The expeditionary force began to dominate Southeast Asia by recruiting defeated soldiers

37mm战防炮与九七改的47mm主炮射出的炮弹只能给M4A3（105）坦克的正面装甲挠痒痒。

In sharp contrast, Platoon Leader Fan, who did not spare any ammunition, quickly turned the two Type 97 modified tanks and several anti-tank guns parked on Hill 33 into irretrievable garbage with high-explosive shells fired from his 105mm main gun.

Major Jiang Yuan had to order the main force of the brigade to go to the reverse slope of the high ground to hide from the artillery, leaving only a small number of observation posts on the high ground.

At this moment, Major Jiang Yuan felt depressed, extremely depressed.

As an officer of the Fuso Locust Army, he never imagined that one day he would end up in such a situation - he could only watch the enemy attack wantonly while he was unable to fight back.

In the past, the arrogance and firepower advantage of the Fuso army, which bullied the Qian army by relying on its firepower advantage, turned against Tiangang at this moment and became his nightmare.

"Damn those damn tanks!" He gritted his teeth, the anger in his heart almost bursting out of his throat.

Curled up in the anti-artillery hole that had just been dug in a hurry, Jiang Yuan protected his head with his hands. He never expected that one day he would be suppressed so badly by the enemy's artillery fire.

Shells kept exploding around him, making him dizzy, and the mud and dust seemed like they could bury him at any time.

"Bomb it, bomb it! Just four heavy tanks. How many shells can the White Eagle devils airlift to you? Once the regiment commander's main force arrives, you'll be dead."

Jiang Yuan thought viciously in his heart, but he could only endure this humiliation and frustration temporarily.

By the way, the border is clearly blocked, so how did these heavy tanks get here? Were they also airlifted in?

------

In the sky, the fire from the 20mm machine gun poured down like a rainstorm, raising dust on the ground, but Sato Mikichiro gritted his teeth and had to speed up.

The telegrams sent by Major Jiang Yuan requesting tactical guidance were more urgent than the last. Time was running out, and retreat and pause were unacceptable.

On the evening of December 17, the main force of the wing led by Sato Mikichiro, despite the dive and strafing of four F4U-4B fighters, finally marched quickly to Hill 12.

As the main force of more than 3000 Japanese troops gathered together, Huang Yong knew that his feint attack mission had been completed.

Seeing that the main artillery unit of the Japanese set up the Type 94 75mm mountain gun for bombing, Huang Yongsheng took advantage of the cover of night and cleverly withdrew his company and armored platoon from the battle.

As night fell, Sato Mikichiro was completely unaware that he had fallen into a huge encirclement.

Thinking that he had encountered the absolute main force of Zhang Chi's troops, he unpreparedly stationed the regiment on Hill 33 and nearby villages, preparing to launch a decisive battle tomorrow.

The Japanese soldiers of the 146th Infantry Regiment were exhausted and fell asleep one after another, unaware that the danger of destruction was quietly approaching.

At the same time, the 2nd and 3rd Battalions of the 2nd Regiment had taken advantage of the night to detour to the south of Sato Mikichiro's Regiment along the mountains on the west side of the highway and the rainforest on the east side. Their mission was to block Mikichiro's retreat and prevent possible Japanese reinforcements.

To the north of the highway, the 1st Battalion and the Tank Battalion completed the attack formation, and the first batch of attacking troops entered the starting position under the cover of night.

The two artillery battalions and 24 John-made QF 25-pound (88mm) howitzers, which were the main force of the artillery regiment, were also released from the towing trucks and pushed into the gun positions dug overnight.

Several reconnaissance teams serving as artillery observers also carried walkie-talkies and climbed the mountains on the west side of the road overnight, ready to provide precise guidance for artillery fire at any time.

Time passed quietly, and soon it was December 18th.

The atmosphere in the temporary division headquarters 8km away from the battlefield was tense but orderly.

Zhang Chi sat calmly on the chair, his chin supported by his hands, his eyes fixed on the map.

In front of the map, the staff officers kept updating the positions of the small flags representing the enemy forces.

The communicators were like the wind, constantly coming in and out of the headquarters, bringing the latest intelligence from the battlefield.

In the communication tent next door, the sound of three field radios, one ultra-high-power long-distance radio, and six field telephones ticking non-stop could be heard, as if it were the heartbeat of the battlefield before an imminent battle.

Despite the tense atmosphere, the young orderly Xiaoqi stood behind Zhang Chi and dozed off because he could not resist the fatigue, his head nodding.

The wait before the battle is always long and anxious, but as the head of a division, Zhang Chi knows that he cannot show any negative emotions.

At this moment, more than 15,000 soldiers were looking at him.

They needed to see a calm and confident commander to keep morale high in the upcoming battle.

This is the characteristic of the White Party army at this time. As long as the supreme commander shows courageous leadership, the troops will follow the command, advance steadily, and even show amazing combat effectiveness on the battlefield, fighting the devils to the end.

This is also the reason why since the war began, a large number of senior generals at the level of division commanders and army commanders have fought alongside the soldiers on the battlefield until they were killed.

They did not choose to evacuate or escape, but lived and died with the troops, faced the enemy, and fought until the last moment.

However, Zhang Chi is also well aware of the two sides of this characteristic.

Once the supreme commander loses his mind and takes the lead in becoming a "flying general", tens of thousands of troops will scatter in an instant.

After taking a sip of the strong tea that had already cooled down, Zhang Chi, who had been up all night, smacked his lips.

Feeling a little tired, he suddenly wanted to follow the example of his predecessors at Huangpu and make some snacks like fried soybeans and peanuts to relieve his anxiety.

Chief of Staff Tan Zhijie, who was very busy, was furious when he saw his division commander's calm and idle look.

"Hey, Commander, the attack is only a few hours away, aren't you worried at all?"

Zhang Chi chuckled and waved his hand:

“担心什么？炮团24门88mm榴弹炮12门75mm山炮，坦克团12门105mm榴弹炮24门75mm短管炮，步兵2团上下近40门迫击炮，我担心这么多大炮轰不死鬼子？这鬼子难道是变形金刚？”

Tan Zhijie nodded. Although he didn't know what the Transformers the division commander was talking about were, he was still clear about the battlefield dominance of 72 large-caliber artillery pieces. This was equivalent to the firepower of several domestic group armies. What problem could there be in concentrating them together to fight against a mere 3000 Japanese devils?

(The Jin faction, which had the Taiyuan Arsenal at its peak, had only two 150mm howitzers, a dozen 105mm howitzers, and dozens of 88mm field guns.)

After all, it was Tan Zhijie himself who was too concerned.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but sigh in his heart.

He just couldn't understand. Master Zhang Chi, his junior fellow apprentice, was a few years younger than him, so how could he be so calm and composed at such a young age, as if he had fought in countless battles involving hundreds of thousands of troops?

However, what he didn't know was that Zhang Chi, who was drinking water while doing tactical exercises, was actually unsure of himself. After all, it was his first time personally commanding such a large-scale operation.

As a time traveler, although Zhang Chi has read countless war history materials and played many war strategy games such as "Hearts of Iron", these virtual experiences are far from the real war command.

(The amount of war history materials read on the Internet by modern people is much greater than what the average military officer of that era read.)

It was with the assistance of the staff team led by Tan Zhijie that Zhang Chi's major orders were broken down and split into complex tactical instructions, which were then issued to the troops in turn, allowing Zhang Chi to appear calm on this battlefield.

Zhang Chi was so nervous that he didn't even realize that the water cup in his hand was already empty, and he was still swallowing into the air.

Putting down the water cup, Zhang Chi, realizing that he still had a lot of shortcomings, picked up an English version of "Infantry Attack" and began to study eagerly.

At this time, there were still 1 hour and 43 minutes before the general offensive was launched.