Chapter 1 The commander of the Thirty-Fifth Brigade of the Japanese Infantry, Shozo Tezuka, the commander of the Eighteenth Division of Infantry, Seiichi Kuna, and Chief of Staff Megumi Kofuji received the intelligence reported by Taro Miyazawa.

While relieved, they also became tense!

In recent days, the National Revolutionary Army of the Fourth War Zone had not taken any action after the counterattack on Conghua, which made the Japanese side very uncomfortable.

These Japanese soldiers originally believed that the Fourth War Zone would take the opportunity to launch an attack on Zengcheng immediately.

In order to deal with the impending attack, Ganro Koizumi ordered the 104th Infantry Division, which had just escaped to Zengcheng, to stand firm on the spot.

The Japanese waited in full battle array for a few days, but they did not see any signs that the Fourth War Zone wanted to attack. Only then did they order the 104th Infantry Division to return to Guangzhou for rest.

Unexpectedly, the 104th Infantry Division had not been back in Guangzhou for a few days before the Special Operations Brigade came to operate around Zengcheng.

After discussing with Chief of Staff Megumi Kofuji, Division Commander Seiichi Kuna immediately decided to send the 12th Field Artillery Regiment to Zengcheng to strengthen the firepower of the 124th Infantry Regiment, and at the same time requested reinforcements from Commander Ganro Koizumi.

During the days when the Toshiro Miyake Division was in Zengcheng, the Seiichi Kuna Division's staff followed them and reviewed the gains and losses of both sides in the entire Xiangshan Campaign.

The Toshiro Miyake Division also gathered commanders of the Japanese army at the level of squad leader and above, and held three consecutive days of summary meetings.

The conclusion was that in this campaign, the Japanese 104th Division committed the mistakes of underestimating the enemy and being too aggressive.

Knowing that the Special Operations Brigade had already surrounded the Marine Corps of the Fifth Fleet, and that they had set a trap, they still wholeheartedly drilled into it.

In addition, the artillery regiment was suppressed by the Special Operations Brigade at the first time, which was also the main reason for the failure.

After summarizing the reasons for the failure, the Seiichi Kuna Division had its own thoughts on the next battle.

This time, after receiving the news that the Special Operations Brigade had appeared near Zengcheng.

The conditions they put forward to Commander Ganro Koizumi were: heavy artillery support, and an additional one hundred mortars and two hundred machine guns for the 124th Infantry Regiment.

If this number was not too large, it would not be something that a brigade or a division could bear.

Division Commander Seiichi Kuna even wanted to digest this difficulty within the division, but the division's inventory of mortars and machine guns could not meet this number.

Of course, when Division Commander Seiichi Kuna encountered difficulties, he reported to Commander Ganro Koizumi. This time, their reasons for the request were very sufficient.

In order to defend Zengcheng! But no matter how sufficient their reasons were, they had to submit to reality.

But the reality was helpless: Commander Ganro Koizumi simply did not have so many machine guns and mortars in preparation.

The Japanese originally planned to end the battle in three months, but now a year and three months had passed, and their prepared strategic reserves had long been exhausted.

In order to support the operation, their national treasury had long been empty, and even so, it could not meet the needs of the previous operations.

This time, in order to attack Guangzhou, the Japanese army collected all the training guns in the schools on the island and sent them to the front line for combat.

Where would there be so many mortars and machine gun reserves in the various combat teams?

Although Commander Ganro Koizumi of the Japanese Twenty-First Army did not have the weapons needed by Miyazawa Taro's regiment, he could send three machine gun companies and one mortar company to Zengcheng.

Although the ammunition allocation was only one base number, this was also support from the Twenty-First Army.

There was a reason why the Japanese Twenty-First Army was short of ammunition now.

They did not use too much ammunition along the way when attacking Guangzhou. This made them not very urgent about logistics.

After the Xiangshan Campaign was over, all the teams under the entire Twenty-First Infantry Army, after learning about the experience of the 104th Infantry Division,

All increased the number of ammunition requests. They were all afraid that the Special Operations Brigade team from Wuhan would suddenly attack their defense line.

Up to now, the Japanese headquarters on the island knew about the Special Operations Brigade team, and also knew that they had fought against the Japanese North China Front Army and the Central China Expeditionary Force.

And they had all made those Japanese suffer a lot. After studying the combat methods of the Special Operations Brigade, the Japanese headquarters concluded that they were a team that liked to fight guerrilla warfare.

They were a team with fierce firepower, but also liked to fight with bayonets.

This seemed a bit contradictory, but it was the common understanding of the Japanese who had fought against the Special Operations Brigade.

The best way to deal with the Special Operations Brigade team was to use artillery to block them outside.

Mortar shells and infantry shells, which could be used at close range, were the best to use. In fact, each regiment was frantically requesting more ammunition and mortars.

The Japanese army of the entire Twenty-First Army was working hard to hoard ammunition, preparing to deal with the attack of the Special Operations Brigade.

The 124th Infantry Regiment stationed in Zengcheng wanted machine guns and mortars, but there was no way to strengthen that much.

Regimental Commander Taro Miyazawa, who could have three more machine gun companies and one mortar company, was already satisfied in his heart: The Xiangshan Campaign was the home field of the Special Operations Brigade.

Zengcheng was its own home field. This was not the same concept at all. It now had very strong confidence.

As long as the Special Operations Brigade dared to attack Zengcheng, it would definitely let the Special Operations Brigade know how powerful the Miyazawa Regiment was.

In order to defend Zengcheng well, Regimental Commander Taro Miyazawa had made preparations early.

It had conscripted tens of thousands of civilians, widened the trenches outside the city wall by three meters, and built three lines of defense outside the city.

These three lines of defense were used to protect Zengcheng. Each line of defense was made up of trenches, fortifications, communication trenches, and bunkers.

Looking at these crisscrossing trenches and fortifications, they could not only maintain fire suppression on the Special Operations Brigade that came to attack, but also form crossfire and provide mutual cover.

For the past few days, the two infantry regiments of the Special Operations Brigade had been busy familiarizing themselves with the terrain near Zengcheng.

The two regiments of the Fourth War Zone that were acting with them also walked around Zengcheng together.

Brigade Commander Wu Xing smiled and said to Lin Fan: "Now I am as familiar with Zengcheng as the locals."

Lin Fan also smiled and said, "Familiarizing yourself with the terrain will be of great help to our next operation."

Regimental Commanders Liu Laopao and Shangguan Zhiwen had to not only familiarize themselves with the mountains and rivers around Zengcheng, but also maintain the roads in various places.

According to the habits of the Special Operations Brigade, the infantry regiment in front also needed to prepare the task of paving roads through mountains and building bridges over water for the artillery regiment acting behind.

Feng Junya had not been idle these days. His artillery regiment originally had five infantry companies.

Now these five companies had also received the cannons seized in Xiangshan. At this time, the artillery regiment was a truly fully staffed artillery regiment.

Attacking Zengcheng, the task of the artillery regiment was indispensable.

Feng Junya had already found three places outside the city where artillery positions could be set up. The battle had not yet begun.

The ten companies of the artillery regiment had already made plans in these places, just waiting for Lin Fan's order, they could enter the position and deploy the position according to the plan.

The Special Operations Brigade had monitored all the land and water routes around Zengcheng. Although it was unable to strike the Japanese artillery regiment that had just passed, Platoon Leader Jing Liquan had seen teams heading towards Zengcheng.

Lin Fan also said, "Yes! The Japanese are smart this time. They first heavily protect the artillery and we simply have no way to grab it.

Since we can't grab it, then blow it up.

If these cannons are not sent over, they will all be blown up!"

Brigade Commander Wu looked at Lin Fan speechlessly: "The Japanese artillery position is in the city, how can we blow it up? Now the Japanese are very strict in searching people entering the city, it is not easy to sneak in."

Lin Fan smiled: "If we want to blow up its artillery position, we only need to bomb it from a distance. We also have artillery teams."

The Special Operations Brigade also had artillery, not only artillery, but also observation balloons.

The Japanese could raise the observation balloon, and the Special Operations Brigade also raised the observation balloon outside the city, and also specially found a high mountain to raise the balloon.

This observation balloon had many tasks, but the most important task was only one: to see where the Japanese artillery position was?

This disappointed Lin Fan: The distance was too far. Before the Japanese cannons fired, they simply could not find out where their artillery position was.

The observation balloon rising in the air clearly saw the three lines of defense of the Japanese army outside the city, which could also be regarded as a kind of harvest.

Looking at the three lines of defense of the Japanese army, Lin Fan finally issued the order to start the attack the next day.

At three o'clock in the morning that night, Feng Junya's artillery regiment began to march.

Along the way, there were temporary passages built by the Second Regiment above the small rivers and ditches, and traction vehicles towed the cannons through, came to the artillery position that had been seen long ago.

At 8:30 in the morning, the artillery position was established. Began to test bombing.

The rockets first fired single shots, and after determining the firing parameters, it was the turn of the howitzers to test fire.

After all the test work of the artillery was completed, the official bombing began at ten o'clock.

The sound of explosions one after another.

Regimental Commander Taro Miyazawa was in the command post, listening to the sound of explosions coming from outside the city, and his heart began to be uneasy.

It was mentally prepared for the powerful firepower of the Special Operations Brigade. But now the artillery fire of the Special Operations Brigade was too powerful.

It shook up Captain Hiroshi Sakurai's phone and asked directly: "Can't we strike the artillery position of the Special Operations Brigade?"

Captain Hiroshi Sakurai replied helplessly: "We simply don't know where the artillery position of the Special Operations Brigade is, and even if we know their artillery position, it is beyond the range of the artillery."

Thinking of the three lines of defense he set up, the outermost line of defense was already fifteen kilometers away from the city.

Thinking of this, Regimental Commander Taro Miyazawa obviously came over: He was confused!

At this time, it could only pray that the most forward Takashi Ono Company could survive this bombing.

In order to appease the Forty-Second Battalion fighting on the front line, Regimental Commander Taro Miyazawa personally called the command post of the Tagabe Battalion and asked in detail about the situation on the front line.

Battalion Commander Tagabe could only report: "Contact with the most forward Takashi Ono Company has been lost, and the Japanese troops sent out to repair the wires are looking for the lines.

From the command post, we can see smoke billowing on the battlefield, and the sound of artillery explosions continues. As for the casualties of the Japanese army, there is no report yet."

Since the Japanese army had not yet reported casualties, the situation should still be under control! Regimental Commander Taro Miyazawa thought so.

It had already ordered the mortar company replenished by Commander Ganro Koizumi to be sent to the rear of the bombarded defense line, ready to support the front line at any time.

At the same time, a machine gun company was also sent over, and as soon as the artillery fire ended, it would enter the position from the second line of defense.

Company Commander Hayato Senka stared solemnly at the smoky battlefield. The task of his company was to support the battlefield in front.

It was just that now the Special Operations Brigade was only bombing the Japanese defense line and had not sent out infantry to attack.

The mortar company of Hayato Senka had not played a role for the time being. At the same time, the artillery observers of Hiroshi Sakurai were also working hard to look at the battlefield.

Its mission was very simple: to discover the attacking infantry of the Special Operations Brigade and immediately guide the artillery regiment to bomb.

Now the battlefield was filled with smoke and it was impossible to see clearly, but it was still possible to see clearly in the slightly farther places: There was no movement!

With no movement, the Japanese soldiers of the artillery regiment of Hiroshi Sakurai could only continue to wait.

At this time, the team of the Second Regiment of the Special Operations Brigade had actually begun to act, but they were all dispersed and marched in companies.

Company Commander Shijun Xia was now leading two companies. Company Commander Han Xi, who was sent by the Fourth War Zone to assist in the operation, was following with a company.

When Company Commander Shi led the team out of the mountains, the team of less than four hundred people was not conspicuous.

They had already quietly lurked less than two hundred meters in front of the Takashi Ono Company, just waiting for the artillery fire to stop, they would immediately launch an attack.

Squad Leader Takuya Tegoshi watched helplessly as the bunkers that had just been completed a few days ago disintegrated under the bombing of large-caliber shells.

A machine gun and thirteen Japanese soldiers in that bunker were all buried in it, the bunker was unreliable.

The Japanese soldiers hiding in the trenches were not much better. His squad only had these four squads. The machine gun squad in the bunker was completely destroyed, and the Japanese soldiers in the trenches also suffered a lot of casualties.

When large-caliber shells exploded in the trenches, they could directly cut off the trenches. Battalion Commander Takashi Ono had never thought of this situation before.

His company's defense line had already become fragmented when it encountered artillery fire. If the infantry of the Special Operations Brigade launched an attack, what would happen?

Whatever he thought of would come! Just as Company Commander Takashi Ono was afraid of the infantry charging, the artillery fire ended.

The attacking team in front seemed to suddenly emerge from the ground. When they were just discovered, they rushed to a position one hundred meters in front of the defense line.

The panicked Company Commander Takashi Ono ordered repeatedly: "Shoot! Shoot!"

Now its contact with the rear command post could only rely on runners to deliver messages, the phone had long been out of order.

The promised mortar and field artillery support from the rear was nowhere to be seen.

If the mortar and field artillery support did not appear again, the infantry of the Special Operations Brigade had already rushed into its defense line. Even if they reacted at this time, they would not be able to bomb it!

What could Company Commander Takashi Ono, who had many complaints in his heart, do?

It could only do its duty, order the Japanese soldiers of the entire company to shoot and speed up their shooting.

On this defense line, they had originally built many bunkers and deployed machine gunners in the bunkers.

The artillery fire just now had caused two of the bunkers here to collapse, and now only three bunkers could still play a role.

The machine gun fire in these three bunkers could no longer sweep the entire defense line without blind spots.

The charging Special Operations Brigade team was rushing forward from the blind spots of the machine gun fire. Company Commander Shi would not let go of them just because the Japanese bunkers could not hit them.

Pointing to the bunkers on the left and right that were still firing, he ordered: "Blow it up for me!" The "blow it up" that Company Commander said was not to send someone to rush to the front with a explosives pack to blow it up.