Ishii Shaozuo understood.
In order to save the face of the North China Front Army Headquarters and prevent Neji Okamura from being too embarrassed, he could only let the mopping up troops catch up and continue the fight.
But when he thought about the dangerous situation of the troops, he felt particularly guilty. With the last glimmer of hope, he asked: "General, do we really want to continue attacking Mao'er Mountain? There is no other way out."
Major General Ikeda didn't want to fight, but the military order could not be violated. He shook his head and replied with a long sigh: "Execute the order."
"After dawn, the aviation force will airdrop poison gas bombs and gas masks to us. You must formulate a battle plan for us to attack Mao'er Mountain with poison gas bombs before dawn. The more detailed the better."
"There is only one principle: I would rather return empty-handed than let the troops suffer another heavy loss."
"If gas bombs can't help us win, then we can only withdraw from the mountain and end this sweep."
…………
At the Japanese and puppet army station in Poling, Zhang Xuan looked at the ammunition that had not been blown up before him, as if he had eaten candied fruit, with a smile on his face and wanted to touch everything he saw.
"Captain, the little Japs are too wealthy to mop up the troops. They blew up so much ammunition before leaving, and there are still so many in the station. I made a preliminary calculation, and the mortar shells captured alone are enough to make up for our consumption just now." Zhang Xuan After visiting the Japanese army baggage station, I happily ran to Huang Yu to report.
Huang Yu paid more attention to the corpses of the Japanese and puppet soldiers, and answered with satisfaction: "Not only were there many seizures, but the results were also very good."
"There are at least 400 Japanese and puppet corpses inside the garrison. In addition to the Japanese and puppet rear troops who were intercepted and killed outside the garrison, we have killed at least 800 Japanese and puppet troops in this night attack. The total strength of the mopping up troops has probably been reduced sharply. When the number reached 2,000, nearly half of the mortars, mountain artillery, and infantry artillery were lost.”
"If we continue to attack Mao'er Mountain and stay in the mountain without retreating, I don't mind leaving them all behind to fight a large-scale annihilation battle."
Zhang Xuan immediately became excited: "Captain, once the Japanese and puppet troops withdrew from the sweep, didn't we win the battle?"
Huang Yu answered confidently: "If you were the leader of the Little Japanese Brigade and the mopping up troops lost 60% of their troops and more than half of their heavy weapons, could you think of any other way out besides withdrawing the troops?"
"Not only do we have to retreat, but we also have to run overnight. The faster the better..." Zhang Xuan replied blurtly.
"It's not yet dawn, and the battlefield belongs to us. If we don't retreat quickly, and the guerrilla brigade doesn't mind giving them another artillery feast, their losses will increase."
Huang Yu nodded: "I think so too."
"If the Japanese army wants to keep the remaining two thousand mopping up troops, they can only withdraw from the mountain overnight..."
"Let the troops clean up the battlefield as soon as possible. After that, go back to the station and have a good rest."
"We are fighting continuously. Many soldiers did not rest last night. They must be very tired."
"After the battle, I'll give you three days off. You don't have to do any training, just sleep and eat."
After hearing this, Zhang Xuan rushed to the gate of the station. He heard that the Japanese had lost a lot of weapons and ammunition on the way back. He heard that there were many heavy weapons inside, and he wanted to fly over directly.
As a result, as soon as he ran out more than ten meters, he almost collided with Duan Peng who was running towards him.
Seeing his hurried expression, serious expression, and uneasy look, he immediately realized that something was going on with the Japanese and puppet troops, and then turned back to Huang Yu.
"Captain, the Japanese and puppet troops did not evacuate the mountain directly." Duan Peng ran a long way before returning here, panting while reporting.
"They re-established a camp ten kilometers away from here. They also dug trenches and bunkers inside the camp. It seems they are not ready to leave."
Huang Yu frowned on the spot and muttered to himself: "It shouldn't be..."
"Judging from the previous battles, the leader of the Japs Brigade should be a person who assesses the situation."
"The troops have been severely damaged and their morale is low. If they continue to fight with us, they will not gain anything except losing troops and generals."
"Evacuating the mountain overnight is their best option."
"Not only have they not retreated, but they have also reselected their campsite. Do they plan to retreat after dawn..."
】
Zhang Xuan didn't expect the kid to do this. He was silent for a while and analyzed: "Captain, do you think the kid would be worried about us ambushing us on the road and not daring to retreat overnight."
"In their eyes, we have two regiments, and it is indeed very possible to ambush them."
Huang Yu shook his head: "It's possible, but the chance is very low!"
Seeing Zhang Xuan staring at him with a pair of puzzled eyes, Huang Yu immediately explained: "As long as the little devils really want to evacuate the mountain, even if we really have two regiments, it will be difficult to ambush them."
"I know..." Duan Peng suddenly interrupted.
"Retreat is different from reinforcement. Reinforcement has a goal. If you want to march quickly to reach the goal, you must take some roads. We have the opportunity to set up pocket formations in advance on the only way the Japanese and puppet troops must pass and ambush them. There is no specific goal for retreat, as long as we walk out Mountains are enough, the Japanese and puppet troops can go wherever they want. There is no fixed route, and we can't find the battlefield even if we want to ambush."
After hearing this, Zhang Xuan showed an expression of sudden realization, his brows furrowed, and he asked with a puzzled expression, "Then I can't understand it even more."
"Since they are not waiting until daylight before retreating, they have established a temporary garrison now and do not intend to withdraw."
"But with their current situation, do they still have the strength to continue besieging us?"
"Unless they hold a trump card that we don't know about?" Duan Peng interjected again.
Huang Yu suddenly felt like he was enlightened, and he vaguely thought of something. When he wanted to continue thinking about it, his mind went blank again, without any ideas.
He could only shake his head and said with a helpless expression: "No matter what trump card the little devils still have hidden in their hands, as long as we find ways to continue to consume their troops, the pressure of the next battle will become less and less."
"Since the Japanese will not withdraw, we will continue to use mortars to attack them secretly."
"Didn't we just capture hundreds of mortar shells? They were left to us by the Japs anyway, so it doesn't hurt to burn them all. We'll return them all in a while, and use the shells thrown by the Japs to hit themselves. Everything will be gone. Its use.”
"Chief of Staff, immediately send over all the mules and horses from the guerrilla brigade and me to help transport artillery shells and mortars."
"The soldiers are too tired, and we must do everything possible to lighten their load."
"The guard company and special operations group I brought are responsible for protecting the artillery. The guerrilla brigade has all withdrawn from the battlefield and found a place to sleep as soon as possible. After dawn, the guard company and special operations group will continue to protect the artillery."
…………
The new garrison selected by Major General Ikeda includes several highland troops. The troops are divided into three and arranged at the corners of each other. They can not only cover each other, but also disperse the troops and reduce the losses of the troops in sudden artillery attacks.
When Huang Yu arrived here, he gave up the idea of continuing to use artillery shells to consume the Japanese and puppet troops.
Their troops are too scattered, and the skills of the gunners under their command are not good. If they insist on taking action, they may not be able to kill a single Japanese with five rounds of artillery shells. It is not cost-effective. It is better to leave those artillery shells on other battlefields.
At nine o'clock in the morning the next day, three transport planes with bloated fuselage appeared over the Japanese and puppet military base on time.
After circling twice, the landing hills filled with supplies fell from the cabin and slowly fell to the ground.
Major General Ikeda stood on a high ground and saw that the troops successfully recovered all the supplies dropped by the plane. He was obviously much more confident than last night.
"Reporting to the brigade commander, the headquarters has airdropped a total of 600 anti-drug Burmese troops, a thousand poison gas bombs, and five mortars to us. I have already put them all into the army." Ishii Shaozuo hurried over to report.
To be honest, even if Okamura Neji airdropped poison gas bombs and gas masks to them, Ishii would not have much confidence in the subsequent sweep.
The opponent is not only powerful in combat, but also very mysterious.
The total strength was more than two regiments, but every time they fought, only one regiment was dispatched to defeat the mopping up troops.
This shows that the Eighth Route Army did not try its best on the battlefield and always left a lot of backup forces.
Although the poison gas bombs gave the mopping up troops a lot of combat confidence, the total strength of the mopping up troops was not reinforced.
No matter how powerful the weapon is, it still needs people to operate it. Without soldiers, it is impossible to capture Mao'er Mountain with weapons alone.
If the Eighth Route Army knows that it is equipped with poison gas bombs, it will do its best to attack the mopping up troops and continue to consume the mopping up troops.
As long as the army loses another thousand people, poison gas bombs will not be able to restore the defeat.
Major General Ikeda could see that his subordinates were worried, but did not offer any words of comfort.
Obeying orders is a soldier's bounden duty. Okamura Neiji's orders must be carried out. What he can do is to do his best to reduce the losses of the troops after the defeat and bring the surviving soldiers out of the mountains.
But the mopping up troops have no chance of winning.
As long as the troops successfully reach Mao'er Mountain, seize the Eighth Route Army's garrison, and force the Eighth Route Army to come out for a decisive battle, and the two sides suddenly use gas bombs to kill a large number of their troops in a head-to-head confrontation, the final winner will definitely belong to themselves.
With the expectation of victory, Major General Ikeda gave a serious order: "The battle plan you made last night was very good: the troops will set off in half an hour, march forward in a hurry, ignore the sneak attacks and harassment along the way, and kill Mao Er as quickly as possible. Mountain, forcing the Eighth Route Army to come out and fight us decisively."
"If you encounter the Eighth Route Army's blocking position, use poison gas bombs directly, rush over at combat speed, and go straight to Mao'er Mountain."
"We must rush to Mao'er Mountain before one o'clock in the afternoon, seize the Eighth Route Army's garrison before dark, and end the decisive battle with the Eighth Route Army."
…………
Although the sudden artillery attack on the Japanese and puppet army garrison was temporarily terminated, Huang Yu did not leave here. He wanted to find out as soon as possible what the killer weapon in the hands of the Japanese was, why the troops suffered so many casualties and did not retreat, and what they relied on. Otherwise, he wouldn't be able to sleep even if he was lying on the camp bed.
The troops were organized into platoons and took turns on guard, staring at the Japanese and puppet army garrison.
As soon as the three transport planes that dropped poison gas bombs arrived, Huang Yu was awakened by the roar of the planes. When he looked up, he saw dozens of parachutes appearing over the Japanese and puppet military base.
