The Japanese mixed artillery brigade under the mountain, with more than a dozen artillery pieces, nearly 100 mortars, and more than 100 grenadiers, received the order to shell the position of the Eighth Route Army in Beishan.

In the sky above the positions of the 1st Regiment and the 5th Regiment, under the enemy's shelling, hundreds of shells, suddenly like a big hail falling, destroyed everything in the position, and the soldiers of the Eighth Route Army who were holding the position were overturned by the air wave of the shell explosion, some of the bones were separated, some of the flesh and blood were blurred, and some were missing.

The murderous devil artillery, under the order of the commander of Katayama, poured shells into the mountain peak position of the Eighth Route Army, and under the continuous shelling of ten minutes, hundreds of shells fell on the position, wave after wave of explosions, the bombed position seemed to have been plowed over, and the trees on the position were gone, that is, the stumps left behind, at this time it was burning with gunsmoke and beacon fire, and the whole position was full of wolf smoke, which was unbearable to see.

When Li Gang discovered the enemy's artillery position at the foot of the mountain and fired the first wave of shells, he shouted loudly: "The troops in the forward position should immediately withdraw from their positions as quickly as possible and retreat to the back of the mountain to hide." ”

How can the soldiers of the Eighth Route Army, who are fighting with the enemy inseparable, still get out? They swore to the death, but when the enemy's shells fell on the position like a hailstorm, it was too late to retreat.

It was the soldiers of the forward positions who received the order to retreat immediately, and the stones, dust, shrapnel and air waves kicked up by the continuous explosion of artillery shells on the position could not be counted, and the Japanese army's crazy shelling of the position caused tragic and huge casualties to the only regiment and the fifth regiment of the Eighth Route Army.

The enemy artillery unit, under the command of the squadron leader, extended its artillery fire forward, and shells hit the buttocks of the Dugong Regiment and the Fifth Regiment one after another, constantly exploding behind the fighters who had withdrawn from their positions, causing even greater casualties among the troops.

When Li Gang saw the soldiers fall under the enemy's artillery fire, he decisively shouted: "Braving the enemy's artillery fire, immediately seize the forward position and block the attacking little devils." ”

He gave this kind of order that was close to death, he learned it from Lei Jian, and it seemed that rushing through the enemy's artillery fire carried great danger, but as long as he avoided the enemy's artillery fire extending forward and rushed to the back of the shell's landing and explosion, he could dodge the enemy's artillery shells and occupy the withdrawn position in time, so as not to be quickly occupied by the little devil under the cover of artillery fire.

On the battlefield, no matter whether you understand or not, even if you know that taking a step forward or taking a step back is death, the commander's orders must be carried out.

Although the commanders of the various units were angry at Li Gang's bastard order, they did not dare to disobey the order of the anti-Japanese war field and led the troops to brave the enemy's artillery fire and rush into the position.

The attacking little devils, under the cover of powerful artillery fire, the vanguard troops had already stepped on the forward position, and were preparing to advance to pursue the Eighth Route Army that had fled under artillery fire, but they did not expect that the heroic soldiers of the Eighth Route Army dared to brave the dense artillery fire and kill them back from the smoke of the explosion.

The soldiers of the 1st Regiment and the 5th Regiment rushed out of the enemy's artillery fire range at the expense of their lives, and found that the forward positions had been occupied by a small number of enemies.

Li Gang held a machine gun in his arms, led a single regiment and a battalion, frantically pounced on the forward position, and fought with the fire support of the troops who followed the position, and finally repelled the enemy who stepped into the forward position.

The units of the 1st Regiment and the 5th Regiment, in accordance with their previous positions, immediately entered the destroyed fortifications, jumped into the shell craters, lay on the edge of the pits, and held back the enemy who continued to attack with the heaviest firepower.

The commander of the Katayama Brigade, commander of the Japanese army under the mountain, ordered the artillery squadron, which had been carrying out artillery fire to hit the position of the Eighth Route Army for 20 minutes, to stop the shelling, and ordered all the troops participating in the battle to launch a final attack on the position of the Eighth Route Army in Beishan.

Li Gang saw that the troops were already in position, although the enemy's offensive at this time was not weakened, but the soldiers hated the enemy with the same hatred, the kind of bloody battle with the enemy to the end, covering the Eighth Route Army's Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region organs to break out of the encirclement, and ensuring the safe transfer of the Fuping City Military Region field hospital and the soldiers and civilians in the city.

The attacking enemy was like locusts surging towards the forward position, and the attack speed of thousands of little devils was not as fierce as the front, but under the supervision of the commander, they increased their firepower to counterattack the Eighth Route Army, and gradually advanced forward with absolute superiority in strength and firepower, compressing the position of the Eighth Route Army, in an attempt to encircle and encircle and annihilate it.

In this large-scale blocking battle that he had never encountered before, Li Gang underestimated the enemy's offensive strength and defense in order to protect the soldiers and destroy the enemy at the beginning, and he could not let go of his hands and feet to engage the enemy.

Just now, the enemy bombarded the fortified position with extremely heavy artillery fire, and under the powerful artillery fire, the troops suffered heavy casualties, and it was the soldiers who woke him up with blood and lives.

That is, if we do not desperately engage in a life-and-death confrontation with the enemy, we will not be able to complete the task of handing over the commander of the military region to the only regiment and the fifth regiment on the front line of the military city, blocking the enemy for two days and two nights, giving the three regiments of the military region and the Eighth Route Army in Chengnanzhuang, winning the encirclement of the 26th Brigade of the Japanese army, and winning the task of safely transferring time for the field hospital and the military and civilians of the Fuping Military Region.

Li Gang faced the rotation attack of 6,000 or 7,000 enemies under the mountain against the 1st Regiment and the 5th Regiment, and at this time, the two Japanese brigades that were lured and pinned down by the cavalry battalion and three special companies participated in the attack on the Beishan position, and he really felt that the troops were under great pressure.

He gave orders to the commanders of all units for the final battle, and Li Gang gave a stern order: "The only regiment and the fifth regiment of our Eighth Route Army, which are sticking to the front line of the military city, have reached the most dangerous moment, and the commanders of all units are ordered not to leave their command posts without authorization, and they must not lead the troops to escape from the battle, and they must strengthen their determination to live and die with the position, and without the commander of the military region to give an order to retreat, even if they fight to the last person, as long as they live, they must fight on the position." ”

When the troops received such a strict order from Li Gang, they once again strengthened their confidence and swore to fight the enemy to the death until the last breath, and as long as they were alive and would never get out of the line of fire, tongues of fire would come out of their guns and kill the devils relentlessly.

A large number of the enemy continued to advance towards the forward positions of the Eighth Route Army, slowly encircling the positions of the 1st Regiment and the 5th Regiment from the east, south, and west, and now there was only a retreat route left in the north to withdraw from the position.

Once the enemy continues to block the north side of Beishan in the movement and form an encirclement on all sides, at that time, the only regiment that can fight a tough and ruthless battle, even with the joint and coordinated operation of the fifth regiment, will not be able to break through the encirclement of the enemy's large forces and break out alive.

When Li Gang realized this, he couldn't help but shudder in his heart: In order to complete the blocking task assigned by the superior commander and smoothly withdraw the troops from their positions to jump out of the encirclement and interception of the large Japanese army, he must keep this road of survival in the north, and he must not let the enemy's conspiracy to encircle him on all sides succeed.

He ordered Ma Ming: "Deputy Commander Ma, the north side of Beishan is the only way for the enemy to encircle our position and withdraw from our position, you lead the cavalry battalion and the assault company, special agent company, and reconnaissance company that have withdrawn from Xishan, and you must encircle the enemy who is encircling the north. Can you remember for me, can the main forces of the One Regiment and the Fifth Regiment be wiped out, can they jump out of the enemy's encirclement alive, and the lives of so many soldiers are all in your hands, brother, please. ”

When Ma Ming heard Commander Li Gang say this, he felt the heavy burden on his shoulders, and he replied with a firm salute: "Please rest assured, Commander Li, as long as I, Ma Ming, am still alive, I will never let the little devil's conspiracy succeed." ”

Li Gang arranged the retreat and stood at the front of the position to watch the soldiers attacking the enemy attacking the forward position with the most fierce firepower, but the little devils who swarmed up were killed in front and poured up in the back, and the battlefield battle was fought very fiercely and very hard.

Deputy Regiment Commander Zhang Ting, who was in charge of the frontal command, rushed to Li Gang's side and shouted eagerly: "Report to Regiment Commander Li, the troops' weapons are seriously damaged and ammunition is seriously insufficient. ”

Li Gang frowned, stared at Zhang Ting's word-by-word order with burning eyes: "Deputy Regiment Commander Zhang, the enemy pounced on the position in batches, tell our soldiers, don't empty the gun, to ensure that every bullet destroys an enemy, this is an order." ”

"Commander Li, you don't need to tell the soldiers to save bullets and destroy an enemy with every bullet, you can see for yourself, in the face of hordes of enemies rushing to the position frantically, as long as the general direction is good, you can ensure that every bullet can eliminate an enemy with your eyes closed."

(End of chapter)