Canteen System Assistance Notes

"Fuel on hand... how much of this is in transit, how much is in storage, and how much is readily available for transport by each unit? Automobilines and tanks are fuel-hungry machines. I don't know the real situation. How can I ensure the smooth progress of the troops?"

"Are you also going to gamble that the enemy will collapse under our offensive? This isn't the 12th year of the Showa era, and our army doesn't have that many troops! Kuso!" "Rewrite the report, call me! I want these squadron leaders to pack their bags and go home!" He angrily issued new orders, "And..."

At that moment, a distant explosion erupted from outside the command post—a towering fireball from a gas explosion lit up the sky. "Remove the bridge crew and engineers from tomorrow's scheduled attack sequence and prepare to build bridges along the retreat route!"

"What do you mean by evacuating as quickly as possible, jumping out of the perimeter, preparing for guerrilla warfare, and protecting important institutions?"

Outside of Hebei Province, at the North China Front Command, Peng Shichuan, who was checking his mouth and frowning, also lost his temper. He threw the telegram on the table: "Beiyue, southern Hebei, the Hebei-Shandong border... How can the Japanese spread such a large pie? Yun Zhen's troops are not enough, what about Okamura Yasuji's troops? How many people are left on the outer lines of the Japanese?"

"The enemy's main attack direction has long been clear: it's central Hebei!"

He raised his chin slightly and issued an order: "Prepare to send a message to Beiyue, Taihang, southern Hebei, the border areas of Hebei and Shandong... and eastern Hebei! Isn't this little devil trying to muddy the pond and catch fish? Fine, let's turn it upside down!"

Chapter 441: Dawn Has Broken (⑴) Feathers Come from the West

"Detonate——!"

Wang Tiechui blew his whistle, and a soldier suddenly pressed the detonator lever. Instantly, the explosives placed on both sides of the evacuation trench east of Wucui Village were triggered by the electric signal, blasting the shallow earth and rocks out like a disaster bomb. The trench, half a man deep and wide enough for a horse to run, collapsed in half, knocking several Japanese soldiers to the ground.

Another soldier at the corner kicked away a supporting wooden stake, and several wooden beams wrapped with razor wire on both sides of the Anti-Japanese Trench rolled into the ditch under the action of gravity.

It became a bunker that blocked the passage.

Wang Tiechui leaned halfway out, squeezed the trigger of his Red October submachine gun, and emptied the 35-round magazine. The two Japanese soldiers in front of him, whose charge had been blocked by the enemy, were then met with a barrage of fire, and were immediately thrown to the ground. Another soldier raised his hand and hurled a grenade across the tunnel, exploding into a cloud of dust.

“Retreat! Retreat!”

Wang Tiechui shouted. In just a few minutes, the distinctive sound of grenades could be heard around the corner of the tunnel being fought over. The grenades began to fall almost directly onto the rearguard's buttocks, forcing them back.

But in the end, they held on in this round of attack.

After the offensive was repelled that afternoon, the Japanese army remained silent for the night. That night, Wang Tiechui seemed to hear the sound of explosions in the direction of the Japanese position, but because the distance was too far, he did not see anything.

But when the sun rose from the east, the annoying balloon did not rise. But at the same time, the Japanese offensive more than doubled in strength!

They attacked like crazy, even more so than before. Losing their ability to react quickly and suppressing fire, the 105mm and 75mm mountain guns seemed determined to expend their remaining ammunition. They launched an hour-long artillery firestorm against the Wucuizhuang positions and Changru Village, raining over 300 rounds on the two villages, practically wiping out their ground positions.

Afterwards, there were continuous frontal infantry attacks and flanking cavalry raids. Although those pesky tanks had largely disappeared, the Japanese, still focusing on their traditional tactics, remained extremely threatening in their squadron-level assaults. Having only replenished ammunition and evacuated a few wounded during the night, the Wucuizhuang position withstood two consecutive waves of assaults and repelled a cavalry flanking attack.

Then, the front-line positions, which had been suffering increasing casualties, were finally breached by the third wave of attacks. In an instant, the Japanese army crossed the first line of defense, which could no longer be called a trench, and rushed into the second anti-Japanese trench, where they engaged in close hand-to-hand combat with Wang Tiechui and his men.

Under extreme pressure, the Wucuizhuang blocking position finally gave way and was forced to abandon. Fortunately, reinforcements from the rear arrived in time, and with Battalion Commander Wang Tiechui personally leading the rearguard, the troops were able to evacuate through the communication trench in time. "After the First Company of the Second Battalion retreats to the Hezhuang position, they will inform the garrison troops of the situation. You will take command of the defense first."

Wang Tiechui, dusty and ragged, found the instructor of the 1st Company, 2nd Battalion, 30th Regiment in Jizhong, who was leading the team backwards. He gave him a simple order, "There's only one militia company from Madian Town over there, with only a few machine guns. The special forces battalion will cover the rear—no problem?"

"No problem," the instructor, still a bit bookish, nodded in response. His head was bandaged, dark blood stains visible. He clutched a box gun and turned to run back to the formation, rapidly giving orders to the platoon leader and acting platoon leader.

In the continuous high-intensity battles, the 1st Company of the 2nd Battalion of the 30th Regiment, which was at the forefront, had shrunk by nearly half, and the company commander was unable to continue commanding due to injuries. Under such circumstances, it was a miracle that the troops could still maintain their strength without collapsing, but they still maintained their combat effectiveness and struggled to hold on.

But this was a battlefield, and no one would sympathize with their difficulties, let alone show any mercy or preferential treatment. With a quick whistle, the soldier at the end of the line loudly reported the new enemy situation. "The Japs are coming again! Over a hundred of them!

"Four... no, seven, eight tanks! And planes!"

What the hell… Wang Tiechui whipped his head around. Sure enough, the Japanese figures and the iconic silhouettes of tanks appeared again on the western front. This time, the Japanese attack wave wasn't a coordinated infantry-artillery assault like the previous one, but once again comprised tanks and infantry. Their speed wasn't fast. At a distance of nearly a kilometer, the Japanese bypassed the already devastated Wucui Village, gathered up the fleeing troops, and continued their attack.

Even though these tanks no longer had the tall and narrow shadow of the Type 97, the eight Type 95s and the "bean machine gun vehicles", mixed with the planes that were like flies in the sky and the one hundred or so infantry on the ground, were enough to deal a devastating blow to their side!

This is already the fourth wave. Did the Japanese send out a large battalion to attack our side, which has only 3 companies? Damn, it's quite grand.

Wang Tiechui felt that this was absurd and he let out a breath of foul air:

"From the First Company of the Second Battalion of the 30th Regiment! The retreat plan remains unchanged. After reaching the Hezhuang Village position, form a second line of defense with the militia company! From the Special Forces Battalion, everyone is here!"

The troops were retreating, and someone was needed to cover their retreat. Their anti-tank weapons were nearly completely lost, and the troops had been reduced by over 20%. Battalion Political Commissar Lei Zhende was wounded, and artillery company commander Lu Haotian had been killed... The guard platoon of the newly formed Jizhong Military Region Special Operations Battalion and the first company of the first battalion halted their retreat and began setting up a defensive line along the traffic trenches that led to all four directions.

They stretched a thin, dark green line, stained with dust, dirt, and blood, across the soon-to-ripen wheat fields swaying in the wind, and deployed their formation against the surging Japanese front line. In this plain, on the verge of summer harvest, representing abundance and hope, their figures were both frail and indestructible.

"Special Forces Battalion! Prepare for air raids!

"Show those little devils what an unbreakable Great Wall of Steel is!"

The first to arrive were four Type 97 reconnaissance aircraft, loaded with bombs. These vanguards of the invasion of China flew very low, first circling the position before splitting into two groups. Unaware of the Eighth Route Army's hidden anti-aircraft firepower below, these single-winged demons dared not fly low to strafe, but instead dropped eight bombs around the traffic trench. These bombs didn't explode, but instead made a muffled sound upon landing and began to emit a stream of white smoke.

"The Japs' poison gas! Gas masks!"

Before the poison gas approached, the soldiers of the special forces battalion donned their gas masks, equipped with check valves and anti-gas canisters. Immediately, with a few coughs, their breathing became heavy, their vision was restricted, and the distant Japanese soldiers, hunched over and wearing pig-nose masks, looked even more ridiculous.

The battlefield fell unexpectedly quiet, leaving only the sound of the wind, the clatter of tank tracks, and his own breathing. The modified fire-integrated gas filter canister began to heat up, and Wang Tiechui felt the air he breathed into his lungs tinged with the faint smell of burning sweat. "Battalion Commander! Battalion Commander! Battalion Commander!"

It sounded like someone was shouting next to his ear, but it was so far away that he didn't know if his hearing was damaged or if the gas mask was blocking the sound. Wang Tiechui turned around and it took him a while to realize that the little kid carrying a rifle and holding a fluorescent screen was his communications soldier Guo Shun.

"Speak." He didn't want to waste any more words, as the Japanese were about to come up.

"Look at this!" There was a long 17-digit string on the display in Guo Shun's hand.

KJY70194105210001X? What?

"Handshake verification code! Battalion Commander!" Even through two layers of masks, Wang Tiechui could still feel Guo Shun crying with joy. "Battalion Commander, communication verification code!" "Air Force! Air Force! Our Air Force!"

Further west on the battlefield, higher in the sky, rows and rows of even more "big birds" leaped from the clouds. Their aluminum wings pierced the skies of Shanxi Province, cutting through the battle clouds of Hebei Province, and bearing the red star and Chinese characters on their aircraft emblems and blue and white tail identification strips, they rushed towards them.

Chapter 442: Dawn Has Broken (⑵) The Final Madness

"This is 'Babel Tower 01'."

After the handshake, Guo Shun's radio automatically switched frequencies and channels. In the reserved voice mode, a young voice called out. Through the distorted transmission of the radio circuit, Guo Fan could hear his tone was calm and confident.

"Babel 05, let's go together, two teams, and take out those annoying mosquitoes first. Pyramid, please control your anti-aircraft fire to prevent accidental hits."

The reconnaissance planes, eager to strafe the Anti-Japanese Trench, were like mice caught by a cat, or fish caught by a fisherman. They immediately lowered their wings in fear and pretended to flee into the distance. Meanwhile, the fighters, which had the advantage in altitude and performance, broke away from the formation and swooped down from the sky like birds of prey, attacking in a two-on-one pattern. Amidst the increasingly ferocious engine roar, Wang Tiechui spotted eight beautiful sand-colored figures.

At the same time, the fleet in the sky was still approaching, and another young voice was heard again in the voice chat.

"Taj Mahal n calling Pyramid, Taj Mahal 01 calling Pyramid, our 8 aircraft are approaching the battlefield. Please mark our positions in a recognizable manner. Please mark our positions in a recognizable manner. Please reply if you receive this. Please reply if you receive this." "Tower of Babel" is an F4F Wildcat fighter, and "Taj Mahal" is an SB2U Guardian attack aircraft!

"Taj Mahal 01, this is the Pyramid. Our troops are in Anti-Japanese Trench No. 3 between the Wucui Village and Hezhuang Village positions, deploying along a north-south line! Approximately 800 meters west of our position is the enemy's attack line!"

Guo Shun pressed the intercom against his throat, straining to discern the slowly advancing Japanese troops amidst the hazy toxic gas. The four remaining 10mm mortars in the "long-range artillery group" fired a few salvos before going silent. Not only did they have to protect the retreating Changru Village positions, but in the previous day's artillery engagement, the 100mm mortars, due to their lack of range, had been continuously suppressed by the Japanese 105mm howitzers. Not only had they lost eight guns, but an ammunition dump had also been destroyed, leaving each gun with very little ammunition left.

"Taj Mahal! The Japs are coming!"

"Pyramid, calm down! I can't see your exact location from the sky!" SB2U in the sky maintained a calm tone, "Can you fire a smoke bomb into the enemy's position? Tell me what color it is!" "No problem, we..."

Guo Shun froze in his tracks the moment he finished speaking. The special forces battalion had lost all its barreled artillery, and even its few Turtle Fist launchers were gone. How could they launch smoke bombs into the enemy lines 800 meters away? And if they got too close, the planes would bomb their own people!

and many more!

"We have signal sticks here! Red smoke screen..."

Then, Guo Shun felt his backpack lighten, as if something had been taken away. He turned around and saw that the two signal sticks he used to indicate targets at night had been taken away. "Guo Shun, keep in touch—west of the red smoke screen are all Japanese soldiers!"

Wang Tiechui passed through the white suffocating poison gas and rushed out of the Anti-Japanese Trench.

He grabbed the fuse of the signal stick, and with two hisses, a bright calcium-containing flame surged out from one end of the signal stick, bringing out thick red smoke. He held the signal stick high and ran wildly along the field behind the position, among the wheat fields that were about to be harvested, like a red meteor, pulling out a red smoke belt that looked like a real thing.

Finally, Wang Tiechui stopped and raised his signal sticks above his head, crossing them in a cross, toward the western sky. Without thinking twice, he shouted hoarsely, "In this—in this—li—!"

"Pyramid, I see you, I see you! Red smoke screen identified! Repeat, 50 meters west of the north-south mark is the end line of attack. Anything further west is the enemy! Taj Mahal, lead the team, coordinate with your wingmen, and attack freely!"

To be honest, this SB2U attack aircraft, which originated from a French order, was not an excellent military product. Its frame fuselage, made of aluminum in front and fabric in the back, was far less sturdy than its successor, the "Dreadnought". Its maximum speed of only 391 kilometers per hour made it unable to keep up with the Wildcats taking off from the Luliang base.

However, the Guardian, capable of carrying a 1000-pound missile and two 4-round rocket pods, was a devastating iron fist capable of destroying the heavens and the earth in the North China battlefield, where air superiority was paramount.

Previously, some of them had bombed the oil depot at the Japanese airport in Shimen and attacked the Japanese convoy transporting troops on the Wuji-Shenzhe Highway. The onboard ammunition was not fully loaded, but with an order, these fighter planes that had moved from the border area to Luliang and traveled nearly a thousand kilometers to the Ji Zhong base area disbanded their formation and began to launch a fierce attack on the Japanese troops on the ground.

The 82mm rocket pod under the wing fired a barrage of 8 rounds, and the armor-piercing warheads that rushed in instantly blew up the 95 light tank that was accelerating; several 250kg high-explosive bombs (long-range configuration) were dropped horizontally, creating several large pits on the ground in an instant, and vaporized two stupid ultra-light tanks; when the plane pulled up, the rear machine gunner of the "Guardian" also operated the modified SKAAS machine gun, fiercely firing at the Japanese troops on the ground.

Soon, the Wildcats who had shot down four reconnaissance planes circled back and had firmly secured air supremacy. Unwilling to be mere spectators, the Wildcats, coordinated by radio, formed a circular attack formation and began to use their onboard .50 machine guns to fire at any valuable targets: the surviving light tanks, the densely packed Japanese infantry, and the artillery positions behind the battle line.

For a moment, the Japanese attack waves shone with golden light, and pillars of earth flew everywhere, physically disintegrating many Japanese soldiers in an instant. His Majesty, the Japanese soldiers had never enjoyed such treatment on a regular battlefield!

But the Japanese charge still did not collapse!

The mixed brigade, representing the most elite force of the entire North China Front Army, erupted in frenzy. Following the officer's command, all the surviving Japanese soldiers straightened their bodies and began to charge forward at full speed. The last few tanks that had survived the disaster also charged towards the Special Forces Battalion's defenses at full speed!

"Don't hide, open fire! The Japs are trying to get closer to us!"

Wang Tiechui stuck the signal stick into the ground and rushed back to the trench. These little devils were truly the elite of the elite. They still dared to charge! He picked up his submachine gun, inserted a new magazine, and then filled the pistol magazine with bullets.

"Comrades! This is the last wave of the devils!"

Even though madness can bring strength, it is still just a jackal - a jackal cannot defeat a hunter!

However, it seemed fate was not going to give Wang Tiechui and the special forces battalion another chance to shine. In Hezhuang Village, the rear of the anti-Japanese war, and even on the main battlefield, signal flares were lit: green, green, green. Three green flares rose into the sky and then slowly descended in a parabola.

This means reinforcements have arrived!

New faces began to appear in the traffic trench, one by one, in groups of two. These soldiers were dressed in different clothes: some in military uniforms, some in civilian clothes, and some in police uniforms. Wang Tiechui was startled before he realized who they were. "Comrade! We are the Suning County Public Security Armed Work Team, and we are here with the county militia to support us!"

"We are the reconnaissance company of the Hejian Public Security Bureau. We are coming from the east with our rear-end guns, and our comrades are coming from the north to outflank the Japanese!"

"Don't worry, Captain Wang! The Japanese are retreating on all fronts!"

A steady stream of people came from behind the front line. Under the guidance of the 30th Regiment and the militia, they entered the position and set up the recoilless rifles and heavy machine guns that had been transferred to them. Further away on the battlefield, a group of cavalry was bypassing ditches and bumps and charging towards the flank of the Japanese.

"Special Forces Battalion, everyone, get ready!" Wang Tiechui blew his whistle and gave orders, but a sudden surge of fatigue almost overwhelmed him. He suddenly felt as if a muscle had been pulled out of him, all his strength vanished, his legs trembling, and he could only slump to the ground, unable to stand up.

"As soon as the artillery stops, we will counterattack!"

Half asleep, Wang Tiechui heard the familiar whistle of the M1 mountain cannon overhead, the explosion of falling shells and the recoilless rifles creating a wall of fire, and the grumbling of heavy machine guns, creating an impenetrable web of fire. He felt the breeze from the passing crowd, like the gentle caress of morning glow brushing his cheek.

Chapter 443: Dawn Has Broken (3) Attacking and Defending Change

For the Japanese army, victory came quickly and went away quickly.

Since the troops launched their advance from Zhengding, the Special Mixed Brigade, which had been advancing rapidly, enjoyed only two days of consecutive victories before it ran into the Madian Town defense line defended by Wang Tiechui and his men, and its progress was halted. However, compared to other troops, their experience was relatively fortunate.

In Hengshui and the southern Hebei front line, the 32nd Division, which was responsible for the main attack, faced a divisional force scattered in the core areas of Anping, Raoyang, Shenxian and Wuqiang, and fell into a strange state of weakness. Although they concentrated their firepower to capture Shenxian, they only got an empty city. Afterwards, they tried to continue attacking Raoyang and Wuqiang areas more than 30 kilometers apart, but the attacking force was unable to break through the second city defense due to continuous weakening. The remaining troops faced a difficult defense against our army that regrouped to counterattack, and finally could only be trapped in one place and unable to move.

The 27th Division, already deployed for six months, faced an even more tragic situation. They had originally planned to attack Xian County, then cross the Chengyang River to support the 32nd Division. However, the Japanese soldiers, constantly engaged in combat without rest, found the heavy workload difficult to bear. Our troops in Xian County engaged the Japanese in a frank artillery exchange. Lacking armored cover such as tanks and motorized support, the 27th Division ran out of ammunition after just two rounds of effective fire and ultimately remained frozen, staring blankly at our troops.

As for the eastern side of the battle line, a part of the 110th Division, which arrived in Ding County from Shimen and attacked northeast along the junction of Zhulong River and Tang River, made steady progress, destroyed several villages along the way, and even burned down a clothing factory of our army. However, as it captured Anguo County, a part of the 110th Division, which had to use firepower to clear the way, encountered a shortage of ammunition. As the logistics and baggage troops were constantly attacked by the infiltrating troops,

Two Japanese regiments even took Boye County, 15 kilometers away.

There was no way out - this unfortunate situation also happened to the Japanese 57th Division (formerly the 8th Independent Mixed Division) which attacked from west to east.

It can be said that as the commander who initiated the entire battle, all of Okamura Yasuji's hopes were placed on the "fatal blow" of the Special Mixed Brigade. He expected this force to penetrate the soft underbelly of the Hebei-Central Military Region, penetrate the "heart of the Hebei-Central base area", and then trigger a complete collapse of the base area - perhaps he subconsciously understood that without that super-standard "Special Mixed Brigade", the Japanese army would have been unable to win in such a comprehensive encirclement and suppression with only the strength of a few divisions.

With unimaginable courage, sacrifice and tenacity, the soldiers and civilians in Hebei Province finally stopped the Japanese offensive in this "Hebei Heart-piercing Battle" that far exceeded the historical scale.

Defeated a more powerful enemy.

In this process, the defeat of the "Special Mixed Brigade" that had been placed with great hope became an opportunity for the Japanese army to retreat, and the roaring "Wildcat" and "Guardian" became the last straw that broke the camel's back. A big and heavy "straw".

2个中队共24架的F4F和1个中队12架的S82U所做的，并不止在马店镇的防御阵地上空进行了一轮密接支援”。这个酷似海航攻击波的机队在从战场最西侧进入冀中的时候，首先袭击了目标最大的石门机场。

Considering that aircraft weren't particularly runway-dependent at the time, the Wildcat Squadron, codenamed "Eiffel," first suppressed the ridiculous six 13.2mm anti-aircraft machine guns with onboard rockets, then guided a group of four SB2 attack aircraft to destroy the Japanese fuel storage drums. Thus, after the Eighth Route Army bombed its ammunition depot in 1938 and captured its pilots, Shimen Daguocun Airport once again became the brightest star.

Then, the "Eiffel" and "Babel" squadrons, which were attacking with ground suppression equipment, drove their Wildcats and led the "Taj Mahal" squadron along the road from Zhengding to the east, attacking the Japanese army's baggage truck supply team, the puppet army's human and animal transport team, and the charging Japanese army formation.

After the final reinforcements arrived and launched a counterattack against the Japanese, the air force poured all their remaining ammunition into a prominent 105mm howitzer position behind the battle lines. In just over ten minutes, the immobile Type 91 howitzers were being bombarded while they were being withdrawn. The previously unreleased bombs and rockets were fired at all twelve guns until one of the vehicles transporting the guns exploded, sending a small mushroom cloud into the sky. Only then did they stop.

From another perspective, however, the Eighth Route Army pilots in this attack did make a minor mistake. Coming from the Army, they were overly excited when they captured the heavy artillery position and fired all their ammunition in one go. As a result, when they later discovered that the Japanese had pre-built a pontoon bridge across the Zhulong River, the entire attack formation ran out of ammunition to fire a few rounds.

The meticulous thinker Tadamichi Kuribayashi was ultimately worthy of being the best chief of staff of the Japanese army. His practice of removing engineers and pontoon soldiers from the attack sequence in advance retained enough strength for the Japanese army and gave them ample time to prepare for retreat.

According to the Japanese army's previous battle plan, after breaking through the narrow "throat" of Madian Town, the pontoon troops of the Special Mixed Brigade will build a bridge over the Zhulong River or Taotuo River, and after joining forces with the 110th Division or the 32nd Division, they will rush into the core area of ​​the Hebei-Central Base Area together. Now the 32nd Division has been attacking for a long time without a decision, and is still far from the Lituo River. At least part of the 110th Division, which has occupied the Anguo area, has changed from a coordinating attack party to a retreating support party.

After the all-out assault, the cavalry of the Special Mixed Brigade, led by Major General Sakuma Hitoshi, who roared, "Let me go, I can still fight," turned around and ran away on horseback. To speed up the movement, they abandoned the artillery and baggage that had not been evacuated in time, abandoned many trucks that needed repairs, and only took the cavalry and Mazda (three-wheeled motorcycles). After stuffing the rest of the people into the motorbikes, they rushed 15 kilometers all the way.

Quickly crossed the pontoon bridge - then, watching the Communist troops lightly explode

The machine gun followed the cavalry all the way to the ferry. Kuribayashi Tadamichi decisively detonated the pontoon bridge that had no time to be withdrawn, and led his team into the defense circle of the 110th Division.

At the same time, Kuribayashi Tadamichi sent a telegram to all remaining troops and supply personnel, urging them to abandon their missions immediately and evacuate to Japanese-controlled territory as planned. As for the puppet army lackeys who were following suit, preparing to thoroughly sweep the base area—sorry, you insects are not part of the Chief of Staff's plans. Find your own way.

After shaking off their burdens, this group of mobile Japanese soldiers ran so fast that the Ji-Central Military Region, which squeezed out its last bit of strength to fight back, could not catch up with them.

The Japanese 110th Division suffered relatively modest losses. After accepting the remnants of Kuribayashi Tadamichi and Sakuma Hitoshi, its two attacking regiments combined into two clusters that were difficult for our army to capture in one fell swoop, covering each other as they retreated towards Pinghanrong. The 32nd and 57th Divisions were also quite agile, immediately abandoning their seesaw offensive, leaving behind their strongest and most unpopular divisions to cover the rear, and then began an organized retreat. Under these circumstances, the losses of each division were not too great, fluctuating around the level of just over a thousand men.

The 27th Division of the North China General Reserve was not going to have an easy time. They had been deployed outside for more than half a year and wanted to end the staring contest and retreat, but they were stopped by the Jizhong

The 1st Division saw through the attack. The latter bravely launched a counterattack against an entire division, fiercely attacking the Japanese rearguard battalion. This onslaught, where the enemy was stronger than ours, had an unexpected effect. The exhausted and ammunition-starved 27th Division was stunned by the sudden attack and collapsed. Not only was the rearguard battalion surrounded and annihilated, but our troops pursued the Japanese all the way from Xian County to Huai County.

As for the highly anticipated Special Mixed Brigade—now they were left with only half an infantry battalion, a cavalry mobile battalion, most of an engineering regiment, half a logistics regiment, and half a search regiment. Having lost nearly all their artillery and armored vehicles, and more than half their trucks, they were like a toothless tiger, no longer capable of ferocity.

"So the preliminary estimate of our losses is approximately 7800?"

Okamura Neiji slumped down in his newly bought armchair, his voice trembling as he asked. He covered his eyes with his hands, tilting his head back to avoid looking at the Deputy Chief of Staff, Arimi Seizo, who walked in. "The Special Mixed Brigade was completely destroyed, is that right?"

"Yes, sir. Although Mr. Sakuma of the Task Force reported a great victory, the message sent by his Chief of Staff, Mr. Kuribayashi, was quite accurate." Yumi Jingsan carefully chose his words and continued, "Sir, the figure of 7800 is the current figure. We cannot rule out the possibility of adjustments as statistics become more complete."