Devil's Army

After Li Junzhang left, Leng Feng felt that things might develop in a bad direction. Their golden time for recuperation might be over again. So he asked the messenger to inform the captains of the four brigades to come to the tribe reception room for a meeting at 2 o'clock tomorrow afternoon.

At 2 o'clock the next afternoon, the four captains and Wen Lang arrived at the reception room. Leng Feng informed everyone of his conversation with Li Junchang of the 24th Army yesterday. He also pointed out that the second commander of Fengtian, Muto Nobuyoshi, had taken over Fengtian for some time. The 24th Army's attack on Fengtian would inevitably intensify Japan's encirclement and suppression of anti-Japanese forces. So their time for recuperation was about to pass.

Leng Feng pointed at the sand table and said to everyone:

"We are now stationed in Hujia Village, Hejia Village and the Oroqen tribe. Hejia Village is the middle link. If the Japanese occupy Hejia Village, our connection with Hujia Village will inevitably be cut off, and we will be in a situation where we can't take care of each other and have to fight independently."

"Our Fourth Battalion will defend Hejiazhao Village to the death." Wang Zhuangfei stood up and expressed his stance.

"Things are done by doing, not by saying. We must prepare in advance to prevent things from happening. Now I will announce a few orders."

“1 The Fourth Battalion strengthens the surveillance of the Japanese in Tieling County every day to detect their movements in a timely manner.

2. Lay more mines on the road to delay the enemy's attack as much as possible and wait for reinforcements. The pins of the mines can be left unplugged in time and then pulled out in battle.

3 The Second Battalion drove six trucks from the underground warehouse and hid near Hujia Village. When the Japanese attacked Hejia Village, they quickly rushed to support the Fourth Battalion and dealt a fatal blow to the Japanese from behind.

4 Anti-tank cones were built in front of the Hejiazhai mountainside position and behind the mine position.

5 The Oroqen tribe's forest perimeter position was advanced five miles, and anti-tank cones were also built there. An infantry fortification tunnel was dug behind to protect against artillery fire.

In this way, the small road connecting us to Hejiazhai and Hujia Village is also within our defense range.

"Report!" Captain Wang Zhuangfei of the Fourth Division stood up.

"What's the matter?" Leng Feng asked him.

“What are anti-tank cones like?”

"Go to Tieling County and buy some cement. I'll ask Red Wolf to come over and help you."

The meeting was efficient and concise, and ended at about 4:00. Wu Lang and Wang Zhuangfei rushed back to their base immediately after the meeting.

Gray Wolf asked the team members to dig an anti-artillery infantry trench five miles outside the forest. Baron arranged for a group of team members to go to Fengtian to buy cement, and another group of team members to buy pears, apples and other fruits in large quantities.

On the morning of the third day, Gray Wolf led his men to build dragon tooth anti-tank cones 1.2 meters in front of the infantry trench. Since cement could not be bought in Fengtian, they could only use burnt lime and clay instead. Gray Wolf built more than meters of staggered, -meter-high anti-tank cones in front of the infantry trench. He also buried the few mines left from the last battle in front of the anti-tank cones. But the safety pins had not been pulled out.

Late tonight, the 24th Anti-Japanese Volunteer Army launched an attack on Fengtian as planned. The troops entered Fengtian City, occupied the Dongta Airport and the Arsenal, burned more than a dozen Japanese planes, the dispatch room and the radio station, and seized a large number of weapons and ammunition.

But the Japanese reinforcements from Kaiyuan arrived soon. The Japanese launched a crazy counterattack with heavy artillery and armored vehicles. The volunteers resisted step by step, but they could not hold on and gradually withdrew from Fengtian City. They moved to Hunhebao and Qingyuan Mountain area, but still could not get rid of the Japanese pursuit. The troops could only break up into small groups and break through separately. A small number of volunteers entered Hejiazhai and joined Leng Feng's Fourth Battalion.

The Japanese intensified their encirclement and suppression efforts and also strengthened their policy of inducing surrender. Many volunteer soldiers in the Northeast died, and some surrendered and became puppet soldiers. The anti-Japanese situation in Tieling fell into a low ebb again.

Only Leng Feng's special forces relied on the dangerous terrain and temporarily stayed away from the enemy. However, the Japanese army had already put the issue of how to deal with Leng Feng's special forces on the agenda.

On the afternoon of the day after the bandits were wiped out, Nobuyoshi Muto held a combat meeting in the operations room. The theme of the meeting was how to eliminate the devil's troops.

An officer of the Kwantung Army who attended the meeting advocated that the Imperial Army should mobilize all its forces to wipe out the devilish troops entrenched in Hujia Village, Hejiazhai Village and the Oroqen tribe in one fell swoop.

"Are you going or are you going to send someone else?" Muto Nobuyoshi asked contemptuously.

"I am a humble man, but I am willing to lead the troops to suppress the bandits and share the general's worries." Lieutenant Colonel Ozawa stood at attention and responded.

Muto Nobuyoshi waved his hand and said to him:

"Last time, General Honjo Shigeru sent more than 4,000 imperial and imperial corps troops to deal with the evil forces in the Oroqen tribe. They lost more than 1,000 people and retreated back to Fengtian. Now you have to deal with the evil forces in three places at once. How many people are you going to send? 20,000 or 40,000?"

Everyone knew that after this period of fighting, the number of imperial troops that could be mobilized in Fengtian and its surrounding areas was less than 20,000. Lieutenant Colonel Ozawa sat back in dismay.

Finally, a lieutenant colonel of the Kwantung Army proposed his own opinion: to capture Hejiazhai Village with all their strength. Hejiazhai is connected to the Oroqen tribe on the left and to Hujia Village on the right. If the Imperial Army occupied Hejiazhai Village, they could separate the evil forces. Then they could concentrate their superior forces to eliminate the evil forces in Hujia Village and the Oroqen tribe one by one.

Muto Nobuyoshi agreed to this plan and ordered Major Yamano to take two Imperial Army infantry companies, an Imperial Army artillery company and a large battalion of Imperial Army, two tanks and two armored vehicles to encircle and annihilate the devil troops in Hejiazhai Village at five o'clock tomorrow morning.