The Iron-Blooded Army of Beacon Fire

Chapter 399 Bloody Battle 4
Whizzing
Boom
Whizzing
Under the fierce bombardment of eight 8mm SFH150 heavy artillery pieces, the marching column of the 18mm heavy artillery battalion of the Hata Detachment was completely enveloped in a sea of ​​fire and smoke, and the area where it was located turned into a hell of fire and steel.

Amid the continuous and intensive explosions, the tracked tractors, ammunition trailers, trucks, and jeeps of the Japanese heavy artillery battalion were thrown into chaos. Various chain explosions occurred one after another, and the entire battalion's marching column was littered with flying limbs and arms and various fragments of steel and wood.

From a distance, it looked like an extra-large firework that was lit, with several pillars dozens of meters high, mixed with red flames and gray-black smoke rising one after another in the explosion. The violent explosions caused by the 150mm heavy grenades fired by the National Army and the 150mm heavy grenades of the Japanese Army that exploded even made the earth tremble.

Although this elite field artillery battalion of the Japanese Army under the Hata Detachment did not achieve impressive results in this battle, the scene of its final destruction was earth-shattering and "magnificent" and shocked the entire battlefield.

On the Big and Small Bear Mountain Plateau, the officers and soldiers in the command post of the 1125th Infantry Regiment were silent for more than ten seconds, and then suddenly burst into earth-shaking cheers, shaking the entire command post and even the entire Big and Small Bear Mountain Plateau.

The officers and soldiers in the command post, whether they were artillery officers and soldiers brought by Chen Xinsheng, Hu Rizheng and others, or people from the 1125th Infantry Regiment, all rushed to the periscopes and large periscopes of the artillery command post officers and soldiers, crowded together, vying to witness the spectacular scene of smoke and flames gushing out after the Japanese heavy artillery battalion was annihilated by fierce artillery bombardment.

The commander of the 150mm heavy artillery battalion, Hu Rizhen, was naturally very excited and cheered repeatedly. Chen Xinsheng was also very excited and picked up the phone to the reverse slope command post on the high ground, and reported the good news to He Wei and Ma Ji that the Japanese heavy artillery unit had been eliminated.

Immediately, thunderous cheers were also heard from the reverse slope of the Big and Small Bear Mountains.

The destruction of the Japanese heavy artillery battalion naturally boosted the morale of the defenders on the Big and Small Bear Mountain Heights, and the huge fireworks produced by the violent explosion of the Japanese heavy artillery battalion were also witnessed by the Japanese troops on the battlefield.

Whether it was the Japanese infantry units that were waiting in full battle array in the infantry attack starting formation, or the Japanese officers and soldiers of the Taiwan Island Mountain Artillery Regiment that were fiercely bombarding the Big and Small Bear Mountain Heights, or the few survivors of this heavy artillery battalion - the Japanese heavy artillery battalion's calibration balloon observation team who were looking down at all this from hundreds of meters in the air, they were all extremely shocked.

Even the Japanese Taiwan Island Mountain Artillery Regiment, which was firing rapidly at the Big and Small Bear Mountain Heights, slowed down its firing rate as a result.

In the command post of the Hata Detachment, Hata Shigeichi saw the flames and smoke rising into the sky through a telescope, and he could hardly conceal his shock and uncontrollable anger. An elite heavy artillery battalion was destroyed right before his eyes, before the infantry could even start the attack!

What's even more ridiculous is that just a few minutes ago, Hata Shigekazu asked the heavy artillery battalion to use the power of the new 150mm howitzer to kill the Chinese army's artillery, but now
Seeing the tragic scene of the heavy artillery battalion being bombarded, and hearing the faint cheers of the Chinese army coming from the direction of Big Bear Mountain and Small Bear Mountain, Hata Shigeichi could no longer hold back his anger and yelled, "Baga! Damn Chinese army!"

Hata Shigekazu suddenly threw the telescope in his hand away, and it smashed directly onto the map table behind him. Then there was a series of crackling noises, and the lunch box, water cup, work ruler, and baton on the table were all smashed everywhere. When the officers in the command post saw Hata Shigekazu like this, they all stood up and looked at Hata Shigekazu in surprise.

At this moment, Hata Shigeichi had completely lost the calmness and emotional control that a Japanese Army major general should have. He kept cursing, and veins on his forehead and neck were bulging with rage. His right hand was tightly grasping the hilt of his command knife, his whole body was straight, and his eyes were burning with burning anger as he looked towards the Big and Small Bear Mountains.

"Bag! Bag!"

"Damn Chinese Army!"

Hata Shigeichi's continuous cursing finally stopped after half a minute. Suddenly, the command post of the Hata Detachment became silent, and you could hear a pin drop.

Finally, it was Hata Shigekazu's adjutant who stepped forward and asked in a low voice: "Sir, the officers and soldiers of the heavy artillery battalion have been killed. Should we continue the attack?"

Hata Shigeichi's angry face seemed to be emitting fire, and he ordered loudly: "Continue the attack! But the tactics need to be adjusted. Pass my order to increase the attack range. Not only should we attack the high ground in front, but we should also attack the enemy's open positions on both sides of the high ground at the same time."

"Use the entire 1st Infantry Regiment of Taiwan Island to attack the high ground guarded by the enemy in front. A battalion of the 2nd Infantry Regiment of Taiwan Island and the 8th Independent Engineer Regiment will attack the enemy's open ground positions on the left wing of the high ground. The remaining troops of the 2nd Infantry Regiment of Taiwan Island will attack the enemy's open ground positions on the right wing of the high ground. The Taiwan Mountain Artillery Regiment will continue to advance, narrowing the distance between the deployed positions and the Chinese army's positions, and suppressing the Chinese army's artillery with all its strength! Fifteen minutes later, the attack will begin immediately."

Upon hearing this, the adjutant's face was stunned, obviously frightened by Hata Shigekazu's attack order. According to Hata Shigekazu's combat order, almost all the troops with infantry combat capabilities under the Hata Detachment would be involved in the attack.

Not only the two infantry regiments, but even the independent engineering regiment will be involved in the attack, which also means that the Hata Detachment will have to gamble all its available living infantry combat forces in the next attack.

Such offensive tactics can indeed maximize the offensive power of the Hata Detachment in a short period of time, but this offensive method is not sustainable at all, and once the attack fails, it will inevitably result in heavy casualties and losses.

Although he was hesitant, the adjutant faithfully carried out Hata Shigeichi's orders in the face of Hata Shigeichi's gloomy expression and unquestionable tone, and issued the latest adjusted combat orders to various units of the Hata Detachment.

Without leaving any reserve troops to prevent any accidents, the two infantry regiments and one engineering regiment were all mobilized at once. Even the Taiwan Island Mountain Artillery Regiment had to move forward to the firing position to provide as much cover as possible for the attacking infantry, risking being attacked by the Chinese army's artillery following the 150mm heavy artillery battalion.

How could Shigekazu Hata, who issued such a risky and gambling battle order, not be unaware of the risks involved?

However, after the most powerful 150mm heavy artillery battalion under the Hata Detachment was completely wiped out, the Hata Detachment was powerless against the Chinese artillery deployed near the high ground. Hata Shigekazu's original tactical goal of dealing with the Chinese artillery before the infantry attack was launched had become a bubble. In this situation, if Hata Shigekazu wanted to capture the strong position of the Chinese army in front of him, he had no choice but to resort to this last resort and fight hard.

So, more than ten minutes later, the general attack of the Hata Detachment finally began.

At the moment the Hata Detachment began its attack, there was a loud roar from the artillery positions of the Taiwan Island Mountain Artillery Regiment, and 36 Type 94 75mm mountain cannons began to fire with even more intense firepower.

This time, it was not only the Big Bear Mountain and the Small Bear Mountain that were bombarded, but also the flat and open positions on both sides of the Big Bear Mountain and the Small Bear Mountain.

除却台岛山炮兵联队的山炮外，台岛步兵第1联队、台岛步兵第2联队下属的联队炮中队，速射炮中队的8门41式75毫米山炮和8门94式37毫米速射炮也都对其各自的攻击目标开始了炮击。

The rumbling sound of artillery fire resounded through the sky again. Amid the billowing smoke, the artillery deterrent created by the concentrated firing of 44 Japanese mountain cannons and rapid-fire cannons was not as powerful as when the 150mm heavy artillery battalion was still there, but it was also quite impressive.

The Japanese artillery units seemed to want to avenge the 150mm heavy artillery battalion. Both the artillery of the mountain artillery regiment and the artillery of the infantry regiment were firing as fast as possible, bombarding fiercely. Groups of artillery shells whistled towards the heights of the Big and Small Bear Mountains and the flat open areas on both sides.

Densely packed artillery shells hit the Big and Small Bear Mountain heights and the open positions on both sides. Some fell on the obstacle area in front of the positions, some fell on the defensive positions on the top of the ridge of the Big and Small Bear Mountain heights, and some fell on the open positions on both sides of the heights densely covered with bunkers, blowing up countless dust and towering smoke columns. The air waves swept up all kinds of dust and debris, turning into torrential rain, completely covering the entire defense zone of the 385th.

As more than a dozen red flares rose slowly, amid waves of frantic shouts and screams, thousands of Japanese officers and soldiers from the Taiwan Island Infantry Regiment, the Taiwan Island Infantry Regiment and the Independent Engineer Regiment's 1th Regiment suddenly jumped up from their attack starting positions and began to attack their respective targets.

The 1st Infantry Regiment of the Taiwan Island, which lost an infantry battalion in yesterday's exploratory attack, attacked particularly fiercely. Its remaining two infantry battalions quickly deployed attack formations after jumping out of their starting positions, and charged to the front at a speed far exceeding that of the 2nd Infantry Regiment of the Taiwan Island and the 8th Independent Engineer Regiment, becoming the central spearhead of the Japanese infantry assault cluster, with a great momentum to take the lead.

Two infantry battalions, with more than 1200 Japanese infantrymen deployed in skilled battle formations amid the sound of artillery shells whizzing through the air overhead. Their six infantry companies formed an infantry assault formation with a front width of meters in accordance with the standard three-row, three-advance battle formation stipulated in the Japanese infantry drill manual. Their two heavy machine gun companies and two infantry artillery squads also followed closely behind the infantry formations, constantly accelerating, and together with the infantry, pressed towards the Big and Small Bear Mountain Heights.

At this time, the Japanese artillery bombardment was still fierce, but because Hata Shigekazu included the open areas on both sides of the Big and Small Bear Mountain Heights into the attack targets, the Japanese artillery firepower was dispersed. Therefore, the intensity of the artillery bombardment on the Big and Small Bear Mountain Heights was actually much lower than before.

Therefore, the officers and soldiers of the 1125th Infantry Regiment stationed on the Big and Small Bear Mountains came out of their hiding places one after another, and after repairing the collapsed and damaged fortifications, they entered their respective combat positions, ready to meet the Japanese infantry's upward attack on the heights.

Soon, the two Japanese infantry battalions, which had fully deployed their battle formations, approached the Big and Small Bear Mountain heights in a sparse group battle formation with their bayonets flashing coldly.

就在台岛步兵第1联队的两个步兵大队前锋距大小熊山高地约1.3公里时，随着大小熊山高地指挥所中陈信生和胡日贞的开火射击命令，隐蔽在大小熊山高地后方的突击总队炮兵营山炮一连的6门94式75毫米山炮，山炮第二连的6门苏俄造m1909式76毫米山炮，以及150毫米重炮营的8门sfh18型150毫米榴弹炮震天动地的咆哮起来，在统一的指挥和预先绘制射击地图的引导下，投射出了一轮轮密集的炮弹。

Suddenly, 75mm, 76mm mountain artillery shells and 150mm grenades covered the attack formations of the two Japanese infantry battalions, filling the Japanese attack formations with smoke and dust, and knocking a large number of Japanese infantry to the ground.

Where dense shrapnel and shock waves were raging, screams were heard everywhere. Some Japanese soldiers were hit by shrapnel and fell to the ground with blood flowing. Some were torn into pieces and lifted into the air by the impact of the blast from the shells.

The artillery group that He Wei carefully prepared for the Hata Detachment finally cooked a pot of steel broth for the Japanese army during the Japanese army's large-scale infantry attack.

However, the Japanese army's fighting spirit was very tenacious after all, and the two infantry battalions that attacked the Big and Small Bear Mountain Heights were almost lined up in a row, attacking in a very sparse battle formation. Therefore, although the sudden artillery bombardment caused nearly two hundred casualties to the Japanese army, it did not completely defeat the Japanese offensive with artillery fire.

The Japanese troops in the attack were like crazy. Under the organization and command of officers and non-commissioned officers, they shouted and roared madly, and continued to attack the Big and Small Bear Mountain Heights under fierce artillery fire.

The two battalions of Japanese troops quickly rushed into the area less than 1 km away from the Big and Small Bear Mountain heights. After half of the Japanese troops broke into the area within 1 km of the Big and Small Bear Mountain, seeing that the Japanese troops had rushed into the effective range of the Brandt 81mm mortar and the 20-type 82mm mortar, Chen Xinsheng immediately ordered the mortar group to open fire.

So, after the first round of artillery fire consisting of 20 mountain cannons and howitzers, 23 81mm and 82mm mortars on the reverse slope positions of the Big and Small Bear Mountain Heights also roared and joined the artillery fire.

Boom
Boom
The dense mortar shells launched by the mortar group hit the Japanese assault formation head-on. The mountain artillery and howitzers also quickly adjusted their firing direction, shifted their firepower, and followed the moving Japanese assault formation, starting a fire pursuit.

Immediately, the shells fired by the mortar group and the shells fired by the mountain cannons and howitzers converged at one place, and the barrages of the two artillery groups merged into one. The firepower of the artillery group composed of 23 mortars, 20 mountain cannons and howitzers finally reached its peak at this time.

Mortar shells, mountain artillery shells, and heavy artillery grenades repeatedly bombarded the Japanese attack formation, pouring back and forth. Each round of shells would quickly explode when they hit the ground. The flying shrapnel, stones, and soil formed a dense and terrifying barrage under the influence of the air waves generated by the explosion of the shells, sweeping over and covering the attack formation of the two Japanese battalions.

(End of this chapter)