Chapter 197: The Officers Observation Group was Attacked
"Baka, the people from the Fourth Brigade are too much. They didn't even arrange for soldiers to stand guard near the road!
The officers of the 4th Brigade are so rude!"
In the Japanese convoy, Hayamura Akechi, who was sitting in the front truck, looked at the soldiers saluting on both sides of the road, nodded with satisfaction, and then cursed Yonekura Taro in a low voice.
According to the agreed escort plan, several soldiers should be arranged to stand guard on each section of the road to prevent sneak attacks by the Eighth Route Army.
Especially in some places suitable for ambushes, it is necessary to arrange at least one squad of soldiers to be responsible for defense and guard duties.
But just ten minutes before the arrival of the officers' observation group, Hayamura Akechi suddenly received a report from his subordinates saying that when they were patrolling, they found that there were no soldiers standing guard on the road between the Linjiaji stronghold and the Dawangzhuang stronghold.
Hayamura Akechi called Yonekura Taro to ask what was going on, but Yonekura Taro asked Hayamura Akechi what was going on instead.
Taro Yonekura said that he had made it very clear that the 4th Brigade was only responsible for the safety of the road between Dawangzhuang and Tongshi Town.
The road safety before Dawangzhuang is entirely the responsibility of Hayamura Akechi's own troops.
Therefore, according to the escort plan originally assigned to the officers' observation group, the section of road between the Linjiaji stronghold and the Dawangzhuang stronghold should be under the responsibility of Hayamura Akechi, rather than the 4th Brigade.
In the Japanese army, a higher-ranking officer can really crush others to death.
Not to mention that according to Taro Yonekura, there was nothing wrong with Taro Yonekura at all, and it was Hayamura Akechi who made the mistake.
However, Hayamura Akechi initially thought that the road between the Linjiaji stronghold and the Dawangzhuang stronghold was also under the responsibility of Yonekura Taro, so Yonekura Taro had already deployed all his troops there.
As a result, there were no extra troops to be responsible for the road safety between the Linjiaji stronghold and the Dawangzhuang stronghold.
Hayamura Akechi wanted to ask Yonekura Taro to help send troops to maintain the situation, but Yonekura Taro said that he had already made arrangements and it was impossible to withdraw troops from the Dawangzhuang stronghold to stand guard.
What's more, if the Eighth Route Army took advantage of the lack of troops in the Dawangzhuang stronghold to launch an attack on Dawangzhuang, once Dawangzhuang was lost, the large force of the 4th Brigade would be directly trapped in Tongshi Town. If something happened to the 4th Brigade at that time, would Hayamura Akechi dare to take the responsibility?
After hearing what Taro Yonekura said, Hayamura Akechi hung up the phone in anger.
The Eighth Route Army was able to capture the Dawangzhuang stronghold in just one or two hours?
Even if they broke through the Dawangzhuang stronghold, with the strength of the two nearby battalions and the 11th Brigade that would soon arrive at the attack site, with so many troops, could they not take down a small Dawangzhuang?
Could it be that the 4th Brigade, with nearly 10,000 people, couldn't even hold out for a few hours against the attack of the Eighth Route Army?
Hayamura Akechi could see that Yonekura Taro was clearly timid and afraid of taking on unnecessary responsibilities. He was obviously shirking his responsibilities and was unwilling to send troops to help him without asking about danger or not.
Seeing that the officers' observation group was about to arrive at the Linjiaji stronghold, Hayamura Akechi was really at a loss as to what to do but to urgently dispatch nearly a hundred Japanese soldiers from the Linjiaji stronghold to stand guard on the road between the Linjiaji stronghold and the Dawangzhuang stronghold.
So the soldiers standing guard around the road now are all soldiers under Hayamura Akechi.
When Hayamura Akechi first led Hattori Naoomi and others to leave the Linjiaji stronghold and head for Dawangzhuang, he was still worried about whether they would encounter an ambush by the Eighth Route Army.
What should we do if we encounter an ambush by the Eighth Route Army?
In order to prevent the Eighth Route Army from being attacked while Linjiaji was short of manpower, Hayamura Akechi also gave special orders to the soldiers on guard.
As soon as the convoy passed the area where they were on guard, they would return to the Linjiaji stronghold as quickly as possible to prevent the Eighth Route Army from seizing the opportunity to attack the Linjiaji stronghold while its troops were empty.
But as the convoy continued to move forward, Hayamura Akechi also figured it out. With so many troops nearby, what could happen even if the Eighth Route Army took advantage of the lack of manpower in the Linjiaji stronghold to attack it?
There were more than forty people left behind in the Linjiaji stronghold. With the help of the fortifications and other defensive measures in the stronghold, they could at least withstand the attack of the Eighth Route Army for one or two hours.
One or two hours is enough time for troops from other strongholds to rush to the Linjiaji stronghold to provide support.
Unless the Eighth Route Army launched an attack on all strongholds at the same time, it would be impossible for the Eighth Route Army to capture the Linjiaji stronghold.
But if the Eighth Route Army launches an attack on all strongholds, does it have so many people?
Are there so many heavy weapons?
If you don’t have enough artillery and want to attack the stronghold, you will have to pay with your lives!
A stronghold is not a gun tower. The structure of a gun tower is basically one or two bunkers plus a gun tower of about ten meters.
But a stronghold is different. It is a small group of bunkers. It not only has bunkers, but also various defensive buildings such as walls.
After all, in addition to the blockade mission, the stronghold also undertakes the task of a military station. If the county sends troops to fight in the field, then those troops need to rest in the stronghold.
Therefore, the defensive strength of a stronghold is much higher than that of a watchtower.
Some blockhouses could be blown up by secretly piling explosive packs outside the blockhouses when the opportunity arose, but this was not the case with strongholds.
In addition to various fixed firepower defense facilities such as walls and bunkers, the stronghold also has defense facilities such as barbed wire and trenches on the outside.
If you want to blow up the wall of the stronghold, you must first destroy the barbed wire, chevaux de frise, fences... and other defensive facilities such as trenches outside the stronghold before you can get close to the wall.
After Hayamura Akechi thought about this, he was no longer so worried about the Linjiaji stronghold.
To take a step back, even if the Linjiaji stronghold was taken by the Eighth Route Army before reinforcements from other strongholds arrived, what would happen?
This time, the Shanxi First Army assembled three brigades of troops. The Linjiaji stronghold was just a mere stronghold and was not important!
After figuring this out, Hayamura Akechi was no longer worried about the Linjiaji stronghold, and focused on leading the officers' observation group towards the Dawangzhuang stronghold.
"Phew~ I hope we don't run into an ambush by the Eighth Route Army along the way.
It would be bad if the Eighth Route Army disturbed the brigade commander's mood."
Hayamura Akechi sat in the passenger seat, observing the terrain ahead through the car window, constantly wondering in his mind whether the area ahead was suitable for an ambush.
At the same time, he was also worried that the Eighth Route Army would ambush the officers' observation group and disturb Hattori Naoomi's interest.
As for whether the Eighth Route Army would harm Hattori Naoomi and other officers in the Officer Observation Group, Hayamura Akechi was not worried.
This time, there were more than a hundred personal guards following the convoy, nearly two squads of soldiers.
The Dawangzhuang stronghold was not far ahead, and there were at least two squadrons of troops responsible for the defense at Dawangzhuang.
Now they are very close to the Dawangzhuang stronghold. Even if they encounter danger here, the troops in the Dawangzhuang stronghold will arrive in 20 minutes at most.
With nearly two squads of troops, even if a regiment of the Eighth Route Army came, they could still hold out for an hour or two.
Moreover, it was impossible for them to fight the Eighth Route Army on the spot. They could also escort the officers' observation group to the Dawangzhuang stronghold as quickly as possible.
Even if the Dawangzhuang stronghold does not send reinforcements, they can escort the officers' observation group to the Dawangzhuang stronghold.
By then, with Hattori Naoomi's military rank and the troops in Daiwangzhuang, there will be no problem in defending Daiwangzhuang.
"Sir, there are a series of bends ahead. The area is very suitable for an ambush. Do you want to send someone to scout the area first?" Just as Hayamura Akechi was thinking about how to continue to perform in front of Hattori Naoomi, the Japanese soldier who was in charge of driving spoke to Hayamura Akechi and reminded him.
“No, you don’t need to.
keep going."
Hayamura Akechi listened to the reminder from the person next to him and did not stop the convoy. Instead, he sent personnel to scout the nearby mountains.
“The reconnaissance work should have been completed before the arrival of the officers’ observation group. It is too late for us to conduct reconnaissance work now.
The soldiers standing guard here now are all soldiers from our battalion. We are conducting reconnaissance work again.
Not only will the brigade commander not feel that we are working diligently, but he will also feel that we are not working seriously.
The reconnaissance work should have been carried out long ago, so why did we have to wait until the observation group arrived?
If we do this, the brigade commander will only think that we are deliberately showing off in front of him.
Besides, we haven't done any reconnaissance work along the way. If we suddenly stop here to conduct reconnaissance, in case there really are ambushes of the Eighth Route Army, the brigade commander might think that we deliberately arranged it.
After all, why were there no ambushes in other places? As soon as we stopped to conduct reconnaissance, the ambushes of the Eighth Route Army appeared.
Moreover, if we carry out reconnaissance work at this time, not only will the brigade commander think that we are not working seriously, but also that we do not care about the safety of the officers' observation group.
Otherwise, why not scout other places instead of here?"
Hayamura Akechi paused and continued to explain to the Japanese soldier who was driving the car beside him and was also his direct guard.
"Mr. Zhongshan, such a place that is easy to ambush is something we can think of, the Eighth Route Army can think of it, but Yonekura Taro can also think of it.
Although he was not careful, he definitely sent out troops to conduct reconnaissance in the vicinity.
There's no problem in the front.
After all, if any accident happened to the officers' observation group, Taro Yonekura would not be able to bear the responsibility.
Even though he was the chief of staff of the 4th Brigade and a colonel, Pinglu Yongfu would not be able to save him if anything unexpected happened to the Officers Observation Group.
So don't worry. Besides, even if there are ambushes from the Eighth Route Army, at most two battalions of troops can be sent out in this terrain. You know the strength of the Eighth Route Army very well. It is impossible for a mere two battalions of troops to stop us."
After explaining to the Japanese soldier beside him, Hayamura Akechi continued to teach him.
"Mr. Zhongshan, you are still young and you need to learn a lot. If you don't learn some things, you will never be able to serve as an officer and can only serve as a soldier.
Mr. Zhongshan, your parents handed you over to me, and I don’t want you to return to your hometown as a soldier in the end.
We are both civilians. I am a little better off because I have studied at an officer school, but you don't even have any experience at a non-commissioned officer school. After this mission is over, I will see if I can help you gain some military merit and send you to the Manchurian non-commissioned officer school."
Nakayama Qingying, who was driving, listened to what Hayamura Akechi said and immediately spoke to Hayamura Akechi excitedly.
"Thank you Uncle Hayamura!"
Zhongshan Qingying was very excited. He had just joined the army for less than half a year and had been here from the base camp for only a month. Under normal circumstances, without a year and enough military merits, he would not have been able to become an officer even with the help of Hayamura Akechi.
But if Hayamura Akechi could arrange something for him and send him to the non-commissioned officer school, then not only would he not have to go to dangerous places like the battlefield, he could also become an officer directly through studying.
"Hey, how many times have I told you this?"
Hayamura Akechi listened to what Nakayama Qingying said, pretended to be unhappy, tapped Nakayama Qingying's head with his hand, and began to lecture him.
"How many times have I told you this? There are no personal relationships in the army. You are not allowed to address each other as personal relationships. You have to call me sir!"
"Hey, sorry, sir, I'm just used to it... I didn't react for a moment..."
"You, you, remember, you must change the address publicly, especially this time it's not just the brigade commander who is here, there are many officers from the North China Front Army here, don't embarrass me and the brigade commander."
"Hi!"
"boom!"
Just as Hayamura Akechi finished his words.
A gunshot suddenly rang out.
Then Zhongshan Qingying felt that he suddenly lost control of the steering wheel in his hand.
"Sir, the tire is flat!"
Hayamura Akechi had just heard the sudden gunshot, and before he could speak, he heard what Nakayama Qingying said.
"boom!"
At first, Hayamura Akechi wondered if he had mistaken the sound of the exploding tire for gunfire.
But with a loud explosion, the motorcycle leading the way in front was directly blown up.
Hayamura Akechi reacted immediately.
They were ambushed!
"Dodge, dodge quickly!"
"Enemy attack!"
"Baga, Yonekura Dalang is such a bastard!
Not only did they not send soldiers to stand guard, they didn't even conduct reconnaissance in the vicinity!"
With a reassurance, a huge rock on the top of the mountain was blown to pieces and rolled directly down the mountain.
There was a huge rock lying across the middle of the road. Although it was not very big, together with the destroyed motorcycle, it was enough to block the truck from passing.
Seeing this, Hayamura Akechi quickly asked Nakayama Aotaka to stop the car, then got out and prepared for defense.
"Da da da~"
Zhongshan Qingying had just stopped the truck when the sound of heavy machine guns was heard on the mountain.
(End of this chapter)
