The commander, Major General Noda, looked very unhappy. He stared at the sand table without moving for at least two hours!
"General!"
The communications staff officer suddenly rushed in, breaking the increasingly solemn atmosphere at the headquarters!
"There is news from the Nakata Brigade!" the chief of staff of the headquarters immediately asked!
"Hi!"
The communications staff officer quickly replied: "After they chased for nearly 20 kilometers, the traces left by the Eighth Route Army suddenly disappeared. The Eighth Route Army that attacked the coal mine seemed to have suddenly disappeared!"
"Where is the place where the trace disappeared?" the chief of staff frowned and continued to ask!
"Only five kilometers from our blockade!"
"Zhongtian Brigade specially sent people to contact the garrison on the blockade. Last night and today during the day, no Eighth Route Army attacked or crossed the blockade!"
"idiot!"
Major General Noda finally made a move and cursed directly!
"If the Eighth Route Army did not cross the blockade, where did the Eighth Route Army that attacked the coal mine come from?"
"There are more than 200 people in the coal mine guard team. They are well-equipped and powerful in combat. They also have solid gun towers and bunkers for defense!"
"Even if the troops attacking them have attack artillery, they will still need at least twice the strength advantage to end the battle in less than half an hour!"
"With so many troops, I can't think of anywhere else besides their Eighth Route Army base in northwestern Shanxi that could be mobilized!"
The chief of staff hesitated and reminded: "General, could the problem lie with the Imperial Alliance Army again?"
"The strength of the Imperial Army is limited. In order to ensure that the blockade has a certain amount of maneuverability, many smaller strongholds are jointly defended by the Imperial Army and the Imperial Alliance Army, and the Imperial Alliance Army is the main force!"
"If they betray the Imperial Army and cooperate with the Eighth Route Army to cross the blockade, they should be able to do so quietly!"
Major General Noda's eyes quickly shot out two rays of light: "It's possible!"
Pointing to the sand table in front of him, he analyzed: "Five kilometers ahead of the trace disappearance point is the blockade. There are nearly twenty strongholds and artillery towers along the blockade for more than ten kilometers. At least half of the defenders are mainly Imperial Army troops! If these strongholds
There are really Eighth Route Army men in the gun towers. As long as one of the gun towers is controlled, a battalion of troops will definitely be able to easily pass through the blockade!"
Having said this, Major General Noda became even more angry and ordered directly with a murderous look on his face!
"Check, you must find out this matter for me!"
"Chief of Staff, you are personally responsible. If there are really artillery towers controlled by the Eighth Route Army on the blockade, then the defense line we have spent a lot of manpower and material resources to build will be in vain!"
"The Eighth Route Army in northwestern Shanxi can pass through the blockade at will, run behind us and attack us, leaving us defenseless!"
"There are still supplies, and they will continue to flow into the Eighth Route Army base area in northwestern Shanxi. The imperial army's economic blockade on them, and the material blockade will be in vain!"
From noon to night, the chief of staff found nothing!
Returning to the headquarters, he lowered his head and reported: "General, I have cleared my humble position. Within two days, none of the strongholds we suspected have been attacked!"
"The strongholds dominated by the Imperial Alliance Army also have Imperial Army on duty at night. They guarantee that no Eighth Route Army will cross the blockade!"
"Nani? How is this possible?"
Major General Noda stared with big eyes, full of disbelief!
"General, something happened!"
The communications staff suddenly broke in and reported anxiously!
"Another of our strongholds was attacked. The sound of gunfire only lasted ten minutes and ended. Reinforcements are on their way!"
The chief of staff took the telegram and just glanced at it, his brows furrowed into the Chinese character "Chuan", and then he pointed at the sand table and introduced: "General, a small coal mine 20 kilometers northeast of Datong was attacked, but it is also controlled by the imperial army.
, there are more than 100 escorts and more than 500 absentees, all Chinese soldiers captured by the empire on the frontal battlefield!"
"If the coal mine is breached, these five hundred absentees are likely to become enemies of the imperial army again, posing a great threat to Datong's public security!"
"The telegram said that due to the insufficient strength of the surrounding imperial army, they only sent one infantry squadron to reinforce the battlefield!"
"Bage Yalu, is their commander a stupid pig?"
Major General Noda had suppressed his anger and seemed to have found an outlet for it to explode. He cursed directly!
"There are more than 100 coal mine guards, and they also have heavy machine guns. The fact that the enemy dares to attack shows that they have at least twice the strength advantage, and they also bring heavy weapons!"
"A squadron of imperial troops kills them and engages them in a mountain battle. If the enemy is not eliminated by then, we will suffer heavy casualties!"
"Order: The front-line combat troops confronting the Shanxi-Sui Army immediately dispatch two infantry squadrons to take vehicles to reinforce the battlefield!"
"An infantry squadron that has been dispatched will kill them first, hold back the enemies attacking the coal mine, and wait for the follow-up reinforcements to arrive before gathering together to annihilate them!"
A few words popped up in the chief of staff's mind: "You're still hotter when you're old!"
Just about to give the order!
"Jingle Bell……"
The phone rang rapidly, and a staff officer quickly picked up the phone. After listening for less than a minute, the staff member's face became more and more solemn!
Putting down the phone, he hurriedly reported: "Sir, another coal mine has been attacked, this is it!"
Seeing the position of the staff's finger, Major General Noda's face became increasingly ugly!
As if he had thought of something, his face sank and he analyzed: "It is only ten kilometers away from the coal mine that was attacked last night. Is it possible that the Eighth Route Army that attacked the coal mine last night is still hiding in the woods?"
"If that's the case, no matter what, we can't let them slip away again this time!"
"Order the Nakata Brigade to send troops immediately to reinforce the battlefield!"
"Jingle Bell!"
The phone rang rapidly again!
The staff officer picked up the phone and listened for half a minute before his face began to turn pale. He put down the phone and rushed directly to the sand table. Pointing to a coal mine above, he hurriedly reported: "General, this coal mine has also been attacked, but we have no maneuvers nearby.
The troops are ready for reinforcements!"
"Deploy troops directly from the front-line troops!" Major General Noda made the decision after only considering it for a few seconds!
"Call to the front-line troops confronting the Jinsui Army to draw out two more squadrons and march urgently to reinforce the battlefield!"
"I judge that the enemy attacking our three coal mines is the Eighth Route Army that suddenly disappeared last night!"
"They gave us a plan to divert the tiger away from the mountain!"
"Let us mistakenly think that they have returned to their base and focus all their attention on the blockade!"
"They took the opportunity to divide their forces and lurked around the three coal mines that were under attack. They launched a surprise attack as soon as it got dark, trying to take down our three coal mines together!"
The chief of staff asked with an expression of disbelief: "How is this possible? Does the Eighth Route Army have such a big appetite?"
Major General Noda replied with a murderous look on his face: "Whether they have such a big appetite or not, they have done it now!"
"Three coal mines were attacked one after another, and contact was lost one after another. This start is very unfavorable for us!"
"Perhaps some coal mines have been occupied by now, and the Eighth Route Army has begun to retreat!"
"Hiss..." the chief of staff was even more shocked, and took a breath and shouted!
"General, even if this Eighth Route Army is very powerful, it can't attack so fast!"
"Each coal mine's guard team has more than a hundred people, and they are also equipped with heavy machine guns! Moreover, the guard team members are all retired veterans of the Imperial Army, and their combat effectiveness is very strong! There are more than one hundred people, and even a single battalion of the Eighth Route Army is not present on the frontal battlefield.
That’s it!”
Major General Noda replied solemnly: "I also think the analysis just now is alarmist, but I think this Eighth Route Army has such capabilities!"
"Last night, we killed one of our more than 200 escorts in less than half an hour!"
"They had strong turrets and bunkers for defense, but they were defeated so quickly! These three coal mines do not have turrets and bunkers, and the defenders are also reduced by half. It is not impossible to be defeated in a short time!"
"Let me think about it!"
"This Eighth Route Army is obviously different from the Eighth Route Army we usually encounter. They are well-equipped, powerful in combat, and have the ability to attack difficult situations. If they have captured three coal mines now, with the marching speed of our reinforcements, they will definitely arrive on the battlefield.
He has already disappeared without a trace!"
"No, we can't pin all our hopes of killing this Eighth Route Army on the reinforcements. They will probably defeat all three coal mines!"
"here!"
Major General Noda pointed at a point on the sand table and ordered firmly!
"The Eighth Route Army divided its forces to attack three coal mines. After the battle, they will definitely reunite and return to their base!"
"In order not to expose their whereabouts, their best chance is to return to the base before dawn!"
"So their time must be very tight. If I were their commander, I would definitely choose a location close to the three coal mines as the meeting point!"
"This place is very close to three coal mines, so there is at least an 80% chance that they will meet here and then return to the base together!"
"Order: The Zhongtian Brigade is divided into a reinforced squadron to continue to reinforce the coal mine!"
"Other troops, under the personal command of Major Nakata, rushed here and put the entire five-kilometer radius on alert!"
"As soon as you find the retreating Eighth Route Army, surround them immediately!"
"Reinforcement troops have arrived at the scene. Once they are empty, the troops should not stop. They will immediately lead troops to attack this point and form a large encirclement around them. They will kill all the Eighth Route Army troops who have gathered here!"
Major General Noda is indeed a battle-hardened veteran. If the sneak attack force really comes from northwestern Shanxi, there is a 90% chance that his plan will be sighted!
However, his idea was wrong from the beginning!
It was not the Northwestern Shanxi Eighth Route Army that attacked the coal mine, but a garrison group that he could not even imagine to kill!
Li Hao wouldn't give him the chance to annihilate all three main companies in one fell swoop!
Li Hao had already been prepared for this!
Before dividing the troops, there was a special order to complete the attack mission, and each company took its own detour back to the secret camp!
In this way, even if one company is targeted by the Japanese, the other two companies can return to the secret camp safely!
And even if a company is targeted, with the commanding abilities of three company commanders, they will find ways to lure the Japanese away from the secret camp to ensure the safety of the secret camp!
Even though Major General Noda’s battle plan was very thorough and all aspects were considered, it would still end in bankruptcy!
