A series of explosions from behind brought the Japanese commander back to reality, telling him that the artillery unit could no longer participate in the battle.
"What's going on...Why did the explosion just come from behind us...Didn't we kill all the Eighth Route Artillery? Why are there so many mortars..."
A second lieutenant rushed toward him with a panic-stricken look on his face. He gasped and reported before he could stand still.
"Captain..."
"The artillery position was attacked by Eighth Route Army mortars..."
"They dispatched at least thirty mortars..."
"Although the caliber is not as good as the mountain guns we are equipped with, the rate of fire is very fast..."
"Our artillery suffered heavy casualties before it had time to move, and we are temporarily unable to provide artillery support to the attacking troops!"
The captain was anxious.
He only had artillery units at hand that could cross the battlefield to attack the Eighth Route Army reinforcements, prevent them from entering the battlefield immediately to join the battle, and buy time for the attacking troops to break away from the battle.
Now that they cannot join the war immediately, they cannot stop the Eighth Route Army reinforcements.
The two squadrons that are fighting hard on the battlefield will be surrounded by heavy troops of the Eighth Route Army, and they will have no chance to evacuate the battlefield.
An expression of despair immediately appeared on his solemn face, and he cried out: "How could this happen..."
"The Eighth Route Army infantry marched all the way to reinforce the battlefield... I can still accept it..."
"The mortars are so heavy and there are dozens of them. How did the Eighth Route Army bring them to quickly reinforce the battlefield..."
"I can't understand..."
In fact, it was not only the Japanese commander who couldn't figure it out, but also the chief of staff and several captains he had accepted.
But so what?
The artillery position was attacked by more than thirty mortars. In just half a minute, one or two hundred shells were fired. No matter how hard the Japanese gunner's bones were, they would be blown to pieces.
that's the truth.
Although it is difficult for mortar shells to destroy mountain artillery and infantry artillery, they are very lethal to the gunners.
Dozens of artillery shells exploded together, immediately exploding thousands of fragments at the Japanese artillery position.
They fly everywhere on the battlefield, harvesting soldiers' lives at extremely high speeds.
As long as a Japanese gunner is hit by fragments, he will lose his arms and legs, or his life...
In the blink of an eye, the Japanese artillery positions became littered with corpses, with bloody corpses and severed limbs everywhere.
The surviving gunner lay on the ground and did not dare to move.
The rain of shells falling from the sky was so dense that no one knew whether the next shell would fall next to them.
If you get up from the ground and evacuate the artillery position without authorization, you may be beaten to pieces by shell fragments as soon as you stand up from the ground.
Rather than taking the huge risk of losing one's life to move, it is better to lie down in the artillery position and wait for the artillery fire to end.
But that doesn't mean they are safe.
The artillery position not only holds a large number of mountain guns that are ready to fire at any time, but also piles of artillery shells that have been loaded with fuses.
If an artillery shell was detonated by a mortar shell falling from the sky, dozens of mountain artillery shells would explode at the same time, and the powerful shock wave would be enough to kill all the Japanese within a few dozen meters.
Based on this calculation, the artillery unit cannot be counted on by the Japanese commander.
As for how the Eighth Route Army reinforcements were able to quickly transport dozens of mortars to the scene at a speed that was no slower than that of light infantry, this was thanks to Huang Yu.
Soldiers are valuable and speed is important, and time is life on the battlefield.
In order to speed up the march of the reinforcements, Huang Yu not only divided the motor battalion directly under the base area into two and strengthened the two main regiments responsible for the reserve task, but also deployed a large number of mules and horses from the logistics and baggage troops to help them transport heavy weapons and ammunition.
The Fifth Regiment of the Unique Brigade disagrees with several independent regiments in the base area. They are the real main regiment of the Sixth Army Division in the Wing. Each main battalion has an artillery battery equipped with nine mortars.
In order to allow them to keep up with the marching speed of the infantry, the gunners fixed the mortar parts on the horses in advance, and after receiving the order to set off, they could lead the mules and horses...
Because they were not carrying any weight, their marching speed was actually much faster than that of the light infantry.
When they arrived at the battlefield, they began to plan their shooting, set up and adjust the artillery, and prepare for a preemptive strike. First, they destroyed the artillery units that the little devils relied on for survival, and turned them into a group of tigers without fangs.
Of course, if it were night, the Fifth Regiment would be able to dispatch troops by car.
Although only one reinforcement battalion can be transported at a time, it can ensure that the reinforcements arrive on the battlefield four hours in advance.
Unfortunately, it was daytime now, so in order to prevent Japanese aircraft from bombing, we had to abandon the car.
…………
"Sir... the reinforcements from the Eighth Route Army have rushed to the position..." shouted a captain, his face pale and his expression very desperate.
Because two of the four squadrons that launched the attack just now belonged to his men. Although more than half of the casualties were suffered, there were still two squadrons fighting bayonets on the battlefield. There must be many of his own men among them.
Now that the reinforcements of the Eighth Route Army have joined the battle, the two squadrons who are fighting with bayonets will definitely not be able to withdraw.
Those subordinates belonging to him will definitely be wiped out on the battlefield by the Eighth Route Army.
The commander of the regiment no longer had any hope that he could capture the Eighth Route Army's blocking position.
If the artillery force had not suffered a devastating blow, even if the Eighth Route Army's blocking force arrived with reinforcements, he would still have the confidence to attack once or twice with the advantage of artillery fire.
Now that the artillery unit is gone, with only more than a thousand infantry left in hand, it is impossible to capture the Eighth Route Army's blocking position no matter how hard we try.
He said directly in a desperate tone: "They are finished..."
"Spread out the map immediately..."
"Call all the officers in the army who are above the rank of squadron leader, please hurry up."
Subtracting the offensive troops who were being besieged by the Eighth Route Army, and subtracting the severely damaged artillery units, the remaining troops in the hands of the regiment commander totaled only 1,560 people, equivalent to six or seven squadrons, and they were all gathered together.
around.
The commander of the regiment gave the order, and in just five minutes, a dozen officers above the squadron commander came around.
"Everyone..." The captain did not hide anything and directly told everyone about the dangerous situation the reinforcements were currently facing.
"The Eighth Route Army's reinforcements arrived on the battlefield in time, with at least two battalions of troops and a large number of mortars. They severely damaged our artillery unit."
"The strength of both sides has directly changed from the previous situation where the enemy was weak and we were strong to the current situation where the enemy is strong and we are weak."
"If we continue to attack the Eighth Route Army's blocking position, we have no chance of winning at all. We will be wiped out bit by bit by the Eighth Route Army in front of the blocking position, and we will not be able to complete the raid mission assigned to us by the Commander."
"I decided to divide my troops in advance..."
"Although we have not yet penetrated deep into the hinterland of the Eighth Route Army's base, we have penetrated more than twenty kilometers into their base. We can divide our forces to carry out destruction and cause more losses to the Eighth Route Army before they can successfully encircle and annihilate them. Otherwise, so many of us will die in vain here.
