At five o'clock in the morning the next day, a rapid knock on the door rang at the door of the military commander's room.
Then I heard the excited report from the Chief of Staff.
"Sir, fighter planes have appeared, and intelligence personnel have found the garrison and captured our heavy artillery!"
The military commander seemed to have been given a shot of blood. He sat up from the bed, put on his military uniform and walked out.
"What is the specific situation? Has the intelligence department sent back the specific locations of these heavy artillery?" Opening the door, the commander asked as he walked and stared at the chief of staff.
The chief of staff quickly reported: "When we replenished the army with new recruits and restored its strength, the Eighth Route Army was doing the same thing."
"Intelligence shows that the garrison regiment used those heavy artillery to form a heavy artillery battalion and conduct training every day."
"Some time ago, the Special High School's intelligence network in the garrison base area suffered too much loss, and the heavy artillery battalion has been hiding in the mountains for training, coming and going without a trace, so the intelligence department has never been able to find them."
"Recently, this heavy artillery battalion finally started to train troops, and then it gave us an opportunity to take advantage of."
"Last night, they were conducting long-distance heavy artillery transfer training. They happened to pass by a village where one of our intelligence officers was lurking, and then they were targeted by our people."
"The report states that there are a total of twelve heavy artillery participating in the training, and there are more than 400 gunners and ammunition handlers, which is equivalent to the entire heavy artillery battalion. All of them participated in the training."
While they were talking, the two people had already entered the war room.
The chief of staff reacted quickly, pointed to a point on the sand table that had been marked by the combat staff, and continued to report.
"The current location of the heavy artillery battalion is here, moving from east to west along this road."
"It's still two hours before dawn. They will march another ten kilometers at most, and they will probably reach this location and lurk."
The chief of staff pointed to a point nearby.
"The terrain in this area is very complex. There are rugged mountains on both sides of the road, and there are not even a single big tree."
"As long as the heavy artillery battalion enters this area, it will definitely have no way to hide in the face of our air strikes and will only be passively bombed."
"Sir, these heavy artillery poses too great a threat to us. This is definitely an excellent opportunity to destroy them."
"I suggest contacting the aviation forces and destroying them."
The army commander thought for a minute and then asked: "Can you be sure that the artillery that appeared on the road is indeed the heavy artillery we lost, and not the fake artillery deployed by the Eighth Route Army to deliberately confuse us?"
"I'm sure." The chief of staff confirmed.
"Intelligence personnel reported: After the cannons passed by, deep ruts were left on the road, and each heavy cannon was pulled by four horses."
"If it were a fake cannon, it would definitely not have such deep ruts and wouldn't need so many horses!"
The army commander finally made a decision: "Contact the aviation force immediately. As long as conditions permit, we will attack immediately and bomb these heavy artillery."
"Chief of Staff, be prepared. Regardless of the result of the aviation bombing, whether the heavy artillery battalion of the garrison was completely destroyed by us, we will announce to the public as soon as the bombing is over that the aviation successfully killed the heavy artillery battalion of the garrison."
The chief of staff didn't understand what the military commander meant.
After a moment of hesitation, he reminded: "Should we confirm the results first and then announce them?"
The commander shook his head and answered decisively: "No, you will announce this news when the aviation bombing is over."
"Why?"
The chief of staff's eyes immediately widened and he didn't understand why the commander was so determined.
The battlefield is changing rapidly. Although I am now confident about the next bombing, no one can guarantee that there will be no surprises in the process.
Once the bombing failed, the military announced that the bombing was successful.
The two contradictory results not only slap the military department in the face.
To put it more seriously, it can also involve lying about military information, which is a violation of military discipline and will be dealt with by military law.
The military commander did not hide his thoughts and answered decisively: "There are two reasons for doing this."
"First, I want to use this bombing as a trigger for us to attack the Eighth Route Army."
"Success in the first battle will definitely be a great boost to the troops' subsequent operations."
"Second, I want to raise the morale of the troops through this bombing."
"You, the chief of staff, are worried about the twelve heavy cannons captured by the garrison, let alone ordinary soldiers."
"If the soldiers could be told before the war that the heavy artillery they were worried about had been destroyed by aviation, the morale of the troops would definitely be very high."
"Soldiers can fight the enemy more bravely on the battlefield. They no longer have to worry about whether a heavy artillery shell suddenly hits their heads during the battle and they don't know how they died."
The chief of staff did not deny the corps commander's analysis, but he did not agree with it either.
It is too risky to use a piece of uncertain good news to boost the morale of the troops.
After hesitating for a few seconds, he raised his concerns: "Sir, what if the bombing goes wrong?"
"We can report the true situation to the officers above the brigade so that they can take relevant precautions. We can continue to keep it secret to the officers below the brigade and ordinary soldiers, so that they can continue to maintain high morale on the battlefield and fight the enemy bravely."
Faced with this explanation, the chief of staff had nothing to say.
Although he still felt vaguely uneasy, the firm expression on the commander's face made him dispel his doubts and choose to execute the order.
The commander of the air defense battalion, Chen Quan, stood guard on a hill next to the road. Six anti-aircraft anti-aircraft machine guns, six home-mounted heavy machine guns with high stands, and a dozen light machine guns were scattered around him.
Nearly two hundred soldiers, wearing camouflage nets, are lurking here with the top of the mountain as the center.
This hilltop is the highest commanding point on both sides of the road. Anti-aircraft machine guns are mounted on it, providing the widest fire coverage.
Therefore, Chen Quan directly deployed an air defense company here, and also asked the main force to secondment a number of light machine guns to ensure that every height in the combat airspace had dedicated machine guns to provide fire coverage.
On several other surrounding hills, there is either an anti-aircraft machine gun platoon or a heavy machine gun platoon with a high stand.
Of course, in order to ensure the density of anti-aircraft firepower, ordinary light machine guns are necessary.
Each position was equipped with six light machine guns.
They are the last layer of protection for air defense positions.
If an aircraft targets these air defense positions, it will definitely conduct dive and strafing operations to destroy them.
Ordinary machine guns have their place.
Launch a dense network of firepower into the air to prevent aircraft from diving and buy time for the air defense forces to move.
Of course, if the Japanese aircraft carry out ultra-low-altitude bombing on the artillery camp on the road at the foot of the mountain in order to ensure a hit rate, these light machine guns can also transform into deadly killers of the aircraft.