Just when several staff officers were on the phone separately, notifying the troops to carry out his orders, the phone line was suddenly interrupted, making Lin Zhiqiang immediately realize that the Puppet Manchukuo Cavalry Regiment was probably already beside him. He did not hear the sound of horse hooves, which was not surprising. , who said that a cavalry regiment can only fight on horseback.
For the current Japanese cavalry, they are no longer the simple cavalry in the past. They are more of a mounted infantry due to the lack of mechanical vehicles. That is, horses are just a mobile tool for them. Although they also retain a certain degree of The cavalry tactics were trained, but they were mostly used as motorized infantry. The cavalry of the Puppet Manchu Army was trained by the Japanese army, and they must have adopted the cavalry tactics of the Japanese army.
Lin Zhiqiang stopped the people around him from checking the line, and instead calmly issued the order to prepare for battle. At the same time, he picked up a submachine gun beside him and gently opened the bolt. There was only one guard beside Lin Zhiqiang. class, plus more than twenty staff trainees and two guards of their own.
The artillery that was originally under his control has now been transferred to the front line of Straw Hat Mountain to strengthen the second line of defense, because that is their last position, and behind them is the road from the paddock to Keshiketeng Banner. If Straw Hat Mountain Once the front line is breached, it may be difficult to restore the situation of the battle.
The Japanese and puppet troops relied on the commanding heights and did not even need to directly attack the front line. They could block the entire highway simply by using artillery. Therefore, they strengthened all the limited troops and firepower there. As long as they could hold the Straw Hat Mountain and the lane before reinforcements arrived, With the three key points of Goumen and Yangshugou, the initiative in the entire battle situation is still in your own hands.
In particular, Straw Hat Mountain is the commanding height in the northwest of the entire paddock, and is close to the road from the paddock to Keshiketeng Banner. Occupying this place, its firepower range can control the surrounding area for more than ten kilometers, but for the advancing army, it only needs to hold the entire northwest of the paddock. From the commanding heights, the idea that the Japanese and puppet troops want to control the highway with long-range firepower can only be a delusion.
But the result of this kind of deployment is that his brigade headquarters only has one security class that was forcibly transferred by the third regiment commander. In addition to the original more than twenty staff trainees, and a dozen officers from the political office, the total strength is only four With more than ten people, it can only be used as an enhanced platoon if the full number is calculated.
As for the most powerful weapon, apart from some landmines, there was only a crooked machine gun, and the rest were rifles, submachine guns and pistols. He knew very well that the small amount of troops and firepower in his hands was not enough in terms of ammunition. Under the circumstances, it was impossible to fight against a cavalry regiment, so he was already prepared for the worst.
Compared with Lin Zhiqiang's calmness, the staff officers around him could not calm down. As experienced people, they knew clearly what it would mean to the entire war situation once the headquarters was taken away on the battlefield. The brigade headquarters would be empty of troops. The most fundamental thing is that although the weapons are sufficient, the ammunition is insufficient. All the ammunition has been sent to the front line.
Now for the people at the brigade, the ammunition for the shell guns and speed machines is still slightly sufficient. Each one can have an average of two to three magazines. However, the main submachine gun has an average of less than two magazines. As for the rifles with the largest number of existing ones, Ammunition, less than thirty rounds each.
As for the crooked-handled light machine gun that was the only fire support, it only had less than 300 bullets. Many people only carried a small pistol or revolver that could be used to commit suicide. , after all, it is a brigade-level headquarters. The more cadres there are, the more pistols they will have. And based on the current situation of the 18th Army, before these people were transferred, they naturally carried whatever guns they used.
These pistols have a short range and different calibers, and the number of bullets is also seriously insufficient. Some revolvers only have six bullets in the chamber, and they are all used up. There is no room for refills. The most important thing is Some officers of the Political Department don't even have pistols for suicide.
The only good thing is that the number of grenades is still relatively large, and there are also more than a dozen anti-infantry directional mines manufactured by the Anti-Alliance Arsenal. Although their staff skills are not enough, they are all produced on the battlefield. For the most basic I still have a certain ability to judge the situation. There is no shortage of defensive troops, but there is a serious shortage of ammunition. How can I defend in this situation?
Seeing that the people around him were a little impatient, Lin Zhiqiang said calmly: "Why are you panicking? Although our brigade headquarters only has one squad of combat troops, it is located halfway up the mountain. If we want to get over, there is only one path up. We only need to go up. If they guard this mountain road, it won't be that easy for them to come up."
"Don't be afraid if you don't have a gun. There are more than 20 Hanyang-made guns collected from a regiment behind. Although the ammunition is only 600 rounds, it is enough to last for a while. For those with pistols and those without guns, each person has one A gun, fifty rounds of ammunition, you go and get a few people, use the method I taught you to press all the directional mines, and unscrew the back cover of all grenades to expose all the match ropes."
"Tell everyone that after the shooting starts, pistols and rifles will not be used until the most critical moment. All rifles and submachine guns will be used. Those speed machines will be gathered together to form a fire support team. If there is tension, just Go there and fill in, but fire back with rifles as long as there are no orders."
"These puppet Manchukuo troops probably came here along the phone line. They probably haven't realized that this is our brigade headquarters. If our large number of pistols were exposed during the battle, even fools would know that this is one of our senior commanders. Department, especially the shell gun, the little devils also know that it is a common practice in the Chinese army that the higher the command, the more people wear this kind of gun."
Regarding Lin Zhiqiang's deployment, a staff officer said hesitantly: "Chief of Staff, is it safer for us to join the Third Regiment before the Japanese army encircles us? The safety of the brigade is related to the outcome of the battle north of the entire paddock. If If something goes wrong here, the troops below will become headless flies."
After hearing the advice of the staff officer, Lin Zhiqiang, after giving orders in succession, turned his eyes back to the map and said without raising his head: "Withdraw, retreat there, do you know how many troops the Japanese and puppet troops have infiltrated, do you still dare to There must be no enemy situation between here and the headquarters of the third regiment."
"When the situation is still unclear, the best way is to stop quietly. With just a few of us, we rashly move closer to the Third Regiment. If we are scattered by the Japanese and puppet troops, there will be almost no possibility of survival. , acting rashly will only put yourself in a dangerous situation."
"Although we don't have the advantage of troops, we now occupy an absolute advantage in the terrain. Although the weapons in our hands are not very good, they are barely enough. In the current situation of darkness and unknown enemy situation, you have rashly retreated. It would be better to take the initiative to get into the encirclement of the Japanese and puppet troops. Instead of retreating rashly, it is better to rely on the favorable terrain to hold on. Stop thinking about it and just follow my instructions."
"Use machine guns to block the mountain road, and the remaining rifles and submachine guns form a crossfire. Tell the troops to move closer and fight the oncoming puppet Manchukuo army. This puppet Manchukuo army penetrated in. Although it cannot be said that it carries artillery, it has grenades and mortars. Fire artillery, even infantry artillery and rapid-fire artillery, may not be without them. Putting them in can effectively reduce the lethality of Japanese and puppet artillery."
"From the foot of the mountain to our brigade headquarters, there is only a narrow mountain road up the mountain, and the slopes on both sides are very steep. If the Japanese and puppet troops want to attack the brigade headquarters, they can only attack along the mountain road in front of the brigade headquarters. As long as Hold this mountain road so they can't rush up. You are leading a few people to lay a minefield behind."
At this point, Lin Zhiqiang turned to the confidential staff officer beside him and said: "Send a telegram to the commander of the third regiment and tell him that no matter what happens here at the brigade headquarters, no soldiers are allowed to be sent to support, just the guns and artillery here. The noise is so loud that we are not allowed to send any troops back from the front line of Straw Hat Mountain to support us."
"His current mission is to guard the front line of Straw Hat Mountain, not any other mess. I will now transfer all the command of the artillery to him. The mountain artillery company commander transferred from the headquarters will be temporarily promoted to the artillery staff officer of the third regiment, allowing him to use it When you are an artilleryman, you must learn from the lessons learned last time and listen to other people’s opinions.”
"If he continues to be stubborn and pretends to understand even though he doesn't understand, the artillery will not only have no effect during the battle, but will also suffer losses. I can't forgive him. Without the support of artillery, he can't defend Straw Hat Mountain. The line is too long." If he saves the artillery, he will be able to save Straw Hat Mountain. As for how to use the artillery in battle, I have already given it to several artillery company commanders."
"Tell him to hold on to me at the front line of Straw Hat Mountain for at least twelve hours. If you hold on to it, everything will be easy. If you can't hold Straw Hat Mountain, I want his head. As for our side, he doesn't need to worry about me. Even if the sky falls, they don't have to worry about it, and they are asked to pay more attention to the direction behind him. We still don't know how many Japanese and puppet troops have penetrated in. Our defense line is still too narrow."
When several combat staff saw Lin Zhiqiang determined not to take the position of the Third Regiment, they could only look at each other helplessly and follow his instructions. However, they did not expect that the Japanese and puppet troops would move so fast. There is a telephone line between the headquarters and the third regiment command post in front, and there is a high-power radio antenna that is very conspicuous.
At the same time, because of sending and receiving newspapers, translating messages, and checking maps, it was impossible to maintain a light curfew even at night. It was not surprising that the Japanese and puppet troops were discovered, but it was somewhat surprising that the Japanese and puppet troops who had infiltrated found their location so quickly. To everyone's surprise, although there was a telephone line available, it was still at night.
The current location of the brigade headquarters was personally selected by Lin Zhiqiang after he moved here. The current location is at the western foot of Straw Hat Mountain, less than 1,500 meters away from the first-line defense position of Straw Hat Mountain, on a fairly steep hilltop and halfway up the mountain. in a cave.
There are lush bushes around the brigade headquarters, so it is not very conspicuous. If there were not the radio antenna set up outside the cave entrance and the field telephone line connected to Straw Hat Mountain, it would be very difficult for ordinary people who did not know the inside story. It was hard to find that there was a brigade headquarters here. It was indeed beyond their expectations that the Japanese and puppet troops were able to reach here so quickly in the dark night.