Compared with Lanfang's army, the weapons of the Japanese army are indeed not superior, but the individual quality of Japanese soldiers is still good.
After discovering Lan Fang's reconnaissance force, the Japanese scouts' reaction was correct. They immediately dismounted and formed their formation to prepare for the next battle.
The Japanese army's scouts were organized into teams, and a scout team consisted of about 50 people.
50 vs. 9, the Japanese army did have an advantage in terms of numbers, but it was much inferior in terms of weapons. The Japanese army could only guarantee one rifle per man and not a single light machine gun.
Lanfang's scouts, on the other hand, only had nine people, but they had three light machine guns, giving them an absolute advantage in firepower.
After all, field encounters are different from positional warfare. The advantages of machine guns do exist, but they are not as great as they appear in positional warfare.
After discovering the Japanese army, Tom Warren opened fire immediately, preparing to take the lead.
Tom's shooting did play a head-on role, but the result was not great. The Japanese scouts had already hid in the woods to avoid Tom's shooting.
Retreat, retreat, retreat. Tom did not dare to advance, fired two or three bursts, and immediately ordered a retreat.
Just kidding, there are only nine people. Why fight? What if the Japanese are followed by a large army? Why don't you run and wait to be surrounded?
After all, motorcycles still had an advantage. After retreating five to six hundred meters, Tom immediately ordered the other two motorcycles to conduct reconnaissance in other directions to determine the size of the Japanese scouts.
Twenty minutes later, the latest intelligence showed that the Japanese scouts indeed only had a small team, and there was no large Japanese army following them. So Tom's mind immediately became active, and it seemed that a battle was not impossible.
It is estimated that the squad leader of the Japanese scouts had the same idea, because the Japanese cavalry had no intention of retreating.
Then fight.
Tom immediately ordered the nine men to disperse and set up machine gun positions to prepare for the Japanese attack.
The Japanese are indeed confident. Even if they know that Lanfang has machine guns, the Japanese are ready to take the initiative to attack.
The Japanese infantry attack method is actually similar to the Lanfang infantry method. If the frontal combat is unfavorable, they will choose to outflank the enemy.
When attacking the machine gun position, outflanking was obviously the best option, so even though there were only 50 men, the Japanese squad leader chose to divide his troops and sent people to make a detour and try to attack the machine gun position from the side.
So the battle started first on the flank.
The Japanese team leader sent two detachments of 20 troops to make a roundabout way, and the remaining three detachments attacked from the front.
There were only a few dozen people, so naturally they would not choose to charge collectively. The Japanese army's attack method was skirmish line tactics.
Chen Wenyao on the flank was the first to notice the Japanese roundabout, so Chen Wenyao's machine gun opened fire immediately.
Ta-ta-ta-ta-ta
The sound of the S1 light machine gun was very clear, and the small bursts of fire were very rhythmic. The Japanese roundabout was immediately suppressed.
The Japanese troops, suppressed by machine guns, looked for favorable terrain and used rifles to shoot at Chen Wenyao's machine guns.
The Japanese army's individual combat capabilities are quite good. In the shooting session, the Japanese army has a lot of advantages, and Tom's manpower disadvantage is immediately amplified.
After fighting for less than ten minutes, Tom decided to retreat because two of the nine men had been killed and two wounded, and there was a risk of annihilation if the battle continued.
Lan Fang's motorcycle tried to run away, but the Japanese simply couldn't catch up, so the encounter ended with Tom's voluntary retreat.
An hour later, Tom met He Feizhou, the commander of the 63rd Regiment.
The equipment of the Japanese scouts is not very good. They are very stingy about the use of bullets. The quality of the Japanese soldiers is still good. They shoot accurately and act decisively. The weapons of the Japanese army are not very good. The two of us who were injured are not serious. We can rest for a while.
Being able to return to the battlefield, Tom reported the intelligence obtained from the encounter to He Feizhou.
Starting in 1907, the Japanese army began to equip the Type 38 rifle, also known as the famous Type 38 rifle. Japan is a country lacking resources, so soldiers in the army emphasize the accuracy of shooting. Therefore, the Type 38 rifle has a range of up to 2,400 meters.
sight range.
Of course, in actual combat, this 2,400 meters is of little use. Japanese soldiers who have undergone rigorous training can often shoot single targets within 300 meters and cluster targets within 700 meters.
This distance is already quite incredible.
The bullets used by the Japanese army are 6.5mm semi-rim tip bullets. This bullet has a very stable flight state at medium distances and can accurately hit the target at medium distances. However, due to the overemphasis on the straightness of the ballistic trajectory, this bullet fails to hit the target accurately.
The penetration behind the target is insufficient, which is the so-called one shot, two eyes.
Two people were killed and two were injured. What was your result? He Feizhou's face looked a little ugly.
The encounter between the scouts was the first battle that broke out between Lanfang and Japan, but it ended with Lanfang's army retreating on their own initiative. He Feizhou's face really looked ugly.
We hit at least 10 Japanese soldiers. The specific results are unclear because they cannot be verified. Tom answered honestly.
Okay, ten results, not bad. Let's go and rest. There is still a tough battle to be fought. He Feizhou is prepared to face difficulties.
He ordered the troops to deploy and prepare to fight the Japs. Erwin, do you think we should take the initiative to attack or defend first and wait for the Japanese to attack? He Feizhou turned to his Chief of Staff Rommel.
Yes, it was Rommel. As expected, Rommel finally joined Lanfang's army and was assigned to the 63rd Regiment as chief of staff.
It is better to defend first, which is more conducive to taking advantage of our weapons. If the Japanese want to prove themselves, they will definitely take the initiative to attack. Rommel is calm enough.
In their declaration of war, the Japanese believed that Lan Fang's brilliant victory in the world war was purely a fluke. They claimed that they wanted to let Lan Fang know the power of the Japanese army and let Lan Fang taste the bitter fruit of defeat.
On the one hand, this was demeaning and insulting to Lan Fang, and it was even more insulting to Lan Fang’s opponents in the world war, the Germans.
Think about it, the Germans can't even defeat the Foreign Legion. If they face the Japanese, the fate of the Germans can be imagined.
This success aroused Rommel's anger towards the Japanese. Of course, the Desert Fox's reputation was not in vain. Even if Rommel has not yet achieved the reputation of the Desert Fox, Rommel at least has the skills to become a famous general.
potential.
Let's wait and see. If the little devil doesn't attack, then we will attack and let the little devil know whether we are in vain. He Feizhou is ambitious.
As the order was issued, the officers and soldiers of the 63rd Regiment immediately began to build positions in preparation for the Japanese attack.
Rommel finally had a chance to see the quality of Lanfang's army.
Almost as soon as the order was issued, the soldiers immediately started working. At this time, you can see the effect of strict training. The soldiers used the shovels they carried with them to dig out two individual bunkers in almost half an hour.
Act very quickly.
The machine gun positions also began to be constructed at the same time. There were a large number of veterans in Lanfang's army, and their efficiency was very good. They quickly selected the location and began to construct the machine gun positions.
Lanfang's machine gun position is very unique. It is formed into a semi-circular position with sandbags, and then a squad stays inside to operate three light machine guns or two heavy machine guns, which can deal with enemy attacks from different directions.
In almost half an hour, the 63rd Regiment built a position about one kilometer long, with solid defense and a certain depth.
This efficiency shocked Rommel. If the Germans were to do it, it would take at least two hours to build such a position.
Just as Rommel had imagined, after another half an hour, the Japanese troops finally arrived at the 63rd Regiment's position.
The battle between the two armies was actually a process of finding the enemy's strength and then annihilating it. When he saw the Japanese troops, He Feizhou finally let go of his hanging heart. As long as the Japanese were willing to take the initiative to attack, it would save the 63rd Regiment.
Few things.
The position chosen by the 63rd Regiment is on a hillside. The height of this position is not high, but it is the commanding height nearby. Standing on the top of the mountain, the sight is extremely wide, and the movements of the Japanese army can be seen at a glance.
Perhaps the victory of the scout team stimulated the Japanese commander's ambition to pursue victory. After the Japanese army discovered the defensive position of the 63rd Regiment, they began to attack without any hesitation.
This, this begins
He Feizhou felt really uncomfortable.
In all the wars that He Feizhou has participated in before, there will always be large-scale and long-term firepower preparations before the war. Sometimes in a larger-scale battle, before the ground combat troops are deployed, the firepower preparation time for using artillery to target enemy positions can be as long as
For a week, in He Feizhou's impression, that was the real war.
But the Japanese army in front of them made almost no fire preparations and just started their first exploratory attack.
The Japanese commander was still more cautious and did not invest many troops. There was only one brigade of about 500 people.
This made He Feizhou feel that his self-esteem was a bit damaged, so he ordered the troops to be reserved and only allowed half of the machine guns to fire.
Even half of the machine guns are already irresistible to the Japanese.
The 63rd Regiment has a total of 3,400 men and is equipped with about 280 light and heavy machine guns. However, due to resource shortages in Japan, a division of 18,000 men is only equipped with less than 30 heavy machine guns. As for light machine guns, it does not have them at all. This makes
The firepower gap between the two warring parties is huge.
Soon, the Japanese forward line advanced to a range of 500 meters from the 63rd Regiment's forward position. According to Lanfang's infantry drill, this was the distance for the company-level mortars to fire.
He Feizhou did not issue an attack order, he wanted to bring the Japanese closer.
400 meters, He Feizhou still didn’t give the order.
300 meters, this distance is already within the shooting range of the rifle. He Feizhou raised his wrist and looked at his watch. It was exactly 12 noon.
Let's get started. He Feizhou is ready to start harvesting.
Bang bang bang
The gunners were already impatient, and the sound of brisk firing resounded throughout the position.
