The chief of staff next to him affirmed: "Division Commander, the current strength of the Eighth Route Army is indeed very shocking."
"Such a violent artillery fire, a few years ago, only the imperial army would have had. Although the artillery bombardment is still continuing, I can already guess that the casualties of the warriors must be very heavy!"
When everyone in the headquarters was praying that the bombardment would end soon, the bombardment of the heavy artillery battalion was over, but the bombardment of mountain artillery, infantry artillery, and mortars had just begun.
The people who had just relaxed their nerves tensed up again, with even more solemn expressions on their faces than before.
"Division commander, the Eighth Route Army is too cunning!" the chief of staff cursed with gritted teeth.
"First use heavy artillery to destroy the trenches we just dug, and then use ordinary artillery to attack our soldiers who have lost the cover of the trenches..."
"Heavy artillery and ordinary artillery cooperate with each other, and the losses of the troops must be huge!"
Kato Division Commander had a solemn expression and said nothing.
But a pair of red eyes already told everyone the anger and frustration inside at this moment.
They don't know how long it took, but the explosion that enveloped their ears finally stopped.
"Sir, the Eighth Route Army has begun to attack!" As soon as the sound of artillery stopped, a lieutenant rushed in.
"Da da da……"
Not far away, dense gunfire could be heard faintly, from all directions.
"The Eighth Route Army must have launched a full-scale attack on us!" Lieutenant General Kato judged with a stern face.
Immediately ordered: "Chief of Staff, send all the reserves in our hands, and also send the guards, leaving only one guard team. No matter what, we must withstand the Eighth Route Army's attack and defend the position!"
Seeing the chief of staff rushing out, Lieutenant General Kato was worried and ordered: "The baggage troops and artillery troops will immediately dig a second ring of fortifications 500 meters behind the existing ring of fortifications!"
"Once the outer ring fortifications cannot be defended, we will immediately retreat to the second ring fortifications!"
"It is definitely impossible for us to withdraw from the Eighth Route Army base area and continue northward, and the chance of taking Linfen City is also very slim."
"So, what we need to do next is to hold our position, cause maximum casualties to the Eighth Route Army that attacks us, and die a worthy death!"
Lieutenant General Kato's words were particularly sad and angry, but also very inspiring.
Many officers in the headquarters who still had a glimmer of hope fell into despair after hearing these words.
After despair, these people become crazy.
Since it was no longer possible to survive, he became careless when fighting, and his combat effectiveness increased instead of falling, to the extreme.
"Boom boom boom..."
Suddenly, a dense explosion sounded in the northeast corner of the battlefield.
Lieutenant General Kato's face suddenly turned pale, and then he exclaimed: "No, the northeast corner of the ring fortification is the main attack direction of the Eighth Route Army!"
"Go find the chief of staff immediately and deploy at least two infantry squadrons from the reserve to reinforce the northeast corner!"
In less than five minutes, the chief of staff came back with a pale face and a thick gauze tied around his arm. The red blood had dyed the gauze red.
He rushed into the headquarters and reported with a look of despair.
"It's over~ Division Commander, we're done~"
"Two infantry brigades and a reserve force of the guard suffered heavy losses in the Eighth Route Army's shelling that lasted for more than 20 minutes before they even entered the battlefield!"
"Nearly 2,500 humble imperial troops have only gathered less than 1,500 people and they can still continue to fight!"
"The frontline troops suffered greater losses. Fortifications in many places were blown up. Entire squadrons of troops were killed by the Eighth Route Army's heavy artillery. There were gaps in the defense line."
"All the reserves went to the battlefield to plug those gaps!"
"If I'm not wrong in my judgment, we lost at least two thousand people in the shelling just now~"
"It's the northeast corner. Have you sent troops to the northeast corner of the position? That's the real main attack direction of the Eighth Route Army!" Kato asked anxiously.
The chief of staff shook his head and replied: "The humble official has no troops left!"
"But I have just given an order to the Baggage Regiment, asking them to dispatch at least 500 people to reinforce the front-line positions in the Northeast!"
"That's good!" Lieutenant General Kato breathed a sigh of relief!
It's only been dark for three or four hours now, and the first half of the night hasn't passed yet
If he could not hold on to the ring fortifications defended by so many people even in the middle of the night, then even if he died in the battle, he would become a laughing stock of the imperial army.
Less than two minutes after the tense nerves relaxed, a violent explosion sounded again in the northwest corner of the battlefield.
"Sir, there is at least one artillery group with more than fifty artillery pieces shelling our northwest corner position!" the artillery staff officer next to him reported with a pale face.
The artillery firepower exposed by the Eighth Route Army these two nights completely overturned his imagination.
In the past, he looked down on the Eighth Route Army, suppressed them with bombs, and chased them to fight.
At this moment, he didn't even have the capital to fight back. He could only watch the imperial army being bombed by the Eighth Route Army's artillery and fleeing in all directions, as embarrassed as a bereaved dog.
Lieutenant General Kato's nerves became tense again and he subconsciously ordered.
"Chief of Staff, deploy another 500 people from the baggage regiment to reinforce the northwest corner position, immediately!"
As soon as the combat staff rushed out of the tent to give orders, a major rushed in from outside.
There was almost no complete part of the military uniform from top to bottom, and it was blackened by gunpowder smoke, and many places were stained red with blood.
There were wounds and bright red blood everywhere on his arms and face.
Before Lieutenant General Kato could speak, he rushed in and shouted with a look of despair.
"It's over~Sir, my ninth brigade is over!"
"The Eighth Route Army's artillery fire was so fierce that the warriors were killed without even seeing the shadow of the enemy!"
"The position has also been breached by the Eighth Route Army. At least one thousand Eighth Route Army has come to attack here. Please, Division Commander, please move immediately!"
"Baga!" Kato's eyes quickly turned red and he cursed loudly.
"With all the troops gone, do you still have the nerve to live?"
The major shook his head and replied: "I have no intention of living. It's just that the communication soldiers are dead. I will temporarily act as the communication soldiers. Now that the mission of the communication soldiers has been completed, I will go back to fight and join up with the warriors under my command. We must die together!"
After saying that, the major rushed out of the tent without giving Kato a chance to speak!
"Your Excellency, Commander of the Protection Division, move immediately!" the chief of staff reacted quickly and ordered subconsciously.
Then he commanded the remaining squad of the guard and forced him to move despite the objections of Kato's division.
When he moved to a temporarily safe section of the trench, all kinds of bad news came one after another like snowflakes, without even a chance to breathe!
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