Anti-Japanese War: I have unlimited assistance

Chapter 412: The center blossoms!
Northwest Shanxi.

General Ridge.

Guards Mixed Brigade Headquarters and the 4th Brigade Headquarters.

"Has General Shinozuka not replied to the telegram yet?"

Sakurada Takeshi, who had just taken a nap, felt a little better. He walked quickly into the tent and asked Tsuda Mitake.

"General Shinozuka did not respond to the telegram after inquiring about the casualties."

Mitake Tsuda shook his head, his face gloomy.

This morning, the 4th Brigade and the puppet army launched another attack on the Cuijiazhuang position.

Not only did the result remain unchanged, but hundreds of people from the 4th Brigade were also killed.

I, Mitake Tsuda, am heartbroken!

In order to rescue the Guards Mixed Brigade, the 4th Brigade, which originally had a total strength of 6,000, now has a total strength of only about 2,000 people, and two-thirds of them have suffered casualties!

This not only made Tsuda Mitake's heart bleed, but even breathing was painful.

Sakurada Takeshi's face didn't look good either.

When he first arrived in Shanxi, he vowed to chop off Li Yunlong's head and use the heads of Eighth Route Army soldiers to build a Jingguan.

But the more perfect the ideal is, the more cruel the reality is.

If the Imperial Guards Division had been sent to attack the Cuijiashan position, it would have been captured long ago.

The Imperial Guards Division was very powerful, but also very hated. The Imperial Guards were definitely one of the most hated Japanese troops by the Chinese.

He felt that he had been careless.

If the two infantry regiments of the Guards Division had not been surrounded and covered by the firepower of a heavy artillery division, it would have been difficult to say who would have won the head-on battle between the Guards Mixed Brigade and the New 1st Regiment.

But throughout history, war is a treacherous journey, and the Eighth Route Army was on the defensive, with a huge advantage in terrain.

Seeing Sakurada Takeshi's face gloomy and silent, Tsuda Mitake asked, "Sakurada-kun, after the main force of the Eighth Route Army's New 1st Regiment has consumed the 2st and nd Guards Regiments, they will definitely launch an attack on Jiangjunling. The Eighth Route Army has a heavy artillery division-level artillery firepower. We are definitely no match for the Eighth Route Army's New st Regiment."

Sakurada Takeshi glanced at Tsuda Mitake and said, "Tsuda-kun, do you want to be a deserter?"

"We're not deserters," Tsuda Mitake said solemnly. "This is a normal retreat to preserve our strength. If our two units were wiped out by the Eighth Route Army here, even their designations would be lost. The 3rd Independent Mixed Brigade and the 108th Division are examples of this."

"There's an old Chinese saying: 'As long as the green mountains remain, there will be no shortage of firewood.' We should conserve our strength now, and once we've replenished our officers and soldiers, we'll return and avenge the locust army that was shattered."

"The troops attacking Shahukou and Majiapo are still continuing their offensive. This battle will not necessarily lead to the defeat of the locust army."

After less than two days of fierce fighting, Tsuda Mitake saw with his own eyes that 4,000 locust soldiers were wiped out like grass.

The firepower of the Eighth Route Army was so strong that they actually used the firepower of an air defense regiment and leveled the anti-aircraft guns to attack the infantry.

Li Yunlong and all his troops should be sent to military court!

Tsuda Mitake was frightened by the firepower of the New 1st Regiment of the Eighth Route Army. He felt that the locust army's firepower was seriously insufficient and that they should retreat immediately.

"Tsuda-kun, there's an old Chinese saying: If you don't succeed, you'll die!"

Sakurada Takeshi sneered, "Once we retreat from Jiangjunling, the Eighth Route Army and the Chinese civilians in Ping'an County will immediately flee from Jiangjunling. Even if the other two locust armies can break into Ping'an County, they will not be able to eliminate Li Yunlong and his troops."

"We must consider this issue from the strategic perspective of northwest Shanxi!"

"Sakurada-kun." Tsuda Mitake had a bad feeling in his heart. "So you mean, no retreat?"

Sakurada Takeshi: "General Ridge is a strategically located area, easy to defend but difficult to attack. Even more valuable is that the Eighth Route Army has built several tunnels and concrete fortifications there, which are simply excellent defensive fortifications. We occupy the commanding heights and will be able to hold out until the main forces of the other two locust armies arrive. With the combined efforts of our forces, we can wipe out the main forces of the Eighth Route Army's New 1st Regiment in one fell swoop."

Tsuda Mitake was suddenly shocked: "This is too risky. If the reinforcements don't arrive, then we... What's more, although the terrain of Jiangjunling is dangerous, there is a lack of water on the mountain. The food and ammunition we brought are almost used up. The Eighth Route Army has blown up the tunnels. How can we defend Jiangjunling?"

The sounds of gunfire and explosions continued in the distance, and the officers and soldiers of the 1st and 2nd Guards Regiments in the encirclement were fighting a desperate battle.

But as the gunfire and explosions grew quieter, everyone knew it was only a matter of time before the 1st and 2nd Guards Regiments were completely wiped out. Sakurada Takeshi snorted coldly, "How can there be a war with a % chance of winning? Tsuda-kun, you're also an Imperial general, and you don't even understand this? If we're short of water, we can drink urine. If we're running low on food and ammunition, we can call for an airdrop."

"Besides, the Eighth Route Army didn't blow up the tunnel at all."

"Impossible!" Tsuda Mitake said, "I personally checked. The Eighth Route Army blew up all the tunnels. The concrete bunkers and hidden bunkers are useless. These fortifications are facing the direction of Heyuan County. The Eighth Route Army is attacking from the direction of Ping'an County."

"It's just Li Yunlong's trick. The Eighth Route Army engineers only blew up the entrance. I ordered the engineers to dig out the tunnel." Sakurada Takeshi snorted coldly. In order to understand the Eighth Route Army's tunnel fortifications, Sakurada Takeshi specially ordered the engineering team of the Guards Mixed Brigade to dig out the collapsed tunnel.

During the excavation, they made a great discovery: what the Eighth Route Army had blown up was only the entrance to the cave.

However, there was no food, ammunition, or clean water in the tunnel, nothing at all, which made Sakurada Takeshi a little disappointed.

Tsuda Mitake still wanted to retreat immediately: "No, this must be reported to Lieutenant General Shinozuka, Commander of the First Army."

Sakurada Takeshi said coldly: "I am now the supreme commander of the Locust Army of the Third Attack Force. All consequences and responsibilities are borne by me."

Tsuda Mitake said angrily, "Sakurada-kun, if you do this, you will destroy all the locust troops of the 4th Brigade and the Imperial Guards Mixed Brigade."

Sakurada Takeshi leaned on the Major General's sword bestowed upon him by the Heavenly Locust Emperor, unmoved, his expression resolute. "Sakurada-kun, follow orders. This is the central attack tactic. If we fail, we will die. From the day I led the Imperial Guards Mixed Brigade onto Chinese soil, I had no intention of returning home alive."

Tsuda Mitake looked helpless, but he had no choice but to obey orders and immediately began to deploy troops and dig trenches.

Sakurada Takeshi called the communications staff and dictated the contents of the telegram word for word: "To Lieutenant General Shinozuka, Commander of the First Army, the enemy has sent tens of thousands of its main elite troops to ambush on both sides of the highway, surrounding and ambushing the 1st and 2nd Guards Regiments. Caught off guard, the 1st and 2nd Guards Regiments were surrounded by the enemy. The 1th Brigade and other troops fought desperately to rescue them, but they were still unable to break out of the encirclement. Now the 2st and nd Guards Regiments are about to be completely destroyed, and the th Brigade has suffered heavy losses. I will lead the remaining troops to fight the enemy to the death at Jiangjunling to prove the honor of the imperial samurai. Please send troops to attack the enemy around Jiangjunling and eliminate the New st Regiment of the Eighth Route Army. Otherwise, Li Yunlong and the New st Regiment will become a serious threat to the empire in the future."

The communications staff added at the end of the telegram: Major General Takeshi Sakurada, Commander of the Imperial Guards Mixed Brigade, His Majesty the Locust is on board, the Locust Army of the Empire of Japan is on board.

After giving it to Takeshi Sakurada for signature, the communications staff immediately handed the telegram to the telegraph operator to send to the First Army Headquarters.

Drop, drop, drop, drop, drop…

As the sound of the telegraph rang out, messages were transmitted to distant places via radio waves.

……

The new regiment headquarters.

Li Yunlong, Zhang Dabiao and others have been observing the battle situation on the highway from the commanding heights.

The regimental headquarters is protected 24 hours a day by troops from the guard battalion.

Zhang Dabiao put down the telescope and said to Li Yunlong, "Commander, our New 1st Regiment suffered heavy casualties in this general offensive."

For this general offensive, Zhang Dabiao originally thought that the battle could be completely resolved in one or two hours.

However, the battle continued until noon, and still failed to eliminate the Japanese in the encirclement. Some Japanese occupied the small hills on both sides of the road, where they fought stubbornly and fought like trapped beasts.

The longer the battle lasts, the greater the casualties of the New 1st Regiment will be.

Li Yunlong didn't curse and despise the Japanese as usual. Instead, his expression was a little serious. "The combat effectiveness and fighting spirit of the Japanese in the Imperial Guards Division are indeed first-class. These Japanese react quickly, have accurate shooting skills, and are tenacious in their fighting spirit. If it weren't for our powerful artillery firepower, and if we didn't use thousands of shells to repeatedly bombard the Japanese, our casualties would have been more than tenfold."

So far, more than a dozen Japanese soldiers from the 4th Brigade have been captured in Cuijiazhuang, but no Japanese prisoners have been captured in the battle on this side of the highway.

Li Yunlong had to admit that if the weapons and equipment of both sides were at the same level, in a head-on battle, he would probably have to sacrifice five soldiers to kill a Japanese soldier from the Guards Division.

The soldiers of the Imperial Guards Division are basically the best selected from each Type-A division. They have strong individual qualities, fighting will, Bushido spirit and determination to die for the locust. Each of them can be called a hexagonal soldier.

"However, the biggest problem in our army is that we have too many new recruits and too little actual combat experience."

Li Yunlong's tone suddenly improved:
"After this battle, the combat effectiveness of our infantry and artillery battalions will be qualitatively improved!"

In just a few months, the New 1st Regiment's troops in northwestern Shanxi expanded from 4,000 to more than 20,000. The overall combat effectiveness of the troops increased, but compared with the original all-veteran troops, with the same number of troops, the combat effectiveness of the troops must have declined.

"That's right!"

Zhang Dabiao nodded: "Actual combat is the best training. Only recruits who have fought and killed the devils in actual combat can become elite veterans!"

(End of this chapter)