Devil's Army

The first battalion of the third regiment was responsible for attacking the front line of defense of Jihong Bridge.

The commander of the first battalion, following the order of the commander of the third regiment, fought bravely and fiercely with the Japanese troops ambushed in the civilian houses, and drove the Japanese troops northward from house to house and alley to lane.

However, the Japanese army's counterattack after recovering was also quite fierce.

The shouts of the soldiers of the first battalion, the howling of the Japanese soldiers, the gunshots and explosions echoed in the residential area in front of Jihong Bridge.

When attacking the Japanese soldiers in each house, the soldiers of the first battalion first threw grenades into the houses. The rocket soldiers at a distance fired rockets directly.

Such fierce firepower made it difficult for the Japanese army to withstand it and they were gradually driven out of the residential area.

After half a day of fighting, the first battalion gained a firm foothold, occupied the residential area, and began to prepare to attack the Jihong Bridge opposite.

After lunch, at 1:30 p.m., the first battalion launched an attack on Jihong Bridge.

Mortar shells hit the positions south of Jihong Bridge one after another.

As soon as the mortars of the first regiment stopped firing, the infantry began to attack.

The Japanese machine guns at the position south of Jihong Bridge fiercely fired at the attacking soldiers of the first battalion.

The small mountain artillery on the north bank of Jihong Bridge also took advantage of the fact that the Devil Force's air force had not arrived and fiercely bombarded the attacking battalion of soldiers.

The soldiers of the first battalion tried to attack twice but failed to break through the Japanese defense line and had to suspend the attack.

The next morning, Harbin was shrouded in thick fog, and the steel railings on the Jihong Bridge were still covered with frost. Suddenly, the deafening sound of tracks rolling on the ground tore through the silence.

Four tanks from the Seventh Brigade were roaring in a triangular wedge formation from the direction of the residential area, their guns pointed directly at the heavily defended Japanese positions at the bridgehead.

The Japanese army was obviously well prepared. The windows of the buildings on both sides of the bridge instantly spewed out flames, and heavy machine gun bullets splashed dense sparks on the bridge surface.

The mountain artillery in the bridgehead immediately opened fire. The first shell blew off the tracks of the leading tank. The steel wreckage lay across the middle of the bridge, becoming a natural roadblock.

Soldiers from the first battalion hid behind the wreckage of the tanks and continued to shoot at the Japanese troops stationed on the south bank of Jihong Bridge.

"Air raid!" As soon as the Japanese lookout's roar fell, a mixed squadron of fighters and bombers from the First Army flew over.

A fighter plane from the first army swooped down, and the machine guns under its wings swept towards the Japanese firepower point.

As a bomber flew over the bridge at low altitude, the bomb it dropped hit the bridgehead accurately, and brick and stone fragments mixed with the screams of Japanese soldiers soared into the sky.

But the Japanese anti-aircraft machine guns quickly returned fire, and a bomber from the First Army plunged towards the Songhua River, emitting black smoke.

The other two fighter planes of the First Army fired at the heavy machine guns with flames coming out of the windows of the buildings on both sides of Jihong Bridge.

The remaining tanks and infantry took advantage of the fact that the firepower of the Japanese bridgehead positions and the firepower on both sides of the bridge were suppressed by the air force and advanced quickly.

The leading "Qukou" tank crashed through the roadblocks under a hail of bullets, and as the turret turned, high-explosive bombs blew away the Japanese machine gun positions on the bridgehead.

However, the Japanese army's small mountain artillery immediately locked onto the target and broke the tracks of the second tank with several consecutive shots.

The second tank of the 7th Brigade was also positioned in front of the Jihong Bridge bridgehead position.

The driver and passengers in the car were also knocked unconscious by the shock wave of the explosion.

The battalion of soldiers that followed were then pinned down under the bridge by the crossfire from the buildings.

The First Army's air force then flew over and carried out suppressive bombing on the Japanese firepower points in the building complex.

The battle for the bridgehead position on the south bank of Jihong Bridge has entered a fierce stage.

Under the cover of tanks, the soldiers of the first battalion charged and approached the position on the south bank of Jihong Bridge, but were stubbornly blocked by the Japanese army.