The Iron-Blooded Army of Beacon Fire

Chapter 376: German Stormtrooper Tactics
With a bang, the dull sound of a 7.63mm Mauser pistol bullet firing sounded in front of the Japanese position, sounding like thunder in the dark night.

As soon as the gunshots fell, Liu Yonggui, the platoon leader of the first platoon of the special forces company who fired the first shot of the feint attack, jumped out from a rain-cracked ditch 500 meters away from the front of the Japanese position with a 20-shot submachine gun and shouted, "Brothers, charge!"

While shouting orders, Liu Yonggui used his thumb to press the rotating lever to adjust the rate of fire selector in his hand to fully automatic shooting mode and pulled the trigger again.

bang bang bang
Liu Yonggui fired a string of bullets at random, and then the soldiers of the three infantry squads in the first row of the special forces rushed out from the hidden rain-cracked ditch, shouting and killing, and launched an attack on the Japanese positions under the leadership of Liu Yonggui.

Although there was a strong Japanese position ahead, the charge of the veterans in the first row was still as smooth as their usual training. Under the command of the squad leader and the sergeant leader, the infantry of each squad dispersed into squads and advanced with skilled tactical movements in accordance with the tactical requirements of the skirmisher group. From the soldiers' individual tactical movements to the movements between squads of three or four people and the squad and platoon formations, everything was exactly consistent with the requirements of the drill manual and teaching standards formulated by He Wei for the assault corps.

The only difference from the requirements in the drill manual and teaching standards was that during the charge and leap, the soldiers did not advance with their guns as required in the drill manual, but instead rushed forward while firing at the Japanese positions with the various firearms in their hands.

The riflemen were firing as hard as they could with their vz24 rifles, the light machine gunners were pulling the triggers during the advance, firing everywhere at the Japanese positions, and even the submachine gunners were firing continuously with their submachine guns, which obviously had a range that could not reach the Japanese positions. Liu Yonggui was even swinging his -shot machine gun from side to side and firing wildly.

The faces of the soldiers in the row who were charging were all ferocious, and they shouted out killing sounds one after another with all their might.

"Kill!"

"Go on!"

"Brothers, charge forward and fight."

The first row's behavior of charging and firing at this distance was a complete waste of bullets and shooting indiscriminately. The loud shouting and howling like ghosts and wolves during the charge was a waste of energy and a meaningless behavior. These abnormal behaviors were, of course, a means of feinting and creating momentum. Their purpose was to make a big noise. Otherwise, how could they lure the Japanese troops in the position to open fire?

The first row charged forward while firing fiercely and shouting wildly. This fierce fighting, shouting and charging achieved good results. One platoon created a momentum that was no less than that of an infantry company.

The Japanese troops in the position were already in a state of high alert under the strict orders of their commander Kitaro Tsuchi, and the guard posts were even ordered by Kitaro Tsuchi to fire blindly, so most of the Japanese troops in the position were very sensitive.

The first row made such a loud noise and attacked that the Japanese army responded quickly. After hearing the shouts and gunshots from the first row, the Japanese searchlights in the position immediately shook around to search for the enemy. Sharp whistles, as well as the Japanese army's unpleasant roars and commands came one after another.

The Japanese searchlights in the position immediately shone in the direction of the attacking row.

Then, after several continuous sonic booms and explosions, suddenly a strong light illuminated the area around the Japanese positions, and more than a dozen flares with various signals were fired into the air by the Japanese.

Among them, there are small flares fired from signal guns, medium flares fired from Type 75 mm grenade launchers, and large umbrella-shaped flares fired from high-angle shooting of mm mountain cannons.

Small and medium flares were flying and circling in the air, leaving white smoke trails. Large parachute flares exploded in the air and released small parachutes, slowly dragging the flares down in mid-air. A large number of flares instantly turned the Japanese positions and surroundings into a world as bright as day. Under the backdrop of moonlight and flares, the outlines of the first row of officers and soldiers rushing towards the front of the Japanese positions were clearly illuminated.

Similarly, during the assault, the officers and soldiers of the first row also used flares to see the Japanese positions clearly, including the complete obstacle area in front of the position, dense bunkers, machine gun nests, covered communication trenches and concealed areas, and the light reflected from the barrels of heavy machine guns, which made Liu Yonggui, the platoon leader of the first row who was charging, feel a chill down his spine.

"Be careful, lie down on the spot after you rush forward! Dig a prone foxhole!"

Liu Yonggui roared, fired twenty rounds, accelerated, rushed to the Japanese army's obstacle area 200 meters away and pounced on the ground. The officers and soldiers in the first row also rushed over one after another and crawled on the ground 200 meters away from the Japanese army's obstacle area composed of barbed wire, stakes and outer trenches.

Almost when the first row of officers and soldiers responsible for the feint attack advanced to the predetermined position of "200 meters away from the enemy position", the Japanese position suddenly opened fire like a volcanic eruption. The Japanese machine gun nests, bunkers, guard posts and infantry in the communication trenches of the positions soon all opened fire. The Taisho Type 11 light machine guns in the bunkers and machine gun nests fired, the Type 92 heavy machine guns fired, and the Type 38 rifles in the hands of the infantry also fired.

Various firearms of the Japanese army in the position spewed out orange-yellow flames. Their carefully built and arranged fire points formed a complete cross-fire network in front of the position. The sounds of 7.7mm heavy machine gun bullets, 6.5mm light machine gun bullets and rifle bullets continued to echo in the surrounding wilderness. The yellow, green and red ballistics produced by light and heavy machine guns using tracer bullets formed a series of flying fire snakes, hitting the first row of officers and soldiers who had just stopped their leap.

Faced with the fierce firepower of the Japanese army, the first row of officers and soldiers who stopped advancing and crawled on the ground had cold sweats on their backs. Although their purpose was to attract the Japanese army to open fire, the officers and soldiers in the first row had never expected that the Japanese would launch such strong firepower just during the charge and engagement phase.

The officers and soldiers of the first row certainly didn't know that the entire Japanese position was in a state of high alert and extremely sensitive. The first row made a lot of noise when they pretended to charge. Therefore, the Japanese army immediately attacked the first row with the most fierce firepower. Almost all the light and heavy machine guns in the bunkers and machine gun nests in the Japanese position were firing fiercely.

Even though the officers and soldiers in the first row were all veterans, facing the fierce firepower suddenly erupted by the Japanese army in a short period of time, many of them felt a chill in their backs. However, despite the thrilling process, the first step of the feint attack tactic, the "fake charge", was finally completed. This feint attack-style battle will then enter the second stage, namely the "fierce attack."

The so-called fierce fire attack is to concentrate the available firepower of the entire special forces company to fire at the Japanese army's obstacle area and even the main position. The first row responsible for the feint attack must continue to pretend to attack the Japanese army's obstacle area and advance towards the areas where the Japanese army's barbed wire, stakes and other obstacles are located, creating the illusion that the special forces company is going to launch a real attack on the Japanese position, in order to induce the Japanese army to further expose the troop and firepower deployment in its position.

"Hurry up and dig a foxhole. The damn firepower is too strong."

"Dig, dig!"

In front of the Japanese position, in order to avoid the extremely fierce infantry and machine gun fire of the Japanese army, the first row of officers and soldiers who crawled down began to build prone shooting trenches.

It was not easy to build a foxhole under the enemy's fierce firepower. The officers and soldiers needed to first crawl on the ground and use their hands and feet to push a shallow pit in their respective crawling positions. Then they had to use an engineer shovel to dig a shallow trench in front of their bodies in a sideways posture. At the same time, they had to pile up the excavated loose soil in front of them and compact it to form a chest shield to block bullets and guns. Only then was a prone foxhole preliminarily formed.

It was not easy to construct fortifications urgently under the firepower of the Japanese army, and even in training it took at least four or five minutes to form a prone foxhole. Fortunately, the first row was composed of veterans with skilled combat skills and excellent earthwork ability. Therefore, in just over a minute, dozens of officers and soldiers in a row formed a large number of foxhole groups in squads and initially gained a foothold in front of the Japanese army's obstacle area.

Liu Yonggui, the platoon leader of the first platoon, who was lying in a foxhole, felt the whizzing sound of various machine gun bullets flying overhead. He wiped off his sweat and glanced at the nearby row of officers and soldiers. Seeing that everyone was lying in the repaired fortifications and there were no casualties, he breathed a sigh of relief and shouted to the messenger who was lying not far away: "Hurry up and fire the signal flare, let the company commander open fire!"

"it is good!"

The messenger raised the signal gun and pulled the trigger. A red flare flew diagonally into the air with a whoosh.

This red flare meant that Liu Yonggui's feint attack platoon had rushed to a position two hundred meters away from the Japanese obstacle area. It was also the time for the remaining troops of the special forces company commanded by its commander Yang Biao to open fire.

Behind a small earthen mound about 60 meters behind the rain crack ditch where Liu Yonggui's first row set out, the commander of the special forces company, Yang Biao, saw the signal flares fired by the first row and immediately ordered to open fire. As a result, the rest of the special forces company, except for the first row, also shouted and killed loudly, and various firearms with four 34mm mortars and two MG24 general-purpose machine guns as the core began to fire. Czech-made vz60 rifles, 34mm mortars, MG general-purpose machine guns and Czech light machine guns concentrated their firepower on the Japanese obstacles in front of the first row, showing a posture of destroying obstacles with fierce firepower and opening a path for the attacking troops.

Although the submachine gunners equipped with machine guns could not hit the Japanese army because of the long distance, they were not idle. They held their machine guns and fired a few shots in the direction of the Japanese positions from time to time to boost their morale.

On a big tree not far from the small mound, Ou Yuxiang, the platoon leader of the second platoon of the special forces company, hid in the dense branches and leaves, stood on two large branches and wrote furiously on the drawing board. He used the tactical mapping skills he learned in the Whampoa Military Academy to record the approximate structure of the Japanese positions and the exposed firing points, bunkers, machine gun nests, etc.

Boom
Boom
The special forces company's concentrated fire attack on the Japanese army's obstacle area soon achieved results. Several 60mm mortar shells hit the Japanese army's obstacle area accurately. The explosion of the mortar shells immediately exploded in the Japanese army's obstacle area. The first row of officers and soldiers who reached the Japanese army's obstacle area also fired at the Japanese army's obstacles with rifles and light machine guns under the fierce firepower of the Japanese army.

The shells fired by four 60mm mortars of the two mortar squads of the special forces company landed in the Japanese obstacle area and exploded, producing shrapnel and bullets from rifles, light machine guns and general-purpose machine guns flying everywhere, sparks flying at the barbed wire set up by the Japanese, some barricades were also blown to pieces, and all kinds of wood fragments, wires and branches were flying everywhere.

Soon, several small holes were blown in the Japanese army's obstacle areas composed of barbed wire and stakes. The concentrated fire of the special forces company finally gave some response to the Japanese army's fierce fire attack. Of course, these small holes were actually just a few holes blasted in the first few layers of the multi-level and multi-row barbed wire constructed by the Japanese army.

With the mortar firepower of the special forces company, the destructive power on the Japanese obstacle area can only reach this extent. It is impossible to completely open a passage for the attacking forces in the Japanese obstacle area and achieve complete destructive shooting.

However, such destructive effect is sufficient for a feint attack.

Liu Yonggui, the platoon leader of the first platoon, saw the hole in the Japanese barbed wire not far away and immediately gave a loud order: "Brothers, shout to me, throw grenades forward, and after throwing the grenades, each squad will send a rifle squad to rush to the hole in the Japanese barbed wire. Don't rush too hard and don't really attack inside. If the Japanese fight too fiercely, withdraw immediately. Remember, we are acting for the Japanese to trick them into exposing their firepower. Don't lose your life!"

"kill!"

"Blast you to death!"

"I fuck your ancestors for eighteen generations!"

A row of soldiers soon started shouting, some shouted to kill, some greeted the immediate family members of the Japanese soldiers opposite. While shouting and insulting the Japanese soldiers, the soldiers also took out the Gong-made long-handled grenades from their equipment and threw them forward.

Boom
Boom
Dozens of long-handled grenades were thrown in front of the Japanese army's obstacle area and exploded one after another, creating bursts of smoke and dirt. After the grenades exploded one after another, nine soldiers in the first row suddenly jumped up from the ground and rushed towards the Japanese army's obstacle area.

"Come on!"

The rifle squad under the infantry squad of the assault corps consists of three people. The squad leader is equipped with a machine gun and the squad members are equipped with rifles. The three rifle squads consist of exactly nine soldiers. These nine soldiers, who were responsible for the feint attack mission, advanced in a low posture, bending over, and occasionally fired a few shots in the direction of the Japanese position.

Although the Japanese army's machine gun fire was fierce, the nine soldiers took turns to cover each other's advance in squads. Their tactical movements were skillful and extremely dispersed. As a result, the three rifle squads managed to advance 200 meters under the intensive firepower of the Japanese army and attacked the Japanese barbed wire.

Upon seeing this, Liu Yonggui immediately shouted, "Shoot, throw grenades, don't really rush in!"

The soldiers of the three rifle squads faithfully carried out Liu Yonggui's order. After lying down, they immediately began to throw grenades and quickly threw out all the grenades they carried.

Boom
Boom
More than two dozen grenades were thrown continuously at the barbed wire and barricades in front of the Japanese position. In the successive explosions, smoke, dust, and the broken wire and barricades flew everywhere.

After throwing all the grenades, the three rifle squads that rushed forward did not continue the attack, but fired fiercely at the gaps in the damaged barbed wire with three submachine guns and six Czech vz24 rifles. Seeing this, Liu Yonggui and Yang Biao promptly increased the supporting firepower, and the three rifle squads that rushed forward with machine guns and 60mm mortars attacked and bombed the Japanese barbed wire fiercely.

The three rifle squads of the special forces company had already attacked in front of the Japanese army's barbed wire obstacles, and the various firearms of the special forces company also concentrated on firing fiercely at the Japanese army's barbed wire. The explosion of grenades and the firepower of submachine guns and machine guns were intertwined, and the continuous shouting of various units of the special forces company. The attack on the Japanese positions at this time by the special forces company was extremely powerful, or it could be said that the momentum of the special forces company's feint attack had reached its peak!

Just when the special forces company's feint attack on the Japanese army had reached its limit, suddenly, gunshots were heard near the outer trench in the obstacle area in front of the Japanese position. Several machine gun bunker fire points suddenly appeared on the flank of the outer trench, which had been empty all the time, and sprayed orange-yellow machine gun fire streams at the three attacking rifle teams.

Fortunately, the three rifle squads that attacked had already crawled on the ground, and were all in the blind spot of the Japanese bunker's firepower points. Therefore, the sudden machine gun fire from the Japanese bunkers did not cause any casualties to them. Instead, the bunkers that had not fired had their firepower exposed in vain in order to attack them.

But immediately afterwards, a series of loud noises suddenly broke out in the center of the Japanese position, and after the continuous loud noises, there were bursts of whistling sounds of artillery shells breaking through the air.

Liu Yonggui, the platoon leader of the first platoon who was firing a 20-gun cannon, was the first to react. His face changed and he shouted at the front: "Hide from the cannons, retreat, retreat!"

Before Liu Yonggui finished his words, a dense barrage of shells landed near the three rifle squads that had rushed forward. The shells fell like a violent hailstorm. For a moment, bullets rained down, and smoke, mud, and fragments of barbed wire and barbed wire flew everywhere. The nine soldiers from the three rifle squads were instantly covered in smoke and mud. The smoke and dust rushed straight into the sky, forming columns of smoke.

This time, the three rifle squads that attacked were not as lucky as before. By the time the smoke column was blown away by the wind, all nine soldiers had fallen in a pool of blood.

Of course, these nine soldiers did not sacrifice their lives in vain. The round of artillery bombardment just launched by the Japanese army was a continuous concentrated and rapid fire. While the Japanese artillery successfully killed the first row of soldiers in front of the barbed wire with artillery fire, it also exposed its artillery positions and the number of artillery pieces to the special forces company.

All this crucial information, obtained at the cost of the lives of the first row of soldiers, was recorded on the drawings by Ou Yuxiang, the second row platoon leader of the special forces company.

Seeing his soldiers fall under the Japanese artillery fire, Liu Yonggui cursed with bloodshot eyes: "Fuck you, I'll fuck your ancestors!"

Just when Liu Yonggui's heart was broken, a green flare representing the retreat signal flew into the sky. After the nine soldiers in the first row used their lives to attract the Japanese bunker's machine gun fire points and artillery fire, the special forces company's feint attack goal had been achieved, and there was no point in staying any longer.

Liu Yonggui, who was furious, had to take note of the incident and began to retreat with the first row. Under the cover of 60mm mortar and general-purpose machine gun fire commanded by Company Commander Yang Biao, they retreated to the Yu Lie ditch where they started the feint attack and quickly left the battlefield.

The special forces company's feint attack ended here.

Half an hour later, He Wei saw the detailed map of the Japanese position drawn by Ou Yuxiang, the platoon leader of the second platoon of the special forces company, and quickly learned about the defensive configuration of the Japanese position, its overall structure, as well as specific information such as the composition of the fire network, firearms equipment, and the location of artillery positions.

After looking at the detailed map of the Japanese position obtained at the cost of the lives of nine special forces company soldiers, He Wei immediately had a way to attack the enemy. This time, he planned to imitate the German Army during the First World War and use the German Storm Troopers tactics to break through the Japanese positions!
(End of this chapter)