The Flames of Resistance Against Japan in Jiangnan

Therefore, the arrogant replenishment regiment didn't even send out guard detachments or observation posts. Only a few scattered scouts would periodically raise their binoculars, pretend to observe the surroundings, and then turn around and shout:

"Damn it, there's no Red Army here, keep moving!"

And so it boldly walked straight into the pocket that our army had set up.

An officer carrying a pistol led a dozen scouts ahead, followed closely by a long line of enemies armed with both long guns and short weapons.

The scouts ahead had already passed several hundred meters of Wild Boar Ridge, only shouting a few times as they went:

"Red Army lads, I see you! Don't hide, I'm talking to you!"

Then they continued laughing and joking until suddenly, several large rocks appeared on the road, blocking their path. The soldiers, who had been marching all day, stopped, cursing, and sat on the rocks to rest, intending to wait for the others to come and move the rocks.

Upon seeing the suddenly appearing stone, the junior officer became alert, lowered his head to examine the marks carefully, and immediately ordered his men to prepare for battle.

The battalion commander of the 58th Regiment's engineering battalion leaned close to Xu Wenqing and pointed to the junior officer in the vanguard, asking:

"Commander, can you kill that officer with the first shot? If not, let me do it!"

Xu Wenqing knew that Ma Zuye had been a hunter since childhood and had a marksmanship that could make birds fall within a hundred meters before joining the Red Army. It seemed that this kid wanted to fire the first shot.

Commander He's answer was also very straightforward:

"I risked being criticized by Political Commissar Yao to get this first shot, and you're dreaming. If I can't hit it, I might as well replace you as division commander!"

The junior officer, realizing the situation was dire, turned and ran, shouting as he went:

"Commander, there's an ambush! Spread out into battle formation!"

Before he finished speaking, Xu Wenqing fired the first shot.

The young officer had just raised one leg when he was shot. He instantly assumed a one-legged stance, then collapsed to the ground with a thud. Blood gushed from his forehead, forming a striking orchid shape.

As the gunfire subsided, two columns of gray-black smoke rose from the highway, followed by two heavy mortar shots. Then, a barrage of shells rained down on the road. In an instant, the roar of artillery filled the air, smoke blotted out the sky, shrapnel whistled, and blood and flesh flew everywhere. Enemies who couldn't dodge in time were blown into the air by the shells, and broken gun barrels flew through the air time and time again.

As the artillery roared, various weapons, including light and heavy machine guns, opened fire simultaneously. The Maxim heavy machine guns moved their muzzles evenly from side to side. Bullets rained down like a torrential downpour. The Zhejiang troops, still stunned by the artillery fire, were caught off guard and fell like ripe crops to a harvester. Then, grenades exploded like hailstones among the enemy ranks. The sound waves merged and crashed around the road, making it difficult to discern which echoed which.

The White Army's replenishment regiment was thrown into chaos by the sudden gunfire. Some soldiers scrambled up the hillsides on either side of the road, while others turned back and ran the way they had come. The more nimble ones lay prone on the ground, and some officers hid behind mounds of earth by the roadside, fighting desperately.

Just then, the particularly inspiring bugle calls, enough to make one's blood boil, rang out from more than one place on the Red Army's position, bringing this magnificent chorus to a climax. It turned out that Xu Wenqing had ordered more than a dozen buglers from each company of the Special Service Regiment to disperse on the hilly highlands and have them blow the bugle calls.

As the bugle sounded loudly, some of the special operations soldiers raised their rifles, while others drew their broadswords, shouting:

"For the Red Army, for the Soviets, charge!"

They charged out of their positions and faced the enemy head-on, firing rifles at long range and short guns at close range. After firing, they engaged the enemy in bayonet fighting. Some soldiers bent their bayonets and used the butts of their rifles to strike. One soldier even cracked his opponent's skull with the butt of his rifle. From shooting to bayonet fighting, the battle was filled with billowing dust, flashing blades, and shouts of battle, a truly earth-shattering spectacle.

Niu Yuelin, the commander of the White Army's supplementary regiment, narrowly escaped the shelling. Under the protection of his personal guards, he ordered a group of enemy soldiers to seize the terrain. Under the cover of several machine guns, they rushed to the entrance of the mountain village, preparing to occupy the village and wait for reinforcements.

The first platoon of the division's guard company, on alert duty, spotted the Zhejiang troops. They lay prone on a section of stone wall and opened fire simultaneously, temporarily repelling the enemy. Suddenly, the enemy's machine guns roared to life again, sending stone fragments flying from the low wall. Seeing this, the soldiers quickly took cover behind the wall. A cunning officer from the supply regiment seized the opportunity and threw a grenade, which landed right beside the soldiers, hissing and emitting white smoke. The platoon leader of the first guard platoon, quick-witted and agile, grabbed it, threw it over the wall, and with a deafening boom, the grenade exploded on the enemy's heads, eliciting screams of agony.

The defeated enemy turned their guns and attacked a small hill southwest of the village. A dozen officers, shirtless and carrying machine guns and mortars, charged ahead, shouting as if invincible. Over a hundred soldiers followed, charging up the hill with great force. The battalion commander organized several attacks, but each was repelled by the enemy's superior firepower. Summer night fell slowly, and the fierce battle raged for an hour. Night had not yet fully fallen, and the burning bushes everywhere painted the sky a crimson red. By this time, the enemy on the hill had suffered more than half its casualties; the remaining few dozen die-hards were basically two men per machine gun, firing incessantly.

Gunfire gradually subsided elsewhere on the battlefield, with only sporadic gunshots remaining. Anxious and distraught, Battalion Commander Ma, not wanting his soldiers to perish at the end of the battle, launched a political offensive, attempting to persuade the remaining troops to surrender. He sent men with megaphones to shout towards the hilltop:

"Brothers of the Zhejiang Army, you have been defeated. Lay down your weapons and you will not be killed!"

"The Red Army treated prisoners of war well!"

However, the remaining enemy, almost driven mad, ignored the shouts and stubbornly held onto the hilltop, hoping to hold out and wait for rescue. The propagandist, thinking the enemy hadn't heard him clearly, crawled forward, intending to get closer to the enemy before shouting again. Just then, a burst of machine gun bullets hit the propagandist's slightly bent body as he crawled. The soldier groaned and then went still, blood flowing continuously onto the ground.

"Artillery battalion, where the hell is the artillery battalion?"

Enraged, Ma Xianbing, the commander of the 58th Regiment, also known as the Special Service Regiment, launched into a tirade of curses.

Hearing the commotion, Xu Wenqing rushed over. He glanced at the stubborn enemy, then at his fallen comrades, his face turning ashen. He stopped Battalion Commander Wang, who was loading the mortar and preparing to fire, and asked fiercely:

"Does anyone have any more Molotov cocktails? Gather them all here!"

The order was immediately relayed, and the soldiers who still had Molotov cocktails in their hands were notified and ran into the mountain village to retrieve the Molotov cocktails they had left there and handed them to Xu Wenqing. Roughly, there were more than a hundred of them.