The Iron-Blooded Army of Beacon Fire

Chapter 419: Defeat the enemy! Kill all the enemies!
A trapped beast will still fight, let alone a human being?
The remaining infantry combat force of the Hata Detachment guarding the Japanese army's second-line position burst out with considerable combat effectiveness when the situation was hopeless.

两个联队炮中队的8门41式75毫米山炮和两个速射炮中队的8门94式37式毫米速射炮上来就以数轮猛烈的炮击给了畅快冲锋中的突击总队进攻部队一轮火力攻击。

Boom
Boom
The officers and soldiers of the 1st and 2nd Infantry Battalions of the Assault Corps were charging fiercely. First, mountain artillery shells fell into the attack formation one after another and exploded. The violent explosion brought rain of shrapnel and powerful shock waves, which blew some officers and soldiers away and knocked them down. Not only did the officers and soldiers of the Assault Corps fall in the sudden artillery attack of the Japanese army, but even a dozen Japanese soldiers who retreated from the front line and survived the pursuit of the Assault Corps also died in the Japanese artillery attack on the second line position.

Immediately, 37mm rapid-fire shells fired horizontally followed one after another, continuously hitting and flying around in the formation of the attacking troops.

Da da da

Da da da

bang bang
After the 37mm rapid-fire guns began to fire, the crisp sounds of Type 37 rifles and the steady bursts of Taisho -year light machine guns were heard in the second-line positions of the Japanese army. A stream of mm bullets followed closely behind the mm gun shells and swept towards the crowd of attacking troops of the assault corps.

Compared with the disorganized and poorly organized machine gun fire attacks by the Japanese first-line cannon fodder composed of engineers and baggage service soldiers, the machine gun firepower of the Japanese in the second-line positions was definitely not fierce. However, the Japanese infantry guarding the second-line positions, although they were more than 300 defeated soldiers who fled back in a panic after the failure of the Banzai charge led by Hata Shigeichi, were still infantry units, and even if they were defeated soldiers who had suffered a severe blow, their infantry combat shooting skills were worthy of praise.

Their shooting was quite methodical. Their rifles were accurate and their light machine guns mostly fired in short bursts. The sudden artillery bombardment by the Japanese army and the precise and orderly fire from their rifles and machine guns instantly dealt a heavy blow to the attacking forces of the assault corps that had been advancing all the way. Some officers and soldiers who were unable to dodge were hit and fell down.

When the commander of the second battalion, Fang Jing, who was commanding the attack from behind the six infantry companies, heard the sharp "boom boom" sound, he instinctively crawled to the ground, hugged his head, and shouted loudly: "Stop charging, avoid the artillery!"

The officers and soldiers of the surrounding Second Battalion Headquarters Company also kept shouting, reminding the officers and soldiers of the attacking troops to avoid the artillery.

Boom
Several mountain artillery shells exploded, and Fang Jing rolled into a pit and crawled on the ground. As the Japanese artillery shells exploded, Fang Jing only felt the ground beneath him shaking slightly, and a buzzing sound came out of his ears.

Through the smoke and barrage of bullets from the Japanese artillery shells, he saw the bodies of many brothers lying in the formation of the attacking force in front of him. In a bomb crater with wisps of blue smoke, there was a brother with both legs broken and his body covered in blood.

"Boom, boom, boom..." Another burst of intensive machine gun fire rang out. The sound of machine guns in the Japanese position ahead suddenly intensified, and a dense rain of bullets was fired.

"Brothers, fight!"

"Fire!"

The assault troops stopped their attack and began to fight back one after another, with rifles, Czech light machine guns, and MG34 general-purpose machine guns firing.
Amid the dense gunfire of the two types of machine guns and the collision and friction of the metal ammunition belts of the general-purpose machine guns, the attacking troops' light machine guns and general-purpose machine guns roared and fired fiercely at the Japanese second-line positions. The 60mm mortars of each infantry platoon also began to bombard, launching 60mm mortar shells into the Japanese trenches.

Amidst the intensive sound of gunfire and interweaving rain of bullets, the two sides soon began to shoot at each other. After the attacking force of the assault corps organized the counterattack firepower, the more than 300 Japanese infantrymen in the trenches of the second-line position of the Japanese army were soon suppressed and could not raise their heads.

The Japanese troops who were led by Hata Shigeichi to attack and then returned in defeat had lost all their heavy weapons and were left with only rifles, grenade launchers and a small number of light machine guns. This firepower was totally insufficient in the face of the assault corps.

Almost as soon as the assault corps' attacking troops began to fight back, the Japanese troops in the trenches were completely crushed. The continuous firepower of the Czech light machine guns and mg34 general-purpose machine guns not only suppressed the Japanese troops in the second-line positions, but also made them unable to raise their heads.

The 7.92mm caliber heavy pointed bullets that rained down like raindrops even made the breastworks of the Japanese trenches fly in the air, and even cut off large pieces of them.

The 60mm mortar shells fired into the Japanese trenches along a high-throw trajectory, as always, created death fragment belts in the Japanese trenches with dense fragments, reaping the lives of the Japanese soldiers.

As long as the Japanese soldiers in the trenches maneuvered and ran around in the trenches, there was a great risk of being hit by fragments of 60mm mortar shells. If they dared to raise their heads from the trenches and raise their guns to resist and fight back, the mm machine gun bullets that rained down like raindrops would have a greater chance of blowing the heads of the Japanese soldiers who dared to fight back.

The situation of the battle was reversed in an instant. The Japanese infantry in the trenches had just gained a slight advantage, but were suddenly hit by the fierce firepower of the assault corps' attacking forces and were "unable to take care of themselves."

"Crawl!"

"go ahead!"

After the Japanese firepower was suppressed, the officers of the six assault corps infantry companies shouted and gave orders to advance. Amid the sound of whistles and orders, the six companies of infantry who were crawling on the spot began to crawl forward with their guns pushed forward in an orderly manner with standard tactical movements, and steadily advanced towards the second-line position of the Japanese army amid the sporadic bullets and continuous artillery shells.

boom

boom

The firepower of the Japanese army's infantry and machine guns had been suppressed to almost nothing. Only the continuous mountain artillery shells and rapid-fire artillery shells caused casualties to the crawling attacking forces from time to time, blocking the attacking forces' advance.

Fang Jing raised the telescope and tried his best to look towards the Japanese position. Through the swirling smoke, he saw the flickering flames and rising dust behind the Japanese trenches close to the horizon.

Looking more closely, one can see that the Japanese artillery positions were constructed in a very tricky way.

The Japanese army did not deploy their artillery positions far away from the infantry trenches, but in the open area right behind the infantry trenches. The shells fired by the Japanese mountain artillery and rapid-fire artillery were almost all direct fire, so the hit rate was extremely high, causing considerable casualties to the attacking forces of the assault corps.

Moreover, the Japanese artillery was not placed in open-air artillery positions, but was completely hidden in civil engineering artillery fortifications. The firing ports of the artillery were almost close to the horizon, and the height of the firing line was extremely low. Except for the firing ports of the artillery, the rest of the artillery was almost completely closed and constructed quite concealed.

"Give me the phone!"

Fang Jing quickly called the battalion headquarters company's telephone operator and took over the field telephone that had just been pulled up to the rear mortar position. "The Japanese artillery position is behind the enemy's second-line position. The artillery of your two companies should open fire immediately. The enemy artillery is hidden in the fortifications. Use heavy shells with delayed fuses to shoot!"

Soon, the mortar companies of the 1st Infantry Battalion and the 2nd Infantry Battalion of the Assault Corps, which had established artillery firing positions in the Japanese front-line trenches that had been captured not long ago, opened fire rapidly.

The sound of firing from eight Brandt 8mm mortars from two companies rang out, and in an instant the guns flew over Fang Jing's head and exploded on the Japanese position.

Most of the shells flew over the Japanese artillery positions, and only two shells landed on the Japanese artillery positions, but neither hit the Japanese artillery fortifications.

"It's off, it's off, come closer!"

Fang Jing yelled into the phone.

After the two mortar companies were silent for half a minute, continuous artillery fire sounded again.

The eight mortars once again emitted continuous rumbling sounds, and in the blink of an eye they fired rounds of shells. Amid the booming explosions, the corrected mortar barrage accurately hit the Japanese artillery positions, and dense bomb points exploded on the Japanese artillery positions.

The eight mountain artillery batteries and eight rapid-fire artillery batteries on the Japanese artillery positions were soon "visited" by Brandt 81mm heavy grenades equipped with time-delay fuses.

All the artillery fortifications were silenced by the intensive bombardment. Although most of the artillery fortifications were not directly destroyed by mortar shells, the mountain artillery and rapid-fire guns in the artillery fortifications could no longer fire. Dense shrapnel and gray-black dust poured in through the firing holes of the artillery fortifications, making it impossible for the Japanese gunners inside to operate the artillery. Instead, they suffered heavy casualties from the continuous shrapnel that kept shooting in.

With a loud bang, a rather unlucky 37mm rapid-fire artillery emplacement was completely collapsed and destroyed by three consecutive mortar shells. The Type 94 37mm rapid-fire gun inside was twisted and deformed, and the emplacement and nearby gunners were hit by shrapnel one after another. They fell down, cried for help, and wailed.

"Keep hitting me, keep hitting me, hold me down hard!"

Seeing that the mortar company's bombardment of the Japanese artillery positions was effective, Fang Jing immediately ordered to increase the intensity of the bombardment.

As a result, the two mortar companies used even more intense mortar fire to cover the Japanese artillery positions in the shadow of shrapnel and death.

At this point, the Japanese infantry and artillery in the second line of defense, after a short period of strong resistance, were completely suppressed by the fierce firepower of the assault corps' offensive forces.

"Charge forward and kill! Blow the horn!"

Fang Jing raised his gun and shouted, and the officers and soldiers around him also shouted and charged forward.

Immediately, the officers and soldiers of the six infantry companies jumped up and gave a powerful shout. The buglers of each company blew the charge. The officers and soldiers rushed forward with their gleaming bayonets. Under the cover of machine gun and mortar fire, they quickly rushed into the second line of the Japanese army.

The officers and soldiers of the assault corps' offensive force quickly swarmed in and overwhelmed the Japanese army's second trench and the artillery positions in the rear.

The Japanese infantry and artillery, which had been suppressed by the machine gun and mortar fire of the assault corps' attacking forces, were drawn into the assault corps' attacking formation before they could make any decent resistance or response, and were met with a dense rain of bullets from machine guns and twenty-shooter machine guns, as well as the gleaming sharp bayonets.

Just like the Japanese defenders in the first line of defense who were completely wiped out, facing the attack force of the assault corps with absolute superiority in manpower and absolute advantage in close combat firepower, what awaited the Japanese infantry and artillery in the second line of defense was only death and destruction.

In the command post in the rear, the officers and soldiers inside were all excited when they saw the attacking force take down the second line of defense of the Japanese army.

Fu Chen, who served as the commander, applauded He Wei and said, "Captain, if the second position is lost, the enemy will be completely finished!"

He Wei also nodded in satisfaction. Although the attacks of the first and second battalions had encountered many obstacles, they were still overall very powerful. After taking down the second line of defense of the Japanese army, the situation on the battlefield had become completely clear.

The entire battlefield was now like a pot of boiling water. Amid the fierce artillery fire, the defense line of the Hata Detachment had been visibly broken and pierced, and there was no complete line of resistance at all.

Under the billowing smoke and blazing flames on the battlefield, the entire defensive position of the Hata Detachment, from the front line to the depth, from the infantry positions to the artillery positions, was already in a mess. Some had already been captured by the assault corps, while others were still being suppressed by fierce artillery fire. In addition, a large number of Japanese troops were running around in groups of three or five on the battlefield, fleeing in panic.

Some Japanese baggage and vehicles located in deep positions were hit by stray bullets from the artillery battalion of the assault corps and the 150mm heavy artillery battalion, causing a shocking explosion amid blazing flames.

Amid the deafening shouts of killing, only the "kill" and "charge" yelled by the officers and soldiers of the assault corps were almost inaudible, and the Japanese soldiers' screams and "board" sounds were almost inaudible.

Explosions, shouts, raging fire, thick smoke, and completely collapsed defenses. For the Hata Detachment, every spot on the battlefield was a tragic picture of hell before destruction!

It can be said that the Japanese Army's Hata Detachment has been completely defeated at this point. At this point in the battle, He Wei can confidently say that he has achieved the tactical goal of defeating the Hata Detachment!
Based on the battle situation and previous assessment of the enemy's situation, He Wei estimated that the Hata Detachment was probably left with only a group of logistical and artillery units. As long as these weak troops without the protection of the infantry units were completely wiped out and defeated, and the final blow was given, the Hata Detachment would be completely finished.

It was very easy to deal with these troops. In one word, charge! Fight! Sweep them away with the momentum of a whirlwind!
Suddenly, Zhao Zhanhai rushed into the command post and reported: "Report to the commander-in-chief, Battalion Commander Hu has arrived with the third battalion!"

He Wei laughed loudly and said, "Great! Great! Pass my order, the third battalion will immediately go to the battlefield, deploy battle formations, attack the enemy's artillery positions, and annihilate the enemy's artillery units. After the first and second battalions have annihilated the Japanese troops on the second line of defense, they will immediately advance to the enemy's deep positions to attack, clear, annihilate, and defeat all enemies they can see, and completely defeat the damn Hata Detachment! All units can fight with all their might, and allow appropriate free command, and kill them all!"

(End of this chapter)