Chapter 192: The Embarrassed Yamamoto Ikki
Yamamoto Ikki, who was dodging a grenade launcher bombardment, heard the whistling sound and the sudden stop of gunfire above his head, and instantly realized something was wrong.
"Oh no, the Eighth Route Army is coming!
Everyone, retreat quickly!
Go hide on the mound ahead!"
Judging from the intensity of the Eighth Route Army's firepower, it was obvious that the Eighth Route Army was not short of ammunition as described in the intelligence. On the contrary, the ammunition was very sufficient.
At this moment, the gunfire on the cliff has stopped. It is obvious that the Eighth Route Army has completely eliminated the special forces soldiers who climbed up the cliff.
At this moment, the Eighth Route Army soldiers must be pressing forward, preparing to approach the edge of the cliff and attack the special forces soldiers below the cliff.
After all, the grenade launchers had stopped firing. It was definitely not because the enemy had run out of ammunition, but because the grenade launchers were not accurate enough and they were worried about accidentally hurting their own people who were pressing forward.
Thinking of this, Yamamoto Kazuki decisively ordered the remaining special forces soldiers to retreat.
The grenade launcher has a blind spot and cannot fall vertically directly below the cliff.
If the enemy pressed forward and threw grenades directly under the cliff, then if Yamamoto Ikki and his special forces team continued to hide directly below the cliff, they would only be waiting for death.
And those remaining special forces soldiers who were alive and able to function normally immediately began to act after hearing Yamamoto Ikki's orders.
Some special forces soldiers quickly checked on those special forces soldiers who were lying on the ground beside them, hit by fragments of the explosion of grenade launchers but not dead yet.
After confirming that the other party still retained some mobility, he prepared to retreat with the other party.
"What are you doing?!"
When Yamamoto Ikki saw a special forces soldier trying to drag another special forces soldier whose legs were injured in the explosion to the mound, he immediately stopped him.
"Sir, he can still be saved!"
"It's too late. The Eighth Route Army is advancing. If we can take cover, then we will be dead!
Everyone give up the rescue, cover the wounded!"
"Hi!"
After Yamamoto Ikki gave the order, the special forces soldiers who originally wanted to rescue their companions quickly gave up rescuing those special forces soldiers who were injured by the grenade launcher grenades.
I have to say that Yamamoto Ikki was very cruel. More than 20 Japanese soldiers from the special forces were injured by small grenades from grenade launchers. Many of them were still able to move with a little support.
After all, with the protection of a bulletproof vest, the small grenade from the grenade launcher will only explode next to you, or the fragments will hit your head directly.
Otherwise, with the power of the small grenades from the grenade launcher, the fragments of the exploding grenades would hardly penetrate the bulletproof vests of the Japanese soldiers.
Therefore, the injured special forces soldiers were basically injured in their limbs by shrapnel. As long as the arteries or knees were not hit, they could basically be saved.
But even so, Yamamoto Ikki still chose to give up these wounded soldiers.
Yamamoto Ikki also understood at this moment that his decapitation operation had completely failed and there was no possibility of success.
Since the mission has failed, it is natural to consider follow-up actions.
After realizing that his decapitation operation could not succeed, a new plan suddenly emerged in Yamamoto Ikki's mind.
As soon as we retreat, the Eighth Route Army will definitely mobilize troops to encircle and pursue us.
There are quite a lot of Eighth Route Army troops near Baihu Ridge. Facing the large-scale Eighth Route Army troops, especially those with no shortage of ammunition, Yamamoto Ikki doesn't think his special forces can escape unscathed.
Yamamoto Ikki also knew that his actions would definitely anger the commander of the Eighth Route Army, and the commander of the Eighth Route Army would never allow such a large force of his to wander around Baihu Ridge.
After all, the Eighth Route Army is about to launch a large-scale battle, if there is a small and powerful force in the hinterland area.
No one will feel at ease.
After all, guerrilla warfare is not only something that the Eighth Route Army can fight, the Japanese devils can also fight it.
Yamamoto Ikki understood that his decapitation operation had completely failed, so he directly gave up the task of decapitation operation against the headquarters of the 386th Brigade of the Eighth Route Army.
Instead, he decided to take the special forces team to raid the Eighth Route Army's transportation lines and regiment-level command headquarters in the Shangdang area, with Baihuling as the center.
Since the headquarters of the 386th Brigade of the Eighth Route Army is so tightly guarded, then we should take action against the Eighth Route Army's transport team, logistics warehouse, and regimental headquarters.
If they could disrupt the Eighth Route Army's logistical transportation, destroy its logistical warehouses, and at the same time defeat its middle-level commanders, the Fourth Brigade would still be able to eliminate the nearby Eighth Route Army and then gather a large force to launch an attack on Baihuling.
By then, the 386th Brigade Command on Baihu Ridge will still not be able to escape.
But if they want to continue the attack, the special forces team must be fast.
Otherwise, once the Eighth Route Army formed an encirclement against the special forces team, let alone continuing to attack the Eighth Route Army, the special forces team would be considered strong if they could escape.
That's why Yamamoto Ikki gave the order to abandon those wounded soldiers who had lost most of their mobility.
After all, if they carry the wounded with them, it will inevitably slow down the speed of the special forces team.
Rather than waiting until the special forces team is slowed down and eventually surrounded and annihilated by the Eighth Route Army, it is better to leave the wounded behind to cover their retreat and buy time for the remaining members of the special forces team to retreat.
That's why Yamamoto Ikki gave the order to abandon the wounded and let them cover the retreat.
Otherwise, Yamamoto Ikki would not want to give up these wounded soldiers.
After all, most of the wounded soldiers can be cured. As long as their injuries are healed, these wounded soldiers can still continue to fight in the special forces team. Even if they can't, they can be assigned to become instructors.
After all, training a formal special forces soldier requires a lot of resources.
Especially now that the decapitation operation has failed, Yoshio Shinozuka will definitely not support Yamamoto Ikki as strongly as before and give him whatever he wants.
If Yoshio Shinozuka stepped down and was replaced by Yoshio Iwamatsu, the other party would most likely directly cut off the resources of the special forces.
By then, let alone training new special forces soldiers, it would be good enough to maintain the daily training of current special forces members.
Like other Japanese colonels who served as commanders of troops, those Japanese colonels in ordinary troops usually had a large number of troops or officers composed of their fellow townsmen under their command.
The troops composed of these fellow townsmen are generally the capital of these officers. As long as the capital is there, they can use these fellow townsmen and veterans to rebuild the army at any time.
But if he loses even the capital, there are only two outcomes waiting for this officer.
Or, if they have strong connections, they can directly draw new recruits to rebuild the army.
Or, without any background, just cancel the unit flag, that is, the unit number.
If the commander of the army is not dead, let him commit suicide by disembowelment.
After all, all your troops were wiped out, but you, the commander of the unit, are still alive?
Since there is no connection behind him, he must be a deserter.
For Yamamoto Ikki, the special forces were his capital. If he used up all his capital, once Shinozuka Yoshio stepped down, then he would only face death.
If he still had the capital, even if Yoshio Shinozuka fell, Yamamoto Ikki could still rely on the strength of the special forces to return to the service of other generals.
After all, the strength of the special forces team he trained is there and not false.
Therefore, Yamamoto Ikki was very reluctant to give up the injured soldiers.
But Yamamoto Ikki really had no other choice.
If they retreated directly, they could naturally take the wounded away with them, but if they retreated directly, Yamamoto Ikki felt that he would not have the face to see Yoshio Shinozuka.
After all, when he formed the special forces team himself, Yoshio Shinozuka supported him unconditionally. In order for him to successfully form the special forces team, Yoshio Shinozuka personally sent a report to the North China Front Army Command to endorse him.
If we retreat just like that, let's not talk about whether Yamamoto Kazuki is doing justice to Yoshio Shinozuka.
In addition, Yamamoto Kazuki did not think that if he retreated directly, Shinozuka Yoshio would not do anything to him.
Without achieving any results, they retreated directly after the mission failed. Yamamoto Ikki guaranteed that Shinozuka Yoshio would definitely let the 4th Brigade eliminate himself and the special forces team.
Then report to the higher-ups about how the special forces team is doing...
So after careful consideration, Yamamoto Ikki finally decided to abandon the wounded and continue fighting with the remaining special forces soldiers.
Under Yamamoto Ikki's order, the special forces soldiers who had originally intended to rescue their companions quickly gave up the rescue.
While those intact special forces soldiers gave up rescuing their companions, they also took away some easily-removed ammunition from the seriously injured soldiers, leaving only the guns in the hands of the wounded.
After all, judging from Yamamoto Ikki's order, it was obvious that Yamamoto Ikki did not intend to retreat directly back to the 4th Brigade, but was preparing to continue fighting.
So they naturally need to replenish some ammunition, otherwise who knows how long it will take to wait for the airdrops.
When the wounded soldiers heard the order given by Yamamoto Ikki, their eyes darkened, but they still prepared to cover their retreat according to Yamamoto Ikki's order.
It has to be said that Yamamoto Ikki had great prestige in the hearts of the Japanese soldiers in the special forces. At least, no Japanese soldier refuted Yamamoto Ikki's orders.
In other words, in the special forces team, any Japanese soldier who dared to contradict Yamamoto Ikki's orders were beaten to death by Yamamoto Ikki.
Under Yamamoto Ikki's order, some wounded special forces soldiers who could still lift guns aimed their submachine guns at the edge of the cliff. As long as the Eighth Route Army appeared on the edge of the cliff, they would immediately open fire to buy time for Yamamoto Ikki and the rest of the soldiers to retreat.
Yamamoto Ikki also hurriedly led other soldiers to the mound, preparing to evacuate the Baihuling area directly after avoiding a wave of attacks from the Eighth Route Army.
After being bombarded by grenade launchers and retreating to the mound at a very fast speed, Yamamoto Ikki was in a completely miserable state.
After temporarily retreating behind the hill, Yamamoto Ikki looked at the thirty or so Japanese soldiers left from the special forces and couldn't help but grit his teeth.
Yamamoto Ikki worked hard to train more than eighty special forces soldiers who met his standards.
As a result, within less than ten minutes of the fight starting, nearly fifty people were killed.
Yamamoto Ikki knew in his heart that the reason why the decapitation operation against the headquarters of the 386th Brigade of the Eighth Route Army failed was due to intelligence errors and the fact that the firepower of the Eighth Route Army was far beyond imagination.
But there was definitely also the factor of Yamamoto Ikki's own improper command.
"Too impatient!
If I had known earlier, I would have done more reconnaissance around Baihu Ridge. It would be okay even if the mission was delayed a little..."
Unfortunately, even if Yamamoto Ikki thought of all this at this moment, it was because he was too anxious and too concerned about proving his special forces team in front of the North China Front Army Officers Observation Group and proving that his special operations could determine the direction of a battle.
So after leading the special forces team to Baihu Ridge, he only conducted a rough reconnaissance, and then Jiu led the special forces team to attack Baihu Ridge.
He was too anxious about all this.
If they had been more cautious, spent more time, and conducted a more detailed reconnaissance of Baihu Ridge, they would not have missed the discovery of the Eighth Route Army's defensive position on the cliff.
If they had waited a little longer, perhaps the commander of the 386th Brigade of the Eighth Route Army would have left Baihu Ridge on his own and could have completed the decapitation operation with his special forces team without even having to enter Baihu Ridge.
But the reality is that there is no regret medicine for Yamamoto Ikki.
The price Yamamoto Ikki paid for his anxiety was that nearly fifty special forces soldiers were directly killed by the powerful firepower of the Eighth Route Army.
Then the remaining people will be chased around by the Eighth Route Army like dogs.
Just as Yamamoto Ikki and the special forces soldiers who were still able to move normally hid behind the mound, dozens of densely packed black spots appeared in the sky.
The wounded soldiers of the special forces team who were preparing to cover their retreat at the bottom of the cliff kept staring at the edge of the cliff with their guns, waiting for the Eighth Route Army to appear.
But what appeared in their sight in the end was not the Eighth Route Army, but densely packed grenades.
The grenade launcher has a blind spot in shooting and cannot fall vertically off the cliff.
But grenades are different.
After confirming that it was safe, the soldiers of the Sixth Company of the Pioneer Regiment threw the grenades directly down the edge of the cliff.
Some of the experienced veterans simply pulled the fuse of the grenade and counted to three seconds before throwing the grenade down.
The grenade thrown in this way explodes directly in mid-air without waiting to hit the ground, and the power of the grenade is released to the maximum extent.
And because of Qin Yangming, the grenades equipped by the Vanguard Regiment were all made of genuine TNT explosives.
The explosive power of the vanguard regiment's grenades is no less than that of the small grenades from the grenade launcher.
And because some soldiers felt that the fragments produced by the explosion of hand grenades were less than those produced by hand grenades, they specially made some iron shells that could be directly put on the grenade body.
The iron shell is covered with stripes. As long as the grenade explodes, the iron shell outside the grenade will directly turn into fragments.
The wounded soldiers who were responsible for covering the retreat didn't even have time to delay for a minute before they were all killed by grenades.
Then, several Eighth Route Army soldiers carried a few reflectors and leaned out of the cliff to observe the area below.
The Japanese special forces behind the mound saw something coming out from the edge of the cliff and immediately pulled the trigger at the edge of the cliff.
A barrage of bullets flew rapidly toward the edge of the cliff.
"Damn it, they're not all dead yet, light machine gun team, submachine gun team, shoot!"
When the Sixth Company Commander Lin Sanhuo saw movement below the cliff, he immediately ordered the light machine gun and submachine gun teams in the company to place their weapons outside the cliff and attack below.
At the same time, the grenade launchers were also ordered to fire grenades at the bottom of the cliff.
(Hand grenades are generally offensive grenades, with a large amount of explosives, and rely on shock waves to kill the enemy. Although it was not clear during World War II, the number of fragments of hand grenades is not as large as that of hand grenades, which are round or like a cylinder.
The hammer-shaped one is a grenade.
Take the M24 grenade as an example. This thing has a special shrapnel cover to increase the explosive fragments, so this is not something I made up. )
(End of this chapter)
