The trembling explosion exploded like muffled thunder on the top of the mountain. The bushes and grass on the top of the mountain were swept away by the ferocious bombardment, exposing the scorched earth with green smoke.
The violent explosion shock wave swept away mud, mist, and debris, and the mountains were shrouded in a layer of thick black smoke, and the hot air waves made people suffocate.
"Ahem..."
Thick smoke mixed with mud poured into the anti-gun trenches on the back side of the hillside, causing the brothers to cough and sneeze constantly.
Looking at the crumbling hilltop position covered by ferocious artillery fire, Lieutenant Colonel Ono Ichiro, wearing a brand-new military uniform, raised the corners of his mouth slightly in a sneer.
No matter how powerful the Chinese army on the hilltop is in combat, in his eyes, they are just a bunch of chickens and dogs. They will all be reduced to dust under his cannon fire and will inevitably be destroyed.
"Oi-kun, I order you to take down the Chinese positions and teach Lieutenant Commander Morishige how to fight."
Ichiro Ono, who looked proud, pointed at Lieutenant Colonel Morishige who was standing in the rear position watching the battle, and ordered to a captain with a sinister face next to him.
The arrogant Captain Koi glanced disdainfully at the expressionless Lieutenant Colonel Morishige not far away, with a look of disdain on his face.
Although Lieutenant Colonel Morishige had a higher military rank than him, he was beaten to disgrace this time. For Koi, someone who had disgraced the Imperial Japanese Army did not deserve respect.
"Don't worry, Lieutenant Colonel, I will personally take the head of the Chinese commander back!"
Captain Xiaojing looked at the smoke-filled mountain top, his fleshy face full of ferocity, and his eyes revealed a bloodthirsty and fanatical look.
As a militant young officer, Captain Koi had never paid attention to the weak Chinese army.
"Go ahead -"
Seeing the high-spirited self-confidence of his subordinates, Ono Ichiro's face was full of pride. Only those who are brave and militant are worthy of being his subordinates.
Captain Koi bowed his head heavily to Lieutenant Commander Ono Ichiro, and then strode towards his squadron with his head held high.
"Attack!!"
Captain Koi pulled out his sharp saber and swung it down towards the top of the mountain.
Nearly two hundred Japanese soldiers hiding in a ditch were like dormant beasts. They moved upon hearing the sound, nimbly climbed out of the ditch, and leaped towards the smoke-shrouded mountain top with their sharp bayonets pointed out.
The heavy bombs and artillery shells dropped by the Japanese planes removed a layer of soil from the entire hilltop, and most of the camouflage fortifications built were destroyed.
But Yang Ling and his third battalion, who were hiding in the trench on the reverse slope a hundred meters behind, were unscathed except for a few brothers who were scratched by flying explosions.
The brothers were able to escape the Japanese artillery attack alive, and their hearts were full of gratitude to their commander Yang Ling.
If the defensive battles in the past were carried out according to the situation before the two sides exchanged fire, most of the brothers would have been destroyed by the fierce Japanese artillery fire.
But this time, due to the construction of anti-slope trenches based on the mountains, the Japanese bombing and artillery bombardment were not effective. They looked extremely fierce, but in fact, they were thunderous and rainy, and most of them failed.
"Bah, little devil, if you want to blow up your grandfather and me, there's no way -"
The brothers watched the explosion on the top of the mountain, pulling up their sleeves and blowing away the incoming smoke, talking and laughing happily. There was no heavy and depressing atmosphere before the war in the past.
In the past, the dreamlike pre-war artillery bombardment, because of Yang Ling's existence, has now become a kind of self-entertainment for the little devil to waste ammunition. The brothers are eager for him to keep bombarding.
"Every company enters the position, the Japs are coming up!"
Yang Ling had been paying close attention to the shelling on the hilltop. When he heard the sound of the shelling stopped, he immediately urged his brothers to quickly enter the position.
Although the reverse slope trench can prevent the brothers from being directly exposed to the enemy's artillery fire and reduce the casualties of the brothers.
But the reverse slope trench also has a disadvantage, that is, the ridge position on the top of the mountain is very important. Once the little devils occupy the ridge position.
Then the trenches built on the hillside behind will be directly exposed to the gunfire of the little devils, and then they will be trapped in a cocoon.
Therefore, if you want the anti-slope trench to be effective, in addition to hiding the cannons, you must also firmly control the ridge position.
"Brothers! Move quickly!" As soon as the artillery fire stopped, even the platoon leaders roared, and the brothers climbed out of the trenches and ran down the gentle slope to the top of the mountain.
On the other side of the hillside, nearly two hundred Japs commanded by Captain Koi were also divided into several charging arrows, overcoming the obstacles of rocks and shrubs, and quickly swooped up the mountain.
However, the brothers' reverse slope trench was only a hundred meters away from the top of the mountain, but the Japanese had to feign an attack from the bottom of the ditch on the other side, so the Japanese's tragedy was doomed.
Panting, the brothers ran up the hill, quickly jumped forward into the foxholes built earlier and lay down in the hidden bomb craters. Without caring about breathing, they hurriedly put their rifles on their shoulders and aimed at the Japanese condescendingly.
The light machine gunners of each company also rushed to the preset machine gun positions, and the machine guns were also set up.
Yang Ling also lay down in the crater, carefully sticking out half of his head and taking a look down the mountain. The hillside was crowded with people, and a large number of Japanese soldiers wearing cold steel helmets were swarming up the mountain like a tide.
Estimating that the Japs only had a squadron of nearly 200 people, Yang Ling said to the messenger next to him: "Pass the word, put the Japs thirty meters away before we fight!"
"Put the Japs 30 meters away and then fight..." The brothers spread the word to ten, and soon the order was spread to the positions of each company.
"Wang Zikun——" Yang Ling waved to Wang Zikun, the temporary platoon leader of the sniper platoon lying not far from him.
Wang Zikun grabbed the gun, crouched and ran to Yang Ling, lying on his side: "Regiment deputy, what's the matter?"
Yang Ling pointed at the grenadier soldiers behind the Japanese attacking troops and said, "Your task is to knock out the grenadier soldiers behind. Is there any problem?"
A squadron of Japs has at least nine grenade groups, and they are always behind the charging infantry. They are very insignificant, and it is not unusually difficult to knock them out.
A look of embarrassment appeared on Wang Zikun's face: "Regimental deputy, can you transfer our grenade group to me? Otherwise, I'm not sure."
The deputy battalion elder, Yanqiang, took advantage of the Japs not paying attention and brought back two Japs grenades and several boxes of grenades from under the Japs' noses. Yang Ling always thought about this kid Wang Zikun.
After Yang Ling thought for a few seconds, he said solemnly: "I need the grenade when I need it, and I can only give you one."
"yes!"
Although he only got a grenade, Wang Zikun was still very happy. With the sharpshooters in his platoon, he should be able to suppress the Japanese grenadiers.
"You guys, come with me -"
Wang Zikun ordered two temporarily trained grenadiers to carry grenades and move towards the flank of the hillside.
After Yang Ling finished his instructions, the little devil had already rushed to a position only more than a hundred meters away from the top of the mountain.
The slope of the hillside is not very high, but it is covered with shrubs and gravel, which greatly affects the little devil's climbing speed.
The brothers who were lying quietly on the top of the mountain could clearly see the hideous and ugly face of the little devil, and the hearts of many brothers began to beat loudly.
"boom!"
"boom!"
The little Japanese's covering infantry began to fire shots at random towards the top of the hill to conduct fire reconnaissance.
Although they felt that under the bombardment of aircraft and artillery fire, there should not be many defenders left, they still opened fire as a routine.
The bullets flew from the bottom of the mountain, sending mud and dust flying on the top of the mountain, but more bullets hit the sky along the ridgeline, posing little threat to the brothers hiding behind the ridgeline.
Most of the brothers are veterans who have narrowly escaped death. Faced with the bullets flying around their scalps, they don't even blink and remain calm.
If they were new recruits, they would probably be unable to help but tremble when they hear the gunshot, and they would not be able to exert much combat effectiveness in a real fight. This is the difference between veterans and new recruits.