As soon as the troops entered the mountains, the annoying sound of gunfire reached the ears of the chief of staff.
A team of more than 500 people marched forward in two lines and attacked from the flanks. They were like two rows of living targets.
Bullets flew towards them in a fan shape, and the four Japanese fell down, two dead and two wounded.
"The enemy is one hundred meters to the southeast, counterattack immediately..." a second lieutenant in the middle of the team drew his command knife and shouted.
The marching team immediately stopped, raised their rifles and began to fight back.
In the crackling sound of gunfire, bullets flew towards the location where the gunshot was fired as if it was free of charge.
"Boom boom..."
The two grenade launchers were also set up by the Japanese, and two grenades were fired.
To the Japanese's dismay, there was no response from the location where the gunshot had been fired.
"Sir, I have confirmed that the Eighth Route Army that just attacked us is hiding there. Give me a small team and outflank them. We will definitely kill them." The second lieutenant who gave the order to counterattack found the chief of staff and asked him to fight with an eager look on his face.
"Da da da...bah..."
The chief of staff had a sullen expression but before he spoke, several gunshots were heard from the other direction of the team.
Because the sneak attack came from everyone's back, many people were caught off guard, and two more subordinates were hit and fell to the ground.
"Baba...dah...dah..."
Just when many people began to turn around and fight back, the forward troops were also attacked.
Then came the rear troops.
Gunshots were heard everywhere along the mountain road that stretched for several hundred meters.
The Japanese hiding on the mountain roads, faced with sneak attacks from everywhere, were like headless flies, scurrying around and shooting at targets they thought were suspicious.
Overhead escort aircraft passed over everyone's heads over and over again at low altitude, but they did not launch an attack.
The Major was the first to notice that something was wrong: "Sir, the terrain around us is too complicated and the bushes are deep. The Eighth Route Army that ambushed us was hiding in it to attack us. As long as the concealment is good, the planes in the sky can't find them at all, and there is no way to escape from them."
Attack from the air."
"If we want to kill them, we can only rely on ourselves."
The chief of staff ordered with a stern face: "The troops stopped shooting and ignored these sneak attacks. We continued to move forward and marched back to Datong City."
"Sir, think twice!" This time the major did not accept the order, but frowned and objected.
"If we don't kill these Eighth Route Army troops who sneaked up on us, they will definitely keep chasing us and attack us continuously. Even if we withdraw to Datong City, our troops will suffer heavy casualties."
The chief of staff replied angrily: "If you have your way, attack first and kill these Eighth Route Army troops, and then retreat."
"I am sure that the casualties of the troops will be greater, and the entire army may even be destroyed."
"This..." Major was speechless.
The mountains here are high and densely forested, making it an excellent battlefield for guerrilla warfare.
It would be too difficult for the troops to kill dozens of Eighth Route Army soldiers who were as cunning as monkeys.
What's more, it takes time for troops to counterattack.
The Eighth Route Army will definitely continue to launch attacks, which means that the longer everyone stays here, the more times they will be attacked, and the greater the final casualties will be.
But being beaten all the way back to Datong City, the Major felt unwilling to do so.
His brows furrowed deeper and deeper, racking his brains to find one or two ways to break the situation, but in the end they all ended in disappointment.
The chief of staff saw what his subordinates were thinking and thought for a moment before replying: "The troops continue to retreat."
"After being attacked again, the nearest troops immediately counterattacked with firepower. However, the troops cannot stop and their marching speed cannot be affected."
Although we know that relying solely on firepower to counterattack will have very limited damage to the Eighth Route Army, it is still better than being passively beaten, and it will give you more face when speaking out.
Facing the step given to him by the chief of staff, the major replied quickly: "Sir is wise, I am humble enough to give orders now."
At eight o'clock in the evening, the assembly area was returned to the hands of the garrison.
Li Hao was the first to return here, followed by the Hunyuan Independent Battalion, and the reconnaissance company came back last.
"Report to the leader, the reconnaissance company failed to complete its mission. Nearly three hundred little Japanese escaped from our pursuit and interception and fled back to Datong City." Seeing Li Hao, Chen Wei reported with a look of reluctance.
In his plan, out of more than 500 Japanese, only more than 100 could escape back to Datong City.
But the result was completely different. As a commander, Chen Wei blamed himself more than anyone else.
Li Hao was not angry.
The garrison has gained enough benefits from this battle. One or two hundred little Japs can slip away without making any big waves.
Looking at Chen Wei, he comforted: "It's not your fault."
"I've heard all about your battle plan, there's no problem with it."
"The reason why you let so many little devils escape is not your fault, but the little devils are more ruthless than we thought."
"This ruthlessness is not only shown in dealing with us Chinese, but also in dealing with our own people. This is something none of us thought of before."
"In the past, it was the little devils who underestimated the enemy and suffered losses in our hands. This time it is our turn to underestimate the enemy and suffered losses in their hands."
"But this is good. Let everyone learn a lesson and have a clearer understanding of how vicious our opponents are. We can no longer underestimate the enemy."
Having said this, Li Hao's face suddenly became serious, and his eyes scanned the faces of each of his subordinates before he spoke.
"I remember clearly that the Japs are a bunch of inhuman war machines, so we can't show any mercy to them."
"When you go back, write a report on this matter. I want the whole regiment to inform it so that the entire regiment will realize how ruthless the Japanese are and will not underestimate the enemy in future battles.
Chen Wei agreed: "The little devil is indeed ruthless."
"Not only did he not take the puppet soldiers seriously, but he also treated his own people ruthlessly and showed no mercy."
"In my combat plan, lightly and seriously wounded people are an important way to slow down the enemy's march."
"But the Japanese were too ruthless. In order not to affect the marching speed, we simply abandoned them all."
"Fire all the unconscious ones, leave a grenade behind for the conscious ones, die with our soldiers if you have the chance, and commit suicide if you don't have the chance."
"I made statistics and found that during the two-hour pursuit, eighteen comrades from the reconnaissance company died at the hands of these lightly and seriously wounded people."
"There were no wounded to drag them down. They were marching very fast. The reconnaissance company could only chase them and fight them. They had no chance to deploy pocket arrays in advance to kill them in large numbers, and then allowed so many little Japs to escape back to Datong City."
Li Hao continued to comfort him: "Don't be discouraged. Although there are one or two hundred more little Japs on the battlefield, the results of your reconnaissance company are still amazing, and I was shocked."
"The four heavy artillery pieces, the four field artillery pieces, and the twelve cars that the Japs brought out of the city were all kept by you."
"Just looking at these seizures, you have fought a worthwhile battle and have not suffered any losses."
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