The Japanese soldiers of the Yamashita Kotota squadron all saw the firing point occupied by the Ono Haruto machine gunner being destroyed.

Although when it existed, it didn't have much impact on the entire squadron's operations, its symbolic meaning far outweighed its practical significance.

Now that this machine gun position has been destroyed, the entire Yamashita Kotota squadron has only one machine gun firing point still firing.

Sergeant Miyazawa Rokuro, who is now operating this heavy machine gun, has become the squadron's last bastion of defense.

The position it occupies is excellent, with a huge rock in front of it, so large that the Special Operations Brigade on the mountaintop definitely cannot penetrate it with artillery shells.

This also caused more than a dozen Japanese soldiers to gather around Sergeant Miyazawa Rokuro.

They relied on this rock, occasionally poking their heads out to fire a few shots, confirming that they were still fighting.

Although such combat would never reach the top of Zhujia Chong.

But what else could the Yamashita Kotota squadron do now?

The entire squadron was suppressed by the First Company's firepower and could not get up at all.

Captain Yamashita Kotota was still anxiously searching for a way, hoping to find a route that would allow the team to reach the top unscathed or with minimal casualties.

As the saying goes, fortune favors the diligent. Although he didn't find an existing path, he did find a few better stepping stones for advancement.

Captain Yamashita Kotota pointed to a depression a dozen meters ahead and ordered, "Sergeant Amano Ryota, you will immediately take a machine gun to the front and establish a position.

Sergeant Yoshitaka Kazuma, you will immediately advance with a machine gun to a position thirty meters ahead and establish a position.

Sergeant Uchiyama Taro, you will immediately advance with a machine gun to a position fifty meters ahead and establish a position.

All other machine guns, grenade launchers, and infantry will provide fire cover."

From the mountaintop, First Company Commander Zhen Jianshu suddenly noticed that the Japanese firepower had increased, and then saw several groups of Japanese soldiers rushing out of their hiding places, sometimes crawling forward, sometimes jumping up and rushing out a few steps.

Obviously, these Japanese soldiers were all highly skilled in combat. They moved in a serpentine manner, perfectly avoiding the First Company's powerful firepower network.

The Japanese soldier who rushed the furthest had actually advanced fifty meters.

"This group of Japanese soldiers have decent combat skills!" Company Commander Zhen commented.

Sergeant Uchiyama Taro rushed the furthest. He was not the only Japanese soldier charging; three other Japanese soldiers were charging with him, two carrying ammunition and one as his assistant gunner.

Their joint charge also had another meaning: if one died, another could take his place.

Sergeant Amano Ryota's task was to rush to a depression a dozen meters ahead. He led his team into it.

They immediately set up their machine gun and began firing. Their purpose in coming to the front was to suppress the enemy's firepower and provide cover for the Yamashita Kotota squadron's charge behind them.

He charged the shortest distance and was the quickest to enter combat. After him, Yoshitaka Kazuma and Uchiyama Taro slowly began to play their roles.

The Yamashita Kotota squadron's grenade launchers were also firing non-stop. For a time, the entire Japanese army seemed to have suppressed the firepower from the mountaintop.

Opportunity knocks but once! Captain Yamashita Kotota seized the opportunity and immediately ordered the entire squadron of Japanese soldiers to rush forward quickly.

He wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to allow the entire squadron to advance a certain distance.

This group of Japanese soldiers did not disappoint him. Through this rapid charge, the entire squadron advanced nearly fifty meters in one fell swoop.

Having reached this point, Captain Yamashita Kotota began to look for the next position for advancement.

He called this tactic of advancing fifty meters, stopping, and waiting for the next advance of fifty meters the "leapfrog tactic."

The entire squadron suddenly launched an attack, only to rush out a certain distance, and then accumulate strength, waiting for the next burst.

This reduced the Japanese soldiers' physical exertion and preserved their strength. It was a good method.

Although they were still one hundred and fifty meters away from the First Company's front line position on top of Zhujia Chong.

Looking at the more than one hundred Japanese soldiers under his command, Captain Yamashita Kotota was satisfied. The losses were not great, and acceptable.

Not only was the captain satisfied, but the entire Yamashita Kotota squadron was excited at this moment.

Following the captain's orders, they had easily advanced fifty meters without any casualties.

The entire squadron's reduction in personnel had occurred before they even set out. This was a great step forward.

Amano Ryota, Yoshitaka Kazuma, Miyazawa Rokuro and the other Japanese soldiers also rushed up with their machine guns and heavy machine guns.

They all stared intently at Captain Yamashita Kotota, waiting for his latest orders.

Captain Yamashita Kotota looked at the terrain ahead, planning silently in his mind. Gradually, a new plan emerged.

The entire squadron of Japanese soldiers listened carefully to his speech, each accepting their respective tasks.

According to Captain Yamashita Kotota's next plan, three more leapfrog tactics would be enough to reach the position.

Just as Captain Yamashita Kotota was carefully arranging the next leapfrog distance, the "buzzing" sound of an engine came from the air.

The Japanese soldiers of the Yamashita Kotota squadron were very familiar with this sound: it was the advance announcement of an approaching plane.

They also knew that all the planes in the sky today belonged to the Special Operations Brigade, and these Japanese soldiers immediately became nervous.

Of course, First Company Commander Zhen Jianshu couldn't let go of such a good opportunity. Although the First Company had already occupied Zhujia Chong, weren't there still Japanese soldiers attacking on the other side of the mountain?

Company Commander Zhen picked up the communicator and spoke to Xu Zhiye, who was flying in the air, telling him that the Japanese soldiers were attacking on the eastern side of Zhujia Chong, and asking him to strafe the Japanese soldiers.

Xu Zhiye readily agreed to this request.

The ground attack aircraft slightly deviated eastward and opened fire on the Yamashita Kotota squadron.

The four machine guns swept down from the air. The Japanese soldiers of the Yamashita Kotota squadron had nowhere to hide and could only stand their ground.

Fortunately, although the plane's speed had been set to the slowest, it still had to maintain a speed of at least 110 kilometers per hour, as required by Lin Fan.

The plane only swept through the Yamashita Kotota squadron's ranks, but it caused at least fifty Japanese casualties.

This single action immediately shelved Captain Yamashita Kotota's leapfrog plan.

He had to first gather the wounded Japanese soldiers and prepare them for transportation to the rear.

After he had actually cleared out the wounded Japanese soldiers, Captain Yamashita Kotota looked at the thirty-seven wounded Japanese soldiers. What was he going to do?

Based on a ratio of two Japanese soldiers per wounded soldier, the entire combat team would need to send seventy-four Japanese soldiers to escort the wounded soldiers down. There would be no Japanese soldiers left to attack Zhujia Chong. Should they retreat now?

The entire Yamashita Kotota squadron no longer had the excitement it had before the plane's strafing.

Some of them had already fallen, and the remaining Japanese soldiers numbered less than eighty.

If they used the reason of transporting the wounded soldiers back, they could avoid punishment.

Captain Yamashita Kotota looked at the mountain in front of him and then at the retreat behind him.

He said to the entire squadron of Japanese soldiers, "We now need to send the wounded soldiers back, and we need to pass through this fifty-meter line of fire.

Twenty meters of this line is completely exposed to enemy fire. If we carry the wounded soldiers through, the casualties will definitely be very high.

Instead of retreating backwards, we should advance forwards!"

The entire squadron of Japanese soldiers listened to Captain Yamashita Kotota's words and looked again at the road they had already crossed.

The thought of retreating gradually turned cold: yes, carrying the wounded soldiers would definitely make their movements clumsier than charging alone.

Those twenty meters of open ground would completely become their graveyard. With no way to retreat, these Japanese soldiers naturally had only one path left: to attack forward.

Captain Yamashita Kotota continued, "The Japanese soldiers among the wounded who can still fire will cover us as we charge up. Once we occupy the mountaintop,

we can send all the wounded soldiers back without any threat."

This was a good idea!

Not only the wounded soldiers, but even the Japanese soldiers who were to take on the task of charging saw hope again.

Some of the tasks he had assigned earlier could no longer be carried out, so Captain Yamashita Kotota reorganized a new attack plan based on the current situation.

In the new plan, Amano Ryota and Yoshitaka Kazuma still carried their machine guns and charged as the first wave.

The Japanese soldiers under the mountain were taking heavy fire, but were still continuing to attack. The First Company Commander Zhen Jianshu greatly admired the fighting spirit of these Japanese soldiers.

To express this admiration, the First Company's mortars and infantry guns continuously bombarded them, and the heavy machine guns and machine guns fired out a network of fire, densely interwoven on their inevitable paths of attack.

Of course, the First Company would actively cooperate with the Yamashita Kotota squadron's spirit of actively seeking death.

Continuous mortar shells exploded in the middle of their ranks, not only on their attack route, but also in the depression where the more than thirty wounded soldiers were gathered.

Some of these wounded soldiers, those with minor injuries, although their legs could not move, could still fire with their hands, and continued to fire, providing fire support for the charging Yamashita Kotota squadron.

The First Company attacked all the Japanese firing points, including the positions of these wounded soldiers.

Sergeant Amano Ryota rushed with his machine gun to a place only one hundred meters away from the First Company's position and established a machine gun position. He immediately opened fire excitedly.

Such a close firing point immediately attracted rocket fire: boom! boom! After two consecutive rocket shells.

All four Japanese soldiers in the Amano Ryota machine gun team were killed. This made Yoshitaka Kazuma and Uchiyama Taro, who were following behind them, somewhat embarrassed.

Were they to continue forward, or fill the vacant position left by Amano Ryota?

The Japanese soldiers of the Yoshitaka Kazuma machine gun team had already rushed through one line of fire after another, and in the end, he decided to move forward to the position arranged by Captain Yamashita Kotota.

As they continued to advance, they had become the Japanese soldiers charging at the very front of the entire Yamashita squadron, and immediately received special attention from Company Commander Zhen.

Under Company Commander Zhen's special attention, before Yoshitaka Kazuma and his four Japanese soldiers could reach their destination, they had already been shot down and were unable to move.

Captain Yamashita Kotota, who was still organizing the Japanese soldiers to continue the attack from behind, became somewhat annoyed when he saw that the firing points he had planned were failing one after another.

He ordered loudly, "Miyazawa-kun! The survival of the Yamashita squadron rests in your hands."

Sergeant Miyazawa Rokuro operated a heavy machine gun. Now, he had to rush fifty meters forward to establish a heavy machine gun position to cover the entire Yamashita squadron's charge.

Moreover, according to Captain Yamashita Kotota's arrangement, the position established by the heavy machine gun this time would not change during the subsequent assault. Miyazawa Rokuro's heavy machine gun would continue to cover the entire squadron from the front until the squadron charged to the top of the mountain.

Having received the order in a critical situation, Miyazawa Rokuro's hands and feet trembled with excitement, and his face flushed red. He loudly accepted the order: "Captain! I will definitely rush up."

The entire Yamashita Kotota squadron once again began firing fiercely, covering their five Japanese soldiers as they charged forward.

Watching Miyazawa Rokuro and his five Japanese soldiers rush out only twenty meters, one of the Japanese soldiers began to stumble during the charge.

Soon, this Japanese soldier fell to the ground and did not move, but this did not affect the entire Miyazawa Rokuro machine gun team.

They crawled on the ground, advancing a few meters and finding a temporary position to avoid the dense rain of bullets fired from above.

The bullets were so dense that when one of the Japanese soldiers poked his head out to check the situation, he was shot in the head and fell backwards.

This time, Captain Yamashita Kotota became anxious: there were only three Japanese soldiers left in the front.

The artillery fire from the mountain was becoming increasingly dense, and even though these Japanese soldiers were hidden under the hillside, they were still being hit by mortar shells, and casualties had never stopped.

There were still more than seventy Japanese soldiers who could attack, but now there were fewer than fifty Japanese soldiers who could attack.

Miyazawa Rokuro ultimately failed to complete his mission. His three-man team was pinned down in that position by the First Company.

He wanted to establish a heavy machine gun position on the spot, but as soon as the machine gun opened fire, a mortar shell fell from the sky, sending the three Japanese soldiers and the heavy machine gun flying into the air.

Now, Captain Yamashita Kotota finally accepted reality. He no longer hoped to be able to attack the top of the mountain, but only wanted to know how to retreat.

As for those wounded soldiers, they were unable to rescue them. The number of wounded soldiers was greater than the number of Japanese soldiers who were not injured. What could Captain Yamashita Kotota do?

He was also very helpless!

Before the Japanese soldiers could retreat, the First Company on Zhujia Chong took the initiative to attack.

Company Commander Zhen Jianshu led the First Company to charge towards the Yamashita Kotota squadron.

This sudden charge was completely outside Captain Yamashita Kotota's plan, but now the plan was not up to him to decide.

Whether he had a plan or not, Zhen Jianshu had already rushed in front of them. What else could Captain Yamashita Kotota do at this time? He could only passively cooperate with the First Company and issue the order for the entire squadron to fix bayonets.

This was the second time the First Company had engaged in bayonet fighting today, and it annihilated the Yamashita Kotota squadron without any suspense.

When they were cleaning the battlefield again, the Japanese soldiers sent by the Yamashita Yosho battalion commander in the distance fled in panic, running back to report to the Yamashita Yosho battalion commander: Captain Yamashita Kotota and his entire team had been gloriously killed in action.

The same order was given to the Nishikawa Yaryo squadron to attack Wenjialing. The entire squadron died at Wenjialing.

Battalion Commander Yamashita Yosho had not received any reports from the Matsuoka Rintaro squadron. He sent out a Japanese reconnaissance soldier with a fluke mentality, who brought back a report that was within expectations: Zhangjiabang Heights had fallen, and the entire Matsuoka Rintaro squadron had died.

One after another, news of deaths was reported to Battalion Commander Yamashita Yosho. He finally stopped persisting and issued the order: "Withdraw to Huoshan!"

It was too dangerous here, he wanted to return to Huoshan.

It was not that he was unwilling to continue fighting, but that he only had one squadron of troops left in his hand. This number of troops could not play any role at all. It was better to take this squadron back to the city and wait for the next battle with the Special Operations Brigade!

By now, the Second Regiment and the Sixth Regiment's attack on Huoshan had finally shattered the Japanese army's outer defenses. The next step was to attack Huoshan County.

Lieutenant General Fujie Keifu, commander of the Sixteenth Division stationed in Huoshan, was shocked again when he received the news: he did not expect that in just one morning, his entire 22nd Field Artillery Regiment had been wiped out.

The 39th Regiment's outer defense line had completely collapsed. In one morning, Huoshan was completely exposed to the Special Operations Brigade. This was unbelievable.

Brigadier General Seibu Heiji, commander of the 8th Infantry Brigade of the Japanese Army, received the news that the outer defense line had been completely breached, and that only one squadron of the two battalions defending the outer perimeter had returned.

Battalion Commander Fujita Yoshio was dead, and his entire battalion had no survivors. Battalion Commander Yamashita Yosho decisively decided not to throw the last squadron into a meaningless attack, which preserved the squadron and his own life.

Brigadier General Seibu Heiji could not accept this result at all. He could remain indifferent when he received the news that the 22nd Field Artillery Regiment had been wiped out, because that was not his team, and it could only mean that the 22nd Regiment was incompetent.

Now, his two infantry battalions were in the same situation. Brigadier General Seibu Heiji would never admit that his infantry battalion was incompetent.

They were a team that could defeat tens of thousands of Nationalist soldiers with just one battalion!

"Why?" Brigadier General Seibu Heiji asked, suppressing his anger.

Battalion Commander Yamashita Yosho had carefully thought about this question on the way back.

He was now confident in answering this question.

Battalion Commander Yamashita Yosho immediately replied, "Reporting to the Brigadier General, they have planes, we don't! They have heavy artillery, we don't! Their firepower is too fierce, we are completely suppressed."

Listening to Battalion Commander Yamashita's series of "we don't have," Brigadier General Seibu became angry: "We have the spirit of Bushido! They don't! Our warriors are not afraid of death, they don't! We dare to fight! They don't dare!"

Battalion Commander Yamashita Yosho looked at the Brigadier General, who was two levels higher than him, and did not dare to speak.

Seeing that he seemed to have something to say but dared not say it, Seibu ordered loudly, "Speak up if you have something to say."

"They not only have planes and artillery, they are not afraid of death either. As for fighting, Brigadier General! Our warriors can no longer beat them on the battlefield.

The new recruits we have recently added have not undergone systematic training at all.

Some Japanese soldiers don't even know how to fire a gun, and haven't learned the basic fighting moves. They have been sent to the battlefield like this, and their spirit is not as firm as before.

I heard that there are already prisoners among the warriors at the front who have actively surrendered," Yamashita Yosho said painfully.

Brigadier General Seibu Heiji became furious when he heard him say this: "You are boosting the enemy's morale and diminishing our own! Someone! Lock him up and wait to send him back to the country for trial."

If Battalion Commander Yamashita Yosho had been able to list some advantages that Brigadier General Seibu would have liked to hear, he would not have had to bear the consequences of this disastrous defeat today.

Brigadier General Seibu Heiji would not have the slightest intention of saving Battalion Commander Yamashita Yosho, who had been frightened by the enemy, and he would step on his tragic fate even further.

It was always easy to punish internally, but what to do about the team outside that was eyeing Huoshan and could attack at any time?

Although the 8th Infantry Brigade had lost two infantry battalions, this did not have a significant impact on the overall strength of the brigade.

The 8th Brigade had a total of eight infantry battalions, and there were still six infantry battalions left in Huoshan City.

Should they send a team to recapture Zhujia Chong?

Zhujia Chong was different from Meishu Ridge. Deploying artillery here could directly suppress the entire Huoshan County.

As for the useless division commander of the 16th Division, his opinions were not worth listening to.

Brigadier General Seibu Heiji still did not understand how he could have been so foolish as to have allowed the Special Operations Brigade to wipe out an entire division of troops.

Division Commander Fujie Keifu once again failed to meet with Brigadier General Seibu Heiji and could only return to his command post in frustration.

Today, he had learned that two battalions of the 8th Brigade had been defeated, which was no different from the previous battles of the 16th Division.

Division Commander Fujie Keifu originally wanted to persuade Brigadier General Seibu Heiji to abandon Huoshan and transfer the entire brigade to Luan.

Concentrating the entire strength of the 10th Division to fight a good battle with the Special Operations Brigade, in Division Commander Fujie Keifu's view, the current Special Operations Brigade had grown and needed their absolute attention.

This proposal was destined not to be accepted by any Japanese soldiers. Whether it was Division Commander Shinohara Yoshio of the 10th Division or Prince Higashikuninomiya Naruhiko of the Second Army, they all had one common understanding: Division Commander Fujie Keifu had been frightened by the Special Operations Brigade, and he now completely lacked the judgment of a commander.

Today's battle was not limited to Huoshan. In Luan, Regiment Commander Jia Shusheng of the Third Regiment and Shang Wenxuan of the 13th Regiment were also launching attacks on the Japanese army.

Defending Luan was the 33rd Infantry Brigade of the Japanese Army. This team suffered heavy losses in the Battle of Taierzhuang due to its rapid advance.

Brigade Commander Seya Akira took all the responsibility, and he had now been transferred back and entered the reserve.

His successor was Brigade Commander Yamada Susumu. After taking over as Brigade Commander from Seya Akira, in the subsequent Battle of Xuzhou, he sent the 63rd Regiment under his command, which used only one regiment to defeat 40,000 troops of the Dian Army at Yuwang Mountain.

This earned Yamada Susumu enough face and allowed the entire 10th Division to return to the ranks of the Japanese main divisions.

This time, Brigade Commander Yamada Susumu placed the 63rd Regiment on the outermost periphery. He wanted to use the strongest team to face the Special Operations Brigade's attack.

Brigade Commander Yamada Susumu had already formulated the next battle plan with Division Commander Shinohara Yoshio: after defeating the Special Operations Brigade's team in Luan and Huoshan, the 33rd Infantry Brigade would attack Hefei, and the 8th Infantry Brigade would defend these two places.