Songhu: Never Give Up

Chapter 409 The Japs are coming
Ishii Kazuyuki did not take Major Watanabe's reminder seriously and said confidently:
“It’s just a bunch of rabble. No matter how many people there are, they are just the achievements of the Ishii Regiment;
According to the reports from the landlords and gentry, their equipment was very backward. There were only a dozen guerrillas in each village, and the rest were farmers. They all used swords and spears, and several people could not even get a gun.

There are more people than guns, and more guns than bullets. A squad of the Imperial Army can wipe out an entire village of this mob."

Major Watanabe thought about it and realized that modern wars cannot be won by relying on numbers. A group of farmers really don’t have much combat power, so he said:
"Your Excellency, the commander of the guerrilla group, is right. I am too cautious. However, the guerrillas are scattered throughout the towns and villages. We still need to formulate a careful battle plan on how to sweep them away."

Colonel Ishii had already had his own battle plan, and when Major Watanabe asked about it, he said proudly:
"Mr. Watanabe, as the saying goes, to catch a thief, you must first catch the leader. The base of the Linyi guerrillas is in Luotian Town near Tanjiagou. There are at least 500 armed personnel, and the highest-ranking officer is a captain.
We only need to send one squadron to attack Luotian Town directly, which is equivalent to disturbing a hornet's nest. The guerrillas scattered around will gather around and eat the bait.

At that time, the main force of the imperial army will surround them from all sides, approach quietly, and annihilate them all in one fell swoop without firing a gun..."

In Tianjia Town, at the headquarters of the Third Brigade, the atmosphere suddenly became tense. Captain Zhao Kun was convening a few key members for a meeting. When everyone was present, he said directly:

"Brothers, we have received a notification from the battalion headquarters that the Japanese troops in Linyi have secretly set out, and the vanguard, about a squadron of Japanese troops, are heading straight for our Tianjia Town;

The battalion commander believes that the Japanese definitely have a conspiracy this time, otherwise they would not send only one squadron to rush in. The battalion commander does not know the real intention of the Japanese, and hopes that our troops can reveal the Japanese intention. "

After listening to this, the company commander Sun Yuandong said nonchalantly:
"There is only one squadron of Japanese soldiers. We don't even need to mobilize the main force of the battalion. Our battalion can take care of them all. We can just block the Japanese soldiers outside Tianjia Town."

Zhao Kun shook his head and said:
"I was thinking the same thing as you did, but what the battalion commander meant was that the Japs were clearly testing the waters, trying to use a small group of Japs to expose our main force. The Japs don't know the strength of the military sub-district yet, but there is a Japs regiment in Linyi, so we must treat it with caution.

We don't have much experience in internal operations. The battalion commander means to use this anti-mopping-up operation to accumulate experience. To put it simply, we are using the Japanese to practice fighting and accumulate experience for dealing with higher-level mopping-up operations in the future."

Sun Yuandong understood what he said, so he said:

"Captain, just tell me how to fight!"

Zhao Kun thought for a moment and then said:

"Since the enemy's target is Tianjia Town, let them in. It's a good opportunity for us to practice tactics against the enemy.

Several villages along the way activated emergency plans and organized villagers to evacuate according to the plan. The militias in each village were ready to prepare for the Japanese to enter the village at any time. The garrison brigade blocked the enemy at every level. The main force set up an ambush in Lijiagou outside Tianjia Town and made sure to surround them in Lijiagou to see how the Japanese in Linyi would react. "

Next, everyone discussed the specific combat deployment, and then left the brigade headquarters to prepare for the Japanese raid.

Tianjia Town is a large town in the surrounding area. The permanent population of the town is more than 3 people. Together with the villages under its jurisdiction, the total population exceeds 2 people.

The troops of Tianjia Town include a main battalion and a garrison battalion. The militia battalion is just a battalion headquarters. The militia companies or platoons of each village are under the unified command of the battalion headquarters. Zhao Kun serves as both the militia battalion commander and the garrison battalion commander.

The garrison battalion had a total of 572 people, most of whom were reorganized bandit armed forces. The backbones above the squad leader came from the main force, and some backbones of the main battalion went to each village in the form of working groups to assist the villages in forming militia companies. The remaining number was about 600 people, which was exactly 3 infantry companies and 1 artillery company.

The standard for selecting personnel is to select one regular squad from each platoon, and then select one rifle group from each of the other squads, so that there are 1 people left in each squad. Each platoon has 10 to 4 squads (originally 5 squads), and the company-level firepower platoon is reduced to a reinforced heavy machine gun squad equipped with two heavy machine guns.

The artillery company is equipped with 2 mortars, 2 infantry guns, and 6 flying thunder guns, which are the heavy firepower guarantee for the entire battalion. Even if more than 400 people are withdrawn, the main battalion can independently fight against an infantry battalion of the Japanese.

On the main road from Linyi to Tianjia Town, a group of Japanese soldiers were marching towards Tianjia Town. They did not send troops to sweep the villages along the way. Captain Dongye Masatsune, who led the team, was very cautious. Only he knew that the entire Juye Squadron was a bait, so he would not easily split up the troops. Dongye Squadron was a garrison force, which was formed after the war. It was composed of some reserve and reserve soldiers. Only officers and non-commissioned officers were drawn from active service. They did not experience much actual combat. This was their first time to carry out a combat mission alone.
Their deployment was very simple. One team was responsible for leading the way, and the main force followed. As long as the vanguard team did not encounter the Chinese, they would be safe.

"Mr. Dongye, Tianjia Town is full of militias and guerrillas. No matter how many people we have, it will be useless. If we continue to advance to Tianjia Town at this speed, they will probably have run away like rats, and an empty town will be waiting for us."

The deputy squadron leader, Lieutenant Ma Tian, ​​had obviously lost some of his patience. He wished he could get to Tianjia Town right away so that he could have a party.
Linyi is a big city after all, and the regiment headquarters has very strict controls on them. Now that they have gone to the countryside, they are like wild horses that have broken free from their reins, doing whatever they want without any awareness of being bait.

Dongye naturally knew what Lieutenant Mata was thinking. He also thought so, but it didn't work this time, so he said to Lieutenant Mata:
"Mr. Mada, the hundreds of guerrillas in Tianjia Town are nothing to be afraid of, but there are thousands of guerrillas hiding in the mountains around Tianjia Town. It will take months to search every mountain, so we must lure them out.
The reason why I slowed down the march was to give them enough time to prepare. The Imperial Army is in the open, and the Chinese are in the dark, so it is necessary to be cautious. "

Lieutenant Ma Tian finally understood. He was not stupid. This was just a bait, but he did not care. He said arrogantly:
"A squadron of the Imperial Army can defeat a regular Chinese army. If thousands of guerrillas come together, they will only serve as a gift to us."

At this moment, sporadic gunfire was heard from the front. Dongye's face changed and he said to Lieutenant Mata:
"Mr. Mada, the Chinese have finally lost their patience. This must be because the first squad has been attacked by the guerrillas. You should immediately bring the second squad to reinforce them.

Remember, just drive them away, never chase them, or you will fall into their trap."

When Lieutenant Mata heard that the guerrillas had appeared, his blood boiled with excitement. He used to be a squad leader of the 6th Independent Mixed Brigade. He participated in the Battle of Xuzhou and fought against the Central Army of the National Army, so he did not take the guerrillas seriously at all.

A few hundred meters away, Miyashita's team encountered big trouble. They first broke into a minefield. After the guerrillas detonated the mine, they killed and injured more than a dozen Japanese soldiers. Although only three were killed, the other nine wounded gave him a headache.

Then the ambushing guerrillas opened fire on them fiercely, and the Miyashita squad suffered several casualties in the hasty fight. When they fought back, the unmartial Chinese ran away.

Having suffered a great loss, Miyashita led the remaining men to pursue the guerrillas, but before they had gone far they stepped on a land mine, which injured three Japanese soldiers. The others were so frightened that they quickly retreated.
Miyashita was so angry that he cursed:
"Baga, the guerrillas only know how to do sneaky things. They have no conscience!"

Just as he was hesitating whether to continue the pursuit, Lieutenant Ma Tian came up with dozens of Japanese reinforcements. As soon as he came up, he asked loudly:
"Where are the guerrillas? Why don't they go after them?"

Lieutenant Miyashita had no choice but to report what they had encountered to Lieutenant Asada, who was so angry that he cursed:
"Baga, a few land mines scared you so much, are you still warriors of the empire?
Chase them quickly, how many mines can a beggar-like guerrilla army have! "

Although Lieutenant Asada was only a deputy squadron leader, the Japanese had a strict hierarchy within the organization and Second Lieutenant Miyashita dared not disobey Lieutenant Asada's orders. He had to continue the pursuit with the remaining soldiers, and the dozen or so wounded had to be left to the care of the second team.

Asada had guessed correctly, the Japanese didn't step on the mines when they rushed over, but the attackers also ran away without a trace;
There were only more than 30 fighters left in Miyashita's team. They stopped after chasing for a few hundred meters. They did not dare to chase too far.

He sent a soldier back to report to Lieutenant Mata, while he himself led the Miyashita team to continue searching along the main road and attacking towards Tianjia Town.

Not long after, Captain Dongye and his men also arrived. He was also troubled by the 15 wounded soldiers and could only use the mule and horse carts assigned to them to transport them.
Whenever a Japanese squadron went out to fight alone, they would be equipped with several mule and horse carts to assist in the battle. On the one hand, they could transport supplies, and on the other hand, they could pull corpses and wounded soldiers.

More than a dozen wounded soldiers occupied two large carts. Most of these Japanese had their legs broken by landmines. They couldn't be thrown away, but it was too troublesome to carry them with them. This gave Captain Dongye a headache. He finally realized that the trip to Tianjia Town was not so easy.

The troops had not gone far when fierce gunfire was heard from the front, including a Czech light machine gun. Captain Higashino's face turned very ugly, and he said to Lieutenant Mata with a cold face:

"Mr. Mada, this is clearly a guerrilla attack. The Miyashita squad has too few soldiers, so the guerrillas dared to launch a surprise attack. Send someone to inform them to stop the pursuit and wait for the main force of the squadron to arrive. The three squads should form a group, and then the Chinese will not dare to launch a surprise attack."

(End of this chapter)