The sudden bombardment made Hashimoto Shinsuke's attack plan in vain. Seeing the First Battalion struggling under the artillery fire, Hashimoto Shinsuke's heart was bleeding.
This is a full brigade of 1,100 people. How many people will be left in this brigade after the bombardment is over?
"Tsuchiya-kun, where is our artillery squadron? Can it suppress the Chinese people with fire?"
After saying this, a wry smile appeared on his face. His artillery squadron only had four Type 92 infantry guns. This 70 mm caliber mini artillery, which weighed only more than 400 kilograms, could usually deal with even mortars.
The lack of national army troops is enough, but if you want to use it to attack 105-caliber howitzers, it is simply a dream.
Sure enough, Tsuchiya Kenji shook his head: "Your Excellency, Wing Commander, the artillery squadron reported that three of our four infantry guns were destroyed by Chinese shelling. The artillery squadron is now hiding with the last infantry gun. Are you sure?
Do you want them to engage in cross-fire with Chinese artillery?"
"Forget it...it's better not to let them come out and die."
Tsuchiya Kenji weakly waved his hand, and in a blink of an eye he looked at the foot of the mountain that was still covered by dense artillery fire. He felt bitter in his heart. He really couldn't understand why the Chinese people, who were always so poor that they couldn't even make their own artillery shells, started covering it with artillery fire.
Isn't this a game that only the Japanese Empire and the Western powers can afford?
Although he couldn't accept this fact in his heart, he still had to complete the order issued by the brigade commander and drive the Chinese people on the opposite side to the open space in front within two hours, even though he already knew that he might have to pay
Huge casualties.
"Tsuchiya-kun, you immediately tell the First Battalion to withdraw immediately after the Chinese artillery fire coverage ends, and I will ask the Second Battalion to take over."
"Hey, I'll pass on your order right away."
Coincidentally, just after he gave the order, the continuous sound of cannons suddenly stopped.
After suffering more than ten minutes of shelling, the Japanese soldiers' ears suddenly became quiet, and they were still a little unaccustomed to it.
Some surviving Japanese soldiers listened for a while, then ventured out to look around and found that the shelling had indeed stopped.
"Beep..."
Masao Miura stood up unsteadily, and he shook his head that was dazed by the explosion. Under him was an already stiff body, that was his fellow villager Nishino Jiro.
After blowing the whistle hanging around his neck, a sharp whistle sounded, and the originally dead surface gradually began to move, and one soldier after another staggered out of the bunker.
Just when Masao Miura was about to issue the order, another shrill whistling sound suddenly came from the sky.
Masao Miura's expression changed immediately, and he fell to the ground again without thinking. The surrounding Japanese soldiers also quickly got into the bunker they had just climbed out of.
After just waiting for a few seconds, the expected cannonball did not fall among them. Instead, a violent explosion sounded at Qixia Pass not far from them.
"No... Your Excellency, Captain..."
Masao Miura turned his head and saw that the Qixia Pass was already filled with explosions, thick smoke billowing, and the pass that had been fine a few minutes ago turned into flames.
Seeing the transfer of the opponent's artillery fire, Miura Masao not only did not rejoice, but turned pale with fright. You must know that Qixia Pass is now the headquarters of the third regiment. Could it be that the headquarters of the newly reorganized third regiment has returned?
Are we going to fall again and be destroyed in the hands of the same person?
"Adjust 0.2 degrees to the right and extend another fifty meters..."
"Cannonballs...quickly...load the cannonballs...faster..."
At this time, the artillery battalion was going crazy. Geng Changshun was urging desperately from the side. The four loaders were already sweating profusely from exhaustion, but he was still too slow. In the end, he was so anxious that he even took off his coat and started loading himself.
Wearing only a shirt, he pushed hard with his right hand and loaded the 21.06 kilogram high-explosive shell into the gun barrel. Then he shouted loudly to the ammunition hand behind him. At this time, the gun position was surrounded by empty shells and shells.
Empty ammunition boxes and dozens of empty ammunition were piled up like a hill.
Qixia Pass, which was originally quite beautiful, has been shrouded in gunpowder smoke after the explosion. The ground is still shaking from the shelling. All the fortifications originally built by the Shanxi-Sui Army have been destroyed by the shelling.
The shelling of Qixia Pass continued, and Wu Chengfeng, who was at the front, could even see the blown corpses.
The Japanese attack had stopped since the shelling started, and the soldiers of the first battalion were happy to hide behind the bunkers and admire their own artillery fire.
The third company commander Nong Tiancai also saw his artillery battalion with full firepower for the first time. He couldn't help but exclaimed: "My dear, isn't this bombardment too fierce? Is there anyone alive up here?"
A soldier next to him asked: "Company Commander, the Japanese in front have all been killed. What will happen to our infantry in this battle?"
"Fool!"
Nong Tiancai said angrily: "No matter how powerful the artillery shells are, they can't kill everyone. When we need to charge, we have to rely on our infantry."
"That's true." The soldier agreed.
This time the shelling lasted for half an hour before it stopped. When the sound of the gunfire stopped suddenly, everyone felt a little uncomfortable for a while.
When the shelling stopped, Qixia Pass could no longer see its original appearance. All the buildings had been destroyed by artillery fire, including the headquarters of the Third Regiment.
"Your Excellency, Captain... wake up... wake up..."
Lieutenant Colonel Kenji Tsuchiya, the chief of staff of the Third Regiment, was lucky. Although the headquarters was blown up, he miraculously escaped unscathed.
After the bombardment stopped, he immediately recruited a few surviving guards to search desperately in the ruins.
"We're looking for you...the commander is here!"
A guard shouted loudly, and several people moved a stone away and finally found the commander of the regiment, Shinsuke Hashimoto.
But when Kenji Tsuchiya saw Shinsuke Hashimoto, his heart suddenly dropped.
At this time, Hashimoto Shinsuke's head was partially blown off by something unknown. White brain matter mixed with blood was flowing out of his head. He was already dead.
"Chief of Staff, what should we do?" The guards also panicked. Their commander was killed. As guards, they were absolutely to blame.
Tsuchiya Ken's face turned pale and he said in a trembling voice: "Baga...what are you still doing in a daze? Report to the brigade commander immediately and ask for tactical guidance."
"Hi!"
"Tick-tick-tick...tick-tock...tick..."
At this moment, a bugle sounded in the distance, and soon a guard hurried over.
"Your Excellency, Chief of Staff...the Chinese have begun to launch a counterattack!"
"Nani?"
Kenji Tsuchiya staggered out of the headquarters that was almost blown into ruins. When he came to an open space, he looked through his binoculars and found that there was a troop of hundreds of people at the foot of the mountain attacking Qixia Pass.
Although the first brigade at the foot of the mountain resisted vigorously, they were still retreating steadily under the fierce firepower of the opponent.