"Sir, the Eighth Route Army has begun to attack!" The anxious deputy captain became more and more nervous and began to speak awkwardly.
Outside the station, more than 300 Eighth Route Army troops formed a skirmish line and came into view.
The offensive formation was very scattered, everyone was stooping forward and staring at the front with vigilance.
"Everyone enter the position and prepare for battle!" the captain ordered with a stern face.
The troops are not ready yet, and there is not even a complete defensive fortification, but the opponent has already made a move, and there is no way to do it even if it is too late.
After giving the order, he retreated to the underground headquarters in the back.
As a commander, staying on the front line can boost the morale of the troops and improve their morale, but it will bring more trouble.
Not only will it distract the position commanders, making their command difficult and full of worries, it will also force them to dedicate a lot of troops to protect their own safety.
The captain was very aware of the gains and losses, and decisively returned to his own position.
"Boom boom boom..."
As soon as the front foot got into the underground headquarters, the explosion was heard outside the headquarters.
Dense and violent, it takes dozens of shells exploding at the same time to create such a big noise.
"Sir, the Eighth Route Army's attack on our artillery was very powerful. There were at least thirty mortars of different calibers, belonging to five artillery positions." the artillery staff reported.
"Calculate the specific locations of these artillery positions immediately!" Unexpectedly, the opponent was equipped with so many mortars, which was completely beyond his understanding of the Eighth Route Army. The captain was shocked, but he did not panic. He looked at the artillery staff and ordered calmly.
After the artillery staff left, the captain's face became more serious than ever.
Looking at the deputy captain, he continued to order: "We still have three mortar squads, an infantry artillery squad, and a mountain artillery squadron."
"The captain of the mountain artillery squadron unified command of all artillery, divided his forces to counterattack the Eighth Route Army artillery positions, and killed the opponent in the shortest time..."
"Yes, sir!" the deputy captain immediately took the order.
The nervous expression on his face slowly disappeared because of this order, and then he became calmer and strode out of the headquarters.
The captain returned to the lookout and looked at the battlefield.
Amidst the rumbling artillery fire, soldiers were constantly blown away from the half-man-deep trenches by shells.
Mortar shells have limited damage to trenches, but they can destroy bunkers made of stacked sandbags and ammunition boxes.
In the splashing fire, sandbags, ammunition boxes, and flowers were blown everywhere.
Without bunkers, many soldiers were completely exposed to artillery fire and suffered heavy casualties.
The captain's face was full of heartache, but he kept clenching his fists and said nothing.
He was waiting for the artillery to counterattack.
The Eighth Route Army had artillery, and so did we.
As long as the artillery unit can kill the opponent, and relying on the favorable terrain here, it will definitely be able to hold on until dawn.
"Boom boom..."
The long-lost sound of artillery finally sounded behind the headquarters. A few seconds later, a large amount of fire broke out from the Eighth Route Army artillery position shrouded in darkness.
The number of artillery shells hitting the blocking position was instantly reduced by half, and the explosions were not as dense as before.
This result was exactly as the captain expected. If the bombing continued like this, the entire Eighth Route Army artillery force would be wiped out in two minutes at most.
The corners of his mouth were raised slightly, and when he was preparing to welcome this victory, the explosion that had just become sparse became dense again.
"What's going on? What do artillerymen do? Why haven't they suppressed the Eighth Route Army's artillery fire yet?"
"Boom, boom, boom..." A few seconds later, a series of explosions that made the captain despair came to the command headquarters.
It came from the artillery position that had just fired, and was more violent and dense than the explosions on the position.
When I turned around, I saw soaring flames rising from the artillery position...
"Sir, there are more than thirty mortars of the Eighth Route Army attacking us!" The artillery staff officer only then reacted to the sudden surprise.
"Nani?" the captain shouted in disbelief.
Staring at the artillery staff officer, he roared and asked, "Tell me how many artillery pieces the Eighth Route Army has to attack us."
The artillery staff officer was frightened by the battalion captain's fierce reaction. He was speechless and replied nervously: "At least fifty... no... sixty. In addition to mortars, there are also many mountain cannons!"
"Hiss, hiss..." The captain took a breath: "So many?"
"Sir..." Before he could continue, a second lieutenant burst in with a panic look on his face and reported.
"The artillery position was attacked. The troops suffered heavy casualties and are being transferred..."
"How could it be so fast?" the captain shouted in shock.
His face gradually became desperate. The troops did not have a complete defensive position. If they could not suppress the Eighth Route Army artillery and allowed them to continue bombarding the defensive positions, even doubling the number of troops in hand would not be enough to explode them.
"Boom boom boom..."
The bombardment did not stop because of the captain's despair, and intensified.
Groups of flames kept springing up from the ground like bamboo shoots after rain. Many bunkers were blown to pieces, and trenches were blown up with gaps everywhere...
At the Japanese military headquarters in Taiyuan, the commander was awakened by a telegram from Huaiyuan asking for help more than half an hour ago, and then he lost sleep.
After sweeping the garrison base, the imperial army was defeated, with almost no results to show for it.
At this time, recapturing Huaiyuan became the only way for the military commander to comfort himself.
Therefore, he attached great importance to this battle, otherwise he would not personally arrange aviation troops to reinforce an infantry brigade as commander.
"Sir, the troops counterattacking Huaiyuan sent a farewell telegram!" the deputy chief of staff rushed in with a look of panic.
The army commander's first reaction was that he didn't believe it, and he immediately asked: "Didn't their telegram just now say that they were confident that they would stay until dawn? Why did something happen just over half an hour later?"
The deputy chief of staff quickly reported: "The attacking Eighth Route Army is very strong. They underestimated the enemy when they sent the first telegram."
"Underestimating the enemy?" The commander didn't understand even more!
Staring at the deputy chief of staff, he continued to ask: "Although we failed in the big sweep, the garrison regiment also suffered heavy casualties. There are less than 2,000 people left, which is similar to the strength reported by the counterattack force. How could we underestimate the enemy? Could it be that the garrison regiment is cheating?"
With the ability to form an army, thousands of people can come out for no reason."
The deputy chief of staff shook his head and replied: "The Eighth Route Army does not have many troops, but it has many artillery."
"At least sixty artillery pieces of various types were assembled to attack our counterattack troops at Huaiyuan."
"As soon as we fought, our troops were bombed, the artillery was completely destroyed, and the infantry did not have complete fortifications to defend, so they could only be suppressed and beaten by the garrison with artillery fire..."
"The farewell telegram said that when the troops sent the telegram, more than half of the troops had been killed and wounded. After sending the telegram, they were ready to divide their troops to break out. How many can be killed!"
The commander suddenly thought of the Wushanao ambush battle and the Pingshui Town raid battle that had ended.
In both battles, the garrison regiments all used artillery in large quantities, and then defeated the imperial army with inferior strength.
Unexpectedly, the garrison once again repeated its old tricks and let the artillery play the leading role...
At this moment, a trace of fear arose in the commander's mind.
The reason why the Imperial Army was able to compete on the Chinese battlefield was due to its strong combat effectiveness. Another important factor was its sharp artillery fire and air support.
If the artillery superiority were in the hands of the Eighth Route Army, and they were as fearless of death as the Imperial Army in fighting, the Army Commander could not imagine how powerful they would be and how the war situation would change.
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