At three o'clock in the afternoon, the Niutoushan blocking position began to be covered by artillery fire from the Japanese army.
Mortar shells, mountain field artillery shells, infantry artillery shells were all dropped on the mountainside as if they were free of charge...
In the blink of an eye, the blocking position was filled with gunpowder smoke, making it difficult to see even if you stood there in broad daylight.
"Weng buzz..."
The escort aircraft also joined the battle, the roar became louder and louder, and they swooped down towards the position like falcons...
When there were still two or three hundred meters above the ground, the nose of the plane was suddenly raised and it flew high into the sky again. An aerial bomb hanging on the belly of the plane fell down, whizzed down along the dive trajectory of the plane just now, and hit the ground.
…
"Rumble..."
The explosion of the aerial bomb was several times louder than the explosion of artillery shells. It sounded like thunder in the position. The thick black smoke formed a thick smoke column and shot straight into the sky. It looked particularly scary...
Ten minutes later, the explosions slowly stopped. More than a dozen heavy machine guns mounted at the foot of the mountain joined the battle at the same time. Thick heavy machine gun bullets were like rain, covering the entire position in an instant.
The gunpowder smoke on the surface of the position has not dissipated, and the Japanese do not know the effect of the shelling just now.
Lieutenant Colonel Kagawa, the leader of the team, came from the field force and often fought against the Jinsui Army on the frontal battlefield.
In his impression, the most powerful main division of the Jinsui Army could not withstand such a fierce artillery attack, let alone the Eighth Route Army, which was poorly equipped and only dared to engage in mobile warfare and guerrilla warfare with the Imperial Army, but did not dare to engage in positional warfare with the Imperial Army.
Already.
Based on past experience, he decided that now was the best time to attack, and immediately summoned a company of Imperial Army soldiers and an infantry squadron to launch an attack...
Before the Eighth Route Army on the mountain could react from the artillery fire, they rushed into their position and ended the battle with the bayonet that the imperial army was best at.
Lieutenant Colonel Kagawa was very confident, but he was not so arrogant that he did not take the Eighth Route Army into his eyes.
When the infantry attacks, in addition to the heavy machine guns providing fire cover, the artillery is always on standby, ready to knock out the fire points that were not destroyed just now.
"The Japanese have begun to attack...enter the position immediately...go faster!" Yang Wanhe, commander of the fourth battalion, stood at the lookout of the semi-underground headquarters, observing the movements of the Japanese troops through the increasingly thin smoke in front of his eyes, and ordered...
…
"Didi-di-di-di-di-di..."
A shrill whistle soon sounded on the battlefield, and a large number of soldiers immediately appeared in the trenches that had been empty just now.
But as soon as they came out of the bomb hole, they were frightened by the scene in front of them.
The main trench was damaged by the bombing, and there were gaps everywhere...
Both sides of the trench were filled with dense shell craters, and many previously built shooting positions and machine gun positions... were all destroyed.
"Company Commander, our position has been destroyed!" A squad leader was frightened by the scene in front of him. Seeing that the trenches had been filled in, he was helpless and could only ask the company commander Guan Shanbei.
"If there are no trenches, defend the bomb craters... The bomb craters can also be used as bunkers... But don't be too far away from the artillery holes... As soon as the Japanese offensive troops withdraw, we will retreat to the artillery holes to avoid the shelling..." Guan Shanbei ordered after a quick glance around him.
He immediately threw himself into a crater nearby, first opened the safety of the Mauser pistol, put it aside, then picked up a 38-inch cap, aimed forward, and waited quietly for the Japanese to arrive.
The instructor suddenly came over and said excitedly: "Company commander, the anti-gun holes that the regiment commander asked us to dig are useful..."
"I made statistics and found that under the artillery fire just now, only six soldiers in the entire company were killed, and two soldiers were seriously injured...the loss was less than one squad..."
"If this were the case in the past, it would be considered good if more than half of the casualties were wiped out by such artillery fire!"
"I was worried before that if we didn't have artillery cover, we would definitely not be able to stop the Japanese's full attack..."
"I'm not afraid now... With the artillery holes in hand, we can block at least two Japanese attacks!"
"If the machine gun bunker is as good as the regiment leader said, it would be possible to block the Japanese attacks three times!"
Guan Shanbei looked happy and ordered: "Before the Japanese attack, take this good news and report it to the battalion commander and regimental commander. They must be more anxious than us!"
"Tell the battalion commander that we are absolutely sure to repel the Japanese and puppet attacking troops, please rest assured!"
After saying that, he ordered the subordinates on the side: "Pass this down, there are only more than 200 Japanese and puppet troops attacking us. We have bunkers, heavy machine guns and mortars, we will definitely be able to repel them!"
"I decided to bring them closer and then fire, to cause maximum damage to the Japanese and puppet troops!"
"No one can shoot in advance without my order!"
Lieutenant Colonel Kagawa is holding a telescope to observe the independent regiment's position!
Seeing that the trenches halfway up the mountain were completely damaged by bombing, there was not even a intact position, there were gaps and shell craters everywhere, and the Eighth Route Army defending the position suffered heavy casualties in the artillery fire even if they were not all blown up, and the serious expressions on their faces were unconscious.
Flash a smile!
"Kill me..."
The attacking troops have rushed to a position 70 to 80 meters in front of the formation without being attacked. This further confirms Lieutenant Colonel Kagawa's judgment just now: the defenders of the position have suffered heavy losses and have lost their combat effectiveness...
The smile on his face was thicker than before, and he continued to stare at the attacking troops, expecting them to attack and occupy the blocking position of the Independent Regiment in one go!
"Da da da... bang bang bang... bang bang bang..."
The sudden sound of gunfire halfway up the mountain shattered his dream. At first, there were only a few gunshots, but within two seconds, there was a huge explosion...
Dense bullets flew out from the position and instantly covered the attacking troops.
The Eighth Route Army fired from a commanding position. Even if the imperial troops participating in the attack hid behind the puppet troops, they were still stared at and beaten by rifle machine guns...
The sudden rain of bullets seemed to have eyes, specially designed to pass over the puppet troops in front and shoot the Japanese behind...
The Japanese did not expect the Eighth Route Army to be so forbearing, and they rushed right under their noses before shooting.
In addition, there are puppet troops blocking the front, so they will die first if they are blocked.
The self-righteous little Japs had little vigilance. It wasn't until gunshots rang out halfway up the mountain and the surrounding soldiers were harvested by bullets like wheat that the surviving Japs realized the danger and fell to the ground screaming.
But the time they hesitated was enough for the defenders to kill one of their infantry squads...
The surviving little Japs were not much better. The offensive positions under their feet were cleared by the independent regiment, and all bunkers that could hide people were razed to the ground!
Lying on the ground, there was no way to hide, and his entire back was exposed to the gunfire of the blocking troops.
The rain of bullets flying from above continues to harvest lives...
Many Japanese soldiers lay on the ground and hid, and there was no movement. I don't know when two blood holes were punched in the back, and the blood spurting out was dyed red by the military uniform...
Lieutenant Colonel Kagawa was dumbfounded. Countless questions that he couldn't understand suddenly popped up in his mind.
"How is it possible...why are there so many Eighth Route Army troops in the blocking position? How did they avoid our artillery fire!" Lieutenant Colonel Kagawa frowned and shouted, watching and giving orders.
"The artillery will fire immediately to kill the Eighth Route Army's firepower points on the position, hurry up!"
"Heavy machine gun cover allows the Imperial Army to attack from the front, and we still have a chance to attack their position..."
"Rumble..."
The mortar squadron not far from Lieutenant Commander Xianggawa was the first to fire. There were puppet troops on the battlefield blocking the Japs. The gunners were not worried about the shells accidentally injuring their own people...
Soon after, mountain artillery also joined the battle, staring at the fire points on the position and exploding.
"Rumble..."
Several artillery shells hit a heavy machine gun fire point at the same time and exploded, with fire flying and smoke filling the air. The roaring heavy machine gun instantly misfired...
Lieutenant Colonel Kagawa thought that the Eighth Route Army's firepower points would be destroyed as soon as the artillery took action.
The result was a huge disappointment. The smoke surrounding the firepower point had not dissipated. The heavy machine gun that had just misfired roared again...
As if the bullets were free, they instantly covered the three soldiers lying on the ground.
"What's going on? Why can't even the mountain artillery destroy the Eighth Route Army's firepower points... Could it be that their blocking position is made of iron?" Lieutenant Colonel Kagawa was dumbfounded, and there were more and more questions in his mind.
"Sir, there are too many wounded in the attacking force... The Eighth Route Army fired from a high position. They have no way to hide... If they hold on any longer, everyone will be left there!" The adjutant also couldn't figure out these problems, and his attention never left.
Attacking troops.
Even though they were lying on the ground, they could still tell the latest casualties from their retaliatory gunshots.
In just a few minutes, the attacking force was defeated by another infantry squad. Only fifty or sixty soldiers were left lying on the ground struggling to support themselves, and the casualties continued to increase.
"Retreat...the attacking troops will retreat immediately!" Lieutenant Colonel Kagawa suddenly reacted and gave the order with heartache when he saw the attacking troops suffering heavy casualties.
"We must destroy the blocking position, kill the Eighth Route Army above, and destroy all machine gun firepower points... Only then can we launch the next round of attack..."
"The artillery continues to fire..."
"Call the aviation force immediately. I will let them use aerial bombs to blow up the blocking position halfway up the mountain into a sea of flames!"
"Even if the blocking position on the mountainside is really made of iron, I will melt it into molten iron..."
"Weng buzzing..." Less than ten minutes after the artillery bombardment, the roar of aircraft appeared over the battlefield again.
The planes covering the other two sweeps of troops came upon hearing the news and dived towards the smoke-filled blocking position.
"Woooooooooo..." The aerial bombs roared.
"Boom..." An explosion occurred the moment it landed, causing Niutoushan to tremble twice...
Thick black smoke rose into the sky surrounded by flames, forming a mushroom cloud at an altitude of twenty or thirty meters... This shows how powerful the aerial bomb is...
Just as the plane that had just dropped the bomb was lifted from the ground, another plane was already roaring towards the ground...
"Woooooooo...boom..." A new aerial bomb quickly landed and exploded...
After six consecutive aerial bombs exploded, the blocking position halfway up the mountain was blown into a sea of flames, and the soil on the ground was scorched.