Rise From Eight Hundred

This battlefield, which broke out on the plain on the north bank of the Yellow River, was recorded in the history of the Sino-Japanese War.

The title of the record given by the Chinese side to this battlefield is: The fastest Japanese infantry regiment to die in the Patriotic War!

It's not how fast they died, but that their marching speed is really first-class.

It took only 2 hours for an infantry regiment of more than 3,000 people to reach the 15 kilometers from the station to the Bihe battlefield, and they were carrying all the equipment. This does not include the 20 minutes of rest in the middle, which means that they were advancing at a speed of about 9 kilometers per hour.

Such a marching speed would definitely make the Four-Line Regiment ashamed. They advanced an average of only 30 kilometers a day for 20 consecutive days, while the 2nd Infantry Regiment of the 14th Division ran half of the distance in just two hours.

What is elite? This is it.

Even Ishiguro Sadazo himself was proud of his subordinates.

There are troops that can run 15 kilometers in two hours, but there are really not many troops that can maintain a neat formation like his subordinates.

All the good mood of the army's left-handed riding horse was destroyed the moment the first ray of sunlight at dawn shone on his face.

He no longer had to worry about what he was worried about.

The reconnaissance team led by Captain Utsunomiya was discovered, 3 kilometers away from the north bank of the Bi River.

However, the reconnaissance team of 94 people was piled into a small pile.

He didn't go to the scene in person. Listening to the report of the captain of the first infantry battalion, the left-handed captain, who was riding a horse in front, Ishiguro Sadazo had already seen that picture in his mind.

More than 90 heads were piled up layer by layer, like the ancient Jingguan of China!

That was also a sign of the opponent's fight to the death.

Obviously, there is no need to ask why the reconnaissance team was wiped out. The Chinese should have found the traces of their own reconnaissance team on the other side of the Bi River and mobilized heavy troops to surround and kill them, which led to the current situation.

Why did Utsunomiya's reconnaissance team not send a telegram to the regiment headquarters until all of them died? It is very likely that he did not expect such a tragic event at the beginning, and when he wanted to send a telegram, he may have lost the ability to do so because the radio station was damaged or the signalman died.

As for why the Chinese built the Jingguan so far away from the Bihe River, according to the survey of the nearby terrain by the Japanese Army's junior left, there had been fierce battles there, and the charred caused by a large number of explosions could be seen everywhere.

That should be because the reconnaissance team tried to evacuate but still failed. There was the farthest distance they escaped.

"Baga! Order the first and second battalions to continue to speed up and reach the bank of the Bihe River. Take advantage of the Chinese army's unpreparedness and cross the river immediately. If there are garrisoned Chinese troops, quickly defeat them. The artillery squadrons of the regiment will provide fire support for them. In addition, notify them that our unit does not need prisoners!" Ishiguro Sadazo issued a military order with a sullen face.

"In addition, order the baggage company of the 1st Infantry Battalion to collect the remains of the imperial warriors. When our troops defeat the Four-Line Regiment and build a higher and larger Jingguan with their heads, we will hold a memorial ceremony!"

The two infantry battalions of the 2nd Infantry Regiment were originally trotting forward, but after receiving the military order from the rear regiment, they sped up again.

Although the two infantry battalions suffered losses in the continuous battles, they still maintained a force of 900 people each. The team of more than 1,800 people, if overlooked from the air, was like a long earth-yellow dragon, crawling forward on the wasteland covered with thigh-deep wild grass.

The heavy cowhide shoes stepped on the only dirt road leading to the bank of the Bi River, and the footsteps were like thunder!

The dawn that was originally somewhat quiet on the wasteland of the Central Plains was completely crushed!

Because of this military order issued by Ishiguro Sadazo at about 7 o'clock in the morning.

The title of the record of this battle in the history of the Japanese Army War is: The stupidest military order in the history of the Army War, no one!

Yes, in order to speed up the march, the two infantry battalions marched in a long line on the only dirt road. They didn't even send out any scouts, and they didn't even conduct a decent search of the endless wild grass on both sides of the dirt road.

There, let alone hiding people, even a group of wild buffaloes would not be easy to see, let alone in such weather.

At 7 o'clock in the morning, the sky was just getting light, and with the mist in the winter morning, the visibility was only 50 to 60 meters, which was definitely not a good sight.

But the Japanese army ignored all this and bravely rushed towards the quiet Bi River along the only dirt road.

To be honest, it's not that the more than 3,000 Japanese troops from Ishiguro Sadanzo below are all pigs, but that since North China, the 14th Division has won consecutive victories and has hardly encountered any decent resistance. Even the well-equipped Chinese army like the First Army, which has far more troops than the 14th Division, has been defeated again and again.

It can be said that although the 14th Division did not make amazing achievements in conquering Shanxi Province like the 5th Division, they were better than the 5th Division in terms of losses and the speed of defeating the Chinese army's front line.

I am the number one regular division of the Imperial Japanese Army. This idea has long been spread in the 14th Division.

Not to mention that they did not expect to be ambushed by the Chinese army. Even if they were ambushed, they could still crush the Chinese attack. This is the confidence that emanates from the bones of the 14th Division.

This extreme self-confidence also made them make a wrong judgment. Even if the Chinese army wanted to stop them, they could only rely on the natural barrier of the river to stop them, and would not do so in such an unobstructed plain area. For the Chinese army lacking artillery, this would be completely self-destructive.

If it were any other Chinese army, Ishiguro Sadazo's judgment would not be wrong. If they put down the infantry on such an unobstructed plain, a shell would probably kill an infantry squad. Any Chinese commander with a little bit of brains would not do this.

Unfortunately, he encountered the Four-Line Regiment!

Its highest commander Tang Dao, as Kenji Doihara said, liked the tactic of surprise attack the most. What the opponent thought was impossible was the best reason for him.

And the Four-Line Regiment was not an ordinary Chinese army. This time, they transported the equipment of two infantry regiments, not to mention dozens of heavy machine guns, more than a hundred light machine guns, and even 6 150-caliber heavy mortars.

That thing, except that its range is only 3,300 meters, is a little shorter, but its power is no less than that of the 105mm howitzer.

In addition, there are more than 20 82mm mortars, 7 infantry guns captured from the Japanese army, and 4 Type 41 75 mountain guns.

And what about the 2nd Infantry Regiment?

Each infantry battalion is only equipped with two infantry guns, and the regiment headquarters also has an infantry artillery squad with 4 guns, a total of 10 infantry guns, plus the rapid-fire artillery squadron directly under the regiment headquarters is equipped with 6 37mm rapid-fire guns, and the mountain artillery squadron is equipped with 4 75mm Type 41 mountain guns.

With a total of 20 artillery pieces, the heavy firepower of the 2nd Infantry Regiment can exceed that of an infantry division against ordinary Chinese troops.

But in front of the current Four-Line Regiment, these 20 artillery pieces may only be beaten, which is also one of the reasons why Tang Dao dares to play this unexpected tactic.

Of course, compared with the advantage of heavy firepower, the biggest reason why Tang Dao dared to make up his mind was probably the Czech semi-automatic rifles that had been equipped in the entire regiment.

That was a secret that Tang Dao did not bring out during the military parade in the town. Except for a limited number of generals, no one knew that the entire Sixing Regiment had equipped the semi-automatic rifles to the level of corporal.

Yes, except for the 500 new recruits and the student company, all the battalions and companies had replaced their semi-automatic rifles in the confrontation with the 20th Division more than 20 days ago, and even the cooks were no exception.

The most conservative estimate of the single-soldier continuous firepower that the Sixing Regiment has now burst out is three times that of the past. Not to mention far exceeding the Chinese army, even the Japanese army equipped with Type 38 rifles is far behind.

So, when the vanguard of the Japanese First Infantry Battalion could see that the wide surface of the Bihe River was beginning to slow down and was planning to send scouts to scout, and the main force was preparing to cross the river.

"Bang!"

The gunshot rang!

It was a signal gun in the wilderness.

Erya, pulled the trigger to the sky, and the red flare burst into a brilliant red light in the sky, like a meteor that cut through the haze, leaving a brilliant silhouette in the pupils of the Japanese soldiers who looked up and suddenly shrank.

Then came the sound of popping beans.

The Japanese soldiers who were caught off guard fell down like mowing the grass.

"Enemy attack!" The heart-wrenching scream of the Japanese officers was soon drowned out by the surging metal bullet stream...

The bullets came from the grass on both sides of the dirt road that the Japanese army had not paid attention to after a rough inspection. Tang Dao took out all the seven infantry companies in his hand, including Peng Chong's guard company and 300 of the 500 recruits.

The two Japanese infantry battalions formed a long snake formation on the dirt road for nearly 1,500 meters. The six infantry companies and 300 recruits on both sides of the dirt road just included this 1,500-meter section.

The closest trench to the dirt road was only 30 meters away, and the slightly farther one was only 40 meters, almost the distance of close combat.

Because the distance was too close, and Tang Dao used an ambush from both sides of the road, even though the terrain of the road was higher than the grass on both sides, the soldiers of the Four-line Regiment spent the whole night digging a trench of nearly 90 centimeters. Tang Dao still ordered each company to adopt a staggered deployment method.

That is, the squads and platoons were never allowed to face each other head-on, and they had to stagger a certain distance. All the firepower on both sides of the road was like a canine tooth staggered to clamp the entire dirt road tightly.

There was no problem with the distribution of firepower. The key was this extremely bold tactic of using the grass and ambushing almost under the noses of the Japanese army. Not to mention that the Japanese army did not expect it, even Lei Xiong, who advocated active attack, was almost shocked and dropped his jaw.

As long as the Japanese army was more careful and searched the grass, even though the soldiers dug trenches half a person deep at night, covered them with straw mats sent by the baggage company and then spread dry grass for camouflage, it was inevitable that they would be discovered.

By then, the Japanese army bombarded the grass on the plain with various artillery, and there was a more than 90% chance that they would lose more than they gained.

However, Tang Dao, who arrived at the north bank of the Mi River at night, adopted this tactic arbitrarily after inspecting the terrain.

This was the inspiration Tang Dao got from the near-miraculous battle of "Shentouling" by Chen, the brigade commander of the 385th Brigade in the past. Since it has been decided to attack them by surprise, it will be used to the extreme.

In the battle of Shentouling, the ambush site of the 385th Brigade was only a dozen meters away from the closest point of the Japanese army's marching road, but the Japanese army did not notice it at all. In the end, the 385th Brigade wiped out the Japanese army's baggage train of more than 1,000 people with more than 300 casualties.

What is even more amazing is that the main force that ambushed the Japanese baggage train was not the main 772nd and 771st Regiments of the 385th Brigade, but the supplementary regiment.

It is called a supplementary regiment, but in fact it is a reserve force. At this time, the regular army of the 385th Brigade had only one Hanyang rifle and 10 bullets per person, not to mention the reserve force. According to the war history records at that time, the supplementary regiment of the 385th Brigade had an average of three people per gun, each gun was equipped with 5 bullets, but each person had a red tassel gun.

The most fundamental reason for the annihilation of more than a thousand Japanese invaders was that the ambush site was chosen very close. After all the officers and soldiers of the supplementary regiment had used up their bullets, they all started a hand-to-hand fight with red tassel guns.

The Japanese army's 1.7-meter-long Type 38 rifle was originally superior to the 10-centimeter-shorter Hanyang rifle, but the supplementary regiment of the 385th Brigade did not have many rifles, and the more than 2-meter-long red tassel gun was the most handy weapon in their hands.

The 385th Brigade was able to win this miraculous battle in the face of the Japanese baggage soldiers whose rifles were several dozen centimeters longer than their own.

On the other hand, the Japanese 2nd Infantry Regiment of the Four-Line Regiment was not comparable to the baggage soldiers in terms of equipment and fighting spirit, but the equipment of the Four-Line Regiment was also far superior to that of the 385th Brigade Supplementary Regiment.

All infantrymen equipped with semi-automatic rifles were issued 120 rounds of ammunition, infantrymen equipped with submachine guns were issued 160 rounds of ammunition, and infantrymen equipped with Mauser pistols were also issued 160 rounds of ammunition. In addition, because other baggage was discarded, each infantryman carried an average of 6 grenades, and some infantrymen with enough strength carried as many as 10 grenades.

Light machine guns and grenade launchers were not only distributed to each infantry squad, but each infantry company was equipped with 9 light machine guns and 9 grenade launchers. In order to ensure the intensity of firepower, Tang Dao ordered the transported Maxim heavy machine guns to be taken out, and each infantry company was assigned 8 machine gun shooters to serve as temporary heavy machine gunners, and 4 people were responsible for one heavy machine gun. During the march, a special person helped to carry the heavy machine guns and ammunition.

In this way, an infantry company had 9 light machine guns and 2 heavy machine guns, and the infantry company alone had 12 heavy machine guns.

But this is not the end. The three major infantry battalions all had a machine gun company. Because the ambush distance was too close, the mortars of the machine gun company would not bombard the highway area unless necessary to prevent accidental injuries, but the machine guns would not. The original standard configuration of 6 heavy machine gun squads was 6 heavy machine guns. In order to strengthen the firepower, Tang Dao was crazy enough to equip the heavy machine gun squad with two Maxim heavy machine guns.

That means that the six infantry companies and three machine gun companies responsible for ambushing in the bushes on both sides of the road, in addition to the original semi-automatic rifles, submachine guns, and Mauser pistols equipped by nearly a thousand infantrymen, have 54 light machine guns, 48 ​​Maxim heavy machine guns, 54 grenade launchers, and 18 82-caliber mortars.

According to the configuration of the Japanese infantry battalion, two infantry battalions marching on the dirt road, one infantry squad is equipped with two light machine guns, and one squadron is only 6. The two infantry battalions have a maximum of 48, which is somewhat close to the Four-Line Regiment. The two heavy machine gun squadrons equipped with the two infantry battalions only have 24 Type 92 heavy machine guns, which can be completely beaten by 48 Maxims.

Tang Dao felt that it was not enough to beat the Japanese army with heavy firepower alone.

The ambush position selected by the Four-Line Regiment was no more than 40 meters away from the dirt road. What was the purpose? It was to facilitate bombing.

Nearly a thousand infantrymen, each with an average of six or seven grenades, that's thousands of grenades. The other 300 recruits who were ordered to join the battle were not just here to feel the atmosphere of the battlefield.

The recruits in the trenches were also ordered not to shoot unless in an emergency. All they had to do was throw all the grenades they carried.

There was no need to throw accurately, just throw the grenades 30 or 40 meters away as they usually trained. That was the only tactical training for the recruits in the past month, except for the training formation. I didn't expect it to be put to use so soon.

Such grenade throwers were basically assigned 50 people to each infantry company participating in the ambush.

This also meant that the Japanese troops on the road at this time not only had to suffer the baptism of dense metal bullets of intensity that they had never experienced before, but also had to withstand the intensity of one grenade explosion per 10 square meters on average.

In just five or six seconds, the explosions, screams, and roars on the entire dirt road resounded through the sky, and the movement was much louder than the previous Japanese march.

It was almost like a thunder, tearing apart all the tranquility of this wasteland covering several square kilometers.

Not to mention that the cannon company commander Fat Dahai, who was watching the battlefield from a distance with a telescope on the south bank of the Bi River 500 meters away, was startled by the huge sound and his pupils shrank slightly. Even Ishiguro Sadazo, who was riding a tall horse a thousand meters away, was almost frightened by the muffled thunder formed by the interweaving.

He quickly picked up the telescope hanging on his chest and looked forward. The thick gunpowder even broke through the mist before dawn and broke into his vision.

"Are the Chinese crazy?" The Japanese Army Da Zuo, whose face turned pale as paper, was stunned.

Yes, the Chinese must be crazy.

Facing the Japanese army that was almost a dimensionality reduction attack, if the Chinese did not become crazy, they would become dead.

You can only choose one of the two.

That's what Cheng Dagui thought.

"Blow you to death, blow you to death." Cheng Dagui was throwing grenades on the dirt road 40 meters away.

While throwing, he roared wildly.

Looking at the grenade he threw bursting into a black and gray flower on the dirt road, Cheng Da Kui's eyes were filled with tears.

Two months ago, he was just an ordinary farmer in rural China. He worked in the fields and returned home. His ordinary but gentle wife brought him some cold water and drank it all up. She teased his son who had grown a few teeth and started to speak. The fatigue of the day disappeared in an instant.

Cheng Dagui once thought that he would live a peaceful life. When he raised his son, he would get married and have children. He and his wife would take care of the children for him. Finally, like his father, he would close his eyes and kick his legs to heaven.

However, the war began and the Japanese came.

Everything Cheng Dagui had, all his imaginations, came to an abrupt end that day!

He was crazy, just like today.

The bullets of the Japanese counterattack whizzed around him, and he seemed to feel the burning temperature of the bullets between his ears, but he was not afraid. He threw the grenade in his hand more standardly than usual training.

Blood debt can only be repaid with blood!

This is the only belief that supports him to continue living!

The Four-Line Regiment gave him a chance.