The wing chief of staff stood nearby, knowing that the wing captain was in a bad mood. After hesitating for a long time, he whispered in a low voice: "Sir, it's getting dark. This was the last air support provided by the aviation force to us today."
"Should we order the troops to stop and set up a defense line on the spot to prepare for the Eighth Route Army's counterattack at night?"
"After dark, many of the imperial army's advantages cannot be used."
"But the Eighth Route Army was very good at fighting at night and used very crude weapons to attack the imperial army."
Colonel Takahashi was very dissatisfied with today's attack. He had been holding back his anger and had no place to vent it, but the matter was at this point and he could not make any changes.
The chief of staff was right, the Eighth Route Army was better at fighting at night than the Imperial Army.
No rational commander would use the shortcomings of his own troops to exploit the enemy's strengths.
He ordered with a stern face: "Just do as you say."
"The front-line offensive position next to the garrison regiment is stationed with two garrison squadrons, a heavy machine gun squadron, and a mortar squadron."
"The main force has been attacking all day. It's their turn to contribute to this offensive."
"If the Eighth Route Army really dares to counterattack at night, no orders are needed, just counterattack on the spot and eat them."
"But you must remember that no one can escape from the position without my order."
"In addition, draw two infantry squadrons from the main force and build another line of defense three hundred meters behind the garrison to avoid accidents."
"Other troops should seize the time to rest, count casualties, rescue the wounded, and replenish ammunition. We will fight again tomorrow."
"Inform the heavy artillery brigade to recharge their batteries tonight."
"If the Eighth Route Army uses the same method to deal with us tomorrow, they will join the battle and use heavy artillery to level the garrison positions to see what else they can use to block the imperial army's attack."
In the third battalion command post, Huang Sheng stood in front of Li Hao, pointing at the position plan and reporting the troops' battle progress today, with a smile on his face.
"Captain, this fighting method you gave us is too powerful."
"Although nine lines of defense were lost during the day, the little devils suffered heavy losses in front of each line of defense and paid a huge price."
"Preliminary statistics show that the Japs suffered direct losses of more than 600 people today, and a large number of artillery shells were consumed."
"The only drawback is that the troops are only consumed during the battle and not captured."
"The troops retreated again and again, without fighting a single encounter with the Japanese. Therefore, we did not capture a single gun or bullet. Instead, we used nearly 60,000 rounds of ammunition, nearly 2,000 grenades, and more than 200 artillery shells.
"
Except for Li Hao, everyone else in the command post showed heartbroken expressions.
In normal times, with good planning, these ammunitions would be enough for the garrison to fight a medium-sized battle, eliminate thousands of imps, and seize a large number of weapons and ammunition.
Today, due to the war of attrition with the Japanese, not only were there fewer Japanese killed, but zero were captured.
Li Hao consoled him: "Since we are fighting a war of attrition with the Japanese, we will definitely consume a lot of weapons and ammunition. There is no doubt about this."
"This time the Japanese are coming with great force and are unprecedentedly powerful. It is almost impossible to end the battle in a short time."
"In this case, we can only fight a war of attrition with the Japanese, eat them bit by bit, accumulate small victories into big ones, make them feel the pain, and then have to retreat."
"Here I make a guarantee for you: as long as the Third Battalion can kill so many little Japs every day, the regiment headquarters will be open to supplying you with as much ammunition as you want."
A smile appeared on Huang Sheng's face again.
This was what he was waiting for.
The Third Battalion replenished a large amount of ammunition before the war. In terms of ammunition reserves, it was more than five times more than other Eighth Route Army units.
Even so, at today's consumption rate, the ammunition reserves of the Third Battalion are only enough to last for two days.
There were no seizures on the battlefield, and the regiment headquarters was the only way for the third battalion to obtain ammunition.
Without the guarantee from the group leader, Huang Sheng would never dare to continue fighting like this tomorrow.
On the battlefield, a gun without bullets is worse than a fire stick. Huang Sheng did not want to see his subordinates going to the battlefield with fire sticks.
Not only would he be unable to stop the Japanese attack and fail to complete his mission, he would also die in vain on the battlefield.
Now with Li Hao's assurance, Huang Sheng suddenly felt confident.
"Please rest assured, captain, as long as the ammunition is guaranteed, I will definitely be able to kill another 600 little Japs tomorrow."
Huang Sheng's thoughts were clear to Li Hao, and he didn't say anything. He directly explained his purpose: "You don't have to wait for tomorrow, just tonight."
"Come and look at the map!"
Li Hao pointed to the position plan that had been spread out on the table and analyzed it.
"Currently you have given up nine lines of defense, and there are still eight lines of defense behind you."
"After a day's attack, the Japanese will surely gradually figure out your defense methods. They will definitely take the right medicine tomorrow and occupy these eight lines of defense in the shortest possible time."
"So if we don't take action tonight, the Japs will definitely break through our defensive positions during the day tomorrow."
The confidence on Huang Sheng's face disappeared, and he replied awkwardly: "Captain, I really didn't expect this!"
Then he looked at the map with a thoughtful expression.
"Night attack?"
Huang Sheng's eyes lit up, he suddenly realized and shouted.
"Commander, our Eighth Route Army belongs to us at night."
"And for the entire day, my artillery battery and three artillery squads did not move."
"Under the cover of night, concentrate artillery attacks on the Japs on the front line, and then launch an infantry assault. You will definitely be able to catch them off guard. If you are lucky, you may be able to recover one or two lines of defense."
Huang Sheng unknowingly conceived a complete combat idea.
The instructor and deputy battalion commander of the third battalion all showed expressions of approval.
Li Hao was noncommittal: "That's the idea, but it's too petty to only withdraw one or two lines of defense."
"If we want to take it back, we have to take back all the defense lines we lost during the day."
"Captain Huang, this is your territory. Now I will give you a task. I will get the result in three hours."
"Under the condition of not alerting the enemy, find out the status of the Japanese troops stationed on these nine lines of defense."
"The specific number of troops, whether the main force or the garrison force, whether it is equipped with heavy weapons, which days of defense line it is stationed on, and how far it is from the defense line that the third battalion is currently holding, please check it all for me and mark it on this plan.
I am of great use."
Several piles of huge bonfires illuminated the position brightly, and a dozen Japanese sentries crawled forward to get between the two armies, lurking here as quietly as hunters.
They are outposts sent by the Japanese. If the garrison wants to attack them at night, they must pass by them, so that they can give advance warning to the main force behind them.
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