"Hurry up...the front of the position here needs to be thickened."
"Baga...who dug this bomb-proof hole? The top is less than one meter. If the Chinese come over with a cannon, you will all die inside."
On a high ground hundreds of miles away on the north bank of the Weihe River, countless Japanese soldiers were busy like worker ants.
Some of them were wielding hoes, some were carrying sand and gravel, and all of them were sweating profusely from their work. There were also many officers patrolling the position constantly, and from time to time the officers would shout and curse.
Lieutenant General Kanda Masane, commander of the 6th Division, walked on the battlefield accompanied by Chief of Staff Shimono Ichiho, Major General Tokutaro Sakai, commander of the 11th Brigade, and Major General Mitsuru Ushijima, commander of the 36th Brigade.
Looking at the sweaty Japanese soldiers, Kanda Masane stopped and turned to Ushijima Mitsuru on the left: "Ushijima-kun, this line of defense is our first line of defense. Do you know what it means if it falls?
"
"I know." Ushijima looked extremely solemn: "Once the defense line is lost, it means that the Chinese infantry can continuously cross the Wei River to attack the second line of defense. With the advantage of the Chinese tanks, with the current
The strength of the Sixth Division is difficult to resist."
Before Kanda Masane could speak, Tokutaro Sakai was unhappy and said in a deep voice: "Ushijima-kun, have you forgotten about the 11th Brigade?"
Ushijima Mitsuru turned to look at him and said calmly: "Sakai-kun, once the 36th Brigade position is occupied, are you confident in resisting the tank troops of the Rendai Militia? Or can you withstand the bombardment of hundreds of bombers and heavy artillery?"
Also, let me take the liberty to ask, how many people are left in the 47th Wing under your command?"
Tokutaro Sakai was choked to the point of being speechless.
Is the Liantai militia strong in combat effectiveness?
Of course it is strong, otherwise it would not have defeated the Japanese army steadily, but their most powerful enemy is its artillery and aircraft.
Whether it is the bombers roaring in the sky or those 155, 203 caliber heavy artillery, these days have become a nightmare for countless Japanese soldiers. Now no one in the entire Sixth Division dares to pat their chests and guarantee that he can withstand the soldiers of the Liantai Militia.
, including Tokutaro Sakai.
Looking at the two subordinates competing against each other, Kanda Masane also frowned.
Today's Sixth Division has gone through continuous fierce battles and is no longer as full as it was more than a month ago.
When it first entered Shanxi last month, the Sixth Division had two brigades and four infantry regiments, an artillery regiment, and a cavalry regiment, with a total number of 25,000 people.
But now, the cavalry regiment has been almost crippled, and the remaining artillery regiment and infantry regiment have also suffered heavy losses. The combined combat strength of the entire division is less than half of its original strength. Such losses are that of the Sixth Division.
This has never happened since the founding of the group.
All of this made Kanda Masane feel uneasy.
However, he could only suppress this emotion in his heart, and managed to cheer up and shouted: "Okay, you are all senior generals of the empire. Stop saying these words that shake the morale of the army. If you let me hear it again, don't blame me as a teacher."
As a regiment leader, are you enforcing military regulations?"
After Kanda Masane said this, Ushijima Mitsuru and Sakai Tokutaro stopped arguing, looked at each other, bowed together and said in unison, "Hi!"
While a group of people were talking, a strong wind suddenly blew up in the sky. The strong wind blew up dust on the position, so much so that the Japanese soldiers who were repairing the fortifications hid their faces to avoid blowing sand into their eyes and mouths.
Looking at the sudden strong wind and the weather that turned gloomy almost instantly, the hearts of Kanda Masane and the other two people sank. Such weather was clearly going to lead to a sudden heavy rain.
Sure enough, after the strong wind blew for about ten minutes, accompanied by lightning and thunder, huge raindrops fell from the sky in an instant, and the land turned into a swamp.
Soon, the rainwater gathered and flowed towards the constructed trenches. The trenches almost turned into swimming pools. Under the scoldings of the officers, countless Japanese soldiers were busy lifting weapons and ammunition from the bomb holes and ammunition depots to high altitudes.
He found a raincloth and covered it with raincloth.
This is also necessary. Although modern weapons and ammunition are not as effective as the black powder period or the muzzleloader gun period when they touch water, if they are soaked in rain for a long time, the water will slowly invade the inside of the ammunition, and the propellant will absorb moisture and become
Increasing the water content will slow down the burning speed of the propellant, which may cause close range or misfire during shooting.
Looking at the soldiers who were still busy carrying ammunition like mud monkeys, Kanda Masane's uneasiness became more and more serious.
At the same time, at an artillery position less than five kilometers away from the Sixth Division, Geng Changshun, commander of the 1st Artillery Battalion, also yelled at the sky.
"God, you damn girl, it won't rain in the morning or at night. It's raining at this time. Aren't you going to let me watch it all the time? How do you want me to have sex in such crazy weather?"
In the joint headquarters, Gao Hongming, Commander Liu and Political Commissar Heping looked at each other as they looked at the heavy rain that was like the tilt of the Milky Way. Commander Liu said helplessly: "It seems that God is not blessing me."
"It's such an unlucky thing that the rain scares me so much!" Political Commissar Ping also sighed.
Originally, they had already discussed and planned to hit all the artillery pieces to bombard the Japanese positions on the north bank of the Wei River at noon today.
And this time the shells fired were not ordinary artillery shells, but incendiary bombs.
They had calculated that if hundreds of artillery pieces fired incendiary bombs at the same time, it would only take ten minutes to turn the Japanese position into a sea of flames.
There will definitely be chaos in the Japanese position. At that time, they can gather all the collected ships and transport the first wave of attacking troops to the north bank while the Japanese army has no time to take care of them. As long as the first wave of troops can gain a firm foothold on the north bank,
The next battle will be easy to fight.
But God didn't show mercy, and it rained heavily at this time. In such weather, it would be a joke to use incendiary bombs against the Japanese army.
Looking at the torrential rain pouring down as if God was angry, Gao Hongming suddenly asked thoughtfully: "Mr. Liu, do you think if we secretly build a pontoon bridge on the Wei River at this time, will the Japanese discover it?"
"Set up a pontoon secretly?"
Commander Liu and Political Commissar Heping were stunned, "Is this plan feasible?"
"I think you can try it."
The more Gao Hongming thought about it, the more he thought it was possible, and he said enthusiastically: "I have a pontoon bridge company under my command, and they can build pontoons on bridges no more than 400 meters long.
The width of the Wei River is generally only about 300 meters, so the idea of erecting a pontoon bridge is completely achievable.
I didn't make this suggestion before because under normal circumstances, the possibility of building a pontoon bridge under the noses of the Japanese is almost zero, but it is different now.
This heavy rain has reduced the visibility on both sides to no more than a hundred meters, which makes it possible to erect a pontoon bridge. Once the pontoon bridge is successfully erected, we will no longer have to transport troops through wooden sampans."