Devil's Army

When Gray Wolf heard that the Jidong Anti-Japanese Allied Forces of more than 14 people were surrounded by the Japanese army, he made a huge effort and ordered the Third Regiment to drive away all the trucks in Jixian County. He also drove the three Type tanks in Jixian County to provide support.

More than an hour later, two battalions of the 1st Regiment, the vanguard of the 3rd Brigade, arrived at the outskirts of Pingxi.

At this time, the gunfire from the Pingxi direction was already very intense.

A battalion commander encountered a small group of soldiers from the Jidong Anti-Japanese Allied Forces who had escaped from the Japanese encirclement, and hurriedly called on them to retreat towards Jixian County.

The soldiers from the first and second battalions quickly got off the vehicles and groped their way forward towards the Japanese army.

As they approached the Japanese encirclement, the Japanese army was making every effort to encircle and suppress the soldiers of the Jidong Anti-Japanese Allied Forces in the encirclement.

The machine gunners from the first and second battalions skillfully lay on the ground and fired at the Japanese troops in front of them, supporting the infantry from the first and second battalions in launching an attack on the Japanese troops.

The Japanese army was caught off guard and momentarily lost their composure. However, they soon realized that the soldiers attacking them were not the rookies in the encirclement, but a well-trained unit, and immediately mobilized heavy troops to encircle them.

With the support of aircraft, soldiers from the first and second battalions of the third brigade tore a hole in the three encirclement circles of the Japanese army.

The first battalion was responsible for resisting the Japanese troops on the left side of the gap, and the second battalion was responsible for resisting the Japanese troops on the right side of the gap.

While resisting the frenzied counterattack of the Japanese army, they shouted to the Jidong Anti-Japanese Allied Forces in the encirclement to quickly retreat from the gap.

The Japanese army, which had a greater number of troops, quickly surrounded the first and second battalions, but the soldiers of the first and second battalions fought to the death and refused to retreat.

They knew that as soon as they retreated, the Japanese encirclement would close again, and the Jidong Anti-Japanese Allied Forces inside the encirclement would be unable to break out.

Fortunately, the First Army had gained air superiority at this time, and the Japanese artillery had no power to use. As soon as he opened fire, the First Army's bombers would immediately fly towards him.

The soldiers from the first and second battalions only engaged the Japanese with light weapons and were able to hold out for a while.

The Japanese commander was very annoyed with this powerful uninvited guest, but he had no way to eliminate them for the time being. He could only use a war of attrition and ordered his soldiers to launch wave after wave of charges to consume the manpower of the soldiers of the first and second battalions.

Seeing the soldiers of the Jidong Anti-Japanese Allied Forces in the encirclement running around like headless flies, the battalion commander had no choice but to hand over the defense line to the deputy battalion commander, and he led a squad of soldiers to organize and command the soldiers of the Jidong Anti-Japanese Allied Forces in the encirclement to retreat to the gap.

The soldiers of the first and second battalions used their flesh and blood to pave a retreat path for the Jidong Anti-Japanese Allied Forces. However, the Japanese army also spent a lot of money to destroy this suddenly emerging Jidong Anti-Japanese Allied Forces. The troops continued to attack the first and second battalions regardless of casualties.

The pressure on the soldiers of the first and second battalions was quite great, but they had to hold on because the soldiers of the Jidong Anti-Japanese Allied Forces, under the organization and command of the commander of the first battalion, were rushing out of the Japanese encirclement through the gaps one after another.

At this time, the bombers of the First Army, which had been bombing for a long time, had dropped all their bombs and had to return. The task of blocking the Japanese army fell entirely on the shoulders of the soldiers of the First and Second Battalions.

At the critical moment, fortunately, the follow-up troops of the 3rd Brigade arrived at the battlefield under the leadership of tanks.

The three Type 2 tanks of the First Army immediately opened fire on the Japanese troops on both sides of the battlefield.

The 3rd Battalion of the 1st Regiment of the 3rd Brigade and the 1st Battalion of the 2nd Regiment immediately stepped forward to reinforce the 1st and 2nd Battalions which were blocking the Japanese army.

The 2nd and 3rd Battalions of the 2nd Regiment and the regiment's direct companies launched a fierce attack on the attacking Japanese troops on the left wing, while the 3rd Regiment launched a fierce attack on the right wing.

Most of the Japanese artillery guns in this direction were destroyed by the bombers of the First Army. Lacking anti-tank weapons, the Japanese troops were defeated under the fierce attack of the Third Brigade's infantry and tanks.

The Third Brigade Commander attacked the Japanese army head on and ordered his soldiers to follow closely and pursue them relentlessly.

The battalion commander was still organizing the retreat of the Jidong Anti-Japanese Allied Forces soldiers in the encirclement.

The Japanese reinforcements gained a foothold with the support of artillery and launched a counterattack against the 3rd Brigade.

At this time, most of the troops of the Jidong Anti-Japanese Allied Forces had successfully retreated to Jixian County through the gap.

The commander of the Third Brigade ordered three Type 2 tanks to lead the soldiers of the Third Battalion of the Third Regiment to block the Japanese attack, and the other soldiers began to retreat alternately.

The Japanese army marched quickly to encircle the Jidong Anti-Japanese Allied Forces this time, and they did not carry heavy artillery. Mortar shells could not do anything to the thickened iron plate of the Type 2 tank. They had no choice but to send out the death squad to blow up the Type 2 tank of the First Army. However, they were all killed in front of the tank by the soldiers of the Third Battalion.

The Japanese army actually wanted to call for air force reinforcements, but without an absolute advantage in the number of fighter planes, they did not dare to engage in battle with the First Army's pointed aircraft.

The Yidong Anti-Japanese Allied Forces in the encirclement had basically completed their retreat, and the soldiers of the Third Brigade also began to retreat alternately towards Jixian County.

This time, the Gray Wolf dispatched the elite Third Brigade and the Second Aviation Squadron to rescue more than 9000 members of the Jidong Anti-Japanese Allied Forces.

With the approval of Commander-in-Chief Peng of the Eighth Route Army Headquarters, the more than 9000-strong Jidong Anti-Japanese Allied Forces were organized into the Yidong Independent Brigade and temporarily placed under the command of the Second Front Army of the First Anti-Japanese Army.

(Historically, the Yidong Anti-Japanese Allied Forces were surrounded and intercepted by seven Japanese armies, and only more than a thousand people were left to break through the encirclement. It was the battle with the heaviest casualties in the history of the Eighth Route Army's War of Resistance.)