The series of figures stated by the Chief of Staff were reasonable and well-founded. Major General Fujita could not find a reason to refute it, so he had no choice but to support it.
A face became excited at the same time, staring at the chief of staff and giving the order seriously: "Commander Gangcun's order is very clear."
"The troops lost by the Shijiazhuang City Defense Force cannot just be ignored. If we cannot destroy the Eighth Route Army in Yizhong, we will also have to fight against other Eighth Route Army that attacked us..."
"Now that the Independence Brigade has withdrawn from Shijiazhuang, and the other Eighth Route Army troops that were fighting street battles with us are also withdrawing, let's give our opponents a good beating so that they cannot easily evacuate Shijiazhuang, and they must leave something behind if they want to leave."
"Are all the reserves in place?"
"Ha Yi..." the chief of staff immediately introduced: "After receiving the order from the Commander of Gangcun, I sent the reserve teams of the two brigades to the forefront of the battlefield in squadron units."
"Coupled with the forward troops that have been contacted, we can dispatch at least three brigades to launch a counterattack against the retreating Eighth Route Army troops, block them at the gate of the city, and annihilate them."
Major General Fujita did not answer. He stared at the Chief of Staff and continued to ask: "Where are the artillery? Are they all ready?"
The chief of staff nodded again: "I have gathered all the mortars, field artillery and infantry artillery in the city together, divided them into four parts, and aimed them all at the four city gates of Shijiazhuang."
"As long as you give the order, general, these artillerymen will immediately block the four city gates with artillery fire, not giving the retreating Eighth Route Army troops any chance to leave Shijiazhuang."
"Unless they are willing to risk the retreating troops being wiped out and charge forward under artillery fire, they will have no choice but to be blocked by us at the gate of the city."
"When the counterattack troops reach the city gate, they can join forces with the artillery to launch a counterattack against the retreating Eighth Route Army troops, eliminate them in Shijiazhuang City, and avenge the soldiers who died in the Shijiazhuang garrison..."
Major General Fujita nodded with satisfaction.
Judging from the reports from the Chief of Staff and the latest battle reports and intelligence sent from the front line, the balance of victory on the battlefield has completely tipped in favor of oneself.
As long as there are no accidents in the next battle, the 3,000 Eighth Route Army retreating in the city will definitely be defeated!
With this victory, the matter of Shijiazhuang city defenses being breached by the Eighth Route Army can be explained to the higher authorities.
At worst, he could tell his superiors directly that he had voluntarily abandoned the city defenses in order to introduce the Eighth Route Army's siege troops into the city and eliminate them through street fighting and encirclement and annihilation.
Taking a deep breath, he gave the order seriously: "Then start the counterattack..."
"The penetration speed of counterattack troops must be fast..."
"The artillerymen blocked the city gate with artillery fire and immediately rushed to the city gate. They directly blocked the retreating Eighth Route Army troops at the city gate and gathered them to annihilate them."
"Prevent them from returning to the city and rely on their houses and street fighting fortifications to fight us to the end."
"Even if all the Eighth Route Army in the city are successfully annihilated in the end, our counterattack troops will pay a huge price in the battle, which is not cost-effective."
"Block them at the gate of the city and annihilate them. We can use our artillery fire to severely damage the retreating troops of the Eighth Route Army, and then the counterattack troops will go to the battlefield to finish..."
The chief of staff immediately accepted the order: "Please rest assured, general, I will make arrangements now...all the retreating Eighth Route Army troops in the city must be wiped out at the minimum cost."
…………
"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu..."
Three red flares suddenly took off around the Japanese garrison headquarters in Shijiazhuang, and exploded into three dazzling red lights.
The two to three thousand little Japs who were ambushing at the forefront of the battlefield quickly dispatched, fighting in squadrons and squads out of the yards and houses where they had just hidden, and quickly passed through the streets and alleys towards the city gate.
"Boom boom boom..."
The violent explosion of artillery shells sounded at the city gate at the same time, with fire flying and thick smoke billowing.
Many soldiers were blown away by cannonballs because they failed to evade in time, and died tragically at the city gate.
For the Eighth Route Army, the sound of shell explosions was an order.
The Eighth Route Army, which was rapidly retreating towards the city gate, suddenly turned around and followed their respective squad and platoon leaders back to the street fighting battlefield, taking their own fighting positions.
The streets and alleys that the Japanese troops had to pass through were not as peaceful as imagined.
In the yard and house separated by a wall, the Eighth Route Army machine gunners were carefully turning the barrel of their gun, or extending the barrel of the gun through the shooting hole they had dug out, in preparation for shooting.
The Japanese Chief of Staff had no problem at all with his analysis of the strength of the Eighth Route Army in the city.
But he forgot that there were two reserve regiments of the Eighth Route Army that had been standing guard outside the city.
While the street fighting troops quickly evacuated the battlefield, the two reserve groups quietly arrived at the forefront of the battlefield under the cover of night and exchanged views with the four main groups participating in the street fighting.
What's more important is that when they joined the battlefield, they did not choose to confront the Japanese counterattack troops head-on. Instead, they used the streets and alleys to set up a large number of pocket formations, waiting for the Japanese counterattack troops to take the initiative to get inside...
In a yard about fifty meters away from the forward position, an Eighth Route Army company commander was staring through the shooting hole at the little Japs rushing closer and closer on the street, his face full of excitement.
The instructor stood nearby and personally operated a newly captured light machine gun. He only waited for the company commander's order to beat the little Japanese in front of him into a sieve.
"Company commander... a small group of Japs... have completely entered our pockets. Do you want to fight..." the instructor reminded with expectation.
Just as the company commander was about to finish typing, another group of Japs appeared at the end of the street, and they were also carrying heavy machine guns. One look at their posture and knew that this Jaap was unusual, so he decisively changed the order!
"Wait a moment..." The company commander decisively changed the order.
"There seems to be a main force of Japs behind us. Let's capture the big ones and let go of the small ones. Send the Japs in front of us to the four regiments that just retreated to deal with them."
As the company commander spoke, more than one reinforced squad of Japanese troops appeared at the end of the street, and a steady stream of Japanese troops poured into the street behind them.
The instructor looked excited at first, thinking that he was lucky enough to catch a big fish, but soon he stopped being happy and instead showed a worried expression.
Although the troops were in reserve in previous battles and had never been on the battlefield, and there were almost no casualties in the company, there were only over 130 men in full force.
A fully-equipped Japanese infantry squadron has 1,780 people, plus a certain number of heavy machine gunners. Two hundred and twenty-three people are considered small, and their strength is almost twice that of the ambush force.
With such a huge disparity in strength between the two sides, can the troops take them down?
If the ambush battle is not resolved quickly and attracts more little devils to attack the battlefield, and in the end not only fails to kill the opponent, but also traps oneself, then the gain is not worth the loss.
He quickly reminded the company commander: "There are so many little devils, can we eat them?"
"Company Commander, you have bitten off more than you can chew. I think we should take it easy."
