"Why!" Hong Linfeng asked subconsciously, his brows also furrowed.
Li Hao was silent for a moment and asked: "How many little devils did we kill in the village yesterday afternoon? Do you still remember them?"
"There were 524 dead Japs, 29 puppet soldiers, and 139 captured puppet soldiers. Lieutenant Guang killed two of them. It can be said that this was the battle in which our independent battalion killed the most Japs!"
"By the way, nine heavy machine guns were also seized!"
"The Japanese only have one heavy machine gun squadron with twelve heavy machine guns. They suddenly lost three-quarters of their equipment and turned into a machine gun squad!"
Having said this, Hong Linfeng paused for a moment, his tone became obviously heavier, and he continued.
"But we also paid a very heavy price!"
"The first squadron and small team that entered the village were easier to fight. We concentrated our superior troops and firepower, and were familiar with the terrain, and we killed them without much effort!"
"The two infantry squadrons and the heavy machine gun squadron coming in behind are much more difficult to fight."
"The advantages in strength and firepower are all gone. The only thing we can rely on is the terrain advantage, so the casualties are a bit high!"
"After statistics, the five main companies participating in the battle plus the baggage company had nearly 500 people before the war. After the battle, there were more than 290 people including the wounded. 216 people were directly sacrificed, and there were also seriously injured people.
42 people have lost their combat effectiveness and have been handed over to the baggage company and sent back to the base together with the prisoners!"
"Excluding the baggage company, we now have only 174 troops left who can still fight!"
"The worst thing is the second company. Including company commander Zhao Yun, there are still 21 people left!"
"The other four companies are not much better. There are only more than thirty people left, just one platoon!"
When the casualties were mentioned, Li Hao's face didn't look good, and he replied with a stern face: "Blood debts must be paid with blood. Sooner or later, I will have to find the Watanabe Brigade to settle this debt!"
Then the conversation changed and he continued: "Let's discuss the issue just now first!"
"Yesterday afternoon, we killed more than 500 Japanese troops, almost all of them combat troops. Let me ask you another question, how many combat troops are there in the hands of the Japanese Watanabe Brigade!"
"Four infantry squadrons plus one guard squad, the total strength is less than 900 people!"
At this point, Hong Linfeng suddenly reacted: "I understand, battalion commander, you mean that the little Japs don't have the strength to fight us desperately!"
"Yes, the little devil still has at least 400 combat troops in his hands!" Li Hao shook his head and replied.
Hong Linfeng was puzzled: "Then battalion commander, why did you just say that it's not that simple for the little devil to fight for us!"
Li Hao smiled and explained: "Having the ability to fight us doesn't mean they will fight us!"
"You have forgotten the real purpose of the little devil Watanabe Brigade leaving Lingqiu County!"
Hong Linfeng finally understood, and exclaimed with a look of realization: "This time I really understand!"
"If the little devils continue to fight us here, they won't have the troops to continue raiding our base!"
"Sweeping the base area and besieging the military division headquarters is a unified action of tens of thousands. No matter how heavy the burden is, Watanabe cannot directly disobey military orders."
At this point, Hong Linfeng had an idea and reminded him: "Battalion Commander, do you think the little devil is just bluffing by setting up artillery in such a big way outside the village?"
"First cover us with a round of artillery fire, and then take advantage of the chaos to kill Dongtian Village!"
"It's possible!" Li Hao thought for a while but did not deny it.
Hong Linfeng became anxious again and began to ask for a fight: "Then we definitely can't let the little devil pass through Dongtian Village so easily!"
"I suggest pulling all the troops up and lurking in the yard next to the road!"
"If the Japs are really bluffing, then we will use the yard next to the highway to deal with them. If we can kill one more Japs, we will kill one more!"
"If the Japs still plan to attack us, that's good. Although we only have a hundred or so people left, I am confident that we will be able to kill at least another 200 Japs through street fighting!"
"Batalion Commander, give the order!"
Li Hao said nothing and continued to frown, mentally calculating the pros and cons.
After a few minutes, he shook his head and replied: "Japs are not that stupid!"
"If they really plan to bluff and take the opportunity to cross Dongtian Village, they will definitely use artillery shells to smash the houses on both sides of the road into rubble!"
"The little devil suffered such a big loss in the street fight yesterday afternoon. The same mistake will not be made again!"
"If you lead people into the village and lurk in the houses next to the road, you might get bombed and die!"
"We cannot take this risk. The casualties of the troops are already high enough. We must be cautious in every subsequent battle and try to reduce the casualties as much as possible!"
Hong Linfeng shouted unwillingly: "Then we will just watch the Japanese pass through Dongtian Village under the cover of artillery fire!"
"Eggs cannot be put in one basket!" Li Hao made a decision quickly!
"You lead the first company and the third company into the village immediately, and spread out as squads to lurk in the village!"
"If the Japanese want to pass through the village by road, they will definitely stop the bombardment and march quickly through the village with artillery!"
"What you need to do is to quickly move closer to the road after the shelling stops, harass them, and kill every one you can!"
"If the Japanese don't leave and would rather disobey military orders than fight us to the end, that's fine!"
"Two companies will go up immediately to slow down their advance, and then I will bring the remaining two companies up for reinforcements!"
"This way we can minimize accidents and severely injure the little devil with minimal casualties!"
Less than five minutes after Hong Linfeng and his men had walked, the scream of artillery shells streaking across the sky was heard, followed closely by the sound of explosions in the village, the ground shook, and then clouds of orange smoke mixed with a large amount of black smoke rose up.
Red fireball.
"Something's wrong~"
Seeing the distribution of the fireballs in the village, Li Hao's already frowning frown deepened.
Artillery was dispatched to cover the entire village with artillery fire. Li Hao's first reaction was that the Japanese had no intention of running away.
Otherwise, their artillery shells will definitely hit both sides of the road, razing the houses and yards on both sides of the road to the ground, leaving the independent battalion without a hiding place and unable to sneak attack them!
"Does the little devil really plan to continue to confront me head-on here? I was thinking too much just now?" Li Hao frowned and muttered to himself.
But he quickly rejected the idea!
The Independent Battalion was able to kill more than 500 of them through street fighting yesterday, and it will definitely be no problem to kill more than 300 of them today with the same fighting style!
The Watanabe Brigade can no longer afford to lose. If we lose more than 300 people, the entire Watanabe Brigade will exist in name only, leaving only a group of technical soldiers. Not to mention attacking and mopping up the base area, even self-protection will be a problem!
More importantly, the Watanabe Brigade lost more than 300 people, but it may not be enough to kill itself.
As a mid-level commander of the Japanese army who has experienced battles in the battlefield, Li Hao is certain: Watanabe can definitely guess this result.
Knowing that he would suffer a big loss or even lead to the destruction of the entire army, he still insisted on doing this.
Li Hao didn't believe that the Japanese had so many shells that they had no place to shoot them, so they deliberately smashed them into the village. There must be a conspiracy behind this shelling that he didn't know about!
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