Several explosions reached the ears of Lieutenant Colonel, and four black smoke pillars rose from the center of the attacking troops.
At that time, there were only four artillery pieces left in the headquarters and the main regiment, showing off their power.
Compared with the explosion at the assembly area, their results were obviously much smaller, but a dozen soldiers still fell in response.
The thing that Lieutenant Colonel was most worried about happened. He got up from the ground and hurriedly ordered: "Don't be stunned, give the retreat order immediately."
"Otherwise, the remaining imperial troops from the attacking force will die on the battlefield,"
"There are also troops in the assembly area who are also retreating together. We are retreating now."
As soon as the order was issued, the guard captain on the side shouted: "Protect sir, retreat immediately!"
"Boom boom boom..."
The explosion sounded again, and some artillery shells hit the gathering place of Japanese and puppet troops, and some shells hit the middle of the attacking troops. More and more imperial troops were killed and injured in the explosion.
The commander of the Eighth Route Army's former enemy headquarters kept staring at the battlefield.
Seeing that six large-caliber mortars destroyed the Japanese artillery position with just five rounds of shells, the commander finally felt relieved.
He is also becoming more and more confident in the next counterattack.
Next to him, Commander Li's face shone with excitement. As soon as the Japanese army showed signs of retreat, his eyes flashed as a reminder.
"Commander, the Japs have begun to retreat, and the little Japs in the assembly area have also begun to retreat."
"I saw!"
A flash of excitement flashed across the commander's face, and he began to issue orders.
"Send the signal immediately and the entire army will attack."
"The artillery continues to fire, covering the infantry assault, and defeating the little Japanese."
"Tell the counterattack troops not to save ammunition for me. Defeat the little devils in front of us. If we win this battle, we will get a large amount of ammunition replenishment."
"If we cannot win this battle, the guns in our hands will turn into fire sticks."
"Pa bang bang..."
Three flares quickly took off and exploded.
"Comrades, kill me..."
"Come on... kill all the little devils..."
"Tick-tick...tick-tock..."
Killing cries and charging bugles sounded from three directions on the battlefield at the same time.
The light machine gun was held in the arms of the soldiers and used as a submachine gun, charging and firing at the same time.
The retreating Japanese soldiers not only had to dodge the shells that might hit their heads at any time, but also the bullets flying from all directions.
The Japanese are not afraid of death, but that does not mean they are not afraid of death.
Especially on the way to retreat, no one wants to be beaten to death without even seeing the enemy's shadow, and he or she is shot in the back, dying in an unknown manner.
So seeing the Eighth Route Army attacking from three directions, the Japanese retreated at a significantly faster pace.
Soon, their formation was in chaos.
"Boom boom boom..."
The shells continued to fall, causing waves of air and rain of blood, further exacerbating their confusion.
Half an hour later, the gunfire finally stopped, and darkness began to cover the battlefield.
The commander led his men into the battlefield and directly found the Japanese artillery position that had been bombed into ruins.
The two mountain cannons were only damaged but not damaged.
At this moment, the two mountain cannons emitting a faint blue light had been righted up by the soldiers, with their black muzzles pointed straight at the sky, looking particularly powerful.
The commander touched the cold sound of the artillery with a smile on his face.
This victory came too suddenly.
The commander has been mentally prepared: after this major sweep, the strength of the base area has been weakened by more than 30%.
But now, with this great victory, the strength of the base area has not been weakened, but has been strengthened.
The two intact mountain guns in the artillery position are the best proof.
With their addition, the artillery strength in the base area will definitely be stronger.
"Report to Commander, the results have been tallied!" Captain Li of the main force group rushed over with excitement on his face.
"At least a thousand corpses of Japanese and puppet troops have been identified on the battlefield, nearly half of which were killed by heavy mortars."
"Because the Japanese retreated in such a hurry, a lot of ammunition was not taken away and destroyed in time. Box after box was left beside the highway, which gave us an advantage."
"Preliminary statistics show that this time we seized more than a thousand long and short guns and more than 30 light and heavy machine guns. The specific number is still being calculated."
"There are also two mountain guns, six mortars, and one infantry gun intact."
The artillery battery commander also rushed over at this time.
He kept wandering around the artillery positions, inspecting every artillery piece, including those that had been blown up, to determine whether they could be repaired.
He ran over and reported with a smile on his face: "Chief, I checked. In addition to the nine artillery pieces that are intact, there is also a mountain cannon, an infantry gun, and three mortars that can be repaired."
"Are you sure?" the commander asked with surprise.
"Sure!" the artillery company commander replied very definitely.
The smile on the commander's face grew wider, and he ordered on the spot: "God is really helping our Eighth Route Army."
"Now I order: The artillery company directly under the headquarters will be expanded into an artillery battalion. You will be the battalion commander. You will have a heavy mortar battalion equipped with six heavy mortars. A mixed company of mountain artillery and infantry artillery, equipped with four mountain cannons.
, two infantry guns.”
"All the mortars originally equipped by the artillery company, plus the mortars captured in this battle, were given to Commander Li to form a veritable artillery company equipped with nine mortars."
"The extra mortars are kept at the headquarters and are ready to be equipped with other main regiments."
"Also, call the headquarters back to report the success."
"Tell the boss that with the support of six large-caliber mortars, we turned defeat into victory, defeated the attack of the Japanese and puppet troops, and wiped out more than a thousand Japanese and puppet troops in one battle."
"Also, can the headquarters tell you the source of these heavy mortars? I would like to send a message to them personally to thank them."
"Without these mortars, our casualties today would have definitely exceeded 1,500, so I owe him a favor."
At the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army, the deputy commander-in-chief did not expect that six heavy mortars would change the situation of the battle as soon as they entered the war zone.
In addition to being excited, I was also full of expectations for the remaining more than 140 artillery pieces, and I was even a little bit looking forward to it.
Six heavy mortars can play such a big role on the battlefield. After more than a hundred heavy mortars are equipped with troops, they will definitely play a great role.
The deputy chief of staff reminded: "Boss, they want to know the source of these mortars and express their gratitude to Comrade Li Hao in person. How can we call them back?"
"Keep it secret!" the boss replied without thinking.
"The fewer people who know about this matter, the safer Comrade Li Hao will be. No one knows whether there are any Japanese spies within us, so no one can tell this matter except the two of us unless Comrade Li Hao leaves Chongqing."
Only when we return to the base area can we publicize this matter on a small scale and let everyone know that they all owe Comrade Li Hao a favor."
At this point, the boss suddenly thought of something and called back the deputy chief of staff who was about to leave.