Draw the sword and cure the fear of insufficient firepower

In addition to firing mortars at tanks, Qiao Beihai and his men also kept their guns firing.

On the left and right sides, the two battalions had more than 60 light and heavy machine guns in total, which were crazily firing at the hastily retreating Japanese infantry. The Japanese fell to the ground one after another like wheat being cut.

"Bagayaloo! The Eighth Route Army is really cunning!!"

"Artillery fire cover!!"

Masao Kimitsu looked at the scene on the battlefield ahead and gave the order in anger.

The locust army's attack was unsuccessful, so they had no choice but to retreat temporarily.

Terauchi Masai, who was standing next to Yoshimitsu Masao, had a painful look on his face and clenched his fists tightly.

His 41st Brigade!

This time, Yoshimitsu Masao used his 41st Brigade as the vanguard, continuously attacking the junction of the Eighth Route Army.

Looking at the locust soldiers being knocked down on the battlefield, veins bulged on Terauchi Marseille's forehead.

These are his soldiers.

So far, he has wiped out two infantry battalions, and with those now wiped out by the Eighth Route Army, the total loss of troops has exceeded that of a regiment.

But there was no regret on Kimitsu Masao's face.

This was clearly an opportunity to consume his 41st Brigade.

The same expression also appeared on the face of the tank regiment commander. His tank regiment lost at least 20 tanks in this wave.

This was more than half of his armored units.

How come the Eighth Route Army's anti-tank methods suddenly became so sophisticated that they caught him off guard.

The artillery fire just now was obviously an effect that could only be produced by large-caliber flat-fire cannons or anti-tank guns.

But he had never heard of the Eighth Route Army having any weapons such as anti-tank guns.

In previous battles, not only the Eighth Route Army, but even the Central Army had to rely on several groups of people carrying explosive packs or grenades and suffering huge casualties to replace a tank.

There was no trace of emotion on Kimitsu Masao's face, he just slowly walked back to the command center.

He has been blocked here for too long. Now it seems that he has no choice but to use that weapon!

After Qiao Beihai and others repelled the Japanese's fierce attack, they immediately returned to their original positions, continued to strengthen their fortifications, and waited for the next wave of Japanese attack.

The Japanese have been blocked here for two days and can't move forward. The next attack will surely be more fierce.

They have exhausted all their means and don’t know if they can withstand the next attack from the Japanese.

"Battalion Commander! The regiment's communicator is here!" Just when Qiao Beihai and the cadres in the battalion were meeting to discuss the next countermeasures, a soldier appeared in the battalion command post with the regiment's communicator.

"Oh? Does the commander have any new orders?!" Qiao Beihai nervously held the communicator's hand and asked anxiously.

"Captain Qiao, I'm here to convey the regiment's order! The regiment commander said that you fought very well and demonstrated the power of our regiment! He wants to commend your battalion!" the communicator delivered the message. These were Kong Jie's original words, that the soldiers of the 3rd Battalion fought quite well.

Upon hearing this, Qiao Beihai and others also laughed, showing their big white teeth.

"The regiment commander's order! The 3rd Battalion's blocking mission has been completed! Retreat quickly! Clear the road for the Japanese to come in!" the communicator continued.

This time Kong Jie sent him here for two reasons: one was to affirm the achievements of the 3rd Battalion, and the other was to convey the order of the brigade.

"Retreat?" Although Qiao Beihai and others were happy that their mission had been accomplished, they were puzzled when faced with the word "retreat". They wanted to retreat now and clear the main road to let the Japanese in. What kind of operation was this?

However, Qiao Beihai and others knew very well that since the commander had given this order, he must have his own considerations, and they just had to obey the order.

"Yes!"

"Comrades! Gather weapons and ammunition, take the wounded and the remains of the martyrs, and retreat!!"

Qiao Beihai said loudly.

The same is true for the Second Battalion of the New First Regiment.

Just an hour ago, Li Yunlong urgently found Kong Jie and Ding Wei and conveyed the brigade's order. After the three of them discussed countermeasures, they took quick action.

……

Inside the Eighth Route Army base.

The two brigades of the Japanese invaders have been carrying out crazy sweeps in recent days. The 386th Brigade, the 771st and 772nd Death Columns of the Eighth Route Army, the st and nd Regiments, plus local armed forces and two regiments sent by the headquarters are fighting tenaciously against the Japanese invaders.

After several days of fighting, the Locust Association troops that had been serving as cannon fodder had been almost completely wiped out.

Li Yunlong also sent the Second Battalion of the Second Regiment of the First Division to support them to the battlefield of the base.

Wang Shun and his Second Battalion have achieved fruitful results in the past few days.

The Japs had never seen the Eighth Route Army with such powerful firepower.

Apart from anything else, Wang Shun's battalion had 666 people. Except for the machine gunner, everyone else carried two guns, a Type 56 semi-automatic rifle and a PPSh submachine gun.

Even the artillery platoons of each company carried a PPSh submachine gun.

The firepower of Wang Shun's side was even more incredible. In the past few days, they had wiped out more than 4000 Japanese devils.

Wang Shun specifically targeted the Japanese and didn't take the Locust Army seriously at all, so he left them all to friendly forces.

The two Japanese brigades were beaten back step by step by the Eighth Route Army and were finally forced to join forces, but they fell into the encirclement of the Eighth Route Army.

Wang Shun and his men had trucks to support them in combat, so they moved quickly. Some soldiers even mounted 107mm rocket launchers directly on the trucks and fired while running.

Wang Shun didn't want the soldiers to be very accurate, he just wanted them to fire the shells at the Japanese positions.

When Lin Tian reorganized the infantry regiment, he gave each company an artillery platoon equipped with 30 107mm rocket launchers.

Therefore, Wang Shun’s Second Battalion had a total of 107 90mm rocket launchers. This firepower was terrifying. Even the total number of artillery pieces of the two Japanese brigades combined was not as many.

除了火炮，王顺的二营还有60挺MG42通用机枪、150挺捷克式轻机枪、150支波波沙冲锋枪、210支56式半自动步枪。

This kind of firepower is something the Japanese do not possess.

The two Japanese brigades that came from Yangquan and Lingquan were mixed brigades. Their main task was garrison operations, that is, defending the city. They were not field troops, so their equipment and combat effectiveness were not as good as other Japanese troops.

Under the attack of our army's nearly 10,000 troops, they had given up occupying large areas and retreated to a place called Caojia Town, putting up a final resistance.

The battle report from the base also reached the hands of Masao Kimitsu and Saburo Hisashi.

"The First Division of the Eighth Route Army has been dispatched!"

This is the consensus view held by Masao Kimitsu and Saburo Hisashi.

The kind of terrifying artillery fire and lightning-fast attack mentioned in the telegram could not be carried out by any Chinese force except the First Division.

The Japanese were just puzzled. According to the last intelligence, the First Division had a combat force of at least four to five thousand people. How come this time it was only the size of a reinforced battalion?

Where did everyone else go?

……