This was an encounter between the 2nd Company of the Independent Battalion and a Japanese cavalry squadron.
Xu Rui did not directly attack Haian Town from the front, which was reasonable. He knew that the Japanese had occupied Haian Town and laid a heavy ambush in the town, and the independent battalion still wanted to rush into it. Isn't that seeking death? Therefore, Xu Rui took a trick and led the 2nd company to cut diagonally from the southwest of Haian Town.
Although Xu Rui became hasty and had almost no time to conduct battlefield reconnaissance, Xu Rui still relied on his keen battlefield insight to discover the only favorable condition. There is a large lake in the southwest of Haian Town. There are lush forests in the three directions of , west and east, and there are also a few hills scattered in the forest.
Compared with other directions, the terrain in the southwest of Hai'an Town is obviously more complex.
Xu Rui chose this lake in the southwest as a breakthrough point, which was very clever.
Now that the Japanese have taken the upper hand, they naturally hope that the terrain will be as open as possible and the battlefield as simple as possible.
Because the independent battalion lost the opportunity, of course it hoped that the terrain would be as complex as possible. This is like two chess players playing chess. The disadvantaged chess player will definitely create disasters everywhere, trying to disrupt the situation, win in the chaos, and occupy the territory. Dominant chess players always hope that the chess game can be more stable, so that they can turn their advantage into victory.
And now, Xu Rui is the chess player who wants to disrupt the chess game.
After crossing the Manyang River on a wooden bridge, the terrain in front of you becomes open.
Without the cover of the jungle and mountains, the Japanese cavalry surging from the opposite side immediately spotted the marching column of the 2nd company.
After discovering the 2nd company's marching column, the Japanese cavalry on the opposite side immediately became excited. The leading Japanese officer raised his saber and pressed forward. Seventy or eighty Japanese cavalrymen raised their sabers one after another, shouting and urging. The war horses came towards the direction of the 2nd company, and for a moment, the sound of killing was loud.
The Japanese cavalry is different from the infantry. The Japanese infantry charges silently. When the Japanese cavalry charged, they howled like wolves. This was related to the Japanese tradition of cavalry during the Warring States Period in Japan. Ashigaru, that is, the status of infantry is very low, while the cavalry is mostly filled by samurai. The status of samurai is much higher than that of ashigaru. The difference in status between the two creates a huge difference in battlefield personalities.
The Japanese cavalry are arrogant and flamboyant, while the Japanese infantry are humble and restrained.
certainly. The humility and restraint of the Japanese infantry is only relative to that of the cavalry.
Amidst the overwhelming sound of horse hooves, a squadron of about seventy or eighty Japanese cavalry opened up a charge formation that was more than a hundred meters wide, and rolled over like an overwhelming mountain towards the 2nd Company of the Independent Battalion.
The Japanese cavalry came in force, and the officers and soldiers of the 2nd Company of the Independent Battalion did not respond slowly at all.
As soon as Xu Rui raised his hand, more than a hundred remaining soldiers dispersed with a roar, and quickly built three lines of defense, front and rear. Xu Rui even deployed side fire on the left and right sides to protect the front of the position.
Amid the tidal sound of horse hooves. The Japanese cavalry quickly entered within a thousand meters.
Seeing that the Japanese cavalry did not decrease after entering within a thousand meters, but continued to increase, Xu Rui immediately raised a cold smile on his lips. The little Japanese cavalry was really arrogant. It seemed that the independent battalion was in Wuxi before. A series of victories in , Baoxing, and Nantong were still not enough for the proud Japanese cavalry to learn a lesson.
Veteran Leng Tiefeng couldn't help but said: "The little devil's cavalry is so crazy that they actually want to directly overwhelm our defense line. Do you really think that our independent battalion is an army made of sand and will collapse at the first touch?"
An army of sand. This is the evaluation of Tang Yulin's fifth army by the commander of the Japanese Kwantung Army, Honjo Shigeru, because in the Chengde Defense Battle, the Japanese once used 128 cavalry to defeat the tens of thousands of Tang Yulin's army, relying solely on cavalry. The Japanese Kwantung Army covered thousands of miles in seven days, from the northeast to Shanhaiguan.
It's a pity that the independent battalion is not Tang Yulin's sand army.
Leng Tiefeng turned his head and said to Xu Rui: "Old Xu, let's compete again?"
"Okay, but it's just a shot." Xu Rui smiled slightly. He raised the Sanba Gai in his hand.
Squinting his eyes slightly, the deafening sound of horse hooves quickly faded from Xu Rui's mind. Only him and the Japanese officer in front of him who was riding his horse and wielding his sword were left in the world. He could not clearly see the rank of the Japanese officer. , but from the woolen uniform on his body, we can tell that he is at least a major.
Leng Tiefeng broke off a grass path from the side, folded the white catkins on the grass path and threw it into the air, using the deflection of the white catkins to calculate the wind, and then corrected the ballistic deviation rate, but Xu Rui only relied on the breeze The wind was accurately judged by the force blowing on the face, and the ballistic deviation rate was then corrected.
Then, Xu Rui's right index finger gently placed on the trigger and pressed down gently.
At a certain moment, the jujube gun butt against Xu Rui's right shoulder shook slightly, followed by a bang. The moment the gunshot sounded, the hot bullet was already spinning high and heading towards The front roared away, and after a delay of less than two seconds, in the field of vision ahead, the Japanese officer fell down from his horse.
"Fuck you!" Leng Tiefeng was obviously influenced by Xu Rui, and he also pulled the trigger, but failed to hit the target.
After all, there is a difference between shooting fixed targets and moving targets. When shooting fixed targets, the gap between Leng Tiefeng and Xu Rui is not obvious, but when shooting moving targets, especially high-moving cavalry, the gap between the two men in marksmanship is huge. It was immediately obvious that Xu Rui's marksmanship was slightly better after all.
The death of the Japanese officer not only did not frighten the large group of Japanese cavalry, but also aroused their ferocity. The higher the seventy or eighty Japanese cavalrymen raised their sabers, the louder their roars became. The war horse also started its final sprint, as fast as lightning.
The Japanese cavalry came overwhelmingly to cover them up, but the murderous intent at the corner of Xu Rui's mouth became more and more intense.
Leng Tiefeng held up the 38 cap and fired again. This time he finally hit the target and knocked a Japanese cavalry off his horse. Xu Rui did not fire again, but raised his right hand high and said coldly: "Machine gun... Prepare!"
"Crack!"
"Crack!"
"Crack!"
The four machine gunners of the 2nd company pulled the bolt of the gun at the same time to put the gun in the firing state. The four ammunition handlers squatting next to the machine gunner also quickly inserted the bucket or ammunition belt into the crooked machine gun or Type 92 heavy-duty machine gun. The machine gun's bayonet, and the next moment, four black machine gun muzzles were pointed at the Japanese cavalry surging ahead.
The more than 40 remnant soldiers on the first line of defense also raised their 38 caps and pointed their guns forward.
Amidst the overwhelming sound of horse hooves, the Japanese cavalry quickly approached, 800 meters, 500 meters, 400 meters...
Xu Rui's right hand was still raised, as unyielding as a mountain, and the forty or so remnant soldiers around him were also motionless. Only Leng Tiefeng was firing continuously, knocking off the Japanese cavalry one after another.
Suddenly, the Japanese cavalry had entered within three hundred meters and entered the effective range of the crooked light machine gun!
The next moment, Xu Rui's raised right hand fell heavily, and at the same time he shouted coldly: "Fire!"
With an order, a Type 92 heavy machine gun, three crooked-handled light machine guns, and more than forty 38-guns opened fire violently at the same time. The hot bullets were like dense raindrops in an instant, violently splashing over the front. Three hundred meters away, the Japanese cavalry in the front row screamed and fell down from their horses.
The cavalry was once the king on the battlefield.
However, after entering the era of hot weapons, the cavalry has gradually declined. Especially after the emergence of heavy machine guns, the cavalry has been reduced from the main force on the battlefield to a supporting role. Although the cavalry system is still retained in the armies of various countries around the world, cavalry is not used as it was in the Middle Ages. Scenes of frontal charges rarely occur.
Because facing heavy machine guns, a frontal charge by the cavalry is simply suicide.
Only four machine guns are needed to complete the bloody massacre of an entire cavalry division. In Africa, the British army once used four Maxim heavy machine guns to massacre more than 5,000 Zulu cavalry.
Nowadays, the cavalry in all countries in the world are dragoons. The so-called dragoons are those who ride horses when marching and dismount to fight like infantry during combat. The war horses of this era are more of a riding tool. Of course, in certain specific situations, Sometimes, cavalry will still be used to charge head-on.
For example, now, the Japanese cavalry is trying to use the overwhelming momentum of the cavalry when charging head-on to psychologically destroy the fighting will of the independent battalion. Six years ago, they did this on the Jehol battlefield. Now, they want to copy the glory on the Jehol battlefield to the East China battlefield.
However, unfortunately, this time the Japanese cavalry faced Tang Yulin's sand army no longer.
When the infantry is no longer timid, when the infantry has machine gun firepower, no matter how powerful the cavalry is, it is just scum!
Under the intensive machine gun fire coverage of the 2nd Company of the Independent Battalion, the Japanese cavalry in the front row fell one after another. The originally dense and complete cavalry formation immediately became sparse. In order to avoid the fallen front row cavalry, the rear row cavalry They were forced to dodge to the left and right sides or jump into the air with their horses, which made the entire cavalry formation even more chaotic.
Once the cavalry formation is disrupted, the powerful momentum that crushes everything will disappear in an instant.
There was no suspense about the final result. A squadron of cavalry lost over fifty cavalry on the spot, with less than forty remaining. They turned around and retreated hastily. During the retreat, more than ten more cavalry were killed or beaten. Wounded, someone fell from his horse, struggling and wailing in a pool of blood.
The Japanese cavalry paid a heavy price for their arrogance.
Xu Rui raised his right hand again and pressed forward. More than forty remaining soldiers from the 1st Platoon of the 2nd Company immediately jumped up from the ground and stepped forward with bayonets in hand to clean the battlefield. Whether they were men or horses, dead or alive, First, he would be shot in the head from a distance of tens of meters, and then he would come closer and insert two bayonets into his heart. (To be continued.)
ps:
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