Devil's Army

Chapter 1776: Stopping the Japanese Army in Kaifeng 2

The deputy squadron leader of Taiyuan Airport immediately arranged two fighter and bomber squadrons to provide reinforcements.

The fourth Japanese army forced its way across the Yellow River from the Dongbaitou ferry.

Dongbaitou Ferry is located in Dongbaitou Town, Lankao County, Kaifeng City. It is one of the important ferry crossings in the lower reaches of the Yellow River. It is adjacent to Fengqiu County, Xinxiang City across the river.

The next morning, four Japanese troops simultaneously crossed the Yellow River and attacked Xinxiang.

The first group of Japanese troops forced their way across the Yellow River from Liuyuankou Ferry.

In order to build a pontoon bridge, the Japanese army dispatched the Type 97 mobile bridge-laying vehicle.

In just over ten minutes, a pontoon bridge that could accommodate medium tanks was successfully built.

The Japanese army's rapid bridge-building speed put great pressure on the soldiers of the 1st Battalion of the 1st Regiment of the Jidong Independent Brigade on the opposite bank.

After the pontoon bridge was built, the Japanese tanks immediately drove onto it, bombing the positions of the first battalion on the north bank of the Yellow River as they advanced.

The battle was beyond the regimental commander's expectations.

He originally thought that it would take the Japanese army at least two hours to build Houqiao, but he didn't expect it to be completed in more than ten minutes. He quickly dispatched rocket soldiers and mortar soldiers from the regiment headquarters to reinforce.

At the Liuyuankou ferry, soldiers from the first battalion braved the bombardment of Japanese tanks and artillery and stubbornly blocked the Japanese army from crossing the river.

The machine gunner knew that exposing his firepower would attract bombardment from Japanese tanks and artillery, but he still lay on the fortifications without hesitation and fiercely fired at the Japanese tanks and soldiers on the bridge.

The rocket soldiers took advantage of the fact that the Japanese tanks were attracted by machine gun fire and quickly approached the pontoon bridge. Two consecutive rockets destroyed the two tanks in front.

Unfortunately, before being destroyed, the Japanese tanks fired at the machine gunners of the first battalion.

The two machine gun positions in the first battalion's fortifications were completely destroyed by Japanese tanks.

The subsequent tanks pushed the destroyed tanks into the Yellow River and continued to move forward.

The mortar troops of the first battalion were suppressed by the Japanese artillery units when bombing the pontoon bridge, and many mortars were destroyed.

In order to quickly capture Xinxiang, the first Japanese army dispatched a mobile unit. Many tanks successively entered the bridge, which put great pressure on the first battalion at the bridgehead.

The rocket soldiers of the first battalion had run out of rockets and began to use grenades to attack the tanks crossing the bridge, but with little effect.

Two Japanese tanks, under the cover of infantry, rushed across the pontoon bridge one after another.

A battalion of soldiers in the bridgehead fortifications jumped up and engaged in fierce close combat with the Japanese troops crossing the bridge.

At the critical moment, the air force from Taiyuan arrived.

The fighter planes of the First Army immediately lowered their altitude and launched a fierce strafing attack on the Japanese troops crossing the bridge.

The bombers of the First Army immediately flew low and launched a fierce bombing on the pontoon bridge.

The pontoon bridge built by the Japanese army was blown into several pieces by the fierce bombing of the bombers and was washed away by the surging Yellow River.

A Japanese tank that had already crossed the bridge was blown up by a grenade thrown by soldiers from a battalion that rushed forward.

The Japanese tanks that were preparing to cross the bridge were heavily bombed by bombers, and they caught fire and exploded one after another.

The Japanese tanks that did not explode stepped on the accelerator and quickly escaped.

At this time, a group of rocket soldiers and mortar soldiers who came to reinforce also arrived at the position.

The mortar troops quickly set up positions and launched a fierce bombardment on the Japanese troops on the other side of the Yellow River.

The rocket soldiers quickly aimed at another tank that had already crossed the river and destroyed it with one shot.

A low-flying bomber from the First Army spotted a Japanese Type 97 bridge-laying tank hiding nearby and quickly swooped down to destroy it.

The Japanese army's hope of waiting for the Devil Force's air force to return and then build a pontoon bridge across the Yellow River was shattered, and they stopped at the south bank of the Yellow River.