Chapter 37: The Annihilation of the Honda Alliance in Xinghe County Defense War

  One misfortune can lead to a lot of wisdom, not everyone may have heard this saying, but the principle is understood by anyone. Especially as a high-ranking commander, Honda Shigeyuki attaches great importance to the Xingzhou and County Security Group, which was originally an unknown branch of the Chinese army.

  After hearing the report of the vanguard cavalry, Honda Shigekata did not order the troops to launch an immediate attack. Instead, he ordered the vanguard troops to immediately build defensive fortifications and set up a command post, waiting for the main force to arrive before discussing further action.

  Xinpingbao, located north of Tianzhen County, was originally part of the Ming Great Wall's Datong Town Pass. The terrain is narrow and treacherous, although most of the remains of this section of the Great Wall have been destroyed by humans, but the security team has built earthwork fortifications on the basis of some earthen walls left over from the original Ming Great Wall.

  Honda Shinkichi observed the terrain and couldn't help but feel a sense of worry. Although the enemy's position was quiet, through his binoculars, he saw sandbags, row upon row of bayonets, and the dark muzzles of machine guns. He roughly estimated that just in the front line, the Chinese had deployed at least one reinforced regiment.

  And the machine gun position had four places, each with at least two heavy machine guns, which was only openly placed. According to convention, during defensive operations, at least one or two hidden firepower points should be reserved, that is to say, the single front-line position of the Chinese army had at least ten heavy machine guns, and the firepower intensity was stronger than this infantry regiment.

  Thinking back to yesterday's battle, Honda Shinichi really had the heart to retreat. Yesterday's half-day battle, his brigade lost more than 1,400 people. Although there were more than 700 wounded soldiers, the number of deaths was still over 700, equivalent to more than half a infantry battalion. If you count those wounded soldiers, Honda Brigade lost one-third of its combat effectiveness.

  "Gentlemen, yesterday afternoon, that despicable Shina army across from us launched a surprise attack on the Imperial Army's artillery position, resulting in the heroic sacrifice of two artillery battalions. Commander Tōjō has ordered our unit to swiftly annihilate this Shina force. I ask you, gentlemen, who among you is willing to volunteer for this battle?" exclaimed Honda Shin'ichi.

  "Commander, I request permission to lead my troops into battle. We will capture the enemy's position within two hours and take their commander alive. With his head, we will pay tribute to the brave spirits of our Imperial heroes!" said Lieutenant Colonel Ichiro Fujita, Commander of the 1st Infantry Battalion.

  "Alright, Fujita-kun, you're indeed a warrior of the Fujita family. Today, your unit will be the vanguard of our regiment and attack the Chinese troops. Also, I need to inform you that Commander Tōjō sent a telegram saying that this Chinese troop was promoted to a brigade-level military unit by the Chinese government yesterday, but in reality, their organization remains at the regimental level with no more than 2,000 soldiers. Our regiment commander saw new graves of their soldiers behind Shifosi Temple, over 800 of them, which means they lost at least 800 men in yesterday's battle. Adding the wounded, conservatively estimated to be around 1,300 to 1,500, it's clear that there are no more than 800 Chinese troops standing in our way. Our regiment commander demands that your unit defeat the enemy in front of you within an hour."

  "Hi!"

  "Order: The Third Cavalry Division of the Imperial Guard dismounts and serves as infantry, assisting the Imperial Army in battle."

  "Hi!"

  The battle was soon underway, with the Japanese first using mortars to lay down a sparse bombardment, followed by company-sized assaults.

  It wasn't the Japanese army that changed its tactics, but rather in yesterday's battle, Honda's artillery was completely destroyed by the security regiment's artillery battalion, leaving only one or two small-caliber mortars available.

  "Report to Commander, Japanese troops launched an attack on the position of the First Battalion with a force of one infantry company plus one puppet army infantry battalion."

  "Tell Li Bin, this is the little devil testing our firepower, order him to only expose one-third of the firepower points."

  Yes

  "Report to Commander, the first Japanese attack has been repelled, with minimal casualties on both sides."

  "Uh-huh, just tell Li Bin to follow the plan. How about the 3rd battalion now, Chief of Staff?" Chen Feng asked Yang Yi on the side.

  "Half an hour ago, we had already passed Gaomiao Township. At most one hour later, we can arrive here. Besides, Commander Li led the second and third battalions to pass by Xuanjia Tower, and they will arrive in an hour and a half." Yang Yi replied.

  "One and a half hours, all right, one and a half hours. Immediately send a telegram to Li Wensheng and Li Yifeng, ordering them to arrive at the designated location within one and a half hours, and then without waiting for the command of the headquarters, immediately engage in battle. Also, send another telegram to the special warfare team, ordering them to closely monitor the movements of the Japanese army in the Tianzhen area, and once there is a Japanese reinforcement, immediately block their advance along the way, slowing down the enemy's marching speed. If necessary, they can destroy all bridges along Li'erkou, Zhangjiacun, and Shifosi, or lay mines at specific locations. In any case, absolutely cannot let the Japanese reinforcements enter the battlefield." Chen Feng said.

  Yes

  The effect of the exploratory attack was not bad, and although Toda Ichiro was somewhat dissatisfied with the timid Mongolian troops, he saw that all the firepower points of the Chinese troops had been exposed, so he didn't care about anything else.

  After adjusting the direction of the attack, Fujita Ichiro ordered the troops to launch another attack. Unlike last time, this time Fujita Ichiro pushed all 900 or more puppet soldiers, including the entire infantry battalion and two cavalry regiments of the puppet army, to crush the Chinese army's defense line at once.

  Seeing the Japanese army charging with bayonets in rows, Battalion Commander Li Bin's expression was extremely excited. "Grandma, aren't these row after row of live targets?" With the shooting level of the battalion soldiers, within 100 meters it was a hundred shots and a hundred hits. Such a dense formation, it's fortunate that the commanding officer on the opposite side could think of it.

  In fact, this is just Li Bin's limited vision, and he doesn't know that this is not the standard form of the Japanese army's attack. The standard attack and defense method of the Japanese army is the "三三式" (three-three style), for example, when a regiment attacks, it will first use two companies to encircle the two wings, because the standard formation of the Chinese army is a square formation, and the two front ends on both sides are heavy firepower support points, usually with heavy machine guns.

  If advancing into the center, fierce flanking firepower will be a nightmare for skirmish lines. The enveloping company is equipped with 92-style rifles, grenade launchers, light machines and communication equipment. In fact, it is a synthetic division, which is composed in the same way as the German rapid troops in the late World War I, replacing mortars with grenade launchers, increasing the number of infantry guns, known as "devil guns", almost the same size as heavy machine guns.

  On the defensive side, heavy machine guns were slow to adjust their firing range and could not effectively kill moving targets. The front end of the position was sparse with infantry and had poor quality troops that could not provide effective cover. Japanese infantry cannons suppressed and destroyed firepower points, grenade soldiers restricted enemy movement, light machines killed infantry, while their own infantry conducted triangular field defensive operations to protect their firepower points until they cleared out the enemy's firepower. Then, a frontal artillery attack was launched, with the left and right wings of the covering force advancing first, occupying the two ends of the U-shape, setting up Japanese heavy machine gun firepower, and the two companies that had previously taken out the strongpoints immediately penetrated deep into the rear of the defensive forces. The well-set-up firepower points implemented layered crossfire on the enemy's position, suppressing the front line, cutting off contact between the front and rear, and launching a coordinated infantry-artillery attack on the front line. The frontline defenders were suppressed by firepower, and reinforcements from the rear found it difficult to approach, with trenches being gradually cleared out by grenade launchers.

  The Japanese army's method of attack was clear to Chen Feng, so when deploying the troops, he deliberately avoided those geographical features that would allow the Japanese army to have a detour. As a result, when the Honda detachment arrived here, they were surprised to find that Xinpingbao was an open-mouthed depression with steep terrain on both sides, which were impossible to climb, and the middle terrain was very flat. The only way to enter Xinpingbao was to launch a frontal assault. Moreover, during the Japanese army's probing attack, it was discovered that although the Chinese army had set up numerous firepower points on the front line, due to the unreasonable deployment, there were more than a dozen shooting blind spots. According to this firepower setting, the Japanese army could completely rush to within 50 meters of the front line in a very short period of time.

  According to Tōyama Ichirō's estimate, as long as the troops could rush into the enemy's position within fifty meters, hand-to-hand combat would be inevitable. As long as both sides engaged in close combat, victory would certainly belong to the Imperial Japanese Army; he still had confidence in the Japanese army's bayonet skills.