Songhu: Never Give Up

Chapter 371: It's not that the Seto Brigade is incompetent, but that the guerrilla column is too cunning

The Japanese tank squadrons rushed forward recklessly, not taking the Chinese seriously at all. They had never suffered from the loss of rocket launchers before;
In the guerrilla column, rocket launchers have been distributed to the battalions. Each battalion is equipped with 8 40 rocket launchers, and the right to use them is in the hands of the battalion commander.

The Third Detachment was a contraction of Yue Qianli's 527th Regiment, and the Second Battalion was his founding unit. The battalion commander was concurrently served by Deputy Detachment Commander Liao Jianping. In order to break the Japanese's arrogance, he decided to set up an ambush to destroy the Japanese tank squadron;
His specific deployment was to use an infantry company to block the Japanese from the front and to dig a horizontal anti-tank trench in front of the blocking position.

This anti-tank trench is two meters long, one meter deep, and 1 meters wide. It is covered with wooden boards and camouflaged with loose soil. People can walk on it without any problem, but a tank weighing several tons will break it.

The function of the anti-tank ditch is to slow down the tank. The rocket launcher group is ambushed on both wings in an inverted eight-shaped layout. The ambush line is about 100 meters horizontally away from the main road, which is exactly the best strike distance for the rocket launcher.

When Ye Junchun's company was defeated, the Japanese tank squadron took the lead in chasing and killing them. The Japanese soldiers in the search squadron could only follow closely behind to protect the tanks, but the coordination between infantry and artillery was seriously out of sync, and their short legs could not catch up with the tank squadron that was eager to make a contribution;
The Japanese tanks chased and fired machine guns at the same time, and the fleeing soldiers were shot and fell from time to time, which made the Japanese chase more vigorously.

Soon they reached the ambush area. The company in charge of blocking the enemy fired at the sky from a few hundred meters away. The defeated soldiers retreated to the two wings, leaving the front to the enemy and the blocking company to fight.
At this time, the Japanese tanks were arranged in a long snake formation, with 2 tanks in each row, a total of 8 rows, and the intervals between each row varied by several dozen meters.

The firepower network formed by several machine guns of the blocking troops not only failed to scare the commander of the tank squadron, but made him more excited;

The bullets had no effect on the tank armor. The squadron leader, Major Abe, kept urging the driver to speed up and chase, and shouted:
"Ignore the Chinese machine guns, rush over and crush them into pulp with the tracks."

The two leading tanks chased after them at full speed. Just when Major Abe's blood was boiling, he suddenly felt the tank's head fall down. He rushed forward and knocked out several front teeth, but fortunately the tank did not overturn.
The other tank had worse luck. It flipped over due to inertia. Major Abe cursed:
"Bagaya Road, how do you drive?"

The driver's head was also buzzing from the impact, but he was more experienced and immediately understood what was going on. He replied in horror:
"There's a trap—an anti-tank ditch!"

Because the two leading tanks got stuck in the anti-tank trench, the tanks following at high speed had to stop;

Before they could figure out what was going on, several rockets flew in from both sides and destroyed the last four tanks. On average, two rocket launchers were used to deal with one tank, providing double insurance.

The rocket launcher platoon immediately destroyed the four tanks that were behind, and the other Japanese tanks were blocked on the main road;

If they want to leave from the two wings, they have to use the tanks, which takes a lot of time and cannot increase the speed, which gives the rocket launcher operators enough time to destroy them.

While the enemy tanks were in chaos, the rocket launchers had already replaced their rockets and started to play freely;
Tanks were destroyed one after another by the rockets. Major Abe finally reacted, his eyes filled with fear, and he shouted:

"Enemy attack—there are anti-tank guns!"

"Shoot quickly—kill them!"

The firepower sustainability of the 40 rocket launcher is so strong that it only takes a few seconds for a skilled rocket launcher team to replace the shells. Each team carries 6 rockets, and they are protected by two infantry platoons.

Just as the tank Major Abe was in fired two bursts of machine gun bullets, a rocket flew over, hit its fragile flank armor, and exploded inside the tank, killing Major Abe and two other crew members.
The arrogant Major Abe was beaten into a sieve by the high-speed "metal stream" released by the explosion.

The remaining tanks were also destroyed one after another. The 16 tanks were evenly divided into two groups. It only took four rounds of rockets to destroy them all, which was incredibly efficient.

The bazooka platoon had already finished their work, and the search squadron leader, Jiro Watanabe, had just caught up with the Japanese infantry;

As soon as they showed their heads, they were strongly blocked by two platoons of infantry, and more than a dozen of them were knocked down in an instant.

The Japanese soldiers immediately lay on the ground and spontaneously began to fight back with machine guns and rifles. The tank squadron was destroyed by the Chinese. Watanabe Jiro could not afford such a big responsibility, so they had to eliminate the sneak attackers.

Just when the two sides were fighting fiercely, rockets flew from a distance and destroyed the Japanese machine gun fire one by one.

The rocket launcher can basically hit a machine gun with one shot. After knocking out several Japanese machine guns, the firepower of Watanabe's squadron weakened and was suppressed by the machine guns of the firepower company.
At this time, the rocket launcher platoon had used up the basic number of rockets it carried and quickly evacuated under the cover of two infantry platoons.

The Ye Junchun Company, which had pretended to be defeated before, also made a comeback and attacked the Watanabe Squadron from the flank, and the blocking company also launched a charge from the front;

Watanabe's squadron had already suffered nearly half casualties, and was quickly defeated in the face of the attack of two and a half companies. Although Captain Watanabe was unwilling to accept this, his reason still overcame his impulse, and he fled with the remnants of his troops. Considering that there were a large group of Japanese troops behind them, the goal of destroying the tank squadron had been achieved, so they only chased for a while before stopping, and then retreated in alternating cover, leaving only one platoon on guard;

After the main force returned to the ambush site, they quickly cleaned up the battlefield. As usual, they gave all the Japanese a final blow, no matter whether they were dead, injured, or pretending to be dead, they would be stabbed through the chest with a bayonet. If they could still survive, they would be considered lucky.

The bodies of the wounded and fallen comrades were all taken away, and the machine guns and gun barrels on the tanks were all removed;
Especially the gun barrel, it is a good thing and can be used in making cannons in the future.

In fact, tanks are good things, but unfortunately they can't move them now, but the Japanese can't move them either, so they can only be thrown away as scrap metal.

Hundreds of people cleaned up the battlefield, and their movements were quite fast. After counting the results of the battle, they found that a total of 16 tanks and 103 Japanese soldiers were destroyed, including the three crew members in each tank.

16 tank gun barrels were seized. For easy replacement, these barrels were all connected by screw threads and could be removed with a simple twist.
In addition, 16 7.7mm heavy machine guns were seized, five of which were destroyed by rockets, but they were taken back by the thrifty soldiers and can still be used after repairs. Even if the barrels and spare parts cannot be repaired, they are still useful.

The guerrilla column has its own supply battalion. Even if it cannot manufacture guns, it can repair them. Therefore, all guns damaged on the battlefield must be taken back. Even unexploded tank shells are not spared, as they can be used to make high-explosive mines in the future.

Not long after they finished cleaning up the battlefield, rapid gunfire was heard from the guard platoon. A platoon from the sniper company stayed behind to support the guard platoon, while the others moved to the mountainous area in the south with the spoils.

It was the Watanabe Squadron that had a conflict with the guard platoon. After they joined the main force, they reported the attack on the tank squadron to Major General Setake. They were beaten into pig heads by the angry old Japanese, and then they chased after them with the remaining soldiers of the squadron.

Major General Setake gave him a chance to redeem himself and sent another battalion to follow him;
Wang Daniu, the platoon leader in charge of outer security, was the squad leader of the 527th Regiment. He was a real veteran and was very familiar with the task of leaving the rear.

After discovering the whereabouts of the Japanese, he immediately ordered the only big plate chicken to open fire, on the one hand to suppress the Japanese, on the other hand to remind the brothers who were cleaning the battlefield to evacuate quickly;
The effective range of "Da Pan Ji" is up to 800 meters, and its firepower is so strong that a machine gun can prevent the Japanese from getting close even if they are hundreds of meters away.

After using up three magazines in one go, Wang Daniu ordered a retreat. At this time, the two sides were still several hundred meters apart, so the Japanese could not catch up with them at all, and no casualties were caused;

After they retreated to the ambush point, they met up with the support platoon, and then evacuated in an orderly manner towards Lu'an City, leading the main force of the Japanese towards Lu'an City.

This was to protect the safety of the two companies heading south as they were carrying too much stuff.

After the tank squadron was destroyed, Major General Setake became more cautious and gave the Watanabe squadron the task of stopping when they reached the ambush point so that they could make long-term plans.

When Major General Setake saw the graveyard of more than a dozen tank wreckages, he could not help but gasp, and fear flashed across his eyes. Now he no longer doubted the combat effectiveness of the guerrilla column.
Colonel Numata took the opportunity to come over and said:
“General, the strength of the guerrilla column is far beyond our imagination. They are not only equipped with a large number of heavy artillery, but also a large number of anti-tank guns.
According to the information brought back by Captain Watanabe, their anti-tank gun is very light and only needs four people to operate it. It is extremely powerful and can destroy a machine gun position with one shot.

It seems that the rumors about the 3rd Division being severely damaged by the guerrilla column are not groundless. We should still be cautious with the guerrilla column."

Colonel Numata's implication was that there was a reason why the 39th Regiment was defeated in Lu'an City. It was not because he was incompetent, but because the guerrilla column was too powerful. Even the rd Division, which had the strongest combat power, was crippled, so the th Division had no capital to be arrogant.

After hearing this, Se Wuping was not angry. He only had an infantry regiment and a heavy artillery battalion, as well as a few hundred remnants of the 39th Regiment. He had completely lost confidence in retaking Lu'an City, and he fell into deep thought.

Colonel Numata winked at Colonel Nagano, who understood and came over to say:

"General, it will be difficult for us to rescue the warriors who left Lu'an City with just our numbers. It would be better for us to wait for the 33rd Brigade to arrive and then retake Lu'an City together."

Major General Setake was waiting for this sentence, but he still pretended to say:
"I am afraid that the warriors in the city will not be able to hold out until reinforcements arrive, and then we will not be able to summon the division commander."

Colonel Numata also chimed in:
"The warriors also wiped out thousands of elite guerrillas in the city. It was a draw at best. It's reasonable to be able to draw with Yue Qianli."

Semuhei was finally convinced and immediately ordered to set up camp on the spot and wait for the arrival of the Seya Brigade.

(End of this chapter)