Comrade, Your Ingredients Are Too Complicated

 Chapter 153 Two-level reversal! It's time to fight back!

 At 5:30 in the morning on August 21st, the sun had just risen.

 A whole night has passed, and the main peak of Shiinao Mountain seems to be shorter. Smoke shrouded the position, and craters could be seen everywhere covering the mountain.

The reason for all this is that Katayama Shoutaro commanded the Fourth Independent Mixed Brigade and launched seven attacks against the positions defended by the 385th Brigade.

 Although the Japs had a clear advantage in heavy firepower, they even dispatched two waves of aircraft.

But within nine hours, the Japanese did not achieve anything, not even touching the outermost edge. Every time they attacked, they failed. The tenacious 769th Regiment and the 14th Regiment always stood firm.

 After a night of tactical games, the old devil Katayama Shotarō had to admit one thing.

That is, the opponent's commander is much better than you, and you are completely defeated in both micro-management and overall perspective.

Although he didn’t know how many casualties the Eighth Route Army in Shi Nao Mountain suffered, only half of the 2,000 people he had managed to gather were now left.

 If you leave out those seriously injured soldiers, you will basically be back to before liberation overnight.

Just when the old devil was about to withdraw his troops and return to Yangquan County to prepare troops, a phone call completely shattered his illusions.

"Katayama-kun, I heard that you seem to have encountered some trouble. It seems that the enemy is very strong, and he actually needs the help of Lu Hang."

Yoshio Shinozuka's voice instantly gave the major general a chill in his heart.

The other party's tone was extremely cold, which made him couldn't help but wonder how much his immediate boss knew.

 But Katayama Shoutaro's silence obviously completely angered the commander of the First Army in Taiyuan. The phone was put down temporarily, and then there was the sound of smashing things from the other end.

"I don't care who the enemy you encounter is! I don't care about the casualties of your brigade! All I want is that the battle must end this morning, otherwise you will commit seppuku."

 As the phone was hung up, the atmosphere in the temporary command room became extremely depressing. Several staff members did not dare to move, for fear of following in the footsteps of their colleagues.

 Fortunately, a major came in at this moment, and he brought some good news to Katayama Shoutaro.

 Another group of infantry gathered from several surrounding strongholds has arrived in Yangquan, giving the Fourth Independent Mixed Brigade the capital to launch a new round of attack.

Several staff officers quickly seized the opportunity to hold their own opinions. They were all afraid of being sent to the battlefield because they did not provide good advice.

 After a few minutes of discussion, they decided to launch the attack at six o'clock in the morning, which is the time when you are most likely to feel sleepy after staying up late.

 Although the attack lasted all night, it caused great physical and psychological pressure on the soldiers.

 But both sides agree on this point. Although our side is very tired, the Eighth Route Army's condition is definitely worse than theirs.

 After all, these enemies who lacked heavy weapons were bombarded by mountain artillery all night and were harassed twice by aircraft.

Hearing this, Katayama Shoutaro decided to try something new. He wanted to change his style of play and make the Eighth Route Army, accustomed to those previous tactics, pay a **** price.

 In this old devil's mind, 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 mobilize its flanking forces.

 After all, people have inertial thinking.

The Fourth Independent Mixed Brigade has been reckless all night, and a sudden dose of colorful intestines will most likely have a miraculous effect.

If you can open a hole from the side and cooperate with the attack of mountain artillery and aircraft, you may be able to capture the enemy in one go.

Thinking of this, he immediately selected two unlucky staff officers, and also called the artillery battalion captain. The two majors who had high hopes yesterday had died in the previous attack.

After everyone arrived, the old devil looked struggling as if he was making a difficult decision.

“Ikeda-kun, we will launch the final attack next.”

“In order to win this battle, I hope you can draw a hundred warriors from the artillery brigade and add them to the infantry group in the frontal feint attack.”

This sentence shocked everyone in the command post.

 Artillery is different from infantry. The time and money costs required to train an artillery are not low at all.

In the eyes of Yuto Ikeda, compared with technical arms like them, the infantry are just wild dogs with some intelligence.

 The most important point is that the training focus of the two is different. This is just like sending scientists to the battlefield, it is simply unreasonable.

As if seeing some reluctance among his subordinates, Shotaro Katayama stared at him with red eyes.

If it were in the past, he might still be sensible and emotionally brainwash the other party. After all, we will have to lead troops in the future, and it won't do if people's hearts are scattered.

 But there is no time now. In order to keep his position as a major general and to gain room for future promotion, he must win this battle by any means necessary.

The old devil looked ferocious and said in a gnashing voice:

“Lieutenant General Shinozuka already knew what the Eighth Route Army was doing on the Shotai Line. He gave me an ultimatum that we must capture Shi Nao Mountain today, open up the road from Yangquan to Yuci, and launch rescue operations across the entire line.”

"I'm telling you! Not only your artillery, but also the health and baggage troops have to support me! If it weren't for the fact that the mountain artillery needs to be operated, I would have wished your entire brigade had charged!"

　　"You go and choose someone yourself, the time has come to be loyal to the Locust."

 The next time is to arrange specific tactics. The original soldiers were not in good condition, and now they can only be responsible for feigning attacks on the frontal positions.

These people have been struggling all night, and both their morale and spirit have reached the limit of what they can bear, and they are not useful at all.

Logically speaking, these soldiers should be replaced and go back to rest, but they already have all the cards in Katayama Shoutaro's hand, so they can only rush to the shelves.

 Use the stock of offensive friends to squeeze out the last of their potential.

 The task of bypassing the enemy was naturally given to the new troops who came to support them. These thousand infantry were composed of multiple squadrons, and an officer needed to be temporarily assigned to them.

　　——————

In the temporary command post of the 385th Brigade in Shinao Mountain, looking at the two regiment commanders who were exhausted physically and mentally in front of them, Brigadier Chen comforted them:

“Thank you for your hard work, the Japanese will definitely not attack with such intensity in the next few days. The enemy has already finished swinging three axes.”

“And I sent a few correspondents last night to ask for help along the Zhengtai Line in the direction of Yuci. Maybe friendly forces will come to support today.”

 The Japanese casualties were not small, but so were the casualties of the 385th Brigade.

 After a whole night of fierce fighting, the 769th Regiment was reduced by more than 400 people. The west side of the main peak they were responsible for has always been the target of the Japanese's key attacks.

Soldiers have to deal with a steady stream of attacks every hour. Even with fierce firepower from a high position, casualties cannot be avoided.

The situation of the 14th Regiment is relatively better. Only more than 200 of them have lost their combat effectiveness. The field medical kits produced by Huanghe saved many people, and many soldiers who might have died survived strong.

 The ammunition reserve situation is also good. Although the troops are now richer in light weapons, many soldiers still retain the good habit of thrift.

What's more, in the preparation stage of the attack plan, Brigadier Chen ordered the soldiers to carry as much ammunition as possible.

Just as a few people were preparing to discuss the next defensive arrangements, the enemy's Japanese artillery position two kilometers away suddenly launched another attack.

This sudden shelling interrupted their meeting, and they could only temporarily return to the artillery fortifications.

At the same time, under the constant urging of the grassroots officers, the Japs on the front continued to surge towards the front position again.

 When the artillery fire ended, these drugged Japs immediately launched a surprise attack.

Among these people, only the temporarily deployed artillerymen still subconsciously maintained the skirmish line. This artillery brigade in Yangquan still has rich combat experience.

 This is because the Japanese artillery shells have always been abundant, and the artillerymen staying in the rear have almost no chance to go to the front line.

 In addition, the Republic of China troops fighting them had little conditions for artillery battles, so the casualty rate has always been very low.

Even though Yuto Ikeda is playing the last-place elimination system, these Japs are all veterans with at least three years of combat experience.

However, the efficiency of their offense is very touching, a bit like the thunder and the rain are small.

 In the past, when encountering difficult fire points, the Japanese would try their best to destroy them. But now I can only fire a few symbolic shots, and use a grenade to explode a few times.

This fighting style made the soldiers of the 769th Regiment extremely puzzled, as if they had been punched in cotton.

However, they soon learned the cause of the matter. Not far away, fierce gunfire suddenly rang out from the position in charge of the 14th Regiment.

As Shotaro Katayama guessed, the 14th Regiment only had two companies of soldiers deployed on the side for defense. Facing this sudden enemy force, the soldiers were caught off guard.

The Japanese infantry, who were originally responsible for the frontal feint attack, immediately launched a suicidal charge after seeing that their major general's plan was bearing fruit.

These little days of taking medicine, they used their own lives to hold back the Eighth Route Army in the front, leaving them no time to divide their troops to support the relatively weakly defended side of Shinao Mountain.

 At the same time, the artillery position a little more than two kilometers away opened fire again. During the previous attack, Katayama Shoutaro, an old devil, was still worried about his own infantry.

After all, guns and artillery have no eyes, and the limit that artillery can do is to fire at a position a few hundred meters in front of the infantry. However, the terrain of Shibrao Mountain can easily injure one's own people.

But now Katayama Shoutaro can't care about so much. Under the pressure from his superiors, he is like a gambler who is red-eyed about losing, gambling all his chips in order to get his money back at once.

It turned out that this trick was very effective. Although dozens of Japanese soldiers died under their own artillery shells, most of the soldiers of the 769th Regiment and the 14th Regiment were dragged to the position.

 In this dangerous situation, the two regiment commanders and the political commissar of the 385th Brigade even personally brought a guard company to support.

At this critical moment, the Eighth Route Army of about a thousand people suddenly appeared from the direction of Yuci. This unit, which was like a timely rain, was the new second regiment led by Captain Li Da.

In order to support the brother troops in Shinao Mountain as soon as possible, their regiment even took on the momentum of flying to seize the Luding Bridge, which once led to non-combat attrition of the troops.

 Fortunately, these several hours of forced march were not in vain. The New Second Regiment arrived at the battlefield when the 385th Brigade was in the most danger.

Seeing the Japanese attacking on the mountainside, Li Yunlong's eyes widened. He pulled out his shell gun and shouted to the tired soldiers behind him:

“Attack! All attack! Eat these devils in one go! Artillery fire these sons of **** for me! Commandos charge with me!”

　　Hearing the order from their regiment leader, everyone cheered up and launched a charge.

With the new second regiment joining the battlefield, the battle situation on the side of Lion Brain Mountain has been reversed by two levels, and the original hunters have become prey.

Although the New Second Regiment, which was eager to support, had not had time to deploy its attack formation, it did not even set up its heavy machine gun.

However, Li Yunlong's offensive momentum was too strong, and coupled with the three companies of defenders on the original position, these thousand Japanese soldiers were forced to make dumplings.

In order to prevent Katayama Shotarō from jumping over the wall again, Political Commissar Xie immediately called the artillery position with the portable phone in his hand.

  After all, that old devil had ordered artillery bombardment of the combat zone in the past in order to cooperate with the feint attack troops to hold back the Eighth Route Army on the front battlefield.

 After receiving the order, the artillerymen of the 385th Brigade immediately took out their hidden trump card, which were four Civilian Type 20 82mm mortars.

The reason why these four cannons were not used in the previous battles was because those battles took place at night, and the artillerymen who lacked observation equipment were not sure to hit anything of strategic significance.

 For example, the headquarters of the Fourth Independent Mixed Brigade or the artillery position.

 But things were different now. Katayama Shoutaro, whose life was not in danger all night, finally relaxed his vigilance. Both the headquarters and the artillery positions have advanced some distance.

The distance between Yangquan and Shinao Mountain is only four kilometers, and this journey is one of the few plains in Jin Province, with no obstacles at all in the middle.

 Under the observation of the telescope, the Japanese artillery position was almost spacious and exposed under the nose of the artillery of the 385th Brigade.

 According to the company commander's estimate, the enemy's position was almost 2,500 meters away from them. Although it is a bit far away, it does not exceed the range of the Min-20 82mm mortar.

There are some differences between using mortars in the mountains and on the flat ground, but this is not a problem for 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 cannons in the army.

As long as you can capture enough cannon and shells, being a battalion commander is a bit of a humiliation.

 After a round of test firing, the artillery battery immediately adjusted the mortar parameters based on the shooting results.

 “Rapid shot in one minute!”

Following the company commander's order, the crisp sound of artillery shelling echoed on the position. Four mortars blasted toward the Japanese artillery position at a rate of 16 rounds per minute.

 In fact, Ikeda Yuuto was aware of the danger when the Eighth Route Army mortars were tested, but within half a minute the second phase of shelling followed.

 In this situation, if you are a decisive person, you will immediately abandon your position and run away.

 But these mountain cannons are simply more important to Ikeda Yuuto than his wife. The presence of cannons is no joke.

But it is difficult to say that these half-ton mountain artillery can be moved. Grenades symbolizing death fell from the sky and landed within the range of the Japanese artillery position.

　One grenade hit the ammunition box, and the power of the explosion was even greater than that of a mortar.

 After one minute passed, Katayama Shoutaro's trump card was completely destroyed by the 385th Brigade. In that area, except for acquaintances and scraps of meat, no one could move.

Post first and change later!

 (End of this chapter)