The Siping defensive battle was extremely fierce from the beginning.
The Japanese launched their attack as darkness fell.
This shot clock is the result of careful consideration by Yoshijiro Umezu:
The first and most important thing is that the imperial army does not have air supremacy, or it has to pay a high price to obtain limited air supremacy.
Umezu Yoshijiro did not intend to do this. Since Port Arthur was occupied by the Eighth Route Army, aviation fuel has been used less and less... The Northeast has everything but no oil, so "Manchukuo" relies entirely on transportation from Southeast Asia for its fuel.
(Note: It is not that there is no oil in the Northeast, but that the Japanese have not discovered oil in the Northeast. The depth of the Daqing oil field is about 1,200 meters. The Japanese exploration team only explored 1,000 meters before giving up. Part of the reason for giving up was the Western geologists at that time.
China is recognized as an oil-free country)
Under this circumstance, Umezu Yoshijiro was unwilling to consume too much fuel at this time, otherwise when the aviation force was needed in the future, he would be unable to fight due to lack of fuel.
When launching an attack at night, there is no need to consider the Eighth Route Army's air superiority, and the Empire's armored trains and artillery can be dispatched with confidence.
Secondly, Umezu Yoshijiro planned to launch a fire attack in Siping.
Fire attacks are most advantageous at night, because the Eighth Route Army's fire-fighting operations would fall into chaos due to the lack of lighting.
For the attacking imperial army, the firelight would illuminate the Eighth Route Army and make it a target.
Thirdly, darkness will provide cover for gas bombs.
Poison gas bombs are different from ordinary artillery shells. Poison gas bombs are a kind of yellow-green smoke.
If it attacks the enemy during the day, the enemy will know from the color that they are being attacked by poison gas and will take corresponding anti-virus measures.
But if it was at night, the Eighth Route Army would not be able to see the yellow-green smoke in the dark night.
If you can't see it, you have no way of knowing when there are poison gas bombs and when there are no poison gas bombs, so you will be passive in preventing gas bombs.
From this we can see that Umezu Yoshijiro is unusually cautious and vicious.
The Eighth Route Army suffered a loss as soon as the war began.
The Japanese did not use poison gas bombs at first, but used two armored trains to launch an artillery battle with the Eighth Route Army... The armored trains quickly moved their positions while fighting. Even if the Eighth Route Army had artillery detection radar that could accurately calculate its position, it could not effectively detect it.
suppress.
In fact, Ding Wei didn't know that it was a Japanese armored train at that time.
Artillery battles are beyond visual range. All that can be seen is the enemy's artillery shells and the Eighth Route Army's artillery fire back at them.
The Eighth Route Army always thought that these artillery shells could hit the target and destroy the Japanese artillery. As for the Japanese artillery fire later... it was probably another group of Japanese artillery.
But as he was slapping Ding Wei, he felt something was wrong.
"Would the Japanese use artillery on us like this?" Ding Wei said to the political commissar: "They know we have artillery detection radar!"
At this time, the artillery stationed in Siping had two m30 howitzer battalions equipped with three sets of artillery detection radars... Ding Wei's mechanized troops were only equipped with one howitzer battalion. In order to defend Siping, Wang Xuexin strengthened him with another howitzer battalion and replenished it.
A set of artillery detection radar backup.
Because Wang Xuexin knew that artillery was very important for a defensive battle, and it might even determine the outcome of the entire battle.
However, Wang Xuexin did not expect that the Eighth Route Army's artillery could hardly play a role in the Siping defensive battle, even if they had artillery detection radar.
The political commissar also felt strange: "Yeah, how many artillery pieces do the Japanese have that can withstand such a consumption? Are they... not willing to spend any money?"
"No!" Ding Wei said: "We probably did not destroy the enemy's artillery. These artillery firemen are the same group of Japanese!"
"Isn't this impossible?" the political commissar said: "We have artillery detection radar, which can be used accurately every time!"
Ding Wei didn't answer because he didn't know the reason.
After thinking about it, Ding Wei called the artillery unit and ordered them to send the artillery position detected by the artillery detection radar.
After the locations were sent, Ding Wei connected them into a line and put them on the map as a pair, and then he understood: "It's the Japanese armored trains. They retreat as they attack, so our artillery detection radar doesn't work!"
"
"The Japanese are so cunning!" the political commissar couldn't help but cursed.
Just then, I suddenly remembered the sharp whistles outside, one long and two short.
Ding Wei's face changed slightly, it was the agreed warning sound for the Japanese to use poison gas bombs.
Sure enough, the next second the communications soldier rushed through the door and loudly reported: "Captain, the Japanese have fired gas bombs!"
The guards hurriedly sealed the doors and windows with sandbags and rags, and the communications soldiers ran forward and reported in detail: "The Japanese gas bombs were mixed with ordinary artillery shells. Because it was dark, we didn't notice it for a while. By the time we discovered it, it was already too late. The Third Artillery Corps
The battalion happened to pass near a gas bomb while moving, and more than half of it was injured or killed..."
Ding Wei couldn't help gritting his teeth after hearing this.
Only then did he realize that this battle would not be as simple as he thought.
The Eighth Route Army was indeed well prepared for poison gas bombs. The problem was that the Eighth Route Army did not know when and where the Japanese would use poison gas bombs.
So, should we defend now or not?
Be on guard!
The Eighth Route Army soldiers tied themselves up so tightly that even their eyes had to be covered with a layer of gauze to barely be exposed to the poisonous gas.
But what if there is no poisonous gas enemy launching a large-scale attack at this time?
Will the Eighth Route Army's unnecessary anti-virus measures affect its own combat effectiveness and make it unable to fight freely?
Don't worry!
If the Japanese suddenly fired a few poison gas bombs, would the Eighth Route Army be poisoned in droves?
Just like the 3rd Artillery Battalion, the reason why they suffered such heavy casualties was entirely because they did not know that there were poisonous gas bombs on the route they passed.
Even if some of them smell something strange, they will be ignored because they are mixed in the smoke of the artillery shells and are undergoing intense tactical transfers... At this time, the artillerymen are more concerned about whether the transfer speed is fast enough and whether the enemy's artillery shells will
It would hit them on the head, and no one noticed whether there was a smell of garlic in the air.
By the time they realized something was wrong, the casualties were uncontrollable: 258 people from an artillery battalion were killed on the spot, more than 20 people were injured and more than 100 people were injured.
Although not many people died, most of the more than 100 people who were injured had their respiratory systems and eyes corroded and lost their combat effectiveness... The damage rate of poison gas bombs to the respiratory system was 42%, and the damage rate to the eyes was 39%.
The damage rate to the skin is 24.5%.
(Note: It is normal for the sum of these items to be higher than 100%, because some people have two or even three of them injured at the same time)
The skin can be wrapped tightly with clothing to avoid it, but the eyes must be open to see, and people must breathe to survive. These must be solved with a gas mask.
But at this time, the Eighth Route Army basically had no gas masks.
Even if there were, it would not be able to equip tens of thousands of warriors at once!