Chapter 1110 Find a breakthrough from the ammunition
At the garrison headquarters, Hong Linfeng walked in with a solemn expression.
"Captain, your judgment is correct, the Japanese army has begun to break the situation."
"Early this morning, Japanese planes appeared over all the strongholds in the base area."
"At ten o'clock in the morning, Japanese and puppet troops from nine strongholds came out at the same time. Under the cover of aircraft, they evacuated the strongholds with weapons, ammunition and a small amount of supplies. They also burned all the supplies that could not be taken away."
"There were planes covering the sky, and the retreating Japanese and puppet troops were all transformed into mules and horses. They were marching very fast. Our troops could only use guerrilla warfare to harass them along the way."
"Judging from the marching direction of these Japanese and puppet troops, their targets are Laiyuan, Guangling, and Yu County, the three counties."
Li Hao's face darkened at that moment: "It's a good move to keep the green hills alive without fear of running out of firewood, so the little devil can continue to shrink his defenses!"
"Once they decide to besiege the three county towns, in front of the four- to five-meter-high city wall, our flying thunder cannons will lose the threat to them, and they can only use heavy artillery to attack the city."
"The Japanese have built a large number of reinforced concrete fortifications in the three counties. If it comes to this, the heavy artillery shells we have in reserve will definitely not be enough. Moreover, the casualties during the siege will be too great. We must not attack unless it is a last resort."
Hong Linfeng suggested: "Captain, can you do it like the first time we captured Laiyuan City?"
"First besiege rather than attack, then find an opportunity to lure the Japanese and puppet troops out of the city, gather them together and annihilate them. Then launch an attack when there are insufficient troops in the city and the defenses are empty. It will definitely be much easier."
Li Hao shook his head and replied: "It's difficult!"
"We have been fighting the retreating Japanese and puppet troops for half a year and are very familiar with each other. They are too cautious."
"If it weren't for the fact that we dug blockade trenches and used a lot of mine cannons, they would definitely have been holding on to their strongholds, just like nails, taking root in our base area."
"Now their forces are more concentrated, and the county they are defending is larger, stronger, and in better condition than the original stronghold."
"There was a precedent in the past where the troops leaving the city were wiped out and Laiyuan City was captured by us. Given that, we will definitely not come out again."
"In this case, it won't be a problem for them to take root in three counties for two or three years."
Hong Linfeng was anxious: "Captain, we must not allow them to stay rooted in our base area."
"Otherwise, the main force of our garrison will be dragged down in three counties, and if there is any military operation, we will have to worry about problems in our rear areas to avoid the troops being attacked from both sides."
Hong Linfeng frowned and fell into deep thought.
He was fully aware of the chief of staff's concerns, but this time the Japanese troops were clearly well prepared to shrink the defense. It would be too difficult for the garrison to break the situation.
"The only way is to think of ammunition!" This was the only way Li Hao could think of, and there was no guarantee that it would be successful.
He frowned and analyzed: "There are a large number of people living in the three counties. They need to live and eat, so we cannot prevent food from entering the county. In this case, forcing the Japanese and puppet troops to leave the county by cutting off food will not work."
"Without weapons and ammunition, once the Japanese and puppet troops in the county town run out, they can only be mobilized from the rear, either by ground transportation or airdropped by aircraft."
"The transport capacity of aircraft is limited. It is difficult to ensure the consumption of thousands of troops by relying solely on airdrops. Their ammunition will definitely be in short supply, which will affect the combat effectiveness of the troops. Therefore, 80% of the Japanese troops will choose ground transportation."
"Then our chance came."
Hong Linfeng immediately said: "I understand, the troops took the opportunity to gather heavy troops, attack them transporting troops, intercept these weapons and ammunition, and cut off the ammunition supply to three counties."
"Without ammunition, the guns in the hands of the Japanese will turn into firesticks. No matter how strong the bunkers and gun towers on the city walls are, they are just superficial. We can take the opportunity to launch an attack and capture three county towns."
"Captain, this is a good idea."
"We can let three independent battalions besiege the city, rest during the day, fight at night, and consume a lot of Japanese and puppet ammunition through feints."
Li Hao replied: "You can also ask the commandos to cooperate with them."
"The independent battalion cooperated with the intelligence department to eliminate the spies left by the Japanese and puppet troops in the blockade area as soon as possible. The heavy artillery battalion was divided into three and each of the three independent battalions was reinforced."
"The commandos entered the city in advance, found the ammunition depots of the Japanese and puppet troops, and used the radio to guide the heavy artillery battalion to carry out precise strikes against them, destroying the ammunition reserves of the Japanese and puppet troops."
In Laiyuan City, the more than 2,000 puppet troops only rested for one day before they began to renovate and strengthen the city's defenses.
The bunkers that were originally made of sandbags and logs have now been replaced with steel bars and cement.
Behind the city wall, dozens of Japanese engineers commanded the puppet troops to dig holes in the city wall, planning to build dozens of machine gun bunkers inside the city wall...
It wasn't until dark that the city wall, which had been busy all day, slowly became quiet.
However, the number of Japanese and puppet troops patrolling and guarding the city has not decreased.
Teams of patrols searched back and forth to ensure that every sentry post was safe.
The light and dark sentries hid behind the battlements, holding guns in both hands, eyes wide open, looking out of the city through the shooting holes, without blinking, for fear of missing something.
Several huge searchlights were set up at the commanding heights of the city wall, and the thick lampposts clearly illuminated the ground more than 200 meters outside the city to prevent anyone from sneaking into the county seat.
"Ba..."
A gunshot broke the tranquility of the night, and the quiet city suddenly became chaotic, but it only lasted less than ten seconds before it returned to silence.
The patrols and sentries quickly dispersed and rushed towards the nearest battlement.
The rifle slung on his shoulder was already in his hand at some point. The black barrel of the gun protruded from the shooting hole in the battlement. His eyes followed the crosshair and searched for suspicious targets outside the city.
Two huge searchlights simultaneously shined their light on the suspicious target just discovered by the guard post.
On the wasteland more than two hundred meters away from the city wall, a dozen black figures came into view of the Japanese under the illumination of searchlights. They lay on the ground, holding shovels and hoes in one hand, and quickly dug holes in the ground.
In just a few minutes, a small mound of soil had already been piled up in front of them, blocking most of their bodies.
"It's the Eighth Route Army. They are digging trenches outside the city and establishing offensive positions..." the lieutenant on duty called.
"Report to the commander immediately. Laiyuan City is likely to be attacked by the Eighth Route Army tonight."
"The heavy machine guns will fire immediately to kill them. We cannot let them establish an offensive position there. The city wall is too close."
The heavy machine gun fired quickly, but because the shooting distance was too far, the mounds of soil that were being piled up began to take effect. Under the cover of night, the heavy machine gun bullets flying like meteors did not hurt the Eighth Route Army there.
The pit gets bigger and bigger, and the excavated soil piles up higher and higher.
Soon, the dozen soldiers lying on the ground began to squat in the pit and continued to deepen and widen it. They did not stop deepening until they could stand in it without being hit by the heavy machine gun bullets fired from the city.
Excavate on both sides at the same time, connecting the separate pits into a trench.
"The artillery on duty fire, destroy those mounds of soil and kill the Eighth Route Army crouching behind." Seeing that the machine gun was useless, the lieutenant frowned and continued the order.
The pile of soil was not reinforced. The moment the shell exploded, the pile of soil was blown away like a goddess scattering flowers, accompanied by splashing firelight.
Thirty consecutive shells hit, and most of the mounds were flattened, and the trenches that were looking towards both sides came into the lieutenant's field of vision.
"The artillery continues to fire, kill the Eighth Route Army hiding in the trenches, and destroy the trenches that the Eighth Route Army has not yet built." The lieutenant snorted and continued the order.
