The day of the main battlefield of Jiuguan is actually very boring.

Although the Japanese artillery fire was still fierce, and the aircraft and artillery took turns to fight, after the first three days of hard fighting, the officers and men of the 772nd Regiment were also familiar with the Japanese army's routines, and they became more and more handy in dealing with them. As soon as the Japanese retreated, they immediately withdrew the main infantry force from their positions and entered the tunnels behind the mountain, leaving one infantry platoon at first, then an infantry squad, and then, like the independent regiment, leaving only four observation posts.

They are also growing, growing up under the heavy artillery fire of the Japanese invaders.

No matter how powerful the howitzer is, it will not be able to threaten the slope behind the hillside. The Japanese planes in the sky did not take advantage of the three triangular air defense positions of the independent regiment, and they did not dare to easily descend to an altitude of less than 1,000 meters.

The hillside was blown into flames, but none of the powerful aerial bombs that really threatened the tunnel were hit.

In this mountain defensive battle, once the aircraft artillery lost its threat, the Japanese were out of luck. Although Liu Lang did not provide personnel support to the two flanks, he quietly sent 6 mortars to each of the 60 mortars gathered by the fire squad at night, that is, all the small-caliber mortars of the 6 fire squads.

The first battalion of the independent regiment has 3 infantry companies and 2 fire platoons, and the 9 infantry platoons have 9 fire squads.

The addition of these 12 60-caliber mortars to the positions on the left and right flanks was a complete disaster for the Japanese army. The mortar positions hiding in the dead corners of the Japanese artillery fire behind the mountains were almost impossible to hit the Japanese troops at the front of the positions. Whether it is infantry, light and heavy machine gun fire points or even grenadier soldiers, the maximum range is 1,500 meters, and the most recent small-caliber mortars with a range of 40 meters can completely cover the entire battlefield.

There are soldiers with tenacious willpower and excellent archery skills on the position, and they can't get in, so they want to take a breath on their stomachs! Seven or eight mortar shells were smashed down every second, and the machine gun fire points were constantly engaged in mobile warfare, not to mention the mortars also beating the infantry, and anyone who attacked enthusiastically would basically be patronized by mortars.

In the end, the Japanese army has also learned to be smart, and if you want the Chinese mortars not to patronize you, then be honest, attack slowly, and let those brave warriors consume the Chinese's shells!

It can be said that in the two days when the Japanese offensive slowed down, not many Japanese soldiers died from bullets, but those who died from mortars accounted for 80 percent of the total casualties of the Japanese army. Even Liu Lang couldn't help but sigh, no wonder many years after the war, Japanese military history experts still called the mortar the artifact of the Chinese army, although the structure is extremely simple, but extremely practical.

However, the consumption is also staggering.

The independent regiment came to Jindong this time but came prepared, only the baggage company of the independent regiment, nearly 2,000 mountain artillery shells were transported, and the average of the six Bofors mountain guns could hit more than 300 each.

The independent regiment is mainly equipped with 82 mortars and 60 mortars of two calibers, of which 60 mortars are equipped with more ammunition, and 5,000 shells are transported, ensuring that each gun can shoot more than 100 pieces.

However, in just four days, 2,200 of the 20 60 mortars equipped by the first battalion of the Independent Regiment were fired, and an average of more than 110 pieces of each gun were frantically poured into the Japanese army, which is definitely an extremely terrifying number.

This also means that every day, the Japanese army in front of the position can withstand more than 700 shells from the Chinese army, plus the shells fired by 82-caliber mortars.

Although the Japanese army had to shell at least three rounds a day on average to the entire Jiuguan front, the total number of shells fired by the 57-mm tank guns of the 12 howitzers plus 12 field guns, plus the 3 mountain guns of the 77th Infantry Wing and the 5 infantry guns rescued from the battlefield and the tank brigade that had only dared to hide 1,000 meters away as fixed batteries fired were far more than 700 rounds.

According to the statistics of artillery observers, the Japanese army poured no less than 2,000 rounds of various types of artillery shells on the Jiuguan front every day.

However, the Independent Regiment and the 772nd Regiment also had trenches up to 1.8 meters deep for cover at the very least, and they could withdraw to the anticline tunnel at any time. And what about the Japanese army? The only thing that can provide them with cover is the natural rocks in the mountains and the craters created by their howitzers, a small shell weighing 3 kilograms can blow up people within five meters into a bloody sieve, or the kind that can't be blocked.

Although the caliber is much smaller than the Japanese artillery, the type of artillery is mainly curved guns, which are the younger brothers of the younger brothers compared to the howitzers, mountain artillery, field artillery, tank guns, etc. of the Japanese army. However, the damage caused was no less than that of the Japanese artillery, which was far superior in power and quantity.

It can be said that Jiuguan is a meat grinder, although the casualties of the Independent Regiment and the 772nd Regiment are not small, but the Japanese army, as the attacking side, is even more miserable.

The number of killed enemies recorded by the Independent Regiment and the 772nd Regiment alone exceeded 800, not counting the wounded Japanese who fled back and were blown to pieces by artillery fire, leaving even a little scum behind.

Liu Lang estimated that the casualties of the 77th Infantry Wing were at least more than 1,500, but in fact, they were just the end of the crossbow.

However, Liu Lang was a little surprised by the logistics ability of the Japanese army. The little devils of this period prepared combat materials and transportation capabilities far stronger than those described in war history.

The Japanese army's baggage trucks transporting ammunition were in the field of vision of the special forces squad led by Cai Dadao, from the county town of Jingcheng to the garrison of its artillery wing, day and night.

In Jingcheng County, the military trains transported by Shijiazhuang along the Zhengtai Line are as high as 5 columns, and all kinds of materials are as high as thousands of tons.

The two special squads of Niu Er and Cai Dadao, who were wandering in the area occupied by the Japanese army, had asked Liu Lang to fight several times, wanting to start with the Japanese army's baggage troops, and destroy his transport convoy no matter how bad it was, so that if the little devil wanted to get supplies, he had to send heavy troops to escort him, otherwise it would be a dish for the elite special forces lurking in the mountains and forests.

But Liu Lang vetoed their request for war. Now is not the time for the special forces to be exposed, their existence, just like playing a game, is responsible for lighting up the battlefields everywhere, becoming Liu Lang's eyes and ears, and letting Liu Lang know the existence of the Japanese garrisons everywhere.

Instead of destroying some supplies, the Japanese commander sent a large number of elite squads to chase them all over the mountain. The current front of the Japanese army is not long enough, and their weak logistics can still be guaranteed, even if part of it is destroyed, the Japanese army, which has made sufficient preparations for the invasion of North China, will quickly replenish supplies again.

Moreover, it is not yet time for the decisive battle, the more the special forces team beats the little devil, the more worried Liu Lang is about beating the little devil back. The purpose of the Independent Regiment and the 772nd Regiment firmly blocking the old pass was to force the 20th Division, which was anxious to support the Battle of Xinkou and the Itagaki Seishiro Division, to send the main force to make a detour like it had in time and space, and then annihilate its main force. That's a stick hitting the snake seven inches.

If the Japanese army does not kill a brigade on the right flank, the 20th Division is a strong army that the 100,000 troops on the Jindong front dare not ignore.

The key to the entire Jindong Campaign is whether the big pit, which has been waiting for several days, can bury the Japanese army in it.

Compared to that, the rest, it doesn't matter. Even if it comes at the cost of sacrifices.

Although Liu Lang looked at the shocking casualty figures in the battle report in the middle of the night and asked himself, in five years, he had gradually grown into a qualified commander.

At least, he never took the lead in carrying a gun to the front line of the position like in the Battle of the Great Wall. It's not that he has become timid, but he knows that his life, at the moment he left Guangyuan, did not belong to himself or his parents and wife, but to the entire 4,000 officers and soldiers of the Independent Regiment.

If he dies, the combat effectiveness of the leaderless independent regiment will be reduced by at least 30%. Although Zhang Ruhao and Yu Xiancheng, the regimental deputies whose prestige was growing, could control the troops, they could not make the unruly Zhao Ergou bow down like him, nor could they make Zhou Shiyu, Ling Hong, Liu Dazhu and other infantry battalion commanders obey his words like him. A decrease in combat effectiveness means that more people will die.

A qualified commander has to accept the minimum casualties in exchange for greater victory.

It's brutal but realistic.

There is no pie in the sky, and there is no victory on the battlefield that can be won without losing a single soldier.

Only by sacrifice can we win.

On this day, I saw the Japanese army on both flanks of Jiuguan attacking like a tide, and then it didn't last long before retreating like a tide. After two hours of repair, attack again, and then retreat again.

It was very mechanical, and for a day, the commanders on both sides could only watch the number of casualties on their side increase, but they were helpless.

Both offense and defense must be carried out.

Under artillery fire and bullets, casualties are inevitable.

And the Japanese army who had been repairing for a day at Donkey Ridge was not completely idle, and black smoke rose into the sky in several valleys.

The fire in which the Japanese burned the remains of the Japanese soldiers killed in the battle burned from early morning until late at night. In the battle of Donkey Ridge, as many as 1,000 Japanese soldiers were killed, and even the trucks of their baggage squadron could not fit them, so they could only be burned on the spot and then packed into urns.

And last month, Yoshio did not transport the urn back to Shijiazhuang, but hung the urn of a dead infantry squadron leader around his neck in front of the brigade soldiers.

Taking his comrades to battle, this move by Yoshio last month restored the morale of several days of bloody battles with heavy losses and somewhat sluggishness.

Thousands of Japanese soldiers wore the ashes of their close comrades-in-arms around their necks, and they were once again ready to enter tomorrow's military operation with high morale.

Undoubtedly, whether it is an invading army or not, they are the same as Chinese soldiers in treating their comrades-in-arms in life and death.

In other words, this is also a very important kind of cohesion of the army.

The Japanese army, in this regard, I have to say, also did an excellent job.