Sure enough, as the machine gun firepower of the defenders in the warehouse weakened, the Japanese infantry moved more resolutely towards the warehouse.
Especially the Japanese troops from both wings, the closest ones had even reached the area 50 meters in front of the warehouse. If the machine guns hadn't restarted firing to push them back, the Japanese demolition team hidden in the infantry would have probably rushed up.
After three or four consecutive tests, the Japanese army also tested the bottom line of the Chinese defenders. From the first 100 meters away, most of them used infantry rifles to fight back. Only when they reached within 100 meters, the extremely ammunition-consuming machine guns would fire again.
What makes Wakiitajiro very painful is that although the warehouse defenders are saving ammunition, which shows that their ammunition reserves are not sufficient, as long as they fire, they are extremely determined, and more than 20 light machine guns and five or six heavy machine guns are fired.
The hail of bullets formed a wall of death, making it difficult for anyone to cross the threshold.
Even though the imperial infantry under his command were just testing the situation and did not launch a desperate attack, they still left at least dozens of corpses in front of the wall of death.
Throughout the morning, the two warring parties consumed each other in this back and forth test.
It's just that the warehouse defenders consumed ammunition, and the Japanese army consumed human lives.
But even the people watching the battle in the concession knew that a battle of this level was just the scene before the storm, not even an appetizer. The real decisive battle was yet to come.
Sure enough, at noon, when the autumn sun was shining, the Japanese attack began to become more determined.
First, conventional operations were carried out to clear the warehouse with mountain artillery and infantry artillery. Then the Japanese infantry, which had advanced the temporary field trenches to less than 300 meters from the warehouse, began to attack.
This wave of attacking Japanese troops was obviously much more tenacious than that in the morning. The Japanese infantry artillery located in a semi-permanent fortification 500 meters away was still firing when the infantry reached a position 100 meters away.
Infantry and artillery coordination sounds very simple, but it is definitely a technical job, and it does not mean that you can increase skill points just by relying on bravery.
The quality of the individual soldiers of the Japanese army is among the top three in the world, but this kind of technical work is not even a little bit worse than that of the Western world, which is equipped with a large number of artillery.
Although the infantry artillery raised its elevation to kill the second and third floors of the Sihang Warehouse while trying to avoid damaging the infantry who were still making various rounds on the battlefield ahead, there were still unlucky ones who unfortunately hit the trajectory of the artillery shells.
What would it be like to be hit by a cannonball traveling at nearly a kilometer per second?
This scene was clearly shown to everyone on the battlefield of the Sihang Warehouse attack and defense battle at noon on October 28th.
A Japanese soldier was hunched over a piece of rubble and was resolutely advancing towards the warehouse with bullets fired at him. Suddenly, without any warning, it burst open.
The whole person was torn apart like a watermelon hit by a heavy hammer weighing hundreds of kilograms. The pieces of flesh and blood flew out and knocked down two Japanese infantrymen who were also ignorant about more than ten meters away. It took a long time.
No one was seen getting up.
Come to think of it, the feeling of being hit hard by seven or eight kilograms of meat accelerated by the kinetic energy of the cannonball wouldn't be that wonderful!
Sure enough, the most difficult bullets to guard against are those that come from behind! No, to be more precise, they are artillery shells.
No matter who fired the gun, he should lie down and hide his butt tightly. Many people who witnessed this scene understood this truth very deeply.
Of course, this kind of tragedy is just the tip of the iceberg on the battlefield. Even if the Japanese infantry, which was fully committed to the attack, did not see it, it would be difficult to stop their determined steps.
Because their commander is determined and almost cruel.
Behind them, another light machine gun was set up on the edge of the trench. It was the Japanese army's own supervising team. The guns were aimed not at the warehouse, but at all the Japanese infantry who dared to retreat without receiving the order to retreat.
Going forward is death, and retreating is also death. Both are inevitable options, but they are good choices.
The Japanese army's attack was unprecedentedly resolute. Even after entering a hundred meters away, the machine guns, submachine guns, rifles and rifles of the warehouse defenders were like fried hedgehogs. Even the golden sunlight could barely cover up the blazing ballistics that the torrent of metal instantly erupted.
, they still charged towards the warehouse from the blind spots they selected.
Most recently, they even rushed into the trenches of the warehouse's first line of defense.
However, that was the final position they advanced to.
Although the firepower output of the firepower points on the second and third floors was suppressed to a minimum by the Japanese infantry artillery, which did not regard their own infantry as human beings, once the Japanese army got too close, it was not just bullets that greeted them.
The trenches were the best place to drop bombs. The Chinese defenders did not use guns at all, and they did not even need to look at them. They only had to drop the smoking grenades from the second and third floors.
Who knows when to rush into a trench with waist-deep water is definitely a nightmare for infantrymen. The water cannot stop the violent shrapnel from being shot in, but it can slow down people's movements.
It was similar to a fish bombing, as the slow-moving Japanese soldiers were killed by flying shrapnel in the stagnant water.
Many corpses of Japanese soldiers sank to the bottom of the water, making it unclear how many Japanese soldiers died in this trench. However, one only needs to look at the color of the water in the trench to know that the water that was originally shaken by the air waves turned a little yellow.
Turned into a heart-stopping dark red.
Especially when the grenade is thrown into the water and stirs up a cloud of water, the water in the sun is bright red.
It was stained with the blood of many Japanese soldiers.
However, despite this, the Japanese army still refused to retreat. From noon to dusk, the Japanese army attacked one wave after another.
People on the south bank of the Suzhou River carefully recorded that throughout the afternoon, the defenders of Sihang Warehouse repelled twelve consecutive Japanese attacks!
The streets and open space on the east and west sides of Sihang Warehouse and the front of the building, including the ruins, were already littered with corpses. Wherever you looked, you could see yellow excrement bodies lying on the ground.
The 36th Infantry Regiment, which had almost sent all its infantry squadrons into the attack twice, was almost crippled.
The Japanese commander, whose eyes were already bloodshot, wanted to take off his uniform and go to the front line to supervise the battle in person at least twice, but Makino Jun worked hard to stop him.
Perhaps, the Japanese lieutenant colonel, who was shocked by his boss's cruel and stupid behavior, actually wanted his boss, who was almost going crazy, to go to the front line and be killed by the Chinese's terrifying cold gunmen.
What the hell are you doing to consume the Chinese ammunition? Now you are stupid! In one day, the entire regiment suffered more than 700 casualties, and the Chinese who had learned to economize did not see much less ammunition. Machine guns and submachine guns were poured out as soon as their own infantry approached.
Like heavy rain.
Especially the seemingly endless supply of grenades dropped from upstairs, which caused the Japanese soldiers to doubt their lives from top to bottom.
Damn it, this building can't be the Chinese arsenal! The Japanese Lieutenant Colonel can almost confirm his guess.
But regardless of whether it was true or not, after suffering the horrific casualties of more than 700 imperial warriors, one of the battle plans formulated by this idiot Jiro Wakiita was completely bankrupt.
Makino Jun, who was almost hugging the Japanese colonel's thigh and begging him not to be impulsive, was actually very rational. He was also saving himself by saving him.
When a war is defeated, someone needs to take the blame. If the captain dies, it will be him, the lieutenant general, who will take the blame;
Secondly, the commander of the regiment has gone to the front line. Can he, the deputy of the regiment, not accompany him? Can he accompany him to take the bullets of the cold-blooded Chinese gunners?
That must not happen! I would rather take the blame than be shot.
Of course, who can’t do this?
Judging from the intensity of the captain's struggle, Makino Jun knew that he was actually just giving the shameful and angry captain a way to apologize to His Majesty the Emperor without having to break his belly.
After all, there is still hope, right?
The engineer regiment sent by the division to support is the last hope.
Whether they can successfully dig out the blasting tunnel is the last straw to save the remaining more than a thousand troops of the 36th Infantry Regiment.
For senior officers, those who failed to conquer the fortress after paying such terrible casualties would inevitably be dismissed from their posts and face charges. For lower-level officers and soldiers, the number of casualties would naturally only increase.
