Chapter 828: Digesting the bad news of not winning
"The bombardment is about to begin..." Wang Lin never took his eyes off his watch and said with anticipation.
"Woooooooo..." As soon as they finished speaking, the scream of artillery shells streaking across the sky sounded above their heads, and the sound became louder and louder.
"Rumble..." A thunderous explosion soon sounded behind them, and a large number of fireballs immediately rose among the Japanese tank troops five or six hundred meters away.
The dazzling firelight illuminated the place so brightly that it could be seen clearly with the naked eye. A tank was hit by a shell and instantly turned into a ball of fire, with thick smoke rising into the sky at the same time.
There was also an armored vehicle that was overturned by a heavy artillery shell. The chassis was facing upwards, and black smoke was coming from the body. As for the little devil in the carriage, he would definitely be seriously injured or not dead.
There was also a tank that suddenly stopped in place for some unknown reason, as if the enemy inside the tank suddenly died and could no longer operate the tank.
"Good job..." Chen Jia jumped up from the ground excitedly.
"One round of artillery fire can kill three Japanese tanks. Five rounds of shelling can at least severely damage the Japanese tanks."
"No matter how brave the remaining tanks are, they would not dare to bite our rear and pursue us."
"Woooooooooo...boom, boom, boom..." The second round of shells came down quickly, and the number of shells was even greater than before.
The remaining dozen tanks and armored vehicles of the Japanese tank force were shrouded in smoke from the shells on the spot. Seeing this, even a fool would know that the Japanese tank force was finished.
Wang Lin decisively withdrew his gaze, glanced at the enemy situation beside him, and began to give orders: "The troops will turn immediately and attack to the east of us, and move faster."
"I have a very strong hunch that the Japanese Lieutenant General's division commander is there."
"Other participating troops have broken through the first line of defense of the Japanese army and are fully attacking the second line of defense of the Japanese army."
"The main force of the Japanese army is also concentrated there, and the defense in the center of the position must be empty."
"If the troops kill us now, we might be able to get a big bargain."... Lieutenant General Sakuragi's regiment headquarters is indeed in the direction Wang Lin has chosen to attack. The defense there is also very empty, but the division commander
Lieutenant General Sakuragi was not there.
In order to buy more time for the Chief of Staff to eliminate Wang Lin, Lieutenant General Sakuragi personally rushed to the second-line position to supervise the battle, once again to boost morale and boost the morale of the troops.
But the battlefield situation was far from as simple as Lieutenant General Sakuragi thought. His arrival really made the troops on the defense line more confident and their morale high.
But in the face of absolute advantage, this change is not enough to change the situation of the battle.
"Division Commander..." A lieutenant ran toward Lieutenant General Sakuragi in a panic, with panic on his face.
"My humble position is the adjutant of the 4th Squadron that defends the left defense line. We were attacked at close range by the Eighth Route Army's flying thunder artillery. More than half of the troops were injured and killed. The Eighth Route Army has rushed to the front of the position and is about to be unable to hold it. We are in urgent need of reinforcements."
"Where are the artillery... What are the mortars that the division headquarters has given you for? Why don't you fight back?" The lieutenant replied with a sad face: "I also want the artillery to fight back, preemptively destroy the aircraft equipped by the Eighth Route Army."
Thunder cannon..."
"But the Eighth Route Army that attacked us was also equipped with a large number of mortars, more than us."
"The mortar team was suppressed and beaten as soon as they were exposed. They didn't even have a chance to fire." Lieutenant General Sakuragi was going crazy, but the crisis facing the defense forces still had to be solved.
Otherwise, a breakthrough at one point on the defense line may bring a devastating blow to the entire defense line. He immediately ordered the combat staff behind him: "Immediately transfer a reinforcement team from the reserve team to reinforce the fourth squadron."
"Contact the field artillery brigade and the heavy artillery brigade to provide as much artillery support to the defense forces as possible."
"Fire artillery wherever there are many Eighth Route Army attacking troops."
"As long as we cause them a large number of casualties, the offensive will naturally slow down." The artillery staff officer on the side immediately reminded: "Division commander...it seems that something happened to the field artillery brigade and the heavy artillery brigade..."
"The Eighth Route Army in Yizhong has more than 60 mountain artillery and heavy artillery hidden here, which is more than twice the number of our army."
"They also took a preemptive strike and first destroyed a heavy artillery brigade of our army, causing the heavy artillery brigade to face three times the number of artillery attacks."
"I have just received news: both field artillery brigades have been severely damaged. There are less than ten field artillery pieces left that can continue to participate in the war. Artillery pieces are being set up on the new artillery position to find counterattack targets."
"The heavy artillery brigade also suffered a fatal attack, and only five guns are left to continue participating in the battle."
"The Eighth Route Army artillery is chasing them and firing. As soon as the target is exposed, several times the number of field artillery and heavy artillery will attack them."
"There will definitely be no way to reinforce the defense forces in a short period of time..." Lieutenant General Sakuragi's face instantly darkened. Before he could fully digest the bad news brought by the artillery staff, the radio operator also ran towards him, looking very nervous.
"The division commander...the chief of staff has an urgent message..."
"The two battalions of the Eighth Route Army that got into our belly suddenly came to support us with a large amount of artillery fire."
"A dozen of our tanks suffered heavy losses in the sudden artillery attack, and only five tanks are left to continue fighting."
"The two battalions of the Eighth Route Army took the opportunity to turn and kill towards the headquarters."
"The chief of staff wants to use the headquarters as bait to annihilate two battalions of the Eighth Route Army. Please ask the division commander for approval." Lieutenant General Sakuragi was angry again. He showed a hateful expression on the spot and cursed: "A bunch of stupid pigs..."
"A strengthened brigade, with more than a dozen tanks working together, has been chasing for so long, and not even two battalions of the Eighth Route Army have been eliminated. I am so disappointed."
"Call the Chief of Staff back immediately."
"I don't care how he fights. The battle must be over within twenty minutes and the two battalions of the Eighth Route Army must be eliminated."
"Then immediately mobilize troops to reinforce the front line and stabilize the second line of defense."
"Boom, boom..." The thunderous explosion of the explosive pack suddenly reached Lieutenant General Sakuragi's ears. He raised his telescope and saw three orange-red fireballs rising from the ground. The dazzling firelight directly illuminated the area around the impact point into daylight.
Countless Kwantung Army elites fell to the ground in fighting postures and did not move. It was obvious at a glance that they had been killed by the shock wave.
The three fireballs were close together, just distributed on both sides of the defense line. As soon as the explosion went off, the shouts of killing were heard in front of the blocking position. Two to three hundred Eighth Route Army troops formed a skirmish line to attack, and the machine gunners held the machine guns in their arms.
Inside, charge forward while holding fire.
At a glance, the opponent was equipped with at least twenty machine guns. Looking at the blocking position, there were only three machine guns fighting back desperately. The sound of rifle shooting was also very messy. There were at most thirty or forty riflemen left.
"What a powerful thunder cannon...one shot can cripple an infantry squadron of ours..." Lieutenant General Sakuragi sighed while suppressing his anger.
Immediately ordered: "Immediately arrange two reinforcement teams from the reserve team to reinforce. The gap must be blocked to block the Eighth Route Army's offensive."
