coobybook Chapter 553: The damn Japanese really hit our 7-inch. These difficulties are not easy to overcome.
Chapter 553: The damn Japanese really hit our 7-inch. These difficulties are not easy to overcome.
After receiving the telegram from Yoshihara Jiro, Junichi Aoki did not show any excitement on his face, even though Yoshihara Jiro repeatedly expressed in the telegram that he was very confident that he could stop Li Yunlong's armored regiment. But he could see the other party's lack of confidence between the lines in the telegram, which made Junko Aoki's face full of gloom.
"Your Excellency, the Aoki Division only has two brigades of troops. It is nothing compared to four years ago. At that time, we had four brigades. Now the strength is only half of what it was before."
"Originally, my Aoki Division was a Type A division of the Empire, but now it has been reduced to a Type B division. Eighty percent of the backbone forces have been withdrawn, and most of them are new soldiers. Their combat effectiveness is not even a little bit worse than the old soldiers. A few years ago, my Aoki Division would not be afraid of fighting on two fronts, but now if we fight on two fronts, it will be very difficult to win, and we may even suffer a head-on defeat."
"I suggest that the division commander prepare for the worst-case scenario in advance and mobilize surrounding garrisons to come for reinforcement to ensure that our division remains invincible." Ichiro Tamoto advised in a low voice.
Junko Aoki felt a little lost, thinking back to the glorious achievements of the past few years as if it were yesterday. At that time, their one regiment could defeat an enemy division in a very short time, but now it takes a brigade to do it. It can be seen that the combat effectiveness of the Japanese devils has declined greatly.
"Mr. Duoben, your reminder is very correct. The strength of my Aoki Division is really not the same as it was a few years ago. The most hateful thing is that the headquarters actually added one-third of colonial soldiers to us, which has a great impact on the combat effectiveness of my division. These colonial soldiers are not as brave as we imagined on the battlefield. In order to restore the combat effectiveness of my Aoki Division as soon as possible, I decided to transfer them out to serve as a death squad. Like a wave, they will attack Li Yunlong's armored regiment. Those who dare to retreat will all die!"
"Our most important task now is to defend the rear of the Yoshiwara Brigade. No matter how much it costs, we must blockade the Zhaojiayu base and never allow the two sides to reinforce each other."
"Immediately order all brigades to implement the iron barrel defense plan. We must block the enemy's reinforcements and look for the right opportunity to surround and attack the reinforcements."
Under the command of Jun'ichi Aoki, more than 9,000 Japanese soldiers acted quickly and dug three defensive fortifications to prevent Ding Wei and Kong Jie from rescuing Li Yunlong.
Inside Fort No. 1, Kong Jie and Ding Wei were using artillery observation and aiming equipment to closely observe the actions of the Aoki Division. When they saw the Japanese switch from offense to defense, their expressions became very ugly. They had originally planned to send troops to support Li Yunlong, but after seeing the fortifications dug by the Japanese, they had to give up the idea. They even planned to let Li Yunlong withdraw.
"Old Kong, the situation is much worse than we expected. The aerial reconnaissance team has just set off and it is estimated that they will be able to send back information in a quarter of an hour. If the Japanese dig up all the roads, even if Li Yunlong wants to retreat, it will be difficult for him to do so." Ding Wei said with a worried look on his face.
Kong Jie took his eyes off the artillery sighting equipment, and his worry was no less than Ding Wei's. He replied with a melancholy tone: "We underestimated the Japanese before. In terms of anti-armor, the Japanese are not as stupid as we thought. They quickly found the weaknesses of our armored units. The large number of trenches made our armored units completely lose their mobility. They can only be used as fixed artillery positions, which means they have become living targets for the Japanese fighter planes."
"Not to mention that the Japanese have also begun to deploy anti-tank guns in large numbers. Even if they can't penetrate our tank armor, they can penetrate the armor of our armored vehicles. Previously, we sent out two companies of armored troops, but they suffered a great loss at the hands of the Aoki Division. This matter must be reported to Lao Li immediately, so that he must be more careful."
"In fact, I have a bold idea in my mind, which is to let Lao Li not come back for the time being, and continue to look for a suitable opportunity outside to give the Japanese a ruthless blow. But the damn Japanese would rather cut off the communication between the strongholds than dig up all the roads that were repaired with great difficulty. This is a practice of killing 1000 enemies and losing 800 of our own. As a result, the Japanese thought this method was very useful and actually promoted it throughout the entire Shanxi Province."
"This forced Lao Li and his men to retreat to the base. Otherwise, they might be locked up in the wild by the Japanese. At that time, they would be helpless."
At this point, Ding Wei also sighed. He thought the armored regiment could kill everyone and completely disrupt the situation in the entire Shanxi Province. But who would have thought that they were driven back after fighting for less than half a month. After working for a whole month, they only fought six battles in total. It was really fucking frustrating!
While the two were talking, three bird reconnaissance planes were conducting a very detailed reconnaissance operation on the battlefield below. The three pilots used the observation equipment on the planes to adjust the camera shooting angles and took pictures of the battlefield below. They also took out the ground observation device that had just been installed on the planes and scanned the entire battlefield. They were deeply shocked. They did not expect that the ground observation device could see so clearly.
However, when they saw the trenches dug by the Japanese on the ground, their faces turned extremely ugly. They did not expect that the Japanese would dig a trench about three meters wide every 50 meters. This was simply forcing the armored regiment into a desperate situation.
The intelligence detected by the reconnaissance plane was quickly transmitted back. After seeing the content of the intelligence, Kong Jie and Ding Wei immediately forwarded it to Li Yunlong. Now on the road, Li Yunlong, who was marching quickly, did not dare to be negligent in the slightest after receiving the urgent telegram from the two and immediately checked it.
"Damn it, those damn Japs are so damn cunning. They have dug a lot of anti-tank trenches and buried a lot of mines. It won't be easy for us to break through the Japs' interception and return to the base area. In two hours, a Little Bird reconnaissance plane will come over to drop the photos we took and developed for us. Then we will be able to see more clearly." Li Yunlong handed the telegram in his hand to Lin Zhenhua and cursed angrily.
Lin Zhenhua took a look at the contents of the telegram and his face looked very ugly. He really didn't expect that the Japanese would be so difficult to deal with. It was not an easy task to break through the Japanese anti-tank trenches. He had to plan carefully.
"Old Li, don't worry. The situation may not be as bad as we thought. Let's wait until the reconnaissance plane drops the developed photos to us. We should speed up our march and reach Erchaling as soon as possible. This is the most important thing right now."
After Lin Zhenhua persuaded Li Yunlong, he immediately took out the intercom and quickly contacted the reconnaissance plane in the air to learn about the road conditions ahead. No matter how aggrieved Li Yunlong was, he could only endure it. He ordered all battalions to speed up their march and reach Erchaling at the scheduled time.
Two hours later, a small wooden barrel was dropped by a bird reconnaissance plane in the sky. Li Yunlong immediately sent a monk to pick up the small wooden barrel. The armored regiment was ordered to temporarily stop advancing and start refueling the vehicles.
The monk led a squad of soldiers on two three-wheeled motorcycles and quickly picked up the small wooden barrel. After cutting the rope outside with a knife, they opened the lid of the barrel, took out a bunch of photos inside, and handed them to Li Yunlong.
Li Yunlong took the photo and checked it quickly. He found that the Japanese were really cunning. They had anti-tank trenches, anti-tank ditches, anti-tank minefields, and everything else. It was extremely difficult to complete a breakthrough in a very short time. The armored regiment had to be prepared for heavy casualties.
"College student, Lao Zhao, please take a quick look! Those damn Japanese devils are so treacherous and cunning. They have prepared several difficulties for us. It is too difficult for us to get through them. I am a little unsure." Li Yunlong said with a worried look on his face.
Zhao Gang and Lin Zhenhua didn't expect Li Yunlong to say that. They felt it was unbelievable. They took the photos and looked at them. Before they had finished looking at half of the photos, they were shocked. They finally understood why Li Yunlong said that just now.
"Old Li, anti-tank minefields are very easy to deal with. Let the artillery battalion directly cover the anti-tank minefields deployed by the Japanese. Even if the Japanese bury a lot of mines, we don't have to be afraid. We can just use artillery shells to blast a safe passage."
"The anti-tank trenches are more troublesome. The damn Japanese have deployed three linked anti-tank trenches in one place. If we want to level them with the bucket in front of the tank, it will take more than a quarter of an hour. I estimate that it will take nearly an hour and a half for us to open up a passable road."
"We don't have enough shovels. We have to ask the base to urgently airlift a batch of them. If dozens of tanks shovel the dirt at the same time, it will take an hour and a half to open up a safe road."
"What really puzzles me is the anti-tank trenches. The damn Japanese made a lot of cement anti-tank piles. Our only solution is to blow them up. Otherwise, our armored forces will not be able to break through Erchaling. This matter can only be solved by the heavy artillery of the artillery battalion."
"But we don't have enough heavy artillery shells to destroy all the enemy's concrete anti-tank piles. I'm afraid the number of missiles is not enough. I'm afraid the final task will fall on the dive bombers. Only by solving these obstacles can we launch an attack on the enemy defending Erchaling!"