The field artillery squadron and the heavy artillery squadron brought enough artillery shells for themselves, and the chief of staff was not worried at all that he did not have enough artillery shells.
As soon as the plane bombing ended, four mountain guns, four field guns, and four heavy guns roared one after another.
The artillery shells hit the position that was already shrouded in gunpowder smoke like no money.
The roar of cannons lasted for ten minutes.
In the opinion of the Chief of Staff, after such a fierce preparation of firepower, a mosquito on the position could be torn to pieces, let alone the flesh and blood of the Eighth Route Army, so they must have suffered heavy casualties, and maybe they had been blown up to pieces
Not much left.
With this idea in mind, the chief of staff confidently ordered: "Start firing with heavy machine guns and mortars. The offensive troops will press forward and occupy the garrison position!"
Then he raised his telescope and looked at the battlefield.
Compared with mountain artillery and heavy artillery, although the power of mortars is not as good, it has a fast rate of fire and high accuracy.
The artillery shells continued to hit the front line of the position like a rain, with almost no misses. The splashing firelight and the diffuse smoke continued to cover the position.
Heavy machine guns also joined the battle, and bullets intertwined into a fire net over the heads of the attacking troops, whizzing toward the garrison's position.
Nearly a hundred Imperial Army troops and nearly two hundred Imperial troops, armed with guns, light machine guns and grenade launchers, lined up in three skirmish lines, rushed out of their positions and rushed towards the garrison.
The entire attack was exactly as the chief of staff had judged.
The attacking troops were unstoppable and did not encounter any resistance, easily reaching a position 40 to 50 meters in front of the formation.
This is a very critical distance. In order to avoid accidental damage, the mortars had to stop firing. The remaining Eighth Route Army had the final opportunity to counterattack. If they did not seize it, they would completely lose the opportunity to hold the position.
The attacking troops can then advance into the position, eliminate the Eighth Route Army in close combat, and occupy the position.
On the contrary, if the Eighth Route Army seizes this opportunity, the attacking troops will definitely have to work hard to enter the position.
If you are very unlucky, you may be repulsed by the remaining Eighth Route Army troops in the position...
The chief of staff's heart suddenly rose to his throat, and his eyes were fixed on the battlefield, fearing that something unexpected would happen and the entire attack would fail.
Fortunately, the attacking troops rushed up to thirty meters in front of the formation, and there was not much movement on the position.
"Boom boom boom..."
The explosion sounded again on the battlefield. It was the grenade thrown by the attacking troops.
Amidst the violent explosions, more than two hundred soldiers were like a pack of hungry wolves, howling and rushing into the position that was still filled with smoke.
"Sir, the attacking troops are charging forward." The major beside the chief of staff shouted excitedly, with a smile on his face.
The corner of the chief of staff's mouth raised slightly, and he also showed a smile: "We went up to fight, and there was no sound of firefighting on the position. The Eighth Route Army must have suffered heavy casualties, collapsed without a fight, abandoned the position and ran away."
Having said this, the smile on the chief of staff's face grew stronger, as if he had seen the tragic scene of Eighth Route Army corpses strewn on the battlefield.
"Rumble..."
Suddenly, a series of explosions came from a few hundred meters away, deafening, and the chief of staff was brought back to reality from his dream.
He frowned and shouted: "What happened with the explosion just now? Did the Eighth Route Army artillery appear?"
"Immediately contact the aircraft in the sky to find them, and then kill them."
The chief of staff reacted quickly, but the shells traveled even faster.
"Rumble..."
Just as the subordinates were about to use tools to send a signal to the pilot, there was an explosion.
More than a dozen large fireballs, seven or eight meters high, instantly appeared on the smoke-filled battlefield, and thick black smoke pillars soared into the sky wrapped in fireballs...
"It's a flying thunder cannon..." the chief of staff yelled with his mouth open.
Not only had he heard about this powerful homemade weapon, he had also seen it with his own eyes.
That was a battle in which the main force of the division encircled and suppressed the garrison.
To this day, the scene I saw at that time is still fresh in my memory.
Now I encountered the thunder cannon again. Although the battlefield was filled with smoke and nothing could be seen, the tragic scenes I had seen before were like playing a movie, one scene after another appeared in front of my eyes.
An explosive pack was smashed down, and the soldiers within a radius of four to five meters were directly torn into pieces by the powerful shock wave, and no bones were left.
The soldiers further away were blown over and fell to the ground, bleeding to death...
Soldiers further away were knocked unconscious or seriously injured and lost their combat effectiveness...
As long as the position of the explosive package dropped is good enough, it only takes one to wipe out most of the imperial army's infantry squad, and its power is no worse than that of heavy artillery shells.
The smile on the chief of staff's face disappeared and was replaced by seriousness again, and his expression became more and more solemn.
He was very anxious and ordered: "Contact the aircraft quickly, find the Eighth Route Army artillery position, and destroy it!"
"The artillery troops immediately counterattacked and covered the attacking troops to retreat. This is a trap."
The Chief of Staff was very lucky and very fortunate that the thunder cannon only fired one round of explosive charges and then stopped.
It's not that Li Hao doesn't want to play in the second round.
There are planes in the sky watching, and artillery on the ground to counterattack at any time. The longer the thunder and artillery troops are exposed, the greater the chance of being attacked, and the greater the losses in the battle.
The battle in front of him was just an appetizer prepared by Li Hao for the Japanese.
He didn't want the troops participating in the battle to suffer heavy casualties just as he was finishing his appetizers.
The torpedo artillery unit has been lurking two hundred meters behind the position. The torpedo cannons set up and the individual bunkers containing the gunners were all well camouflaged.
When the Japanese bombed and shelled, because they were too far away from the position, no gunners were affected by the artillery fire.
When the attacking troops rushed to the position that had been flattened by artillery shells and bombs, the gunner immediately emerged from the individual bunker, lifted off the camouflage covering the torpedo cannon, ignited, fired, and finally moved.
The whole movement was smooth and smooth, and was completed in less than twenty seconds.
By the time the escorting aircraft in the sky received the support signal from the ground troops and roared over the ground, trying to find the garrison's thunder artillery position, dozens of gunners had already entered the woods next to the station.
"Sir, the plane did not find the Eighth Route Army artillery position..." the liaison staff officer ran over and reported.
"Sir, the artillery has determined the approximate location of the Eighth Route Army's artillery positions based on the range of the thunder cannons, but they may have moved. The artillery unit asked for instructions whether to fire." The artillery staff ran over and reported.
The chief of staff scolded with a stern face: "The Eighth Route Army has already run away, so what's the use of firing artillery? Is it a waste of shells?"
"The Imperial Association Army draws another company into the position to assist the attacking troops in rescuing the wounded, hurry!"
"Even the main force of the garrison suffered such a huge hidden loss without even touching it. The attacking force must have suffered heavy casualties. We must avenge this."
"Contact the plane and keep an eye on the garrison assembly area. I found that the Eighth Route Army was about to launch a bombing."
