The Japanese and puppet troops who escaped the first round of explosive charges were just about to breathe a sigh of relief, thinking that they had escaped from the range of the thunder cannon.
The thunderous explosion shattered their dreams on the spot. For many days, the puppet troops were blown away before they could react from the shock...
After four consecutive rounds of attacks, more than a hundred flying thunder cannons finally stopped firing.
At this moment, the area occupied by the Japanese and puppet troops had been devastated by bombs.
More than 400 huge bomb craters were scattered in the area occupied by the Japanese and puppet troops, and Japanese and puppet troops fell to the ground around each crater.
There are as few as two or three, as many as a dozen, or even dozens...
…………
In order to better command the siege troops, Major General Biancheng moved the former enemy headquarters to the top of the city two hours ago, so that he could see the battlefield situation more intuitively from a high position, and then issue new combat orders more quickly...
When the Eighth Route Army used thunder cannons to counterattack, Major General Biancheng stood at the top of the city to observe the battle and clearly saw the attacking troops being blown up piece by piece by explosive packets.
Then the whole person became embarrassed.
Explosive packs mainly kill people through shock waves. When an explosion occurs, no matter where the attacking troops are hiding, whether they are lying down or standing, as long as they are within the attack range, they will be attacked by the shock waves and either killed or injured.
Although the latest battle losses from the front lines have not yet been compiled, he can guess that the troop casualties are not very small.
"General..."
The chief of staff rushed to the top of the city with a stern face, and stood in front of the border town major general for a long time without holding back a word.
Major General Biancheng was not a fool. One look at his expression and he knew that the chief of staff was going to report the casualties of the troops in the artillery counterattack just now.
Take a deep breath, force yourself to calm down, and then order: "Go on, I can hold on..."
"Ha Yi..." the chief of staff could only answer bravely.
"According to statistics, the offensive forces suffered more than 2,600 casualties in the Eighth Route Army's artillery counterattack just now, of which more than 1,900 were from the Imperial Army, and the remaining more than 700 were from the Imperial Association Army..."
"The Eighth Route Army stationed in Xiong County took the opportunity to launch a counterattack and recaptured a large area of occupied territory from us."
Major General Biancheng was prepared for heavy casualties among his troops, but he did not expect that the casualties of the attacking troops would be so heavy.
He asked with a stern face: "From the attack to now, how many casualties have been suffered by the reinforcements going south? I want real data?"
The chief of staff hesitated before answering: "Before the Eighth Route Army launched its counterattack with flying thunder artillery, we suffered a total of nearly 3,000 casualties in the siege battle."
"Considering that the Eighth Route Army's city-defending troops also lost nearly 2,000 people in the battle, and we occupied a large area, this casualty is still within our acceptable range."
"But if we add the losses just now, the troop casualties will soon exceed 6,000."
"And there are at least a thousand people from the remnants of the Eighth Route Army remaining in the city."
"If the thunder cannon they just used still has ammunition, we may not be able to kill them even if we lose two thousand people."
"If the thunder cannon they just used has no ammunition, maybe if we lose another thousand people, we can eliminate them and capture Xiong County."
Major General Biancheng did not answer the call.
As the commander of the southbound reinforcements, he knows the mission of the southbound reinforcements better than anyone else.
In the words of Okamura Neji.
The reinforcements sent south were not to fight the Eighth Route Army in Yizhong, nor were they to retake Baoding and Xiong County.
Instead, it acted as a powerful mobile force operating around the Eighth Route Army's base area in Yinzhong, intimidating the Eighth Route Army in Yinzhong and preventing them from rashly expanding outwards.
Otherwise, this powerful mobile force will take the opportunity to break into their base area and go straight to their lair.
Or when they expand outward, take the opportunity to cut off their retreat and encircle and annihilate their attacking troops.
No matter which strategy is used, as long as this mobile force exists around the Yizhong Eighth Route Army base area, the Yizhong Eighth Route Army will not dare to expand outwards rashly.
If the reinforcements from the south suffer too many casualties in the battle to attack Xiongxian, even if Xiongxian is finally captured, it will not have any deterrent effect on the Eighth Route Army in Yizhong.
Maybe it will become a piece of fat on their lips.
When they regain their combat effectiveness, they can dispatch any main brigade to besiege Xiongxian again and annihilate them all within Xiongxian city.
At that moment, Major General Biancheng even had the idea of giving up attacking Xiong County.
This idea was quickly dismissed by the reluctance coming from within.
The reinforcement troops who went south paid a huge price and finally entered Xiongxian County, severely damaging the Eighth Route Army in the city.
The battle was about to be won. If we retreated like this, the previous losses and casualties would be in vain.
As the commander of the entire military operation, Major General Biancheng must be unwilling to do so.
But if the fight continued, he was worried that the reinforcements going south would lose their ability to deter the Eighth Route Army in the center due to too many casualties, and would not be able to complete the tasks assigned to him by Commander Neiji Okamura.
The chief of staff seemed to see the dilemma of Major General Biancheng, and immediately put forward his own idea: "Your Excellency, Commander..."
"When I was counting the battle losses just now, I had a report on the withdrawn offensive troops."
"Although the Eighth Route Army's thunder and artillery counterattack caused us huge casualties and recaptured a large number of positions, there were not many troops participating in the counterattack, and it gave people a feeling that they were unable to follow up."
"I think they have reached the end of their strength."
"If there are no thunder cannons to assist in the battle, we can at most send out a full infantry brigade to annihilate them all."
"There are also some offensive forces that use a large number of the Imperial Association Army in the battle, allowing the Imperial Army to attack from the front, forcing the Eighth Route Army hiding in the dark to take action. The Imperial Army participating in the attack hides behind the Imperial Army and attacks the exposed areas.
Eighth Route Army.”
"In this way, the imperial army can end the battle at a lower cost and capture Xiong County."
"As for the loss of the Imperial Alliance Army."
"As long as we successfully capture Xiongxian, the weapons and ammunition captured by the troops on the battlefield alone will be enough for us to raise several regiments of the Imperial Army to make up for the battle losses of the reinforcements sent south to attack Xiongxian."
Hearing this, the Major General of Biancheng finally made a decision. He took a deep breath and ordered: "Whether the Eighth Route Army in the city is at the end of its war effort, you will know if you try it."
"Just attack again according to the tactics you just mentioned."
"Deploy a full infantry brigade and four battalions of the Imperial Army to continue attacking the center of the city."
"The Imperial Army is in front, and the Imperial Army is behind. Use the fastest speed to eliminate the remnants of the Eighth Route Army in the city and end the battle."
…………
Eighth Route Army Provisional Headquarters.
After receiving the good news of the rout of the Japanese and puppet troops on the front line, the oppressive atmosphere that enveloped the headquarters finally became relaxed, and smiles appeared on everyone's serious faces from time to time, especially after receiving information about which troops had been killed and how many were killed in the counterattack.
Good news about the Japanese and puppet troops, but Huang Yu was not happy.
He kept his brows furrowed, and no one knew what he was thinking.
