bookmarkrole #114 - Dabeigou Massacre
#114 - Dabeigou Massacre
Although the battle situation had slightly shifted, Yao Zhihai didn't relax. He watched the small squad of Japanese devils head towards the village entrance, unsure when Zhou Shangxin would be able to persuade all the villagers to leave. The fact that smoke hadn't risen from Dabeigou indicated that people were still in the village.
However, Yao Zhihai was helpless. Forget about supporting the village, he didn't even know how long he could hold out against the Japanese devils he was currently facing.
After seven or eight consecutive grenades landed on the slope where the Japanese devils were charging, blowing up several of them, Zhou Shangwu's human-shaped grenade launcher temporarily halted their advance.
These little dwarfs could only imitate the collaborators, crawling slowly forward on the ground. However, the Japanese grenade launcher spotted Zhou Shangwu in the sky and seemed to have found a pattern in his movements. After Zhou Shangwu threw another grenade, two consecutive grenades landed near Zhou Shangwu beside the trench.
Even though Zhou Shangwu ducked quickly, the shrapnel flying everywhere still left deep wounds on his back and arms!
Although his life was temporarily saved, Zhou Shangwu lost his ability to attack.
Yao Zhihai felt an inexplicable grief and indignation in his heart. "Take cover! Comrades, take cover, fix bayonets! Prepare grenades! We'll wait for the Japanese devils to get closer before launching our attack!" Yao Zhihai had no choice but to fight desperately.
They could only fight at close range, letting the Japanese devils get within about 20 meters so their grenade launchers wouldn't fire. At this distance, the exploding grenades would indiscriminately injure anyone, with a blast radius of at least ten meters.
However, letting the Japanese devils get so close meant risking a breakthrough of the battle line.
Entering a distance of twenty meters was essentially a close-quarters melee, relying on willpower to persevere.
These new members of the People's Armed Work Team hadn't participated for long. Although they had some training in assassination, it wasn't much.
After all, the People's Armed Work Team hadn't completely separated from production and labor, and recently they had been focused on reclaiming wasteland.
At this moment, each of them leaned against the trench, took out their bayonets, and fixed them onto their rifles. Adrenaline surged!
Although they knew the Japanese devils were close at hand, none of them wanted to retreat. Those who had joined the People's Armed Work Team basically understood why they were fighting. Although Yao Zhihai usually skimped on combat training, he didn't neglect ideological education at all.
Whether or not a unit has combat effectiveness depends primarily on making everyone understand why they are fighting!
Although the villagers of Dabeigou were almost isolated from the outside world and didn't know much about the situation, after being enlightened by Yao Zhihai and the others, they knew the brutal nature of the Japanese devils' burning, killing, and looting in the country. They also felt the heavy burden brought by the Japanese devils' demanding grain and labor, and they understood that they couldn't live a good life unless they drove the Japanese devils away.
If he hadn't moved, he would have been hit by the Japanese devils' grenades in this wave.
The remaining villagers didn't feel the brutal battle at the village entrance, but the ferocity of the Japanese devils who stormed into the village shocked them.
Several puppet soldiers, leading a detachment of Japanese devils, began to drive the villagers out of their homes and gather them together. If anyone disobeyed, the Japanese devils would shoot them directly!
Now all the villagers who had stayed behind regretted it, but it was useless. More than a hundred people were driven to an open space at the entrance of the village. Zhou Shangxin, who had stayed behind to work, was also forced to join the ranks with the villagers.
A machine gun was set up on a stone roller at the entrance of the village, its dark muzzle pointing at the people. The Japanese sergeant stared fiercely at the villagers, without saying a word.
He was waiting for Fujino Taro to arrive.
Based on their experience, now that they had caught so many villagers, the Japanese devils didn't believe Yao Zhihai and the others would simply escape.
These hostages were their trump card for annihilating the Dabeigou guerrillas.
Seeing this situation, Zhou Shangxin was extremely anxious. Beads of sweat rolled down his face, and he couldn't find a way to break the current predicament no matter how many thoughts ran through his mind.
More than ten Japanese devils and several puppet soldiers, twenty-odd guns and a machine gun, were pointing at them. Most of those remaining in the field were old, weak, women, and children. There was no chance of a hard fight.
Now the only thing to do was to stall for time, and see when Xiao Dongzi's reinforcements could arrive!
Xiao Dongzi ran towards Li Gezhuang with all his might. By the time he got close to Li Gezhuang, his throat was burning, but Xiao Dongzi didn't dare to slow down.
He had seen the number of Japanese devils with his own eyes. Not only were Uncle Zhihai and the others outnumbered, but their weapons were also inferior to the Japanese devils. He had to call for reinforcements as soon as possible to have a chance of survival.
Xiao Dongzi ran like the wind to the entrance of Li Gezhuang Village. Seeing a group of people reclaiming wasteland in the distance, Xiao Dongzi stopped and took a breath. After catching his breath, he shouted loudly: "Captain Yang, Captain Yang, the Japanese devils have entered Dabeigou! Captain Yao told you to tell the battalion commander that at least a company of Japanese devils has come, and the villagers haven't completely evacuated. We need reinforcements!"
In the distance, Yang Changshun's expression changed when he heard Xiao Dongzi's shout. "Comrades, immediately return to the village to get weapons. We must immediately reinforce Dabeigou!" Yang Changshun threw down his hoe and ran directly to the People's Armed Work Team's station!
The remaining twenty-odd members of the People's Armed Work Team also dropped everything and followed Yang Changshun.
At the People's Armed Work Team's station in Li Gezhuang, there was also a radio as one of the central communication points. After Yang Changshun ran back, he turned on the radio, called the relay point to report the situation, and immediately led the armed Li Gezhuang People's Armed Work Team on a forced march to Dabeigou to reinforce!
Along the way, he learned about the current battle situation from Xiao Dongzi, who accompanied him back to Dabeigou. Yang Changshun secretly cried out in his heart when he heard that the villagers hadn't finished evacuating!
This round of Japanese devils came aggressively. I'm afraid these villagers are doomed!
Yang Changshun joined the team in 1937 and fought countless battles with the Japanese devils. He knew what the Japanese devils were like after suffering losses. Yao Zhihai and the others were blocking them, but they didn't cut off the road to the front village. The Japanese devils could completely split their forces and advance.
The people left in the village were probably already in the hands of the Japanese devils.
Although there weren't many people in Yang Changshun's group, only twenty-odd, they certainly couldn't defeat a company of Japanese devils. However, Yang Changshun and the others didn't retreat at all, but tried their best to hurry!
Even if they couldn't defeat the Japanese devils, they would try their best to create an opportunity for the villagers to escape!
Unfortunately, when they arrived at the mountain at the end of Dabeigou Village, what was left for them was a tragic scene of a destroyed village with fires everywhere!
In the open space at the entrance of the village, Yang Changshun and the others saw the bodies of villagers lying scattered everywhere from afar!
They had finally arrived one step too late!
Second update! The third update is still being written and will be later. It is recommended to read it tomorrow.