Seeing his own troops pressing towards the Chinese army's position in a black mass, Koizumi Yukio's face showed a look of satisfaction, and he couldn't help but say: "Ota-kun's commanding ability is quite good, pressing from the front and outflanking from both sides."
, the Echinese people's meager military strength was simply unable to resist."
Ogiwara Toda also agreed: "Although the weapons of the China people are not inferior to those of the imperial army, their most fatal weakness is that they have too few troops and cannot withstand high-intensity attacks. It will be a matter of time before they collapse."
Both Koizumi Yukio and Ogiwara Toda are confident that they will win this war, and their only worry is the casualties.
When he saw that the frontal offensive troops were approaching more than 300 meters away from the first line of defense, Yukio Koizumi nodded: "That brigade is moving very fast. As long as the barbed wire in front is cut, they can start charging."
"What the division commander said makes sense." Ogiwara Toda put down the telescope and said with a smile: "I was originally worried that the Chinese artillery fire would launch an artillery bombardment on the attacking troops and cause a lot of casualties, but now it seems that the Chinese artillery fire has no effect.
So awesome."
Almost at the same time, a team leader who was leading the attack couldn't help but get excited when he saw the Chinese army's position close at hand, and shouted loudly: "His Majesty's warriors, for the sake of the Empire of Japan, we must make the Emperor
The flag of the army will always fly on the land of China, kill all those Chinese..."
It's just that the squad leader's battlefield mobilization was only halfway through. He held the command knife high and before he could finish his words, he felt as if he tripped on something, and made a weak and crisp sound.
"Bah!"
The Japanese soldiers near the second lieutenant only saw a black, fist-sized cylinder jumping from the ground at the feet of their second lieutenant, and suddenly exploded about one meter away from the ground.
"boom..."
The squad leader who was involved naturally heard the explosion, and then he watched as his two legs suddenly broke, and his feet flew up with tawny cowhide military boots.
He didn't see his own blood, and the blood didn't flow out at that moment.
Then he saw a small tree nearby being knocked down by the impact. He tried hard to stand up, but it was impossible. After all, the two supporting points no longer existed. He was blown away by the shock wave after the mine explosion.
He got up, still holding the command knife in his hand, and flew a few meters before falling hard to the third place.
As he fell to the ground, his body hit another POMZ-type anti-infantry mine. Black smoke rose from under his body. This time, half of his buttocks and stomach were immediately blown away.
Only then did the pain pass from his body to his head, and he let out a shrill scream. Before the scream could stop, his whole body seemed to be lifted up by a violent torrent and washed away by a huge whirlpool.
Turning it over, the command knife originally held in his hand was stuck diagonally in the grass when it fell to the ground.
"Your Majesty the Second Lieutenant!"
Two nearby Japanese soldiers saw this and subconsciously rushed over to help. However, after just two steps, a soldier stepped on a landmine again.
The same cylindrical object bounced up from the ground and exploded one meter above the ground. Two Japanese soldiers who were almost next to each other screamed and fell to the ground at the same time.
The luck of these two Japanese soldiers was much better than that of the lieutenant. At least their legs were not blown off, but their screams were worse than those of the lieutenant. The two men who fell to the ground
The screams that started could be heard clearly even hundreds of meters away.
Writhing on the ground in pain, they covered their crotches with the same movement, and bright red blood continued to flow from the gaps between their fingers.
The tragic situation of the two people stunned the nearby Japanese soldiers. For a moment, the attacking formation began to stop. The soldiers hesitated, not knowing whether to continue the attack or go over to rescue their comrades.
A lieutenant walking behind couldn't help but cursed angrily: "Bagaya Road... You stupid red deer, move forward like warriors... Keep going, you must not stop here."
Before the smoke from the mines dissipated, the squadron leader who came from behind vigorously kicked the stagnant soldiers, and at the same time continued to slap the surrounding soldiers with the back of his command knife.
In this way, except for a medical soldier who ran over after hearing the explosion, no one paid attention to the several soldiers who were lying on the ground and kept wailing on the roadside, letting them scream in pain, and the one who first stepped on the landmine
The unlucky second lieutenant had already stopped breathing.
Under the angry scoldings of the lieutenant and the surrounding officers, the Japanese soldiers who resumed their attack began to move forward cautiously. This time, they did not dare to move forward with such unscrupulous strides just now.
They would carefully look at the grass beneath their feet for fear of stepping on another landmine. Many soldiers could still see the shattered limbs and severed intestines of the second lieutenant.
On the Fourth Battalion's position a few hundred meters away from the Japanese army, the soldiers of the Fourth Battalion saw this scene with their eyelids twitching. Many of them felt their legs trembling, and there was a chill somewhere.
a feeling of.
"His grandma is a bear. This stupid land mine is really too damaging. What evil guy with a smoking gun did it?" A soldier from Jiangxi was so surprised that he even spoke the dialect of his hometown.
"My dear, let's just change the name of this thing to Duanzi Juesun Lei." The third company commander *** also saw the power of this kind of mine for the first time, and his expression was not much better than that of the surrounding soldiers.
Some of the soldiers who had planted the mines with their own hands looked at each other and couldn't believe that they had actually made this thing.
In fact, what they didn't know was that the jumping landmine was the S-type mine invented in Germany, nicknamed "Bounce Betty."
The entire mine is a steel cylinder less than 13 centimeters high (excluding the sensor) and less than 10 centimeters in diameter. There is a protruding steel rod on the upper part of the mine surrounding the main fuze, which is connected to a trigger switch or sensor.
Once triggered, this mine will ricochet to waist height before exploding, shooting pellets horizontally at lethal speeds.
To put it bluntly, this kind of landmine is not designed to kill people. Its main purpose is to kill the lower body of unprotected personnel.
According to research, killing one of the opponent's soldiers in battle can only result in the loss of one person on the opponent's side. However, if a soldier is injured, the opponent will have at least two people to take care of him. This way the combat efficiency is actually higher than killing directly.
Death is much higher.
Considering that there were too many people in the Japanese attack this time, Gao Hongming had people set up barbed wire in front of the position last night and laid about 5,500 anti-infantry mines, including more than 3,000 Bounce Bettys.
It is said that the first Allied force to encounter S-type landmines was a French soldier during the sit-down war. Today, the Japanese also enjoy the same treatment as French soldiers.
"You are a bunch of cowards and idiots, move on quickly, like a man from the Japanese Empire."
The Chinese soldiers on the opposite position still did not fire, but the Japanese soldiers who were attacked by landmines obviously no longer dared to stride forward as they did just now.
Seeing this situation, the squadron leader walking in the middle of the team cursed loudly at the soldiers who were advancing cautiously, and at the same time pushed and kicked them hard to make them run.
"If you don't speed up our advance, don't blame me for being rude to you." The lieutenant, waving his command knife, cursed loudly.
This kind of squadron leader is very anxious. Now they are less than a hundred meters away from the barbed wire fence, which is also the most dangerous place. If they cannot cut off the barbed wire fence as soon as possible and rush in, the longer they stay here, the more dangerous it will be.
"bump..."
At this moment, a clear gunshot sounded in front, and a Japanese soldier walking behind the lieutenant fell on his back. Then a burst of gunfire sounded like tearing an oilcloth. Accompanied by the gunfire, the Japanese soldier walking behind the lieutenant suddenly rang out.
The Japanese soldiers in front fell to the ground like wheat.
The moment the gunfire rang out, the lieutenant immediately rushed to the side, running like a nimble mouse into a depression on the right side.
At this time, there was even a layer of cold sweat on his back. He knew that the shot just now was actually aimed at him. However, at the moment of shooting, he accidentally took a step to the left, and the Japanese soldier behind him took a step for him.
He took a shot.
"Charge quickly... damn idiot... you have to charge forward to survive!" The terrified lieutenant drew out his command knife and swung it forward, screaming in agony.
The 41st Division was indeed well-trained. After being suddenly attacked, they began to run forward vigorously, no longer paying attention to the landmines under their feet.
They understand that, just as the lieutenant said, staying here can only lead to death.
But before they had gone far, there was another series of explosions. This was a series of mines. More than a dozen of them bounced. Betty's colleague jumped up and exploded. Dozens of Japanese soldiers were knocked to the ground by the jumping mines. The lower body of the Japanese soldier was smashed.
The soldier covered his lower body and let out a miserable scream.
The Japanese commander was also furious and ignored the Japanese soldiers who were lying on the ground and kept wailing. He still waved his command knife and drove the soldiers forward. The soldiers of this squadron almost stepped on the mines and rushed forward. When they finally came to the barbed wire fence,
At that time, there were only more than 70 people left in a squadron that was originally full of personnel.
When they arrived at the barbed wire fence, before they could be happy, the bullets from the machine gun on the opposite side swept over them like splashing water, knocking down the two soldiers who were picking up scissors to cut off the barbed wire fence.
Immediately afterwards, bullets flew over and landed in the Japanese army. The density was almost as dense as hail. In just five or six minutes, no one could stand in front of the barbed wire fence.
soldiers.
The gunfire stopped and the smoke cleared. Even though it was summer, the June sun shone on this land but there seemed to be no warmth at all.
In front of the barbed wire fence, there are corpses and broken limbs scattered everywhere. This scene is no different from the hell described by Western religious personnel.
A few miles away, Yukio Koizumi could see clearly in the telescope. He was silent for a long time, and he couldn't believe that a fully-manned squadron was just gone.
It's not that he has never fought in a war, nor has he seen dead people. He has seen battlefields with more dead people than this. However, in less than twenty minutes, a squadron was wiped out, and he was still the first to die.
Saw it once.
This is a whole squadron. Normally, a squadron would be able to face a battalion of the Chinese Central Army without any weakness, but today they all fell in front of the barbed wire, and most of them didn't even get a shot.
There's still time to open.
A breeze blew from the opposite direction, and Koizumi Yukio could even smell the strong smell of blood in the wind.
After a long time, he gritted his teeth and cursed in a low voice: "The damn Chinese actually planted landmines in front of the position."
Chief of Staff Ogiwara Toda knew that what made Koizumi Yukio angry was not that the Chinese planted landmines in front of the positions, but that those landmines were so vicious that they specifically went to the next three routes to greet people.
Under the extreme education of Bushido, Japanese soldiers are not too afraid of death, but this does not mean that they are willing to lose their lifeblood.
No matter how cruel and extreme a person is, he cannot face losing his life without changing his expression. Once this thing is gone, what is the fun of being a human being? Not everyone is willing to be a eunuch.
"Your Excellency, Division Commander, do we still want the 67th Regiment to continue the attack?" Ogiwara Toda asked quietly at the side.
"No!"
Koizumi Yukio shook his head, "The Chinese mines are too dense, and it is unrealistic to let the soldiers cut the barbed wire with scissors under machine gun fire. You immediately order the field artillery regiment to aim at the Chinese positions."
After twenty minutes of forward artillery fire, the infantry attacked again after clearing the minefield."
"Hi!"
Following Yukio Koizumi's order, the field artillery unit's position, which had been silent for a long time, began to roar again.
"Commander, the little devil is using artillery fire to clear mines!"
"I saw it." Gao Hongming snorted softly: "I didn't expect that the Japanese, who have always been stingy, would be willing to do such a luxurious thing, but without using two to three base ammunition, I'm afraid it won't be possible to clear the minefield.
Bar?"
After thinking for a while, he muttered to himself: "We can't let the Japs remove the mines so easily... Come here... let's also raise the reconnaissance balloon. I'd like to see how many artillery positions the Japs have."
."
Soon, a huge balloon also rose a few miles behind Qixia Pass.
At this time, both warring parties raised reconnaissance balloons, and the two sides stared at each other more than ten miles apart.
"Your Excellency, Division Commander, the Chinese have also raised reconnaissance balloons, and they are also observing our artillery positions!" Ogiwara Toda shouted.
"Bagaya Road..."
Koizumi Yukio was so angry that his eyes were red. Why were these Chinese people so difficult to deal with? Now he was in a dilemma.
If the field artillery regiment continues to fire, the artillery position will be exposed soon. If it does not fire, it will not clear the minefield. It is really a dilemma.