At four o'clock in the morning, Li Hao led the enemy headquarters of the garrison to the outside of Baoding City.
The 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th main battalions had already surrounded Baoding tightly. They took out all the mortars they had just captured before they were warmed in their hands, and set them up in groups of two or three outside the city towards the city.
Shooting cannonballs from the head.
If the Japanese army fires artillery counterattacks from inside the city, the gunners will immediately abandon their artillery and retreat, and nearby artillery units will dispatch at least twice the number of mortars to counterattack.
This was a war of attrition, and a large number of artillery pieces were destroyed every moment, both from the Japanese and from the Eighth Route Army.
In order to strengthen the offensive firepower of the attacking troops, the Baoding garrison emptied its wealth and borrowed a large number of heavy weapons from the weapons and ammunition sent south.
After Baoding was besieged for the second time, plus the heavy weapons brought back to the city by the attacking troops, there were only 28 mountain field guns and heavy artillery, and 49 mortars left in Baoding. This also included the remaining artillery from all the weapons and ammunition that went south.
, if you lose one door, you will lose one door.
On the other hand, the garrison only captured 64 mortars. If they were bombed, they would be bombed. It didn't matter.
The artillery battle lasted less than an hour and ended with the Japanese army voluntarily withdrawing from the battle. The Eighth Route Army allowed the Eighth Route Army to hit the city with artillery shells but did not fire.
Several main battalion commanders were not vegetarians and immediately ordered their troops to launch a tentative attack on the city. After forcing the Japanese to the city, they continued to fire, taking the opportunity to consume their strength.
The guard battalion took half an hour to build the former enemy headquarters. After listening to reports from several battalion commanders, Li Hao began to issue orders as soon as he entered the headquarters.
"This kind of small fight is too slow. It is difficult to make the little devil feel pain in a short time."
"We must step up our offensive immediately and make the Japanese suffer pain before asking for reinforcements from surrounding counties."
He Jun said with a nonchalant expression: "Captain, I don't think that's necessary."
"In the first half of the night, we killed and injured more than 2,000 Japanese puppet troops outside the city. It would be good to have more than 4,000 puppet troops in the city now."
"As long as the heavy artillery battalion and armored company are in place and cover our advance into Baoding City before dawn, we will win this battle."
"Our internal agents lurking in Yixian County should be retained for later use."
Li Hao shook his head and explained: "Baoding is not Datong."
"Although Datong City is bigger than Baoding, if we really want to fight, Baoding will definitely be more difficult to fight than Datong."
"In addition to being a major military town, Datong also has a very developed economy and a large number of Japanese people live in it."
"Except for the higher city walls and the many bunkers and gun towers outside the city, there are almost no fortifications inside the city."
"Baoding is different. The Japanese army operated it as a military center from the beginning."
"In addition to the bunkers and gun towers scattered outside the city and the city defenses, the city is also full of military warehouses, checkpoints, and bunkers where the Japanese and puppet troops hoard supplies."
"After the troops enter the city, there will definitely be a brutal street battle waiting for everyone. It is almost impossible to end the battle in a short time, and there will be a huge price to pay. These are the results I don't want to see."
"If we can find a way to send the enemy into Baoding City, we can use a two-pronged approach to block all the enemies at the top of the city and eliminate them."
"This saves lives and lives in street fighting."
Several battalion commanders were convinced, and Hong Linfeng immediately asked: "Commander, how can we strengthen our offensive?"
"Let the armored company and the anti-aircraft battalion come up!" Li Hao decided.
"Don't the armored companies have several armored vehicles to cooperate with the guard battalion to protect the regiment headquarters? Move them all to the front line."
"The mountain artillery and large-caliber mortars equipped by several main battalions are all concentrated at the west gate. Together with the anti-aircraft battalion company, they will cover the armored company and attack the city head. Battalion Commander He, you are responsible for cooperating and scaring the little Japs on the city wall.
"
At the top of the northern wall of Baoding City, a dozen sentries huddled behind the battlements, looking nervously outside through the battlements to observe the enemy's situation, while praying that the shells falling overhead would not fall around them.
"Rumble..."
There was another series of explosions not far away. In the splashing fire, a sentry was instantly blown away. The battlements used as a cover for the sentry were blown to pieces, and the sentry's corpse was flying everywhere.
The explosion point was at least thirty meters away from the sentry, so it certainly wouldn't threaten him, but it still shocked the sentry.
He is a veteran, battle-hardened.
I have seen artillery pieces of all calibers, ranging from small grenade launchers to large howitzers. As soon as I heard it, I knew that the shells that had just exploded were unusual.
Ordinary mortar shells would never produce such a violent explosion, nor could they destroy a half-meter-thick battlement with one shot.
"Large-caliber mortars are joining the battle!" the sentry subconsciously exclaimed.
"Boom boom boom..."
Before he finished speaking, another explosion sounded not far away.
This series of explosions was even more strange. Only a few shells hit the city head, and most of the shells hit the outer wall of the city wall.
In the splashing firelight, the battlements hit by the cannonballs were all blown to pieces without exception, and the cannonballs that hit the main body of the city wall should not be underestimated.
The solid wall bricks were blasted with a dent that was more than ten centimeters deep. If another shell hit this dent, the loess inside the wall would be blasted out.
"The Eighth Route Army's mountain artillery unit has also joined the battle. Are they preparing to attack Datong!" The sentry was frightened again and shouted with a dumbfounded look on his face.
Then he rushed towards the troops behind the city wall like the wind, intending to report his findings to the captain.
The captain also heard that the sound of artillery was now more intense than before, and the soldier's sixth sense made him realize that the coming battle must be extraordinary.
Before the sentry came over, he led some soldiers to rush to the top of the city and collided with the sentry.
"Captain, the Eighth Route Army attacking us has used mountain artillery and large-caliber mortars. I think they may launch a strong attack at any time."
"I heard it!" the captain replied solemnly.
Without stopping, he led his troops and continued running towards the city.
Rushing to the top of the city, there was already a loud explosion, and there were thick smoke and splashing fire everywhere.
The captain couldn't help but feel scared. Fortunately, his troops were not at the top of the city just now. Otherwise, just this sudden wave of artillery fire would have destroyed more than half of his troops.
Before he had time to rejoice, another exclamation sounded in his ears!
"Armored vehicles, there are armored vehicles rushing towards the city."
"Armored fighting vehicle!"
A look of disbelief flashed across the captain's face, he took three steps and two steps at a time, and hurriedly ran towards the battlements.
To ordinary infantry, armored vehicles are invincible.
Although you can't kill Baoding City, you can cover the infantry approaching the city head and let them use explosive charges to destroy the city wall.
The most powerful weapon in my hand is the mortar, and there are only four of them left. It is too difficult to hit a moving armored vehicle.
So when the captain heard the words "armored vehicle", he showed a frightened and shocked expression, and then slowly became worried.
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