Devil's Army

At around five in the morning of that day, the battle first broke out at the Fourth Battalion's position outside Tieling County.

After receiving the report, Wang Zhuangfei quickly ordered the soldiers to remove the pins of the mines buried in front of the mountainside pass. He also ordered the soldiers in the outer positions of Tieling County to rely on the woods on both sides to resist one by one, delay the attack of the Japanese army, and finally withdraw to the mountainside pass. At the same time, he also called the second squadron of Wulang to inform them.

When Wu Lang heard that more than a thousand Japanese puppet troops were attacking Hejiazhao Village, he ordered only two small teams to stay behind to guard the cave and Hujia Village, and the others immediately got on the car and rushed to Hejiazhao Village.

Major Yamano easily occupied the first line of defense set up by the 4th Battalion outside Tieling County. The troops gradually approached the mountainside pass.

In less than an hour, the Japanese reached the mountainside pass. The Japanese stopped before reaching the mountainside pass. Major Yamano walked to the pass and was also dumbfounded.

The front of the pass was covered with dragon tooth anti-tank cones in a patchwork pattern. He had only heard of this kind of fortification in German textbooks before, but he didn't expect to see it in this remote mountain village today.

At this time, Wang Zhuangfei put his knowledge into practice and applied it here, ordering the team members to detonate the mines, explosives and grenades buried in front of the anti-tank cones. For a while, the rumbling sound was endless.

When the explosions stopped and the dust settled, the area in front of the mountain pass was in ruins. Two tanks and an armored vehicle were overturned by the blast and fell into the woods on both sides of the road. The last armored vehicle was pushed to the side of the road by the blast. Major Yamano died on the spot because he was standing in front of the anti-tank cones, and his soul returned to the shrine.

Captain Sugimu took over the command of the troops and rested them. Because of the anti-tank cones, the remaining armored vehicle was useless.

Captain Sugimu ordered the engineers to blast the anti-tank cones to open a path for the mountain artillery to pass through. Without strong artillery fire suppression, it would be difficult to pass through the mountainside safely.

But how could Wang Zhuangfei let the Japanese carry out the blasting smoothly? Sniper Hu Bing, who was ambushing on the side of the anti-tank cone, led several quasi-snipers with good marksmanship to constantly change positions to snipe the Japanese engineers. Although the Japanese machine gunners kept suppressing Hu Bing and his men, the effect was not great.

Finally, a small passage was blasted open to allow the small mountain artillery to pass. At this time, fierce gunfire came from behind the Japs.

Captain Shanmu was shocked. Didn't they say it would take more than four hours to get from Hujia Village to Hejiazhai? How come they got there in just over an hour?

Without hesitation, he ordered the third squadron in charge of the rear guard and a squadron of the Imperial Army to build fortifications on the spot to resist. He led the other main forces to continue the attack. He knew very well that as long as they could enter Hejiazhai Village, they would win the battle.

The Japanese invaded the mountain pass, and Wang Zhuangfei ordered the troops on both sides of the pass to fight back. There were continuous sounds of gunfire and grenade explosions.

Captain Shanmu ordered two small mountain guns to fire at the mountainside on both sides to suppress the firepower of the special forces. The special forces had to do everything they could to stop the Japanese in front of the mountainside pass and prevent them from passing through the mountainside pass to Hejiazhao Village. So they did not hide from the guns, but desperately fired and threw grenades to stop the Japanese.

When a machine gunner was blown down, another one immediately took his place. When one firing point was blown down, a new firing point popped up in another place. So Captain Sugimu's idea of ​​not getting entangled with the special forces on both sides of the mountainside pass and passing through the mountainside pass with all his strength was never realized.

Wu Lang behind him threw in the reserve troops as soon as the battle started. He ordered the first squadron to fight the devils head-on, and the second and third squadrons to outflank the resisting devils and puppet troops from both sides. The reserve troops were on guard in the front, ready to resist the devils and puppet troops coming back for support.

The Japanese Third Squadron, which was ambushed on three sides, hurriedly asked Captain Sugimu for help.

At this time, Shanmu had already fought fiercely with the special forces on both sides of the mountainside pass. One side bombed at all costs in order to quickly pass through the pass, while the other side intercepted regardless of casualties and did not allow the other side to pass through the pass.

If the stalemate continued, his rear guard would be completely eaten up, and after the enemy ate up his rear guard, they would certainly continue to attack his rear, and his situation would become even more dangerous. Helplessly, Shanmu could only order a retreat. The two mountain cannons also retreated, adjusted their parameters, and bombed the reserve troops intercepted by Wulang.

The interception position of Wulang's reserve troops was a temporary one. Its anti-artillery effect was far inferior to the trenches on both sides of the mountain pass. Under the fierce bombardment of Shanmu's two mountain cannons, the number of casualties increased sharply.

In order to preserve the manpower, Wu Lang had no choice but to order the reserve troops to retreat to both sides. The third squadron of the Japanese and the puppet army, which were about to be annihilated, also escaped and joined the rescue force.

After the reunion, the Japanese did not rest, but continued to fight with all their might, sending the only remaining armored vehicle as a vanguard to launch a fierce attack on the first squadron that surrounded them.

The first squadron of Wulang was defeated and retreated into the woods on both sides. They relied on the trees and continued to shoot.

Apart from the weak Imperial Army, the remaining Imperial Army did not have an advantage in numbers or firepower. Captain Sugimu knew that if he continued to attack, the chances of victory were slim. He could only order the troops to withdraw to Tieling County.

The first battle against the devil's army after Nobuyoshi Muto took office ended in failure.