It was clear that these Japanese troops did not know that the mountain ridge had been occupied by the Chinese, as can be seen from the fact that they were still marching towards the mountain ridge in a straggler formation.

It seems a little hard to imagine that the Japanese naval aviation even dropped supplies on the mountains.

But Zhang Chi thought that this should be caused by the lack of dialogue between the Japanese army and navy...... Although the Japanese air force saw soldiers in the mountains, they mistakenly thought that they were their own people, so they did not bomb and did not warn the army, and the army thought that the sky was full of their own planes flying, and if there was danger, they would definitely tell them, so this strange situation appeared.

Zhang Chi guessed correctly.

Commanding this force, Hideo Nagasawa, the Japanese commander of the force, was ordered to attack the flank of the Chinese troops stationed at the Matanicao River as soon as the Americans retreated.

Hideo Nagasawa didn't dare to forget Maruyama Masao's advice to him: "The purpose of this battle is not to drive the enemy away, but to destroy the enemy, understand? ”

Regarding Maruyama Masao's words, Hideo Nagasawa understands it...... If it was only to drive the enemy away, it would be a small victory, and the enemy could continue to fight after retreating to the second line of defense, which would greatly prolong the time for the Imperial Army to seize control of the airfield on Kuah Island.

But it would be different if this army were to be destroyed or besieged, as it would leave a void in the enemy's defensive line, allowing the Imperial Army to easily break through to the airfield and destroy the entire defensive line of the Sino-American coalition in one fell swoop.

It should be said that this plan is still feasible, the reason is that most of the defense of the US army is based on the defense of the front with bullets and shells to blow up a wall of fire, and their weakness is to fight close combat, so once such a line of defense is broken through by the Japanese army and develops into close combat, then the combat effectiveness of the US army will decline or even collapse in stages, and then the Chinese army will be divided into several parts that cannot be contacted from the middle.

More importantly, there is another feature of the terrain that garrisons the Matanicao River, which has one side of it that is surrounded by the sea.

Surrounded by the sea on one side meant that the Chinese army that wanted to encircle the Matanicau River only had to encircle it on three sides...... It is impossible for the Chinese army to escape from the sea. Not to mention that they had no means of escape, the sea had long been blocked by the warships of the Japanese Navy, and even the warships and aviation of the Japanese Navy could provide fire support for the Japanese army in the battle to seize the Matanicau River.

Therefore, Hideo Nagasawa believes that it should not be very difficult to annihilate this Chinese army.

First of all, in terms of troops, the 16th Wing has more than 3,000 people plus more than 1,000 people from its own Third Brigade, bringing the total strength to more than 4,000 people. With a force of more than 4,000 men, the Chinese army of 2,000 people was encircled and annihilated...... This is already a knife for the Japanese army. (Note: The Japanese army has always thought that there are only 10,000 Chinese and American troops stationed on Kuah Island, so it is estimated that the Chinese troops stationed at the Matanikau River will not exceed 2,000.) In fact, there were more than 3,000 people in a whole regiment. ）

Secondly, it is the coordination of the Japanese army and the navy and naval aviation, which is both warships and aircraft, so Hideo Nagasawa thought...... The Chinese army encircling and annihilating the Matanicau River was, of course, a matter of hand. If you let the Chinese run away like this, you will have to apologize for your guilt.

It should be said that the hero saw the same thing, and the first thing Hideo Nagasawa looked at was the mountain located east of the Matanicao River, and his plan was that the troops would divide the mountain into two parts immediately after occupying it:

A part of the force was about 400 men in two squadrons, and these people were stationed in the mountains to defend against possible Chinese breakthroughs.

The other part of the force is about 800 men in four squadrons...... Two of them were infantry squadrons, plus a machine-gun squadron and an artillery squad. This part of the task was to penetrate through the mountains to the rear of the Matanikao River, and to dig out the Chinese troops stationed in the Matanicao River from the Lunga defensive circle. (Note: The elite units of the Japanese army are often equipped with artillery squads equipped with two infantry guns at the brigade level).

But what Hideo Nagasawa didn't expect was that because of his underestimation of the enemy and his belief that the aviation force would inform the army of the latest situation, he was also worried that the operation would prematurely expose his intention to intersperse. Therefore, he did not even send people to reconnoiter or seize the mountain, which directly led to the third brigade being stopped at the mountain range before he could divide his troops.

At this time, the 3rd Brigade of the Japanese Army did not even know that there was an enemy ambush on the ridge, and still advanced towards the ridge with rifles.

After thinking about it, Zhang Chi ordered to the staff officer next to him: "Order the artillery unit." Shoot at the woods! ”

"Yes!" Staff Officer Liang answered, but when he left, he couldn't help but have some doubts in his eyes.

He originally thought that Zhang Chi would let the artillery unit open fire on the open area between the mountains and the jungle, because this open area was the area where the Japanese army charged at our position, which could well cooperate with the first battalion to fight the Japanese army's living forces and block their attack.

And the cannon was fired into the jungle...... No one knows if there are still devils in the jungle.

But Staff Officer Liang didn't ask much. The order was quickly delivered.

Soon there was the whistling sound of artillery shells in the air, which were fired by the howitzer regiment of the US army, the howitzer battalion of the new regiment, and mortar units of various calibers, and the shells poured into the jungle 300 meters away with a sharp whistling sound from all directions. In an instant, the jungle was shrouded in flames and smoke, and from time to time there was the crackling sound of branches and trunks being blown apart.

This time the losses of the Japanese army were huge...... Walking in front was the infantry squadron, followed by the Japanese artillery squadron and logistics units, they were using mules and horses to drag artillery or carry ammunition boxes on their backs, and were blown up by this round of artillery, not only the heavy equipment was basically scrapped, but a considerable part of the ammunition used by the troops was also destroyed in the artillery fire.

Then Hideo Nagasawa gave an order: "Forward!" Occupy the mountains! ”

This order of his was correct under normal circumstances, the enemy was bombing the jungle, and although the jungle could be hidden, it was known to be a high-risk area during artillery bombardment...... Because the shells tend to be blocked by the shade of the trees and explode overhead, this multiplies the lethality of the shells.

Therefore, the top priority at this time is to pull the troops out of the jungle.

However, what Hideo Nagasawa didn't know was that this was exactly what Zhang Chi wanted.

"Wait for my orders!" Zhang Chi ordered: "Wait until the enemy is close before fighting!" ”

It's been a long time since I've given this order...... Since it was equipped with American-style weapons, in order to give better play to the firepower superiority of American-style equipment, the expeditionary force basically did not wait for the enemy to get close before fighting.

At this time, the staff officer finally knew the reason why Zhang Chi let the artillery bombard the jungle.

(To be continued.) )