The Iron-Blooded Army of Beacon Fire

Chapter 403 Indiscriminate Bombardment

Boom
Boom
The blazing flames caused by the 75mm incendiary bombs quickly burned in the open positions on the right wing of the Big and Small Bear Mountain Heights. Driven by the blast of the 75mm grenade, the fierce fire caused by the explosion of aluminum powder, iron oxide and solid oil quickly spread to the right wing positions guarded by the 1124th Regiment.

The front-line positions of the 1124th Regiment were instantly engulfed in flames, and also engulfed in the flames were more than one hundred Nationalist officers and soldiers in the front-line positions of the 1124th Regiment and more than thirty Japanese troops who had broken into the trenches of the 1124th Regiment.

More than one hundred officers and soldiers of the two armies were fighting fiercely in the trenches, but the sudden incendiary bombs turned them all into firemen in an instant.

In the scorching air, more than a hundred Chinese and Japanese officers and soldiers, their bodies covered in flames, stopped fighting and engaging in hand-to-hand combat. Instead, they dropped their weapons and howled in pain in the trenches. Some rolled on the ground, some struggled in the flames, and some took the initiative to detonate grenades or even shot themselves to free themselves from the pain of being burned by the flames as soon as possible.

In order to capture the right-wing position of the Big and Small Bear Mountain Heights, whether it was Hata Shigeichi, the highest commander of the Japanese Hata Detachment, or the Japanese Taiwan Island Mountain Artillery Regiment that continuously bombarded the right-wing position, or the two infantry battalions of the Japanese Taiwan Island Infantry 2nd Regiment that directly launched an assault on the right-wing position, all had fallen into extreme madness.

Even dozens of Japanese soldiers who had broken into the front-line positions of the 1124th Regiment became victims of the Hata Detachment in order to achieve its tactical goals.

Most of the officers and soldiers of the 1124th Regiment were fighting the Japanese army for the first time, and there were many new recruits among them. The psychological shock brought to the officers and soldiers of the 75th Regiment by the terrifying power of the 1124mm mountain artillery incendiary bombs fired by the Japanese army was truly indescribable.

The trenches were on fire, the sandbags piled on the trenches were on fire, the cover on the fortifications was on fire, the weapons were on fire, and everything in the position seemed to be doomed to be ignited. There was thick white smoke and golden flames everywhere. Everything in the position would be immediately enveloped by high temperature and scorching fire as soon as it came into contact with the terrible accelerant splashed by the explosion of the Japanese incendiary bombs.

The officers and soldiers of the two armies, who were covered in flames and rolling on the ground in the front-line positions, and who were burned alive into curled and twisted charcoal from those who could still struggle, constantly stimulated the spirit and will of the officers and soldiers of the 1124th Regiment in the positions.

"charge!"

"Onboard!"

Seeing that the fierce bombardment of incendiary bombs and grenades had achieved fruitful results, the two battalions of Japanese infantry immediately launched an assault. After a fierce bombardment of four Type 92 infantry guns from the infantry artillery squads of the two battalions, the Japanese infantry immediately attacked the position of the 1124th Regiment, which had become a sea of ​​fire, amid deafening shouts and screams.

The two battalions of Japanese soldiers let out an overwhelming and frantic cry of killing, with their bayonets flashing with cold light, stepping on the bodies of their comrades who were burned to death by incendiary bombs fired by their own artillery, and rushed towards the purgatory on earth created by the strong light, shrapnel, fire, and shock waves, with flesh and blood flying everywhere and heat gushing out.

With the breakthrough of the main forces of the two Japanese battalions, the form of the battle quickly turned into a full-scale close combat. The Japanese troops who rushed into the position of the 1124th Regiment used bayonets to open a path in close combat and continued to attack and advance along the trenches of the 1124th Regiment. When the Japanese troops and the officers and soldiers of the 1124th Regiment fought together, the balance of the battle tilted towards the Japanese army at an extremely fast speed.

Bayonet fighting was the strong point of the Japanese army. Even though the officers and soldiers of the 1124th Regiment still had the courage to fight hand-to-hand with the Japanese army, the gap in technology and training could not be made up by courage. The vast majority of the officers and soldiers of the 1124th Regiment had never received systematic bayonet fighting training. Apart from their bravery, they knew nothing about bayonet fighting techniques.

Many officers and soldiers of the 1124th Regiment bravely rushed towards the Japanese army with Hanyang rifles, but were stabbed down one after another. The bloody hand-to-hand combat did not last long. The trenches were filled with officers and soldiers of the 1124th Regiment who were stabbed to death or wounded. However, very few Japanese soldiers were stabbed to death in the hand-to-hand combat.

Some veterans and sergeants of the 1124th Regiment, who were so bloodthirsty that they could not defeat the Japanese in a bayonet fight, pulled the grenades and died together with the Japanese.

However, under the Japanese army's swift assault and skilled hand-to-hand combat techniques, the 1124th Regiment failed to hold the first two lines of defense in its position and was defeated by the Japanese army's hand-to-hand assault. Instead, the Japanese army, which had gained a foothold in the position of the 1124th Regiment by relying on hand-to-hand assaults and incendiary bombardments, began to advance steadily and step by step into the deep positions of the 1124th Regiment.

At the same time, seeing that the attacking infantry units had broken through the positions of the 1124th Regiment, the Taiwan Island Mountain Artillery Regiment also began to transfer firepower in a timely manner. The dense barrage formed by 36 Type 94 mountain guns launched a fierce extended fire bombardment towards the positions of the 1124th Regiment with a rolling barrage amid the rumbling of artillery sounds.

After the infantry made a breakthrough, the two infantry artillery squads and two heavy machine gun squadrons belonging to the two attacking Japanese infantry battalions pushed the Type 92 infantry guns and carried the Type 92 heavy machine guns into the position of the 1124th Regiment, firing fiercely at the officers and soldiers of the retreating 1124th Regiment.

70mm infantry artillery shells and 7.7mm heavy machine gun bullets flew over the heads of the Japanese infantrymen who were advancing along the trenches, and rained down like rain on the retreating officers and soldiers of the 1124th Regiment.

The positions were filled with the sounds of gunfire, shouting, screaming, wailing, the friction of bayonets, the sounds of brutal fighting and the burning of raging fire. Under the frenzied offensive of the Japanese army, the position of the 1124th Regiment was already in danger. Even after being involved in hand-to-hand combat with the Japanese army, the troops of the 1124th Regiment were gradually divided into several sections. The two sides fought together and the entire position became a mess.

"Captain, we can't hold on any longer. The first two positions have been lost. The Japanese are firing incendiary bombs. There's a huge fire in the position!"

In the command post of the 1124th Regiment, a captain adjutant from the regiment rushed in with a Mauser -shot pistol and said to the regiment commander Wang Bo with fear on his face.

Wang Bo looked at the battlefield engulfed in flames through the observation port of the command post and asked anxiously, "How are the troops ahead?"

"The first and second lines of defense have been lost, Commander. These Japanese are crazy. The brothers in the first line of defense are fighting hand-to-hand with the Japanese. The Japanese don't care about their own people and just fire a round of incendiary bombs, burning our brothers and the Japanese to death. Now the enemy is expanding along the communication trenches to our deep positions. The brothers are resisting step by step and fighting with the devils with bayonets. They are all in a melee and will soon be unable to hold on."

"Let the brothers hold on. I will ask the brigade commander for help."

Seeing this, Wang Bo no longer hesitated and immediately picked up the phone to the reverse slope command post on the Big and Small Bear Mountain Heights.

"Damn it, these lunatics!" In the command post located on the reverse slope of the Big and Small Bear Mountain Heights, Ma Ji, who received a report from Wang Bo, the commander of the 1124th Regiment, shouted angrily and slammed the phone on the table viciously.

Ma Ji was helpless about the predicament of the 1124th Regiment. He was only good at defensive tactics, but he could not change the tactical quality of the troops. The Japanese army now broke through the positions of the 1124th Regiment with crazy indiscriminate bombardment of incendiary bombs, and continued to break through with their usual expertise in hand-to-hand combat. Ma Ji could not come up with any solution. Helplessly, he could only look to He Wei for help.

"Captain He, what do you think we should do?"

He Wei met Ma Ji's gaze and said, "Commander Ma, I plan to use the 150mm heavy artillery battalion to conduct counter-artillery fire on the Japanese artillery positions, and the mountain artillery and mortars to conduct covering fire on the positions of the 1124th Regiment of your brigade. What do you think?"

He Wei answered quickly with a rather cold tone. Ma Ji also quickly understood what He Wei meant. Needless to say, the 150mm heavy artillery battalion attacked the Japanese artillery positions. Of course, it was to suppress the Japanese artillery that was firing fiercely at the positions of the 1124th Regiment.

The so-called covering fire is to concentrate the firepower of the mortars and mountain artillery groups on the sides of the Big and Small Bear Mountains to bombard the positions of the 1124th Regiment. Now that the Japanese army has attacked the positions of the 1124th Regiment, there is no doubt that using heavy artillery fire to bombard the positions of the 1124th Regiment filled with Japanese troops is the most efficient and fastest way to repel the Japanese army.

However, when the 1124th Regiment and the Japanese army were engaged in a brutal hand-to-hand combat, He Wei's method of bombarding his own positions could indeed cause maximum damage to the Japanese troops that had invaded the 1124th Regiment's positions, but it would also inevitably cause casualties to the officers and soldiers of the 1124th Regiment.

Both Ma Ji and He Wei were well aware of this, but they also knew that given the combat qualities of the officers and soldiers of the 1124th Regiment, it was only a matter of time before their positions were captured by the Japanese and their troops were defeated.

Rather than being soft-hearted and waiting to see the troops collapse and the positions lost, it would be better to take decisive action and achieve the tactical goal of defending the positions of the 1124th Regiment and annihilating a large number of Japanese troops at the cost of accidentally injuring a small number of their own soldiers.

In military command, it is a commander's basic duty to reduce and avoid casualties and losses of his own troops through good command, but thunderous means and resolute command determination are also necessary qualities for a commander.

Just as the Japanese army had just used mountain artillery incendiary bombardments to attack the position of the 1124th Regiment in order to break through the position of the 1124th Regiment as quickly as possible, regardless of the risk of accidentally injuring their own infantry, He Wei now had to do the same in order to defend the position of the 1124th Regiment.

Ma Ji gritted his teeth and said, "Okay, but I hope to give the 1124th Regiment some time to evacuate."

He Wei nodded and said, "Okay, then start the bombardment in two minutes."

He Wei's artillery order was quickly transmitted to various artillery positions. Hu Rizheng's 150mm heavy artillery battalion opened fire first, launching anti-artillery fire at the Japanese Taiwan Island Mountain Artillery Regiment five kilometers away. Eight German-made SFH8 howitzers fired rounds of 18mm heavy explosive grenades whizzed out of the barrels, and after a dozen seconds, they easily hit the deployment positions of the Japanese Taiwan Island Mountain Artillery Regiment.

Although the Taiwan Island Mountain Artillery Regiment's wide deployment positions successfully prevented its artillery units from being completely destroyed in the anti-artillery fire of the 150mm heavy artillery battalion, several mountain artillery pieces were still destroyed.

The continuous and intensive large-caliber shells falling on their artillery positions also killed and injured many Japanese gunners and mules and horses. More importantly, the Taiwan Island Mountain Artillery Regiment had to stop concentrated firing and began to move positions to avoid the anti-artillery fire of the heavy artillery battalion. Its fierce artillery bombardment of the 1124th Regiment's positions also came to an abrupt halt.

At the same time, there was chaos on the position of the 1124th Regiment. After receiving the notification that their own artillery was about to bombard the position of the 1124th Regiment, the officers and soldiers of the 1124th Regiment, who were fighting hard with the Japanese army in the position, retreated like a tide. Some entered the large shelter in the rear position, and some entered the anti-artillery cave. The vast majority of the troops quickly broke away from contact with the Japanese army, and even voluntarily gave up part of the position and several trenches, and withdrew from the combat with the Japanese army.

Of course, since the 1124th Regiment had already been involved in a melee with the Japanese army, part of the troops had lost their organization in the hand-to-hand combat and were divided into several sections by the Japanese army in the trenches. They were currently fighting in their positions with the Japanese army attacking from all directions. These officers and soldiers who were deeply surrounded by the Japanese army and in the melee could not receive any notification that their own artillery group near the Big and Small Bear Mountains was about to bombard the positions of the 1124th Regiment.

Therefore, until the two minutes of hiding time given by He Wei had passed, although most of the officers and soldiers of the 1124th Regiment had withdrawn and hidden, this group of officers and soldiers of the 1124th Regiment, numbering about one hundred people, were still unaware of the impending artillery bombardment from their own side.

These officers and soldiers who had been trapped in the siege of the Japanese army were destined to be annihilated in the upcoming artillery bombardment together with the Japanese troops who besieged them. Even without this artillery bombardment, these officers and soldiers of the 1124th Regiment who had been separated by the Japanese army would certainly fall under the bayonets of the Japanese army in the brutal hand-to-hand combat.

Either die in hand-to-hand combat with the Japanese army, or fall under their own artillery fire. The so-called choices are only tragic death and sacrifice, with no survival or way to live.

Sometimes, war is so cruel.

Boom
Boom
There was a sudden rumbling sound from the mortar and mountain artillery group behind the Big and Small Bear Mountain Heights. As dense shells were fired, a cloud of dust suddenly rose from the artillery positions. Dense shells streaked across the sky and struck the position of the 1124th Regiment like thunder.

In an instant, dense explosion points flashing with yellow-white flames suddenly bloomed in the positions of the 1124th Regiment. Dense shells fell among the crowd in the positions. Amid the loud explosions, waves of strong vibrations spread to the surrounding areas in a wave-like manner with the position of the 1124th Regiment as the center.

The sudden and intensive artillery shells blasted into the crowd in the 1124th Regiment's position without warning. A large number of Japanese troops who were advancing along the trenches or fighting with the remaining National Army officers and soldiers in the positions had no time to react and were swept up in the barrage of black and white smoke and shrapnel.

One by one, groups of Japanese soldiers in yellow uniforms were knocked down, torn apart, and blown away in the explosion. The two battalions of Japanese soldiers who broke into the 1124th Regiment were suddenly killed in the extremely excited and excited state brought about by breaking into the enemy's position. Countless bodies were torn apart, and groups of shells and flames exploded countless bodies in the position of the 1124th Regiment.

Also covered by the artillery fire along with the Japanese troops were the more than one hundred officers and soldiers of the 1124th Regiment in gray uniforms. In the face of the extremely fierce and hot artillery fire, both the Japanese and nationalist troops appeared extremely vulnerable. Countless pieces of mud mixed with countless flesh and blood were blown into the air, and then fell down like raindrops, carrying countless pieces of flesh and blood.

The position of the 1124th Regiment, as well as the densely packed crowd on the position, were gradually annihilated in the artillery fire.
(End of this chapter)