GBP Chapter 363 Avoiding the Bombing
Chapter 363 Avoiding the Bombing
When Chen Feng received the telegram from the Third Battalion of the First Regiment, his rearguard team had already passed Aishan, and the first team to evacuate from Guantao Road, which was moving banks and foreign companies, had already passed Zhushan. According to the predetermined goals, all teams had to reach Taolin Township before dawn and hide in the mountains to the west of the township. The Qingdao airport and aircraft had been destroyed, and retaliatory bombing by aircraft from Jinan Airport could not be ruled out.
Three telegrams were received in succession. One was sent by the Lunan Detachment, one was sent by the two ambush companies on the south side of the Guard Regiment, and the last one was sent by Li Ergou. The losses in the Xiji blocking battle were quite heavy. The two companies participating in the Guard Regiment suffered more than 80 casualties, almost half of their troops. The Lunan Detachment lost more than 400 of its 1,800 troops, and more than 200 of them were killed in action.
However, the annihilation of more than 2,000 Japanese troops was considered a great victory. Chen Feng felt a little funny when he saw the telegram from the Lunan Detachment. There were seven or eight hundred seriously wounded soldiers, but the Lunan Detachment could not bring themselves to kill them. Policy did not allow the massacre of prisoners. If they took them back, the team would not even be able to get the spoils. He had no choice but to ask Captain Song and his men for help, which cost two companies more than a hundred magazines of submachine gun bullets.
Chen Feng silently reviewed the battle situation reported in the two telegrams. There was no problem, the ambush was fine, and the blocking position on the south side was fine. The only regret was that the terrain and manpower were insufficient, and it was impossible to accommodate all the Japanese soldiers, leaving space for the Japanese artillery behind. The casualties of the two units also occurred mainly on the blocking position on the south side. Fortunately, the artillery was flexible enough to relocate the position in time and kill the opponent's artillery with two strikes, otherwise the outcome of this battle would be hard to say.
Chen Feng ordered the signalman to call back the Lunan Detachment and the two companies of the Guard Regiment, returning to Xiong'er Mountain to continue deploying defenses and keeping a close eye on the Japanese troops on the Jinpu Line. If the Japanese troops attacked again, they had to meet them in time.
Li Ergou's side was much simpler. The Japanese commander was a smart man. He used a battalion as bait and after losing less than half a battalion, he tested the firepower of the ambush team. He felt that the powerful firepower was not something they could break through, so he decisively went back to defend the Jinpu Line.
Chen Feng ordered the communicator to call Li Ergou back and continue to pay close attention to the Japanese troops on the Jinpu Line, predict in advance the direction from which they might attack, and relocate positions to block them at any time.
At six o'clock in the morning, when it was just getting light, we arrived at Taolin Township and began to hide the trucks and soldiers according to the planned schedule. With the coming of winter, the woods could no longer cover the trucks, so we had to drive the trucks into the woods and cover them with dead grass and fallen leaves. It was easy for the soldiers to hide, as there were continuous mountains to the west of Taolin Township, so we could just find a hole in a ravine to hide.
In Qingdao City, the remaining Japanese troops and various agencies began to get busy. They could not find anyone to command, so all commanders were cleared out by the special operations team, and several regiment commanders in the barracks became the supreme commanders.
At eight o'clock in the morning, reports from various places were delivered one after another. Several lieutenants' faces were livid. It was too cruel. Qingdao was finished. The two airports were completely scrapped. Various institutions suffered huge personnel losses. Several banks and trading companies on Guantao Road also sent reports, saying that they had lost huge amounts of property.
Reports from the factories also came in, almost all the large factories had been robbed and destroyed. The destruction was so thorough that it was difficult to resume production in a short period of time. In fact, it was even worse for some factories to start a new factory than to resume production.
All the soldiers in the Army Academy were killed, including the doctors, nurses and wounded. Several other Japanese hospitals were also attacked, and now there was no place to send the wounded.
Several lieutenants were in tears. Of the 14,000 troops stationed in Qingdao, only more than 4,000 were still able to fight after last night's events. This included a large number of people who had escaped and hidden last night and only returned to the barracks this morning.
After counting the losses in various places, they sent telegrams to the North China Expeditionary Army Headquarters and the headquarters respectively, reporting the battle situation and losses. Several lieutenants led the team to treat the wounded and maintain public order. Before dawn, the ruffians in Qingdao City looted again. After dawn, the people picked up the rubbish again. The various institutions, trading companies, and factories were no longer visible.
As Chen Feng expected, at eight o'clock in the morning, Japanese reconnaissance planes appeared and searched back and forth along the routes that the team might pass. However, the focus of the Japanese planes' search was in the direction of Wulian Mountain and Jiuxian Mountain. The mountains there were relatively majestic and more suitable for hiding troops than Taolin Township.
The Japanese reconnaissance plane had been hovering in an area of dozens of miles in radius. At 8:50, perhaps due to lack of fuel or perhaps because no discovery was made, the reconnaissance plane flew to the northwest.
Chen Feng did not let the team set off. It is better to be cautious and there is no need to evacuate in a hurry. The Qingdao defenders did not have extra troops to catch up. Even if they sent a few thousand troops, they would not be enough to set an ambush.
At nine o'clock in the morning, Zhang Liang, who was in the Second Battalion of the First Regiment stationed in the southern mountainous area of Jinan, sent a telegram saying that dozens of Japanese planes were flying over the southern mountainous area, heading southeast.
Chen Feng slapped his head, wondering how could he have forgotten about them? In the mountainous area in southern Jinan, as long as you climb to the top of the mountain, you can see Japanese planes flying east or south. However, the results can only be used for analysis and cannot be relied upon.
Chen Feng ordered all units to continue disguising the trucks and to make sure they were seamless. He also sent soldiers to Taolin Township to disperse the civilians. Once the Japanese bombers arrived and could not find their target, they would most likely attack the civilians.
At 10:20 in the morning, several reconnaissance planes arrived first and continued to investigate suspicious locations, but still found nothing. It was a bit disgusting to see these things hovering in the sky. Although the team had anti-aircraft machine guns, they could not shoot down the reconnaissance planes as they flew too high. In addition, as soon as they opened fire, there would be endless bombers coming to bomb them.
At ten forty, groups of bombers arrived from the northwest and kept circling near Wulian Mountain and Jiuxian Mountain. Half an hour later, feeling that there was no time to waste fuel, they began to drop bombs on suspicious areas of Wulian Mountain and Jiuxian Mountain.
A violent explosion came from more than ten miles to the west, and the hidden team was secretly frightened. If this happened in an open area, the Japanese would surely blow it to pieces.
Four or five bombers swooped over here, and it seemed they were not going to let this place go.
call out!call out!call out!
It turned out that the Japanese army bombed Taolin Township. Sharp explosions were heard and thick black smoke rose from the direction of Taolin Township.
Ten minutes later, all the planes had left. Chen Feng stood up and gave orders to the messenger.
"Notify all units that those who do not need to pass through Mengshan and Menglianggu can detach themselves from the main force and withdraw in a dispersed manner. The troops should not be concentrated. Be careful of bombing by Japanese planes. The rest of the troops should set out immediately. The target is Longmengu. We must arrive there within three hours."
After giving the order, Chen Feng looked at Shen Honglie next to him.
"Brother Shen, which group of yours is active in this area?"
Shen Honglie blushed a little, he didn't know it clearly!
"Signage soldier".
"arrive"!
"Do you know who is active in this area?"
"Returning to the division, it is the first company of the third battalion of the second regiment, and the company commander is Wu Peiqi."
"Let him come running to see me."