Major General Ikeda glanced at the shells that kept falling behind him and said angrily: "How can we retreat and forcefully break through the isolation zone blown up by the Eighth Route Army's artillery fire like we did just now? At that time, the Eighth Route Army only had ten mortars, so it caused us a lot of damage. One infantry squad suffered casualties; now they have more than twenty mortars, and the retreat may cause more losses than seizing the high ground."
"The troops continue to attack the mountains and must seize the high ground so that they can hold on until the reinforcements come over at the minimum cost."
"The Imperial Alliance Army rushes to the front of the team to reduce the losses of the Imperial Army. It will be up to the Imperial Army to defend the position for a while."
Major General Ikeda had a good idea, but he ignored one issue.
If the Eighth Route Army could figure out in advance that they wanted to seize the high ground and place booby traps halfway up the mountain, they would not be able to easily take over the mountain. There must be other back-up tactics.
When the Japanese and puppet troops fought against artillery fire and booby traps to seize the high ground, there were also troops on the other side of the hill rushing towards the high ground.
They are the security company of Shunping Garrison Regiment brought by Huang Yu.
I had just lost a battle at the airport and lost dozens of soldiers, and I was feeling angry.
After finally encountering a good opportunity to confront the enemy head-on, everyone was full of energy. Carrying rifles and light and heavy machine guns, they rushed to the high ground with all their strength.
Huang Yu is also among the team. The top of the mountain is the only high ground here. Standing on it, you can overlook the entire battlefield and better deploy your troops to encircle and annihilate the Japanese and puppet troops.
"Boom boom boom..."
Hearing the sound of grenade explosions coming from the other side of the hill, Huang Yu's face immediately flashed an anxious look.
Carrying a box of grenades, he rushed to the top of the mountain and ordered: "Everyone, we must speed up. The Japanese and puppet troops have rushed halfway up the mountain. We must occupy the top of the mountain before them."
The puppet troops are afraid of death and can serve as cannon fodder for the Japanese, but they cannot guarantee the speed of the troops' assault.
Facing the ubiquitous booby traps, the speed of the assault slowed down unconsciously.
After finally crossing the booby trap area, and just as they were about to rush to the high ground, a row of light and heavy machine gun muzzles suddenly appeared more than 40 meters ahead, and the sound of gunfire reached their ears at the same time.
Dense bullets poured down from the top of the mountain, instantly pulverizing the two rows of Japanese and puppet troops in front.
Major General Ikeda was thrown to the ground by his subordinates, avoiding the hail of bullets flying in his direction. When he looked up, he saw a company of the Eighth Route Army seizing the construction site half a minute earlier than him.
Feeling aggrieved and angry, he drew out his command sword and ordered with a murderous look on his face: "There is only one company of the Eighth Route Army on the top of the hill. We have more people, so rush up and destroy them."
"The troops have already reached here. It is definitely too late to retreat now, and the price we paid before will become meaningless. Only by recapturing the high ground can we have a chance to hold on until the reinforcements arrive."
When the brigade commander gave an order, the little Japanese hiding behind the puppet troops rushed forward with guns in hand and roars as if they were shot.
The grenadier soldiers accompanying the attacking team immediately squatted down, set up their grenade launchers and fired grenades at the high ground, hoping to knock out the firepower points above and cover the infantry to seize the hilltop.
But the light machine guns set up by the Eighth Route Army on the high ground seemed to be endless. The grenade had just destroyed one, and another one popped up next to it and continued to shoot at the attacking troops.
"Boom boom boom..."
The Eighth Route Army artillery that was chasing the Japanese and puppet troops suddenly changed its target. More than twenty artillery shells seemed to have eyes, and they all hit the attacking troops.
The attacking force, which had already suffered heavy casualties, lost more than twenty people in one fell swoop, and the offensive was immediately suppressed by the guard company.
But before receiving the order to retreat, these little devils would have to rush to the top of the mountain even if the whole army was destroyed.
The second round of artillery shells fell quickly, and more than 20 people from the attacking force fell.
Major General Ikeda saw this and felt pain in his heart, but he had no means of counterattack and could only lie on the ground in panic.
After five rounds of shells, the attacking troops had to withdraw from the battle due to excessive losses.
"General, we can't fight any longer..." the captain begged when he saw the pain on Major General Ikeda's face.
"The army originally only had two and a half squadrons left. After a sudden artillery attack, one squadron was lost. In the previous attack, more than half of the squadron was lost. Now there is still one and a half squadrons left to continue fighting."
"The Imperial Association Army also lost two companies in the battle to seize the high ground, leaving only one company."
"Continue to attack. The few remaining troops we have will be wiped out in at most two attacks."
"It doesn't matter if we die here. You are the commander of the mixed brigade. You still need to direct the subsequent raids. There must be no accidents."
"I sincerely request you to retreat immediately. I am willing to command the remaining troops to cover your way out of the Eighth Route Army encirclement."
Major General Ikeda was silent. As a brigade commander and a senior imperial officer, he definitely didn't want to die here without being known.
Facing the increasingly bad situation in front of him, he also had the idea of breaking out and retreating.
"General, there is an Eighth Route Army at the foot of the mountain who wants to outflank us?" A cry of surprise brought Major General Ikeda back to reality, and also made him realize that he would not be able to leave unless he broke through and retreated.
Immediately ordered: "We break out to the southeast. There is no trace of the Eighth Route Army there yet. There should be no one there. Escape the battle as quickly as possible..."
The captain immediately answered: "The general is wise..."
"After all the Imperial Army and the wounded are left behind, we must hold back the Eighth Route Army on the top of the mountain to prevent them from launching French chickens and chasing us behind."
"The others are covering the retreat of the brigade commander with me..."
…………
On the high ground, Huang Yu was holding a telescope to observe every move of the Japanese and puppet troops halfway up the mountain. He could see clearly as soon as there were signs of retreat.
"The little Japs are going to run away, break out and retreat to the southeast, and the puppet troops will stay in the rear..." Huang Yu said the latest movements of the little Japs while watching, and then began to give orders.
"The troops immediately launched a counterattack, defeating more than a hundred puppet troops at the rear as quickly as possible, and biting the little Japs who wanted to break through."
"The southeast direction looks empty on the surface, but in fact it hides the most powerful special forces team in our base. It was a defensive loophole I deliberately left for the little devils. I didn't expect them to really get into the trap, so don't blame me for being rude. "
"The guerrilla brigade surrounded us and tried to annihilate all the little devils halfway up the mountain."
"They say it is better to cut off one of them than to injure ten of them. God has given us the opportunity to eliminate the mopping up troops in the middle. We must seize it."
There are more than 120 people in the guard company participating in the battle. One platoon was lost in the battle just now, and there are still more than 80 people left.
Despite their small number, they were very powerful in combat. Under the cover of more than a dozen light and heavy machine guns, they were like a group of howling little tigers. In just one attack, they defeated more than a hundred wounded puppet troops and Japanese soldiers.
This scene happened to be seen clearly by Major General Ikeda, who immediately gave the order.
"On Bageya Road, the rear troops have been defeated by the Eighth Route Army. Our breakout and transfer speed must be accelerated. We must not be bitten by them, otherwise the encircling Eighth Route Army will definitely annihilate us here."
"Quickly, speed up the retreat and evacuate the battlefield quickly..." The captain was also anxious and ordered as he ran away.
"Throw away all the excess weapons and ammunition. Reinforcements are on their way. As long as we join the reinforcements, we will be able to fight back and recapture these weapons and ammunition."
"Also give up the mountain artillery and infantry artillery to save the troops. We will have a chance to snatch it back from the Eighth Route Army later. If the troops are gone, these equipment will still fall into the hands of the Eighth Route Army. At that time, we will not even have a chance to turn defeat into victory."
The captain has a very clear mind and knows what he should give up now and what he should keep.
But their path to retreat is far from simple as imagined.
After running less than two hundred meters, a very unfamiliar gunshot suddenly rang out at the front of the team. Major General Ikeda looked up and saw more than a dozen of his subordinates lying on the retreat road. Each of them had their chests beaten into sieves, and they couldn't even make a sound. Didn't say a word.
"It's a submachine gun...General, the Eighth Route Army blocking the road ahead is equipped with submachine guns." The Japanese captain was the first to react.
"The range of the light machine gun is limited. As long as we keep a distance from them, we can overwhelm the opponent..." Major General Ikeda is very experienced in combat, and he can think of ways to break the situation in a flash.
】
"Light and heavy machine gun cover, infantry assault frontally, strive for an attack to rush over, kill..."
"Bang bang bang bang bang..."
Several rifle shots suddenly sounded in the woods not far away. They sounded very chaotic and without any organization.
But these gunshots startled Major General Ikeda.
The four light machine guns that had just fired in the front misfired on the spot. All the machine gunners were shot in the center of their eyebrows and fell down next to the machine guns.
The deputy shooter quickly took over the machine gun, put his shoulder on the butt of the gun, and aimed at the submachine gunner's position before preparing to fire. However, before a single bullet was fired, several gunshots were heard in the woods again.
The four deputy shooters were shot again.
"On Bageya Road, there are Eighth Route Army sharpshooters hidden in the woods, who specialize in killing our machine gunners. We must kill these sharpshooters before we can continue to attack forward." Major General Ikeda's face slowly became serious, and he frowned and shook his head in order. .
"Immediately set up the heavy machine gun, shoot at the hiding place of the sharpshooters, and kill them."
"The machine gunner is ready to fire again, covering the infantry's forward assault."
"Report to General, the heavy machine gun squadron has been completely destroyed in the previous battle..." The captain's desperate report soon sounded in his ears.
The solemn expression on Major General Ikeda's face immediately became thicker and thicker.
The other Eighth Route Army troops were encircling him, and the counterattack troops on the top of the mountain were also very close. If they didn't break out and retreat quickly, they wouldn't be able to leave even if they wanted to.
We can only hold on to the last glimmer of hope and order: "If you can't kill the enemy's sharpshooter, you will have to charge hard."
"The exchange of fire is not dense, which means there are not many Eighth Route Army blocking the way in front. As long as we concentrate all our troops and firepower to charge hard, and the assault speed is fast enough, a few submachine guns will definitely not be able to stop us."
"The entire army attacks, leaving no one behind. Attack forward as fast as possible and kill everyone..."
