Half a minute later, Okamura Neji slumped down in his chair, sighed deeply, and waved his hand to signal the communications staff officer to leave. Apparently, he had agreed with the deputy chief of staff's analysis and would ignore the matter for the time being.
But this doesn't mean it doesn't matter completely.
As soon as the communications staff officer left, he ordered the deputy chief of staff: "As you just said, without a bloody lesson, the arrogant and powerful generals of the Kwantung Army will definitely not pay attention to the headquarters' reminder and pay attention to the tunnel warfare of the Eighth Route Army."
"But we cannot allow the Yizhong Eighth Route Army to use tunnel warfare to consume a large number of mopping up troops."
"Once their battle loss ratio exceeds 50%, we will lose this large-scale sweep, and it will be difficult for the Kwantung Army headquarters to explain."
"Immediately contact the intelligence department and scouts operating in the Yi Zhong base area, closely monitor all the tunnel fortifications built by the Eighth Route Army along the highway, and confirm their defensive strength."
"Once the mopping up troops encounter something unexpected, the command headquarters will immediately provide them with intelligence support to help them get out of the crisis and readjust their deployment."
…………
Jiuguan Town, Wangdu County, the final route of the Japanese Hashimoto Brigade's attack on Wangdu County.
At nine o'clock in the morning, they successfully captured Lizhuang and entered the Yizhong base area.
There, Major General Hashimoto saw the so-called tunnel.
I was shocked at first and admired this new combat method invented by the Eighth Route Army.
After learning that the artillery brigade destroyed all tunnel entrances and exits with two rounds of artillery fire and buried the Eighth Route Army underground, the status of the tunnels in his heart suddenly dropped.
We originally planned to dig out one or two tunnel entrances and exits and send people into the tunnels to take a look.
Seeing that the tunnel was so easy to explode, I immediately gave up the idea of using the tunnel.
At eleven o'clock in the morning, the vanguard of Hashimoto's brigade appeared at the entrance of Jiuguan Town.
A three-dimensional defense fortification consisting of three trenches blocked the entrance of Jiuguan Town. The trenches were connected by communication trenches. A large number of branch trenches were dug out, intersecting a large number of light and heavy machine gun positions.
At first glance, you can tell that this blocking position is several times more difficult to defeat than Li Zhuang.
Half an hour later, Major General Hashimoto appeared at the offensive position and ordered the artillery to set up artillery while observing the terrain.
"Commander of the brigade, there seems to be no Eighth Route Army in the position... Could it be that they were scared away..." the leader of the Japanese forward squadron said with suspicion.
Major General Hashimoto did not see any movement in the blocking position.
Everywhere was empty, not a single figure of the Eighth Route Army could be seen.
The original plan was to let the artillery blast for a while, wait for the artillery to destroy all the tunnel entrances and exits on the position, and then let the infantry rush in to finish and clean up the battlefield.
If the Eighth Route Army defending Jiuguan Town really retreats without a fight and is frightened away, then it would be a waste of artillery shells to bombard them when they come up.
Although the Kwantung Army was well-equipped and had sufficient ammunition, it was not so abundant that shells were free of charge.
If it turns out that more than a thousand grams of artillery shells hit a blocking position with no enemies, I will definitely be heartbroken.
He immediately changed his mind, stared at the battlefield and gave a serious order: "Assign a small team to rush up and have a look."
"If there are really no enemies on the position."
"Direct occupation."
"If there are enemies on the position, retreat immediately and never engage with them."
"Prepare another mortar squadron to provide fire cover, shell the Eighth Route Army that may appear on the position at any time, and respond to the test troops to withdraw from the battle."
The chief of staff of the brigade who was following him immediately took the order: "I'll make arrangements now..."
In less than three minutes, an infantry team of more than fifty little Japanese rushed out of the team and rushed towards the blocking position in a skirmish line.
One by one, they held their rifles flat in their hands, bent over, and looked straight ahead, very cautiously.
If attacked, everyone can lie down on the ground and avoid bullets.
There was still no movement on the blocking position, everything was quiet, and the appearance of the probing troops did not cause any movement.
"Could it be that the Eighth Route Army on the position really fled without a fight and withdrew..." This thought in Major General Hashimoto's mind became more and more intense.
The probing troops had already rushed fifty meters in front of the formation, but there was still no sound of firefighting from the blocking position, and not even a single moving figure was seen.
"Boom boom boom..."
Dozens of grenades were thrown into the blocking position by the attacking troops. In the violent explosion, thick smoke quickly enveloped the trenches.
Until then, there was still no movement in the blocking position.
Under normal circumstances, the offensive troops rushing here means seizing the blocking position.
They can continuously throw grenades at the blocking position from this distance. No matter whether there is an Eighth Route Army on the position or how many Eighth Route Army there are, they will be blown up by the grenades and lose their combat effectiveness.
The attacking troops can take the opportunity to attack the blocking position and capture it.
"General, there really is no Eighth Route Army in the blocking position..." the chief of staff said with a shocked look on his face.
Seeing troops rushing into the smoke and attacking the blocking position, the smile on his face became even wider. He watched Major General Hashimoto continue to sigh: "There must be too many new recruits of the Eighth Route Army defending here, who dare not fight us, and were scared away in advance." .”
This was the only explanation the brigade chief of staff could think of.
Faced with the facts, Major General Hashimoto had to admit that there was really no Eighth Route Army in the position.
The worries about the tunnel completely disappeared.
Okamura Neiji kept reminding them: How powerful the Yi Zhong tunnel is, and how capable the Eighth Route Army can fight with the help of the tunnel.
As a result, they gave up the tunnel and collapsed without a fight...
Facts further prove that the tunnel is not as powerful as Okamura Neiji introduced.
Otherwise, how could the Eighth Route Army leave such good fortifications unused, retreat without a fight, and abandon Jiuguan Town?
The fifty or so soldiers in the attacking force had all rushed into the smoke, but still had not been attacked.
Facts further proved that there was no Eighth Route Army in the blocking position.
Major General Hashimoto's only worry was completely relaxed from this moment on.
Just when he was about to put down his telescope and mobilize two more squadrons to help the probing troops occupy Jiuguan Town, several gunshots suddenly rang out in the blocking position.
The gunshots suddenly became louder and turned into a fierce exchange of fire.
The blocking position was still shrouded in gunpowder smoke. Although Major General Hashimoto immediately raised his telescope, he could see nothing but the sound of crossfire.
In this case, even if he wanted artillery reinforcements to reinforce the battlefield, he could not do so and could only wait.
And this time, the test team was exhausted.
The firefight ended just as quickly as it started.
In less than a minute, the blocking position returned to silence.
The smoke that shrouded there began to be blown away by the wind.
At a glance, there was nothing moving except for trenches and various machine gun positions.
Even the dozens of soldiers in the test team disappeared without a trace, as if they had never appeared.
"Where are the test troops?" Major General Hashimoto's eyes widened. After searching for a long time, he couldn't find the soldiers. He immediately looked at the chief of staff.
"I haven't found them even in my humble position..." the chief of staff frowned, shook his head, and answered helplessly.
After he finished speaking, he seemed to have thought of something, and his wrinkles did not get deeper. He suddenly took a breath and said, "General, something must have happened to them."
"There is the Eighth Route Army on the position. We deliberately put them into the blocking position and gathered them to annihilate them."
"The sound of the exchange of fire just now must be that the Eighth Route Army is annihilating our experimental troops."
The first update is delivered today, please order it all!
(End of chapter)
