"Commander, three artillery squads and two infantry squads have not withdrawn, and six mortars have been lost..." Duan Peng reported with his head lowered, feeling very depressed.
In addition to the casualties caused by aircraft bombing, more than half of the participating troops have been lost, and one-third of the mortars have been lost. The morale of the troops has been continuously frustrated and is very low, just like a defeated army.
Huang Yu was in a very bad mood and frowned all the way.
The Japanese and puppet troops used poison gas bombs to deal with the guerrilla brigade, which he had not expected before.
He felt that the guerrilla brigade only had half a regiment at full strength. The Japanese sent 6,000 elite troops to besiege Mao'er Mountain, which was enough to give them face. Now they even used poison gas bombs, which showed that they were really desperate. At the same time, Huang Yu saw that to their determination to capture Mao'er Mountain.
He only has more than a hundred people left in his hands, and Zhang Xuan still has one or two hundred people, totaling just over three hundred.
If the Japanese did not have gas bombs, I would still be sure to use guerrilla warfare and mobile warfare to fight against them. When they ran out of ammunition and food, they would have to retreat from the mountains.
Now that they have gas bombs, the rest of the fight will be a different story.
The troops participating in the war are not equipped with gas masks and have no experience in gas prevention. It will be too late to teach everyone temporarily to make amends.
If the Japanese and puppet troops also use a large number of poison gas bombs against us in future battles, the guerrilla brigade will not be able to defeat us if we use up all the remaining troops.
Seeing Huang Yu frowning and not speaking, Duan Peng opened his mouth several times without saying a word. In the end, he could only sigh and continue to retreat.
Less than two hours after entering Mao'er Mountain, Zhang Xuan appeared directly in front and hurried over with less than 200 soldiers from the guerrilla brigade.
When he saw Huang Yu, he proposed a solution that he had been thinking about for several hours: "Captain, I heard that the Japs are coming. Should we block it head-on... There is a blocking position in front. After the guerrilla brigade was established, I asked the soldiers to There are several bunkers built there, and they will be able to withstand mortar attacks. How about we use the blocking position to teach the Japanese and puppet troops who attack Mao'er Mountain a lesson."
"As long as we kill another seven or eight hundred people, the few remaining troops they have will not be enough to cause trouble."
"No..." Huang Yu shook his head and said firmly.
"The Japs were equipped with poison gas bombs, and many of the soldiers I took away died due to the gas bombs."
"The guerrilla brigade has almost never been exposed to poison gas bombs, and the troops are not equipped with gas masks. Now we are fighting the Japanese in the position, and hundreds of poison gas bombs are fired at us. No matter how many more troops we have, we will be wiped out on the position."
"Poison gas bomb..." Zhang Xuan's expression changed upon hearing this.
Like Huang Yu, he was from northwestern Shanxi. He had seen the powerful lethality of poison gas bombs. The idea of relying on blocking positions to fight the Japanese in a positional battle was instantly extinguished, so he asked anxiously.
"Then how do we fight next? The gas bomb kills people invisible, and the terrain advantage is of no use in front of it. We don't have many troops, and there seems to be no other way out except giving up Mao'er Mountain."
Huang Yu seemed to have a way to break the situation in his mind. His tightened brows slowly relaxed, and he stared at the mountains ahead and said seriously: "The enemy is strong and we are weak. If it's time to retreat, retreat."
"If you don't have a child, you can't trap a wolf. As long as we keep our troops, we have a chance to make a comeback."
After speaking, he asked Zhang Xuan: "Chief of Staff, how long will it take for the troops to evacuate the station?"
"We can all evacuate in twenty minutes..." Zhang Xuan answered firmly.
"Captain, we were prepared to abandon Mao'er Mountain before you came over. The weapons, ammunition and supplies stored by the troops in Mao'er Mountain were either buried or moved to other places. Only some necessities are left, which can be packed up and left."
Huang Yu immediately ordered: "Immediately send someone to notify the remaining troops stationed at the station, let them pack their supplies and retreat immediately."
"By the way, how much gunpowder can the guerrilla brigade produce now? It doesn't matter whether it's captured yellow explosives or self-made black powder. How much can you give me?"
"Let's retreat, but we can't let the little devils easily capture the Mao'er Mountain station. We must prepare a meeting gift for them there, otherwise we will be sorry for their efforts along the way."
Huang Yu is a person who does not suffer easily. The Japanese used gas bombs to severely damage the attacking troops, and Huang Yu will definitely not give up.
Zhang Xuan knew as soon as he saw the captain's reaction that he wanted to tear off another piece of fat from the Japanese before retreating.
With a quick thought, he said: "There is not a lot of yellow gunpowder, it was all seized from the Japanese strongholds, a total of more than 500 kilograms... There is a lot of black gunpowder, the total should be more than 1,200 kilograms."
"That's enough..." Huang Yu's face quickly flashed with joy and he began to give orders on the spot.
"Send these gunpowder to the station within an hour. The special operations team will leave two detachments to slow down the attack speed of the Japanese and puppet troops. The others will join me at the station to prepare gifts."
"The little devils here have never flown on an airplane before. Let them have a try tonight."
Apart from Duan Peng who understood Huang Yu's words, even Zhang Xuan showed a puzzled expression.
Although he was from northwestern Shanxi, he was not with Huang Yu at the beginning, and he had never experienced many of the classic battles that Huang Yu had fought.
Duan Peng was different. He had followed Huang Yu since he joined the Eighth Route Army and experienced almost all the major battles Huang Yu fought in northwest Shanxi.
As soon as Huang Yu heard the words "earth plane", his whole face became very expectant and he quickly took the order.
"Captain, I have experience in letting little devils fly on earthen planes... The little devils here definitely don't know what earthen planes are. If you give me this task, I will ensure that the surviving little devils will always remember this encounter."
…………
At three o'clock in the afternoon, Major General Ikeda finally saw the empty station of the guerrilla brigade.
The scale was smaller than he had imagined, and the planned decisive battle did not appear. Although he was very disappointed, after all, by taking the station in front of him, he had completed more than half of his mission, and he had not paid any price, so he still felt a little lucky in his heart.
He quickly ordered: "First send a company of the Royal Association Army to the garrison to take a look. I feel that the Eighth Route Army was frightened by our gas bombs and abandoned the Mao'er Mountain garrison and ran away."
Half an hour later, all the eighty or so puppet troops who entered the station retreated intact, which meant that the Mao'er Mountain Eighth Route Army collapsed without a fight and voluntarily abandoned the station.
Ishii Shaozuo seemed to be stimulated by this result. He felt that the Eighth Route Army was afraid of the poison gas bombs the troops had just equipped and had to abandon their station. He felt as if he had been given a shot of blood, and asked with anticipation: "General, do we want to continue going deep into Mao'er Mountain to hunt down the retreating troops of the Eighth Route Army?"
"What are you chasing after?" Major General Ikeda cursed angrily.
"You really think that we are invincible if we are equipped with poison gas bombs. Where did all the caution last night go?"
"I remember last night you still thought that poison gas bombs could not change the situation of the war, and you advised me to continue to lead the troops to evacuate the mountain and disobey the command of the headquarters. Why did you suddenly change your mind?"
"The situation has changed, and my thoughts will naturally change..." Ishii Shaozuo quickly explained.
"Poison gas bombs have never been used on the Eighth Route Army before. I didn't know they were so powerful."
"In the morning, I witnessed the Eighth Route Army's artillery unit being attacked by poison gas bombs and the whole army was destroyed. Now I see the Eighth Route Army being afraid of poison gas bombs and collapsing without fighting... It shows that poison gas bombs do have the power to change the situation of the battle. I underestimated its power. "
After listening to Ishii Shaozuo's analysis, Major General Ikeda was also moved, and at the same time, the idea of continuing to pursue the Eighth Route Army came into his mind.
But he was quickly suppressed by reason.
The mopping up force has been reduced sharply to 1,800 people. Any accident may cause the army to suffer losses again, or even the entire army to be destroyed.
He couldn't afford to gamble.
Besides, Ishii Shaozuo judged that it might be true, or it might be that the Eighth Route Army was spreading suspicion with them.
On other battlefields in North China, the Eighth Route Army often abandoned base areas and garrison areas in order to preserve its strength. You must not think that your opponents are afraid of you just because there is no garrison in front of you.
Refuse again: "From now on, without my order, no troops can continue to go deep into the mountains to pursue the Eighth Route Army."
"The Eighth Route Army voluntarily abandoned Mao'er Mountain. Whether it was because they were afraid of the gas bombs we equipped, or whether they did it intentionally and deliberately dug holes for us to lure us to hunt them down. The main force of the Eighth Route Army is still intact."
"This is an elite force that can annihilate an infantry brigade of our army in a short period of time. The terrain deep in the mountains will become more and more complex. If we pursue it rashly, any accident may bring us a devastating blow."
"The mopping up troops are limited and cannot afford any losses. We must eliminate all dangers and bring the remaining troops back to Fangshan safely, otherwise we will become the sinners of the entire mixed brigade."
"The mission given to us by Your Excellency the Commander is to conquer Mao'er Mountain and severely damage the Eighth Route Army."
"Now that we have captured the Eighth Route Army garrison in Mao'er Mountain, we have the results to report to the commander, and have saved the face of the mixed brigade, there is no need to continue taking risks."
Ishii Shaozuo felt a little unwilling, but he was quickly suppressed by reason.
The brigade commander was absolutely right. At this moment, no fighter plane was as safe as the mopping up troops.
It would be better to eliminate a few Eighth Route Army troops than to bring the only mobile troops in the Beiping area safely back to Fangshan.
Immediately replied: "Then we will blow up the camp at the Eighth Route Army station tonight and return to the defense line county tomorrow to complete the sweep?"
"Before we leave, we have to blow up the station in front of us. Since the Eighth Route Army doesn't want it, we will completely destroy it and stop them from returning to Mao'er Mountain." Major General Ikeda thought for a moment and added.
The brigade leader's words were just a lie to himself.
The garrison in front of me is all built with thatch. There are almost no buildings that can be taken out. A fire can burn them all.
If the Eighth Route Army really wanted to return to Mao'er Mountain, they could rebuild their burned-down thatched huts in a few days, and it would be impossible to stop the Eighth Route Army from returning to Mao'er Mountain.
Although Ishii Shaozuo thought so in his heart, he didn't say it out loud and just followed the order with a curl of his lips.
