"Sir, the artillery of the Eighth Route Army's garrison is very strong, and the mountain artillery has been dispatched." A staff officer rushed in and reported.
"The heavy mortar squadron suffered heavy losses in the artillery battle and suffered heavy losses."
"Moreover, the enemy has arranged the mountain artillery positions outside the effective range of the mortars. Except for the mountain artillery brigade, the mortars equipped by the troops cannot pose a threat to them."
The commander of the regiment decisively ordered: "There is no need to ask for instructions for this kind of matter. Order the mountain artillery brigade to counterattack immediately and kill the mountain artillery unit of the garrison."
As the mountain artillery brigade entered the battle, the sound of artillery on the battlefield became more and more intensive, and there were also very harsh screams in the air.
The longer the artillery battle lasted, the smile on the commander's face faded, and was eventually replaced by seriousness.
The garrison had been beaten to a pulp in previous battles and suffered heavy casualties. It was unexpected that they still had the strength to fight such a large-scale artillery battle with the imperial army without losing.
This result completely exceeded his expectation.
The expression on the face of the artillery staff officer next to him can be described as solemn.
He is a professional gunner and can hear the battlefield situation through the sound of gunfire.
As the sound of gunfire intensified, he finally couldn't help but remind him: "Sir, something seems wrong?"
"Listening to the sound of artillery, the garrison regiment currently has at least three mountain artillery units participating in the battle, and they are respectively deployed in different artillery positions."
"We only have one mountain artillery brigade with twelve mountain artillery pieces, and they are arranged together. Once attacked, we will definitely suffer heavy losses."
"The sound of firing from the mountain artillery position has obviously been suppressed by the sound of shell explosions."
"I suspect that the mountain artillery brigade had an accident..."
Before he could finish speaking, a communications officer rushed in hastily.
Breathing heavily, he reported anxiously: "Sir, something happened to the mountain artillery brigade."
"The Eighth Route Army was equipped with at least eighteen mountain cannons and a group of six mountain cannons. They successively joined the battle and engaged in artillery battles with us."
"As soon as the mountain artillery brigade fired, it was counterattacked by these mountain artillery pieces because the target was exposed, resulting in heavy losses."
The regimental commander's serious face suddenly darkened. He stared at the communications officer and asked: "How is the mountain artillery brigade doing now? There are also heavy mortar squadrons and tank squadrons. Are there any problems with them?"
"The mountain artillery brigade lost seven mountain cannons, and the other five mountain cannons were successfully transferred." The communications officer quickly told what he knew.
"The heavy mortar squadron also lost five guns during the artillery battle due to delayed transfer."
"The gunners of the two artillery units also suffered heavy casualties, especially the heavy mortar squadron. Because the artillery position was not large, the artillery was concentrated, and the gunners were concentrated. At least 60% of the gunners died in the artillery battle just now."
"As for the tank squadron, they were the first target of the heavy mortar squadron of the garrison. Now one light tank and one armored vehicle have been destroyed."
"Bagh Ya Road..." the captain cursed.
"We originally planned to take down the garrison attacking us on our own, but now it seems that it is impossible."
"The defense group has not been beaten to a pulp by us. They still have strength, and they are not small at all."
"Looking at this posture, they seem to be planning to swallow us whole."
"Order the artillery troops and tank troops not to engage in head-on resistance with the artillery of the garrison. From now on, the main operations will be to reinforce the infantry and counterattack the artillery of the garrison as a supplement."
"Our station is so large that we have enough room to maneuver to engage the enemy."
"I believe that even if there is no artillery support and the battlefield is suppressed by the artillery of the garrison, thousands of imperial troops under my command can withstand their attack and defend the station."
"Since the garrison wants to swallow us up, we will act as bait to hold them back."
"Report!"
Another communications officer rushed into the tent, breathing heavily and with a red face, obviously running all the way.
After coming in, he hurriedly reported without waiting for the commander to speak: "Sir, the Eighth Route Army has appeared. How many Eighth Route Army?"
"The defenders east of the station were attacked by the Eighth Route Army. The enemy had at least one reinforced battalion equipped with mortars and heavy machine guns."
"A large number of Eighth Route Army troops have also appeared in the south, with more than one battalion in strength, but they have not yet begun to attack."
"There were sporadic exchanges of fire from the other two directions, and the Eighth Route Army also appeared, with unknown strength."
"Rumble..."
A series of explosions suddenly entered the command headquarters, deafening and interrupting the communications officer's words.
The artillery staff member's expression changed and he quickly reported: "It's a flying thunder cannon."
"Sir, the garrison has used the torpedo cannon. The torpedo cannon has a limited range and can only attack the infantry on the defensive line. If it explodes in a large area, our troops stationed on the defensive line will definitely suffer heavy casualties."
The captain snorted coldly and replied: "This is too obvious. The garrison must want to eat us in one bite tonight. It would be better to cut off one of its fingers than to hurt them, so as to repel our raid."
"However, they underestimate our infantry too much."
"Order the troops participating in the battle to resolutely block their attack and delay them. The artillery troops and chariot troops are ordered to unconditionally support the infantry operations."
"Send a telegram to the brigade headquarters immediately to inform us of our situation."
At the headquarters of the Japanese independent mixed brigade, the chief of staff rushed into the war room like a wind, with a smile on his face and happiness from the bottom of his heart.
Before Nakata Yamaro could speak, he hurriedly reported: "General, the main force of the garrison has appeared."
"The garrison will be eliminated tonight."
"Yamamoto-kun sent an urgent message. They were attacked by the main force of the garrison. The opponent assembled at least three thousand troops and also used a large number of mortars, thunder cannons, heavy mortars, and mountain cannons."
"Among them, there are at least eighteen mountain cannons that can be determined."
"At the beginning of the battle, there was a large-scale artillery battle with the imperial army."
"Because Mr. Yamamoto underestimated the strength of the garrison, we suffered heavy losses in the artillery battle."
"At present, the troops have focused on defense, fighting the enemy and holding them back."
"From my humble judgment, the defense regiment wants to eat Yamamoto-kun, inflict heavy damage on us by annihilating the Yamamoto regiment, and defeat us."
Nakata Yamaro's eyes clearly shot out two sharp rays, and he stared at the sand table and replied: "It would be better to cut off one of his fingers than to hurt him. This is the common method of fighting against us by the Eighth Route Army, so I agree with your judgment. They must be in."
Repeat the old trick to drive us back."
"However, this time he is obviously going to miscalculate."
"From the beginning, I was on guard against them using this trick."
"So it has always been required that the distance between the three attacking troops should not be widened, and that the heavy artillery brigade should be as far forward as possible. Once a troop is attacked, the three troops can rush to the battlefield as soon as possible."
"Chief of Staff, did Mr. Yamamoto report who was in the Eighth Route Army attacking them?"
"Hi!"
The chief of staff quickly replied: "In addition to the large-scale artillery unit, the infantry has nearly 3,000 people. They are well-equipped and have good combat effectiveness. They should be the only main force left in the garrison."
"In addition, there are signs of a large number of Eighth Route Army cavalry activities around the battlefield, which should be the cavalry battalion of the garrison regiment."
"Based on my humble judgment, the garrison regiment concentrated all the troops transferred from the base area to Yamamoto, and made a desperate move to open a breakthrough from Yamamoto."
"Our three-pronged sweep force moved forward in unison. It was like a comb, directly combing through the occupied area where the garrison regiment was active, and then continued to attack their base area, combing through that area in the same way."
"If any unit goes wrong during the entire sweep, a gap will appear in the comb, and the enemy can escape from our encirclement and suppression through this gap."
Nakata Yamaro affirmed: "The artillery, infantry, and cavalry have all passed, which means that there are no other Eighth Route Army troops in the theater."
"There will be no encirclement and reinforcements that I'm worried about."
"Order: The other two mopping up troops, the heavy artillery brigade, immediately reinforce the Yamamoto regiment and kill them boldly."
"The main force of the garrison is with the Yamamoto Regiment. Even if there are troops moving around them, they are small groups sent by the garrison to slow down their march and buy time for the main force to destroy the Yamamoto Regiment."
At the enemy headquarters in front of the garrison, Li Hao had been standing at the lookout to observe the battle situation.
The brows are sometimes furrowed and sometimes relaxed.
The real exchange of fire on the battlefield has begun in full swing. Under the cover of artillery fire and light and heavy machine guns, the attacking troops rushed towards the Japanese and puppet army garrison like wolves, but no unit could break through the Japanese blocking troops and enter the garrison.
Hong Linfeng's frown deepened. After another attack was repelled by the Japs, he couldn't help but cursed: "Commander, why are these little Japs so difficult to defeat?"
"The explosive packets hit by artillery shells and thunder cannons exploded around them over and over again, but there are still people alive."
"There are not many machine guns left, but they can still block our attack and cause huge casualties to our attacking troops."
Li Hao's face became more and more serious.
The artillery battalion defeated the Japanese artillery unit, and the joy it brought to me had all disappeared.
He replied calmly: "This is the real elite of the little devils. They cannot be defeated or dragged down on the battlefield. They will never retreat unless the entire army is destroyed."
"They suffered heavy casualties under our bombardment, but they managed to repel our attack by a company with dozens of remnants. Looking at our garrison regiment, only the reconnaissance company and commando team can achieve such combat effectiveness."
"And there are at least two thousand such troops in the station we are attacking."
"Chief of Staff, this bone is harder to crack than we thought!"
"Immediately remind all participating troops to control the rhythm of the attack and reduce casualties as much as possible. Use artillery more often on the battlefield, and never use guns if you can use artillery shells to deal with the little devils."
"Japanese are very powerful, but they are also made of flesh and blood. If a cannon ball hits them, they will still take their lives."
"Don't look at it. We have brought all our wealth to attack the Japanese in front of us. We look like we are bound to win. But the real purpose is not to destroy them, but to reinforce them."
"As long as Xiao Yuan's mission is completed, we will have a powerful weapon to deal with these little devils in front of us."
