"Your Excellency, Brigade Commander, the 23rd Regiment can hardly hold on any longer. Should we quickly send the 24th Regiment to reinforce it?"
The embarrassment of the 23rd Regiment could not be concealed from the commander of the 36th Brigade, Major General Mitsuru Ushijima, who was commanding from behind.
However, he was unusually silent when faced with the chief of staff's request.
He was silent for a while and then said: "The casualties of the 24th Regiment were not small originally, but now they are only over 2,000 people at full capacity. Once we fail to save people, our defense line will collapse. How will we explain to the division commander at that time?"
?”
"But if we don't rescue the 23rd Company now, when they are completely wiped out, will the remaining 24th Company be able to hold the line of defense?" the chief of staff asked.
"But at least we can hold on a little longer."
"But that would only delay the defeat a little bit." The chief of staff's voice became much louder.
Seeing the somewhat excited Chief of Staff, Ushijima Mitsuru grabbed his arm, pointed at the soldiers shivering in the rain, and said angrily.
"We have no anti-tank weapons, no explosives, and not even many grenades. If we let them go up now, it would not be called rescue, but death!"
Seeing the excited Ushijima Mitsuru, the chief of staff didn't know what to say.
It was raining heavily, and most of the ammunition originally stored in the ammunition depot was soaked by the rain. It can be said that this heavy rain reduced at least half of the combat effectiveness of the 36th Brigade.
"Report it to the division headquarters and ask the division commander to make a decision." After thinking for a while, Ushijima Mitsuru quickly made a decision.
"kill……"
In the heavy rain, the sound of gunfire was heard everywhere.
As the armored battalions came ashore one after another and consolidated their positions on the north bank of the Wei River, Li Yunlong led the independent regiment to the north bank one after another through the pontoon bridge.
Li Yunlong, who was holding a box cannon in his hand, wiped a handful of rainwater and said to Zhao Gang next to him.
"Lao Zhao, weather like this is not easy to fight."
Zhao Gang said, "It's hard for us to fight, and it's also hard for the Japanese to fight. Didn't you listen to what our brothers in the Armored Battalion told us? All the Japanese fortifications were soaked in water, and the ammunition depot was probably also damaged.
Otherwise, according to the character of the Japanese, they would have sent out troops carrying explosives to blow up the tanks."
Li Yunlong laughed, "This makes sense, it seems God is also on our side.
Order the bugler to blow the charge horn and have the troops follow up with the tanks in front. We must take down the Japanese positions in the shortest possible time."
"Tick-tick-tick-tick-tick."
In the sky filled with charges, the independent regiment launched an attack on the Japanese 23rd Regiment from all directions in company units.
The 23rd Regiment, which had lost its position, was unable to resist at all. It could only be passively divided into pieces, and then was divided, surrounded and eaten by the independent regiment and the armored battalion.
Ushijima paid the price for his hesitation. The first line of defense responsible for the 36th Brigade was already in danger under the attack of the armored battalion and the independent regiment.
"boom……"
A grenade shell exploded next to Zhang Dabiao, and the huge explosion made Zhang Dabiao's ears buzz.
Although he was not injured, Zhang Dabiao was turned into a clay figure by splashing mud and water all over his body.
He was so angry that he turned around and shouted to the artillery platoon leader behind him: "Zhuzhu, you are so damn blind, didn't you see the Japanese grenade in front of you? Why don't you kill him quickly?"
Wang Chengzhu felt aggrieved and said, "Captain Zhang, you can't blame me. It's raining so hard right now, it's impossible to fire cannons."
Only then did Zhang Dabiao remember that platoon artillery was different from infantry artillery in that it had a high range of fire. Once it rained, rainwater would easily flow in from the muzzle and the shells would not be able to be fired, even endangering the safety of the gunner.
"boom……"
Just when Zhang Dabiao was in a rage, a huge explosion occurred on the opposite Japanese position. The Japanese grenadier and two companions were blown up into the sky with the explosion. It turned out that a No. 4 tank had arrived.
, by the way, I rewarded the Japanese with three high-explosive bombs, and took away the Japanese grenades and a heavy machine gun.
"The machine gun platoon provided cover, and the first company and the second company outflanked each other from the left and right." Zhang Dabiao had such rich combat experience that he immediately seized this rare opportunity.
The two companies outflanked the enemy from the left and right sides respectively, while Zhang Dabiao personally led the 3rd company to attack from the front.
But the Japanese army's counterattack was also crazy. Although all the positions the Japanese army had worked hard to dig were soaked in water due to heavy rains, the Japanese army still counterattacked from various highlands.
As the rainstorm lasted longer, the land almost turned into a swamp. As the first Panzer IV tank fell into the mud, more and more tanks followed in its footsteps. In the end, the company only had a Lynx of more than ten tons.
Even light tanks can no longer move.
The first company commander found Zhang Dabiao and said, "Battal Commander, the rain is really too heavy. All our tanks are lying down. Can we pause and wait for the rain to stop before attacking?"
"Absolutely not."
Zhang Dabiao said categorically, "God is fair. We have difficulties, so why don't the Japanese do the same?
Besides, the regimental commander’s order is for us to penetrate the Japanese’s first line of defense at all costs. Even if our battalion is completely destroyed, we must complete the mission assigned by the regimental commander. Do you understand?”
"Yes, I promise to complete the task."
The heavy rain was still falling, the sky was getting darker and darker, and the visibility was only less than 20 meters. The soldiers from both sides were fighting almost face to face.
The battle suddenly fell into the most brutal stage. Fighting in this environment, the video competition between the two sides was not about whose marksmanship was accurate or who had more people.
It's about who has more firepower and who can detect the enemy earlier?
"Hurry up... follow everyone."
The battle has been going on so far, and the physical strength of the soldiers on both sides has been very high. Even as strong as Zhang Dabiao, he is panting from exhaustion, and the leather shoes under his feet are as heavy as if they were filled with mercury.
Just as Zhang Dabiao reached a mountain col, a fiery snake suddenly appeared in front of him.
He yelled without thinking, "Get down!"
"Da da da……"
Following a burst of gunfire, a soldier not far away who had no time to dodge fell into a pool of blood.
"smoke bomb!"
Along with several dull explosions, several smoke bombs exploded in front, sending up several thick plumes of smoke.
Taking advantage of the smoke that blocked the sight of the Japanese army, several soldiers took the opportunity to touch it and threw two grenades when they were more than 30 meters away from the Japanese army.
"Boom boom"
The machine gun position was instantly blown up into the sky.
"Hurry over and have a look."
A squad leader led several soldiers to move over carefully, taking turns to cover as they advanced.
When they arrived at the machine gun position, they found that all three machine gunners had fallen to the ground. Except for one Japanese soldier lying on the ground, the other two were lying motionless on their backs.
The squad leader winked at the two soldiers next to him.
The two soldiers raised their rifles and pulled the triggers at the two Japanese soldiers.