Zhao Gang also knew this very well. This time he no longer fiddled with the ropes and let Wang Xiaohu lead the transport team to continuously deliver weapons, ammunition and supplies to the front-line troops. It felt like a strong man cutting off his wrists and selling iron.
Wang Limin did not expect that Xu Dalong would entrust him with such an important task to complete. He felt a deep trust and a strong sense of responsibility.
He sent a telegram back to Xu Dalong, expressing his determination to complete the task.
Fujiwara Konichi led the main force of the 108th Division to occupy four hills. He knew that this was not the best choice, but he had no choice. The 108th Division has now suffered heavy losses, especially the lack of large heavy firearms and baggage. Under such circumstances, engaging in a field battle against an enemy with a large number of motor vehicles, or even tanks and armored vehicles, is simply courting death. Although they occupied these hills, they still could not avoid being bombed by the enemy air force.
However, after all, there is favorable terrain that can be used for defense, which is enough to block the enemy's attack. Fujiwara is still taking a chance. He believes that although the Mawushan guerrillas have an air force, the fuel used for aircraft flight and those aviation The bombs had to be exchanged for real money. He didn't believe how much wealth a small guerrilla force could have? He believed and hoped that the guerrillas' aerial bombs would soon be exhausted, thus losing the threat to them from the air force.
The officers and soldiers of the squadron directly under the division headquarters found a cliff where the division headquarters could hide below to avoid being bombed by enemy bombers. Fujiwara Konichi settled down temporarily and asked each department to report the situation.
When he learned that all the troops had occupied favorable terrain and began to strengthen their defenses, he was confident that the enemy would not be able to capture the 108th Division's positions in a short period of time. With the combat effectiveness of the 108th Division, relying on its relative With the favorable terrain, even if they persisted for a month, the enemy would be unable to do anything to them.
However, he found that he had made another serious mistake. That is, the 108th Division has no supplies. The ammunition in their hands will not last long, and the food carried by the soldiers can last at most one day. What's even more outrageous is that there is no water on these four hills. The Japanese officers and soldiers have been fighting for a whole day. They are too pressed for time and did not take this into consideration. Only now do they realize that their throats are so thirsty that they are almost smoking.
Fujiwara realized the seriousness of the problem. He once again sent a telegram to the frontline headquarters of the First Army, reporting the situation here to them and requesting Japanese reinforcements to arrive as soon as possible.
Fujiwara Konichi was so hungry that he licked his chapped lips with his tongue.
Of course, the orderlies cannot let the division commander lack water. They carry water bottles with them, specially prepared for the division commander. An orderly unscrewed the lid of the kettle and handed the kettle to Fujiwara Konichi.
Fujiwara Konichi picked up the kettle and took a sip. He saw the Japanese officers and soldiers around him looking at him with envy. He immediately realized the seriousness of the problem and handed the kettle to the orderly.
Indeed, at this moment, as the supreme commander of this unit, he must share the joys and sorrows with the soldiers. Only in this way can he inspire the soldiers' fighting spirit.
The injury on the chief of staff's body had not healed yet, and he was in pain. He really wanted to drink a sip of water. Seeing Fujiwara Konichi's appearance, he had no choice but to endure it.
Sure enough, Fujiwara Konichi's actions moved the soldiers very much, and the morale of the Japanese army was boosted.
Of course, the Mawushan guerrilla air force would not be idle. They kept coming to bomb, causing heavy casualties to the Japanese army. The Japanese troops had nowhere to hide. The officers and soldiers could only lie on the ground and pray that the bomb would not fall directly on or next to them.
Fujiwara Konichi heard the constant explosions behind him and the screams of the injured soldiers, and his heart was bleeding.
He kept looking at his watch, hoping it would get dark soon so those damn guerrillas would stop bombing.
However, it was just 4pm, and there were still several hours until dark. He could only hope that the enemy would use up their aerial bombs quickly and be forced to stop bombing.
Fujiwara Konichi really guessed right. Although the flying brigade has added so many bombers, the aerial bombs stored by Zhao Gang are really gone. Even if the arsenal works overtime, they can't produce a few bombs in a day, and there is no supply at all. Not on.
When Bob and others saw that there were no more aerial bombs, they loaded wooden gasoline barrels on the bomber, flew over the Japanese position, and dropped the gasoline barrels. A large number of gasoline barrels fell from the sky and fell to the ground. The barrels were exploded by the huge impact, and the gasoline splashed everywhere, and then quickly ignited a fire. The fire kept spreading, and the Japanese officers and soldiers were surrounded by the raging fire. Many people on fire wailed and struggled in the fire, and finally fell to the ground and were burned to charcoal.
Bob and others observed the effect of the bombing from the air, and they discovered that under the current circumstances, the casualties caused by gasoline barrels were greater than those of aerial bombs.
They all regretted it now. They should not have wasted those aerial bombs. If they had known better, they would have just thrown the gasoline barrels down.
Fujiwara Konichi, the Chief of Staff and others were hiding under the cliff. Aerial bombs could not pose a threat to them, but a gasoline barrel fell on the rock above them. The gasoline barrel was smashed on the rock, and a large number of The gasoline was poured and a fire broke out in an instant.
Kinichi Fujiwara was sitting close to the cliff, with most of his body covered. Despite this, a few drops of gasoline fell on his calves, causing a row of blisters on his legs.
The chief of staff sitting next to him was even more unlucky. A lot of gasoline was poured on his body, which made him scream.
There was no water or anything else to put out the fire. It took a lot of effort for the Japanese guards to put out the fire on the chief of staff.
In order to put out the fire, the soldiers tore off all his clothes. He looked extremely embarrassed, with many burns on his body and face. At this time, even his mother couldn't recognize him for a while.
The brigade commander of the Japanese 215th Brigade was also burned by the splashing gasoline. He looked at the raging fires all over the mountains and the Japanese officers and soldiers wailing in the fire. He endured the pain and came to Fujiwara In front of Yi, he said: "Your Excellency, Division Commander, this is not the way to go. It's better to break out of the encirclement quickly."
Fujiwara Konichi himself was on fire, and the anger in his heart was greater than the fire on the mountain.
He no longer cared about maintaining his elegant demeanor and scolded: "You are talking nonsense. Look at the enemy troops below. We now lack weapons and ammunition, and the soldiers' physical strength is almost exhausted. In this kind of situation How to break out of the situation?"
Under normal circumstances, if the brigade commander was reprimanded by the division commander, he would not dare to talk back. However, at this time, the anger in his heart was also very strong. He argued: "What if we don't break through? How can we be defeated by the enemy like this?" Explode or burn to death?”
Fujiwara Konichi said: "Have you noticed? The enemy has no aerial bombs now. Their gasoline is also used for aircraft and cars, and there is not much in stock. I believe they will not continue bombing."
Fujiwara Konichi's judgment was really right this time.
Zhao Gang looked at the empty warehouse. The excitement at the beginning of the battle had dissipated, replaced by heartbreaking pain. He knew how much effort he had put into storing these gasoline and aerial bombs, and now they were all gone. The little remaining gasoline can no longer be thrown as bombs, otherwise all aircraft, tanks and other motor vehicles will have to sit down.
He had no choice but to report the situation to Xu Dalong.
After hearing this, Xu Dalong was helpless and said: "Then stop the bombing. The little devils have almost suffered casualties after this bombing. Do we have enough artillery shells in stock? If there is a surplus, use cannons to solve the problem. .”
Zhao Gang said: "There are still a lot of artillery shells, and we have recently seized some of them. Especially Zhang Dabiao and the others intercepted the baggage troops of the Japanese 108th Division and seized a large number of artillery shells."
Xu Dalong said: "Okay, then send it to them. Tell Wang Limin, don't save the shells, hit me hard."
Zhao Gang said: "There is smoke everywhere on the mountain now, and we can't see the situation of the little devils clearly. If we shoot up blindly, we will waste the shells in vain."
I suggested sending a reconnaissance plane up there to indicate targets for the artillery. "
Xu Dalong smiled and said: "This is a good idea, then go ahead and arrange it." On the hills where the Japanese 108th Division was entrenched, the fires ignited by gasoline could not be extinguished for a while. The Japanese officers and soldiers We can only hide aside and wait for those fires to burn out. The terrain on the mountain was relatively narrow, so the Japanese officers and soldiers had to cluster together to avoid the fire.
At this time, a reconnaissance plane appeared in the sky, and the pilot could clearly see the distribution of enemy forces on the plane.
There were no walkie-talkies at this time, so the pilots could not promptly report the situation to the artillery units below, but this did not trouble them.
The plane circled over the enemy forces, and the co-pilot held a flare gun in his hand, firing flares toward where the Japanese troops gathered to indicate targets for the artillery. The artillery of the anti-Japanese armed forces continued to bombard the target according to the pilot's instructions, causing the Japanese soldiers to cry like ghosts and howls of ghosts, leaving corpses strewn across the fields.
Fujiwara Konichi was relieved when he saw that the enemy's air force finally stopped bombing. He did not expect that the enemy's artillery fire would be so fierce.
He couldn't help but lamented: "The underground anti-Japanese armed forces here in Mawu Mountain are indeed different. I really don't know where they got such powerful firepower." At this time, the chief of staff had been carried away for treatment, and he muttered to himself , and no one can help him.
At this time, the brigade commander of the 215th Brigade rushed over again. He said: "Your Excellency, Division Commander, more than two-thirds of the number of people in my brigade have been killed in action. Even among those who are alive, there are still Almost half of the people are wounded soldiers. Who knows how many artillery shells the enemy still has? I suggest we concentrate our efforts on breaking out."
Fujiwara Konichi did not get angry this time and said: "Look at the current state of the troops, are they still capable of breaking through?"
The commander of the 215th Brigade was only temporarily agitated and came over to say this. He witnessed the situation on the entire Japanese army's position and knew that what Fujiwara Kinichi said was reasonable. He also lowered his head and stopped saying anything.
The only thing they could hope for was that it would get dark quickly so that they could have a chance to break out at night.
At this time, the brigade commander of the 216th Brigade also rushed over. He said: "Your Excellency, Division Commander, where are our reinforcements? Please urge them again."
Fujiwara Konichi smiled bitterly. He has been dealing with Xu Dalong for a long time. He knows that Yoshio Shinozuka does not have many mobile troops now. Xu Dalong dares to concentrate the main force here to surround them, which means that he has already arranged troops to block their reinforcements. In this case, can we still count on reinforcements?
He told the two of them his thoughts. The two brigade commanders also had a very deep understanding of Xu Dalong. They knew that what the division commander said was reasonable, so they fell silent.
The enemy's artillery fire kept hitting the Japanese army, and every sound of the artillery made Fujiwara Konichi's heart tremble. He knew his troops were taking casualties. He really didn't know how many people would be left in the entire division after dark.
Now the flying group has two reconnaissance aircraft. The previous reconnaissance aircraft has run out of fuel, and the other reconnaissance aircraft continues to perform the task of indicating targets for the artillery. When the pilot of the reconnaissance plane that had previously performed the mission returned to the airport, an Air Force ground staff told him to hurry to the duty room of the airport and call Xu Dalong, saying that Xu Dalong was waiting for him to report the situation.
After the pilot dialed Xu Dalong's phone number, Xu Dalong learned from him in detail about the situation of the Japanese troops on the mountain that he had observed. When he learned that more than half of the casualties of the Japanese army had been exceeded, he estimated that the original total strength of the Japanese 108th Division was 28,000 people. There were about 1,000 people in the logistics organization and directly affiliated teams left in Yucheng. An infantry brigade used to defend the airport also has more than 1,000 people. When attacking Ping'an County, thousands more people were lost. When attacking the Independence Brigade position, thousands more people were lost, and hundreds of people were also consumed by the militiamen. In addition to the parts killed by Zhang Dabiao and others during the retreat and the parts lost by bombing on the mountain, the total number of people capable of fighting is probably less than 5,000.
Today, the 358th Brigade in Xinhe County and Li Yunlong's New 1st Brigade in Ping'an County are still fighting fiercely with the Japanese army. The enemy forces they face still have a great advantage. Xu Dalong cannot waste too much on the 108th Division. time.
So he told Wang Limin what he had deduced and ordered him to command his troops to launch a general attack on the 108th Division in an effort to completely annihilate this Japanese army before dark.
The officers and soldiers of the anti-Japanese armed forces at the foot of the mountain were very happy when they saw the tragic scene when the Japanese troops on the mountain were bombed. They had long been looking forward to launching a general attack on the Japanese army and completely wiping out the remaining soldiers on the mountain.
After receiving the order from Wang Limin, all troops were ready to attack. Under Wang Limin's unified deployment, all the artillery of the anti-Japanese armed forces carried out a ten-minute indiscriminate bombardment, destroying almost all the artillery shells they brought.
Following Wang Limin's order to charge, hundreds of buglers from the Independent Brigade, the New First Brigade, the New Second Brigade, and the Mawushan Guerrilla Army blew the charge horn together.
Under the cover of machine guns and artillery, tens of thousands of anti-Japanese armed soldiers, holding bright bayonets and shouting, rushed towards the Japanese army.
The Japanese army's combat effectiveness is very tenacious, and they occupy relatively favorable terrain. Under normal circumstances, it is difficult for the anti-Japanese armed soldiers to break through the enemy's defensive positions. However, Xu Dalong still overestimated the number of people the Japanese army could fight on the mountain. There were only about 3,000 people left in total. The most important thing was that their guns were basically out of bullets, and they could not stop the attack of the underground party's anti-Japanese armed forces. The Japanese officers and soldiers fired all the bullets in their guns, jumped up one by one, and held their rifles with bayonets in their hands to engage in hand-to-hand combat with the underground party's anti-Japanese armed forces.
It is a pity that the soldiers of the Anti-Japanese Army were not as stupid as the Japanese army and could solve problems with bullets. They were too lazy to fight with the Japanese with bayonets. They did not hesitate to shoot at the Japanese soldiers, killing them.
