The Iron-Blooded Army of Beacon Fire

Chapter 350 Howitzer Fires (Happy Holidays)

A loud bang on the river instantly shocked all the officers and soldiers of the Japanese Navy minesweeper Xinshan. The exploding mines created white waves and white water mist on the river surface, which were clearly visible even at a distance of one kilometer.

The violent shock wave generated by the explosion of the mine not only caused the hull of the Xinshan to tremble violently, but also caused the sharp bow that cut through the waves in the river to sway up and down.

As a professional minesweeper, the Japanese naval sailors on the Xinshan quickly realized that what had just exploded was a mine, and a very powerful one at that.

Therefore, the Xinshan minesweeper immediately reduced its forward speed further and used flags and signals to warn other ships following behind that there were mines ahead.

The Japanese naval sailors on the ship were watching the situation on the river vigilantly. In the command tower of the Xinshan, the captain of the Xinshan minesweeper, Major Muto, frowned as he looked at the mist rising from the explosion on the river ahead.

The first officer of the Xinshan ship beside Major Muto said: "Captain, it seems to be a visual mine. There should be Chinese military observation posts and mine blasters on the shore, but they detonated it too early. Our ship is still one kilometer away from the explosion point of the mine."

The doubts of the first mate of the Xinshan ship were actually also the doubts of the captain of the Xinshan ship, Major Muto. As the captain of a minesweeper, he was already familiar with clearing mines, but the explosion of this mine really puzzled him.

After long-term minesweeping operations, Major Muto has gained sufficient understanding of the mines used by the Chinese Navy's minelaying forces.

At present, the mines used by the Chinese Navy's mine-laying forces are divided into two types: fixed mines and floating mines. As the name suggests, floating mines are camouflaged mines and then thrown into the river. The mines take advantage of the water potential and flow rate of the river to float downstream and are released to drift on the route where enemy ships may appear, thereby carrying out random mine blasting operations.

Fixed mines are stationary mines. According to the detonation method, they are divided into trigger-type fixed mines and visual-type fixed mines. Trigger-type mines are mines that are fixed and suspended at a certain depth in the water. They do not require manual operation and can be detonated when an enemy ship approaches and touches the mine.

General military mines are designed to be equipped with automatic elevators that can adjust their position according to the rise and fall of the tide to keep them at a fixed water depth, thereby causing the mines to sink to the bottom of the water at high tide, preventing them from being triggered and detonated by shallow enemy ships or surfacing at high tide to be discovered and cleared by the enemy.

However, due to insufficient funds of the Chinese Navy, most of the mines produced are not equipped with expensive automatic lifting instruments. Instead, they are fixed using the most primitive chain-type method, that is, an iron chain is installed at the bottom of the mine, and a heavy object connected to the bottom of the river is dropped down. The mine is fixed by this iron chain with adjustable length. This is the so-called trigger-type fixed mine.

The so-called visual mines are to sink the mines directly into the water. When the enemy ship approaches the mines, they are detonated by remote control. Obviously, this kind of mine needs to be monitored by an observation post nearby. If the post is destroyed or evacuated by the enemy, then this kind of mine will naturally not be able to exert its power.

During the minesweeping operations on the Yangtze River, Major Muto cleared most of the Chinese army's mines, the cheapest and most common ones, which were fixed with iron chains. Some floating mines were also swept out, but visual mines that were triggered by manual remote control were rarely encountered. The reason for this is naturally that visual mines are too expensive. In addition to the mine body itself, they also require expensive waterproof detonation devices, so the Chinese Navy cannot use them on a large scale.

But the mine that just exploded in front of the Xinshan ship was a full kilometer away from the Xinshan ship, so that mine definitely could not be a fixed mine or a floating mine, it could only be a visual mine that was manually controlled.

Thinking that there might be visual mines laid by the Chinese Navy on the river, Major Muto immediately became alert.

However, when he thought that the waters that the Xinshan ship entered was the defense area of ​​the Banbishan Fortress, an important pass of the Chinese army, Major Muto was immediately relieved.

The Banbishan Fortress and the river waters it controls are the last gateway along the river for the Chinese army to control Wuhan. It is only natural to lay expensive visual mines on the river.

But what puzzled Major Muto was that according to normal mine warfare principles, the mine should be detonated when it comes into contact with the enemy ship. Why did the Chinese army detonate its own minesweeper when the distance between it and the mine was one kilometer?

Unable to figure out the key, Major Muto could only warily say to the first mate beside him: "Tell the officer operating the minesweeper to search carefully. All the sailors who can go on deck should go on deck and carefully observe whether there are any mines on the river surface, especially to pay attention to whether there are any mines."

"Yes!"

The Xinshan continued to move forward cautiously in the waves. When the Xinshan continued to sail for another 500 to 600 meters, suddenly, the observer on the front mainmast reported through the loudspeaker: "A large number of mines are suspected to have been found on the water surface 500 meters ahead."

After hearing the report from the microphone, Captain Muto of the Xinshan ship immediately walked out of the command tower and climbed onto the flying bridge above the command tower of the warship.

When Major Muto raised the telescope and looked in the direction the observer pointed, he saw many fragments of exploded mines floating on the river 500 meters away. These were obviously the products of the explosion of the mine just now. In addition to the mine fragments, there were more than a dozen thick black spherical mines on the river, which were emerging and sinking with the constantly rolling river water.

Major Muto shook his head as he looked at those round mines. The mines exposed on the river surface could only mean that the Chinese army did not adjust the depth of the mines properly when laying them, which eventually resulted in the mines being almost level with the river surface. As the river water and waves swayed, these mines would naturally and inevitably be discovered.

The poor mine-laying technology and the visual mine that had just exploded prematurely only showed that the Chinese army's mine-laying technology was too poor when it laid mines on the nearby river.

Seeing that the Chinese army's ability to lay mines was so poor, Major Muto immediately breathed a sigh of relief and became less vigilant. Mines laid with such extremely poor mine-laying technology are simply the greatest blessing for the minesweeper force.

For well-laid mines, minesweepers need to carry out complicated procedures such as clearing, cutting ropes and cables, and blasting. However, this is not necessary for mines that are so poorly laid that they can be seen floating on the river surface. To clear such mines, even minesweepers do not need to be used. They can be quickly cleared by artillery fire or various explosives.

Major Muto, who had been worried about the mines laid by the Chinese army on the river, was now completely relieved. After returning to the command tower, he immediately ordered: "The front main gun, fire at the enemy minefield ahead to detonate the mines. After the detonation, use the ship's guns and machine guns to clear the way for the river surface. The entire ship accelerates forward!"

Boom-boom

With a loud bang, a ball of orange-red light emerged from the muzzle of the 120mm 45-caliber dual-purpose naval gun on the bow of the Xinshan ship. Then, a 120mm shell accurately landed on the mine blockade line in front of the Xinshan ship. The exploding shell immediately detonated more than a dozen mines, which in turn produced a more violent explosion, setting off a huge water column and water curtain.

Immediately, the Xinshan minesweeper began to accelerate towards Banbi Mountain, and the artillery and light machine guns on the ship began to fire continuously. Suddenly, water columns and violent explosions rose one after another on the surface of the river.

The Xinshan ship advanced rapidly while sweeping mines with brutal bombardment, and soon reached the river six kilometers away from Banbi Mountain.

While the Xinshan minesweeper was advancing rapidly, a large number of mines were detonated under the fire of the Xinshan. These mines were just like the first mine blockade line encountered by the Xinshan. All the mines had not completed the underwater depth determination operation and were floating on the surface of the river with the ups and downs of the waves.

The four Japanese destroyers following the Xinshan also accelerated their advance. The gradually increasing speed and the constantly exploding mines and shells made the surface of the river full of surging waves.

Boom
Boom
咣咣
The entire surface of the river was filled with mist and thick smoke produced by the violent explosion. Soon, fragments of various mines and shrapnel produced by the explosion of naval guns were floating in the river.

The mine blockade line laid with such poor technology was actually done intentionally by He Wei and was part of his plan.

Originally, He Wei had laid a strict mine blockade line on the river surface in the Banbishan Defense Zone. The depth of all mines was at least one meter below the horizontal surface of the river. The Japanese minesweepers had to use special minesweeping equipment to search carefully to detect them clearly.

It can be said that the mine blockade line on the river near Banbi Mountain is actually laid out quite tightly, and the types of mines laid are also relatively rich, including both fixed trigger mines and visual mines that are electrically detonated.

But mines have both advantages and disadvantages. Although they are powerful, they are also extremely deterrent. What He Wei is worried about is this deterrent. Once the Japanese ships discover that the mine blockade near Banbi Mountain is too tight, or if a Japanese ship is hit by a mine, the Japanese fleet will inevitably stop advancing, or even retreat and return directly.

In this way, He Wei's intention to attack the Japanese ships with intensive artillery fire from Banbi Mountain would inevitably fail, and the purpose of luring the enemy deep into the territory would not be achieved.

Therefore, in order to allow the Japanese ships to attack Banbi Mountain safely and confidently along the river, He Wei simply used mines to deceive the enemy and asked the navy's mine team to remove the fixed depth heights of all fixed mines, so that all the mines floated on the river surface and were directly exposed to the Japanese ships.

He Wei also ordered the navy's mine team to detonate the manually controlled visual mines on the river in advance. This would not only "create" good minesweeping conditions for the Japanese ships, but also use tactical deception to encourage the Japanese fleet to boldly attack Banbi Mountain without alerting the Japanese ships.

Now, as the Japanese fleet's first ship, the minesweeper Xinshan, sailed into the river less than six kilometers away from Banbi Mountain, He Wei's tactical deception plan had been initially achieved.

Not only did the Japanese ships in the front boldly use artillery to clear the way by clearing minesweepers, but the following Japanese ships also all passed the bend in the river and accelerated their advance, following the minesweepers that were charging forward.

Now that the purpose of deceiving the enemy with mines has been achieved, He Wei will then use the first fire echelon composed of mountain artillery and the second fire echelon composed of tank defense guns to further implement tactical deception. After the Japanese fleet advances, he will use the concealed fire echelon composed of 150mm heavy artillery and naval guns to deal a fatal blow to the Japanese ships!
In the Banbishan Command Post, He Wei looked at the rows of Japanese warships advancing in a line, picked up the phone to the command post of the artillery battalion of the assault corps, and said calmly: "The first fire echelon of the artillery, wait for the Japanese ships to enter the distance of 5,000 meters and start shooting! The second fire echelon, wait for the Japanese ships to enter the distance of 4,000 meters and start shooting. The target is the lead ship of the enemy fleet. Remember to shoot fiercely to deceive the enemy!"

"Yes!"

On the other side of the phone, Chen Xinsheng, the artillery battalion commander of the assault corps, answered loudly, and picked up the other two transmitters leading to the positions of the two mountain artillery companies and repeated: "The first fire echelon of the mountain artillery company, the first and second mountain artillery companies, will start free firing after the target enters 5,000 meters. The second fire echelon of the tank defense artillery company will start firing after 4,000 meters from the enemy ship. The target of each echelon is the lead ship of the enemy fleet!"

"Yes!"

The company commanders of the two mountain artillery companies immediately responded with orders. In the temporary artillery position on the half-mountain, the two mountain artillery companies of the assault corps' artillery battalion had already been prepared for combat firing.

The six Japanese-made Type 94 75mm mountain guns of the First Mountain Artillery Company and the six Soviet-made M1909 76mm mountain guns of the Second Mountain Artillery Company constantly adjusted their firing parameters under the command of the observation officers of each company. As the first ship of the Japanese fleet, the Xinshan, advanced rapidly, the gunners constantly turned the elevation and depression hand wheels of the guns to track the Japanese ships.

Artillery battalion commander Chen Xinsheng stood in front of the artillery mirror, nervously watching the Xinshan minesweeper. When the Xinshan minesweeper appeared at the 5,000-meter distance scale in the artillery mirror, Chen Xinsheng decisively ordered the two mountain artillery companies to open fire.

Chen Xinsheng yelled, "Fire!"

"The entire company is open!"

The two mountain artillery company commanders shouted in unison, and then the squad leaders of the two mountain artillery companies also shouted the battle order to open fire.

Immediately, puffs of white smoke emerged from the muzzles of the twelve mountain cannons hidden in the artillery positions on the mountain, and a row of shells were fired. Two companies of mountain cannons formed the first fire echelon and launched the prelude to the artillery battle between the Banbi Mountain Fortress and the Japanese fleet with a round of rigorous salvos.

Twelve mountain artillery shells whizzed out of the barrels and fired at the Japanese fleet's lead ship, the Xinshan, which was advancing at high speed and was instantly covered by the dense falling shells.
Amid the successive explosions, mountain artillery shells fired by the assault corps' artillery battalion continued to explode around the Xinshan. Towering water columns were blown up and down by the violent explosions, and the Japanese naval sailors on the deck of the Xinshan were soon soaked by the water mist.

In the command tower of the Xinshan, the curtain of water created by the dense explosions of mountain artillery shells made it impossible for the captain, Major Muto, to even see the route ahead. The portholes of the command tower were filled with falling mist and layers of water vapor, but Major Muto was not at all panicked. The Japanese sailors on the deck of the Xinshan were also performing their duties at their respective positions.

Boom-boom

Suddenly, a 76mm mountain artillery shell came through the air with a sharp whistling sound and hit the bottom of the left side of the Xinshan with a loud "bang", and then exploded. The impact force and explosive power of the shell caused the Xinshan to pause backwards, and a black bullet mark appeared on the left side of the hull.

Then, another 75mm near-miss bomb hit the surface of the river in front of the Xinshan ship. The violent explosion created a tall column of water, which then turned into a water curtain that gradually dissipated.

Major Muto had experienced the same scene before in the battle to attack the Fuchiguchi Fort, but at this time, the intensity of the artillery fire from the Banbishan Fort was far inferior to that of the Fuchiguchi Fort in Major Muto's opinion.

No matter what, the Fuchikou Fort still has more than 100mm old-fashioned naval gun firepower. Although the falling shells from Banbi Mountain are dense at this time, they are all 1200mm and mm mountain artillery shells. In this respect, it is not as good as the Fuchikou Fortress. Army artillery shells of this caliber cannot cause any significant damage to a -ton minesweeper.

Boom-boom-boom
In the command tower of the Xinshan, listening to the sound of artillery shells exploding one after another, the captain, Major Muto, looked at the dense water mist outside the command tower and the fiercely firing Banbi Mountain Fortress, and sneered with disdain. He said to the first officer beside him lightly: "Tell the officers and soldiers at all positions that the enemy's shells are the 75-caliber mountain shells used by the army, which can't cause any damage to our ship. The enemy doesn't have any decent artillery. The enemy's artillery tactics are the same as the enemy at Fuchiguchi just now. They will open fire as soon as we enter their effective range. Tell all officers and soldiers not to fire at the enemy fortress. Everyone must respond calmly. The ship's guns and machine guns continue to sweep the river surface ahead to clear mines. The entire ship continues to accelerate forward."

"Inform all officers and soldiers on the ship that the Chinese artillery cannot cause us significant damage. Our ship must endure the enemy fortress fire, just like we did when we attacked Fuchikou just now. We will open fire after reaching close range and wipe out the enemy artillery on Banbi Mountain in one fell swoop!"

"Yes!"

The first officer immediately ran to the command tower intercom and began to transmit Major Muto's combat orders to various combat positions on the Xinshan ship.

The unilateral bombardment of the assault corps was still going on fiercely. Although the officers and soldiers of the two mountain artillery companies of the assault corps' artillery battalion were responsible for tactical deception tasks, they were also doing their best to fire at the Japanese ships, hoping to hit as many of them as possible.

Thanks to the excellent training in daily life, the gunners of the assault corps achieved many hits with their excellent shooting skills.

However, the few subsequent hits did not cause much damage to the Xinshan ship. The 75-caliber artillery shells and instantaneous explosive grenades used by the army were not much different from tickling when hitting the warship. Apart from leaving bullet marks, they could not cause any substantial damage to the hull.

Only two 75mm and 76mm shells hit the deck of the Xinshan ship. With the shrapnel from the explosion of the grenades, they killed and injured some Japanese sailors and damaged some of the Xinshan ship's deck facilities, finally causing some damage.

After discovering that the artillery firing from Banbi Mountain was only a 75mm mountain cannon with limited killing effect, the other Japanese ships following the Xinshan minesweeper also tacitly adopted the same tactic as the Xinshan, adopting the strategy of first forbearing and then exploding with concentrated fire when attacking the Fuchikou Fortress.

No matter how fiercely the bombardment from the two mountain artillery companies on Banbi Mountain was, the Japanese fleet just accelerated forward silently and never fought back. Only the minesweeper Xinshan, which was at the front of the fleet, was using naval guns and machine guns to sweep the surface of the river to carry out minesweeping operations, completely ignoring the fierce artillery fire from the two mountain artillery companies.

The surface of the river was littered with dense columns of water raised by exploding shells. There were shells from the two mountain artillery companies of the Assault Corps on Banbi Mountain firing at the Japanese ships, as well as shells from the Japanese ships that were clearing the river by blasting mines.

Dense water columns were blown into the air and dissipated in the river breeze, turning into water curtains that blocked the view and enveloped the Japanese fleet that was lying motionless and not firing a single shot.

He Wei watched this scene in the command post and nodded slightly with satisfaction.

Before the war, based on the course of the Japanese warships' attack on the Fuchikou Fortress, He Wei judged that the Japanese warships would most likely adopt the same counter-attack tactics against the Banbishan Fortress, that is, rushing to a very close distance from the Banbishan Fortress and firing counter-attacks with extremely fierce and accurate naval artillery fire.

It now seems that his estimation was correct, and up to this point, the situation on the battlefield has been progressing as he had expected.

The Japanese fleet had been sailing forward under the artillery fire from Banbi Mountain without any response. Except for the fleet's lead ship, the Xinshan minesweeper, which used artillery and machine guns to shoot at the river to clear the mines, the entire fleet did not fire a single shot in retaliation, truly carrying out the tactic of forbearance before acting to the extreme.

“Boom boom—bang bang!”

Muffled gunfire was heard again from Banbi Mountain. When the lead ship of the Japanese fleet rushed to the river four kilometers away from Banbi Mountain, the tank defense artillery company of the artillery battalion of the assault corps, which served as the second firepower echelon, finally began to fire at the lead ship of the Japanese fleet, Xinshan.

The six Russian 45mm tank defense guns have a smaller caliber, and there are two companies of mountain artillery for reference, so their shooting hit rate is much higher than that of the mountain artillery.

However, the caliber of the 45mm shells was too small. After hitting the Japanese ship Xinshan, the shells could not even leave a small dent, but only shallow bullet marks, and the killing effect was basically zero.

However, He Wei didn't care at all. He formed the tank defense gun company of the assault corps' artillery battalion into the second fire echelon and fired at the Japanese ships. His original intention was to use the tank defense guns to make up the numbers and boost the momentum. While conducting tactical deception, it also allowed the gunners to practice shooting at moving targets with live ammunition.

The shells fired by the tank defense battery at this time were all explosive grenades instead of the more expensive armor-piercing shells. This was because the officers of the tank defense battery knew that neither the 45mm caliber grenades nor the armor-piercing shells could cause any damage to the warships, so they only allowed the gunners to fire cheap and large quantities of explosive grenades, just to improve the gunners' shooting skills.

The tank defense artillery company's shooting at Japanese ships at this time was more of a combat shooting exercise with real soldiers and live ammunition than a combat mission.

Under the intensive bombardment of mountain artillery and tank defense guns, the Japanese fleet gradually accelerated and continued to approach Banbi Mountain.

He Wei had been watching the Japanese fleet on the river through the observation port. It could be seen that the Japanese fleet had not made any counterattack, but had been advancing silently towards Banbi Mountain, strictly implementing the tactic of "forbearance first and then explosion".

The tactics of the Japanese fleet were well executed, showing good discipline and strict training.

However, He Wei's tactical deception was equally well executed. Relying on a bunch of mountain artillery and tank defense guns with low anti-ship killing effects as a means of tactical deception, he successfully made the Japanese fleet believe that the firepower equipped by the Banbishan Fortress was the same as that of the Fuchikou Fortress, which was the army's 75mm caliber mountain and field artillery with low anti-ship destructive effect.

Little did they know that He Wei had kept his 150mm heavy howitzers, naval guns and other powerful weapons under his control and had not fired them, waiting for the most critical moment to strike hard and deal a fatal blow to the Japanese army.

From this point of view, He Wei's tactics also have a "forbearing" aspect, which is similar to the tactics of the Japanese fleet.

As the distance between the Japanese fleet and Banbi Mountain continued to narrow, both sides revealed their true intentions, and the moment to play their final cards finally arrived.

In the command post on Banbi Mountain, a staff officer shouted to He Wei: "Captain, the lead Japanese ship is about 3,800 meters away from our Banbi Mountain!"

He Wei's eyes lit up when he heard the distance parameters reported by the staff. Chief of Staff Wang Yuanling also walked up to He Wei and said, "Captain, the Japanese ships are about to reach the scheduled firing range of the mechanized heavy artillery battalion and the naval guns."

He Wei threw a punch in the direction of the attacking Japanese warships and said excitedly: "Okay! Immediately notify the mechanized heavy artillery battalion and the naval artillery team. Open fire as soon as the Japanese warships reach a distance of 3,500 meters. Beat these Japanese warships hard!"

In the command post of the mechanized heavy artillery battalion, Lieutenant Colonel Hu Rizhen, the battalion commander, hung up the phone call from the Banbishan command post that conveyed the order to allow firing, rolled up his sleeves and stood behind the artillery telescope, staring at the direction and distance scale of the lead ship of the Japanese fleet in the artillery telescope without blinking, and said to the battalion commander behind him: "Each company should conduct the final combat firing check and report back quickly!"

The battalion adjutant picked up the phone to the two howitzer companies and conveyed Hu Rizhen's order, and the command reports from the two howitzer companies were also quickly transmitted back.

"Report to the battalion commander, the third company is ready for combat shooting! Four grenades have been loaded!"

"Fourth Company ready for combat shooting! Four rounds of armor-piercing shells loaded!"

"it is good!"

Hu Rizhen roared, staring intently at the approaching Japanese ships in the artillery mirror, counting the time to open fire in his mind. After conveying the report orders from the two artillery companies, the battalion commander did not hang up the phone, but handed the two walkie-talkies to Hu Rizhen's side, waiting for Hu Rizhen's firing order.

In the multiple reinforced concrete all-round protective gun positions on Banbi Mountain, the two combat artillery companies under the mechanized heavy artillery battalion and eight German-imported SFH18 150mm howitzers are ready for firing.

This artillery is a cutting-edge product of the German Rheinmetall company and is also the standard divisional artillery of the German Army Infantry Division. It has a range of up to 13 kilometers and is one of the most modern large-caliber field howitzers in the world today.

The ammunition equipped with this type of howitzer includes not only conventional explosive grenades, but also armor-piercing shells with anti-ship capabilities. The Hu Rizhen Battalion is the second battalion of the 10th Army Mechanized Heavy Artillery Regiment. This regiment is the earliest mechanized artillery unit of the National Army. Both the quality of its personnel and the level of its equipment are among the best in the National Army's artillery.

Therefore, this battalion is a trump card in He Wei's hand, and now is the time to play this card.

When the lead ship of the Japanese fleet was about to reach the river 3,500 meters away from Banbi Mountain, Hu Rizhen shouted in the rumble of artillery: "Ready! - Fire!"

The loud order to fire was transmitted to the two howitzer companies through the telephone. The gunners of the eight howitzers of the two howitzer companies almost simultaneously began the same combat artillery exercises. The gunners of each gun pulled the gun rope hard to trigger the firing primer. With a loud "bang", a cloud of sparks and smoke with a diameter of two meters and a length of about four meters spurted out from the muzzles of the eight SFH18 howitzers.

Boom
Boom
The loud sound of the 150mm howitzer's firing suddenly split the air.

Immediately afterwards, the "ho-ho-ho" sound of eight 150mm shells whizzing out of the gun barrel penetrated the explosions of the mm and mm mountain guns, and whistled towards the Xinshan, the lead ship of the Japanese fleet on the river.

(End of this chapter)