In the thousand-year-old Hangu Pass ancient road, Major General Aoyama Kiyoshi, commander of the 83rd Japanese Brigade, led two independent infantry brigades and an engineering brigade. They were squeezed into the narrow pass and could neither advance nor retreat.
It all started when Major General Qingshan led his troops to the ancient pass of Hangu Pass. After arriving here, Qingshan Qing felt that this road was not a serious place to go. It was a narrow road with no end as far as the eye could see. There were cliffs on both sides. Lao Gao. There were trees and dead grass everywhere. There was a thin but obvious murderous aura on the path.
Qingshan Qing did not dare to go inside at that time. He sent a report to the division commander and sent scouts in to conduct reconnaissance to see what mysteries were on the path in front of him. At the same time, Qingshan Brigade Commander also sent a search team. Search nearby civilian villages. If you can find local villagers to ask for directions, or directly ask a few locals to lead the way, it will be much better than running around blindly.
It can be said that the commander of the Qingshan Brigade has made an elaborate arrangement. It can be said that he has done all the possible response methods that he can think of. No matter who is facing this situation, there will be no better way.
The first thing that responded was the telegram. The telegram sent to the division commander was quickly answered. However, this reply made Major General Qingshan very disappointed. It turned out that the division commander had encountered the main force of the Chinese Chongqing Army. Interception. It seems that the division commander's route is difficult to pass.
The news brought back by the search team is that not a single villager has been found nearby. There are abandoned villages, but there are no people. Not even a chicken.
The scouts who explored the road also came back. They walked forward for three or four kilometers. They met neither pedestrians nor the ambush of the Chinese Communist Party. The road seemed to be very long. They did not dare to go forward. They had to go first. Come back and report to the general.
Combining several aspects of intelligence, Major General Aoyama Kiyoshi came to the same conclusion as Division Commander Miura Saburo: The 500th Army set up ambushes at Kawaguchi and Yangdian. However, they did not set up an ambush at Hangu Pass where the terrain was obviously dangerous.
Anyway, it is certain that the division commander encountered the interception of the main Chinese army along the way. It can be seen from the wording of the lieutenant general's telegram that it will be difficult for them to defeat the Chinese army blocking the road. In other words The roads on the Kawaguchi and Yangdian sides are impassable. Then, the way out for the 114th Division must be on Major General Aoyama's side.
"The Sakaihara Battalion opens the way in front. The Abe Battalion cuts off the rear. The engineering troops are in the middle and move forward." Things have come to this point. Apart from moving forward, Aoyama Kiyoshi has no other way out. After weighing it again and again, Major General Aoyama bites the bullet. The order to march was given.
In the situation Aoyama Kiyoshi faced, advancing troops was his inevitable choice. He did not make a mistake in the order to advance. However, Major General Aoyama still made a mistake in the order of the troops' advance. Although it was not a big one, it was definitely fatal. Mistake. He should have put the engineering troops in the front.
Engineers have the function of exploring the terrain. There are also specialized minesweepers. If there are traps, mines and other ambushes on the road, engineers can avoid risks and reduce losses to the greatest extent in the front. Unfortunately, Major General Aoyama only thinks of coming from The enemy's regular attack. He put the Sakaihara Battalion, the detachment's strongest combat force at present, at the front, but ignored the possible blows from the ground. When the order was issued, the tragic fate of the Aoyama detachment officially began.
The ambush troops of the 500th Army quietly observed the Japanese outside the ancient road on the mountains on both sides. Even the impatient Huang Sanpao and Jin Feilong knew the importance of the situation at hand. The two crawled into the grass with the soldiers without saying a word. throat.
After waiting for a long time, the Japanese soldiers finally moved. The Japanese soldiers outside the pass entered the ancient Hangu Road one after another. Our officers and soldiers on the mountain stared down quietly with wide eyes, silently counting the number of Japanese soldiers in their hearts. One hundred, two hundred, one thousand, two thousand. Finally, all the Japs entered the gate. Huang Sanpao and Jin Feilong on both sides of the gate let out a sigh of relief at the same time.
"Get ready for battle." Jin Feilong whispered an order to the messenger beside him. On the other side of the pass, Huang Sanpao issued the same order almost at the same time.
Among the teams of Huang Sanpao and Jin Feilong are some soldiers who are different from the people around them. These people are engineers. They are engineers from the 500 Army Engineer Corps. Cao Bao, the leader of the engineering corps, is wearing an ordinary soldier uniform without a military rank. Mixed among the soldiers, except for the elites of the dozen or so engineering regiments around him, no one could tell that this tall and strong man could be the commander of the engineering regiment.
I worked all night last night and got three hours of sleep after finishing work this morning. Now the engineer commander is in high spirits. Looking down through the blades of grass, he can see the Japanese soldiers on the pass very clearly. Even the Japanese soldiers can see them clearly. The models of the weapons on his back were all recognizable. He watched the Japanese one by one walking past the ambush he had carefully arranged. Cao Bao didn't even have the slightest expression of excitement on his face. He was as quiet as a mountain.
After so many years of following the army to fight Japanese soldiers, Cao Bao has done this a lot. It is like eating and dressing every day. He has long been used to it. Digging traps, laying landmines, carpentry, masonry, and masonry. These have penetrated into his bones. This is part of his life.
"Get ready." A plain command came from the mouth of the engineer commander. There was a slight smell of gunpowder in it. The surrounding engineers instantly tensed up.
"Start." Cao Bao's raised right hand quickly fell down. Two steps away, an engineer with the rank of captain on his collar slammed down the handle of the detonator.
There was a flash of fire on the pass, followed by a loud noise comparable to thunder. "Boom." The mountains on both sides trembled. The sound was like the first firecracker in a chain of firecrackers. Its explosion was followed by countless explosions, one after another, one after another. Some of the sounds were even connected together. It was impossible to tell how many explosions there were.
Below is billowing smoke and rocks, sand, branches, grass and leaves flying everywhere. There are also a few suspicious unknown objects mixed in.
The veterans lowered their heads and lowered their bodies to the ground as much as possible. Only the recruits who had just joined the army and had not experienced a big scene stretched their necks and looked down curiously. The mountains on both sides were too high. Even if there were occasional sand and pebbles flying Coming up, no one could be hurt at all. The recruits stared at the rare scene below with wide eyes.
"Hey, look, look. That's a leg. The thigh can fly so high."
"The little devil has short legs and light thighs. Hey, this is a foot." This soldier seemed to have discovered something rare. He wanted to grab it with his arms.
"Be careful." The veteran on the other side had quick eyesight and quick hands. He grabbed the armed belt around his waist and pulled the excited recruit back. "You're going to die." The veteran kicked the overly excited recruit angrily.