Chapter 45: Linyuan County Falls (Vote Request) Some Japanese soldiers climbed onto the roof with a large number of grenades. For those houses that are suspicious and difficult to enter, they would simply lift up the tiles and throw grenades into the room, regardless of whether there was anyone inside. Some soldiers from the New 1st Regiment opened fire in retaliation, but they were soon discovered by the Japanese. At least three Japanese soldiers fired at the position of a soldier from the New 1st Regiment at the same time. When they encountered places suitable for machine gun positions, the Japanese simply set up grenade launchers and fired directly at the locations. "Damn it, these little Japanese are so cruel, do they only have so many grenades?" Looking at the actions of the Japanese devils, Zhang Dabiao couldn't help it. Judging from the current situation, Linyuan County will probably be re-occupied by the Japanese soon. The Japanese soldiers cleared one street after another, leaving some soldiers to guard each street they cleared.
As long as the Eighth Route Army dared to charge back, the troops behind would immediately surround them. Li Yunlong naturally discovered this situation. He did not expect that the combat effectiveness of this Japanese army was so strong. "The intelligence is not enough. Damn it! Stop hiding and launch a counterattack!" Li Yunlong looked at the situation and knew that if he didn't find a way to fight back, the morale of the troops would probably be completely destroyed. Following Li Yunlong's order, the troops quickly assembled. "Dudududu!" As the charge sounded, the fallen morale of the New 1st Regiment rose again. A large number of soldiers, led by their squad leaders and platoon leaders, launched a charge towards the Japanese. When the Japanese saw the Eighth Route Army beginning to gather, they also gathered their troops together. Looking at the Eighth Route Army charging over, a squadron leader of the Japanese drew his command knife and pointed it at the Eighth Route Army: "Kill them!" "boom!" Not only are you not allowed to salute your superiors on the battlefield, you are also not allowed to make any special gestures. For example, this Japanese squadron leader was shot in the head by the sharpshooter of the New 1st Regiment. In this way, nearly a thousand soldiers launched a charge directly on the main street in the middle of Linyuan County. More and more Japanese soldiers rushed into the streets, and likewise more soldiers from the New 1st Regiment rushed over. Unlike the Japanese's special charge, the heavy machine gunners of the New 1st Regiment moved their heavy machine guns to the second floor of a restaurant. They started firing directly at the Japanese troops who were charging. The group of Eighth Route Army soldiers who were charging in the front, seeing that they were less than 20 meters away from the Japanese, quickly dispersed to both sides. Suddenly, more than a dozen soldiers armed with light machine guns appeared behind them and pulled the trigger at the Japanese soldiers rushing towards them.
Straight streets make the best shooting locations. The Japanese soldiers watched the Eighth Route Army gather and thought they were preparing for a bayonet fight, so they also unloaded the bullets from their weapons to avoid accidentally injuring their teammates. Who knew the Eighth Route Army would play like this. The soldiers in the front pretended to charge, but they were followed by a group of machine gunners! After the machine gunner ran out of bullets, he quickly turned around and retreated to both sides. Then the soldiers holding rifles with bayonets launched close combat against the Japanese. The Japanese soldiers rushed forward with bayonets in hand, looking very aggressive. The two sides were about to come into contact. A group of guys with pistols appeared behind the Eighth Route Army and quickly knocked down the fastest few Japanese soldiers to the ground. The speed of the Japanese charge was slowed down by the corpses of their own people. Before the two sides officially engaged in battle, the Japanese suffered more than 200 casualties. Several heavy machine guns continued to fire at the Japanese troops behind them. The Japanese also fought back with grenade launchers. The soldiers at the front of both sides also officially started hand-to-hand combat. The Japanese soldiers were divided into groups of three, and the Eighth Route Army soldiers were also divided into groups of three. But the difference is that some of the Eighth Route Army had pistols in their hands... After breaking the Japanese's formation, the results of the New 1st Regiment's training over the past year began to show. In the one-on-one bayonet fight, the soldiers of the New 1st Regiment did not fall behind. Some even gained the upper hand. The Japanese troops began to be forced to retreat. Similarly, as the distance increased, the heavy machine guns of the New 1st Regiment no longer had to worry about the Japanese grenade launchers and could simply let go and start shooting. However, the New 1st Regiment also suffered heavy casualties. As the Japanese occupied the other three city gates, all of them entered the county town. The Japanese Type 92 infantry guns and mortars also entered the county town. The heavy machine guns of the new regiment began to be destroyed one by one. All the troops were forced to the west gate of Linyuan County. Helpless Li Yunlong could only order his troops to withdraw from the county. Go outside the county town and fight a wild battle with the Japanese. There are still many artillery towers and strongholds in the west in the hands of the New 1st Regiment, and all the positions have been repaired. …… Baihuling defensive position.
After Qin Yangming destroyed the two battalions, his troops also suffered heavy losses. Under the Japanese's desperate fighting style, the Japanese suffered a casualty ratio of nearly 2:1. If it weren't for the vanguard battalion's strong artillery fire and sufficient machine guns, the casualty ratio would probably have been reduced to 1:1. The vanguard camp of nearly 3,000 people was directly defeated and only less than 1,500 people were left. Nearly half of the soldiers were buried in Baihu Ridge. Because a large number of defensive fortifications in Baihu Ridge were basically destroyed, it would take at least a month to repair them. Without those defensive fortifications, if two more Japanese field battalions came, the vanguard battalion would be powerless. Rather than sit back and wait for death, it is better to take the initiative. In order to relieve the pressure on Li Yunlong, Qin Yangming gave up Baihu Ridge after taking the vanguard battalion to rest for a while, and launched a sneak attack on the Japanese. After arranging the artillery company and other soldiers to take supplies to Cangyun Ridge, Qin Yangming ordered the troops to disperse in platoons. We will gather at Cangyun Ridge in two days. Because the main force was at the front facing Li Yunlong, the small Japanese force was no match for the vanguard battalion. In particular, the platoon organized by Qin Yangming was originally stronger in terms of number of people and firepower than the Japanese squad. The remaining nine infantry platoons attacked in all directions, specifically targeting the Japanese transport teams in accordance with Qin Yangming's requirements. In an instant, fires broke out everywhere in the areas occupied by the Japanese in Linyuan County. Many supply convoys were directly destroyed. Similarly, the Vanguard Battalion was also constantly suffering casualties. Even if two Japanese soldiers were exchanged for one soldier from the Vanguard Battalion, the Japanese soldiers still had enough people to consume. What's more, other Japanese troops were surrounding them in an endless stream. Fortunately, Qin Yangming took the issue of weapons and ammunition into consideration and replaced the weapons of the scattered soldiers, all of which were replaced with the Japanese's Type 38 rifles and Type 99 rifles. Otherwise, the Vanguard Battalion would have suffered massive casualties due to lack of ammunition. Qin Yangming also led the assault platoon to launch another night attack on Sakata. However, after Nobutsu Sakata learned about the situation of the Ohno Corps, he had already made preparations to avoid a night attack. Even after reoccupying the county seat of Linyuan County, Sakata Nobutsu did not return to his original command center. Instead, he took his soldiers to rest at the east city wall. The camp was built directly against the city wall. Outside the camp, Nobutsu Sakata arranged a bunch of secret sentries. As long as someone appeared within the shooting range of the secret sentries, he could shoot directly no matter who the other person was! Qin Yangming took a quick look at the layout of the camp and knew that it was almost impossible to take out Sakata Nobutsu's command center. Nobutsu Sakata sent all the secret sentries to an area six kilometers away, so they could not be bombed even with mountain artillery. Unless you know where Sakata's headquarters is, it would be a big loss to use howitzers to bomb ordinary soldiers. (End of this chapter)