Devil's Army

At this time, the total strength of the First Anti-Japanese Army's navy, army and air force reached more than 21, which exceeded the total strength of the Eighth Route Army active in Shanxi, Chahar and Hebei at that time.

This was due to the fact that the Nanjing government forces attracted a large number of Japanese main forces, allowing the First Anti-Japanese Army to develop its strength quietly.

At this time, Qianxi County and Qian'an County around Xiaoguanzhuang Airport had been recaptured by the North China Front Army. The only city left outside Xiaoguanzhuang Airport was Tangshan City, which was heavily guarded by the Japanese army.

Leng Feng believed that the Japanese army's strategy of a quick victory had failed and that the Sino-Japanese War had entered a stage of strategic stalemate.

Leng Feng decided to no longer keep a low profile and prepared to launch the Tangshan Campaign and the Qinhuangdao Campaign.

Before the Battle of Tangshan began, Gray Wolf received a telegram from Commander-in-Chief Peng of the Eighth Route Army, requesting support for the Jidong Anti-Japanese Allied Forces in the Tangshan and Lulong County areas.

The Jidong Anti-Japanese Allied Forces was not a force organized entirely by the Communist Party, but an anti-Japanese armed force composed of multiple forces under the leadership and promotion of the Communist Party.

A large number of troops were withdrawn when the Japanese army encircled and suppressed the Tangshan base of the First Anti-Japanese Army.

After the encirclement and suppression of the Tangshan base area, a temporary balance emerged between the Japanese army and the First Anti-Japanese Army. They confronted each other across the existing boundary.

At this time, large-scale riots broke out in more than 20 counties in Yidong, and the Jidong Anti-Japanese Allied Forces came into being.

At that time, the composition of the Jidong Anti-Japanese Allied Forces was relatively complex. It was based on the anti-Japanese forces led by the Communist Party as its core and backbone, and it also united anti-Japanese forces from all walks of life, including workers, peasants, intellectuals, patriotic gentry, and some patriotic officers and soldiers of the Kuomintang.

Communist Party member Li Yunchang and others played an important role in organizing and leading the struggle. Under the banner of the Anti-Japanese National United Front, they united the people of Jidong and jointly launched the anti-Japanese struggle. The number of troops once exceeded 50,000. However, the troops were in a state of chaos and lacked effective organization and guidance.

One devilish army has already caused the Japanese army a lot of headaches. The Japanese army was afraid of raising a tiger to cause trouble, so they mobilized troops from Tianjin, Beijing, and Tangshan to launch a frenzied counterattack against the Jidong Anti-Japanese Allied Forces in seven directions.

Some leaders of the Jidong Anti-Japanese Allied Forces believed that the Allied Forces were similar to militias, lacked weapons and ammunition, and the soldiers were seriously lacking in training. It was difficult to resist the crazy counterattack of the Japanese army, and they suggested an immediate retreat.

Before the Jidong Anti-Japanese Allied Forces had fully discussed their action plan, their whereabouts were discovered by the vanguard of the Japanese army and they were immediately subjected to a frenzied attack by the Japanese army.

The troops had to hastily make the decision to move to Pingxi, but they were chased and intercepted by the Japanese army during the transfer, suffering heavy casualties.

The Eighth Route Army Headquarters had to send a telegram asking the First Anti-Japanese Army in Jixian County for assistance.

The fastest way to reinforce is the air force. Gray Wolf immediately called Captain Yin of Xiaoguanzhuang Airport and asked them to send an aircraft for reinforcement immediately.

At the same time, he ordered the Third Brigade, which had recovered its strength and was resting in Ji County, to send reinforcements immediately.

After receiving the order from Gray Wolf, Captain Yin immediately ordered the Third Aviation Squadron to take off to support the Jidong Anti-Japanese Allied Forces that were retreating from the vicinity of Lulong County to Pingxi.

Captain Ren led the Third Aviation Squadron to the sky above Lulong County, where the battle had already ended.

Captain Ren led his team members to search along the Pingxi direction, and finally saw the Jidong Anti-Japanese Allied Forces, which had been heavily surrounded by Japanese troops and were fighting fiercely on the outskirts of Pingxi.

The squadron leader led the bombers of the First Army to bomb the Japanese troops in the southwest of Ping desperately, trying to blast a bloody path for the Jidong Anti-Japanese Allied Forces.

However, the Japanese surrounded the Yidong Anti-Japanese Allied Forces in three encirclement circles.

The First Army's planes had just bombed the Japanese's first encirclement, and before the Yidong Anti-Japanese Allied Forces could completely break out of the first encirclement, they were surrounded by the Japanese's second encirclement.

Captain Ren had to change his strategy and started bombing from the first encirclement of the Japanese and bombed all the way to the second and third encirclement of the Japanese.

Gao Zhiyuan, the commander-in-chief of the Jidong Anti-Japanese Allied Forces, heard the roar of the planes when he went out and complained inwardly. Because their weapons were backward, not to mention anti-aircraft weapons. Facing the Japanese planes, they could only be bombed.

But he soon discovered that these planes were bombing the Japanese who were besieging them. Although he didn't know which unit sent the planes to reinforce them, he still ordered the troops to move closer to him and concentrate firepower to break out to the south.

If the Jidong Anti-Japanese Allied Forces had concentrated their firepower to break out to the south with the support of the First Army's aircraft at this time, they could have broken through the Japanese encirclement. However, the untrained Jidong Anti-Japanese Allied Forces recruits ran around everywhere and fought on their own. The battle was a one-sided massacre.

Squadron Leader Ren continued to bomb the Japanese troops in the encirclement, but only a small part of the Anti-Japanese Allied Forces broke out of the encirclement.

Captain Ren was speechless when he saw such a troop.

In order to cover the retreat of the main force, Hong Linge, deputy commander of the Yidong Anti-Japanese Allied Forces, and Chen Yuhuan, deputy head of the regiment, led a troop to block the attack of a Japanese army. However, these new recruits could not even stop a wave of Japanese attacks. Chen Yuhuan, Hong Linge and other commanders died heroically.

At the critical moment of the survival of the Jidong Anti-Japanese Allied Forces, the vanguard of Li Guozhu's Third Brigade arrived.