Predator Reborn

Chapter 310: The End of Itagaki Division (7)

"Give each of the little Japs a bayonet, don't leave anyone alive, and then retreat immediately..." Seeing that a dozen little Japs were wiped out in an instant, without even time to fight back. The team leader couldn't help but get excited and said:

He ordered several team members around him. Immediately, the team members who had packed up the weapons and ammunition of the little devil quickly withdrew from the battlefield under the leadership of the squad leader. Of course, when the troops were leaving, these team members did not forget to give the front

The little devils who came for reinforcements left some gifts.

Sure enough, just when a dozen soldiers withdrew about 500 meters away, there were several violent explosions behind them... But this was no longer the matter of this team. Because they were replenishing their ammunition and headed towards

Waiting for the next Japanese squad to attack.

It has lasted for an hour and a half since the captain of the Japanese Army's Kurifan Regiment sent out two groups of mountain-searching troops. However, within this hour and a half, the mountains and forests on both sides of the entire marching column were

In the cornfield, bursts of gunfire rang out continuously. Until now, no soldier has been seen bringing back the news of victory.

Gradually, as time went by, the gunshots in the woods became more and more intensive. The Japanese joint captain and division commander Seishiro Itagaki felt more and more that something was wrong... Finally, with the approval of the division commander, they sent out again

He called in a large group of reinforcements to see what was going on in the woods.

However, the situation was worse than they expected. A brigade sent out again by the division commander Seishiro Itagaki did not return the news in the dense forest as quickly as several people imagined. A whole brigade of elites

The imperial army, like a sheep entering a tiger's mouth, once again caused more intensive gunfire in the woods.

"Baga. What is going on? Why are there such dense gunshots in the woods? How many Eighth Route Army are there around us? How many..." Listening to the gunshots that kept ringing around him, the division commander

Itagaki Seishiro also became anxious and questioned the several captains around him.

"Hi, Your Excellency, Division Commander, I think we must immediately order all troops to retreat now. I think the current battle situation is completely a trap set by the Eighth Route Army. The three brigades we just sent out have already fallen into the opponent's trap.

We must retreat immediately. Otherwise, the imperial army of the three brigades will pay a heavy price in casualties..." At this time, the commander of the 43rd Infantry Regiment, Colonel Oba Siping, who had been silent, said.

"Nani? Ohba-kun, why do you have such an idea?" After hearing what Captain Ohba said, division commander Seishiro Itagaki frowned and asked eagerly.

"Hi, division commander. I think that around us, the independent division must have deployed a unit that is good at mountain warfare. Otherwise, with the strength of the two brigades of the Imperial Army, even the two ordinary main regiments of the Eighth Route Army cannot

It may be our opponent. But now, our three brigades are completely trapped in mountain operations. That can only explain one problem, that is, an elite unit of the independent division is deployed here. Waiting for the imperial army

Soldiers kept entering the mountains and forests, and then they used the terrain to eliminate them..." Captain Oba organized his thoughts and said.

"Baga... must be the special operations brigade of the independent division... it must be them..." After hearing the explanation of the commander, the division commander Seishiro Itagaki slapped his head hard and exclaimed loudly.

.

"Yes, division commander, there must be the special operations brigade of the Independent Division around us... It must be them. I have heard about it when I was in Taiyuan. This unit of the Independent Division was carefully selected by them from the entire division.

soldiers, and have undergone special training. In terms of combat effectiveness, they definitely surpass our imperial soldiers." After hearing the division commander's words, the other two regiment captains agreed.

"Baga, since you know that our opponent is the Special Operations Brigade of the Independent Division, why are you still standing there? Quick, send out all the messengers, in short, exhaust all methods, and order all troops to retreat immediately, quick..." After listening to the two alliances,

At the captain's words, Itagaki Seishiro couldn't help but become anxious and shouted at the three captains in front of him.

"Hi, Your Excellency, Division Commander..." Immediately, dozens of messengers, under the orders of their respective commanders, ran towards the woods where gunfire was dense.

Finally, after more than ten minutes, a small team of imperial soldiers carrying the wounded and the remains of soldiers finally dragged their exhausted bodies out of the dense woods and walked towards this side.

"Bagajia Road, why is your team carrying so many corpses? What happened in the woods..." Seeing the team that obviously had more corpses than wounded, the division commander Seishiro Itagaki could no longer care.

Why was the division commander so majestic? He led three regiment captains to a captain and asked loudly.

"Your Excellency, the commander of the division, we are a squadron, and now there is less than one squad left. There are still many corpses of imperial warriors in the woods, and we have no ability to transport them back. The Eighth Route Army in the woods is too powerful.

They are elusive and have a lot of crossbow arrows. If you are not careful, you will be wiped out silently by their crossbow arrows..." The Japanese squadron leader saw that it was the division commander and quickly saluted.

"Nani? A squadron has less than one squadron left? Baga, how is it possible? Your conscience is so bad... Impossible, absolutely impossible..." After hearing the answer of the squadron leader in front of him, the division

The regiment leader Seishiro Itagaki had a face full of disbelief and shouted loudly at the squadron leader in front of him.

"Hey, division commander, what I said is true...the faces of these Eighth Route Army soldiers are all painted like ghosts, and they are wearing clothes made of leaves and branches. As long as they lie on the ground, we can't see them at all.

But they can clearly see us and attack us at any time..." When he mentioned the Eighth Route Army in the woods, the squadron leader's voice began to tremble, obviously he was very afraid of the battle just now.

"Baga! Impossible, how could the Eighth Route Army's combat effectiveness be so strong? Impossible, it must be a mistake in your command, and you want to find excuses to shirk responsibility. Baga, I will kill you, and you are not allowed to disturb the morale of the army anymore...

"While he was speaking, the division commander Seishiro Itagaki had already drawn out his command sword. A burst of sword light flashed past, and he struck the squadron leader in front of him on the neck.

"Division Commander, Division Commander..." Just as the Japanese squadron leader closed his eyes and waited for his body to be separated, a burst of exclamation reached his ears, and the cold-gleaming command knife did not appear.

He cut his own neck, but stopped in the air. The squadron leader opened his eyes with panic on his face, and saw his regiment commander tightly hugging the division commander's arm, saving one of his little ones.

Life.

"Division commander, please don't be angry. We will get more information after all the troops come back. If he really lies about the military situation, we will deal with him before it's too late..." the commander of the regiment warned loudly.

"Baga, yours is waiting nearby. If you really lied about the military situation, I will personally chop off your head in front of the entire division...Baga..." The division commander put away his words fiercely.

He picked up his command sword and said.

However, the final result still made the division commander Seishiro Itagaki extremely disappointed. Because, in the next hour, although some troops returned to the main force one after another, almost every troop was carrying

A large number of bodies of fallen soldiers came back. More importantly, on the faces of every living soldier, the division commander saw the fear of his enemies.

"Reporting to the division commander, the losses of the three brigades have been calculated..." Captain Kurifoshi said with a sad face as he came to the division commander Seishiro Itagaki who also had a straight face.

"Well, let's talk..." Itagaki Seishiro nodded without saying a word.

"Hi! Division Commander. The two brigades of imperial troops we sent out for the first time. Four of the established squads were completely destroyed, and the bodies of the imperial troops were not brought back. A total of 743 imperial soldiers were killed in the two brigades.

Army, 117 Imperial soldiers were seriously injured, and basically everyone else was injured. The last reinforcement group, 326 Imperial soldiers were killed, 76 were seriously injured, and 139 were slightly injured... The three brigades had a total of 1,069 killed.

193 Imperial Army soldiers were seriously injured, directly causing 1,262 Imperial Army soldiers to lose their combat effectiveness..." Captain Li Fan replied with a sad face.

Because these lost soldiers were all soldiers of his own regiment. It can be said that after the battle just now, his 21st Infantry Regiment has lost more than half, and many squadrons have almost been turned into empty shells, or even into empty shells.

The entire organized army was destroyed. The entire 21st Infantry Regiment almost lost its combat effectiveness.

"Baga... In less than two hours, we once again lost one and a half brigades of elite imperial troops. Coupled with the losses from the shelling, we lost two brigades in just less than a day.

Elite Imperial Army. Eight-Gate Road..." After hearing the report from the captain, Seishiro Itagaki cursed loudly.

"Hi, Your Excellency, Captain. There is less than an hour left before dark. The soldiers are extremely tired. Should we camp and rest on the spot and continue the march tomorrow?" Waiting for the division commander's anger,

After calming down a bit, Captain Lifan suggested in a low voice.

"Baga, we can't stop and rest. We are now within the artillery range of the Eighth Route Army. If we stop and rest, we will undoubtedly become the target of the Eighth Route Army artillery. All soldiers are ordered to eat dry food while marching and must do so before dawn tomorrow.

, get out of the shelling range of the Eighth Route Army." After listening to the suggestion of Captain Li Fan, the division commander immediately objected.

"Hey, division commander, I'm going to give the order right away. Order the troops to speed up their march and try to get out of the artillery range of the Eighth Route Army before dawn..." Captain Lifan replied.

"Yoshi, go ahead...order all soldiers to keep a marching distance...don't stop when encountering artillery fire from the Eighth Route Army, just keep moving forward." The division commander Seishiro Itagaki nodded and continued the order.

"Hi...Your Excellency, Division Commander..." Captain Lifan turned around and ran towards the troops not far away. In less than a few minutes, the troops that had stopped for more than an hour started moving again. However, this time

At that time, the Japanese army's marching column suddenly became a lot shorter. More importantly, there were more than 200 stretchers in the entire team...

In this way, during the subsequent march, although the troops continued to be bombarded by heavy artillery battalions, due to the dispersion of the Japanese army's formation and the order to march even if it encountered shelling, the losses of the Japanese army can be said to be

It was reduced to the lowest level. But no matter how low it was, the fierce shelling still caused a lot of casualties to the Japanese army.

And just as the main force of the Fifth Division led by Itagaki Seishiro was marching with difficulty under the artillery fire of the Independent Division, the main force of the Second Division, which had arrived after several days and nights, finally formed a formation around the Japanese heavy artillery regiment.

A huge encirclement, tightly surrounding 3,000 Japanese troops.

As various units arrived one after another, the entire encirclement circle had been slowly shrinking under the orders of Commander Gao Yuan. Of course, the top commander of the Japanese army and the chief of staff of the division did not notice anything about this. He still led the entire army of 3,000 people.

The Imperial Army soldiers crawled slowly on the completely destroyed road.

"Reporting to the commander, Commander Wang of the Independent Regiment called. The detour troops of the Independent Regiment have successfully merged with the Second Regiment. Our encirclement has been formed, and we are requesting guidance for the next step of combat..." A communications staff officer was in the temporary headquarters of the Second Division on the plateau.

, holding a telegram he had just received, he came to Gao Yuan and said.

"Um? So fast, at least two hours faster than I expected. Okay, great. In this case, Staff Officer Li, you immediately send a report to Political Commissar Zhao of the First Division and ask him to lead the guard battalion to leave immediately with the Japs.

At the same time, after the guard battalion withdraws from the battle, it will serve as a reserve team for the entire campaign and be ready for battle at any time." After hearing the words of the communications staff officer, Gao Yuan became excited and ordered to communications staff officer Li in front of him.

"Yes, Commander..."

"Staff Wang, based on the telegrams sent by the three regiments and the intelligence from the first division guard camp, quickly mark the distribution of enemy and friendly forces on the map to facilitate the command and coordination of the troops." Seeing the leaving communications staff,

Gao Yuan ordered to a combat staff officer at the headquarters.

"Commander, the mission will be completed within five minutes..." As he spoke, Staff Officer Wang had already picked up a pencil and was marking the message on the map while looking at the message in his hand. In less than five minutes, Staff Officer Wang

I put down the pencil in my hand.

"Commander, all enemy and friendly troop deployments have been shown on the map. The Japanese army is currently advancing at a speed of 5 miles per hour. However, according to the telegram sent by the guard battalion of the first division, it seems that there are no Japanese soldiers tonight.

We plan to camp." Staff Wang pointed at the location on the map where the Japanese army's logistics troops were located.

"It's five miles every hour. After three hours, it will be fifteen miles. It happens that Zhouzhuang is about fifteen miles away from the current position of the Japanese army. It's right here. The terrain here is very suitable for the army's attack. The battlefield is chosen here.

Staff officer Li..." Seeing Zhouzhuang, Gao Yuan slammed the table and said affirmatively. Because before Gao Yuan led his troops to expand the base area, his brigade headquarters was stationed here. It can be said that he was very familiar with the situation here.

The terrain is well understood.

"Commander, what's the matter..." Hearing Gao Yuan's cry, Staff Officer Li, who had already finished sending the telegram, hurriedly ran into the temporary headquarters.

"Well, now record the combat order and send it to the three regiment commanders immediately..." Gao Yuan nodded and said to the communications staff officer in front of him.

"Yes, Commander..." As he said that, Staff Officer Li had already opened the folder he carried with him. At the same time, he also held a pencil in his hand, ready to record orders.

"Order the first regiment to leave one battalion of troops to continue to surround and monitor the Japanese army. The remaining two battalions, led by the regiment commander, immediately rushed to Zhouzhuang and carried out an ambush south of Zhouzhuang. The independent regiment left one battalion of troops behind the Japanese army.

The left wing marched simultaneously to monitor and surround the Japanese army. The remaining two battalions immediately rushed to the west of Zhouzhuang to ambush. The second regiment left one battalion to march simultaneously on the Japanese right wing, and the remaining two battalions rushed to the south of Zhouzhuang to ambush. In addition, the commander

The cavalry battalion immediately rushed to Zhouzhuang. North of Zhouzhuang, they looked for suitable terrain for cavalry charge and carried out an ambush. After receiving the order to attack, they rushed directly from the rear of the Japanese army into the main force of the Japanese army, overtaking the enemy's effective forces and destroying their

Formation. All the mortars of the three regiments will be concentrated to build an artillery cluster position south of Zhouzhuang to provide artillery support at any time... Send it out to the three regiment commanders now..." After announcing the order, Commander Gao Yuan

, ordered to the communications officer in front of him, Staff Li.

"Yes, Commander, I will send the message right away." Communications Staff Officer Li took the telegram, turned around and left the headquarters.

"Staff Wang, immediately notify the guard battalion, and the headquarters will be transferred immediately to the top of a mountain two kilometers south of Zhouzhuang. From there, you can observe the situation of the entire battlefield and directly command the troops to fight. Tell the guard battalion to move quickly,

In two hours, I must enter the new headquarters to direct the battle." Gao Yuan ordered loudly, turned around, picked up his gun, and walked outside the headquarters.

"Yes, Commander, I will arrange someone right away..." Staff Officer Wang replied loudly. He turned around and ran out of the headquarters to convey the order.

Two hours later, under the protection of a guard company soldier, Commander Gao Yuan rode a war horse and quickly arrived at the gate of the newly built headquarters.

"Report to Commander, the Zhouzhuang Frontline Command Headquarters has been completed, Commander, please check..." Before they could reach the entrance of the command post, the combat staff officer, Staff Wang, hurried out of the command post and said loudly.