After the Japanese Air Force dropped the aerial bombs they carried, they immediately launched a dive and strafing attack on the Eighth Route Army on the ground.

"Tu tu tu tu!"

"Thud, tug, tug!——"

The Japanese fighter planes opened fire, and a dense rain of bullets poured down on the ground. As the fighter planes flew past quickly, they drew up eye-catching smoke and dust ribbons on the ground like plows.

Although the Zero fighter's anti-land weapon is a 7.7 mm caliber heavy machine gun, which is the smallest caliber among heavy machine guns, it is also fatal to the flesh-and-blood Eighth Route Army.

Many Eighth Route Army soldiers failed to escape behind suitable bunkers in time, and their bodies were directly pierced by the dense rain of bullets, and they died heroically on the spot.

massacre.

It was completely a one-sided massacre. Facing the Japanese fighter planes, the Eighth Route Army on the ground had no means of countermeasures and could only be beaten passively...

On the slope.

Seeing people in the Eighth Route Army being killed one after another under the fire of Imperial Army fighter planes, the gloomy face of the Japs Brigade leader Nishiyama Masao finally showed a smile he had not seen for a long time.

However, this old devil is not a guy who gets carried away when he is proud. On the contrary, he has a very deep mind, and his strategic vision and tactical guidance ability are also very outstanding.

Otherwise, it would be impossible to break out among the many Japanese commanders and be promoted to the rank of Major General Brigade Commander.

You must know that major generals in the Japanese army are extremely rare and extremely difficult to be promoted, unlike the major generals in the national army who are everywhere.

Many Japanese officers only became colonels throughout their lives and never reached the rank of major general until their death.

Major generals of the Japanese army are "officials appointed by imperial decree", and the emperor personally issues the certificate of appointment. When Japanese people meet "officials appointed by imperial decree", they will respectfully address them as "Your Excellency".

It is extremely difficult for a Japanese military officer to become a colonel when he is around 40 years old. It is not comparable to the young marshals during the Republic of China.

The commander-in-chief of the Japanese invaders, Okamura Neiji, graduated from the Non-commissioned Officer Military Academy at the age of 20. As soon as he graduated, he participated in the Russo-Japanese War with real swords and guns. He did not officially become a major until he was 35 years old, that is, in 1919.

But in 1919, all of his Chinese students were doing well. Yan Laoxi had been the king of Shanxi for more than seven years, Li Xiaru had long been in the headlines during major events such as the Second Revolution, and Sun Xinyuan

He also became a division commander in Hubei. Among his students, He Jingzhi had a worse time, but he also became a major general and brigade commander.

But even so, Okamura Neiji can be regarded as a winner in life among the Japanese army. He participated in the Baden-Baden Conference as a major in 1921. His accompanying major Hideki Tojo could only give them three due to his late promotion.

People (including Tetsuyama Nagata and Toshishiro Obata) handed out cigarettes and stood guard.

In this way, Okamura Neiji did not achieve the rank of Lieutenant Colonel until 1924. When he was a "Shanghai Piao" in Shanghai in 1925, he could not afford the school fees in Shanghai, so he had to work as a consultant for his former student Sun Xinyuan to earn extra money. This situation

It was not uncommon among the Japanese army at that time.

The Commander-in-Chief of the Kwantung Army during the September 18th Incident, Shigeru Honjo, also worked for Zhang Yuting as a consultant when he was serving as Colonel. At that time, the old devil had to watch Zhang Hanqing in his early 20s hanging in front of him with the rank of Major General all day long (the Marshal was in

He became a major general at the age of 19).

During the Republic of China, the promotion of the Japanese army was very "principled". The second-generation general Hideki Tojo did not become a colonel until he was 45 years old (1931). Juichi Terauchi, whose father was a prime minister and a general, did not become a colonel until he was 40 years old.

During peacetime, even Japanese military officers with royal family backgrounds were promoted slowly. Emperor Hirohito's uncle, Katohiko Asaka, was only a captain when he was 30 years old.

Therefore, the young officers of the Japanese army always seize the opportunity to stir up troubles and try to gain promotion. During the Anti-Japanese War, the Japanese officers who were the masterminds of many major events were not of high rank. The mastermind of the September 18th Incident, Kenji Doihara, had only the rank of colonel.

, Ishihara Kanji was the lieutenant colonel, and Itagaki Seishiro was only the colonel. Around 1932, all three of them were promoted to one rank, and they entered the fast lane for promotion.

It was not until the full-scale war of aggression against China broke out and the Japanese army expanded its army on a large scale that the promotion of Japanese officers accelerated.

But even so, none of the Japanese officers who can be promoted to major general are simple people...

Back to the main story, Nishiyama Masao knew that they were not out of danger at the moment. Even though their fighter jets were like tigers entering the flock of sheep, the Eighth Route Army was unable to fight back.

However, the ammunition carried by these fighters is limited. Once the ammunition is exhausted, they will be in a deadlock again.

Because at that time, the Eighth Route Army will definitely not miss the opportunity again and will definitely launch a full-scale attack to completely wipe them out.

Therefore, they had to use their fighter jets to suppress the Eighth Route Army and break through the Eighth Route Army's encirclement before the bullets were exhausted.

Thinking of this, Nishiyama Masao glanced at the direction of Wanjia Town and said: "Give me the order, everyone should break out and turn in the direction of Wanjia Town immediately!"

As soon as the order was issued, more than 1,000 remaining Japanese soldiers immediately broke out toward Wanjia Town under the personal leadership of brigade commander Nishiyama Masao.

Although the Japanese airmen operating fighter planes in the sky were furious, they did not forget their mission.

After seeing the 4th Brigade on the slope starting to break through, they immediately gave up continuing to massacre the Eighth Route Army and instead provided them with fire cover.

"No! The little devil on the slope wants to break out!"

"Stop them, stop them quickly!"

Various units of the Eighth Route Army suffered extremely heavy casualties under the attack of the Japanese fighter planes. Hundreds of people were killed or injured in just a few minutes, so everyone was filled with anger.

When they saw Masao Nishiyama preparing to lead his troops to break out, all military cadres led their troops in the direction of their breakout in an attempt to intercept them.

However, facing the cover of the Japanese fighter planes, rushing forward like this is tantamount to a moth flying into a flame, causing their own destruction.

Moreover, despite the fact that the Japanese 4th Brigade has been crippled, with more than 80% casualties and less than 1,500 people left, so many Japanese still have a strong combat effectiveness.

Especially in order to escape and ascend to heaven to survive, these little devils fought with their lives one after another, and they all unleashed unprecedented fighting power.

In the end, after more than 100 more casualties were suffered by various units of the Eighth Route Army, in order to avoid causing more unnecessary casualties, they had no choice but to issue an order to stop blocking and pursuing, and allowed Nishiyama Masao to lead the remaining troops to break out.

However, Xu Hailang and Wang Shugen kept an eye on it and sent some scouts to follow and conduct reconnaissance in the direction in which the Japanese 4th Brigade escaped.

10 minutes later.

By the time Wang Chengzhu, Li Yunlong, Ding Wei and Cheng Xiazi arrived, Xishan Zhengnan had already led his troops to break out.

Near the breakthrough, except for some corpses of Japanese soldiers, there was no one alive.

As for the Eighth Route Army, they were rescuing the wounded and cleaning the battlefield.

Everyone's expressions were very heavy, so even without asking, Wang Chengzhu and Li Yunlong knew the outcome of the battle...
Chapter completed!