Norihide Abe held up his telescope and observed the bombardment effect of the 2nd Independent Artillery Battalion. Within the field of view of the telescope, he saw many Eighth Route Army machine gunners and their weapons being blown away in the light of the fire.

Seeing this, Norihide Abe couldn't help but grin, revealing a cruel smile.

Sure enough, these damn Tubal Road gangs want to set up an ambush here, but unfortunately, I am not a drunkard like Yamashita Fengwu, but a famous general of the empire, and an expert in mountain warfare of the Japanese Empire!

The other side.

At a commanding height on the hillside, Wang Chengzhu set up the temporary headquarters of the Second Independent Regiment on the reverse slope of the hillside, while he himself climbed to the top of the mountain to observe the enemy's situation.

Unexpectedly, at this moment, the sound of an incoming artillery shell from the "Hurricane" suddenly reached his ears.

"It's a cannonball, monk, be careful!"

Wang Chengzhu immediately rolled to the right, rolled four or five meters away, and hid behind a rock.

Monk Wei flew backward and fell into the grass on the reverse slope of the hillside.

Almost at the same time, a cannon suddenly fell from the sky and landed where the two of them had just been, which was also the center of the top of the mountain. It exploded suddenly with a 'boom' sound, and suddenly a ball of scarlet fire rose up, and a large area was set off.

Gravel soil.

Some of the gravel and soil fell directly on the steel helmet above Wang Chengzhu's head, making a clanging sound.

The impact point of the shell was too close to Wang Chengzhu, less than 10 meters. Fortunately, Wang Chengzhu was covered by rocks. Otherwise, even if he was not killed by the shell on the spot, he would be cut into a bloody hedgehog by the splattered shrapnel.

A few seconds later, Monk Wei climbed up the incline of the hillside with a worried look on his face, found Wang Chengzhu and asked, "Captain, are you okay?"

"Ah? Monk, what did you say? Louder, I can't hear you!"

Wang Chengzhu felt her head buzzing. Even though she had covered her ears with both hands just now, because the shell hit so close, the violent explosion still caused her to temporarily become deaf.

Hearing this, Monk Wei became even more anxious: "Captain, don't scare me!"

Wang Chengzhu: "What did you say? You told me not to go down the mountain?"

Monk Wei simply raised his voice, approached Wang Chengzhu and asked: "Captain, are you okay?"

Monk Wei did not dare to get close to Wang Chengzhu's ear, otherwise even if the other person's ears were not deaf, he might be deafened by him.

Because after a few seconds, Wang Chengzhu's hearing recovered a little, and he finally heard what Monk Wei said clearly, and said: "I'm fine!"

Immediately, Wang Chengzhu ran to the edge of the mountain top and observed other positions bombarded by Japanese artillery.

It doesn't matter if you don't look at it. When he looked at it, Wang Chengzhu's face, which was originally full of dirt, instantly turned gloomy: "This bastard Norihide Abe is indeed an expert in mountain warfare, but I underestimated him!"

Monk Wei, who followed closely, said with a surprised look on his face: "Commander, how can you still have the majesty of a Japanese and destroy your own morale?"

Wang Chengzhu said seriously: "We can despise the enemy strategically, but we must not despise the enemy on the battlefield!"

"You see, the Japanese artillery destroyed several machine gun fire points of our independent regiment with just one round of shelling, causing huge losses to our regiment.

And you have to know that this is still under the condition that our army has not opened fire and has not exposed its firepower."

"Obviously, Japanese commander Abe Norihide has a deep understanding of mountain warfare and can clearly predict where the opponent will deploy firepower based on the terrain."

"Moreover, the artillerymen of the 2nd Independent Mixed Brigade are also highly qualified. They can accurately lock the target without any test firing!"

"Such an enemy is truly terrifying! Therefore, we must eat them in one bite in this battle!"

Wang Chengzhu's eyes showed a murderous look that was not concealed, and he continued: "Monk, immediately convey the order to the first and second battalions, asking them to change their original formations and deploy all light and heavy machine gun firepower points to positions that are contrary to the usual!

Also, remember to change places once you hit the target, and never stay in one place for too long!"

"yes!"

Monk Wei agreed with a loud voice, then turned around and left to convey the order.

Wang Chengzhu did not dare to stay on the top of the mountain for too long, so he changed his position and continued to observe the enemy's situation.

…

The other side.

At the Japanese attack position, Norihide Abe was still holding a telescope to observe the battle situation.

From the field of vision of the telescope, we can see that the 2nd Independent Artillery Battalion is still shelling our area where the 2nd Independent Regiment may deploy machine gun firepower.

Unfortunately, the results of the subsequent shelling were much smaller, causing almost no losses to the Second Independent Regiment.

Of course, Norihide Abe didn't care. It must have been the opposing commander who saw their strategic intentions.

This actually aroused Abe Norihide's competitive spirit.

Isn't it more fulfilling to defeat an Eighth Route Army commander who has defeated several imperial generals than to defeat an ordinary Eighth Route Army commander?

On the contrary, if the Second Independent Regiment did not make immediate changes after being shelled, it would make Norihide Abe look down upon.

After several rounds of shelling, the 2nd Independent Infantry Regiment led by Takahashi Akimitsu had rushed to a position less than 500 meters away from the forward position of the 2nd Independent Regiment.

Since both the enemy and us had just arrived here not long ago, the Second Independent Regiment had no time to build defenses and could only rely on the favorable terrain to launch a counterattack.

Therefore, the 2nd Independent Infantry Regiment did not launch a probing attack.

"Machine gunner, suppressive fire!"

"Infantry, keep pushing forward!"

The Japanese machine gunner immediately looked for a suitable position, set up a series of heavy machine guns and opened fire suddenly.

"Tu tu tu tu!"

"Tu tu tu tu tu!——"

The gunfire sounded like exploding beans, and a large rain of hot bullets immediately poured out, covering the mountainous area ahead, splattering clouds of smoke and dust near the impact point of the bullets.

Although most of the bullets were empty, some stray bullets still hit the soldiers of the Second Independent Regiment, causing blood to flow profusely in an instant.

However, these soldiers gritted their teeth and did not scream.

Soon, the soldiers of the stretcher team carried them to a safe location in the rear for rescue.

The distance of 500 meters is actually within the attack range of the Second Independent Regiment. Although the infantry cannot shoot accurately, it does not mean that the Japanese cannot be killed.

As for machine guns, let alone them.

However, Xu Hailang did not immediately give the order to fire. Instead, he asked the artillery and grenadiers to lock the enemy's machine gun firepower first.

The Japanese machine gunners opened fire. Although they provided effective fire cover for their infantry, it also exposed their position.

Soon, the Japs of the 2nd Independent Infantry Regiment approached 200 meters away. They immediately changed from sprinting to running and quickly rushed towards the forward position of the 2nd Independent Infantry Regiment.

"Grenade group, artillery platoon, kill the Japanese machine gunners first!"

"Every company and platoon, use full firepower, fight me!"

Xu Hailang gave an order, announcing that the war had completely begun.

…
Chapter completed!