The chief of staff of the Japanese independent mixed brigade headquarters walked in hastily, with a complicated expression on his face.
After seeing Nakata Yamaro, he hesitated for a few seconds before reporting.
"General, the garrison has been dispatched."
"A total of three troops marched quickly through the blockade and entered the area occupied by the imperial army."
"How many people are there in each unit and how is the equipment?" Nakata Yamaro was very confident in his layout and asked calmly with a calm expression.
In his eyes, the occupied area he was responsible for had been woven into a big fishing net. The strongholds were the nodes in this big net, and the mobile troops in the strongholds were like small nets.
As long as the garrison troops enter the area occupied by the imperial army, they will fall into the big net that I have prepared for them.
If the small nets prepared at each stronghold were pounced on in time, they would be tightly covered by the two nets and unable to escape.
The chief of staff immediately reported: "Each attacking force has nearly 400 people, is well-equipped, and also carries a lot of heavy weapons."
Nakata Yamaro's eyes lit up and he replied: "Four hundred people, based on my understanding of the garrison, is exactly half a battalion's strength."
"The three attacking troops add up to one and a half battalions."
"We were just preparing to encircle and suppress the guerrillas that had just emerged in the occupied areas, and they moved out on the back foot, and dispatching so many troops at once was a big deal."
"However, all this is within our calculation."
"They certainly didn't expect that as soon as they were dispatched, they would fall into a big net prepared by the imperial army."
"Order the commanders of all front-line defense zones to immediately deploy mobile troops to encircle and annihilate them."
"These troops must have the purpose of reinforcing the guerrillas, and we must not let their conspiracy succeed."
"Concentrate our forces to kill them first, and then encircle and suppress those guerrillas to completely eliminate the hidden dangers in our rear areas."
The more Nakata Yamaro talked, the more excited he became, as if victory was just around the corner.
The chief of staff stood nearby, his expression becoming more solemn as he listened.
The news he brought was completely opposite to the brigade commander's inference. Seeing that the brigade commander was so happy and completely immersed in the dream he had conceived, he didn't know how to continue reporting.
But the military situation is urgent, and even if the brigade commander vents all his anger on himself, the report must still be made, and it cannot be delayed for a second.
He interrupted bravely: "General, our front-line commanders did indeed do this."
"But these Eighth Route Army troops are too cunning."
"They disappeared before our mobile troops were in place."
Nakata Yamaro asked with wide eyes: "Nani? He's missing. How is this possible?"
"Are the intelligence personnel and maintenance committees responsible for monitoring these three forces all pigs?"
"There are imperial army spies all over the occupied area. There are so many of them. How could they not even be able to keep an eye on three troops? How could they suddenly disappear?"
The chief of staff hesitated and explained: "General, ten days ago, the occupied areas were indeed full of imperial army spies."
"Not to mention four hundred people, even if the Eighth Route Army dispatches a hundred people, as long as they enter the area occupied by the imperial army, their every move will be under the surveillance of the imperial army."
"But the situation is different now."
"After those guerrillas emerged, they have not yet threatened the safety of the imperial army."
"But the Imperial Army's spies dispersed throughout their area of activity were all dealt a devastating blow."
"At least one-third of the villages in the occupied area we currently manage have become blind spots for the imperial army's reconnaissance, especially the villages near the mountainous areas. The maintenance will be blocked, and the imperial army has almost no idea about the situation there.
."
"My humble guess is that the Eighth Route Army must have connected with the guerrillas. Under their leadership, they got rid of the imperial army's intelligence personnel, entered their activity area, and disappeared from the imperial army's sight, allowing our mobile troops to escape."
The smile on Nakata Yamaro's face disappeared, and he replied with a stern face: "Bagaya Road, I didn't expect that the problem would still arise within us in the end."
"The guerrillas, who are not even equipped with a few machine guns, can actually play such a big role on the battlefield. I underestimated them."
The chief of staff quickly comforted him: "General, please calm down. All of us have underestimated the strength of these guerrillas and their role on the battlefield."
"Now all three troops dispatched by the garrison are missing. I believe that our top priority is to find them."
"The troops of nearly 400 people are also equipped with many heavy weapons. The mopping up troops sent out by many strongholds are no match for them."
"If they are targeted, these mopping up troops will definitely be attacked, and they may even be killed before reinforcements can arrive."
Nakata Yamaro was angry about the accident, but he did not lose his mind.
He is a veteran who has been on the battlefield for a long time, and he knows that he needs to be calmer at this time.
His eyes quickly shifted to the map next to him, and he began to give orders with a sullen face: "Inform the person in charge of each defense zone that the attacking troops smaller than one squadron will retreat immediately, and rely on the strongholds to strictly guard and defend them, so as not to give the attacking troops of the garrison regiment a chance to attack them.
"
"The attack troops formed in each large stronghold and county town took action immediately. They will take over the mobile troops that have withdrawn and continue to encircle and suppress the guerrillas."
"As for the missing garrison attack troops, don't worry about them."
"As long as we continue to attack and suppress the guerrillas, they will appear on their own."
"Either we directly attack our mobile troops through ambush warfare, or we use common tactics such as encircling the points for reinforcements, attacking strongholds, and attacking from the east to the west to force our mobile troops to withdraw and reduce the pressure on their guerrillas."
"No matter which method they choose, with the strength of their mobile troops and various strongholds, they can hold on for at least an hour after being attacked and then hold them back."
"And one hour is enough for us to deploy nearby mobile troops to rush to the battlefield quickly, make dumplings for the enemy, and kill them."
The chief of staff's eyes lit up, and the worry on his face disappeared.
He took the opportunity to compliment and said: "The general is wise."
"In this way, even if these three attacking troops merge with the guerrillas and disappear from under our noses with their help, they will still be killed by us because they will not be able to escape the imperial army's pursuit and interception."
"I'll give you the order right now."
Behind a hill next to the highway, nearly a hundred soldiers sat on the ground holding rifles to rest and replenish their strength.
Suddenly, a figure rushed over.
"Company commander, the Japs mobile troops have indeed come over. There are more than 200 Japs and more than 300 puppet troops, including armored vehicles and cars. They also brought mountain artillery." The second platoon leader panted and ran all the way to Li Zhiyong.
reported.
This was the expected enemy. Li Zhiyong was calm and ordered with a calm face.
"The old rules are that the troops work in squads, disperse their operations, use guerrilla warfare to deal with the Japs, retreat after the attack, and never get entangled with the Japs."
"The three squadrons in the district squadron have the same mission, which is to retreat when they hit."
"However, the retreat route must be chosen before the operation begins, so that the Japanese cannot catch up."
"Others are following me. We haven't fought an armored vehicle yet. Today we will try to drive a car and destroy one."
The commander of the mountain artillery platoon next to him almost jumped up with joy and shouted with excitement: "Company commander, let us go."
"The protective armor of the Japanese armored vehicles is just a layer of iron, which can be penetrated by a single shell from a mountain cannon."
"Give me a chance to fire two artillery shells, and I'm sure to blow up their armored vehicles into a pile of scrap metal."
Li Zhiyong shook his head and replied: "No, you can't move unless it is absolutely necessary."
"The mountain artillery is too powerful. If you join the battle, it will make too much noise, which is inconsistent with our combat principles."
"We use landmines. This time the regiment headquarters sent us a lot of landmines. When the mines and explosives explode together, they will definitely destroy the Japanese iron armored vehicles."
"Bang bang bang..."
The sound of rifle shooting suddenly sounded next to the team. It was a full two hundred meters away. It was very difficult to hit the target.
But the formation of the Japanese and puppet troops was too dense. A row of more than ten bullets flew towards one position. The blind cat killed the mouse, but two soldiers still screamed and fell to the ground.
The Japanese reacted very quickly, firing rifles and machine guns quickly.
In particular, the vehicle-mounted machine gun protruding from the firing hole of the armored vehicle will fire at the location where the gun was fired.
Intensive gunfire soon rang out.
But the enemy seemed to suddenly disappear, without any movement at all.
"Stop shooting, don't waste any more bullets. Those who attacked us must be the Eighth Route Army guerrillas. They hit and run, they are as cunning as foxes." The leader of the Japanese squadron ordered.
"We will continue to move forward, directly attack the guerrillas' lair, arrest all the Chinese people related to the guerrillas, and force the guerrillas to come out, otherwise we will kill people."
Gunshots continued to ring out on both sides of the team, and Japanese soldiers continued to be killed.
Because the sneak attack was too far away, the troops suffered few casualties, and the enemy hit and ran away, giving himself no chance to counterattack.
The Japanese squadron leader ignored it and led his troops on a rapid march towards the target.
"boom……"
Suddenly, an explosion scared him.
Thick black smoke rose into the sky at the front of the team, and the fast-moving troops quickly stopped.
"What's going on? What happened to the explosion just now?" the squadron leader shouted anxiously.
As soon as he finished speaking, a subordinate rushed over: "Sir, it's a landmine, and it's a landmine with explosives added."
"The armored vehicle at the front of us was bombed, and the entire floor of the armored vehicle was directly blown through. All the imperial troops in the armored vehicle were killed."
"Bageya Road, cunning guerrillas. When I catch them, I will cut them all into pieces."
"The troops keep moving forward and I can't wait."
"The troops marched quickly to their home base, arrested all the Chinese people, found out who were related to the guerrillas, and killed one in five minutes. I don't believe they can't be forced out."
Two hours later, the Japanese and puppet troops successfully arrived at the village.
However, apart from the empty houses, there was no one in the village.
The squadron leader was like punching cotton wool, making the anger simmering in his stomach even stronger.