Devil's Army

Chapter 2122 Battle of the Eighth River (Part 2)

The second battalion commander ordered the rocket troops to crawl forward in the dense forest to destroy the Japanese tanks that posed the greatest threat to them.

The Japanese tanks slowed down as they climbed the slope and were subsequently destroyed by the rocket troops of the 2nd Battalion that approached them.

Lacking tank fire support, the Japanese infantry were once again routed by the Second Battalion's fierce grenade attack.

Although the three Japanese tanks were destroyed, their position in front of the Second Battalion provided the best cover for the Japanese infantry.

Some Japanese infantrymen who had not retreated hid behind the tank wreckage, set up machine guns, and fiercely fired at the machine gun positions of the Second Battalion.

Seeing this, the Japanese battalion commander allocated more machine guns to cover the infantry's charge towards the Second Battalion's position.

Seeing this, the battalion commander dispatched all the rocket troops in the battalion to fiercely bombard the machine gunners behind the wreckage of the Japanese tanks.

As the machine gunner behind the wreckage of the Japanese tank was blown away, the machine gun fire protecting the Japanese infantry was destroyed, and the Japanese infantry attacking uphill were once again suppressed by the firepower of the Second Battalion soldiers.

Seeing that the Japanese attack was being suppressed on the hillside, the platoon leader, along with several machine gunners, grabbed two machine guns, charged forward, and rushed to the back of the Japanese wreckage in the middle, where they opened fire on the Japanese troops.

Just as the platoon leader and the machine gunner were firing their two machine guns at the Japanese troops with crossfire, the tank, which was still burning, suddenly exploded.

The violent explosion blew the platoon leader and several machine gunners away.

A row of soldiers, watching their platoon leader being blown away, shouted:

"Platoon leader, platoon leader..."

But the platoon leader did not respond.

The 2nd Battalion's position at Badahe was riddled with holes after a full day of intense artillery bombardment and attacks by the Japanese army. However, the area in front of the Badahe position was also densely packed with the corpses of the Japanese-Korean allied forces.

Although the soldiers of the Second Battalion had sturdy fortifications, more than one-third of them were killed or wounded under the continuous and fierce artillery bombardment and attack by the Japanese army.

As night fell, the soldiers of the Second Battalion took advantage of the fact that the Japanese army had not yet launched an attack to quickly repair the collapsed fortifications.

The second battalion commander stared intently at the Japanese positions, his expression grave. The second deputy battalion commander beside him asked with concern:

"Brother, how many days do we have to hold out?"

"The regimental commander didn't give me any strict orders, he just told me to do my best," the second battalion commander replied, shaking his head.

"The fighting has been going on for a week since the Japanese invaded our border. Our reinforcements should be arriving soon, right?"

"You're overthinking it. We lack trucks and other transportation; our reinforcements won't arrive for at least half a month."

"So, does that mean we have to hold off the Japanese attack for at least another week?"

"This is the minimum requirement."

"Brother, with our current strength, it might be difficult to withstand a week's Japanese attack."

"We will do our best. If we cannot hold them off, we will retreat to Longjing County and fight the Japanese in the streets."

The next day, before dawn, the Badaohe position was again subjected to heavy bombardment by Japanese artillery.

Japanese air force also rushed over and launched a fierce air raid on the 2nd Battalion's position at Badahe.

At this time, the First Army's air force had already gained air superiority over the area. However, due to insufficient manpower, they could not cover all areas and could only come when requested to encircle and annihilate the Japanese air force over Badaohe.

After repelling the Japanese air force, the First Army's air force then launched a fierce bombing and strafing attack on the Japanese tanks and infantry attacking the Badaohe position.

Upon seeing this, the Japanese tanks quickly drove into the dense forest.

Apart from destroying Japanese tanks on the trails, the air force of the First Army had no way to bomb Japanese tanks and infantry hiding in the dense forest.