Devil's Army

When the Third Regiment stopped attacking Qiqihar, it left behind one regiment to tie down and confuse the Japanese army, and the other large forces turned to the northwest.

At this time, part of the Fourth Regiment of the Fourth Brigade had launched a fierce attack on Heihe in the northwest direction. It had now broken through the first line of defense of Heihe and was attacking deep into Heihe.

As a border town, Heihe built simple defensive fortifications from the late Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China, but never built a tall city wall.

Because it is located on the Sino-Russian border, its urban layout is more centered around ferry crossings and commercial ports, and its defensive facilities are relatively simple, mainly consisting of simple barriers such as fences and earthen walls, rather than brick and stone walls.

The Japanese army set up defenses along the high ground along the Heilongjiang River, the steep slopes and high ground along the river, but they were quickly repelled by the fierce combat effectiveness of the Fourth Regiment.

The Japanese commander quickly dispatched troops to stop the fierce attack of the Fourth Regiment.

At this time, the large force of the Third Regiment, which had arrived after a rapid march, had no time to rest and immediately launched a fierce attack on the Japanese defensive forces from the left wing.

Although the Japanese troops in Heihe put up a tenacious resistance, they were unable to withstand the rolling wheels and fierce firepower of the Second Tank Company.

Under the cover of tanks, the soldiers of the 3rd Regiment of the 4th Brigade attacked and captured camps and strongholds along the way, destroying many strongholds of the Japanese and puppet troops.

In the evening, as the tracks of the 3rd Regiment's tanks pressed onto the earthen wall of Heihe Street, the Japanese army's defense line in Heihe was declared broken.

The Japanese commander of Heihe Street immediately retreated to Daxinganling with a troop.

At that time, Daxinganling was not a municipality directly under the central government, but a large forest area under the jurisdiction of Xing'an North Province and Heihe Province of the puppet Manchukuo.

The area is vast and sparsely populated, making it difficult to supply the troops.

In order to eliminate the Japanese troops that had infiltrated the forest, Leng Feng decided to temporarily halt the attack on Qiqihar. He deployed the 1st Regiment of the 4th Brigade, most of the 3rd Regiment that had already entered Heihe, and part of the 4th Regiment to surround the various entrances and exits of the Greater Khingan Range.

Checkpoints were set up at all passages and patrol teams conducted strict inspections to prevent the Japanese army from escaping from the Greater Khingan Range.

He also ordered the 5th Brigade stationed in Chifeng City, Rehe Province to arrange troops to block all passages from Daxinganling into Chifeng City.

In order to strengthen patrol and control efforts, Leng Feng also dispatched two Golden Eagle drone squadrons (24 aircraft) to patrol and investigate in four directions day and night.

They made sure that the Japanese soldiers who fled into the Greater Khingan Range would either starve to death or freeze to death.

The highly alert Qiqihar Japanese army suddenly found that the devil troops had stopped attacking and breathed a sigh of relief. They did not know that a greater danger was waiting for them.

The Japanese troops in Heihe fled into the vast forest and breathed a sigh of relief, finally escaping the pursuit of the devil's troops.

As night fell, they felt more and more dangerous.

Due to the hasty retreat, the soldiers' blankets were left in the barracks and the soldiers only wore their uniforms.

The soldiers were shivering in the howling north wind mixed with snow.

The commander ordered the Japanese troops to form small teams of ten people each, and to huddle together for warmth.

The next morning, the Japanese commander discovered that many soldiers had runny noses and colds after a night out.

The soldiers of the First Army stationed outside the Greater Khingan Range had set up tents at the checkpoint, with a fire burning outside the tents.

This way, they could provide warmth and light, preventing the Japanese army from escaping from the Greater Khingan Range in the dark.

The Japanese commander discovered that in this vast forest, not only was keeping warm a big issue, but eating was also an unavoidable hurdle.

He decided to break out in the direction of Inner Mongolia in the west, so once the troops entered the Greater Khingan Range, they marched westward.