Yamashita took the grenade and was twisting the safety cover when a red light suddenly lit up at the entrance of the tunnel. He screamed strangely and fell to the ground, but it was too late. The flames sprayed in from the hole lasted for five seconds. Five seconds were enough to ignite all the Japanese soldiers at the foot of the mountain. Miserable screams that did not sound like human voices rang out, and there were so many of them. Even though Zhang Lingfu had realized that there were Japanese soldiers inside, he did not expect that it would be like this. There were so many, and they actually gathered together. He couldn't help but be startled when he heard the screams.
Major Kuruma Yamashita and captain Sasaki Onimura, the leader of the resistance team, did not have very high positions, but because they were the first and second commanders of the Japanese troops on the front line of the collapsed tunnel, their deaths directly led to the emergence of Japanese commanders there. In such a chaotic situation, no one could continue to command the troops fighting for control of the collapsed tunnel. When reinforcements from the 10th Battalion arrived, Rao Xiong Nakamura discovered that Hidden Bear had lost contact at the foot of the mountain, and it was already too late when he appointed a new commander.
At about nine o'clock in the morning, as Zhang Baoqing led the troops directly under the regiment and the 12th Battalion to break through the Japanese artillery blockade and reinforce the tunnel, this meant that the Xuebing Army had firmly grasped the "attack" on the entire fortress mountain fortification network. door",
"First clear the southernmost bunker and tunnel. I don't care what method you use. It must be opened before dark." After receiving the report, Rao Guohua ordered Wan Sen, the leader of the 410th Regiment who took over from Zhang Baoqing's regiment to continue the attack.
During the battle for bunkers and tunnels, Rao Guohua saw that the Japanese army had normalized suicide tactics and realized that in narrow tunnels, the advantage of troops could not be used but might increase casualties. So after discussing with friends Ansheng and others, Rao Guohua decided to simply Divide by region and take regiments as units. How much progress each regiment is required to make?
It was not easy to occupy the collapsed tunnel. In the end, only more than 60 people from the 11th Battalion of the 412th Regiment survived, including Xiao Dalin and other cadets who were seriously injured in the first round of attack who stayed at the attack position. In addition, Zhang Lingfu and others Of the more than 30 guards, only five survived in the end. These guards were elites from the 11th Division and had always been Rao Guohua's favorites. However, in less than an hour, only five of them survived. This shows the brutality of the battle,
A quarter of an hour after Rao Guohua's new order was conveyed, the casualty figures of the 412th Regiment were reported to the headquarters. A full regiment of more than 1,200 people, only about 600 people survived in the end, including more than 200 people. There were wounded soldiers, but the Japanese they killed were less than 200. Faced with such a battle loss ratio, everyone in the headquarters was stunned. For a long time, someone said: "Damn it, how many people must have died."
Rao Guohua was livid and silent, but he was silently settling accounts in his heart. It was known that there were about 5,000 Japanese troops in Madang Fortress. According to this battle loss ratio, it meant that the Xuebing Army would eventually have to account for 15,000 troops here. , if the final result is really like this, then even if Madang can be captured in the end, it can only be regarded as a tragic victory. After staying in the Xuebing Army for a long time, Rao Guohua can't help but be infected with Ouyang Yun's habits. In fact, This is also a common problem among all cadet army officers, that is, they despise the little devils from the bottom of their hearts, so such a victory is not something he can accept.
None of the cadets in the 11th Battalion were uninjured, so after the collapsed tunnel was stabilized, they were carried down by the stretcher team one after another. Rao Guohua needed to get more specific battle reports from front-line officers, so he asked Xu Mengzhen, Zhang Lingfu and a The company commander named Wang Shengxiu was carried directly to the headquarters. Xu Mengzhen and the other three were all seriously injured. Fortunately, they wore more clothes in winter. Otherwise, there would probably be scratches not only on the face and hands, but also on the whole body. , Wang Shengxu was the most seriously injured among the three. He was hit by a shrapnel in his abdomen and right leg, and was shot once in his left shoulder. Half of his left ear was torn off, and his two front teeth were also knocked out. Compared with him, Xu Mengzhen and Zhang Lingfu's injuries were lighter, but one of them injured his thigh and the other injured his buttocks. Their days in the hospital may not be as good as Wang Sheng's. Zhang Lingfu was well-dressed and neatly groomed when he first came to the military training camp. At that time, his hair was unkempt, his face was covered with scratches, and his hair was wet with someone's blood. Now it was stuck on his head. He looked no different from an adult beggar who had never taken a bath. He was a student soldier. I don't have a good impression of the officers of the Central Army. The big reason is that these guys are too good at pretending. They always look well-dressed and look like they are going to a dance instead of going to the battlefield. When Zhang Lingfu first came here, he didn't Few people have a good impression of him either, but after this battle, everyone's eyes on him have completely changed. As a soldier, the only way to fight is to be able to fight and dare to fight.
Rao Guohua first expressed his gratitude and condolences to Zhang Lingfu, and then saluted Xu Mengzhen and Wang Shengwu respectively. Zhang Lingfu had to lie on the stretcher because of his butt injury. When he returned the salute, he looked funny, but he did not laugh at him. Everyone looked at him Sometimes, some were thoughtful, and some were unabashedly appreciative. When You Ansheng looked at him, his eyes narrowed to a slit, and he didn't know what he was thinking.
"Captain Zhang reported to me that the three of you played the greatest role in capturing the collapsed tunnel. Now I want to hear your opinions on how to fight this battle next and what should be paid attention to when dealing with these devils. Colonel Zhang , you come first." Rao Guohua glanced at the three of them and said,
Zhang Lingfu saluted with difficulty, responded "yes", and then said: "Military seat, everyone, the current Madang Fortress is an underground castle. As for the collapsed tunnel we attacked, it was less than two hundred meters long. There are more than thirty entrances to the tunnels, some of which lead to the bunker and some are connected to other tunnels. The decision of the military base and the headquarters is correct. If we want to capture Madang at the minimum cost, we can only launch an attack from the inside. , I just noticed that the flamethrower is very useful. You should be equipped with more flamethrowers. The Japs have dug pits for hiding soldiers in the tunnels. Some of these soldier hiding pits are dormitories and warehouses for the Japs, and some are pits for individual soldiers. , Referring to the tactics adopted by the Japs just now, I think these individual soldier pits should be used by the Japs to ambush the suicide squads. Another point is that we should prevent the Japs from adopting collapse tactics. I paid special attention to the tunnels that were collapsed by us. Next, the supporting walls of several caverns such as warehouses and dormitories are obviously very thin. I am worried that this is done deliberately by the little devils so that when our soldiers rush in, they can directly use blasting methods to blow them down. Already..."
Zhang Lingfu had demonstrated his superior commanding ability in the battle just now, which Xu Mengzhen also admitted. As soon as he said these words, Xu Mengzhen felt even more ashamed because he did not notice these situations. Of course, Well, after the battle just now, he also has a good idea,
"Military seat, I have a suggestion. Actual combat has proven that local tanks can indeed curb the enemy's firepower advantage. So, can we use a two-pronged approach, launch an attack point by point from the inside and at the same time, organize some brothers to use steel plates as shields to directly attack from Shooting holes were used to blast the Japanese bunkers..."
Both Zhang Lingfu and Xu Mengzhen put forward good suggestions, and Wang Sheng was not to be outdone and also proposed the flooding method. As a result, the officers from the three front lines actually made substantial contributions, which surprised Rao Guohua.