Show the sword, start from the guerrillas

Chapter 61: Fighting and Retreating
At this time, the casualties of the first battalion had reached over 150 people, and there were 76 bodies of soldiers carried to the north mountain of Heshanggou alone. If we count those who could not be brought out in the artillery fire...

"These are all the most elite veterans..." Looking at the densely packed graves, Li Yuexuan's heart seemed to be being cruelly squeezed by a ruthless hand, and it hurt so much!
But what could he do? Apart from trying his best to rescue the wounded, he could do nothing else!
At this time, about 400 meters to the west, Zhang Dabiao had already deployed his troops, and the remaining combat-ready soldiers of the first and second companies were less than 170. Including the index personnel of the battalion headquarters and the third company that retreated in advance, the strength of the first battalion barely reached 3 people.

In other words, the second company lost nearly half of its troops, the first company lost dozens of troops, and the first battalion lost half of its troops. Of course, not all of these missing troops were sacrificed. At least around Li Yuexuan, there were 25 wounded soldiers who could not continue to fight. Counting the wounded who had sprained their feet and were sent away before...the first battalion's troops did not even reach half of the 500 standard for a battalion.

"Okay, two hours is enough for us to fight the Japs here! This time, we won't fight a positional battle. We will fight and retreat at the same time. We have already found the retreat route! You are all veterans, you know how to fight without me telling you. But what I want to say is that the Japs suffered more casualties than us. We won this battle!" Zhang Dabiao gave the latest orders to the soldiers with red eyes.

In this battle, the replacement battalion suffered little loss, but Niu Youtian was not as happy as Zhang Dabiao. As soldiers from the 772nd Regiment, these sacrificed soldiers were once his soldiers. He could even call out each of them by name and knew where each of them was from...

When the first battalion retreated, the Japanese did not immediately launch a pursuit operation, but instead firmly held the original position of the first battalion, waiting for the arrival of the follow-up large force.

The Japanese had about 650 troops at first, and now have 320 troops, of which 58 were wounded. In other words, the Japanese Suzuki Battalion also suffered more than half of its casualties, and was also attacking hard.

This is the situation on the Chinese battlefield at this time! Whether it is the devil or the Eighth Route Army, they are all troops with a firm will to fight. Even if more than half of them are killed, they can still fight! If this situation were put on the European battlefield... Well, the Gallic chickens said that if you can reduce my losses to 5% before I surrender, I will consider you powerful!

As for Italy? I can beat you to 50% of your strength and then surrender to you. Do you believe it? John Bull knows this very well.

The devils didn't attack, they were moving their infantry artillery and mountain artillery units! At this time, there was a hilltop and several ridges, and the distance was more than 3 kilometers. The devil's artillery had to move forward to support the infantry! And in the complex terrain of the mountains, it was not easy for the devil's artillery to march easily, and it was even more difficult to find a suitable place as an artillery position.

Even if a mountain artillery can achieve a range of 6 kilometers, it is still necessary to choose a suitable position. At least the flight path of the artillery shells cannot be blocked by various hills, right?

The Japanese didn't move, and Zhang Dabiao breathed a sigh of relief. Looking back, he saw many soldiers fighting with bandages wrapped around their bodies, and he couldn't help but feel a little sour. Then, he was filled with pride! These are the soldiers of my first battalion! These are the soldiers of our new first regiment! These are the Eighth Route Army!

The fighting on the First Battalion's side slowed down a bit, but south of the Dragon King Temple, the fighting between the Guard Company and the Special Service Company quietly became more intense.

"What did you say? The Japanese have reinforced their troops? Where are the Japanese soldiers available? I tell you, stop them! The Japanese have no artillery, what are you afraid of? The soldiers of our New 1st Regiment are not spineless. No matter how strong the enemy is, we dare to go up and fight for his life!" Li Yunlong grasped the situation on the front line through the phone at the first time, but he did not order a retreat.

"Signalman, send a telegram to the district command center to ask about the enemy's movements. We can't fight an unclear battle!" Li Yunlong's loud voice made the hall buzz. The signalman went to send the telegram. Li Yunlong looked at the map in a daze, as if he was thinking about how to proceed. About ten minutes later, the signalman came to him with new information.

"In other words, the Japanese in the west are from the 4th Independent Mixed Brigade, while the Japanese in the south are from the 110th Division? Haha... they really think highly of us and they actually mobilized two troops to fight us at once!" Li Yunlong received the information and remained optimistic, thinking quickly about the next battle.

Ding-ling-ling...the phone rang again. Li Yunlong picked up the phone and heard the report from Wei Ming from the special agent company.

"The devils over there also used artillery? Very good, very impressive! You should withdraw and plant some mines on the position. The fortifications on the Dragon King Temple side have been almost completed, you should come over!" Li Yunlong did not put down the phone after he finished speaking. Instead, he thought for a while and continued, "I will take the regiment headquarters and the wounded to the ravine east and north of Heshanggou. When you arrive at the Dragon King Temple, hold on for half an hour, fighting and retreating at the same time!"

"Captain, I understand!" Wei Ming put down the phone and said to the commander of the 3rd Company of the supplementary battalion: "Old Zou, the commander has decided to retreat, so we have to retreat too. Please take the wounded with you!"

"Don't worry, leave the wounded to me! How about leaving some manpower for you? At least leave the backbone of our company for you!" Zou Xin asked secretly.

"No need. By then our battle will not be as difficult as it is now. It's okay!" After Wei Ming finished speaking, he looked at the soldiers of the special forces company and found that more than half of their troops had suffered casualties.

As time went by, Li Yunlong led the regiment down the valley, crossed the river and moved towards Heshanggou. Zhao Danian, who had set out earlier, climbed to the top of the northern mountain of Heshanggou with the help of Yang Gongxun and met Li Yuexuan and his team. This side was only about 4 meters away from the ravine to the north that Li Yunlong mentioned.

In fact, it is this mountain top that serves as the boundary for the ravine running east to north.

"How are you guys doing?" Zhao Danian saw Li Yuexuan, the wounded lying on the ground, and the numerous graves. Of course, he also saw the buzzing flies in the valley below the mountain and the piles of white and red Japanese corpses.

"Captain? Captain, why are you here?" Li Yuexuan quickly finished applying a bandage and then looked up at Zhao Danian.

"I know you are here, so I brought a team of young and strong stretcher bearers to take away the wounded...Where is Xiaochao?" Zhao Danian asked, looking at the guerrillas who came over.

(End of this chapter)