At the Japanese garrison headquarters in the county seat, the radio operator hurriedly broke in!
"Sir, there's an urgent call from Captain Oda!"
"The enemy who attacked the Xiaoguan stronghold is the Eighth Route Army, and the stronghold has been captured by them. All the weapons and equipment have been taken away by the Eighth Route Army. Not a grain of food or a bullet casing is left in the stronghold!"
"They judged that the Eighth Route Army attacked the stronghold for the food, equipment and ammunition that the Imperial Army had hoarded in the stronghold!"
"In addition, Captain Oda has found the retreat direction of the Eighth Route Army attacking the stronghold, and asked them if they want to pursue it!"
The adjutant immediately shouted: "Of course we have to pursue him!"
"We must kill these Eighth Route Army troops and take back the equipment and ammunition they stole from the stronghold!"
"Those equipment and ammunition and the equipment captured by the Imperial Association Army are enough for the Eighth Route Army to expand by nearly one main battalion. They must be snatched back, otherwise they will definitely pose a huge threat to us!"
"Hi!"
The operator quickly answered and then prepared to give the order!
But before they could move, the captain's curses reached their ears!
"Confused!"
"Everyone is dead, what else is there to chase!"
"The Eighth Route Army is famous for its guerrilla warfare. It's night again, and there's no difference between chasing reinforcements into the mountains and dying!"
"Order the troops to rebuild the Xiaoguan stronghold and control surrounding towns based on the Xiaoguan stronghold!"
The captain didn't know that because of their judgment, a large convoy was like a ghost, quickly passing under his nose and getting closer to Lingqiu!
Dongliang Stronghold, the last blockade that Li Hao needs to cross when returning to his base!
Before the garrison broke out from Lingqiu, this place only served to seal off the garrison's base. The garrison indeed only had one reinforced infantry squadron, which was similar to what Li Hao learned!
But since the garrison successfully broke through, the strength of the troops stationed here has changed, and it has also changed quietly without anyone noticing!
Three infantry brigades blocked the Lingqiu base area to prevent the breakout troops of the garrison from returning to Lingqiu!
One of the field brigade captains happened to take a fancy to this place and decided it to be the headquarters of his brigade!
So the garrison at the stronghold was directly increased to two reinforced infantry squadrons, half a heavy machine gun squadron, half a mortar squadron, a mountain artillery squadron, an infantry artillery squad, plus a battalion of puppet troops, the total strength has exceeded a thousand people!
More importantly, the Japanese army has deployed three reinforcement squadrons within ten kilometers of the surrounding area, which may reinforce the stronghold at any time!
If it were normal, such an intelligence garrison would definitely be able to detect it immediately!
But not now.
The base area is too chaotic!
The reinforcements of the military division and the Japanese mopping up troops have been reduced to a pot of porridge!
Two squadrons of Japs were rampaging through the base area, mopping up the remaining troops of the garrison!
After the garrison successfully broke through from Lingqiu, the Japanese and puppet troops lost all face!
In order to retaliate against the Eighth Route Army, these devils entered the base area, burned, killed, looted and tortured, committing all kinds of evil!
In less than ten days, nearly 500 people in two villages in the base area were massacred by them!
Countless villages and houses were burned down!
Political Commissar Wang Hong has only been busy with one thing during this period: to do everything possible to minimize the harm caused by these two Japs to the base area!
Then he neglected to collect intelligence!
In the woods three kilometers southwest of the Dongliang stronghold, the third battalion commander Huang Sheng and more than 500 soldiers under his command are lurking here!
In an hour, they will launch an attack on the Dongliang stronghold!
To the northeast of the stronghold, Zhao Wen, the commander of the Independent Battalion, was also hiding nearby, and behind him were all the recruits who had just replenished the Independent Battalion!
He had long wanted to capture the Dongliang stronghold ahead, but he had no confidence at all!
The independent camp had a full strength of more than 600 people, and now it has more than 500 people!
On the surface, the total military strength has only dropped by more than a hundred people, but the combat effectiveness is vastly different!
In the past, there was a high proportion of veterans among the more than 600 people, and they were also equipped with many heavy weapons! Even new recruits had to go through several months of training!
In the independent battalion in front of us, there are only more than 100 veterans among the more than 500 people, and the others are all guerrillas who have just replenished their troops!
They have not received formal training. Although they did receive training after joining the guerrillas, it was all about simple marksmanship and patrolling. Compared with the formal training of the main force, it is not worth mentioning at all!
Now there are three battalions cooperating in the frontal attack, and they also bring mountain artillery and mortars. He only needs to cooperate with the attack and deliver fatal attacks to the stronghold at the critical moment. Zhao Wencai has the confidence to capture the Dongliang stronghold!
What they don't know is that their confidence comes from the fact that there are only nearly 500 puppet troops in the stronghold!
The reality is quite the opposite!
The Dongliang stronghold may not look big, but there are more than a thousand Japanese puppet troops stationed inside, and most of them are well-equipped Japanese troops with extremely powerful combat effectiveness!
"boom……"
The first hit of the mountain cannon shell was in the middle of the most conspicuous turret in the center of the stronghold!
The attack begins!
"Keep up the mountain artillery fire and blow up the central turret of the stronghold. There must be a Japanese headquarters there!" Huang Sheng, the commander of the third battalion, attacked the stronghold according to the old method. Staring at the already chaotic stronghold, he ordered with a serious face!
"The mortar platoon also opened fire, shelling the open space in the middle of the stronghold and blasting the Japanese and puppet troops who had rushed out of the gun towers and barracks!"
"The offensive troops will set off now, approach the stronghold, and start attacking as soon as the shelling stops!"
After issuing a series of orders, Huang Sheng raised the telescope again and looked at the battlefield!
"Rumble..."
After five consecutive mountain artillery shells were fired, the turret collapsed, and then the charge horn was heard on the battlefield!
Under the cover of night, Huang Sheng vaguely saw a company of men distributed in skirmish lines, constantly changing various tactical movements, and rushing towards the stronghold like ghosts!
"Boom boom boom..."
The three mortars continued to fire, and the positions around the stronghold continued to burst into flames and thick black smoke!
I saw the attacking troops getting closer and closer, and Japanese and puppet positions were constantly being blown up by Japanese soldiers!
A smile slowly appeared on Huang Sheng's serious face!
Victory is within reach!
This is the thought that comes to Huang Sheng’s mind at this moment!
Suddenly, a series of piercing screams reached my ears, followed closely by a violent explosion behind me!
The regiment commander strengthened himself with a mountain cannon and three mortars, and in the blink of an eye he was drowned in artillery fire!
Huang Sheng was startled, his mouth opened, and he had not yet recovered from the shock!
What happened next on the battlefield made him want to vomit blood!
A large number of little devils suddenly appeared in the smoke-filled Japanese and puppet army positions. Five heavy machine guns and a dozen crooked guns suddenly opened fire. Bullets flew whizzingly, creating an airtight fire net in front of the attacking troops!
The attacking troops seemed to have hit an indestructible copper wall and were swept down in front of their positions in pieces!
In the blink of an eye, more than half of the attacking force of more than a hundred people suffered casualties!
"No, we were fooled!"
Huang Sheng finally reacted from the shock and shouted with a stunned look on his face!
"The intelligence says that there is only one reinforced squadron in the stronghold. It is impossible to equip it with mountain artillery, and it is also impossible to equip it with so many mortars and heavy machine guns!"
"If I guessed correctly, there are at least half a brigade of Japs hiding in the stronghold, and they have also strengthened mountain artillery, mortars, and heavy machine guns!"
"Retreat, the attacking troops retreat immediately!"
"The Japs are too strong, and they still have strongholds to hold on to. It's impossible to take them down with our little strength and firepower!"
"Let's retreat too and get out of here!"
"The stronghold is equipped with at least six mountain artillery, infantry artillery, and six mortars. We are just at the best range of these artillery. Once we are targeted by them, the troops will definitely suffer heavy casualties!"
Huang Sheng also thought of the Japanese!
Although Sasaki is only a captain, his military rank is Lieutenant Colonel!
Regardless of the field force or the second-line garrison force, this military rank corresponds to the deputy commander!
However, Sasaki serves as the captain with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, and is always ready to bypass the position of Lieutenant Colonel and Deputy Captain and be directly promoted to Colonel Captain!
This kind of jump promotion method means that Sasaki is a very powerful and different commander!
After the two rounds of shells were fired, he immediately adjusted his target and fired at the assembly area of the third battalion!
"Retreat, disperse and retreat, retreat one kilometer before regrouping!" Huang Sheng shouted at the top of his lungs!
The shelling stopped and the battlefield gradually became quiet!
The troops that were scattered and broke through the encirclement are returning to the army one after another!
Huang Sheng waited for a full ten minutes, with a heartfelt expression of reluctance on his face!
The third battalion had a full strength of more than 600 people, but only about 300 were left safely!
Just one miscalculated attack caused more than half of the troops to be killed or injured!
"Battal Commander, there are still many wounded who have not retreated, all caused by Japanese shelling!" the instructor reminded anxiously!
Huang Sheng hurriedly ordered: "Then why are you still standing there? Send people to search and rescue them immediately!"
"Tell comrades, don't light torches, don't have too many people, touch back quietly, and carry the wounded back when you find them. The speed must be fast!"
After rescuing more than a hundred seriously injured people in a row, the unwilling expression on Huang Sheng's face slowly dissipated!
As long as more than half of these people can be rescued, the Eighth Company, which was almost completely destroyed, will have a sufficient number of veterans to rebuild, and then quickly restore its combat effectiveness!
"Battal Commander, the strength of the stronghold is far beyond our imagination. The artillery strengthened by the regiment commander has also been destroyed. With only more than 300 people left, even with the cooperation of an independent battalion, we cannot take the stronghold!" The instructor frowned.
Reminder!
Huang Sheng’s brows furrowed even deeper!
After glancing at the watch on his wrist, he replied: "One more important point, we don't have time!"
"The leader will be here in ten minutes!"
"The stronghold cannot be taken down. Once the convoy is blocked here, and the Japanese reinforcements come over again, the guard company, reconnaissance company, and cavalry company in the hands of us and the regiment commander will definitely not be able to protect those equipment!"
"This matter is too big. We must remind the group leader immediately and make preparations in advance!"
"Correspondent, ride your horse immediately to contact the leader and tell him the situation here!"
"We can't wait here. It's going to be dawn. Once the Japanese discover the convoy, they will definitely send troops to attack us from all directions to surround and annihilate us!"
"Order: Guard platoon, reconnaissance platoon, all attack in squad units, and find out all the enemy's situation within ten kilometers of the surrounding area. The more detailed the better!"