Lin Ziran outside the city naturally didn't know about the situation of Li Dingjun, Jian Liangzhi and Wang Xu in the city. At this time, he was leading a group of generals to command the battle on a hilltop more than 2,000 meters outside the city.
The current army has been deployed around the entire Dingjiang Fortress, and those on the front line are the soldiers of the First Division who entered the communication trenches in advance.
Behind them is the Second Division, which serves as the second wave of offensive troops. As for the Third Division and the Eighth Brigade of the Fourth Division, they are temporarily used as reserves and will be put into battle later depending on the situation.
But for the time being, the infantry unit is not the protagonist on the battlefield. The protagonist now is the artillery unit.
The seven steel breech-loading rifled guns of the experimental artillery battalion at the back continued to fire, maintaining fire suppression, causing the opponent's heavy fort in the northwest corner to almost completely lose its ability to counterattack.
At the same time, a large number of front-loaded smoothbore artillery troops were moving forward quickly. The artillerymen urged the draft horses and even pushed and pulled them forward, trying to allow these artillery pieces with a relatively short effective range to quickly enter the preset positions.
Not long after, Wu Guanlin next to Lin Ziran said: "Sir, look, the first wave of troops from the First Artillery Regiment is already in place!"
Lin Ziran looked around and saw that two artillery batteries with 120 mm smoothbore guns had arrived at their preset positions and began to untie
As the first wave of rapidly advancing artillery units, they did not advance too close. Instead, they made an emergency stop about two hundred meters before the fort at the northwest corner of the city as planned.
At this time, Wu Guanlin said again: "The current distance is exactly the maximum effective range of our 120mm smoothbore cannons when launching grenades. The accuracy is a bit off, but it can still hit effectively. If they provide cover, the ones behind will
It will be easier for the artillery units to move forward."
Lin Ziran said: "This combat method of alternating cover and continuous advancement is not bad. Thank you for your hard work!"
Wu Guanlin said: "How dare you say it's hard work? If you say it's hard work, it's even harder for you. Your humble position is just a matter of doing some trivial things!"
Lin Ziran chuckled and said nothing. This Wu Guanlin is also very thick-skinned. What is such a trivial matter? The artillery's battle plan was clearly drawn up by Kong Deyi, and it had nothing to do with Wu Guanlin.
Lin Ziran said before that he was just in a good mood after working hard, and he just said that casually, but Wu Guanlin is better, Shang Gang is online...
At this time, Lin Ziran continued to cast his gaze forward, and saw two 120mm smoothbore field artillery batteries of the First Artillery Regiment. After arriving at the predetermined position, the artillerymen began to untie their draft horses and set up their artillery. After a while, the artillery battalion
The artillery fired one after another.
Although it is a front-loaded gun, its rate of fire is not very fast, and it only fires round grenades, but it is still a 120 mm round grenade. When this shell falls on the enemy's artillery position, its lethality is not small.
, roughly equivalent to a 75mm breech-loaded cylindrical artillery shell.
Not long after, several other 120mm artillery battalions that continued to advance also entered the predetermined positions one after another. The distance they entered was even closer. They all advanced directly to a distance of about a thousand meters. The hit rate of artillery strikes at this distance was
higher.
With the additional firepower of these smoothbore artillery units, the northwest corner fort was completely silenced.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, the heavy artillery unit led by Kong Deyi himself also arrived at the preset position, which was also about a thousand meters away, and began to fire large-caliber howitzer shells.
When the artillery began to fire, the accompanying artillery troops and the engineers who came in as reinforcements began to urgently strengthen and build artillery positions to guard against the enemy's artillery counterattack.
After the heavy artillery troops opened fire, it was announced that the battle had entered an intense stage.
Those are all 130mm, 150mm or even 170mm howitzer shells, which are quite powerful. The continuous bombardment of a large number of heavy artillery and 120mm field guns not only completely suppresses
The artillery troops on top of the Dingjiang Fortress were even free to continue bombarding the infantry on top of the city, and the infantry in the trenches below the city were also bombarded by heavy artillery.
Lin Ziran, who was watching the battle from behind, looked at the smoke and dust from the explosions that were constantly rising from the Dingjiang Fortress, with a smile on his lips.
Wu Guanlin also said: "Sir, the fire suppression has been achieved, it will be easier to fight later!"
Lin Ziran said with a smile: "Well, this prescription is not bad!"
In today's battle, the Luoan garrison under Lin Ziran first used the range and power of the breech-loaded artillery to suppress the enemy's heavy artillery. This led to a series of reactions, and finally established the current favorable situation.
The next step is simple. Continue the bombardment. On the one hand, it will cause a lot of damage to the enemy, but more importantly, it will cover the continued advancement of your own troops, and finally blow up the city wall and enter.
If the Dingjiang Fortress was placed a hundred and eighty years ago, it would probably have been choked by ten times the force. Even during the Heng'ao War fifty years ago, it would have been choked because the artillery fire at that time was basically solid shells, although grenades also began to enter.
We were on the battlefield, but the grenades at that time were still very primitive, with poor fuses and low power.
but now!
In the face of a large number of heavy artillery, especially heavy howitzers, these so-called fortresses actually have no trench defense system dug in the wild!
A heavy howitzer landed on the top of the city, sweeping away the enemy troops on a section of the city wall...
Otherwise, Li Dingjun would not have dug trenches and parapets under the city wall, nor would he have piled a large number of sandbags on the platform at the top of the city to rebuild the defense system.
And no matter how high or thick the city wall is, it can't stop a large number of explosive blasts. In order to blast the city wall, Lin Ziran asked the logistics department to prepare a lot of explosives. He waited for the artillery to suppress the opponent and the infantry to annihilate the enemy outside the city.
After defending the troops in the trenches, they advanced to the bottom of the city for blasting.
Of course, the prerequisite for such tactics is to suppress the enemy's firepower, allow the infantry to advance, and annihilate the enemy troops in the trenches under the city, so that they can get closer for blasting.
But unfortunately, Lin Ziran not only had many smoothbore cannons, but also breech-loaded artillery, which completely suppressed the enemy's artillery at the city head.
Therefore, the next thing is very simple. We only need to continue bombarding the enemy troops in the trenches under the city, support the infantry operations, and then blast them into the city.
What happened next was pretty much what Lin Ziran expected!
The intensive bombardment of a large number of artillery completely suppressed the enemy's city head firepower, not to mention the support, but also caused greater damage to the enemy troops in the trenches under the city wall.
At this time, the soldiers of the First Division, who had been waiting for a fighter opportunity for a long time, also launched an attack under the command of Xu Zhongshu.