To the southwest of the Heili River Forest Area, groups of Japanese soldiers climbed up the rocks under their feet. Their military leather shoes stepped on the dead branches and leaves, making a swishing sound, and some even made a crisp sound.
"Hey, I stepped on that bug that exploded." A Japanese soldier had goosebumps all over his body and shook his head. If possible, he didn't want to fight in such mountains at all.
"I stepped on it too." A Japanese soldier in front also said, feeling that he was very unlucky. He originally thought that it would be easy to go out to suppress the soldiers of the Independent Division this time, but yesterday he detoured from the east of the Heili River to the southwest.
Then go up the mountain from the southwest and step into this deep mountain and old forest.
Although it was better than the other division and did not encounter any explosions, they did encounter poisonous snakes and insects.
At this time, although there are few snakes, they are not absent.
And it seems that because it's in the west, it's colder here, and there are a lot of bugs.
"Your Excellency, Division Commander, the road here doesn't seem to be easy to walk."
"I found it." Shirota nodded, "But there is no way. Kimura and the others attracted the independent division's attention and attention from the front. Then, we must take this opportunity to approach from the back! Capture the independent division Zhou Weiguo! We will
It will be a great achievement!”
"That's what I said, but..."
"but what?"
"But can we really catch Zhou Weiguo? In fact, we don't know whether Zhou Weiguo is there at all, right? Everything is the commander's guess! Although he guessed the independent division's plan correctly, Zhou Weiguo may not
The only thing you have to do is implement it yourself. If it were me, I would definitely not do it myself."
"Baga!" Shirota cursed secretly before he wanted to say something. Suddenly, he heard an explosion and frowned, "Listening to this sound, it must be a booby trap. It seems that the independent division has still discovered us."
"Hi!"
"Let's go and take a look in front." Shirota walked forward. The dead branches and rotten leaves under his feet made him frightened as he walked.
A few minutes later, they appeared at the front of the team, two soldiers with blood dripping from their lower limbs.
Shirota frowned, "Where are the medical soldiers?"
"Hi, I've already gone to call you."
Shirota's heart was heavy, which meant that they would also encounter the situation like that of Kimura's division next. Perhaps many people would die, but they had no way to stop.
"The engineers came forward to clear the mines, followed by the combat troops."
"Hi!"
After giving such an order, Shirota knew that his marching speed would become very slow, but there was no way. If he moved forward without clearing mines, the losses would be too great. Who knows how many more mines the independent division had placed in front? Moreover, he
He didn't know if there would be those large explosives that were hard to guard against in front of him. At least, when he set out, Kimura's division had already encountered them twice, and each time, they lost nearly a thousand people.
He doesn't dare to follow in Kimura's footsteps.
After a while, the medical soldiers came up, treated the wounds, and then said, "Your Excellency, Division Commander, their condition must be transported to the rear for recuperation, otherwise..."
"Let's transport them." Shirota nodded. In actual combat, the way they deal with wounded soldiers is usually to shoot them. Because one wounded soldier will occupy countless resources.
But now, after all, it is not the time to really fight.
Everyone is looking at him too.
If he solves it like that, it will only make people feel chilling.
Watching the engineers carefully clearing the nearby booby traps, he could only wait. In such an old forest, there were dead branches and rotten leaves everywhere. Who knew if there were grenades underneath?
"Your Excellency, Division Commander?"
"Just wait."
"Hi!"
…
Night finally comes.
The moonlight was blocked by the trees reaching into the sky, making it even darker.
Both the Kimura Division and the Shiroda Division stopped advancing.
Due to interference from the Independent Division, they only advanced two kilometers throughout the day.
The slowly rising bonfires in the woods also gave the Japanese soldiers some sense of security.
At least, after lighting the fire, there are many of them, so they don't have to be too afraid of some ferocious beasts or something like that.
"Your Excellency, Division Commander, at this rate, the independent division may have really escaped long ago."
"Baga, of course I know." Shirota frowned, "But the independent division has laid traps along the way, what can you do?"
The Japanese major general who spoke was also silent. Yes, what can he do? "Actually, your Excellency, division commander, I have an idea, so you don't have to work so hard."
"any solution?"
"Set fire, burn the forest."
"Nani, say it again."
"Set fire, burn the forest!"
"Tell me the reason!" Shirota said seriously, "You know, a forest like this is not easy to burn."
"Hi! Your Excellency, Division Commander, both our division and the Kimura Division suffered more or less casualties when chasing the independent division. Today we are quite lucky. There were no large explosions, but who knows?
, will there be one tomorrow?" The Japanese Major General frowned, "So, why don't we withdraw from this forest and ask for incendiary bomb support from the Air Force! I don't believe that the independent division will come out!"
Shirota was silent for a while. His chief of staff was right. If this was the case, the Independent Division could indeed be forced out. Once the troops of the Independent Division came out of the woods, naturally, it would be the end of the Independent Division. As long as they
With a machine gun blockade set up outside the forest, they could do this almost without paying much of a price.
"But, this forest won't be so easy to burn, as I said before. To ignite tens of thousands of hectares of forest, have you calculated how many incendiary bombs are needed?"
"And, are you sure we won't accidentally hurt ourselves?"
"Your Excellency, Division Commander, compared with the results, I think that as long as we are careful, we will not be affected."
Shirota frowned. This plan sounds perfect, but what is the price? If these tens of thousands of hectares of woods are directly burned down, will the price be too high? "You know that the empire is short of resources. Such a forest
…”
"Your Excellency, Division Commander, this is the land of the Chinese people! We can destroy it first! But we will definitely protect it later, right? As long as this land truly becomes our land!"
"That's right!" Shirota couldn't think of a reason to refute, "I sent a telegram to the Commander and asked him to take a look."
"Hi!"
Seeing the excitement of his chief of staff, Shirota didn't know whether it was right or wrong. He still respected nature. He didn't know what kind of creatures there would be in such a forest. He always felt that this plan was too risky.
.
…
"Are you all full?" Zhou Weiguo looked at the soldiers around him, as well as Liu Zhihui.
"yes!"
"Okay, come to me to collect supplies. Good news. Get ready to defeat the Japanese tonight!"
"yes!"
Zhou Weiguo began to distribute supplies, mainly grenades and explosive packs.
As for the bullets, they have not lost much, but the grenades have been consumed a lot. After all, the booby traps and other things laid out need to be consumed.
