coobybook Chapter 251: It is impolite not to reciprocate. I am not one to suffer loss! 1-character chapter!
Chapter 251: It is impolite not to reciprocate. I am not one to suffer loss! 1-character chapter!
Lin Zhenhua was also very troubled at this time. They had been in a stalemate with the Japanese for six days, with casualties exceeding 200 every day. Now there were only a thousand troops left that could be mobilized. Even if the wounded were included, the total force would not exceed 1400. If the stalemate continued, the Independence Army would soon be unable to hold on.
"Old Li, I thought the Japanese bombers would bomb us for three or four days and then be done with it, but I didn't expect that the Japanese really wanted to confront us and bomb us every day. I was planning to transfer the third anti-aircraft company to take charge of the air defense of our position, but who would have thought that the Japanese raided the Xiaobaozhuang position yesterday, causing heavy damage to the third and fourth anti-aircraft companies. The Xiaobaozhuang position was almost breached by the Japanese, but fortunately it was finally held, and it is even more impossible for us to transfer troops from there!"
"The two garrison battalions cannot be used now. According to Zhou Jinsheng's report, they found traces of Yamamoto's special forces yesterday and sent out a company of troops to try to keep the Yamamoto special forces. As a result, not only did they fail to keep the Yamamoto special forces, but they were all eaten up by the Yamamoto special forces. This made Captain Zhou and his men dare not act rashly and can only honestly guard the current position!"
"The only thing we can rely on now is external reinforcements. I mean to send Duan Peng and Heshang, one to ask for help from the brigade headquarters, and the other to look for reinforcements sent by Captain Ding and Captain Kong. Only in this way can we solve our current predicament! The steel plates we produced before are almost consumed. Even the steel plant we built was blown up by the Japanese. Even two of our arsenal's factory buildings were blown up. Fortunately, there are no machine tools installed inside, otherwise our losses this time would be really huge!"
"Considering the current dangerous situation, I have ordered the arsenal to stop installing machine tools and dismantle the already installed machine tools overnight. I previously thought that with our anti-aircraft firepower, we could definitely guarantee the safety of the factory. Now it seems that I was indeed a little too optimistic."
"Fortunately, we have two factories built directly in the cave, so the production of the arsenal has not been greatly affected. Now I understand that if we don't get rid of the Japanese fighter planes, we can't break the current deadlock!"
"Lao Li, you will be responsible for the defense of the Xiaoyunling blocking position. I will return to the arsenal in a moment to fully guide the production of radio proximity fuze shells. We will also modify a batch of our existing anti-aircraft shells. Then we will concentrate all our anti-aircraft firepower to fight a decisive battle with the Japanese fighter planes. As long as we can shoot down all the Japanese bombers, our current crisis will be resolved."
"The only real threat to our positions now is large-caliber bombs. As long as the Japanese lose their bombers that drop large-caliber bombs, we won't be afraid of a war of attrition with them. With our current solid steel fortifications, the Japanese artillery can only tickle them. They can't do anything to us at all!"
Li Yunlong felt that Lin Zhenhua's suggestion was just right, so he nodded in agreement and did not forget to advise: "College student, you better be faster. I can only hold on for five or six days at most. If it takes longer, we will lose the ability to fight back. Even if we fight with the devils in a consumption battle, we may not be able to win. Once the devils launch a desperate charge, they can overwhelm our positions with human wave tactics alone. At that time, we can only mobilize the garrison battalion to fight with the devils. If we fail, we may lose the ability to break out and be directly annihilated by the devils in the base!"
Li Yunlong is under great pressure now, mainly because the Japanese have not suffered much loss in the past few days. Each time, they only sent one squadron of troops to attack, and the other Japanese were responsible for hiding in the tunnel fortifications and shooting. The Japanese's air-ground coordination is becoming more and more proficient. The casualties each time add up to only one squadron. The casualty ratio between the two sides is basically about 1:1. If it continues like this, in another ten days, the more than 1000 people under Li Yunlong will be completely exhausted, and by then they will not even have a chance to resist.
Zhao Gang, who was in charge of the defense of Xiaobaozhuang, was also extremely anxious at this time. He only had three battalions of troops left, which were evenly matched with the Japanese troops. He had originally planned to transfer a battalion of troops to support Li Yunlong, but given the current situation, he even wanted Li Yunlong to support him with a battalion of troops. No one had expected that the battle situation would change so quickly. What made Zhao Gang even more worried was that they now had no reserve troops, and the reinforcements were delayed in arriving. This made Zhao Gang at a loss for a moment. He immediately called Li Yunlong to ask if he had any ideas.
"Old Li, you are usually in charge of the military command of our independent regiment. Do you have any good way to solve the current predicament? I can only hold on for five or six days at most, and I'm afraid I can't hold on anymore. You have to think of a solution quickly!" Zhao Gang asked anxiously.
Li Yunlong replied with a gloomy face: "Lao Zhao, we really don't have any good solution now. We can only fight the devils little by little! If we don't get rid of the devil's bombers, our current dilemma cannot be solved. I have handed this matter over to the college students. The only thing we can rely on now is the radio proximity fuze shells. As long as we can kill the devil's bombers, we can continue to hold on. Now we have lost the ability to break out, so we can only hold on. I don't plan to use the two garrison battalions until the last moment!"
"I have mobilized the militias in each village. With the help of the militia, we should be able to mobilize two companies of fresh troops. If there are more, there will be loopholes in the defense of our base. Captain Zhou has discovered the traces of Yamamoto's special forces. They lost a company of troops and killed more than 20 of them. I have ordered them to stay where they are. Without my order, they are not allowed to attack without authorization!"
Zhao Gang did not expect the situation to be so serious. Once problems occurred in the rear of the base, it would not only affect the morale of the troops on the front line, but also the safety of supplies. This matter could not be taken lightly.
"Old Li, I won't be polite with you. Give me a company of reserve troops, and I guarantee that we can hold on for six days!" Zhao Gang replied with a firm face.
Li Yunlong didn't say anything else. If it really came to the final moment, he planned to pull the wounded out and fight the Japanese to the death. But it was not that critical moment yet. He talked with Zhao Gang for a few more words and then hung up the phone.
Compared to the gloomy look of the Independent Regiment, Ichiro Katayama finally smiled. In these six days of attack, he only lost one battalion of troops, and now he still has a total of more than 4300 troops, which is three times the number of troops that Li Yunlong can mobilize. If the two sides continue to fight to the death, Li Yunlong will definitely not be able to win.
"Hatoyama, we are on the verge of victory. Give us another ten days and we will be able to completely capture the Xiaoyunling position. The more time has come, the less anxious we should be. I just received a telegram from the headquarters. Colonel Kobayashi led a battalion of troops to support the Xiaobaozhuang position. Colonel Kobayashi will be in charge and seek a breakthrough there!"
"Colonel Kobayashi has made great achievements in the war. I feel more at ease with him as the commander. I don't care which side will make the breakthrough first. For me, as long as we can complete the task assigned by the headquarters, that's enough!"
"We no longer have heavy artillery. If it weren't for the support of the air force, it would cost us huge casualties to take Xiaoyunling. I plan to stalemate with the Chinese army for another six days before launching a tentative attack. If the Chinese army is vulnerable, we will take Xiaoyunling directly in one fell swoop!"
Junichiro Hatoyama immediately understood what his brigade commander meant. He admired Katayama Ichiro's foresight and replied excitedly, "Mr. Commander, it's fortunate that the headquarters listened to your advice before. Otherwise, even if we suffered huge casualties, we might not be able to capture the Xiaoyunling position. Now we are fighting a war of attrition with the Chinese army, which makes the Chinese army anxious. They have launched many night attacks at night, but we have ignored them. Their harassment tactics are no longer effective, and the warriors' rest at night is no longer disturbed!"
Katayama Ichiro laughed and said, "Hatoyama-kun, there is really nothing to brag about. It's just that we let each soldier wear a set of earplugs, so that our warriors can get enough rest at night, and have sufficient physical and mental strength when we launch the attack the next day."
"Of course, in order to prevent the soldiers from being careless, I deployed a large group of troops to be responsible for the outer defense. I directly deployed three lines of defense. In this way, even if one line of defense is breached, the soldiers resting in the innermost layer will still be very safe, and the harassment tactics of the Chinese army will not have much effect!"
While Ichiro Katayama and Junichiro Hatoyama were chatting and laughing, Colonel Kobayashi had already arrived at the Xiaobaozhuang position. He took over command as soon as he arrived and ordered all troops to begin earthwork and build circular defensive fortifications. It was precisely because of Colonel Kobayashi's caution that he achieved victory again and again.
When Zhao Gang saw that the Japanese had new reinforcements joining, he felt a lot more pressure. Li Yunlong's previous prediction came true. This time the Japanese really dispatched a division of troops to deal with the Independent Regiment. The Independent Regiment could be proud of being able to fight the Japanese for so long.
"Zhang Dabiao, it's already afternoon, the Japs' fighter planes can't come over anymore. We have to launch a counterattack and pull out our heavy artillery company to let the Japs have a taste of the power of heavy artillery. Don't be stingy with the shells, let the heavy artillery company fire hard, kill as many Japs as possible, fire as many shells as you can. If our base is occupied by the Japs, all our stockpiled ammunition will become their trophies. It's better to fire more. Even if we can't kill the Japs, we have to scare them!"
Li Yunlong also adopted the same approach as Zhao Gang. He ordered Wang Chengzhu beside him: "Zhuzi, don't let me have any free time this afternoon. Fire half of the basic ammunition first to let the Japanese know that our independent regiment is not easy to mess with. The Japanese bombed them with planes in the morning, and we will use heavy artillery to bomb them in the afternoon. It's rude not to reciprocate. I won't suffer this loss!"