The Iron-Blooded Army of Beacon Fire

Chapter 420: Another artillery regiment was annihilated!
As soon as He Wei's order came out, Zhao Zhanhai excitedly asked for battle: "Sir, I request to take a company of the Third Battalion on a tracked tractor to take the initiative to attack the Japanese artillery position and serve as the vanguard for the Third Battalion."

Zhao Zhanhai had previously expressed to He Wei that he hoped to leave his staff position in the future and go down to the grassroots units to serve as a chief officer and lead troops. This capable subordinate of his had a strong desire to lead troops to the front line.

Now the outcome of the battle was decided. The Hata Detachment was almost completely defeated, and the balance of victory had completely tilted towards the Assault Corps. He Wei naturally agreed to Zhao Zhanhai's request to fight.

Although the battle situation was very optimistic, He Wei still reminded them: "Okay, you can take the 7th Company of the 3rd Battalion with you, but you still have to be careful. After all, those tracked vehicles are tractors for pulling artillery, and their protection level is limited. If the Japanese artillery resists stubbornly, you should not charge hard, but quit while you are ahead."

"Yes!"

Zhao Zhanhai stood at attention and saluted, then left the command post excitedly.

He Wei once again turned his gaze towards the battlefield under the thick smoke that covered the sky. The main force of the Hata Detachment had been defeated. What was next would be a real battle of forcing the enemy to retreat.

The newly arrived Third Battalion of the Assault Corps was quickly deployed to the battlefield and, under the command of Battalion Commander Hu Zhaowu, launched an attack on the Japanese artillery positions deep in the battlefield.

The 7th Infantry Company of the 3rd Battalion, after boarding 15 tracked tractors from the anti-aircraft artillery company, was commanded by Zhao Zhanhai and served as the vanguard of the 3rd Battalion, rushing towards the Japanese artillery positions.

At this time, the artillery positions of the Hata Detachment were in chaos. Positioned on the artillery positions were the Taiwan Island Mountain Artillery Regiment under the Hata Detachment. The situation on the positions of this independent mountain artillery regiment, which was composed of the latest Type 94 mountain artillery, was extremely miserable.

Faced with the Chinese army's 150mm heavy artillery battalion's eight German-made SFH8 howitzers, which had advantages in caliber, range and accuracy, the Taiwan Island Mountain Artillery Regiment could not organize rapid artillery fire against the oncoming Chinese troops, let alone carry out the normal shooting of a battalion or even a squadron.

Once more than four mountain artillery pieces open fire, precise strikes from the Chinese army's howitzer fire will follow.

What is even more terrifying is that the Chinese army's heavy artillery battalion has never stopped suppressing the firepower of the Japanese Taiwan Island Mountain Artillery Regiment's positions since the beginning of the battle. On the Japanese artillery positions, the air was pierced by one heavy grenade after another, and the turbulence formed emitted a very sharp whistling sound.

The unique and huge whistling sound of this heavy grenade seems to have no end, one wave higher than the other.

Boom
Boom
Continuous thunderbolts composed of violent explosions from rounds of artillery shells fired by the 150mm heavy artillery battalion flashed on the positions of the Japanese Taiwan Island Mountain Artillery Regiment. The Japanese mountain artillery positions, observation posts, ammunition storage points and firing command posts were all covered in a barrage of heavy grenades.

The continuous sounds of explosions were transmitted by the vibrations of the air, forming rumbling thunder, one round after another, rolling past.

Although the Taiwan Island Mountain Artillery Regiment adopted a sparser formation than that in the artillery manual and combat guidelines, Japanese mountain artillery was still hit and destroyed from time to time under the bombardment of a battalion of heavy howitzers.

Some mountain cannons were overturned on the spot by the violent shock wave, while others were hit directly. The wooden gun wheels were instantly shattered, the gun shields were twisted and deformed, and after the aiming and shooting devices of the gun barrels were damaged, they were also blown into the sky by the blast of the heavy grenade, and they flew around in the air and turned over several times before they fell heavily to the ground.

The Japanese gunners around the gun position screamed in pain and suffered heavy casualties under the dual destruction of shrapnel and flying mountain artillery parts.

Under the full-force rapid-fire bombardment of the 150mm heavy artillery battalion, 150mm heavy grenades exploded in the artillery positions like flowers blooming. Even some ammunition storage depots storing mountain artillery shells in the Japanese positions were hit by heavy grenades, causing earth-shaking chain reaction explosions. Blue smoke flashed, bullets flew, and columns of gray-black smoke shot straight into the sky.

The bombardment of heavy grenades and the detonation of mountain artillery shells threw the artillery positions of the Taiwan Island Mountain Artillery Regiment into complete chaos. The mountain artillery was repeatedly hit and destroyed, the communication network was damaged, and the ammunition storage depots and artillery ammunition auxiliary vehicles were also hit and damaged one after another.

The artillery firing observation post covered by thick smoke and shrapnel had lost the most basic observation conditions. Many sophisticated artillery firing observation equipment were also damaged in the shelling, making it impossible to organize any decent artillery firing.

What is even more tragic is the regiment headquarters of the Taiwan Island Mountain Artillery Regiment. Compared with the two commanders of the Japanese Taiwan Island Infantry 1st Regiment and the Taiwan Island Infantry 2nd Regiment who had already fled, the commander of the Taiwan Island Mountain Artillery Regiment was loyal to his duty. Even after losing the command of his superior officers and being unable to contact friendly forces, he still tried his best to contact other friendly forces through various communication methods including radio, telephone, and even messengers.

But the battle was over for the Hata Detachment after all. The highest commander had been killed, most of the two infantry regiments had been annihilated, and the regiment headquarters had fled in panic. The situation was in complete chaos, and the Taiwan Island Mountain Artillery Regiment's active and proactive communications amid the fierce artillery attack were all in vain.

The headquarters of the Taiwan Island Mountain Artillery Regiment was also turned upside down after a very accurate round of heavy grenades hit it. Dozens of officers and soldiers including the regiment commander in the headquarters command post were all turned into powder in the fierce artillery bombardment.

With the destruction of the regiment headquarters, the command order of the Taiwan Island Mountain Artillery Regiment gradually became chaotic, and the entire Taiwan Island Mountain Artillery Regiment fell into a serious state of disorder and chaos.

The Japanese artillerymen, who had suffered heavy casualties, tried their best to protect the mountain artillery and relocate the artillery firing position, but failed. They had no choice but to abandon the artillery and hide in the concealed fortifications near the artillery position, trembling in fear to avoid the fierce heavy artillery bombardment.

Huge smoke and flames enveloped the entire artillery position, and a large area turned into a hell of fire and steel. The mules and horses carrying artillery, which the Japanese artillery had no time to visit, were also rushing around in the position, causing chaos.

Under the absolute firepower suppression brought by the absolute technical advantage of the German heavy artillery of the 150mm heavy artillery battalion, the Taiwan Island Mountain Artillery Regiment appeared extremely weak.

The fierce artillery bombardment continued from the beginning of the battle until He Wei issued an order for a full-scale attack on the Hata Detachment and the order to capture the positions of the Taiwan Island Mountain Artillery Regiment. The 150mm heavy artillery battalion, which had been bombarding the Taiwan Island Mountain Artillery Regiment, stopped firing.

At this time, the position of the Japanese Taiwan Island Mountain Artillery Regiment was littered with bullet craters emitting billowing blue smoke, scattered body parts and corpses, overturned gun mounts, broken gun barrels, and war horses wailing in pools of blood.

Seeing that the Chinese army's artillery bombardment had stopped, the Japanese artillerymen hiding in the concealed fortifications came out one after another. After the fierce bombardment, the field mountain artillery regiment, which was originally composed of three field artillery battalions and a total of thirty-six of the latest Type 94 mountain cannons, now had less than twenty intact mountain cannons left in the ruins.

Ammunition, equipment, mules and horses also suffered heavy losses, and even the regiment headquarters was destroyed by 150mm heavy artillery.

However, even so, the Japanese artillery officers and sergeants still demonstrated a high level of professionalism and began to direct the soldiers to sort out and repair the artillery and rescue the wounded.

But soon after the shelling stopped, while the frightened Japanese artillerymen were panicking and repairing their artillery and rescuing the wounded, the officers and soldiers of the 7th Infantry Company of the 3rd Battalion of the Assault Corps, riding on 15 tracked tractors, led by Zhao Zhanhai, advanced rapidly and reached the deployment positions of the Taidaoshan Artillery Regiment.

Tracked vehicles carrying infantry emerged from the breathtaking smoke of the bombardment, and behind them were the shouts of the remaining officers and soldiers of the Third Battalion of the Assault Corps, who were following behind and charging on foot, led by the Third Battalion Commander Hu Zhaowu. Fifteen tracked tractors increased their speed to the highest speed, and with the roar of the engines, the metal tracks rolled over the scorching hot soil, rolled up the billowing dust, and approached the Japanese artillery positions.

Zhao Zhanhai, who was squatting on the tracked vehicle, saw the Japanese artillery position through the telescope and his eyes suddenly lit up.

The Japanese artillery positions were in a miserable state at this time, but when Zhao Zhanhai saw the artillery pieces scattered across the Japanese artillery positions, some intact, and some overturned, he immediately became excited.

The Assault Corps has a tradition of equipping itself with artillery captured from the Japanese army. For example, one company of the Assault Corps' artillery battalion was equipped with Type 94 mountain cannons that were captured from the Japanese army in the Battle of Nanjing. There are also many mountain cannon parts in the warehouse, some intact and some damaged, that were also captured in Nanjing.

When Zhao Zhanhai saw the artillery on the Japanese position, his first reaction was to seize these artillery and use them to equip the assault team!

Regardless of whether the Japanese artillery on the battlefield is intact or not, for the Assault Corps, good artillery or bad artillery are all good things. Good artillery can be used directly, and damaged artillery can be disassembled into parts and reassembled into usable artillery. They are all good things!

Those scattered artillery mirrors, altimeters, rangefinders, high-magnification artillery telescopes and military measuring instruments are also valuable items.

Moreover, this is the position of a Japanese mountain artillery regiment. The number of artillery, equipment and ammunition that can be seized will be a very considerable number!

If we could destroy this artillery regiment, and seize their artillery and various artillery weapons, we might be able to organize an incomplete artillery regiment after repairs.

In short, Zhao Zhanhai's eyes became more and more excited as he looked at the mess, which was filled with equipment, shells, artillery and other artillery equipment, and he looked like he was drooling.

Zhao Zhanhai, who was extremely excited, put down the telescope and shouted, "Stop moving forward, brothers, get off the car and attack!"

Zhao Zhanhai thought that he must seize as many Japanese artillery pieces as possible. Although the tracked tractor they were riding was good, if they rashly rushed into the Japanese artillery positions, it would be a loss if they crushed the artillery and artillery observation equipment.

After saying that, Zhao Zhanhai was the first to jump off the vehicle with a submachine gun in hand and rushed towards the Japanese artillery position. The other tracked vehicles also stopped one after another. The officers and soldiers of the 7th Company of the 3rd Battalion also jumped off the tracked vehicles and rushed towards the Japanese artillery position while shouting and killing.

Most of the officers and soldiers of the Japanese Taidaoshan Artillery Regiment on the artillery positions were repairing artillery and rescuing the wounded. Faced with the assault of the Seventh Company of the Third Battalion, these Japanese troops had no ability to fight back at all. The officers and soldiers of the Seventh Company of the Third Battalion who attacked the Japanese artillery positions were like wolves rushing into a flock of sheep, and they started killing indiscriminately as soon as they attacked.

Zhao Zhanhai picked up the submachine gun and fired half a magazine at a Japanese artillery position, knocking down seven or eight Japanese gunners who were dragging the mountain cannon. Seven or eight bodies that were shot to pieces appeared next to the dark green mountain cannon. Zhao Zhanhai rushed to the Type 94 mountain cannon that was stained with Japanese blood, pushed away the Japanese corpse that had his chest and abdomen opened and was bleeding profusely and fell on the barrel, and looked at the cannon body "greedily".

Not far away, several Japanese artillerymen who had reacted immediately rushed towards Zhao Zhanhai. These Japanese artillerymen were unarmed. There was only a Japanese soldier who looked like a sergeant rushing towards them waving an iron rod used to carry artillery. Zhao Zhanhai rushed up and fired half a volley of bullets, knocking these men to the ground again.

The position of the Taiwan Island Mountain Artillery Regiment, which had just been silent, was boiling again. The sound of machine gun fire, twenty-round submachine gun fire, light machine guns, and intensive shooting from general-purpose machine guns suddenly knocked the Japanese troops in the artillery position to the ground, and screams rang out one after another.

The Japanese artillery was rarely equipped with rifles and other self-defense weapons, and most of them only had bayonets. Facing the well-armed soldiers of the 7th Company of the 3rd Battalion, the Japanese artillery of the Taidaoshan Artillery Regiment had little ability to fight back. They suffered heavy casualties in just one encounter. The Japanese soldiers of the Taidaoshan Artillery Regiment did not want to easily give up the artillery, equipment and positions of the entire regiment to the attacking Chinese army, and organized counterattacks against the 7th Company many times.

However, the rapid assault of the 7th Company of the 3rd Battalion had turned the artillery position into a sieve, and the Japanese troops in the position were completely defeated with submachine guns, light machine guns and bayonets. Therefore, the Japanese artillery that launched a counterattack did not achieve any results except increasing casualties.

After the melee in the artillery position lasted for five minutes, a more powerful and angry shout of killing approached the artillery position of the Taiwan Island Mountain Artillery Regiment.

Hu Zhaowu, the commander of the Third Infantry Battalion of the Assault Corps, held a 20-shot cannon and looked at the Japanese artillery position with a look of greed no less than Zhao Zhanhai's. He waved his arm and shouted, "Brothers, kill! Take away those damn bird cannons!"

The officers and soldiers of the Third Battalion, led by the Eighth Infantry Company and the Ninth Infantry Company, formed a rolling crowd and rushed towards the Japanese artillery positions.

The addition of the main force of the Third Battalion directly shattered the Japanese artillery's confidence in counterattacking and fighting. Amid the shouts of killing that reached the sky, the Taiwan Island Mountain Artillery Regiment's deployed positions were overwhelmed by the surging crowds of the Third Battalion. The whistling bullets swept down the unarmed Japanese artillerymen and dragged them into close combat. The Japanese artillerymen in the melee were stabbed and trampled amid screams, and the entire Taiwan Island Mountain Artillery Regiment's positions were in chaos.

The sound of gunfire, cannon fire and wailing was like thunder. For most Japanese artillerymen who only had bayonets but no guns, even a bayonet fight with the Chinese troops who had broken into the artillery positions was a luxury.

Most of the Japanese artillerymen were knocked to the ground by the dense close-combat fire as soon as they came into contact with the officers and soldiers of the Third Battalion. Those who were not killed by bullets were stabbed to death with bayonets by the fierce officers and soldiers of the Third Battalion who rushed up on them.

Only a mountain artillery shrapnel shell fired desperately by a few Japanese gunners caused some casualties to the Third Battalion. Almost at the same time as the shell exploded, these Japanese soldiers who fired desperately were beaten into a bloody mess by the officers and soldiers of the Third Battalion who had surrounded them.

After nearly ten minutes of melee, the remnants of the Japanese Taiwan Island Mountain Artillery Regiment, which had suffered more than two-thirds casualties, completely collapsed, completely abandoned the tactical attempt to retake the artillery positions, and began to flee in all directions. The black mass of fleeing Japanese artillery was like an overwhelming, rushing flood that broke through layer after layer of obstacles and fled irreversibly.

What was left behind was the position of an entire artillery regiment, as well as a pile of corpses, artillery, and equipment.
In just over ten minutes, the attack force of the Third Battalion completely defeated the Taiwan Island Mountain Artillery Regiment. Judging from the battle results and the defeated state of the Taiwan Island Mountain Artillery Regiment, it had reached the standard of "total annihilation" against it.

The same scene of defeat was happening simultaneously in other parts of the Hata Detachment. The remnants of the almost annihilated Japanese infantry, the panicked baggage soldiers, the motor vehicle soldiers, and the service soldiers all began to flee when the main force of the detachment was almost annihilated and the battlefield situation collapsed completely.

Under the tragic situation where the artillery and infantry under the Hata Detachment were almost completely destroyed, the mental defenses of these remaining weak troops had been completely broken. What followed was a rout, a large-scale rout of the remnants of the Hata Detachment on the battlefield.

Amid the thick smoke of gunpowder on the battlefield and the loud shouts of the officers and soldiers of the assault corps, all the Japanese troops of the Hata Detachment who were still able to move left their combat positions in panic.

Weapons that could not be taken away were discarded, and baggage that could not be pulled away was abandoned in the wilderness. Some people fled, some rode their horses at full speed, and some drove their cars recklessly. There were no "imperial warriors" on the battlefield who were still charging forward and resisting hard. There were only defeated Japanese soldiers who had suffered a mental breakdown, completely collapsed, and fled in despair.

In the blazing gale, the shouts of the officers and soldiers of the assault corps who were chasing and annihilating the defeated enemy were earth-shaking and reached the sky.

(End of this chapter)