Chapter 26: Defend the Huai River

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The Saito Battalion belongs to the 45th Regiment, with 1,500 troops. In terms of number, it can keep up with the Chinese army's regiment. In terms of combat effectiveness, it can be even more comparable to the Chinese army's division.

Four infantry squadrons, one machine gun squadron, one transportation squadron, and one artillery squadron equipped with two Type 92 infantry artillery are the confidence of Saito Minjiro.

The 6th Division, also known as the Kumamoto Division, was surrounded by the Satsuma vassal troops led by Takamori Saigo during the Southwest War. It resisted the tide-like attack of Saigo with its strong will. It was named after this. Like the Sendai Division, the Kumamoto Division is famous for its good combat.

Most of the athletes of the Saito brigade were from Mian Kyushu. They inherited the tradition of the 6th Division's enthusiasm, courage, and decisiveness. When they found that plainclothes scouts were discovered, Master Saito immediately ordered to run and take off the Iron Bridge.

The infantry of a squadron jumped forward in an attack formation. The artillery squadron set up two infantry cannons on the spot. The machine gun squadron set up heavy machine guns and began to shoot at the opposite shore for fire suppression. According to past experience, in less than ten minutes, the Huaijiang Iron Bridge would change hands, and the brigade could enter Beitai.

The iron bridge was covered with corpses and luggage, a car was lying in the middle, and the air was filled with smoke, stimulating the rapid secretion of adrenaline from the soldiers of Saito brigade. The bloodthirsty soldiers loved this smell the most, just as sharks and wild wolves liked blood.

The surroundings were quiet, and there was no living person. The other end of the iron bridge was filled with smoke and could not be seen clearly. For the 6th Division, which had participated in the Battle of Songhu and Nanjing, Beitai was just a small town, and there was no need to worry about anything. They were divided into two columns, advancing along the iron bridge, ready to lie down and shoot at any time.

No one saw that more than a dozen key parts of the iron bridge that bear weight had been installed, and the detonator was in the form of electric detonation, and the detonator was in Xiao Lang's hands.

The Japanese army has already boarded the bridge, and the time for blasting has come.

Xiao Lang's eyes were a little blurred. The Huaijiang Iron Bridge was the result of his hard work and his pride. The quality of this bridge is no less than that of the projects undertaken by foreign companies. If it is maintained on time, it can last more than a hundred years. However, in less than ten years, he would have to blow up this bridge that was emotionally like his own flesh and blood.

Wang Degui whispered: "Mayor, why don't I do it."

Xiao Lang shook his head: "No, I'll do it."

The sun flag carrying the guns of the vanguard soldiers could be vaguely seen. Xiao Lang gritted his teeth and was about to press down the detonator when a familiar voice came from behind: "Wait."

Chen Zikun came in a hurry. As soon as he arrived from Hankou, he heard that the Japanese army was invading as soon as he got off the plane. He hurried to the bridge and stopped Xiao Lang's further actions.

"What, don't you explode?" Xiao Lang asked.

Chen Zikun shook his head: "If it explodes, the Japanese army will invade from many places, but it is hard to defend. It is better to leave a way for them to defend. We can also defend. Can a mere brigade force us to blow up the bridge?"

After saying that, the security regiment quickly entered the battle position. Two bridgeheads had been built on the north side of the iron bridge. The high-grade steel and concrete bunker building was filled with concrete. The machine gun shooting hole was stuck to the ground, which was hard to defend against. The powerful firepower was even more scary. There were only eight Maxim heavy machine guns alone, and more than a dozen light machine guns were built in the Czech Republic. Both portable machine guns and rapid-fire mausoleum guns could be ignored.

The Japanese soldiers were getting closer and closer. After being through the battle formation, they had already noticed the smell of danger and walked more slowly and were cautious.

In the trenches, Wang Degui's hand holding the gun was sweating and whispered: "Call it?"

Chen Zikun wanted to shake his head and wait until the enemy entered within fifty meters. He raised his hand and shot him. The Japanese soldiers holding the flag were the sound of gunfire, and light and heavy machine guns were fired, dozens of fire snakes swept back and forth on the iron bridge, harvesting their lives happily.

There was no shelter on the bridge deck. Dozens of Japanese troops were caught off guard and the rest were knocked back. Several people ran to the back of the truck and shot twice from time to time.

After Saito Jinjiro found that the attack was blocked, he immediately ordered fire support and infantry artillery began to bombard, but the results were very little. He called the two squadron leaders to the front and said, "You guys, the Huaijiang Iron Bridge is an important transportation route and is very important to our army. You must capture it. Please."

The two squadron captains bowed and saluted, each bringing their troops to reinforce. The resistance of the Chinese army is indeed very fierce at times, but it is always impossible to continue. The Imperial Army must show more firmness than them in order to crush the morale of the enemy.

The Japanese A squadron of the Army was equipped with 205 people, equivalent to one and a half company of the China ** team. It is equipped with 9 light machine guns and 12 grenade launchers. It has a very strong firepower and a strong fighting will. It launches a long live charge with a bayonet, facing the machine gun firepower. However, the iron bridge is too narrow and the queue cannot be deployed. This kind of charge can only be a waste of death.

Suddenly the truck full of scarce commodities exploded. It turned out that in addition to grain, cigarettes, and liquor, there was a lot of gasoline on the vehicle. This thing was strictly forbidden to buy and sell privately, so it was hidden deep in the cargo. Bullets from both sides flew around and finally detonated the oil barrel, and the Japanese squadron captain who was hidden behind the vehicle was killed on the spot.

The attack was set again, and the soldiers and generals were lost in the front. Captain Saito was not a elm's head. Realizing that such an attack would only lead to death, he ordered the third squadron to attack in a rubber boat.

The transport squadron's cart was loaded with rubber rafts. The soldiers carried the raft into the water and jumped up. More than a dozen rubber boats rowed to the other side, and the crooked light machine gun kept firing, and the hot bullet shells flew into the water.

The strait was blocked and fired, and the machine gun bullets splashed a row of drainage splashes in the water, but the distance was too far and it was not hit.

"Bastard, you must succeed." Captain Saito held up his telescope and muttered to himself.

When the rubber boat rushed into the center of the river, a dangerous situation suddenly occurred. A rubber boat leaked air and could not bear the weight of eight soldiers. It gradually sank. Then another one. The soldiers quickly realized that someone was doing damage under the water. They shouted hysterically, shooting underwater and stabbing it with bayonets, but to no avail. More and more rubber boats were poked and sunk into the water.

Logically speaking, the soldiers of the Kumamoto Division are from Mian Kyushu, and many of them are fishermen. They are well-deserved. However, as army infantry, the equipment is extremely complicated. The weight of 120 6.5-caliber Tomosaka bullets in the three bullet boxes in front and back is enough to drink a pot. It is not even considered rifles, bayonets, kettles, lunch boxes, helmets, bedding, rations, changing military uniforms, etc. The total amount is 20 kilograms, and they can't be removed for a while. They fall into the water with such a heavy thing on their backs and wear heavy braided boots on their feet. No matter how good the water quality is, it will be discounted.

Some soldiers with quick reactions quickly took off their equipment, clothes and shoes, and jumped into the water with bayonets, fighting against the enemy, but their ability was far from enough. Within half a minute, a piece of blood rose under the water, and then the corpse floated out of the water and a hole in the chest. Naturally, the Japanese could not recognize that this was the wound caused by the Emei thorn.

Captain Saito saw with his own eyes that a squadron was destroyed in the river, and the water surface was covered with blood red, gradually spreading. In the end, only some empty lunch boxes were left floating on the water.

After two hours of battle, two squadrons were lost. The Saito brigade was unable to continue fighting, and he was unwilling to withdraw, so he had to order the troops to shrink, build positions, and wait for reinforcements.

At night, soldiers of the Beitai Security Regiment took advantage of the darkness to clean the battlefield and moved the enemy's bodies on the bridge to avoid affecting the shooting world. Zeng Jiao's rangers also salvaged the drowned Japanese corpses. Through the documents on the corpse, they found out that the attacking side was the infamous Sixth Division.

Chen Zikun ordered the collection of corpses and crushed bones and ashes. He was not keen on this kind of corpse abuse, but for the Sixth Division that created the Nanjing Massacre, all rules must be changed. Don’t the Japanese pay attention to returning their souls to their hometowns. Even if they die in battle, they have to use ashes or cut off a bone to reclaim them. I will let you break your soul in a foreign country and become an eternal ghost.

The bodies were piled on the beach and poured with gasoline to burn them. You could see the blazing fire from afar. Captain Saito also saw it on the other side, but he didn't know what the Chinese were doing.

"Maybe I'm afraid that the Imperial Army will attack at night and ignite the fire to give me courage." He thought so.

The Imperial Army did not intend to attack, but considering that the Chinese army was accustomed to night battles, Saito made a decision to leave a squadron to ambush nearby, and when the Chinese army came to attack at night, they would all be beaten to wash away the previous revenge.

Chen Zikun didn't have the idea of ​​overnight battles, but based on the experience of North China and Songhu battlefields, Japan is strong in physical fitness and has excellent individual quality, so night battles may not be able to get a bargain. Besides, since there is a better way to fight, why should we take the risk of night battles?

The so-called better strike method is the artillery unit of the Beitai Security Regiment.

Four 105mm lefh light howitzers imported from Germany were quietly dragged out of the warehouse and entered the preset position. The landmarks on the other side of the shore had already been calculated, and they did not need to be fired at all, and they could be fired by loading shells.

The heavy shells filled the cannon chamber. At the officer's order, four cannons were fired at the same time. A few seconds later, the fire on the other side soared into the sky. Although the specific situation could not be seen, you can imagine the scene of people in the enemy camp shouting horses neighing and neighing and suffering heavy casualties.

A 105-caliber land cannon can only be considered a light artillery in Europe, but in Asia where technological development is backward, it is a large-caliber heavy artillery. The most advanced 90-type field cannon of the Japanese army is only 75mm caliber.

The Japanese camp was constructed in a regular manner and could withstand large-scale attacks, but in the face of artillery bombardment, the high-explosive grenade was landing in the campground, and the Japanese in the crotch were blown out of the tent without death, and were blown into pieces by the next round of shells.

The Saito Brigade considered that the other party might launch a night attack, but he couldn't guess that the China Army actually bombarded their camp. How could the China people have such long-range artillery? No, this must be something wrong.

However, Saito no longer needs to think about it so much. His brigade was almost completely destroyed, which is a rare shame in the history of the Sixth Division. In order to preserve the dignity of the samurai, he decided to have a caesarean section.

In the early morning, the smoke of gunpowder disappeared and the ground was in a mess. Last night, the ammunition pile was detonated, causing greater casualties. The brigade was almost finished. Looking at the corpses all over the ground, Saito Shinjiro pulled out his saber and knelt on the ground facing Dongfang. He pulled open his white shirt and exposed his strong chest. His facial muscles were trembling, and he muttered to the mouth: "Mihoko, I can't go back, you can take good care of him..."

Before he finished speaking, he suddenly heard a rumbling roar from behind. Looking back, a sharp Chashik saber was falling from the slant. Saito felt that he suddenly flew up, and then his world became scattered and rolling.

Finally, Captain Saito's head fell more than ten meters away, his eyes still widened, and he witnessed the cavalry wielding his sabers to sweep away his remaining subordinates.

In this battle, the entire Saito brigade was completely out of place, and none of them were spared.

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Chapter completed!