Chapter 38: The Annihilation of the Honda Alliance in Xinghe County Defense War

  Getting closer and closer, the Japanese army soon entered the shooting range of the defending troops, but there was still no movement in the Chinese army's trenches.

  Honda Shingo, who had been fighting against the security team for two days, had a certain understanding of the tactics of the Chinese troops facing him. At a distance of 200 meters, the Chinese army would generally not open fire, and even if they did, their hit rate was not high, so they would let the attacking enemy get closer before shooting.

  150 meters... 120 meters... 100 meters...

  When the main force of Toda's unit had already entered the enemy's front-line position within a hundred meters, a crisp gunshot was heard from the opposite position. Based on years of military experience, this was judged to be the sound of a Mauser pistol, which seemed to be the primary sidearm carried by Chinese army officers.

  "Bang bang bang..."

  "Dada dada..."

  With the sound of gunfire, the Chinese army on the opposite side finally reacted. What surprised Honda was that the previously exposed and vulnerable position of the Chinese troops suddenly underwent a huge change, with row upon row of machine guns seemingly emerging out of nowhere, sealing off all previous shooting blind spots.

  The Japanese army's madness is beyond doubt, although the two wings cannot be bypassed and the front passage has been completely blocked by the Chinese army, but the Japanese army still launched a desperate charge against the Chinese army.

  Dada

  Machine gunner Wang Hu-zi stared at the little devil not far away with bloodshot eyes, his fingers constantly pulling the trigger. To be honest, before the battle started, he was very nervous in his heart, and even a little afraid. Before that, there were rumors about the image of the little devils in the troops, saying that they had a green face, fangs, a big head like a bucket, a blood-red tongue, and could bite a person to death with one mouthful, many people were worried about fighting against the little devils.

  But starting from the night before last, the troops have been reporting victories one after another. First, they annihilated a small group of Japanese infantry and a regiment of puppet army, then wiped out two Japanese artillery battalions. Later, the third battalion fought fiercely with 5,000 to 6,000 Japanese devils for an entire day. I heard that the road near Shifo Temple is filled with the bodies of Japanese devils.

  Before the battle today, the regimental commander said that last night, the special forces launched a surprise attack on the devils' arsenal and killed one of the devils' high-ranking officials. It is said that this official was even higher than the commander-in-chief. Not only did Fu Zuoyi, the provincial chairman, send a commendation order, but also Yan Xishan, who was far away in Taiyuan, sent a congratulatory telegram to the commander-in-chief. It is said that the commander-in-chief will be promoted to lieutenant general and received several tens of thousands of dollars, making everyone feel itchy inside and secretly thinking that these devils are really not worth fighting.

  In the morning when the battle began, the little devils sent about two hundred people to participate in the fight. When everyone saw the legendary little devils for the first time, they all burst out laughing. What blue face and fangs, what big head like a bucket, but before their eyes were one by one short-legged dwarfs, with heads that weren't small at all, wearing yellow dog skin, exactly like a large bullet.

  One shot down, still fell and couldn't get up, what's the matter. In the first round of counterattack, Wang Huizi relied on his heavy machine gun to kill more than 20 devils. Seeing the little devil who was shot, like a deflated ball, Wang Huizi was delighted in his heart, and his hand that pulled the trigger became busy.

  A hundred meters of distance was like a chasm of death, no matter how desperately the Japanese army charged forward, the front line seemed to be stuck there, not moving an inch.

  Captain Fujita's lungs were about to burst, those cunning Chinese, extremely cunning. In the first round of attack, they didn't expose all their firepower points at once. It wasn't until the Imperial Army was approaching the Chinese position that they exposed everything, catching the Imperial Army off guard. The previously discovered shooting blind spots became like traps, swallowing up large numbers of Imperial soldiers.

  "Order the Imperial Guards to move forward in full force. Anyone who dares to retreat will be killed on the spot!" Lieutenant Colonel Fujita shouted loudly.

  Previously, in order to defeat the Chinese army more quickly and effectively, Lieutenant Colonel Fujita had merely taken over 200 men from the puppet army cavalry division to assist with the attack. It wasn't that Lieutenant Colonel Fujita cared about the lives of these puppet soldiers; a guy like him didn't even care about his own life, so how could he care about the lives of others?

  Unlike other units, all the puppet troops were not put in front, mainly because Tōyama Ichirō looked down on the combat effectiveness of these puppet troops and believed that on such a battlefield, these puppet troops would only cause trouble for the Imperial Japanese Army and had no use at all.

  Originally thought to have found a weakness in the Chinese army's defense, but unexpectedly suffered a sudden blow from the Chinese army. The troops had just launched an attack and suffered heavy losses, with three infantry companies and one machine gun company being wiped out by nearly a third. Even the wounded who fell on the battlefield didn't have time to be evacuated before the troops were beaten back.

  Tōita Ichirō was a stubborn guy, although the second attack was repelled, he quickly organized the third attack. This time, he ordered all the puppet troops to charge in front, and the Japanese army followed behind them.

  Captain Fujita's thoughts were simple: he just needed to move his troops in front of the Chinese army's trenches, and use bayonets to make those despicable Chinese know that all resisters would be crushed by the war chariots of the Great Japanese Empire. Since the Chinese army had turned this hundred-meter distance into a death defense line with heavy machine guns, let those useless puppet troops clear the way in front, their only role was to use their bodies to block bullets for the Great Japanese Imperial Army until they charged into the Chinese position.

  The Japanese army's intentions were obvious, but those fake soldiers couldn't see it. However, when you're under someone else's roof, you have to lower your head. Originally, they were already being ridiculed and called traitors or Hanjian behind their backs. But since their superiors had surrendered to the Japanese, what could they do? They could only obediently put on this yellow dog skin.

  In ordinary times, being beaten and scolded without being treated as a human being is nothing, but on the battlefield, they are actually used as cannon fodder that doesn't cost money, cheap shields. All the fake soldiers in their hearts regret it, their intestines are all green with regret.

  But what can be done, the Japanese army's bayonet is right behind them. If they walk slowly, it will be a fatal blow. Now their situation is that whether they advance or retreat, it's all death, a dead end!

  Ammunition loaded, trigger pulled, such a dense formation, such a desperate fight made the Security Regiment, who were fighting against the Japanese for the first time, extremely shocked. Some soldiers couldn't pull the trigger anymore because their psychological defenses had collapsed and they couldn't accept the fact that so many people had been killed in such a short period of time.

  Not long after the battle began, Chen Feng arrived at the front line, and everything under the telescope was in sight. Seeing the pseudo-army rushing forward one by one being knocked down, others seemed unaffected and continued to rush forward, then more people were knocked down, seeing this scene Chen Feng's heart was not feeling good.

  Sorrow, the sorrow of a nation, the sorrow of an ethnicity. As an old professor once said, the Japanese are not invincible, their so-called past glories, especially their brilliant military achievements during World War II, were merely products of a specific historical context, and it was China at that time that provided them with such a platform.

  Many people believe that the reason why the Japanese army was rampant in Asia during World War II was because of its strong combat capabilities, with which it achieved remarkable feats in East Asia and Southeast Asia with a relatively small number of troops.

  But in fact, the Japanese army's comprehensive combat capability was quite ordinary. They were easily repelled by the Soviet army at Nomonhan and suffered heavy losses. On Guadalcanal, they made the US military fight hard to find their way north, with casualties five times that of the US military. In northern Myanmar, facing the Nationalist New 1st Army equipped with American equipment, the casualty ratio was 7:1. The Kwantung Army, touted as the most elite force in the Japanese army, was even defeated by the Soviet Union and lost their armor.

  About the combat effectiveness of the Japanese army, Chen Feng had a standard in his heart, that is, they were stronger than the Chinese army. First, the main force was stronger than the troops including the Communist-led Eighth Route Army, New Fourth Army and various warlords' forces. At the same time, it was also stronger than the vast majority of the Central Army of the National Government.

  But in the battle sequence of the National Government's Central Army, there were many troops that could compete with the Japanese army's elite, which means that the Japanese army was only slightly stronger than the Chinese army, and it was far from being a world-class land force. What can be compared to the United States, what can be compared to the Soviet Union is all nonsense.

  Whenever the Anti-Japanese War is mentioned, some people inevitably exaggerate the actual combat effectiveness of the Japanese army during World War II, intentionally or unintentionally giving others credit and undermining their own morale. Indeed, the Chinese army's combat capability was not as good as that of the Japanese army, which has almost become a foregone conclusion. In the Henan Campaign of the Xiangyu Guangxi Campaign, the Japanese army once created a record of a mobile brigade defeating Tang Enbo's division in a shocking manner. With hundreds of thousands of troops, the Japanese army swept across half of China, while at that time, the total number of Nationalist and Communist forces exceeded 4 million. This seems to confirm that the Japanese army had an astonishing combat effectiveness. However, from many historical facts, it is more appropriate to classify the Japanese army during World War II as second-rate overall.

  It is embarrassing to say that most of the brilliant achievements of the Japanese army during World War II were achieved in battles with Chinese troops. In the four and a half years before the Pearl Harbor incident, the Japanese army conducted 28 major battles on the Chinese battlefield, and the Chinese army was almost defeated, losing the main cities and transportation lines in central and eastern China.

  However, this was a product of the special era background at that time. At that time, China's internal political contradictions were sharp, and the struggle between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party was fierce. Chiang Kai-shek lacked actual control over local warlords, and various local factions governed themselves. China was unable to concentrate its forces to fight against the Japanese army. Moreover, the Japanese army had made years of preparations for invading China, and from equipment to training, they were a level higher than the Chinese army at that time.

  In addition, the traitorous army is a damn group. It was because of their existence that the Japanese army had already won spiritually before the war, while the Chinese army was greatly affected in terms of morale. Therefore, the traitorous army is the sorrow of this era and the sorrow of my nation.