Chapter 59: Frenzied Attack on the Bloody Lonely City

  The huge explosion generated by the plane's aerial disintegration left the Japanese army's temporary command center in a daze, with Lieutenant General Abe Kikuji dropping the binoculars he was holding without even realizing it.

  In the eyes of all Japanese officers, this new equipment, aircraft, was not invincible, but only the same aircraft could pose a threat to them. There were not many armies that could clip the wings of the Imperial Eagles, and they firmly believed that it would never appear on the battlefield in China.

  But the fact proved them wrong, the continuous explosions in the sky above this small county town and those burning fireballs falling one by one made these Japanese military officers feel a kind of collapse of faith.

  "Your Excellency, the observation post at the front line has just sent a telegram. The Imperial Army Air Force suffered a major setback in Xinghe County, with heavy losses. Only 9 aircraft managed to escape the battlefield, of which 8 were trailing thick black smoke, and all the rest were shot down." A captain staff officer came in to report.

  "Hakka, this is impossible! The Chinese don't have heavy artillery, anti-aircraft machine guns, or even fighter planes. How could they possibly heavily damage the Imperial Aviation Department?" Lieutenant Colonel Abe Kiyoshi shouted hysterically.

  Although Abe Norihide did not believe the result, the fact was in front of him, and the huge fireballs that appeared above the city of Koho County made him bow his head to reality.

  After venting the anger in his heart, Abe Kiyoshu coldly ordered: "Order the front line to launch an attack immediately. I want to rest in the county town tonight. Also, get Temple Kosuke to come and assist us with more fighter planes."

  "Hi!"

  A thrilling counterattack thoroughly ignited the passion of the soldiers of the 222nd Division, and also made a large number of new recruits more confident. At the same time, after this battle, the soldiers of the 222nd Division's anti-aircraft regiment had a certain understanding of themselves and their weapons, and were more confident in the next battle.

  "Report to headquarters, frontline position reports that the Japanese army has simultaneously launched an attack on the county town from east, west, south and north directions, with over 50 tanks participating."

  Chen Feng knew that the little devils were now preparing to fight to the death. Having lost the support of artillery and aircraft, the Japanese army could only use those few dozen tanks.

  "Order the frontline troops to counterattack according to the pre-war plan." Chen Feng ordered.

  Then Chen Feng had the telegraph operator send a telegram to Andrei, ordering the cavalry units to postpone the attack until tomorrow afternoon. Originally, Chen Feng planned to have the cavalry units launch a surprise attack on Zhangbei County this morning and then carry out the surround-and-ambush plan. However, the air defense regiment performed exceptionally well this morning, causing the Japanese troops at the front line to go crazy. Therefore, Chen Feng changed his mind temporarily and postponed the plan to attack Zhangbei.

  The postponement of the attack on Zhangbei was because Chen Feng planned to take advantage of the Japanese army's madness, with the assistance of the well-fortified city defenses in Xinghe County, to heavily injure the Japanese army's effective strength, thereby reducing the pressure of surrounding and annihilating this route of the Japanese army.

  Rumble rumble rumble

  The 37mm main gun on the Japanese armored vehicle fired at the vanguard position guarded by the guard troops, and there were Japanese puppet soldiers wearing yellow dog skin coats in front of and behind the tank. Upon closer inspection, it can be seen that the ones bowing their heads in front are devils, and those following behind the tanks are Japanese soldiers.

  A loud explosion, a hapless puppet soldier stepped on a landmine at the forefront of the battlefield. After a blood-curdling scream, the entire person was blown to pieces, splashing down a rain of blood and several severed limbs.

  The pseudo-army soldiers who were frightened all lay on the ground and fired randomly, while the Japanese tanks and infantry following behind them also stopped.

  The commander of the Japanese frontline position soon discovered that it was not Chinese artillery fire, but those hapless puppet troops who had stepped on landmines. He drew his command sword and drove off the puppet soldiers to continue advancing.

  In the telescope, the commander of the guard team, Li Deming, saw the scene clearly, hung the telescope on his chest and said angrily: "Damn little devils, they really don't take Chinese as human beings. Order the first battalion to set up the four double-mounted machine guns with new equipment for me. Today I will kill them until the river is filled with blood."

  After suffering heavy casualties, the Japanese army finally broke through the minefield laid by the 222nd Division and launched a charge against the forward position guarded by the Guard Regiment.

  300 meters... 200 meters... 150 meters...

  Seeing that the Japanese puppet army had entered the effective range, Li Deming gave the order to open fire.

  "Dada" "Dada"

  More than 300 light and heavy machine guns deployed in the outer fortifications of Xinghe County, more than 1,500 long guns, plus more than 40 field artillery pieces, more than 70 mortars fired simultaneously, and of course, there were also 12 newly equipped double-barreled anti-aircraft machine guns.

  The Japanese puppet army at the forefront fell to the ground like cut grass, what they least expected was that their invincible tanks were like paper in front of the Chinese army, 25mm armor was shot with holes, and the drivers and gunners inside were killed, some even caused internal ammunition explosions.

  The worst were the infantrymen who followed behind the tanks, charging forward under the intense firepower of the Chinese army, falling down in batches. Their superstitious three-wave advance mode seemed to have lost its effect here.

  The 100-meter distance seemed to be an insurmountable gap, with no breakthrough in any direction. What made the frontline commanders and soldiers even more panicked was that the Chinese had used a weapon with extremely strong attacking power. This weapon not only had fierce firepower but also had terrifying killing power of ammunition, which could penetrate the frontal armor of tanks. As for ordinary soldiers, being hit would result in a bloody hole, and they might even be blown to pieces, leaving almost no chance of rescue. After holding on for over ten minutes, the Japanese army began to retreat rapidly.

  In the first wave of attack, the Japanese army invested a total of four infantry brigades and four puppet legions, as well as 55 tanks, but was repelled in less than half an hour, which made Abe extremely dissatisfied.

  Enraged Abe no Seimei ordered his troops to continue organizing an assault while urging the air force to hasten their pace and provide firepower reinforcements.

  The Japanese army soon organized a second attack, and more than 40 warplanes also rushed to the battlefield from Baoding Airport.

  The defeat of the air force at Zhangjiakou Airport did not attract the attention of the Japanese high-level military, because the pilots of the three surviving fighter planes shifted the responsibility for the defeat to the squadron leader Matsushita Takeo who was shot down. They believed that the reason why the flying squadron suffered such a disastrous defeat was entirely due to Matsushita's stupid order to make an ultra-low-altitude bombing run.

  The Japanese warplanes came to assist in the battle, and Victor's anti-aircraft troops were overjoyed. They had just shot down more than 30 Japanese planes and were itching for action. Seeing new enemy planes arriving, they clenched their fists, adjusted their sights to the desired height, and prepared to deliver a fatal blow to these Japanese iron birds at any moment.

  To avenge their previous defeat, the North China Front Army of the Japanese army dispatched more than 40 aircraft this time, determined to flatten Xinghe County. After arriving at the battlefield, the Japanese warplanes first carried out carpet bombing on the front-line positions.

  Rumble rumble rumble

  A heavy missile exploded at the forefront of the position, and some fortifications were instantly destroyed. Even those reinforced concrete fortifications shook violently. A missile exploded at a machine gun position of the defending troops, destroying four heavy machine guns and one anti-aircraft gun. 10 machine gunners and ammunition handlers were killed, and more than a dozen soldiers carrying ammunition were injured.

  The command post of the 2nd Company, 1st Battalion, Guard Regiment was hit by a cruise missile, killing five officers including the company commander and deputy company commander. A bunker on the eastern position was blown up, burying all 12 soldiers of the 1st Platoon, 1st Company, 3rd Battalion alive.

  The Japanese warplanes, which had shaken the front lines with their might, dropped their bombs and then pulled up, flying towards the city, ready to turn this small Chinese county town into a sea of flames.

  However, dreams are beautiful, but reality is cruel. The Japanese planes had just flown into the city and hadn't even had time to drop their bombs when they were subjected to a devastating blow. More than 100 anti-aircraft machine guns fired simultaneously, with bullets carrying invitations from the god of death flying towards the Japanese aircraft.

  Although today was the debut of the anti-aircraft group, the effect was surprisingly good. Due to the huge gap between weapons and equipment, the Japanese bombers were like a live target in front of the 75-style high-speed machine gun. The speed of the Japanese planes made it difficult for them to escape once they were locked onto by the 75-style high-speed machine gun.

  This round of attack on the devils was not as good as the first time, but still shot down 6 Japanese planes and damaged 16 fighters, forcing them to withdraw from the battlefield.

  The Chinese army was equipped with a large number of anti-aircraft machine guns, and the remaining Japanese military aircraft, although they did not withdraw from the battlefield, were all shocked and fled in disarray, escaping the urban area and flying at an altitude of over 3,000 meters.

  It turned out that an altitude of 3,000 meters was also not safe, although the firing altitudes of other anti-aircraft machine guns were all below 3,000 meters. The effective firing altitude of the Type 75 anti-aircraft machine gun was over 5,000 meters, and an altitude of 3,000 meters was just fine for the Type 75 anti-aircraft machine gun.

  When three fighters were shot down at an altitude of 3,000 meters, the commander of the air group, Lt. Col. Takashi Tachibana, hastily ordered all fighters to immediately withdraw from the battlefield and return to Baoding Airport.

  Although they had lost air support, the crazed Abe Kiyoshi did not order his troops to stop attacking. By 6:00 pm, the Japanese had organized eight attacks.

  The battlefield was littered with the bodies of Japanese and puppet troops. Despite a full day of attacking, the Japanese had destroyed more than 30 strongpoints and nearly 40 firing positions of the 222nd Division, but they had not breached one position, and had suffered heavy casualties themselves.