Early the next morning, with the arrival of dawn, the entire Baishan County once again returned to the tranquility before the war... However, any veteran with rich combat experience can feel it from the solemn atmosphere on the battlefield.
.At this moment, not only the soldiers on both sides of the enemy and ours are saving their energy for the final general attack...
Similarly, at this moment, in Baishan County, under the continuous harassment of the first brigade of the advance detachment, the division commander Lieutenant General Sato, who had not taken any rest all night, also felt for the first time that a battle was affecting him.
And a life-and-death battle involving tens of thousands of subordinates is about to begin in this Baishan County...
Early in the morning, after a night of chaos, the county town once again returned to peace. The two main divisions and all commanders above the regiment, under Sato's orders, all gathered in the conference room of the division headquarters.
.Under the chairmanship of Lieutenant General Sato, the last combat meeting before the war was held.
"Gentlemen, you are all the best officers of the Japanese Empire. I think you know better than me the situation our army is facing before you. Behind this tranquility, there must be Chinese people outside the city, carrying out operations.
Preparing for a more violent attack. If my guess is correct, the Chinese outside the city must be making final preparations for the final attack. And they will also be in the next few hours.
Launch a final general attack on our trapped Baishan County..."
Maybe it's because these commanders have become numb after a series of failures and setbacks. Maybe it's because these commanders are tired after a night of hard work and don't want to say another word.
Just as the words of the division commander Lieutenant General Sato fell, no sound was heard in the entire conference room. Everyone stared at a pair of tired eyes and looked at the division commander Lieutenant General Sato in front of them without blinking.
, waiting for the next message from the division commander, Lieutenant General Sato...
"Everyone, everyone has seen the seriousness of the situation...Under the constant sneak attacks by the cunning Chinese outside the city all night long, our soldiers, including myself, basically did not take any rest. More
The important thing is that our soldiers have not had anything to eat all day and night due to lack of food... It can be said that the current troops are very weak, both in terms of morale and physical strength.
, the combat effectiveness of the entire unit has reached its lowest point..." Seeing everyone nodding in agreement, Lieutenant General Sato changed the subject and continued...
"However, you are all the best officers of the Empire of Japan. More importantly, you are senior officers of the Kwantung Army, the most elite army of the Empire of Japan... In the face of so many honors, no matter what we face,
Serious problems must be faced bravely... Therefore, I hope that from now on, you will raise your heads, build up the confidence to defeat the Chinese outside the city, and set an example for your soldiers.
... Let the soldiers know that we still have hope. The Empire of Japan and the Kwantung Army Headquarters have not forgotten us. As long as we can persist until the arrival of reinforcements, we will have a chance to escape the end of the entire army being destroyed... At the same time
, there is also a chance to return to the battlefield in the near future and use the blood and brains of the Chinese people to avenge those shattered imperial warriors..." After saying that, Lieutenant General Sato's face almost turned red.
red....
"Hai, please rest assured, Your Excellency, the Division Commander. I will definitely live up to the love of Your Excellency, the Division Commander. I will resolutely hold the position..." The Chief of Staff was the first to stand up and said with excitement...
"Please rest assured, Division Commander. I am humble enough to promise to complete the mission and stand firm..." Under the leadership of the Chief of Staff, the remaining ten or so senior officers stood up from their seats at the same time and replied with excitement.
..
"Yoshi, now I order that from now on, all units must stick to their positions. No matter what situation their troops encounter, no one is allowed to take a step back without an order from the division headquarters... All combat troops
, below me, I swear to live and die with the position..." In response to everyone's answers, Lieutenant General Sato nodded with satisfaction and ordered loudly...
"Hai...swear to live and die with the position..." More than a dozen commanders replied in unison again...
"Gentlemen, I hope that after you go back, no matter what method you use, you must restore the fighting spirit of the soldiers in the shortest possible time. Let us meet the enemy's attack with the best mental outlook. With the bullets in our hands,
Tell the cunning Chinese people outside the city that the Japanese Empire is invincible. The Kwantung Army soldiers of the Imperial Japanese Empire have only warriors who died in battle, not cowards who surrendered... Gentlemen, the life and death of the entire army depends on me here.
Please, everyone. I hope we can work together and work together to save the entire army..." Lieutenant General Sato stood up and said loudly. At the same time, he bowed deeply to the dozen or so officers in front of him...
.
Outside the north gate of Baishan County, on a high ground about three kilometers away from the city gate, there is a semi-underground bunker. Commander Liu Hua and deputy commander Yang Jingyu are standing at the headquarters with telescopes in their hands.
From the lookout, I stared motionlessly at the unusually quiet Baishan County not far away...
And just behind the two people...in the forward command center outside the north gate, a dozen combat staff officers were holding a telephone at the same time, putting the microphone to their ears. A pair of eyes, staring motionlessly in front of them.
Commander Liu Hua is waiting for Commander Liu Hua to issue the order for the final general attack...
Finally, just when the entire headquarters fell into silence, the voice of deputy commander Yang Jingyu broke the tranquility of the headquarters...
"Commander, it's almost time..."
"Old Yang, tell me, after this battle, no matter whether we can achieve the final strategic goal of annihilating the 40,000 Japs in the county, how much price will we have to pay...?" For Deputy Yang
Liu Hua did not answer the commander's reminder immediately. Instead, he frowned and asked the deputy commander...
"As the saying goes, one general's success will lead to the death of thousands of bones... Commander, although we will lose many outstanding soldiers... countless commanders and fighters, after this battle, they will never see the sun again... But
"Everyone has shed blood and sacrificed for this country, and died a worthy death. More importantly, although we will suffer heavy losses, the price the little devils have to pay will be even greater than us..." Yang Jingyu answered affirmatively.
..
"Yes... One general can accomplish everything... However, I believe what you said, the price paid by the little devils in this battle will definitely be greater than ours. Those soldiers who sacrificed their lives, when they see us
After the final victory is achieved, I will definitely be able to rest in peace..." Liu Hua nodded and said...
"Commander, don't think too much... Although we will pay a high price for this battle. However, such a large-scale battle is undoubtedly a good training battle. I believe that after the battle is over,
Those who survived, without exception, must be the most elite fighters of our Anti-Japanese Alliance... By then, whether it is the Anti-Japanese Alliance or the nearly 10,000 anti-Japanese armed forces who have reinforced us. After the baptism of this battle, they will eventually
Become a truly elite division, an elite division whose combat effectiveness is no less than that of a little devil..." Yang Jingyu continued...
"Well, then let's do it... according to the pre-war plan... the artillery equipped by the three main divisions will mainly bombard the city wall and destroy all the fortifications built by the Japanese army on the city wall. All the artillery concentrated on the north gate,
Launch incendiary bombs, destroy all the houses in the city, create chaos for the Japanese army, and leave them too busy to take care of themselves... Now I order all troops to start the general attack in accordance with the established combat plan..." Liu Hua nodded, turned around, and faced behind him
A dozen combat staff officers loudly ordered...
"The general attack has begun...the general attack has begun..." As soon as Liu Hua finished speaking, a dozen combat staff officers simultaneously spoke into the microphones near their mouths and issued the order for the general attack...
Suddenly, a roar that shook the ground quickly spread to the battlefield from far to near. In the ears of everyone on both sides of the enemy... gathered around Baishan County, more than a hundred artillery pieces of various calibers, at the same time
Facing the county seat in front of them, which had just restored its tranquility less than two hours ago, huge roars were emitted...
As the roar sounded, artillery shells of various calibers hit their targets accurately with bursts of whistling sound, and then, there were huge explosions one after another...
In just a moment, the three walls of Baishan County, east, west and south were completely enveloped by the smoke generated by the explosion of artillery shells in the first round of shelling... Amidst the explosion of shells, the Japanese troops worked hard
The various fortifications built with painstaking efforts were like paper in front of the big cannonballs, and they were immediately blown to pieces and turned into piles of ruins...
Driven by the huge air waves generated by the explosion of the shells, sandbags weighing tens of kilograms, light and heavy machine guns, and even little Japanese soldiers were thrown high into the sky like toys.
Several meters in the air... Then, after being torn apart by countless shrapnel, they immediately turned into the most primitive parts, scattered around the city wall...
Faced with such a fierce bombardment, the little Japanese who stood on the city wall unexpectedly froze there at the first moment, standing motionless in the fierce fire. Standing on their own positions, stupidly
Waiting for the shrapnel flying around you to harvest your own life...
Because, at this moment, the little devil was completely shocked by the artillery fire in front of him... As the most elite Kwantung Army soldiers of the Japanese army, although their combat effectiveness is very powerful, their individual soldier quality is also first-rate...
However, during the several years of fighting against the Anti-Japanese Alliance, I have always used fierce artillery fire to bombard my enemies... As for myself, in the face of the Anti-Japanese Alliance without any heavy weapons, even the most basic artillery fire was not possible.
I have never withstood such a violent and almost airtight artillery fire attack...
However, just after two rounds of artillery fire exploded on the city wall, destroying machine gun positions one after another, and wiping out Japanese soldiers one after another... Japanese commanders at all levels finally reacted from the shock... Then, facing
The little Japanese around him, who were still in shock, gave orders to retreat and avoid artillery fire...
Amid the exclamations of commanders at all levels, the little Japs who were pulled back to reality immediately resumed their well-trained training... Each Japs soldier, holding their weapons tightly,
In the dense artillery fire, shuttle back and forth, avoiding the shelling that may appear above your head...
In Baishan County, on a high ground where the Japanese division headquarters is located, the regiment commander, Lieutenant General Sato, is holding up a telescope in his hand, frowning, observing the battle situation around him...
And just when Lieutenant General Sato's eyes were completely attracted by the fierce shelling of the three city gates...a sharp whistling sound of artillery shells came towards him...hearing the whistling sound of oncoming artillery shells,
The faces of the security personnel standing next to Lieutenant General Sato immediately turned pale. Then, they quickly rushed towards the division commander in front of them, and at the same time, they exclaimed loudly...
"Division commander... be careful..." A burst of exclamation just reached his ears. Lieutenant General Sato's body was pushed by several guards at the same time and fell heavily to the ground.
...Following closely behind, there were several guards, pressing heavily on themselves, preparing to use their bodies to block the shrapnel that might appear behind them...
"Boom..." A huge explosion sounded around him... In the smoke caused by the explosion of the artillery shell, Lieutenant General Sato slowly stood up from the ground... At this moment, lying on the ground
Behind Lieutenant General Sato, several conscientious security personnel had been turned into bloody corpses by countless shrapnel...
"Assholes, cunning Chinese people, they actually hid so many large-caliber artillery pieces on the Eight Gate Road! Chief of Staff, immediately send a telegram to the Kwantung Army Headquarters, requesting combat guidance... No matter what, request the Air Force to arrive in the shortest possible time.
Within the time required, destroy the Chinese artillery positions outside the city... Otherwise, we will only be beaten under the fierce shelling of the Chinese..." Looking at the soldiers who died for himself in front of him, Lieutenant General Sato tightened his grip
Holding his fists, he ordered loudly...
However, even if the Kwantung Army Headquarters dispatches air force troops to reinforce it in the shortest time, it will only be half an hour later...
At this moment, after being bombarded by more than a hundred artillery pieces for ten consecutive minutes, the entire Baishan County city walls were completely engulfed in a sea of flames... As for the county seat, it was hit by hundreds of burning guns at the same time.
After the bomb exploded, almost every street and every house was ablaze...
The little Japs on the city wall, except for a few who, under the command of commanders at all levels, quickly evacuated the city wall and huddled under the corner of the city wall to avoid the fierce artillery fire overhead. Most of the remaining Japs
, lying on his own position, constantly praying to Amaterasu, praying that he could escape such intensive artillery fire...
As for the little devils who were hoarding in the county, under the pressure of commanders at all levels, dragging their tired bodies to build street fighting fortifications. Faced with the raging fires everywhere, in order to prevent themselves from being engulfed by the fire, they had to give up.
Fortifications, holding on to the last bit of strength, rushed to the fire scene to put out the fire...
Finally, the explosions that kept ringing in the ears slowly ended under the prayers of all the little devils in the county... Twenty minutes later, more than a hundred artillery pieces erected outside the city stopped talking...
.
However, during these twenty minutes of shelling, almost half of the various fortifications and machine gun positions that the Japanese army had spent several days building on the three city walls were destroyed... There were only a few sporadic machine gun positions left.
The defense of the entire city wall can be said to be insignificant...
Of course, for the Japanese army, the biggest losses were not these fortifications, but the garrison troops on the city walls... Three walls, an infantry regiment of little devils, after a sudden and intensive artillery attack, plus
With already low morale, an infantry regiment was added, and even before the Eighth Route Army was seen outside the city, the price was paid with more than half of the casualties...
Although the remaining soldiers rushed up to the city wall in the shortest possible time, lying on the crenellations of the city wall, raising their weapons, preparing to face the first round of the Anti-Japanese Alliance attack... However, from the dull expressions of these little devils,
It can be seen from their eyes and weak hands. After the fierce shelling just now, these soldiers have lost their last bit of vigor...At this moment, they are completely relying on their last bit of strength to hold on, without any
The combat effectiveness can be said to be...
Compared with the tragedy on the city wall, the city is not much better. Although the incendiary bombs that caused the fire no longer visit the county town. However, the raging fires everywhere in the county town still continue to burn and consume.
With the little remaining strength of the little devils in the city...
What's more important is that the ubiquitous fires are holding back the limited troops in the city. Even if the little devils in the county know that the defenders of the city wall have suffered heavy losses and urgently need reinforcements, they can't spare even a little bit of troops.