The Iron-Blooded Army of Beacon Fire

Chapter 517 Indiscriminate bombing
Seeing the tragic situation of their own troops being bombarded by the Chinese army's artillery fire, the commander of the 21st Brigade and the commander of the 42nd Regiment, Motoichi Sakata, both felt heartbroken.

The excellent artillery tactics of the assault corps artillery group and the outstanding performance of the French-made mortars enabled this mortar group consisting of 20 mortars to produce a shooting power close to that of a mountain artillery company. After seeing the artillery barrage that engulfed more than a hundred Japanese soldiers in just a few minutes, Masao Nakamura and Motoichi Sakata naturally thought that it was the result of the Chinese army's mountain artillery.

Since the infantry can't solve the problem, the artillery and naval aviation must be used to deal with this damn Chinese artillery!
Boom
Boom
After another brief pause in firepower, the mortar group roared again. Under the fierce artillery attack of the 42nd Regiment of the Japanese Army, the new 19th Division troops in the main position had suffered heavy casualties, and many light and heavy machine guns had been destroyed. The position was in danger. In order to protect the main position, the mortar group had to project the maximum firepower as much as possible!
Amid the roar of artillery fire, the impact points of the mortar group's shells began to roll and extend forward. The whistling sound of shrapnel and the sound of wind produced when the shock wave encountered obstruction during air propulsion gradually approached the main force of the Japanese army in front of the main position.

Thanks to the firing command map measured before the war, the mortar group's barrage advanced extremely quickly. In less than a minute, the 81mm mortars with a longer range stopped after exploding less than meters in front of the Japanese regimental artillery, rapid-fire guns and infantry guns on the front line. The mortar shells had reached their maximum range when they hit here and could no longer extend their range.

However, the shrapnel produced by the exploding mortar shells had a much larger impact range than the artillery's maximum range. Amid the rumbling explosion, the flying shrapnel hit and knocked down Japanese artillerymen and some infantrymen who were unable to dodge in time. The Japanese artillerymen who were still firing suddenly stopped firing.

The two Japanese heavy machine gun squadrons that were spewing flames had to stop firing. Shrapnel blown away by the shock wave of the explosion flew one after another, and the Japanese heavy machine gunners who were crawling and firing also screamed in pain.

The artillery observation post in the main position of the National Army quickly conveyed to the rear that the artillery group had reached its maximum range, and then the firepower of the mortar group was sharply reduced again.

The domestically-made 82mm mortars with a shorter range and the two assault corps' 81mm mortar companies ceased firing. Only one company of four 4mm mortars maintained fire suppression on the Japanese army with a slow firing rate and maximum range.

After another round of bombardment, the Japanese attacking forces had to retreat to avoid the killing range of shrapnel from the mortar shells. For a moment, the Japanese soldiers dragged their guns and carried the wounded soldiers hit by shrapnel as they "courtesy" them to retreat under the constantly exploding mortar shells. After a flurry of activity, they finally withdrew from the killing range of shrapnel from the mortar shells.

The attacking Japanese army suffered another setback, and its offensive momentum was suddenly halted.

The Japanese army was clearly in a state of decline. The defeated Japanese troops had to retreat beyond the range of the mortar group, re-set up artillery and machine guns, and continue to confront and fire at the new 19th Division troops in the main position.

Taking advantage of this gap, the troops of the New 19th Division, which had been beaten back, got a chance to catch their breath with the help of the mortar group, and the suppressed light and heavy machine gun firepower began to recover one after another.

The position that was almost broken through by the Japanese army was once again preserved under the fierce fire of the mortar group.

However, the Japanese retaliation soon came. After receiving the request for assistance from the 21st Brigade, the 5th Field Artillery Regiment of the 5th Army quickly dispatched a forward observation post to search for the location of the Chinese army's artillery positions.

Since He Wei deployed the mortar group behind a hill behind the main position, it was obviously impossible for the Japanese artillery to observe with 100% accuracy. The mortar itself produced little dust when firing, had excellent concealment, and was hidden behind the hill.

But the officers of the 5th Field Artillery Regiment were indeed skilled in combat. When direct observation was unable to determine the exact location, they were able to reversely infer the approximate location of the mortar group based on the trajectory of the mortar company of the assault corps that was carrying out intermittent bombardment.

"Bang, bang, bang..." The Japanese army's retaliatory artillery fire followed. Three field artillery battalions and a howitzer artillery battalion fired a large amount of steel and energy in a salvo. Dense artillery shells swept over the heads of the Japanese attacking forces and the main positions guarded by the new 19th Division troops, and instantly covered the hill in front of the mortar group's firing position.

Before the officers and soldiers of the mortar group could react, a whistling sound like a tidal wave suddenly came upon them, and the hill in front of their position was covered by dense artillery shells in just a few seconds.

The 75mm field artillery blasting grenades and 105mm blasting grenades roared, and the strong light, shrapnel, smoke, and shock waves instantly destroyed all the trees and vegetation on a small hill. The entire hill was submerged in a barrage of fire from a field artillery regiment.

The hot air waves swept up dust and uprooted trees into the sky, and the entire mountain and the entire earth seemed to tremble.

The officers and soldiers in the mortar position behind the hill did not expect the Japanese retaliatory bombardment to come so quickly. Caught off guard, the entire position was enveloped by the sweeping air wave.

The 81mm mortar company that was firing had just fired a round of shells that flew sideways and deviated from the target due to the huge airflow interference caused by the Japanese artillery bombardment. Dust and all kinds of rotten branches and broken soil covered the mortar positions from high above, making the broadcasters seem to be caught in a sandstorm.

Fortunately, because the Japanese artillery's observation was not accurate enough, the first round of retaliatory artillery fire did not go beyond the top of the hill, but directly hit the mortar position in the rear. Otherwise, only one round of bombs would destroy the entire mortar mine-proof position.

"Quickly put away the guns!"

"Stop fighting! Get into the hiding place!"

In the mortar position, the voices of officers shouting commands could be heard one after another. The hill in front of the position was bombarded so hard that everyone knew that the Japanese army was badly hit by the mortars, so they retaliated with their own method and launched a counter-artillery bombardment with fierce artillery fire.

In front of the Japanese army's field artillery, howitzers and other barreled artillery, the mortars were really not enough, so the officers of the mortar group wisely chose to stop firing and hide on the spot. Not only that, the anti-aircraft artillery company directly under the assault corps that was responsible for air defense alert missions in the surrounding area also began to collect artillery and retreat, hiding on the spot. The firepower of the Japanese artillery group did not care whether you were a mortar or an anti-aircraft machine gun. By the time the Japanese artillery group readjusted the firing parameters to extend the firepower, all the artillery would be destroyed!

Five mortar companies and one anti-aircraft artillery company managed to collect their artillery and retreat amid the hot air waves and whistling sounds, and hid in the shelter fortifications.

Almost as the last machine gun of the anti-aircraft artillery company was pushed into the fortifications, an increasingly obvious "buzzing" sound came from the sky above the position of the new 19th Division.

(End of this chapter)