Bright Sword's Bloody War of Resistance

Chapter 880 Li Yunlong: My Howitzer

The Japanese observation balloon was safe and sound one second, and was shot down by a sudden tongue of fire the next second.

After clearing the safety hazards in the sky, the two artillery battalions of the 16th Brigade lifted their ground camouflage. The artillery pieces reflected dazzling light in the sun, like giant beasts about to wake up.

"Target area 19, artillery fire coverage for five minutes!"

"The First Artillery Battalion is ready!"

"The Second Artillery Battalion is ready!"

The battalion commander of the Second Artillery Battalion was named Lu Bingwen, formerly the battalion commander of the 28th Army Artillery Regiment. At this time, he had a stern expression on his face and urged the officers and soldiers to speed up.

The instructor of the Second Artillery Battalion was called Qian Zhenyang. He stepped forward and said, "Bingwen, don't be so tense. Relax. Nothing will go wrong!"

After most of the officers and soldiers of the artillery regiment chose to surrender, political workers at all levels moved into the artillery regiment. Zhou Weihan once made special instructions that no matter whether they were sincere in surrendering to the Eighth Route Army or had other ideas in their minds, as long as they were sincere in fighting the Japanese, political workers at all levels must treat them with sincerity.

After that, the two artillery forces, which originally belonged to different camps, exchanged tactics with each other, and their relationship became increasingly harmonious.

"Is this method reliable? We only have one chance. Once the Japanese react, it will be..." Lu Bingwen was a little worried.

"I'm not saying that your worry is completely unnecessary. The coordinates of the area around Shangqiu were measured by our two artillery battalions one meter at a time. You have more theoretical knowledge than me. Can't you see the superiority of this tactic?"

In today's world, the tactics used by artillery of various countries are not much different, but they are different.

The grid coordinate method currently used by the Hebei-Shandong-Henan Column was first proposed by Chen Feng. During nearly three years of training and actual combat, and through the joint efforts of many commanders and fighters, the grid coordinate method has become increasingly perfect.

When fighting against the Japanese army, whenever we have the home advantage, the grid coordinate method is always effective and can always deliver precise strikes against the Japanese army.

Although Shangqiu was occupied by the Japanese army before, it did not mean that the Eighth Route Army was unfamiliar with Shangqiu's topography and landforms, not to mention that the Japanese army gave them enough buffer time.

Several combat staff members of the 16th Brigade and officers and soldiers from two artillery battalions traveled around the city of Shangqiu, not only making a military sand table, but also mapping out the surrounding shooting areas into a precise grid coordinate table.

Each gun position of the First and Second Artillery Battalions has a dedicated surveyor. After obtaining the azimuth parameters provided by the observers, they can compare them with the grid coordinate table in their hands to calculate the precise shooting parameters, so that they can launch a surprise attack without test firing.

They were capable of both precision strikes and artillery coverage, and were superior to the Japanese army in terms of tactics.

The three organized artillery units of the Kwantung Army were all mixed organizations and were used in different scenarios. The mountain artillery and howitzer had short barrels and a wide range of elevation and depression angles, so they could be hidden behind reverse slopes. However, the field artillery had long barrels and a small range of elevation and depression angles, so they could not be used behind cover.

As a result, once the Kwantung Army artillery opened fire, the observers of the 16th Brigade were able to discover its location at the first moment, and noticed the uniqueness of area No. 19, where the artillery position of the Tank Training Brigade was located.

"Damn it, what a great 105mm howitzer, it's such a shame that it blew up like this!"

After giving the order, Li Yunlong was still heartbroken and actually left his command position and ran to the headquarters of the 16th Regiment of the 11th Brigade.

"Brigade Commander, it is better to cut off one finger than to injure ten fingers. The Japanese 105mm howitzer is too powerful. Our fortifications can't withstand it at all!"

The head of the 11th Regiment, Qin Yuezhong, tried his best to comfort him, but Li Yunlong suddenly got angry and said, "Go away, do you really need to teach me a lesson here?"

Not long after, a series of explosions were heard from the Japanese positions. Li Yunlong heard the sounds and used his artillery telescope to observe, and saw with his own eyes balls of flames rising from the Japanese positions.

"Ouch, my 105mm howitzer is gone just like that!" Li Yunlong sat on the sandbag as if he had lost his soul, and kept punching his thighs with his fists.

  Although the Eighth Route Army is now well-off, especially the Hebei-Shandong-Henan Column, where each brigade can be equipped with an artillery battalion and ordinary weapons and equipment are simply not worth looking at, but who would complain about having too many artillery pieces?

When the meeting was held in Shangqiu, Li Yunlong took the initiative to propose leading his troops to hold Shangqiu. This was undoubtedly a sacrifice for the overall situation, but he also had other ideas.

Just based on the contribution of Old Li in holding on to Shangqiu and attracting the main force of the Kwantung Army, if we could seize the Japanese howitzers after the war, we would have been able to leave a few for the 16th Brigade.

Caliber is truth. How can a 75mm mountain cannon compare to a 105mm howitzer?

At this moment, the walkie-talkie of the 11th Regiment Headquarters rang, and the observer's voice came out: "Report, the Japanese 105 howitzer positions have been completely covered by our artillery fire!"

Li Yunlong recovered and stood up, took the microphone of the walkie-talkie, and said in a deep voice: "I am Li Yunlong, you did a great job, everyone will have meat tonight!"

When the Eighth Route Army's artillery shells fell on the artillery positions of the Japanese Tank Training Brigade, the Japanese artillery bombardment had not yet stopped, so they did not realize that the Eighth Route Army's artillery had begun to counterattack.

"What?" Yamashita Tomoyuki, who was originally a little proud, was suddenly startled by the explosion nearby.

"Commander, it's the direction of the Tank Training Brigade. It should be under fire from the Eighth Route Army!"

Following the direction of the officer's finger, Yamashita Tomoyuki's face turned pale in an instant, and he threw the telescope in his hand to the ground. The artillery position of the Tank Training Brigade was already covered with fire and smoke.

"Baga, our army was clearly covering them with artillery fire, so how did the Eighth Route Army carry out a precise strike against the artillery of the Tank Training Brigade?"

"This doesn't make sense!" Yamashita Tomoyuki was very confused. Even if the artillery of the Eighth Route Army was made of iron, it should have turned into scrap copper and iron under the bombardment. How could it possibly fight back?

An officer nearby reminded him, "Commander, should we notify the tank training brigade to evacuate immediately?"

"Baka, if Yamaji Hideo can't make such a decision, what kind of brigade commander is he? Immediately notify the other two artillery units to move their positions!"

"Hey!" The scolded officer trotted away.

Yamashita Tomoyuki did not order the remaining artillery units to launch a counterattack. The fact that the Eighth Route Army was able to accurately bombard the tank training brigade's positions meant that the other two artillery positions were also at risk of being exposed.

Not to mention that the location of the Eighth Route Army's artillery positions has not been discovered yet. If they are not relocated first, by the time the location of the Eighth Route Army's artillery positions is discovered, I am afraid that the remaining two positions will also be submerged in artillery fire.

Since the infantry of the Imperial Guards Division were following the tanks in the offensive, the commander of the 57th Division, Okayama Nobuhiro, was always following Yamashita Tomoyuki.

The old devil observed the Eighth Route Army positions in front of him and saw that the Japanese infantry was gradually advancing under the cover of tanks. The Eighth Route Army did not show up at all, and there was no trace of the Eighth Route Army artillery.

However, the old devil Okayama Nobuhiro was alert and soon realized something was wrong: "Commander, according to my observation, the artillery of the Eighth Route Army is not hiding on the high ground, but on the ground!"

"No, to be more precise, it should be underground, but it was camouflaged so well that our observers didn't find it!"

Yamashita Fengwen nodded and said, "Mr. Gangshan, you are right. The commander of the Eighth Route Army on the other side is very cunning. We can't take it lightly!"

The results of this counterattack were extremely significant. 36 M1 mountain artillery pieces immediately covered Area 19 with artillery fire. Within five minutes, they fired nearly a thousand shells.

The 12 105-caliber howitzers and 12 75-caliber field guns of the Kwantung Army's Tank Training Brigade were all destroyed, and the Japanese soldiers on the position were killed.

After the bombardment ended, the two artillery battalions quickly changed positions. Due to Li Yunlong's commendation, Lu Bingwen's face flushed as if he had drunk strong liquor.

"Well, I said it's no problem!" Qian Zhenyang said.

"It was clean and neat. I've never won a battle like this before. It was so satisfying. It was really satisfying!"

"In the past, the Nationalist Army used to treat artillery as a treasure. The superiors did not dare to send out artillery casually. The infantry was defeated too quickly in the face of the Japanese offensive. Many artillery pieces were captured by the Japanese before they could even fire a few shots!"

"To be honest, the artillery equipped by our artillery regiment has excellent performance, but we have not had much actual combat experience before today. Today we finally saw blood!" Lu Bingwen was convinced at this time, and his previous worries disappeared completely.

The Japanese army suffered heavy losses in the artillery battle, but the infantry made considerable progress and occupied the first position of the 16th Regiment of the 11th Brigade in just over ten minutes.

The Japanese plaster flag was planted on the position they had just occupied. The Japanese captain in charge of the command was full of heroic spirit and commanded more than a thousand Japanese infantrymen to quickly set up fire points to prevent the Eighth Route Army from counterattacking.

"Reporting to the higher-ups, the Eighth Route Army was vulnerable to the suppression of the Imperial Army's tank firepower. They only put up a little resistance before their positions were occupied!"

The Japanese army only launched a tentative attack this time, but they did not expect the offensive to be surprisingly successful. Therefore, without waiting for follow-up orders from their superiors, the Japanese captain found that the Eighth Route Army on the opposite side was still motionless, so he issued another attack order.

More than 30 Japanese tanks crossed the trenches and continued to advance forward. The infantry who were originally crawling in the trenches stood up and followed closely behind.

At the headquarters of the 11th Regiment, Li Yunlong observed the Japanese army's every move. He decided to give up the position on purpose to give the Japanese a taste of the sweetness first.

But he never expected that the Japanese army did not play by the rules. The artillery did not bombard their own positions, but instead bombarded several mountains and forests.

The Japanese infantry and tanks gradually approached, but there was still no movement in the second position of the 11th Regiment and it fell into dead silence.

The Japanese captain didn't care about this at all, and waved his sword around randomly: "Sprinkle it!"

After hearing the order, more than a thousand Japanese infantrymen launched a fierce attack from the Japanese tank formation, but they found that the position was empty, with only some grenades and ammunition scattered around.

"Sir, is there no one on the Eighth Route Army's position?"

"What?" The Japanese captain was a little confused and didn't understand what was going on for a moment.

In fact, Li Yunlong deliberately did not deploy any troops on the second position of the 11th Regiment. After a brief resistance, the officers and soldiers on the first position retreated directly to the third position.

The tank squad that Toshio Tojo was in was arranged by Hideo Yamaji in the first-tier combat sequence. He felt that something was wrong at this time.

The Japanese soldier in the same car didn't care at all. He wiped his sweat with a towel and raised his lips slightly: "Tojo-kun, the tank troops of the Empire of Japan should have achieved such a record. Flesh and blood are vulnerable to the torrent of steel!"

Toshio Tojo shook his head. He was not a fool like Yamashita Tomita. He was about to report his concerns to his superiors via the radio.

However, it was already too late.