Kasahara Koizumi was shocked, stood up and slapped him in the face immediately, "Baga... didn't you just report that Kenji Tsuchiya was still leading the troops to resist? Why did Qixia Pass fall in just a few minutes?
?”
"Your Excellency, this is the farewell message sent by Lieutenant Commander Tsuchiya Kenji. He said in the telegram that the Chinese have attacked the top of the mountain, and now he and Major Miura Masao who have retreated are leading the remaining troops to resist."
"No... Qixia Pass must not be lost. You immediately order Kenji Tsuchiya to defend Qixia Pass at all costs. I immediately request Commander Yoshio Shinozuka to send plane reinforcements."
Speaking of this, Kasahara Koizumi only felt upset for a while.
Taiyuan Airport originally hosted the 21st Independent Flying Group.
This is a powerful battle group with more than 20 bombers and more than 30 fighter planes, but in the bombing of Kenanpo a few days ago, this battle group lost more than ten aircraft.
This caused the flying team to have a lot of dissatisfaction with the headquarters. The pilots of the flying team believed that the headquarters' intelligence was wrong, which caused them to suffer heavy losses, while the headquarters believed that the losses were caused by the flying team being too arrogant.
Both sides insisted on their own opinions, which made Yoshio Shinozuka and Shigeharu Fujino very embarrassed, but it was difficult to suppress them with orders.
After all, pilots are different from infantry. In the eyes of senior officials, infantry can only be regarded as cannon fodder that can be recruited for five cents.
The pilot is different. A qualified pilot needs at least two to three years of training to graduate, and it takes one to two years to hone on the battlefield to mature.
No officer who doesn't take human life seriously would dare to treat flying as a consumable, and pilots have considerable autonomy. As long as the pilots are in the sky, it is up to them to decide how to execute orders and act.
This is also the reason why the Army Aviation did not participate in this ambush operation. It is just that the situation is difficult now. Even if Kasahara Koizumi is unwilling, he can only bite the bullet and send a report to Shinozuka Yoshio...
Just when Kasahara Koizumi finally decided to report to Shinozuka Yoshio, the sky suddenly became cloudy, and rain fell without warning. The huge raindrops instantly covered the entire battlefield.
The erratic weather in spring can change at a moment's notice. The loose soil in Qixia Pass that was plowed by artillery shells was turned into a muddy land by rain almost instantly.
"not good!"
"It actually rained."
The sudden heavy rain caused the commanders on both sides to change their expressions instantly.
"Whoosh! Boom!"
With a sharp sound of shells falling, three Japanese soldiers who were charging towards the center were blown into the air by the air wave set off by the 105 howitzer shells.
The artillery battalion is using intensive artillery fire to fire barrages at the foot of Qixia Pass. The purpose is to prevent the remaining two brigades of the Third Regiment from increasing their troops at Qixia Pass. 105 howitzers and 75 howitzers shuttle back and forth at the foot of the mountain, shooting those who are desperately heading towards Qixia Pass.
The bodies of the Japanese soldiers rushing towards Qixia Pass were blown into pieces.
"ah……"
Near the Qixia Pass, a machine gunner with an MG42 machine gun in his arms roared at the Japanese soldiers in front of him and fired desperately. In an open area dozens of meters away in front of him, there were many people who had been shot dead and shot.
Wounded Japanese soldier.
When the battle reached this point, the soldiers of the Third Regiment were fully aroused. Faced with machine gun fire, they almost desperately launched a counterattack, completely ignoring their own casualties.
For the first battalion, the most fatal thing was that the sudden heavy rain made it impossible for the infantry to receive artillery support.
Since the mortar fires at a high elevation angle, the barrel is very easy to get water in during heavy rain.
This will also lead to the failure of the primer, the basic medicine tube being damp and the barrel being dirty, resulting in insufficient falling speed of the projectile and causing the barrel to jam, etc. There may be situations where the shell cannot be fired normally and remains in the barrel.
The terrible thing is that in fierce battles, gunners often misjudge because they cannot feel the recoil of the artillery, thinking that the shells in the chamber have been fired. When the shells are retained and no warning is received from other gunners, they often misjudge that the shells in the chamber have been fired.
The front shell had already been ejected from the chamber and was immediately loaded into the rear shell, causing an explosion.
This is the so-called "reloading" phenomenon unique to mortar shooting.
Once the "reloading" phenomenon occurs, tragedies involving artillery destruction and casualties often occur.
Therefore, for safety reasons, Wu Chengfeng had no choice but to order all mortars to stop firing.
"Quick! Quick! Load bullets!"
After a 250-round bullet belt was empty, the machine gunner shouted loudly to the deputy shooter who was holding a gun next to him. Seeing that the deadly machine gun finally stopped harvesting lives, several Japanese soldiers immediately rushed up and were covered by the rain.
The sticky soil became an obstacle to the movement of Japanese troops.
"Half a year!"
Hearing the shouts of the Japanese soldiers almost ringing in his ears, the deputy shooter hurriedly retrieved another ammunition box, took out the ammunition chain and reinstalled it.
"Click!" With the crisp sound of bullets being loaded, the MG42 that had paused once again sprayed out fatal bullets. The 7.92mm bullet fired from the machine gun hit a Japanese soldier who was close at hand at the moment of the gunshot. He was killed.
The Japanese soldier who was hit by the 65 bullets in his body had wounds of tens of centimeters torn open in his fragile body due to the bullets churning at high speed in his body, so that a scene similar to being "cut in half" appeared in an instant.
Looking at the Japanese soldier who fell down in front of him after being hit, half of his body was knocked off, and white bone fragments and minced flesh were exposed among the flesh and blood. The deputy shooter couldn't help but feel his scalp numb.
"Grenade!"
At this moment, the deputy shooter, whose scalp was numb, saw a green Type 97 grenade thrown in front of his eyes. Looking at the grenade emitting white smoke and the sound of the chainsaw-like MG42 light machine gun coming from his ears, the deputy shooter
The shooter shouted loudly, and although he hesitated a little, he still jumped forward and put the grenade under his body.
"Boom!"
With a dull grenade explosion, the body of the deputy shooter who was pressed against the grenade was blown several centimeters off the ground, and then fell to the ground.
"You little devil... I'll fuck your grandma!"
At this time, the Japanese army was approaching. With a roar, the machine gunner jumped up, grabbed the 98K rifle beside him and stabbed the nearest Japanese soldier.
Obviously before the Japanese soldier had time to react, the bayonet in the machine gunner's hand easily penetrated the Japanese soldier's neck. However, before the machine gunner could cheer, another grenade exploded under his feet.
His body fell to the ground with a splash of blood mist and stumps.
As the charge whistle sounded, the soldiers of the first battalion brandished their rifles and started hand-to-hand combat with the Japanese army.
Under the pouring rain, there was no glint of bayonets or inspiring slogans. On the muddy positions, there were only the most primitive fights.