Devil's Army

Shortly after the East Gate was breached by the First Army, part of the 25th Regiment of the Eighth Route Army also attacked Shenzhou City from the South Gate.

The three troops conducted a large-scale search in Shenzhou City, pursuing the fleeing Japanese and puppet troops.

In the evening, the Japanese and puppet troops in Shenzhou City were basically eliminated, and Shenzhou City returned to peace.

The rapid progress of the battle between the Jidong Independent Brigade and the Sixth Brigade of the First Anti-Japanese Army in the southern Hebei region alarmed Commander Tada Shun.

He ordered the 4th Independent Mixed Brigade, which was encircling the Eighth Route Army of the Taihang Military Region on the Taihang Mountain Road, to turn around and prepare to encircle and suppress the devil troops.

The remaining troops of the 20th and 36th divisions of the Japanese army, which had retreated to Shijiazhuang for rest, were also gathering after replenishing their ammunition, preparing to launch an attack on the devil troops in Hengshui City from the southwest.

The First Battalion of the 36th Division of the Japanese Army stationed in Cangzhou also took the opportunity to make trouble and launched an attack on Huanghua City.

Huanghua City is the eastern gate of Cangzhou. Ever since it was captured by the devil's army, it has been like a thorn in Cangzhou's throat.

During the Japanese army's second encirclement and suppression of the Tangshan base, they launched several waves of attacks on Huanghua City, but they were all repelled by the 1st Regiment of the Jidong Independent Brigade.

This time, we received an order from Commander Tada Shun to assist the Japanese troops in Shijiazhuang in attacking Hengshui City.

The captain personally led the troops to the hilly area and stopped advancing.

He had fought with the devil's troops here many times before, and there must be ambushes of the devil's troops on the hills on both sides.

Sure enough, the vanguard sent by the captain engaged in a fierce battle with the devil troops while searching the hilly area.

The machine guns on both sides of the hill blocked the way forward. After more than half an hour of fierce fighting, the Japanese vanguard retreated in a hurry, leaving behind dozens of corpses.

As soon as the Japanese infantry retreated, a regiment of soldiers immediately hid in the anti-artillery holes on the reverse slope of the hill.

After this period of repair and consolidation, the anti-artillery holes on the hill position have begun to function as anti-artillery holes. Unless the shells hit the anti-artillery holes directly, it is difficult to cause casualties among the soldiers of the army.

Sure enough, not long after a regiment of soldiers entered the anti-artillery cave, Japanese artillery fire whizzed over, exploding continuously around the hill and raising clouds of dust.

After the shelling, the Japanese army launched another attack on the hilly area.

What the captain didn't expect was that this time they broke through the devil troops' hilly defense line in one fell swoop.

The Japanese army had just broken through the defense line of the Devil's troops in the hilly area when suddenly there was a dense roar of artillery fire from the front.

One artillery shell after another fell on the Japanese reinforcement troops, blocking the reinforcement of the Japanese follow-up troops.

At this time, fierce gunfire rang out on both sides of the hill path.

A group of soldiers in the fortifications also came out of the anti-artillery holes and split into two groups, one to block the Japanese troops in front of the hill, and the other to attack the Japanese troops who had just broken through the defense line from behind.

The Japanese army's follow-up troops wanted to break through the artillery blockade of the devil troops and reinforce the vanguard troops that had already broken through the defense line. However, they were thrown into chaos by the dense artillery fire.

A regiment of soldiers wiped out the Japanese vanguard, and the artillery began to extend its fire and bombard the Japanese follow-up troops.

A regiment of soldiers began to launch a fierce attack on the Japanese follow-up troops.

The vanguard of the captain's team was hit hard by the devil's troops. Unable to withstand the sharp offensive of the regiment, they began to retreat towards Cangzhou.

Commander Tada Shun's attempt to use the Japanese troops in Cangzhou to contain the devil troops in Hengshui City failed.

The heavy task of encircling and suppressing the newly established Hengshui base fell on the Japanese 20th Division, 36th Division and the th Independent Mixed Brigade in Shijiazhuang.

Deputy Commander Xu of the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army promptly informed Gray Wolf that the Japanese Army's 4th Independent Mixed Brigade had stopped destroying their base and instead planned to destroy the Hengshui Anti-Japanese First Army.

Moreover, the underground party in Shijiazhuang also informed Gray Wolf through Deputy Division Commander Xu that the Japanese troops in Shijiazhuang were gathering. The target was most likely the First Anti-Japanese Army in Hengshui City.

After more than half a month of continuous fighting, it was obviously unrealistic for the 6th Brigade of the 1st Army, the Jidong Independent Brigade and the newly formed 9th Brigade of the Eighth Route Army to withstand the attack of three Japanese divisions.

Gray Wolf asked Deputy Brigade Commander Dai of the Second Brigade to hand over the defense at hand to the brother troops and immediately set out to reinforce the First Anti-Japanese Army in Hengshui City.

Liu, the commander of the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army, also urgently ordered the 385th Brigade, which had broken out of the Japanese encirclement, and the 386th Brigade, which had jumped out of the Taihang Mountains, to return to Hengshui to support the newly formed th Brigade, the th Brigade of the First Anti-Japanese Army, and the Jidong Independent Brigade, in order to consolidate the newly established base in southern Hebei.

When the 385th Brigade of the Eighth Route Army was on its way to reinforce Hengshui City, scouts discovered part of the Japanese Army's th Independent Mixed Brigade.

Therefore, in the hilly area of ​​Chenzhuang, Lingshou County, and Fenggouli area, the Japanese Army's 4th Independent Mixed Brigade ambushed twice, effectively delaying the Japanese Army's 4th Independent Mixed Brigade's encirclement and suppression of Hengshui City.