bookrandom Chapter 241 I have to give the Japs a hard time and never let them have a good rest at night!
Chapter 241 I have to give the Japs a hard time and never let them have a good rest at night!
Lin Zhenhua looked at the thermometer and found that the temperature outside had reached 36 degrees. The strong sun in the sky made his mouth dry. He quickly drank a bowl of mung bean soup and felt that the heat had been relieved a little. Now it has entered the dog days of summer. Even though it rained a few days ago, the temperature still hasn't dropped!
Lin Zhenhua wiped his sweat and said in a weak tone: "Old Li, it's too hot today. It's not even the hottest time of the day yet, and it's already 36 degrees. I estimate that the Japanese will not launch another attack in the afternoon. It's a good opportunity for us to withdraw some of our soldiers and take turns to defend the positions. This will preserve our soldiers' strength to the greatest extent!"
Li Yunlong also wiped the sweat from his forehead. He had already drunk six bowls of mung bean soup, but now he didn't feel like urinating at all. He was sweating too much. Yesterday was cloudy and the temperature was not that high, but today the sun was scorching hot and even he felt very hot.
"College student, let's leave half of the battalion on the battlefield. I'll arrange for the kitchen team to prepare more mung bean soup. We'll change shifts every hour, so that there won't be any problems!"
Li Yunlong called the monk to pass on the order. He just happened to have time to discuss tonight's counterattack with Lin Zhenhua.
"College student, we suffered a great loss at the hands of the devils today. The casualties are extremely heavy. If such casualties continue, even if we can hold our position in the end, I am afraid that our independent regiment will be beaten to pieces by then. There are many people in northwest Shanxi who have ill intentions towards our independent regiment. Once they seize this opportunity, not to mention the devils, Xue Changming of the 726th Regiment alone will not let us go!"
"Our situation is very bad now. We must launch a counterattack tonight. We must learn from our mistakes. I estimate that the Japanese will not be as careless in their defense at night as before. It will be very difficult for us to catch them by surprise again!" Li Yunlong said with a grim expression.
Lin Zhenhua had the same concerns. He knew that the commander of the Second Mixed Brigade in front of him was a Japanese major general. Even if this guy was stupid, he was no ordinary person to have risen to the position of a Japanese general. At the beginning, he might have looked down on the Independent Regiment, but after suffering losses one after another, he would only become more cautious.
Lin Zhenhua cleared his throat and drank half a bowl of mung bean soup. Only then did he feel his slightly dry throat was better. He replied in a gloomy tone: "Old Li, the Japs' Second Mixed Brigade suffered a great loss at our hands before, but in this morning's battle, the coordination of the various arms of the Japs was very close."
"When the Japanese retreated, I planned to let Sanwazi teach them a lesson. I didn't expect Katayama Ichiro to react so quickly and immediately withdrew the main force under the cover of fighter planes. If the Japanese fighter planes couldn't hold on and were forced to return, we wouldn't have been able to catch up with them. This shows that Katayama Ichiro is not as stupid as we thought. On the contrary, he is very smart and has rich combat experience!"
"The only disadvantage the Japanese suffered this morning was in tanks. Since we had never used anti-tank guns before, the Japanese misjudged us. Otherwise, our anti-tank guns would not have achieved such good results!"
"We must keep the anti-aircraft guns. They are powerful weapons for attacking the Japanese armored forces. With them, it will be much easier for us to attack the Japanese tanks! After all, using anti-aircraft guns to attack tanks is not a long-term solution. When we have our own tanks and armored vehicles, we can not only fight the Japanese armored forces head-on, but also send out armored forces to launch a counterattack against the Japanese. We should first kill the Japanese in northwest Shanxi. The Japanese are also ruthless this time. They put together a mixed regiment and launched an attack on the position defended by the first battalion. It seems that they are really determined to destroy our independent regiment!"
Li Yunlong also said with a worried look on his face: "Although our independent regiment has been blocked in the base area, I know with a little thought that the Japanese will definitely have a trick up their sleeves. Maybe they are starting a summer sweep now. Even if the brigade commander wants to support us, I'm afraid he can't do it!"
Li Yunlong was right this time. The Japanese mopping-up army had completed its pre-war deployment and would start the mopping-up operation tomorrow. This time, the Japanese had dispatched a total of three divisions, plus eight divisions of puppet troops, with a total force of more than 8. The situation in each base area became precarious in an instant. This large-scale mopping-up operation by the Japanese was beyond the expectations of the headquarters. The situation had taken a sharp turn. Not to mention withdrawing troops to support the independent regiment, even protecting themselves was now very difficult.
"Now our independent regiment's heavy artillery can only be used at night, but it takes a lot of effort to transport it back and forth. In addition, the Japanese are very cunning, and their camp is out of the range of our heavy artillery. We can only launch a night attack secretly at night. Even if there are frogs croaking, there is still no way to hide the sound of the artillery being transported. This night attack tonight is not easy to carry out!"
Lin Zhenhua was also very troubled by this matter. He rolled his eyes but could not think of any good idea. In addition, the moon was bright and the sky was starry. Tonight was indeed not a good time to launch a night attack. Unless there was a sudden change in the weather tomorrow and it was pitch black tonight, the consequences would be difficult to predict if a night attack was really launched!
"Old Li, let's wait until tonight. If the moon is really dim, we can only wait until tomorrow. Let's build our defense position tonight. Some large pieces need to be lifted by a simple crane. Fortunately, I have already made them into separate parts in advance, so we can assemble them directly and use them when the time comes!"
While Lin Zhenhua and Li Yunlong were discussing the night attack, Katayama Ichiro was sweating all over his forehead. He did not expect it to be so hot today, which meant that there was no way to launch an attack this afternoon. By the evening, the temperature would drop and the fighter jets would be forced to return. They would have to use the artillery regiment to bombard the independent regiment's forward positions and clear out the defensive facilities there.
After receiving the order from Ichiro Katayama, Colonel Miyata immediately concentrated all the heavy artillery in his hands and launched an artillery attack on the frontline positions of the Independent Regiment at three o'clock in the afternoon. The attack lasted until the evening. This time, the Independent Regiment did not cause many casualties, but most of the fortifications that had been built with great difficulty were destroyed. If the artillery and machine guns had not been withdrawn in time, they would probably have become the enemy's record!
Li Yunlong slammed the table and cursed fiercely: "Damn it, those damn Japanese devils, they are clearing obstacles for tomorrow's attack. Once the defensive fortifications on our position are completely destroyed, we will suffer several times the casualties if we want to hold our position! The Japanese devils are very calculating. Let's fix the defensive fortifications tonight. As for the counterattack time, we can postpone it. At worst, we can launch the counterattack in the early morning of tomorrow. In short, we can't let the Japanese devils sleep well!"
Lin Zhenhua also nodded in agreement and said, "Old Li, we can't wait for the Japanese to use the tactic of wearing out the enemy first. We have to use it on the Japanese first, so that they can't get enough rest tonight and won't have enough energy when they attack tomorrow. This will be a great thing for us!"
"Let Heshang and Duan Peng handle this matter. Let them find a way to harass the Japanese from time to time, so that they can't even have a peaceful dinner!"
Li Yunlong also thought that Lin Zhenhua's plan was good, so he called the monk and Duan Peng over, and after giving them a few instructions, he asked them to lead a company of soldiers to harass the Japanese in the early stage!
"Shen Quan, stop smiling like that, kid. I called you guys here because I have something to arrange. We fought very badly this morning! We lost an entire regiment of soldiers in this morning. If it were before, we would have been surrounded and annihilated by the Japanese. If it weren't for the fact that the independent regiment has been expanded many times, we wouldn't even be qualified to fight the Japanese head-on!"
"Now let me tell you how to fight the next battle. We only have three battalions of troops right now, but the Japanese still have more than 5000 people. Their strength is twice as much as ours. To be frank, if it were before, I would have led you to break out. It's not that I, Li Yunlong, am afraid of death, but facing the Japanese who have superior firepower and manpower, if we go head-on with them, we are simply seeking death!"
"But the arsenal in our base has already started production, and machine tools are being installed one after another. We have nowhere to retreat and must protect the arsenal of the independent regiment. So we must confront the Japanese head-on. No matter how great the price, we must hold our current position!"
"If the conditions are right tonight, we will dispatch an anti-aircraft artillery company, an artillery battalion, and a battalion of infantry to launch a counterattack against the Japs! If conditions do not permit, then continue to lie low and build up the defensive positions according to the college students' instructions. This afternoon, the Japs kept bombarding us, leaving us no way to repair the positions. Now that it's dark, the Japs have stopped bombarding, so we can't just sit there!"
"Shen Quan, you are in charge of the left wing, Zhang Dashan, you are in charge of the right wing, and I am in charge of the main position. The assembly of each battle position must be completed before tomorrow morning! Let the soldiers eat in batches immediately, and start working after eating. When installing, be more serious for me. There can't be any mistakes in this. Whether we can hold the position tomorrow depends on how solid the fortifications we built tonight are!"
Lin Zhenhua also echoed, "What the regiment commander said is very right. The arsenal has been busy all day today and has barely completed the task I assigned to them. I asked them to drill holes in the steel plate. I told you about the anchor bolts I bought before. Follow the method I taught you and screw the bolts on. It will be assembled very quickly. When the time comes, even if we can't defend against the Japs' large aerial bombs, we will have no problem resisting their small artillery shells and bullets. Tomorrow I will mobilize more anti-aircraft firepower to prevent the Japs from withdrawing and bombing our frontier positions. This way, our casualties will be much smaller, and we can fight with the Japs for a longer time and wait for a turning point!"