Bright Sword: Construction starts from southeastern Shanxi

Time goes back to half an hour ago. The city of Zhangjiakou was filled with smoke. The battle that had lasted for ten hours had left the entire city in ruins.

The three infantry regiments of the Second Column have now advanced to the vicinity of the Japanese headquarters in the city, preparing to encircle them.

However, at this critical moment, in the command center inside the city.

The commander of the 2nd Independent Mixed Brigade, Hitomi Yoichi, made a decisive decision: break out!

Hitomi Yoichi stood in front of a map at the headquarters, his face livid.

He tapped his finger lightly on the Zhangjiakou city defense map and said in a gloomy tone, "We can't wait any longer. Break out to the west gate immediately!"

"Your Excellency, the defense towards the west gate is relatively weak.

But...if we retreat now, we won't be able to take our heavy artillery and some of our supplies with us." A staff officer beside him hesitated.

“No more supplies!

Blow up what you can’t take away!

Order all able-bodied troops to assemble immediately, using trucks and armored vehicles to quickly break out towards the west gate!

Hitomi Yoichi's tone left no room for doubt.

As Renjian Yiyi's order was given.

The entire headquarters immediately took action, and the remaining nearly 3,000 Japanese troops quickly assembled.

They were originally stationed in different blocks, and after the street fighting, their formation was in disarray.

But under the command of the sergeants, the remaining troops still showed amazing execution ability.

In a huge open space in the center of the city, dozens of Japanese trucks started up, emitting black smoke.

Ren Jianyi looked at the remaining vehicles and felt a little bitter.

Ever since the reorganization of the Independent Mixed Brigade No. 2, Hitomi Yoichi has been thinking about transforming the entire brigade into a mechanized brigade.

However, due to limited resources, the entire brigade was equipped with only one tank squadron.

Therefore, Ren Jianyi had only mobilized a large number of trucks to temporarily free this troop from the mule and horse march.

I didn't expect that it would become my tool for escape today.

Of the last few armored vehicles that once belonged to the tank squadron, only three are still able to move. They are arranged at the front as assault pioneers, and the machine gunners on the vehicles are staring at the street ahead.

"Everyone aboard! Break out!"

With an order, the truck engine roared, and the wheels rolled over the streets full of craters and corpses, rushing towards the west gate.

At the same time, the troops of the 6th Regiment of the 2nd Column in the direction of the west gate did not realize that the troops of the 2nd Independent Mixed Brigade in the city were rushing towards them.

Regiment Commander Fan Zhixiang was checking the defense deployment. As for the urban area, he already had a battalion of troops on the periphery, and the rest of the battle would be handed over to the 4th and 6th Regiments.

Fan Zhixiang believed that as the street fighting deepened, the Japanese army had fallen into a desperate situation, and all that remained was to wipe out the remaining enemies street by street.

However, suddenly, there was a burst of dense gunfire and roars in the distance.

Immediately afterwards, Fan Zhixiang saw trucks with plaster flags flying on them rushing from a distance like wild horses, heading straight for the west gate!

"what's the situation?!"

Fan Zhixiang frowned and suddenly looked up ahead, seeing dust flying in the distance and a car approaching quickly.

"not good!

The Japs are trying to break through!"

Fan Zhixiang suddenly realized that the Japanese army was not completely wiped out, and chose to break out in the direction of the west gate where the firepower was weakest.

"Machine gun crew, quick, set up the machine guns!

Artillery, stop them!"

Fan Zhixiang shouted anxiously, and at the same time immediately grabbed a machine gun from a soldier nearby, lifted the oncoming Japanese truck and pulled the trigger.

However, just as the 6th Regiment was preparing to block the attack, the Japanese army had already launched a fierce attack.

Several Japanese light and heavy machine guns opened fire at the same time, and bullets swept wildly towards the positions ahead.

The Japanese army's tactics were very clear - first suppress with firepower, then use trucks to break through the blockade!

"Da da da--"

In the chaos, several Type 96 light machine guns spewed flames.

The sound of dense bullet impact suddenly rang out on the defense line in the direction of the west gate. The earth wall was shattered and several soldiers who did not have time to lie down were shot and fell to the ground.

Immediately afterwards, the machine guns of the Japanese armored vehicles began to fire, and the fierce firepower made it difficult for the 6th Regiment to organize an effective counterattack for a while.

Fan Zhixiang gritted his teeth and roared:

"Oh shit!

I really underestimated these devils!

How dare you force your way in! "

"Guard!"

Fan Zhixiang turned around suddenly and shouted.

"To!"

The guard stood up immediately.

"Let the First Battalion take on these little devils!

What a joke, the Japanese actually escaped!"

Fan Zhixiang was furious.

"Yes!"

After receiving the order, the guard quickly ran towards the first battalion.

Li Meng, the battalion commander of the first battalion, was leading his troops to clear out the remaining enemies in the city. After receiving the order, he immediately assembled his troops and quickly maneuvered towards the west gate.

He waved his hand and said, "First Company, Second Company, bring your rocket launchers and light machine guns, quick!

Don’t let the devils escape!”

At the same time, Fan Zhixiang quickly mobilized the artillery company in the group, readjusted the shooting angle, and aimed at the retreating Japanese convoy.

"Explode me!

Use artillery shells to block the devils!"

“Boom! Boom!”

The first 82mm mortar shell landed on the street in front of the Japanese convoy.

Suddenly a truck was blown over, flames shot up into the sky, and the Japanese soldiers in the truck were blown away with screams.

But Ren Jianyi remained calm. He knew that if they were completely caught by the Eighth Route Army, it would only be a matter of time before their entire army was wiped out.

“Break through!

do not stop!

Use the most intense firepower to carve a bloody path!" Ren Jianyi roared.

The car continued to rush forward, breaking through the burning ruins. Japanese soldiers climbed onto the trucks while firing, forming a temporary mobile defense line.

"boom--"

Another mortar shell fell, destroying a Japanese military vehicle.

Several Japanese soldiers were blown out of the car and fell to the ground screaming.

When the people saw the situation, they gave a decisive order:

"Leave an infantry squadron behind to cover the retreat of the main force!"

"Hi!"

A Japanese infantry company immediately got off the vehicle, dispersed their formation, built a temporary defense line on both sides of the street, and engaged in a fierce hand-to-hand battle with the pursuing Eighth Route Army.

The 1st Battalion of the 6th Regiment quickly pursued and engaged in a firefight with the Japanese infantry following behind.

"Assault team, take turns covering and advance!"

The company commander shouted, and the soldiers quickly divided into groups.

One group provided suppressive fire, while the other group maneuvered forward, using the shelters on both sides of the street to continuously shorten the distance with the Japanese army.

"Bazooka team, go!"

The soldier holding the rocket launcher immediately knelt on one knee, picked up the rocket launcher, and aimed at the Japanese troops in front.

"Tom—"

The shells landed accurately on the Japanese positions, instantly blowing the enemy into pieces.

But the Japanese troops at the rear were extremely tenacious. They used the ruins as cover and fought desperately to stop the enemy, buying time for the main force to evacuate.

The sounds of gunfire and explosions intertwined in the ruins of the city. In the light of the fire, soldiers fought frantically among the broken walls.

Ren Jianyi continued to break out with a large army. When the west gate tower gradually appeared, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

As long as you rush out of this city gate, you can enter the open area and use the mobility of the car to quickly escape from the battlefield.

In this way, we watched helplessly as the Japanese army's cars gradually drove out of the city.

Fan Zhixiang suddenly threw away the machine gun in his hand, slammed it hard on the bunker beside him, and shouted with gritted teeth:

"Damn, the Japs can really run!

Speed ​​up, everyone!

We must not let them escape from Zhangjiakou!"