"Inform the artillery to immediately cover the Eighth Route Army's blocking positions with artillery fire. Mortars, mountain artillery, infantry artillery, field artillery, and heavy artillery will all participate in the battle." Major General Hashimoto suddenly ordered to the Chief of Staff.
"But..." The chief of staff subconsciously refused.
After seeing the appraising expression on the brigade leader's face, the objections that had reached his lips immediately turned into reminders.
"General, there are still our people on the battlefield. If we fire now, won't we blow them up too?"
"Please think twice..."
"If you wait another five minutes, the attacking troops will definitely be able to withdraw from the battlefield... It won't be too late for us to fire again."
Major General Hashimoto shook his head: "They can't withdraw."
"It has only been two minutes since the retreat began, and the attacking force has lost nearly two squads."
"The Yixian position was also regained by the Eighth Route Army and blocked in front of the retreating troops."
"If they want to evacuate the battlefield, they must first retake the Yixian position. The Eighth Route Army will certainly not give them this opportunity."
"While there are still our people on the battlefield, the Eighth Route Army will all concentrate on the ground to fight with them. Our artillery suddenly joins the battle, which will definitely severely damage the Eighth Route Army's participating troops."
"Otherwise, when the Eighth Route Army gets back into the tunnel, we won't be able to blow up many Eighth Route Army troops if we fire again."
"The attacking troops' death was in vain."
"Execute the order, the artillery will fire now."
"I can't bear to let my child catch the wolf. This way we can severely damage the Eighth Route Army that is blocking us."
Major General Hashimoto's words were reasonable and well-founded. Although the Chief of Staff was heartbroken for the soldiers who survived the battlefield, he still gritted his teeth and accepted the order: "I am humble enough to give the order now..."
…………
"Boooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo...
The shrieking shells quickly hit the battlefield, with fire flying and thick smoke billowing. Many soldiers from both sides were blown away in the explosion.
Major General Hashimoto saw clearly through the telescope.
The chief of staff also saw it, and the heartbroken expression on his face was immediately replaced by excitement.
Among the soldiers who were blown away just now, the Eighth Route Army was obviously more numerous than the attacking troops.
This means that the number of Eighth Route Army active on the battlefield far exceeds that of the attacking troops. The brigade commander's judgment just now was absolutely correct.
Only by firing now can it be possible to severely damage the Eighth Route Army with artillery fire.
If we wait for the attacking troops to withdraw from the battle and the Eighth Route Army retreats into the tunnel, no matter how fierce the artillery fire is, it will only be able to blow up some tunnel entrances and exits, but not a single Eighth Route Army soldier.
Compared with the excitement of the Japanese, Captain Zhou of the 25th Regiment was so angry that he wanted to scold his mother.
The Japanese were still around, and shells were falling from the sky like rain, with no regard for the safety of their own people.
Although the troops immediately retreated to the tunnel entrance, trying to get back into the tunnel to avoid the artillery fire, the artillery fire came so suddenly that many soldiers were blown over before they had time to react.
"You stupid little devil, you can even blow up your own people, you are worse than a beast..." Captain Zhou cursed and yelled when he returned to the headquarters.
"The leader of the Japs Brigade is very smart..." Li Yunlong did not curse, but his expression was obviously much more serious than when he counterattacked just now.
He frowned and analyzed: "They are worthy of being the Kwantung Army with the strongest fighting ability among the little devils."
"Kill decisively."
"Nearly a hundred soldiers' lives, don't take them if you don't want them."
"Such an opponent is the most difficult to deal with."
"Although the Japs lost nearly a hundred people in the shelling, because our troops were also on the ground and had no time to retreat to the tunnel, the losses must be more than the Japs, at least 200 people."
"They have more troops than us, but in the sudden artillery attack just now, they suffered a one-to-two casualty ratio."
"If we fight like this in every battle in the future, the Japanese will lose at most one more regiment and they will wipe out all of us."
"Inform the troops. Try not to leave the tunnel during the next battle. It doesn't matter if you kill less little Japs."
"We must ensure that soldiers can quickly enter the tunnel to avoid the artillery fire after being attacked by artillery fire."
"We have enough tunnel fortifications to fight the little devils slowly."
"We haven't done a good job here, but we can still find ways to make up for it later."
"But there are only so many troops participating in the war, and there will be no one left after all."
"Only by keeping our troops can we have a chance to fight a war of attrition against the Japs."
Captain Zhou of the 25th Regiment stopped scolding and looked at Li Yunlong with a look of approval: "It's really..."
"I will inform every soldier of the 25th Regiment of this order now."
"When you are fighting against the Japs next, you must not get out of the tunnel and be exposed to the Japs' artillery fire."
"As long as the people are alive, we have plenty of opportunities to compete with the Japanese. But if the people are gone, no matter how many tunnel fortifications are behind us, we will have no choice but to watch the Kwantung Army march straight into the heart of our base."
…………
At the Japanese offensive position, the chief of staff walked up to Major General Hashimoto with a complicated expression, followed by a lieutenant.
"General, the battle process just now has been investigated clearly."
"This is a lieutenant who just returned from the battlefield. According to his account, our army's first round of artillery fire did not completely destroy the tunnel entrances and exits on the position."
"When the attacking troops crossed the Yixian position and continued to attack the second-line positions, the Eighth Route Army in the Tibetan tunnel suddenly emerged from the tunnel entrance and attacked the attacking troops with rifles, grenades, and Molotov cocktails."
"The Eighth Route Army relied on tunnel fortifications, was elusive, and moved as soon as it was attacked. It never entangled with our army. As a result, the attacking troops could only be passively beaten, and the losses were very heavy."
Their captain had no choice but to order more than one squadron to drill into the tunnel in an attempt to hold back the Eighth Route Army that was attacking them and disrupt the rhythm of the Eighth Route Army's sneak attack.
"As a result, the Eighth Route Army in the tunnels seemed to be endless."
"There are still a large number of soldiers sneaking into the attacking troops from other tunnel entrances and exits."
"More than one squadron that entered the tunnel also encountered mishaps in the tunnel. Many of them disappeared after entering, but no one escaped."
At this point, the chief of staff's face was obviously much more solemn than at the beginning. He looked at Major General Hashimoto and immediately expressed his thoughts: "Brigade commander, I think we seriously underestimate the power of tunnel warfare."
"More than a squadron of soldiers entered the tunnel and were completely wiped out by the Eighth Route Army without even raising a wave."
"After so many years of fighting in humble positions, I have never encountered such a strange battle."
Major General Hashimoto's face was more serious than before, but he did not agree with the chief of staff's analysis and shook his head in reply.
"The soldiers who entered the tunnel were completely destroyed, which is easy to explain."
"The tunnel was dug by the Eighth Route Army. There must be a lot of traps inside. The Eighth Route Army is also more familiar with the direction of the tunnel than we are."
"The troops entering the tunnel rashly are no different from blind men."
"A blind man fights against a normal person and has to face traps everywhere. It is difficult not to fail."
"Inform the troops that in the next battle, no one is allowed to enter the tunnel without absolute certainty."
"We still use the old method of destroying all tunnel entrances and exits on the position, blocking the enemy in the tunnel, and suffocating them to death."
"Let the artillery fire for twenty more minutes. The troops are full of artillery shells. All tunnel entrances and exits on the position must be destroyed before a new round of attack can be launched."
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(End of chapter)
