On the hilltop on the left side of Niutou Ridge, Li Hao was standing high and could overlook the entire battlefield.
Whether it's every move of the Japanese army or the situation on the battlefield, you can see it clearly.
The blocking battle had lasted for half an hour, and the Independence Battalion had successfully repelled two attacks by the Japanese and puppet troops. The hillside of Niutouling was densely covered with corpses of Japanese and puppet troops who had died in battle.
The remains of many soldiers from the independent battalion were also mixed in. They were all soldiers who died in close combat between the troops and the Japanese.
There was no heavy artillery cover, and the firepower of heavy machine guns was not as good as that of the Japanese army. Zhao Wen could only put the Japanese into the enemy, greet them with grenades, then launch a close fire attack, and finally fight with bayonets and use the melee pistols equipped in large quantities by the troops to repel them.
"Captain, a new round of Japanese attacks has begun again!" Hong Linfeng reminded standing nearby, his face full of worry.
"The Independent Battalion lost more than one company in just over half an hour. I'm afraid they won't be able to withstand it. Should I order the artillery to fire to support them?"
Li Hao looked at the time and replied: "It's 5:40 now. It will get dark in at most an hour. It's completely impossible for the Japanese plane to come over. That's almost it."
"Tell Zhao Wen to prepare for counterattack."
"The special agent battalion will set off now, touch the flanks of the Japanese offensive position, and after the artillery bombardment begins, directly launch an assault on the Japanese offensive position, and combine with the independent battalion to attack from the front and back to kill the Japanese attacking troops."
"If possible, take down the Japanese heavy machine gun positions and artillery positions as well."
"The two reinforced companies of the third battalion and the reduced mobile battalion pretended to attack the main force of the Japs. All light and heavy machine guns were used, creating the posture of two main battalions, forcing the Japs to retreat and preventing them from rescuing the attacking troops."
"The second battalion has been reduced into a strengthened company and is ready. If the Japs want to break through and retreat, they will block the mountain pass at any cost."
"When the special agent battalion and the independent battalion kill the Japanese attacking troops, they will rush over to reinforce them and completely wipe out the remaining troops of the Zhonggu Regiment."
"The artillery was divided into three, and the heavy mortars with the longest range attacked the main gathering place of the Japanese army."
"Half of the ordinary mortars were used to bombard the Japanese attacking troops, and the other half bombarded the Japanese attacking positions, destroying their artillery positions and heavy machine gun positions, covering the assaults of the special agent battalion and the independent battalion, and annihilating all the Japanese attacking troops."
At the Zhongtani unit assembly area, Colonel Zhongtani looked serious and felt very complicated.
The Eighth Route Army's will to resist in the mountains was much stronger than I imagined.
The two consecutive attacks used the close combat that the Imperial Army was good at to disintegrate the Imperial Army's offensive, and then they had to retreat.
Colonel Nakatani was also very happy because until now, the Eighth Route Army on the mountains had not used any other heavy weapons except light and heavy machine guns and a few light mortars.
This shows that my initial judgment was completely correct: there was only a guard force equipped with a small number of heavy weapons on the mountain.
The main force of the garrison is indeed not here.
As a result, Colonel Nakatani's worries were completely gone, and he directly drew an infantry squadron and two local garrison squadrons from the small main force, adding up to nearly 500 imperial troops, and launched a third attack at the same time.
The first two failures were due to too few attacking troops. In the final battle with bayonets, there were insufficient troops. The Eighth Route Army used its superior strength and large quantities of pistols to force them back.
This time Colonel Nakatani learned his lesson and dispatched three squadrons at a time without any worries, launching an attack with determination to win.
The battle situation was exactly the same as the previous two times. The attacking troops rushed to the foot of the mountain easily as if they were in an uninhabited territory. Only then did they remember the blocking gunfire of the Eighth Route Army on the mountainside.
"The heavy machine gun squadron and the artillery squadron will fire immediately to cover the attacking troops and attack them. This attack must capture the mountains." Colonel Nakatani ordered with murderous intent.
As soon as the gunfire fired from the offensive position, the blocking gunfire from the Eighth Route Army on the mountainside became weaker.
The assault speed of the attacking troops was significantly accelerated.
Suddenly, a string of more than a dozen fireballs splashed in the middle of the attacking troops, smoke filled the air, and many soldiers were blown into the sky. Immediately afterwards, the sound of "rumbling..." explosions reached Colonel Nakatani's ears.
"Bage Ya Road, what do the artillery do? Their shells missed. I want them to blow up the Eighth Route Army's blocking position on the mountainside, not our attacking troops." Colonel Nakatani became angry and roared loudly.
"Rumble..."
Before he finished speaking, the same explosion sounded from the offensive position.
The artillery positions and heavy machine gun positions were all attacked, with flames flying and a lot of smoke rising.
"Woooooooooo..." A series of screams followed. Getting closer and closer, the sound became more and more harsh.
The artillery staff officer's face quickly turned pale, and he shouted out loud: "Baga, there are artillery shells flying towards us, protect the regiment commander and hide!"
"Rumble..."
Before they finished speaking, an explosion went off. The nearest explosion point was less than forty meters away from them. Lying on the ground, you could feel the air waves hitting your face and burning your back.
"Bageya Road, didn't the main force of the garrison come out of the mountain? How come there is such a powerful artillery unit in the mountain?" Colonel Nakatani was lying on the ground, his face no longer calm and composed as before, the sound of artillery became more and more intense, and his face turned pale.
He also slowly turned white, and then shouted at the top of his lungs.
"Sir, I must be humble, this is the artillery unit that attacked us last night." The chief of staff shouted with despair.
"There are ordinary light mortars and large-caliber mortars, the number of which exceeds forty."
"The main force of the garrison has not left the mountain at all and has been moving around. We must have been tricked again."
Colonel Zhongtani's face also darkened, and he suddenly realized and shouted: "Bageya Road, the garrison is trying to annihilate us all here."
"Sir, the Eighth Route Army on the mountain has begun a counterattack!" his subordinates rushed over to report despite artillery fire.
"Sir, the left wing of the offensive position was attacked by the Eighth Route Army, with a strength of about one battalion." Another subordinate rushed over and reported nervously.
"No, the attacking troops are in danger." Colonel Nakatani responded quickly and immediately ordered.
"The two Eighth Route armies launched an attack together under the cover of artillery fire, attacking from the front and back. This was a posture to eat up our attacking troops."
"Immediately draw a squadron from the garrison and launch an assault directly on the Eighth Route Army attacking on the left wing to cover the retreat of the attacking troops."
"Sir, it's too late." the chief of staff replied, shaking his head.
"Da da da……"
Before Colonel Nakatani understood why, intensive gunshots rang in his ears, and then he heard the desperate report from the Chief of Staff.
"The Eighth Route Army is coming towards us, from both sides, and the firepower is very fierce."
"They want to annihilate us all in one battle!"
"The terrain here is too unfavorable for us. Once we are surrounded by the Eighth Route Army, we won't even have a place to hold on."
Colonel Nakatani also noticed it. A touch of intolerance and heartache flashed across his desperate face, but it was quickly replaced by firmness, and then he gave a decisive order.
"Let's retreat and leave here first, otherwise everyone will die here. Zhonggu United cannot die in my hands."
"Order the attacking troops to break out and retreat by themselves, and then join us."
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