Therefore, Li Yunlong's combat plan was interconnected. He planned to use the rout of the Iron and Stone Troops as a cover to rush into the Japanese 39th Division's defense line.
This plan is indeed feasible, because the Japanese anti-tank rifle is more suitable for long-distance combat... This thing has a lot of recoil and does not have much ammunition. You need to be fully prepared before you can fire a shot.
If the half-track car is far away from it, there is nothing you can do. It will be difficult for the half-track car to find its position and suppress it with firepower.
But if the distance is short, the repeating rifle on the half-track car will be a nightmare for the Japanese anti-tank rifle.
However, there is a risk in this "linked chain": if one of the links is broken, the combat plan will become unfeasible.
The battle began with mine clearing operations.
The Japanese planted many landmines one mile outside the defense line. These landmines might have been a problem for the previous Eighth Route Army. At that time, the Eighth Route Army lacked guns, let alone mortars and artillery shells.
But now...
Li Yunlong only needed to mobilize a batch of 50 small artillery pieces and mortars to bombard the enemy's defense line, and the Japanese did not even dare to fight back.
It's not that they dare not fight back, but that any Japanese who fight back cannot escape the fate of being bombed.
At this time, the Eighth Route Army's transistor-based artillery detection radar has been turned on, and the three M30 howitzer battalions are also ready. Whether it is an infantry gun or a howitzer, as soon as the enemy fires, a row of artillery shells will hit their artillery position.
.
Among them, the Eighth Route Army also discovered the positioning signals of two artillery reconnaissance radars.
Li Yunlong was too lazy to pretend not to know at this time. He waved his hand and ordered: "Blow them up immediately!"
So with a few "bang bangs", the Japanese artillery detection radar was blown up into the sky.
At this time, Naosaburo Okabe suddenly realized: "So, the artillery detection radar itself is a trap. The Eighth Route Army must have done something to the artillery detection radar!"
After knowing this, Naosaburo Okabe's face turned green with anger, because the imperial army suffered heavy casualties and invested a lot of money and R&D personnel to produce artillery detection radars. Unexpectedly, the products produced not only failed to work
Instead, he exposed himself...
Oshiro Sanji also asked strangely: "But General, those artillery detection radars are produced by us ourselves. How could the Eighth Route Army do anything?"
Naosaburo Okabe replied: "Oshirodo-kun, we are just copying! The Eighth Route Army has long known that we cannot crack those wires, so..."
So Oshiro Sanji understood. Although he didn't understand it very well, if the Imperial Army just copied it, it would also copy the tricks done by the Eighth Route Army, so even the artillery detection radar produced by the Empire itself would have problems.
At this time, Sanji Ojoto sighed in his heart and said to himself: "In fact, this does not mean that the Eighth Route Army is cunning, but that the empire is too useless! Even if the Eighth Route Army sends artillery detection radar to us, we cannot produce it ourselves.
We can only copy it, and even now we don’t understand its principle... Are the Chinese really an inferior nation? Are they really not worthy of living in this world?"
Ojoto Sanji fundamentally doubted the reason why the empire invaded China.
Under the cover of the artillery reconnaissance radar, the Eighth Route Army's mortars and 50 cannons "comfortably" cleared mines before the war, and even sent engineers to fill the anti-tank trenches in advance... Another weakness of the anti-tank trenches is that
It is very deep. If enemy infantry enters the anti-tank trench, it can be used as a trench.
At this time, the artillery fire of the 39th Division should have provided fire cover for the Iron and Stone troops, but the commander of the 39th Division did not do so!
The leader of the 39th Division is Saki Yoshikawa. He is a man who is good at forbearance.
He was a major during the Battle of Nomenhan. The entire brigade he led was surrounded by bears for half a month and starved to death. In the end, only more than a hundred people came back alive, including Saki Yoshikawa.
Yoshikawa Saki used a telescope to look at the smoke in the distance. Over and over again, the Iron Stone Forces' request for help came over the radio, but Yoshikawa Saki remained indifferent.
The staff officer asked doubtfully: "Your Excellency Major General, one of our tasks is to provide cover for the Iron Stone Forces. If we ignore the Iron Stone Forces' request for help..."
"Matsushima-kun!" Yoshikawa Saki interrupted the staff officer: "I didn't make this decision because of the Iron Stone Army. I know what it means to the empire. But, even if there are imperial troops in front, I will still do it.
Do it!"
Then Yoshikawa Saki explained: "We are now providing artillery assistance. Apart from letting the Eighth Route Army know our deployment, what else can we get? Blow up the Eighth Route Army's mortar crews and engineers? No, what we want is the Eighth Route Army's infantry and
Mechanized troops!”
The staff officer nodded. He knew that Yoshikawa Saki was right. The best time for artillery cover was when the Eighth Route Army launched a full-scale attack, not now.
And this decision cannot be changed just because the object of request for help is the Iron and Stone Troops, as it will not be of any benefit to the war situation.
Then the Eighth Route Army launched an attack, and intelligence came immediately from the communications corps: "Your Excellency, Major General, the Eighth Route Army has launched an attack, and the frontal infantry regiment and the mechanized troops on the flanks are about to enter the range of our army's artillery fire!"
Yoshikawa Saki couldn't help but frown, he felt something was wrong.
The staff officer asked doubtfully and nervously: "Your Majesty, Major General?"
If you do not provide cover for the Iron Stone Troops at this time, it would be unreasonable. Not only would you have violated the orders of your superiors, but it would also affect the entire army because the 39th Division allowed the Iron Stone Troops to be attacked... because this shows that the Imperial Army has
The iron and stone troops serve as cannon fodder.
If the elite puppet troops who represent the puppet army are used as cannon fodder by the imperial army, is there any hope for the other puppet armies?
At most, they can only become iron and stone troops, and then be used as cannon fodder?
So this is not as simple as fire cover, but is related to the morale of the puppet army!
Yoshikawa Saki also felt such pressure, so he could only order with a stern face: "Order the artillery and prepare for battle!"
"Artillery battle preparation!"
"Ready for battle!"
…
The order was passed down loudly.
Yoshikawa Saki looked at the sky. There were only a few "La 5" hovering nearby, and there was no shadow of a fighter group in the distance.
"No!" Yoshikawa Saki said: "If the Eighth Route Army did not plan to use fighter planes to suppress our artillery fire, how could they launch an attack with such confidence? Don't they know that our artillery fire can reach the front line?"
"Your Excellency, Major General!" said the staff officer: "If the Eighth Route Army does not attack like this, how can it still fight?"
The staff believed that the Eighth Route Army hoped to use human sea tactics to build a safety line, then pull artillery fire into the safety line and then use howitzers and artillery detection radar to counterattack.
What the staff did not expect was that the Eighth Route Army already had hundreds of anti-ship missiles ready on the other side.