sjar Chapter 1249 Being Watched
Chapter 1249 Being Watched
Lunan Mountain Area
"Baka yarou, what on earth is going on? Didn't they say that the 72nd Army troops around here had all withdrawn? What exactly is going on here?"
Colonel Mori looked at his troops and said angrily, "This morning, we sent out a company to sweep through the surrounding area, intending to bring back supplies from the surrounding villages. But around 9 a.m., someone returned saying they had spotted armed men, so we sent out another company. We had two companies in total, and by noon, we thought everything was fine and we would be able to bring back a large amount of supplies."
It was only 11 o'clock, and apart from a dozen or so men who had managed to escape, the rest had vanished without a trace. Colonel Mori felt as if the sky had fallen. He had led two battalions in a sweep of a nearby county town, and now, without even knowing who the enemy was, he had already lost two companies.
This is a force of over 200 men. Except when facing the 72nd Group Army, these 200 men could easily take on at least a thousand enemy troops. Are there really a thousand armed men in the surrounding mountains right now? Impossible. We've already done aerial reconnaissance; there aren't many people left. So how did these men fall?
"Reporting to Colonel, shortly after leaving the county town, it seems we were being watched. We don't know the enemy's location, only that they haven't stopped along the way. When we advance in formation, snipers constantly kill our men. And when we pursue them in the direction of the gunfire, there are countless landmines and submachine guns along the way, resulting in the loss of about seven or eight men each time we go in pursuit. Moreover, we don't know what kind of vehicles these people are using; they're incredibly fast, and our men simply can't keep up, so we haven't reached them yet..."
Colonel Mori was even more astonished after hearing his subordinates' explanation. "You've already been reduced to this state before even reaching the designated sweep location. Even if you do reach it, don't expect you to bring back any supplies."
"Didn't you see who attacked you? There must have been bullets, right?"
Colonel Mori said somewhat dejectedly, although the two battalions he brought did not belong to the original long-range artillery division and were all temporarily reorganized from the country, these men were still second-line troops and had received three to four months of basic training, so their combat capabilities were definitely not lacking. If there was anything lacking, it was their battlefield experience. In any case, they shouldn't have been beaten so badly.
A wounded company commander glanced awkwardly at the soldiers around him. In the chaos, they had only thought about running in all directions, without even considering checking what the enemy's bullets looked like. Besides, with men falling one after another, some were certain they would be next. They didn't have time for such things; saving their own lives was the most important thing.
"Baka yarou!"
Seeing his subordinate's reaction, how could Colonel Mori not figure it out? He slapped his man several times, stopping only when the company commander was almost unconscious. After beating him for a while, he felt a little better. However, this matter still needed to be resolved, and the loss of over 200 Japanese soldiers was no small number; he had to report it to his superiors.
"When I reported to Brigade Commander Morita, I said that we encountered the 72nd Army's troops who had not yet finished retreating. Two companies of the troops were killed in action, and our side annihilated more than 50 enemy soldiers."
Colonel Mori could spout lies on the spot. But the clerk behind him couldn't care less; this was certainly not the first time he'd done something like this. To wipe out nearly 200 of our men with just over 50—aside from the 72nd Army, probably no one else had that capability. Of course, that's an exaggeration; the actual casualty ratio must have been far worse.
"Your Excellency, since last week, headquarters has ordered that all battle results must be photographed. Our group of over 50..."
The clerk said cautiously, "These battle results aren't something you can just claim. Our superiors have issued orders to all troops to prevent this from happening again. If you want to report battle achievements, you need actual photographs as proof."
"Why are you looking at me? Do you think I can bring you more than 50 people? Go to the village next door and grab 50 strong laborers, then cut off all their heads, hang them all up, and pretend they are from the 72nd Group Army. As for the uniforms, tell them these people are guerrillas."
Colonel Mori said nonchalantly, and his men immediately went to the nearby village to arrest people. This kind of thing was all too common for them; if they hadn't achieved any military merits after being out in the field for a while, then they could only use ordinary people as their military achievements.
Whether the higher-ups believe you or not depends on how well you operate. If you're willing to spend money, then almost everything you report to headquarters will be approved. But if you're not willing to spend money, then things might not go smoothly.
Just as Colonel Mori's men were about to enter the village to arrest people, two crisp gunshots rang out, and the two soldiers at the front were both shot squarely between the eyebrows.
According to the training method of the 72nd Group Army snipers, the Japanese helmets had a five-pointed star in the center, so you only needed to aim at that star. Anyway, the Japanese helmets couldn't stop our frontal bullets, so it was like giving us a target to aim at.
Snipers from all units are trained in this way, so if they were to ambush the Japanese, their first few shots would be incredibly accurate; otherwise, they would be wasting the boxes of bullets they had fired on the training field.
"Lie down! Lie down! Everyone lie down!"
The squad leader in charge said in a very dramatic manner that although this guy didn't hear clearly which direction the bullet came from, lying on the ground at this moment was definitely the right thing to do.
Unfortunately, he was still half-open when he shouted, so the sniper on the mountain was not idle. He shot the guy through the chest, and he couldn't say a word except for the sentence he just said. Blood was still gushing out of the muzzle in his chest.