The corpses of Japanese infantrymen who died after being hit by bullets were placed on the grass.
The main force of the 69th Infantry Regiment has already searched the surrounding mountains and forests hundreds of meters away, and the Chinese have disappeared without a trace.
Except for a few shell casings scattered in the simple concealment, the Japanese army found no other valuable clues.
Gu Teng was strong, but with the dignity of a brigade commander, he carefully observed the wounds on the bodies of the dead imperial officers and soldiers, and even put his fingers into the wounds to explore.
For those who knew, this Japanese Army Major General, who was neatly dressed and carrying a command knife, was regarded as the brigade commander. For those who didn’t know, he thought he was an old detective from the police station. He was investigating the crime scene. How about Conan Gudo?
But no one dared to disturb his seriousness. Whether it was the Major Captain or the Major Captain standing around the corpse, they all knew the habits of their immediate superior.
If he wants to think, even Amaterasu has to step aside.
"The fatal wounds on the bodies of these imperial warriors who died in battle included 9 mm pistol bullets and 7.92 caliber bullets, but the warheads were not as big as the wounds caused by the round warheads of the Hanyang-made rifles often equipped by the enemy. They were more like the wounds caused by the enemy's Northeast
A series of Liao-made Type 13 rifles widely equipped by the military!" Gu Teng stood up forcefully and squinted his eyes, making his eyes look even deeper.
"In addition, the vanguard team reported that although the enemy army did not have more than a hundred people, it was equipped with a large amount of continuous firepower. In just the first round of attacks, the vanguard team was caught off guard and suffered nearly 20 casualties on the spot. If it were not for two 94
Covered by the heavy machine guns of the armored vehicles, I'm afraid their casualties will be even more severe.
This level of intensive firepower has completely exceeded the light firepower of the empire's front-line infantry, and even the standing divisions are far behind.
Tell me, which Chinese army is equipped with such powerful firepower?"
"Your Excellency, the brigade commander, are you the so-called guard force of the enemy? That is the last trump card in the hands of the Chinese commanders. Only they will be equipped with German-made submachine guns and shell guns." A major captain said in his own column
Taking the hint from the captain, he took the initiative to answer.
Sasaki Xiaoyong is not stupid. Since his immediate superior has asked a question, someone has to answer it. If he, the second-in-command currently present, answers the question incorrectly, there will be no room for change. Instead, his subordinates will answer. It is good if he is correct, but if he is wrong, he is not stupid.
, he is also easy to find.
Regardless of China or Japan, as long as those who can become officials are full of tricks, are half of them idiots?
"Hmph!" Glancing at his subordinates, Gu Teng made a cold snort from his nostrils. "You also said that that is the last trump card in the hand of the Chinese commander. The war has not officially started yet. If it were you,
Will you take out your trump card and show it to your opponent?"
"Hey! I'm so stupid!" The captain, Major, blushed instantly, stood at attention and lowered his head to admit his mistake.
"But what you said is not entirely wrong. Judging from their firepower configuration and their decisive and straightforward retreat, and even took away most of the bullet casings scattered on their position, even if it were not for their guard troops, this hundred-man level
This small unit must also be the elite of his army." Gu Teng looked hard at the distant mountains and murmured to himself.
"But, if the enemy's 921st Division had such equipment, how could they use thousands of troops to besiege our troops with only a few hundred heavy equipment in that battle a few months ago?"
"Your Excellency, Brigade Commander, are you saying that the opponent we are about to face is most likely not from the 921st Division?" With his subordinate Tanglei, Sasaki Xiaoyong's cost of trial and error has been reduced a lot, and he tentatively
Let’s go on based on the meaning of the ancient vine growing hard.
"Yes, we may have misjudged our opponent. This Chinese army that dares to block our front must be the trump card of the Chinese army. It is a more difficult opponent than the 921st Division. Changyang Jun, summarize the intelligence section of the front army
"Bring me a list of the Chinese army's personnel active in the Jindong area." Gu Teng nodded slightly and reached out to the senior staff officer of the brigade for information.
The name of the newly added Four Elements Regiment suddenly jumped into the eyes of this Japanese Army Major General who seemed to be exuding the light of wisdom.
"Yes, it's them!" Gu Teng's long hard fingers tapped hard on the name of Si Xing Tuan.
"No wonder the enemy 921st Division is so bold. They know that we have heavy troops stationed in Li and Shecheng, but they still dare to take such a dangerous move. That's because there is an extra elite infantry regiment to help!"
"The Sihang Regiment is the Chinese army that blocked the 9th Division at the Sihang Warehouse and severely damaged the Kunozaki Detachment of the 5th Division in Guangde?" Xiaoyong Sasaki's expression suddenly tightened.
"Yes, it's them, including the 108th Division that suffered heavy losses in eastern Shanxi half a month ago. They should be there. However, for some unknown reason, the Chinese military has not seen them in either battle reports or newspaper propaganda.
." Gu Teng's face was calm, but his eyes became sharp.
"Judging from the intelligence coming from the Front Army Headquarters, this regiment is extremely tough. From Songhu to Northern Jiangsu, it fought several bloody battles with the Imperial Army, but they managed to escape successfully! But this is just a whitewash by the Headquarters for those idiots.
In the Battle of Jiaxing, the Sixth Heavy Artillery Brigade was almost completely wiped out; in the Battle of Guangde, the Guoqi detachment lost most of its infantry regiment and was killed along with a reinforced artillery brigade; not to mention the 14th Division, which was under fire
He went to chase the regiment's flag, but the result was good, as an entire infantry regiment became the regiment's trophy.
The regiment is not only well-equipped, but its soldiers, even if they were not good before, have become elite after winning a series of victories. The only value of those dead idiots is to use their lives to cultivate and raise the enemy's morale."
Looking around and looking at the surrounding subordinates who suddenly became serious, Gu Tengchang said with a strong tone: "Especially the commander of the regiment, the front army headquarters evaluated him as: cunning and tenacious, he is an extremely difficult opponent to deal with.
However, this is exactly what I want. Since traveling to North China, our unit has not yet encountered an opponent worthy of a fight.
Although our old rival, the 921st Division, is cunning enough, they are poorly equipped and have always only dared to attack from behind. Although such an enemy hiding in the shadows is difficult to deal with, it is difficult for them to become a big threat.
If they can't fight head-on, they can only watch the imperial army gain a firm foothold in the occupied areas. By then, the front army will only need to blockade the rural mountains and forests, and the tactical space for them to maneuver will be completely reduced, and their death will be short.
It’s not far.”
If Tang Dao heard his opponent's words, he would definitely look at him with admiration.
Because the blockade he casually mentioned was exactly what Koji Okamura, the new commander of the North China Front Army, did two years later.
The entire northern Hebei plain was cut with deep trenches and bunkers. The 80th Army, which lacked enough direct-aiming artillery, really had no choice but to use those bunkers made of reinforced concrete.
This resulted in heavy losses for the Chinese military and civilians in the resistance zone for more than a year. The 80th Army, which had originally expanded to more than 400,000 troops, quickly shrunk to less than 300,000, which really dealt a serious blow to the 80th Army.
Listening to the analysis narrated by the commander of his own brigade, the faces of the Japanese officers, big and small, all had a look of astonishment on their faces.
This undoubtedly made Gu Teng Changji feel very happy.
The biggest pleasure for pretenders is when the audience gathers.
"You don't need to worry too much. Our opponents are elite, and our division's Imperial Warriors are not weak. They have a glorious record. We have also wiped out larger numbers of Chinese troops.
What I tell you is just like the Chinese proverb: Only by knowing yourself and the enemy can you win every battle! If we don’t even know who our opponent is before we start the war, we will lose the first round.
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I, and all of you, will not give the Chinese this opportunity." Gu Teng's long face was full of confidence.
"Hi, your Excellency, the brigade commander is wise!" Japanese officers of all sizes stood at attention and bowed their heads.
"Still according to the original plan, after discovering the enemy's blocking position, the 1st Infantry Battalion will be the main attack, the 6th Infantry Battalion will be the auxiliary attack, and the 9th Infantry Battalion will be the first to defend the surrounding area to prevent the enemy from sneak attacks." Koto Nagasaki issued a military order forcefully.
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"In addition, the lives of the Imperial warriors are precious and should not be wasted lightly. The attack method of the 1st Infantry Battalion must be flexible and changeable. The main purpose is to expose its firepower points and leave the task of eliminating the firepower points to the artillery brigade and tank squadron.
Also, I have learned about the fighting methods of the Four Lines Regiment. They are extremely good at sneak attacks. In the Battle of Guangde and the Battle of Beiganling, they both sent small elite troops to attack the rear artillery of the imperial army.
so."
As Gudo Nagasaki issued military orders in an orderly manner, all departments of the Japanese army began to operate like a machine at full power.
The officers and soldiers of the Fourth Army Regiment on the defense line quickly felt that the Japanese army in front of them was unusual.
The main positions of the Si Xing Regiment in Laoya Mountain are indeed located on the slope on the left side of the highway.
Tang Dao's reason for choosing this place is almost the same as Gu Teng's guess. Only such a wide terrain can make the entire defensive position wider and larger, so that the Japanese army will not fire down a cannon and the soldiers gathered in one place will not suffer too many casualties.
The entire defense line this time was composed of five well-proportioned highlands, each of which was stationed with an infantry company.
If you look at the defense line facing the Japanese army from the air, it is an irregular 'L' shape. The narrow side is directly facing the Japanese army. There are two hills no more than a hundred meters high. They are also the positions of the 1st Battalion and 1st Company and the 2nd Battalion and 5th Company.
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According to Guo Shouzhi, the commander of the second battalion, the first and third battalions cannot take the lead every time. His second battalion can also fight tough battles.
Having said this, naturally Lei Xiong and Leng Feng were not easy to argue with. In the end, Tang Dao made the decision to let Zhao Daqiang's 1st Company and Cai Yongguan's 5th Company go up to No. 1 and No. 2 highlands, which were likely to suffer the strongest attack.
Qian Dazhu's 4th company, Li Jijin's 7th company and Shen Chongxiao's 6th company respectively guarded No. 3, No. 4 and No. 5 heights.
Except for one of the six machine gun platoons under the machine gun companies of the three infantry battalions, which serve as a reserve team, the other five assist the five infantry companies in defending on high ground.
The 1st Artillery Company also built sandbag fortifications and camouflaged them in the central area protected by five highlands to prevent them from being bombed by Japanese aircraft.
The 2nd Artillery Company deployed part of its 37mm battle defense artillery and 70mm infantry artillery on the flanks of three of the highlands, ready to attack Japanese tanks at any time.
The two machine guns and all the anti-aircraft machine gun squads of the 2nd Artillery Company were hidden behind various highlands. Their combat mission this time was not to fight Japanese infantry, but to defend themselves against the air.
Although Tang Dao also knows that it is impossible to defend against threats from the air with these small-caliber guns and cannons, this is the most powerful air defense force he can currently produce. He does not need to be able to shoot down Japanese fighter planes, but only needs the Japanese army.
Just don't let the fighter planes drop bombs too low.
Except for Wei Donglai's Gang No. 7 Company, which is not in position and is engaged in mobile and flexible operations, the other three infantry companies and guard companies are naturally used as reserves.
In order to prevent the Japanese artillery groups from shelling, highlands No. 1 and No. 2, which were the focus, spent great efforts to build two lines of defense. In addition to simple trenches with a depth of 80 centimeters, traffic trenches were also dug to enable rapid evacuation to the back of the highlands.
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This was the limit that more than 2,000 officers and soldiers could do within one and a half hours.
If the five highlands are connected together, the entire defense line will be 1,600 meters wide, and the winding trenches will be more than 2,000 meters long, a full 300 meters away from the road.
Of course there are reasons for Tang Dao to choose this distance.
If the Japanese army wanted to continue to reinforce the Japanese convoy along the road without conquering this position, the entire road would be within the shooting range of light and heavy machine guns and rifles.
Except that tanks and armored vehicles are not afraid of bullets, the Japanese are not Iron Man. If they dare to walk on this road with such arrogance, they will be treated as living targets.
Moreover, even if the Japanese army was desperate enough, the other end of the road had already been blasted with explosives by the engineer company, forming a gap about 10 meters wide. It would take more than half a day for any vehicle to pass through.
Without tanks and artillery, the Japanese army probably wouldn’t have the guts to rush into the encirclement!
And if the Japanese army wanted to attack the position, the slopes at the foot of the mountain that were not covered by bushes were the only way for them to pass. At this time of light rain, it was extremely slippery, especially the heavy cowhide boots equipped by the Japanese army.
The mud weighs several kilograms, which has a huge impact on its forward speed.
On the battlefield, a moment of slowness can be fatal, let alone advancing 300 meters in such a place.
The various types of fine light firearms equipped by the various units of the Four Lines Regiment can let the Japanese know why the flowers are so red. It is because the blood of the Japanese has dyed them red.
However, the commanders of the five infantry companies on the front line soon discovered that the Japanese in this blockade were completely different from those in the past.
As if they didn't care that the friendly forces in the encirclement were in danger, they did not rush to launch an attack. Instead, after observing first, they cautiously sent infantry squadron-level troops into the battlefield.
At most, only three infantry squadrons enter the battlefield!
The Japanese army first aimed at the high ground with the 57mm tank guns of three 89 tanks for shelling. Not to mention, after the smoke rose from the high ground, the Japanese artillery group began to show off its power.
From top to bottom, Highlands No. 1, No. 2, and No. 3 were almost plowed by artillery fire. The entire artillery fire preparation lasted for nearly half an hour.
The Japanese troops at the foot of the mountain were digging field trenches in an orderly manner, with no intention of attacking by force.
"This is wrong! Why are the Japanese so impatient? Brigadier Cheng has just responded with a telegram. In just one hour, he will be able to completely resolve the battle!" Gong Shaoxun looked surprised.
The Japanese troops in front of us seemed to be rescuing people from emergencies, and they looked like they were fighting a protracted war.
"Our opponent may be more difficult to deal with than we thought." Tang Dao frowned slightly as he looked at the battlefield in the distance where smoke was rising.
"Do you know what the news from Shexian County's insider is?" Tang Dao said.
"The Japanese army in front of us came out in full force, not even a single soldier was left in the city."
"Are the Japanese crazy?" Gong Shaoxun was dumbfounded.
"No, they are not crazy! It's painful enough to bring all the forces together to hit people. The major general commander of the 31st Infantry Brigade is a ruthless person. In order to deal with us, the county can be abandoned.
Moreover, this guy also knows that haste leads to waste. He knows that if they charge hard, even if their artillery fire is fierce, their infantry will bleed all over our defense line. Therefore, they have to play a slow and steady approach.
After the artillery has bombarded the infantry attack, if the infantry can't attack, let's continue the artillery bombardment. What's more, they still have planes in the sky! Judging from the Japs' current performance, I can almost conclude that their bomber formation is already on standby." Tang Dao continued.
"Regiment leader, you mean that the goal of the 31st Infantry Brigade is no longer to save our own people, but to save us?" Gong Shaoxun was not an idiot. After Tang Dao said this, he quickly reacted.
"They are not from the same division. What's more, to rescue a terminally ill person, how can it be greater than the military exploits of annihilating thousands of enemies?" Tang Dao's eyes flashed coldly.
"And this guy seems to know us quite well. There was a call from Gu Xishui. The Japanese army not only sent two infantry squadrons to accompany their artillery advance, but also placed their positions in an area less than 800 meters away from their main force.
Hehe, if we send out an elite team to sneak attack as we did in the past, we might be swallowed up by this heavy soldier's reinforcements without leaving any trace.
This is really a good idea!
But what a pity! If I were to meet him, I would really like to remind him that when it comes to falling in love, you have to know my strengths and weaknesses, and I know your depth, let alone a war.
If you only have a little knowledge based on the information, it will really kill people." There was a hint of sarcasm in the corner of Tang Dao's mouth.
The Japanese army's seemingly impeccable layout and ferocious heavy firepower allowed him to see a good opportunity to sap him.
The Japanese Army Major General, who exuded the light of wisdom, had calculated almost everything, but missed the most important information.
The Four Lines Regiment is not an ordinary infantry regiment. It not only has excellent light firepower.
It also has heavy firepower, the caliber is not small, and the range is slightly closer.
