The sound of horse hoofbeats suddenly came over, bringing the major out of his anger and back to reality.
Several cavalrymen came diagonally from outside the village. When they approached the entrance of the village, they quickly slowed down and stopped ten meters away from the major.
The leading cavalry squadron leader fell off his horse, rushed over and panted and reported: "Sir, the Eighth Route Army has successfully broken through."
"More than a hundred troops were divided into several groups and entered the surrounding woods. The cavalry is not good at fighting in the mountains. In order to prevent accidents, I have ordered the cavalry squadron to stop the pursuit without the permission of the superior, and asked the superior for punishment."
This result was what the Major had expected.
Under the cover of night, the Eighth Route Army is more cunning than a loach. Leaving Zhangzhuang means a fish has entered the sea. Trying to destroy them will definitely be more difficult than climbing to the sky.
He replied with a stern face: "Your decision is right. I don't want to add a cavalry squadron to leave more than a hundred Eighth Route Army troops, lose my wife and lose the troops."
After saying this, he turned his attention to the infantry squadron leader next to him: "Have the battle losses and results not been calculated yet?"
"It's been calculated!" the infantry squadron leader replied quickly.
"A total of 586 corpses of the Eighth Route Army were found in Zhangzhuang and our station. In addition, 498 rifles, 9 light and heavy machine guns, 8 mortars, mountain cannons, and thunder cannons were also seized. The only regret is that of these weapons, only the rifles were mostly intact.
All the light and heavy machine guns and artillery pieces were blown to pieces."
The major's face looks much better.
Although they did not completely wipe out their opponents, the results of nearly 600 people were enough to brag about.
You know, after the garrison regiment was formed, no captain has ever been able to eliminate so many troops of the garrison regiment in one battle.
You can be sure that with this military exploit as a foundation, even if you get nothing from the next attack, it will be enough to give an explanation to your superiors. Maybe you can use this military exploit to promote yourself to lieutenant colonel.
There have long been rumors in the front army that no matter who they are, they can be promoted to one level by destroying the garrison.
The current brigade leader Nakata Yamaro came here for this purpose.
As long as he can be promoted from major general to lieutenant general, as a subordinate, and with the support of his military exploits, the tide will definitely rise, and the major will be promoted to lieutenant general.
While the battalion commander was dreaming about being promoted, the infantry squadron commander continued to speak.
"Our battle losses were also very high."
"A total of 355 Imperial soldiers died in the battle, and 16 Imperial soldiers are missing."
"Preliminary judgment shows that 80% of these missing imperial troops were blown up during the battle and no bones were left. Then they were not seen alive or dead."
"Another 57 imperial soldiers were seriously injured and lost their combat effectiveness."
"A total of 195 members of the Imperial Alliance Army were killed in battle, 98 were missing, and 21 were seriously injured and lost their combat effectiveness."
"In addition, we also lost one mountain cannon, two heavy mortars, five ordinary medium-sized mortars, 16 light and heavy machine guns, and 215 rifles. They were all destroyed by the Eighth Route Army's artillery fire and grenades during the battle."
The major couldn't be happier.
This price is too high. On other battlefields, the imperial army may not lose so many people in a large-scale battle.
He frowned and hesitated for a long time before speaking: "Send a telegram to the commander of the regiment immediately and report the battle situation truthfully."
"We will continue to advance after dawn. We will destroy the remaining Eighth Route Army and avenge the death of the Imperial Army.
"Although the troops suffered heavy casualties, the Eighth Route Army also suffered heavy casualties."
"We have the advantage in strength. If we use our strength to fight, the Eighth Route Army will definitely not be our opponent."
"They gathered all the surrounding troops to fight this battle with us, and in the end only more than a hundred people were left to successfully break through. But we still have more than 500 people left, most of them are imperial troops, and we still have an absolute advantage in terms of strength."
"As long as we continue to attack, go deep into their activity areas, and really capture some people who support the Eighth Route Army to threaten them and force them to fight us, we will definitely win in the end."
At the seventh company station, the soldiers were either sitting on the ground or lying on the ground, all with mournful faces and without saying a word.
Although everyone survived, the casualties in this battle were too great.
Many of the comrades with whom I had been chatting a few hours ago were gone.
Facing an empty station, veterans are used to life and death, but they can still hold on.
Not so with new recruits.
When I think of those unrecognizable corpses on the battlefield, my face turns pale, my heart is full of fear, and I am extremely nervous.
As for morale, it has long since disappeared.
In a tent in the middle of the station, the atmosphere was also very depressing.
The company commander, the district squadron commander, the supplementary company commander... all had sullen faces, lowered their heads, and said nothing.
The high spirits before dispatching troops completely disappeared at this moment.
Li Hao was sitting in the main seat with a very ugly expression on his face.
Although the hostages were rescued, the Seventh Company successfully broke through, and both combat objectives were achieved, he was not happy at all.
The losses of the troops were too great.
If you do not consider other factors such as public sentiment and only consider gains and losses, this battle will definitely be a loss-making business, and you will almost lose yourself in it.
"Captain, the losses have been calculated!" The guard company commander hurriedly walked in, his face a little more solemn than when he left the tent just now.
"Say, I can bear it." Li Hao replied in a deep voice.
The guard company commander took a deep breath and then answered bravely: "In order to rescue the hostages, we mobilized a total of three supplementary companies, two district squadrons, one main company, two main platoons, and five guerrillas to participate in the battle.
, with a total strength of 853 troops."
"So far, the total number of main troops, local troops, and supplementary troops that have returned to the garrison is only 159. Excluding the several guerrillas who escorted the villagers, the remaining 639 have all died or are missing."
"In addition, all the heavy weapons equipped by the troops were lost."
"Except for five light machine guns, the more than 100 people who were withdrawn had no other heavy weapons."
The solemn expression on Li Hao's face became even thicker, and a shadow cast over his forehead.
The garrison lost so many people in one battle, and this battle was just the beginning. He couldn't imagine how many people the garrison would have left when the entire counter-mopping operation was over.
What worries Li Hao the most is that the Japanese have taken advantage of the garrison through this battle. They will definitely repeat their old tricks next and continue to take civilians as hostages and force the Eighth Route Army to come out and fight them.
Guerrilla zones are not base areas, and many people do not support the Eighth Route Army.
Therefore, as long as the Japanese are willing, they can definitely capture a large number of ordinary people to threaten the garrison and force the garrison to come out for a decisive battle.
The garrison's strength is limited, and even with the thousands of supplementary troops it brought over, it cannot afford to fight such a war of attrition.
Once the Japs really do this, for a long time, the troops operating in the guerrilla zones will be exhausted trying to save people, giving up the guerrilla warfare they are good at, and going head-to-head with the Japs, and in the end they will be eaten bit by bit.
