Chapter 441 Kong Jie: Destroy Lao Tzu's mighty chariot squadron
"Tanks... Commander, the little devils have dispatched tanks and armored vehicles..."
As soon as eight tanks and four armored vehicles emerged from the offensive position, Chief of Staff Li Wensheng let out an exclamation.
The same number of Japanese and puppet troops as before followed closely behind the tanks and armored vehicles, like twelve unsheathed sharp knives, quickly thrusting towards the blocking position.
Kong Jie's expression changed at the same time. The joy of successfully repelling the first attack of the Japanese and puppet troops disappeared instantly. He frowned and began to give orders.
"Immediately send the rapid-fire artillery battery to the front-line blocking position. They can assist the defenders in destroying all tanks and armored vehicles!"
"Boom boom boom..."
Before Li Wensheng could answer the call, a violent explosion reached their ears.
Dozens of black smoke rose again from the blocking position that had just been baptized by incendiary bombs...
The last explosion has not ended yet, and the second round of shells has already followed...
Li Wensheng's frown deepened, and he said with a solemn expression: "Captain, the Japanese artillery fire is too fierce... Now let the rapid-fire artillery battery reinforce the battlefield. If a single shot is not fired, more than half of the casualties will be lost. What a loss..."
Kong Jie analyzed with a stern face: "What a cunning Zuotou..."
"Let tanks and armored vehicles be used as human shields to cover infantry attacks, and the light and heavy machine guns we hide in bunkers will be ineffective!"
"If you want to hold your position, you can either send a rapid-fire artillery battery to reinforce the battlefield under artillery fire, or let the troops enter the surface position and send out death squads to blow them up..."
"No matter what we choose, our troops will suffer heavy casualties in the artillery fire!"
A combat staff officer suggested: "We should wait until the Japanese and puppet troops approach the position and the mortars stop firing, and then let the rapid-fire artillery battery come in for reinforcements!"
Li Wensheng shook his head: "It's too late..."
"The Japs' mortars are fired at close range, and the hit rate is very high. The Japs' tank troops may not stop even if they rush fifty meters in front of the formation..."
"At that time, regardless of whether the Japanese and puppet infantry or tanks, it will only take ten or twenty seconds to penetrate the first line of defense..."
"No matter how fast the rapid-fire artillery battery is, it is impossible for it to enter the position and participate in the battle in such a short time."
"What if the Japs don't stop bombarding the blocking position and instead extend the artillery fire to block the middle of the first and second line positions, the rapid-fire artillery battery will still have no chance to reinforce the battlefield!"
Another combat staff member stood up and suggested: "If it doesn't work out, just fight with the Japanese!"
"When they get close to the position and dispatch the death squads... they will definitely destroy those tanks and armored vehicles!"
Kong Jie did not hesitate to object: "The casualties will be too great in this way, and it is we who will suffer!"
"Once the Japanese and puppet troops rush to the front of the position under the cover of tanks, our machine gun bunkers will be useless in close combat, and the vehicle-mounted machine guns on the Japanese tanks will become fixed firepower points to massacre the defenders at close range!"
"Even if we are lucky enough to destroy those tanks, we will suffer heavy casualties from the vehicle-mounted machine guns..."
"When the Japanese and puppet troops behind the tanks join the battle, we will not even have the strength to resist!"
The combat staff officer who just spoke once again proposed: "Let the heavy artillery battalion join the battle..."
"Aim at twelve tanks and cover them with seven or eight rounds of artillery fire... A blind cat can kill a mouse and blow them into scrap metal!"
"This method is even worse!" Kong Jie objected again.
"The Japanese plane is not a decoration!"
"In the battle of Duanjiabao, Zuoteng's division suffered a heavy loss from the heavy artillery battalion."
"Although they feel that the heavy artillery battalion was severely damaged by the aircraft and the heavy artillery brigade, and it may have lost its combat effectiveness!"
"But that old devil Sato is still very cautious!"
"At any time, there is a plane on alert in the sky to prevent us from launching another artillery raid while the plane is away!"
"Letting the heavy artillery battalion join the battle now is tantamount to letting them die!"
"To destroy a heavy artillery battalion in order to kill a tank squadron, we will suffer even more from this deal!"
At this point, Kong Jie seemed to have made a decision.
Suddenly he looked up at the battlefield and gave a serious order: "Order..."
"The two mortar companies on the second line of defense immediately aimed at the Japanese mortar positions and opened fire a minute later, disrupting their shelling rhythm!"
"The troops defending the front-line positions must take the opportunity to evacuate the battlefield, and they must be fast!"
"The rapid-fire artillery battery will immediately move to the second line of defense and be on standby..."
"Let's have a good fight with the Japanese chariot troops there!"
"If the rapid-fire artillery battery is completely destroyed in the battle, we will put the Japanese tank troops into position and dispatch the death squads to fight them decisively!"
"Boom boom boom..."
Twelve mortar shells came very suddenly and roared. They exploded at the Japanese mortar position in an instant. Two gun positions were directly submerged in the artillery fire. Ten or twenty gunners were killed and injured, and they fell to the ground.
In a pool of blood.
"Don't mess up the Bagh Ya Road. The enemy only has a dozen mortars, which are not even half as good as ours!" The commander-in-chief of the Japanese artillery had already seen this scene and ordered calmly when he looked at the somewhat panicked subordinates in front of him.
"The mortar squadrons of the 1st and 2nd Battalions continued to cover the blocking positions with artillery fire, killing all the Eighth Route Army who wanted to destroy the tanks..."
"The mortar squadron of the 3rd and 4th Brigades immediately adjusted their shooting personnel to counterattack the artillery of the independent regiment..."
Lieutenant General Sato also saw the scene of the artillery position being attacked. He was in a very good mood and was not depressed at all.
The independent regiment did not attack the attacking troops first, but used artillery fire to raid the mortar positions. Obviously, they had no way to defeat the attacking troops, so they had to settle for the next best thing and start from the mortar positions!
However, they dispatched too few mortars, and their chances of breaking the current crisis with a small gain were slim.
This means that the attack in front of you will probably end with your complete victory.
As the leader of this attack, I must be very happy.
Under his watch, the attacking troops moved forward under the cover of tanks without encountering any resistance, and quickly rushed to the position 100 meters in front of the formation.
Although the Japanese artillery fire on the blocking position did not stop, the number of shells fired was reduced by half.
In the thick smoke, the soldiers quickly got out of the artillery holes, entered the communication trenches along the trenches, and retreated to the second-line position.
During this period, many artillery shells hit the retreating troops, but because the total number of shells dropped became smaller, the casualties of the retreating troops also decreased sharply.
In the end, the frontline positions were successfully evacuated with less than a hundred casualties.
The Japanese army attacked the position. Seeing the attacking troops rushing faster and faster, the chief of staff was ready for victory. While watching, he sighed: "Division commander... the tank squadron is about to rush to the blocking position!"
"There was no gunfire from there. The Eighth Route Army guarding the position should have known that they were defeated by the chariot squadron, so they abandoned their position and ran away!"
At this time, the first tank had already rushed to the blocking position, but the imaginary firefight still did not sound.
Thinking back to the artillery counterattack just now, Lieutenant General Sato suddenly felt relieved and suddenly understood.
"You're right, all the independent regiments in the defensive position ran away!"
"Just now they concentrated artillery fire on our mortar positions, and most likely they were providing artillery fire counterattacks for the retreating troops!"
"Fortunately, our artillery did not attack in full force, leaving half of the mortars to continue attacking the blocking position..."
"It must have killed and injured many people!"
Soon, the news that the offensive troops had captured the first line of defense at Dongshan Hill reached the offensive positions, and the chief of staff took the opportunity to flatter Sato.
"The division commander is wise!"
"The offensive troops found nearly a hundred corpses of Eighth Route Army soldiers who had just been killed in the blocking position..."
"This result is exactly as you judged!"
Lieutenant General Sato was already happy.
This was the first attack he had won since fighting against the independent group.
Everything starts from the beginning. With this victory as the foundation, the next attack will definitely be much easier. His eyes are getting hotter and hotter, staring at the battlefield with a face expecting orders.
"The troops continue to advance!"
"Let's try to take advantage of the victory and take down the second line of defense in Dongshan Gang!"
At the enemy headquarters of the Independent Regiment, Kong Jie was in a very bad mood after receiving the bad news that the front-line defenders had lost nearly a hundred people on the way back.
If these casualties had appeared in the Duanjiabao blockade, they would have killed at least two hundred little Japs.
As a result, because Zuotou's division suddenly dispatched tanks, these soldiers died in vain and not a single Japanese was killed.
But Zuo Teng didn’t give Kong Jie much time to grieve.
Before he could calm down, Li Wensheng shouted anxiously: "Captain, the Japanese have started attacking again..."
"We didn't even conduct artillery preparations and launched an attack directly... This is too arrogant!"
"How arrogant!" Kong Jie immediately raised his telescope and scolded him while looking at it!
"Under the cover of tanks, the attacking troops easily captured our front-line positions without spending a single soldier!"
"This victory gives Sato hope to kill us."
"I want to go all out to maximize the power of the chariot before we think of a way to deal with it, and further expand the results..."
"The idea is good, but he doesn't know that we have already laid a dragnet on the second line!"
"The more arrogant the attacking troops are, the more painful the collision will be and the more blood will be shed!"
"Order the second-line positions to prepare for battle..."
"Especially the rapid-fire artillery battery, you must use the minimum cost to destroy the little Japanese's arrogant tank squadron for me..."
"Destroy Sato's arrogance!"
The rapid-fire artillery battery is equipped with six 37 mm caliber rapid-fire guns, all of which were captured. They are the independent regiment's most important weapon against tanks.
As soon as the twelve Japanese tanks appeared, the company commander looked as if he had been given a shot of blood, and his eyes flashed as he ordered: "Fight the tanks first!"
"Try to knock out all the six tanks in front in the first round of shooting, otherwise their tank guns will pose a huge threat to us!"
"No matter whether the first round of shooting hits the target or not, the position should be evacuated after the firing. The second shot can only be fired by pushing the rapid-fire cannon to the reserve position. You must not fire two shots in a row from the same position."
"The Japanese are equipped with more artillery than we are, and the attacking troops also have tanks and cannons that can directly attack us. Any chance of success may lead to death for everyone!"
"The two mortar companies on the position will fire together with us to attack the Japanese artillery and infantry and reduce our pressure!"
"The devils are coming up... get ready to fight..."
Twelve mortars and six thunder cannons scattered on the defense line are ready for battle at the same time...
Mortars were aimed at the Japanese artillery positions, and thunder cannons were aimed at the Japanese and puppet troops behind the tanks, ready to go...
