Devil's Army

Chapter 1778: Sichuan Army 364th Brigade Arrives to Reinforce

The soldiers of the Fourth Battalion put up a desperate resistance against the Japanese army.

The rocket soldiers of the Fourth Battalion destroyed eight Japanese tanks in succession, but they also suffered heavy casualties in the strafing and bombing by Japanese tanks, machine guns, and artillery.

In the end, the soldiers of the Fourth Battalion could not withstand the rapid advance of the Japanese tanks, and their defense line was broken through by the Japanese army.

The Japanese army broke through the natural barrier of the Yellow River at the Dongbaitou Ferry. The area along the way was mostly a mixture of the Yellow River alluvial plain, local hills and river channels, which was not suitable for fighting a blocking battle.

The commander of the fourth battalion led the retreating soldiers to block the advance of the Japanese mechanized forces step by step along the artificially built high embankments and the beach areas below the embankments along the Yellow River.

Upon learning that the Dongbatou Ferry had been lost, a regimental commander dispatched his company there to set up obstacles at Wenyan Canal and Tianran Canal in that section of the road, blocking the Japanese advance along the highway. This was especially true for the Japanese convoys, which were strangled.

The retreating Fourth Battalion and the Eighth Route Army guerrillas who came to support them mainly "used local terrain + disrupted traffic + harassed and restrained" the Japanese army, continuously attacked and harassed the Japanese army, slowed down the Japanese army's advance speed, and waited for reinforcements to arrive.

After a while, the Taiyuan Air Force came to provide support.

They first bombed the pontoon bridge built by the Japanese army to block the Japanese army's follow-up troops from entering the south bank of the Yellow River.

After repeated low-flying bombings by the First Army's bombers, the pontoon bridge built by the Japanese army was finally blown into several pieces and washed away by the Yellow River.

After destroying the pontoon bridge built by the Japanese army, the army's one fighter and one bomber continued to bomb and strafe the Japanese troops on the south bank of the Yellow River, but did not find the bridge-building vehicle.

The other fighters and bombers of the First Army went to bomb the Japanese troops that had crossed the river and were pursuing the Fourth Battalion.

The Japanese troops crossing the river were attacked by the First Army Air Force and they all looked for cover to avoid the air raid.

Some vacant houses of ordinary people became the best shelters for the Japanese army.

The battle entered a stalemate. When the First Army Air Force was present, the Japanese soldiers hid in bunkers. When the First Army Air Force was absent, the Japanese army began to encircle and suppress the soldiers of the Fourth Battalion and the Eighth Route Army guerrillas.

The fourth battalion commander continued to lead his soldiers in guerrilla warfare against the Japanese army.

Fortunately, when the Fourth Battalion was surrounded by the Japanese army, the air force quickly arrived to provide support.

With the support of the air force, the 4th Battalion was always able to successfully escape the encirclement of the Japanese army.

While the First Brigade and the Jidong Independent Brigade were engaged in fierce battles with the Japanese in Zhengzhou, Jiaozuo, and Kaifeng, the 727th Regiment of the 364th Brigade of the Sichuan Army rushed to the Jialu River, Dazhaoying Railway Station, and Yanmen Pass to assist the First Brigade in blocking the Japanese in Zhengzhou.

The 728th Regiment of the 364th Brigade of the Sichuan Army rushed to the mountainous area in the north of Xiuwu County to assist the first brigade in blocking the Japanese troops in Jiaozuo.

The new 727th and 768th Regiments of the 364th Brigade of the Sichuan Army rushed to the Liuyuankou, Yicun, Zhongmu, and Dongbatou Ferry crossings to assist the Jidong Independent Brigade in blocking the Japanese troops from Kaifeng and Shangqiu.

Although the First Army had more than 1 fresh troops from the 364th Brigade of the Sichuan Army coming to support it, when distributed across various battlefields, there was only one regiment of troops on each battlefield. This could not affect the overall situation against the more than 6 Japanese troops that were encircling it.

Fortunately, the First Army Air Force stationed in Shanxi provided strong support to the First Army Infantry, which slowed down the Japanese offensive speed and seriously disrupted the Japanese deployment.

The battles in various places were still in full swing, and the Eighth Route Army in various places would occasionally attack the Japanese transport teams and logistics units, thus restraining the large Japanese forces on the front line from encircling and suppressing the First Army.