The 7th Company of the 3rd Battalion is stationed. The regiment commander Li Hao has moved the former enemy headquarters here.
At three o'clock in the afternoon, the headquarters radio station began to ring one after another, and telegrams were delivered to Li Hao like snowflakes.
"Reporting to the leader of the regiment, the telegram from Commander Zhang of the Second Battalion is that they have held back the Japanese and puppet troops from mopping up the troops and are leading the Japanese and puppet troops to fight guerrillas in the mountains. But..." Communications platoon leader Zhou Liang came over with a telegram and reported
.
"The casualties of the troops were a bit high."
"In order to fool the Japanese and hold them back, we had to fight hard with them at the beginning."
"So far, the local troops, supplementary troops, and main troops commanded by the Second Battalion have lost 800 people in total."
"But they also killed the same number of Japanese and puppet troops, at least half of whom were little Japs."
Li Hao was silent for a moment and replied: "The casualties were greater than I expected."
"However, as long as the villagers can no longer be harmed, it will be worth the whole group's efforts."
"Reply a telegram to Zhang Yun immediately: His mission remains unchanged, but casualties must be minimized in the next battle."
"I will send him another 300 additional troops, and then there will be no reinforcements. He will have to rely on himself from now on."
"In addition, I agree that he can recruit his own troops from captured puppet troops during the battle to replenish his troops."
Less than ten minutes after Zhou Liang left, the commander of the third battalion, Huang Sheng, rushed in with a serious look on his face.
"Captain, the little devil is too cunning."
"As soon as we cowered on the battlefield, they attacked the nearby villages, determined to repeat their old tricks, threaten us with the common people, and take advantage of us like they did yesterday."
"In order to buy time for the villagers to move, the troops can only attack them continuously and take the initiative to attack them."
"The superiority in troops, firepower, and equipment are all on their side. If we fight like this, it is like a sheep entering a tiger's mouth."
"Today's battle is not over yet. The casualties of the troops have exceeded 700."
"If we continue fighting like this tomorrow, in two days, the main force, local troops, and supplementary troops in my hands will be completely exhausted, leaving no troops available."
As the commander of the army, Huang Sheng was the fighting soul of all the anti-Japanese armed forces in this area.
There must be no problem with his thinking and fighting spirit.
Although the complaint just now was not stated explicitly, the meaning was revealed both inside and outside the words.
Not optimistic about the combat plan being implemented by the troops.
Li Hao interrupted decisively: "How many troops did you lose last night?"
"More than a thousand people, especially the Seventh Company, were almost wiped out." Huang Sheng thought for a moment and answered.
"Where are the people in the base area? How many casualties have there been?" Li Hao continued to ask.
"At least a hundred people, some were shot in front of us, and some were killed or injured by the Japanese when they arrested people." Huang Sheng thought for a moment and answered.
"That's okay!" Li Hao analyzed with a serious look.
"Although our casualties today are also very large, they are less than yesterday. What's more important is that not a single villager died under the butcher's knife of a little devil today."
"This is victory, and it shows that the tactics and tactics we used today are effective."
"As for your concern about the troops being depleted, I don't think that's a problem."
"Today we suffered heavy casualties, the Japanese casualties are definitely not small, and the overall strength will definitely be greatly reduced. If we continue to fight, their counterattack intensity will definitely not be as strong as today, and our casualties will be greatly reduced."
"So you don't have to worry about running out of troops."
"If such a day comes, your opponent, the little devil, will be almost wiped out."
"In addition, in order to supplement the loss of troops and ensure combat effectiveness, I will give you two more reinforcements."
"The first one is three hundred additional troops. Although it's not much, it's better than nothing."
"The second one is an order, which was given to Zhang Yun of the Second Battalion just now."
"During the entire battle, I allowed the participating troops to recruit new recruits from among the captured Imperial Army troops to replenish their troops."
"They have combat effectiveness and do not need training. They can fight by replenishing their troops. I ask you to replenish your troops while fighting, so that I can protect the foundation of the army."
"The chief of staff reported in the morning: The Japanese and puppet army strongholds in the base area and blockade line have sent troops to attack our base area under the cover of aircraft, intending to completely destroy our base area and expose our defense regiment to enemies from both sides."
"The chief of staff has formulated a complete combat plan to defend and take the initiative at the same time."
"When it gets dark and the Japs' planes retreat, there will be fighting in the base area."
"If everything goes well, it will only take five days for the Chief of Staff to eat up all the Japanese and puppet troops operating in the base areas, then seize those strongholds and send troops to reinforce us."
"I hope that the third battalion will still have combat effectiveness by then, and will cooperate with the reinforcements to counterattack the enemy's mopping up troops."
"It would be better to cut off one of his ten fingers. I plan to wait for the reinforcements to arrive and fight two battles of annihilation against the Japanese to force them to retreat."
Huang Sheng's furrowed brows had relaxed at some point. He looked at Li Hao and answered with assurance: "Captain, please rest assured, the third battalion will definitely still have fighting capacity by then."
"I also want to avenge the soldiers and villagers who sacrificed their lives in the past few days, so the three battalions will definitely be indispensable in the annihilation battle."
The headquarters of the Japanese independent mixed brigade became busy as night slowly fell.
Dozens of attacking troops on the front line, large and small, almost all reported the battle situation to the headquarters at this time.
Several radio stations were flashing red lights and operating at full capacity.
The communications staff and combat staff came in and out, summarizing the contents of the telegrams on the sand table.
The chief of staff looked at the battle report that had been compiled in his hand, smiled involuntarily on his face, and then reported happily.
"Sir, according to statistics, we have wiped out more than 2,000 Eighth Route Army troops today."
"Today the Eighth Route Army was uncharacteristically not hiding from the Imperial Army. They all took the initiative to attack. There were even some head-to-head offensive and defensive battles with the Imperial Army, and even aircraft participated."
Nakata Yamaro was also very excited, his eyes shining.
But he quickly calmed down, looked at the positions of the troops on the sand table tonight, and replied with a cold snort: "Where is the initiative to attack?"
"They had to attack."
"The imperial army has seized on their weakness and wants to ensure the safety of the people and no longer be treated as hostages by us. They can only attack, expose their main force, and let us chase them."
"Although the losses will be huge, the Eighth Route Army can at least choose the battlefield and the time of attack."
"Compared to last night when we were forced to fight, the casualties and losses would definitely be smaller."
"Our opponents are very smart, especially their commanders, who are very clever. They can judge our next action plan directly from a defeat, then make a prompt decision, take the initiative, and use their own advantages to counter our advantages, thus
mitigate losses.”
"If they don't take the initiative today and are finally forced out by us for a decisive battle, they will lose their remaining terrain advantage. Over the course of one night, their casualties will definitely exceed 3,000, or even 4,000."