopes, defensive shotguns, and military uniforms modified from camouflage suits.
The Mauser M1924 rifle was designed by German firearms designer Mauser, finalized in 1898, and originally manufactured at the Mauser factory. It fires a 0.792mm cartridge with an initial velocity of 859m/s, effective range of 2000m, fed from a 5-round magazine, with a right-hand twist of 4 grooves, overall length of 1255mm, and weight of 4.08kg. The Mauser rifle was one of the best-performing rifles of the 20th century, known for its reliability, especially in terms of range, accuracy, and stopping power, which remains unmatched to this day, still used by some military forces for sniper warfare, outperforming the Type 38 rifle. According to veterans' accounts, the Chinese-made Mauser-style rifle using a 0.792mm short cartridge caused wounds that were "small entrance, large exit", while the Japanese Type 38 rifle had insufficient killing power due to its flawed bullet design, with its 0.65mm caliber bullets often passing through the body like a "drill" and even being deflected by strong winds.
The battle progressed extremely smoothly, and the warriors basically ended the battle without casualties. Afterwards, the three commanded the warriors to penetrate deep into the enemy's position. Unexpectedly, an artillery company was found in the southwest of the town, with its position pointing directly at the bridgehead.
A standard Japanese Army 1,100-man battalion included: a 30-man battalion HQ, and a 110-man transport company (trucks and pack horses), with some battalions having their transport companies consolidated into the regiment.
Four infantry companies (some with only three)
A machine gun company of 174 men (a headquarters platoon of 14 and three machine gun platoons, with one ammunition platoon), each platoon having four heavy machine guns, for a total of twelve (some companies had only eight).
A 55-man gun platoon (1 x 10-man platoon headquarters, 1 x 15-man ammunition squad, and two 15-man gun squads each equipped with one Type 92 infantry cannon), very few units were equipped with a 122-man gun company (including a 27-man ammunition platoon, and two 31-man gun platoons each equipped with two infantry cannons). In these rare companies, the lucky ones that could be allocated 20mm anti-tank guns could form four 24-man squads each equipped with two anti-tank guns.
Fu Mali, Li Mutou and Zhu Da led the team members to shout "Ah" and rushed up, killing the devils in three or five minutes.
Zhu Da and ran to report to Li Baoguo, Fu Mali and Li Mutou adjusted the artillery, preparing to bombard the bridgehead.
Li Baoguo ordered Xu De and others to collect the spoils of war and transport them away by car, then brought people to the positions of Wang Gui Xi, Li Hua Tai and Zheng Xiu Lin.
The three men followed Nan Weiren and Li Baoguo to attack the town, advancing all the way to the bridgehead. After eliminating the devils defending the south street entrance of the town, the three men were in a dilemma.
The original devil's middle team was set up in a separate stone house 500 meters outside the town, originally a land temple, later abandoned and occupied by several beggars who cleaned it up to prevent collapse. The devils came and repaired the main body of the stone house, setting up defensive fortifications around it, forming an independent combat unit.
Three people hid behind a low wall on the street, using the last light of day to carefully observe the enemy's firepower situation with binoculars. Since it was already getting dark, snipers would not be able to play a surprise attack role. Zheng Xiulin had heard about Li Baoguo and others' story of ambushing the enemy at Xubao, so he said to Wang Xigui and Li Huatao: "Why don't we do it like Captain Li and his men did at Xubao? We'll disguise ourselves as devils, you two follow behind me, maybe we can sneak through."
Li Hua shook her head: "No, this is the enemy's first-line combat unit, not like those stationed in Xizhao, you see our battle just now, are there any Japanese devils running away?"
Indeed, even if there is only one devil left, fight to the end, never surrender or retreat.
"Will it work with a grenade launcher?" one of the team members asked.
"No way. The range of the grenade launcher is 360 meters, and there's at least 500 meters of distance here." Zheng Xiulin said professionally.
"It seems we can only wait until nightfall and sneak past. If we force our way through, the casualties will be too great." Wang Guixi said helplessly.
"Time is running out, we can only stay until seven o'clock and then we have to withdraw." Li Hua was so anxious that she paced back and forth, "We must think of a way, we cannot let the captain's plan be delayed because of us two."
The range of the devil's heavy machine gun is 4,500 meters. As soon as a few people make a move, they will be swept away by the devil's crazy sweep.
The arrogance of the devils finally enraged Zheng Xiulin: "Damn it, I'll go try to teach these dogs a lesson!" After finishing speaking, he turned around and walked towards the hidden sniper point on the rooftop.
Zheng Xiulin had already caught Nan Weiren's attention with his exceptional marksmanship during the Battle of Kangjia Town, and later he was always by his side, and can be said to be Nan Weiren's direct disciple.
Zheng Xiulin took over the sniper's Mauser rifle and adjusted the sight a bit, "Go, call out the enemy's firepower."
Zheng Xiulin said to his teammates beside him without raising his head.
Immediately afterwards, several shots of a 38 caliber pistol were heard from downstairs, which was Li Hua's handwriting. He couldn't think of any good solution either.
The enemy's heavy machine gun retaliated with a sweep of fire, but with Zheng Xiulin's slightly muted gunshot, the enemy's heavy machine gun suddenly fell silent. Another heavy machine gun fired wildly at the rooftop where Zheng Xiulin was located.
Watching Zheng Xiulin walk down the stairs, Wang Guixi and Li Huatao shook their heads. Even if they had solved both heavy machine guns, it was still impossible to bring them down.
"Captain." Zheng Xiulin shouted, saluting Li Baoguo and Nan Weiren who were approaching. The other two also saluted: "The devils have discovered us, a hard charge will result in too many casualties..."
Nan Ren stopped them from continuing, and said to Zhu Da who was following behind: "Let Li Muzi and the others blow up this house, then extend the cannon fire, blast the bridgehead, and prevent the devils from crossing the river to provide support."
"Yes!" Zhu Da and Gao answered loudly in unison and ran off.
"Organize the warriors, prepare to charge." Nan Wuren then gave orders to the three captains without any blame. Because he has always emphasized that the lives of the warriors cannot be used to block bullets.
"Woodenhead, squad leader's orders, blow that stone house flat!"
Li Muttou may seem foolish to others, but he has a unique talent for shooting and aiming, probably accumulated from his long-term hunting life.
Type 92 infantry cannon, caliber 70mm, range: 2700m. This gun was developed in the same year as the Type 92 heavy machine gun and its main function is to attack enemy trenches and simple machine gun bunkers. The Type 92 can fire high-explosive shells, incendiary shells, poison gas shells and time-fused shells. Each Japanese infantry field battalion was equipped with two infantry cannons, which were more than enough to deal with Chinese troops. Although its range was quite limited, it was farther than the same caliber mortar and moved flexibly, making it a pretty good weapon.
Li Muzi personally adjusted the artillery position, and the two large cannons fired simultaneously. The small stone land temple, with a radius of only twenty or thirty meters, was hit by six shells.
The warriors who charged afterwards occupied this small strongpoint before the remaining devils could even realize what was happening.
After a dozen or so artillery shells hit, the firepower at the bridgehead was almost annihilated.
Standing at this end of the bridge, Nan Zhiben commanded soldiers to set up heavy machine guns on the bridge deck for defensive shooting, while ordering Zhu Da and others to transport two cannons to the bridgehead, firing all shells into the defensive positions on both sides of the opposite bridgehead.
Before the artillery fire ceased, Lieutenant Colonel Tong had already ordered his soldiers to deploy the previously prepared Zha medicine according to plan. It seemed that Kangnianshan and others had also studied and even practiced it beforehand. Looking at the special forces deploying the Zha medicine quickly, Nan Weiren couldn't help but say to Li Baoguo: "It seems that Gao Junping has indeed put in effort for these guys, they really have some professional standards."
Watching the special forces installing explosives, the devils on the other side of the river fired desperately to stop them. Several soldiers were hit and fell into the water.
Zheng Xiulin waved his hand, leading several soldiers to charge onto the bridge, almost attacking the bridgehead on the opposite bank, suppressing the devils with light machine guns. Fortunately, all the heavy firepower near the bridgehead was destroyed by artillery fire.
"Xu De, destroy him!" Li Baoguo said angrily.
Xu De, Song Yan Chun and the two immediately rushed out, with the Iron Blood Regiment's warriors bravely advancing behind them. The Blood Blade Regiment's warriors all looked at Liu Jian and Zhang Jue Kui with a fierce glint in their eyes, eager to join the battle. Liu Jian and Zhang Jue Kui had been watching Nan Wei Ren, hoping to participate in the fight as well, but neither of them spoke up.
Nan Ren's face was expressionless as he carefully observed the battlefield through binoculars. The addition of the Iron Blood Regiment quickly shifted the battle to the land on the other side of the river. The remaining devils were engaged in a fierce bayonet fight with the soldiers of the Iron Blood Regiment, while several soldiers stood by and watched without participating in the bayonet fight.
The devils are actually afraid of such teams, one on one.
In fact, one-on-one, the warriors of Tie Xue Lian still have a lot of luck, because each warrior of Tie Xue Lian is trained in a two-against-one situation.
The devil's companions occasionally transmitted the residual cry, one by one fell to the ground. The opponents were getting more and more, loudly counting towards those who were still in confrontation.
"One, two, three, four!" Every time they count to four, they switch to another person and start again until the ghost is killed.
The last devil is about to go mad, is this a battlefield? This is purely ridicule, insult, and contempt for the soldiers of the Great Japanese Empire. I, I, I can't beat you, isn't it enough for me to commit suicide?
When the last devil turned his gun around, wanting to kill himself with righteousness, Xu De shot the gun out of his hand with one shot, and kicked this devil into a dog-eating shit. Against the devil who was about to get up, he made an empty-handed gesture.
The devil let out a loud roar and pounced on him. Xu De waved his hand above, kicked him in the chest below, and sent him tumbling back several steps to sit on the ground.
The devil sat weakly on the ground, closed his eyes, and couldn't beat him again, nor could he die.
Unable to live, unable to die.
"Let's go!" Song Yanchun said to Xu De after seeing that all the devils had been annihilated.
"Do you still remember the captain saying 'we must destroy the enemy's will psychologically'?" Xu De signaled to gather the troops, and kicked the Japanese soldier who was lying on the ground twice. The Japanese soldier didn't move at all, because he had resisted earlier and was beaten even more brutally. These people were skilled at beating others, causing pain that penetrated to the bone, but without leaving any visible injuries. "Let's leave him behind, let him spread our intentions."
"Fall back. Regroup." Song Yan-chun ordered the soldiers to retreat from the battlefield, "Destroy everything that can be destroyed, take away everything that can be taken away, regroup in five minutes."
"Tie Xue Lian. It's indeed a masterpiece crafted by you," Nan Wei Ren said to Li Bao Guo, looking at the Tie Xue Lian quickly sweeping and withdrawing from the battlefield. "Not to mention its formidable combat strength, this method of crushing the enemy's will is well worth my study."
"Don't talk nonsense, we should treat the captives well!" Li Baoguo interrupted Nan Weiren's words with a smile, "But since they didn't surrender, how can we call them captives?"
"Retreat!" Nan Erxin commanded while saying to Liu Jian and others beside him, "Learn from this, killing enemies is easy, but making them fear you requires skill."
