The worried expressions on the faces of Hong Linfeng and Captain Zhou were not relieved by Li Hao's comfort.
The closer the time for the battle was to start, the more worried the face became.
At this time, a staff officer put down the phone and reported: "Commander, the rear troops are reporting that the Japanese and puppet troops have entered the pocket formation!"
Li Hao quickly turned around and looked at Yamaguchi.
The more than two hundred Japs in the vanguard all held rifles in their hands and machine guns in their arms. They looked around carefully and were ready to lie on the ground and fight at any time.
They were marching very fast, and the mountain pass was less than 300 meters away. They could rush out in a few minutes.
Li Hao did not move, and continued to observe the battlefield while giving orders: "Send the signal, we will start attacking."
Three red flares were launched simultaneously in less than half a minute.
The captain of the Japanese army was walking in the middle of the team. When he saw the flare suddenly appearing above his head, a flash of worry quickly flashed across his eyebrows. A bad premonition also appeared in his mind. He subconsciously ordered: "The troops speed up and get out of here as soon as possible."
"Contact the planes in the sky and intensify the search around us. The Eighth Route Army will not fire three signal bombs for no reason. There must be some conspiracy."
"Rumble..."
As soon as he finished speaking, an explosion sounded not far away.
Three plumes of black smoke rose in the splashing firelight. One shell hit the road, two shells hit the side, and a large number of corpses fell around.
The bad premonition in the captain's mind grew stronger.
Use mortars to attack the Imperial Army under the nose of the aircraft. Once targeted by the aircraft, the artillerymen who launched the attack will be killed.
The Eighth Route Army must have known this, but still ordered the artillery to launch this almost suicidal attack.
There was only one possibility: behind what seemed like an ordinary bombardment, there were other conspiracies that he didn't know about.
He raised his eyebrows and immediately started giving orders.
"The enemy has three mortars. Contact the aviation force to kill them immediately. The troops will continue to march faster and leave here as soon as possible."
"Rumble..."
As soon as the order was uttered, a more intensive explosion came.
"Captain, the forward troops are under fire!" shouted a staff officer next to him.
For a team of more than 5,000 people, even if they marched in two formations, including artillery and baggage vehicles, the team would be nearly 3,000 meters long.
Three mortars attack a point in the middle of the team. The forward troops one or two kilometers away will not take any precautions when they hear the sound of the cannons and continue to advance in formation unless they receive an order to stop their advance.
It wasn't until the shells exploded next to them that the Japanese who were advancing in two formations reacted and quickly scattered and fell down.
A total of fifteen artillery shells fell from the sky, and there were three heavy mortar shells in the middle. The firing crews had planned in advance, and it was difficult not to hit the target.
At least ten shells hit the middle and sides of the forward troops.
The little devils at the front are very vigilant and are ready to lie down and fight at any time, but the artillery shells are not bullets. As long as they are within the killing range, they may be killed even if they lie down.
A reinforced squadron was destroyed by an infantry squad in just one round of artillery fire coverage.
The remaining Japs wanted to fight back with their guns, but they discovered painfully: there was no Eighth Route Army around, and they couldn't find any opponents even if they wanted to fight back.
As for the artillery attacking oneself, it is at least one kilometer away from here and not even a shadow can be seen.
Not only was the rifle in his hand unable to fight back, it was also unable to protect himself from artillery fire.
"Boom boom boom..."
The explosion sounded again, and a second round of artillery shells came over, and Japanese soldiers were constantly blown away in the splashing fire.
In the blink of an eye, another ten or twenty soldiers were killed and injured in the explosion...
The forward squadron leader panicked.
I only saw artillery shells falling from the sky, heard the constant explosions, and the screams of soldiers, but I couldn't see the Eighth Route Army launching the attack.
An attack without knowing the enemy's purpose is the scariest thing. The squadron leader's first reaction was that he could not stay here any longer.
Otherwise, if the artillery shells are allowed to fall down and cover with up to ten rounds of artillery fire, the troops will be completely blown up.
He raised his head and commanded at the top of his voice: "Everyone should disperse and retreat immediately, move closer to the main force..."
After saying that, regardless of whether his subordinates heard him or not, he started to retreat with a few people nearby.
"Boom boom boom..."
The shells did not stop as they retreated, but chased after them as if they had eyes.
The squadron leader was very good at identifying the impact points of artillery shells by listening to the sound of artillery.
If it is far away from you, ignore it and continue to move.
When you get close, immediately lie down and wait for the shell to explode before continuing to move.
Not every Japanese soldier has such ability. During the transfer process, soldiers were constantly blown up and knocked over, and they never got up again.
They were less than two hundred meters away from the main force, and they would be able to join together in less than half a minute by running at full speed.
However, under the harassment of artillery fire, they managed to run 200 meters for one minute, and less than fifty Japanese soldiers survived. All heavy weapons were abandoned on the battlefield.
The main force wants to send troops to respond.
But it is artillery that attacks the forward, not infantry.
If you rush over hastily, not only will you not help, but you will trap the supporting troops and be bombed together with the forward squadron, which is not worth the loss.
The only thing that can be done is to order the mortar squadron directly under the brigade to counterattack.
Knock out these mortars as soon as possible to reduce the pressure on the forward squadron from the source.
This is easier said than done.
After continuous mopping up operations, the mortar squadron directly under the brigade had nine mortars left, and the attacking forward squadron had at least fifteen mortars, which were scattered in five different artillery positions.
The nine mortars can be divided into three at most to counterattack.
When three cannons faced off against three cannons of the Eighth Route Army, and there was no numerical advantage, they needed at least two minutes of preparation and bombardment before the Japanese could be sure to completely kill the opponent.
The Eighth Route Army could not give them such a long time.
As soon as the more than fifty remnants of the forward troops merged with the main force, the sound of artillery stopped.
The mortar squadron had begun to counterattack and fired several rounds of shells.
However, the density of the artillery shells was too small, the lethality was limited, and the results achieved were certainly limited. Maybe not even a single mortar of the Eighth Route Army was destroyed.
"The troops are on heightened alert. Please ask the captain if you want to continue moving forward!" After the explosions in his ears slowly subsided, the captain ordered with a stern face.
The forward squadron was all his subordinates, more than 200 people survived, and more than 50 people survived, leaving almost no infantry squadron.
Moreover, the Eighth Route Army was not even seen during the entire battle, let alone the results.
Just now, an idea even came to his mind: If he had not ordered the troops to disperse in time, when the forward troops withdrew, the artillery shells thrown by the Eighth Route Army would definitely continue to fall on the main troops, and the losses to the troops would be even greater.
Looking at the remnants of the forward troops retreating, they clenched their fists tightly and had thoughts of murder.
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