"The Eighth Route Army is looking for death. This time, we can't let them escape no matter what we say. The troops immediately spread out into battle formation, marched forward in a hurry, and reinforced the forward search team..." Major General Ikeda gave the order as if he had been given a shot of blood. .
"Hurry up. This time we must completely wipe out the Eighth Route Army that attacks us... kill them all... boom boom boom..."
Just as the reinforcement order was issued, an explosion sounded right in front of the team.
Ten clouds of black smoke suddenly rose in front of the main force. Countless pieces of soil and bushes were blown away in the explosion, and several subordinates who were rushing to the front of the team fell to the ground.
"Could it be that the Eighth Route Army wants to wrap up the main force..." A very scary idea suddenly came to Major General Ikeda's mind.
But this idea was quickly rejected.
If the Eighth Route Army really assembled a heavy force to ambush itself, the shells fired just now should have landed in the middle of the team, so as to cause maximum damage to the main force, instead of falling directly in front of the main force. Ten shells would have killed and injured less than ten people.
While he breathed a long sigh of relief, the second round of shells hit him.
Smoke filled the air and mud flew everywhere. This time at least twenty soldiers were covered by artillery fire, and almost all of them were Japanese.
Major General Ikeda reacted suddenly, slapped his head and shouted loudly: "Baga, I understand..."
"The Eighth Route Army wants to intercept us with artillery fire and prevent us from reinforcing the forward search team."
"Don't stop the reinforcements, rush over directly, the rescue forward search team is urgent, hurry up..."
"Boom boom boom..."
The mortars fired too fast, and shells fell from the sky as if they were free. After a while, the enemy was completely blocked by the smoke from the shells right in front.
There were flying shell fragments everywhere, corpses of killed soldiers, broken limbs, and even bloody minced meat and internal organs.
Under the watchful eye of Major General Ikeda, reinforcements rushed into the smoke, but only 30% of the soldiers were able to rush through.
"General, the mortar fire rate is too fast and the Eighth Route Army's interception fire is too fierce. We cannot charge forward forcefully. Otherwise, the reinforcements here will suffer more losses than the entire forward search team is wiped out. It is better not to reinforce the forward search team." The captain looked heartbroken and was very anxious to remind him.
Major General Ikeda also realized this, his face was gloomy and terrible, he clenched his fist and smashed it on a big tree on the roadside, and said helplessly: "We were almost able to reach the battlefield and block the Eighth Route Army's ambush force. ,What a pity."
"The troops stopped advancing, bypassed the artillery fire coverage area and continued to reinforce the search team. If we can save, we will save. If we can't, forget it. We can't lose the watermelon and pick up the sesame seeds, and do business at a loss."
The captain of the brigade breathed a sigh of relief. In order to reduce the losses of the troops, he decided to go to the battlefield in person. While running, he replied: "The general is wise. I will arrange my humble duty now."
Major General Ikeda bypassed the artillery fire coverage area and finally arrived at the battlefield. What was left to him was another pile of corpses and broken limbs, and his face was instantly flushed with anger.
In my heart, I really wanted to lead troops to chase down the Eighth Route Army ambushes. In the end, my reason overcame my impulse. I took a deep breath, slowly regained my composure, suppressed the anger that had surged in my heart, and ordered with a murderous look on my face: "The troops continue to advance, go straight to the cat." Ershan..."
"When we reach the enemy's station and force out their main force, we will have revenge and revenge..."
The brigade captain's eyes were also red with anger. If the brigade commander hadn't suppressed him, he would have led his troops to hunt down Huang Yu.
Major General Ikeda was thinking about the entire counter-mopping up, and did not care about the specific losses of the middle mopping up troops, as long as there were no accidents in the overall mopping up.
The captain was different. Every Japanese lost here was his subordinate. No one knew better than him how much the troops had suffered during the sweep-up in the middle. He had a headache when he thought about the current situation of the troops. He looked at Major General Ikeda with a confused look on his face: "Then we Should we continue to send forward search teams..."
"Of course we have to send..." Major General Ikeda answered without hesitation.
"Both forward search teams were completely wiped out in just a few minutes, which is enough to prove how powerful our opponents are. If the forward search teams hadn't helped the main force clear the dangers on the road, the entire middle sweep force would have been wiped out now."
"But we no longer have mortars and heavy machine guns in our hands?" The captain then said the biggest difficulty facing the middle-road mopping up troops.
"Nani?" Major General Ikeda then turned his attention to the specific losses of the mopping up troops in the middle. He once again showed a look of realization and cried out: "Bagya Road, we seem to have been fooled..."
“Without the heavy machine guns and mortars, if the Eighth Route Army massed heavy troops to besiege us, the central mopping up troops would not even have the strength to protect themselves.
"This is a mountainous area. The two infantry guns and two mountain guns we brought into the mountains are not as effective as the four mortars."
"The Eighth Route Army's equipment is already very good, but now it has captured eight or nine of our mortars. It has stronger long-range attack firepower. We are definitely no match for the two sides in a head-to-head confrontation."
The captain added solemnly: "General, in addition to the mortar squadron and the heavy machine gun squadron, we also lost one and a half infantry squadrons and three companies of the Imperial Alliance..."
"The two forward search teams each lost an infantry squad and a company of the Imperial Alliance Army. Just when the forward search teams were reinforced, the Eighth Route Army's interception of artillery fire caused another casualty to our infantry squad."
"The last time the forward search team was attacked, we were killed and injured by landmines, a dozen of the Imperial Army and half a company of the Imperial Alliance Army."
"Yesterday's sporadic exchange of fire with the Eighth Route Army resulted in the loss of an infantry squad and most of a company of the Imperial Association Army. Now we only have two and a half squadrons left, one battalion of the Imperial Association Army, a mountain artillery squad, an infantry artillery squad, a cavalry squad, and a The total strength of the baggage train is less than 900 men!"
Major General Ikeda was frightened, and then he felt a huge crisis approaching him. He raised his eyebrows and began to give orders: "Immediately contact the left and right mopping up troops and ask them to move closer to us immediately."
"The troops are not leaving today. We will immediately set up a defense line on the high ground on the east side of Zhanjun Mountain Road. We will wait for the other two mopping up troops to join us before heading to Mao'er Mountain together."
The captain immediately understood the hidden meaning of the brigade commander's words. While executing the order, he asked: "General, are you worried that the Eighth Route Army will come to attack us now?"
"Don't be afraid of 10,000, just be afraid of what happens..." Major General Ikeda replied calmly.
"Compared with the Eighth Route Army that just attacked us, their firepower advantage has already reached their side. If we are not prepared in advance, our troops will definitely suffer heavy losses if they are really attacked."
"Our losses have already been huge. We must avoid any surprises in the next battle. We won't take risks if we can't... Boom boom boom..."
The explosion of artillery shells once again interrupted Major General Ikeda's order, and plumes of black smoke suddenly rose from the team behind him. Although the hit rate of these artillery shells was very low, with only seven or eight hitting the mountain road, because the troops were all gathered on the mountain road, The formation was very dense, and these shells still killed and wounded ten or twenty soldiers.
Major General Ikeda's face turned pale at that time.
He was too talkative and did whatever he said. He was so angry that he wanted to slap himself twice.
He reacted very quickly. He drew out his self-defense pistol and ran towards the high ground he had chosen. As he ran, he said with emotion: "The enemy reacted so quickly. He obviously wanted to take advantage of the artillery fire to eat us up."
"We must not let their conspiracy succeed. The troops immediately seized the commanding heights, established a defense line based on the favorable terrain, and waited for reinforcements."
"As long as we hold on until the reinforcements arrive, we can cooperate with the reinforcements to attack all the Eighth Route Army forces besieging us from both inside and outside."
"Hurry up and be sure to occupy the commanding heights in front of the Eighth Route Army, otherwise we will be attacked by the enemy from above and beaten by the Eighth Route Army's artillery fire and heavy machine guns."
Major General Ikeda has a very strong adaptability in the face of battle. When the situation is not good, he plans to wait for help without losing any face.
But his opponent is Huang Yu, a person who never does business at a loss.
Major General Ikeda had already thought of all the solutions he could think of. He had also thought out the response strategy in advance and even laid out the battlefield.
More than twenty mortars fired at the Japs non-stop. In order not to be killed, the Japs moved very quickly.
In a few minutes, they rushed to the mountainside of the high ground that Major General Ikeda wanted to occupy.
The terrain here is very good, easy to defend but difficult to attack. As long as the troops successfully rush to the high ground, self-protection will definitely be no problem.
Just when the high ground was about to be trampled underfoot, an accident happened.
"Boom boom boom..."
Several explosions sounded among the Japanese and puppet troops. Black smoke rose into the sky from the explosion point. The soldiers running next to the explosion point fell to the ground.
The explosions were not as loud as mortar shells, but more like grenade explosions.
There was no Eighth Route Army stationed on the high ground in front of us, so the explosion just now could only have been caused by grenades and booby traps.
Why would the Eighth Route Army place booby traps here, and there would be several of them as soon as they appeared? Even a fool knows there is something wrong here.
"Boom boom boom..."
Several more booby traps were detonated in the crowd, and the number of soldiers injured or killed by the booby traps suddenly exceeded ten. This was done in just a few seconds, indicating that the density of booby traps on the hillside was very high.
If he continued to attack the mountain like before, he would probably be the next one to be killed by a booby trap.
Everyone is afraid of death, and the little devil who believes in Bushido is no exception, especially this kind of death where he doesn't know where he is now and loses his life for no reason.
The speed of the Japanese and puppet troops seizing the hilltop obviously slowed down. Major General Ikeda finally reacted at this moment and ordered with a worried look: "Bagoya Road, we have been fooled again."
"The Eighth Route Army calculated that we would seize the high ground after being attacked, and deliberately placed booby traps along the road we must pass to slow down our march."
"If they seize the high ground first, we will be suppressed halfway up the mountain by firepower."
While Major General Ikeda was talking, several more booby traps were detonated, and casualties began to increase sharply. The captain was anxious and quickly expressed his thoughts: "Sir, withdraw. If the high ground is full of booby traps, we will suffer heavy losses if we occupy the high ground. The remaining troops will definitely not be able to hold on to the reinforcements."
"Since the Eighth Route Army has deployed its main force around the highlands, there must not be many troops in other places. If we change places and wait for reinforcements, we might be able to avoid the main force of the Eighth Route Army."
