"If we continue to speed up, the Eighth Route Army is hiding around us. We must get rid of them immediately!" the rear squadron leader shouted at the top of his lungs as he walked among the crowd.
In order to avoid becoming the target of a sneak attack by the independent battalion, all the Japanese officers, including Watanabe, gave up their horses and marched on foot with their soldiers.
"Sir, we are passing the baggage and artillery units. Do you want to protect them and move forward together?" the squad leader caught up and reminded.
A flash of hesitation quickly flashed across the squadron leader's face, and then he fell into deep thought.
My task is to protect the baggage and artillery units from the rear. If I abandon them and run away, even if I bring all my men back to Lingqiu in the end, it will be disobeying the military order.
But if we don't leave, the troops will definitely suffer heavy losses from the Eighth Route Army's sneak attack along the way back to Lingqiu County.
Most of these subordinates were brought out by themselves and have been battle-hardened for a long time. It was really frustrating to be killed by the Eighth Route Army without even seeing what their opponents looked like.
The more I thought about the squadron leader, the deeper his frown deepened, struggling internally not knowing how to make a decision.
"Da da da……"
A series of gunshots suddenly rang out in the woods on the right, bringing the squadron leader back to reality.
The two subordinates screamed and fell on the road, with several bloody holes in their bodies.
"This is already the tenth warrior to be killed by the Eighth Route Army's sneak attack troops!" The squadron leader did not suppress the anger in his heart and cursed with an expression of gritted teeth.
The squad leader hesitated for a moment and reminded: "Sir, should we maintain the speed to protect the artillery and baggage troops and continue to advance, or should we ignore them and speed up to get rid of the surrounding Eighth Route Army. You must make a decision as soon as possible, otherwise some of us will continue to be shot coldly.
Beat him to death with a cold cannon!"
The squadron leader seemed to have seen his subordinates die tragically one after another under the sneak attacks of the Eighth Route Army.
The expression on his face became increasingly ugly. He clenched his fists and made a decisive decision.
"Continue to speed up the march, get rid of the surrounding Eighth Route Army, and ignore the artillery and baggage troops!"
"If we suffer heavy casualties from a sneak attack by the Eighth Route Army along the way, the artillery and baggage troops will also be in danger, and all of us may be killed by then!"
"We speed up and get rid of the Eighth Route Army. At least we can safely withdraw to Lingqiu County!"
"Inform the artillery and baggage troops that their marching speed should also be accelerated. Try to keep up with the team and get rid of the Eighth Route Army moving around us!"
"Only in this way can all our troops safely withdraw to Lingqiu County!"
The rear infantry squadron marched faster and faster, surpassing the artillery and baggage troops in less than half an hour!
When he saw that he was about to fall behind, the captain of the baggage squadron became anxious and shouted back and forth in the middle of the team at the top of his lungs.
"Quick, we have started to fall behind. We must speed up, catch up with the infantry, and get rid of the Eighth Route Army next to us, otherwise it will be too dangerous!"
The roar of soldiers, the sound of whips, and the neighing of mules and horses soon sounded on the road.
The marching speed was indeed much faster, but the baggage train that was still orderly just now was obviously more chaotic than before.
The squadron leader couldn't care less and continued to shout: "Just keep going like this, and the speed must be accelerated!"
After deploying a large number of baggage troops to supplement the infantry, the number of soldiers left in the baggage team was less than a hundred. On average, one baggage soldier controlled at least three mules and horses. No matter how fast they were, they could not match the speed of the infantry who were only equipped with rifles.
When we returned to Dongtian Village, the infantry, baggage trains, and artillery had been completely separated.
The team that was less than 800 meters in the beginning was suddenly stretched to more than 1,000 meters.
The cavalry squadron, the guard, and the two infantry squadrons were at the forefront.
The cavalry squadron relies on its speed to patrol and guard the highway to ensure everyone's safety.
The baggage train and two artillery squadrons of more than three hundred little Japanese, dragged down by the baggage artillery, walked at the end, separated from the infantry by at least 300 meters, and it was still expanding further.
"Sir, the baggage train and artillery are too far behind. Why don't you wait for them?" the adjutant reminded him as he caught up with Watanabe.
"No, keep moving forward at the speed and wait until you pass Dongtian Village!" Lieutenant Colonel Watanabe refused without hesitation, then thought for a moment and analyzed.
"We haven't been attacked by the Eighth Route Army for nearly an hour? It shows that our tactics are effective. As long as we march fast enough and get rid of them, the Eighth Route Army can't do anything to us!"
"When the baggage and artillery march together, the speed will slow down. Maybe the Eighth Route Army will catch up with us again and continue to attack us!"
As soon as he finished speaking, a second lieutenant from the cavalry squadron rushed over!
"Sir, we used firepower to reconnoiter the ruins on both sides of the Chuandongtian Village Road. There is no danger!"
Lieutenant Colonel Watanabe immediately made a decision: "Order the troops to maintain speed and march through Dongtian Village!"
A squadron of cavalry, two squadrons of infantry, and a guard, passed rapidly through the village.
After leaving the village for two to three hundred meters, the baggage train and artillery troops entered the village.
An explosion suddenly sounded on the road outside the village, breaking the tranquility of the village.
Six artillery shells fell from the sky and hit the road outside the village. One of the shells hit right in the middle of the Japs, blowing up the four surrounding Japs.
"It's the Eighth Route Army artillery company. They are still here... Everyone, don't stop, go around the shelling area and rush over!" Lieutenant Colonel Watanabe ordered subconsciously.
At the independent battalion headquarters, Li Hao stared at the scene closely without blinking, for fear of missing something.
"Battal Commander, the Japanese infantry, as you have judged before, did not choose to stop and counterattack, but directly bypassed the shelling area and continued to advance!"
Li Hao answered confidently: "The Watanabe Brigade has suffered enough losses in the past two days. If we stop to fight back, there will definitely be greater losses. Only by continuing to retreat can we minimize the losses and bring more soldiers with us."
Go back to Lingqiu!"
"Since the Japanese will not turn back and fight back, we will act according to the original battle plan and intercept the Japanese artillery and baggage troops~"
"The firepower company and the independent company immediately attacked, blocking the Japanese baggage and artillery in the village, and separated them from the infantry in front!"
"After the guards were disconnected, they first surrounded the Japs in the village. There were many of them and there were few of us. We would definitely not be able to swallow one bite, so we could only eat slowly and slowly!"
"Da da da……"
A dozen soldiers suddenly appeared among the ruins at the entrance of the village. At least half of the soldiers were holding crooked guns and Czech weapons in their hands, and they fired at the Japanese artillerymen who had rushed to the entrance of the village.
"Bageya Road, the Eighth Route Army wants to block us in the village...those with guns will fight back immediately, let's rush over!" The artillery squadron leader saw the purpose of the independent battalion, drew his command knife, pointed at the light machine gun platoon of the fire company and ordered.
The two Japanese artillery squadrons had more than 200 gunners, only fifty or sixty soldiers equipped with rifles, and only four light machine guns, and they were scattered among the two-hundred-meter-long team.
After the squadron leader issued the assault order, only a dozen nearby riflemen and a machine gun responded, firing a string of bullets at the fire.
The shooting accuracy was very good, and the two machine gunners in the front fell down at the sound.
"Heavy machine gun fire suppression, light machine gun attack Japanese gunners, kill them!" Chen Bing, the firepower company commander, did not panic and ordered with confidence.
The current firepower company is not what it used to be. Not to mention the twelve heavy machine guns, there are also nine Czech-made ones.
With such intensity of firepower, he would not be afraid even if he faced a reinforced Japanese squadron, not to mention that his opponent was just a bunch of artillery and baggage troops.
Four heavy machine guns appeared out of nowhere in the ruins. Behind each heavy machine gun were squatting two soldiers, a machine gunner, and an assistant shooter and ammunition feeder.
"Da da da……"
The heavy machine gun fired, and four thick tongues of flame spurted out from the muzzle, covering dozens of Japanese soldiers on the road in the blink of an eye!
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