Section 24 A small loss

Takeshita Tail rode a war horse and galloped towards Chazi Mountain, where the wing headquarters was located. The night was too dark for him to see clearly in the distance, but fortunately, in order to facilitate the communication between the various units of the wing, there were lit torches everywhere and some troops left along the way, so that he would not get lost in this situation. Although lighting torches at night was a bit taboo for marching and fighting, the lack of artillery and the lack of air strike power made this concern a bit unnecessary.

He was a Cao commander and belonged to the 2nd Squadron of the 2nd Brigade. In the second squadron, there are only three Cao commanders like him, usually mainly to assist the squadron leader to control and command the squads, when fighting, if the squadron officer is damaged, he will temporarily go to replace him, take on the front-line command task, in the second squadron, he is already a relatively important figure, and the usual burden is not easy. And at this moment, at a critical time when the battle was going on, he suddenly rushed back to the wing headquarters to report the situation, not because there was a problem with the communication soldiers of their second team, but because the news was too important, and the reinforcements of the Zhina people had arrived! Just now, the Chinese army stormed the defense line of their second squadron, and the two sides had a brief contact, although the exchange was not fierce, but the news was absolutely important, so after the telephone report, he was ordered by the squadron leader to run again.

After receiving the news from the forefront, Yoshio Sonoda couldn't help but be stunned for a moment, but soon, a smile appeared on his usually serious and somewhat scary face, and his eyes were even brighter, looking very excited.

Yamada Takeji, the third captain on the side, said excitedly after Takeshita's report: "Your Excellency, the people of Shina really have backup, and they came so quickly, with their current situation, I am afraid they are very tired, if they launch a counterattack immediately, they will definitely be able to inflict heavy losses on them." ”

Yoshio Sonoda looked at his appearance, and there was no dissatisfaction, this was Yamada Takeji's first battle after serving as the captain, although the third brigade is now responsible for guarding the line from Xiangfuguan to Gao'an City, and the battle is basically fought by the second brigade, but after participating in the battle, he caught up with a big victory, even if it was not fought by his brigade, it was enough to be exciting, no wonder he was a little too excited at the moment.

As a person who has come over, Yoshio Sonoda knows Yamada Takeji's mood very well, but as a senior officer, his understanding of the battlefield is obviously not comparable to Yamada Takeji, a person with little combat experience, he shook his head with a smile, turned to Takeshita and asked on the side: "Can you tell me more about the situation on the front line." ”

"Hey!" Takeshita responded for a moment, and then said seriously: "The previous attack of the Shina people came very suddenly, the secret post nailed in front of our second squadron was removed, and there was no sound, it can be seen that the combat effectiveness of this Shina unit is very strong, and the battle is also very brave, after the battle began, the enemy first concentrated fire on our border with the first squadron to carry out a strong attack, the first squad stationed there lost about a squad, but this is only a feint attack of the Shina people, just after, The area where we met the defense zone of the 3rd Squadron was under onslaught from the enemy, and the 3rd Squadron lost about two squads this time. ”

Yoshio Sonoda couldn't help frowning when he heard this, the smile on his face disappeared, and he said in a deep voice: "In other words, in the time of one tea, you lost nearly thirty or so people?" ”

Takeshita Tail gritted his teeth and said, "Your Excellency, with the addition of three forward outposts, our losses are about forty people. ”

"What about the one?" The next person to be questioned was Takeji Yamada, who had obviously sensed the strength of the enemy from the description just now, and most of his previous joy had disappeared.

"We didn't find the corpses of the Chinese people, and when the other party withdrew, even the corpses were all taken away, and the situation was unknown at that time, and His Excellency the squadron leader was not sure how many enemies there were on the opposite side, so he did not rashly pursue." Takeshita replied.

"Takeshita-kun, as a veteran, I think it shouldn't be difficult to estimate the casualties of the other party, can you give me a little reference?" Yoshio Sonoda asked in a deep voice.

Takeshita Tail thought for a while and said: "Your Excellency, this contact, the enemy's combat method is very strange, we were a little caught off guard by the two sudden attacks, and after reacting, the enemy used grenadiers to carry out a round of intensive bombardment, we suffered great losses, but when the counterattack was organized, the other party had already withdrawn, the enemy's tactics were very flexible, and the tactical literacy was very high. ”

The muscles on Yoshio Sonoda's cheeks couldn't help but tremble, and when he heard the words that his tactical quality was very high, he suddenly remembered the battle on Zhang Gu Mountain inexplicably. There is no doubt that it was a battle that humiliated him and made him unable to get rid of the shadow for the rest of his life, no, not only him, all the people of the 106th Division will be ashamed of that battle in the future, although they fought with more than 100,000 troops and more than 100,000 people of the Chinese Army for half a month, but since the beginning of the war, the first division that was almost formed and destroyed by the enemy still brought infinite shame to the War Department of the Imperial Japan.

In that battle, the enemy troops who stormed the eastern ridge and the southern foot of Zhanggu Mountain were brave, but what really made him feel helpless was the enemy on the West Ridge, to put it mildly, he himself blushed a little, from the beginning to the end, he could not figure out how many enemies there were on the West Ridge, and how the firepower was coordinated.

Because the initiative of the battle from beginning to end is in the hands of the other party, it seems that after being ambushed from the foot of the mountain, the enemy has firmly controlled them, although several impacts have been organized before and after, but the enemy is like a vast and boundless sea, giving people a feeling that it is difficult to match, feeling that he is thinking, if the enemy did not break through their blocking line that night to counterattack Zhanggushan, then how long can the enemy in Xiling hold on? Two days? Three days? Or five? I'm afraid that they can only take it down if they take the initiative to retreat when they lack food and water.

He came up with a god here, and several people on the side stood there one by one who didn't dare to come out.

After a while, Yoshio Sonoda suddenly smiled and said: "If my guess is correct, it seems that our old opponent has arrived, except for the 74th Army of China that is resting in the Changsha area, I really can't think of any other army with such combat effectiveness and can fight such a beautiful battle." ”

"The 74th Army?" Yamada Takeji chuckled in his heart, and his voice trembled a little, obviously during this time, he had heard enough of the name 74 Army. That was the enemy who really gave them a fatal blow, the enemy who gave them a blow in the "Blood Ridge" (the Japanese army's name for Wanjialing) and made them lose their commanding heights and thus were defeated, he just wanted to immediately hit the other party for a counterattack, which made him feel a little hot on his face.

Yoshio Sonoda smiled, obviously his smile was a little gloomy and depressed, making people feel very uncomfortable, he chuckled and said: "Since it is an old friend who is here, then we naturally have to entertain them well, Takeshita-kun, you go back and tell Captain Iijima that what is in front of him is a hard bone, and it is not easy to kill the enemy, when necessary, you can shrink the defense line a little and retreat to the vicinity of the city wall, so that the people of Shina can feel hope, they will be tricked, don't worry about what losses will be, I will always have the first brigade rush to reinforcements, and even the third brigade will be on standby. ”

"Hi" Takeshita bowed respectfully, then stepped back.

Seeing this Cao Chang leaving, Yoshio Sonoda said to Yamada Takeji: "Yamada-kun, there is an ancient saying among the people of China, which is called, 'Know and know the enemy, and you will not be defeated in a hundred battles.'" 'Your proposal is very risky. ”

"Hi" Takeji Yamada replied, straightened up and lowered his head, facing the teaching of the wing captain, he obviously only had to listen to it.

Yoshio Sonoda nodded, and continued: "In other ways, it is indeed a good way to take the initiative to attack at this time, our speed is much faster than they imagined, the enemy's reinforcements are coming from hundreds of miles away, and the physical strength is huge, and it will definitely work wonders if you surprise them at this time." However, Yamada-kun, the enemy in front of us is obviously not an ordinary army, this Cao Chang is right, the tactical quality of the enemy in front of him is quite high, coming and going like the wind, the sound of attacking the east and the west, and the combat power is strong, however, this is not the main thing, do you know what is the reason why I do not approve of your initiative to counterattack? ”

Takeji Yamada replied blankly: "Please teach Your Excellency." ”

"This is a decoy, the people of China are luring us to attack, if my guess is correct, the other party must have an ambush not far away, if we take the initiative to attack, it just gives them a chance." Yoshio Sonoda said quite confidently: "This enemy army obviously didn't just arrive, it should have been there for a while, enough for them to make arrangements and arrangements, otherwise, they will not accurately find out our troop deployment, will not judge our weak points and forward posts, and it is not easy to sneak out our sentinels." It was not easy to sneak up on our troops, but they did it. ”

Takeji Yamada suddenly realized that from such an inconspicuous little thing, the wing captain actually judged so many things, this kind of realm and level, and this kind of rich experience, it was obviously far from being comparable to him.

Immediately, Yoshio Sonoda smiled again: "However, the initiative in this battle is in our hands, and the people of China can fight a sneak attack, but it is not easy to capture our defense line in the absence of sufficient artillery, and once the situation is not good, we will retreat into Gao'an City, and this defense line will be stronger than the previous one." ”

Takeji Yamada opened his mouth, and seemed to have some doubts that Gao Ancheng was still in the hands of the enemy, but thinking that the captain of the wing was experienced, it was impossible not to think of this, and it seemed that he didn't care about the enemy in the city, and he must have enough confidence, but he nodded and said: "Your Excellency, do we need to send a part of our third brigade to help?" ”

Yoshio Sonoda thought for a while, then waved his hand and said: "Don't want it for the time being, there may be reinforcements from the Zhina people in the new direction, the third brigade will maneuver for the time being, two brigades are enough to hold Gao'an City!" ”

[I have to work overtime all night at night, and I don't know what time I will sleep until I get up tomorrow, if it's too late, it may be too late to code words, sorry, sorry. 】