The Iron-Blooded Army of Beacon Fire

Chapter 279 Battle of Annihilation 12
After a short and direct pre-war mobilization, the bustling attack starting position, which had just been neighing and horses neighing, became extremely peaceful and quiet.

Except for the sound of the biting wind and the explosions of the Chinese army's shelling of the Japanese positions, not a single noise could be heard in the attack starting position where more than 4,000 attack troops were deployed.

In the position, the officers and soldiers of the 615th Regiment and the 618th Regiment of the 103rd Division, which were responsible for the main offensive mission, stood in the traffic trenches and trenches, nervously staring at the Japanese troops shrouded in smoke during the shelling in the distance. The position is waiting for the battle order to attack. As long as the attack order is given, the officers and soldiers of the 615th Regiment and the 618th Regiment will launch a group charge towards the Japanese position after the thunder cannon fire.

The officers and soldiers of the Engineer Company of the 103rd Division were all kneeling in the torpedo cannon position in front of the trench, waiting for the order to fire the torpedo cannon.

After attacking the starting position, there were the fully armed officers and soldiers of the 103rd Division's Special Agent Company. The officers and soldiers of these special agent companies had built simple foxholes and foxholes behind the starting position, with the black muzzles of their guns pointed directly at them. The forward attack starting position.

The two heavy machine gun platoons strengthened for this special agent company were deployed on both sides of the special agent company's defensive position. Four Jinling-made Type 24 heavy machine guns formed a blockade of the attack starting position from the left and right sides. boundary.

In the center of the Secret Service Company's position, several large wooden signs with the words "Those who retreat will be killed" and "Those who escape will be killed" and the shooting directions of various light and heavy firearms of the Secret Service Company have revealed that the Secret Service Company of the 103rd Division is about to attack. The role you will play in the coming attack battle - the Supervisory Team.

In order to prevent a large-scale rout of the troops, He Shaozhou strengthened the division's special agent company with two heavy machine gun platoons and placed it behind the main attacking troops. This move was to tell the forward attacking troops that there was only advancement, no retreat. Even if there is a dense fire net of the Japanese army, if they retreat or even retreat, what awaits the attacking troops will be machine gun fire from their own supervisory team!

He Shaozhou didn't want to use this method to prevent the main attacking troops from retreating, let alone use his own guns to shoot at his own Guizhou soldiers. But in order to win in one go, and to prevent a large-scale rout that would affect the entire army, he had no choice but to Use such iron-blooded tactics to supervise the battle.

He Shaozhou's decisiveness in killing was also reflected in the specific deployment of the attacking troops. The two infantry regiments that attacked did not leave any reserves behind, but adopted a group charge tactic of lining up in a row and advancing head on.

In other words, He Shaozhou spent all his capital at the beginning of the attack. If the attack succeeded, everyone would be happy. If the attack failed, what awaited the officers and soldiers of the two groups of attacking troops would be very tragic and bloody huge casualties.

In the artillery position not far away, the only seven 82mm mortars remaining in the 103rd Division were also placed at the mortar position of the 48th Division that was firing. , ready to shoot.

At this point, all the attack preparations of the 103rd Division have been completed, and everything is ready, just waiting for orders.

In the biting cold wind, He Wei and He Shaozhou stood side by side in the hastily formed forward command post of the 103rd Division. After the two looked at each other, He Wei, with a calm face, nodded slightly to He Shaozhou. Then he turned around and asked a staff officer next to him: "Is the artillery ready?"

"Sir, the artillery of our division has completed all firing preparations with the assistance of the artillery of the 48th Division. As soon as the attack starts, we can fire immediately!"

He Shaozhou nodded, his body trembled slightly, and continued to say to the staff officer: "Inform the main attack force and the engineering company to start!"

In an instant, the battle order to start the attack was transmitted to the front-line attack position by phone. At the same time, more than a dozen messengers also set off from the command post on horses and galloped towards the position where the main attack force was located. Patrolling back and forth, he shouted loudly: "Start attacking! Start attacking! Start attacking!"

The loud roars of the messengers echoed around the starting position of the main attack force. In an instant, the extremely quiet attack starting position once again became full of people and extremely noisy.

After the attack order was conveyed, the engineer company directly under the 103rd Division in front of the attacking force took the lead in taking action. The engineers who were lying on the ground immediately stood up and removed the fuses behind the two hundred blasting mine cannon positions from shallow The pit was dug.

"The first row of explosive attacks is ready!"

"The second row of explosive attacks is ready!"

"The third row of explosive attacks is ready!"

"The fourth row is ready for explosive attack!"

Following the reply orders from the four engineer platoon commanders, preparations for the detonation of the two hundred mine cannon launch fortifications were all in place. The commander of the 103rd Division engineer company hidden in the foxhole wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and spit it out. The cigarette butt in his mouth seemed to have used all his strength to shout: "Explode!"

Following the order from the engineer company commander, the engineers who held the fuse quickly lit the fuse connected to the explosive package. Immediately afterwards, the officers and soldiers of the engineer company shouted and screamed that it was going to explode. About to explode, they rushed to the starting position of the attacking troops, leaving burning fuses everywhere.

During the twenty seconds that the slender fuse was burning, time seemed to stand still. When all the officers and soldiers of the engineer company ran back to the starting position of the attacking force, with a loud noise, two hundred flying thunder cannons The explosive package prepared in advance in the launch fortification was detonated.

The shock wave after the explosion of the explosives that He Wei had carefully calculated in advance ejected the group series explosive packages placed in the pit. Two hundred group series explosive packages followed the same angle calculated by He Wei in advance. The slope flew away.

Amidst the roaring sound, tall smoke pillars stretching for several hundred meters rose up from the firing positions of the two hundred thunder cannon fortifications. These smoke pillars merged together to form a tall smoke wall, surrounded by flying sand, rocks, and dust. The ground seemed to be shaking. Two hundred explosive packets from the tandem group suddenly flew up from the explosive ejection crater of the thunder cannon, and shot towards the Japanese position at an angle.

In the Japanese army's position, faced with the sudden loud noise and explosion, the Japanese observation posts in the position were also completely stunned. In an observation post position in the communication trench, the 41st Infantry Regiment's A warrant officer squad leader is vigilantly observing the movements of the Chinese gathering in front of the position, while avoiding the shelling of the Chinese army that has been going on for several hours.

Just as the warrant officer was performing his security duties dutifully, a loud noise suddenly came from the Chinese army position in the distance, and then, a terrifying wall of smoke appeared on the opposite side.

Then, before the warrant officer could react, he heard sharp noises coming from mid-air. He immediately raised his head and saw densely packed strange objects, dragging streaks of white smoke from the sky. Come down.

Based on the military common sense brought by many years of military service, the warrant officer immediately judged that these strange objects were definitely not artillery shells, because based on the muzzle velocity of the artillery shells, their flying speed would never be so slow, let alone be accurately visually observed.

However, just as he was thinking and doubting for a moment, those densely packed strange objects had flown from mid-air to the traffic trench where the warrant officer was located, and accurately smashed into the position occupied by the Japanese army. Boom boom boom boom
Waves of violent explosions exploded one after another in the traffic trenches in the Japanese position.

The Japanese Warrant Officer only felt that he was caught in a heat wave. His body seemed to be swept into the air and then fell down after being torn into pieces. In an instant, he could no longer hear or feel anything.

The group of tandem explosives fired by two hundred blasting mine cannons accurately landed on the Japanese position. Dozens of Japanese observation posts serving as security guards in the position, like this Japanese warrant officer, responded continuously to the sudden violent explosion. Before he could do anything, he was torn into pieces and annihilated in the violent explosion.

Although the bombardment of more than two hundred groups of serial explosive packs did not cause any losses or casualties to most of the main Japanese troops hiding in the hidden areas, the dozens of observation posts deployed by the Japanese troops on the position were not spared. The bodies were torn to pieces in the explosion, and no bones were left. The surface of the position seemed to be turned upside down during the violent explosion.

Of course, the main Japanese troops hiding in the hidden areas did not feel comfortable either.

The attack power of two hundred tandem explosive packs is still very impressive. With the violent explosions and the continuous shelling by the Chinese army, the Japanese position was almost enveloped in smoke and thick smoke. The shock wave generated after the explosion of the group tandem explosive packs The rocks wrapped in the storm and gravel poured in from all the entrances to the hidden areas, causing unspeakable suffering to the Japanese troops hidden inside.

In the command post of the Japanese army position, the highest commander in the position - Captain Tetsujiro Yamada of the 41st Infantry Regiment of the Japanese Army - stared dumbly at several bloody corpses lying on the ground at the entrance of the command post, and the explosives exploded. The resulting huge shock wave blew in from the entrance of the command post, pouring a large amount of strong wind carrying smoke and dust into the command post.

Yamada Tetsujiro, who was confused by the sudden big explosion, endured the dust all over the command post and went to the observation port of the command post to look out in order to find out what the explosion was about.

The smoke-filled position was filled with dust from the big explosion. Sandbags, broken limbs and weapon parts were thrown high and then fell with a crash. There was a mess everywhere.

The dozens of observation posts that were originally guarding the position had all been torn to pieces by the violent explosion and were all killed.

The shocked Japanese officers and soldiers in the hidden part kept shouting and cursing, and some Japanese soldiers who were stunned by the bombing also began to get out of the hidden part in twos and threes.

A mood called panic began to spread among the Japanese positions.

Looking at the tragic situation in front of him and the mess on the battlefield, Yamada Tetsujiro was speechless for a while, but a violent bombardment that followed broke the brief pause in Yamada Tetsujiro's thoughts.

Boom boom boom

Boom boom boom

Originally, the Chinese army's artillery bombarded the Japanese positions continuously. Even when the thunder cannons bombarded the Japanese positions, four 150mm howitzers, four 75mm mountain guns and thirteen 82mm The small artillery group composed of mortars did not stop, but continued to pour firepower on the Japanese positions as usual.

After the thunder cannon attack, the artillery of the 103rd Division also joined the bombardment. The division's seven 82mm mortars followed the shooting parameters provided by the mortars of the 48th Division. Fire was fired, and the first round of shooting accurately hit the Japanese position in a rapid fire.

The number of mortars used to bombard Japanese positions has also increased from thirteen to twenty. According to the establishment of the Chinese army, this is almost the number of mortars in an infantry division of the Central Army (the Central Army's Each division of the elite adjustment division is equipped with twenty-four 82 mortars)
As a result, the intensity of shelling endured by the Japanese positions suddenly increased.

At the same time, in the attack starting position of the 103rd Division, Wan Shijiong, the colonel leader of the 618th Regiment, and Wang Shuhuai, the lieutenant colonel leader of the 615th Regiment, issued the order to attack at the same time.

More than 4,000 officers and soldiers who had been waiting in the position followed the command of bayonets from the grassroots officers. They all pulled out the bayonets at their waists and installed them on the Hanyang-made rifles in their hands. Bayonets were stuck and rubbed everywhere in the position. The sound of collision.

Suddenly, there was a forest of bayonets in the position. The officers and soldiers who had completed the final preparations to attach their bayonets held their rifles high and had already stepped into the tread hole in the inner wall of the trench.

When the officers and soldiers of the two regiments fixed their bayonets and completed their preparations for the attack, the eighteen infantry company commanders of the two infantry regiments blew their whistles one after another and issued the battle order to attack forward.

"All hands on deck, get out of the trenches, form skirmish lines, charge!"

"Start charging!"

Amidst the continuous calls of orders, more than 4,000 officers and soldiers of the 103rd Division jumped out of the trenches by stepping on the tread holes and ladders in the inner walls of the trenches. After climbing out of the trenches, the eighteen infantry companies of the two infantry regiments participating in the attack appeared. A long skirmishing line emerged, driven by various orders and whistles, and slowly accelerated towards the Japanese position.

In the command post of the 103rd Division, He Wei looked at the troops of the 103rd Division who were advancing to attack, and sighed slightly. It can be seen from their attack formation that the troops of the 103rd Division The old skirmish line tactics used from the late Qing Dynasty to the early World War I were still used. The collective bayonets in the trenches just before the charge were very similar to the trench warfare of World War I.

In their skirmish line attack formation, He Wei could see that the riflemen holding the Hanyang-made rifles with bayonets and the machine gunners holding the Czech light machine guns were parallel to the skirmish line. This is exactly what it means. They simply have not mastered the essence of using light machine gun tactics, and the overall tactical level of the troops still remains in the era of skirmishers.

What they faced was the Japanese army equipped with many automatic firearms.

He Wei sighed softly and tightened his grip on the telescope in his hand.

This desperate attack by the 103rd Division is destined to be a bloody battle.

(End of this chapter)