The first large-scale Japanese offensive still ended in a crushing defeat.

The only difference is that in the previous three small-scale tentative attacks, none of the devil soldiers who attacked fled back, but in this large-scale attack, at least fifty devils escaped alive!

Among these more than 50 devil soldiers, including Private Aso Hiroshi!

As soon as he returned to the camp, Aso Hiroshi hugged Ito's thigh and cried heartbreakingly.

Ito Kashinobu knew why Aso was crying, so he didn't stop it, but just patted Aso's shoulder with his hand, and Aso at this time reminded him of his time as a recruit.

At that time, it was the 128th Shanghai Anti-Japanese War, and Ito Kashinobu participated in the attack once, and after returning to the position, he also hugged his squad leader and cried, not because of sadness, but because of happiness, the joy of escaping death!

Aso was crying when there was a sudden sound of footsteps outside.

Ito Kashinobu looked up, and saw the captain Kato Masao leading the two Osa over quickly, and then looked at it, Ito Kanobu was even more startled, only to see that the two Osa were followed by a lieutenant general!

There is only one lieutenant general in their 10th Division, and that is Yoshio Shinozuka of the divisional regiment!

It turned out that the division commander personally asked them to come, and Ito Kashinobu hurriedly stood upright!

……

The two Osa who came with Masao Kato, one is the wing commander of the 10th Infantry Wing, Mori Suehiro, and the other is the chief of staff of the 10th Division, Tsutsumi Bugui, as for the lieutenant general behind the two, of course, it is Yoshio Shinozuka.

Masao Kato walked up to Ito Kanobu and saw that Aso Hiroshi was still holding Ito's thigh and crying, so he couldn't help but kick him, and Aso raised his head blankly.

Seeing two big Zuo and a lieutenant general standing in front of him, Aso Hiroshi was suddenly startled and quickly got up.

Kato Masao turned around and said to Yoshio Shinozuka with some embarrassment: "Division commander, this is Lieutenant Ito Kashinobu, the leader of the 1st Infantry Squadron who attacked, this is an orderly, Private Aso Hiroshi. ”

"Hello!" Ito Kashinobu slammed his head and said with shame on his face, "Division Commander, we have disappointed you!" ”

"No, no, I'm not disappointed at all." Yoshio Shinozuka waved his hand and said, "I'm very satisfied with the performance of your squadron, although your attack was unsuccessful, it's not your fault. ”

After a pause, Yoshio Shinozuka said again, "I want to ask you a few questions. ”

"Hello!" Ito Kashinobu paused again and said loudly, "Division commander, please ask." ”

Yoshio Shinozuka said: "Kato-kun told me that your squadron has broken through to the city of Hankou at least 500 meters, can you tell me the specific defensive deployment of the Chinese army in the city?" ”

"Hello!" Ito Kashinobu paused again, and then said, "Our squadron is responsible for the attack on the left, and there is a tank detachment responsible for the guidance, and as soon as the shelling stops, we will advance from the sortie position, and then, we will be hit by a cluster of Shina artillery, and we will suffer heavy casualties!" ”

"By the time our squadron crosses the city walls and enters the city, there are less than a hundred people left!"

"When we crossed the city wall, we found that many buildings behind the city wall had been demolished, and there was a blank space of about 200 meters between the city wall and the urban buildings."

"I didn't get attacked when I walked through the blank space!"

"However, when we broke into the streets and alleys of the city, we were stubbornly resisted by the Chinese army!"

"The Chinese army has built permanent firepower points at almost every street entrance, and there are even battle defense guns, and there are also a large number of hidden firepower points in the houses on both sides of the streets and alleys!"

"These hidden hidden firepower points are very cleverly constructed, just enough to form a crossfire without dead ends with the permanent firepower points at the intersection of the street, and our squadron suffered heavy casualties because of the coverage of crossfire! In the end, even the tank in charge of covering was destroyed, and the last resort had to retreat! ”

"Yo Xi!" Yoshio Shinozuka was very satisfied with the detailed description of Shinobu Ito.

Before leaving, Yoshio Shinozuka even patted the back of Aso's head affectionately.

……

On the way back to the division headquarters, Di Bujiagui asked, "Division commander, are you still attacking in the morning?" ”

Yoshio Shinozuka raised his wrist and looked at his watch, and saw that the hour hand was already pointing to eleven o'clock.

At that moment, Yoshio Shinozuka shook his head and said, "I won't attack in the morning, and I will continue in the afternoon!" ”

After a pause, Yoshio Shinozuka said again: "In the afternoon, continue to attack from the left and right ribs, and the troops invested in the attack cannot be less than one squadron each time!" ”

"Hello!" Di Bu Jia Gui was stunned and said, "Do you still need to put in the chariot troops to provide cover?" ”

"Forget about the chariot troops." Yoshio Shinozuka shook his head and said, "Until the artillery of the Shina Army is destroyed, the chariot unit will not participate in the battle for the time being." ”

Even though Japan's industrial base is much stronger than China's, the number of tanks is limited.

Losing hundreds or even eight hundred infantry, Yoshio Shinozuka doesn't care at all, but he hasn't had the luxury of losing dozens of chariots without blinking an eye!

"Hello!" Di Bujia was stunned and said, "I understand my humble duties. ”

Yoshio Shinozuka pondered for a moment, and then continued: "The embankment is not clamped, Ito-kun mentioned just now that between the city wall and the buildings in the city of Hankou, the Shina army deliberately vacated a blank space of two hundred meters. ”

"Hello!" "The lowly also feels very puzzled by this. ”

Yoshio Shinozuka said: "So what do you think, what is the intention of the Shina Army's move?" ”

"It's hard to say." "But most likely for fire prevention." ”

"Fire prevention?" Yoshio Shinozuka subconsciously shook his head, but he couldn't figure out why the Chinese army demolished the two-hundred-meter building within the city wall, and he could only put it down temporarily.

……

In the Turtle Mountain Fortress, Yuwang Palace Observatory.

Sun Liren straightened up from behind the artillery mirror and said, "Ziren, it seems that the devils will not attack again this morning, let's hurry up and eat, we will definitely be busy in the afternoon!" ”

"It's fine." Zhong Yi straightened up as he spoke.

Stilwell also put down his binoculars and said: "Judging from the battle this morning, the Japanese army is nothing more than this, then I can't figure it out, the Battle of Songhu and the Battle of Nanjing, why did you lose so badly?" ”

"Artillery!" Sun Liren replied without hesitation, "In the Battle of Songhu and the Battle of Nanjing, we hardly got any support from artillery, but on the contrary, we had to withstand the indiscriminate bombardment of the Japanese army's howitzer groups of various calibers and large-caliber naval artillery, which is the reason for our fiasco!" ”

"yes!" Zhong Yi said, "It is not for nothing that artillery is known as the god of land warfare, with or without artillery fire support, the course of the war will be completely different!" ”

Stilwell agreed.

(End of chapter)