"Chen Quan, push out all the prepared carts for me and start the attack as planned!" Chen Daliang's assurance made Kong Jie confident about the coming battle, and he turned around and gave orders to the battalion commander.
Five wooden-wheeled carts crossed the trench along the wooden planks erected on the trench, and lined up in a row in front of the offensive position, with a wall of sandbags more than one meter high piled on top.
Each cart was pushed by three soldiers, who hunched over and hid behind the sandbag wall, slowly advancing toward the stronghold.
Their task was to push five large vehicles to a position 60 meters outside the stronghold, and dig another trench under the protection of the sandbag wall to serve as a new offensive position for the main offensive force and reduce the assault distance of the force during the general attack.
The Japs in the stronghold will definitely not let him get what he wants.
The closer the attacking troops are to the stronghold and the shorter the attack distance, the greater the chance that the stronghold will be captured. They will definitely do everything possible to prevent themselves from establishing a new offensive position in front!
The Japs have very few counterattack methods, which will inevitably expose all their firepower, and the artillery battery will have the opportunity to kill a large number of the Japs inside...
"Sir, the Eighth Route Army has begun to attack!" Captain Pinggang reminded nervously in the central turret!
Koizumi Ichiro also noticed the commotion outside the stronghold and immediately raised his binoculars to observe.
"Big cart... The Eighth Route Army actually pushed a cart to attack us, and they can't stop bullets. They must be crazy?"
The nervous expression on Captain Hiraoka's face was replaced by solemnity: "Sir, something is wrong!"
"There's something on the cart..."
"They are sandbags. The Eighth Route Army has piled a wall of sandbags on the cart. No matter how powerful the bullets are, they cannot penetrate the sandbags. Kill the Eighth Route Army behind the sandbags..."
"I understand, they want to use carts and sandbags as mobile bunkers, just like our tanks, to cover the infantry attacking us!"
"We must find a way to destroy those mobile bunkers immediately, otherwise the gun towers and defensive positions we built on the walls will lose their effectiveness and we will not be able to kill any Eighth Route Army troops!"
"The Eighth Route Army only needs to pay a small price to break into the stronghold, end the battle with bayonets, and capture the stronghold!"
"The Eighth Route Army is indeed very cunning. They can think of such crude methods!" Koizumi Ichiro was both angry and impressed. He snorted and began to give orders.
"But a mobile bunker is not a tank after all..."
"If Ba and the others only have this ability, tonight's attack is destined to fail miserably!"
"As long as our firepower is strong enough and the sandbags are broken, the soil inside will leak out, and the sandbag wall will naturally disappear!"
"The powerful firepower can directly destroy large vehicles..."
"Without large trucks for transportation, the sandbag wall cannot be moved no matter how strong it is!"
It was as if Captain Hiraoka had discovered a new world. His confused eyes immediately brightened, and the solemn expression on his face relaxed. He said with a flattering expression in his excitement: "Sir, you are wise!"
"I will now order the troops to concentrate their firepower on five large vehicles..."
"The machine guns equipped by the stronghold garrison are limited. I hope the commander will let the special forces join the battle together, use submachine guns to make up for our lack of firepower, and destroy the mobile bunkers as quickly as possible!"
Ichiro Koizumi didn't think much and nodded directly in agreement: "I will give the order to the special agent team now!"
"Just let them take the opportunity to practice their marksmanship..."
"Da da da... bang bang bang... bang bang bang..."
Intensive gunfire soon came from the Zhumacun stronghold.
The line of the wall was filled with tongues of flame from machine guns and submachine guns, the ones as long as one and a half feet long and the short ones as short as half a foot...
The effective range of the submachine gun is very short. In order to achieve the best shooting effect, dozens of special agents were concentrated behind the wall directly in front of the cart.
This scene made Kong Jie so excited that he almost jumped up from the ground and opened his mouth to give orders.
"The Yamamoto Special Agent Team actually gathered the team members together. God is helping me...God is helping our independent group..."
"The artillery will fire immediately, let me kill these idiots!"
Chen Daliang also stared at a section of the courtyard wall in front of him that was full of flames. He squatted next to a mortar and gave orders while adjusting the firing crew.
"Target: Shooting area No. 5, shoot three rapid fire rounds at each door, prepare..."
"Fire...boom-boom-boom..."
The sound of the cannonball flying out of the barrel sounded at the same time, drawing a beautiful parabola in the air and hitting steadily near the courtyard wall.
The fire splashed, and several submachine gun flames were instantly swallowed up in the gunfire.
"Rumble..."
The second round of shells followed the second round of shells... and several submachine gun flames disappeared from the courtyard wall...
The remaining agents soon realized they were being targeted by artillery.
In the face of shells exploding at close range, no matter how well you train and how strong your skills are, you can't escape death...
Without any orders from the commander, I held my submachine gun in my arms, bent over and moved towards the back, wanting to leave the shelling area as quickly as possible...
"Boom boom boom..."
The third round of shells fell from the sky, and only two agents who ran too slowly fell to the ground...
"Bage Ya Road, the enemy has mortars, we were fooled..." Seeing his subordinates being blown over in the artillery fire, Major Koizumi punched the gun tower shooting hole. He was heartbroken and angry, and he gritted his teeth and cursed.
"All the special agents evacuated the courtyard wall and entered the gun tower to fight!"
"The mortar is very powerful and cannot destroy the fortifications... Hiding in the turret can minimize the casualties caused by the mortar!"
Captain Ping Gang followed the order: "The soldiers of the garrison defending the courtyard wall also entered the gun tower to fight. The Imperial Association Army stayed put and continued to attack the Eighth Route Army's offensive troops..."
After giving the order, he asked Ichiro Koizumi: "Sir, the Eighth Route Army is equipped with mortars, which greatly increases our defensive pressure..."
"I suggest that we immediately ask for help from our superiors and ask surrounding strongholds and counties to send troops to encircle and attack our Eighth Route Army!"
"Fighting from inside and outside, annihilate all enemies outside the stronghold!"
The arrogance just now is no longer visible in Ichiro Koizumi.
In the sudden artillery attack just now, at least ten members of the Yamamoto special agent team were killed and injured.
No one knows whether the Eighth Route Army has any other means of attack hidden.
If the special agent team suffered further losses in the next battle, Yamamoto Kazuki who stayed in Taiyuan would definitely be so angry that he wanted to skin him alive.
He nodded immediately: "Go and send a telegram now to ask the reinforcements to speed up!"
"The Yamamoto special agent team has already suffered casualties. The faster the reinforcements come, the smaller our subsequent losses will be!"
There are a total of eight small gun towers outside the Zhuma Village stronghold, scattered at the four corners of the stronghold and in the middle of each defense direction.
The independent regiment launches an attack from one direction and only needs to face three gun towers at the same time.
The remaining 30 or so members of the special agent team and more than 30 Japanese soldiers were all concentrated inside. It would not be an exaggeration to say that they were fighting against each other. Behind almost every shooting hole were guarding an agent team member and an ordinary rifleman, alternately going out.
Fire...
"Captain, the firepower on the front line of the courtyard wall has dropped sharply, and the firepower in the three gun towers has increased sharply. Each gun tower has nearly ten more submachine gun flames. Yamamoto's special agents must have entered the gun towers!" Shen Quan, the first battalion commander, reminded.
"I saw it!" Kong Jie said with a smile on his face: "We fought so smoothly tonight. The Japanese will do whatever we want them to do. God is helping us!"
"The next step is to look at the artillery battery!"
"As long as they can hit the target with one blow and kill the Japanese hiding in the gun tower, the next battle will be much easier!"
"Don't be idle here, concentrate all your firepower to blockade the three gun towers!"
"Chen Daliang's infantry artillery will first hit the gun towers in the front, and then hit the gun towers on both sides..."
"The two grenade squads should stop engaging in guerrilla warfare with the Japanese grenade launchers. They should focus on the entrances and exits of the gun towers on both sides and blast them. They will block the Japanese in the gun towers and let the infantry cannons call their names one by one!"
At the artillery battery position, Chen Daliang was also issuing the same order.
"The first platoon of mortars will blow up the left turret for me, and the second platoon of mortars will blow up the right turret. The two mortars will take turns to fire to ensure that the artillery attack is uninterrupted. We must block the Japanese inside the turret!"
"The infantry cannon aims at the middle turret and tries to destroy it with one shot!"
"After destroying the target, immediately turn the gun's muzzle and blow up the left turret first, then the right turret. The speed must be fast, so as not to give the Japanese a chance to escape from the turret!"
"The regiment commander said that if we fight tonight's battle well, he will go to the brigade headquarters in person to ask for credit for our artillery company..."
"All the shooting personnel are adjusted and ready to shoot..."
"Fire...boom..."
The sound of infantry artillery fire was much louder than that of mortars, ringing in his ears like thunder, which made Chen Daliang's ears buzz.
He was not affected at all and stared at the target turret without blinking!
The artillery shell hit the target, and the fireball rose into the sky on the outer wall of the turret. You can even see bricks and stones blown away by the artillery shell.
Surprisingly, the turret was only blasted with a big hole, and it still stood in the smoke.
"The target remains unchanged, fire another shot... faster!" Chen Daliang frowned and gave the order in a hurry.
Four mortar shells also hit two other gun towers at the same moment.
The fire was splashing and the smoke was billowing, which looked particularly scary.
But the gun tower remained motionless, and the Japanese hiding inside were not affected at all and continued to shoot out. From a distance, they looked like flaming hedgehogs, making people avoid them.
The remaining four grenades of the first battalion's machine gun platoon joined the battle at the same time and fired four grenades at the two gun towers...
In front of the mortar shells, their explosive power was extremely small and they made almost no noise. However, the flying shell fragments created a steel storm around the gun tower.
If there were any Japanese who happened to emerge from the blockhouse, they would be beaten into pieces by the rain of splinters!
Koizumi Ichiro was once again stunned by the battle situation.
The shock brought by the infantry cannon is much greater than that of four mortars. It can not only kill people, but also destroy fortifications.
If the artillery tower is bombed, the soldiers hiding inside will not even have a chance to escape and will be directly buried in the rubble...
His face suddenly turned miserable. He looked at Captain Pinggang and ordered with a worried expression: "The Eighth Route Army has infantry artillery. The gun towers may be blown down at any time. The soldiers inside must be evacuated immediately!"
"What are you still doing? Go and give the order quickly. It will be too late if you delay it any longer!"
