Bright Sword's Bloody War of Resistance

Chapter 569 Testing the Power of Heavy Artillery

In the west of Pingshun City, in the camp of the Second Regiment.

After retreating from Changzhi, Zhou Weihan paid the most attention to the twenty-four heavy artillery seized from the Japanese army. At dawn the next day, he hurriedly got up and came over to have a look.

Twelve 150-caliber howitzers and twelve 105-caliber cannons were displayed on the school grounds, and the momentum alone shocked everyone present.

Zhou Weihan, Zhao Gang, Xing Zhiguo, Jing Dagang, Xu Dali, Yang Han and the commanders of the two artillery battalions gathered together.

I saw Zhou Weihan touching the barrel of the cannon with both hands, and said: "Good thing, good thing, our Eighth Route Army will have its own heavy artillery group in the future, which was unthinkable before!"

There were two German-made Krupp 105-caliber howitzers in the Tainan Military Region before, but they were too bulky compared to the Japanese-style mountain guns. The weight of one howitzer was about equal to the weight of four [-]-style mountain guns.

In addition, the shells of the howitzers are not easy to replenish. The Central Army and the Jinsui Army have such shells, but the control is too strict. Zhou Weihan can only let Si Neiyong do it secretly.

"It's good, but it's too bulky, and the shells are a little less. Why do I hear comrades say that it's only [-] rounds?" Zhao Gang on the side said dissatisfied.

After hearing this, Zhou Weihan looked at Dong Jiang who followed: "Didn't you say that Lin Zhengxiong hid the shells? Where are the shells?"

"Detachment leader, don't worry, [-] rounds of shells are placed in the camp of my reconnaissance company, one is not a lot!" Dong Jiang replied immediately.

"That's good, that's good!" The smile on Zhou Weihan's face didn't disappear, and he turned to Chen Feng and said, "Chen Feng, these two types of heavy artillery are different from the two 105 howitzers in the artillery battalion. How does the performance compare?"

The Eighth Route Army has always lacked artillery. Although there are many mountain artillery and field artillery in the Tainan Military Region, they have always been used intensively. Among the people present, except for the battalion commanders of the two artillery battalions, most of them are laymen.

Hearing Zhou Weihan's question, Chen Feng thought for a while, and then said: "Detachment Captain, from the perspective of our Eighth Route Army, the heavy artillery captured by the Japanese army this time may not be as good as the existing mountain artillery and field artillery!"

"Whether it is the Type 150 105mm howitzer or the Type 105 2mm cannon, the weight almost reaches four tons. For this weight, a special artillery tractor must be used. Manpower and energy storage are not enough, and a relatively spacious vehicle must be used In comparison, the two Krupp [-]-caliber howitzers already installed in the artillery battalion weigh [-] tons, and they can be towed by mules and horses!"

"This is why the Japanese army did not use the accompanying heavy artillery when they were ambushed by our army many times along the Hanchang Highway. In the final analysis, mobility limits the use of heavy artillery!"

Looking at the battles commanded by Zhou Weihan, due to the increasing scale of the battles, infantry artillery can no longer meet the needs of the battle, and two mountain artillery companies have always been accompanying them in mobile operations.

The reason is very simple. After disassembling the mountain cannon captured by the little devil, it can be quickly marched immediately after being mounted on a mule, and it takes nothing more than the time of disassembly and assembly.

"The specific power of these two heavy artillery, I have not practiced it, and I have no idea!" Chen Feng finally said.

Zhou Weihan's heart sank continuously when Chen Feng was speaking, and he said anxiously: "Then according to what you said, isn't it just a decoration?"

"Not at all. The fact that Commander Xu can be brought back from Changzhi to Pingshun shows that at least he is still useful in the base area!" Chen Feng continued.

Xu Dali on the side shared the same feeling: "Detachment Captain, what we seized from the little devil is a complete set of equipment, including artillery, surveying equipment, and tractors. When transporting back, we came out from the suburbs of Changzhi to Pingshun City. In addition, the main road has been taken all the way, and the road along the way is relatively smooth, and the road can meet the traffic requirements!"

"According to the current situation, the main roads between counties and the branch roads between towns are passable, but our troops generally stay away from densely populated villages and towns. Where is the heavy artillery, it can't be placed on the road openly, right?" Zhao Gang raised a question.

After Zhao Gang finished speaking, everyone present looked at Chen Feng again, and Chen Feng smiled wryly: "The range of these two heavy artillery is very long, like this 105 caliber cannon, the longest range can reach 18 kilometers, how to choose the battlefield in advance, or You can give the little devil a surprise!"

Zhou Weihan's expression softened when he heard it: "Come on, I've listened for a long time, and I understand that if the 24 heavy artillery seized reach other bases of our Eighth Route Army, they will only be useless and useless. Come to sweep, it can be used as a defensive heavy artillery, but it is still dead, once the little devil plane is staring, it will not be able to escape!"

"However, when we get to Tainan, there is still room for use. At least the control of the roads in the three counties of Pingshun, Lucheng, and Licheng is completely in our hands. areas, the effect will be even better!"

After Zhou Weihan finished speaking, Shen Yulin, the battalion commander of the Hebei-Luyu Artillery Battalion, smiled. He brought some of the soldiers of the Artillery Battalion back to get these heavy artillery. At that time, he had some ideas.

It's just that Shen Yulin's qualifications are still young, and he can't talk to everyone present.

"Detachment Captain, we don't know how powerful this little devil's heavy artillery is. Why don't we try to shoot a few rounds, and if we meet in the future, we should be prepared, right?" Got the approval of those present.

Zhou Weihan has never been a picky temper, what Jing Dagang said is also very reasonable, so he simply agreed.

The manpower is naturally the soldiers of the Artillery Battalion, but the venue cannot be chosen in the camp of the Second Regiment. If it were here, a shell might hit the nearby villages.

In the end, the test site was chosen on a nearby flat ground next to the mountains and forests. Two heavy guns were mounted on the flat ground, and the target shooting range pointed directly at the opposite mountains and forests.

In order to ensure safety, at the request of Chen Feng, Zhou Weihan and others were located one kilometer southeast of the artillery position.

Then, the Second Regiment dispatched a battalion of troops to conduct a large-scale search of the target shooting range, ensuring that no villagers from nearby villages stayed within the shooting range.

The shooting parameters of the two heavy guns were quickly adjusted. Since they just wanted to test the power of the heavy guns, not to test the level of the artillery, they could complete the task with one test shot.

On the artillery position, Chen Feng, who was in charge of the command, saw that all the gunners were in position, and immediately ordered: "Ready to load, fight!"

"Tom tom!" Two shells were ejected from the barrel in no particular order, one was deflected to the northeast direction and the other was deflected to the northwest direction.

"Boom!" The explosion of shells sounded.

Even though Zhou Weihan stood at the observation position, he still heard the roar of the explosion.

Even without the use of binoculars, everyone could still clearly see two fires rising to the sky in the opposite forest.

"The target range this time is ten kilometers. If we count from where we are, it will be twelve or three kilometers. How did the national army in Changzhi survive? There is no way to withstand the indiscriminate bombing!" Seeing such power, even Jing Dagang, who has always been brave, began to worry.

"What? The aerial bombs of the little devil's plane can withstand it, but the heavy artillery can't!" Zhou Weihan joked.

In fact, what Zhou Weihan said was biased. The Japanese bombers did not carry enough weight to carry aerial bombs on a large scale.

Coupled with the bombing from the sky, if the defending side builds an air-raid shelter in advance, there is no way to achieve mass destruction.

The devil's heavy artillery is not the case. As long as there are enough shells, even if the defending side moves its position, it can adjust the shooting parameters and carry out continuous shelling.

The effects of the two are quite different.

"Go, it's too far here, go and see the effect!" Zhou Weihan suggested, and a group of people went to the impact point with Chen Feng and Shen Yulin.

Near the impact point, Zhou Weihan suddenly felt a rush of heat, and the soldiers who arrived earlier were extinguishing the flames produced by the shell explosion.

Within a radius of 20 meters from the center of the explosion, there was only a piece of scorched land. Within a radius of 50 meters, there were still forests as they were. As far as Zhou Weihan could see, there were broken tree wreckage everywhere.

Zhao Gang stepped over from the periphery of the aftermath of the explosion step by step, and then said with lingering fear: "Just now I randomly found a big tree affected by the shrapnel on the periphery and started to measure the distance. It is a total of 132 steps. The range is at least about 150 meters, and this is still an experiment in a dense forest!"

"If it is on the battlefield, the burst shrapnel is likely to penetrate the bodies of multiple soldiers, which will reduce their speed!"

On the other hand, Chen Feng was also collecting data based on the on-the-spot situation, and soon came to report: "Detachment leader, what we are looking at now is the shell explosion site of the 150-caliber howitzer. According to our field collection, if the shell hits the target, even if Even the concrete walls will be penetrated, and any solid fortifications and people inside will be blown to pieces and buried alive!"

"Within a radius of 15 meters, even in fortifications, they will still be killed by the aftermath of the explosion. If it is in an open field, it is absolutely difficult for soldiers within 150 meters to survive. I estimated that the killing range is at least 200 meters , in order not to be affected, the personnel must be [-] meters away!"

As soon as Chen Feng said this, even though they had witnessed the actual situation at the scene, the people present still gasped.

"Damn it, even if it is standing on the ground, it will be blown to pieces!" Zhou Weihan said in a deep voice: "The [-]th Army is really tough enough, and it survived the heavy Japanese artillery bombardment." Five or six days!"

"Yes, this kind of strategic weapon is no longer manpower-resistant. Perhaps, only troops with an extremely strong will can suffer huge casualties without collapsing under such artillery fire!" Zhao Gang said with the same expression on his face. He said in amazement: "When will the Eighth Route Army be able to produce such a powerful heavy artillery by itself!"

"There will be such a day, and I believe that one day I will be at the forefront of the world!" Zhou Weihan said firmly.

"Let's go, let's go back!" At this time, Zhou Weihan was not in the mood to watch the explosion effect of another 105 cannon.

Zhou Weihan knew in his heart that the 150-caliber howitzer of the Japanese army was not as good as the 150-caliber howitzer imported from Germany by the national army in terms of performance.

During the Battle of Changsha, the howitzers of the Japanese army were only [-] kilometers long, while the howitzers of the national army were [-] kilometers long. Relying on the range advantage, the little devil suffered a lot.

On the way back, Zhou Weihan, Zhao Gang, and Xing Zhiguo walked behind, and the three talked about the fate of the twenty-four heavy artillery pieces.

"Old Zhou, can these heavy artillery stay in our hands? I'm afraid the superiors will be dissatisfied with being fooled?" Zhao Gang said.

Zhou Weihan glanced at Zhao Gang after hearing this, and immediately caught Zhao Gang's slip of the tongue: "Why did you, the political commissar, think of fooling your superiors at this time?"

Xing Zhiguo on the side also had a smile on his face.

Zhao Gang was taken aback for a moment, and retorted: "I'm talking bluntly, tell me what you think?"

"I haven't thought about it yet. Anyway, the headquarters can't hide it. The 18th Regiment and the Secret Service Regiment were there at the time. If these heavy artillery were not too heavy, the two regiments would have found a way to get rid of them early in the morning. It would be our turn." Get Ping Shun back without any mistakes?"

"I reckon that the headquarters is also thinking about this matter, but, just like what some of us said before, these heavy artillery are likely to be a decoration in other bases, which is in our Tainan or Hebei-Shandong-Yuneng Make a difference!"

"Boss, they can't take it back to see how it looks, and besides, they can't take it away, can they?" The people present were all his own people, so Zhou Weihan didn't have so many scruples when speaking.

At the same time, the 386th Regiment of the 18th Brigade of the Taiyue Military Region was stationed.

Since the Taiyue Army fought a blocking battle and captured very little, the brigade headquartered after the war lost money.

There is only one exception. The brigade commander has long known that the 18th regiment that ended the battle in Changzhi early has reaped a lot of benefits.

Qian Youyi, the head of the 18th Regiment, of course knew the brigade's style of work. When he was in Changzhi, he gave orders to the commanders and fighters of the whole regiment to keep their mouths shut.

"Brigade Commander, I didn't intend to hide it from you, from the brigade headquarters. It's because before I came back, Chief of Staff Xing of the Tainan Military Region specifically confessed that these weapons and equipment were specially given to our 18th regiment to thank us. The 18th Regiment supports the brother troops!" Tuan Leader Qian explained.

The brigade commander nodded after hearing this: "Well, this matter is handled like Zhou Weihan's style, so you really don't raise a penny and make a fortune by yourself?"

"Brigade Commander, I'm thinking that I can't ruin your reputation. If I was sent to the brigade headquarters, someone would gossip outside and say something for the 18th regiment. Why did you end up at the brigade headquarters again? What do you say?" Woolen cloth?"

"Don't talk to me about this useless. I have already investigated it clearly. The [-] guns you brought back this time are at least five or six hundred, and there are several [-]-type heavy machine guns. What's the matter? I still want to expand The strength of a regiment?" The brigade commander said with a smile.

Seeing this, Captain Qian wailed in his heart, seeing that he really couldn't handle it, he said silently in his heart: "Old Zhou, brother, I can only feel sorry for you."

Immediately, Captain Qian approached the brigade commander and said a word, and the brigade commander immediately stood up after hearing this: "What? Heavy artillery? There are at least twelve guns?"

Then the brigade commander pointed at Tuan Zhang Qian's nose and cursed: "Damn it, Qian Youyi, Qian Youyi, Zhou Weihan paid you a little hush money and made you shut up. Why didn't you say this earlier? !"

(End of this chapter)