"Your Excellency, Commander, we have lost contact with the Seventeenth Division, and we have not received any information from the Seventeenth Division from the No. 1 assembly area. Nor did he see a single soldier of the 17th Division. All this kind of things shows that the 17th Division may have encountered an accident, and we must make preparations as soon as possible. Major General Bai Shuitan said in a deep voice. As the chief of staff of the North Korean Army, he also did not believe that the 17th Division would be wiped out by the Northeast Army so easily. But as a staff officer assisting the commander-in-chief, he had to take into account such a most unlikely scenario! Now the form of the entire battlefield has become chaotic because of the sudden appearance of large reinforcements from the Northeast Army. The first thing the North Korean Army should do now is to adjust its war deployment and prevent the 7th Brigade and the Matsumoto and Yamaki Brigades from being encircled by the Northeast Army. Then inflict even greater losses on the Imperial Japanese Army.

"Your Excellency, Commander, now that our army is at an absolute disadvantage in the No. 2 assembly area, especially after losing the joint command of the 3rd Division and the 18th Division, the troops have become leaderless, and I am afraid that it will be difficult to resist the attack of the Chinese Army. I propose to abandon the No. 2 assembly area now, let the troops break out, rearrange the defensive line on the snow valley line, and at the same time ensure the rear road of the troops in the No. 1 assembly area. "In the end, it is a professional staff officer in Japan. Major General Bai Shuitan quickly judged the best strategy for the North Korean army from the current military situation.

"Yaga! Once the Imperial Japanese Army withdrew, the flanks of the entire No. 1 line of defense would all leak out! At that time, the Shina Army will be able to concentrate all its forces to encircle the No. 1 assembly area, and if this continues, the Imperial Japanese Army will have to suffer even heavier losses. Lieutenant General Toshiyin Matsukawa roared with a hideous face.

"Your Excellency, Division Commander, now that we have lost the news of the Seventeenth Division, our original strategic deployment has made serious mistakes, and with the troops in the current No. 1 assembly area, at most we will have the upper hand in the war, and it will be very difficult to defeat the people on the opposite side. And now the troops in the No. 2 assembly area have been in turmoil, especially the recruits in the ranks of the 18th Division, such a tragic battle has almost exceeded the limit of the recruits' psychological endurance, if the remaining troops are really besieged by the enemy's heavy troops, with that undangerous terrain, the three brigades may be collectively broken. Taking advantage of the fact that the Chinese army has not yet closed the siege, now is the best time to break through. Your Excellency Commander, there is an old saying in China, so that you don't have to worry about running out of firewood! At present, the best strategy for the Imperial Japanese Army is to break through to preserve its strength, and then gather forces to fight a decisive battle with the Shina army. Major General Bai Shuitan said in a deep voice. Of course, he knew that the withdrawal of the three brigades of the No. 2 position now would definitely have an impact on the No. 1 position. If the main force of the Chinese Army went to the No. 1 assembly area to reinforce the Southeast Military Region, with the distance between the two battlefields, it would be possible to reach it in more than two hours by a rapid march. At that time, there would be no hope of victory in the war at Assembly Area No. 1.

Lieutenant General Toshiyin Matsukawa was silent. Major General Bai Shuitan's analysis is still very pertinent. But if he ordered a retreat, then even if Japan lost the decisive battle, even if it regrouped, it would have an impact on the prestige of the Imperial Japanese Army. Some time ago, the 10th Division was severely damaged, which had already caused the Imperial Japanese Army to lose face, and now if the Korean Army loses in a comprehensive decisive battle, the prestige of the entire Imperial Japanese Army will be completely lost. And the Tohoku government will step on the face of the Great Japanese Empire. Such a huge loss was beyond the reach of the Great Japanese Empire.

"Your Excellency, wars are full of accidents, and a country's combat effectiveness cannot be determined by the outcome of a war. Even if the Chinese army is victorious this time, as long as the Great Japanese Imperial Army regroups in Japan, annihilates the Chinese army, and occupies the three eastern provinces, who will say that the Great Japanese Imperial Army is not mighty and not strong in combat? Major General Bai Shuidan persuaded.

On the battlefield of the No. 1 assembly area, the earth-shattering cannon sound stopped for the time being. The intensity of the attack and defense made the soldiers on both sides extremely tired. Taking advantage of this rare time for correction, both sides are consolidating their positions. Prepare for the next round of shelling.

At Concentration Area No. 1, Japan had a slight military advantage. However, the configuration of heavy firepower is slightly stronger than that of the Northeast. After all, the No. 1 assembly site concentrated most of the heavy artillery of the North Korean army. The heavy artillery unit of the entire brigade size made the Northeast Army suffer a lot. If it weren't for the sneak attack, the soldiers of the Northeast Army occupied a small part of the Japanese position, and were able to send the troops to the position to meet the enemy in short combat, so that the Japanese heavy artillery unit could not carry out large-scale artillery bombardment of the soldiers on the battlefield because of fear, I am afraid that the Northeast Army would not have about one-third of the current positions to confront the Japanese army. The heavy artillery units of the Northeast Army suffered a lot in firing at the Japanese artillery, and several slower-moving heavy guns had already been blown up by the Japanese artillery. Quite a few artillerymen died. This was the first time since the beginning of the war that the heavy artillery of the Northeast Army suffered heavy casualties.

Buzz!

Three Japanese planes painted with plaster flags flew over the positions of the Northeast Army, attracting everyone's attention.

on artillery positions. Zhang Da, the commander of the artillery regiment, looked at the planes in the sky with an angry face, you must know that it is with the guidance of the enemy's planes that the Japanese heavy artillery unit can accurately lock on to his troops, quickly cause casualties among the troops, and even damage five heavy guns. This was a heavy blow to the artillery firepower of the Northeast Army, which was already inferior in terms of heavy firepower.

"Commander, the little devil's plane is here again! We're shifting positions again! "The heavy artillery in the Northeast is equipped with wheels that are easy to move. It could be pulled by horses, which made the artillery of the Northeast much more flexible, which is why the Japanese could not completely destroy them after several lockdowns. After all, the planes of this era have no concealment at all, and the sound of the planes can be heard and seen at a distance, and in order to prevent being hit by the rifles of the Northeast Army, the Japanese planes flew higher, and the reconnaissance on the ground was naturally not so careful, which also bought some time for the artillery of the Northeast Army to camouflage, which also made the Japanese lock less accurate.

"Grandma's! These planes are really annoying! Battalion commander, what about the anti-aircraft machine guns that your battalion is equipped! I heard that it was a special plane, and this time you will shoot down these planes for Lao Tzu! With these things, our firepower can't be used all the time. The headquarters of the military region has already become dissatisfied with us. Zhang Da yelled. He was an excellent gunner, but he really lacked knowledge of aircraft, and naturally he could not pay effective attention to the new weapons of the Northeast, the anti-aircraft machine gun. If it weren't for the insistence of the scientific researchers responsible for collecting battlefield data on new weapons, this batch of anti-aircraft machine guns would probably have been distributed to other combat units as ordinary machine guns. After all, the muzzle of an anti-aircraft machine gun is not much different from the new air-cooled heavy machine gun.

Da-da-da-da!

Five or six tongues of fire came out of the artillery positions. The height of this tongue of fire was terrifying, and the unsuspecting Japanese plane was taken aback at that time, and an unlucky plane directly hit the tongue of fire and was exploded on the spot by a dense number of anti-aircraft machine gun bullets.

There was a cheer from the position below. During this time, the artillerymen suffered a lot because of the aircraft.

The two remaining Japanese planes raised their noses in horror and tried to escape. The soldier operating the high firing intensity below was like manipulating a sharp sword, one swayed, the muzzle changed, and the other plane was shrouded in tongues of fire.

The plane had good luck not being hit by a bullet in the fuel tank and avoided the fate of an explosion in the air. But unfortunately the wooden structure could not resist the tearing of the bullets, and the engine was damaged by a dense stream of bullets. The entire plane glided down the platform in black smoke. The last remaining plane fled in a hurry. And good luck escaped the pursuit of anti-aircraft machine guns.

Looking at the last plane that flew away, Zhang Da felt a little pity, if he could intercept all three planes this time, the shock to the little devil would be even greater.

The planes of this era were limited to technical reasons, and their flight altitude and speed were very slow, otherwise they would not have been so easily shot down by soldiers operating anti-aircraft machine guns. After all, the anti-aircraft machine gun is also a relatively new weapon for the soldiers of the Northeast Army, and it is not easy to operate.

"Shift the position, this time let the little devil's plane escape, the little devil's artillery fire will definitely come soon, move quickly! Now we can't afford to lose our heavy artillery! "In this era, heavy firepower is a strategic weapon that determines victory or defeat on the battlefield, if it were not for the existence of heavy artillery units in the Northeast Army, I am afraid that just by relying on the bombardment of heavy artillery, the Northeast Army would not want to contact the Japanese army. Therefore, Lin Hu is also very concerned about the safety of the heavy artillery troops, not only is each heavy artillery equipped with mules and horses to improve mobility, but also sends a regiment of troops to protect their safety.

The loss of the aircraft came as a big surprise to Japan. The Japanese army is full of fear of the new weapons that have emerged in the northeast that can strike at high-altitude aircraft. When the news reached the headquarters of the DPRK Army, Lieutenant General Toshiyin Matsukawa, who looked extremely gloomy, finally made up his mind. Because of the loss of aircraft reconnaissance, the superiority of the heavy artillery unit in the No. 1 assembly area was disintegrated by the Northeast Army a lot, and at least the original advantage of firepower suppression will be completely lost. In terms of troops, the Korean army was still slightly inferior, which was tantamount to the miscarriage of the Japanese army's plan for a quick battle at the No. 1 assembly area. This finally strengthened Lieutenant General Toshiyin Matsukawa's determination. An order was given to the troops at assembly area No. 2 to retreat.

"Order the Seventh Division, the Matsumoto Brigade to take the lead in breaking through, and the Yamaki Brigade is behind, and the troops are withdrawn towards the snow valley line." When these words were spoken, Lieutenant General Toshiyin Matsukawa seemed to have aged by more than ten years all of a sudden. Regardless of whether he will be sanctioned by the military department for this war in the future. But this retreat is definitely an indelible stain on his military career. But war is war, and it is not that the country behind it will win if it is strong. From a military point of view, Lieutenant General Toshiyin Matsukawa's decision is undoubtedly very correct.

(To be continued)