Chapter 1 The Guangzhou Garrison Begins to Resist

After receiving the report from Division Commander Kuna Seiichi of the 21st Army, Commander Kojō Kan'ichirō was greatly shocked, not by the casualties of the Japanese soldiers, but by the Guangzhou garrison's resistance.

This was a trend. If it wasn't suppressed, the Fourth War Area's soldiers defending Guangzhou might fight to the death, making the task of occupying Guangzhou more difficult.

To suppress this trend, Commander Kojō Kan'ichirō ordered, "The 1st Independent Armored Regiment, the 4th Air Regiment, the 1st Machine Gun Company, and the 1st Mountain Artillery Regiment will all go to Futian to support Division Commander Kuna Seiichi."

Division Commander Kuna Seiichi of the 18th Division never expected that this ordinary request would receive such attention from Commander Kojō Kan'ichirō.

With so many reinforcements to support his division's advance, Commander Kojō Kan'ichirō had dispatched almost all of his most valuable forces.

With cannons, planes, tanks, and machine guns, what could Kuna Seiichi say? He could only order Regiment Commander Murashita Ryosuke of the 55th Infantry Regiment to suspend the attack and wait for the reinforcements to arrive so they could coordinate and ensure success this time.

When Regiment Commander Murashita Ryosuke heard that Commander Kojō Kan'ichirō had personally arranged this attack and had provided him with planes, cannons, tanks, and machine guns,

he immediately assured Division Commander Kuna Seiichi, "I guarantee the mission will be completed!"

After the Japanese soldiers left behind more than a hundred bodies and retreated, Regiment Commander Yin Minghui ordered the soldiers to collect the bodies of the fallen on the battlefield. At the same time, he sent a message to the Japanese, allowing them to send a hundred unarmed soldiers to collect the corpses.

Captain Kito Yohei immediately sent two squads, carrying the International Red Cross flag, to the battlefield to carry the Japanese corpses back one by one.

By noon, the battlefield had finally calmed down. The Japanese had retreated to Boluo.

On the other side, the 20th Independent Brigade had defeated a Japanese reconnaissance unit in Zhengguo Town.

This gave the Fourth War Area Command great confidence. After the Japanese had landed for so long, they finally had their first experience of repelling them.

Although there was a highway between Boluo and Futian, it was surrounded by mountains. The Fourth War Area Command formulated a plan to annihilate the Japanese: The 186th Division would hold the front of Zengcheng, supported by tanks and artillery, while the 153rd and 154th Divisions would flank from the right, and the 20th Independent Brigade would encircle the Japanese 18th Division from the left, annihilating them beneath Mount Luofu.

Both sides had arranged their plans and were preparing for a major battle. The Japanese were beaten back to Boluo, and the Fourth War Area's forces had moved into position according to plan.

On the 18th, the Japanese besieged Xiangang and Shiyao. The first to act was the Kōno Takuma mountain artillery battalion, which had just been sent to support the 18th Division. Twelve 70mm howitzers began shelling Xianggong.

Regiment Commander Yin Minghui saw that the Japanese firepower was fierce, very different from the day before. He ordered his troops to hold their ground and watch out for the Japanese attack.

At the same time, the Japanese planes arrived and continuously dive-bombed, causing Regiment Commander Yin Minghui's defensive line to collapse instantly.

The courage that the soldiers had managed to muster yesterday was lost in an instant. The troops that had been able to fight the Japanese with bayonets yesterday now turned around and ran.

When the Japanese cannons fired, the soldiers of the forward troops of the 459th Brigade of the 153rd Division, stationed at Shiyao, were terrified. They didn't dare to hold their ground like they had the day before.

They threw down their weapons and fled. On the Shiyao front, twelve Japanese tanks led the charge, scaring away the officers and soldiers of the 153rd Division stationed there.

Brigade Commander Zhong Fangjun of the 459th Brigade didn't expect his men to become like this today. He felt grief and indignation in his heart, believing that he was responsible for the loss of the position and the flight of his soldiers.

He pulled out his pistol, put it under his chin, and fired upwards, attempting suicide. The bullet exited the top of his head, but he only lost consciousness. He was rescued by local villagers and hidden in the village.

When Zhong Fangjun regained consciousness, his determination to die remained unchanged, but his weapons had been hidden by the villagers. He ran out of the village and jumped into the river to kill himself, but was rescued again by the villagers. However, his wound became infected by the water, and he ultimately could not be saved.

Regiment Commander Murashita Ryosuke did not expect it to go so smoothly today. His troops had occupied two positions without bloodshed.

The Japanese finally regained their confidence and immediately continued their attack towards Changning along the highway, where they were met with resistance from Li Zhen's 186th Division.

Division Commander Li Zhen personally commanded at the front line, finally temporarily stabilizing the situation. However, the Japanese 18th Division immediately brought in tanks and artillery to assist, and this time Li Zhen's 186th Division could no longer resist, and the entire division retreated.

By four o'clock in the afternoon, the Japanese had occupied Futian, and the Fourth War Area's plan to annihilate the Japanese 18th Division under Mount Luofu had failed. Moreover,

all the tanks and artillery that the entire Fourth War Area had gathered to participate in the Mount Luofu offensive plan were given to the Japanese as spoils of war.

The 56th Regiment of the Japanese 18th Division attacked from the northwest of Zengcheng and was stopped by the 20th Independent Brigade in Zhengguo Town.

The Guangzhou Campaign had been going on for only seven days since the Japanese landed at Daya Bay on the 12th, and it was already in grave danger.

On the 18th, the Special Forces Brigade in Xiushui received a batch of ammunition sent from Jurong, replenishing the shells they had used up during this period.

Because Lin Fan had shot down more than a hundred Japanese planes a few days ago, the Japanese didn't even dare to fly reconnaissance planes in this direction these days.

The Special Forces Brigade's transport planes carrying shells could now take off from Jurong during the day and deliver them to Xiushui. The Special Forces Brigade was now ready for anything. They could set off as soon as the artillery regiment arrived.

At around seven o'clock in the evening on the 18th, the artillery regiment finally arrived. This made the soldiers extremely happy, and Feng Junya was also very happy, as he was now truly worthy of being the artillery regiment commander.

Lin Fan reorganized the five artillery companies and five infantry battalions that had arrived into an artillery regiment, and also transferred all the captured cannons to this artillery regiment.

Having received thirty-six cannons at once, the unit, which had originally only been half an artillery regiment, was now a complete artillery regiment. Nothing was said that night. On the morning of the 19th, the artillery regiment, which had just arrived in Xiushui, received its equipment and reorganized.

The battalion that had been held as hostages was finally handed over to the Second War Area. These soldiers were to return to their original units, and Gu Zhitong had asked about them several times.

It would be good to be able to recover a battalion of soldiers for his division, which had been crippled due to misunderstandings. The casualties of an elite division had been so great that he hadn't dared to report it to Chiang Kai-shek yet.

When the Second War Area learned that the Special Forces Brigade's artillery regiment had arrived, they immediately began preparing trains for them. It wasn't that they wanted to rush Lin Fan away, but the situation in Guangzhou was too unfavorable.

Both the Second War Area and the Wuhan headquarters hoped that the Special Forces Brigade could arrive in Guangzhou as soon as possible, hoping that they could blunt the Japanese's advance.

At four o'clock in the afternoon on the 19th, the Special Forces Brigade's two infantry regiments and one artillery regiment began boarding the trains, preparing to head towards Guangzhou.

After they boarded the train, they waited and waited until eight o'clock in the morning on the 20th before their train finally departed. At this time, Lin Fan didn't know that today the military and political officials in Guangzhou City had already fled from Guangzhou City in a hurry.

The Special Forces Brigade set off from Xiushui at the same time as the Japanese forces broke through the 186th Division's defense line in Zengcheng, forcing the last Chinese army unit in Zengcheng to retreat.

By the time the Special Forces Brigade arrived in Shaoguan by train, it was already the 23rd. By this time, Guangzhou had already been occupied by the Japanese, and the Humen Fortress had also fallen on this day.

The Special Forces Brigade, which had just arrived in Shaoguan, was immediately assigned to garrison Fogang, mainly because the Special Forces Brigade had a heavy artillery regiment.

In the continuous defeats of the Fourth War Area in these days, they had lost more than thirty tanks, more than one hundred cannons, more than three hundred heavy machine guns, more than one hundred vehicles, and more than fifteen thousand bags of rice.

The once wealthy Fourth War Area was also becoming unable to bear it, so they decided to let the Special Forces Brigade go to the front line to hold on. Lin Fan originally thought that the 64th and 66th Armies, which had left before them, had not yet arrived at the front line.

Yu Hanmou was also shocked by the Special Forces Brigade's organization in the reports from his subordinates: A brigade had more than ten thousand combat personnel.

This was at least a division, or even enough to form an army, and they also had so many cannons. He quickly inquired about Lin Fan's background from the Second and Fifth War Areas.

He didn't know until he inquired, and he was really shocked: The Special Forces Brigade wasn't just a brigade, Lin Fan actually had three anti-Japanese base areas behind enemy lines. Not to mention that a brigade had three base areas under its command, no one knew how many regular troops there were.

The National Army now knew that in the battles on the Lubei railway line, the Special Forces Brigade had mobilized fifty infantry regiments to launch a counterattack against the Japanese, occupying all the railways from Hefei to Jinan.

This was just one of the Special Forces Brigade's base areas. There was also the Jurong base area, which was too famous. As soon as he heard it, Yu Hanmou understood.

He quickly took his entourage to Shaoguan to personally meet Lin Fan. He recounted the current helplessness of the Fourth War Area. Now, all the money-making and tax-collecting territories of the Fourth War Area had been lost.

Retreating to these poor mountainous areas in northern Guangdong, although the Japanese had not attacked for the time being, they had no money, and it was difficult to replenish the cannons, machine guns, and tanks that had been lost.

He wanted to hear Lin Fan's views on the current battle situation. Lin Fan treated those who could persevere in the war of resistance with courtesy, let alone those who sincerely came to ask for advice.

He immediately analyzed the current situation. Yu Hanmou and the group he brought with him showed disbelief when they heard this young man, Lin Fan, say that the Japanese would no longer be able to organize large-scale battles after the Battle of Wuhan.

Lin Fan simply drew the territory currently occupied by the Japanese on the ground and said to everyone, "If you occupy a place, don't you have to send troops to guard it?"

Did that even need to be asked? "Of course we need to send troops to guard it. Not only do we need to send troops, but we also need to send heavy troops."

After getting the answer, Lin Fan pointed to the large territory occupied by the Japanese: "Every time the Japanese occupy a place, they need to send a large number of troops to garrison it.

Although they have also accepted many puppet troops to assist them in the middle, but if you look at the Japanese now, they can only send troops to guard the railway and highway transportation routes in the occupied areas.

Some remote places are immediately seized back by anti-Japanese guerrillas after they pass by, and then the Japanese are unable to seize them back.

Is it that they don't want to? Is it that the Japanese can't?

This is just because their forces are limited and they really can't send more Japanese soldiers out.

Now that they occupy such a large territory, the endless guerrilla warfare in various places in the rear has dragged them down so that they are unable to organize large-scale battles like the Battle of Wuhan.

From now on, we have already entered the stage of strategic stalemate from the stage of strategic defense. If we continue to fight like this, the Japanese will be finished soon.

Guangzhou has now been lost, and this is due to the reasons of main combat strength and combat will. But it is also because the coastal area has a developed highway transportation network, which is very convenient for the mechanized forces of the Japanese to move.

There are few highways and poor road conditions in the mountainous areas of northern Guangdong. If it is a peaceful era, this will be very detrimental to economic construction and people's travel, but it is very good for dealing with the mechanized forces of the Japanese.

We must not only defend northern Guangdong well, but also actively attack the Japanese frequently. We cannot allow them to just occupy our territory and stay safe and sound."

Yu Hanmou and his party listened to Lin Fan's analysis, feeling that it seemed to make some sense, but they also felt that this was just a verbal theory. It was true that northern Guangdong was mountainous, and it was also true that the roads were difficult to travel.

But could this really stop the Japanese? No one had such confidence.

Lin Fan saw their thoughts and said with a smile, "This kind of thing is just empty words. Take a look at how our area is doing it.

To deal with the Japanese, don't just defend blindly. We should take the initiative to attack. After all, this is our territory, and most of the people are on our side.

This gives us thousands of eyes watching the Japanese, and the number of Japanese troops is much smaller than ours. As long as we are determined to attack the unsuspecting, and attack the few with the many, the Japanese will also be defeated."

For Lin Fan, being able to go to the front line was definitely a good thing. The Special Forces Brigade had come to fight the Japanese. After this conversation, although Yu Hanmou was skeptical of Lin Fan's analysis, he still asked if there was anything he could help the Special Forces Brigade with when they first arrived in Guangzhou.

Lin Fan said with a smile, "Our army really has a problem that needs the commander to solve. In order to maintain combat effectiveness, the soldiers of the Special Forces Brigade need to have meat every day.

We only hope that the commander can supply us with meat. We are not picky. Pork, beef, mutton, and fish are all fine, but we need about three thousand catties every day.

Please rest assured, Commander, we can pay for these specially supplied meat, or exchange them for things."

Yu Hanmou thought for a moment: "Anything is fine?"

Lin Fan smiled: "Commander can say it."

Yu Hanmou said with a smile, "Two hundred catties of meat for a Japanese soldier. Is that okay?" His followers immediately understood.

The Fourth War Area had been beaten too hard by the Japanese these days, and they didn't have any decent results. The commander wanted this unit to earn some face back for the Fourth War Area.

Lin Fan said with a smile, "No problem! This is very fair. We can set it up like this now. During the Special Forces Brigade's time in the Fourth War Area, every Japanese soldier killed will be exchanged for two hundred catties of meat.

My brigade doesn't care about military exploits. According to this price, provide us with meat, and the credit for killing the Japanese will be distributed by the commander."

Although Yu Hanmou had already learned from the Second and Fifth War Areas that the Special Forces Brigade never wanted military exploits, anyway, their military exploits were never rewarded.

But being able to hear Lin Fan confirm this, Yu Hanmou and his followers were still very excited. Now they only hoped that the rumors were true, that this unit could really fight the Japanese, so they could buy military exploits from the Special Forces Brigade endlessly.

Having reached an agreement, Yu Hanmou said with a smile, "The supply for the first week can be considered a welcome to the brothers of the Special Forces Brigade for coming from thousands of miles away. After seven days, whether you eat meat or vegetables will depend on your ability."

Nearly ten thousand troops of the Special Forces Brigade all went to Fogang Town the day after Yu Hanmou arrived. This was now the front line, and the Japanese had occupied Conghua, so they could continue to advance at any time.

After Lin Fan led his troops into Fogang Town, he immediately took over the defense line of the 153rd Division. The Special Forces Brigade established a defense line along the line of Pingtou Ridge, Xiangshan, Buffalo Ridge, and Dongling Ridge.

The entire defense line was a full twelve kilometers wide, and six thousand infantry was clearly not enough. Lin Fan could only deploy a company on each defense line, and arrange Feng Junya's artillery regiment in the middle, so that they could provide artillery support to all the front lines.

Opposing the Special Forces Brigade was the Japanese 104th Division. This unit was formed by the Japanese with reserve personnel from the 4th Division.

It was commanded by Commander Miyake Toshio, with Colonel Kataoka Kaoru as Chief of Staff. The division consisted of: Division Headquarters; 132nd Infantry Brigade, commanded by Goto Juro.

It consisted of the 137th Infantry Regiment, commanded by Kawasaki Shiro; the 161st Infantry Regiment, commanded by Inui Tadao.

The 107th Infantry Brigade, commanded by Major General Matsumoto Kenji, consisted of the 108th Infantry Regiment, commanded by Miyata Kaneshijiro; the 170th Infantry Regiment, commanded by Koga Ryutaro.

The 104th Cavalry Battalion, commanded by Takahashi Yasuo; the 104th Field Artillery Regiment, commanded by Yuya Shigeharu; the 104th Engineer Regiment, commanded by Fujii Kazue.

The 104th Transport Regiment, commanded by Ikeda Koichi; the Communications Team; the Medical Team; the Second, Third, and Fourth Field Hospitals; and the Sick Horse Plant, etc.

The entire 104th Division had more than 26,000 Japanese soldiers. After it was formed, it first went to the Northeast for reorganization on June 25, then conducted landing training in Qingdao in September, and landed at Daya Bay in October, occupying Conghua on the 23rd.

When Lin Fan led his troops to Fogang, Commander Miyake Toshio was issuing the order to attack Fogang to his 132nd Infantry Brigade.

Brigade Commander Goto Juro happily accepted the order. For these Japanese soldiers, the operations these days had been too smooth, so smooth that they couldn't imagine it.

Now that they were able to wait for the division commander's order to continue expanding the results, how could he not be happy? After accepting the order, he returned to the brigade headquarters. Brigade Commander Goto Juro fiddled with a globe that was specially placed on the table. His finger drew a line between Guangzhou and Wuhan, and he ordered the regimental and battalion commanders under his command: "Commander Miyake has ordered us to continue to attack. We must continue to attack and continue to advance. We must fight all the way from here to Wuhan.

Gentlemen! Such a great country is waiting for us to conquer. When you fight to Wuhan, endless glory awaits you."

"Hai!" The battalion and regimental commanders of the 132nd Infantry Brigade were all excited. They also wanted this. If they could fight all the way from here to Wuhan, this country that had been the world's leader for thousands of years would belong to them.

These middle-level Japanese officers were extremely excited. They were afraid that the superiors would suddenly stop them and not let them fight.

Now that they heard that they were still being allowed to continue attacking, they were overjoyed. Although they couldn't burn, kill, and loot wantonly in Guangzhou like they did in Nanjing, they could still take all the supplies from the Fourth War Area government for themselves.

In Conghua, they had just taken over two tungsten mines from Yu Hanmou. This was a very profitable industry, and the Japanese wanted to get more, so of course they needed to take more territory.

The task of attacking Fogang was handed over to Kawaski Shiro's 137th Regiment, which made the regimental commander very happy. He responded loudly: "Hai! Tomorrow I will invite you all to drink in Fogang."

Brigade Commander Goto Juro saw that Regimental Commander Inui Tadao of the 161st Regiment looked a little unhappy, and said with a smile, "Inui-kun! In the end, only one unit can be sent to attack. You have to defend Conghua well. When Kawasaki-kun takes Fogang, the 137th Regiment will defend Fogang, and you will go to attack Qingyuan."

After hearing what the brigade commander said, Inui Tadao's face looked better: "Hai!"

Brigade Commander Goto Juro was only happy that his subordinates had such a desire to fight. He liked such motivated subordinates.

Regimental Commander Kawaski Shiro, who had received the task of attacking, was in the brigade commander's headquarters, studying the map with his four battalion commanders and the brigade's staff.

This time, the Japanese attacked Guangzhou using a tactic of grand encirclement, and practice had proved that this tactic was very successful. They landed at Daya Bay, detoured three hundred miles from Huizhou, Boluo, Zengcheng, and Guangzhou, and finally attacked from Guangzhou along the Pearl River to the sea.

This time, Regimental Commander Kawaski Shiro didn't have to be so troublesome to attack Fogang. He pointed to the highway from Conghua to Fogang and said, "The First Battalion can just attack directly along this highway."

Yes, they only needed to attack directly along the highway. On the highway from Boluo to Futian, the Fourth War Area had prepared heavy troops, tanks, and artillery to encircle and annihilate the 18th Division, but it turned out to be sending equipment to the 18th Division.

Now these Japanese soldiers had a very clear understanding of the fighting strength of the Fourth War Area: They knew that their officers dared not fight, and their soldiers were unwilling to fight.

Battalion Commander Takeuchi quickly stepped forward to accept the task. Commander Miyake Toshio knew about the fighting strength of these National Army soldiers in the Fourth War Area, but he still equipped the 132nd Brigade, which was attacking Fogang, with a tank battalion of twelve tanks.

With these tanks leading the way, Battalion Commander Takeuchi was even more confident.

At one o'clock in the afternoon on October 24th, the Yamashita Jiro tank company drove along the highway from Conghua to Fogang, followed by the Takeuchi Takuma infantry battalion.

The tanks of the Yamashita Jiro company did not yet have a wireless communication system. They could only rely on shouting to communicate with each other during combat. In this respect, the tanks that the Fourth War Area had abandoned were much more advanced. At least the tanks could communicate with each other during the march, and the officers could sit in the car and command their subordinates.

However, even the best weapons needed people to operate them. Without a strong force, advanced weapons alone could not win battles.

Company Commander Yamashita Jiro leaned out half of his body, looking at the tanks in front and behind. Although the road was a bit difficult to travel today, and the tanks were not moving fast and were also very bumpy, they had not seen a single National Army soldier along the way.

There were also no National Army defenses on the mountains on both sides, which made Company Commander Yamashita Jiro feel very happy. All twelve tanks in his company, like him, had their commanders half-exposed outside.

Company Commander Kita Kotaro shouted loudly, "Kitajo-kun! We can reach Fogang without firing a shot, right!" When they set off from Conghua, he and Kitajo Ryo had a discussion about whether they would encounter resistance in this attack.

Kitajo Ryo believed that they would definitely encounter fierce resistance, but they had been walking for so long and had not seen a single National Army soldier. However, they saw a lot of civilians and villages along the way.

Those civilians stood far away and pointed at something. This was specially requested by Commander Kojō Kan'ichirō, to try not to scare these civilians.

It wasn't that Commander Kojō Kan'ichirō was afraid that these civilians would resist. He simply didn't want to cause resentment from the Westerners because of these things. They had already infringed on the interests of the Westerners by attacking Guangzhou. If these ordinary civilians gave the Westerners an excuse to send troops, then it wouldn't be perfect.

A Japanese tank unit had set off and was coming along the highway from Conghua to Fogang. The news reached the Xiangshan position on the front line of the Special Forces Brigade.

The 1st Company of the 2nd Regiment was stationed here. There were two Type 92 infantry guns in their company, which were very suitable for attacking tanks.

When Lin Fan ordered a detailed report on the configuration of the Japanese tank unit, Jing Liquan reported, "The Japanese have twelve tanks, followed by ten cars, each with more than twenty Japanese soldiers.

About one kilometer behind these cars, there is a large number of cars, but the distance is too far to count clearly."

Hearing this report, Lin Fan ordered, "2nd Regiment reserve, 5th Company and 6th Company immediately reinforce Xiangshan, 7th Company and 8th Company immediately reinforce Buffalo Ridge.

The 15th Regiment will be deployed on the line from Dongling Ridge to Buffalo Ridge. When the Japanese vanguard arrives at Dongling Ridge, the 15th Regiment will block the Japanese.

All units of the 2nd Regiment maintain radio silence and wait for the Japanese reinforcements to come over, then put the Japanese reinforcements into the pocket and fight."

In order to achieve the combat goal that Lin Fan mentioned, the 2nd Regiment now had to camouflage itself on the defense line so that the Japanese couldn't detect them at all.

Regiment Commander Liu Laopao immediately ordered all units from Xiangshan to Buffalo Ridge to withdraw from the defense line and hide behind the mountain, leaving only one or two sentries in front of the mountain to observe the enemy's movements.

Today was the first battle of the Special Forces Brigade in Guangzhou, and Lin Fan personally came to Dongling Ridge and brought the two 88mm anti-aircraft guns that he carried with him.

This time, the ambush line laid down by the Special Forces Brigade was seven kilometers long. Soon, Jing Liquan reported, "Following the Japanese tank unit is a battalion of troops, with a total of seventy cars, carrying more than 1,200 Japanese soldiers, dragging five infantry guns, more than thirty heavy machine guns, and at least seventy-two light machine guns."

This Japanese force had very strong firepower! Lin Fan didn't know that this was because the Japanese had captured the weapons abandoned by the Fourth War Area, and they were becoming more and more well-equipped.

This time, the Japanese forces attacking Guangzhou were really getting stronger and stronger as they fought. It also made them more and more arrogant. These Japanese soldiers drove straight in, without finding any National Army on the hillside, nor did they find anything wrong along the way.

According to Lin Fan's plan, not only the tank unit in the front would be attacked by the 15th Regiment, but also the Japanese infantry battalion following the tank unit would be surrounded by the 15th Regiment.

What the 2nd Regiment needed to do was to lie in ambush, waiting for the Japanese reinforcements to come over before starting the attack. Liu Laopao watched the tanks passing by, counting one, two, three... twelve tanks, all sent to the 15th Regiment.

The following ten cars were also all sent to the 15th Regiment, and the seventy cars that followed, these were all for the 15th Regiment.

This made him very heartbroken, watching the Japanese troops pass by in front of him, but he couldn't fire a shot, couldn't kill a single Japanese soldier, which was too painful.

Regiment Commander Shangguan Zhiwen now knew that the Japanese had eighty cars and twelve tanks coming over.

He immediately issued orders to each company: "Hit the cars! Only the few cars at the tail of the Japanese troops can be blown up. In this way, those cars that are blocked in the middle have nowhere to escape and can all be used by us."

This was a good idea. Now this highway was a road that went straight to the end. There was no fork in the road at all in this section. As long as the tanks in front were blown up, this road would be impassable, and if a few cars at the back were blown up, they would have no way to retreat. These dozens of cars would become turtles in a jar.

These days, Regiment Commander Shangguan Zhiwen had thrown away all the dark clouds in his heart. In the past, he always felt that Lin Fan was friendly to the regiments in front and had some prejudice against their team, which he had brought over from the National Army.

Through this period of fighting, he realized that he had been thinking too much. The brigade commander had always arranged things in the best way to fight the Japanese.

Like today, the 2nd Regiment could have obviously killed this group of Japanese soldiers in front, but the brigade commander wanted the 2nd Regiment to let these Japanese soldiers go and let their regiment fight.

Regiment Commander Shangguan knew: The brigade commander was going to lure the enemy to attack!

Lin Fan was waiting on Dongling Ridge. Two 88mm anti-aircraft guns, one facing the sky and one facing the ground. The one facing the sky was prepared to shoot down Japanese planes, and the one facing the ground was used to shoot down Japanese tanks.

The sound of tank engines could already be heard in the mountains. At this time, Lin Fan thought of the tanks developed by his military factory in Jurong.

The tanks had already been successfully developed and equipped in various teams in Jurong. Other places could not be sent there for the time being, so they could only continue to fight like this.

"Here they come!" Regiment Commander Shangguan Zhiwen's tone was filled with suppressed excitement. He was also from here, and returning to Guangzhou was like returning to his hometown.

Half of the soldiers in his regiment were Cantonese. Today was the first battle against the Japanese in their hometown, and the fighting will of these soldiers was much higher than usual.

Lin Fan was not in a hurry. He waited until the Japanese's twelve tanks had driven to the foot of Dongling Ridge and all twelve tanks were exposed in his sight before firing the cannons.

Ikezono Yudai was driving the tank in the front of the entire squadron, and the road was bumpy. All the way, he had to concentrate on staring at the road surface. Fortunately, the tanks were not moving fast.

Although he was a little tired, he was still able to persevere and continue to move forward. The commander of his tank, Kishibe Eita, was still loudly chatting with the commander of the tank behind, Kitajo Ryo.

The rumbling sound of the tanks moving, and the loud chatting of the Japanese soldiers, broke the silence in the mountains.

Company Commander Yamashita Jiro pointed to the birds that were constantly startled and flying up along the way and said, "Birds only fly up when we pass through the mountains, which means that there are no National Army ambushes along the way.

Because if someone is ambushed in the mountains, these birds would have been scared away long ago."

Its voice was very loud, and the Japanese soldiers on the tanks in front and behind all heard it. Kita Kotaro and Kitajo Ryo all shouted loudly, "Captain is wise! Captain is brilliant." These Japanese soldiers were in an uninhabited land all the way, chatting loudly and recklessly.

The atmosphere had been very warm and harmonious. At this time, Company Commander Yamashita Jiro suddenly saw a flash of fire on the top of the mountain in the distance, followed by a cloud of smoke rising from the mountains.

After a while, it heard the explosion of "Rumble!" Ikezono Yudai's tank was hit head-on by a shell, exploding and catching fire instantly.

At this time, Company Commander Yamashita Jiro shouted in horror, "Enemy attack!" It quickly shrank back into the tank, closed the top cover, and began to order, "Direction southeast eighty degrees, elevation forty-nine degrees, immediately find the enemy's cannons."

Just after it shrank into the tank, the sound of "Rumble! Rumble!" explosions never stopped. If it was still watching this scene outside the tank at this time, it would definitely not shrink into the tank.

Because every explosion meant that a tank was destroyed. If it could see this scene, it would definitely give up the tank and run away immediately.

All the tanks of the entire Yamashita squadron were nervously moving their turrets, preparing to counterattack the distant artillery positions.

Lin Fan fired the first shot, which was the signal to attack. Eleven companies of the 15th Regiment opened fire on the Japanese soldiers on the road at the same time.

The 15th Regiment had experience in fighting these Japanese soldiers. 1st Company Commander Jing Chengxuan ordered the infantry guns to fire on the cars at the end of the line.

With two consecutive shots, one car was blown up. However, the Japanese soldiers on the car only heard the explosion from a distance and jumped out of the car. They were not able to kill all twenty or so Japanese soldiers on the car at once, which was a bit of a regret.

However, the heavy machine gun mounted on the car was too bulky to be moved down, and it was buried with the car along with four or five Japanese soldiers who were moving the heavy machine gun and the driver.

Another car was blown up and caught fire. After the 1st Company blew up the fifth car, all the Japanese soldiers of the entire Takeuchi Takuma battalion jumped out of the cars.

They left the cars far away. When the shells hit the cars, the shrapnel could fly everywhere, and there were always unlucky Japanese soldiers who were hit by the scattered shrapnel and fell.

Battalion Commander Takeuchi Takuma ordered to stop the car when he heard the first explosion. After he pushed the car door open and jumped out of the car, he immediately crawled to a stone on the side of the road and shouted loudly, "Get out of the car! Get out of the car!"

Battalion Commander Takeuchi Takuma's order was passed down to all the Japanese soldiers together, "Get out of the car! Get out of the car!" All the cars of the entire infantry battalion stopped.

The Japanese soldiers of the Sanjodo Shintaro squad in the last car of the team, there was a heavy machine gun in their squad.

At this time, the order to get out of the car had not been issued yet, but Squad Leader Sanjodo Shintaro still ordered: "Yagishita Hiroaki, Suzuki Hiroaki, Sato Ijin, get out of the car immediately."

The purpose of his order was only to make it easier for the heavy machine gun to be moved down later, so that the Japanese soldiers under the car could catch it and the speed would be faster.

At the same time, it also ordered the machine gunner Tanaka Souta: "Tanaka-kun! Have you found the enemy?"

Tanaka Souta replied nervously, "No discovery!"

Yamamoto Isao suddenly pointed nervously not far ahead: "Look!" Looking in the direction it was pointing, a shell was flying towards here.

"Get out of the car!" Squad Leader Sanjodo Shintaro's voice was full of fear, but his order had come too late.

"Rumble!" Its car was hit by a shell, and then a second shell flew over, but it didn't know it at this time.

Battalion Commander Takeuchi Takuma heard the report that the five cars at the tail of the team had been blown up by the National Army, and it immediately understood the good intentions of the Special Forces Brigade: This was to kill these Japanese soldiers and snatch their cars.

It was nothing more than killing people and punishing their hearts!

However, Battalion Commander Takeuchi Takuma was not flustered. It did not think that the team that only dared to carry out sneak attacks could stop its team.

On the contrary, it would counterattack and kill the ambushing team. Battalion Commander Takeuchi Takuma ordered:

"Watanabe Ichiro squadron, immediately occupy the mountain in front, Takahashi Taiji squadron, occupy the mountain above