The brigade commander ignored the reminders from his subordinates and insisted on ordering all reserves to reinforce the east of the city.
The deputy chief of staff knew that he could not change the general's decision, but he still believed that the brigade commander's desperate plan to have all reserves reinforce the east of the city was too risky.
As the brigade commander's only deputy, since he cannot change this decision, he can only find ways to reduce the risks this order brings to Datong City.
After racking his brains for half a minute, he proposed: "General, I humbly suggest that at least two squadrons be transferred from the gendarmerie and the remaining security forces in the city to the headquarters to be on standby as a new reserve force in case of emergencies!"
A staff officer next to him immediately objected: "Sir, will there be no troops in the city?"
"Excluding the city defense troops, we only have one gendarmerie squadron in the city, one guard squadron to protect the brigade headquarters, and one guard squadron to protect important facilities and warehouses in the city."
"Transfer them all to the headquarters. There will be less than two companies of the Imperial Army left to protect the important facilities and material warehouses in the city."
"If there are lurking troops of the Eighth Route Army in the city causing trouble, these guards are definitely no match."
The deputy chief of staff thought for a moment and continued: "At least the military police squadron must be transferred over. The headquarters cannot be without a reserve team."
The brigade commander was very aware of the importance of the reserve force and thought about the order: "Transfer the gendarmerie squadron to serve as the reserve force."
"Separate a gendarmerie team and continue to organize expatriate armed forces in the city."
"When we organized the expatriate armed forces just now, there was an age requirement. Now the situation is getting more and more serious. I can't control that much. All expatriates between the ages of fifteen and sixty have organized themselves into several infantry squadrons and distributed weapons.
Use it as a reserve team."
"There are also many Chinese private armed forces in the city. They are all organized into infantry companies and also used as reserve forces. They must be fast!"
On the battlefield in the east of the city, the roaring of cannons continued to sound like thunder on the battlefield, and the black smoke rising into the sky was like a mushroom cloud, rising above the city.
The gap in the city wall blasted by heavy artillery was getting bigger and bigger. Amid the shouts and curses of the armed expatriates, more than two hundred puppet troops and police rushed towards the gap and blocked it with sandbags carried on their shoulders to prevent the gap from expanding further.
The heavy artillery was so powerful that it had difficulty carrying more than a hundred sandbags. When a shell hit it, it was instantly blown to pieces, exposing the bottom wall and soil.
A few minutes of hard work immediately went to waste.
Of course, their efforts are not without meaning.
Because the sandbags offset most of the power of the heavy artillery shells, the damage to the city wall was obviously much less.
If the cannonball just now was not protected by sandbags, a large piece of the city wall would definitely be blown off, and a large amount of soil wrapped in the city wall bricks would be blown into pieces. Speaking of which, the gaps in the city wall bricks would flow out, eventually causing the city wall to collapse.
The gap is getting bigger and bigger.
It's different with the protection of sandbags. Most of the shells exploded were sandbags, so there was no way to directly destroy the city wall.
Seeing the usefulness of stacking sandbags, the Japanese squadron leader supervising the operation immediately shouted to the puppet soldiers and policemen who were immersed in the explosion: "What are you waiting for to die? Keep filling the gap with sandbags, the gap must be blocked!"
The puppet company commander was the first to react, but he didn't want to follow the order.
The gap in the city wall was too dangerous. Although the hit rate of the heavy artillery was not high, and it took a few minutes for a shell to hit exactly there, many shells hit the city head next to the gap.
The powerful power is harvesting everyone's lives all the time.
During the previous round of filling sandbags, at least thirty of his subordinates fell on the city wall.
Originally, I still had more than 300 people, but after filling in several rounds of gaps, less than 200 people were still able to move.
Continue to execute the order to fill the gap. In half an hour at most, the few people under your command will be blown up.
Seeing that the company commander didn't move, the Japanese squadron leader who was leading the team didn't have so many polite words to say.
The captain gave him a death order. If he could not close the gap, he would directly apologize to His Majesty the Emperor.
The lives of the Chinese people in front of them were obviously not as valuable as their own lives. Under the threat of seppuku, they quickly drew their command swords and gave orders without hesitation.
"The supervising team is ready to shoot: from now on, as long as there are people who are afraid of the enemy, they will all be shot."
After saying this, the squadron leader raised his command knife and struck a trembling policeman hard.
"ah……"
Amidst the painful screams, the policeman fell to the ground with despair and unwillingness.
His eyes were wide open and he would not close his eyes.
The company commander was afraid and quickly ordered: "Anyone who doesn't want to be shot by the imperial army should follow me to carry sandbags. This is the only way for us to survive..."
"Rumble..."
The shelling did not stop because of the desperate efforts of the Japanese and puppet troops, but intensified.
As the garrison attacked the position, Li Hao's eyes never left the battlefield, especially the gap that was specially taken care of by the heavy artillery.
The initial shelling was very effective. Within a few minutes, there were signs of damage to the city wall, and then some gaps gradually appeared.
After another ten minutes, although the gap continued to grow, the speed was too slow.
If the explosion continues at this rate of destruction, the city wall will not be able to be blown open for another two hours.
"Rumble..."
A cannonball hit the city head next to the gap.
The splashing firelight quickly illuminated the surrounding area. Li Hao kept staring there and clearly saw the puppet troops braving artillery fire to block the gap.
The top of the city was densely packed with people, carrying sandbags on their shoulders, rushing towards the gap as hard as they could.
Some people were killed before they could reach the gap. The surviving puppet soldiers were not affected and continued to rush toward the gap, then blocked the gap with sandbags carried on their shoulders.
The Japanese and puppet troops were even more ruthless, using the corpses of the puppet soldiers killed in the bombing as sandbags to block the gap...
Li Hao finally understood why the effectiveness of heavy artillery shelling had deteriorated.
He raised his eyebrows and began to issue orders: "Advisor Wang, give the order to the mortar group. Use ten mortars to attack the walls on both sides of the gap. We must not let the Japanese and puppet troops get closer to the gap."
"Boom boom boom..."
Mortars are less powerful, but have a fast rate of fire and high accuracy.
A large number of artillery shells hit the city every minute.
The puppet soldiers were running back and forth with sandbags on their heads, completely exposed on the surface of the city wall. A mortar shell could knock over at least one puppet soldier.
In less than two minutes, more than half of the nearly 200 puppet soldiers and policemen were killed or injured.
The rate of casualties was several times faster than the company commander's judgment.
At this time, the remaining puppet troops did not dare to rush towards the gap even if they had armed foreigners supervising the battle.
The artillery fire there is so fierce that if you rush in, you will die.
The Japanese squadron leader was also blinded by the sudden artillery fire, but in order to survive, he was like a madman, waving his command knife and screaming.
"Keep plugging the gaps with sandbags, or we'll all be shot!"
Seeing that the puppet soldiers were still motionless, he pointed at a few puppet soldiers not far away and gave the order: "Shoot and kill those imperial associate soldiers who are afraid of the enemy!"
"Baba..."
Guns were fired, and several puppet soldiers were not killed by their opponents, but died in the hands of their masters...
"Brothers, if you continue to climb the city wall, you will definitely be blown to death..." A platoon leader was angered and was unwilling to die here. He raised his gun and shouted.
"There aren't many kidnappers supervising us, and they're all expats. Kill them, run back to Datong City and hide, and maybe you'll still have a chance to survive."
"Anyone who wants to survive will rebel against me!"
"Bah..." After the platoon leader finished speaking, he pulled the trigger. The Japanese squadron leader fell to the ground in response. This time, it was his turn to stare wide-eyed.
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