Before the dangling green flares fell from the night sky, balls of scorching red light appeared near the wilderness fields and villages around Baoying County, and the deafening sound was like thunder, breaking the early morning silence.
The Northern Jiangsu Guerrilla Corps is no longer the small guerrilla force with only a few broken guns. Now it has strong troops and even some battalions have become fully equipped with Japanese-style equipment.
The weapons and equipment were ready, and the brothers were confident enough. When the signal flare was fired, the infantry artillery, combat defense artillery, and mortars all opened fire at once.
The overwhelming artillery shells with a shrill roar flew over the heads of the infantry brothers and hit the already marked shooting target. The sky was illuminated by the fleeting light and turned red, just like daytime.
"Boom! Boom!"
Incendiary bombs, high-explosive bombs, and armor-piercing bombs all came into play, and the sound of landslides and ground cracks reverberated throughout the space. In just a few breaths, the targeted targets were plunged into a sea of fire, and were immediately covered in thick dust.
The Japanese and puppet troops had built several fortifications outside Baoying County. At this moment, the barbed wire fences and wooden stakes of these fortifications were pulled out by artillery fire like they were pulling out carrots.
The sentry towers with searchlights were bombarded by high-explosive bombs, and they were shattered into pieces with a loud bang, with falling and flying wood flying in all directions.
The puppet troops and Japanese soldiers guarding the trenches were thrown into the sky together with the sandbags, and many of them were torn to pieces by the violent bombardment in mid-air.
Faced with this sudden and violent artillery attack, both the Japanese and the puppet troops were caught off guard. They were bombed in the heavy bombardment and became a mess.
The infantry brothers of the Jiangsu North Corps watched various artillery shells take turns blasting the enemy strongholds and positions everywhere to pieces, and their hearts beat faster with excitement.
In the past, when I saw the enemy's artillery fire, I would always slap them on the butt, but now I see my own artillery fire ravaging the child, and I feel extremely happy.
The bombardment of the artillery shells shrouded the Japanese positions in a thick cloud of dust. The high temperature of the explosion evaporated the moisture in the air, creating a billowing heat wave.
Many of the brothers who were already close to the attack position seemed to be enveloped in a high-temperature furnace. In this cold night, they were actually sweating profusely.
"Almost! Rush!"
Battalion Commander Wu Changqing looked at his watch in the light of the explosion and nodded to the bugler next to him.
"Dududu-dududu-"
The bugler immediately stood up, puffed out his chest, and blew a loud charge horn in the direction of Gao Youcheng's Jaap position that was engulfed in flames.
The penetrating charge suddenly sounded amidst the rumbling sound of cannons, and soon the sound spread across the vast battlefield, even covering up the sound of the cannons.
"Kill!"
When Deputy Battalion Commander Liu Jinhu heard the sound of the Charge, he suddenly stood up from behind a hidden earth beam and raised the box cannon in his hand forward.
A forest of cold bayonets stood up behind him, and the dark soldiers of the Northern Jiangsu Corps rolled like a tide towards the Japanese positions that were in flames in front.
The other charging companies on both sides also moved together. In the flash of flames from the explosion, countless officers and soldiers with bayonets polished began to attack Baoying from all directions.
The infantry brothers have spread out across the board, rushing forward fiercely, while the infantry artillery, combat artillery and mortar brothers behind have also stopped in unison.
This time, the Northern Jiangsu Corps fired half of the accumulated artillery shells, just to give the Japanese and puppet troops a disincentive.
"Quick! Move all kinds of cannons forward!"
Although the cannon barrels were boiling hot from the heavy bombardment, they didn't care about that much at the moment. The brothers in the machine gun company hurriedly moved the various cannons forward.
The artillery fire of the Jiangsu North Corps only covered various positions and important targets outside the city. Because there were a large number of residents in the city, there was no shooting in order to avoid accidental damage.
Once the troops rush up, they still need to pull the artillery into the city to clear out various solid Japanese targets.
The infantry brothers charged very quickly, and they quickly rushed into the Japanese's first line of defense. The trenches had been collapsed by bombardment, and the ground had been plowed by artillery fire, making it extremely soft to step on.
"boom!"
There were only a small number of Japanese and puppet troops guarding various positions outside Baoying City. Most of them were killed or injured under the artillery fire. When they were still in shock, they suddenly discovered that a wave of guerrilla officers and soldiers were pressing forward. They panicked and hurriedly opened fire.
Gun shooting.
However, when he fired in panic, the bullets flew into the sky, and the Japanese who fired attracted the attention of the charging troops.
"Bang bang bang!"
Several brothers who rushed forward raised their guns and fired almost at the same time. The whizzing bullets penetrated the Japanese soldier's body from several directions.
The dizzy Japanese soldier was shaken as if hit by a heavy hammer, and then fell headlong into the dark trench next to him. The gurgling blood soon stained half of his body red.
"kill!"
The brothers let out a low roar and rushed forward, dropping their sharp bayonets on the Japanese who rolled down the trench.
"Huh! Huh!"
The bayonet brought up a pool of blood, and the unlucky Japanese was stabbed to death by more than a dozen bayonets.
The brothers on both wings were also rolling forward, showing no mercy to the Japanese and puppet troops who had survived the artillery fire.
"boom!"
"boom!"
…
The brothers stepped on the soft and charred soil and rushed forward quickly, spitting out tongues of fire from their guns, killing the panicked and lone enemies one by one.
Almost without encountering any effective resistance, the brothers broke through the first line of defense on the periphery of the Japanese and puppet troops, and then began to pounce on the second line of defense without slowing down.
Gunshots were heard outside the city. In the unclear night, bullets were flying, and lines of fire were intertwined. The resistance of the Japanese and puppet troops was quickly being broken down.
The attack of the Northern Jiangsu Corps was without warning and at an alarming speed. From artillery bombardment to infantry, the brothers broke through the first line of defense of the Japanese and puppet troops in the blink of an eye.
There was a lot of gunfire outside the city, and the city was in chaos. The Japanese commander Duan Shu Kawachi was awakened by the earth-shattering sound of artillery.
"what happened?"
Japanese commander Kawauchi Taruki rushed out of the bedroom wearing only pajamas. When he looked at the red sky reflected by the explosion outside the city, he felt a little dazed.
The Japanese officers at all levels in the city got up in disheveled condition. Faced with the sudden sound of gunfire outside the city, they did not know what was going on.
"Call me quickly and ask what's going on!"
The Japanese commander Kawauchi Danki was also as anxious as an ant on a hot pot, and hurriedly issued orders.
"Jingle Bell--"
Before they could make the call outside the city, the call from outside the city came first.
"We encountered a large-scale attack by the Chinese Army, and the first line of defense has been breached... bombed..."
There was only a hurried message on the other side of the phone, followed by a loud explosion, and the other side fell into silence.
The Japanese holding the phone hurriedly shook the phone, but after calling several times, there was still no sound. The sound of gunfire outside the city became more intense and was approaching the city.
"Sir, the phone line should have been blown down!" The Japanese put down the phone in frustration and turned his attention to Captain Kawachi Tanuki.
"Idiot, send communications troops immediately to check the situation!" Japanese Captain Kawauchi Danki roared angrily.
"All troops in the city must assemble immediately and prepare to leave the city for reinforcements!"