Another opinion; If an attack were launched during the day, and the troops would be completely exposed to the condescending observation field of view of the Japanese army, it would be conducive to the enemy catching the target and concentrating firepower on the attacking Eighth Route Army troops, and the casualties would be very large, and it would be difficult for the two views to unify for a while.

Brigade Commander Chen summed up everyone's opinions and finally decided to launch an attack on the Japanese stronghold in Shijiao Village at 6 p.m. on 27 July, and to advance with the greatest firepower when the attack was launched, and to clear the Japanese army's light and dark fire positions in the village at night, quickly approach the enemy's stronghold, and launch a general attack.

The sun was setting in the west, and the soldiers of the Eighth Route Army, who had rested for a day, were all in high spirits, and as soon as the clock was at six o'clock in the afternoon, Brigade Commander Chen of the 385th Brigade personally ordered to launch a general attack on the stronghold of Shiqiao Village.

Commander Zheng of the 769th Regiment ordered the 1st Battalion to continue to serve as the main frontal attack, and the 1st Battalion Commander lay on his stomach at the light and heavy machine gun position and shouted: "Increase the fire strike, cover the assault team to launch an attack on the enemy's pillbox." ”

Under the leadership of the captain, the assault team rushed to the enemy bunker, and the soldiers who rushed in front were armed with guillotines and shovels, and fiercely slashed the barbed wire fence around the stronghold, and the troops who followed closely quickly conquered the bunker in front of the bunker.

The little devils who remained in the pillbox, under the command of the commander, increased their firepower to counterattack the attacking assault team and put up a stubborn resistance.

The battalions of the 769th Regiment saw that the enemy was sticking to the last pillbox and was dying, and the soldiers of the unit were preparing to launch the final attack, when suddenly there was a roar of enemy planes in the air, and three enemy planes roared and pounced.

In less than a few minutes, the Japanese planes swooped down again, and the fighters' on-board machine guns frantically strafed the ground, and the dense bullets swept towards the attacking soldiers of the Eighth Route Army.

According to the remnants of the enemy guarding the bunker, seeing this great opportunity, the devil commander shouted: "Borrow the cover of the air fighters, quickly rush out of the bunker, immediately rush out of the encirclement, and retreat to Liao County." ”

The soldiers of the third battalion braved the enemy's fierce aerial fire and the counterattack of the remnants of the enemy in the pillbox, and bravely rushed to the enemy pillbox.

The devils in the bunker couldn't parry, rushed to the first floor of the bunker, tried to seize the door and escaped, but were blocked back by the soldiers of the three battalions with increased firepower.

When the northeast wind blew, a thick yellow-white poisonous fog blew towards the position of the Eighth Route Army, and the 11th Company, which was in the downwind, immediately carried out anti-poison measures, but the large amount of poisonous gas released by the devils invaded the human body, and most of the entire company was smoked down, leaving only three soldiers to brave the deadly poisonous gas and continue to fight with the enemy.

The commander of the third battalion led the ninth company to continue to rush to the devil's bunker, and the commander of the ninth company, Yang Company, couldn't see clearly with his poisoned eyes, but he still stared at his blurred eyes, and continued to pounce on the devil's turret, was hit by the enemy's bullets, and fell heroically in a pool of blood.

The commander of the third battalion of horses was rushing forward, the poison was too deep, his consciousness was blurred, and his body fell to the ground with a limp.

The commander of the first battalion saw that the soldiers of the third battalion had been poisoned and fell, and it was difficult for him to stand up again, so he ordered the first battalion to rush into the poisonous fog at all costs, risk death, snatch out the soldiers of the third battalion who were still alive, and immediately withdraw to the Qingzhang River to clean up and repair and stand by.

Just when the attack was frustrated, Brigade Commander Chen of the 385th Brigade and Regiment Commander Zheng of the 769th Regiment arrived, and saw that the troops were too deeply poisoned, and the poisonous gas began to dissipate at this time, Brigade Commander Chen sternly ordered: "Commander Zheng, the enemy is at the end of the road, and he can't hold out for long, you immediately add another company on the front, and I order the brigade special service company to hurry over quickly, concentrate the superior forces, and we must end the battle for me at dusk today." ”

In one battalion and one company, with the three battalions as the main force, plus the spy company inserted into the enemy's flank along the river beach, bypassed the enemy's frontal fire from the east end of the village, rushed into the village, broke through the walls of the houses, and forced into the enemy's artillery towers.

The Japanese army was unwilling to fail, and did not want to sit still, so they frantically counterattacked with maximum firepower, and from time to time they used poison bombs to try to prolong their breath and wait for foreign aid.

The indignant soldiers of the Eighth Route Army threw a cluster grenade into the thick yellow and white poison gas, exploded to disperse the poison gas, and took the opportunity to bravely pounce on the enemy pillbox.

The enemy in the bunker was exploded by a cluster grenade, and the smoke of gunpowder covered the eyes of the guns looking out, but the little devils who did not give up used the light and heavy weapons in the bunker to shoot aimlessly.

Huang Zigao, a soldier of the Ninth Company of the Third Battalion who rushed to the front, threw a grenade, which happened to land in the enemy's arsenal and exploded.

The soldiers of the attacking Eighth Route Army, in the bright firelight, launched another attack on the enemy, most of the devils who escaped from the bunker were annihilated, and the remaining few fled back to the bunker.

At this time, the Japanese commander in the bunker, seeing that the general situation was gone, ordered the little devil to break through the bunker wall and escape through the hole in the back.

Finally opened a hole, came out of the bunker, and was ambushed outside the anti-Japanese villager self-defense team members, killed one, and the little devils who remained in the bunker were all captured alive after the breakthrough of the Eighth Route Army.

The 385th Brigade of the Eighth Route Army swept away the Japanese stronghold in Shijiao, creating favorable conditions for the attack on Liao County.

Commander Chen of the left wing column led the 386th Brigade to the stable village, which was five miles away from Shiqiao Village, and on the 28th he and Brigade Commander Chen of the 385th Brigade of the right wing column attacked the county seat of Liaoxian County as planned.

When Lei Jian said this, he suddenly paused and asked, "It's ten o'clock, Qu Jiaming took people to the Japanese stronghold of the Horse Post to investigate, haven't you come back yet?" Will something happen? Chief of Staff Zhou immediately dispatched a reconnaissance squad to meet the problem near the Zouma Station. ”

Although Wang Xiaoliang was worried about Qu Jiaming in his heart, he believed that Qu Jiaming took more than 30 soldiers to the horse post to investigate, and it was impossible not to leave some soldiers on the periphery to answer, and now that he has not returned, there should be no problem.

He said to Lei Jian: "Don't worry, Commander Lei, Qu Jiaming is very clever, and besides, he took more than 30 soldiers out to reconnoitre, if something goes wrong, he shouldn't have come back to report the news, you can continue to talk about the battle examples, let's wait slowly, what do you say about Commander Lei?" ”

The other cadres above the battalion level present felt that what Wang Xiaoliang said was reasonable, and the battle column that Lei Jian talked about was very inspiring, so they were afraid that Lei Jian would suddenly stop talking, so he swept his temperament and said busily: "Commander Lei, Deputy Commander Wang is right, you should continue to speak, listen and wait for the news while talking, so that everyone is not too anxious, right, Commander Lei?" ”

Lei Jian felt that there was some truth in what everyone said, and besides, he would tell more combat examples to cadres above the battalion level, which would greatly improve the commander's ability to respond to battles, so he nodded in agreement and continued:

The main force of the left and right flank columns of the Shanxi-Hebei-Henan Military Region, the commanders of the 386th Brigade and the 385th Brigade, were preparing to launch an attack on Liao County according to the original plan.

The main reason for changing the operational arrangements for attacking Liaoxian was that the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army and the Shanxi-Hebei-Henan Military Region learned that more than 600 people from the 12th Brigade of the Fourth Brigade and Regiment of the Japanese Army stationed in Wuxiang had left their garrisons and marched to the Japanese stronghold in Guantou, intending to pass through Yushe and Wangcun to reinforce the enemy in Guantou.

According to the latest arrangement, the 772nd, 25th, and 38th regiments of the left wing column were ordered to set up an ambush at Hongya, and the 769th and 14th regiments of the right wing column were ordered to set up an ambush at Guandi Yuan, concentrate superior forces, and destroy the enemy who set out from Wuxiang to reinforce the Guantou stronghold.

At this time, the 13th Regiment, which had been attacking the stronghold of Guantou, received an order to launch the sixth attack on the stronghold of Guantou again.

At nine o'clock in the evening of 29 September, the commander of the 1st Battalion of the 13th Regiment led his troops to launch an attack on the enemy's perimeter when the engineers were willing to die to detonate the mines, and soon occupied the stables southeast of the stronghold.

Raindrops of grenades exploded in front of the bunker, and the hungry and thirsty little devils inside were scurrying around in the turret, without combat effectiveness.

The commander of the first battalion found that the little devils in the turret had lost their combat effectiveness and their firepower had dropped significantly, so he ordered the troops to launch a general attack on the turret, and after more than three hours of fierce fighting, most of the more than 80 little devils in Guantou Village were annihilated, and only 13 little devils escaped by taking advantage of the chaos.

Commander Liu of the Shanxi-Hebei-Henan Military Region learned that the enemy in the Guantou stronghold had been annihilated, and ordered the main force (129) Division to launch an attack on the county seat of Liaoxian.

(End of chapter)