Devil's Army

After Colonel Saito's regiment broke through the Jinhuashan defense line, it advanced at full speed towards Jianchang County under the cover of tanks.

The road was difficult to navigate. Eight tanks creaked and swayed forward on the road, with infantry following closely on both sides and behind.

The commander of the Fifth Brigade was also observing this unit of Japanese infantry through the telescope.

Under the cover of tanks, the Japanese infantry marched out of Jinhua Mountain in an endless stream and rushed towards Jianchang County. Judging from the number of people, there was definitely more than one battalion.

The Japanese North China Front Army had never fought against the devil troops and was very arrogant. They thought that the devil troops were just like the Northeast Army, and they could just shoot a few times, and then retreat like the receding tide after the tanks charged, the cannons bombed, and the planes bombed.

Deputy Brigade Commander Luo also saw the arrogance of the devils in the telescope, and he said to the Fifth Brigade Commander:

"Brother Li, this Japanese army is very arrogant."

"Arrogance is good. I want him to be arrogant first, and then he will know how many eyes the horse king has."

When the Saito Regiment walked into the ambush circle of the 5th Brigade, the commander of the 5th Brigade issued an order to encircle and annihilate them.

For a moment, the sound of gunfire and grenade explosions rang out on the small road that stretched for more than ten miles.

Colonel Saito was also shocked by the surprise attack. His scouts had investigated the area and reported to him that there were only garrisons of the Devil Army on Jinhua Mountain and 15 miles away from Jinhua Mountain, and the total strength would not exceed one battalion. Now the situation was more than one battalion, not to mention one regiment. The strength of the Devil Army was close to seven or eight thousand.

But Colonel Saito was a general with great military achievements after all. He immediately ordered the tanks to continue to charge forward and capture Jianchang County as soon as possible. The infantry immediately sought cover on the spot to counterattack the devil troops.

Colonel Eto believed that the purpose of his battle was to reoccupy Jianchang County. As long as his tanks relied on their high mobility to break through the encirclement of the devil troops and successfully occupied Jianchang County, their strategic goal would be achieved.

But what dumbfounded him was that shells trailing flames kept flying towards his tank.

In less than the time it took to smoke a cigarette, his eight tanks exploded and were destroyed one after another, lying on the path.

The 40th Brigade was well prepared for this battle. Before the th Brigade Commander issued the attack order, the rocket soldiers of their unit had already locked their targets. As soon as the th Brigade Commander issued the attack order, they immediately opened fire on their targets.

Colonel Saito had not expected that the artillery technology of the Devil's Army had been so sophisticated that it could destroy all eight of his tanks in less than a column of smoke. This was something that no artillery unit of the North China Front could do.

Then Colonel Saito discovered that the tactics of the friendly devil troops were no less than those of the North China Front Army. Their weapons and equipment were no less than theirs. They even had more light and heavy machine guns than them.

Colonel Saito didn't know that in order to inflict heavy damage on the North China Front Army, the Fifth Brigade Commander had moved all the light and heavy machine guns in stock to the battlefield. He also went to the arsenal to collect a batch of light and heavy machine guns when he returned to the battlefield from the tribe.

Soldiers from the Second and Third Regiments of the Fifth Brigade relied on the trees and rocks on both sides of the path and continued to shoot at the Japanese on the path.

The Japanese soldiers on the path had no suitable cover. Some of them lay in the ditch beside the path, and some lay directly on the path. Casualties continued to rise.

Among the three axes of airplanes, tanks and artillery, Colonel Saito had already broken one.

Colonel Saito ordered their artillery to carry out intensive bombardment on both sides of the path in an attempt to break up the encirclement of the devil troops.

But the artillery of the 5th Brigade were no pushovers, and their artillery shells continued to accurately fall among the group of Japanese devils on the path.

The density of Japanese troops on the small road was quite high, and each artillery shell caused considerable casualties.

Seeing this, Colonel Saito had no choice but to use his last axe and call for air support.

After a while, six Japanese G3M96 bombers flew over from the direction of Rehe.

Three of the six Japanese G3M96 bombers rushed towards the left side of the path, and three rushed towards the right side of the path.

After a while, the sound of explosions of Japanese aerial artillery shells continued to be heard on both sides of the path that stretched for more than ten miles, and flames shot into the sky.

The two anti-aircraft artillery companies of the 5th Brigade were in ambush positions, and the Japanese bombers only bombed their soldiers on both sides of their path and did not fly towards Jianchang County. Therefore, their anti-aircraft artillery companies could not do anything about the Japanese bombers.

The commander of the Fifth Brigade, who had not been bombed by Japanese bombers for a long time, was furious, but their Golden Eagle air-to-air missiles were almost gone, so he had to order his troops to rush forward and fight with bayonets on the Japanese approaching the path.

Upon receiving the order, the soldiers of the Second and Third Regiments of the Fifth Brigade rushed towards the path shouting and engaged in close combat with the Japanese.

The shouts of the soldiers of the Fifth Brigade and the howling of the Japanese devils could be heard on the path that stretched for more than ten miles.

Colonel Saito was not worried when he saw the Devil's Army soldiers, who outnumbered him, rushing out to fight with their Imperial soldiers with bayonets, because according to his past experience, one of his Imperial soldiers could deal with three Chinese soldiers.

But the fighting on the scene soon gave his previous experience a slap in the face.