Devil's Army

The Jidong Independent Brigade fought all the way and recovered only small county towns, where there were not many Japanese and puppet troops defending.

Brigade Commander Gao strongly suggested to the Fifth Brigade Commander that their Jidong Independent Brigade should take the lead in the Hengshui Campaign.

The Fifth Brigade Commander agreed that the Jidong Independent Brigade would take the lead in the attack, but would have to divide its forces to defend against Japanese reinforcements from Baoding.

Their Fifth Brigade was responsible for blocking the Japanese reinforcements in Shijiazhuang and blocking part of the main force of the Japanese 36th Division near Jizhou.

After analyzing the deployment of Japanese and puppet troops in Hengshui, the commander of the Fifth Brigade decided to take advantage of their troop strength and launch an attack on the four city gates of Hengshui at the same time.

The west, south and north gates are feint attacks, and the east gate is the main attack. The time is set for 8 o'clock tomorrow morning. It is required to fight quickly and resolve the battle before the Japanese reinforcements arrive.

After receiving the combat mission, Brigade Commander Gao left a regiment to garrison the north of Hengshui City in a combat posture, ready to block the Japanese reinforcements from the direction of Baoding.

The Second Regiment was ambushed to the east of Hengshui, preparing for the main attack, while the three battalions of the Third Regiment were responsible for the feint attack to the west, south and north of Hengshui.

At night, the Jidong Independent Brigade and the various units of the Fifth Brigade successively reported to the Fifth Brigade Commander: the troops had arrived at the designated location and were on standby in secret.

At eight o'clock the next morning, the south gate, west gate and north gate walls of Hengshui City were simultaneously bombarded by the Jidong Independent Brigade.

The Japanese troops in the city were attacked by multiple Chinese troops. They hurriedly sent all their troops to resist while asking for help.

The main force of the Japanese 36th Division, which was sweeping the Eighth Route Army's Taihang Military District, had to turn around to reinforce.

Commander Tada Shun judged from various signs that the Japanese 36th Division was attacked by the devil troops. He had no choice but to order the defenders of Shijiazhuang and Baoding to go out, hoping to eliminate part of the devil troops and lay the foundation for the upcoming sweep of the Tangshan base.

The officers and soldiers of the Eighth Route Army's Taihang Military Region had already received instructions from General Peng, and nearby troops took the initiative to attack and contain the Japanese attack.

日军36师团222联队第1大队和223联队第9大队随即放弃搜剿八路军129师385旅和386旅，转而进攻风头正茂的魔鬼部队。

然而撤退的日军第36师团第1大队和第9大队不时遭到129师385旅的偷袭和386旅的追击，前进速度缓慢。

当舞伝男师团长叫36师团进攻现身的八路军385旅和386旅主力时，八路军385旅和386旅主力又如同退潮的海水，消失得无影无踪。

This made the male division leader of the Dance Sect feel frustrated that he had the power but nowhere to use it.

日军36师团223联队第3大队在回援衡水市时又遭到115师八路军344旅的不断袭扰。也是前进速度极为缓慢。

When the Japanese reinforcements from Shijiazhuang passed through Xinji County, they were blocked by the Shanxi-Henan Detachment of the Taihang Military Region of the Eighth Route Army.

Later, with the fierce bombardment of artillery and the cooperation of tanks, they finally broke through the blockade of the Jinyu Detachment. However, when they were marching to a narrow road in Zhaoxian, the tanks were destroyed by the rocket soldiers of the 5th Brigade. The troops were also stubbornly blocked by the 1st Battalion of the 1st Regiment of the 5th Brigade, and the troops were temporarily unable to reinforce Hengshui.

When the Japanese troops in Baoding were marching to the Malanjing area of ​​Shenzhou City, they were fiercely attacked by the 1st Regiment of the Jidong Independent Brigade which had been lying in ambush there.

The Japanese army in Baoding dispatched air force to fiercely bomb the first regiment of Jidong Independent Brigade, but they were soon attacked by the aircraft of the First Army and retreated.

The Japanese reinforcements in Baoding were also heavily bombed by the First Army's aircraft.

The Japanese reinforcements in Baoding suffered heavy casualties in the aerial bombing and strafing by the First Army's aircraft and the fierce attack by the First Regiment of the Jidong Independent Brigade. They retreated to Baoding and the reinforcement failed.

The H-36 bombers and Huaxia- ​​fighters of the First Army then launched a fierce bombing on the Japanese reinforcements in Shijiazhuang, the rd Battalion and the th Battalion of the st Battalion of the th Division of the Japanese Army, making it difficult for these Japanese troops to take care of themselves and had no way to reinforce the Japanese defenders in Hengshui.

At this time, the Japanese troops in Hengshui were deployed in the west, north and south to block the attack of the Jidong Independent Brigade. Only Dai Yubo's security team was left to defend the east of Hengshui.

The security team, which was composed of bandits, fled in panic under the fierce artillery bombardment of the Second Regiment of the Jidong Independent Brigade.

The Second Regiment quickly attacked the east gate of Hengshui and began to advance into depth.

Soon, the Japanese defenders at the north and south gates of Hengshui City were defeated by the double-sided attack from the troops outside the city and the Second Regiment inside the city, and retreated to the west gate while blocking the enemy.

The Jidong Independent Brigade at the west gate pretended to be defeated and retreated, leaving a gap. After the Japanese defenders in Hengshui City withdrew from Hengshui City, they suddenly surrounded them with the Second Regiment that rushed out of the city.

The Japanese defenders who escaped from Hengshui City had no solid defense line of the city walls for protection and were attacked fiercely by the 2nd Regiment and one battalion of the 3rd Regiment of the Jidong Independent Brigade. All of them were wiped out outside the west gate of Hengshui City.

More than an hour later, the remaining Japanese and puppet troops in Hengshui City were completely wiped out by the Second Regiment, and Hengshui City was recovered.

At this point, the Japanese reinforcements from three directions had not yet reached the city of Hengshui.