At ten o'clock in the evening, Lieutenant General Nagata did not go back to his room to rest as usual.
During the day today, there were more and more Eighth Route Army scouts operating outside Gu'an City, which meant that he was most likely being targeted by them.
The Eighth Route Army is good at fighting at night, so if nothing unexpected happens, Gu'an County will be attacked today and tomorrow.
In order to take countermeasures as soon as possible so as not to be caught off guard by the Eighth Route Army.
Lieutenant General Nagata dedicated an afternoon to sleeping so that he would have enough energy and physical strength to deal with the Eighth Route Army's attack after dark.
"Division Commander... There are still no signs of Eighth Route Army activity outside the city... I guess they won't come tonight..." The chief of staff said his analysis to Lieutenant General Nagata after reading the battle report just sent by his subordinates.
"The Eighth Route Army belongs to the siege party."
"If they really want to fight us in Gu'an County, in order to prevent aviation from attacking them from the sky and gain more time to attack, they will definitely launch an attack as soon as it gets dark."
Although Lieutenant General Nagata is arrogant, he is not careless.
After all, the tens of thousands of North China Front troops who had been defeated by the Yi Zhong Eighth Route Army were not vegetarians either.
The Eighth Route Army in the Wing was classified as a serious threat to the North China Front by Okamura Ningji, so it must have its own strengths.
He shook his head and replied: "Don't underestimate the enemy..."
"The problems we can think of can also be thought of by the Eighth Route Army... maybe this is what they did on purpose..."
"While we underestimated the enemy and thought we would not be attacked tonight, they suddenly launched an attack on us and caught us off guard."
"The intelligence provided to us by the North China Front Army shows that the Eighth Route Army in Yi Zhong likes to be surprised when fighting. It is full of various tactics and makes the imperial army unable to defend itself..."
"This is our first time fighting against the Yizhong Eighth Route Army. We are not familiar with their fighting style yet, so we must be cautious."
"Ha Yi..." The chief of staff immediately showed a learned expression...
Just as I was about to contact the city defense troops to remind them to be on guard, the scream of a string of artillery shells streaking across the sky suddenly sounded over Gu'an County.
"Woooooooooooo...boom..."
Before everyone could react from the surprise, a violent explosion sounded in their ears.
One of the artillery shells hit a courtyard next to the division headquarters, causing fire to fly and thick smoke to billow. The two- to three-meter-high courtyard wall was directly overturned by the air wave, leaving a huge gap.
A patrol that happened to be walking nearby was not spared either. Five of them were killed and three were injured. They fell to the ground screaming and lost their fighting ability.
Perhaps because the shell exploded with too much force, or perhaps because the impact point was too close to the command post, the ground under Lieutenant General Nagata's feet trembled from the explosion.
Looking at the entire Gu'an County, fifty or sixty huge fireballs shot up in less than two seconds.
Many houses were razed to the ground in the explosion, and the little Japanese hiding in the houses were blown to pieces, not even a complete body was left.
More little devils were hit by the shock wave, killed and injured alive, and lost their combat effectiveness.
"Division Commander..."
The combat staff rushed into the war room with a face full of panic, bringing Lieutenant General Nagata back to reality from the shock.
"Gu'an County was attacked by long-range artillery fire from at least two heavy artillery regiments of unknown enemies."
"The county is not a big one, so in order to avoid accidents, the troops drove all the people away when they came in."
"There are only imperial troops in Gu'an County now, not Chinese."
"There are too many troops gathered. As long as a shell hits the county town, soldiers will be killed and injured..."
"In the sudden round of artillery fire just now, we suffered direct losses of at least one squadron, and a large number of soldiers were injured..."
"Two heavy artillery regiments?" Lieutenant General Nagata took a breath and asked.
He thought of all the means the Eighth Route Army could use to attack Gu'an County and fight a decisive battle with him, but he did not expect that the Yizhong Eighth Route Army would assemble two heavy artillery regiments to attack Gu'an County from a distance.
The troops under his command have a reinforced division.
But adding up all the heavy artillery they equipped was only one regiment and one brigade, which in terms of quantity was not as good as the heavy artillery equipped by the Eighth Route Army in Yi Zhong.
The combat staff officer answered firmly: "At least two heavy artillery regiments..."
The chief of staff on the side immediately interjected: "Division commander, although the number of heavy artillery we are equipped with is not as good as that of the Eighth Route Army in Yizhong, we still have to do everything we can to counterattack, otherwise the troops stationed in the city will not be able to change the situation of being passively beaten."
"If the Eighth Route Army in Yinzhong is allowed to continue bombing, one round of artillery shells will kill more than one of our squadrons. No matter how many troops we have, they will not be enough to bomb them."
"After all, the Yizhong Eighth Route Army has just seized a large amount of weapons and ammunition from the Tianjin dock, including many heavy artillery shells."
"Even if we only take out 10,000 rounds of heavy artillery shells, it will be enough for our division to drink a pot."
Lieutenant General Nagata was convinced.
Gu'an County is too small, and more than 20,000 elite Kwantung Army troops were stationed there, which was twice as many as the original civilian population of Gu'an County. The density of personnel can be imagined.
A cannonball dropped casually, and it was considered a small amount to kill two or three imperial troops.
If you're lucky and hit a certain troop station, it's easy to wipe out half the squad with one shell.
What's more important is that many houses in the city are made of wooden structures.
If a house is ignited by artillery fire, the fire will spread quickly to the surrounding areas, and eventually the entire county will be burned, and you may be burned to death in Gu'an City.
The more Lieutenant General Nagata thought about it, the more serious his expression became.
The clenched fist suddenly hit the table in front of him, and then he began to give orders: "Contact the heavy artillery regiment and the heavy artillery brigade immediately..."
"Immediately lock down the Eighth Route Army's artillery positions, kill them at all costs, and prevent them from continuing to attack Gu'an County with artillery shells from a long distance."
After Lieutenant General Nagata gave the order, he grabbed the telescope on the table, rushed out of the war room, climbed up to the roof, and looked around.
My ears were filled with the violent explosions of heavy artillery shells and the shrill screams of shells streaking across the sky.
From time to time, fireballs shot up from the ground within the field of vision, reaching a height of more than ten meters.
Amidst the billowing smoke, many houses were blown up in the explosion.
Not surprisingly, there must be a large number of corpses of his subordinates hidden in the ruins of these destroyed houses.
"Rumble..."
An artillery shell exploded about a hundred meters away from the division headquarters. The dazzling fire quickly illuminated the surrounding area. Several soldiers were blown away in the explosion. Lieutenant General Nagata could see clearly.
His face also became more solemn at this moment.
If I remember correctly, the shell just hit the division's guard brigade. There was a full infantry brigade of elite imperial troops stationed there. The personnel were more densely packed than other places. A single shell could easily wipe out half of the squad.
thing.
Lieutenant General Nagata was anxious and couldn't help but ask: "Why hasn't the artillery wing counterattack..."
"Are they going to watch the garrison in the city being killed by artillery shells?"
