After quickly defeating the enemies in Zhaojiazhuang, Tang Dao did not leave, but moved his frontline headquarters to Zhaojiazhuang nearby.
About 1,500 people from the Fourth Army Regiment and the 80th Group Army who were originally sent to block the attack 10 kilometers away were all transferred back to the Zhaojiazhuang battlefield. Together with the 3,000 militiamen mobilized from surrounding villages, the total number was about 9,000 people, with Zhaojiazhuang as the center point.
, relying on the original ditches and fortifications built by the Japanese army, a 260-degree fan-shaped defensive position was deployed facing the direction in which the Japanese army was bound to attack.
Each defensive position not only needs to build three layers of defensive trenches nearly 100 meters apart, but also has traffic trenches connected to the rear second-line positions. The entire battlefield area exceeds 3 square kilometers.
The remaining gap of more than 90 degrees may not look like a flat plain, but if the Japanese army wants to get over it, it is like a bat looking at the sun - blind!
Bai Sheng sent an engineer platoon and laid more than a thousand landmines in this seemingly peaceful area without even trenches. It was not only anti-infantry mines, but also anti-tank mines. The Japanese army currently has 9 tons of main equipment.
The heavy Type 89 tank can also be blown upside down by this 5-kilogram anti-tank mine with "whirlwind explosives" placed on it.
To put it bluntly, that area was not only a death trap laid by Tang Dao for the Japanese army, but also saved at least 1,000 troops.
Tang Dao can deploy all the main members of several infantry companies of his Four Lines Regiment on a position with a frontal width of 2,000 meters and a depth of 800 meters. The left and right wings are mainly composed of nearly 3,000 people from 5 infantry companies assembled by the 80th Group Army.
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Before the approaching Japanese troops from XT city arrived, the 3,000 militiamen withdrew 2,000 people through the ditch, leaving only 1,000 people to temporarily serve as stretcher teams and reserve teams.
Tang Dao personally led the three elite infantry companies. Except for the guard company, which Tang Dao used as his own reserve team, the reconnaissance company and the mountain infantry company left Zhaojiazhuang early and disappeared in this wilderness.
Anyone who is familiar with Tang Dao's fighting methods knows that these two elite infantry companies must be waiting for opportunities outside the battlefield area. They will wait for the most suitable fighter opportunity before baring their fangs like wolves to unsuspecting prey.
A fatal blow.
The heavy mortar company's 12 150-caliber mortars are all located less than 1,000 meters away from the front line, building their own sunken gun emplacements.
Each artillery position is in a deep trench up to 8 meters deep. There are communication trenches on both sides for artillery access. In order to prevent the stored artillery shells from being detonated, the artillery shells are placed in a semi-open anti-gun 30 meters away from the artillery squad.
Inside the cave.
In addition, in order to prevent Japanese reconnaissance planes from discovering their positions, camouflage nets were covered above each gun position. Fortunately, it is midsummer. Although the Zhaojiazhuang area has experienced a round of fighting, there are still woods, unless Japanese reconnaissance planes are flying at low altitudes.
Flying over, otherwise it will be extremely difficult to find the location of the most important fire support of the Fourth Army Regiment.
The 12 40mm anti-aircraft guns and 12 quadruple anti-aircraft machine guns of the air defense company also adopt this method. Unless the artillery positions on the ground are hit by artillery shells or aerial bombs from the front, even if they are 500-pound aerial bombs, they will not be damaged.
These heavy weapons that could knock Japanese soldiers unconscious must not be fatally injured.
The 20mm machine guns and 7mm heavy machine guns brought by the ministries were not placed in the rear, but on the third layer of defense line. The top of the semi-sunken fortification was covered with strong logs and nearly one meter thick loess.
It uses 15 mm thick steel plates and three layers of sandbags inside and outside. Unless the 92 infantry cannon can bombard the front of these fortifications continuously, it will be difficult to destroy this strange soil bag that is only less than 5 meters above the ground.
Bag'!
There are as many as 26 such fortifications on three sides of the battlefield, 12 on the front and 7 on each side of the wings. That also means that there are 26 heavy firepowers that can shoot through the Japanese main battle tanks at a distance of 500 meters.
Before the Japanese destroyed all these heavy firepower points, the tanks and vehicles they once could roam across the North China Plain were destined to be difficult to show their former majesty.
And if these heavy firepower points are used to attack the infantry, it will become a nightmare for the infantry of the Japanese 10th Division.
Even if it is bitten by a 7mm warhead with the smallest caliber, it will be a fleshy hole the size of a sea bowl. I wonder if you are afraid!
The officers and soldiers of the independent regiment affiliated with the 683rd Brigade had heard of how awesome the heavy firepower of the Four Lines Regiment was, but what really opened their eyes was the civil engineering work ability of the entire army of the Four Lines Regiment.
It stands to reason that the officers and soldiers of the Eightyth Group, who had long been short of firepower to fight the Japanese army, were already first-class in their ability to build fortifications.
An 80-man infantry platoon could even dig a simple field trench 150 meters long, 8 meters wide and 1 meter deep on this plain in just 15 minutes.
But this is only a miracle of great strength. It is far inferior to the understanding of civil engineering operations by the officers and soldiers of the Fourth Line Regiment. Even a second lieutenant platoon leader can quickly plan an area based on the terrain that not only has width and depth, but also has sufficient artillery support.
Defensive trench system.
The officers and soldiers of the Fourth Army Regiment, who continued to grow on the battlefield, had already surpassed their opponents in civil engineering work. Otherwise, they would not have been able to complete such a large and complete defensive fortification system project within 7 hours.
Of course, the skills of Tang Dao and Si Xing Tuan really came from no one else, but from the officers and soldiers of the Eightyth Group who now admired the officers and soldiers of Si Xing Tuan.
They didn't know that as they grew up in the flames of war, they would train this skill to its peak in a few years. Even in the future ice battle, American cowboys could drop hundreds of tons of bombs on a mountain in half a day.
, which flattened the entire mountain by dozens of centimeters, but failed to destroy them.
China may not produce steel, but it has the will to produce steel and its terrifying learning ability!
The current level of the Four Corps' civil engineering operations is far from being comparable to that of the Chinese army at its peak 11 years later.
But it was enough to deal with the approaching 10th Division.
Until four o'clock in the afternoon, Setake Heisuke, the belated commander of the 8th Brigade of the Japanese Army, stood on a hill 3 kilometers away from Zhaojiazhuang, looking at the criss-crossing trenches 1,000 meters ahead with eyes full of disbelief.
Yes, he arrived a little late, but you can't blame him. The Chinese laid too many mines on the road to get here. In order to ensure that the vehicles transporting supplies and personnel passed smoothly, he had to wait for the road with the main infantry force.
was completely unblocked.
It was less than 50 kilometers away, but it took him and more than 5,000 of his men a full 7 hours to arrive.
Although Colonel Numata Tazō and more than 1,700 imperial officers and soldiers were all smashed to pieces five hours ago, and he could not keep up with the psychological factors of being hot, the Chinese mine array did create a big obstacle for him.
Originally, Setake Heisuke thought that most of the Chinese who had taken advantage would flee, so he would use 5,000 heavy troops to raid Chinese villages along the way one by one.
Setake Heisuke believed that under the pressure of 5,000 troops, any resistance by the Chinese would be in vain. He even set a goal for himself. If the brigade lost nearly 2,000 officers and soldiers, he would kill 20,000 Chinese.
For this reason, the baggage team carried rations for more than two weeks. During this half month, he would let the Chinese in Lincheng, no, the entire Xingtai know the consequences of going against the empire.
But obviously, he was wrong. Not only did the Chinese not run away, they were still waiting for him where they were.
However, Setake Heisuke is not happy at all. The criss-crossing trenches in the telescope have already told him that this is definitely a hard nut to crack. With the four infantry brigades under his current command, once a war starts, they will definitely be hit on the head.
Broken blood flow.
Thinking that the division commander had already led the main force of the division to come to the rescue, as well as 28 tanks and 36 mountain guns, Sewuhei, who was surprised by the Chinese fortification group, ordered to conduct a reconnaissance of the battlefield first, and then waited until the main force of the division arrived, and then
Besiege it.
As the No. 3 figure in the 10th Division, Heisuke Setake felt that as the top frontline commander, he was fully qualified to make this decision, so he called back Yoshio Shinozuka: Thousands of enemy troops have been surrounded by our regiment.
The army has built trenches to resist, and our army is conducting reconnaissance on the enemy's positions to formulate attack tactics!
To put it bluntly, this message is a snake oil message. No matter whether he is hit or not, no one dares to say that he is wrong.
It is said in Chinese military books that "Know yourself and the enemy and you will be victorious in a hundred battles." How can we seek hegemony without even knowing the position of our opponent?
However, it was already dark before the reconnaissance report came out.
Night fighting is the strong point of the Chinese, and Setake Heisuke will naturally not attack foolishly.
So, the 5,000 Japanese troops and the 7,000 Chinese troops led by Tang Dao met each other before sunset, and then the two armies spent a whole night in peace. The sky was broken by a few cold shots fired from the forward positions, and several
A Japanese soldier who got too close was killed.
Yoshio Shinozuka, who arrived after dawn the next day, knew that the 8th Brigade, which had arrived on the battlefield 14 hours ago, had slept except digging trenches, and had not even fired a single shot. His vision went black for a while.
The Chinese were able to build such complex trenches in 7 hours. Give them 14 more hours, and God knows how many more fortifications they would have completed?
Apart from stupidity, Yoshio Shinozuka really couldn't find any other word to define his general.
But what could he do? That was a Major General who was only one level below him, not a Major. Even if Yoshio Shinozuka was furious, he could only endure it for the time being.
Yoshio Shinozuka was indeed a little bit smarter than Heisuke Setake. When he saw that the arriving Japanese army did not launch a direct attack but only reconnoitred and built their own trenches, Tang Dao almost imitated Cao Cao and laughed three times.
Fortunately, Tang Dao doesn't like to raise flags!
But this precious night was of great help to the Chinese army on the battlefield.
The originally uncompleted artillery-proof holes for individual soldiers and infantry squads have been further improved. Almost every 60 meters, an artillery-proof hole that can hide 16 people will be dug.
The anti-gun cave is protected by a 3-meter loess layer and supported by wood. Not to mention it can protect against 75mm mountain artillery. It will not collapse even if it is bombarded by 105 howitzers. Moreover, there is an 8-meter-high fortification protection mixed with steel plates in front of the cave entrance.
Prevent shell explosion air waves from rushing into the cave and causing casualties to officers and soldiers.
Carrying a large number of steel plates to reinforce fortifications during wartime has become an important material carried by engineering companies and baggage companies. Although these items are very heavy and cannot kill many Japanese invaders, they can protect our own officers and soldiers to the maximum extent.
There have been statistics from the Battle of Shanxi Province that the casualty rate of officers and soldiers in fortifications reinforced with steel plates and steel beams was fifteen percent lower than in fortifications with only sandbags and logs as materials.
But in the whole of North China, only the Fourth Army Regiment could bring these steel plates and steel beams with them when marching. Even the Japanese Army's Type A Division could not do this. It must have sufficient steel production and transportation capabilities.
The Japanese army that occupied major cities in North China did have steel mills, but its meager steel-making capacity could not support more than 300,000 Japanese troops. Moreover, the Japanese army's logistical supply capabilities were only that, and it was difficult to transport food and ammunition.
Furthermore, they were often attacked by small groups of Chinese troops active in the countryside. In addition, the Japanese army mainly focused on offense, so they naturally did not think much about defensive steel plates and the like.
In addition to the further improvement of various underground fortifications, the various reinforcements ordered by Tang Dao basically arrived in the afternoon or evening.
On the frontal defense line of more than 2,000 meters, Tang Dao deployed a total of 7 infantry platoons of 1st Company, 2nd Company, 5th Company, and 7th Company, totaling more than 560 officers and soldiers. It also held a total of 4 infantry platoons of 4th Company and 9th Company as well as guards.
The company has a reserve team of 600 people in total.
In addition, the independent battalion of the Jinan Division of the Eightyth Group Army arrived at a position 5 kilometers away from the battlefield as early as 5 pm yesterday.
However, Tang Dao did not let them enter the main battlefield. The number of troops on the main battlefield was already as high as more than 8,000. The number of troops was sufficient. There was no need to waste this independent battalion with a strength of 3,000.
The military order Tang Dao gave them was to find a suitable area outside the battlefield to build a position!
The Japanese are not stupid. Reconnaissance planes have flown over Zhaojiazhuang over and over again, not only to provide the Japanese troops on the ground with information about the Zhaojiazhuang battlefield, but also to provide Yoshio Shinozuka with reconnaissance of the situation within a dozen kilometers around the battlefield.
In such a plain area, how can the whereabouts of an independent battalion of more than 3,000 troops be easily avoided?
Since you can't hide, you can build a position less than 7 kilometers away from the main battlefield without hiding, and become a thorn in the eyes of the Japanese army!
The person who leads this independent battalion is Xiao Ding, the former battalion commander of the first battalion of the 772 regiment. Although this young man who changed his destiny because of Tang Dao's arrival in the Taihang Mountains was transferred from the main battalion commander of the main regiment to the independent battalion commander, his battalion's
The strength is comparable to that of a regular infantry regiment.
Moreover, the proportion of veterans in the independent battalion is as high as 20%. This proportion is among the elite in the 921st Division.
Even if the Japanese army wanted to remove this bright thorn before the war, they would have to send at least three infantry brigades to join one artillery brigade.
The 80th Army was the best at mobile warfare. If the Japanese army had been strong, they would have disappeared without a trace.
The 80th Group Army has been able to slip away from these guerrilla warfare policies of "when the enemy retreats, we advance; when the enemy is tired, we harass".
With the external constraint, Shinozuka Yoshio felt guilty if he did not have two infantry brigades in his hands as a reserve force. There would never be more than 6 infantry brigades that could be put into the battlefield.
Therefore, despite the fact that Setake Heisuke waited all night to finally arrive with his main force, including infantry, artillery and tanks, and the smoke and dust billowing all the way, it was awe-inspiring, but in fact it was more helpful to the Chinese army.
When Yoshio Shinozuka saw that the matter had come to this, he simply did not launch an attack immediately. If there were too many lice, he was not afraid of being bitten. He had already given the Chinese more than ten hours, so naturally he was not afraid of giving them a few more hours.
The 8th Brigade did not bring high-altitude balloons when they set off, but Yoshio Shinozuka brought three.
At 9 a.m., three reconnaissance balloons took off a full 8 kilometers away from the front line.
This thing is one of the trump cards of the Japanese army. It can hover at an altitude of tens of meters and observe the battlefield 360 degrees. Through the observation instrument, it can detect targets up to 20 kilometers away. The balloon is also connected to a telephone line, so intelligence can be sent to it at any time.
Passed to the front, it can be called the artificial sky eye of the Japanese Army.
If you let it guide the artillery to fire in groups, the artillery shells will hit hard and accurately!
Yoshio Shinozuka's plan was to use balloons to guide the artillery group of the artillery regiment to cover and destroy valuable tactical targets with artillery fire, and then move to launch the attack with infantry.
However, because they were afraid of the anti-aircraft artillery displayed by the Fourth Army Regiment last time, the Japanese balloon vehicle stayed 8 kilometers away from the battlefield.
But that big guy can fly so high, not to mention 8 kilometers, even 10 kilometers, it can become a conspicuous package on the entire battlefield.
One of the large balloons was targeted by the mountain infantry platoon led by Long Yan.
This kind of balloon that can hover at high altitudes weighs 5 tons in the tethered vehicle alone, and has more than 10 tethering ropes. When it takes off, it needs to first deploy the heavy air bag and then fill it with hydrogen, which requires more than 40 soldiers to operate.
, plus an infantry squad responsible for protecting them, the number was as high as a hundred Japanese troops.
It would take at least half an hour for Longyan's mountain infantry platoon to wipe them all out. By then, the main force of the Japanese army would have thundered over.
Therefore, Long Yan played the simplest and crudest trick!
Just blow up the tethered car under the balloon and let the little devil fly wherever the balloon pleases!
Long Yan's three 60-gun guns have a range of 1,300 meters!
Simply, just 800 meters away, under the guidance of the artillery observer who was less than 200 meters away from the Japanese balloon unit, three 60-gun guns fired 30 rounds of artillery shells in one go, blowing up the five-ton tethered vehicle to pieces.
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The hydrogen balloon that lost its traction flew higher and higher with the desperate Japanese observers, while the Japanese soldiers on the ground could only lie on the ground in pain and look up at the black spots in the sky.
Now, they could fly higher and see farther, but the phone line was cut off, and their colleague who was destined to be smashed into pieces could no longer share the high-altitude scenery with them.
What made Yoshio Shinozuka turn purple was that there were not one such attack, but three!
In less than half an hour, a small group of Chinese troops lurking behind the battlefield destroyed three of their balloons in almost the same way.
Not entirely. For example, Shen Laoliu used his MG42 machine gun to fire wildly from 600 meters away, blowing up the hydrogen balloon in the air. The fire that fell also seriously injured a dozen Japanese infantrymen directly below.
Then, this group of Chinese ran so fast that they couldn't even see a shadow before the infantry squadron arrived.
The only information Yoshio Shinozuka obtained, who paid such a heavy price, was that the Chinese did not dig trenches at a location as wide as 1,000 meters.
"Baga! That must be a trap left by the Chinese!" His Excellency Lieutenant General Shinozuka Yoshio, whose face turned from purple to blue, still maintained a relatively clear mind.
But, how do you know if you don’t try?
Most people in this world have a certain sense of luck! ()
