The Iron-Blooded Army of Beacon Fire

Chapter 203 Bloody Battle in Tangshan 4

The six gunners pulled the match ropes of the mountain cannon almost at the same time. After a loud bang, a faint white smoke emerged from the muzzles of the six mountain cannons, four 75mm grenades and two The seventy-five-millimeter shrapnel shot out in response, shot from the highland reverse slope at an extremely high shooting angle.

The extended shooting of the Japanese army continued. The rumble of artillery produced by the free fire of a field artillery brigade completely covered the firing sound of the six mountain cannons. The Japanese army, which was violently attacking in front of the position, was unprepared in this situation. Ushered in the first blow from the Chinese army.

"Onboard, rush."

"dash forward."

At the junction of the impact formations of the 9th Regiment and the 20th Regiment, the officers and soldiers from the two regiments seamlessly connected together, shouting killing sounds and decisively charging forward. Then, a blast of bullets with heat waves came out. When the wind hit, two shrapnel shells from the Type 41 75mm mountain cannon exploded first.

These two shrapnel shells all used air explosion fuses. The shells exploded in the air before they hit the ground. After two loud noises, the two shrapnel shells exploded in the air twenty meters away from the Japanese infantry helmets. After the shrapnel shells exploded, Like a goddess scattering flowers, more than a dozen black smoke columns with tail smoke bloomed, and each smoke column contained a large number of prefabricated steel balls.

These high-speed flying steel balls mercilessly enveloped the Japanese soldiers below, penetrated the Japanese soldiers' helmets, and pierced the bodies of the Japanese soldiers. Some Japanese soldiers were hit by multiple steel balls and were beaten into bloody holes. At the same time, it gave a head-on blow to the Japanese officers and soldiers of the 9th Infantry Regiment and the 20th Infantry Regiment.

Even though they attacked in an evacuation formation, nearly twenty soldiers still fell in a pool of blood. However, these two shrapnel shells, together with the Type 41 mountain cannon that fired them, were not weapons in the Chinese army's organizational sequence. The equipment was produced by the Osaka Artillery Factory and was captured by the special agent battalion from the 3rd Infantry Battalion of the 9th Regiment.

Boom

The two shrapnel shells were followed by four 75-mm grenades fired from the Sernaider Mountain Artillery. They exploded as soon as they hit the ground and defeated more than a dozen Japanese troops. In the regiment command post on the high ground, He Wei saw the first round of artillery results. He just nodded, but didn't have much other reaction, and even felt a little disappointed.

Because the Japanese attack was not greatly affected, the capital on hand was still not enough after all. Only six mountain cannons were not enough to cause devastating and obstructive effects on the Japanese attack queue with a frontal width of two kilometers.

The four French-made light mountain cannons of the Sixty-sixth Army are famous for their maneuverability. The power and lethality of the shells are not their strong points. The Type 41 mountain cannon captured from the Japanese army is only a mediocre and backward artillery, and there are only six in total. ,

In the final analysis, the strength of this temporary artillery group of ours is only the size of a mountain artillery company. After all, it is insufficient. If we have even one battalion of Bofors mountain artillery, the casualties suffered by the Japanese army will be several times higher. growth of.

After all, I still have insufficient weapons and ill-preparedness. I still cannot fight the battle of wealth now.

However, the sick tiger still has the ability to bite people. Fight as hard as you should, and it will definitely cause a lot of casualties to the Japanese army. He Wei picked up the phone and ordered to the artillery observation post: "Fight well, let the brothers Then hit me, hit me hard."

After putting down the phone, Cai Rubai said again: "The Japanese army is attacking with such ferocious momentum, and those small cannons are idle. How about letting them shoot a dozen after they enter the range?"

Regarding Cai Rubai's proposal, He Wei just politely refused: "It's not useful now. The shells of the 20 small artillery are either armor-piercing explosive shells or quick-fire fuze explosive grenades. It is overkill to directly use them to straf infantry, not to mention the six It is impossible for a small 20 gun to sweep across a two-kilometer-wide front. Let’s wait and see first and follow the preset attack method. It’s very refreshing to hit people with machine guns, but brother, we are not in a desperate battle. You must not come in with the mindset that death row prisoners visit prostitutes, and the pleasure is only temporary, you have to play with them slowly."

Cai Rubai nodded, accepted He Wei's suggestion obediently, and then continued to enjoy the one-man show of artillery fire.

The sound of cannons rumbled, and the six mountain cannons fired continuously at the maximum rate of fire, projecting the shells with the highest efficiency.

Although unable to stop the ferocious offensive of the Japanese infantry, the continuous falling bombs still caused a lot of casualties to the Japanese army. In the artillery observation post, Chen Xinsheng continued to issue new shooting parameters to the temporary artillery group, which basically made the six mountain cannons The point of impact continued to move with the forefront of the Japanese infantry attack.

Youdao, it is better to cut off one of his fingers than to injure ten of them. Chen Xinsheng knew that his six mountain cannons were not enough to cause large-scale destruction to the attacking Japanese troops, so he simply kept staring at the Japanese troops rushing in front. This also meant that Therefore, the total casualties caused by all the shells fired by these six mountain guns to the Japanese army will be concentrated on the Japanese front-line troops.

If a hundred people must die, the average is six infantry squadrons, and each infantry squadron only has a dozen dead, which is nothing. But if the average is three or four infantry squadrons, and each squadron has dozens of casualties, that is enough. It can be said to be a crippling injury.

Finally, when these six mountain cannons shot nearly a hundred mountain artillery shells in total, the Japanese army could not bear it anymore. At this time, the Japanese attack forward had already rushed to less than four kilometers away from the high ground. Several Japanese infantry squadrons on the front line continued to attack. He was beaten and bombed, and was made very embarrassed.

Chen Xinsheng is an artillery graduate from the tenth phase of Huangpu. He received a complete German-style artillery education and also received the idea of ​​infantry-artillery coordination in German-style artillery education. One point that German-style infantry-artillery coordination emphasizes is the importance of infantry in impact. Track the last shell of the artillery barrage ahead.

The Japanese forwards who are currently attacking also have this idea, but they are not tracking, but being bombed steadily, especially the joints of the 9th Infantry Regiment and the 20th Infantry Regiment.

Boom - A 75-inch shrapnel exploded in the sky above the Sixth Infantry Squadron of the Ninth Infantry Regiment. The flying prefabricated steel balls immediately knocked down more than a dozen Japanese soldiers. For a while, they screamed and wailed all over the place.

A light machine gun shooter carrying a Taisho 11-type light machine gun was advancing at a low profile. The barrel of the machine gun was damaged by a steel ball. The steel ball still had its strength and penetrated into the neck of the machine gun shooter, bringing out a large area of ​​bloody flesh. A bloody mist followed, followed by another 75mm grenade falling to the ground and exploding, sweeping away a group of Japanese troops. The squadron leader of the Sixth Squadron turned his back and looked at the tragic scene behind him, waving his saber, and roared loudly while continuing to attack. Said: "Command the squad leader, command the squad leader, get here quickly!"

A Captain Cao ran over, covering his wound, and shouted: "Squadron Captain, the squad leader has been killed in action."

"I don't care who he is, go and fire the signal flare and notify the regiment to provide fire support. The enemy's artillery fire is too fierce."

As soon as the lieutenant squadron leader finished speaking, several 75mm mountain artillery shells fell on an infantry squadron of the 20th Infantry Regiment of the neighboring infantry. Another burst of blood and flesh flew everywhere, and a three-man gun was divided into two sections. The Type 8 rifle and the penetrated Type 90 helmet fell from the sky and landed in front of the squadron leader and Commander Cao. There was a shocking big hole in the helmet and a mixture of red and green brains.

The squadron leader of the Sixth Infantry Squadron endured the stench and tore off the human internal organs from his helmet, and screamed: "Hurry up and fire the signal flares, let those damn artillery fire, and kill the Chinese artillery."

As Commander Cao advanced in an assault, he hurriedly took out his flare gun and fired a red flare into the air. The artillery observation post stationed at the front of the 22nd Field Artillery Regiment detected the signal, and the artillery observation officer immediately called Telephone calls to the rear.

The command post of the 22nd Field Artillery Regiment was in a state of turmoil. The phones were ringing one after another. The messengers and officers of the Regiment Headquarters were making random reports. Various requests for artillery support erupted like a spurt in a short period of time.

"The Ninth Regiment is requesting artillery support."

"The 20th Infantry Regiment is requesting artillery support."

"The first-line infantry reported that the enemy artillery fire was too fierce and requested that the enemy artillery be destroyed."

In the command post, Colonel Naofuku Mikuni, captain of the 22nd Field Artillery Regiment, who received the notification, was also keenly aware of the trick, and immediately looked at the artillery mirror to observe the Chinese army's position and the landing point of the Chinese army's artillery shells. .

The two infantry regiments at the front were even more impatient and kept calling the wing headquarters of the 22nd Field Artillery Regiment to urge the artillery bombardment.

Seeing the impact of the artillery shells and the continuous bombardment that almost followed the infantry attack formation, Naofuku Mikuni quickly came up with a plan. The three field artillery brigades under him kept firing, and they were firing deep into the Chinese army's positions. However, under this situation, the artillery fire of the Chinese army continued continuously, and although the number of artillery was not large, the shooting was very accurate, and it was always chasing the forward of the infantry charge formation.

Based on this, Mikuni Naofuku can infer that the artillery positions of the Chinese army must not be in depth, and are most likely arranged on the reverse slope of high ground. Moreover, such accurate artillery bombardment must be inseparable from the precise artillery advance observation post, but the artillery in his hand Although there were many, the artillery directly involved in bombarding this highland included a field artillery battalion and a howitzer battalion.

However, the modified Type 38 field guns and Type 91 howitzers equipped are artillery with long barrels and relatively low trajectory. The 16th Division currently does not have the reinforcements of the balloon troops to guide the artillery fire. The attack reverse slope is relatively difficulty.

In desperation, Mikuni Naofuku had to resort to the next best thing and find other countermeasures. He called the adjutant of the regiment and ordered: "Order to attack the field artillery brigade and howitzer brigade on the high ground with one squadron each. Use high-elevation shooting to attack the reverse slope behind the enemy's high ground. The remaining artillery squadrons will strengthen their firepower and continue to fire at the ridge of the enemy's high ground. If necessary, launch some smoke grenades to interfere with the enemy's observation post."

Soon, a field artillery battalion and a howitzer battalion responsible for bombarding the 956th Regiment's garrison highlands resumed their fierce suppressive firepower. A modified 38-type 75mm field artillery squadron with four 75mm field guns The gun and four 105mm howitzers of a Type 91 105mm howitzer squadron began to fire at a high elevation angle on the highland anti-slope.

The remaining eight 75mm field guns and eight 105mm howitzers continued to fire directly on the high ground.

The high ground of the 956th Regiment was once again shrouded in red shrapnel and billowing smoke. Apart from the anti-personnel ammunition, many smoke bombs also exploded on the high ground. Naofuku Mikuni was worthy of being a field artilleryman. Captain of the alliance, this countermeasure did indeed have an effect.

"Fire quickly and continue to extend forward. The distance is three thousand three hundred."

In the artillery observation post on the high ground, Chen Xinsheng shouted the latest firing orders eagerly into the phone. However, before he could finish his words, the observation post was shrouded in thick smoke and artillery fire. With the roaring explosion, a seventy-year-old The five-millimeter field artillery shell accurately hit the cement bunker where the observation post was located. The fuse detonated the shell immediately after touching the sandbags and covering soil attached outside the fortification.

After all, this blasting grenade was not an armor-piercing projectile equipped with an alloy steel warhead and could not penetrate the bunker at all. However, the huge impact still shook the bunker. Countless small shrapnel and fragments flew everywhere, and a stream of smoke was carried. The heat wave and the fishy smell of earth instantly penetrated the artillery command post.

Chen Xinsheng fell to the ground subconsciously, but a scream came from behind him. A soldier assisting the observation was shot through the neck by shrapnel, and blood spurted out like a fountain, and he fell to the ground in pain.

"damn it."

Chen Xinsheng cursed and was about to stand up and continue to observe, but through the artillery mirror, all he saw was a foggy white smoke, and there was no trace of Japanese infantry. Chen Xinsheng secretly said, "It's not good, the Japanese are so obvious" It was smoke bombs that were fired. Without the artillery from the observation post, it was just a group of blind men who couldn't see. There was no need to fire the six mountain cannons behind.

At this moment, a soldier handed the phone to Chen Xinsheng.

"Sir, phone number for the artillery position."

Chen Xinsheng received the call, and immediately the voice of the Guangdong Artillery Captain in charge of position command came.

"Company Commander Chen, we have fallen bombs here. They should have been discovered by the Japanese."

"What about losses?"

"There is no loss. It is not easy for Japanese artillery to hit here. An artillery and ammunition auxiliary vehicle was bombed, the spokes of a wheel of a mountain gun were damaged, and one soldier was slightly injured. However, the bombs here are constantly falling, and they will happen anytime and anywhere. There is a danger, if they let their blind cats encounter a dead mouse and hit the artillery, they will be in trouble."

Knowing that the artillery position was also attacked by Japanese artillery, Chen Xinsheng knew that he could no longer continue firing, so he immediately connected the phone to the regiment command post and reported the current situation to He Wei.

(End of this chapter)