Major General Masao Miyazaki looked at the watch in his hand.
Exactly half an hour passed.
Not only did the 4th Infantry Battalion fail to capture the Eighth Route Position, it suffered most of its casualties.
"The time has come, Yamauchi-kun, please have a caesarean section to apologize!"
Miyazaki Masao said coldly.
"General, as a warrior of the empire, I beg to die on the way to charge!"
Lieutenant Colonel Yamauchi turned pale and lowered his head to beg for mercy.
It is a shame to have a disembowelment to express your guilt, but to die on the battlefield or on the way to charge is regarded as an honor by the Japanese.
Chief of Staff Toda Yoshie said: "Your Majesty, Brigade Commander, please give Yamauchi-kun a chance!"
Captain Toshio Sato also helped to speak: "General, please give Yamauchi-kun a chance!"
Lieutenant Colonel Yamauchi quickly expressed his position: "General, please give me another chance. I will definitely capture the Eighth Route Army position and open the south passage for the large army!"
Miyazaki Masao looked at Lieutenant Colonel Yamauchi and said in a cold tone: "Then I'll give you another chance. If you can't win the position, you know what to do!"
"Thank you, General!"
Lieutenant Colonel Yamauchi quickly lowered his head.
Then, Masao Miyazaki said to Toshio Sato: "Sato-kun, send a squadron from your regiment and give it to Yamauchi-kun to command!"
"Hi!" Sato Toshio stood at attention, lowered his head, turned around and walked towards where Sato United Team was.
Not long after, Lieutenant Colonel Yamauchi organized the remaining soldiers, plus a squadron from Sato's regiment, to form a death squad of more than 400 people.
The Japs tied strips of cloth on their foreheads with words such as "Must Win" written on them.
During World War II, the Japanese death squads such as the Kamikaze Forces required this kind of cloth strips or turbans, which meant that the Japanese were desperate!
As the artillery roared, Lieutenant Colonel Yamauchi gave a passionate speech, and the Japanese soldiers suddenly felt as if they had been beaten to death, with fanaticism and madness in their expressions.
Immediately, Lieutenant Colonel Yamauchi led the death squad into the attack position.
As soon as the gunfire stopped, Lieutenant Colonel Yamauchi held the Lieutenant Commander's command saber and took the lead in the charge, shouting "Kill me."
However, there was no suspense about the result. Faced with the artillery support from the anti-slope artillery position and the dense rain of bullets from the front-slope position, more than 400 Japanese death squads were all killed in front of the position without exception. Even Lieutenant Colonel Yamauchi was beaten.
Became a sieve.
In this round, the 13th Company of the 4th Battalion suffered less than 20 casualties, which was still very small.
In the three rounds of Japanese attacks, the casualties of the Thirteenth Company were around 50, but the number of Japanese killed exceeded 1,000.
After killing all the Japs, the soldiers immediately entered the tunnel. The next moment, the Japs' cannonballs followed them.
Without conditions for detour, the Japanese tactics were still the same. After the artillery bombarded the infantry, they charged, and after the infantry charged, the artillery bombarded them.
Japanese command post.
In front of the artillery mirror.
Miyazaki Masao's face was very ugly.
The first wave was a test attack. It was normal that the Eighth Route Army's positions were not touched, and it was normal for the casualties to be higher. After all, the attacking troops were relatively small, and the Eighth Route Army's firepower was very strong.
The second wave was after the mountain artillery brigade plowed the artillery positions of the Eighth Route Army, and coupled with the brigade-level attack, the casualties were actually so high.
Let’s not talk about the third wave of attacks, it’s a pure suicide charge.
Miyazaki Masao frowned, his own artillery fire seemed to have no effect on the Eighth Route Army?
Could it be that the Eighth Route Army was all made of copper skin and iron bones? Even if it was copper skin and iron bones, it should have melted long ago if so many artillery shells hit it, right?
They attacked three times and killed more than 1,000 people, but they didn't even touch the Eighth Route Army position!
This made him furious!
According to this style of play, how long will it take to eat the Eighth Route Army blocking the road and go south to reinforce Taiyuan?
Two days?
Three days?
How many royal troops will be lost?
Chief of Staff Toda Yoshiji came over and said: "Your Majesty, Brigade Commander, there is something strange. The artillery brigade's shells don't seem to have caused any casualties to the Eighth Route Army!"
"Of course I can see that."
Masao Miyazaki looked gloomy.
This is the crux of the matter.
According to common sense, if two rounds of artillery shells were fired, at least half of the Eighth Route Army could be killed even if the Eighth Route Army built anti-gun holes in the trenches.
But the fact is, not to mention that the shelling killed half of the Eighth Route Army, it looked like none of the Eighth Route Army was lost.
The artillery bombarded the lonely place.
Toda Yoshiji said: "The Eighth Route may have built reinforced concrete fortifications or multi-layered civil fortifications in advance, and it is difficult for mountain artillery to destroy them. I suggest that you immediately request air support from Commander Shinozuka and use the aviation force to blow up the Eighth Route with aerial bombs."
Front slope position and reverse slope gun position!"
Miyazaki Masao stopped talking and said coldly: "Toda-kun, send a message to Commander Shinozuka immediately!"
"Hi!"
Toda Yoshiji stood at attention, lowered his head, turned around and walked towards the telegraph machine.
"Stop firing!"
Miyazaki Masao shouted loudly, and the flag order soldiers immediately used flag language to convey the order to the rear artillery positions.
The gunfire stopped immediately.
The aviation force will be called in to attack soon. Any further artillery fire will be a waste of shells.
…
358th Regiment Headquarters.
While Chu Yunfei ordered the soldiers to step up the construction of stronger civil fortifications, he also ordered the scouts to pay attention to the battle between the Eighth Route Army and the Japanese.
Just judging from the sound of the artillery, Chu Yunfei knew that the Japanese artillery firepower was very fierce.
Defenses such as trenches and foxholes alone would certainly not be able to stop the Japanese attack.
Not long after the sound of artillery stopped, the phone in the regiment headquarters rang. Fang Ligong answered the phone: "Hey, this is the regiment headquarters... Okay, I will report the situation of the regiment right now!"
Looking up and seeing Fang Ligong hanging up the phone, Chu Yunfei asked him: "Brother Ligong, is there something going on with the Eighth Route Army?"
"The group members are really good at predicting things." Fang Ligong said with a smile, "Yes, it was the forward observation position who called to report on the battle situation between the Eighth Route Army and the Japanese Army."
"How is the situation on the Eighth Route now?"
Chu Yunfei asked: "How long can the Eighth Route Army last?"
The headquarters of the 358th Regiment is 3 kilometers away from Baozi Mountain. In addition, the Lieutenant General's Peak blocks the view, so the battlefield on Baozi Mountain cannot be seen from the headquarters.
However, the forward position of the 358th Regiment was connected to the regiment headquarters by telephone line, so Chu Yunfei was able to grasp the battle situation between the Eighth Route Army and the Japanese in a timely manner.
Fang Ligong's tone was incredulous: "The situation on the Eighth Route Army is very good. According to reports from the scouts, the Eighth Route Army has killed more than 1,000 Japanese soldiers."
"What did you say?" Chu Yunfei's pupils shrank suddenly when he heard this, and the tone of his tone suddenly rose, "In less than half an hour of fighting, more than 1,000 Japanese soldiers were killed?"
Sun Ming beside him also suddenly widened his eyes.
"It's indeed unbelievable," Fang Ligong said, "According to the scouts' report, the front of the Eighth Route Army's position is already covered with Japanese corpses."
"How did the Eighth Route Army do it?"
Chu Yunfei asked with disbelief on his face.
The weapons and equipment of the Eighth Route Army are very sophisticated, Chu Yunfei has seen them with his own eyes.
All products are from major foreign military manufacturers.
But the weapons and equipment of the little devils are not bad, and they even have a mountain artillery brigade. This mountain artillery brigade alone is enough to feed the Eighth Route Army.
In Chu Yunfei's view, when the Japanese mountain artillery battalion fired two rounds, the Eighth Route Army suffered more than half of its casualties, and the Japanese infantry charged again, the battle would almost be over.
However, the gap between reality and imagination was so big that Chu Yunfei even lost his composure.
With such impressive combat capabilities, these Japanese soldiers are not pretending to be puppet soldiers, right?
Fang Ligong adjusted his glasses and said in an awkward tone: "This... I don't know yet. The scout did not make a detailed report."
After a pause, Fang Ligong continued: "However, no matter how strong the Eighth Route Army's combat effectiveness is, the Eighth Route Army will definitely not be able to defend the Baozishan position."
"Oh?" Chu Yunfei's expression changed and he asked, "Brother Ligong, why did you say this? Why do I think that the 3rd Brigade will suffer a big loss in Baozi Mountain?"
Fang Ligong said: "Have you forgotten the regiment? The Japanese army has assembled more than 200 aircraft to attack the Central Army in the Zhongtiao Mountain area. The Japanese army only needs to dispatch a dozen bombers to easily destroy the positive slope of the Eighth Route.
Compared with the destruction of anti-slope positions, the power of aerial bombs is definitely not comparable to that of mountain artillery shells."
In addition to the intelligence network Chu Yunfei established himself, the Second Theater Command will also share certain intelligence with him.
Of course, the important information obtained by Chu Yunfei will also be sent to the theater headquarters.
Therefore, Fang Ligong and Chu Yunfei knew about the strength of the Japanese army's attack on Zhongtiao Mountain.
However, Fang Ligong and Chu Yunfei do not yet know the information that the Japanese army shot down more than 110 aircraft yesterday.
"That's true, but... Li Yunlong's troops are equipped with anti-aircraft cannons." Chu Yunfei said.
"Even if Li Yunlong's battalion is equipped with anti-aircraft machine guns, there probably won't be too many of them. Most of the machine guns should have been used by Li Yunlong to attack Taiyuan," Fang Ligong said.
"So, this Eighth Route Army cannot hold on for long." Chu Yunfei nodded in agreement. If the Eighth Route Army attacks Taiyuan, it will definitely be bombarded by Japanese planes, and it will definitely not be able to do without anti-aircraft cannons.
"Yes!" Fang Ligong said firmly, "The Eighth Route Army can hold its position for another hour or two at most."
…
"Nani?"
"The 3rd Brigade is asking me for help?"
In the inner city of Taiyuan, in the combat hall of the First Army, Yoshio Shinozuka turned around suddenly when he heard this, with an angry expression.
I ordered you to come for reinforcements, and you asked me for reinforcements?
Taiyuan is in this situation now, and has become a mess. How can we reinforce the 3rd Brigade?
"Hi!" Kasai Toshisatsu lowered his head, "The 3rd Brigade was heading south along the Tongpu Highway and was stubbornly blocked by a battalion of the Eighth Route Army at Baozi Mountain."
Upon hearing this, Yoshio Shinozuka lowered his eyes and looked at the map. A combat staff member pointed out the location of Baozi Mountain on the map and measured the distance to Taiyuan with a scale.
Judging from the map, the 3rd Brigade is only about 50 kilometers away from Taiyuan.
Kasai Toshimatsu continued: "This Eighth Route Army has strong firepower, sufficient ammunition, and is equipped with mortars, infantry guns and other heavy weapons. The Eighth Route Army's artillery positions are on the reverse slope of the mountain, which poses a great threat to the attacking infantry of the 3rd Brigade.
, Major General Miyazaki requested the general to send out aviation support to bomb the Eighth-Road forward slope infantry position and reverse slope artillery position in Baozi Mountain!"
"Immediately do as Major General Miyazaki said and dispatch an aircraft from a flying squadron to reinforce the 3rd Brigade in the air!"
Yoshio Shinozuka pushed up his glasses and breathed a sigh of relief. Major General Miyazaki asked him for support. He thought the 3rd Brigade was surrounded by Chinese troops.
As long as the 3rd brigade can arrive in Taiyuan today, it doesn't matter if it's an hour or two late.
"Hi!" Toshimatsu Kasai stood at attention, lowered his head, turned around and walked quickly to the communication room.