Explosions kept ringing on the mountain road, killing and injuring the puppet soldiers. An infantry platoon was quickly blown away, but they still did not completely pass through the minefield.
The Japanese army had to once again deploy a platoon of Imperial Army soldiers to serve as human minesweepers at the front.
The sound of the firefight behind the hill was quickly fading away. When the main force was still three hundred meters away from the battlefield, it came to a complete stop, and even the sporadic rifle fire stopped.
】
Major General Ikeda and his main force managed to pass through the minefield with great difficulty, and when they arrived at the battlefield in a hurry, nothing was left except the corpses of more than a hundred subordinates, dozens of corpses of puppet soldiers, and weapons and ammunition that were fenced off.
"General, the Eighth Route Army has retreated to the southeast. They are carrying a large amount of loot and prisoners. They must not be able to run fast. If we catch up now, we will definitely be able to stop them." A second lieutenant hurried over to report.
"General, there are also traces of the Eighth Route Army's retreat in the southwest of the battlefield. Judging from the traces, the strength of the troops should be no less than one battalion..." A messenger then ran over to report.
For a moment, everyone focused their attention on Major General Ikeda, waiting for him to give the order.
"No pursuit!" Major General Ikeda retorted without hesitation.
"The Eighth Route Army only took a few minutes to eat up our forward search team, which shows that their combat effectiveness is very strong."
"There are several signs of retreat around the battlefield, indicating that they retreated in separate groups. If we also divided our forces, we would be easily defeated by them individually. If we do not divide our forces and follow them in the same retreat direction, we may pursue the wrong target and be defeated by their small group. The troops were led into the mountains and circled."
"As long as we besiege Mao'er Mountain as planned, the Eighth Route Army that just escaped will come out sooner or later to fight us."
"The troops continue to move forward and head straight to Mao'er Mountain."
The captain also thought so, and he agreed with this decision in his heart, and continued to ask: "Then should we continue to arrange the forward search team?"
"Of course..." Major General Ikeda answered without hesitation.
"There are at least two regiments of the Eighth Route Army hidden in the mountains. They are well-equipped and powerful in combat. If there is no forward search team to help the main force clear out possible dangers on the road, what if the Eighth Route Army arranges a big bag on the road and eats us all in one bite? what to do."
"But we must also learn from the experience just now."
"The minefield encountered by the main reinforcements of the forward search team must have been temporarily deployed by a small group of Eighth Route Army troops returning to the mountain road after the forward search team passed. If there were no minefields blocking the road and slowing down our army's march, the accident would never have happened to the forward search team. , the Eighth Route Army will not easily sneak away from under our noses."
"In order to prevent this situation, we not only need to arrange a forward search team, but also arrange an infantry team between the forward and the main force, dispersed on a one-kilometer mountain road, and not give the Eighth Route Army any chance to get close to the mountain road."
…………
On a small road more than 300 meters away from the battlefield, Huang Yu was retreating quickly with more than a hundred people.
Compared with the tense atmosphere when they set off, at this moment, everyone's face was filled with smiles after winning the battle, and many soldiers were carrying weapons and ammunition they had just captured.
But Zhang Xuan, who was running next to Huang Yu, was not as happy as he expected. After confirming that the Japs had not sent troops to pursue him, he directly asked Huang Yu: "Captain, although we have killed the Japs forward search team, their main force is still there, and they have killed Mao'er." Behind the mountains, we can still attack the guerrilla brigade and defeat us. This victory does not seem to have any impact on the outcome of the battle."
Huang Yu explained patiently: "Can you think more seriously about what we just gained?"
"Less than 150 little Japs, one company of puppet soldiers, 72 puppet soldiers captured, five mortars, four heavy machine guns, two companies of rifle machine guns, and hundreds of rounds captured Artillery shells and a large number of bullets..." Zhang Xuan reported while recalling.
"Although the results are great, these casualties are nothing compared to the total strength of the Japanese and puppet troops. There are still more than three of the four full complement squadrons, and the overall combat effectiveness is almost unaffected."
"Think about it again?" Huang Yu still didn't explain and continued to ask.
Just when Zhang Xuan racked his brains and couldn't think of a reason, Duan Peng suddenly said: "Chief of Staff Zhang, I really want to know what the leader said?"
"Although we only killed more than a hundred Japs and the Japanese army lost very little reinforcement, the results included half a mortar squadron and half a heavy machine gun squadron."
"The troops that the Japs swept away along the way only had one mortar squadron, one mountain artillery squad, one infantry artillery squadron, and one heavy machine gun squadron. We killed almost half of the Japs' heavy weapons in this battle."
"Without heavy weapons, no matter how powerful the infantry is, they will be torn to pieces by artillery fire."
"The real purpose of the regiment leader is to consume and destroy the Japanese artillery troops."
Huang Yu nodded immediately: "Finally, I heard something clear."
"The more than 100 little Japs in the forward search team are indeed not worth spending such a high price to eliminate, but half of the mortar squadron and half of the heavy machine gun squadron are worth it."
"If we find a way to destroy the remaining half of their mortar squadron and heavy machine gun squadron, I will be 80% sure of inflicting heavy damage and mopping up the troops along the way."
Zhang Xuan finally reacted, but another question popped up in his mind. He furrowed his brows and continued to ask: "Every step of the way makes you wiser. The Japanese have just suffered such a big loss at our hands. They will definitely use the remaining half of it." The mortar squadron and the heavy machine gun squadron watched closely and didn't give us any chance to take advantage of them."
Huang Yu shook his head and said, "That's not necessarily the case."
"The Japanese and puppet troops don't know our reality. Even if the forward search team is completely destroyed, they will continue to send forward search teams for the safety of the main force."
"If the search team wants to avoid being overwhelmed by our sneak attack troops, they must strengthen a large number of grenades and mortars."
"As long as we keep an eye on the little Japanese mopping up the troops, we will definitely find opportunities."
This is a fighter plane that Huang Yu discovered after listening to Zhang Xuan's introduction.
No matter on any battlefield, artillery is the trump card of the little devils.
If the Japanese artillery troops could be knocked out in advance, they would become a tiger without fangs, their combat effectiveness would be sharply reduced, and the morale of the troops would also be affected.
After confirming that the Japanese forward search team was strengthened with a large number of mortars and heavy machine guns, and that a distance of one kilometer was maintained between the search team and the main force, it was immediately decided to launch a surprise attack.
The special operations team laid the mines in advance and left them hanging. The Japanese forward search team quickly retreated after they arrived, and then returned to the minefield to hang the strings after the Japanese forward search team left.
The special operations team has a small number of people and strong combat effectiveness. They can lay out a minefield between the Japs' vanguard and the main force without anyone noticing.
The main force of the guerrilla brigade and the guard company brought by Huang Yu attacked the forward search team head-on.
Although they are equipped with a large number of heavy machine guns and mortars, they have very few infantry to protect them.
Huang Yu took advantage of this loophole and concentrated all his mortars to blast the Japanese heavy machine guns and mortar units, preventing them from participating in the battle. He then used heavy machine guns to suppress the Japanese and puppet infantry. The infantry directly launched an attack, which ended in only five minutes. fighting.
Zhang Xuan disagreed at first, but Huang Yu was the captain of the guerrilla brigade. When the captain made a decision, he had to implement his opinions. The result was like a dream. The guerrilla brigade really had to pull out its teeth and eat the Japanese forward search team.
"Captain..." A member of the special forces team from behind suddenly caught up and reported.
"After the Japanese and puppet troops arrived at the battlefield, they did not divide their forces to pursue us. They cleared the battlefield and continued to advance. They still sent an infantry squad and a company of the Imperial Army to conduct reconnaissance..."
Zhang Xuan did not expect that Huang Yu's judgment was the same as the Japanese army's arrangement. He was shocked and admired, and quickly asked: "Are the forward search teams equipped with mortars and heavy machine guns?"
"Equipped with six mortars and six heavy machine guns, the scale is exactly the same as the forward search team we just eliminated."
"But they arranged an infantry team between the search team and the main force. We should have no chance to continue to lay minefields on the road like we did just now."
This situation was something Huang Yu had not guessed before.
The excited smile on Zhang Xuan's face was instantly replaced by seriousness, and he asked anxiously: "Captain, in the raid just now, the minefield played a key role."
"If there were no minefields to help slow down the Japanese reinforcements, we would definitely have no chance to withdraw from the battle."
"If the Japanese do this, the special forces will not be able to lay out minefields."
Huang Yu thought for a while and replied: "If there are minefields, then we should play as high as there are minefields. If there are no minefields, we should play as if we don't have minefields."
"Didn't we just capture five mortars? The guerrilla brigade came out in five units and gathered ten of them to form a temporary artillery company to intercept the Japanese and puppet reinforcements with artillery shells."
"The rate of fire of mortars is very fast. If ten mortars are fired at the same time, a hundred shells can be fired in one minute, which is enough to blast an isolation zone of artillery fire in front of the Japanese and puppet troops."
"The remaining Japanese mortars are all equipped with forward search teams. The main force behind them has no way to counterattack and can only be passively bombed."
"If they choose to charge hard, they will probably lose more troops than the entire forward search team is wiped out. As long as the Japanese commander has a little sense, he will not do this."
"If they choose to take a detour to reinforce the forward search team, we will have enough time to evacuate the battlefield."
…………
At one o'clock in the afternoon, Major General Ikeda's mopping up force still had the last fifteen kilometers away from Mao'er Mountain, and they would definitely reach the foot of the mountain before dark.
In the past few hours, the forward search team has encountered far fewer attacks than yesterday. It is obvious that their own arrangements have worked.
Facing the mortars and heavy machine guns equipped by the forward search team, the Eighth Route Army was helpless.
The plan to ambush the search team was forced to give up because there was a security force between the search team and the main force, and there was no way to lay out a minefield.
Major General Ikeda was smiling all the way, and he had obviously forgotten the unpleasantness caused to him by the destruction of the entire search team.
"Boom, boom, boom...dongdongdong..."
When he felt that victory was in sight, the familiar sound of artillery and heavy machine gun fire reached his ears again.
Such fierce gunfire was definitely not caused by the forward search team. It must be the Eighth Route Army, in order to protect Mao'er Mountain. It was helpless and had to stand up and pull out its teeth, attacking the search team to stop itself.
But this time they obviously had no chance to place a minefield between the main force and the forwards. As long as the main force reached the battlefield quickly, not only would the Eighth Route Army not be able to take any advantage, but they would also be gathered here and annihilated by themselves, losing both their wives and their troops.
