The Iron-Blooded Army of Beacon Fire

Chapter 128 Cavalry Heavy Artillery Flamethrower

Harada Jiro returned to the command post of No. 16 Regiment. When Harada Jiro informed Goto Juro of the news that the Asai Squadron was annihilated, Goto Juro was shocked at first, but when he learned that the reason for the Asai Squadron's destruction was actually disobeying orders, Goto Juro When he acted without authorization, probably because he had suffered too many defeats in the past few days, Goto Juro actually laughed in sorrow, and actually cursed Asai Kensho to die well, and this kind of trash who did not obey orders should die.

It may be that the previous losses were too great. The No. 16 Regiment lost four infantry squadrons in the first attack, and the suicide squads lost one squadron in the raid. Now they have lost an infantryman who is not part of the No. 16 Regiment in the feint attack. The squadron is not a pain in the ass for Goto Juro.

On the contrary, Harada Jiro, the staff officer from the brigade headquarters, always looked sad and deeply regretful. When Goto Juro asked Harada Jiro how to attack next and how to break the situation, Harada Jiro, who had always been calm, suddenly became furious. Harada The answer given by Jiro was also brutal and direct: mobilize the Second Engineer Regiment, Daquan Detachment and the Provisional Heavy Artillery Squadron directly under the Corps to capture the Chinese army positions in front of them at all costs.

When Harada Jiro said these words, Goto Juro and everyone were dumbfounded. Although they knew that they would definitely increase their troops in this direction, Goto Juro did not expect that Harada Jiro wanted to empty out the wealth of the Shinohara Corps?

Now, excluding the No. 16 Regiment and the Tsutsumi Detachment, the only organic infantry units affiliated to the Shinohara Corps are the Oizumi Detachment and the No. 30 Infantry Regiment. Needless to say, the No. 30 Infantry Regiment is the former Second Division. The regiment's organic unit, the Oizumi Detachment, is similar to the Tsutsumi Detachment. It is also a strengthened infantry brigade. It is based on a brigade of the Japanese Army's Fourth Infantry Regiment and has strengthened various light and heavy firepower groups.

The Second Engineer Regiment, which is also the special forces unit of the Second Division, is responsible for the engineering operations of the entire Shinohara Corps, while the temporary heavy artillery squadron directly under the Shinohara Corps is the Shinohara Corps, and even the entire Shinohara Corps. The artillery unit with the most powerful firepower among the entire Japanese army in Xinkou is equipped with two Type 150 [-]mm heavy field cannons extracted from the Kwantung Army's siege heavy artillery unit. All of them use mechanized towing operations. It is the most powerful artillery unit of the Japanese Army at present. Advanced large-caliber siege artillery.

If these troops are strengthened to the Infantry No. 16 Regiment according to the configuration mentioned by Harada Jiro, it means that two-thirds of the Shinohara Corps' troops are deployed in Yongxing Village, and such a heavily armed group has to deal with The goal is just a small village.

"Harada-kun, it would be a bit excessive to concentrate so many troops to attack one Yamazhuang. I think it is okay to increase the temporary heavy artillery squadron to provide fire support, but the engineer regiment and Oizumi detachment will be transferred to reinforce the operation. It seems that there is no need for this. Our army now has an infantry regiment and a reinforced infantry brigade in front of Yanzhuang. If the Daquan detachment is transferred again, although the strength of the troops will increase, the number of troops on the mountain front will only be No. 30. The regiment seems to be quite disadvantageous in fighting on the entire front..."

Before Juro Goto finished speaking, he was interrupted by Jiro Harada with a wave of his hand. Harada Jiro suddenly had a sinister flash in his eyes and spoke slowly.

"Sir, in my opinion, this is not the case. The position of Yanzhuang looks inconspicuous, but actually it contains a big article. Last night, although I did not attract the full firepower of the Chinese army in the feint attack, in the early morning, I observed them one by one Their bunkers are very strong and cleverly built. I ordered the regiment's artillery to fire directly at the enemy bunkers, but it had no damaging effect. Based on your unit's combat experience, I estimate that the enemy bunkers are completely immune to the [-]mm caliber level. If you want to directly cause structural damage to the bunker during the artillery bombardment, you have to use a large-caliber heavy cannon, and our Corps currently only has the Type [-] heavy cannon of the temporary heavy artillery squadron that can have such a destructive effect."

"The defense formation of the enemy's position is also remarkable. During the attack, your department once wiped out four infantry squadrons at once due to enemy mines. After a night of observation, and based on the different soil conditions on the ground, I can confirm that , the enemy definitely has more than one minefield, and the density of mines in each minefield is also very high. The infantry is absolutely unable to handle it and must be handed over to the engineers. Another point is that the enemy's bunkers rely on the infantry to use grenades and blasting tubes. It is very difficult to break into the blasting operation, but the flamethrower in the hands of the engineers is a sharp weapon for attacking solid fortifications. The bunker can block the shells, bullets, and shrapnel, but it cannot block the flames. As long as there is a gap in the bunker, a round of flames will We can take care of everyone in the bunker."

Jiro Harada said.

Goto Juro then spoke: "Every word of what Harada-kun said is true, but once a heavy army group is concentrated here, what will happen to the mountains on the western front? Won't it also have an impact on the decision-making of the corps commander?"

Harada Jiro shook his head and said: "Sir, please rest assured that all combat decisions of our corps are based on various tactical plans arranged by our staff officers. In fact, the mountainous area on the west line of Xinkou is not conducive to the heavy firepower of our corps. Instead of seeking a breakthrough there, it is better to change the tactical thinking and put the key breakthrough areas on the Yanzhuang front line. I will make suggestions to the Corps Commander, Goto-kun, please rest assured."

"In that case, leave everything to Harada-kun."

The Japanese army's staff team acted very efficiently. After making the determination to mobilize heavy troops, Harada Jiro immediately summoned many accompanying staff officers to formulate a combat plan based on the information obtained during the feint attack. Moreover, Harada Jiro quickly exposed the situation at Yanzhuang. and determination were reported to the regiment commander Shinohara Seiichiro in the form of a telegram.

After Shinohara Seiichiro, who was resting at the Corps Headquarters, received this telegram, his blood pressure increased a lot. Especially when he saw Harada Jiro's report, it was highlighted that an infantry squadron was completely wiped out during the feint attack. After reading the news, Shinohara Seiichiro was quite distressed. From the time he entered the Imperial Army until now, he had never heard that a squadron could be lost in a feint attack. When he saw that the reason why the feint attack squadron was completely destroyed was actually the squadron leader. He was so greedy for success that he even cursed angrily.

As for Harada Jiro's request for additional troops, he readily agreed. In fact, he did not want to have too many entanglements and tug-of-war with the Chinese army in the mountains on the western front of Xinkou. He was now fighting in the mountain front. The Chinese army's conflicting forces are the Infantry No. 30 Regiment and the Daquan Detachment. If one Daquan Detachment is transferred away, it will not cause a crisis in the operations on the mountain front. The Infantry No. 30 Regiment and one infantry regiment are enough to deal with the frontal attack. Chinese Army.

After approving Harada Jiro's request, Shinohara Seiichiro also immediately took action. First, he sent a telegram to withdraw the Oizumi detachment that was fighting fiercely with the Chinese army on the front line, and ordered it to join the [-]nd Engineer Regiment, a temporary heavy duty unit directly under the corps. The artillery squadron headed for Yongxing Village together, and what happened was that another batch of supplementary troops from Japan was about to arrive. Along with this batch of supplementary troops, there were also a group of recently graduated students from the Army Sergeant School and A group of second lieutenant candidates.

Needless to say, the students who graduated from the Japanese Military Academy are all young military students who have recently graduated. The second lieutenant candidates are veteran noncommissioned officers who have served in the army for many years. They have just received officer training and are exactly the talents the army needs.And this batch of supplementary soldiers is not just a general group. Compared with the previous batch of supplementary troops for the No. 16 Wing, more than half of this batch of supplementary troops are veterans who have been drafted into the army for the second time. Many of them were recruited this time. Before being drafted into the army, all had already served in the military. Many of them were over 30 years old, and some soldiers even had actual combat experience and had participated in military operations during the Manchurian Incident many years ago.

The quality and tactical literacy of this group of veterans are naturally better than those of the supplementary soldiers who have never served as soldiers. Therefore, the quality and ability of this group of supplementary soldiers are very impressive. Since Shinohara Seiichiro decided to focus his attack on On the Yanzhuang front line, if you want to fight, just fight. He also knows that the No. 16 regiment, which is the main force of the attack, has suffered heavy losses. The two infantry brigades that participated in the main attack last time lost four infantry squadrons and one infantry squadron. There are only five infantry squadrons left in the infantry regiment, and this new batch of supplementary soldiers can meet the urgent need.

In addition to ordering a small number of supplementary troops and officers to be supplemented by Shinohara Seiichiro to the No. 30 Infantry Regiment, the rest were all supplemented to the No. 16 Regiment. With this batch of supplementary troops, the No. 16 Regiment can be completely rebuilt. The combat effectiveness of the four squadrons that were eaten can be greatly restored.

Shinohara Seiichiro not only met all the requirements of Harada Jiro, but even gave Harada Jiro excess support and reinforced the second cavalry regiment to Harada Jiro. Of course, this cavalry regiment was in the mountains on the west line of Xinkou The area has no place to use, and the Yongxing Village and Yanzhuang areas are all plain terrain, which is very conducive to the combat effectiveness of the cavalry unit. Shinohara Seiichiro feels that it is better to let the cavalry unit idle under the mountains every day with nothing to do. , it is better to pack them together and strengthen them to Yongxing Village to play the role of the cavalry.

Making this series of dispatch decisions means that the offensive momentum of the Shinohara Corps is about to reach its peak. In fact, the Japanese army has not taken advantage of all battlefields along the Xinkou line in the past few days. Shinohara Seiichiro happily agreed to Harada. Jiro's various requests to mobilize troops and generals were not only due to Jiro Harada's status as an excellent staff officer, but more importantly, due to the unfavorable attack of several days, the superiors had already expressed serious dissatisfaction with the commanders of the various units involved in the offensive. He also strictly ordered that a breakthrough must be achieved within two days. This time, Shinohara Seiichiro deployed all the mobile forces he could in the direction of Yanzhuang. Whether the situation can be broken depends on the next two days.

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Shinohara Seiichiro's order was quickly issued and implemented. Therefore, after an infantry squadron was wiped out in the early morning, the Shinohara Corps once again made tactical adjustments and started new tactics that day and once again increased heavy troops. He also changed the focus of the attack and pointed the sharpness of the attack at the small Yanzhuang. He Wei did not know at this time that he had only eaten an infantry squadron by luring the enemy deep, but it had caused a chain reaction of the Japanese army.

On the western front of the Shinohara Corps, the long queue of the 16th Regiment when it rushed to Yongxing Village a few days ago appeared again. The size of the reinforcements' march this time was even greater than that of the No. [-] Regiment. Leading the charge was the Daquan detachment that had just retreated from the mountain battlefield.

The backbone of the Daquan Detachment is a brigade of the Fourth Infantry Regiment of the Japanese Army. It has three infantry squadrons and a heavy machine gun brigade. It is similar to the Tsutsumi Detachment, except that it is not as large as the Tsutsumi Detachment in terms of scale and firearms equipment. The name of the detachment comes from its Major Major The captain is named Moto Oizumi. Following the Oizumi detachment is the Second Engineer Regiment. The Second Engineer Regiment is a special forces unit directly under the Second Division.

An engineer regiment sounds like a large one. Unfortunately, this regiment is still organized in non-wartime. The supplementary troops mobilized by the Japanese army in the country are given priority to the infantry regiment. The engineer regiment is not the first priority. Therefore, the Second Engineer Regiment currently has only one engineering squadron and one equipment team.

However, although the sparrow is small, it has all the internal organs. The marching column of the Second Engineer Regiment is not as large as an infantry brigade. Nearly a hundred Type [-] baggage trucks carry explosives, blasting tubes and various engineering equipment, as well as the engineering equipment in the hands of the engineers. The latest anti-personnel firearm, the Type [-] flamethrower, is like a long winding dragon, slowly marching behind the Daquan detachment.

Around the marching column, more than 300 tall Japanese horses were divided into several teams, either advancing slowly or galloping, patrolling and guarding the surroundings. These cavalry were the second cavalry regiment among the reinforcements. Like the Second Engineer Regiment, as a special forces unit directly under the Second Division of the Japanese Army, its actual strength is not very small. The entire unit under the Regiment only has one cavalry squadron and one cavalry heavy machine gun squad. Although the number is Not much, but very capable and majestic.

Of course, the most important one is the temporary heavy artillery squadron directly under the Shinohara Corps at the end of the team. In the queue of the temporary heavy artillery, two Type 150 crawler tractors pull two Type [-] [-] mm heavy field cannon, following closely in the footsteps of the engineers and infantry in front, moved forward. Behind this tractor-like tractor, there were a large number of ammunition trucks, trucks, observation vehicles, communication vehicles, gun carriages, and Different from the mountain field artillery that is carried by mules or pulled by draft horses, the marching column of this field heavy artillery is completely mechanized and motorized. Among the columns are either heavy-duty crawler tractors or cars.

The Type 2 heavy cannon is mainly equipped with the Japanese independent heavy artillery brigade or independent artillery regiment, organized into 4 brigades and 16 squadrons, with a total of 10422 guns.It is a combat strike firepower directly under the Japanese military level. The total weight of this artillery is 5963 kilograms, the barrel length is 40 millimeters (150 times the diameter), the caliber is 149.1 millimeters (actually 5 millimeters), and the vertical firing range is -43°~+20°. The horizontal firing range is 734.5° on the left and right sides, the muzzle velocity is 18100 meters/second, the maximum range is 1 meters, and the firing speed is 2-93 rounds/minute.It uses Type 40.6 grenades (a bomb weight of 7.77 kg, an explosive force of 60 kg, and a power radius of 93 meters) and Type 40.2 sharp bombs (a bomb weight of 5.47 kg, an explosive force of 38 kg, and a power radius of [-] meters). It is currently one of the heaviest artillery pieces of the Japanese Army. .

In the historical Battle of Okinawa, the Japanese army dispersed and hid the Type 150 8mm cannons in multiple caves in the mountainous area of ​​the island and fired from a high position (eight cannons in total). All the U.S. military camps that landed in Okinawa were within the range of these eight cannons. During the war, the camps and artillery positions behind the U.S. battle lines suffered heavy blows. Many field warehouses and beachhead supplies of the U.S. military were destroyed. The U.S. field commander Lieutenant General Barnack was also hit and killed by this artillery. Buckner also became the most important figure in the U.S. military in World War II. The highest-ranking general killed in battle.

In the recent Battle of Yuanping, the Shinohara Corps launched a fierce attack on Yuanping City. All the officers and soldiers of the [-]th Brigade of the Jinsui Army guarding Yuanping, led by the brigade commander Major General Jiang Yuzhen, fought back desperately and resisted bravely, repelling the Japanese attacks one after another. Seeing the failure of the infantry assault, the Japanese army, which had repeatedly attacked without any effect, pulled up the two heavy cannons and fired dozens of shells at the Yuanping city wall. Finally, it directly blasted away the Yuanping city wall. Yuanping City also fell soon after.

In resource-scarce Japan, the Type [-] field heavy cannon can be regarded as an important weapon of the country.

The mighty marching team of infantry, cars, artillery carriages, cavalry, engineers and baggage vehicles drove towards Yongxing Village as fast as possible. ． ． ．

(End of this chapter)