"The mortar group is ready and can fire at any time..." a company commander shouted at the top of his lungs.
A few seconds later, another company commander stood up from the ground: "Large-caliber mortar group, prepare for battle!"
"The mountain artillery group is ready for battle!" The commander of the third fire company stood up from the ground.
"Fire rapidly at all gun positions for five minutes...fire..." the artillery commander waved the command flag and ordered loudly.
"Rumble..."
A few seconds later, the dull sound of artillery filled the position.
Cannonballs of different calibers drew different arcs in the sky, screaming towards the city.
After two hours of bloody fighting, the garrison of less than 400 people in the south of the city had suffered more than half casualties, with less than 200 people left.
At this moment, everyone gathered at the top of the city to welcome the next attack of the Eighth Route Army.
The screams reached the squadron leader's ears, and his face quickly turned pale.
He was a battle-hardened veteran, and he knew as soon as he heard the sound that it was something more than a few cannonballs could produce.
Thinking again of the strength of the artillery used by the Eighth Route Army in the artillery battle just now, cold sweat broke out from my forehead like rain.
The Eighth Route Army's artillery is too powerful. Mountain artillery and large-caliber mortars are all deadly weapons.
If they all gathered together to attack the south gate, it would only take a few minutes for the city wall under their feet to be covered by artillery fire. How many of the less than 200 people left at the top of the city would survive in the end could only depend on luck.
"Concealed..." As soon as the two words were shouted from the squadron leader's mouth, the explosion of "boom, boom, boom..." rang in his ears, deafening.
Not far away, a mountain cannon shell hit the battlements.
The moment the fire splashed, the crenels made of bricks and stones were directly blown to pieces, and they were scattered everywhere like goddesses scattering flowers.
Many nearby soldiers were not hit by the shells, but were hit by flying bricks and stones and were about to die.
The squadron leader was lying on the ground, feeling that the entire city was shaking from the explosion. The impact point was getting closer and closer to him, and the storm-like air waves swept over his back, sweeping over, tossing and baking his back.
At this time, the squadron leader's pale face showed an expression of despair, and his whole body began to tremble involuntarily.
The first round of artillery shells fired by the Eighth Route Army was so lethal. If the shelling continued for another two minutes, or five minutes, he couldn't imagine what the city would be like after being blown up. How many people would be left in the army?
The artillerymen who were firing didn't care about this.
Everyone is trying their best to knock out the shells.
The acrid smoke has completely enveloped the artillery position, and no gunner has withdrawn from the battle because of this.
Even though his body was blackened and his nose was irritated and he kept coughing, he still stood firm and continued to fire at the city wall.
The squadron leader was lucky enough to hide behind the battlements and survive the shelling.
Before the explosions in my ears stopped, I heard a nearby soldier shout: "The Eighth Route Army has begun to attack. There is at least one battalion of troops."
The squadron leader quickly got up and looked outside from the battlement.
Nearly three hundred and eighty-eighth Route Army troops formed a skirmish line to attack, and the troops approached the city wall.
On the offensive position, at least nine heavy machine guns sprayed flames and fired bullets towards the city.
"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu..."
At the same time, a red signal bomb rose into the sky and exploded. The dazzling white light could be seen clearly from miles away.
"The Eighth Route Army is about to launch a general attack..." This was the squadron leader's subconscious judgment after seeing the signal flare.
He pulled out his command knife and shouted loudly: "Is there anyone alive? The Eighth Route Army is coming. Get ready for battle immediately!"
Seeing two soldiers moving next to them, holding guns and struggling to get up from the ground, the squadron leader immediately ordered: "You two go to the left and the right to wake up all the people still alive on the wall. The Eighth Route Army will rush over."
We must kill them, otherwise we will all die!"
There were more than 60 people who could still move on the city wall, and the rest were either killed by the explosion or seriously injured and lost their combat effectiveness.
They all knew that life or death depended on the battle in front of them, and everyone fought very hard to stop the Eighth Route Army's attack.
At this moment, a platoon of Eighth Route Army troops approached them from inside the city.
Because of the severe shortage of troops, all the soldiers who could move were gathered on the city wall by the squadron leader and fought to the death, so the Japanese had no defense against their backs.
Thirty scouts had an unimpeded journey and easily reached the top of the city that was littered with corpses.
"Pa bang bang..."
After a squadron rushed up, the platoon leader who took the lead fired first, raised the box cannon, and fired at the machine gun team directly in front.
Not to be outdone, the other soldiers stared at the enemy's back and shot him.
In the blink of an eye, all the dozen or so Japanese soldiers in front of us were killed.
"The first squadron rushed to the left, the second squadron rushed to the right, the third squadron opened the city gate and killed..." The platoon leader jumped up from the ground like a leopard, shooting while charging.
The advantages of the box gun with strong firepower, long range and high shooting accuracy are fully demonstrated here.
On many days, the puppet soldiers realized that there was danger behind them, and when they were about to turn around, bullets had already drilled two holes in their backs.
As the garrison attacked the position, Hong Linfeng held up his binoculars and stared at the city wall without blinking.
Seeing that the firepower on the top of the city suddenly weakened and the city gate was opened, I immediately realized that the responding troops had begun to take action and had succeeded.
Putting down the telescope, he excitedly ordered: "The city gate has been opened..."
"The heavy machine guns stopped firing, and the troops rushed in. Occupy the county seat..."
At the Japanese military headquarters in Taiyuan, the chief of staff left the telecommunications room and ran to the commander. He reported in a low voice: "Commander, we still haven't been able to contact the chief of staff using the radio."
"We have lost contact since the chief of staff sent a telegram that the county town was under attack!"
The Army Commander frowned more and more, found the telegram previously sent by the Chief of Staff, read it several times in a row and analyzed it.
"It shouldn't be!"
"Judging from the telegram sent to us by the chief of staff in the afternoon, he is very confident in holding the county seat."
"I believe in the judgment of the chief of staff. He said that it will be fine if we can hold on until reinforcements are sent, so there must be an accident somewhere?"
"The radio station was bombed?" the deputy chief of staff analyzed.
The commander thought for a moment and replied: "It's not impossible!"
"Remember Yixian County? The county seat that the garrison captured half a month ago."
"According to the report from the chief of staff of the Imperial Army and a team leader of the Imperial Army who broke out: the Eighth Route Army sent troops to lurk in the city in advance, and also brought a mortar."
"After the siege started, the latent troops fired mortars at close range and blew up the headquarters telecommunications room on the spot, cutting off all connections between the county and the outside world. As a result, the front army headquarters only learned two days later that Yixian County had been captured by the garrison."
"There is an 80% chance that the Eighth Route Army attacking our logistics base are troops sent by the garrison. They are likely to repeat their old tricks."
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