Outside Shijiazhuang, Li Yunlong was also frightened by the sudden artillery battle.
The original plan was just to stage a demonstration on the top of the city to let the Japanese and puppet troops in the city know that Li Yunlong was coming, and then force Neji Okamura to mobilize troops from Baoding, Xiongxian and other places to reinforce Shijiazhuang in order to break the situation.
As a result, the Japanese and puppet troops in the city took the attack in front of them seriously.
Even though the number of mortars they equipped was less than half that of the independent brigade, they still fought back bravely.
Li Yunlong had a very vicious vision and definitely did not want to miss this good opportunity to severely damage the Japanese and puppet artillery units.
Immediately order all artillery units to join the battle and use their numerical superiority to kill all artillery units in the city.
A new round of artillery shells passed over the top of Shijiazhuang City with a piercing scream and smashed into the artillery positions in the city.
Fires shot into the sky, thick smoke rose into the sky, and then violent explosions were heard outside the city.
On top of the city, the Japanese and puppet troops were waiting in full formation.
The black barrel of the light and heavy machine gun protruded from the battlement, looking like a hedgehog from a distance.
As long as the troops enter their fire range, these light and heavy machine guns will fire without hesitation.
Although the artillery battle between the two sides was very lively, Li Yunlong did not lose his mind and knew that attacking Shijiazhuang would not be achieved overnight.
Faced with the waiting Japanese and puppet city defense troops, not only did they not order the troops to take the opportunity to launch an attack, but they all acted like cowards and hid in bunkers to deepen and widen the trenches. By the way, they extended the offensive position to the foot of the city wall, thus shortening the troops.
Siege distance.
"Brigade commander...the six main regiment commanders who are cooperating with our operations have all arrived..." the chief of staff's report suddenly sounded behind him.
Li Yunlong's serious face was immediately covered with a smile. He walked up to several group leaders with a smile and sat on the main seat as expected.
"Comrades, your superiors have told me your situation."
"Here I will make a promise to you first: after the battle, each main regiment will be replenished with a thousand rifles, thirty light and heavy machine guns, ten mortars, four mountain guns or field guns..."
Several group leaders thought they were here to receive a mission, but they didn't expect that Li Yunlong promised benefits to everyone as soon as he opened his mouth.
Then everyone had a heartfelt smile on their face.
Commander Zhou of the 16th Regiment was impatient and stood up from his chair, patting his chest and saying, "Chief..."
"From now on, more than a thousand soldiers below me in the 16th Regiment will all obey your command unconditionally."
"You ask us to go east, but we will never go west..."
"Yes, completely obey the commander's orders..." The remaining group leaders agreed.
The reason why Li Yunlong came up and gave everyone a few sweet dates was because he wanted this result.
With a wave of his hand, the guard threw a huge Shijiazhuang city defense map on the table in front of everyone.
Li Yunlong's face also returned to a serious expression at this moment, and he said seriously: "This was obtained by the intelligence department and the reconnaissance force at a huge cost. Although the layout of the Japanese and puppet army's firepower points is somewhat different from the actual situation, there is almost no specific location of the city defense fortifications.
question."
"It can be seen from the map that the Japanese and puppet troops in the city are not only ready to defend the city's fortifications, but are also ready to fight us in the streets."
"So our next siege will be divided into two stages."
"They were to break through the fortifications of Shijiazhuang City and engage in street fighting with the remnants of the Japanese and puppet troops in the city to completely occupy Shijiazhuang."
"Of course……"
"This is all a battle around Shijiazhuang. The real purpose of the independent brigade's attack on Shijiazhuang this time is not to capture Shijiazhuang, but to use Shijiazhuang as a breakthrough to severely damage the Baoding and Xiongxian garrisons."
"So in the next battle, the three regiments of the independent brigade will be used as reserves and will not directly participate in the siege battle."
"The six main regiments in your hands will serve as the main force to attack Shijiazhuang and participate in the entire siege battle."
"Considering that you do not have heavy siege weapons and your troops lack firepower, I will ask the artillery troops and special forces to provide you with fire cover. What do you think? Do you have any objections to my arrangement?"
Commander Zhou of the 16th Regiment spoke again, looked at Li Yunlong and asked with an expectant expression: "Chief..."
"The mountain artillery unit and heavy artillery unit that are engaged in an artillery battle with the Japanese artillery will really provide us with artillery support during the siege battle..."
Li Yunlong laughed and scolded directly: "As a brigade commander, I will never joke with you about this kind of thing."
"All the artillery units brought by the Independence Brigade will provide you with artillery support during the siege battle."
"And I have another piece of good news for you."
"In order to reduce the casualties of the siege troops, we should try to make full use of our army's artillery advantage during the battle."
"In this attack on Shijiazhuang, we brought a total of more than 12,000 rounds of artillery shells. There were more than 5,000 shells for the mountain field artillery and heavy artillery alone. On average, each gun could be allocated 120 rounds of shells."
"So don't be polite during the battle. If you encounter a tough problem, call me for artillery support."
"You must not let the infantry fight for the little Japs who can be killed with artillery shells."
"More than 20 armored combat vehicles affiliated with the Special Regiment will also participate in the siege battle."
"I will cover the siege troops entering Shijiazhuang at the critical moment."
Captain Zhou was delighted when he heard this.
He had just seen all the artillery brought by the Independence Brigade. The barrels of the artillery were thicker than bowls, especially those of large-caliber heavy artillery. Each shell weighed dozens of kilograms.
Under normal circumstances, a heavy artillery shell can level an area the size of a basketball court.
Even if the Japanese army has a bunker, a machine gun bunker, or heavy artillery shells that do not hit the bunker, the powerful shock wave can still kill the Japanese and puppet troops hiding inside.
He has been fighting for so many years and has only heard of large-caliber heavy artillery. He has never had close contact with them, let alone received artillery support from such large-caliber artillery.
It can be imagined that if dozens of large-caliber heavy artillery fire together with mountain field artillery, the fortifications of Shijiazhuang City will be covered by artillery fire in at most two minutes, and the Japanese and puppet troops defending the city will shed a layer of skin even if they do not die.
If the important troops concentrated their artillery fire on one point of the city wall, it would be no problem to blast a gap with artillery shells.
Coupled with the cover of chariots and tanks, the siege troops could easily enter Shijiazhuang.
He patted his chest again and promised: "Chief..."
"In the past, we were not equipped with siege artillery and did not dare to attack Shijiazhuang."
"Now that we have the heavy artillery and tanks you brought, even if there are 20,000 Japanese puppet troops stationed in the city, we still dare to attack."
"As long as the commander promises that there will be no problems with our artillery support, we will be able to enter Shijiazhuang in two days at most..."
Li Yunlong shook his head: "It's too fast..."
"When attacking, control the rhythm a little and don't attack too hard. Just try to reach Shijiazhuang within three days."
