"Batalion Commander, can we start firing?" Yuan Qingfeng, the commander of the artillery company, asked anxiously as soon as the plane disappeared.
"Fight, move after the fight is over..." Li Hao ordered decisively.
Two infantry squadrons and a guard group of nearly 500 Japs were gathered together. Suddenly thirty artillery shells were fired at them. The casualties would definitely be huge, Li Hao thought to himself.
"Batalion Commander, what about us?" several infantry company commanders asked, unwilling to lag behind.
"Stand by!" Li Hao replied.
"We'll wait until the bombardment is over and confirm the kid's next move before we move!"
As soon as he finished speaking, six mortar shells flew over his head towards the Japs assembly area.
The explosions in the village and the roar of the artillery positions served as the best cover for these shells. Watanabe didn't react until the shells fell from the sky and exploded among the crowd.
With a look of shock on his face, he ordered: "Baga, we have forgotten that the Independent Battalion still has artillery..."
"The troops immediately dispersed and moved to avoid the artillery attack..."
"The mortar squadron will counterattack immediately, suppress their artillery fire, and try to kill them!"
"Boom boom boom..."
As soon as the order was issued, the second round of artillery shells crashed down, and a ball of fire suddenly appeared on the ground not far away. The four imperial soldiers who had not dispersed were instantly blown over and fell to the ground motionless. A little further away
Several imperial soldiers also fell to the ground, screaming and squirming on the ground, but they did not die on the spot!
In less than half a minute, the explosion stopped.
After another half minute, the roar of mortar fire was heard from the artillery position not far away.
Watanabe got up from the ground under the protection of his subordinates, and a tragic scene appeared directly in front of him.
The troop assembly area at the entrance of the village was originally a barren fertile field with an unobstructed view. Now there are more than 20 bomb craters of various sizes scattered around, and around each crater there are more or less corpses of the imperial army lying.
There were many wounded members of the imperial army lying on the ground, screaming in agony.
"Why are you still standing there? Treat the wounded immediately!" Lieutenant Colonel Watanabe turned into an angry lion and roared loudly.
Soon, the adjutant rushed over with his head lowered: "Sir, the artillery fire just now killed 39 of our imperial troops and seriously injured 16 of them. We just lost a full infantry squad!"
"The mortar squadron reported that although they counterattacked in time, the artillery of the independent battalion only fired five rounds of shells before moving away. They don't know whether their counterattack just now was effective or whether it severely damaged the artillery of the independent battalion!"
"In addition, the five-minute shelling has ended. Should we follow the original battle plan and order the first squadron to attack immediately to encircle and annihilate the remaining Eighth Route Army troops in the village?"
After saying this, the adjutant closed his mouth and stood aside with his head lowered and said nothing.
He was certain that Lieutenant Colonel Watanabe must be furious right now. One word of his could cause him to vent his anger on himself, which would outweigh the gains and losses, so he wisely chose to shut up.
Several squadron leaders also made an agreement and lowered their heads at the same time and said nothing.
Watanabe's anger is indeed very strong right now, and his whole person is like a powder keg filled with gunpowder. As long as there is a tiny spark, he can explode.
After glancing around at the subordinates with their heads lowered, he quickly shifted his gaze to Dongtian Village in front of him.
The smoke that filled the sky over the village had dissipated. Lieutenant Commander Watanabe held up his telescope and could finally clearly see the real situation in the village.
The bombing and shelling effects were better than I imagined.
Especially the area where several aerial bombs exploded.
A huge crater with a depth of more than two meters was blasted out at each impact point. Houses and courtyard walls within a few dozen meters around the crater were all pushed down, leaving only the foundations of the walls and ruins of up to one meter.
At a glance, the village was full of ruins and burning roofs.
There are not many places left in the village where people can hide! Commander Watanabe made a judgment in his mind.
Then he subconsciously prepared to order the troops to continue the attack and completely kill the remnants of the independent battalion in the village.
But when the order came to his lips, he swallowed it back.
At that moment he thought of the artillery unit that had been moved by the Independence Battalion.
The village has been razed to the ground, and there is no place to hide. The remaining remnants of the independent battalion will definitely be exposed. Similarly, the imperial army attacking the village will be exposed on the battlefield, with no way to hide.
If their artillery takes the opportunity to fire, the imperial army exposed in the village will definitely lose a lot of people!
Just now, the troops lost an infantry squad before they even started attacking. If there were more losses, the entire Watanabe Brigade would be doomed. Not to mention attacking the Eighth Route Army's First Division Headquarters, even self-protection would be a problem!
The reason why I made the decision to continue attacking the village and eliminate the independent battalion last night was because I had confidence in the aviation force.
After the plane bombing, there must be very few independent battalions left in the village. All the imperial army needs to do is to clean up the remaining enemies, clean the battlefield, occupy Dongtian Village without paying any price, and then continue to attack the Eighth Route Army Division 1 base area and execute the order to the summit!
The situation in front of me was completely opposite to my judgment last night.
In his calculations, he actually ignored the very important artillery. Before the battle started, these artillery gave him a powerful attack and killed an infantry squad!
Keep fighting. As long as their artillery is still there and they have enough ammunition, they will definitely be able to kill one or two of their own infantry squads.
This means that even though we have aircraft cover, we have to lose a squadron to capture Dongtian Village, and we cannot completely kill the Independent Battalion.
Without troops, relying only on artillery and cavalry, it would be impossible to attack a divisional base area, so he hesitated.
After thinking for half a minute, he made a decision: "We can't continue fighting!"
"With all our troops left here, we won't be able to carry out the order to the summit!"
"Order the artillery to concentrate their fire on the houses on both sides of the road and keep firing for another five minutes!"
"Then the whole team marched quickly through the village and continued to attack the base area of the first division!"
"As for the independent battalion, we will definitely have better opportunities to kill them in the future."
At the independent battalion headquarters, Li Hao's face was also very solemn.
The artillery lived up to expectations, killing almost an infantry squad of the Japanese army and successfully transferred.
But Li Hao didn't have much smile on his face.
The casualties of the little devil are not as many as those caused by the plane bombing just now on the independent battalion.
Since you want revenge, you must kill at least twice as many imps, otherwise the sacrificed soldiers will not be able to rest in peace.
However, the Japanese troops outside the village did not give the Independence Battalion this chance.
After the shelling ended, the Japanese infantry did not take the opportunity to attack the village.
The Japanese didn't move, so he could only suppress the subordinates around him who were clamoring to go to the battlefield, but he didn't move.
But at this moment, the Japanese army actually opened fire again, and the shells were all dropped on the side of the road as if they were free.
In the blink of an eye, the smoke from the explosion of the artillery shells completely covered the road.
"The devil is running away!"
Li Hao saw the real purpose of the Japanese at a glance!
"We can't let them escape so easily!" Xiao Yuan, the guard company commander, shouted.
"Yes, the revenge of Captain Jiang and the sacrificed soldiers has not been avenged, we must not let them escape!" Firepower Company Commander Zhao Wen shouted not to be outdone!
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