Elsewhere in northern California, the U.S. 139th Division rumbled along all roads leading to Antoinette. Antoinette is a 10-mile-long frozen lake with small villages, churches and small shops. 20,000 U.S. troops led by Lieutenant General Prince with about 147 artillery pieces, 65 tanks, and 45 armored vehicles attacked the 4,200 defenders.

Watanabe was celebrating his 42nd birthday that morning at a post not far from the front line. His men congratulated him and gave him a new fountain pen. As soon as Watanabe finished saying his words of thanks, he heard the loud sound of heavy artillery coming from a distance. All the people fell silent, terrified. In the end, Watanabe Shaosa broke the silence and said, "The people of the United States must have ordered the cannon to pay tribute to me." Let's go! ”

Watanabe led his troops to the defenses, but they were unable to stop the Americans. On the way to retreat, they were met by a neatly arranged line of American machine guns. Since the soldiers were only a few feet apart, the lethality of the machine-gun fire was great. A soldier sneaked behind the enemy line, killed an American machine gunner, and then turned his gun on the American soldier and opened fire. He was blindfolded all night before he was discovered. As he miraculously escaped back to his side, a bullet wounded his left arm. He grabbed his rifle against his knee and chest, then rested it on a sturdy platform to shoot.

Most of the American civilians in the villages and farmhouses were evacuated earlier, especially after the massacre of civilians that had occurred four days earlier. The tragic exception is the village of Saint-Louis, which is surrounded on three sides by enemy troops, and the inhabitants do not take the war very seriously. Plus, the National Guard assured them that they wouldn't be left alone if trouble did come. Now suddenly they saw that the houses around them were burning, and they realized that they had been cut off by the army in the rush and confusion caused by the battle. Several villages with more than 1,000 people were occupied. Only 10 civilians managed to escape through the forest to the west. Among the captives were Andy, a retired elementary school teacher and captain of the National Guard in St. Louis, as well as women and children. The cattle and sheep were abandoned on the side of the road and froze to death, and all the property was destroyed by himself.

Farther north, at Ritt, 6,400 U.S. troops with 40 artillery pieces and 12 tanks attacked the 12th and 13th Reading Columns. Combined, these two forces had 3,200 men and 14 artillery pieces.

Due to its isolation from the rest of the world, the people to the north did not know what was happening on the Isthmus of Yportt. In addition, patrolling U.S. guerrilla ski groups rarely see other groups as they set off on their respective missions. These Americans like to live in the world, and it will be a while before they get used to this mode of transportation within their homeland.

The US 7th Army poured across the border into the Iportt Isthmus, and a fierce melee began on both sides. U.S. artillery bombarded the side from the southeast, and the shells exploded in the burning sky. Hundreds of American refugees with cows, horses, carts, sleds, children, and the elderly blocked the road and blocked the advance of the American [***] team. Narrow country roads can only accommodate one-way streets, and all those who pass by have to wait for others to pass before walking.

For Americans, there are cars on the road. All kinds of vehicles either overturned in ditches or broke down, causing a mess on the twisting roads. In the midst of the chaos, a heavy snowfall blocked all traffic. It took several days for the U.S. military to drag the artillery to where it could be fired effectively. The snowfall helped me because it immobilized the American plane on the ground. However, when the weather cleared, US planes began to drop bombs and strafe the Japanese troops who were trudging through the snow.

U.S. heavy tanks also joined the chaos. He said that he had planted mines and explosives on every passage. Americans tripped over the ubiquitous threads and wires that lay across the road. The lines and wires were attached to explosives. They open a stack house, cross a threshold, collapse a bridge, and detonate the explosives in the trap everywhere. If an American soldier kicks a dead pig, it will explode. He tries on a leather cloak, and it also explodes. Even stepping on a pile of dung, he will immediately see the mines that the "vicious" man himself has planted inside.

Johnny, a well-known war correspondent, wrote about the "New York Times": "What a dirty story! They couldn't beat us and ran lifeless in front of us. But how well they play with this nasty stuff...... When our men were exhausted and wanted to drink some water, they found that the wells in the village were all filled with earth. Our enemies are treacherous, cowardly, and full of vile and cunning tricks in their hearts. As soon as the American soldiers stepped on the land here, they encountered the sound of explosions. Landmines are everywhere. We were walking down the road from Portland to the village of Vader, and we had just been driven away, and we saw that the village was on fire, and they had set it on fire. The American writer went on to say that when the American troops tried to fill the trenches they had dug to defend against tanks, the first shovel of earth they dug down detonated a mine. Every trail, every road is dangerous, left behind by evil, savage bandits. Right in front of us, mines exploded under tanks, under dung heaps, under haystacks and snowy banks. ”

On the side of the Ben side, near the forward line of defense, the most mines are planted here. He said that he saw the American soldiers marching forward in great strides, accompanied by the screams of the wounded. They turned a blind eye to the constantly exploding mines and the snipers of the Zoben. Tanks led them forward. The tanks were followed closely by the infantry, who advanced fearlessly. He said that his information on the offensive and defensive capabilities and tactical plans of the US military was outdated almost as soon as he arrived. The tactics taught in military manuals before the war were of little use within a day or two of the launch of the American offensive.

At this time, the headlines of the media around the world were talking about "I said I had escaped", and all claimed that the Americans had made great progress. However, the reporters were sending their reports from the hotel. The officers did not allow them to go to the front, because this was war, not Hollywood. Very few Western journalists speak the language, let alone ski through the vast countryside in cold weather. Therefore, they can only be satisfied with the bits and pieces of information they have obtained from him, albeit a little true. The rest is to be supplemented by the imagination of their creative caste.

For reports in the United States, they either report good news and bad news, or they have nothing, or they are brilliantly fabricated stories. A U.S. newspaper complained that the sharpshooters of the ski team, dressed in white, used "bandit tactics" when attacking the U.S. column. "The enemy did not dare to fight with dignity. Hidden under white coats, cleverly camouflaged, they burst out of the woods and opened fire on our advancing troops, and then fled with great speed, often taking off their boots and gliding only in these socks. ”

In the front-line headquarters, General Kobayashi pondered the situation facing the army with a solemn face. It is clear that the Americans have been brewing this large-scale offensive for some time. U.S. forces have planted 50 miles of railroad tracks near Gizbet and Saus. Another 40 miles of track heading towards Cody and Aixa. Although U.S. forces broke away from the railroad lines in the rear as soon as they attacked, California also had many good roads. Now the question is how to stop the American military before they reach these railways and good roads.

Kobayashi's main concerns were Ulm and Sara and the railway station in Hect, from where the enemy could easily reach Léot, 150 miles to the west. Another area of concern is the Ipolt Isthmus, where the railway to the north of the lake, also close to the Japanese line. Although the entire line of the Japanese army was in danger, General Kobayashi considered these areas to be the most important, and accordingly discharged reinforcements.

However, despite General Kobayashi's brains racking his defenses and sending reserves to key locations, he knew full well that this would not be a textbook battle. Whatever he could protect, even buying a little time so that reinforcements could arrive, it was because of the ability of his commanders and soldiers. A torturous thought that he did not dare to think about was that he was convinced that with enough weapons and air power, this army would be able to drive the Americans back to their own land. A few years ago, when things were the other way, that would have been ridiculous.

The officers under General Kobayashi were not only well trained militarily, but were often intellectuals of the country. Most are versatile and able to quickly move from a quiet life of scientific research or business to leading battles. General Kobayashi's chief of staff, Hojo Osa, was a 47-year-old pedantic botanist known for his smooth surname and great interest in scientific details.

On the battlefield of the headquarters cluster, Major General Sakamoto was responsible for defending a 400-mile-long area. Major General Sakamoto, the son of a peasant, was an expert in history and linguistics. He also graduated from Imperial University. Rear Admiral Sakamoto was tall and slender, hardworking and an expert in defense affairs. Most of his officers came from the Siberian garrison command. This institution began to plan and train personnel long before the outbreak of war. General Kobayashi received reports that Major General Sakamoto's troops were facing two American army groups, the 14th and 9th armies from Kurt and Vera and Iporte. The position he received required a man who would lead a small number of poorly equipped troops in the northern wilderness to perform miracles. Although he had very little artillery to deal with the well-armed 104th and 52nd Divisions of the U.S. Army, General Kobayashi hoped that the excellent fighting tactics of the soldiers would hold off the Americans. General Kobayashi was sure that he had sent the right officers to the right place.

Ito Daisa, the commander of the army of the Ipoult Isthmus, stamped his feet, stomped the snow off his boots, and hung his fur hat on a coat rack. With a gloomy face, he sat down in a chair beside the hot stove and took the cup of hot tea that his attendant had poured for him. An investigation of the situation of American tanks on the battlefield revealed that things were worse than he, a professional soldier, had predicted.

Ito himself had seen tanks before, but few of his men had seen the following sights: a large number of heavy tanks rumbling through the snow, firing in all directions. Even well-trained regular army soldiers feel a tingle in their backs when they hear hundreds of massive monsters rumbling through their lines with the roar of engines, even though they are ready to take on the enemy with little or no heavy weapons. Psychologically, the tank represents a terrible black cloud of death, an unfamiliar enemy whose actions are not human actions, but a formidable, unbreakable box of death. Tanks can cut through dirt and snow and break into barracks with barbed wire. Tanks have armor that can block machine gun bullets, and they have the firepower to drive infantry out of trenches. Feeling powerless about tanks, he quickly referred to them as scrap metal, or death boxes, but only to disguise their fears.

For the American soldiers, the tank means strength, part of the protection of the motherland, and they follow the tank to fight. Tanks were a comforting and morale-boosting thing for some, who soon began to sober up about fighting a winter war on American soil. As long as the tanks are moving, they attract bullets that would otherwise hit the infantry. American soldiers were sure that the tanks would lead them to victory. Seeing the hasty retreat of his troops, Ito Osa also had to admit that the Americans were not wrong to think so.

At first, overcoming the threat of American tanks looked unpromising. For this reason, he accused himself of naivety and naivety of his political axe, and no one seriously considered that there would be such a full-scale war. When budgets were first discussed, there was a serious debate about whether the money should be spent on education and health care or on defense equipment, which if not updated, was likely to become obsolete when needed. In 1936 the military did propose the purchase of anti-tank weapons, but it would cost 270 million yuan. The result of the vote was negative. As a result, the order was cancelled, and this order was to give each brigade of the army 6 anti-tank guns and a spare reserve.

It was not until the exchange of fire with the powerful armored forces of the [***] squadron in Siberia that he seriously considered anti-tank measures. They finally approved the army to be equipped with enough anti-tank guns, but it was too late to get to the front line. At the beginning of the war, each battalion of the Japanese army was given 1 to 2 37-mm anti-tank guns, and the entire army had a total of 2,000 guns.

Almost as soon as Ito received reports on how American tanks worked. These reports usually show that the Americans do not quite understand how to use their good weapons. Sometimes tanks appear in pairs, with a medium or heavy tank carrying a light tank. Later, they were organized into groups of 3 to 10 cars, with the first group opening the road and the later groups suppressing the defenders. The tanks were fighting in the open field, close to the side of the road. Sometimes they moved in the direction of the battle line, stopping from time to time to fire at the other side of the line. They are able to travel up to 30 kilometers per hour before heavy snow hinders their movements. Later, in 5 to 18 inches of snow, their speed decreased. Strangely, they rarely tried to rush in front of the Yue Ben line, but moved around in front of Yu himself. When the American soldiers hesitated and lacked interest in attacking, these tanks went around their flanks to drive them back while protecting their flanks.

As the shock of the initial U.S. offensive wore off, the troops began to show their ingenuity. Noticing that the Americans were hiding from the night battle, they sent patrols through the woods at night to attack the enemy's camp. Ito's troops fired flat fire from artillery to destroy the onrushing American tanks, while the soldiers attacked the American infantry from the flank. Ben's marksmen knocked down hundreds of U.S. soldiers huddled together. Ito noted that in five days his troops had destroyed 80 tanks. If the enemy weren't as big as the United States, that's a pretty good result. Of course, more needs to be done, and Ito Osa reported the situation to General Kobayashi's headquarters. American tanks – the kings of the battlefield – must be stopped. Trenches, roadside mines, boulder barriers, these are not enough. I still need to think of some other methods.

First of all, the sappers came up with the idea of using steel pipes to make mines. The fuse is ignited by pressing a hair cord attached to the steel pipe, which explodes 3 feet above the ground. Front-line troops could fill steel pipes with a chlorinated resin to create such mines. Subsequently, Asano Shaosa invented a wooden box mine. This kind of thunder has no magnetic surname and is almost impossible to detect. Soon the U.S. military was forced to send men with iron bars to clear the battlefield and roads before the tanks entered an area.

With the order of General Kobayashi to create special anti-tank units in each division, brigade, and wing, more and more anti-tank methods appeared. He also invented a weapon similar to the "Molotov cocktail". They got about 40,000 bottles filled with a "mixed drink" of kerosene, tar and gasoline. In the early days of the war, soldiers wrapped a rag soaked in gasoline around the bottleneck and set it on fire. Later, an injection containing sulfuric acid was attached to the mouth of the bottle to ignite the liquid in the bottle. Although bottles containing gasoline have been used in previous wars, for him this means a casualty rate of 60 to 70 percent. The only thing they want is to make the enemy pay as much as possible before dedicating themselves, or to save themselves for as long as possible.

(To be continued)