Second Lieutenant Matsuda fled back to his main camp again, taking with him and Ikehaya a 42-man death squad, and as many as 12 Japanese soldiers were left by him in front of the position of the independent regiment, of which 4 were accidentally wounded by his own artillery fire and 8 were killed by the Chinese.

To tell the truth, if it weren't for the fact that the three soldiers were already physically and mentally exhausted from the artillery fire, and they were relieved to lie down to recover their strength when they saw them fleeing frantically, perhaps they would have lost even more.

Hatori Nakasa had already returned to his headquarters, and he didn't even bother to take another look at the "Imperial Warriors" who were running fast again.

It stands to reason that Second Lieutenant Matsuda finally had the opportunity to enjoy the gentleness of a female nurse this time, and he could re-bandage his wounds. This time, he retreated only with the permission of Shangguan.

As night fell, Nakasa Hatori received a report of the afternoon's battle damage.

Although it had been predicted, the infantry squadron suffered 305 dead and 107 wounded; The heavy machine-gun squadron suffered 26 killed and 16 wounded, and the battalion suffered 13 killed and 26 wounded due to the sudden shelling of the enemy; The artillery squadron directly under the wing lost 32 killed and 19 wounded; The 1st Squadron of the Tank Brigade directly under the division and regiment, and the huge casualty report of 17 people killed in the battle still made his brain flutter.

Due to the reinforcement of the artillery squad, his 1st Infantry Brigade was full of 1,180 men, 80 more than the ordinary infantry brigade, but in the first battle of the old pass, two of his four infantry squadrons were finished, and the shooters of the heavy machine gun squadron were almost completely killed and wounded, accounting for almost half of the combat troops, and the casualty rate was as high as 55 percent.

This is probably the highest casualty rate at the level of the entire North China Dispatch Army since it entered China in July!

However, when this is the highest, it is not a good thing, thinking about the order of the division commander to summon all the junior officers and above before leaving, the old bird Zhongzuo's face is gloomy, I am afraid that this time the brigade commander will not be able to protect him.

The heavy casualties can also be said to be the result of the heroic fighting of the imperial warriors and the unrelenting battle. But what made Hatori Nakasatou even bigger was that the equipment loss was even worse.

There were more than 200 soldiers in the infantry brigade who were left at the front and did not even recover their bodies, but the guns were even more lost, and the entire brigade only had more than 680 rifles, and this time it lost 232 shots; Of the 12 light machine guns that went to battle, 5 were lost, 8 were heavy, and 2 were blown into parts in the fierce mortar bombardment by the Chinese; There are 6 infantry guns in the artillery squadron directly under the wing, one of which is because of the explosion of the shell, not to mention the cannon body, even the solid gun barrel has become twisted, and a mountain gun has fallen into the ravine because of the frightened pack horse, and it is estimated that it can only be returned to the furnace as scrap metal; Three Type 94 tanks were destroyed in the tank squadron, and two of the five Type 89 medium tanks were also destroyed by Chinese machine guns, and there was still smoke rising from the position.

Hatori Nakasa looked at the battle damage report in a daze, desperately thinking about how to wording it to report to the wing captain Kotobu Yukio, who was waiting for him to report the battle situation.

In the tunnel headquarters of the Jiuguan front, Liu Lang also looked at the battle damage report of the first battalion, and his face turned blue.

The 1st Battalion of the Independent Regiment, under the attack of the 1st Infantry Brigade of the Japanese Army in Hatori Nakasa, did not hesitate to lose money.

The first company on the battlefield killed 35 people on the spot, 47 were lightly and seriously wounded, of which 18 were seriously wounded, and 7 more were sacrificed in the process of rescue. The shock wave of the cannonball shocked the internal organs, not to mention that there is no solution to the current medical technology, and even in the future, doctors can only do nothing.

The second platoon of the company with the heaviest casualties, two main infantry squads, only 3 people left in one infantry squad, and one infantry squad after the last shelling by the Japanese army, 8 became 6, plus the wounded they were rescuing in the rear, they couldn't make up one infantry squad.

So when Cen Changqing asked to go to the field hospital to guard his soldiers for surgery with a crying voice, Liu Lang agreed without saying a word.

Liu Lang didn't care about the loss of equipment, but every time he lost a soldier, although Liu Lang couldn't see an expression on his face, only those who were familiar with him knew how sad he would be in his heart.

Every soldier here, the least, has been in the base of the independent regiment for 3 years, and some have even followed him since 32 years, and it has been a full 5 years now. In more than a thousand days, he has long since changed from a stranger to a brother. Everyone here is his fellow citizens and siblings.

He had spent five years desperately earning money, arming his troops to the teeth as much as he could, turning them from a peasant into a well-trained Predator.

Their will is tenacious enough to face the enemy's artillery fire and not flinch; Their execution is also extremely firm, even in the face of the terrible 105 howitzer, they will not hesitate to enter the position; They are the most elite soldiers of this era.

However, the more this is the case, the more sad Liu Lang is that he has become more and more integrated into this era.

They were all under his command to face death and meet it.

On the battlefield, he may be the colonel commander who ruthlessly sees the casualties of his soldiers as cold numbers, but at the end of the battle, he is only a 26-year-old young man, and he is heartbroken in the face of the loss of his brothers one after another.

Because, he could have adopted better tactics, using the existing mobility of the independent regiment and a large number of equipped mortars and special forces, to use mobile attacks and harassment operations against the Japanese in front of him. Kill and damage a lot of enemies while reducing your own casualties.

Just like in the future war in Syria, the rebels drove pickup trucks, armed with mortars and recoilless guns or rocket artillery, and bombed the military camps of the government army thousands of meters away, and then slipped away. Once the government army pursues, the greatest possibility is not to pursue the enemy and annihilate it, but to be blown up by the bombs buried on the side of the road. In the absence of a large number of air force escorts, any army faced with such a situation can only knock out its teeth and swallow it in the stomach.

Moreover, Liu Lang can also learn from the experience of Afghanistan in dealing with fighting nations in the 80s, and withdraw all officers and men to the mountains as platoons to fight guerrilla warfare with little devils. Liu Lang had every reason to believe that the independent regiment, which occupied a geographical advantage and had mortars, would be able to beat the 39th Brigade in front of him to slag, and his own casualties would be minimized.

Even, Liu Lang can now open the biggest hole card of the independent regiment, quietly transport six twelve-barreled Storm rocket launchers to the front line of Jiuguan, and launch a thorough artillery coverage of the 105 howitzer group of the Japanese invaders. The Tempest, which can shoot 72 rockets in a single salvo, is fully capable of completely annihilating an entire howitzer group in five minutes.

With the elimination of this terrible howitzer brigade, the Japanese of the 39th Brigade will lose their most powerful and threatening weapon to the Chinese army, and Niangziguan is not only impregnable, but may even launch a large-scale counteroffensive. The Chinese troops stationed on the front line of Niangzi Pass can be as high as more than 30,000 people, and more than 7,000 little devils who lost their artillery have been drowned in one spit.

But Liu Lang is now destined not to do so. First of all, fighting guerrilla warfare is destined to be only wishful thinking on his part, and the theater command has already issued a death order, which must be defended to the death, and no matter what the reason, those who retreat will be killed; Secondly, Liu Lang, the small regiment commander, may be able to move the 386th Brigade of the future general and the 17th Division of the Zhao Division, but the decision is not to move the Third Army and the 26th Route Army of the Central Army, and they do not have the tacit red genes of the two.

Liu Lang's mobile combat is likely to be considered by them to be an escape, and the mutual distrust between the generals of the national army is the most terrible, Liu Lang is afraid that his action will cause the entire defense line to fluctuate, and as long as he retreats, it will be a collapse. At that time, it was not a question of killing heads, nor was it a question of whether Liu Lang's regiment could be stopped by a mobile operation, but a question of the loss of Niangzi Pass, the influx of Japanese troops with two brigades, and the major strategic defeat of Taiyuan.

If the biggest hole card of the Independent Regiment is used, perhaps the 39th Brigade will no longer be a concern, but the Japanese still have the 40th Brigade, or the 108th and 109th Divisions that are pursuing south, are still threatening Jindong. Liu Lang has done so many subordinates, and the goal is the entire 20th Division, not the 3,800 people of the 77th Wing in front of him.

The Independent Regiment and the 772nd Regiment must hang this enemy to the death, so that they still think that the current battle is stalemate and they must capture the Donkey Ridge and outflank Niangzi Pass in a roundabout way. And in Qigan Village, the main forces of the three battalions of the Independent Regiment and the main force of the 386th Brigade and the 771st Regiment have carefully constructed an ambush circle and are waiting for them to take the bait.

Only then will the 3000 elites located in the Jiuguan area carry out a counteroffensive and completely eat this Japanese army.

At this time, the 1st Battalion of the Independent Regiment, which had only exerted 70 percent of its combat strength, could only stubbornly defend the old pass, fight with the Japanese army, and sacrifice was inevitable.

"You haven't eaten much in a day, so let's eat something first!" Liu Xueyuan, who was carrying a bowl of noodle soup and a flatbread, walked into the command headquarters, and saw Liu Lang sitting there looking at the casualty report in a daze, his face was also miserable, and he comforted softly. "The heroic deeds of the officers and men of the Independent Regiment will not be buried, and Xueyuan will use his pen to let the people of the whole country know about their sacrifices, and their names will be remembered by China for generations."

"No, Snow Field, this battle is different from the Battle of the Great Wall, it is a battle to defend the territory, but this battle is a national war. You have personally experienced the tragedy of the southeast battlefield, which is the most important economic center and political center of China, and the government has invested hundreds of thousands of troops to not be lost, but this is one of the most mineral-rich areas in China. In the face of such a national war, all the armies on the front line of our country should fight bravely and do not hesitate to die.

Although my heart is very painful to suffer dozens of casualties in this battle of our independent regiment, the casualties under the command of Commander Zeng of the main theater of Niangziguan are also heavy, and the casualties of the commander of the 17th Division of Xuehuashan are even heavier. There are 160 people in the company! The whole army is ink. They need you to use your pen to tell the people of China that the 100,000 troops on the front line of my Niangziguan, whether it is the Central Army, the Sichuan Army, the Northwest Army, or the Jin Sui Army, are all heroes. Liu Lang took his eyes off the battle report, shook his head, and said slowly.

There was sorrow and pride in his eyes.

Liu Lang mourned because the Chinese soldiers suffered heavy casualties on this day. Throughout the day, tens of thousands of Chinese soldiers were killed or wounded more than 3,000 people in the 20-kilometer-long defense line from Xuehua Mountain to Jiuguan, several times that of the Japanese invaders.

Liu Lang is also proud, he is proud that he personally participated in the battle of Niangziguan, which is not too heavily introduced in the history of the war, and is proud to see all the Chinese army, no one retreats, and fights bloodily.

Even if many of them didn't even see the face of the Japanese invaders, they were blown to powder by the giant cannon along with the rocks.

They, like the army of the future republic, are the backbone of the Chinese nation and do not bend.