The deputy chief of staff did not quite agree with this method of fighting. He hesitated and reminded: "General, if we fight like this, Datong will definitely be blown into ruins and civilians inside will be accidentally injured. Will this affect the image of the imperial army?"
"I can't control that much!" the brigade leader insisted.
"As long as we can stop the Eighth Route Army from attacking us, Datong City will be reduced to rubble."
"As for the civilians, if I remember correctly, as long as the Japanese civilians in the city could move, they were all fighting, so all the Japanese civilians bombed by the planes were Chinese."
"The most important thing in China is people. Even if we blow up all the civilians in the city, it won't matter."
"Execute the order and bomb the areas controlled by the Eighth Route Army as soon as the planes arrive. This is our only hope to block their attack."
After the troops entered the city, the siege headquarters moved directly to the east gate tower in order to get close to the city for command.
Chief of Staff Zhou stood at the commanding heights of the tower and could overlook most of the battlefield.
Several chiefs of staff who came from the base area before dawn stayed behind, reporting the latest battle conditions on the battlefield to the chiefs of staff and marking the specific battle conditions on the city defense map.
At this time, a staff officer suddenly came over and said: "Chief, it's already dawn, and Japanese planes may arrive on the battlefield at any time. Why don't you order an order to suspend the attack if it doesn't work? Defend the air first, and then attack after dark!"
"No need!" Chief of Staff Zhou shook his head in denial.
"If we were fighting field battles outside the city, I would definitely stop. But what we are fighting now is street fighting. The enemy and ourselves are intertwined. There is not even a line of defense that clearly distinguishes the enemy's and our positions, and there is no way for planes to bomb when they come."
"And it's not like we haven't prepared anything."
"An hour ago I ordered two thousand local troops to collect objects that can be used to smoke in the occupied areas."
"It should be almost done now, Staff Officer Wang, send out all the communications troops from the headquarters and order all local troops to light the smoke materials they collected to ensure that all occupied areas are shrouded in smoke so that even if the Japanese planes come, they will not be able to find the bombers."
Target."
"We also need to tell them that local troops must follow closely behind the main force."
"When the main force took over an area, they took control of it and quickly released smoke in the area to prevent Japanese aircraft from taking advantage of it."
Ten minutes later, plumes of black smoke rose from the area occupied by the Eighth Route Army.
There were dozens of meters between the smoke pillars, and the soldiers' vision on the ground was not affected at all.
The black smoke rose higher and higher. After reaching an altitude of one to two hundred meters, it stopped rising due to the influence of air pressure, and then quickly spread to the surrounding areas.
The space of tens of meters between the smoke pillars was quickly shrouded in gray smoke.
After a few minutes, these small pieces of smoke merged into one, like a black cloud, completely covering the occupied area.
Especially on the defense line where the enemy and ourselves intersect, the smoke column is densest and the smoke is the thickest.
The extra smoke spread unconsciously across the areas previously controlled by the puppet troops, causing the sky within a few dozen meters of the defense lines to become gray in the enemy-occupied areas.
At this moment, the plane that the Japanese army had high hopes for arrived.
The three planes slowly approached the battlefield, the roar of "Weng buzzing..." became louder and louder, and in the blink of an eye they appeared above Datong City.
Nearly a hundred orange smoke grenades flew into the area occupied by the Eighth Route Army from different directions.
At the former enemy headquarters of the Eighth Route Army, Chief of Staff Zhou saw the orange smoke rising from the occupied area at a glance, and then his face revealed a strong murderous intent.
The combat staff on the side analyzed: "Chief, the orange smoke represents an attack. The Japanese want planes to attack our offensive troops from the sky."
"There are ordinary people everywhere on the battlefield, and the enemy's and our defense lines are intertwined. Aren't they worried about accidental injuries?"
Chief of Staff Zhou shook his head and replied: "With signal flares as guidance, the aircraft will conduct low-altitude bombing. Even if the enemy's and our defense lines are intertwined, the Japanese pilots can accurately hit the target, so the Japanese have no worries about accidentally injuring their own people."
"As for the people in the city, they don't care about their own life or death. Do you think the little devil will care about their life or death?"
The staff officer shook his head and replied: "Not only will they not care, they will also let the planes blow up a few more civilians to bury them with them."
After saying that, he stared at Chief of Staff Zhou and asked: "Chief, although we are setting off smoke in the control area, it can temporarily block the Japanese signal smoke, but it will definitely not last long."
Chief of Staff Zhou was well prepared. Looking at the battlefield, he confidently ordered: "As long as we can block it for a minute or two, that's enough."
"Signal smoke bombs are not poison gas bombs. Apart from the signal smoke, the damage to the soldiers is almost zero."
"Order the local troops following the main force to immediately find these signal smoke bombs and destroy them."
At the Japanese military headquarters, a staff officer hurried in, his expression solemn and desperate.
"General, something happened on the front line!"
Without waiting for the brigade commander to speak, he told everything about the situation he saw on the front line, like pouring beans into a bamboo tube.
"The Eighth Route Army was letting off smoke on the front line. Many areas occupied by the Imperial Army were shrouded in smoke. The planes could not see the ground conditions clearly at an altitude of several hundred meters."
"The smoke flares fired by the troops towards the areas occupied by the Eighth Route Army lasted for at most one minute before being destroyed by them. There was no way they could continue to set off smoke."
"Without the thick smoke created by the Eighth Route Army, the smoke bombs would only need to emit signal smoke for tens of seconds to be detected by aircraft in the sky, and then the attack targets would be locked. It would be meaningless for the Eighth Route Army to destroy them."
"But now that there is thick smoke, the smoke grenade is destroyed before the pilot can see the signal smoke emitted by the smoke grenade, and it cannot guide the target at all."
The brigade commander hurriedly walked out of the war room.
The sky above the battlefield a few hundred meters away was indeed gray, covering the sky and the sun, and nothing could be seen.
When he first saw the smoke, the brigade commander thought it was formed after the smoke spread from the battlefield.
Now he understood that this was created by the Eighth Route Army soldiers.
The plane is their only hope to defend Datong City. If they are unable to provide support on the ground, the possibility of their defeat is very high.
The brigade leader couldn't afford the gamble, and he wasn't willing to let the plane circle over Datong and then go back.
He ordered with a stern face: "There is still a way!"
"The thick smoke is all concentrated at an altitude of more than 100 meters. Going down further, there are only smoke columns. They cannot block the pilot's sight."
"Order the aircraft in the sky to fly at ultra-low altitude to search for attack targets."
"Order the frontline combat troops to wait until the aircraft passes through the thick smoke and begins flying at ultra-low altitude before launching signal smoke grenades."
"Without thick smoke blocking the line of sight, as long as the smoke bombs can emit signal smoke for more than ten seconds, the pilot can find them, lock on to the target, and launch an attack."
The deputy chief of staff knew that this was the only way to solve the trouble, but there were also many hidden dangers, so he hesitated to remind him.
"General, when planes fly at ultra-low altitudes, the light and heavy machine guns equipped by the Eighth Route Army can threaten them. It is very likely that some planes will be destroyed during the attack."
The brigade leader snorted coldly and asked: "Then tell me which is more important, Datong City or a few planes? Is it the lives of more than a thousand Japanese people in the city or three planes that are more important?"
"As long as Datong is safe, the imperial army can create a lot of wealth here. If it has money, it can build a hundred aircraft."
The deputy staff officer immediately understood what the brigade commander meant: "The general is wise and humble, so go ahead and give the order now."
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