A series of dull gunfire sounds finally sounded in the station not far from the division headquarters, followed closely by the scream of artillery shells streaking across the sky.
It was originally the garrison of Gu'an County and had a huge training ground.
Artillery requires large open spaces to mount artillery, especially heavy artillery units.
After the Kwantung Army's Nagata Division stationed in Gu'an County, the heavy artillery regiment naturally chose to be stationed there.
Counting an independent heavy artillery brigade strengthened by the headquarters, a total of 48 large-caliber artillery pieces are set up on the training ground, ready to launch counterattacks against enemies that may appear outside the city at any time.
Because the artillery has been set up, the gunner only needs to determine the enemy's position, calculate the shooting elements, and adjust the artillery to fire.
Logically speaking, this series of counterattack processes should not take too much time.
Especially among the little Japanese gunners who have rich combat experience.
However, they encountered an opponent who didn't play according to common sense.
The Eighth Route Army in Yizhong was firing more than sixty artillery pieces of various types, but these sixty artillery pieces were all scattered in different artillery positions in battalion units and were not assembled together.
If the Japanese concentrated all their heavy artillery on one of the artillery positions, although they could increase the hit rate and destroy one of the artillery positions in a short period of time, other artillery units of the Eighth Route Army could continue to fire at Gu'an County, killing and injuring the troops stationed in the city.
If the Japanese heavy artillery regiment divides its forces to counterattack, the probability of hitting the opponent will be much lower, and it will not be able to destroy the opponent's artillery position in a short time. Maybe the opponent will still have time to move the artillery after being counterattacked by artillery fire.
The two counterattack methods made the captain of the Little Japanese Heavy Artillery Regiment hesitate for a long time before making his final decision.
In addition, the Eighth Route Army artillery does not need to strike accurately at Gu'an County, it is enough to just hit the artillery shells into Gu'an County.
As a result, these artillery pieces are very far away from Gu'an County.
If the Japanese Heavy Artillery Regiment wants to destroy the Eighth Route Army's artillery positions, it must carry out precise strikes, otherwise the artillery shells they fire will fly everywhere, completely unable to damage the Eighth Route Army's artillery.
As we all know, for heavy artillery, the farther the shooting distance, the more difficult it is to carry out precise strikes.
For various reasons, the heavy artillery wing took longer than usual to launch artillery counterattacks.
For Lieutenant General Nagata, as long as the heavy artillery regiment starts counterattacking with artillery fire, the casualties of the garrison in the city will be reduced.
Just as he was about to breathe a sigh of relief, a new round of explosions reached his ears again.
Compared with before, the explosion sound in front of me has not become much weaker.
Looking around, there are still dozens of fireballs rising into the sky across the county, rolling up a lot of black smoke.
After the bombing just now, many houses have been ignited by the artillery fire and turned into a raging fire.
Many subordinates who had not been able to move and retreat in time rushed out of the fire, rolling on the ground with flames on their bodies.
"Bage Ya Road, did the artillery regiment miss the target? Why are the Eighth Route Army artillery still firing artillery shells into the city..." The chief of staff on the side did not know how to answer the division commander's question.
He was not an artilleryman and didn't know much about artillery warfare. Moreover, the artillery position was not here and he had no idea about the situation there.
Fortunately, someone hurried over to rescue him.
It was a combat staff officer who came rushing over from the war room: "Division commander..."
"Heavy Artillery Regiment Report..."
"The Eighth Route Army's artillery positions are very scattered. If our army divides its forces to counterattack, it will be difficult to kill them."
"The artillery regiment decided to defeat each one..."
"But during this period, the Eighth Route Army artillery that has not been attacked will continue to fire artillery shells into the city. Please ask the division commander to order the garrison in the city to disperse and hide, and be prepared for artillery defense."
Lieutenant General Nagata swallowed back the curse words that were already on his lips.
It's not that the artillery regiment is incompetent, but that the opponent is too cunning.
Sixty or seventy heavy artillery pieces were dispersedly deployed and fired artillery shells at Gu'an County.
The number of artillery pieces owned by the heavy artillery regiment is far lower than theirs. It is indeed very difficult to defeat each of them and eliminate them on the battlefield.
Take a deep breath and force yourself to calm down.
He decided to wait a little longer...
If the artillery regiment cannot kill the Eighth Route Artillery in ten minutes, it is not too late to go find them and cause trouble.
He raised his telescope and looked at the battlefield again.
As for returning to the war room, you can't see anything there except listen to reports from your subordinates. It's not as comfortable as here. You can have a panoramic view of the civil war in the city by looking up.
"Rumble..."
After watching for almost a minute, a series of different explosions suddenly sounded behind Lieutenant General Nagata.
Although the explosions were equally violent, they were very dense, like dozens of cannonballs hitting one point.
Lieutenant General Nagata glanced back subconsciously, and then his eyes widened, showing an expression of shock from the bottom of his heart.
Because the location where the explosion came from happened to be the station of the heavy artillery regiment that he had high hopes for.
All the heavy artillery of the division was assembled there.
Through the fire caused by the explosion of the artillery shell, Lieutenant General Nagata could clearly see the gunners swarming around the position.
"Rumble..."
Before Lieutenant General Nagata could react from the shock, the second round of artillery shells had already followed and exploded at the heavy artillery wing station.
This time Lieutenant General Nagata could see clearly.
Several heavy cannons were overturned by air waves in the explosion, and countless gunners were blown away in the explosion...
The already chaotic artillery position became even more chaotic at this time.
"Division Commander..."
The voice from the artillery staff brought Lieutenant General Nagata back to reality, and then he stared at him and asked.
"what happened?"
"Why was the heavy artillery wing attacked?"
"Aren't they counterattacking the Eighth Route Army's artillery positions? Why would the Eighth Route Army's artillery fire shells into their positions?"
The artillery staff officer replied with a look of panic: "The Eighth Route Army attacking us outside the city is equipped with more than two heavy artillery regiments..."
"The artillery that is attacking the heavy artillery regiment is from another heavy artillery regiment, and these heavy artillery are set up four or five kilometers outside the city..."
"The Eighth Route Army wanted to wait until our artillery regiment exposed its target before massing heavy artillery to counterattack and destroy all the heavy artillery we equipped in one fell swoop."
"Then they will be able to dominate the entire battlefield with heavy artillery..."
"Take care of us how you want to deal with us."
Lieutenant General Nagata was anxious and quickly ordered: "Hurry up and let the heavy artillery regiment counterattack..."
"The enemy has set up heavy artillery and fired right under our noses. As long as we keep an eye on them and make sure to shoot at Zhu Yuan, it should be easy to eliminate them."
"What are you still doing here? Hurry up to the artillery regiment and issue a counterattack order. First kill the newly exposed heavy artillery regiment of the Eighth Route Army, and then deal with the other heavy artillery regiments. Defeat them one by one and completely destroy the Eighth Route Army's artillery unit."
