"Continue the bombardment! Tell Pang Panghai not to worry about the inventory of artillery shells. This battle will not last long!" At the same time, Tang Dao, who was 8 kilometers away from Yamashita, also issued a military order.
From dusk to dark, and then from dark to late at night, the artillery battalion of the Sixings Regiment became the busiest combat unit of the entire Sixings Regiment.
The Chinese shelling of the Japanese rear flank defenses lasted for a full six hours, setting a new record for the Fourth Line Regiment and even the entire southeastern Shanxi battlefield.
During the six-hour bombardment, the Fourth Row Regiment's 16 mountain guns and six 150-meter heavy guns dropped a total of more than 5,000 artillery shells, accounting for half of the total amount of artillery shells carried by the Fourth Row Regiment.
The results created were also brilliant. The Japanese army's originally fragile rear flank defense line was blown to pieces. More than 60% of the simple trenches in the highlands and hilly areas were destroyed. All villages within sight were bombed by artillery fire.
into ruins.
Yamashita's order to ask the chief of staff of his brigade to wait until dark was fulfilled. That was because apart from the shelling, the Chinese army in the rear did not dispatch a single soldier to attack the defense line. However, his wish to build fortifications overnight was not fulfilled.
It was blown to pieces by a certain regiment's crazy bombardment without hesitation.
Under the crazy artillery fire, the Japanese army had to abandon the previous simple fortifications and retreat the defense line. The result of a sleepless night was just to dig a few shallow trenches 800 meters away from the previous defense line.
Do you think it's sad or not that even Japanese soldiers of such short stature have to bend down to walk in trenches that are no more than 1.5 meters deep?
Faced with the strength of the Chinese artillery, the Japanese artillery brigade did not try to retaliate. However, in this era, there was no artillery radar that could lock the coordinates of the opponent's artillery position. They could only rely on experience to judge the approximate direction and distance.
Then fight back.
Obviously, this method, which was similar to Xia Jiba's attack, had limited damage to the artillery positions of the Four Lines Regiment hidden behind the mountain.
Moreover, this almost meaningless exchange of fire strained the energy of the Japanese artillery brigade, resulting in the intensity of artillery preparations along the Zhuozhang River being only one-third of the previous level.
Yoshio Laitani had no choice but to let his infantry launch a second wave of attacks toward the Zhuozhang River defense line before dark without adequate artillery cover.
This time, there was nothing to test. On the nearly 2,000-meter front line, nearly 1,100 infantrymen were dispatched. That was 6 infantry squadrons. They were divided into three waves. Two infantry squadrons were in front, and two infantry squadrons were in the rear.
Then, finally came two more infantry squadrons, with the spacing between each wave being approximately 150 meters.
This is a typical Japanese infantry attack method. The first wave of Japanese troops is used to shoot at the defenders, consuming the opponent's ammunition and energy. The second wave of Japanese troops follows closely behind, and then the third wave is launched, just like the waves of the sea.
The attacks are continuous and difficult to resist.
The first ones were eight Type 94 armored vehicles, the black machine gun muzzles shining with an icy sheen under the setting sun.
Although the Japanese army suffered heavy losses in the last round of testing attacks, they still achieved some gains. The Zhuozhang River is not a big river, the river is not narrow, and the water is not very deep. It can be used by Type 94 armored vehicles to drive through.
The Japanese engineers who followed the armored vehicles moved in teams of three carrying wooden planks. After crossing the river, they were required to blast the ridge more than 2 meters high and lay wooden planks for the Type 94 armored vehicles to pass through.
In the trench 700 meters away, a total of six Type 92 infantry guns were placed. Although they had not fired yet, the angle of Senleng's gun barrels had been adjusted, and they could bombard the exposed Chinese heavy firepower points at any time. That was also Yoshio Laitani.
The confidence to dare to use such a large amount of infantry to attack the defense line.
The fortifications that were not reinforced with steel plates were basically destroyed by the 70mm "cannon".
Closer to home, there are more than 30 groups of grenadiers walking around the battlefield. Their targets are all light and heavy firepower points within a 500-meter range. Even if they cannot be destroyed immediately, they must cause trouble and cannot attack the charging Japanese troops.
Infantry does a lot of damage.
Under the pressure of the Chinese artillery group in the rear, in this second round of attacks, the Second Mixed Brigade almost used all its strength, using various forces totaling more than 1,600.
If it were other troops, perhaps after being bombarded by 24 mountain artillery pieces, it would be difficult to withstand the impact of such a huge force.
But what stood in front of the Japanese army at this time was the 772th Regiment, the main regiment that would be known as the No. 1 Brigade in the world in the future. The leader of the regiment was Wang Xiaoqiang, who would be called the "Crazy War General" in the future. From the regiment leader to the entire infantry regiment, everyone was
The backbone of the Eighty Group Army.
What's even worse is that their equipment is no longer what it used to be. An infantry regiment is equipped with 16 mortars, 24 heavy machine guns, 4 37mm rapid-fire cannons, and a rifle that is not inferior to an infantry regiment of the Japanese army.
Grenadier.
At this time, there were as many as 60 grenade groups in the second-line trenches alone.
This is also one of the results of the 683rd Brigade's continuous learning of lessons from the Japanese army for half a year.
The losses caused by the Japanese 50mm grenade to the 683rd Brigade were too heavy. Although hundreds of Japanese troops were wiped out in Qigen Village during the two battles, a small Japanese grenade killed about 20 machine gun shooters from the 772nd Regiment, the main force of the battle.
Killed in action.
Those elites who came out of the great movement of thousands of miles actually died in battle with a completely superior force. How could the 683 Brigade not attach great importance to this small 'mortar' with a range of four to five hundred meters!
Use the strengths of the barbarians to defeat the barbarians! Since the Japanese army's grenade launchers can cause heavy losses to you, use grenade launchers to fight back against them.
Relying on the large number of grenade launchers and ammunition seized from the Battle of Shentouling, the 772th Regiment also set up a grenade launcher team in the infantry platoon. If a Japanese infantry squad had two grenade launchers, the infantry platoon would have three grenade launchers.
Anyway, it will surpass the Japanese.
It is under the guidance of such tactical thinking that the 9 infantry companies under the 772 regiment actually have 63 grenade launchers. This is not yet fully equipped. If they are all equipped according to Wang Xiaoqiang's idea, it will be as high as more than 80
Tool.
Don't underestimate the grenade-style grenades, which can only throw less than a kilogram of explosives but more than 100 grams of explosives. When the number is large, the power is also very scary.
Therefore, when Wang Xiaoqiang, who arrived at the front line in person, saw through the telescope that the Japanese troops were spreading out across the entire battlefield like ants, slowly moving forward under the leadership of armored vehicles, he did not order various firepower points to suppress fire first, but instead ordered the troops hiding in the trenches to suppress firepower.
Each grenade group attacks freely.
"Boom, boom, boom!" Clouds of gunpowder smoke exploded in the Japanese ranks.
Although the gap between the Japanese infantry was extremely wide and a grenade exploded, it would never explode in one piece. However, the 772 Regiment could not handle the large number of grenade launchers, with more than 60 rounds in one round.
Moreover, although the Chinese grenadier soldiers do not have the extremely accurate shooting skills of Japanese veterans, they have undergone rigorous training and are still accurate within 300 meters.
After several consecutive rounds of firing, at least fifty or sixty Japanese soldiers fell under the shrapnel piled up by quantity.
"Baga! Where did the Chinese get the grenades?" Yoshio Yoriyani was so angry that he once again uttered barren Japanese swear words.
Although grenade launchers are not high-tech, they cannot be used with an iron pipe. Yoshio Yoriyani has every reason to suspect that these are from the Imperial Army.
"However, their commanders are stupid enough to use grenades to bombard infantry. Do they really think that grenades are unlimited?" Yoshitani Yoshio, holding a telescope, looked at the smoke rising on the battlefield and began to psychologically examine himself.
Soothe.
For the Japanese army, a grenade team of two people, one shooter and one observer and ammunition hand, carrying 12 rounds of ammunition during wartime was already a lot.
If the Chinese fight like this, they will probably use up all the ammunition they carry in a short time. They can still afford to lose dozens of lives.
The staff officer next to him wanted to remind him that the Chinese gave the 108th Division and the 14th Division a beating two months ago, especially the 14th Division, which was a baggage convoy composed of nearly 200 vehicles, transporting ammunition among them.
It's so many that it's unimaginable. What's so big about a few thousand rounds of grenades?
But looking at the army major who was trying his best to comfort him, the lieutenant staff still swallowed the situation back.
Major is already in pain, why add salt to the wound?
But the Chinese used the next wave of terrible blows to cut a big hole in the heart of Major Yoshitani Yoshio.
Their heavy machine gun opened fire!
However, it does not come from the frontal defense line of Zhuozhang River.
But it comes from the high ground on the flank.
The high ground is nearly 700 meters away from the battlefield, which seems quite safe, but it is also within the 800-meter range of the heavy machine gun, and the Chinese are condescending, which invisibly increases its range. In other words, even if the bullet no longer advances straight, what?
, can’t a bullet that floats a little bit kill people?
Heavy machine guns, when did they rely on accuracy to kill people? They relied on probability instead of having more bullets!
At least nine heavy machine guns on three highlands were firing at the Japanese infantry on the battlefield. Regardless of the first wave, the second wave, or the third wave, the Japanese infantry all fell down in the mud.
Unlike chewing mud, you may die. The battlefield is so cruel, and the Japanese made a wise choice.
"Fight back, fight back, let the idiots in charge of defending the flanks fight back!" Yoshio Raitani almost spat out a mouthful of blood.
When did his second gang become such an idiot that anyone who meets him would want to slap him in the face.
Your flank battlefield is at least a thousand meters away from here. Are your bullets free or something?
Brigadier Cheng Da: You guessed it right, I stole these from the 14th Division. It’s really free of charge!
As soon as these nine heavy machine guns opened fire, the battlefield instantly became lively. The infantry artillery and grenades hidden by the Japanese army, including the heavy machine guns, all began to fire back.
As the hand-cranked siren began to sound, the first wave of Japanese troops began to rush decisively towards the Zhuozhang River with their short legs.
The most brutal attack has really begun.
"Hit me!" Wang Xiaoqiang ordered.
More than 30 light machine guns and 12 heavy machine guns opened fire with all their strength, regardless of the threat from grenade grenades and infantry artillery.
Japanese troops kept falling into the Zhuozhang River, and the water was instantly dyed red. But perhaps this time the Japanese troops gave a death order. Under the hail of bullets, more Japanese troops followed the Type 94 armored vehicles and crossed the Zhuozhang River.
At this time, the 16 heavy machine guns deployed by Yoshio Raitani on both sides of the battlefield began to provide fire cover for his own side.
How dense is the rain of bullets?
As soon as a Chinese soldier raised his arm, before the grenade left his hand, a bullet hit his wrist hard.
The thick heavy machine gun bullet directly broke his wrist, leaving only a little flesh on it. At this time, the grenade, which did not gain much kinetic energy, fell directly into the trench without being thrown away.
If nothing else goes wrong, the soldier who is holding his wrist and howling in agony will no longer feel pain in two seconds. The grenade is enough to blow him and a comrade beside him away.
But he survived, although he lost his right hand from then on.
At that moment, his comrade made a choice.
It was the soldier's most instinctive choice to kick away the grenade that was still emitting blue smoke, but the grenade was not a football, and it was impossible to kick it out of the trench. At most, it was just farther away from them, but a little further away, there was shooting.
comrades.
Therefore, the soldier's choice was to pounce and suppress the grenade with his not-so-thick chest.
Then, the grenade exploded.
The soldier was blown up more than two meters by the energy of the explosion, and his heart could be seen in his torn open chest.
Just like this, the remains of the soldiers lying on the edge of the trench, completely exposed to the battlefield, were still bearing the impact of bullets. Bullets were shot one after another on the body that had no vitality, and blood flowers bloomed.
"Ah!" When the soldier covering his wrists got up from the ground, he saw exactly this tragic scene, and he knelt on the ground again with a plop.
The severe pain, tears, snot, and blood mixed with extreme grief were like a demon, and the soldiers who came over couldn't bear to look directly at him.
This is just a corner of the battlefield, and sacrifices are inevitable.
In other words, death is the main theme on the battlefield, whether it is Chinese or Japanese.
But death will never stop. At this time, China and Japan are like two beasts in the arena. The battle will never stop until one side falls completely.
As the Chinese continued to throw grenades, the Japanese suffered heavy casualties, but the Japanese still stubbornly refused to retreat, even though their bodies were covered in the flesh and blood of their colleagues who had been torn apart by grenades.
The Japanese engineers began to blast the ditch ridge. The loud explosion collapsed the ditch ridge. They filled it with wooden planks and earthwork. In less than five minutes, a slope was formed that was large enough for tracked armored vehicles and people to run up.
The Japanese are really professional when it comes to civil engineering.
Seeing that at least one-third of the imperial infantry across the river had been crossed, and the engineers had opened at least six slopes for the Type 94 armored vehicles to move forward, the corners of Yoshio Raitani's mouth curved upward for the first time: "Yoshi, order the third wave to come quickly."
Moving forward, I want to completely deal with the current Chinese people in one go. Your Excellency, the brigade commander, is watching us from behind. The empire may have a prosperous military fortune!"
"Beep!" As the hand-cranked siren blared, the third wave of Japanese troops at the rear no longer bent forward in small steps, but collectively shouted "Onboard!" and strode forward with guns in hand.
This is similar to the charge number of the Eightyth Army. Once the charge order is given, the troops will never be withdrawn unless it is absolutely necessary.
But soon, the Japanese army suffered a blow!
The 37mm anti-tank guns that had been hidden all this time revealed their fangs just as the Japanese Type 94 tanks were ascending the slope and were about to straf the front with their 7.7mm machine guns in a show of force.
The 37mm anti-tank gun is an excellent product of German-made weapons. Not to mention the thin iron sheet of the Type 94 Xiaoduding tank, which is less than 10mm, the 30mm steel plate of the Type 89 medium main battle tank is also a thin steel plate at a straight line distance of 700 meters.
Penetrate. Even in the future battlefield of World War II, this anti-tank gun, which has almost been eliminated, has a record of penetrating the 50 mm armor on the side of the Panther tank.
The 94 Little Douding without a tank gun is like a sheep meeting a wolf in front of this kind of artillery. It has no other purpose except to bleat a few times to express its identity as a sheep.
In just 3 minutes, all 94 small beans that climbed onto the ridge were destroyed and turned into burning torches on the river bank.
"The infantry continues to attack!" Yoshio Raitani, although his face was ashen, still refused to give up.
He knew that this might be his last attack. It was not that the head of the Yamamoto brigade no longer trusted him, but that the Chinese would no longer give him a chance.
The muffled thunder from thousands of meters away from the rear continued, which not only showed the power of the Chinese artillery, but also showed their confidence.
If the Chinese defense line cannot be broken this time, perhaps thousands of people in the entire brigade will be forced into a defensive state, and there will no longer be a chance to take the initiative on the battlefield.
Without the machine gun cover of six 94 tanks, all the bravery of the Japanese infantry was shattered on this river bank.
Because the Chinese started firing from nearly 10 heavy firepower points, which was a firepower network composed of more than 20 heavy machine guns and 50 light machine guns.
The Japanese infantry artillery, however, was constantly being attacked by Chinese mortars and could no longer bombard China's heavy firepower as before.
"It was a great battle!" Battalion Commander Xiao Ding sighed sincerely as he saw groups of Japanese troops rushing over being mowed down by light and heavy machine guns.
This was the first time he fought with abundant firepower. While feeling the strength of his own side, and watching the Japanese soldiers struggling for their lives under the flying bullets, he felt extremely satisfied in his heart.
This time, he no longer had to lead the entire battalion of commanders and fighters in hand-to-hand combat with the Japanese.
Not to mention that after winning the battle, you don't have to endure the sadness of countless familiar faces disappearing from your eyes forever.
The Japanese army was tenacious enough. They persisted for 15 minutes under such intense firepower. There was even a small group of more than 20 Japanese soldiers fighting in front of the trenches. But that was just the tip of the iceberg. They were quickly attacked by shell guns and light rifles.
The firepower composed of machine guns struck at the front of the trench.
The Japanese army finally retreated!
There were more than 1,100 Japanese infantry and 8 Type 94 armored vehicles. Only one armored vehicle and more than 400 Japanese infantry were able to return.
Nearly 700 Japanese troops sleep forever on this battlefield.
The 772nd Regiment suffered less than 150 casualties, and the battle loss ratio reached an astonishing 1:5.
The Japanese army was completely defeated.
Since then, the Japanese army has never organized a decent attack as Yoshio Yoriya imagined.
The Four Troops Regiment, which bombarded the Japanese rear flank for nearly a whole night, never gave the Second Mixed Brigade a chance.
In the early morning of the next day, the three infantry battalions of the Fourth Army Regiment began to attack the three defense lines on the left, center and right of the Japanese rear flank. The 771st Regiment and the Supplementary Regiment began to continuously attack the Japanese forward flank.
The two lines of defense of the Japanese army are in danger!
The Japanese army with a strength of 8,000 turned from offense to defense in just 2 hours, which was extremely rare in the entire history of the Sino-Japanese war.
But it really happened in the deep mountains of Taihang Mountains!
Captain Sasaki once again leads the Japanese North China Front Army Aviation fighter formation to go into battle!
But this time, there were 24 fighter planes, which was already the largest fighter formation that Yuancheng could gather.
This chapter has been completed!