Chapter 20 Sakata Nobutsu: The Advantage Is Mine

The two wing defense lines of the main position on the top of Cangyunling Mountain.

A soldier took the newly captured Type 38 rifle and said to his company commander while cleaning the battlefield:

"Company commander, these damn Japanese devils are really disgusting. They died and destroyed all the weapons and supplies. We didn't get any spoils this time."

It was obvious that his company commander was not in a good mood and glared at the soldier from a distance.

"What are you complaining about here? You won't be the one to be scolded! We have to share this little spoils with the brother troops. If the regiment commander knew about this, he would definitely say that I am a prodigal son."

Through Li Yunlong's gambling-style command this time, the Eighth Route Army won a great victory on the two wing defense lines.

First, they used favorable terrain and new weapons to catch the Japanese devils off guard, and then successfully delayed the Japanese devils until the support of the 771st and 772nd Regiments.

The brother troops, together with the original defenders and reserve troops, had a total of only 600 people, but they killed nearly 200 Japanese soldiers and had a small amount of spoils.

The Japanese who attacked the two wings of the defense line were almost all wounded and remnant soldiers.

As we all know, wounded soldiers consume more resources and manpower during wartime, and Sakata, the old Japanese, suffered a loss.

Moreover, the strategic significance of this blocking battle is also very important. The 3rd Regiment of the 4th Brigade of the Japanese, to which the Sakata Regiment belongs, is a fully staffed infantry regiment with 3,800 Japanese.

As the elite of the Japanese in Shanxi Province, there are 76 mortars, about 14 field guns and mountain guns, 2,600 light and heavy machine guns and rifles, and even more than 500 horses.

However, after the initial blocking battle with three regiments and the defeat just now, this fully staffed Japanese regiment has only about 3,000 people left, including the logistics personnel.

Sakata Nobutsu, who suffered a great loss, will definitely put away his contempt and try to gather the troops together to prevent the three regiments of the Eighth Route Army from catching the opportunity like just now.

In this case, the mission of the 386th Brigade to cover the rear was successfully completed.

On the other side, the perspective of the Japanese.

At that time, Sakata Nobutsu was still sitting leisurely in his front-line command post. In his opinion, his arrangement had completely deceived the Eighth Route Army.

Now he only needed to wait for his squadron leaders to occupy the enemy's two wing positions, and then he would see the victory signals on both sides.

On the front battlefield, he could turn the feint attack into the main attack and cooperate with these squadrons to strangle these local Eighth Route Army.

Although at the beginning of the battle, it sounded that the commander of the opposite side had left a reserve.

But Sakata Nobutsu was not too worried. With the strong combat capabilities of these squadrons, they could complete the task successfully even if they encountered an ambush by the Eighth Route Army.

After all, the gap in equipment and individual combat quality cannot be eliminated by fighting will alone.

But not long after, Sakata Nobutsu had to accept the bad news of the failure of the combat mission. Several squadrons were beaten into remnants and retreated in embarrassment.

This old devil was almost furious at this time, and his old face showed an unhealthy redness, and he almost wrote what the hell was going on on his face.

His doubts did not last long. After only a few minutes, a squadron leader from the Locust Army who escaped back was brought to the command post to report the situation.

This Japanese squadron leader was very miserable at this time. Not only was half of his left palm cut off by fragments, but there were also extensive burns on his face.

After he returned to the regiment, he was escorted here after a simple treatment.

Facing Sakata Nobutsu's cannibalistic gaze, he stood up straight with a stiff face, saluted and said:

"Sir Colonel, our Kazama Squadron, under my leadership, launched an attack on the two wings of the Eighth Route Army according to the original plan."

"But we encountered strong resistance. The enemy buried a large number of mines in advance and used new grenades."

"The Nohara Squadron Leader near me was killed on the spot, and then at least one squadron of enemies appeared from behind us. We were trapped in the pincer attack and more than half of them were killed."

The Japanese squadron leader's face was pale and cold sweat was pouring down. I don't know if it was because of pain or fear, but he still lowered his head and closed his eyes.

"Baga!"

The tradition of the army's idiots cannot be lost. Sakata Nobutsu slapped the squadron leader in the face, and then asked without caring whether the Japanese soldier could still speak:

"What is the new grenade you are talking about?"

The beaten Japanese squadron leader tried to stand up and answered:

"This grenade is different from the junks used by the Eighth Route Army before. It is very powerful, and after the explosion, it will produce a lot of fragments and liquids that can burn soldiers."

This answer that boosted others' prestige made the old Japanese soldier Sakata very dissatisfied. He waved his hand to signal to take this useless man away.

"This is not the reason for your defeat! The next time you charge, you must be at the front to avenge your squadron."

At this time, a Japanese lieutenant colonel walked towards Sakata Nobutsu with a document.

"Report to the regiment commander, the brigade commander called!"

Sakata Nobutsu first looked at the topographic map, then said to the lieutenant colonel: "Read."

Lieutenant Colonel Uratomo unfolded the document in his hand and said to Sakata:

"According to reliable intelligence, the enemy in front of your unit is the main force of the 129th Division of the 18th Army of China. The North China Front Command ordered your regiment to occupy the main peak of Cangyunling at 12 noon. Make sure to annihilate the enemy's defenders and not let any of them escape."

"Long live His Majesty the Heavenly Locust, long live the Great Japanese Locust Army."

Seeing that Sakata Nobutsu did not speak, the adjutant Lieutenant Colonel Uratomo tentatively said to him:

"Liant Commander, I just went to ask the soldiers who were withdrawing. Their squadron leader didn't even maintain a skirmish line during the charge because he wanted to take credit."

"Moreover, they did not reorganize the soldiers to fight back immediately when they encountered the ambush. These pigs did not even investigate in advance. It was because of command errors that so many warriors of my brother country were killed."

"And the enemy doesn't seem to have heavy weapons, at most a few mortars. Judging from the sound of gunfire, their firepower is very sparse. In my opinion, using a brigade is enough."

After a day of fighting and many rounds of fighting, the casualties of the entire regiment far exceeded expectations.

Even Sakata Nobutsu had to admit that the enemy commanders on the Cangyunling position were great characters, and their troops were also a tough nut to crack.

He had already put away his prejudice against the Eighth Route Army.

"Pu Youjun, let me ask you. Do you know which regiments of the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army are on the Cangyunling position?"

Seeing Lieutenant Colonel Uratomo's expression of embarrassment, Sakata Nobutsu continued:

"We have been fighting for a long time, and we still haven't even figured out the number of the enemy in front of us."

"You just called those people pigs. How is your behavior different from theirs now? A brigade? From the beginning of the war to now, we have almost killed or injured a brigade of soldiers."

"Yes! Captain, your lesson is correct. I will now instruct the forward position to try to capture a prisoner for torture."

In the end, Nobutetsu Sakata objected to Lieutenant Colonel Uratomo's suggestion and requested that in addition to leaving the necessary troops to keep an eye on the Eighth Route Army on both sides, all remaining troops should attack the position on the main peak of Cangyun Ridge at the same time.

He walked out of his command post and looked at the opposite position with his binoculars.

The trench, which was like a crack caused by an earthquake, made him sigh involuntarily.

"The Eighth Route Army opposite us established a position system consisting of several trenches connected by communication trenches, and deployed its troops in a deep and stepped manner."

"The fox trenches, machine gun bunkers and other fortifications are well matched. The firepower distribution and obstacles are also very complete. We have a strong reserve team to form a firepower coordination with infantry firepower as the main component and a combination of infantry and artillery."

"When fighting the locust army, counterattacks, counterattacks and other tactical methods are widely used."

"And we haven't captured a single prisoner all day long. This is a sign of strong will to fight, so this time we have to go all out and don't underestimate the enemy anymore."

After saying this, he paused and raised the corners of his mouth.

"However, although the enemy is strong, we are stronger. No matter how sophisticated the firepower configuration is, they can't cover up their shortcomings of insufficient firepower."

"There are very few heavy machine guns, and the number of light machine guns is not as good as one of our brigade, and their ammunition will definitely not be enough after a day of fighting."

"Humph, no matter how you put it, the battle strength is one regiment against one regiment. The advantage lies with me!"

At this time, the staff of the headquarters also began to agree.

"Yes! No matter how powerful the ants are, they are still ants. When we feinted before, the firepower points on the opposite side were much less, and the mortars did not hit our heavy machine guns. They had already run out of ammunition and food."

"This time we have faced our opponents squarely and concentrated our forces to defeat them!"

"We will definitely be able to capture the opposite position today!"

Nobuyuki Sakata looked at the people with high morale with satisfaction and said: "Tell the attacking troops that it is best to capture the commander on the opposite side alive. I want to see what kind of person he is!"