Zhao Changshu said in surprise: "Withdraw? Is it too early?"
The original plan was to feign defeat after repelling several Japanese attacks, and then withdraw the front-line troops from their positions and retreat to the mountaintop positions for defense. Even when the Japanese army was attacking with all their strength, they could even abandon part of the mountaintop positions to allow the Japanese and defenders to fight. Stick directly together.
This can not only offset the Japanese army's artillery advantage, but also use our own tunnels extending in all directions to cause a large number of casualties to the Japanese army.
Zhao Changshu was worried that withdrawing now would alert the little Japanese.
"Yes, withdraw. Even part of the position at the top of Fenghuang Mountain can be withdrawn so that the Japanese can stick to it and fight."
Seeing that Zhao Changshu's reaction could not be reversed for a moment, Meng Yuting said: "Brigadier Commander, you see, after the little devil's attack failed yesterday, he did not take any other measures except digging defensive positions. But today, planes bombed again and again. It’s a constant shelling, and it has launched 6 feign attacks so far, so there must be a plot in it.”
"Isn't it just to paralyze and drag us down? At worst, the 2nd Battalion will be transferred up in the dark to switch defenses with the 1st Battalion, so that the little devil's plan will fail." Xu Zhiqin said in confusion.
At this time, Zhao Changshu's eyes lit up and he said: "Yuting means that the Japs are going to launch a real attack at night?"
"I feel like this, and it's still an all-out attack. It's just hard to guess what tricks the Japanese will play before the attack, so to be on the safe side, it's better to withdraw the 1st Battalion first." Meng Yuting replied.
It has to be said that Meng Yuting's sharp battlefield sense saved the lives of hundreds of soldiers in the 1st Battalion.
You must know that even Zhou Wen has suggested that Marshal Yan equip the model brigade with gas masks, but since they have to be purchased from Germany and are expensive, until the model brigade goes to the front line, only the guard battalion and engineer battalion directly under the brigade headquarters can Equipped with gas masks, frontline troops did not have any gas protection equipment at all.
At 4 o'clock in the middle of the night, a new round of shelling by the Japanese army began again. Although the previous shelling would not last more than 5 minutes each time, the constant roars and explosions would inevitably bring battlefield pressure to the defenders, and at the same time This made all the defenders restless, their heartstrings tense and their spirits highly tense.
However, this time the shelling lasted for 10 minutes uncharacteristically. What was even weirder was that there was no explosion or fire at all. Thick smoke rose from the first line position, almost covering the entire three-dimensional position. All trenches are covered.
Meng Yuting, who had been observing with a telescope at the headquarters observation post, frowned. He instantly felt something unusual about the Japanese bombardment.
"Why didn't it explode? It's impossible for all the Japanese artillery shells to be dumb bombs?" It was just that because it was night and there was no explosion of fire on the position, he naturally couldn't see the thick smoke with the smell of death blowing in the wind. Floating from the top of the mountain.
At this moment, coughs suddenly came from the position on the top of the mountain. Meng Yuting shuddered all over and shouted loudly: "Hurry, the Japanese are using poison gas bombs. Let the troops withdraw from the top of the mountain and let the guards The battalion sends people to put on gas masks and go to the position to act as observers, so be quick."
While yelling, he was also deeply blaming himself. I was really careless and overestimated Little Japan's moral bottom line.
The scholar had already given instructions to prevent the little Japs from jumping over the wall and using poison gas bombs. How come this most important information was forgotten at this critical moment?
In fact, it's not that he forgot, but that he knew about the Hague Convention when he was studying at the Frunze Military Academy, and he also knew that all countries had suffered from poison gas bombs during World War I, and generally would not use poison gas bombs again. , but I didn’t expect that the little devil would be so crazy and openly brazen about the disapproval of the world.
At this time, Zhao Changshu, who had persisted all day, was sleeping on the long table. When he heard the sound, he jumped up and asked, "What gas bomb?"
Meng Yuting no longer bothered to explain, and immediately said to several headquarters staff officers who heard the sound: "Order the 2nd Battalion and the heavy machine gun company on the main position to withdraw from the position immediately, and everyone wet their towels. Cover your mouth and nose, and be quick."
Turning to Zhang Cheng, the guard battalion commander who had been ordered by Zhao Changshu to follow him closely, he ordered: "Batalion Commander Zhang, you personally lead the 1st company of the guard battalion, put on gas masks, and take over the position of the 2nd battalion. Remember, when you discover If there is a large-scale Japanese attack, call us immediately to report it."
"Yes!" Zhang Cheng turned around and left. He had attended the study class specially organized by Zhou Wen for the officers of the model brigade, so of course he knew the dangers and fatal consequences of poison gas bombs.
"Order the remaining troops of the guard battalion to wear gas masks and prepare for support at the entrance of the tunnel."
"Every soldier in the 3rd Battalion is ordered to prepare wet towels. If the battle is urgent, they will rush to the position to support even if they risk the enemy's poisonous gas."
This was the first time that Meng Yuting gave orders as the commander-in-chief of the former enemy, but the officers of the Model Brigade followed everything.
In fact, they had no choice but to obey. After all, they had only heard of gas bombs before and no one had experienced them. At this time, they had no idea and could only follow Meng Yuting's orders.
And the key is that behind Meng Yuting are several soldiers wearing white armbands with the word "inspection". If they don't obey orders, they may be arrested on the spot by the inspection team.
At this moment, two officers wearing steel helmets and mercenary regiment combat uniforms came in from outside the headquarters. They opened a wooden box they were carrying and took out several sets of gas masks and distributed them to the headquarters. All officers.
Meng Yuting took the gas mask and put it on, and said to Zhao Changshu: "Brigadier Commander, although the current military situation is urgent, it may be our opportunity. I will go back to the tunnel headquarters first. If the little Japs really want to fight us to the death tonight, If so, maybe tomorrow will be an opportunity to counterattack."
Zhao Changshu waved his hand and said: "Yuting, just go and leave this place to me."
Meng Yuting said to the officer who gave him the gas mask: "Chief Instructor Miaohua, the safety of the brigade commander is left to you."
It turns out that Zhou Wen had said before that he would leave two masters to protect Zhao Changshu's safety. He was not joking. He actually left two real masters, Miaohua and Zhao Xiaojin.
Miaohua is a sensible person and knows that Zhao Changshu's current safety is related to the success or failure of the joint operation between the mercenary group and the model brigade, which is also related to the success or failure of the Lengkou Defense War. There is no room for carelessness.
What's more, Zhao Changshu is known as General White Horse. He is used to leading his men to charge into battle. He is afraid that when the time comes, he will become heroic and lead the charge himself. Looking at the entire model brigade, except for Miaohua and Zhao Xiaojin, no one can hold him back, and no one dares. pull him.
