Upon receiving the order, all 18 artillery pieces on the artillery position of the Independent Battalion opened fire.

"Tong! Tong Tong!——"

The hot shells, with their ear-piercing whistling sound and dazzling firelight, pierced the blue sky and smashed into the charging Japs attacking crowd.

"Boom!"

"Boom, boom, boom!"

The little devil probably didn't expect that the independent battalion had such powerful artillery firepower, and it was immediately blown up.

For a time, blood and flesh were flying everywhere, dead and wounded everywhere, and the screams of the Japanese soldiers could not be heard.

"Everything, everything!"

Soon, a second salvo of artillery fire broke through the air again, killing and injuring a large number of Japanese soldiers.

Repeatedly.

After five rounds of rapid fire, the Japanese attacking crowd was completely stunned, and the entire battlefield was filled with thick smoke and the pungent smell of blood.

Under the artillery fire, countless Japanese soldiers were left missing arms and legs, lying in a pool of blood and wailing in pain.

The Japanese's fierce attack momentum was suddenly thwarted.

"Bagaya road!"

The Japanese army attacked the position. Kasahara Koizumi, the captain of the Japanese Army, scolded with a sullen face, and then ordered: "Commander! Send me an order to have the artillery brigade immediately launch counter-fire on the artillery position of the independent battalion!"

Destroy all their artillery!"

"In addition, order the 2nd Brigade to immediately enter the battle. Together with the 1st Brigade, we must break through the independent battalion's fire blockade in the shortest possible time, rush to their positions, and eliminate them all!"

"Hiyi!"

The Japanese ordering soldier nodded heavily, then turned around to convey the order.

After receiving the order, the Japanese artillerymen of the artillery brigade immediately adjusted the firing angle of the artillery and launched counter-fire against the artillery position of the independent battalion.

Although they cannot accurately lock the artillery positions of the Independent Battalion, as veterans with extremely rich combat experience, they can roughly lock the artillery positions of the Independent Battalion through the flight trajectories of the artillery shells.

Relying on their powerful artillery power, the Japanese artillerymen quickly destroyed several artillery pieces of the independent battalion. The artillerymen of the independent battalion nearby were also affected one after another, and all the people and weapons were blown away.

The remaining artillery was also threatened and could no longer fire to provide fire support to the forward defenders.

"Warriors of the empire, the time has come to make a contribution!"

"Kill the chicken and give it to me!"

Taking this opportunity, the Japanese 1st Battalion and 2nd Battalion immediately moved forward.

Many of the heavy machine gun firepower of the independent battalion, in order to suppress the Japanese attack, could only continue to fire. They were quickly locked by the Japanese grenadiers, and then all the people and guns were blown away.

Although the remaining soldiers tried their best to resist, in the end they were unable to stop the Japanese advance due to their huge disadvantages in strength and firepower.

Seeing that the Japanese army was about to rush into a distance of 200 meters, the soldiers of the independent battalion took out grenades and mounted bayonets on their gun heads, making preparations for a hand-to-hand fight with the Japanese.

At this moment, bursts of shocking shouts of killing suddenly came from the two wings of the independent battalion's forward position and from the rear, followed closely by another burst of gunfire.

Although these gunshots were mainly from rifles, because of the large number of people, the firepower was also very strong.

A dense rain of bullets poured in, quickly containing the Japanese offensive again.

Zhao Bin, Zhao Hong, Shi Yichuan and others looked back anxiously, but they saw the captains of the district squads, county brigade, and village corps leading the guerrillas while firing and moving toward the forward position for reinforcements.

The number of people was so densely packed that although it was impossible to count them in detail, they were at least no less than a thousand.

Shi Yichuan and Zhao Bin both looked at Zhao Hong with puzzled faces and asked: "Company Commander Zhao, how many militia units have you developed?"

The atmosphere relaxed, and Zhao Hong smiled and said: "Not many. According to incomplete statistics, the number of militiamen developed by our independent battalion is only 2,000."

"Only 2,000 people?"

Shi Yichuan and Zhao Bin stared at Zhao Hong with their eyes wide open, as if they were looking at monsters.

Zhao Hongdao: "You two, although our reinforcements have arrived, the weapons, equipment and combat effectiveness of these militiamen are still far behind our main forces, so the battle is still going to be fierce!"

"Um!"

Shi Yichuan and Zhao Bin nodded in agreement, and then ordered to the soldiers on the side: "Brothers, our reinforcements are here, hit me, hit me hard!"

Seeing the arrival of reinforcements, the soldiers of the independent battalion were boosted in morale. They immediately controlled their weapons and launched a fierce counterattack against the oncoming Japanese...

At the same time, the artillerymen of the independent battalion also moved their artillery positions and operated the remaining artillery to bombard the Japanese again.

Today, the 22nd Japanese Infantry Regiment has deployed two infantry brigades. Although hundreds of casualties have been suffered in previous attacks, the strength still exceeds 1,600.

Due to terrain restrictions, the Japanese soldiers could not spread out, so they could only gather together when launching a mass charge.

At this moment, these artillery shells from the Independent Battalion fell into the Japanese attack group, and exploded into a large area.

In order to avoid artillery bombardment, as well as independent battalion and militia shooting.

The Japanese soldiers of the 22nd Regiment could only temporarily stop charging and find a nearby bunker to hide. Those who could not find a bunker would directly kneel or lie on the ground to launch a counterattack.

The offensive was blocked again!

…

Japanese troops attack position.

Kasahara Koizumi, who had been paying attention to the situation on the battlefield, saw the militiamen swarming in from all directions, and his face sank: "Baga! How come there are reinforcements in the Independent Battalion of the Eighth Route Army? Is it their battalion commander Wang Chengzhu who has returned with his troops?"

The chief of staff next to him, Jun Shimono, observed carefully for a while and said: "Captain, look, these Chinese people are all wearing civilian clothes. Also, they basically carry bolt-action rifles, and there are almost no automatic weapons such as light machine guns.

Therefore, this is definitely not the main force of the independent battalion."

Through Shimono Jun's reminder, Kasahara Koizumi soon discovered this.

Originally, he thought Wang Chengzhu was back and had already begun to think about quitting, but now his confidence increased again.

He asked: "Shimono-kun, this is not the main force of the independent battalion, what kind of force is it?"

Shimo Jun thought for a moment and said, "It seems like these are the militia units of the Eighth Route Army?"

"Militia?"

Kasahara Koizumi frowned: "I know that the Eighth Route Army's militia troops have almost no decent weapons. What they hold in their hands are usually blunderbuss, spears and other weapons."

"Although this unit does not have any automatic weapons, almost every person has a rifle. How could it be a militia unit?"

"You know, even among the main forces of the Eighth Route Army, many of them still use one rifle with two or three people, and they are still using it even after the rifling has been smoothed."
Chapter completed!