The ambushed Japanese soldiers quickly recovered, and the officers began to organize troops to counterattack, and artillery shells began to explode on the hillsides on both sides.
"Old Ma, find a way to knock out the Japanese artillery for me!"
Not far from Li Qiufan, a cannonball exploded, causing a piece of dirt in his mouth. He immediately turned to the old horse and shouted.
The recruits finally saw the cruelty of war. They listened to the roaring explosions and felt the airflow of bullets flying past them. Their bodies were shaking constantly, and some even forgot how to shoot.
"Damn it, cheer me up, why are you still in a daze!"
Looking at the appearance of the new recruits, Li Qiufan couldn't help but roared.
The recruits slowly came to their senses amidst Li Qiufan's roar and began to use the rifles in their hands to fight back, but their faces were still pale.
"boom!"
A bullet hit Li Qiufan's arm. Li Qiufan took a look at his arm. Fortunately, it was only a scratch, and then continued to shoot with a heavy machine gun.
This group of Japs had a very high combat effectiveness. An ambush battle caused Li Qiufan and others to suffer casualties of one-third, while there were still more than 60 Japs resisting.
"Monk! Monk!"
Li Qiufan suddenly thought of something and shouted the monk's name loudly.
"Batalion Commander, what's wrong?"
The monk heard Li Qiufan's shout and immediately lay down next to him.
"Quickly, take the guard platoon around to the entrance of Hulukou and block the Japs' retreat. I'm afraid the remaining Japs will escape!"
Li Qiufan said quickly to the monk that while he was being beaten, he suddenly thought that because of the lack of troops, the pockets were not tied behind him, and he was worried that the remaining Japanese would run back.
"Battal Commander, what will you do if I leave?"
The monk was a little worried about Li Qiufan's safety and did not leave immediately.
"What time do you care about this? Hurry up and I'll shoot you if you let any Japanese go!"
Li Qiufan was a little angry. The monk was really stunned. He was still worried about his own safety at this time.
The monk gritted his teeth and led the guard platoon around to tie the pockets.
"Everyone in the artillery platoon, except the gunners, came up with guns for me to attack!"
Li Qiufan shouted to the back again and called up the gunners from the artillery platoon. These were to protect the artillery.
As for the gunner Li Qiufan, he really didn't dare to let them come up. After all, it was too difficult to train a gunner.
The battle soon came to an end. There were more than 20 Japs left below, and these 20 Japs began to retreat.
"Comrades, charge!"
Seeing that the Japanese wanted to run away, Li Qiufan put down his heavy machine gun, drew his pistol and rushed down. Upon seeing this, the soldiers behind him also picked up their guns and rushed down.
People on both sides of the hillside rushed down, and there were monks' guards behind them to line up their pockets. The more than twenty Japanese were quickly eliminated.
"Heizi, you lead a company of brothers to clean up the battlefield."
"Monk, you and the people from the guard platoon and reconnaissance platoon quickly move the wounded and collect the bodies."
"Old Ma, you take the artillery platoon and move first, and wait at Xiaowangzhuang three miles away."
Li Qiufan gave three orders in a row, and then he also cleaned up the battlefield, mainly looking for the two mortars and other grenade launchers.
Twenty minutes later, Li Qiufan led everyone to evacuate to Xiaowangzhuang.
After arriving at Xiaowangzhuang, they first met up with Lao Ma, and then checked the casualties.
A total of 225 people came out this time. Thirteen people were killed in the gun tower, leaving 212 people left.
A total of forty-eight people were killed in this ambush, nearly seventy were injured, and only over a hundred people were still fighting.
"Brother, the casualties this time are too great!"
Kuroko's eyes turned red when he looked at the number of casualties.
"There's no way, this is war, and it's an ambush battle. The fact that we fought like this whether we planned it or not, proves that our team is still far behind!"
Li Qiufan shook his head and said, for the Chinese army at this time, the Japanese army's combat effectiveness was too strong. Putting aside the ability of the soldiers, the equipment was far behind. The equipment of their independent battalion was already excellent. Yes.
"Let's go and recuperate in Xiaowangzhuang. The injured brothers will recuperate and let the brothers who died in battle be buried in peace."
Rubbing his eyebrows, Li Qiufan led everyone into Xiaowangzhuang.
Half a month later, except for a few seriously injured soldiers, the other soldiers with minor injuries were no longer hindering the movement. Li Qiufan decided to lead the team back to the station.
After two days of marching, Li Qiufan and his party returned to the independent camp. Zhao Gang, who came to meet them, saw the casualties of the troops and couldn't help but look pale.
"Qiu Fan, how come the casualties are so serious?"
Zhao Gang had a look of pain on his face, looking at the sharply reduced number of troops and the injured soldiers, he felt heartache in his heart.
"We wiped out a Japanese squadron. The brothers died unjustly. They were all good people!"
Li Qiufan didn't feel distressed, but as a commander, he could only hide these things in the deepest part of his heart.
Zhao Gang sighed. He also knew that this was a major victory, but the casualty figure still made him feel sad.
"Okay, don't think about that, let me tell you about this seizure."
Li Qiufan waved his hand towards Zhao Gang and said.
Zhao Gangwenyan raised his head and looked at Li Qiufan, waiting for him to speak.
"Haha, a total of 127 38 rifles, nine light machine guns, two mortars, nine grenades, and more than 13,000 rounds of 6.5 mm bullets were seized this time."
Li Qiufan said to Zhao Gang with a smile.
"Hiss~"
Zhao Gang took a breath of cold air. He didn't expect that the harvest this time would be so great.
"Oh, by the way, there's also a heavy machine gun."
Li Qiufan thought again of the heavy machine gun captured in the turret.
"With such a big harvest, should we report it to the brigade headquarters?"
Zhao Gang looked at Li Qiufan and asked.
Li Qiufan rolled his eyes at Zhao Gang and said angrily: "What are you reporting? We have suffered so many casualties this time. What are we planning to do if we hand over the seizures?"
"But….."
Zhao Gang wanted to say something else, but was directly interrupted by Li Qiufan.
"By the way, how's the recruitment going?"
Zhao Gang shook his head helplessly, and then said to Li Qiufan: "In the past half month, we have recruited more than 200 new recruits, and they are currently training with the Second Company and the Third Company."
"Hey, it's not bad. It has filled the gaps in each company platoon. I can also expand the machine gun platoon and artillery platoon."
Li Qiufan nodded with satisfaction. After returning this time, he planned to expand the machine gun platoon and artillery platoon into a company.
"Wouldn't this be bad? After this expansion, we will have half a regiment's strength."
Zhao Gang was a little worried that expanding the troops without reporting to the brigade headquarters might cause trouble.
"Okay, don't worry. The brigade commander is eager for me to expand his troops. I'm afraid he's eager for me to expand a division for him!"
Li Qiufan patted Zhao Gang's shoulder and comforted him.
When Zhao Gang saw this, he could only accept it. After all, Li Qiufan was the military commander of the independent battalion.
