Devil's Army

Chapter 1973 Attack on Kuling Pass

The Japanese troops blocking Majinling were quickly routed under the pincer attack from the 1st and 3rd Regiments of the 12th Brigade.

The regiment that broke through the Japanese blocking line quickly arrived outside Kaihua County and joined the main force.

While the 12th Brigade of the Independent Brigade of the Second Army Group was advancing south, launching an attack on Chun'an County and Kaihua County in Zhejiang Province, the 15th Brigade also launched an attack from Guangde County in Anhui Province on Anji County in Zhejiang Province.

The 15th Brigade of the First Army divided its four regiments into four routes and launched attacks on Kuling Pass, Xiaobaidian, Dasonglin, and Shimen Pass respectively.

Kuling Pass is located at the border of Shuangshe Village, Hangai Town, Anji County, Zhejiang Province and Shijun Village, Lucun Town, Guangde County, Anhui Province. Its terrain is steep, with cliffs above and below, and the roads are narrow and difficult to travel.

This terrain significantly slowed down the marching speed of the 15th Brigade of the First Army, making it difficult for heavy weapons such as artillery to pass through smoothly and quickly.

Moreover, Kuling Pass is a crucial pass through which Anji enters Guangde, and it can be described as "one man can hold the pass against ten thousand".

The Japanese army was on high alert for the attack of the "Devil Troops" in Anhui. They deployed two companies to defend strategic locations.

The area surrounding the pass is densely forested with high vegetation coverage. It is difficult for the First Army Air Force to provide air support to the 15th Brigade.

But since the task has been assigned, we must find a way to complete it.

The 1st Regiment of the 15th Brigade had far more troops than the Japanese troops at the pass. They launched several attacks on the pass, but were all repelled by the Japanese, and the troops suffered considerable casualties.

Seeing that the air force could not provide support, the regimental commander ordered the machine gunners to suppress the Japanese fire.

Under the cover of infantry, the rocket troops approached the Japanese positions as close as possible and continuously bombarded the Japanese strongpoints.

The Japanese positions at the pass were destroyed one after another. However, the surviving Japanese soldiers hid in the collapsed fortifications and stubbornly resisted, because their orders were to fight to the death with their positions.

At noon, the soldiers did not eat lunch and launched a continuous attack on the pass.

Around 2 p.m., after suffering more than 200 casualties, the regiment finally captured the pass.

As a result, the company commander of the first battalion, who was leading from the front, was also shot and killed.

As the regiment was about to pass through the pass, it was suddenly attacked by Japanese artillery.

Originally, there was a flat area of ​​about 12000 square meters in the mountains about 1000 meters east of the pass. The Japanese army used it as a rear base for the defending troops, for gathering troops and storing supplies.

Meanwhile, there is a dense forest about 300 meters in front of the rear base.

The Japanese army constructed artillery positions in the dense forest. At the same time, they dug two fortifications in front of the artillery positions to block the attack of the First Regiment.

The soldiers of the regiment were shelled by the Japanese army, and quickly retreated, calling for air support.

The First Army Air Force quickly arrived over the Kuling Pass. However, below was a patch of green trees, making it impossible to spot the Japanese artillery positions.

The Japanese army could also use the surrounding mountains and forests to move around, making it difficult for the First Army to pursue them.

When the regimental commander saw that the air force could not locate the Japanese artillery positions, he discussed with the battalion commander and asked him to lead his troops to attack the Japanese positions to lure the Japanese artillery into opening fire.

Without hesitation, the battalion commander personally led his soldiers to their deaths.

Sure enough, as soon as the soldiers of the First Battalion appeared in the open area, the Japanese artillery in the dense forest immediately began to bombard them sporadically.

The Japanese machine guns opened fire fiercely on the soldiers of the First Battalion.

The Japanese artillery fire was intermittent, and the First Army Air Force could not determine their location from the air.

The soldiers of the First Battalion were unable to break through the Japanese defenses.

The battalion commander who was leading the charge was also seriously wounded.