Although it was very embarrassing, the most taboo thing on the battlefield was indecision, so after less than a minute of thinking, Koizumi Yukio gave the order to the field artillery regiment to continue clearing the minefields.
"Boom...boom boom..."
The artillery shells landed in front of the Fourth Battalion's position one after another. Seeing the landmines that I had worked so hard to lay continuously being detonated, *** felt distressed, "You damn little devil, the landmines that I worked so hard to lay all night turned out to be like this."
No, the Japs have so many artillery shells that they have no place to put them. Where are our artillery, are they all dead?"
No wonder *** feels distressed. When fighting a defensive battle, the difference between having mines in front of the position and not having mines is huge. The simplest example is that when the 67th Regiment attacked just now, the squadron at the front was
, the entire army was wiped out in just over ten minutes is the best proof.
"Commander, our reconnaissance balloon is up."
"Let the observers immediately lock the Japanese artillery positions. We can't just be beaten without fighting back."
"clear!"
In the sky five or six miles behind Qixia Pass, a huge observation balloon is suspended at an altitude of 900 meters. A hanging basket is hung below the balloon. The small hanging basket can accommodate two members.
In fact, observation balloons were used on the battlefield as early as World War I. Due to the emergence of observation balloons, they quickly became the eyes on the battlefield, so they got the nickname "Eye in the Sky".
The airbags of hot air balloons in the early years were filled with a large amount of highly flammable gases. They could easily explode if exposed to a little friction. Moreover, the appearance of observation balloons posed a great threat to the enemy, so wherever they appeared, they would explode quickly.
Attract enemy aircraft.
In this case, the mortality rate of observers on observation balloons is very high, so taking observation balloons to the sky to perform reconnaissance missions is also called the game of the brave. This is why during World War II, European countries were basically invisible when they were at war.
Reasons for observing balloons.
By the time of World War II, reconnaissance balloons had been mostly replaced by reconnaissance aircraft, and only the Japanese still regarded them as a treasure. Of course, now Gao Hongming and his militia were also included.
However, it was different on the Chinese battlefield. Since the Chinese aircraft were quickly exhausted after the first few battles, the Japanese army quickly dominated the sky. Therefore, under normal circumstances, whenever there is a war, the Japanese army can always be released unscrupulously.
Observation balloons were used to detect movements of the Chinese army.
Just imagine, in the sky above a fierce battlefield, an observation balloon is flying thousands of meters high in the sky, giving a panoramic view of the movement of dozens of kilometers in radius. Any troop movements and even artillery positions of one's own side will be immediately seen by the other side.
.
It’s just that the weapons and equipment of the Chinese army are not as good as those of the Japanese army. Now every move on the battlefield can be seen clearly. It is very difficult to win the war under such circumstances.
Ma Zhanying wore a fur hat on his head and a military coat on his body. He was lying on the edge of the hanging basket and trying to observe the movement on the opposite side of Qixia Pass. Next to him was a private, who was playing with the machine that was emitting "Zhixia Pass".
The buzzing radio station.
Ma Zhanying put down the telescope and said, "Xiao Lizi, are you done with it? I have to report the location of the Japanese artillery to the commander."
"Wait a minute, it'll be ready soon."
The private, known as Little Plum, pressed another button and heard a crisp "ding" sound from the radio, and the small red light above suddenly turned green.
Xiao Lizi quickly said: "Brother Ma, the radio station is ready."
"Hurry up and give me the microphone."
Ma Zhanying answered the phone, "Roaring and roaring...I stared and found a Japanese artillery position...azimuth 124...532, three rounds of test fire...fire!"
"Whoosh whoosh whoosh..."
As his voice fell, a few seconds later, several shells flew past his feet and landed at the foot of a mountain a few kilometers ahead.
Ma Zhanying continued: "Roar...the direction does not change, shrink back thirty meters, fire six rounds rapidly...release!"
More than ten seconds later, dozens of artillery shells engulfed the exposed Japanese artillery position, and all the people and artillery inside were gone.
Under Ma Zhanying's guidance, the artillery behind seemed to have eyes. It took less than five minutes to swallow up the exposed Japanese artillery position. Then Ma Zhanying on the reconnaissance balloon discovered the second
An artillery position...
"Baga...is that a pig standing on the reconnaissance balloon? Why hasn't the Chinese artillery position been discovered for so long?"
When he heard that two more artillery positions had been destroyed, Koizumi Yukio couldn't help but cursed.
Although he divided the field artillery regiment into many locations, no matter how dispersed it was, it could not withstand being bombarded by the Chinese in one place in the east or the west.
Ogiwara Toda also looked a little ugly and said: "Your Excellency, Division Commander, in fact, our reconnaissance balloons have discovered the Chinese artillery positions and locked their positions."
"Since you saw them, why didn't you destroy them immediately?" Koizumi Yukio became even more angry when he heard this. He almost roared. If the field artillery commander was in front of him, he would probably pull out his command knife and chop him.
Already.
"Your Excellency, Division Commander, please calm down." Ogiwara Toda said with some embarrassment: "It's not that we don't want to destroy it, but the Chinese artillery positions are outside the range of our artillery."
"Nani?"
Koizumi Yukio's expression froze, and then he showed an incredulous expression, "How is it possible...the field artillery regiment is equipped with the most advanced cannons in the empire, how could it not be able to hit it?"
The field artillery wing of the 41st Division is equipped with twelve Japan's most advanced Taisho 14th-year-old 105mm field cannons. This cannon has a range of 15,300 meters. In the eyes of the Japanese, there is no other such cannon in the world.
The range of artillery of the same caliber can exceed that of this artillery.
In fact, what Koizumi Yukio said was correct. The range of the Taisho 14th-year-old 105 cannon was indeed beyond the range of the M2-type 105 howitzer equipped by the Second Cannon Battalion. However, he forgot another thing.
"Your Excellency, Division Commander, according to the artillery report, the artillery used by the Chinese to suppress us is the 155 heavy artillery. Its range is farther than our Taisho 14-type artillery."
Koizumi Yukio was stunned for a while and remained silent for a long time. Then he suddenly remembered the second brigade of the 133rd Regiment that was completely wiped out outside Ping'an County two days ago.
Before the Second Battalion was destroyed, Major Nakagawa Jiro, the captain of the Second Battalion, jumped over the rank and sent him a telegram, saying that their brigade was attacked by heavy artillery with a caliber of more than 150. At that time, he thought it was Nakagawa Jiro who was looking for reasons for his failure.
Excuse.
He still firmly believed in this idea until just now. He knew very well that before the Anti-Japanese War, the Nationalist Government imported a total of two batches of 48 150-caliber howitzers, which were organized into two heavy artillery regiments.
After the War of Resistance Against Japan, Germany cut off the Nationalist Government's military aid channels. Since then, the Nationalist Government has never obtained any heavy artillery of more than 150 caliber.
And these forty-eight 150-meter heavy artillery have suffered a lot of damage over the years. Later, the two heavy artillery regiments were downsized into one artillery regiment. This artillery regiment was regarded as a treasure by the Chongqing government and would never appear here.
For a moment, Yukio Koizumi felt his mind was in confusion. What on earth was going on in this world?
It’s just a local militia group. The 105-caliber artillery is already shocking, but you guys also have 150-caliber heavy artillery. Are you sure you are just a Chinese local militia group and not the German Wehrmacht?
Koizumi Yukio, who was a little upset by the news, walked out of the command post while thinking and looked at Qixia Pass opposite in a daze.
But at this time, he forgot that behind Qixia Pass, which was a few miles away from him, a pair of sharp eyes were constantly observing the place through a telescope at an altitude of 900 meters.
"Little Plum, come here and see if there are more than ten people walking around next to the woods?"
In the hanging basket of the reconnaissance balloon, Ma Zhanying put down the telescope, rubbed his eyes that were a little achy from observing for too long, and handed the telescope to Xiao Lizi beside him, "Please help me see if there are a few in the six o'clock direction."
Is there a ghost wandering around?"
Little Lizi curiously took the binoculars and looked at the place where Ma Zhanying said for a while. He said with some hesitation: "There are indeed some people, but they are a bit far away and can't be seen clearly, but it seems that these Japanese soldiers are wearing command knives."
"That's right." Ma Zhanying nodded, "The Japs who can wear command knives are all at least second lieutenant, and a group of people gathered together are all wearing commanders. What does this mean?"
Xiao Lizi's eyes lit up, "Could that be the Japs' headquarters there?"
"I'm not sure whether it's the headquarters or not." Ma Zhanying touched his chin and thought for a moment, "But in any case, it's definitely true that these people are a group of officers. Should we call for artillery fire to shoot them?"
Xiao Lizi hesitated and asked: "Brother Ma, do you mean to let the artillery battalion carry out artillery fire coverage?"
Ma Zhanying glared at him: "What are you thinking? It's still covered by artillery fire. Do you really think that artillery shells are free? A heavy artillery shell costs at least forty or fifty yuan, and the heavy artillery battalion can throw out six hundred yuan in just one salvo."
, that’s five or six years of military pay for the two of us combined.
If the battalion commander knew that we called the artillery battalion to fire volleys just to blow up a few targets suspected of being officers, do you believe he would let us float in the sky for several months?"
"How many months?"
At the thought of floating thousands of meters in the sky for several months, Little Plum couldn't help but shudder. It was okay during the day, but if he had to float in the sky at night, he would rather jump off the hanging basket and finish it off.
But he was a little reluctant, "Then let's just forget it?"
Ma Zhanying smiled slyly: "That's not necessary. Let's report it to the artillery battalion and tell them that there are officers suspected of being Japanese soldiers gathering together, so that they can shoot that place to scare those Japanese soldiers?"
"Sure...just do it."
Xiao Lizi also loves to watch the excitement, and quickly connected to the channel of the artillery camp: "Staring and shouting, I found many suspected Japanese officers, bearing 245...452, a test fire of 105 grenade... let go!"
"Whoosh..."
More than ten seconds later, accompanied by a sharp whistling sound, a 105-caliber artillery shell whizzed past their feet and whizzed to the edge of the woods.
Ma Zhanying saw with his own eyes that the place where the more than ten officers were was instantly covered in thick smoke. When the smoke dissipated, Ma Zhanying could still see several officers carrying a man and disappearing like a rabbit being chased by a dog.
In the woods.
"Well...well done!"
Ma Zhanying waved his hand excitedly and grinned, as if he was happy with his judgment. But what he didn't know was that if what he called just now was not a test shot, but a volley, or if he called
If it were the 155 heavy artillery, I'm afraid this war would have ended early. Among those officers, there was an officer named Yukio Koizumi.
In fact, the impact point of the grenade was less than thirty meters away from Yukio Koizumi, and the strong shock wave immediately blew up all the people in the surrounding area more than ten meters into the air.
Even though Koizumi Yukio, who was nearly 30 meters away from the explosion point, was knocked to the ground by the impact. The moment he fell to the ground, he seemed to feel a sharp pain in a certain part of himself, and then he was stunned by the powerful shock wave.
.
When he woke up leisurely, he found himself lying in a tent, and there was a noise in his ears.
Soon, a pretty young nurse in white uniform appeared in front of him. Seeing his happy expression after waking up, he immediately shouted: "Your Excellency, General, is awake..."
Doctor Mihara... Doctor Mihara... come here quickly."
Along with the nurse's voice, there was a rush of footsteps, and soon Ogiwara Toda also appeared in front of him.
"Master division commander, you are awake. This is really great."
"What time is it now? Where is this?" Koizumi Yukio asked quickly, but after he spoke, he found that his voice became a little hoarse.
"Your Excellency, Division Commander, this is the field hospital located in Pingan County. It is already half past nine in the evening. You were knocked unconscious by the shelling during the day. We immediately sent you here. Fortunately, with the blessing of Amaterasu,
You finally woke up."
"How is the situation in the army now?" Koizumi Yukio ignored his injuries and immediately asked the question he was most concerned about.
"The situation of the troops is normal. After nearly being injured, I asked the troops to stop attacking. The Chinese did not take the initiative to attack us. We are still in a stalemate. However, the condition of our field artillery unit is not very good. We have lost half of them.
of artillery."
Hearing that the troops did not fall into chaos because of his coma, Koizumi Yukio breathed a sigh of relief at first, but then frowned again: "What happened to the shells that damaged us today? How come the Chinese artillery fire is so accurate?"
?"
Ogiwara Toda quickly replied: "Your Excellency, Division Commander, the shell that hit me was a stray bullet. They only fired one shot and then no more shells were fired."
"Stray bullet?" Yukio Koizumi was stunned. He was actually hit by a stray bullet?