The normal rate of fire of the mountain artillery is five rounds per minute, because in the drill just now, the company commander fired five shells in only fifty seconds.
I got up and ran to the phone to wait for news.
After waiting for a full two minutes, the rapid ringing of the phone reached his ears.
The company commander suddenly became excited, quickly grabbed the microphone and put it to his ear, and at the same time informed the observer on the other end of the phone: "This is the third field artillery company of the artillery battalion, where will we hit next..."
"Concentrate artillery fire to attack the sixth bombardment area, three rounds of rapid fire, quick..." Before the company commander finished speaking, the very anxious order from the observation post sounded in the receiver.
Without saying a word, the company commander put down the microphone and ordered to the troops in front of him: "Immediately aim at the sixth bombardment zone and fire three times rapidly. Hurry up, the little Japs there seem to be trying to escape."
Dozens of gunners immediately rushed to their respective combat positions. Some put fuses on the shells, some adjusted the artillery to shoot at Zhu Yuan, and some reinforced the gun body.
Just after twenty seconds, a gunner shouted to the company commander: "The No. 1 gun is ready to fire..."
"The second gun is ready for design..." Another gunner stood up...
After all four artillery pieces were prepared, the company commander ordered again: "First salvo...fire..."
…………
Inside the pocket formation, the Japanese captain was having his dream of successfully raiding the Eighth Route Army in Yinzhong.
As a result, sixty or seventy artillery shells roared towards him. Before he could react, the guard beside him leaped over and threw him off his horse, slamming him to the ground.
"Rumble..." A violent explosion sounded from the side and behind at the same time, and several screams were also heard in the ears.
The several soldiers behind him were all blown over, and the war horse under his legs was also drilled with several bloody holes by the shell fragments, and fell to the ground with a painful neighing sound.
A large amount of cold sweat immediately broke out on the captain's forehead, and he was very grateful to look at the guard who knocked him down.
If he hadn't reacted quickly enough, he would have been injured like a war horse at this moment.
Fortunately, he did not forget his identity and the environment he was in. He got up from the ground and began to issue orders: "There are at least sixty artillery pieces attacking us. The troops must disperse and move immediately to avoid the artillery fire..."
"Everyone leaves the road. The troops bypass the artillery fire coverage area and continue to advance forward. Leave the enemy's artillery fire coverage area as quickly as possible."
"Whether the enemy wants to annihilate us here or has other plots, there will be no danger if we leave here quickly."
"Everyone continues heading towards Chenjiazhuang. We will meet up with the Sakuragi Division first and then determine the next action plan for the troops."
As the commander spoke, he moved to the side of the road. Dozens of guards were closely surrounding him, ready to use their bodies to block danger and protect his safety.
The more than 3,000 lightly-armed infantry moved very quickly because they were not encumbered by heavy weapons. The artillery fired more than 300 shells on the road, but only killed more than 400 little Japs.
The commander was secretly happy and immediately ordered the troops to continue to reinforce Chenjiazhuang along the wasteland on both sides of the road.
He had just walked less than fifty meters when the scream of cannonballs streaking across the sky reached his ears again.
This time, there was no need for the guard to remind him. The battle-hardened captain had already thrown himself on the ground. The nearest cannonball impact point was only more than thirty meters away from him.
The fire splashed, and several soldiers who had not had time to lie down were instantly blown away.
The captain finally realized something was wrong.
The opponent's artillery fire was also aimed too high.
In the first round of artillery fire, more than 60% of the shells hit the road.
If not for the timing of everyone's transfer, the troop casualties would have definitely exceeded 400.
In the second round of sudden artillery fire, more than 60% of the artillery shells also hit the middle of the team. Just one salvo took the lives of more than a hundred of his men.
If there were two more rounds of fighting, the casualties among the troops would definitely exceed 200.
As a result, the reinforcements lost most of the infantry brigade before they reached Chenjiazhuang and met the Eighth Route Army.
This is too frustrating.
The captain of the unit has been fighting for so many years, but he has never seen this kind of fighting style.
But I have to admit in my heart that fighting like this is more effective than sending infantry to intercept or ambush.
Without using a single soldier, just using a few hundred shells, you can kill six to seven hundred of your own people.
Seeing that there were still no Eighth Route Army infantry around to participate in the battle, the regiment commander only thought that these artillery pieces were coming to stop them, and had to issue an order to divide the troops again: "Each unit marches separately in small groups..."
"Don't take the highway. We must reach Chenjiazhuang on time to reinforce the Sakuragi Division."
"After arriving at Chenjiazhuang, the troops did not need to wait for orders. They launched an attack directly. They used bayonets to tear a hole in the Eighth Route Army's defense line. They first reunited with the Sakuragi Division and then decided whether to break out."
As soon as the order was given, the guard captain had already sent the regiment commander out of the artillery fire coverage area.
A reinforced team surrounded him and continued to move towards Chenjiazhuang.
The third round of sudden artillery fire came again on the battlefield, and the Japanese commander also came into close contact with the artillery shells.
"Sir...get down..."
Several guards rushed towards the captain at the same time, using their bodies to form a human shield around him, successfully blocking the incoming shell fragments.
But the shock waves generated by the explosion of field artillery shells are not ordinary either.
The guard can block the shell fragments with his body, but cannot block the shock wave.
After the explosion ended, although the commander of the unit was not injured, he was stunned by the shock wave, his ears buzzed, and he was confused for a while and could not react.
The security team of more than 60 people suffered six casualties just to protect the regiment leader, and this was only one shell fired at them, and two more shells hit the team.
This means that the sudden artillery attack just now directly reduced the guard force by more than ten people.
The guard guarding the regiment leader had just ran forward for more than ten meters when four artillery shells roared in again, two shells hit the team, and five or six more soldiers fell to the ground.
"Captain, something seems to be wrong with the situation?" The heartbroken guard captain also noticed something was wrong.
"The artillery shells fired at us by the Eighth Route Army seemed to have eyes. Wherever we walked, their shells flew... There must be Eighth Route Army artillery observers around, directing the artillery to chase us and explode..."
"Continue to speed up the march..." The captain thought of a way.
"It takes time for the artillery observation posts to calculate and shoot at Zhu Yuan, and it also takes time for the Eighth Route Army to adjust and shoot at Zhu Yuan."
"As long as our marching speed is fast enough, the artillery shells fired by the Eighth Route Army will not be able to catch up with our movement and will have to explode behind us."
"The troops cannot march in a straight line, but rather follow curves. It is better to move in an uncertain manner and keep turning, so that the Eighth Route Army observation posts cannot predict our position in one minute, and the artillery cannot calibrate and fire in advance. Zhu Yuan is waiting to ambush us with artillery shells, and then
