The cavalry captain had no desire to bask in the sun anymore.
Something was wrong in this battle. Among the four companies of puppet troops, the one that first launched the attack lost a platoon, and now it has only one platoon left after retreating to the west. The two companies in the south exchanged gunfire with the Eighth Route Army and more than a dozen of them died. What left the captain speechless was... None of the dozen or so Imperial Army infantrymen temporarily assigned to these four companies of puppet troops came back!
Although the pseudo-battalion commander made a high-profile statement, saying that the Eighth Route Army had suffered heavy losses and that victory or defeat would come in the next round, this nonsense had no effect on the low morale.
The captain knew that the puppet army was useless, but he didn't expect it to be so useless. He didn't think the Eighth Route Army was strong, so he had to command the attack personally.
"Don't divide them into different directions. One direction is enough. Deploy all your troops in an arc shape and try to increase the width of the attack. Understand?"
"No need for speed, no need for unity, the suppressed position can stop, and other positions can take the opportunity to move forward. Got it?"
After teaching the puppet battalion commander the simplest and most practical way to attack positions, the captain added, "My two light machine guns and three grenade launchers are for you. Don't let me down!"
The pseudo-battalion commander's eyes lit up immediately, and he nodded and bowed to express his determination. Grenade launchers are good things, especially cavalry ones carry more ammunition. As long as they start bombing, sooner or later the Eighth Route Army will abandon their positions and flee.
…
Through the telescope, the various puppet troops were forming a long overall offensive line, with the left end extending to the southeast and the right end extending to the southwest, with targets dotted around.
Often, the simplest moves are the hardest to break.
Hu Yi held the telescope and said nothing. It was obvious that the enemy wanted to squeeze the 9th Company out of this position inch by inch, hoping that the 9th Company would run north.
No one in the Ninth Company dared to question Hu Yi's authority, but that didn't mean all the soldiers had no doubts. The more thoughtful they were, the more so. Apart from the soldiers, the four platoon leaders were all in different mental states. Chen Chong had the least thoughts, and he was still immersed in the unfortunate aftertaste of the first hand-to-hand combat; Tian Sanqi's bayonet had been wiped clean, and he liked the feeling of not retreating, thinking that this place had good feng shui; Luo Fugui's mental activities were the most complicated. He wanted to persuade Hu Lao Da to retreat to the north, but on the other hand, he thought that Hu Lao Da was very shrewd in fighting, and that his not running north should mean that the north was more dangerous, but looking at the vastness of the north, the feeling of freedom was really tempting! He wondered whether he should persuade him, and thought about it again and again, his head was a mess.
Suddenly I was kicked: "What are you thinking about? I think you are about to smoke!"
Luo Fugui finally came to his senses and did not drown in his own whirlpool of wisdom. Looking at the sweaty Xiao Hongying, he suddenly felt relieved and subconsciously grinned: "Yes! Don't you, a wicked thing, have to take the blame for me? Why should I be in such a hurry?"
"What?" Xiao Hongying stared blankly, not understanding what was going on. When the bear turned into an intelligent bear, she became an idiot instead.
"Nothing. What did you want to say?"
"Hey, you didn't finish your sentence, okay? Didn't you say that the demon-ridden Old Qin ignored Chen Chong? Then how did the enemy who was with Chen Chong die?"
The bear rolled his eyes and said, "What do you think? He died of exhaustion!"
There was an endless laugh like silver bells, floating over the battlefield like a butterfly, attracting countless solemn faces to turn to look in the direction of the sound, but they could only see the fallen weeds at the edge of the foxhole, the new soil, the muzzles of rifles, and the distant sky.
Ma Liang sighed. The Ninth Company is always full of heartless people! He ducked and scurried into the observation position where Hu Yi was standing. “Brother, if we retreat, will we really have no chance to run until dark?”
“No chance.”
"But I haven't seen a single horse yet. Are they really cavalry?"
"This is the devil's encouragement." Hu Yi put down the telescope, but continued to stare at the enemy's offensive line in the south: "This attack... As long as we pull out the enemy's teeth, they should only have one last chance to attack before dark."
"extract a tooth?"
"Get ready for battle. It starts with anti-machine guns and ends with anti-machine guns. Concentrate the machine guns on your first platoon, and tell Tian Sanqi and the second platoon to stay at the back and wait for reinforcements to arrive."
…
Relying on the ammunition base that was not inferior to that of the Japs, the Ninth Company opened fire first when the enemy's offensive line passed 400 meters. The long offensive line in the south hurriedly entered the grass and changed from walking to crawling. The puppet army's machine guns immediately returned fire. Seven Czech light machine guns were evenly distributed horizontally to provide suppression cover for the crawling advance. The trajectory was like seven brooms, whistling in the Ninth Company's position in waves, almost continuously!
On a row of positions, the 9th Company's three Czech-style machine guns were all deployed, one on each end. Luo Fugui's machine gun group was moving in the middle. The two machine guns were working, relying on the fortifications. Shell casings burst out in strings, and bursts of stray bullets occasionally stirred up new soil, scratching everything with a rustling sound.
Ma Liang rushed to the machine gun position at the west end with a telescope, left his rifle behind and served as an observer for the machine gun. He did not bother to command his platoon. His order was simple: "Free fire!" Then he started to command the machine gun at the top of his voice.
Hu Yi took over the machine gun position at the east end. The machine gunner directly gave the machine gun to the company commander and became his deputy shooter. He saw that the machine gun changed its sound when it was in the hands of the company commander. It fired a steady three-point shot, and the shells jumped three by three at a rapid rate. The frequency was so fast that it seemed like it was firing continuously. One magazine silenced the enemy's target machine gun position at the edge. Seeing this, the soldiers in the machine gun position were all energized. They completely ignored the whistling sound flying over their heads. The scattered bullets originally in the bag were poured into the pit all at once, and they began to wait for reloading in rows.
"Get out of here! This is a machine gun position! Who dug this bunker? Can't it be deeper? Can you use a shovel?"
The machine gun bear rushed into a relatively safe foxhole, and directly chased out the three soldiers in the first row in the pit, complaining and cursing, and then crawled into the ear of the back magazine, and then the follower Xu Xiao fell in awkwardly; after setting up the Czech machine gun in the bunker, the bear shouted to the waste who came behind: "Go and occupy the pit over there for me! Do you have to wait until I move before shouting?"
Finally, it was time to get to work. Xiong first leaned over and took a cautious look, then put the butt of the gun on his shoulder and muttered, "Anti-machine gun, this is not clear enough? Can't you get it closer? Damn it, enlighten me!"
The third Czech light machine gun of the 9th Company finally started working, making a row of soldiers sweat. This was really a big deal.
Not far away on the other side, two soldiers in the first row had to crawl out of their shelters and move backwards. Their pit had just been occupied by a mad dog. Not long after, Tang Dagou heard the sound of earth falling behind him again. He turned around to curse, but he twisted his neck and the curse words were stuck in his mouth because a little red tassel had just fallen in.
"Why do you have to come to me?"
Shaking the dirt off her braids, Xiao Hongying crawled to the shooting position and said, "You look like a bunker, you won't get hit by bullets."
Suddenly, a hail of bullets swept past, stirring up a cloud of broken soil that fell all over the two guys' faces.
"I really hate you for attracting bullets! Can't you lower your tail and stop showing off?"
"Hey? Do you believe me..." Xiao Hongying said halfway, her angry eyes suddenly changed to a quiet look: "Hey, did you hear that? Why do I hear there is a crooked handle?"
So Tang the big dog in the pit also pricked up his ears and distinguished for a long time: "Two!"
So Xiao Hongying pulled out her telescope and climbed back to the shooting position.
…
These machine gunners of the puppet army were basically all blind. So far, the operators of the two machine guns on the right wing have been replaced. One of the Eighth Route Army's machine gunners seemed to have clairvoyance. Even at such a distance, he seemed to always know where the machine gun was. The three continuous bursts were so scary.
The new machine gunner simply stopped firing, asked the assistant gunner to move away, and then dragged the machine gun and crawled forward along the infantry line. Finally, they were safe! But someone started shouting again near the next machine gun.
The Japanese cavalry only brought two Type 99 light machine gun crews this time, and for convenience they were the most simplified two-man crew. They were extremely excited to take part in the battle, and it would not be an exaggeration to describe these four Japanese as being eager and hungry. They followed the puppet army in front and placed two Type 99 light machine guns at a distance of more than 300 meters from the Eighth Route Army's position. This distance was the most comfortable, and it was so cool!
In the rear, three grenade launcher groups were still crawling forward. There were six Japanese soldiers, and the distance determined the accuracy of the grenade launchers. If they wanted to show the Eighth Route Army a lesson, they had to at least reach the 300-meter line to have a chance.
However, these Japanese ignored what had happened before. They did not carefully consider why the Japanese infantry mixed in with the puppet army disappeared in the end
Under the sun, the wide-brimmed hats of puppet soldiers occasionally appeared on the flat green grass more than a foot high. When the steel helmets were raised, they were particularly conspicuous in the telescope. It was useless to tie them with grass. They were dazzling like ostriches among chickens, exuding the enviable aura of the protagonist...