northernbook Chapter 1082 Communication Cutoff
Chapter 1082 Communication Cutoff
Chief of Staff Takagi acted swiftly, but unfortunately, the news had already spread. Having just experienced such a devastating bombing, the soldiers present were practically frightened. And then they heard that the enemy was everywhere along their retreat route—who wouldn't panic?
In fact, when the planes dropped the bombs, they almost already knew the outcome: our air force was probably nowhere to be found. The damage from the dropped bombs was everywhere; even a fool could calculate that the chances of victory were slim.
The mission was to find another place to cross the river. After a bombing, many of the soldiers' brothers had died, which meant that the mission could not be carried out. So the only option was to turn back.
There's no need to turn back now; they've already blocked your path. If they were as slow to react as you are, you probably wouldn't have won all those victories over the years.
"That's impossible. Did they already have everything planned out when we left?"
A soldier spoke very softly, but everyone around heard him clearly, as if a heavy hammer had struck their hearts. It turned out that from the moment we came out, we were already meat on their chopping block, only we had been kept in the dark until now, when the truth was finally revealed.
"Who told you that, you idiot? Who said we've been tricked? Open your dog eyes and look around. Where is this place? We decided to come here on a whim. How could they have tricked us? From the moment we came out, not even the headquarters knew our route. We moved randomly."
Chief of Staff Takagi shouted loudly, trying to pull the people around him out of their fear. After the soldier finished speaking, he had seen the fear on the faces of those around him. An army like this was useless on the battlefield; it would only add to the enemy's military achievements.
"Hay, I'm sorry, Your Excellency, I was wrong."
The soldier stood ramrod straight, enduring the slaps to the face without flinching, and kept apologizing. However, Chief of Staff Takagi's overreaction did not alleviate the fear in his men's hearts; instead, they felt their secret had been revealed. Chief of Staff Takagi was somewhat embarrassed.
Some people reconsidered: even if, as Chief of Staff Takagi said, everything was random, their planes could still find us. Their army could still surround us—wouldn't that be even more formidable? Without a plan, none of you could escape back home; you were all just playthings in their hands…
"All assemble, abandon all those who cannot fight, lighten our load, target generated, run forward."
After the attack, Chief of Staff Takagi knew it wasn't appropriate to wait there. Since there was no news of support and no way to contact anyone, they would have to rely on us.
An independent mixed brigade originally had tens of thousands of men. After various attacks along the way, plus the recent bombing, it was still able to gather nearly six thousand men. This is still a considerable force. At this point, as long as everyone fights with all their might, it is absolutely possible to fight our way back to the provincial capital, since we are only one night away from the provincial capital.
Moreover, such a major incident occurred here, caused by twin-engine heavy bombers—that's quite a commotion, and it's sure to be heard by people in the provincial capital. Perhaps headquarters has already sent reinforcements to support us. If we just try our best to retreat westward, we should be able to meet them on the way.
"Remember this: immediately go to the surrounding villages and towns, no matter how big the gathering place is, they must have a way to contact us. Do everything you can to send out the intelligence from here, and make sure they come to support us."
Chief of Staff Takagi assembled more than twenty signalmen, drawn from various units, along with five or six translators who could speak Chinese. Their hopes rested on them. Although various parts of China were relatively underdeveloped, every town should have a communication device; the question was whether they could use it.
"Hai... Please rest assured, sir, we will do it immediately."
The group of more than 20 people quickly split into about 10 small groups and set off. They knew that even if they found the communication equipment, the local people would definitely resist, and there might even be a battle.
More than 5,000 soldiers were preparing for themselves, with their wounded comrades being carefully cared for beside them. Just a moment ago, they were thinking of taking them back, but now it was no longer necessary. They left this guy with some weapons that he could use to protect himself, which were the ones they couldn't take with them. The rest was up to fate.
Of course, the brigade commander couldn't abandon them. Ordinary soldiers were insignificant to the Japanese; they weren't important assets. A postcard costing nine cents could buy one, so these wounded soldiers had to be discarded. Bringing them back would be a huge burden, and who would take care of them during the charge? Two people carrying one wounded soldier meant losing two units of attacking force.
"Set off."
Seeing that his soldiers were almost ready, Chief of Staff Takagi took command and led his men back the way they had come. Ahead of them was a search party of more than forty people, about 150 meters away from the main force.
"Please wait a moment, please help me take this back to Japan..."
"Don't abandon us."
“We are also soldiers of the Empire. We were just fighting together. We shouldn’t be abandoned…”
On both sides of their path, there were nearly a thousand wounded and sick people who were unable to move forward. At the very back of the column were the lightly wounded. If you could keep up with the group and make it back to the provincial capital, then congratulations, you were saved.
But if you can't stand up, don't expect anyone to carry you back. We don't have that kind of capability right now. And as the chief of staff just made it very clear, we will continue fighting on the way back. There's really no one to take care of you wounded. You'll just have to stay here and fend for yourselves.
Of course, you also have a mission. If someone catches up from the east, you'll have to hold them off for a while with your weapons. This might be your last use.
Just moments ago, the soldiers were very close comrades, but now the advancing soldiers were staring straight ahead, trying to move as fast as possible. Hearing this, they too were unsettled, fearing that one day they too would become one of them.