Chapter 457 Lieutenant General Sato: Letting them have gas bombs is useless
"Division commander, something seems wrong!" the chief of staff said suddenly.
"You can see it too!" Lieutenant General Sato said with a stern face!
"The cavalry battalion of the Independent Regiment launched a very fierce offensive at the beginning. It rushed to two hundred meters in front of the formation and began to slow down. Then it turned around and retreated one hundred and forty to fifty meters in front of the formation, and continued to attack..."
"It seems like attacks are launched one after another, without giving the defenders a chance to breathe!"
"In fact, there is no threat at all... If their shelling had not stopped, the defenders on the defensive line would probably not have even been injured!"
"Snapped……"
A red flare suddenly took off south of the station. The burst of fire was particularly dazzling and instantly attracted the attention of everyone on the battlefield, including Lieutenant General Sato.
As soon as I looked over there with my binoculars, a fierce exchange of fire rang out from the southern blocking position.
Sato looked over subconsciously.
Five to six hundred and eighty-eighth Route Army troops suddenly appeared in front of the position. Like a pack of wolves, they rushed towards the blocking position with great speed.
The blocking position was still covered by artillery fire, and only a few soldiers fought back against the artillery fire.
But the bullets they fired were too sparse and could not stop the assault battalion's offensive...
The sudden attack startled everyone on the high ground. The chief of staff was confused for a long time before analyzing to Lieutenant General Sato: "Division commander... the independent group will not play tricks with us again to attack the east and attack the east."
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Lieutenant General Sato stared at the attacking assault battalion in the south for a long time before answering: "This unit's attack is real, not staged..."
"Light and heavy machine guns, grenade launchers, and mortars all work together very well. Our troops stationed on the defensive line have been completely suppressed by them..."
"Fortunately, there is a mortar squadron behind them, otherwise we would definitely lose the southern perimeter defense!"
After saying that, he put on a show-watching posture and waited for the mortar squadron to fire...
Two minutes have passed, and the assault battalion has rushed to the position 100 meters in front of the formation. The counterattack firepower on the blocking position has become weaker and weaker, but no gas bombs have reached the attacking troops...
Five minutes passed, and the assault battalion rushed forward another thirty to forty meters. The blocking firepower was reduced by nearly one-third compared to the previous time. The gas bombs that Lieutenant General Sato was looking forward to still did not appear.
He was so anxious that he couldn't help but yell: "What's going on? What does the mortar squadron do? The enemy is rushing in front of us, why don't we fire..."
A combat staff officer mustered up the courage to remind: "Division commander, something seems to have happened to the mortar squadron..."
"The red flare we just saw was fired from the mortar position!"
"The mortar squadron will not fire flares casually, and there is no reason to fire flares...Then the flare just now must have been fired by the enemy!"
Lieutenant General Sato seemed to have thought of something, and frowned and asked: "Are you sure the place where the signal flare was fired just now is a mortar position?"
The combat staff officer replied firmly: "This humble position is specifically responsible for the defenses on the south side of the station. No one knows the specific location of the artillery position better than me!"
The more Lieutenant General Sato listened, the more solemn his face became. He opened his mouth and began to give orders: "Then why are you still standing here? Send someone immediately to find out what happened to the artillery position?"
"Contact the internal garrison in the south and ask them to prepare for battle immediately..."
"In case the independent regiment breaks through the outer defense line, they must defend the inner defense line for me."
"The reserve mortar squadron will send reinforcements immediately. Leave all the independent regiment's offensive troops behind..."
"Deploy two more reinforced squadrons from the reserve to reinforce the battlefield, faster!"
Five minutes later, the assault battalion that launched the attack from the south suddenly stopped, like a wave that had lost its momentum, and quickly retreated, leaving not even a body behind...
Just when Lieutenant General Sato looked confused and didn't know what the independent regiment was up to, the messenger who contacted the artillery position ran over.
His face was solemn and his brows were furrowed. You knew without asking that he was bringing bad news.
"Reporting to the division commander... The mortar position of the second brigade was attacked by unknown enemies. All the gunners and ammunition handlers were killed, and the poison gas bombs we distributed to them were also missing..."
Lieutenant General Sato was dumbfounded. Before he could react to the bad news, the communications staff brought another bad news.
Climbing to the high ground, he panted and reported: "Division commander...report from the second brigade defending the due south blocking position..."
"While they were covered by artillery fire, they were attacked by a small group of independent regiment troops. Two infantry squads on one of the defense lines were completely wiped out. Many enemies crossed the defense line and entered the station..."
"When the neighboring troops wanted to reinforce, the independent regiment's artillery fire once again covered the entire position..."
"In the bloody battle just now, the real purpose of the Independent Regiment was not to conquer the defense line, but to cover the withdrawal of the Eighth Route Army that entered our camp!"
"The defending troops fought tooth and nail to intercept, eliminate six Eighth Route Army troops who entered the station, and intercepted three boxes of gas bombs they had stolen!"
Lieutenant General Sato understood it completely. He clenched his fists and gritted his teeth and cursed: "Bagya Road, all of us have been fooled by the independent group..."
"Their real purpose of attacking us was poison gas bombs, not to conquer the outer defense line... Our previous judgment of attacking in the east and west was wrong!"
"With poison gas bombs, they can threaten us with tit-for-tat, so that we don't dare to use poison gas bombs casually..."
Cursing and cursing, Lieutenant General Sato suddenly flashed a sneer on his face, looking at the completely quiet battlefield in the distance and issuing murderous orders: "But these Eighth Route Army troops underestimated the strength of the Imperial Army of Japan!"
"Just because they don't have gas masks doesn't mean the imperial army doesn't have..."
"As long as we issue a pair of gas masks to the troops, no matter how many gas bombs the independent group steals, they will not threaten the safety of the troops!"
"Order the troops to strengthen their alert...I will send a telegram to Taiyuan now and ask them to airdrop gas masks to our army!"
"I want to see what other methods they have to deal with us after the poison gas bombs in their hands have lost their effect!"
At the enemy headquarters of the Independent Regiment, Kong Jie held up his binoculars and stared unblinkingly at the southern battlefield where the assault battalion was located.
It wasn't until the commando battalion withdrew from the battle and the special forces successfully fought their way out of the Japanese camp that my anxious heart and binoculars were put down.
After a while, Huang Yu came back here with an excited smile: "Captain, the special team lived up to expectations and successfully completed the mission..."
"A total of 29 boxes of 145 poison gas bombs were brought back... During the operation, two infantry squads of Japs were killed, half an artillery squadron of more than 40 gunners, and 12 mortars were destroyed..."
"It's just that the losses were a bit heavy... A total of six special forces members died on the way to retreat..."
Kong Jie patted Huang Yu's shoulder to comfort him: "If we can really make Sato's division worry about the gas bombs in our hands and not continue to use gas bombs in the next battle... it will be worthwhile for the special force to sacrifice twice as many members!"
