Major General Tokutaro Sakai, commander of the 11th Brigade of the 6th Division, led the chief of staff and several guards, accompanied by Captain Hojo Haruhiko of the 45th Regiment, and walked in the tunnel. He looked at the busy soldiers with frowning expressions.
Very gloomy.
"Hurry up and dig, it needs to be thicker here!"
"Baga...haven't you had breakfast? Why are you so weak!"
In a trench, a squad leader was directing dozens of soldiers, waving hoes and shovels, sweating profusely, and shouting and cursing.
Tokutaro Sakai nodded silently as he looked at the bombproof holes built every ten meters in the trench.
As one of the most elite permanent divisions of the Japanese Army, the Sixth Division advocates offense and does not value things like building fortifications.
After all, in the past few years since the invasion of China, the Sixth Division and the Chinese army have fought dozens of times. Each time, the Sixth Division took the initiative to attack and won. The Chinese army has never encountered a Chinese army that allowed the Sixth Division to defend.
been.
But since arriving in Liantai County, the always arrogant Sixth Division has been well educated by the Liantai Militia and understands what saturation strikes are.
A few days ago, under the shelling of the Liantai Militia, the hastily constructed offensive of the Sixth Division was blown to pieces by 155,203 heavy artillery and even 500 kilograms of heavy bombs. More than 3,000 people were lost in less than two days.
This was also the most brutal battle the Sixth Division had encountered since its invasion of China.
However, the Sixth Division is still doing well. The 108th Division next to them is even worse and has become a key target. They lost two full regiments in the battles a few days ago, and the entire division was almost crippled.
.
War is the best teacher. Under the threat of death, the Sixth Division, which had always despised civil work, had to engage in civil work.
Division commander Kanda Masane even personally inspected, and would severely punish any unit that failed to dig out fortifications. Under such high pressure, Tokutaro Sakai, the brigade commander, also had to personally go down to the regiment from time to time to conduct inspections.
Supervision.
After watching for a while, Tokutaro Sakai turned to Haruhiko Hojo behind him and said: "Yes, Hojo-kun, the 45th Regiment's fortifications are dug well. You must continue to maintain this state to deal with the upcoming attack by the Chinese."
Attack, do you understand?"
"Hi!" Hojo Haruhiko bowed slightly, and then asked: "Your Excellency, brigade commander, I heard that the Chinese have arrived with a group of reinforcements, numbering tens of thousands, are they going to attack us?"
Launching an attack?"
Tokutaro Sakai was silent for a while: "Hojo-kun, no matter whether this news is true or not, as imperial soldiers, we must abide by our duties as soldiers, and we must face the toughest battles with strength, do you understand?"
"Hi!"
Hojo Haruhiko responded and was about to say something when suddenly there was a dull whistling sound in the sky, which at first sounded like the sound of an old cow panting.
Both Hojo Haruhiko and Sakai Tokutaro have served in the army for more than ten or even twenty years, and their expressions immediately changed when they heard this voice.
This is definitely the sound of artillery shells rubbing against the air as they streak through the sky, and this kind of sound can only be produced by large-caliber artillery.
"Lie down!"
Less than two seconds after Tokutaro Sakai issued the warning sound, a shell exploded in the trench more than 200 meters away from them.
When the smoke dissipated, a crater with a diameter of tens of meters appeared on the ground, and black smoke rose straight into the sky.
Hojo Haruhiko and Sakai Tokutaro were surprised to find that the dozens of Japanese soldiers who had just been swarming around the crater like groundhogs seemed to disappear all of a sudden along with the trench.
In a hidden observation post one kilometer away from the Japanese position, Gao Hongming, Commander Liu, Political Commissar Ping, Brigadier Chen, Brigadier Wang and other Eighth Route Army generals were all raising their binoculars to watch the effects of the shelling.
"My dear, is this the effect of the 203mm heavy artillery bombardment?" Brigadier Wang saw such a powerful bombardment for the first time, and not only let out a heartfelt admiration.
Others ignored the answer and stared at the Japanese position with wide eyes.
At this time, the Japanese army's position was as desolate as the surface of the moon, with no signs of life at all. It was as if the Japanese soldiers who had been digging trenches like groundhogs had disappeared in an instant.
"Baga, it's this damn eight-inch artillery again!" Tokutaro Garui, who had just been pushed into the artillery hole by the guards, cursed angrily.
For them, this kind of shelling is not the first time. Since the confrontation between the two sides began, the Liantai militia has taken advantage of the range of the M2 203mm howitzer to frequently shell them.
The warhead of this caliber of artillery weighs 90.6 kilograms, and it is very powerful. The crater alone is tens of meters long after one shot. If you are unlucky, a small team will be wiped out.
This is no nonsense. Take the Battle of Songhu as an example. During the battle, the Japanese army received strong support from the 3rd and 4th Fleets of the Japanese Navy.
Take the Izumo, the flagship of the Third Fleet at that time, as an example. This cruiser was equipped with 4 203mm guns, 14 152mm guns, 12 12-pound rapid-fire cannons, and 8 2.5-pound rapid-fire cannons.
This firepower is enough to cover an entire charging infantry battalion in one salvo.
Not to mention Haruna, the battleship with the largest tonnage and the most powerful firepower in the Songhu Battle. The 356 mm caliber main gun it was equipped with weighed 673.5 kilograms in shells alone.
One shot of this kind of artillery shell can make a company of infantry disappear instantly.
At that time, the Guangxi Army's ten divisions, totaling more than 60,000 people, launched a group counterattack against the Japanese army. However, under the fierce attack of artillery fire from the Japanese Army, Navy and Air Force, the Guangxi Army lost 40,000 people in just three days, and finally had to withdraw from the battlefield with regret.
Just when Tokutaro Sakai was scolding his mother, a bigger blow began. Accompanied by bursts of sharp or dull whistling sounds, hundreds of artillery pieces began bombarding the positions of the Sixth Division.
In an instant, the ground on the Japanese army's position shook, and countless civil structures and fortresses that had been painstakingly constructed flew into the sky amidst the explosions.
Feeling the trembling ground under his feet, the pale-faced Hojo Haruhiko shouted out loud: "Your Excellency, Brigade Commander, this is not harassment, the Chinese are about to attack!"
Tokutaro Sakai ignored this guy and just squatted silently, covering his ears with his hands and opening his mouth wide. This can protect people's ears to the greatest extent during shelling.
"boom!"
A 203-caliber artillery shell landed on the top of another anti-gun cave more than a hundred meters away. The roof of the anti-gun shell that was directly hit was immediately collapsed, and no one inside ran out.
But at this time, no one could care to sympathize with the people inside. Everyone was silently praying that their shell-proof holes would not be hit by large-caliber artillery fire.