Chapter 32: The Defensive Battle of Xinghe's Step-by-Step Interception
Major General Honda looked through the telescope and saw clearly that this was a battle between which and which, more than a dozen Imperial tanks were destroyed by several Chinese dogs. This result made Major General Honda extremely angry, but he had no choice.
Honda understood that this would be the first tough battle for Honda's troops since their expedition. He had just analyzed it secretly, and indeed, this Chinese army was not ordinary. Compared to the Imperial Army, they were at a disadvantage in terms of equipment, at least in terms of automatic firepower. At the same time, the Chinese army occupied advantageous terrain, with perfect defensive fortifications, making it difficult for the Imperial Army to take down the Chinese position in a short period of time.
But Honda Shingo was clearer, if his brigade couldn't take down the Zhina people's position and defeat the Zhina army in front of him, what would be waiting for him. The furious Tōjō cabinet would definitely send him to a military tribunal, Major General Honda dared to confirm.
The first attack of the Sasaki detachment failed as the tanks were easily knocked out, and the 7th and 8th companies lost nearly a hundred men without even reaching the edge of the Chinese army's position.
"Look at the Chinese position not far away, and look at the soldiers around you. The Great Japanese Empire is invincible in battle, our goal is to conquer all of China, how can we be stopped by a small Chinese position? Bring out your samurai spirit, long live the military fortune of the Great Japanese Empire!"
Sasamoto drew out his commander's sword and pointing at the position of the Third Battalion of the Security Regiment, roared: "Kill them all!"
Sasahara's provocation indeed boosted the morale of the Japanese army, and two infantry companies charged towards the Third Battalion's position under the cover of aircraft.
Dada
Rumble rumble rumble
Machine guns are roaring, cannons are howling, although the Japanese planes are constantly circling in the sky, but the Chinese army is still fighting to the death.
Seeing the bodies of Japanese soldiers fallen in front of the position, Wang Hansheng was extremely excited. This is the first line of defense. Although it's impossible to count how many devils were killed, at least 400 or 500 should have been eliminated. This result can be reported to the commander.
"Give me a good thrashing!"
A shell exploded near Wang Hansheng, a heavy machine gun and its crew were blown into the air, followed by a shower of blood.
"Grandma's, be careful of air raids, the enemy's planes are hard to deal with."
The Japanese army was determined to take down the third camp's position this time, and although soldiers were being knocked out one by one, the Japanese commander had no intention of withdrawing.
For the dishes delivered to his door, Wang Han-sheng would certainly not be polite and ordered his soldiers to open fire on the Japanese army without mercy.
However, the number of Japanese troops was too large. In addition to the two infantry battalions in front, there were actually another two infantry battalion soldiers coming up from behind. Moreover, Wang Hansheng also saw that more than a thousand puppet army cavalrymen had already assembled and were ready to charge at any time.
"Company Commander, the little devils are within eighty meters of our trenches!" shouted Battalion Commander Xue Binhao.
"Signal the two wing positions, prepare hand grenades, throw out all hand grenades within two minutes, then immediately withdraw to the second line of defense." Wang Hansheng ordered.
Yes
Seeing the Chinese position at close range, Sasaki was extremely excited. With only fifty meters to go, for the brave warriors of the Great Japanese Empire, taking down the position would be no problem as long as they entered this distance. Although his two infantry companies had already lost more than half of their men in order to take down this position, at least his own life was saved.
Suddenly, a large number of iron clumps flew out from the Chinese position. These iron clumps were all too familiar to Sasaki - they were Imperial-made Type 3 hand grenades.
"Eighty-eight, it's a hand grenade, take cover."
Hand grenades rained down from the sky, and in just two minutes, more than 3,000 hand grenades fell on the Japanese army's heads. The Sasaki detachment was beaten back again.
Withdrawing to 300 meters away, Lieutenant Colonel Sasaki looked at the troops of less than 100 people around him and felt a chill in his heart. The two infantry companies with more than 440 people were left with only a few defeated soldiers. Thinking of Major General Honda's ruthless order, Lieutenant Colonel Sasaki was thoroughly desperate.
Perhaps sensing Sasaki's despair, Nishi, a lieutenant from the same hometown as Major Sasaki, spoke out loudly: "Sir, our planes will be here soon and we have two infantry companies coming up behind us as reinforcements - we still have a chance!"
"Hey Saito, you look like a gambler who's lost his shirt. Reorganize the troops at once and prepare to attack!"
"Rumbling" five Japanese military planes continuously circled and dived over the Third Battalion's position, dozens of bombs fell on the Chinese army's position, the entire position was shrouded in flames.
Under the cover of the plane, Sasaki led the remaining hundred or so soldiers in a desperate charge against the Third Battalion's position.
Two hundred meters
One hundred and fifty meters
One hundred meters
The Chinese army's position was still very quiet, not a sound, had all the devils been blown to death? Every Japanese soldier had a faint sense of expectation in his heart.
"Fifty meters"
Thirty meters
With only thirty meters left, Lieutenant Commander Sasaki ordered his troops to speed up immediately.
The smoke dispersed, and Sasaki's troops finally stepped onto the third camp's position. Unfortunately, this place was already deserted, except for the shells on the ground, not even a corpse was left for Sasaki.
Seeing the Rising Sun flag of the Great Japanese Empire finally inserted into the position of the Chinese army, Major General Honda let out a long sigh of relief. To be honest, Sasaki's troops performed very tenaciously and fully demonstrated the bravery of the great Japanese warriors.
However, the performance of the Chinese troops was beyond his expectation. With the assistance of tanks and aircraft, Sasaki's unit paid a heavy price of three-quarters of its strength to barely capture the Chinese position, which shocked General Honda.
"Report to the regimental commander, the Chinese troops are fleeing northward. Lieutenant Colonel Sasaki requests instructions on whether to pursue."
"Order the Third Cavalry Division of the Imperial Guard to pursue immediately, the Chinese have lost their will to fight, let Li Sang lead his cavalry division to rush up and entangle the Chinese, absolutely cannot let them escape." Commander Honda ordered.
Hi
The second line of defense of the three battalions was less than a thousand meters away from the first line of defense, and when the cavalry division of the pseudo-Mongolian army caught up, the three battalions had already entered the second line of defense.
Seeing the pseudo-military cavalry approaching the camp without any defense, Wang Hansheng smiled coldly and said: "Prepare for battle!"
Dozens of light and heavy machine guns were loaded with good ammunition, ready to fire at any time.
"Fire!" When the pseudo-army cavalry entered the effective range of the machine gun, Wang Hansheng gave the order to fire.
Fighting against cavalry, the Security Regiment was the most experienced. In the early days, in order to deal with Yelena's cavalry troops, the Security Regiment had indeed made great efforts. As they watched the approaching pseudo-military cavalry, all the warriors were not only unafraid but also secretly delighted.
"Dada" "Dada"
Dozens of flames burst forth simultaneously, and the pseudo-army was instantly thrown into chaos, with people and horses toppling over, some killed by gunfire, others trampled to death.
In just three minutes, more than 1,500 cavalrymen lost over 300 men, and the rest were frightened out of their wits, retreating beyond the effective range of Chinese troops.
Honda didn't expect this Chinese army to be so tenacious, and after being defeated, they could quickly enter the reserve position, which was indeed troublesome.
But no matter how difficult it was, he could only grit his teeth and attack. In just four hours, his troops had lost over 1,400 men, the Sasaki Brigade was almost annihilated, while the Chinese army across from them still had the strength to fight again, a result that he couldn't report to Tōjō Hideki.
By 4:00 pm, Honda's troops finally broke through the second line of defense of the Security Regiment's Third Battalion, forcing the defenders to retreat into the third line of defense.
At 7:00 pm, after three successive charges by the regiment were repelled, Lt. Col. Honda ordered a halt to the attack. Because Japanese aircraft could not provide support for the troops at night, it was difficult for infantry alone to capture the Chinese positions.
The battle finally ended. Both the Japanese army and the security team were like two wounded beasts, hiding in the dark to lick their own wounds quietly.
Shifo Temple, temporary command center of the Security Guard Corps.
"Commander, the devils have retreated."
"Grandma's, the dog day has finally withdrawn, hurry up and let Wang Hansheng withdraw the troops, while counting the casualties of the troops." Chen Feng said with a sigh of relief, the Japanese army's attack was really too crazy, in just one day they organized 12 attacks, if it weren't for the strong firepower of the troops, it's not certain whether they could hold on until now.
Yes
Soon, Li Wensheng came in and said: "Commander, Wang Hansheng sent someone to report that their three battalions have all withdrawn from the position, leaving only one platoon behind, and the others have retreated to Xuanjia Tower. Shouldn't we withdraw too?"
"It's time to withdraw, but before withdrawing, send a telegram to the special warfare team and let them not retreat with the main force. Let them stay near Tianzhen and act freely to respond to Li Fuyan's troops." Chen Feng ordered.
"Alright!"
"Didn't Wang Hansheng mention the casualties of the Third Battalion?" Chen Feng asked again.
"It's not said, but the situation is definitely not too optimistic. The little devils' attack was really crazy. There were corpses of little devils everywhere in front of the three defense lines. Even with a 2:1 casualty ratio, the three battalions lost at least 500 people." Wang Hansheng said.
"It wasn't that exaggerated, the little devils were beaten to a loss of reason and launched twelve consecutive group charges. The third battalion occupied a favorable terrain and had so many automatic weapons, the casualties caused by the little devil's infantry to the third battalion were not large, it was the bombing of the Japanese aircraft that made the third battalion suffer losses, but it was absolutely impossible to reach five hundred people." Chen Feng said.
"I hope so, even if it is, the three battalions won't be able to fight such a tough battle in a short time. If we continue like this, our regiment will be exhausted in at most three days, those little devils are indeed formidable." Li Wensheng said with emotion.
Chen Feng smiled and said, "How can you fight a war without killing people? Three days to defeat an entire regiment is nothing. Now the little devils in Shanghai are also taking action. I heard that the Central Army on that side has to throw in a brigade every day. Even the Central Military Academy's elite teaching group, which is known as the best of the best, was defeated in less than two days. The 88th and 87th divisions of the Central Army suffered heavy losses too. And we're facing the Kwantung Army, which is said to be the most powerful fighting force in the Japanese army. Being able to fight to this point is already quite good."
