The Iron-Blooded Army of Beacon Fire

Chapter 396 Bloody Battle 1
The bright sky gradually dimmed, and the air near the Big Bear Mountain and the Big Bear Mountain Plateau and the setting sun in the sky still emitted burning flames. In the afterglow of the setting sun, it seemed as if the entire Big Bear Mountain Plateau was shrouded in blood.

Below the high ground, from 600 meters in front of the Big and Small Bear Mountain Highlands to the obstacle area of ​​the high ground, there were Japanese soldiers' bodies lying everywhere.

After the smoke cleared, the hideous-looking craters in front of the high ground gradually appeared. In the charred craters created by the 150mm heavy grenades, in addition to the broken limbs of the Japanese soldiers, there were also several streams of blood formed by the blood that the ground had not had time to absorb.

The horrific scenes of mutilated limbs, blood, broken arms, and minced flesh seemed extremely terrifying when set against the painful groans of the seriously injured but not dead Japanese officers and soldiers.

Of course, this horrific scene was a very refreshing picture to the officers and soldiers defending the Big and Small Bear Mountain Heights who had just annihilated an infantry battalion and an engineering company of the Japanese army.

In the command post of the 385th Infantry Regiment of the 1125th Brigade on the Big and Small Bear Mountains, the commander of the 1125th Regiment, Colonel Xu Kunyuan, was particularly excited in introducing to He Wei and Ma Ji the battle that had ended not long ago. This middle-aged officer in his thirties had completely lost the composure that a colonel commander should have.

The 385th Brigade was a newly formed combat unit of the National Army before the Battle of Wuhan began. Today's battle was its first engagement with the Japanese Army. The excitement of winning the first battle naturally made Commander Xu, who had heard of the Japanese Army's vicious reputation, particularly excited.

Not only the regimental commander, but also all the officers and soldiers of the 1125th Infantry Regiment and the 385th Brigade, who were fighting the Japanese army for the first time, were greatly encouraged by the victory they had just won.

"Brigade Commander, Captain He, this battle was so exciting. At least a thousand Japanese soldiers fell in front of our position, and our officers and soldiers only suffered more than 20 casualties in the Japanese artillery bombardment. The artillery brothers were very powerful. After a few rounds of artillery fire, all the Japanese were knocked down. The remaining more than a hundred Japanese soldiers were taken care of by our mortars and light and heavy machine guns as soon as they climbed up our high ground. It seems that the Japanese army is no more than this."

As soon as Xu Kunyuan finished speaking, the experienced and prudent commander of the 385th Brigade, Ma Ji, said, "Captain Xu, this battle was fought very well, but you must not underestimate the enemy. The Japanese army seems to have underestimated the enemy in this battle, and they have the support of the artillery unit of Captain He. Moreover, the artillery cover of the Japanese army's attack this time is not sufficient. When the Japanese army launches the next attack, it may not be the case. Captain Xu, you must be vigilant and urge the officers and soldiers of your regiment to reinforce the fortifications and be ready for battle!"

Although Ma Ji was reminding Xu Kunyuan not to underestimate the enemy, his voice was slightly trembling. Looking at the piles of Japanese corpses below the high ground and listening to the groans of the surviving Japanese soldiers, an uncontrollable smile appeared on his face.

He came from an old warlord army, served as the commander of the 8th Division of the Beiyang Army, worked for Wu Peifu, and fought against the Northern Expedition Army. He always felt guilty towards the country, and now he won the first battle when he led his troops to fight against foreign enemies for the first time, which indeed made Ma Ji feel emotional.

In the command post, He Wei, Chen Xinsheng and the commander of the 150mm heavy artillery battalion, Hu Rizhen, were very calm. To He Wei and Chen Xinsheng, annihilating a battalion of Japanese troops was nothing. The commander of the 150mm heavy artillery battalion, Hu Rizhen, had fought all the way from the Battle of Shanghai and had seen big scenes, so they were all quite calm.

He Wei put down the binoculars, turned around and said to Ma Ji: "Brigade Commander Ma is right. However, no matter what, Brigade Commander Ma's troops have officially opened. With today's good start, the brothers of the 385th Brigade will surely fight better and better!"

Ma Ji smiled and said, "Captain He has said too much. I have also seen today's battle. To fight a war, we still need to rely on artillery and cannons. Without the artillery under Captain He, it would be difficult for my brigade to defend its position!"

Then, Ma Ji's tone became stern again, and he said, "But I, an old man, do have some experience in defensive tactics. Unfortunately, the artillery fire of Captain He's troops was too fierce today, and I didn't have time to use the delicious dishes I prepared for the Japanese."

Hearing this, He Wei asked curiously, "I wonder what delicious food Brigade Commander Ma prepared for the Japanese? Did he put some thought into the formation of the positions or the firepower configuration?"

"Let me keep it a secret for a while. Captain He will know when the Japanese attack again."

Ma Ji said with a smile.

He Wei said: "Then I will wait for Brigade Commander Ma to serve the Japanese."

Then, He Wei said to Chen Xinsheng and Hu Rizhen: "Captain Chen, Captain Hu, your artillery did a great job this time. You must keep it up. Brigade Commander Ma and I will be in the command post on the reverse slope. Your artillery command post is on the high ground, so you can observe the enemy's situation faster than we can. I will give you all the command authority and responsibility for the artillery."

"Unless you encounter a special situation that requires your approval, the artillery unit's firing time, number of shells, tactics and methods are all decided by you. We have enough shells, so as long as you can kill more enemies, you can fire as much as you want."

"Yes!"

Chen Xinsheng stood at attention and raised his voice.

Although Hu Rizhen, the commander of the 150th Heavy Artillery Battalion, was a lieutenant colonel of the same rank as He Wei, he was very excited about He Wei's generosity in delegating the command of the artillery units to the front-line artillery officers. He rubbed his hands and said, "Please rest assured, Captain He, the eight heavy artillery pieces of our battalion will definitely give the devils a good beating!"

He Wei nodded slightly, and after he and Ma Ji made a brief inspection of the various positions on the Big and Small Bear Mountain Heights, they quickly returned to the command post on the reverse slope of the heights.

In He Wei's view, the battle in which more than a thousand Japanese soldiers were killed was just a small episode and he did not take it seriously. One reason was that He Wei had won so many battles and even the Japanese army's regiment-level units had been annihilated under his command. Naturally, he would not have much reaction to annihilating a battalion of Japanese soldiers.

Secondly, He Wei immediately judged from the firepower preparation before the Japanese attack and the firepower equipment to cover the infantry charge that the Japanese attack on the Big and Small Bear Mountain Heights was just a feint with a tentative nature.

After all, the attacking Japanese army did not have many decent barreled artillery for cover, which was not in line with the intensity of artillery preparation that the Japanese army usually had during offensive operations.

On the contrary, there were quite a few Japanese infantry units responsible for the charge and attack on the highland. At the beginning, at least one infantry battalion was deployed, which exceeded the standard of the general feint attack. If He Wei had carried out a feint attack on the Big and Small Bear Mountain, he would at most have deployed one or two reinforced companies to attack, and would never have deployed such a large capital of an infantry battalion. It is not difficult to imagine the reason why there was no decent artillery as fire cover. The Japanese army in front was a heavily armed force, and the nearby traffic roads had been completely destroyed by He Wei. Therefore, the Japanese artillery unit's advance speed was naturally not fast, and it was also natural that it could not be deployed with the Japanese light infantry in the feint attack to attack the Big and Small Bear Mountain.

As for the reason why the Japanese commander immediately took out an entire battalion to launch a tentative attack, He Wei believed that the Japanese commander probably wanted to gain an advantage while launching the tentative attack.

If the defenders on the Big and Small Bear Mountain Plateau put up an effective resistance, the Japanese army will naturally withdraw while they are ahead. If the defenders on the Big and Small Bear Mountain Plateau show weak combat effectiveness, then the exploratory attack of this Japanese brigade will turn into a real and fierce attack.

However, He Wei obviously did not give the attacking Japanese army a chance to fight back. Instead, he launched a thundering attack with a gun group consisting of 44 mountain cannons, howitzers, and mortars, engulfing the attacking Japanese troops with fierce firepower, leaving no room for the attacking Japanese troops at all.

Of course, He Wei also knew that this clean and neat first battle, which relied on sudden and fierce artillery bombardment to annihilate the enemy, was just an appetizer.

The Japanese army in front of them was a heavy force group equipped with a large number of heavy equipment. It was impossible for them to give up after suffering a loss. Once the Japanese heavy force group was fully deployed and all kinds of heavy equipment were put into the attack, the next battle would not be so easy to fight.

The next morning, Hata Shigei sat with a gloomy face in the newly opened field command post. He stood in front of the artillery scope and slowly turned to look, scanning the Big and Small Bear Mountain heights repeatedly with his eyes fixed.

In the artillery mirror, the Big and Small Bear Mountain heights were only the size of a fingernail, but the faint outline of the mountain seemed extremely huge to Shigeichi Hata. The yellow shadows formed by the corpses of Japanese soldiers below the heights made Shigeichi Hata's mouth tighten, and the scenes of yesterday's battle seemed to appear before his eyes again.

In yesterday's battle, with just one attack, the fighting lasted less than an hour, and an entire infantry battalion and an engineering company were wiped out right in front of Hata Shigeichi. Hata Shigeichi, who had originally had a glimmer of hope that he could turn the feint attack into a real attack and capture the Big and Small Bear Mountain Heights in one fell swoop, was completely brought back to reality by the fierce artillery fire of the Chinese army.

Even though a night had passed, Shigeichi Hata still felt a little scared when he recalled the horrific artillery barrage from the Chinese army that almost instantly devoured thousands of Japanese officers and soldiers yesterday. Such fierce and accurate artillery fire was something Hata Shigeichi had never experienced in his previous combat with the Chinese army.

Thousands of officers and soldiers were instantly devoured by the fierce artillery fire of the Chinese army right under his nose, and all of them were lost. This really made Hata Shigeyi feel heartbroken at the time, and he wished he could eat alive the Chinese defenders on the Big and Small Bear Mountain plateau.

However, the troops and firepower that Hata Shigeichi had at his disposal at the time were not enough to provide any effective countermeasures. After losing an entire infantry battalion and an engineering company, the only vanguard force left under Hata Shigeichi's control was a field infantry regiment with only two infantry battalions. Using such a small force to continue attacking the Big and Small Bear Mountain Heights under the fierce artillery fire of the Chinese army was tantamount to providing living targets for the Chinese army's artillery.

Therefore, after the failure of the initial attack, Hata Shigekazu could only swallow his anger temporarily and retreated in shame and anger.

Now, after enduring a night, the infantry, artillery, engineers, motor vehicles and other units of the Hata Detachment have completed their advance overnight and have all arrived in front of the Big and Small Bear Mountains. They have completed the infantry attack starting positions, the artillery firing positions, and the opening of the baggage replenishment ammunition depot and field hospital overnight.

The front-line combat units including the Taiwan Island 1st Infantry Regiment, the Taiwan Island 2nd Infantry Regiment, the Taiwan Island Mountain Artillery Regiment, the 150mm Heavy Artillery Battalion, and the 8th Independent Engineer Regiment have also been ready for battle throughout the night.

Hata Shigekazu still stared at the Big and Small Bear Mountains in the gunnery's mirror and asked loudly, "How are the troops preparing for the attack?"

"Report to the commander, the 1st Infantry Regiment of Taiwan Island and the 2nd Infantry Regiment of Taiwan Island have made preparations for the attack at their departure positions. The Taiwan Mountain Artillery Regiment and the 150mm Heavy Artillery Battalion have completed the loading of the first round of artillery shells and can start the attack at any time." said the adjutant.

Hata Shigekazu's eyes flashed with madness, and he said coldly: "Order, the infantry do not attack for the time being. The Chinese army has deployed a large number of artillery near this high ground. In three minutes, have the artillery units bombard the high ground for at least 20 minutes. While bombarding the high ground, you must find the Chinese army's artillery and destroy it!"

"Yes!"

The adjutant immediately turned around and answered the phone and began to pass on the order, while Hata Shigekazu continued to stare at the artillery scope with a sneer.

Yesterday, Hata Shigekazu lost more than a thousand officers and soldiers under the artillery fire of the Chinese army. Now the time for revenge has come. Hata Shigekazu swore in his heart that he must use the mountain artillery regiment and heavy artillery battalion under his command to severely teach the Chinese army in front of him a lesson and avenge the more than a thousand brave warriors who died yesterday!
三分钟后，波田重一报复性的猛烈炮击准时开始，波田支队下属的台岛山炮兵联队的36门94式75毫米山炮和重炮兵大队的8门96式150毫米榴弹炮的炮口齐齐的吐出了一道道耀眼的火舌。

It seemed as if beams of lightning exploded above the artillery positions of an entire mountain artillery regiment and a heavy artillery battalion, instantly illuminating the early morning sky.

Immediately afterwards, the thunder-like sound of propellant exploding and the whistling sound of shells leaving the gun merged into one, and then these whistling sounds turned into violent shaking of the earth as the shells hit the ground and exploded.

The power of the Hata Detachment's artillery group's salvo fire was extremely fierce. Amidst the shrill whistling sounds, countless 75mm mountain artillery explosive grenades and 150mm explosive grenades exploded accurately on the heights of the Big and Small Bear Mountains.

The explosive grenades fired rapidly by the latest Type 94 mountain artillery equipped by the Taiwan Island Mountain Artillery Regiment were almost densely connected. Among them, the 150mm grenades fired by the heavy artillery battalion hit the high ground of the Big and Small Bear Mountains and exploded with a special and violent roar.

Amid the rumbling of artillery fire, streaks of orange-yellow explosions and gray-black smoke appeared and rose one after another on the high ground of the Big and Small Bear Mountains in the early morning light.

(End of this chapter)