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"Damn it, this damn Japanese devil finally couldn't help himself and came up! Everyone prepare to fight!"

The battalion commander didn't care about the cigarette that the company commander had taken back, and immediately turned on the walkie-talkie to give orders.

Although it is pleasant to smoke a cigarette in this cold weather, it is not as pleasant as fighting the Japanese.

There are 4 independent regiments, and one battalion in each regiment is the main force battalion. The soldiers are all veterans of small warlords in Sichuan and Kang. The larger warlords occupy an entire battalion, while the smaller ones are just put together into a battalion.

As for the second and third battalions, they were almost all recruited.

These small warlords joined the 176th Independent Division even though they could not resist the temptation of the conditions offered by Xu Le, but fighting the Japanese was the ultimate goal of every officer and soldier.

Especially the 1st Independent Regiment. Apart from having a lot of fun during training, they have never killed a single Japanese soldier since they were established.

Some soldiers were glad that they did not suffer heavy losses in a surprise attack by heavy artillery like the last three independent regiments, but most of the soldiers were looking forward to it, hoping to make achievements in actual combat, not only to receive many rewards, but mainly to improve their status in the army.

A battalion commander had this experience. A few days ago, he went to the regiment headquarters for a meeting, and he and several other battalion commanders were all rejected by the regiment commander.

This was because the commanders of several independent regiments knew each other and even had frictions in the past few years. Now that they were all combat regiments of the 176th Division, although they could no longer have any grudges overtly, there was still competition on another level.

The 2nd Independent Regiment was the main force that captured Shilou County and several surrounding strongholds.

The Independent 3rd Regiment cooperated with the 667th Regiment to launch a feint attack on Yan County, annihilating more than a thousand enemies and buying time for the 667th Regiment to occupy Yan County.

The 4th Independent Regiment first cooperated with the 666th Regiment to attack Fenxi. Later, the 666th Regiment moved to Majiazhai. The regiment was solely responsible for Fenxi and faced pursuit from a Japanese division when retreating.

In any aspect, these three regiments conducted actual combat with the advanced weapons they had obtained and achieved good results.

Only the 1st Independent Regiment could only watch the Japanese in the distance through telescopes around Pu County. The headquarters issued an order: Unless the Japanese took action first, the 1st Independent Regiment could not open fire first.

The regiment commander naturally understood what the headquarters' order meant. Although the 176th Division had more than troops, the troops were already fighting on three fronts at the same time. As the support force for the headquarters, this fourth front could not be moved until the critical moment.

Having so many jeeps and trucks is not enough to prevent us from fighting on the fourth front line, but it will always increase the pressure on the troops. If the Japanese in Linfen launch a major counterattack, the headquarters will be in danger.

However, the commanders of the other regiments all spoke arrogantly in front of the commander of the Independent 1st Regiment.

They say your 1st Independent Regiment was the first to be established, but so what? Have you ever killed a single enemy soldier?

Just this one reason made the commander of the 1st Independent Regiment unable to hold his head up, so he took his anger out on the battalion commanders under him.

.......

The two artillery regiments of the Japanese had lost their combat effectiveness and the ability to provide fire suppression for the infantry units. They could only temporarily provide fire support with infantry guns and mortars, but the effect was minimal.

One is that the range is too short, and the other is that the power is not enough.

As expected of a powerful field division of the Japanese, the attack formation of the 6th Division's Japanese infantry was very clever, dense but regular, and the coordination between the various arms was very good.

In the blink of an eye, almost a battalion of Japanese infantry, led by cavalry, had approached the first battalion's defensive position within 800 meters.

All the soldiers in the first battalion had their rifles and machine guns loaded and their mortars ready.

"fire!"

At a command from a battalion commander, 18 mortars fired grenades at their respective target areas.

The distance to the Japanese was very close, the artillery of the artillery battalion and artillery regiment could no longer provide support, and the visibility was poor, which easily led to accidental injuries.

Boom boom boom....

Grenades continued to explode in the Japanese charging formation.

The caliber of the L16 mortar is 81 mm, and the shell weighs more than 4 kg. Although its power is not very strong, it is definitely not weak. Dozens of Japanese soldiers were killed by the grenade immediately.

The Japanese seemed to have anticipated this. Before the second wave of grenades arrived, most of them lay on the ground, hiding their bodies behind rocks or small earthen slopes.

At the same time, the Japanese mortars deployed in the rear also opened fire, targeting the positions of the first battalion.

However, the defensive fortifications of the first battalion were cleverly arranged, each part was separated but connected to each other.

The battalion commander also gave an order that everyone should hide in the trenches until the Japanese reached within 500 meters.

So even though the Japanese mortar had a range of 3 kilometers, due to the poor visibility at night, the grenades caused almost no damage to the first batch of ships.

But the purpose of the Japanese mortar was not to kill a battalion, but to provide fire suppression for the Japanese infantry to facilitate the infantry charge.

The Japanese also wanted to bomb the mortar position of the first battalion, but the L16 mortar had a range of nearly 6 kilometers and was deployed in the rear of the defensive position.

Not to mention whether the Japanese can find the mortar position, even if they do, the range of their mortars is far from enough, so they can only watch.

"Sir, the enemy's artillery fire is too fierce, and the infantry has no chance to charge!"

The Japanese captain said to his own regiment commander with a worried look that the charging brigade was his men. Although there were only dozens of casualties so far, if the charge continued, these thousand people would likely be in desperate situation.

There is no way to advance or retreat!

The commander of the regiment shook his head: "No, no, no, our formation is very clever. As long as our infantry does not retreat, the enemy's artillery fire will not stop. I have never seen such a combat unit. The hit rate of the artillery shells is obviously very low, but they don't even reduce the firing rate. In this way, their artillery shells will be used up soon!

Just wait and see. In less than 10 minutes, the intensity of their artillery fire will decrease. That will be the time for our imperial warriors to charge!"

The captain was still worried: "But according to the feedback from the 21st Division, it seems that the 176th Division has sufficient ammunition, and if we continue like this, the loss of soldiers will be much greater!"

The commander of the regiment immediately showed a disdainful expression: "Humph, Sanguo Zhifu is getting more and more timid. No matter how strong his 176th Division is, most of their troops have been sent to Yan County and other places, and there are not many troops in Pu County. With such an opportunity, his 21st Division actually shirked his responsibilities. What a coward!"

The captain said nothing more. As a permanent division, even he, a captain of a battalion, looked down on the regiment commanders of other divisions, and even looked down on the division commanders.

Ten minutes later, just as the Japanese regiment commander had said, the mortar firepower of the 10st Battalion of the 1st Independent Regiment had been reduced a lot, with only sporadic grenade launches, and it was still gradually decreasing.

The commander of the regiment was immediately overjoyed: "Just as I expected, the enemy's artillery shells have been used up. I order your infantry to charge, and the other two battalions are also ready to serve as the second wave of assault!"