"Sir, what do you mean, no matter whether the brigade headquarters will send troops to reinforce the stronghold, the stronghold will be captured by the Eighth Route Army?" the adjutant asked with a look of disbelief.
"Not bad!" the captain affirmed directly.
"This is an attack that the Eighth Route Army has planned for a long time. Although I don't know how they took the stronghold, I am 80% sure of this judgment!"
The adjutant was anxious. The more than 500,000 kilograms of food in the stronghold were obtained at a huge cost by the troops. If they were snatched back by the Eighth Route Army, all his previous efforts would be in vain.
Staring at the captain, he asked with a look of reluctance: "Do you want to report your judgment to the brigade headquarters immediately and ask the brigade headquarters to increase the strength and firepower of the reinforcements?"
"It's useless! The brigade commander doesn't have that many mobile troops in his hands. Don't forget, for this armed food grab, the brigade commander has almost all the mobile troops in his hands. It is impossible to mobilize too many mobile troops.
Troop reinforcement stronghold!"
"What should we do?" the adjutant asked anxiously.
The captain hesitated and replied: "Contact the stronghold directly. I want to know how the Eighth Route Army captured our stronghold!"
"Also, we can no longer stay in the Eighth Route Army base area. At dawn tomorrow, we will set off and withdraw from the Eighth Route Army base area!"
"Of course, all the carts you bring must be filled with food before you leave!"
"If the stronghold cannot be held tonight, when we go back tomorrow, we must ask the brigade headquarters to contact the aviation force to provide us with air support at any time!"
"Hi!"
The adjutant came back less than two hours after leaving, looking very ugly.
"Sir, your judgment is correct. We have lost contact with the stronghold. The last telegram sent from the stronghold showed that the Eighth Route Army used heavy artillery in the battle to attack the stronghold. The explosive power of the artillery shells was greater than the 105mm caliber howitzer equipped by the Imperial Army.
Even bigger!”
"Impossible!" the captain retorted without hesitation.
"The Eighth Route Army active in Linfen is equipped with artillery, but they are all mortars, infantry artillery, and mountain artillery. And the artillery shells are very few. It is absolutely impossible to equip large-caliber heavy artillery. Even we ourselves don't have the equipment. How can they equip it?"
Come on, they must have made a mistake!"
"But that's what the telegram said, and after we received the telegram, we lost contact with the base!" the adjutant insisted.
The captain frowned and fell into deep thought, but it didn't take long for him to react.
"It's not a heavy artillery, it's a flying thunder cannon made by the Eighth Route Army!"
"Although I have never seen it, I have heard that this kind of gun first appeared in the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region of the Eighth Route Army. The principle is the same as that of a mortar, except that the barrel is turned into a gasoline barrel, and it can throw dozens of pounds of
Explosive packs. However, the accuracy of this kind of home-made artillery is very poor, and the range is also very short. More importantly, it consumes a lot of explosives. The Eighth Route Army is too poor, and even if it can be mass-produced, it is rarely used!"
At the Japanese brigade headquarters in Linfen City, Major General Matsumoto also thought of the troops who were grabbing food in the hinterland of the Eighth Route Army base.
However, he only thought about the safety of the food-grabbing troops, and did not expect that this was another chess game played by Wang Ping, the leader of the new regiment, against him.
After all, for the sake of food, he sent out four armed food-grabbing units, and each unit did not necessarily report the battle situation to the brigade headquarters in time.
Each food-grabbing unit suffered dozens of casualties every day. If such a trivial matter had to be reported to the brigade headquarters, then Matsumoto would not be able to handle these trivial matters even if he worked 24 hours a day.
And for the Japanese, every commander is very concerned about face.
When there is no fatal threat to the troops, even if the battle situation is reported, try to make a good report.
Therefore, brigade commander Matsumoto did not know the real situation on the front line, so he was unable to make the most practical judgment.
"General, there is an urgent call from the Third Brigade in the direction of Tianxin Town. They asked the brigade headquarters to contact the Army Aviation Corps. After dawn, they took away the grain and tax revenue from the nearest village and began to retreat. Once the retreating troops encountered the Eighth Route Army
Main force, please command the headquarters to contact the aviation force to provide them with air support!" The chief of staff reported with a frown as soon as he rushed to Matsumoto.
"No problem, Chief of Staff, you come and contact the aviation force!" Matsumoto agreed without thinking about it.
"Our armed grain grabbing operation in Tianxin Town has failed. This unit of the Third Brigade must never be wiped out by the Eighth Route Army again!"
At seven o'clock in the morning, Xiong Changhe finally arrived after traveling all night.
After one day and one night of sneak attacks, the total strength of the Japanese and puppet troops has dropped sharply from nearly 600 to 500.
This loss of troops was acceptable to the Japanese captain. However, when the troops were assembled, they were ready to go to the nearest village to fill up all the remaining carts, and then retreat.
The captain's face suddenly turned ugly.
The subordinates who were still very motivated yesterday were all suffering from dark circles under their eyes early this morning.
The Japs were a little better. No matter how tired they were, at least their formation was still in chaos.
The puppet troops were far behind. They were swaying around, yawning repeatedly, and their rifles were slanted on their backs. At a glance, it was impossible to tell that they were a well-trained army.
The adjutant saw the anger and dissatisfaction on the captain's face, and quickly reminded: "Sir, the Eighth Route Army conducted a sneak attack last night, and the troops did not have a rest. Especially the puppet troops, who were guarding the outermost edge of the stronghold, were directly attacked by the Eighth Route Army's sneak attack troops.
!”
The captain could only suppress his inner dissatisfaction, frowned and ordered: "Immediately go to the next village to collect food, and then quickly withdraw from the Eighth Route Army base area. The troops are too tired, and it is too dangerous to run rampant in the Eighth Route Army base area like this!"
The remnants of the 1st Battalion, 1st Company, 3rd Company, Firepower Company, plus the directly subordinate troops, totaled less than 300 people.
After a night of fighting and marching, they were also very tired, and everyone's eyes were staring at the same dark circles as the Japanese.
However, behind the appearance of exhaustion, their faces showed genuine excitement.
In one night, we captured the stronghold, snatched back all the food, wiped out a large number of Japanese and puppet troops, and seized a large amount of weapons and equipment and a battalion of exhausted artillery shells.
Such results are absolutely unprecedented for a battalion-level unit.
Therefore, everyone is full of confidence because of this tough battle and is full of expectations for the next battle.
"Battal Commander, how are we going to fight next? Are we going to annihilate all the Japanese and puppet troops in the base area?" The third company commander, who had harassed the Japanese for a day and night without achieving much results, asked with a face full of expectations.
"Yes, kill them!" Xiong Changhe said decisively.
"I plan to ambush them here!" Xiong Changhe pointed at a point on the map and decided!
"But we only have less than 300 people, and our strength is exactly half of the Japanese and puppet troops. How can we ambush them? Moreover, the Japanese were too cautious along the way and did not give us a chance to ambush them!"
Xiong Changhe answered confidently: "If we just stay here, there will definitely be no chance, but we can create our own opportunities!"
The first update is delivered today! Please collect! Please subscribe! Please vote monthly!
