Devil's Army

The Chinese defenders on the south bank of the Hutuo River began to consolidate their positions and rescue the wounded.

Wu Lang felt bad as he watched the wounded being carried to the back and listened to their groans. He decided to use heavy artillery to teach the Japanese Second Infantry Battalion on the north bank of the Hutuo River a lesson at night when the Japanese planes were not dispatched.

Captain Guo used his golden eagle to scout the north bank of the Hutuo River and said to Wulang in disappointment:

"Brigade Commander, the Japs have all retreated."

"These bastards are not crazy. They have learned from the lesson of the First Infantry Battalion last night and are also retreating. What about the pontoon bridge? Are there any Japanese troops guarding the pontoon bridge?"

"Yes, but not many. Probably only about the size of a small team."

"No matter how small a mosquito is, it is still meat. Order a regiment commander to lead a platoon across the river to eat up this Japanese squad and avenge the soldiers who died in the bombing. Remember to blow up the Japanese pontoon bridge."

At ten o'clock in the evening, the platoon directly under the brigade, led by a platoon leader, quietly rowed to the north bank of the Hutuo River in two small boats.

The regiment commander arranged four snipers and two mortars to provide cover on the battlefield on the south bank.

As they got closer to the north bank of the Hutuo River, the soldiers rowed quietly.

Two Japanese sentries came over yawning to take over. Suddenly, one of them seemed to have discovered something, pointed at the Hutuo River and started yelling at the other soldiers.

Several other Japanese soldiers also looked towards the Hutuo River with guns in hand.

"Chirp, chirp..." A series of L-R4 sniper rifle shots rang out, and four Japanese sentries were shot and fell to the ground one after another.

When the other Japanese soldiers heard the gunshots, they immediately ran towards the pontoon bridge.

The boat was very close to the shore, and a platoon leader ordered the soldiers to wade across the river while firing heavily at the Japanese reinforcements.

A group of snipers on the south bank of the Hutuo River continued to harvest the lives of the Japanese troops on the north bank of the Hutuo River. Mortar gunners also continued to bombard the Japanese troops on the north bank of the Hutuo River to support the platoon leader and his men.

More than ten minutes later, all the Japanese troops near the floating bridge on the north bank of the Hutuo River were wiped out.

A platoon leader led his soldiers to bury explosives on the pontoon bridge, lit the fuse, and then led the soldiers to evacuate quickly by boat.

After a while, the pontoon bridge built by the Japanese in the evening was destroyed in a series of explosions.

Commander Kiyoshi Kozuki was very angry when he saw that the position on the south bank of the Hutuo River had not been taken after two days of fighting. He scolded the commander of the 20th Division, Fumisaburo Kawagishi, and urged the 14th and th Divisions of the Japanese Army to launch an attack on Zhengding County from both sides tomorrow.

The Japanese 6th and 14th divisions received the order and marched overnight, arriving at their destination in the early morning of the next day.

At nine o'clock the next morning, the 6th Division of the Japanese Army launched an attack on Zhengding County from the direction of Cihe River northwest of Zhengding County, the 14th Division of the Japanese Army launched an attack on Zhengding County from the east, and the 20th Division of the Japanese Army launched an attack on Zhengding County from the Hutuo River north of Zhengding County in three directions.

The Japanese army on the north bank of the Hutuo River redeployed a heavy artillery squadron and launched two hot air balloons. Under the guidance of the soldiers in the hot air balloons, they launched a fierce bombing on the Chinese defenders' positions on the south bank of the Hutuo River and the county seat of Zhengding.

The Chinese defenders' positions on the south bank of the Hutuo River were suddenly covered in blood and flesh, and many civilians in Zhengding County were unfortunately killed in the Japanese bombing.

"Shoot down the Japanese hot air balloon!" Wu Lang ordered Captain Fan.

Captain Fan arranged for two Golden Eagle IIs to fly next to the Japanese hot air balloon. Two air-to-ground missiles flew out and directly blew up the two Japanese hot air balloons.

One Golden Eagle II had one air-to-ground missile left, so Captain Fan 1 directly ordered the soldiers to fly it over the Japanese heavy artillery position and fired the last air-to-ground missile at it.

This missile directly destroyed a Type 150 mm howitzer of the Japanese army, and also caused panic in the Japanese heavy artillery position.

The Japanese heavy artillery lost the guidance of the hot air balloons and had no way to bomb the target in Zhengding County. They could only fire all their shells at the positions of the Chinese defenders on the south bank of the Hutuo River.

Wu Langsheng ordered the heavy artillery of the Second Brigade to suppress the Japanese heavy artillery and bombard the Japanese troops who were attacking the Hutuo River.

The fierce attack of the Japanese 20th Division was temporarily blocked by the 141nd Brigade and the st Division.

However, the Cihe position led by Commander Liao of the 20th Regiment of the 46th Independent Brigade of the 738th Army came under heavy bombardment by multiple Type 150 mm howitzers of the th Division of the Japanese Army. Many parts of the position collapsed and the position was in danger.

The eastern positions were also subjected to heavy artillery bombardment and fierce machine gun fire from the Japanese 14th Division, which had crossed the Hutuo River from a shallow position and was approaching Zhengding County.

The battle lasted until about 46:738 noon, when Division Commander Song received a telegram from Commander Liao of the th Regiment of the th Independent Brigade: the Cihe position had been lost, and the Japanese army had crossed the Cihe River and was approaching Zhengding County. They had already led their troops to retreat towards Shimen.

To the east of Zhengding County, the 141th Division of the Japanese Army repelled the defense line of the st Division and was also approaching Zhengding County.

Now, except for the north side which is still controlled by the 723rd Regiment and the st Regiment of the st Army, the other two sides of Zhengding County have been lost.

Considering that the three Japanese divisions launched an attack on Zhengding County, the west and east sides of Zhengding County had been lost. Division Commander Song and Wu Lang decided to retreat!