Watanabe still dealt with the garrison according to the old routine of dealing with other Chinese troops.

Gathering the scattered forces and holding on to the high ground on the hill, in the face of the average Chinese army, Watanabe's wing could indeed hold out longer.

But the garrison regiment is not an ordinary unit.

Perennial combat accumulation, the garrison regiment is already equipped with an artillery unit whose strength should not be underestimated?

And for tonight's battle, Li Hao directly took out all the money of the garrison regiment.

Watanabe's decision to concentrate the scattered and small forces did avoid the risk of the troops being broken by the garrison regiment individually, but it also made it easier for the garrison to use its own artillery superiority.

The situation of the battle took a sharp turn because of his decision.

"Wing Commander, the artillery fire of the Eighth Route Army is too fierce, especially the flying thunder artillery. A large area was blown up, and the casualties of the troops were very large! A lieutenant communications officer rushed over and reported, with a thick smell of gunpowder smoke on his body and a panicked expression, apparently not recovering from the blow he had just received.

"Boom ......"

A close-range explosion suddenly sounded and reached Watanabe's ears.

Not far away, the defense line directly rose from a mushroom cloud of fireball and smoke.

The Imperial Army near the point of impact was silent in an instant.

In the face of gunpowder, people's strength is too weak to resist at all.

Watanabe Osa regretted: "Eight Ge Yalu, I knew that I wouldn't have retreated just now." ”

"The troops are divided to defend the entire station, each line of defense blocks them for ten minutes, and it takes more than an hour for the garrison to kill all the way here."

"Now the concentration of troops together, not only did they not hold their positions, but on the contrary, they helped the garrison regiment to give full play to their artillery superiority, and the gains outweighed the losses."

There is no regret pill in the world.

The garrison regiment has already surrounded the remaining troops of the wing on the hill, and even if it wants to divide its troops now, the conditions do not allow it, so it can only continue to fight.

At the headquarters of the Japanese Army's Independent Mixed Brigade, Nakata Yamaro held his hands behind his back and looked anxious, glancing at the telecommunications room next to him from time to time.

The chief of staff knew what he was anxious about, turned his head and asked, "Communications staff officer?" Isn't there any news from the Watanabe Wing at the command yet? ”

The communications staff shook his head and replied, "Not yet, the operator has been calling, but they have not responded." Eighty percent of them were attacked and the radio station had problems. ”

"The infantry brigades of the Watanabe Wing are also equipped with radios, and it is impossible for all of them to be destroyed, so the lowly has ordered the telegraph operator to call these radios, and I believe that news will be available soon."

"Connected!"

A telegraph operator put down his headphones and shouted with excitement on his face.

Nakata Yamaro and the chief of staff reacted in the same way.

At the same time, he ordered: "Send them a telegram immediately: ask about the specific battle situation!" ”

"Hey!"

The operator grabbed his headphones and began to send a telegram.

After the familiar sound of receiving and receiving telegrams reached his ears, the tense nerves of Nakata Yama Lang and the chief of staff finally relaxed.

"General, the telegram has been translated!" The communications staff officer reported with a solemn face.

Nakata Yama Lang's heart jumped, a trace of bad premonition appeared in his mind, and the nerves that had just relaxed were also tensed again, looking at the communication staff officer, he asked anxiously: "What did Watanabe United's call back say?" ”

"The troops have suffered heavy losses, they have contracted their defenses and begun to hold on to the hills!" The communications staff officer glanced at the brigade commander and reported carefully.

"Nani?"

Nakata Shanlang stared at the communications staff officer and asked with a look of disbelief.

"There are more than 4,000 people in the Watanabe Wing, and there are nearly 3,000 elite people in the independent mixed brigade alone, and they have guns and guns, and they have sufficient ammunition and are well-equipped, how could they be defeated so quickly."

After hesitating for a few seconds, he continued to ask with a mind full of questions: "Also, Watanabe Daisashi is cautious, and the selected station is easy to defend and difficult to attack every night, so the terrain advantage should also be on our side, how can there be such a problem." ”

The telegram had already been delivered to the chief of staff, and when he looked at it, his face sank.

"General, we've been fooled!"

"Huh?" Nakata Yamaro looked puzzled.

The chief of staff did not answer immediately, paused for a few seconds, organized the contents of the telegram into his own words, and reported as tactfully as possible: "The aviation reported two days ago that all the twelve heavy mountain guns lost by our heavy artillery brigade were blown up, and the garrison regiment did not receive a single one. ”

"We believed it, and only then did we order the three-way sweeping force to continue the attack."

"But Watanabe Daisa reported: those heavy artillery pieces were not destroyed, all of them were captured by the garrison, and they were directly used on the battlefield to deal with them."

"In the battle that had begun, the garrison regiment had assembled at least twelve heavy mountain guns, more than one brigade of ordinary mountain guns, one squadron of heavy mortars, a total of more than thirty guns of various calibers, and fired at their station for ten minutes, and at least 500 rounds of heavy mountain artillery shells were fired."

Nakatayama was blind, and then his face slowly confessed.

The heavy artillery brigade is a strategic weapon that can only be equipped with units above the imperial brigade level, and its power is huge.

On the battlefield, as long as the imperial army sacrifices this big killing weapon, the Chinese army will be defeated, and it will be a crushing defeat.

Now this big killing weapon has fallen into the hands of the garrison.

Although Nakata Yamaro did not attend the scene in person, the tragic picture of the battlefield already appeared in his mind.

That's what I've experienced, but the corpses and wounded of the Chinese army everywhere in the picture have become imperial soldiers.

Seeing that the brigade commander's face was constantly changing, standing in front of the sand table and not speaking, the chief of staff was anxious.

"Brigade commander, although the place where the Watanabe Wing is camped is easy to defend and difficult to attack, and the terrain is significant, there are no fortifications, and there is no way to hide in front of the heavy artillery, so they can only be beaten passively."

"So the Watanabe Wing suffered heavy casualties in the shelling, and in order to hold out longer, waiting for reinforcements, they could only shrink their defenses and rely on the hills to hold on."

Nakata Yamaro had accepted this fact in his heart, and his face was pale, but his eyes were red, as if he could breathe fire.

This series of slaps in the face came too violently.

First, twelve heavy artillery pieces were not destroyed and were deceived by the garrison.

Then there was the Watanabe United, which was hit hard and in danger.

If Watanabe United is really finished, then the entire counter-sweep will be defeated by itself, and there will be no chance to turn the defeat into victory.

At that time, he will not return with honor, but with defeat, not only to live up to the high expectations of the family, but also to be refrigerated by the empire.

He still has a bright future, and his military career must not end here.

So Watanabe United must not be defeated.

The pale face slowly became firm, and he ordered with a murderous spirit: "Contact reinforcements, reinforce the Watanabe Wing at all costs, the faster the better." ”

"I will give them another two hours to march, and they must rush to the battlefield, otherwise all officers above the brigade level will be removed from their posts and investigated."

"Call Watanabe Osa back, hold on to reinforcements at all costs, and reinforcements will arrive within two hours."

Nakata Yamaro overestimated the strength of Watanabe's wing, and also underestimated the artillery strength of the garrison.

More than 4,000 Japanese puppet troops, all exposed to the garrison bombed, half of the artillery inside are large-caliber, the shells fired out rely on the shock wave to kill, even if the Japanese puppet army lies on the ground, but as long as it is within the range of the shells, it will still be killed and injured.

Therefore, on the battlefield, even Watanabe Osa didn't know how many people he had left.

The battlefield was too big, too chaotic, and it was night, and there were battles on all sides, even if he wanted to count, he had no choice, so he could only report to the brigade headquarters with the words "more than half of the casualties".

And the real casualties of the troops are obviously more exaggerated than the four words of more than half of the casualties.

In the artillery battle that preceded the shelling, a mountain artillery brigade and a heavy mortar squadron were almost completely wiped out.

Together with the infantry artillery squads and mortar squadrons directly under the major brigades, the casualties have exceeded 1,000.

Ten minutes of artillery fire covered, the Japanese puppet army suffered more casualties, especially the troops stationed around the headquarters.

Because of the focused attack of 12 large-caliber mountain artillery, many of the troops were blown up in small teams and one team, and the whole army was wiped out.

After the shelling ended, less than 1,500 men remained in the entire garrison to continue fighting.

After the garrison launched an attack from all four directions at the same time, the four outermost squadrons defending the garrison were all wiped out, and several hundred more men were lost.

When the order was received, there were less than 1,000 people left in the entire Watanabe Wing, trapped within a radius of less than 200 meters around the mountain, and the strength was very concentrated.

But Watanabe Osa did not know all this, and the casualties had not yet been counted, so he could only judge the specific battle situation in the four directions by the sound of gunfire.

"Sir, the garrison is attacking again!" The deputy wing captain shouted in one direction.

"Boom ......"

Before Watanabe could speak, an explosion rang out.

Mushroom clouds-like fireballs and thick smoke rose from the ground, lining up at least eight in a row.

"It's a Flying Thunder Cannon......"

A flash of despair quickly flashed across Watanabe's face.

He has seen the power of the Flying Thunder Cannon, although the destructive power is not as great as that of the heavy artillery, but the lethality is not small at all, and it kills people through the shock wave like the heavy artillery.

Eight explosive packets were smashed in a row on the position, dozens of meters apart from each other, and exploded together.

If the power of these explosives packs were fully exerted, the Imperial troops stationed in this section of the line would surely die completely.

Even if he was lucky enough not to be killed, he is now seriously injured and incapacitated.

As soon as the explosives package hit, the subordinates were blown up cleanly, and there was no need to attack at all, and the defense line was over.

Watanabe's determination to defend the mountain disappeared in an instant.

And so it is.

The first round of explosives from the Flying Thunder Cannon exploded, and the mortars joined the fight, and then the Flying Thunder Cannon came with the second round and the third round of explosives packs.

The entire section of the line except for the explosion. After no other movement, the infantry began to assault.

"It's over!" The desperate Watanabe Osa completely lost his confidence and sat down on the ground all of a sudden.

At this time, the offensive in the other three directions also began, under the cover of flying thunder artillery and mortars, the attacking troops from all directions easily crossed the defense line and killed the mountain like the autumn wind sweeping the leaves!