The Sword of Swords is a Guard for Kong Jie

Chapter 1444: Division Commander: We Still Have a Chance (First Update)

Lieutenant General Fujita had not studied the Flying Thunder Cannon and did not know about the existence of this weapon, but many people in the division headquarters knew about this weapon.

A staff officer with the rank of major immediately spoke up: "Division Commander..."

"I seem to know the heavy weapons used by the Eighth Route Army on the battlefield..."

"That's not a new type of weapon. It's a projectile device modified from a gasoline barrel by the Eighth Route Army on the battlefield in North China."

"You can easily throw a pack of explosives three hundred meters away."

"Based on the size of the explosive package, the power is amazing..."

The major of staff immediately told him all the knowledge he had about the flying thunder cannon.

When the officer saw the Flying Thunder Cannon, an expression of sudden enlightenment appeared on his face.

The officers who were unaware of the Flying Thunder Cannon had shocked expressions on their faces, including the division commander, Lieutenant General Fujita himself.

After listening to the introduction, an idea suddenly popped into my mind.

Although the Flying Thunder Cannons have various loopholes and problems, it is undeniable that they have unparalleled role and power in mountain combat.

The terrain outside the mountain is flat, and fire suppression can keep the enemy hundreds of meters away.

Moreover, the view outside the mountain is wide, and it is difficult for the enemy to lurk within two or three hundred meters to launch a sneak attack. If the Eighth Route Army really deploys flying thunder cannons two or three hundred meters away, a few rounds of artillery fire will blow up all the flying thunder cannons into scrap metal.

Not in the mountains...

The terrain is complex, with high mountains and dense forests...

Many times, the troops stationed at their bases could not even see the situation two hundred meters away.

The Eighth Route Army could quietly sneak up under the cover of advantageous terrain, set up flying thunder cannons right under the noses of the mopping-up troops, and launch a sudden attack.

Therefore, most of the fighting in the mountains is close combat, and the distance between the enemy and us is no more than two hundred meters.

Even though the effective range of the Flying Thunder Cannon is only 300 meters, and its shooting accuracy is not very good.

In this kind of close-range combat, as long as the Eighth Route Army is equipped with a sufficient number of flying thunder cannons, it can definitely deal a fatal blow to its mopping-up troops on the battlefield.

It was like the Koike Regiment that had been completely wiped out.

They were wiped out in the mountains by the Eighth Route Army while their forces were still fighting.

Thinking of this, Lieutenant General Fujita felt fear for the first time.

They were afraid that the Eighth Route Army would repeat the same trick in the mountains and use the Flying Thunder Cannon to destroy one of their regiments again.

In addition to the flying thunder cannon, the Eighth Route Army also seized large-caliber mortars from the Koike Regiment.

This is equivalent to them having a powerful flying thunder cannon that can kill the mopping-up troops at close range when facing the other three main regiments in the mountains.

It also has heavy mortars that can attack mopping-up troops from a distance, and their lethality is no less than that of the flying thunder cannon.

But he still did not give the front line an order to retreat.

All of this was just my guess.

Although the Eighth Route Army used a large number of flying thunder cannons in the battle to eliminate the Koike Regiment, and most of the soldiers under the Koike Regiment were killed by flying thunder cannons, about a thousand people still died from the machine guns equipped by the Eighth Route Army. They were killed in close combat between the two sides.

If you kill one thousand enemies, you will lose eight hundred.

No matter how strong the Eighth Route Army's combat effectiveness was in night battles, it was certain that it would suffer casualties of several hundred men.

After all, the Koike team is no pushover.

The more than a thousand people killed were all fully armed soldiers, not a group of pigs.

According to intelligence, even after a short rest, the total strength of the Eighth Route Army in the mountains is only more than 2,000 people.

After losing several hundred people, there were only a thousand or so left.

Even if they have two powerful offensive weapons, the Flying Thunder Cannon and the Heavy Mortar, they can't easily defeat the other three regiments in the mountains. Lieutenant General Fujita doesn't want to admit defeat just like that.

Otherwise, the Kwantung Army Headquarters would definitely hold Koike Regiment responsible for being completely annihilated by the Eighth Route Army.

If he could continue his efforts and command the remaining three regiments to take advantage of the heavy losses suffered by the Eighth Route Army and wipe them out in the mountains in one fell swoop.

Not only will the Kwantung Army Headquarters not hold itself accountable, it will also reward itself.

Therefore, as long as there was a one in ten thousand chance of success, Lieutenant General Fujita did not want to end this sweep hastily.

of course……

Although they refused to withdraw their troops, Lieutenant General Fujita also had a new understanding of the Eighth Route Army in the mountains.

If the other three regiments he sent out were in danger of being wiped out by the Eighth Route Army, he would definitely issue a retreat order immediately.

Just as Huang Yu said.

The Fujita Division has already lost a main regiment.

If this result were to be reported to the Kwantung Army Headquarters, he would be punished, but he would definitely be able to keep his position as division commander.

But if the Fujita Division lost another main regiment for no apparent reason.

Not only will he lose his position as division commander, he may also be sent directly to a military court by the Kwantung Army Headquarters.

So although Lieutenant General Fujita insisted, he knew very well in his heart that he could not afford the responsibility of losing another regiment.

He frowned and began to give orders: "Contact the front-line reconnaissance troops..."

"Try to use the evidence of the battle on the battlefield to determine how many troops the Eighth Route Army dispatched to besiege the Xiaochi Regiment last night."

"Can we follow the clues to determine the direction of the Eighth Route Army's retreat and find their current location? By the way, we can find out their strength and equipment and provide intelligence support to the remaining three regiments on the battlefield."

"Send another reminder telegram to the remaining three reinforced squadrons."

"The Eighth Route Army used a large number of flying thunder cannons in the battle to besiege the Koike Regiment, and the exposed army seized the large-caliber mortars equipped by the Koike Regiment, greatly increasing the attack firepower."

"Tell them to be more vigilant in the next mopping-up operation, avoid splitting up the troops, and avoid close combat with the Eighth Route Army as much as possible."

"Don't give the Eighth Route Army a chance to attack us with their flying thunder cannons."

…………

The Beicun League was the next target of attack chosen by Huang Yu. At this moment, they were gradually compressing the living space of the Eighth Route Army in the mountains along the planned mopping-up route, attempting to force them out to fight a decisive battle with him.

After receiving the warning telegram from Lieutenant General Fujita, Major Kitamura immediately doubled the number of troops to guard around the main force, and at the same time withdrew the vanguard squadron to prevent them from advancing alone and running into the Eighth Route Army's pocket formation. One can imagine how cautious he was.

However, the benefits of doing so are also very real.

During the mopping-up operation a few days ago, at least a small squad of the main force of the regiment would suffer casualties after a day of operation.

Since the troops stepped up their alert, their casualties have dropped sharply to half a squad.

Colonel Kitamura was very happy.

In order to reduce the probability of a surprise attack by the Eighth Route Army, he ordered his troops to set up camp and establish a temporary garrison at four o'clock in the afternoon. While there was still time, he also set up more guard positions around the garrison to accommodate more guard troops and patrols.

Just like during the day, don't give the Eighth Route Army any chance to launch a sneak attack.

On the Dongshantou high ground, about six kilometers away from the Beicun Regiment’s headquarters, dozens of Eighth Route Army soldiers were skillfully operating six large-caliber mountain cannons that had just been captured.

The heavy weapon has an effective range of less than six kilometers.

The reason why Huang Yu placed him here was to take advantage of the terrain. He fired artillery shells at the Beicun Brigade’s base from a high vantage point, artificially increasing the effective range of the mortar by several hundred meters.

(End of this chapter)