coobybook Chapter 268: Run faster, you must arrive within 1 minutes! 2-word chapter!
Chapter 268: Run faster, you must arrive within 1 minutes! 2-word chapter!
While Lin Zhenhua was busy clearing the defensive fortifications, the Xiaobaozhuang position was engaged in the most intense battle in the past half month. Colonel Ichiro Higashida, who was sent from the Taiyuan Command, served as the commander of the troops.
Ichiro Higashida only arrived at Xiaobaozhuang yesterday afternoon. Originally, he had not planned to launch a night attack last night, but the farewell telegram sent by General Ichiro Katayama of the 2nd Mixed Brigade forced him to take this route.
The headquarters had given him a death order, requiring him to break through the Xiaobaozhuang position within two days. What made him even more angry was that the headquarters was no longer able to provide him with air support, and he could only let him fight with the lives of his warriors.
Although Ichiro Higashida was extremely reluctant and argued for a long time, the headquarters did not change its mind. This was mainly because the Japanese headquarters had intercepted all the information about Lin Zhenhua's transactions with the Third Reich. The inside story shocked the Japanese, which forced the North China Front Army to capture Lin Zhenhua. In order not to alert Lin Zhenhua and get more things from him without threatening his safety, they could only set their target on the Independent Regiment, which would not easily arouse suspicion.
"Bagayalo! These bastards in the headquarters can only give orders. We have been fighting for so many days and have not succeeded in breaking through the position of the independent regiment. There is no need to continue the stalemate. We can completely change direction and sweep away other Chinese troops." Taro Matsubara said angrily.
Ichiro Higashida pressed his hand and replied in a bleak tone: "Those bastards in the headquarters will not listen to our explanation. General Tada also sent me a stern telegram. Even if the remaining thousands of us are to die, we must die at the Xiaobaozhuang position. If we dare to retreat even one step, not only will we be sent to a military court, but even our families in the mainland will be severely punished!"
"I now understand what the headquarters means. They want to use us to deplete the strength of the Independent Regiment until they are exhausted. Then the headquarters will only need to send out a regiment of troops to easily clean up the mess. By then, we can preserve the face of the empire and completely annihilate the Independent Regiment!"
"Mr. Songyuan, even if you are angry now, it will be useless. The headquarters will not listen to our explanation. Although I don't know why the headquarters is so cruel to the independent regiment, one thing I can be sure of is that the independent regiment must have something that the empire wants, otherwise the empire would not give up after paying such a huge price before!"
"We are clearly cannon fodder. If we want to have a chance of survival, there is only one way. We must launch a desperate attack on the Xiaobaozhuang position. We must not leave any troops behind. We have thousands of imperial warriors and more than 500 puppet soldiers. Let the puppet soldiers serve as cannon fodder, and the imperial warriors will follow closely behind. We will launch the attack on time in half an hour!"
"We won't leave any reserve troops this time. General Katayama was right to do this. Even though he failed in the end, it was because the Independent Regiment received a fresh force before the battle. Otherwise, General Katayama would have been the winner now. In yesterday's battle, the reinforcements the Independent Regiment received were basically used up. Now is the best opportunity for us, but if we miss it, we will die without a burial place!"
Taro Matsubara knew that what Colonel Higashida said was the truth, and began to make final preparations before entering the palace according to Ichiro Higashida's orders.
Inside the front-line defensive fortifications of the Xiaobaozhuang position, Zhao Gang held a telescope and stared closely at the Japs' every move. Seeing that the Japs had not left any reserve troops, and even the transport team and grooms were brought up, and bayonets were installed on the cannons, he knew that today would be a bloody battle, even more brutal than yesterday. This forced him to ask Li Yunlong for help.
Zhao Gang looked at the time and it was almost seven o'clock. He estimated that the Japanese were about to launch an attack, so he immediately arranged for the soldiers to enter the fortifications. Fortunately, Li Yunlong arranged half a battalion of troops to reinforce yesterday, otherwise he would not even have enough troops to defend the entire position.
"Political Commissar, I am here to support you on the orders of the regiment commander. The heavy artillery of the two companies has arrived. Please quickly assign us tasks!"
Wang Chengzhu's loud voice rang out outside. Zhao Gang was pleasantly surprised when he heard it. He thought that Zhuzi would not be able to arrive before the battle, but he did not expect that he would be able to arrive before the battle. He hurried out to greet him and replied excitedly, "Zhuzi, you came back very timely. Most of the artillery on our position was destroyed. Now we only have eight mortars left. You brought a lot of good things. In addition to 24 heavy artillery, you also brought a lot of mortars. This really solved our urgent needs!"
Wang Chengzhu replied with a smile: "Political Commissar, this is all arranged by the college students. He said that your position was completely breached by the Japanese yesterday, and the loss of artillery must be very large. He specially asked me to bring 24 mortars and 12 mountain cannons, which will definitely be enough to give the Japanese a hard time! This time we are carrying 105mm heavy artillery. The brothers are already very skilled. Only four people are needed to be responsible for one heavy artillery, which can free up a lot of manpower to operate other artillery. Otherwise, even if we bring a lot of artillery, it will be useless without enough manpower!"
Zhao Gang nodded in agreement and said, "Zhu Zi, go ask Zhang Dabiao for his opinion on how to place the cannon. You don't have to go find him, Zhang Dabiao is already here!"
"Da Biao, hurry up and take Zhu to set up the artillery. The Japanese have already assembled. I estimate that they will launch an attack soon. I have to walk around the position to see if there are any defensive loopholes. Take this opportunity to plug them up. Otherwise, once the battle starts, the consequences will be disastrous!"
Zhang Dabiao immediately replied, "Political Commissar, I will take Zhuzi to set up the artillery. The college student just called and said that the regiment commander has brought two reinforced companies to support us. They are all riding in trucks and will definitely arrive before ten o'clock. We have to hold on for three hours no matter what!"
Zhang Dabiao and Wang Chengzhu had just deployed half of the artillery when Ichiro Higashida immediately ordered the infantry to charge. Zhao Gang knew that he could not hesitate at this time, so he quickly ordered: "Zhuzi, use the existing artillery to attack the devils immediately, it will be too late if you delay any longer!"
"Da Biao, the left wing of the position is up to you, and the right wing is up to me. No matter what, we have to hold the position for three hours. No matter how much it costs, we have to hold the Xiaobaozhuang position. We have to hold it until the reinforcements arrive!"
Under the command of Zhao Gang, the Xiaobaozhuang position immediately launched a counterattack. As soon as the battle started, Zhao Gang felt tremendous pressure. Although the independent regiment had a large number of heavy firepower, its consumption of ammunition was relatively large. It took four people to keep the firepower of a Maxim heavy machine gun uninterrupted, and three people to keep a light machine gun, not to mention the artillery. A large number of people were also needed to carry and load the ammunition, which made the independent regiment always short of manpower.
At this time, Li Yunlong was leading two reinforced companies of troops and rushing to Xiaobaozhuang urgently. However, the roads in the base were full of potholes, and there had been heavy rain before, which caused severe damage to the roads. As a result, the trucks could not speed up at all when driving on the road.
"Damn it, the college students said before that we should repair the roads in the base, but I didn't agree. As a result, we are delayed by the bumpy roads. Otherwise, if we march at full speed, it will only take more than an hour. At the current marching speed, we may not be able to arrive in three hours."
"Monk, get all the soldiers to run and get on the bus after we pass this section of the road. Any further delay will only waste more time!"
As a last resort, Li Yunlong had to ask the soldiers to get off the trucks immediately and wait at the intersection ahead. Even Li Yunlong got out of the cab and directed more than 30 trucks to pass quickly.
Li Yunlong walked and stopped along the way, and it took him two and a half hours to cover most of the distance. At this time, they were still ten kilometers away from Xiaobaozhuang. If they took a truck, it would take another half an hour. Fortunately, the road conditions were better next, so it would not be a problem to reach Xiaobaozhuang in half an hour.
"Damn it, something is wrong! The sound of heavy artillery shells exploding is so loud, but now there is no sound at all. This is totally unreasonable. The Japanese may have already attacked the Xiaobaozhuang position, and Political Commissar Zhao is fighting hand-to-hand with the Japanese. We have to rush to support them!"
"Monk, pass on my order. Speed up the trucks. Run as fast as you can. We must reach Xiaobaozhuang within 20 minutes. Hurry and pass the order. We don't have much time left!"
Lin Zhenhua, who was at the Xiaoyunling position, also received an urgent call for help from Political Commissar Zhao ten minutes ago. He really didn't expect that the Xiaobaozhuang position would be in danger so soon. The Japanese had already fully attacked the Xiaobaozhuang position. The soldiers of the independent regiment were engaging in a fierce hand-to-hand combat with the Japanese, but Li Yunlong's reinforcements had not arrived yet. It was useless for him to worry now. Once the Xiaobaozhuang position was breached, the consequences would be disastrous.
"Hello, Captain Sun? I order you to immediately send a company of reinforcements to Xiaobaozhuang. Once the Xiaobaozhuang position is lost, the two companies deployed in Xiaoqianzhuang must hold out for six hours and wait for the arrival of reinforcements! I'm not discussing this with you. I'm giving you a death order. If you fail to complete it, I'll chop off your head!" Lin Zhenhua picked up the phone and said murderously.
Captain Sun stood at attention and saluted, guaranteeing: "College student, I will personally lead a company of soldiers to support the small bank. Even if I die today, I will hold off the Japanese for six hours to buy time for the arrival of reinforcements. If I fail to complete the mission, you don't have to shoot me. I will die together with the Japanese!"
Lin Zhenhua was forced into a desperate situation this time. No matter which of the two gates of the independent regiment had problems, the consequences would be very serious. This also meant that the sacrifices of more than 8000 people before would become meaningless. The machine tools and weapons and equipment that they had worked so hard to obtain would all become the spoils of the Japanese. In order to avoid this situation, he could only harden his heart.
"Fuck it, we've finally reached Xiaobao Village. Keep driving forward. Drive the truck directly to the position. Get ready to get off. Once we get to the position, get off immediately and join the battle. We must defend Xiaobao Village no matter what!"