The Iron-Blooded Army of Beacon Fire

Chapter 439: The 6th Division's Graveyard 1
In the Banbishan Command Post, He Wei, with a grim face, picked up the telephone transmitter leading to the artillery command post and shouted: "There are a considerable number of Japanese troops hiding below the target high ground. Extend the artillery fire as much as possible and fire the shells below the high ground!"

"Extend your firepower, extend your firepower, don't bomb the high ground. The 9th Division has sent a report that there are no Japanese troops on the high ground. The enemies are all gathered below the high ground. Concentrate your firepower to bombard the area below the high ground! I want to coordinate with the 9th Division to destroy the Japanese troops below the high ground. First, use your artillery to plow through them!"

He Wei shouted the battle orders at the top of his lungs, almost to the point of breaking his voice.

At this time, the bombardment of artillery of various calibers on half of the mountain had reached its climax, making the whole mountain seem to be shaking. The sound of a single gun firing could not be heard clearly, only continuous loud noises and sharp whistling sounds breaking through the air.

Even in the command post built inside the mountain where He Wei was located, the deafening sound of artillery fire meant that the officers and soldiers in the command post had to rely on shouting to communicate.

The situation at the artillery command post was no different. In the Banbishan artillery command post where Chen Xinsheng was located, apart from the sound of artillery fire, there were the sounds of various shooting parameters being issued, the sounds of officers and soldiers running and shouting, the footsteps of people walking back and forth to report orders, and the roars of various artillery positions requesting replenishment of ammunition. It was very noisy and chaotic.

There is no way. Half of the mountain artillery group was hastily organized in just a few days. This is the inevitable consequence of rushing something into action.

Fortunately, the artillery command post attached great importance to the orders issued by the Banbishan General Command Post, and He Wei's order soon received a reply from Chen Xinsheng.

"Yes! Captain! My artillery group will use up all the shells and bomb these bastards to death! Kill them all!"

On the phone, Chen Xinsheng also shouted at the top of his lungs, with a hint of excitement in his loud voice.

When Chen Xinsheng learned that He Wei was going to coordinate the battle with the 9th Division to eliminate the Japanese troops in the high ground, he knew that He Wei was preparing to assist the friendly forces in a battle of annihilation.

Immediately, Chen Xinsheng's nerves were dominated by a high-pitched excitement!

As for Hill 201, after a long period of heavy bombardment, the artillery observation post on half of the mountain could no longer determine the specific movements of the Japanese troops near the hill.

The distance was too far, and after the fierce bombardment, Hill 201 was filled with smoke and dust. Moreover, the area below the halfway point of the slope of Hill 201 was in the blind spot of the artillery observation post on the hill, so it was completely dark below Hill 201.

In this situation, the new firing order issued by Chen Xinsheng to his artillery group was more bold and even rough. He directly ordered the entire artillery group to freely extend their firepower and freely fire at the target below Hill 201.

Therefore, after about half a minute of silence, the Banbi Mountain artillery group roared again. The artillery group, which originally targeted the area below the halfway point of Hill 201, began to transfer its artillery fire in a very chaotic manner.

Whether it was the two mountain artillery companies of the assault corps artillery battalion, the temporary artillery group formed by mountain artillery captured from the Japanese army, or the 150mm heavy artillery battalion and the naval artillery team, none of them made any careful aiming. They just roughly adjusted the shooting parameters and then opened fire at the fastest speed. The shooting principle of putting firepower projection first was well reflected at this time.

Boom
Bang Bang
Under this fire transfer tactic, the shells fired by Half of the mountain artillery group could hardly be called accurate. Since the gunners of the temporary mountain artillery group that operated the captured Japanese mountain artillery were unfamiliar with the operation, they missed many 75mm mountain artillery shells and hit other high ground, creating clusters of shells on these high ground that suffered the unexpected disaster.

In this brutal artillery transfer, the firepower of the Banbi Mountain Artillery Group gradually covered the area below Hill 201, even though many shells strayed far from the target area and missed the target, failing to accurately suppress the firepower of the 201th Infantry Regiment below Hill 13. Moreover, the number of these missed shells exceeded one-third of the number of shells fired by the Banbi Mountain Artillery Group after the fire transfer, and was tending to approach half of the total number of shells fired.

The Banbishan artillery group was too far away from the target area. In addition, there was no aerial calibration aircraft using radio communication equipment to provide the artillery group with the necessary parameters for correcting shooting, nor were there large aerial calibration balloons to assist in the observation of obscured targets at a distance. The Banbishan artillery group, lacking observation means, was equivalent to being half "blind". It could even be said that it was natural for the artillery to achieve such a hit rate without long-range observation and aiming means. It was no exaggeration to say that it was an extraordinary performance.

But under the terrifying firepower projection of half of the mountain artillery group, those shells, although not many, hit accurately below Hill 201 and were enough to cause terrible casualties to the 13th Infantry Regiment.

Below Hill 201, the 13th Infantry Regiment, which was hastily reorganizing its command center, was completely unprepared for the sudden shift in firepower from half of the mountain artillery group.

Amid the smoke that covered the sky, a sharp whistling sound broke through the air, and a round of 150mm heavy grenades flew over the heads of Japanese officers and soldiers and hit the position, mixed with a larger and more dense explosion of 75mm mountain artillery shells. The loud rumbling sound seemed to be continuously coming from far away, just like lightning and thunder.

Boom
Bang Bang
As soon as the 150mm shells fell, they blew up many large pits in the hidden positions of the 13th Infantry Regiment. The misfortune that had just happened to the commander of the 13th Infantry Regiment, Yasuda Shouichi, and his command post, once again befell many positions of the Japanese army.

The effect of the 150mm shells hitting the hidden positions and trenches of the 13th Infantry Regiment was no less severe than that of the 13th Infantry Regiment's command post which had been uprooted not long ago, and was even more devastating.

Once a heavy grenade hit near a trench, the trench near the impact point collapsed instantly after the shell exploded. The trench that was originally able to accommodate infantry passage was flattened in an instant. As for the Japanese troops in the trench, they were all blown into pieces of bloody flesh.

Many Japanese soldiers who were strictly observing combat discipline and hiding in trenches on standby were holding their weapons and ready for battle the second before, but were then hit by shells falling from the sky and were blown into the sky before they could even scream.

The 120mm naval gun shells of the Banbishan naval artillery team have repeatedly caused similar killing and destructive effects as 150mm heavy artillery shells, demonstrating the power of large-caliber shells.

For the Japanese soldiers hiding in the trenches, once a 150mm or 120mm shell landed nearby, even if they could rush into the anti-gun holes in the trenches before the shell hit the ground and exploded, their internal organs would be shattered by the violent shock caused by the 150mm heavy grenade with a delayed fuse and the 120mm shell with an armor-piercing warhead penetrating the soil.

As for those Japanese soldiers who were in the killing range of the heavy artillery shells that exploded on the ground but had no time to evade the artillery, almost no intact bodies were found after the heavy artillery shells exploded, only clumps of meat mixed with hot soil. Of course, the shells that hit the positions of the 13th Infantry Regiment were mainly 75mm mountain artillery shells, and these 75mm blasting grenades and shrapnel shells also exploded one after another, splashing dense shrapnel and countless air-burst shrapnel bullets.

The Japanese soldiers hiding in the fortifications could still dodge some of these shrapnel and shotgun bullets, so there was no need to worry too much.

However, the 13th Infantry Regiment had just lost its command center, and the entire command and communication network along with its regiment command post was destroyed. Many Japanese soldiers were outside the fortifications carrying telephones, telephone lines and various communication equipment, urgently repairing and setting up the communication network that was destroyed by a shell.

The Japanese officers and soldiers who were repairing the wired communication network were caught off guard and attacked by the extended firepower of half of the mountain artillery group. They had nowhere to hide outside the fortifications and suffered casualties in a short period of time. Countless people were knocked down by shrapnel and shotgun bullets and screamed.

The half-mountain artillery group lacked effective long-range observation means, and almost half of the various caliber shells fired by the 13th Infantry Regiment in the "blind" artillery bombardment missed their targets.

However, relying on the huge amount of firepower projected and the tremendous power of the 150 and 120 mm shells in the artillery group, those hitting shells still caused serious damage to the 13th Infantry Regiment.

The positions of the entire 13th Infantry Regiment were all within the coverage and bombardment range of the Banbi Mountain Artillery Group, and were shaking constantly under the ravages of the Banbi Mountain Artillery Group.

"Hurry up and get someone to bring the telephone line to connect the telephone line to the Second Brigade!"

"Come here, tell all the troops not to act rashly, stay in their positions, and don't panic!"

"Inform all units to pay attention to the problem of ammunition explosion and store the shells in the fortifications separately!"

"Send a detachment to report to the division headquarters and request the division to provide artillery support to suppress the Chinese artillery on the hill on the opposite bank."

Near the command post of the 13th Infantry Regiment which had been destroyed not long ago, the commander of the 13th Infantry Brigade, Katsuji Imamura, who had temporarily replaced the fallen commander of the 13th Infantry Regiment, and was organizing troops to rebuild the command center and communication network of the 11th Infantry Regiment, was squatting behind two corpses. He endured the hot air waves and the sound of shrapnel breaking through the air, and continued to give orders. From time to time, he moved around in the bullet craters and natural depressions full of corpses, assigned various tasks to the surrounding officers and soldiers, and did his best to maintain this infantry regiment that had suffered repeated setbacks and was struggling to hold on.

The loud noises and violent shocks made Katsuji Imamura feel that he could hardly squat down. The airflow generated by the exploding shells around him hit Katsuji Imamura's body again and again, and the sound of shrapnel cutting through the air produced waves of sharp screams in his head.

After a series of setbacks, Katsuji Imamura had completely given up the tactical goal of capturing Hill 201. As a veteran major general and brigade commander, his recent loss of control in anger over the explosion of the regiment's artillery squadron was just a minor episode.

Although the fierce artillery bombardment of the Chinese army made Katsuji Imamura feel physically uncomfortable, he had already regained his composure and showed the command, tactical qualities and courage that a major general brigade commander should have.

Katsuji Imamura knew very well that facing the fierce artillery bombardment of the Chinese army, the only thing to do now was to maintain order in the troops, preserve the troops' combat discipline, and let the officers and soldiers of the 13th Regiment defend on the spot in the existing fortifications and hold on.

However, retreat was absolutely impossible because the Chinese army's artillery firepower was so fierce that if the 13th Regiment broke away from the trenches and retreated on a large scale, it would inevitably be pursued by the Chinese artillery firepower.

At that time, it is not difficult to imagine what the result would be if the main force of an infantry regiment left the trenches and had no fortifications to cover it and was bombarded by the fierce and fierce artillery fire of the Chinese army during its retreat. The infantry troops' retreat in front of the enemy under heavy artillery fire would only lead to another tragic disaster.

Based on this consideration, Katsuji Imamura has made up his mind that he must not retreat now and must hold his ground, and he calmly issued orders one after another.

While ordering the various units of the 13th Regiment to hold their ground and restore the command center and battlefield wired communication network as quickly as possible, Katsuji Imamura also sent people to request artillery support from the 6th Division, requiring the division's artillery to suppress the Chinese army's artillery in the direction of Banbi Mountain as much as possible.

Because, only when the Chinese artillery in the direction of Banbi Mountain stops bombarding or the intensity of the bombardment decreases sharply, will the 13th Infantry Regiment have the opportunity to escape from the meat grinder of Hill 201!

While Katsuji Imamura was planning how to escape the 13th Regiment from the fierce bombardment, he did not know that a crisis even greater than the bombardment was quietly approaching.

In the 230th Division command post on Hill 9, the 9th Division commander Zheng Zuomin grabbed the phone receiver, looked at the billowing smoke in the distance, and said excitedly: "Brother He, the troops of my 9th Division are ready to attack. The 51st Regiment of my division has rushed to Hill 201. The 201nd Infantry Regiment on Hill 187 on the left side of Hill 52 and the 214th Infantry Regiment on Hill 244, Hill 199, and Hill 49 on the right are also ready to attack. They can launch an attack immediately! Give him a damn annihilation battle!"

He Wei's roaring voice came from the other end of the phone immediately: "Brother, according to what you said, there are about a thousand Japanese soldiers attacking Hill 201. Based on this number, I infer that the attacking Japanese army should be a reinforced infantry battalion-level force. Conversely, I estimate that the Japanese army below the hill should be a reinforced infantry regiment. Brother, your three infantry regiments seem to be enough, but if possible, try to increase the force as much as possible."

Zheng Zuomin thought for a moment, raised his eyebrows, and shouted into the microphone: "Okay! Three of my division's four infantry regiments have already moved forward, and the other regiment cannot move. Then I will send the division's special forces company and the division's direct engineering battalion over. Damn it, we must eat up this group of devils."

Immediately, He Wei's voice came from the other end of the phone again: "The shelling will stop in five minutes. Please ask your attacking troops to move out of the position and advance towards the direction of Hill 201 to engage the enemy. Start the attack after the shelling stops!"

(End of this chapter)