The Japanese and puppet troops abandoned small and medium-sized strongholds on a large scale, leaving the blockade trenches ineffective and concentrating their forces to defend large strongholds. This move was something Li Hao did not expect.
Because the retreat was too sudden, many troops had not yet begun to counterattack. The independent battalions that originally planned to capture a large fish by defeating each one ended up only catching a few small shrimps.
"Captain, this is the battle report just compiled by several independent battalions." Hong Linfeng reported with a serious face.
"The stronghold in Guanshan Town that the 1st Company of the Yu County Independent Battalion is going to attack has the smallest number of troops."
"They were the first to start a counterattack and arranged a heavy siege of Guanshan Town and two surrounding small strongholds. When the Japanese and puppet troops reduced their defenses, they wiped out all the garrison troops in the two small strongholds on their way to retreat."
"As a result, there are less than 300 troops stationed in Guanshan Town. They are currently surrounded by a company in the stronghold and cannot enter or exit."
"Several other large strongholds have more than 500 troops stationed there. The three strongholds near Lingqiu have the largest number of troops, with more than 1,000 troops stationed."
"The artillery towers and bunkers in the stronghold are all made of reinforced concrete. They are very strong and have strong defense forces. It is almost impossible for several independent battalions to attack them by force. Therefore, the current tactics used by everyone are to encircle rather than attack, and cut off the water supply.
Cut off food and force the Japanese and puppet troops to leave their strongholds, and then deal with them."
On the map, the locations of several large strongholds have been marked, which looks particularly dazzling.
It's like a thorn in the garrison's side, a thorn in the flesh. The sooner it's removed, the better.
Seeing Li Hao's frown deepening, Hong Linfeng suggested: "Captain, the blockade trenches built by the little devils are no longer in use. How about we just let the heavy artillery battalion and the main force of the regiment rush into the blockade area and capture these with the independent battalion?"
stronghold."
"No!" Li Hao objected without hesitation.
The image of the Japanese army dispatching planes to bomb the heavy artillery battalion a few months ago is still vivid in my mind. If there is another bombing, the heavy artillery battalion may not be as lucky as last time. The artillery can be dispersed in advance to minimize losses.
Then he frowned and explained: "Although the blockade ditch is in name only, we can pass it if we think about it, but don't forget that the blockade area was just abandoned by the little devils, and there must be a large number of Japanese and puppet army agents hidden in it."
"They are the eyes and nose of the little devil. Once the heavy artillery battalion enters the blockade area, it will definitely be exposed. It will have nowhere to hide and will be bombed everywhere."
"I don't want the stronghold to be taken down, the heavy artillery battalion to be blown up by the Japs, the loss of my wife and the loss of troops."
"Taking a step back, even if the heavy artillery battalion is safely in place, the few heavy artillery shells we have in stock are not enough to bomb each of the heavy artillery battalion's strongholds."
"The gun towers and bunkers built by the Japanese army are too strong. Judging from previous attack experience, it will take at least a thousand heavy artillery shells to capture a stronghold. The three larger strongholds near Lingqiu will definitely not be able to win without two thousand shells.
Come down."
"Even if our garrison is well-equipped and has sufficient ammunition, we cannot afford to fight such a luxurious battle."
Hong Linfeng frowned and replied: "Regiment Commander, if we do not dispatch heavy artillery and rely only on the mortars and mountain artillery equipped by the independent battalion, the possibility of us capturing the stronghold is almost zero, and we will suffer heavy casualties."
"Since there is no other way, we will use the current fighting methods of several independent battalions. When the Japanese and puppet troops have no food to eat, they will naturally break out of their strongholds, and then it will not be too late to eliminate them."
Li Hao shook his head and replied: "That won't work either. There is a big problem inside. This is also the genius of the Japanese army."
"When we attacked Laiyuan in the past, the Japanese army had no strength advantage. We could gather heavy troops to guard outside the city. No matter when and where the Japs came out, we could immediately gather heavy troops to contain them."
"That's what my original battle plan planned to do."
"While the Japanese divide their forces to defend various strongholds, first eliminate the Japanese and puppet troops in the small strongholds, and then besiege the large strongholds."
"If the plan goes well, the garrison of several large strongholds will never exceed 300 people."
"The current situation is completely opposite. The Japanese army has withdrawn its defenses in advance and did not give us the opportunity to defeat them. As a result, the military advantage is still in their hands."
"Three independent battalions were divided into blocking nine strongholds, and each stronghold could only be assigned one company on average."
"Even if they develop behind enemy lines, there will only be more than 200 people in a company."
"There are at least 500 Japanese and puppet troops in the stronghold, and they are also equipped with a lot of heavy firepower."
"If I were a little devil commander, I would not defend the stronghold even if I shrink my defenses."
"One-third of the troops stayed at the stronghold, and two-thirds of the troops broke out of the stronghold and replenished supplies by looting nearby villages and towns."
"Even if all our troops blocked outside the stronghold are dispatched, it is impossible to threaten the safety of the puppet troops for three or four hundred days during the day..."
"In this case, they can move around the stronghold unimpeded..."
When Li Hao was about to continue speaking, communications platoon leader Zhou Liang suddenly broke in and interrupted: "Regiment leader, chief of staff, urgent call from Laiyuan Independent Battalion!"
"The Japanese and puppet troops from the Liangjia Town stronghold suddenly broke out of the stronghold this morning. Under the cover of aircraft, they marched for more than 40 kilometers and continuously looted three villages and a town."
"In addition to the massacre of 85 fellow villagers, the Japs also stole 125 mules, horses and livestock, nearly 50,000 kilograms of grain, more than 100 sheep, and more than 700 chickens..."
Hong Linfeng asked anxiously: "What do the troops stationed outside the stronghold do for food? Why don't they send troops to intercept and cover the villagers to move in advance!"
Zhou Liang quickly replied: "Battle Commander Zhao reported that they only have one company stationed outside the stronghold, and the Japanese and puppet troops attack more than 400 people, and most of them are Japanese."
"Also, the Japanese attacking troops gave up their carts and used mules and horses to transport all the heavy weapons they carried and the food they grabbed. Destroying roads was of no use to them."
"There are planes covering the sky. As soon as the troops gather, they will be bombed and strafed by planes. We can only use guerrilla warfare to slowly wear them down."
Hong Linfeng frowned deeper, looked at Li Hao and said, "Captain, your worries have come true."
"If all these nine strongholds are attacked in the same way, then with the stronghold as the center, villages and towns with a radius of 15 to 20 kilometers may be raided by the Japanese and puppets at any time. Calculated in this way, it is equivalent to the original blockade area being in the Japanese and puppet strongholds.
Under the attack of the army."
"The troops can leave at will. The Japanese's tactics cannot threaten us. Moreover, as time goes by, the attacking troops will eventually be exhausted by our guerrilla warfare."
"My fellow villagers can't do it. If the village is raided by Japanese soldiers every now and then, and they kill people, we won't be able to produce, and we will live in fear all the time, and people will be in panic."
"What's more important is that after the food was taken away, the villagers had no way of living. In the end, the pressure fell entirely on our Eighth Route Army."
"One more point: the Japanese and puppet troops obtained supplies by looting villages, and our combat plan of forcing them to leave their strongholds by cutting off water and food went bankrupt."
"Just relying on guerrilla warfare to slowly wear them down will definitely not yield results within a year and a half."
At this point, Hong Linfeng's brows had already twisted into a big "chuan" character.
Just when he was puzzled, Li Hao suddenly spoke.
"There is a way!"
"Change from passive to active, and we will in turn torment the little devils so that they have no intention of breaking out of the stronghold to grab food."