Chapter 96 Retaking White Tiger Ridge The Japanese command headquarters in Linyuan County. The Linyuan County commander, Katsumi Miyashita, who had just taken office for three months, learned that the Lizhuang stronghold was captured by the Eighth Route Army in less than half an hour. Almost instantly, it was understood that the Eighth Route Army troops that had killed two generals of the Locust Army had returned to Linyuan County. "Quick, send a telegram to Captain Nobi Eiki at Baihu Ridge, and tell him to hold Baihu Ridge. Report this to the brigade immediately and request support from Major General Hattori!" "Order the other three strongholds to take all the Locust Alliance troops back to Linyuan County and not to stay in the strongholds!" "Mr. Lieutenant Colonel, why should we abandon the outer strongholds? If we have the outer strongholds, we can also consume the Eighth Route Army's strength if they want to attack Linyuan County." “Mr. Xiao Cang, since this Eighth Route Army unit was able to capture the Lizhuang stronghold in just half an hour, they must be able to capture other strongholds within half an hour. The locust soldiers who stayed in the stronghold were simply sending themselves to die in vain." Katsumi Miyashita listened to his adjutant's confusion and began to explain.
"Also, Miyashita-kun, have all the Locust Alliance troops responsible for the outer defense line to resist the Eighth Route Army, and withdraw all the Locust troops to the second defense line." "If those Locust Alliance soldiers dare to betray the Locust Army, immediately order the warriors to shoot and kill those Locust Alliance soldiers!" "Hi!" …… After the battle plan was issued, Qin Yangming immediately led the vanguard battalion to the outskirts of Baihu Ridge while it was still daylight. The Japanese soldiers on Baihu Ridge wanted to learn from Qin Yangming to carry out long-range artillery interference with the troops. However, when Qin Yangming and the vanguard battalion arrived at Baihu Ridge, it was already night, and the Japanese soldiers on Baihu Ridge could not see clearly what was happening in the distance. However, seeing that the Eighth Route Army did not launch an attack immediately, the Japanese soldiers on Baihu Ridge thought that the Eighth Route Army was preparing to wait until early morning or daybreak to launch an attack. If we attack at night, we won’t be able to see clearly what’s happening on Baihu Ridge. Baihu Ridge, the former headquarters of the Vanguard Battalion, has now been occupied by Nobi Eiki and has become his headquarters. Nobi Ronggui kept walking back and forth in the room, thinking about how the Eighth Route Army was going to attack Baihu Ridge. He had only 400 men, most of whom were new recruits just transferred from the country, and they were only enough to defend the canyon area. Once the Eighth Route Army broke through the canyon defense line, his 400 men would not be able to stop the Eighth Route Army from attacking from three directions at the same time. “Nobi-sama, I don’t think you need to worry so much. When the Eighth Route Army was responsible for guarding Baihu Ridge, the Locust Army dispatched a brigade to attack Baihu Ridge, but the Locust Army failed to capture Baihu Ridge. " "That's a field army, the empire's elite. From this, we can infer how easy it is to defend White Tiger Ridge." "According to intelligence, the Eighth Route Army only had one battalion guarding Baihu Ridge. A battalion of the Eighth Route Army has a maximum of 500 soldiers." "Based on the combat effectiveness of the Great Japanese Locust Army, our 400 warriors will definitely be able to defend Baihu Ridge!" Yebi Ronggui listened to the statement of a team leader of his subordinates, and his heart was still full of worries: "You can't say that, the Eighth Route Army has been operating on Baihu Ridge for a long time.
We discovered quite a few tunnels, and although many of them were blown up, no one knows if there are any more tunnels in other places. If the Eighth Route Army enters the White Tiger Ridge through the tunnel, we will be attacked from both sides." Baihu Ridge is indeed easy to defend and difficult to attack, but that is a frontal attack. If an attack is launched from within Baihu Ridge, then Baihu Ridge will be easy to attack but difficult to defend. As long as the main peak position of Baihu Ridge is occupied, the artillery can fire shells to any area of Baihu Ridge. In other areas, artillery shells could not reach the main peak position of Baihuling due to the elevation angle of the artillery. In fact, just as Nobi Ronggui thought, Qin Yangming had already dug a large number of tunnels under Baihu Ridge. Many of the tunnels even have tunnels within them. If you enter the tunnel at random without a route map, you might get lost in the tunnel network below Baihu Ridge. Nobi Eiki just wanted to find out the tunnel network under Baihu Ridge and then make use of it. After ten Japanese soldiers disappeared, Nobi Eiki gave up the idea of drawing a tunnel map and instead blew up the tunnels. On a hill one kilometer away from Baihu Ridge, Qin Yangming led Duan Peng and others to climb the hill, looking at Baihu Ridge with sporadic flashes of fire in the distance. "Duan Peng, estimate how long it will take you to get to the main peak from this tunnel?" Duan Peng looked at the entrance of the tunnel that had just been dug below, and quickly recalled the length of the tunnel in his mind. "Battalion Commander, in one hour, I can lead the assault platoon to the main peak position in one hour." Qin Yangming listened to Duan Peng and nodded: "Well, I'll give you another half an hour. After you and Wang Erniu arrive at the main peak position, build the position as quickly as possible." "I will launch the attack in ten minutes after an hour. At that time, you will be responsible for finding the Japanese artillery positions on top and then blowing up their artillery positions." "Yes!" After Qin Yangming had a conversation with Duan Peng, he watched Duan Peng and a team of assault platoon soldiers carrying mortars and artillery shells into the tunnel, and then hurried back to the location of the main force. "Li Erhu, fire the flares in an hour. I want the entire Baihu Ridge to become daytime!" "After the artillery company fires flares, quickly launch an artillery attack on the predetermined coordinates." "First Company, Second Company, prepare to enter the tunnel and attack from behind!" "The third company launched a feint attack from the side of the canyon." "The Fourth Company is preparing to block the Japanese reinforcements from the direction of Shiquan County." "The fifth company is preparing to enter White Tiger Ridge from the tunnel below the canyon." "The Sixth Company will serve as the reserve force. Everyone go down and get ready!" "Yes!" After Qin Yangming gave the order, the troops deployed quickly. Li Erhu quickly took people to build an artillery position. "82 mortars prepare flares and get ready to fire."
"The mountain artillery is ready to fire according to the predetermined coordinates." An hour is very long if you think it is long, but it is also very short if you think it is short. Duan Peng moved quickly in the tunnel and soon reached the end of the tunnel. "Old Wang, I leave it to you. Be careful and don't bury us all in the tunnel." Duan Peng looked at the earth wall in front of him and spoke to Wang Erniu in a low voice. Wang Erniu chuckled: "Duan Peng, don't worry, this tunnel has been reinforced with cement, it won't collapse that easily. Besides, the top is only about one meter thick, even if it collapses, we can dig it out." Wang Erniu took out the explosives and began to place them in the holes that had been prepared in the earth wall, preparing to blow up the earth wall. That’s right, not all the tunnels that Qin Yangming had people dig were dug through. Many of the tunnels have only one entrance and no exit, and the exit area is reinforced with cement mixed with iron wire. If you need to use this tunnel, you only need to prepare explosives or a pickaxe to open the exit. Duan Peng listened to Wang Erniu's words, looked at the explosives placed on the wall, thought about it, and then returned to a tunnel below and covered his ears. Wang Erniu looked at Duan Peng's actions and shook his head: "It's just less than half a pound of explosives, what are you afraid of?" Looking at the time, Wang Erniu lit the fuse and quickly retreated to an open place. Almost at the same time as the explosives exploded, several flares emitting dazzling white light were shot into the sky. At the same time, Li Erhu's mountain artillery company began to bombard Baihuling according to the predetermined plan. Nobi Eiki, who had just rested, was also awakened by the roar of artillery. "Baga, the Eighth Route Army actually launched a night attack!" "Order the artillery to immediately find the Eighth Route Army's artillery positions and destroy their artillery!" "Sir, the Eighth Route Army's flares are all fired over Baihu Ridge. Our artillery can't find the Eighth Route Army's artillery positions and can't fight back." "Then let our artillery fire flares at the Eighth Route Army!" "Sir, that won't work. The Eighth Route Army is attacking from three directions, and we don't have that many flares." "Sir, the Eighth Route Army has appeared at the artillery position on the main peak of Baihu Ridge!" "what?!" "Why did the Eighth Route Army appear on the main peak?" “Hasn’t the main peak been inspected? Is there no truth at all? ! " When Nobi Ronggui heard the soldiers report that the Eighth Route Army had appeared at the artillery position on the main peak, he quickly ordered the troops to find a way to retake the main peak position. (End of this chapter)