The Iron-Blooded Army of Beacon Fire

Chapter 433 201 Highland
At eight o'clock in the morning, after several days of heavy rain and haze, a sunny day finally arrived near Tianjia Town. The fiery red sun hung high in the sky, and the dazzling sunlight shone directly on the Tianjia Town Fortress and the surrounding highlands through the clear sky.

Hill 201, southeast of Tianjia Town Fortress, was also bathed in sunlight. However, compared with those hills that had been destroyed by artillery shells and had a charred surface, Hill 201 was still shrouded in lush greenery.

Hill 201, named after its altitude of 201 meters, has not been attacked on a large scale by the Japanese army since they launched an attack on the Tianjia Town Fortress and nearby hills. Except for several small-scale exploratory attacks that ended in failure, the Japanese army has not launched a large-scale attack on Hill 201.

However, today, there is a tense atmosphere on Hill 201 that is different from the past.

Below the hill, Major General Katsuji Imamura, commander of the 11th Infantry Brigade of the 201th Division of the Japanese Army, stood with his short and strong legs spread out in a temporary shelter below the hill, holding a telescope in his hand and observing Hill above.

The front of the plateau still has a lot of new green grass and vegetation, and the soil still has a fresh black color after being washed by rain. Halfway up the mountain in front of the plateau, there is an obstacle line consisting of hundreds of chevaux-de-frise with sharp wooden stakes.

There were many gaps in the obstacle line, which were the work of artillery destructive shooting during the Japanese army's previous small-scale exploratory attack on Hill 201. About a squad of Japanese soldiers' corpses and weapons and ammunition were also scattered in front of the hill.

Some of the corpses that had begun to rot were hung on the barricades, some were lying on the high ground with their heads raised, and some were beaten into bloody sieves that were no longer recognizable as human beings. These Japanese soldiers who had already reported to the underworld were also victims of the exploratory attack.

His eyes followed the slowly moving telescope as it passed over the winding and undulating curves of Hill 201. Katsuji Imamura vaguely saw the half-mountain on the other side of the river. A trace of resentment flashed in his eyes. Katsuji Imamura snorted lightly through his nose, then put down the telescope, revealing a solemn look on his face.

As the major general brigade commander of the 6th Division, known as the most elite of the Japanese Army, Katsuji Imamura is naturally proud.

However, the recent siege of Tianjia Town Fortress has been extremely unsuccessful. If one wants to capture the core fortress of Tianjia Town, one must clear the many high ground outside the Tianjia Town Fortress.

However, in more than half a month of attacks, neither Katsuji Imamura's 11th Brigade nor another brigade of the 6th Division, the 36th Infantry Brigade, made any significant progress in the battle to attack the heights outside the Tianjia Town Fortress, and only captured a few low and isolated small and medium-sized heights.

As for those large and strategic high ground, although the 6th Division has attacked many times and fought repeatedly with the Chinese army, it has still not been able to completely capture, occupy, and successfully control even one large and strategic high ground.

Through questioning the captured prisoners and searching and inspecting the Chinese soldiers' corpses, Katsuji Imamura knew that this time he had encountered a tough opponent in the Chinese army. The 57th Division and the 9th Division of the Chinese Army guarding the high ground were both the best and most elite troops in the Chinese Army, especially the 9th Division of the Chinese Army, which really gave Katsuji Imamura a headache.

From officers to soldiers, all the soldiers in this division wore armbands with the word "Huangpu". They were well-equipped and had strong fighting spirit. In the battle with the 6th Division, they fought for every inch of land, fought repeatedly, and fought one after another. When the battle was the most intense, the officers and soldiers of this division fought to the death with the Japanese army, and many of them died together. It can be said that this caused great trouble to the attack of the 6th Division.

Obviously, it was impossible for Katsuji Imamura to fully understand the long history of the 9th Division, an honorary unit of the National Army that inherited the 2nd Training Regiment of the National Revolutionary Army during the Northern Expedition, in such a short time. After questioning the prisoners, he could only vaguely guess that this division of the Chinese army seemed to have special honors and special history, just like the 6th Division, the top elite unit of the Japanese Army, and was definitely a top-notch elite unit in the Chinese army.

Of course, in the eyes of Katsuji Imamura, this elite Chinese division could definitely not be compared with the 6th Division of the Imperial Japanese Army.

The other Chinese division guarding the high ground outside Tianjia Town, the 57th Division, was also quite powerful and caused a lot of trouble to the Japanese army.

In short, both Katsuji Imamura's 11th Brigade and other units of the 6th Division suffered a disastrous and uncomfortable defeat in the offensive operations on the outer heights of the Tanjia Town Fortress during this period.

But what Katsuji Imamura hated the most during the attack operations in these days was not the Chinese Army's 9th Division or the 57th Division, but the Chinese Army's artillery located on Banbi Mountain across the Yangtze River. The 6th Division had been fighting for so many days, and more than half of the casualties were caused by those damn Chinese artillery on the other side of the river.

During the attack on the heights outside Tianjia Town, the infantry of the 6th Division had already reached the top of the heights and even broke into the Chinese army positions on the heights to start hand-to-hand combat, and were about to successfully capture the target heights and win the heights attack.

But at this critical juncture, the Chinese artillery on Banbi Mountain on the opposite bank would immediately open fire, launching a fierce bombardment on the Japanese army on the high ground that was about to win with fierce artillery firepower. The Chinese infantry on the high ground would also take the opportunity to launch a fire counterattack against the Japanese army. In particular, the caliber of the artillery used by the Chinese artillery on Banbi Mountain was extremely large, all of which were heavy artillery of more than 100 mm. A single shell could wipe out half of the Japanese squad in one go.

No matter how fierce the Japanese troops of the 6th Division were, they could not hold on to capture the target high ground in the face of such fierce heavy artillery fire. The heavy artillery shells on half of the mountain were smashing down on them, and the mortal bodies of the Japanese infantry could not withstand it at all.

Therefore, during the attacks of these days, when the Japanese army was about to capture a certain high ground and victory was within their grasp, they were suddenly hit by Chinese artillery fire from Banbi Mountain, and then had to reluctantly retreat from the high ground. The victory that was about to be achieved was instantly turned into a cannon shadow. This scene of failure on the verge of success was played out countless times.

Even Major General Katsuji Imamura, the brigade commander, was nearly hit by a stray bullet from a large-caliber artillery shell fired from Banbi Mountain when he visited the front line to inspect the attack situation one day. If there had not been an officer leading the way and several soldiers walking in front of him to block the shrapnel for him, he would have died in the shelling.

Thinking of the times when they were about to capture the high ground, but were repeatedly bombarded by intensive artillery fire from Banbi Mountain and the resulting attacks failed, Katsuji Imamura felt his chest filled with anger.

What made Katsuji Imamura even more angry, or even disgusted, was that the 6th Division had no effective means to counter the Chinese artillery in the direction of Banbi Mountain.

The artillery firepower of the 6th Division was actually quite powerful. It had a field artillery regiment directly under its command that was equipped with 75mm field guns, and an independent mountain artillery regiment equipped with 75mm mountain guns was additionally assigned to strengthen it. Its artillery firepower was indeed strong, but the Chinese artillery on half of the mountain had the advantage of artillery range. The artillery that launched a fierce attack on the Japanese army were all 150mm German howitzers and 120mm naval guns, with a range of more than meters, which was far longer than the range of the Japanese army's mountain and field artillery.

Not to mention, the Chinese artillery deployed on the top of half the mountain has the advantages of geographical location and terrain.

At first, the artillery of the 6th Division launched a counter-artillery bombardment on Banbi Mountain with great momentum, attempting to use the 75mm mountain artillery and field artillery within the organization to suppress the Chinese artillery on Banbi Mountain. As a result, the artillery battle between the two sides lasted less than half an hour. Instead of destroying or suppressing the Chinese artillery, the Japanese artillery participating in the battle was suppressed by the Chinese artillery's 150mm howitzers and 120mm naval guns and could not raise their heads. Several artillery pieces were even knocked down, causing the heavy grenades to blast into the sky.

There was no way. Although the 6th Division had a large number of mountain artillery and field artillery, they could only be defeated by the large-caliber howitzers and naval guns on Banbi Mountain! They could not fight at all. At this point, the 6th Division completely gave up the idea of ​​suppressing the Chinese artillery on Banbi Mountain, and the subsequent offensive operations were also constantly failing, and they were constantly on the verge of victory and were beaten into the abyss of failure by the fierce Chinese artillery.

The entire Japanese 6th Division wanted to tear those damn Chinese artillerymen on Banbi Mountain to pieces, and Katsuji Imamura hated them deeply, but the technical advantages of those Chinese artillerymen were too great. Therefore, the 6th Division had no choice but to continue organizing its troops to attack the various high ground outside the Tianjia Town Fortress.

As for the results of the attack, they were obviously not ideal.

"Your Excellency, the Brigade Commander."

Colonel Yasuda Ueichi, commander of the 11th Infantry Regiment under the 13th Brigade, ran into the shelter and stood at attention and reported: "Report to the brigade commander, the troops' preparations for the attack are complete."

Imamura Katsuji slowly raised his hand, glanced at his watch and said, "Order the attack force to attack the high ground in ten minutes."

"Yes!"

The 6th Division, which had made no progress in its attack due to the stubborn resistance of the Chinese army, was known for its ferocity, but it could not keep fighting like this. Therefore, the 6th Division decided to adjust its offensive tactics.

After summarizing the lessons learned at the cost of a large number of casualties, the 6th Division believed that the biggest factor in the previous failure of the attack on the high ground was the Chinese artillery located on the hillside on the opposite bank. As long as the Chinese artillery was prevented from opening fire before the Japanese infantry attacking the high ground completely captured the high ground, and the Japanese infantry was prevented from being covered by large-scale artillery fire before they could gain a firm foothold on the high ground, then taking the high ground would be a sure thing.

Anyway, the core point is to avoid as much as possible the Japanese infantry attacking the high ground from being bombarded by the Chinese artillery on half of the mountain.

It was impossible to completely avoid the Chinese army's artillery bombardment, because during this period of fighting, the 6th Division discovered that the various high ground outside the core fortress of Tianjia Town were almost within the range of the Chinese army's artillery on Banbi Mountain. Therefore, the 6th Division could only try to completely capture the target high ground before the intensive artillery fire from the Chinese artillery on Banbi Mountain came.

In other words, the 6th Division had to find ways to speed up the capture of high ground by its infantry units, or reduce the firepower response speed of the Chinese artillery.

Based on this principle, the solution proposed by the 6th Division was to simply not carry out artillery preparation when attacking the high ground guarded by the Chinese army in order to reduce the fire response speed of the Chinese artillery.

In previous attacks, each time the 6th Division's troops attacked a high ground, they had to carry out a period of artillery preparation, concentrating the mountain and field artillery of a mountain artillery regiment and a field artillery regiment within their command sequence for indiscriminate bombardment. Such artillery preparation was very normal and reasonable, but the fierce artillery bombardment of the 6th Division not only killed and wounded the Chinese defenders on the target high ground, but also undoubtedly exposed the target high ground to the Chinese army.

If the 6th Division carries out fierce artillery preparation on a certain height, then it will certainly use infantry to attack the same height. This simple truth is very clear to anyone with a little military knowledge.

By the time the artillery preparation was completed and the infantry began to attack the high ground, the Chinese artillery on half of the mountain had already completed the shooting preparation, adjusted the shooting parameters and aimed at the target high ground of the Japanese army.

In this situation, when the Japanese infantry rushed up the hill under the firepower of the defenders on the hill, the Chinese artillery on half of the mountain naturally launched a barrage of bombardment.

Therefore, in order to avoid exposing the target, the 6th Division decided to cancel the division's artillery preparation in the new highland attack tactics, and instead let the infantry and attached troops that were mainly attacking the highlands directly launch an attack on the highlands, catching the Chinese troops on the highlands off guard.

According to this strategy, before the attacking infantry and attached troops launched an assault on the target heights, the Chinese army had no way of determining which heights the 6th Division would attack. The fire reaction speed of the Chinese artillery on the opposite half of the mountain and the efficiency of its artillery fire in killing the attacking forces of the 6th Division would also be greatly reduced.

Katsuji Imamura's 11th Regiment of the 13th Infantry Brigade became the first unit of the 6th Division to adopt improved tactics, and its target of attack was the 201 Highland in front of them.

Of course, although there is no barreled artillery as cover, the 6th Division will not really let the 13th Infantry Regiment use pure infantry forces to attack the high ground.

而是从临时配属给第6师团的日军独立迫击炮第4大队抽出了一个迫击炮中队配属给了攻击的第13联队，又从第6师团直属的工兵第6联队抽出一个中队配属给第13联队，形成了以一个步兵大队，一个迫击炮中队和一个工兵中队组成的进攻部队。

Time passed by minute by minute. The commander of the 13th Infantry Regiment, Yasuda Shouichi, glanced at his watch, then looked at the brigade commander Imamura Katsuji beside him, and immediately gave the order: "Begin!"

Below Hill 201, nearly two thousand Japanese soldiers hidden in the starting position underground began to move following the attack order. Leading the charge were more than one hundred Japanese engineers carrying blasting tubes. Behind the engineers, the 13rd Battalion of the 3th Infantry Regiment advanced slowly in a dense formation.

At the end of the attack team was the mortar squadron equipped with 12 of the Japanese Army's latest Type 94 90mm mortars.

More than 201 Japanese attacking troops, covered with green branches as camouflage, slowly climbed up the hill. There was no shouting, no roaring, only the rustling sound of footsteps. In order not to alert the enemy and ensure the suddenness of the attack, the Japanese troops attacking Hill 201 not only cancelled the artillery cover of the mountain artillery, but even the infantry, engineers and attached mortar units that directly attacked Hill were required to act as secretly and carefully as possible.

The Japanese army's covert attack tactics of stopping artillery preparation and attacking the heights by infantry, artillery, and engineers did have a good effect. In just two minutes, the Japanese engineers who took the lead successfully reached the blocking line of the chevaux de frise obstacles in front of Hill 201.

Immediately afterwards, loud bangs were heard, and hundreds of blasting tubes exploded one after another, blasting the chevaux de frise obstacle blockade in front of Hill 201. Dust, wood, and chevaux de frise debris flew all over the place amid the loud bangs, and suddenly, faint columns of smoke exploded in front of Hill 201.

(End of this chapter)