"Enemy attack...get down quickly and take cover..."
Major Kamikawa threw himself on the ground and shouted loudly.
The queue is too long, and this order will definitely not reach the ears of the forward troops.
When he looked up, he saw dozens of soldiers in the vanguard being shot down to the ground by bullets. His eyes were red and his heart ached, but there was nothing he could do.
"Boom boom boom..."
Several explosions sounded in his ears at the same time, and four balls of fire rose in the middle of the team. Several soldiers were blown away by the explosion, and more soldiers were blown over and fell to the ground without moving.
There were light and heavy machine guns in front of him, and shells rained down on his head. Major Kamikawa's first reaction was that he had been ambushed by the Eighth Route Army.
But I quickly rejected this idea in my heart.
This place is only three kilometers away from Shijiazhuang. If Shijiazhuang sends troops to support him, he can reach here in half an hour at most, get behind the Eighth Route Army and launch an attack, and then attack from both front and back to eliminate the opponent.
Even if they did not dare to send troops out of the city to meet them, the mountain field artillery set up in the city could still provide them with artillery support. They could use artillery fire to cooperate with them to attack the Eighth Route Army and turn defeat into victory.
The Eighth Route Army must know this, so they will definitely not ambush them under the nose of the Shijiazhuang garrison.
The attack in front of us could at best be considered a sneak attack.
The Eighth Route Army wanted to use up as much of its troops as possible before withdrawing to Shijiazhuang.
After thinking about all this, the solemn expression on Major Kamikawa's face suddenly relaxed.
He quickly glanced around the battlefield.
Except for the artillery attacking from a distance and the blocking troops on the mountain ridge, there were no other Eighth Route Army troops around.
This further proves my judgment just now.
He immediately got up from the ground and ordered: "The artillery and heavy machine gun squadrons immediately launched a counterattack against the enemy with fierce firepower."
"Destroy them as quickly as possible..."
"The others are ready to go. As soon as the enemy withdraws, we will continue on our way to Shijiazhuang."
Major Kamikawa has three reinforced squadrons equipped with nine mortars.
With an order, dozens of Japanese artillerymen rushed to the roadside to set up mortars.
Three heavy machine gun squadrons rushed to the high ground on the roadside with their heavy machine guns at the same time, preparing to set up guns to counterattack.
But at this moment, the sound of machine gun fire on the ridge opposite stopped.
All the artillery shells falling from the sky disappeared, and there was no longer any explosion sound in my ears.
"Sir, the Eighth Route Army that attacked us seems to have escaped..." the adjutant beside him shouted with surprise on his face.
"What do you mean by running away... They obviously retreated on their own initiative..." Major Kamikawa was not confused. He stared at the mountain ridge directly in front of him and replied angrily.
"Can't you even see such obvious guerrilla warfare?"
"Shoot and move to another location without giving us any chance to fight back."
"Our opponents are not only cunning, but also very cautious."
"He wants to cause us maximum casualties at the minimum cost..."
"What a plan..."
The adjutant was anxious and asked quickly: "What should we do?"
"How about we send people to chase us and destroy the Eighth Route Army that just attacked us?"
"Baga..." Major Kamikawa became angrier as he listened and cursed unceremoniously.
"Are all the wars you have fought in the past few years in vain? Can you directly send troops to pursue guerrilla warfare?"
"The Eighth Route Army wanted to consume a lot of our troops before we entered the city and sent troops to chase and kill the Eighth Route Army that just attacked us. Didn't we just fall into their trap?"
"The longer the troops stay outside Shijiazhuang, the more times they will be attacked by the Eighth Route Army, and the greater the casualties will be. The best way to break the situation is to ignore these sneak attacks and march all the way to Shijiazhuang. The faster the better."
The adjutant was scolded so badly by Major Kamikawa that he wanted to fight back but couldn't find any reason to refute. He could only lower his head and receive the scolding, while praying in his heart that the captain's anger would calm down as soon as possible.
…………
Japanese Army Shijiazhuang Garrison Headquarters.
A fierce exchange of fire suddenly erupted outside the east gate, which was also mixed with the sound of exploding artillery shells. It was only three kilometers away from the city head.
No matter how bold the city defense garrison was, they would not dare to hide such a big matter.
After hearing the report, the chief of staff made a judgment: "Your Excellency General...it must be that the Eighth Route Army was unable to ambush the returning troops on the road and went directly to the edge of Shijiazhuang to ambush them and eliminate them."
"This group of Eighth Route Army soldiers are too courageous. They simply don't take us seriously. They are bullying us too much."
"I suggest that the city defense troops leave the city immediately to respond."
"By the way, launch an attack from behind the Eighth Route Army's ambush unit, attack from both inside and outside, and eat up the Eighth Route Army's activities outside the city."
Major General Fujita glared at the Chief of Staff as if he were an idiot, frowned, and asked with a hateful expression: "Why do we need to mobilize troops from outside the city to reinforce Shijiazhuang?"
"The troops stationed in Shijiazhuang are not strong enough. It is very likely that they will not be able to withstand the attack of the Eighth Route Army's independent brigade?" The chief of staff didn't know why Major General Fujita asked such a simple question, but he still answered it seriously.
Hearing the words "the troops are insufficient", Major General Fujita became even more angry and cursed on the spot: "You also know that the troops stationed in Shijiazhuang are insufficient."
"Knowing that there are not enough troops in the city, you still take the initiative to send troops outside the city. You don't have to worry about the Eighth Route Army setting up other ambushes outside the city to take the opportunity to consume the troops stationed in the city."
"Are you the Chief of Staff of the Baoding Garrison Headquarters or the Chief of Staff of the Independent Brigade of the Eighth Route Army in Yizhong? Why do you come up with such bad ideas to help the Eighth Route Army?"
The chief of staff was startled by the label of collaboration with the enemy that Major General Fujita took off him, and he quickly explained: "General, please calm down..."
"I don't mean this in my humble position. I was just worried about returning reinforcements, so I thought of such a foolish move in a hurry..."
Seeing that the Chief of Staff has learned his lesson, Major General Fujita cannot continue scolding him.
At present, the enemy is a formidable enemy. With the troops stationed in Baoding insufficient, what he needs most is problems, and he does not want to destroy the unity of the headquarters because of this incident.
Immediately ordered: "Let the city defense troops stand still..."
"But we cannot just watch the Eighth Route Army attack the returning troops under our noses."
"The Shijiazhuang garrison still wants to lose face."
"If the Eighth Route Army is allowed to continue arrogantly outside the city, we will lose face even if we defend Shijiazhuang."
"Order the city defense troops to remain stationary and be ready to receive reinforcement troops entering the city at any time, but no troops are allowed to leave Shijiazhuang.
"The mountain artillery unit and the heavy artillery unit immediately joined the battle, used radio to contact the returning troops, and asked them to act as observers to guide the artillery unit to attack the Eighth Route Army ambushing them from a distance."
"At the same time, we ordered the return troops to break away from the battle and march quickly to Shijiazhuang. We must not let the Eighth Route Army fight desperately outside the city."
"If we fight them desperately now, one soldier can kill at most one Eighth Route Army soldier."
"When you enter Shijiazhuang, relying on the solid fortifications, you can kill at least two Eighth Route Army soldiers with one soldier."
