Chapter 153 Two-Level Reversal! It’s Time to Counterattack!
At 5:30 in the morning of August 21st, the sun had just risen.
After a whole night, the main peak of Lion's Head Mountain seemed to be shorter. The smoke covered the position, and the craters were everywhere on the mountain.
The reason for all this was that Katayama Shotaro commanded the 4th Independent Mixed Brigade and launched seven attacks on the position defended by the 385th Brigade.
Although the Japanese had a clear advantage in heavy firepower and even dispatched two waves of aircraft.
But in these nine hours, the Japanese did not achieve any results, and did not even touch the outermost periphery. They failed every time they attacked, and the tenacious 769th and 14th Regiments always held their positions.
After a night of tactical games, Katayama Shotaro, the old Japanese, had to admit one thing.
That is, the opponent's commander was much better than himself, and he lost miserably in both micro-management and overall view.
Although he didn't know how many casualties the Eighth Route Army had suffered in Lion's Head Mountain, only half of the two thousand soldiers he had managed to gather were left.
If we throw out the seriously injured soldiers, it would basically be back to the days before liberation.
Just as the old devil was about to call off his troops and return to Yangquan County to reorganize his troops, a phone call completely shattered his fantasy.
"Katayama-kun, I heard that you seem to have encountered some troubles. It seems that the enemy is very strong and even needs the help of the Army Aviation."
Shinozuka Yoshio's voice instantly chilled the major general's heart.
The other party's tone was extremely cold, which made him wonder in his heart, and he was not sure how much his immediate superior knew.
But Katayama Shotaro's silence obviously completely angered the commander of the First Army far away in Taiyuan. The phone was temporarily put down, and then there was a sound of smashing things on the other end.
"I don't care who the enemy you meet is! I don't care about the casualties of your brigade! I just want you to end the battle this morning, otherwise you should prepare to commit seppuku."
As the phone was hung up, the atmosphere in the temporary command room became extremely depressing. Several staff officers dared not move, for fear of following in the footsteps of their colleagues.
Fortunately, a major came in at this time, and he brought Katayama Shotaro one of the few good news.
Another group of infantry gathered from several surrounding strongholds has arrived in Yangquan, giving the 4th Independent Mixed Brigade the capital to launch a new round of attacks.
Several staff officers quickly seized the opportunity to hold their own opinions. They were all afraid that they would be sent to the battlefield because they did not provide good suggestions.
After a few minutes of discussion, they decided to launch the attack at six o'clock in the morning, which was the time when they were most likely to feel sleepy after staying up all night.
Although the continuous attack all night put great pressure on the soldiers' physical and mental health.
But both sides agreed on this point. Although their side was very tired, the condition of the Eighth Route Army was definitely worse than theirs.
After all, these enemies who lacked heavy weapons had been bombarded by mountain artillery all night and harassed by airplanes twice.
Hearing this, Katayama Shotaro decided to try something new. He wanted to change his style of play and make the Eighth Route Army, which was accustomed to the previous tactics, pay the price of blood.
In the mind of this old devil, the seven attacks last night put a lot of pressure on the enemy's frontal position. If another massive feint attack is launched, the opponent will definitely be able to withdraw troops from the flank.
After all, people have inertial thinking.
The Fourth Independent Mixed Brigade has been reckless all night, and it is likely that some tricks will have a miraculous effect.
If a hole can be opened from the side, combined with the attack of mountain artillery and airplanes, maybe the enemy can be taken down in one go.
Thinking of this, he immediately selected two unlucky staff officers and called the artillery battalion commander. The two majors who were highly expected yesterday had already died in the previous attack.
After everyone arrived, the old devil struggled as if he was making a difficult choice.
"Ikeda-kun, we will launch the last attack next."
"In order to win this battle, I hope you can take out 100 warriors from the artillery battalion and add them to the infantry group that is feinting in the front."
This sentence shocked everyone in the command post.
Artillery is different from infantry. The time and money cost of training an artillery is not low at all.
In the eyes of Ikeda Yuto, compared with their technical arms, infantry is just a wild dog with a little IQ.
And the most important point is that the training focuses of the two are different. This is just like letting scientists go to the battlefield, which is simply unreasonable.
Seemingly seeing that his men were somewhat reluctant, Katayama Shotaro stared at the other party with red eyes.
If it were before, he might have reasoned with them and brainwashed them with emotion. After all, he still has to lead troops in the future, and it is not okay to lose people's hearts.
But now there is no time. In order to keep his position as a major general and to strive for future promotion opportunities, he must win this battle by any means.
The old devil had a ferocious face and said with gritted teeth:
"Lieutenant General Shinozuka has learned what the Eighth Route Army did on the Zhengtai Line. He gave me an ultimatum that we must take Lion Head Mountain today, open up the road from Yangquan to Yuci, and launch rescue operations on the entire line."
"I tell you! Not only your artillery, but also the medical soldiers and baggage soldiers must go up! If it weren't for the fact that the mountain artillery needs to be operated, I wish your entire battalion would charge!"
"You go and choose the people yourself. It's time to be loyal to Tianhuang."
The next time is to arrange specific tactics. The original soldiers are in poor condition and can only be responsible for feinting the front position.
These people have been tossed all night, and their morale and spirit have reached the limit of what they can bear. They are simply useless.
It stands to reason that this group of soldiers should go back to rest, but they are all the cards in Katayama Shotaro's hand, so he can only force them to do it.
Use the offensive friends in stock to squeeze out their last potential.
The task of flanking is naturally given to the fresh forces who come to support. These 1,000 infantrymen are composed of multiple squadrons, and they need to be temporarily assigned an officer.
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In the temporary command post of the 385th Brigade on Lion Head Mountain, looking at the two exhausted regiment commanders in front of him, Brigade Commander Chen comforted them:
"Thank you for your hard work. The Japanese will definitely not have such an intense attack in the next few days. The enemy has already used up all three axes."
"And I sent a few messengers last night to ask for help along the Zhengtai Line to the direction of Yuci. Maybe there will be friendly forces to support today."
The Japanese suffered heavy casualties, but the casualties of the 385th Brigade were also not light.
After a whole night of fierce fighting, the 769th Regiment lost more than 400 people. The west side of the main peak they were responsible for had always been the target of the Japanese's key attacks.
The soldiers had to deal with a continuous wave of small days every hour. Even if they were high above and had fierce firepower, they still could not avoid casualties.
The situation of the 14th Regiment was relatively better. Only more than 200 of them lost their combat effectiveness.
The battlefield medical kits made by Huang He saved many people, and many soldiers who might have been sacrificed survived strongly.
The ammunition reserve is also good. Although the troops are now rich in light weapons, many soldiers still retain the good habit of thrift.
Moreover, in the preparation stage of the raid plan, Brigade Commander Chen ordered the soldiers to carry as much ammunition as possible.
Just as several people were preparing to discuss the next defense arrangement, the enemy's artillery position two kilometers away suddenly launched another attack.
This sudden artillery bombardment interrupted their meeting, and they could only return to the anti-artillery fortifications temporarily.
At the same time, the frontal devils, under the constant urging of the grassroots officers, once again continued to rush towards the front position.
When the artillery fire ended, these devils who had taken medicine immediately launched a surprise attack.
Among these people, only the artillerymen who were temporarily transferred subconsciously maintained the skirmish line. This artillery battalion in Yangquan still had rich combat experience.
This is because the devil's artillery shells have always been sufficient, and the artillerymen who stayed in the rear have almost no chance to go to the front line.
In addition, the Republic of China troops fighting with them had almost no conditions to launch an artillery battle, so the casualty rate has been very low.
Even if Ikeda Yuto played the last-place elimination system, these devils were veterans with at least three years of combat experience.
However, the efficiency of their attack was very touching, a bit like thunder and rain.
In the past, when they encountered difficult firepower points, the devils would try their best to knock them down. But now they will only fire a few shots symbolically and use grenade launchers to bomb a few times.
This style of play made the soldiers of the 769th Regiment very puzzled, like a punch on cotton.
However, they soon found out the reason for the incident. Fierce gunfire suddenly sounded on the position in charge of the 14th Regiment not far away.
As Katayama Shotaro guessed, the 14th Regiment had only two companies of soldiers deployed on the side defense. Faced with this sudden enemy reinforcement, the soldiers were caught off guard for a while.
The devil infantry, who was originally responsible for the frontal feint, immediately launched a suicidal charge after seeing that the plan of their major general was beginning to take effect.
These drugged-up little days used their lives to hold back the Eighth Route Army in front, leaving them no time to split up to support the relatively weakly defended side of Lion's Head Mountain.
At the same time, the artillery position a little more than two kilometers away opened fire again. When attacking before, Katayama Shotaro, the old devil, was still concerned about his own infantry.
After all, guns and cannons have no eyes. The limit that artillery can do is to fire at a position a few hundred meters in front of the infantry, and the terrain of Lion's Head Mountain can easily hurt its own people by mistake.
But now Katayama Shotaro can't care so much. Under the pressure from his superiors, he is like a gambler who has lost all his chips in order to get his money back at once.
It turns out that this trick is very effective. Although dozens of devils died under their own artillery shells, most of the soldiers of the 769th and 14th Regiments were dragged to the position.
In this dangerous situation, the two regiment commanders and the political commissar of the 385th Brigade even personally led a guard company to support.
At this critical juncture, about a thousand Eighth Route Army suddenly appeared from the direction of Yuci. This timely army was none other than the New 2nd Regiment led by Li Da.
In order to support the brother troops on Lion Head Mountain as soon as possible, their regiment even showed the momentum of flying to capture Luding Bridge, which once caused non-combat casualties in the troops.
Fortunately, the forced march of several hours was not in vain, and the New 2nd Regiment arrived at the battlefield when the 385th Brigade was in the most dangerous time.
Seeing the attacking devils on the hillside, Li Yunlong's eyes widened, and he pulled out his Mauser pistol and shouted to the tired soldiers behind him:
"Attack! All attack! Eat these devils in one breath! Artillery bombard these sons of bitches! Commando, follow me!"
Hearing the order from their own regiment leader, everyone forced themselves to cheer up and launched a charge.
With the new second regiment joining the battlefield, the battle situation on the side of Lion Head Mountain was reversed, and the original hunter became the prey.
Although the new second regiment, which was eager to support, had not yet deployed its attack formation, and even the heavy machine guns had not been set up.
But Li Yunlong's offensive momentum was too strong, and coupled with the three companies of defenders on the original position, the thousand devils were surrounded.
In order to prevent Katayama Shotaro from jumping off the wall again, Political Commissar Xie immediately called the artillery position with the portable phone in his hand.
After all, the old devil had ordered the artillery to bombard the battle zone in order to cooperate with the feint attack troops to delay the Eighth Route Army on the front battlefield.
The artillery of the 385th Brigade, which received the order, immediately took out the hidden killer, that is, four Type 20 82mm mortars.
The reason why these four guns were not used in the previous battles was that those battles took place at night, and the artillery lacking observation equipment was not sure to hit anything of strategic significance.
For example, the headquarters or artillery positions of the 4th Independent Mixed Brigade.
But now it is different. Katayama Shotaro, who was not in danger of his life all night, finally relaxed his vigilance. Both the headquarters and the artillery positions have moved forward a certain distance.
There is only a distance of four kilometers between Yangquan and Lion Head Mountain, and this section of the road is one of the few plains in Shanxi Province, with no obstacles in the middle.
Under the observation of the telescope, the artillery positions of the devils are almost open and exposed under the eyes of the artillery of the 385th Brigade.
According to the estimation of the company commander, the enemy's position is about 2,500 meters away from them. Although it is a bit far, it has not exceeded the range of the 20-type 82mm mortar.
There is a slight difference between using mortars on the mountain and on the plain, but this does not bother a veteran who has been in the army for almost ten years. The reason why he is still a company commander is because there are only so many guns in the army.
If enough guns and shells could be seized, being a battalion commander would be a bit of a waste of talent.
After a round of test firing, the artillery company immediately adjusted the parameters of the mortars according to the shooting results.
"One minute rapid fire!"
With the order of the company commander, the crisp sound of shells being fired echoed on the battlefield. Four mortars fired at the Japanese artillery positions at a rate of 16 rounds per minute.
In fact, Ikeda Yuto had sensed the danger when the Eighth Route Army mortars were tested, but the second round of shelling followed in less than half a minute.
In this situation, if a decisive person is, he will immediately abandon his position and run away.
But these mountain guns are more important to Ikeda Yuto than his wife. The guns are not just for fun.
But these more than half a ton mountain guns are difficult to move. One after another, the grenades symbolizing death fell from the sky and landed within the range of the Japanese artillery positions.
One grenade hit the ammunition box, and the power of the secondary explosion was even greater than that of the mortar.
One minute later, Katayama Shotaro's trump card was completely destroyed by the 385th Brigade. In that area, except for the acquaintances and the minced meat, no one could move.
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