There was a burst of gunfire from directly ahead, very densely, and then Major Kuroki saw a subordinate rushing over in a hurry.
"Sir, the Eighth Route Army in front stopped running. It suddenly stopped and climbed up the beam next to the mountain road, relying on the favorable terrain to block our pursuing troops."
Major Kuroki reacted immediately: "Are you a pig? Those Eighth Route Army troops stopped early and late. Why did they wait until the follow-up troops were attacked before they stopped?"
"They are not trying to stop us at all."
"But they want to hold us back through blocking operations and prevent us from returning to support the artillery and heavy machine gun squadrons behind us."
The squadron leader next to him suggested: "Sir, we can kill the Eighth Route Army in front first, and then return to reinforce the artillery unit."
"Those Eighth Route Army troops must have been very tired after running for more than two hours, and their combat effectiveness has been greatly weakened. If we launch an attack now, we will definitely be able to win the battle quickly."
Major Kuroki's heart was moved, and he was silently calculating the pros and cons of several methods of attack.
"Boom boom boom..."
A series of special explosions came from behind, interrupting his thoughts.
Major Kuroki knew that only the explosion of heavy mortar shells could produce such a big noise.
There were several explosions just now, indicating that the Eighth Route Army attacking the artillery at Hulukou was equipped with at least three heavy mortars.
The explosion of ordinary artillery shells has not stopped since the beginning, and it is heard continuously, indicating that they are equipped with at least six ordinary mortars, otherwise they would not be able to fire such dense shells.
The Eighth Route Army has so many weapons, and the artillery squadron has only half an infantry squadron and a garrison squadron that can fight, with a total of less than 300 people.
Facing so many artillery attacks, they certainly wouldn't be able to hold on for long.
Thinking of this, Major Kuroki quickly raised his telescope and looked ahead.
More than two hundred Eighth Route Army troops relied on the mountain ridge to hold on.
Although they did not have heavy weapons, they were equipped with a large number of light machine guns, and they fired bullets at the imperial army attacking at the foot of the mountain as if they were free of charge.
The attacking troops were not equipped with heavy weapons and could only rely on light machine guns and grenade launchers to counterattack, which was unable to suppress the firepower on the ridge.
In this case, the attacking troops will definitely rush forward and kill each one.
Major Kuroki no longer hesitated and ordered decisively: "Retreat. The attacking troops will leave an infantry squad behind, and everyone else will retreat and return to support the artillery."
The squadron leader thought he had heard wrongly, and it took him a long time to realize what he was saying.
Then he stared at the captain with a confused look on his face and asked: "Sir, why? Give me ten minutes. I promise to wipe out all the Eighth Route Army on the mountain ridge, and then lead the troops back to reinforce the artillery unit."
"ten minutes?"
Major Kuroki snorted in reply.
"Without the cover of mortars and heavy machine guns, I won't be able to take down the Eighth Route Army on the ridge even if I give you twenty minutes."
"The Eighth Route Army that attacked the artillery was equipped with a large number of mortars and heavy machine guns, and it struck preemptively. The artillery unit must have suffered heavy casualties and would not be able to hold on for long."
"By the time we kill the Eighth Route Army in front and then return for reinforcements, the artillery and heavy machine gun squadrons will have been killed long ago."
"The entire brigade's heavy weapons and reserve ammunition are behind them. They are finished, and we are not far from being destroyed."
"Immediately give the order for the troops to march back to support the artillery squadron."
The battle situation was worse than Major Kuroki had judged.
When we were still one kilometer away from the battlefield, the sound of artillery stopped, and the sound of gunfire also stopped.
After arriving at the battlefield, the mountain road was in a mess, with nothing but corpses everywhere.
"The Eighth Route Army is over there, they want to run!" an officer shouted.
When Major Kuroki looked up, he saw the backs of a dozen Eighth Route Army soldiers holding guns, retreating quickly along the top of the mountain ridge, and then disappeared.
"Sir, it must be the Eighth Route Army attacking the artillery. All the heavy weapons equipped by the brigade must have been taken away by them. I will immediately lead the troops to pursue and snatch those heavy weapons back." The squadron leader said eagerly.
The attack on the mobile battalion just now failed, and the squadron leader was pent-up and had nowhere to vent his anger.
Seeing that a new Eighth Route Army had appeared and was responsible for killing the artillery, he immediately called for a fight, intending to vent all his pent-up anger on them.
"Shut up!"
Major Kuroki cursed without hesitation.
"The Eighth Route Army lured the enemy in to penetrate so many of our troops in one go. Can you guarantee that the Eighth Route Army you just saw is not repeating its old tricks?"
"If the artillery and heavy machine gun squadrons are still there, I will definitely pursue them without hesitation. I won't be afraid even if the enemy repeats his old tactics."
"Now we have no artillery, no heavy machine guns, and we don't even have much ammunition. If we encounter an ambush by the Eighth Route Army, we won't even have the strength to fight back."
"The combat effectiveness of the warriors is very strong, but they are not strong enough to use rifles to fight against the Eighth Route Army's heavy machine guns and mortars."
"The troops have stepped up their alert, called the commander, and prepared to move closer to them."
"We have no heavy weapons or ammunition. It is too dangerous to continue fighting independently."
"Sir, the gunfire from behind has stopped!" As soon as Major Kuroki finished speaking, the sound of reports from his subordinates rang in his ears.
"Our rear troops must have been eaten!" Major Kuroki's frown deepened.
He was very anxious and ordered: "The troops must leave here immediately."
"After the two Eighth Route armies join together, they will definitely find a way to deal with us."
"Call the commander of the regiment now, find out their specific location, and march quickly to get closer to them."
Li Hao did not stay on the battlefield all the time.
After the battle was handed over to the mobile battalion, he led a guard platoon, bypassed the Kuroki Brigade, and marched quickly to catch up with the retreating chief of staff.
Seeing Li Hao, Hong Linfeng reported excitedly.
"Captain: The special agent battalion and the independent battalion successfully completed their mission. More than 400 little devils and 300 puppet soldiers were all killed by us."
"We also captured all the heavy weapons that the little devils carried with the army, including the three heavy machine guns and three mortars that were lost by the mobile battalion. We captured a total of 11 mortars and 9 heavy machine guns, all of which can be used immediately.
The rest were all destroyed and a lot of ammunition was seized."
Li Hao also had a smile on his face and answered happily.
"Good fight. As the old saying goes, the most difficult thing in a battle is to break the tie. Today we fought the most difficult battle and won it. The next battle will definitely be much easier to fight."
Hong Linfeng nodded and replied: "The battle to break the tie was indeed the most difficult to fight, but we still won it."
"Captain, I just received news that the little devils on the right have less than three infantry squadrons left, and they have no heavy weapons and not much ammunition. I suggest that the troops pursue the victory and fight another battle to use the weapons and ammunition they just captured
Use them all to wipe out the remaining few hundred little Japs."
"Okay!" Li Hao agreed without thinking about it.
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