Devil's Army

The heavy artillery of the 65rd Battalion of the 47th Regiment of the Japanese Army plowed through the fortifications of Fangshan position. The fortifications that the th Division had rebuilt with great difficulty were reduced to ruins.

The commander of the 276th Regiment looked at the collapsed fortifications everywhere and secretly felt lucky that only a few observation soldiers were sent out, otherwise his entire battalion would have been wiped out.

After the Japanese artillery bombardment, the captain of the third battalion began to arrange an infantry company to launch a charge towards the Fangshan position.

Commander Pei in the command room immediately ordered the commander of the 276th Regiment to arrange a company to enter the position.

When the Japanese rushed to the position of about 47 meters in front of Fangshan, the soldiers of the 47th Division began to shoot at the Japanese. The only three mortars left in the 47th Division also supported the th Division and continued to bombard the Japanese.

The commander of the 65th Regiment of the Japanese Army was stunned by the sound of the few mortars and the sound of the Hanyang-made guns. It was obviously not his first and second battalions that encountered the devil troops.

The second regiment commander, with nearly a thousand soldiers and 53 soldiers from the 32rd Army's reconnaissance company, tracked the Japanese to the outskirts of the Fangshan position.

Looking at the Japanese who were attacking the Fangshan position, the second regiment commander came up with a way to eliminate the Japanese bit by bit.

He asked Deputy Company Commander He to lead his reconnaissance company to attack the Japanese from behind, and then lead them to the hillside path where they were now.

Deputy Company Commander He led his reconnaissance company to suddenly attack the rear guard of the Japanese 65th Regiment from behind.

The commander of the 65th Regiment of the Japanese Army was disappointed because there was no evil force in the Fangshan position. Suddenly, the rear guard was attacked by a small group of Chinese troops. He was furious and ordered the third squadron, which was the rear guard, to attack immediately and destroy this small group of Chinese troops.

The Japanese third squadron quickly attacked and counterattacked Deputy Company Commander He's reconnaissance company.

Who would have thought that this small group of Chinese troops would collapse at the first blow and flee quickly.

The captain of the third squadron of the Japanese army led the soldiers of the first squadron to chase closely behind. Even mosquitoes dare to bite lions, and he will make these mosquitoes pay the price.

As the Japanese Third Squadron was led into the encirclement by Deputy Company Commander He, intensive gunfire and grenade explosions were heard all around the path.

More than ten minutes later, the battle was over, and the 175 soldiers of the Japanese Third Squadron became 175 corpses.

The second regiment commander ordered the soldiers to quickly clean up the battlefield and then retreat.

Since the ambush position of the Second Regiment was set at a certain distance from the Fangshan position, the regiment commander was not aware of the ambush on the hill.

The Third Squadron pursued a small group of Chinese troops and never returned, which attracted the attention of the regiment commander.

The Fangshan position was attacked twice, but failed. The commander of the regiment did not want to attack again, so he ordered the troops to retreat and search for the whereabouts of the 3rd Infantry Squadron along the way.

Soon, the 65th Regiment arrived at the hillside. What caught the eyes of the regiment commander were the bodies of 175 imperial soldiers lying in all directions.

The commander of the regiment knew that he had been tricked, but what annoyed him even more was that all the imperial soldiers had died from Japanese weapons. This meant that the devil troops he had been looking for had attacked his third infantry squadron.

The commander of the corps ordered the troops to search for any traces of the Devil's Army in small groups, with the location where the Third Squadron was attacked as the center of the circle.

The 65th Regiment searched until it was dark but still found no trace of the Devil's Army. They had to return dejectedly to report the death to Major General Yamada Sawaji.

At this time, the commander of the second regiment had already set up three guard posts on the way to Zhangfang Town with his troops. The others all returned to Zhangfang Town to help fight the fire and prepare to rebuild the destroyed houses with the first regiment.

Pei, the commander of the 65th Division, was also puzzled by the sudden withdrawal of the 47th Regiment of the Japanese Army. He had already made up his mind to sacrifice his life for the country at the Fangshan position. Who knew that the Japanese army only launched a fierce attack once, attacked again in a formal manner, and then retreated hastily.

More than 3,000 officers and soldiers of the 5th Brigade spent a day and a half to rebuild all the damaged houses in Zhangfang Town, and then prepared to leave.

They had to rush to the outskirts of Baoding City to look for fighter planes to annihilate the Japanese.

The villagers of Zhangfang Town reluctantly bid farewell to the soldiers of the Fifth Brigade. They had been looted by another group of Japanese troops not long ago. Although the damage to their houses was not as serious as this time, 48 townspeople were massacred by the Japanese.

There is no way. During the war, the common people suffer the most.

The commander of the Fifth Brigade used the Golden Eagle II to scout and found that except for the Fangshan position, all other positions outside Baoding City had fallen into the hands of the Japanese army. The Japanese Sixth Division, the Fourteenth Division and the Twentieth Division were gathering. The Battle of Baoding was about to begin.

Meilang ordered his troops to speed up their march and rush to the outskirts of Baoding City.

When the troops marched near Huangcun, sporadic gunshots were heard from the village, as well as the sounds of people running and shouting.

If they fought with the devils in the village, their plan to secretly reach the outskirts of Baoding City and wait for an opportunity to attack the devils would fail. If they abandoned the devils in Huangcun, Huangcun would be in great trouble.

Deputy Company Commander He challenged Meilang to a fight:

"Commander, judging from the gunfire, there shouldn't be many Japanese in the village. Let's go with the reconnaissance company. You continue to rush to Baoding City."

"Even if it's just a small group of devils, it's not easy for you to deal with them." After saying that, Meilang shouted to the regiment commander:

“Captain Huang, arrange for a platoon to follow the reconnaissance company into the village to deal with these beasts. The others can take a rest and continue on.”

However, what happened next forced Meilang to change his decision.