Devil's Army

At eight o'clock the next morning, the Japanese troops on the north bank of the Hutuo River had not yet attacked.

Commander Song breathed a sigh of relief and said:

"The Japanese may have been frightened by your heavy artillery fire last night and stopped attacking us."

"Impossible. Going south along the Pinghan Line to attack Shimen is their established strategic goal. It is impossible for them to cancel the operation after suffering a small setback."

Before nine o'clock, the 77th Regiment of the Japanese Army replaced the nd Infantry Battalion and arrived at the north bank of the Hutuo River, preparing to attack the Hutuo River.

"You were right. These devils are coming after all."

"The division commander is not the Japanese army from yesterday, but the Second Battalion." the sentry corrected.

"This second battalion is here to seek revenge. Tell them to be on the lookout for artillery fire."

Just as Wu Lang finished speaking, there was a intensive roar of heavy artillery fire from the north bank of the Hutuo River.

"Messenger, call Captain He..." Before Wu Lang's order was issued, the roar of Japanese planes was heard in the sky.

With Japanese planes bombing, their heavy artillery units could not show up, so Wu Lang had to cancel the order and then request air force support from the headquarters.

Under the heavy bombing of Japanese heavy artillery and aircraft, the Chinese army positions on the south bank of Hutuo River were almost completely intact. The soldiers were lying quietly in the fortifications. Who could survive this wave of bombing by the Japanese army was entirely up to fate.

The bombing by Japanese heavy artillery and aircraft continued, and Japanese engineers on the north bank of the Hutuo River had begun repairing and building a pontoon bridge.

The Chinese defenders in the fortifications braved the Japanese bombing and continued to shoot at the Japanese troops on the north bank of the Hutuo River.

The mortar soldiers of the first regiment also braved the bombing of Japanese aircraft and constantly changed their positions to attack the Japanese engineers who were building the bridge.

The newly built pontoon bridges were destroyed by mortar bombardment.

The captain of the second battalion of the Japanese infantry was furious, and he set the target of the bombing on the mortar soldiers of the Chinese defenders. However, the mortar soldiers of the regiment did not set up a unified artillery position, but were divided into groups of three and fought separately.

A group of mortar soldiers had just finished bombing the Japanese pontoon bridge and had no time to move when they were targeted by Japanese planes.

The Japanese planes roared towards the mortar troops, and the two Type 89 machine guns on the front of the planes fired desperately.

The soldier who was transporting artillery shells nearby saw that the main gunner was in danger, and without hesitation, he threw him down and pressed him under himself.

Japanese planes roared past their heads, and bullets hit the soldiers who had thrown themselves over the main gunner.

Seeing this, the assistant gunner who was hiding a little further away shouted and rushed over.

The soldier transporting the ammunition was shot three times and blood was gushing out.

The assistant gunner pushed away the soldier who was pressing on the main gunner, but he found that the bullet had penetrated the soldier's body and hit the main gunner who was pressed to the ground.

The assistant gunner used his hand to feel the breath of the main gunner, and found that he was no longer breathing.

He picked up the mortar that had fallen to the ground sadly, asked another soldier next to him to help him carry the ammunition, ran to a fortification and aimed at the Japanese engineers who were building a pontoon bridge.

A mortar shell roared into the Hutuo River next to the pontoon bridge, causing a large wave that startled the Japanese engineers nearby. However, the Japanese engineers did not stop, but continued to build the pontoon bridge.

The assistant gunner readjusted the firing parameters and fired another shot.

The second shot landed accurately on the pontoon bridge that was being built, blowing the already built section of the bridge and the engineers on it flying everywhere.

Then came the second and third shots. The assistant gunner fired three shells at the pontoon bridge.

The deputy gunners who had not moved their positions were targeted by the Japanese heavy artillery and were hit by two 150mm grenades in succession.

The assistant gunner and his mortar were blown away in all directions.

The Japanese planes were still wreaking havoc, and the First Army's planes finally arrived.

The 77th and th Air Squadrons were responsible for supporting the th Regiment of the Japanese Army this time. They had already heard that the Devil Force's pointed aircraft were fast and powerful.

When they saw the IAF planes coming over, the Japanese bombers began to flee the engagement area.

The First Army left four Hua Xia II fighters to escort the H-1 bomber, and another four Hua Xia IIs rushed towards the Japanese bomber.

Upon seeing this, twelve Type 95 fighter planes of the Japanese Eighth Air Squadron quickly flew over to escort.

The Japanese army had made arrangements to target the high speed of the Devil Force's aircraft. Every three Type 95 fighters were divided into three groups and attacked the Hua Xia II fighters from the front, attempting to fight desperately with the weak First Army Air Force. Even if the casualty ratio was three to one, they had to fight to the death with all of the First Army's aircraft.

At that time, the Japanese army had more than 300 aircraft in North China, and the First Anti-Japanese Army, plus the two newly developed Huaxia II fighters and Huaxia I fighters, had a total of only eight aircraft, not even a fraction of the Japs'.

However, due to the backward communication means at that time, Instructor Yin had no way to give guidance and advice to the pilots. Everything depended on themselves.