At half past five in the morning of August 21, the sun had just risen.

A whole night passed, and the main peak of Lionbrain Mountain seemed to be a little shorter. Gunpowder smoke hung over the positions, and bomb craters everywhere covered the mountain.

The reason for all this was that Taro Katayama commanded the 4th Independent Mixed Brigade and launched seven attacks on the positions defended by the 385th Brigade.

Although the devils have a clear advantage in heavy firepower, they even dispatched two waves of aircraft.

But in these nine hours, the devil did not achieve any results, not even the outermost part. They returned with each attack, and the tenacious 769th and 14th regiments always held their positions.

After a night of tactical games, the old devil Katayama had to admit something.

That is, the commander of the other party is much better than himself, and he loses completely whether it is micro-manipulation or the overall situation.

Although he didn't know how many casualties the Eighth Route Army had suffered in Lion's Brain Mountain, the 2,000 people he had finally gathered with great difficulty were now only half of them.

If you throw away those seriously wounded soldiers, you will basically return to the pre-liberation period overnight.

Just as this old devil was about to withdraw his troops and return to Yangquan County to prepare his troops, a phone call completely shattered his illusions.

"Katayama-kun, I heard you seem to be in some trouble. It seems that the enemy is very strong, and he still needs the help of the army aviation. ”

Yoshio Shinozuka's voice instantly chilled the major general's heart.

The other party's tone was extremely cold, which made him muttered uncontrollably, not sure how much his immediate boss knew.

But the silence of Taro Katayama obviously completely angered the commander of the First Army who was far away in Taiyuan. The phone was put down for a moment, and then the sound of smashing things came from the other end.

"I don't care who the enemy you encounter is! I don't care about the casualties of your brigades! All I need to do is end the fight this morning, or you're going to get ready for seppuku. ”

As the phone was hung up, the atmosphere in the makeshift command room became oppressive. Several staff officers did not dare to move, for fear of stepping into the footsteps of their colleagues.

Fortunately, at this time, a young man walked in, and he brought one of the few good news to Katayama Province.

Another group of infantry gathered from several surrounding strongholds has already arrived in Yangquan, giving the 4th Independent Mixed Brigade the capital to launch a new round of attacks.

Several staff officers rushed to seize the opportunity to have their own opinions, and they were all afraid of being sent into battle for not providing good advice.

After a few minutes of discussion, they decided to attack at six o'clock in the morning, which was the most sleepy time after staying up late.

Although the continuous attack lasted all night, it caused great physical and psychological stress on the soldiers.

But this point is consistent on both sides, although the self-side is very tired, the state of the Eighth Route Army is definitely worse than theirs.

After all, these enemies, who lacked heavy weapons, were bombarded by mountain shelling all night and harassed twice by planes.

Hearing this, Keutaro Katayama decided to play some new tricks. He wants to change his style of play and make the Eighth Route Army, which is accustomed to those previous tactics, pay the price of blood.

In the heart of this old devil, last night's seven attacks put a lot of pressure on the enemy's frontal position. If another massive feint is launched, it will definitely allow the opponent to draw troops from the flanks.

After all, people have habitual thinking.

The Fourth Independent Mixed Brigade has been reckless all night, and there is a high probability that it will work wonders if it suddenly comes with some fancy intestines.

If you can open an opening in the side and cooperate with the attack of mountain artillery and aircraft, you may be able to take down the enemy in one go.

Thinking of this, he immediately chose two unlucky staff officers, and also called the captain of the artillery group. The two Shaozuo who had high hopes yesterday had already died in the previous attack.

After everyone arrived, the old devil struggled as if he was making some difficult choice.

"Ikeda-kun, we're going to launch one last attack."

"In order to win this battle, I hope you can draw a hundred samurai from the artillery brigade and replenish them to the infantry group with a frontal feint."

This sentence shocked everyone in the command post.

Artillery is different from infantry, and the time and money cost of training an artillery soldier is not low at all.

In Ikeda's eyes, the infantry was nothing more than a wild dog with a bit of intelligence compared to their technical arms.

And most importantly, the focus of training is different. It's like putting scientists on the battlefield, it's just unreasonable.

As if seeing the reluctance of his subordinates, Katayama Segetaro stared at each other with red eyes.

If it was before, he might still know the reason and brainwash the other party with affection. After all, you have to lead troops in the future, and it's not okay if people's hearts are scattered.

But now there is no time, in order to keep his position as a major general, and also to fight for future promotion space, he must win this battle by any means.

The old devil had a hideous face, and said in a voice of gritted teeth:

"Lieutenant General Shinozuka already knows what the Eighth Route Army is doing on the Zhengtai line, and he gave me an ultimatum that I must take Lion's Brain Mountain today, open the road from Yangquan to Yuci, and rescue the whole line."

"I tell you! Not only your artillerymen, but also the sanitary soldiers and baggage soldiers will be on top of me! If it weren't for the fact that the mountain artillery needs to be operated, I would like your whole brigade to charge! ”

"You can choose your own people, and the time has come to be loyal to the locusts."

The next time is to arrange specific tactics, the original soldiers are not in good shape, and now they can only be responsible for feints to attack the frontal position.

These people have been tossing all night, and both their morale and spirit have reached the limit of what they can bear, and they are simply useless.

It stands to reason that this group of soldiers should go back to rest, but they are already all the cards in the hands of Taro Katayama, so they can only catch ducks on the shelves.

Use the group of attacking friends in stock to squeeze out the last of their potential.

And the task of going around the side was naturally handed over to those new forces who rushed to support. The 1,000 infantry were made up of squadrons, and an officer was to be assigned to them temporarily.

——————————

In the temporary command post of the 385th Brigade of Lion's Brain Mountain, looking at the two regiment commanders who were physically and mentally exhausted in front of them, Brigade Commander Chen comforted them:

"It's hard work, the devils will definitely not have this kind of intensity of attack in the next few days, and the enemy has finished the three-board axe."

"And I sent a few messengers last night to ask him to ask for help along the Zhengtai Line in the direction of Yuci, maybe there will be friendly troops to support today."

The casualties of the devils were not small, but the casualties of the 385th Brigade were not light.

After a night of fierce fighting, the 769 Regiment reduced its strength by more than 400 people, and the west side of the main peak they were responsible for has always been the target of the devil's key attack.

The soldiers had to deal with a steady stream of small days every hour, and even if the fire was fierce from the heights, casualties could not be avoided.

And the situation of the 14th regiment was relatively better, they only lost their combat effectiveness with just over 200 people.

The field medical kits made by the Yellow River have saved many people, and many soldiers who might have died have survived strongly.

The situation with ammunition reserves is also good, although now the troops are rich in small arms, many fighters still retain the good habit of frugality.

What's more, in the preparation stage of the sabotage plan, Brigade Commander Chen ordered the soldiers to carry as much ammunition as possible.

Just as several people were about to discuss the next defensive arrangement, the enemy's devil artillery position, two kilometers away, suddenly launched another attack.

The sudden shelling interrupted their meeting, and they had to temporarily return to the anti-artillery fortifications.

At the same time, under the constant urging of the grassroots officers, the devils on the front once again continued to rush towards the front position.

When the artillery fire ended, these devils who had taken medicine immediately launched a surprise attack.

Among these people, only the temporarily transferred artillery subconsciously maintained the straggler line, and this artillery brigade in Yangquan still had a lot of combat experience.

This is because the artillery shells of the devils are always abundant, and the artillery who stay in the rear has little chance to go to the front.

In addition, the Republic of China troops fighting with them were almost unequipped to engage in artillery battles, so the casualty rate has always been low.

Even if Ikeda Yuto plays the last elimination system, these devils are veterans with at least three years of combat experience.

However, the efficiency of their attack is very touching, a bit of thunder and rain.

In the past, when encountering difficult firepower points, the devils tried their best to defeat them. And now there will be only a few symbolic shots, a few explosions with grenadiers.

This style of play made the soldiers of the 769th Regiment extremely puzzled, like a punch to cotton.

However, they soon learned the reason for the incident, and not far away, on the position of the 14th regiment, fierce gunfire suddenly sounded.

As Katayama had guessed, the 14 regiment had only two companies of soldiers assigned to the flank defense. In the face of this sudden enemy fresh force, the soldiers were caught off guard for a while.

The devil infantry, who was originally responsible for the frontal feint attack, immediately launched a suicidal charge after seeing the initial results of his major general's plan.

These little days of drugged medicine dragged the Eighth Route Army in front with their lives, leaving them with no time to divide their troops to support the relatively weakly defended flank of Lion's Brain Mountain.

At the same time, artillery positions at a distance of a little over two kilometers opened fire again. When he attacked before, the old devil of Katayama Province was still worried about his own infantry.

After all, guns have no eyes, and the limit of what artillery can do is to fire at a position a few hundred meters in front of the infantry, and the terrain of Lion's Brain Mountain is easy to injure their own people by mistake.

But now Katayama doesn't care so much, under the pressure of his superiors, he is like a gambler who has lost red-eyed, and he desperately studs all his chips in order to be able to return the cost at one time.

This trick proved to be effective, although dozens of devils died under their own shells, but most of the fighters of the 769th and 14th regiments were dragged to their positions.

In such a dangerous situation, the two regiment commanders and the political commissar of the 385th Brigade even personally brought a guard company to support.

At this critical juncture, the Eighth Route Army, with about 1,000 people, suddenly appeared from the direction of Yuci. This is like a timely rain of troops, it is the new second regiment led by Grand Master Li.

In order to support the brother troops of Lion's Brain Mountain as soon as possible, their regiment even showed the momentum of flying to capture the Luding Bridge, which once led to non-combat attrition of the troops.

Fortunately, these hours of forced march were not in vain, and the New 2nd Regiment arrived on the battlefield at the most dangerous time for the 385th Brigade.

Seeing the devils attacking on the mountainside, Li Yunlong's eyes widened at the boss, and he took out his shell gun and shouted at the somewhat tired soldiers behind him:

"Attack! All offense! Eat these devils in one go! Artillery bombarded me with these sons of bitch! Commando rush with me! ”

Hearing the order of their own regimental commander, everyone forcibly cheered up and launched a charge.

With the new Second Regiment joining the battlefield, the battle situation in this position on the side of Lionbrain Mountain at this time was directly reversed by two levels, and the original hunter became the prey.

Although the new 2nd Regiment, which was eager to support, had not yet had time to launch an attack formation, it did not even set up a heavy machine gun.

But the momentum of Li Yunlong's attack was too strong, and with the defenders of the three companies on the original position, this thousand-headed devil was forced to be wrapped in dumplings.

In order to prevent Taro Katayama from jumping over the wall again, Political Commissar Xie immediately called the artillery position with the portable telephone in his hand.

After all, that old devil, in order to cooperate with the feint troops to drag down the frontal battlefield of the Eighth Route Army, once ordered the shelling of the combat area.

The artillery of the 385th Brigade, who received the order, immediately came up with a hidden killer weapon, that is, four Min-20 Type 82 mm mortars.

The reason why these four guns were not used in the first few battles was that those battles took place at night, and the artillery, lacking observation equipment, was not sure to hit something strategically important.

For example, the headquarters of the 4th Separate Mixed Brigade or an artillery position.

But now it's different, and Kegetaro Katayama, who was not in danger of his life for a night, finally let his guard down. Both the command and the artillery positions advanced some distances.

There is only a distance of four kilometers between Yangquan and Lion's Brain Mountain, and this distance is one of the few plains in Jin Province, and there are no obstacles in the middle.

Under the observation of the telescope, the artillery position of the devil was almost very square, exposed under the noses of the artillery of the 385th Brigade.

According to the company commander's estimates, the enemy's position was almost 2,500 meters away from them. Although it is somewhat far, it has not exceeded the range of the Min-20 Type 82-mm mortar.

There is a slight difference between using a mortar in the mountains and on flat ground, but it is not difficult for a veteran who has been in the army for almost ten years. The reason why he is still a company commander is because there are so many guns in the army.

But if you can capture enough guns and shells, being a battalion commander is a bit of a condescension.

After a round of test firing, the artillery company immediately adjusted the parameters of the mortar according to the results of the firing.

"One minute of rapid fire!"

With the company commander's order, the crisp sound of cannon ejection echoed in the position. Four mortars fired at the artillery positions of the devils at a rate of 16 rounds per minute.

In fact, Ikeda sensed the danger when the Eighth Route Army's mortar was test-fired, but the second shelling followed in less than half a minute.

In this case, if it is a decisive person, he will immediately abandon his position and run away.

But for Ikeda Yuto, these mountain cannons are even more important than his wife, and the cannons are not for fun.

But these mountain guns of more than half a ton can hardly be said to be transferred, and grenades symbolizing death fell from the sky and fell within the range of the devil's artillery position.

A grenade hit the ammunition box, and the explosion was even more powerful than a mortar.

After a minute passed, the trump card in the hands of Taro Katayama was completely abolished by the 385th Brigade. Except for acquaintances and minced meat, there was not a single one in that area who could move.

First send and then change!

(End of chapter)