bookrandom Chapter 517 The air threat has been lifted. We cannot delay. Let the troops withdraw from Taiyuan Ci
Chapter 517 The air threat has been lifted. We cannot delay. Let the troops withdraw from Taiyuan Ci
"Old Zhao, it's already six o'clock in the afternoon. It will be dark in half an hour. Arrange for the soldiers to eat immediately and evacuate Taiyuan City in half an hour. Order all troops to stop releasing smoke and put out all open flames. The Japanese fighter planes have returned. We are completely safe now and no longer have to worry about threats from the air."
"Telegraph operator, call the regiment commander immediately. I want to talk to him now to discuss the retreat." Lin Zhenhua urged anxiously.
The telegraph operator contacted Li Yunlong in five minutes, and the two sides established stable communication again. Taking the intercom handed over by the telegraph operator, Lin Zhenhua asked anxiously: "Old Li, I plan to evacuate Taiyuan City at 6:30 pm. You said before that you have planned the retreat route. I want to ask where our meeting point is?"
Li Yunlong's resonant voice came through the intercom: "College students, the evacuation route has already been planned. We just need to meet up at Erlipu at 8 o'clock tonight. I have also made preparations for the evacuation and am arranging for the soldiers to have an emergency meal. The time of the evacuation is the same as yours, which is 6:30 p.m."
"Before we leave, we will detonate the enemy's fuel and ammunition depots, and destroy all the enemy fighter planes that have not been completely destroyed on the airport runway. We estimate that we will eventually be able to destroy about 160 enemy fighter planes, which can be called a great victory. At least in the short term, the enemy's air force will not be able to pose a huge threat to our base. With the fighter planes and anti-aircraft weapons we have now, we can fully guarantee the safety of the airspace above the base."
"The summer harvest is coming soon. If the Japanese use bombers to bomb our crops at this time, it will seriously threaten our food security. Now we have minimized this threat, which will have a very positive impact on our summer harvest."
"When we were planning the retreat route, the Japanese air force was a sharp sword hanging over our heads. Now this sword has been broken by 2/3, and the threat to our troops is not as great as before. As long as we strictly implement the marching plan of hiding during the day and moving at night in the next march, we will be able to reach the combat radius of our fighter planes after 3 to 4 days of marching. At that time, our assault regiment will be truly safe."
"If we want to escape danger completely, the key lies in whether we can escape the Japanese encirclement in time in the next three days and four nights. As long as we can escape the Japanese encirclement, we can march directly during the day and return to the base in only five days at most."
After Li Yunlong's analysis, Lin Zhenhua also understood that the next three days were crucial. As long as the armored regiment was not trapped in the encirclement by the Japanese, it could safely withdraw to the base.
"Old Li, let's discuss the specific route for the next march after we meet. After all, the situation on the battlefield changes so quickly, and we have to prepare for the worst in advance. You know, we hit the enemy's lair this time and almost captured the enemy commander. With such a big commotion, the enemy will definitely not let us return to the base safely."
"According to my estimation, the Japanese divisions that are rushing back from the front have probably received orders to pursue and intercept us. Our armored regiment has been in battle for so long, and the casualties of the troops are not small. There are only about 9200 troops left who can really be used in the battle."
"This is still a very heavy loss. The army directly lost a reinforced regiment. Fortunately, among the more than 2700 casualties, only more than 1400 people were actually sacrificed. In general, our casualties are still relatively small."
"However, this siege also exposed many problems. It was difficult for the armored forces to exert their speed and firepower advantages in street fighting. In the battle to eliminate the Japanese in Taiyuan City, we directly lost 16 tanks and nine armored vehicles. This was completely beyond my expectations."
As they were talking, Duan Peng hurried over and whispered in Lin Zhenhua's ear: "College student, all the money has been arranged. After a rough count, the total value of the money should be around 4600 million yuan. Each armored vehicle is followed by a squad of infantry for protection to ensure that there will be no problems with the money."
Lin Zhenhua nodded with satisfaction. It was too difficult to airlift all the money back to the base. They could only wait until they got out of the Japanese encirclement and then airlift it back to the base in batches.
"Duan Peng, your next mission is very important. I will mobilize a battalion of troops to help you guard the safety of this batch of money. From now on, you will be the commander of the special forces battalion. No matter what the cost, you must ensure that this batch of money will not be taken away by the devils."
"I will dispatch a communications command vehicle to ensure that the special forces battalion can keep in touch with me at all times. In the following marching column, your special forces battalion will be located in the middle, and the headquarters will be moved to the back of you to ensure the safety of the special forces battalion."
Zhao Gang ate canned beef and biscuits while hurriedly saying, "College student, the poison gas squad sent an emergency call, asking how to deal with the captured Japanese poison gas bombs. We can't just leave with them!"
Hearing Zhao Gang mention this matter, Lin Zhenhua felt a bit of a headache. He had wanted to dispose of the poison gas bomb while the Japanese fighter planes were attracted, but he had never found an opportunity. However, if the poison gas was discarded casually, it might bring danger to the people nearby. If he carried it on the march, once the poison gas bomb was detonated by the Japanese, the consequences would be unimaginable.
"Old Zhao, these poison gas bombs must be disposed of. I plan to destroy them directly in the water source. Under the flushing of running water, they should be able to degrade quickly. I have arranged for people to find quicklime and white lime, and also collected alkaline noodles throughout Taiyuan City. If the amount is sufficient, the poison gas will be disposed of by neutralization."
"I have checked before. The main component of the poison gas in this batch of Japanese is chlorine, which is relatively simple to deal with. Give me an hour, and I can deal with all the poison gas bombs. The troop retreat will be left to you. After the poison gas bombs are dealt with, I will immediately lead the poison gas team to catch up with the main force. In order to ensure that there are no unexpected situations, you need to arrange a tank battalion for my protection."
"Old Zhao, I have arranged for Duan Peng to be in charge of protecting the money. I have also mobilized a battalion of soldiers to take charge of the protection work. During the next retreat, we must try our best to avoid fighting with the Japanese. We must arrive at Erlipu at 8 o'clock in the evening to meet up with Old Li."
Lin Zhenhua hurriedly explained the matter and left Taiyuan City, leading the gas squad to destroy the captured gas bombs. Zhao Gang led the large army to slowly withdraw from Taiyuan City. In order to save time, the soldiers ate directly in the car. This time in the city, a large number of canned food were seized, so the soldiers did not need to eat compressed biscuits at all, and they could eat canned food to get full.
Since the troops could not take much food and canned food with them when they evacuated, Zhao Gang and Lin Zhenhua ordered the soldiers to eat as much as they could. Sometimes, if they could not carry all the food on hand, they would hang it on the vehicle. As a result, a large number of cloth bags were hung on the outside of the tanks and armored vehicles, and even three-wheeled motorcycles were no exception. The canned food taken away by the soldiers alone was enough to last for two or three days. This shows how sufficient the Japanese reserves were in Taiyuan city.
"Brothers, act quickly. We have to deal with these poison gas bombs quickly. During the process, you must strictly follow the steps I set. Once there are no bubbles in the water, it proves that the alkaline solution in it has been consumed. At this time, we must immediately add alkaline noodles. The amount of alkaline noodles we collected in the city this time is very large. We even bought back the alkaline noodles used by ordinary people to make noodles. Basically, it can help us deal with 80% of the poison gas bombs."
"The remaining 20% can be directly treated with quicklime. Pour the quicklime into the water, then open the port of the poison gas bomb and let the poison gas flow into the quicklime water to neutralize the poison."
The method Lin Zhenhua adopted was simple and crude, but very effective. With the help of more than 400 soldiers from the 48st Tank Battalion, it took only minutes to deal with the poison gas bomb.
"Brothers, it will be half past seven in two minutes. The troops have already evacuated half an hour in advance. We must hurry and catch up with the main force."
Lin Zhenhua's voice had just fallen when there was a noise in the distance. It turned out that the Japanese reinforcements had arrived near Taiyuan City and happened to find Lin Zhenhua and his group who were dealing with poison gas bombs. The stubborn Japanese reinforcements immediately approached Lin Zhenhua's position rapidly, intending to catch Lin Zhenhua off guard.
"Damn it, the damn Japanese are really fast. The reinforcements have arrived so quickly. The brothers of the tank battalion immediately got on the vehicles and launched an attack on the incoming Japanese reinforcements. Let them have a taste of the power of our Bull tanks."
"The gas squad will evacuate immediately and march quickly towards Erlipu. I will lead the tank battalion to cover your retreat. Telegraph operator, immediately inform the regiment commander of the enemy situation we have encountered and ask him to send a support force to meet us."
Lin Zhenhua issued orders in an orderly manner, and more than 60 tanks of the first tank battalion quickly turned around and launched an attack on the incoming Japanese. The gas squad and the tank maintenance squadron quickly evacuated the battlefield and marched towards Erlipu.
When the Japanese reinforcements encountered the fierce attack of the 1st Tank Battalion, they were completely unprepared and were directly defeated by the tanks' back-and-forth insufflation tactics. The victorious 1st Tank Battalion did not linger in the battle and quickly evacuated the battlefield and rushed towards Erlipu.