After a sharp whistling sound, an artillery shell exploded not far from Brigadier Wang's headquarters, setting off a cloud of dust and smoke in the sky, but Brigadier Wang could no longer care about so much. He was holding the phone at this time.
Roaring loudly.
"Zhang Mazi, let me tell you, you must hold your position for me. If you give up your position without my order, don't blame me for enforcing battlefield discipline!"
"Brigade Commander, please rest assured that as long as I am still alive, I will never let the Japanese cross our position. But the problem now is that the Japanese artillery fire is too fierce. Can you contact the Air Force to give us some air support? Even if you give us
It would be nice for me to have some artillery support!"
Captain Zhang on the phone was pleading hard. In the past, the Eighth Route Army had no planes. This time, it was finally possible to cooperate with the Liantai Militia.
Good guy, during the war some time ago, our own planes dropped bombs as if they were free. They dropped bombs densely over the heads of the Japanese troops. The soldiers of the Eighth Route Army followed the tanks and charged. Whoever tries it will know the cool feeling.
But after a few days of good times, things went back to their original shape, which is a terrible feeling.
"Zhang Mazi, let me tell you, our air force is competing with the Japanese fighter planes for air supremacy. The bombers cannot dispatch before they gain air supremacy. As for why there is no artillery support, you also know the reason. Who made our artillery run out of shells?
.”
Brigadier Wang also felt helpless. As the exhibition lengthened, the problem of material supply began to become apparent. Poor roads and bombing by Japanese aircraft prevented the timely delivery of materials from the rear.
This also put the two artillery battalions assigned to them into a situation where there were no artillery shells available. When facing the Japanese attack, they could only rely on infantry to resist. Even so, the ammunition of the 385th Brigade infantry began to become tense, which also made the following
Brigadier Wang, who was sticking to his orders, began to become anxious.
Brigadier Wang put down the phone and just wanted to take a drink of water when he heard a piece of news from the chief of staff. I didn't know whether it was good or bad news.
"What, Gao Hongming is coming to Ping'an County to take charge personally and will arrive soon?"
As soon as he heard the news, Brigadier Wang's thick eyebrows couldn't help but be startled.
"What does the joint command mean? Does it mean that it cannot trust our command capabilities?"
Director Su of the Political Department was a little unhappy. Brigadier Wang has the highest rank in Pingan County now. It stands to reason that all the troops here are under the command of their 385th Brigade. Gao Hongming will definitely take away the command when he comes, especially since Gao Hongming is not
Of course he was not willing to hand over command of the Eighth Route Army.
"Old Su, what are you talking about?" Chief of Staff Geng on the side quickly shouted softly when he saw this.
"The headquarters is also thinking about us. How can you say such words that are not conducive to unity? Fortunately, there are only a few of us here. If word spreads, how will you let the brother troops of the Liantai Militia regard us?"
Director Su finally realized that Gao Hongming was originally one of the three top commanders of the Provisional Joint Command. Did he have the right to come here to seize the command?
"Okay, Old Su, don't say anything detrimental to unity in the future." Brigadier Wang also spoke. Not only was he not unhappy about having his command taken away, but he became more relaxed.
"Don't even think about it. With Captain Gao here, will there be less follow-up support? Will the people from the Liantai Militia be desperate to send reinforcements here to transport supplies?"
"yes!"
After being reminded by Brigadier Wang, Director Su finally came to his senses. With Gao Hongming here, the logistics supplies and all kinds of support here will definitely be listed as the highest priority, and then this battle will be much easier to fight.
ah.
But then he wondered again: "But Liantai is more than two hundred miles away from Ping'an County. Even if Captain Gao rushes here now, it will probably take a day or two to get there, right?"
But as soon as he finished speaking, a staff officer hurried over and said, "Several leaders and the headquarters called and asked us to level a two-hundred-meter field runway before dark for aircraft to take off and land."
"What, build a runway before dark?" Brigadier Wang and the other three looked at each other and exclaimed.
Brigadier Wang looked at his watch. There were still about six or seven hours until dark. It was really difficult to smooth out a runway before dark.
However, military orders are like mountains. Now that the orders from the joint command have come down, they must complete them no matter how difficult it is.
Fortunately, Ping'an County is, after all, a large county with a permanent population of over 300,000. Although many people fled after the war, at least half of them remained in the county.
Not to mention that the Eighth Route Army was unparalleled in mobilizing the masses. In less than an hour, political commissar Geng and the logistics department mobilized thousands of people to open a nearly 300-meter-long road on a piece of wasteland in the north of the city on the outskirts of the county.
's runway.
The nearby people even found several large stone mills from nowhere to smooth the runway. It can be said that the task was overfulfilled.
When it was getting dark, a fleet of aircraft flew from the sky. Two strange-looking JU-52 transport planes nicknamed Steel Annie were escorted by more than a dozen Hellcat fighter jets and flew to Ping'an County. The ground that had been contacted for a long time was also burning.
More than a dozen fires were set up, and the blazing flames were particularly eye-catching in the dim night sky.
After a while, the leading plane lowered its nose and plunged down suddenly. Soon its wheels came into contact with the runway and made a dull sound. The plane bounced slightly and then landed on the runway again.
It stopped bouncing and finally stopped after sliding for more than a hundred meters.
Brigadier Wang and several other commanders from the 385th Brigade, who had been waiting nearby, hurried forward.
The cabin door opened, the gangway was lowered, and an officer wearing a German military uniform quickly got off the plane. The person who came was none other than Gao Hongming.
This time Gao Hongming was accompanied by more than a dozen staff officers and a squad of guards.
Brigadier Wang, who came forward, took the lead in saluting Gao Hongming and said, "Hello, Sir Gao, welcome to Ping'an County!"
Gao Hongming was startled for a moment, then smiled and said: "Commander Wang, Mr. Gao is just the leader of a small militia group. He really doesn't deserve to be called a commander by you!"
Brigadier Wang said sternly: "Sir, you are too modest. As one of the top commanders of the United Command, you certainly deserve this title."
"In this case, Mr. Gao will be ashamed to receive it."
Gao Hongming was not polite either. Of course he understood what Brigadier Wang meant.
The army is a place that pays most attention to hierarchy. The title Brigadier Wang is actually a statement to him. From now on, the entire 385th Brigade will obey his command.
Gao Hongming, who understood what Brigadier Wang meant, was not polite. He waved his hand and said, "Okay, this is not a place for small talk. If you have anything to say, we will talk to the headquarters."