The Japanese Lieutenant General made a decisive decision: "In this case, we will start taking action in two days."
At four o'clock in the morning, everything was dark, but several strongholds on the edge of the garrison base were brightly lit.
The Japanese army and the Imperial Alliance Army quickly assembled under the orders of their respective commanders. In less than half an hour, an army of nearly 5,000 people was assembled.
"Let's go..." The Japanese leader who led the team raised his command sword and ordered with an arrogant look on his face.
A reinforced squadron of Japanese soldiers was the first to break out of the stronghold, followed by a large group of Japanese troops, followed closely by artillery, baggage troops, the Imperial Japanese Army, and finally a large group of Japanese soldiers and a regiment of Imperial Japanese Army soldiers.
It took a full hour from the first kid to leave the stronghold before the last kid left the stronghold.
As soon as the Japanese and puppet troops moved, the garrison base area became lively.
The second battalion, the third battalion, and the independent battalion were the first to respond and entered their respective preset positions to stand ready.
Then came the local troops and guerrillas, who worked overnight to evacuate the people in the area where the Japanese and puppet troops were attacking.
The garrison regiment headquarters finally received the news.
"Commander, the Japanese army has begun to take action." Hong Linfeng hurriedly walked in and reported.
"The troops were divided into three groups and attacked the three main battalion stations where we were confronting them. The three battalion commanders asked for instructions: Do we want to use the preset positions to fight the Japanese and use positional warfare to consume some of their troops."
"What's going on with the three-way brat?" Li Hao asked, frowning.
"There are nearly 5,000 Japanese puppet troops on each road." Hong Linfeng replied.
"The Japanese and puppet troops were each divided into half, equipped with an artillery brigade, varying numbers of heavy mortars and heavy artillery. There were no tanks or armored vehicles to assist in the battle, but the little devils carried a large amount of baggage on each route. The total number of carts and cars exceeded three
Hundreds of vehicles, all loaded with supplies.”
Li Hao shook his head and replied: "The position cannot be defended."
"There are too many new recruits in the army, and many of them have never even participated in actual combat. Sending them directly to the battlefield to face the enemy head-on, facing the joint attack of the enemy's heavy artillery and aircraft, is no different from sending them to death."
"The battle has just begun. The troops must not suffer large-scale casualties, otherwise the morale and morale of the troops will be severely damaged, which will not be conducive to our follow-up operations."
"And there are not many little Japs in these three lines of attacking troops. With the existing strength and firepower of the garrison and the layout, it is entirely possible to concentrate superior troops and firepower to severely damage one of the attacking forces. There is no need to withstand heavy artillery and firepower.
Plane, risk fighting them in a positional battle."
"Order the three main battalions to evacuate the position, let the Japanese and puppet troops enter the position, and use guerrilla warfare and mobile warfare to deal with them."
"This can not only consume the strength and vigor of the Japanese and puppet troops, but also train the new soldiers to adapt to the battlefield as soon as possible."
"Mobile battalion, special agent battalion, cavalry battalion, heavy artillery battalion, and air defense battalion, assemble immediately and be ready to participate in battle at any time."
After Hong Linfeng left in a hurry with the order, the serious expression on Wang Hong's face did not relax.
"Captain, I think this attack is not as simple as it seems on the surface!"
Li Hao did not show any unexpected expression and answered with certainty: "There must be a conspiracy hidden behind it that we don't know about."
Wang Hong was confused for a moment, but he quickly realized: "Captain, you can see it too."
Li Hao nodded and replied: "The little devils are not fools. They just failed in the last counter-mopping operation. How could they make mistakes twice in a row on the same issue?"
"Five months ago, the Japanese and puppet troops had more than 4,000 and nearly 5,000 Japs in each mopping up force, and they were also equipped with heavy artillery. In the end, they were all defeated."
"Only half of the Japanese and puppet troops who have been killed are real little devils. They are actually not as good as before. If the old tricks are repeated, they will give us military exploits in vain."
Wang Hong immediately asked: "Captain, have you seen something?"
Li Hao wanted to nod and tell this piece of history that he knew well, but he still swallowed the words.
He shook his head and replied: "I don't know."
"Then what was your order just now?" Wang Hong continued to ask.
"Two reasons: One reason has been mentioned just now, which is to consume the Japanese through guerrilla warfare and mobile warfare, and to train troops at the same time."
"The second reason is to wait and see what happens, to uncover the little devil's conspiracy, and then the troops will come to cover it up with water and earth."
Li Hao was actually very helpless. Although he knew the Japanese army's grand strategy and general policy of sweeping away the base areas, he had not really seen it.
Even if he had a lot of historical knowledge and countless combat experience, he couldn't do anything in advance.
The three attacking troops marched with unstoppable momentum, and at 11 a.m. they had reached nearly 20 kilometers into the base area.
"Sir, the people in the nearby villages have been relocated in advance by the Eighth Route Army." A commander of the Imperial Army Corps came to the colonel and reported.
"It's okay!" Colonel replied with a nonchalant look.
"We won't leave once we enter the garrison base this time. They can hide in the mountains for a day or two, but they can't hide for a lifetime. They will come out sooner or later. It won't be too late for us to deal with them then."
"Order the troops to continue moving forward and postpone lunch until they arrive at Guanshan Town."
"Boom boom boom..."
Three explosions interrupted the commander's unfinished order, and then he saw three plumes of black smoke rising from the position of the forward squadron.
Immediately afterwards, the sound of "click, click, click..." was heard.
"Da da da... boom boom boom..."
The forward troops reacted quickly, using light and heavy machine guns and grenade launchers, and immediately began to counterattack.
But the sound of the exchange of fire did not last long. Within half a minute, the sound of gunfire stopped and the battlefield returned to silence.
A few minutes later, a lieutenant rushed over and reported breathlessly.
"Sir, it's still the same as in the previous exchange of fire. The Eighth Route Army used mines and machine guns to sneak up on us, and then retreated without giving us a chance to counterattack."
"In the battle just now, we lost five more Imperial troops and eight Imperial Alliance troops."
"Run away, just run away, don't pay attention to them!" The colonel was already used to being surprised, and ordered without thinking.
"As long as we rush to Guanshan Town and build all the fortresses, blockade ditches, and blockade walls, the garrison base area will be cut into small pieces by us, which are not connected to each other. Then we will carry out raids in separate areas, and they will be unable to attack them.
Escaped."
At one o'clock in the afternoon, the exhausted Japanese and puppet troops finally arrived at Guanshan Town.
After an hour's rest and meal, they began to get busy. Regardless of the Japs or the puppet soldiers, they all picked up their engineering shovels and built strongholds and fortifications centered on the high ground east of Guanshan Town.
The news reached the garrison headquarters immediately.
Except for Li Hao, Hong Linfeng and Wang Hong were all frowning, wondering what tricks the little devil was playing.
"Commander, I suggest that the three main battalions fight tonight to see what the little devil wants to do. We can obviously attack 20 kilometers further, why did we stop?" Hong Linfeng suggested.
"How to fight?" Li Hao neither refused nor agreed, but stared at Hong Linfeng and asked.
"The telegram made it clear that the Japs were building fortifications within a three-kilometer radius centered on the hilltop highlands."
"There are nearly 5,000 of them. There are still four or five hours before dark, enough time to build a complete fortification."
"In addition, they are well-equipped with light and heavy mortars, mountain artillery, and heavy artillery, and their number is several times that of each main battalion.
"Our heavy artillery battalion is still hidden in the mountains more than 100 kilometers away. It is impossible to reach the battlefield in one night. With only a few battalions equipped with light and heavy mortars and mountain artillery, if we rush over there, we will definitely hit our heads and break our blood.
