Xu Rui's credo is that there will never be any room for anything less than that.
Now that he has decided to seize the food from the tiger's mouth, since he has decided to eat Kawaguchi Heiji's bait, Xu Rui will never just send out a strong artillery battery to fire one shot and be done.
You can't defeat the little devil just by shooting!
Even if the Japanese are defeated, it is impossible to annihilate them all.
If you want to annihilate all the little Japs lured into Xiaoli Village, you have to rely on infantry!
When Niu Dazhuang's artillery company began a cluster bombardment of Xiaoli Village, the 3rd Battalion, which had never been seen before, finally appeared. Under the cover of night, more than 500 officers and soldiers quietly made their way through more than a dozen secret tunnels around Xiaoli Village. got out, and then quickly entered the outskirts of Xiaoli Village, forming an encirclement of Xiaoli Village from three directions.
In normal times, it would be sheer wishful thinking to surround a Japanese brigade with a battalion of troops.
But now, this impossible thing has become a reality, because at this time, almost all the troops of the Muto brigade have entered Xiaoli Village. Although the heavy machine gun squadron stayed on the outside of Xiaoli Village, it was deployed by Muto Akira. On the west side of the village, prepare to ambush the remaining soldiers of the independent regiment who "break out" from the village.
Therefore, when the 3rd Battalion deployed in battle formation and swooped towards Xiaoli Village, the only ones standing in front of them were the Muto Brigade and an artillery squad, a mere artillery squad, not a single machine gun, and only a dozen rifles. Facing the intensive machine gun fire of the 3rd Battalion, the Japanese were quickly defeated.
In less than a moment, the 3rd Battalion completed the encirclement of Xiaolizhuang from the north, south and east.
In this world, some things are just such a coincidence. Muto Akira hopes to drive the main force of the "non-existent" independent regiment to the open area between the west side of Xiaoli Village and Meihe, so that the heavy machine gun squadron can use machine gun firepower to harvest the independent regiment's enemies. The remaining soldiers were defeated, and Xu Rui actually planned to drive the Japanese in Xiaoli Village to the west.
What's even more coincidental is that Xu Rui also prepared a heavy machine gun platoon for the little devil!
The heavy machine gun platoon that had not appeared with Niu Dazhuang before finally appeared at this time, and planned to build a crane machine gun position on the west bank of Meihe River!
But here, things went a little awry.
After all, Xu Rui is not a god. He never expected that Muto Akira would place a heavy machine gun squadron between Xiaoli Village and Meihe. As a result, as soon as the heavy machine gun platoon of the machine gun company appeared from the west bank of Meihe River, it was immediately attacked by the Japanese on the east bank. The heavy machine gun squadron appeared. Now that it was over, the two heavy machine gun units immediately opened their stance and began a brutal exchange of fire.
The heavy machine gun squadron of Muto Brigade is a strengthened squadron, with three machine gun teams, each with four heavy machine guns. The entire squadron has a total of 12 Type 92 heavy machine guns, while the heavy machine gun platoon of the machine gun company on the other side only has four Type 92 heavy machine guns. Type II heavy machine gun, so the firepower density of both sides is not at the same level at all.
The shooting lasted less than two minutes, and more than a dozen machine gunners from the heavy machine gun platoon on the west bank were injured.
When the platoon leader Qiao Dun saw that this was not going to work, he immediately sent a correspondent to the company commander Niu Dazhuang to ask for help. When Niu Dazhuang heard that his heavy machine gun platoon had suffered a loss, he immediately became angry and immediately dispatched an artillery platoon to attack the river. The Japanese heavy machine gun position on the other side was hit by several rounds of shelling, and the little Japanese heavy machine gun position was blown to pieces.
Dealing with heavy machine gun positions that lack the protection of closed bunkers is a piece of cake for artillery!
Although Niu Dazhuang's artillery company had average tactical qualities, it could not withstand more artillery and more artillery shells. The four artillery platoons not only carried three base numbers of artillery shells, but Xu Rui also specially organized a transport team of fifty people to transport them from the underground The arsenal continued to deliver artillery shells to the artillery positions, and Xu Rui was willing to risk it all.
However, after such a commotion, Xu Rui's original plan to drive the Japs into the open area to the west of Xiaoli Village and then use heavy machine gun fire to harvest them immediately came to nothing. It was discovered that there was also an ambush by the Chinese Army on the west side of Meihe River. The Japanese in Xiaoli Village simply did not come out, and even the remnants of the heavy machine gun squadron hid in Xiaoli Village.
Although hiding in Xiaoli Village means you will be bombed by artillery, at least there are private houses as cover. If you stay outside the village, you will be directly in the open space without cover. Therefore, the Japanese would rather hide in the village and be bombed than stay in the city. He was beaten by an independent group outside. In this way, Xu Rui's three-dimensional siege immediately turned into a four-sided attack!
"Damn it, this is really a plan that can't keep up with the changes." Xu Rui punched the ground hard and said angrily, "Why do you think the Japanese commander on the opposite side has nothing to do and puts the heavy machine gun squadron in the open area on the west side? Doesn’t this harm me?”
"You can think of harvesting the Japs in the open area on the west side, but the little Jaap commander can't think of harvesting the remnants of the independent regiment in the open area on the west side?" Leng Tiefeng curled his lips and said, "But Lao Xu, now the situation has evolved into a strong attack. , our military strength seems to be somewhat insufficient, do you want to take this bait or not?"
"Nonsense!" Xu Rui exclaimed, "I have already put the bait in Kawaguchi's mouth, so why not eat it?"
Leng Tiefeng said: "But Lao Xu, I have to remind you that in half an hour at most, the reinforcements from the old Japanese Kawaguchi will arrive. Don't give the fishermen everything without eating the bait by then." Got a ride in."
"There is no turning back arrow when the bow is opened. The left and right are just a group of beaten Japanese. I don't believe that we can't take it!" Xu Rui said as he picked up the 38-meter cover at his feet, and then used the 38-inch cover to lead him forward. , shouted sternly, "Brothers, come with me and kill all these bastard little devils!"
Xu Rui's words were like a spark falling into a pile of firewood. It instantly ignited the enthusiasm of the special operations team members and more than a hundred independent regiment officers and soldiers behind them. Then they all picked up their weapons and followed Xu Rui. Screaming, they rushed towards the southern entrance of Xiaoli Village. Almost at the same time, the artillery battery's bombardment also came to an end.
Xu Rui personally led the 3rd Battalion and 1st Company to attack the south side of Xiaolizhuang, while Leng Tiefeng led the special forces to serve as the attack arrow. The firepower team composed of soldiers and Siberian tigers became arrowheads, each holding a crooked arrow in his left and right hands. The handler opened the way in front, and after a bullet was fired, the accompanying infantry immediately followed and replaced.
It’s not about changing the bucket, it’s about changing the gun directly!
The three teams of the special forces have a clear division of labor. The fire team is responsible for firepower output, the sniper team provides long-range protection, and shoots Japanese shooters who may threaten the fire team. The Japanese killed them one by one to ensure that the fire team's progress was unimpeded.
In just a moment, the special team had already penetrated into the depths of Xiaoli Village!
Leng Tiefeng originally thought he would encounter strong resistance from the Japanese, but in reality, the attack by the special forces was much easier than expected. They did not even encounter any decent resistance at all, and they had already rushed all the way into the village. The Li Family Courtyard in the center of the village is not far away.
What confused Leng Tiefeng even more was that judging from the sound of gunfire, the attacks from the other two directions seemed to go smoothly.
What's going on here? Leng Tiefeng was confused. Is this the only level that the little devil has? Shouldn't it? impossible
The more Leng Tiefeng thought about it, the more uneasy he became. He immediately turned back to Xu Rui and said loudly: "Old Xu, the situation is not right. The little devil's resistance is too weak. What the hell is this first-class division? I think it's just Even the combat effectiveness of the Taiwanese brigade we encountered in Nantong was far inferior, so I suspect there is some fraud involved!"
Xu Rui smiled and said, "Veteran, haven't you seen it yet? The reason why the little devils are so weak is not because their combat effectiveness is weak, but because they have completely lost effective command! You haven't seen it yet. The little devils are basically fighting on their own, and there is no alternate cover or coordination at all!"
Leng Tiefeng also reacted to Xu Rui's reminder.
Let Xu Rui say it, the Muto brigade has indeed lost effective command.
Because Akira Muto was killed in the first round of shelling from the artillery company!
Originally, even if Muto Akira was killed in the bombing, there would still be a senior commander, Ogawara Junsi, who could take over the command.
Unfortunately, Ogawara Junsi can replace Muto Akira, but his special operations team members cannot replace Muto Akira's squadron captains and squad captains, because Muto Akira was not the only one who was killed in the bombing, and his subordinates Many captains and squad leaders were also killed in the bombing, but the person who came to replace him was completely unknown to Junsi Oluhara.
The general does not know the soldiers, and the soldiers do not know the general, which will inevitably lead to confusion in command.
A force without effective command, no matter how well-equipped or well-trained it is, will never be able to exert even 10% more combat effectiveness than usual. This has been repeated by countless classic battles in the history of wars at home and abroad, both ancient and modern. It has been proved, so there is no need to say more here.
The morale of one side is high, while the morale of the other side is at its lowest point.
One side advances and retreats in an orderly manner, but the other side completely loses effective command.
Under this ebb and flow, the balance of victory and defeat immediately tilted sharply towards the Independent Regiment. Although the Muto Brigade still had a slight advantage in strength, it was of no use at this moment. The three companies belonging to the 3rd Battalion were from then on. It advanced rapidly in three directions: north, east and south, and broke into Xiaoli Village at the same time.
The two sides quickly entered into close combat.
Ordinarily, the Japs' stabbing skills are obviously better than those of the Independent Regiment, especially since most of the officers and soldiers of the 3rd Battalion are new recruits, and their stabbing skills are even worse than those of the Japs. Ordinarily, the Japs should have the upper hand, but in actual combat, The little devils were at a disadvantage almost without exception. The reason was very simple, because the recruits of the 3rd Battalion basically fought with more soldiers than the few. However, the little devils who had fallen into despair basically fought on their own.
Of course, there is another most important reason why the 3rd Battalion has the upper hand in hand-to-hand combat. That is, in addition to new recruits, the 3rd Battalion also has many key veterans. These veterans are from the 79th Route Army, Northeastern Army and Almost all of the elite members of the Northwest Army crawled out from among the dead! (To be continued.)