kingnovel Chapter 1079 The Japanese Burn the Town
Chapter 1079 The Japanese Burn the Town
In fact, the situation in the Fifth War Zone was roughly as Chief of Staff Zhang had described. After the Third Army Group withdrew, the Fifth War Zone found itself in a very passive position. Although they had salvaged some territory at Ma Lei Zi, compared to the original operational plan, large swathes of land were still under Japanese occupation. If we wanted to accomplish anything, it would be extremely difficult.
Although Commander Han of the Third Army Group has been executed, the current situation of the War of Resistance has not improved because of his death. This is mainly because he made it too easy for the Japanese to gain control of the Shandong region. Killing him cannot undo the mistakes he made; it can only serve as a warning to others not to act in the same way in the future.
Fortunately, Ma Leizi acted quickly enough; otherwise, even more land would have fallen by now. After receiving Li Shaoyi's call, Commander Li expressed his gratitude. With Ma Leizi holding the line, he was able to calmly mobilize the troops. If Ma Leizi's side couldn't hold out, the other colleagues in the Fifth War Zone would certainly not stand idly by. We had essentially set up two lines of defense for the Japanese.
Of course, Commander Li's words sounded quite forceful, but Li Shaoyi knew very well that while the Fifth War Zone had fought a brilliant battle in history, it had not stopped Japan's arrogance, and in the end, the entire army had to retreat.
When Li Shaoyi hung up the phone, Ma Leizi personally led four regiments eastward out of the provincial capital. All personnel were driving at maximum speed. We don't have any extra time now. We need to wipe out this independent brigade that has separated from the main force before the Japanese can react.
At this moment, the 24th Independent Brigade, located northeast of the provincial capital on the north bank of the Yellow River, has occupied a town, and the entire town is now ablaze.
During the day, the entire infantry brigade was in a state of chaos due to Wang Zuye's men. These men would come out here and go missing there, and the 24th Independent Brigade chased them here and there but found nothing. When the battle results were tallied after dark, we found that we ourselves had lost more than 900 men.
The leadership of the 24th Independent Brigade was completely terrified. They had encountered many Nationalist troops on their southward march from Beiping, but these troops generally crumbled at the first contact. Even those few who managed to resist vanished without a trace once our artillery took over.
This army is truly astonishing. It seems they haven't killed many of our men, and they retreat after every engagement. So the high command of the 24th Independent Brigade thought there wasn't much fighting. But when they saw the results of the battle that night, they discovered that we had lost an entire infantry battalion.
This is simply unbelievable. You have to understand that in the eyes of the Japanese high command, if an infantry battalion fights well, it might be able to fight against a division. Of course, this refers to a ragtag division, not a main force division of the Central Army.
But now we've lost almost a whole battalion, and we don't even know who the enemy in front of us is. The entire brigade is furious. Just then, night fell, and lights came on in a nearby town. More than 7,000 people stormed in, and the more than 3,000 people in that town suffered terribly.
"Damn it, these are all animals! Company Commander, are we just going to stand by and watch?"
Wang Zuye's men said angrily that they had just returned from a charge and needed to rest for a while.
“I also want to keep fighting, but do you guys still have the strength? We’ve been fighting for seven hours straight. If we rush in now, none of us will come back. Haven’t the Japanese done enough of this kind of thing on our land? We’ll pay them back one by one in the future. The division commander has already led the main force here. We’ll be able to surround them by eight o’clock tomorrow morning. If we all die, will you lead the division commander the way tomorrow?”
Wang Zuye gritted his teeth and said, "The town ahead is already engulfed in flames. I could hear people calling for help just now, but I can't hear them anymore. These beasts are really hateful."
Although the soldiers under his command were resentful, they knew that what Wang Zuye said was true. They could not act rashly now. If they were surrounded, they would not be able to act as guides tomorrow. If these people escaped, that would be their fault.
24th Brigade Headquarters
"Baka yarou, I used to feel really good doing things like this, but for some reason, I feel really uncomfortable today. Who do you think that army we encountered this afternoon was? They weren't many, but they were incredibly tenacious. And now we don't know where they've gone. Have they sent out a search party?"
Brigade Commander Eita Ogura stroked his bald head and said, "This guy is almost fifty years old, but he still looks very energetic."
"It should be a special forces unit of the 72nd Army. Their strength far surpasses ours. Even the most elite people in our army cannot compare with them. During the day, they have the advantage in firepower and the visibility is relatively good, so they can operate around us. At night, due to the poor visibility, they should be afraid of being surrounded by our main force, so they retreated on their own."
Chief of Staff Takagi of the 24th Brigade thought for a moment and said that his analysis was related to his time as chief of staff at headquarters. Looking at the 72nd Army's combat habits, they rarely launched attacks at night because their firepower was absolutely superior. They could achieve more results when attacking during the day, which was the opposite of the Japanese.
When the Japanese encountered the 72nd Army, they preferred to fight at night because visibility was low and the boundary between the two sides was not so clear. The 72nd Army's heavy artillery was useless unless they were willing to risk injuring their own men.
“What you said makes some sense, but I still feel that our decision to come out this time was a big mistake. Although everyone at headquarters believes that we can open up a second front, the strength of our brigade is obviously too weak.”
Commander Ogura knew a lot about the situation in eastern Shandong, especially since Ma Leizi had once defeated the Japanese Marines. Although the troops he brought were all second-line troops, the fighting strength of the 72nd Army's second-line troops was not weak. This was acknowledged by many Japanese generals, not just by us.
"Brigade Commander, there's no need to worry too much. We're not far from headquarters. If we need support, they can get here in a day or two. We can't hold out for more than a day or two, can we?"
As Chief of Staff Takagi spoke, he was still fiddling with the gold watch he had just stolen; it was truly a fine piece of jewelry…