What is a stray bullet? Stray bullets refer to bullets or artillery shells that are shot randomly or for no reason.
Hearing that he was probably hit by a stray bullet, Koizumi Yukio could only admit that he was unlucky. Unfortunately, his injury was not serious. He was just hit by a shrapnel in the thigh, and it did not hit a major blood vessel.
Normally, it would be enough to rest in bed for ten days and a half.
But it doesn't work now. Now that the 41st Division and Gao Hongming's militia are fighting vigorously, how can Koizumi Yukio lie in bed and recuperate peacefully.
After feeling better, he insisted on getting out of bed and returning to the front line overnight. Chief of Staff Ogiwara Toda tried hard to persuade him but he still refused to listen. In desperation, Ogiwara Toda had no choice but to compromise, but he still sent a doctor and nurse.
Follow along.
However, this time Ogiwara Toda refused to let Koizumi Yukio set up the command post in front of Qixiaguan, and instead moved it more than 20 kilometers back.
Before the command post was set up, Koizumi Yukio summoned the three infantry commanders for a meeting.
The 41st Division has three infantry regiments, namely the 67th Infantry Regiment, the 133rd Infantry Regiment, and the 134th Infantry Regiment.
Koizumi Yukio took the lead in asking Ota Ryuji, captain of the 67th Regiment, "Ota-kun, how was your team's performance today?"
Ota Ryūji said with a bitter look on his face, "Your Excellency, Division Commander, our regiment fought for most of the day today and failed to even capture the first line of defense of the Chinese. Please punish me."
"What are your casualties?"
"A total of 456 people were killed today, and 523 were lightly or seriously injured, of which 105 were seriously injured." Ryūji Ohta, who had already counted the number of people, reported without thinking.
"That is to say, your regiment lost a whole brigade of troops today." Yukio Koizumi said with a solemn face.
Ota Ryūji did not dare to say a word, with a bitter look on his face.
"What about tomorrow...Who is willing to lead an attack on Qixia Pass tomorrow?"
Koizumi Yukio's eyes slowly swept over the faces of the three captains, and he suddenly realized that he had overestimated and underestimated the opposite Gao Hongming.
This is the first day of launching a full-scale offensive. Nearly a brigade of troops were injured and killed. How many people are there in the entire 41st Division? If we continue to fight at this casualty rate, it will take at most half a month for the 41st Division to fight.
Gone.
Finally, Koizumi Yukio's eyes fell on the face of the 134th Regiment Captain Ryota Akimoto.
The 67th Regiment suffered heavy losses today and has to rest for a few days. The 133rd Regiment sent a brigade to help Ping'an County a few days ago, but Gao Hongming made dumplings and no one escaped. Now the 41st Division is the only organized unit
There is only the 134th Infantry Regiment as a complete infantry regiment.
Seeing Koizumi Yukio's eyes, Akimoto Ryota could only stand up and said, "Your Excellency, division commander, please leave the task of tomorrow's attack to our regiment."
"Yoshi...very good!"
Koizumi Yukio nodded, "Akimoto-kun, do you have any requests?"
"Of course."
Now is not the time to be modest. Akimoto Ryota said immediately: "Your Excellency, Division Commander, after a day of observation, I found that the Chinese are not only equipped with a full set of German weapons and light weapons, but their artillery fire is also extremely fierce. It can even be said that our field artillery unit
The team may not be their opponent, so I think it will be difficult to capture Qixia Pass without the support of aviation."
Koizumi Yukio, who endured the pain in his thigh, was silent for a long time, "Do you really need support from Lu Hang?"
"Yes."
Akimoto Ryota said, "If we can get the support of the field heavy artillery brigade, it will be okay without the army aviation aircraft to assist."
"idiot!"
Koizumi Yukio cursed, Akimoto Ryota's request was obviously beyond his capabilities.
You must know that during World War II, although the Japanese Army's small arms were shabby, including very few submachine guns, the artillery was quite capable.
In fact, the Japanese army during the Anti-Japanese War was also very powerful in artillery. Even before the July 7 Incident, Japan had already established five heavy artillery brigades. One brigade was deployed in China, and the other four brigades were all deployed to China. Among them,
The Kwantung Army deployed two, and the remaining two were deployed to the North China Front Army and the other was assigned to the Central China Front Army.
The heavy artillery brigade is already a strategic force for the Japanese. A standard heavy artillery brigade has two heavy artillery regiments, including 30-40 Taisho 7-type 150mm caliber heavy cannons, nine
There are 10 Type 6 305 caliber heavy howitzers, and some heavy artillery brigades are also equipped with 3-6 Type 98 320 caliber mortars.
Let’s put it this way, if you want to mobilize the heavy artillery brigade to participate in the war, let alone Koizumi Yukio, even his boss, the commander of the First Army, Yoshio Shinozuka, does not have the power. You must have the nod of the commander of the North China Expedition Army, Shun Tada.
.
Koizumi Yukio snorted lightly, "Forget about the heavy artillery brigade. Just now I sent a report to the Commander, requesting him to send aviation troops to assist in the battle. Compared to the Commander, the call back was very fast..."
"Report..."
As soon as he finished speaking, the communications staff strode in and handed a telegram to Yukio Koizumi, "Your Excellency, Division Commander, this is the reply to you from Commander Shinozuka."
Koizumi Yukio took the telegram and read it, a smile appeared on his originally solemn face: "Yoshi... Your Excellency, the Commander, said that the 21st Flying Squadron will do its best to help us fight tomorrow.
The commander sent us a telegram to capture Qixia Pass and annihilate Gao Hongming and his militia. Do you have confidence?"
The three captains stood up and said in unison: "Hey...for His Majesty the Emperor and the Empire of Japan, we will never hesitate to die!"
"boom..."
The attack on the second day was still so on time. At 8:30 in the morning, the 134th Wing began to launch a full-scale attack. Moreover, this time Koizumi Yukio no longer hid the attack, and ordered the reconnaissance balloon to be raised, and then ordered
The field artillery regiment attacked the Qixia Pass position with all its strength.
The militiamen were not to be outdone. The artillery of the 1st Artillery Battalion and the 2nd Artillery Battalion, a total of more than 30 people, also launched a carpet bombing against the Japanese army in front of the position. Artillery shells rained down on the Japanese army's offensive formation.
A staff officer at the regiment seemed to have noticed something was wrong, "Sir... there is something wrong with the little devil today. In the past two days, their artillerymen were like shy little wives, hiding themselves tightly, even if
** They also beat secretly, but why did they beat so hard today? Don’t they plan to pass?"
Gao Hongming was also a little puzzled. Because his side was equipped with Long-Legged Toms, the range of artillery was far beyond that of the Japanese army, so the Japanese army's artillery fire could not be arrogant at all. Why did they adopt a desperate posture today, uncharacteristically? Aren't they afraid that the artillery positions would be attacked?
Even the pot is served? Or...
Thinking of this, a bad premonition suddenly arose in Gao Hongming's heart. A year suddenly flashed through his mind: "No...the little devil's plane is coming to join the war. Immediately order the artillery battalion to move positions...immediately."
.."
The staff officer moved quickly, rushed to the walkie-talkie, grabbed the microphone, "All the artillery battalions are listening...stop shooting immediately, move positions...take cover immediately...pay attention to air defense!"
Gao Hongming's order was issued very quickly, but three minutes after the order was issued, there was a buzzing sound in the sky, and then a group of black dots appeared in their sight, starting with thirty
Six Type 97 heavy explosive aircraft.
There were twenty-four Nakajima Type 1 fighters distributed on both sides of the bomber. These aircraft circled twice in the sky and immediately discovered the moving artillery. They immediately fell down, followed by black bombs.
Falling from the sky.
"day..."
A Lancia 3 RO truck was dragging an M2 105 howitzer on a rugged mountain road. Although the driver had stepped on the accelerator to the bottom, the poor road conditions made it impossible for the car to get up fast.
Soon it was discovered by a Type 97 heavy explosive aircraft in the sky.
With a shrill sound cracking through the air, a 200-kilogram bomb fell next to the truck.
"boom..."
In a deafening explosion, the truck, which was fully loaded with ammunition and weighed three to four tons, and the M2 artillery behind it were blasted into the sky by a strong shock wave. It took several seconds before they fell heavily.
The driver in the truck and the ten gunners on the carriage were instantly torn to pieces by the shock wave, and even the artillery behind the truck was reduced to parts.
"Quickly retreat...to the jungle behind the mountain!" Geng Changshun, commander of the 1st Artillery Battalion, happened to see this scene and his eyes were red with anxiety.
The First Artillery Battalion only had eighteen artillery pieces. Losing even one of them would be extremely distressing for him. During the retreat just now, the First Artillery Battalion had already destroyed two artillery pieces. With this one, they had already lost
Three artillery pieces, this made his heart feel like a knife.
"Where is the anti-aircraft battalion...What is the anti-aircraft battalion doing in Gouri?"
In desperation, Geng Changshun cursed loudly.
As if sensing Geng Changshun's curse, the long-lost cannon fire finally rang out.
"Boom...boom boom..."
The nine 88mm anti-aircraft guns placed at the foot of a mountain finally revealed its ferocious face, and 88mm high-explosive shells were fired into the sky.
The Type 97 heavy explosive aircraft that had just blasted the M2 howitzer into the sky had just pulled up its nose and prepared to take off when it was hit by a shell that quickly caught up from below. The powerful high-explosive shell even
The rear half of the plane was blown up.
The bomber, which had lost its tail, hit the ground like a heavy weight. The bombs that were not dropped exploded together with the aviation fuel, and thick smoke rose into the sky for hundreds of meters.
Following the 88mm anti-aircraft gun's speech, more than twenty Bofors single-barreled 40mm anti-aircraft guns deployed nearby also roared.
Different from the big noise made by the 88mm anti-aircraft gun when it fires, the sound of the Bofors 40mm anti-aircraft gun is relatively dull, a bit like the "dong-dong-dong" sound when a large-caliber machine gun is fired, but its power is not the same.
language.
"More than twenty Bofors anti-aircraft guns and nine 88 anti-aircraft guns opened fire at the same time, immediately setting up a dense barrage in the sky. In less than five minutes, two Type 97 heavy explosive aircraft and a
The Zhongjio-1 fighter plane was destroyed."
It stands to reason that the Japanese aircraft fleet that suffered losses should shrink and converge, but today's Japanese aircraft seemed to be determined by the scales and continued to attack the relocated artillery battalions.
"Are you crazy, you kid? You dare to fight us so hard regardless of casualties?"
Seeing that two more artillery pieces were blown up by Japanese aircraft, Gao Hongming felt distressed and extremely puzzled. How could he be so stingy that he would lick his fingers even if he had an asshole buttoned, how could he be willing to ruin his expensive aircraft like this?
Of course, this does not mean that artillery is not valuable, but it depends on what it is compared to.
An M2 howitzer only costs 10,000 U.S. dollars, but a Type 97 heavy explosive aircraft costs at least 100,000 U.S. dollars. After all, the kid is at a huge loss.
"Order the air defense battalion to strengthen its firepower and be sure to cover the retreat of the artillery battalion!" Seeing that the Japanese were actually trying to hurt people with their own weapons, Gao Hongming could only give the order for the artillery battalion to be temporarily hidden.
"Yo Xi...that's it, tell the field artillery unit to blow up the Chinese positions for me!"
Although his thigh was injured, Koizumi Yukio, who still insisted on directing the battle at the headquarters, was in a particularly comfortable mood. He quickly ordered the 133rd Regiment to seize the time to attack. In excitement, he even patted his thigh hard, causing the thigh to pass.
There was a sharp pain.
"Hey... General, your wound is bleeding." There was an exclamation from the side, and a delicate and delicate female nurse panting in white clothes hurried over and saw
The blood flowing out of Yukio Koizumi's thigh was so frightening that he shouted quickly: "Dr. Miyamoto... come here quickly..."
Following the cry of the little nurse, a doctor in his thirties hurriedly ran over with a medical kit. After taking a look at Koizumi Yukio's wound, he immediately said: "Miyoko Sugita, please take off your trousers immediately. We will
He has to bandage his wounds again!"
"Hi..."
The nurse named Miyoko didn't hesitate at all and quickly took off Koizumi Yukio's pants, revealing the hideous wound on his thigh that was an inch wide.
"Quick...disinfect the wound immediately..."
"Well..."
A muffled sound soon sounded in the command headquarters...
I have to say that this doctor's skills are really good. It only took less than three minutes to re-bandage Koizumi Yukio's wound.
At this time, Koizumi Yukio, who was sweating profusely in pain, breathed a sigh of relief and cursed angrily: "Baga... Miyamoto Ichiro, your methods are still so rough. No wonder you were raped by a professor at the University of Tokyo."
They rated him as the rudest asshole of all the students they had ever taught."
Faced with the scolding from the division leader, Miyamoto Ichiro not only did not feel afraid, but said calmly: "Saving people is not about admiring the tea ceremony. It doesn't need to be so polite. For me, as long as I can save people, it doesn't matter whether I am rude or not."
Woolen cloth?"
"yes!"
Koizumi Yukio sighed lightly. As a soldier, of course he understands that time is life on the battlefield, so it is difficult to take it easy. This is also the difference between military doctors and ordinary doctors.
One is fighting against death in a place under heavy gunfire, while the other is performing surgery in a comfortable operating room with peace of mind. Is this the same?