Chapter 446: The Means of the Heavy Artillery Battalion
There was no one around to answer Lieutenant General Sato's question.
The sudden blow also frightened them, and they couldn't react for a long time, let alone explain the reason clearly.
"Division Commander... There is a situation behind the blocking position of the Independent Regiment..." The exclamation from the observation post suddenly brought them back to reality.
When I looked up, I saw hundreds of black smoke suddenly coming out from behind the blocking position of the Independence Regiment...
Densely packed, slowly rising into the sky, and then spreading out one to two hundred meters high...
"What does the independent regiment mean? Do you want to use this thick smoke to repel the attacking troops? I can't understand why..." a staff officer asked with confusion on his face.
"This thick smoke is used to deal with aircraft and has nothing to do with the attacking troops!" Zuo Tengzhong was the first to react, and he hit the nail on the head when he saw the thickening black smoke behind the blocking position.
The combat staff still didn't understand and continued to ask: "But it's not a battlefield there. Is there anything worth bombing by planes?"
"Artillery position..." Lieutenant General Sato said at the same time as the Chief of Staff.
After looking at each other, they urgently ordered: "Hurry up and notify the mountain artillery brigade and infantry artillery positions... move immediately..."
"Withdraw the offensive troops as well, especially the tank squadron, hurry up..."
"Woooooooo..."
As soon as the order was uttered, before it could be heard, the scream of artillery shells streaking across the sky rang in my ears.
"Rumble..."
The sound of the explosion came quickly, and dozens of black smoke rose from three artillery positions at the same time...
"Rumble..."
A series of close-range explosions came from directly in front. A group of people looked up and saw more than a dozen fireballs rising from the center of the attacking troops...
The artillery staff officer next to him panicked on the spot and shouted in disbelief: "This is impossible..."
"The heavy artillery battalion of the Independent Regiment has been severely damaged by our army. How can there be so many artillery pieces..."
"Division commander... there were at least twelve mountain field guns, four large-caliber mountain guns, and twelve large-caliber mortars firing at us just now..."
"The mountain artillery battalion and the infantry artillery squad had already suffered heavy losses, and now they were caught off guard by the bombing... No matter how fast the transfer speed is, we can't save a few artillery pieces..."
"Our artillery is finished..."
The chief of staff who was observing the attacking force shouted: "No... two tanks of the tank squadron were hit by artillery shells..."
"Division commander, the thunder cannons set up by the independent regiment on the blocking position also participated in the battle... Two more tanks were hit..."
A messenger ran towards them at the same time, panting and reporting: "Division commander..."
"The Eighth Route Army used a large number of mortars and thunder cannons to attack the supply troops..."
"The puppet troops and the imperial army protecting the baggage and ammunition suffered heavy casualties. Many of the baggage and ammunition were destroyed in the battle and exploded... further increasing our losses..."
"The independent regiment attacking the heavy artillery brigade has reached the periphery of the artillery position and is charging into the artillery position. It can hardly hold on..."
Lieutenant General Sato immediately ordered: "Let the planes in the sky attack the heavy artillery battalion of the Independence Regiment immediately and blow up their heavy artillery position!"
"As long as the mountain artillery battalion and the infantry artillery squad do not suffer too many losses, they can immediately support the heavy artillery battalion and the baggage troops..."
"Weng buzz..."
The plane in the sky had already begun to dive. Through the black smoke that filled the air, the pilot could vaguely see an artillery position. The target of the dive was now them.
As long as he rushes into the smoke and dives at low altitude to release the bomb, he can be sure to hit the target accurately.
The aircraft rushed into the smoke without hesitation, prepared to dive for another two seconds, and pressed the bomb button after completely locking the target.
"Dongdongdong..."
Three strings of bullets suddenly flew towards him, and several bullets hit the fuselage, making a crisp metallic impact sound.
The Japanese pilot heard this clearly, and an inexplicable nervousness immediately hit his heart, and cold sweat broke out from his forehead at the same time...
Quickly pull the joystick to climb and press the bomb release button at the same time...
The plane climbed to a high altitude smoothly, and the incendiary bombs hit the ground with a screaming sound, making a dull explosion, and the flames shot into the sky...
Unfortunately, despite the explosion of three heavy machine guns and billowing smoke on the ground, the incendiary bomb did not hit the target and hit about fifty meters away from the artillery position...
When Japanese planes dropped bombs, heavy artillery battalion commander Chen Daliang was more nervous than anyone else!
He has used all the air defense methods at his disposal...
In order to let the thick smoke achieve the effect of blocking out the sky and the sun, not only all the manpower available from the heavy artillery battalion were sent out, but they also asked the regiment commander to borrow two local troops and more than a dozen guerrillas...
Groups of two or three people were scattered around various artillery positions to create smoke...
After confirming that the first incendiary bomb dropped by the plane did not hit the target, he dared to let go of his hanging heart.
The deputy battalion commander was so excited that he almost jumped up from the ground. He said with a smile on his face: "Battalion Commander, if I had known that using smoke and heavy machine guns was so effective in air defense, we should have done this from the beginning!"
"If the infantry could get our artillery support at any time when defending their positions, they wouldn't have fought so miserably!"
Chen Daliang shook his head and explained: "Dense smoke combined with heavy machine gun air defense is not a panacea... it is only useful at this time!"
"If there were three planes in the sky, not one!"
"The Japanese just dropped three incendiary bombs at the same time, not one... Do you think the field artillery position we are targeting can be saved?"
The instructor very much recognized Chen Daliang's analysis. He looked at the flames rising from the incendiary bomb not far away and replied seriously: "We definitely can't save it!"
"The air defense effect of heavy smoke combined with heavy machine guns is very limited. At most, it will make the aircraft's bomb delivery accuracy worse, but the Japanese can make up for this problem by dropping more bombs."
"The incendiary bomb exploded into a large area..."
"Three incendiary bombs are dropped at the same time, and a radius of 100 meters will be exploded into a sea of fire. As long as the impact point of the bomb deviates from the target by no more than 100 meters, our artillery position will be affected... Weng Bing..."
When the instructor was about to continue talking, the plane returned to the sky and roared down again...
In this dive, the Japanese pilot obviously learned the lesson just now. As soon as the fuselage broke into the thick smoke, he pressed the bomb release button and dropped three incendiary bombs at the same time.
"Rumble..."
In the dull explosion, the field artillery position that had just escaped was not spared this time...
Except for dozens of gunners who managed to escape, all four field guns were engulfed in flames.
The smile on the deputy battalion commander's face froze instantly, and he felt both angry and unwilling.
Chen Daliang had obviously expected this scene. Although he was heartbroken, he quickly forced himself to calm down and looked at the field artillery position with a relieved expression on his face.
"Although the field artillery company is gone... he successfully consumed three Japanese incendiary bombs..."
"There is only one plane in the sky with six incendiary bombs. Once they are thrown away, they will become decorations..."
"This is the real purpose of using smoke and heavy machine guns for air defense!"
"Each artillery battery continues to fire, speed up the rate of fire, shoot out all the prescribed artillery shells in the shortest time, and then move immediately..."
