The Japanese and puppet troops on the side rushed over to save the people, carried the two wounded and retreated.
"Da da da……"
The familiar sound of machine gun fire suddenly sounded on their flank, bullets flew over in a fan shape, and the three Japanese and puppet soldiers fell to the ground.
The other Japs quickly threw themselves on the ground.
The wounded man they were carrying was already seriously injured, but now he was thrown again, and screams came out of his mouth like pigs.
"Ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta..."
The lying little devil immediately launched a counterattack, and opened fire with his rifle and machine guns, instantly hitting the spot where the gunshot had just been fired with bullets flying everywhere.
The Japanese team leader nodded repeatedly, very satisfied with his subordinates' quick response.
Just as he was about to send people to outflank the Eighth Route Army's firepower points and completely eliminate them, several black spots suddenly flew towards him.
He was so frightened that he threw his head on the ground again and shouted loudly.
"Baga, it's a grenade, hide quickly..."
"Boom boom boom..."
Explosions followed his orders and sounded on the battlefield.
The nearest grenade hit him at his feet.
In the violent explosion, his feet suddenly lost all feeling. It took several seconds before the heartbreaking pain spread throughout his body.
He turned around and glanced at his feet, his face turned pale.
The grenade exploded at close range, and everything below the knees, calves, and feet were blown away. The white bones were clearly visible in the bright red flesh...
In addition to the grenade that hit his feet, several others exploded in the air.
They bring more lethality.
Debris fell from the sky.
The Japanese and puppet soldiers lay on the ground, unable to escape, and could only let the grenade fragments penetrate their bodies from the back.
Looking around, there were at least five soldiers lying motionless on the ground.
…………
At the underground headquarters of the Shunping Defense Regiment, the battle results from the ground are continuously collected here.
Wang Lin was lying on the table tallying the results, barely moving for half an hour.
After seeing the latest battle report sent by his subordinates, he suddenly stopped and walked quickly to Huang Yu: "Captain..."
"Report from the Special Forces Section Captain."
"More than half of the counterattack troops commanded by Battalion Commander Wei have suffered casualties..."
"If we continue to fight, we will probably be wiped out on the ground."
"We have eliminated more than 800 Japanese and puppet troops. We hope the regiment headquarters will consider ending the battle."
Huang Yu stared at the authentic design drawings on the table and said, "It's almost done."
"More than 4,000 Japanese troops moved in to clean up the middle road. Yesterday, we killed more than 1,000 people. Now we have killed another 800 or 900 people. At most, there are still 2,000 people left."
"Excluding the artillery, baggage troops, machine gunners, and combat infantry, it would be good to have 1,300 to 400 people."
"Excluding the infantry protecting the artillery, we can have up to seven or eight hundred people to continue blasting the tunnels."
"The speed is definitely not as fast as yesterday."
"There are enough tunnels left in Pingyang Town for us to survive for another two days."
"Immediately send a retreat signal to the frontline troops and ask Wei Dayong to move to the tunnel entrance."
"The sneak attack troops stepped up their offensive and covered the counterattack troops' withdrawal into the tunnel."
…………
The ground battle ended very suddenly.
The Eighth Route Army disappeared without a trace from their eyes in an instant.
The Japanese and puppet troops participated in the war but were not happy at all.
Each of the infantry squads is fully formed, and the remaining twenty or thirty people can be considered a good fight.
Many infantry squads were beaten down to a dozen people, and even the squad leaders were killed.
The town was full of corpses of Japanese and puppet soldiers, and only a few scattered Eighth Route Army corpses could be found.
The Japanese chief of staff lowered his head and walked up to Major General Fujita: "General..."
"The damage to the demolition team has been calculated..."
"Sixteen reinforcement teams and three engineering teams participated in the battle, with a total of 816 people killed and 103 seriously injured..."
"Four companies of the Imperial Alliance Army participated in the battle, and 267 people were killed and 34 seriously injured..."
"In just half an hour of fighting, we killed more than 1,100 people."
Major General Fujita had long been mentally prepared for heavy casualties among his troops.
Although he was angry after hearing the report, he did not get angry. Instead, he looked at the chief of staff and asked expectantly.
"Where is the Eighth Route Army..."
"We have the advantage in ground combat."
"It's daytime again, and they have nowhere to hide, not even a place to hide."
"As long as the troops successfully inflict heavy losses on the Eighth Route Army in Pingyang Town, I can accept these losses."
The chief of staff's head almost dropped to his crotch, and he wanted to turn around and leave immediately, leaving aside the remaining data in the battle report.
But the brigade commander was standing right in front of him. He had nowhere to go if he wanted to escape, so he could only bite the bullet and report.
"The losses of the Eighth Route Army were very small..."
"We only found 76 Eighth Route Army corpses on the battlefield, and the rest were all corpses of the Imperial Army and the Imperial Association Army."
"At the end of the battle, I saw many Eighth Route Army troops retreating into tunnels."
"We don't know the location of the tunnel's entrance and exit, so we can't block it even if we want to."
"Your Excellency, Brigade Commander, please calm down..."
Major General Fujita was so angry that he turned into an angry lion on the spot. He asked angrily: "Calm down..."
"We lost so many troops to defeat this little Eighth Route Army."
"How can you expect me to calm down after such a big fight?"
The chief of staff was left speechless by the question. He wanted to find a few words to comfort the brigade commander, but he swallowed the words as they reached his lips.
The fact that the demolition team suffered heavy casualties was right in front of them, and no one could refute it.
At this moment, an idea of retreat suddenly came to his mind.
Although it passed by in a flash, I kept this idea firmly in my mind, maybe it will be useful in the future.
The opponent is too powerful and cunning.
If the fight continues, no one will be able to judge the future direction of the war.
If the central mopping up troops were really defeated on the battlefield, ending the battle in defeat and turning into a bunch of bereaved dogs, it would not be too late for me to mention retreating.
It certainly can’t be mentioned now.
The brigade commander was furious, and because of his unyielding character, unless the troops sweeping up the center had lost their ability to attack, he would continue to fight until he got his revenge.
Anyone who objects in this process is working against him.
His prestige in the brigade is very high, and he wears small shoes that are light. If he is unlucky, he may be kicked out of the army.
Seeing that the chief of staff lowered his head and refused to answer, Major General Fujita became even more angry and ordered in a tone of voice that he would not give up until the goal was achieved.
"What are you still doing here?"
"Set up a new demolition team immediately and continue to destroy the tunnel fortifications in Pingyang Town."
"We don't have enough engineers, so we'll second the raiding troops from the left and right."
"The Pingyang garrison repeatedly humiliated us and brought shame to the Kwantung Army."
"We must drive them out of the tunnel, gather them together and annihilate them..."
"No, I will kill them alive with my own hands."
…………
At the Baoding Japanese Brigade Headquarters, the deputy chief of staff was also reporting last night's battle losses to Neji Okamura.
"Your Excellency, Commander, in addition to the attack on the brigade headquarters, the arsenal also suffered a devastating blow in the sudden attack by the Eighth Route Army's artillery fire."
"All the weapons and ammunition stored there by the Baoding garrison were destroyed."
"The ammunition reserves for the city defense troops are also there."
"Now that the arsenal has been destroyed, the remaining ammunition for the city defense forces is only enough for them to survive for one day."
"I want the aviation force to air-drop ammunition for us."
"This can minimize casualties and losses during infantry transportation."
Okamura Neiji suppressed his anger and replied: "I will personally send a telegram to the Aviation Command in a while to air-drop ammunition for us."
The deputy chief of staff continued to report: "The brigade headquarters was covered by artillery fire several times.
Almost destroyed..."
"Command headquarters guards, staff officers, and civilian personnel, a total of 118 people were killed and 21 were seriously injured."
"The city defense troops continued to be under artillery fire from the Eighth Route Army during the battle."
"More than 900 people were killed and injured."
"The artillery lost two infantry guns and 11 mortars."
"Analysis from the artillery battle before dawn: The Eighth Route Army's artillery should still have four mountain cannons, two infantry cannons, and more than twenty mortars. The artillery strength is still more than twice ours."
"I just don't know where these artillery troops are hiding, otherwise the aviation force could wipe them all out with a few bombs."
"Your Excellency, Commander, how about we send some scouts out of the city secretly to find the hiding place of the Eighth Route Army."
"If I can find one."
"Deploy the aviation force to destroy it, and Baoding's defensive pressure will be much less tonight."
Okamura Neji shook his head: "Our opponents are very cautious."
"They left the battle before dawn, clearly because they didn't want us to see their true strength and hiding place."
"We must be prepared. No matter how many scouts we send out of the city, it will be useless."
"There is also a possibility that the scout will be trapped in the trap."
"There are only two brigades left in the Baoding garrison. After deducting the battle losses, there are only one brigades and one infantry squadron left."
"The troops are already insufficient. If we lose some more scouts, the shortage will become even greater."
"Let the city defense troops guard the city tightly. No one can enter or leave Baoding without my order."
"Send another telegram to Fujita Shun and Kawasaki-kun."
"Let them speed up their attack and make a breakthrough within today."
"Force the Eighth Route Army that attacked Baoding back."
"I have a strong hunch."
"Tonight will be the key to our showdown with the Yizhong Eighth Route Army."
"If we survive tonight successfully, we will be able to seal the victory and defeat the Yizhong Eighth Route Army."
"If we don't survive, our big sweep will end in a disastrous defeat."
The deputy chief of staff immediately asked: "Are you worried that the Eighth Route Army will storm Baoding tonight and force us to send troops back for reinforcements?"
Okamura Neji nodded and analyzed: "It will definitely happen at this time."
"Almost all the artillery shells equipped by the Eighth Route Army are captured. We can't produce them ourselves, so every shot is missing."
"They consumed at least a thousand shells last night."
"The remaining ammunition is definitely not enough to sustain them with us."
"Besides a strong attack, there is no other way to severely damage the Baoding garrison and force us to send troops back for reinforcements."
"If the mopping up troops make a breakthrough before dark, they will severely damage the Eighth Route Army in Yizhong."
"The Eighth Route Army that attacks Baoding will divide its forces and return to the base area to support them."
"Our defensive pressure will be much less, and we won't have to deploy troops from the front line to support us."
"The Eighth Route Army can attack east and west and relieve their base areas."
"We can also treat others in their own way, use the same tactics to rescue ourselves and defend Baoding."
