The Iron-Blooded Army of Beacon Fire

Chapter 339: Annihilation of the Japanese Vanguard 3
Relying on their tenacious fighting will and resilience, the Japanese army, organized by officers and non-commissioned officers, launched wave after wave of attacks in groups of three-five or two-three against the courtyards and houses on both sides of the village entrance. Under the cover of light machine gun grenade launchers and grenades, they madly advanced towards the courtyards and houses.

The frenzied attack of the Japanese army did cause some chaos and casualties to the first and second rows of the mounted infantry company guarding the passages on both sides. However, the Japanese army that broke into the yard did not even touch the edge of the house before they were met with intensive firepower counterattacks from the first and second rows.

In the middle of the passage at the entrance of the village, 60mm mortar shells kept falling and exploding, while in the yard attacked by the Japanese army, the officers and soldiers of the mounted infantry company, who refused to give up an inch of land, also launched a fierce fire counterattack against the Japanese army that rushed into the yard.

Dense machine-gun fire was heard from houses everywhere, and grenades fired in retaliation by soldiers from the first and second rows rained down from the rooftops. The dense sounds of gunfire and grenade explosions came one after another, and the gunshots and shouting of the two armies shook the entire village.

Faced with the fierce close-combat firepower brought by the large number of MP28 submachine guns equipped by the mounted infantry company, the Japanese army, which used bolt-action rifles as basic infantry firepower, was unable to effectively open a breakthrough in the houses where dense firepower was deployed, or to carry out effective fire suppression, let alone attacking the houses.

Amid the hail of bullets, the Japanese troops launched counterattacks wave after wave, attacking the yards and houses on both sides, but were defeated by the strafing again and again.

The Japanese troops who rushed into the yard almost rushed into layers of fierce automatic fire. Soon, the yards were filled with Japanese soldiers' bodies lying in pools of blood, broken limbs, and various smashed and blown helmets and equipment.

The more than one hundred surviving Japanese soldiers were almost completely wiped out in several waves of sudden attacks.

The ferocity of the Japanese soldiers, the high quality of the non-commissioned officers and officers, and their fighting spirit were fully demonstrated in this extremely bloody counterattack. However, the officers and soldiers in the first and second rows of the mounted infantry company guarding the houses on both sides were all veterans of the assault corps. They had also been baptized by the battles of Xinkou and Jinling, and had a tenacious fighting will that was no less than that of the Japanese army.

More importantly, in this street fighting that took place in houses and courtyards, the Japanese army's weapons and firepower were completely overwhelmed by the weapons and firepower of the horse infantry company, and they were almost one-sidedly suppressed.

The Japanese army, which was mainly equipped with Type 38 rifles, was no match for the large number of submachine guns and rapid-fire machine pistols equipped by the mounted infantry company.

Even the Czech vz24 bolt-action rifles equipped by the riflemen of the mounted infantry company, due to their excellent workmanship and short length, performed better in street fighting and close combat than the slender Type rifles equipped by the Japanese army. In terms of fighting spirit, the two sides were at least evenly matched. In terms of weapons and equipment, the Japanese army in this battle was completely no match for the mounted infantry company, so the repeated counterattacks launched by the Japanese army were doomed to be futile except for the casualties.

The Japanese army that had broken into the village had only about a hundred combat soldiers left, but in the futile and life-threatening counterattacks, only about thirty were left.

Only after all the counterattacks were repelled did the Japanese army, which had exhausted its combat power, stop and gradually stop its large-scale counterattacks. The dense gunfire, explosions and shouts in the village also quickly weakened.

"Don't fire machine guns or submachine guns anymore, use rifles or pistols instead, don't waste bullets!"

In the house guarded by Liu Yonggui, the platoon leader of the first platoon of the Horse Infantry Company, Liu Yonggui shouted at the MG34 machine gunner who was pulling the trigger and indiscriminately pouring machine gun fire.

Following Liu Yonggui's order, the MG34 machine gunner of the first row of general-purpose machine gun squad who had been pulling the trigger and firing stopped firing, and the rapid and dense gunfire of the MG34 also came to an abrupt end.

After the machine gun stopped firing, wisps of white smoke emerged from the black muzzle and the metal ammunition belt feed port. The assistant gunner of the machine gun immediately pulled out a spare barrel from his backpack, quickly opened the fixing lock between the receiver and the barrel cover, rotated it ninety degrees, pulled out the hot and smoking barrel, and replaced it with a new barrel.

The house guarded by Liu Yonggui and a row of general-purpose machine gun squads was filled with a pungent smell of gunpowder. The ground was littered with a large number of golden bullet casings produced by the shooting of MG34 general-purpose machine guns, as well as handfuls of black grenade caps.

In the corner of the house, there lay a soldier from the first row of machine gun squad who had been shot and killed in the Japanese counterattack. Next to the body were a dozen empty bullet boxes and grenade boxes.

In the melee that had just dealt a heavy blow to the Japanese army, Liu Yonggui's first row suffered very few casualties, but the consumption of ammunition was quite huge.

In the yard outside the house, more than 20 Japanese soldiers' bodies were lying in a mess. Several bloody bodies were twisted and hung on the wall. Three Japanese soldiers' bodies were piled on the threshold of the yard entrance. The Type 38 rifles, bayonets, and shattered helmets left by the dead Japanese soldiers were scattered in the yard.

The khaki ground in the yard was also dyed red with blood. The walls were covered with dense machine gun bullet holes. There were even several places on the earthen wall that had been cut several inches shorter by the intensive fire of the mg34 machine guns, creating several slopes. The ground under the wall was also full of fallen soil and rubble.

The same is true for most of the courtyards on both sides of the village entrance. After the fierce tug-of-war attack and defense just now, these courtyards and houses have completely become a bloody massacre.

"Platoon leader, the Japanese can no longer attack. What should we do next?"

The sergeant lieutenant crawled to Liu Yonggui's side and asked.

Liu Yonggui looked at the streets and passages outside the house that had suddenly become quiet, pulled out a row of 7.63mm Mauser pistol bullets and loaded them into the 20-shot Mauser pistol, shook his head and said, "Let the messenger tell each squad not to act rashly and stay on guard."

The dense gunfire that was like frying beans just now gradually stopped as the Japanese army retreated. The remaining Japanese troops completely gave up the attempt to counterattack and all hid in the walls or corners on both sides of the village entrance, or in the piles of corpses scattered throughout the passage.

The Japanese army was no longer able to launch a counterattack and stopped its offensive. The first and second rows of the horse mounted infantry company stationed in the houses on both sides of the passage had just experienced a fierce battle. Although their casualties were far less than those of the Japanese army, there were also a small number of dead and wounded, and they also needed a short rest after the intense fighting.

Therefore, after the Japanese troops withdrew from various courtyards, the first and second rows of the mounted infantry company also stopped their fire attacks one after another and switched to on-site guard in their respective guarded houses.

The fierce fighting between the two sides soon turned into a confrontation across the yard and the wall.

boom

boom

The battlefield suddenly became much quieter. The sounds of machine gun fire and grenade explosions all disappeared. Only the sparse sound of artillery shells exploding could be heard. That was the 60mm mortar in the command post of the advance column in the center of the village, occasionally firing at the passage at the entrance of the village.

The remaining Japanese troops were all hiding along the outer walls of the courtyards. In order to avoid accidental injuries, the advancing column's 60mm mortars naturally could not fire at the courtyard walls.

After all, if the shell missed the target by a little, it might hit the house, and if it hit the officers and soldiers of the first and second rows of the mounted infantry company hiding inside, the loss would outweigh the gain.

In this case, the six mortars targeted the front entrance of the village passage and the center of the passage filled with Japanese corpses. The six mortars quickly changed to a single-gun free-fire tactic against fixed targets. Then, 60mm mortar shells flew and fell without any pattern. Some mortar shells exploded in the center of the passage, blowing the Japanese corpses scattered on the village passage into pieces, with blood and flesh flying everywhere. The continuous shells made the soil in the center of the village passage fly up, leaving small craters. Various human flesh, helmets, weapon parts and Japanese equipment were constantly thrown around by the air waves generated by the explosion of shells. From time to time, one or two hidden Japanese remnants were hit by the flying mortar shrapnel, making screams and wails. Some mortar shells also fell at the entrance of the village passage.

The Japanese soldiers who had just survived the brutal counterattack no longer cared about the bloody scene caused by the mortar shell explosion in the middle of the passage. All the remaining Japanese soldiers' attention was attracted by the explosion of mortar shells that hit the entrance of the village passage from time to time. Despair was written on the face of almost every remaining Japanese soldier who looked towards the entrance.

Compared with the tragic and bloody scene in the middle of the passage, what really sentenced these remaining Japanese troops to death were the mortar shells that fell at the entrance to the village.

Although the mortar shells that occasionally hit the entrance to the village were not numerous, the remaining Japanese troops who had experienced the intensive salvos of the six 60mm mortars of the Advance Column knew very well that as long as they dared to break out of the village along the entrance, the sporadic mortar shells that seemed sparse would soon turn into intensive mortar salvos, and the entrance to the village would suddenly be covered with a wall of fire composed of impenetrable shrapnel.

Every shell that landed at the entrance to the village used a violent explosion as a unique way to remind the Japanese troops not to think about breaking out, as they had no way of retreat!

An emotion called despair began to spread among the more than 30 remaining Japanese soldiers.

These remaining Japanese troops no longer had the ability to attack, and launching another attack on the courtyards and houses on both sides of the passage would be tantamount to seeking death. Under the mortar fire blockade at the entrance to the village passage, it was impossible for these remaining Japanese troops to retreat out of the village along the same route they came.

Unable to advance or retreat, the more than 30 remaining Japanese soldiers could do nothing under the pressure and blockade of the firepower and manpower of the advancing column. They could only hide in the corners of the courtyard walls, under the walls, and among the piles of corpses, lingering on, waiting for the final moment to come.

The battle in the village has actually entered "garbage time" since then.

In the center of the village, in the command post of the advancing column, Zhao Zhanhai put down his binoculars and said to Yang Biao, the company commander of the mounted infantry company: "The brothers in your company fought well. Most of the Japanese were killed. When I return, I will definitely commend you in front of the captain."

Yang Biao, who witnessed the entire process of the Japanese army being beaten on the roof of the command post, was also very happy at this time. He said: "I didn't expect the Japanese to be so weak. Commander, I think there are only a few Japanese left after being beaten. Why don't we take the initiative to attack and kill them."

Zhao Zhanhai nodded and said, "Let's resolve the battle as quickly as possible. Let the bugler in your company blow the bugle and issue the attack order."

Yang Biao immediately called the bugler excitedly and was about to give an order when suddenly, several loud whooshing sounds came from the sky.

"It's a flare!"

A mortar soldier in the yard pointed at the flare in the air and shouted.

Everyone looked up and saw two red flares and one green flare slowly falling from the air.

After seeing the signal flare, Zhao Zhanhai was stunned for a moment, then his eyes became extremely bright, he shouted loudly, and said expectantly: "The cavalry is moving! Captain Yang, blow the horn quickly, blow the charge horn! Let your people launch the attack, we will cooperate with the cavalry outside the village, and eat up this group of Japanese troops together! Kill them hard!"

Outside the village, Hamamoto Hayashi, commander of the vanguard battalion of the Japanese Army's Hata Detachment, was also watching the slowly falling flares. However, unlike the joy and anticipation of Zhao Zhanhai and others, Hamamoto Hayashi's face was extremely ugly.

Just now, Hamamoto Lin witnessed with his own eyes the entire process of the battle between the attack troops he sent out and the Chinese army in the village.

Hamamoto Lin saw very clearly through the telescope the scenes of the more than 300 soldiers of the attacking force, from the fully equipped assault, to the heavy casualties suffered under the Chinese army's firepower raid, to the failed counterattack, and even the miserable situation and despair of the remaining soldiers in the village.

Every scene of his soldiers being torn apart by the Chinese army's artillery fire and falling in the Chinese army's crossfire made Hamamoto Lin's eyes bloodshot and his heart burned.

But Binbenlin had no way to rescue the remaining officers and soldiers, because he had sent out all the available combat troops. His two infantry companies, a temporary engineering company and a heavy machine gun squad had all been deployed to the village in front of him.

All he had at his disposal now was an artillery squadron equipped with four mountain cannons, some communications and medical personnel, and more than a hundred truck drivers. Most of these people could not be deployed to fight, which meant that he had no decent combat force at all.

The only means he could use to attack the enemy now was the artillery attack of four mountain cannons, but the remaining Japanese troops in the village were all hiding in the corners and bases of the walls of the courtyard. If he used mountain cannons to bombard the houses where the Chinese troops were hiding, it would indeed cause great casualties to the Chinese army. With the killing radius and explosive power of the 75mm mountain cannon shells, the remaining Japanese troops who were close to the Chinese army would definitely be killed by the artillery fire at the same time.

In this way, it was impossible for Hamamoto Lin to use mountain artillery to cover the retreat of the remaining Japanese troops in the village.

Therefore, he could do nothing but watch in agony as the remaining Japanese troops in the village waited to die.

Looking at the two red flares and one green flare that suddenly appeared in the sky, Hamamoto Lin felt a little more uneasy.

But before he had time to think about what these flares meant, suddenly, a series of horn sounds were heard from the village ahead.

Bin Benlin could tell that the high-pitched and long bugle call was the standard charge of the Chinese army. Immediately following the charge, there were bursts of intensive whistles. The high-pitched charge sound mixed with the sharp whistle sound made Bin Benlin feel a chill on his back and his hair stand on end.

At this moment, the Chinese troops in the village sounded the charge, and their purpose was self-evident.

Hamamoto Lin couldn't bear to look at the dozens of his subordinates who were hiding at the entrance of the village and were about to face the final moment of the Chinese army's offensive and counterattack, so he had to put down the telescope and closed his eyes in pain.

At this moment, Hamamoto Lin suddenly felt a commotion behind him, and the ground under his feet seemed to shake. Then, Hamamoto Lin heard the trembling voice of the adjutant beside him mixed with fear.

"Sir, the Chinese cavalry are coming at us!"

(End of this chapter)