Songhu: Never Give Up

Linyi City, Ishii Brigade Headquarters

Colonel Ishii, who had placed high hopes on the bait, was slapped hard in the face by the cruel reality that the "bait" had been surrounded by the guerrillas;

Major Watanabe quickly reminded him:
"Sir, the Chinese are obviously playing a trick. More than half of the East Field Squadron has been killed or wounded, but the guerrillas are just surrounding and attacking. They are trying to lure the Imperial Army to rescue them. Everyone knows what Sima Zhao is thinking!"

Colonel Ishii simply nodded slightly and said:
"Yoshi, this idiot Ohno has the nerve to make excuses for his incompetence in a Soviet-equipped army of over a thousand men.

Watanabe, your judgment is correct. The Chinese are just showing off. This is a challenge to the Imperial Army.

If I am not mistaken, they have already gathered all their troops and are waiting for the Imperial Army. They are going to have a decisive battle with the Imperial Army, and they have already drawn the line;
The Imperial Army has never been afraid of any challenge, we accepted this invitation!

Gather the main forces of the regiment, leave the first battalion to defend the city, and the rest of you immediately follow me to Tianjia Town to meet the Chinese people! "

Seeing that the regiment commander had made up his mind, Major Watanabe said no more and left after a "Hey".

Colonel Ishii was not worried at all that he would fail. Since the Chinese had issued a challenge, they would not break their promise easily. Both sides hoped to decide the outcome in one battle, which was what Colonel Ishii liked.

Zhao Kun had already arranged for scouts to monitor Linyi City, so he discovered the Japs as soon as they moved out. The news of the Japs' movement was quickly passed on through relay transmission. After receiving the information, Zhao Kun couldn't help but sneered and said:
"The Japs really think highly of me. They sent out more than a thousand people. Do they really think they can run rampant with just these few people?"

Captain Ye Xingwei, the brigade's staff officer, came over and said:

"Captain, there are more than 1500 devils here, it's not easy to deal with them;

Even if we concentrate all the main forces of the military sub-district, we still cannot defeat the Japanese."

Zhao Kun fell into deep thought. Staff Officer Ye was right. They could not defeat this group of devils by themselves. They could only ask for help from the military sub-district commander.

He thought for a moment and said:
"You must immediately report to Commander Liao that the main force of the Japanese has left their lair, with 1500 people. I estimate that there are at most a few hundred people in Linyi City.

We are confident that we can hold back the main force of the Japanese invaders, and suggest that the main force of the battalion can send out a part of it to launch a surprise attack on Linyi City.

Attack if you can, if you can’t, surround the place and attack the reinforcements. They fight theirs, and we fight ours!"

After hearing this, Staff Officer Ye's eyes lit up. This was indeed a good idea, and he excitedly took the order and left.

Zhao Kun also had a flash of inspiration. He remembered that Commander Yue had used this trick before and it worked very well. Now it depended on how Old Liao would decide.

The guerrilla column's radio station was only equipped at the battalion level, so the communications staff officer Ye Xingwei had to ride over in person to report. Fortunately, the distance was not far, and it only took two hours to ride back and forth.

Once the main force of the Japanese invaders left their lair, there was no need for the bait to exist. Zhao Kun immediately ordered a general attack to eliminate the Japanese invaders in the encirclement in advance.

In Lijiagou, the remnants of the Japanese soldiers of the East Field Army huddled together and resisted stubbornly on the unknown slope in the valley;

The guerrillas surrounded the Japanese without attacking, but just shot at them from a distance, putting enough pressure on them to prevent them from freeing up their hands to dig fortifications.

Although he knew that reinforcements had been dispatched, Captain Higashino showed no joy on his face. He was worried that he would not be able to hold out until the reinforcements arrived.

Lieutenant Ma Tian comforted him:
"Mr. Dongye, it's only half a day's journey from Linyi City to Lijiagou. The Chinese are not in a hurry to encircle and annihilate us, so there is still hope that we can hold out until the reinforcements arrive."

"Mr. Mada, if the Chinese have already launched an attack, I am not worried. They will definitely send people to monitor Linyi City.
We have lost our value as bait now. If I were in charge, I would definitely eliminate the enemies in the encirclement first to avoid fighting on two fronts—"

"Dong dong dong..."

Dongye's face turned pale. He heard the sound of a shell breaking through the air. It was a heavy artillery. It was exactly what he said.
"Bagaya road!"

Dongye's nose felt sore. Dozens of people using heavy artillery was too bullying!

"Boom boom boom!"

In a flash, Captain Higashino felt his body being thrown up, the force was too strong, and he was knocked unconscious.
He was too lazy to even get up from the ground. The Chinese had even used their "heavy artillery", so they would naturally not let them go.

What puzzled him was where did such a small army get such heavy artillery?
The attacking troops used the Flying Thunder Cannon. The artillery company's six Flying Thunder Cannons fired just one salvo, killing and wounding dozens of Japanese soldiers, and the rest were blown into silence.
The infantry from the second and third companies took the opportunity to launch a charge. Before the remaining Japanese soldiers could react, the attacking troops with bayonets had arrived and wiped out the remaining dozen or so Japanese soldiers.

There was no suspense in this battle. Zhao Kun's team swallowed the devil's "bait" in one gulp. In the process of cleaning up the battlefield, they seized a radio. The second company commander was so happy that he praised:
"Shuanzi, you have made great contributions this time. The captain will definitely reward you handsomely. Promotion to squad leader is a must!"

When Shuanzi heard that he was going to be the squad leader, he smiled proudly. He had wanted to be the squad leader for a long time. In order to confuse the Japanese reinforcements, they quickly cleaned up the battlefield and used machine guns to make noises, so that the Japanese reinforcements would think that the battle in Lijiagou was not over yet.

After dealing with the Japanese bait, Zhao Kun immediately sent out the main force, the first company, with dozens of mines to harass the Japanese, while the second and third companies were deployed in stages to block the Japanese, and the garrison battalion cooperated in the battle.

Shandong Southeast Military Sub-district Headquarters

Liao Jianping had already received the report from the Third Brigade. After thinking for a moment, he adopted Zhao Kun's suggestion. This method of play was indeed very creative, but he was worried about the problem:
"Staff Officer Ye, there are more than 1500 Japanese soldiers here. Can you hold them off?"

Staff Officer Ye answered loudly:
"Don't worry, Commander. The captain has already issued the attack order before I set out. It's only a matter of charging to wipe out dozens of remaining Japanese soldiers.
As long as we don't fight on two fronts, there will be no problem in holding back the Japanese. We have confidence!"

Liao Jianping immediately said:
"The military situation is urgent. You must return to Tianjia Town immediately. I don't have any troops here to reinforce you. It's up to you to hold back the Japanese.

Tell Zhao Kun not to fight the devils to death. I will launch an attack on Linyi City before dark, and we will run them to pieces."

After Staff Officer Ye left, Liao Jianping immediately dispatched the First Battalion and two garrison battalions to Linyi, while the Second Infantry Battalion and the Artillery Battalion carried out the infiltration mission, preparing to ambush the returning main force of the Japanese.
The 600nd Infantry Battalion also had only more than 1000 people, and even with the artillery battalion, there were only more than 1500 people. It was unrealistic to annihilate Japanese devils, so their strategy was to give them a surprise blow and then leave.

The current Ludongnan Military Sub-district does not have many troops. The detachment does have one infantry battalion and one artillery battalion of mobile forces, but these troops are reserve forces and are used to deal with emergencies.

Yue Qianli had said before that mopping-up operations below the regiment level would be handled by the military sub-district on its own, and the detachment would generally not intervene.

Tianmenling, the third battalion's blocking position

Dozens of mines had been buried on the right side of the road, and on the left was Tianmen Ridge, less than a hundred meters away from the road, blocking the enemy's passage into Tianjia Town;

The company responsible for blocking the Japanese is on high alert, and the company commander Sun Yuandong is observing the surrounding terrain with a telescope.

The reconnaissance squad leader came running over with his back bent and reported:
"Captain, the Japanese vanguard is about a mile away from Tianmenling. There are about a squadron of soldiers in the lead, with several tricycles and an armored vehicle behind them.

The large group of people lagged behind for several miles, at least a dozen trucks."

Sun Yuandong nodded and said:

"Continue to monitor the devils and report if anything happens."

After the reconnaissance squad leader left, Sun Yuandong shouted at the top of his voice:
"The devils are coming soon, get ready to fight!"

Since the enemy had an armored vehicle and the company was not equipped to deal with the Iron Turtle, they could only resort to the crude method of cluster grenades.
Sun Yuandong sent a blasting team to ambush in a natural trench beside the highway. They took the lead in launching an attack and knocked down the Japanese armored vehicles first.

Sun Yuandong had just finished making adjustments when the Japanese vanguard came charging over in a mighty force, with three-wheeled motorcycles leading the way and a Type 99 light machine gun mounted on the front of the vehicle bed.

As the terrain of Tianmen Mountain was quite complex, the Japanese soldiers on three-wheeled motorcycles kept firing at places they considered suspicious along the way, and the bullets caused gravel and dust to fly all over the mountain.
In fact, the Japs were just going through the motions. They needed reinforcements like they had to put out a fire, and they didn't have much time to mess around.

The first company released three motorcycles, and the second and third companies behind them would deal with them;

Not long after the motorcycle passed by, the Japanese armored vehicles came slowly over. Because they had to take care of the infantry behind them, their speed was not very fast.

The so-called armored vehicles of the Japanese were actually cars covered with a layer of iron sheets, with a 7.7mm machine gun on the front and flank. They were more than enough to deal with guerrillas without anti-tank equipment, and heavy machine gun bullets could not penetrate them.
An armored vehicle drove over in a swagger, with the Japanese squadron leader sitting on it. The guy stopped the armored vehicle and fired a few rounds.

The bullet almost hit the hiding place of the demolition team. The team leader quietly poked his head out and saw that the "Iron Turtle" was slowly approaching them, so he tightened the cluster grenade;

The blasting team consists of three people. The team leader An Hao is responsible for throwing bombs, and the other two are responsible for fire cover. They are equipped with a DP-28 light machine gun.

An Hao had been calculating the distance. Cluster grenades were heavy, so even if he threw them from a high position, he could only throw them 20 to 30 meters away. He also had to calculate the lead time and throw them on the roof of the car with the weakest defense.
The Japanese tanks were getting closer and closer. He was so nervous that he didn't dare to breathe, but finally he was within the attack range.

An Hao pulled out the fuse, then suddenly stood up, aimed at the armored vehicle and smashed it hard;

A sharp-eyed Japanese infantryman discovered him, but the Japanese's reaction was not as fast as An Hao's. He had already retreated into the trench before the Japanese's bullets arrived, and An Hao successfully escaped.

As soon as he lay down, he heard a huge explosion. With a nervous heart, An Hao stretched his head out to take a look. What caught his eye was an armored vehicle that had been blown up.
At this time, the roof of the armored vehicle was torn open by the explosion, and all the Japanese inside were killed. The power of the explosion of several grenades was still very great.

The Japanese infantrymen who were running after them were completely dumbfounded. They were left behind by two or three hundred meters and were out of reach. They could only rush forward screaming.

An Hao did not linger in the battle, but fought and retreated at the same time, leading the Japanese to the area where the main force of the company was ambushing. (End of this chapter)