In fact, Su Yingqi's prediction was still very accurate, at this time, the three platoons of his reconnaissance company not only did not touch the mountain, but even basically trapped under the foot of the mountain. As soon as the reconnaissance company arrived at the foot of the mountain, it found several extremely concealed firing points at the foot of the mountain, as well as a large minefield.

Just by looking at this minefield from the surface, it spreads almost from the foot of the mountain to the top of the mountain. On the mountain, when they looked closer, they found more than one Japanese machine-gun fire fortification. On the surface of each hill, there were more than a dozen machine-gun fortifications that stretched from the foot of the hill to the top of the hill just by observing the points of fire.

And that's not even counting the firing points that are too hidden to be discovered. Needless to say, among the fortifications built by the Japanese army, the number of concealed firing points has never been lower than that of the superficial fortifications. In the battle of Tongliao, there were even more hidden firepower points there than the exposed fixed firepower points. This is also one of the main reasons why Chen Hanzhang's troops suffered heavy casualties in the first battle of Tongliao.

Judging by the structure of the Japanese fortifications on the surface, the arrangement of firing points, the width and density of minefields, and the fact that not a single line of communication trenches exposed on the surface was found. The commander of the reconnaissance company immediately determined that the three Tongguò ridges in front of him were connected to each other, the altitude was not high, the mountains were very flat, and even the hilly mountains that could be rushed by light tanks in many places must have been hollowed out.

Because the reconnaissance company searched several times, it did not find that there was a passage reserved by the Japanese army to the guò minefield on the surface of the hill at the foot of the mountain. If there were no passages in the mountain, such a dense minefield, the Japanese army itself would probably not be able to go up and down the mountain. This does not conform to military common sense, let alone the style of the Japanese army. The Japanese army, which advocated attack, would reserve a starting point for counterattack when building fortifications. And the setting of this sortie point is quite hidden.

Although it was determined that the Japanese must have a passage in the minefield, there was not so much time to look for it. The only way is to rely on the daily demining training of their soldiers in the minefield to find a passage. Scout, demining is a compulsory subject.

After hesitating, the company commander still ordered his three subordinates to clear the mines first, at least to open a passage from under the mountain to the bunker where people could enter. There is no way, the machine gun fire point at the foot of the mountain, the firing direction is carefully calculated at a glance, and it is only fixed to shoot in one direction. The firing port is reserved so narrow that people can't get into it at all.

If you want to use the Japanese firepower point to infiltrate the interior of the mountain, you have to find a place where you can get in. I don't know if there are any other passages at the firing points at the foot of the mountain, but the size of the firing port can only allow one person to stuff his head without a steel helmet into it at most. With a steel helmet, this head can't stick in.

Because Su Yingqi tried not to alarm the Japanese army's requirements as much as possible, the troops could not use explosives to clear mines, so they could only rely on people to clear mines from under the foot of the mountain little by little, little by little, and this speed was naturally not fast. Although the reconnaissance company, in order to speed up the progress, sent three people in each direction to clear the mines at the same time.

Moreover, the laying of mines in the minefields of the Japanese army is not very complicated, it is just an ordinary burial method, which is far from the tricks of the anti-United Nations minefields. The types of mines used are also very simple, all of them are ordinary pressure mines, and there are no tripping mines. However, due to the large size of the minefield, the density of mines is also quite high.

In just two or three square meters, five or six anti-infantry mines were removed. With such a high density of mines, the demining fighters leaned forward slightly, and there was almost no place to put their feet. You can only check from the edge of the minefield, little by little, and eliminate them one by one, and you hardly dare to cross the minefield by half a step.

What's even more serious is that the Japanese army did not know whether they had intentionally or unintentionally dropped a large number of empty tin canned food boxes on the entire mountain. The demining soldiers, while clearing the mines, have to carefully deal with these things that act as alarms in disguise. If you accidentally touch it, it will make a noise.

The most critical thing is that the entire perimeter of the mountain, the perimeter of all the Japanese firing points, is also covered with mines. If you want to touch a firepower point, you can't even get close to the perimeter of the firepower point without first clearing the minefield. When the mine was cleared, the movement was slightly larger, and the Japanese troops in the adjacent firepower point were not dead, so it was impossible not to be alarmed. These problems have caused the progress of demining to be quite slow.

The reconnaissance company that participated in the battle, in order to open the passage, almost rubbed up little by little to clear mines. The cleared mines did not dare to detonate, so they could only dismantle the detonator and detonator little by little in the night. Half an hour passed, and only more than 50 meters had been advanced. The three passages opened in the center alone cleared hundreds of mines.

The troops in front were gnawing a little bit, which made the company commanders behind quite anxious. In such a delay, even if the Japanese army did not find out, they would not be able to open a passage until dawn. But the tin canned food boxes that were thrown everywhere on the hills and used as alarms made him dare not add too many manpower to clear mines at the same time.

There were too many people, and before the minefield was opened, just judging from the distribution of the Japanese army's firepower points on the surface, going up was to serve as a live target for others. Those machine guns that fire cross-fire will throw themselves into the attacking troops at the first time, and the front and rear will be flanked into honeycomb coal.

Looking at the time on the watch, a full forty minutes had passed before the time of the general attack, and the cannons of the feint on the southern front could already be faintly heard here. Su Yingqi under the mountain was very calm, but the commander of the reconnaissance company on the mountain looked at the soldiers who were still touching upwards on the mountain, but he couldn't hold his breath anymore.

Just as he was about to give the order to prepare for the use of the improvised explosives at the foot of the mountain, there was a sudden change on the mountain, which had been calm. One of the soldiers who made the fastest progress in clearing the mines encountered a Japanese soldier who suddenly appeared with a cigarette in his mouth.

Fortunately, this soldier is a veteran and reacts very quickly. Without waiting for the sudden appearance of the enemy in front of him, the stunned Japanese soldiers shouted out. Get up as fast as you can. Taking advantage of his height, he quickly covered the guy's mouth with one hand, and the skewer used for demining in his hand pierced his neck. Before the guy could give a warning, he was cleanly dealt with.

When the company commander saw this scene at the foot of the mountain, he immediately understood that it was a secret entrance and exit of the Japanese army. Otherwise, on this mine-ridden mountain, a Japanese soldier would not have recklessly come out of nowhere. Thinking of this, the company commander quickly crawled along the road that had been opened to the place where the accident occurred.

When the veteran who had solved the problem of solving emergencies by hand saw his company commander coming up, he immediately gave up a position in the direction of the mine that had been cleared on the right, pointed to the mountain with a glimmer of light in front of him, and handed him a mine that had just been cleared from here.

Following the direction pointed by the veteran, and looking at the mines that did not have a hair compressor installed in his hand at all, the company commander had already understood everything. As he judged, the three interconnected hills had all been opened, and this was a secret passage for the Japanese army to enter and exit the mountain.

However, when the import and export were built in fortifications, they were carefully camouflaged. It can be said that if it were not for the sudden appearance of this Japanese second lieutenant, even if he walked in front of him, I am afraid it would be difficult to find it. In order to cooperate with the environment of the overall battlefield, there are also two mines without hair presses hanging on the soil layer of this concealment mouth as a camouflage.

It is true that there is a minefield here, but there must be a passage for Japanese troops to enter and exit the minefield here. However, this passage must have been carefully camouflaged, and now I have not found it. Judging by the layout of the Japanese troops here, it is not very difficult to find this passage to the Guò minefield. Just check and see if the minefields there are fake.

The fortifications here, the Japanese army seems to have thought a lot. Even in order not to expose the target, two mines without hair pressers were planted on the entrance and exit. In order to confuse enemy forces that may appear in their direction, and delay the opponent's attack. Because in wartime demining, no one will have that time, and take too much time to distinguish between real and fake mines.

If they infiltrate secretly, there is no time to distinguish between the real and the fake of the mines. No one secretly infiltrates during the day, and at night it is even more impossible to distinguish the real from the fake at the first time. These real and false minefields can delay the time and efficiency of the enemy's infiltration and give the troops considerable time to react.

Even if the opponent who sneaks up on the attack finds a warning gap, he really touches it. Because of these two fake mines, there will be nothing to detect. At the very least, it is possible to ensure that the secret firing points, as well as the reserved counterattack channels, will not be discovered by the opponent. The arrangement of this minefield is really well-intentioned.

Moreover, he judged that not only this entrance and exit, but also all the firing points on the surface of the mountain, and the surrounding minefields were probably fake, and they were all mines without hair presses. Of course, in the direction of the front, there will still be some real thunder, but it will definitely not be so close to the shooting hole.

Although it is not complicated and the idea is very simple, it cannot but be said that the Japanese army's method is very clever. Using the minefield of truth and falsehood, he successfully deceived the eyes of his old scout. Not only succeeded in concealing the access to the passage, but also delayed his own time.

This devil who was killed by the veteran was about to come out to smoke but unfortunately collided with his own vanguard. As a result, one had a heart and the other was unintentional, not only did he give his life, but also directly exposed the location of the entrance and exit of the tunnel to the anti-union scouts who climbed up the mountain.

Looking at the entrance and exit of the Japanese army's mountain fortifications exposed in front of him, and looking at the time again, the company commander gritted his teeth, and took advantage of the fact that the Japanese army had not yet discovered that the passage had been exposed, and quickly transferred all the platoons under his direct command under the mountain. Along the mouth of the passage, it quickly penetrated.

Perhaps at this moment, the attention of the Japanese army here was attracted by the battle in the southeast. The vigilance here is obviously not as strict as the feint attack on that side. Otherwise, this Japanese second lieutenant would not have dared to come out to smoke and breathe at this juncture. The air outside is definitely much cleaner than the turbid air inside.

However, think about this independent mixed Ninth Brigade, although it is often pulled out by the Japanese army to fight field battles, after all, it has been fighting in North China since its formation. Before the defense of Tianjin Dagukou, he was stationed in Shanxi for a long time. There by the troops of the Eighteenth Army, I am afraid that it will not be easy to toss.

Otherwise, we would not have thought of so many ways to build the fortifications. The minefield here is not so much to protect the opponent from attacking, but more to prevent the enemy from touching his night screw. In the face of a strong attack by a large army, these minefields are actually of little effect.

After a single artillery fire, the minefield can play very little role. But when facing the opponent's night sneak attack, it can play a big role. With this minefield, the enemy will either turn a sneak attack into a strong attack, or it can only be eliminated little by little. This gave himself a great chance to discover the enemy's movements, and at least to gain a certain amount of time to react.