"Explode the artillery and retreat..." the deputy captain of the Japanese artillery brigade knew very well the situation he was in. He gritted his teeth and ordered with a face full of heartache.
The captain of an artillery squadron under his command was very reluctant to give up: "Sir..."
"We have all broken through here. As long as we work harder, we will be able to get rid of the Eighth Route Army's pursuing troops."
"Maybe there are troops ahead to support us. It would be a pity to blow up the artillery now."
The deputy captain was also reluctant to part with it, but reason told him: You can't have your cake and eat it too.
If you want to keep the remaining soldiers under your command, you must give up the eight field guns that affect the marching speed of the troops.
Gritting his teeth, he ordered again: "If we don't blow up the cannons, all of us will die here."
"Execute the order and blow up all the artillery immediately. The troops will break out lightly and rush out as many as they can. This is a fatal order given to us by the commander..."
After he finished speaking, regardless of whether his subordinates heard it or not, he took out a grenade and stuffed it into the barrel of the field gun closest to him.
"boom……"
In the violent explosion, the long barrel of the field gun was blown into pieces.
Seeing that the deputy captain had begun to blow up the cannons himself, his subordinates felt that they would carry out the order no matter how hard they could kill.
Li Yunlong, who was only behind them, also heard the explosion and was shocked and said in his heart: "You son of a bitch, those artillery pieces belong to me, we must not let them blow up."
"The machine gunners will beat me hard, shoot all the little devils who want to get close to the field artillery, and stop them from exploding the artillery..."
"Others, follow me and hurry up. Drive away the little devils in front who want to blow up the cannons. Kill..."
"Da da da……"
The sound of machine gun fire and Li Yunlong's order sounded on the battlefield at the same time. Several little Japanese who had already taken out grenades and were about to stuff them into the barrel were caught off guard and were instantly beaten into pieces.
The white-smoking grenade exploded directly in their hands, and fragments flew everywhere, knocking a dozen gunners around them to the ground.
The deputy captain of the artillery brigade suddenly turned pale. He didn't expect the Eighth Route Army to charge so fast, and he saw at a glance his purpose of blowing up the artillery, so he specially organized machine guns to stare at the artillery and not allow his subordinates to get close to the artillery.
Feeling worried, he ordered again: "Bagh Yalu, you are all the most heroic warriors of the Japanese Empire. How could you be intimidated by two machine guns of the Eighth Route Army?"
"Hold the grenade and rush over. Only by blowing up the artillery can we retreat. Quickly..."
"boom……"
Another field cannon was blown up by the Japanese's desperate counterattack. Li Yunlong was so heartbroken that he almost cried.
Fortunately, I had already rushed to a position more than thirty meters away from the Japanese.
Since the gunners were rarely equipped with self-defense rifles, they raised their pistols and opened fire on them.
He was followed by several guards, all armed with Mauser pistols.
At close range, the Mauser pistol is as powerful as a light machine gun.
Facing the sudden hail of bullets, the little Jaap deputy captain who was being cared for by Li Yunlong fell to the ground with at least four bloody holes in his body and died on the spot.
The deputy captain was beaten to death, and the Eighth Route Army had already rushed to everyone's side. If they didn't run for their lives, there would be no chance of evacuation.
Some Japanese gunners who didn't want to die turned around and ran for their lives in the opposite direction where the Eighth Route Army was coming. As for exploding artillery... they had long forgotten about it.
If you lose your life, you will explode a bullshit cannon.
As long as they can save their lives, whether they blow up the artillery or not depends entirely on their own words, and their superiors can't trace it anyway.
Seeing thirty or forty little Japs escaping from under his nose, Li Yunlong did not send anyone to chase them, but went straight to the eight field cannons abandoned by the Japs.
Seeing that the Japanese army only blew up two of the field guns, and the remaining six field guns were all intact, a smile quickly flashed across his nervous face, and he said happily: "Fortunately, the six field guns were saved..."
After speaking, he pointed to a guard next to him and ordered: "Take five people and guard here to protect the remaining six field guns."
"There are a lot of little Japanese stragglers nearby. We must not let them get close to the artillery and destroy the six field artillery we worked so hard to capture."
"The others follow me and continue to hunt down the other little Japanese artillery units."
…………
On the road five kilometers southeast of Longkou Town's defense line, Colonel Oda was leading two infantry squadrons forward quickly.
Listening to the sound of firefights getting farther and farther behind me, my nerves that had been tense for more than an hour finally relaxed, and my steps began to slow down.
He decided to slow down his march and wait for other breakout troops.
The land beneath our feet is still the base of the Eighth Route Army, and no one knows if there are other Eighth Route Army troops ahead.
There are only two squadrons at hand. If attacked, the Eighth Route Army can gather a reinforced battalion to deal with itself.
Only by gathering more troops to move together would he not have to worry about an Eighth Route Army ambush.
"Sir..." After waiting for less than five minutes, he saw a captain running towards him.
Before he could stand still, he reported with a frightened face: "I finally see you..."
"Hongzhi led two squadrons to successfully break through and were followed and chased by the Eighth Route Army."
"They were like crazy, clinging to us. The mortar unit and the heavy machine gun squadron were eliminated by the Eighth Route Army pursuers on the breakout road because they were marching too slowly. The two squadrons of infantry also lost more than half, leaving only one squadron.
…”
"I have failed to command well in my humble position. I ask your superiors to punish you..."
The fact that his subordinates were able to bring out a full infantry squadron from under the nose of the Eighth Route Army was beyond Colonel Oda's expectations. How could he be punished?
Besides, the army had just suffered heavy losses and was still within the Eighth Route Army base area. It was the right time for the army to hire people, and it was even less possible to punish one of his favorite generals.
Quickly comfort me: "It's not your fault."
"The Eighth Route Army's offensive firepower is too fierce, and there are bombing planes overhead. If you can bring out a squadron, not only will you not be held accountable, but you will be successful."
"Pick out the scouts from the team immediately."
"Scatter them out to find other breakout troops and move closer to me immediately."
"When you are in the Eighth Route Army base area, you must not divide your troops. This is the repeated request of Your Excellency the Commander."
"The situation just now forced us to divide our forces to break out."
"Now everyone has broken out of the encirclement of the Eighth Route Army and turned the corner. Only by gathering the troops together and moving will they not be attacked again and defeated by the Eighth Route Army one by one..."
Ten minutes later, the number of Japs gathered around Colonel Oda exceeded 1,200.
Most of the soldiers had expressions of rejoicing on their faces that they had survived the disaster.
The joy that flashed on Colonel Oda's face because of his successful breakout was unknowingly replaced by solemnity.
There were more than 7,000 imperial troops stationed in the camp. Although they were jointly attacked by Eighth Route Army aircraft and ground troops, the two sides did not fight for too long before they began to break through.
In his plan, it would be no problem to break out with four to five thousand people.
As a result, only more than 1,200 people have gathered around him so far. The troops gathered around Colonel Fujiba should be about the same, with a total of less than 3,000 people, a full 2,000 people less than he expected.
