I fought guerrilla warfare in the Yimeng Mountains during the Anti-Japanese War

Chapter 168 Prediction and Lurking

There was no movement from the Japanese army regiment in Pingyi City, so Chen Feng decided not to wait any longer. He took Ningbo and Huang Shanhe with him, riding two horses, and quickly advanced to the south of Mengyin City under the cover of night.

The evening breeze was cool and the outlines of the surrounding mountains were roughly visible. People had just finished dinner and it was time for them to go out to enjoy the cool air, but every village they passed by was quiet and dark, with almost no residents turning on any lights.

Chen Feng's mood did not become better because of the cool evening breeze. Instead, he felt depressed looking at the dark village. When troubled times came, they were the ones who suffered the most and were the most tired. Compared with the suffering, their lives were no longer guaranteed. There were devils everywhere and they had nowhere to escape to.

After an hour and a half of rapid march, they arrived at the south of Mengyin City. They tied up the horses halfway up the hill, and Chen Feng took the two men to determine the artillery position.

There is only one road from Pingyi to Mengyin. I don't think the artillery positions will be set up far away from the road. After all, it is a 75 mountain cannon, which is not light. Starting from the firing range and the convenience of arranging artillery positions, the gentle slopes on both sides of the road are very likely.

This is troublesome. They must be divided into two ambush groups. Chen Feng issued ambush orders to the two platoon leaders. Once the Japanese troops set out from Pingyi City, the two platoons must bring all their equipment and lie in ambush on two gentle slopes before the arrival of the Japanese troops. Once the Japanese troops launch an attack on Mengyin, one platoon must quickly eliminate the Japanese mountain artillery units, and the other platoon must quickly move in to defend against possible rescue by the siege troops.

After seizing the artillery position, Chen Feng will personally adjust the shooting parameters. Although the team has artillerymen who have learned to fire artillery, they are all infantry artillery and indirect fire artillery, which are very different from the 75 mountain artillery. After the adjustments, half of the artillery shells will be fired at the Japanese siege troops, and then the follow-up troops will bring trucks and take the mountain artillery to evacuate.

After returning to Mengshan, Chen Feng also assigned tasks. Except for the second platoon of the second company who stayed in Mengshan, the other platoons received combat and support tasks. The Japanese had not made any move yet, so Chen Feng began to teach the artillerymen about mountain artillery. The special operations platoon also began to teach the soldiers who were going to support him the skills of driving trucks. The artillerymen knew a lot, and although the caliber was different, it was still very simple to fire the artillery after adjusting the shooting parameters.

On August 8, Pingyi's spies started calling early in the morning. The communicator in charge of monitoring the radio station quickly reported to Chen Feng. The team gathered urgently and took their positions. Chen Feng and the instructors from each platoon joined the undercover team.

Two platoons of troops plus members of the commando team set out. To avoid leaking the news, they did not drive or ride horses, but advanced quickly along the foot of the mountains towards the south of Mengyin City.

The new Japanese regiment was newly assembled, and was forcibly separated from the garrison troops in various cities. The regiment commander Jiechuanxiong was the captain stationed in Jining City. He led this team and set out from Pingyi City in a mighty manner.

Jiechuanxiong was very careful. He had received many warnings when he came here before. The example of the Ono Regiment was right in front of him, and he must be prepared for sneak attacks and ambushes.

All the way north, the four Type 99 light machine guns responsible for reconnaissance never stopped firing at both sides of the road in turn. A squad of reconnaissance cavalry also advanced 500 meters and searched both sides of the road. It can be said that there was no risk of error.

Jie Chuanxiong rode on a tall horse and looked at the situation ahead, nodding with satisfaction. With such a cautious march, it was impossible for them to be ambushed again.

While the Jiechuan regiment was cautiously searching at Baimaling, two platoons of troops had already gone into hiding. All the team members had learned how to lurk, and in the lush green environment of midsummer, lurking was very easy.

Chen Feng checked the two gentle slopes several times, and confirmed that there were no flaws. He also hid himself. Huang Shanhe, who was standing next to him, was suddenly shocked. The captain was hiding next to him! How could he disappear in the blink of an eye?

"Platoon Leader Huang, lie down straight and don't look around."

Huang Shanhe then discovered that the captain was lying in a ditch more than ten meters in front of him on the right. His body was covered with lush green grass and could not be noticed without careful observation.

The Jiechuan Regiment spent an hour at Baimaling. This terrain was perfect for an ambush. In addition to cavalry reconnaissance and machine gun exploration, Jiechuan Xiong also ordered the indirect artillery team to bombard the bush area on the hillside.

After the team left Baimaling, Jie Chuanxiong breathed a sigh of relief. It was all right. The road was flat and the road was clear to Mengyin City.

He ordered the troops to speed up their march and capture Mengyin City before dark today. Jie Chuanxiong did not take the 1,000 national army troops seriously at all.

In Mengyin County, Shen Honglie was arranging defenses. He was well aware of the horror of the Japanese artillery fire. The Japanese Bamenshan artillery would cause a large number of casualties to the defense forces:

"Captain Wang, send a platoon with two machine guns to the top of the city wall to attack the Japanese vanguard troops. Once the Japanese troops stop advancing, quickly retreat to defend against the artillery."

"The first and second companies of the first battalion relied on the South Gate, 200 meters away from the city wall, and relied on houses and streets to block the Japanese troops from entering the city."

"The Third Company of the First Battalion will retreat another 200 meters to set up a defense line and be ready to respond to the evacuation of the First and Second Companies at any time."

"The first and second companies of the second battalion will defend the east of the city to prevent the Japanese army from cutting off our retreat. The third company of the second battalion will be deployed in the west of the city to prevent the Japanese army from bypassing the west of the city to launch a sneak attack."

"The third battalion will serve as the reserve force. Please obey my orders at any time and provide rapid support in areas where combat is most severe."

After giving the order, Shen Honglie looked at his men. They were all brothers who survived the bloody battle in Qingdao. Some of them were lost in the ambush in Cuijiayu. They were all veterans who had fought many battles.

"Brothers, I have no other requirements. Stop the Japanese army, destroy their manpower, retreat as soon as possible, and do not get surrounded. Do you understand?"

"clear"!

"Okay, let's set up defenses!"

After the Japanese army crossed Baimaling, the follow-up troops from Mengshan also set out. Except for the second platoon of the third company that stayed behind in Mengshan, the remaining three platoons of troops boarded four trucks, flying the Japanese army's flag and marched towards the Japanese army.

At 10:30 in the morning, the vanguard of the Japanese army arrived. There were mountainous areas on both sides of the road south of the city, so the Japanese cavalry and machine gunners had another mission. They searched and scouted the hillsides on both sides. Only after they were sure it was safe did the troops behind them slowly pass through.

Sure enough, two artillery squads were arranged to stay behind to set up the mountain artillery positions. On the gentle slope where Chen Feng and Huang Shanhe were ambushing, several trucks pulling artillery were left behind, and the rest of the troops continued to march towards Mengyin. When they left, they also pulled up the telephone line, apparently using the telephone to communicate the artillery positions. The two squads began to set up the artillery positions.

The Bamenshan cannon was pushed and pulled up the gentle slope, then the land was leveled and the shells were laid out, and boxes of them were carried up.

After reconnaissance by cavalry and machine guns, the two teams had no suspicion of an ambush and were busy fixing their gun positions, adjusting firing parameters, and opening the artillery boxes.

After more than half an hour, the artillery positions were set up and the troops in front arrived at the city of Mengyin. The artillery command was set up in front of where Chen Feng was hiding, only more than 30 meters away.