I'm playing whack-a-mole in Siberia

Chapter 422 Whacking a Mole

Japan is short of resources and backward in technology. Before the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War, Japan urgently purchased 16 150mm howitzers from Germany to strengthen its army's firepower.

Even so, when the Japanese army attacked Fortress Arthur, the problem of insufficient firepower was fully exposed.

The 280 heavy artillery used by the Japanese Army to capture Arthur's Fortress was borrowed from the Japanese Navy.

After occupying Fengtian, the Japanese Army captured a batch of 150mm heavy artillery equipped by the Kwantung Russian Army, and the problem of lack of firepower was finally improved to a certain extent.

Therefore, Kuropatkin should be killed simply because he did not destroy supplies during the retreat.

Fortunately, the artillery captured by the Japanese army were all mounted guns, not the most advanced barrel guns, and the threat to the Russian army in the Far East was limited.

This is also thanks to the incompetence of the War Department, which simply did not manage the equipment and withdrawal of artillery for the Russian army in Kwantung.

Otherwise, the management and withdrawal of technology will no longer be a secret.

The Japanese army's 150 howitzers have a range of no more than 6000 meters and limited power.

The Russian Empire knew there were British and Germans working for Japan.

Williams did not approve of the Japanese attack.

"If we can capture Ice City, we will control the Eastern Railway and the entire Kanto; if we can capture Amur——"

It was also impossible for Japan to completely defeat the Russian Empire.

After fully realizing the nature of the group of princes in St. Petersburg, George completely lost his illusions about St. Petersburg.

Therefore, Williams' current position has completely shifted towards Japan.

By accepting employment from the Japanese military, you have made your position clear.

The Russian artillery counterattack came earlier and more violently than Williams imagined.

Williams' deputy, Sho Kawamura, was imagining things.

After getting the rocket launcher, George became more and more cautious about the use of the army's heavy artillery.

Therefore, Japan also had to cease the war, otherwise Japan would also be dragged down by the war.

"Negotiations have begun. There is no need to attack. Attacking will only waste the lives of soldiers."

Williams lived a very comfortable life in Japan. The Japanese military not only provided Williams with servants, but also provided him with two nurses to take care of Williams' physical and mental health.

The barrel of the rocket launcher has no rifling, it is just a tin tube. This thing is not as much as you want.

Before the war broke out, Williams was not optimistic about the prospects of the Japanese army, so he did not have high expectations for his job.

It can’t be said that I don’t have a position.

The rocket launchers were enough to effectively suppress the Japanese artillery.

Williams had served in the British Army before retiring after the Boer War. He accepted a high-paying job from the Japanese Army and came to Japan to train artillery.

The British have done a lot of work behind the scenes in order to balance the balance of power in East Asia and Europe.

Japan doesn't even have cars. Although the 150 howitzer weighs only 2 tons, animal power can only be used to move the artillery.

The direction of the Russo-Japanese War was seriously beyond Williams' expectations.

Not long after the Japanese artillery fired, the Russian airship troops found the Japanese artillery position.

Before coming to Fengtian, Williams had no idea that Dashanyan would continue to attack, otherwise Williams would not come at all.

Now not only St. Petersburg, the Russian army in the Far East also needs a hearty victory to boost military morale.

Williams' contract did not include frontline operations, but was only responsible for training artillery for Japan.

The Japanese army was not equipped with rocket launchers, and once the artillery positions were deployed, it was impossible to move them quickly.

Fortunately, Alexeyev and Kuropatkin did not take the situation seriously.

Once the war is over, we don't know when the next war will start, so Dashanyan will go out in full force this time to get as much as he can before the ceasefire.

Williams' military rank is lieutenant colonel, and his salary is about 20 times that of a Japanese lieutenant colonel.

The barrels of army heavy artillery have a lifespan and must be replaced when they are worn out.

After losing the Pacific Fleet and the Second Fleet one after another, the Russian Empire has lost the ability to attack the Japanese mainland.

Therefore, the commander of the Japanese artillery position was Williams, a British instructor hired by the Japanese army.

Everyone in the Far East knew that Grand Duke Yuriev's anger would be repaid.

The domestic conflicts in Japan are more serious than those in the Russian Empire. This spring, a severe famine broke out in Japan, and tens of thousands of people died of starvation.

The Russian Empire was not the Qing Empire. Even if Japan won the war, it would not be able to extract much oil from the Russian Empire.

After George became the governor of the Far East, there were rumors in Japan that the Russian Empire would liquidate these mercenaries who illegally participated in the war after the war.

Japan's losses in the Russo-Japanese War have far exceeded those of the Sino-Japanese War of 6-. The Japanese army lost more than people in the capture of Arthur's Fortress alone.

Therefore, after the Japanese army occupied Fengtian, Williams came to Fengtian from Japan and went to the front line to command operations.

Dashanyan put a lot of thought into the attack. With artillery, he also needed skilled artillery to give full play to the role of the artillery.

If a large amount of supplies had not been captured after occupying Fengtian, Dashanyan could only retreat to protect itself, let alone attack.

Dashanyan's purpose is very clear. While seeking better conditions for negotiations, he will occupy more areas on land. The outcome of this battle will determine the pattern of the Far East in the next few decades.

In order to break through the Qinghe defense line, Dashanyan concentrated all 70 heavy artillery pieces to provide fire cover for the attacking Japanese army.

When the airship appeared in the sky, Williams vaguely realized that the situation was not good and ordered the troops to move their positions immediately.

Kawamura Sho completely obeyed Williams' orders, but before the Japanese army had time to take action, Russian firepower strikes followed.

George's counterattack used all 60 rocket launchers, which can fire 1440 rockets in one round.

With so many rockets, accuracy is no longer important, as long as it's about the same, if one round is not enough, just shoot another round.

So when the Japanese artillery position was engulfed in flames, Williams was stunned.

"Impossible, this is impossible-"

The power of the rocket launcher was completely beyond Williams' understanding. The firing speed of the retractable cannon, no matter how well-trained the artillerymen are, will not exceed 3 rounds per minute.

The explosions that Williams heard were almost continuous.

The scene of thousands of rockets exploding intensively is indeed spectacular, and its power can be said to be devastating. The end of the world is coming in the next second.

With Williams' understanding of the Russian army, even if all the heavy artillery of the Russian Empire was dragged over, it would not be able to achieve this level of intensity.

Kawamura Sho was completely dumbfounded and couldn't say a word.

After the rockets washed the ground, the Japanese artillery positions were in a mess. The 150-meter heavy artillery purchased at a high price was swaying here and there. Many artillery pieces fell apart and were completely irreparable.

The artillery shell storage area behind the position has now become a huge crater.

Looking across the entire position, not a single Japanese soldier could be seen. All the Japanese soldiers had been mixed with the soil kicked up by the explosion.

Ring ring ring——

The phone in the command center suddenly rang.

Kawamura Sho picked up the phone.

"Moxi Moxi - there was an earthquake just now. How is the situation over there?"

The person on the other end of the phone didn't know what was going on.

"There was no earthquake—"

Kawamura Xiang wanted to cry but had no tears. This was a man-made earthquake.

"what happened?"

The other end of the phone asked.

"Our position was destroyed by the enemy——"

"What's the damage?"

Kawamura Sho's expression suddenly turned ferocious, and he yelled into the phone.

"Our position was destroyed by the enemy! Destroyed! Destroyed, do you understand? Completely destroyed! Our artillery is finished!"

There was silence on the other end of the phone for a long time and then hung up silently.

Williams hasn't come to his senses yet.

The Russian artillery, probably worried that the damage was not complete enough, fired another round of rockets.

After another burst of tremors, there was finally silence.

woo-

The airship that had been cruising in the distance slowly flew over. From the ground, the airship seemed quite small. In fact, the length of the airship reached 150 meters, which was similar to a battleship.

Kawamura Sho finally came to his senses, picked up a rifle and rushed out of the headquarters, aiming at the airship and shooting continuously.

"BaGeYaLu, are you satisfied now? Go to hell, all wolves on the road!"

Kawamura Sho fired all the bullets and still yelled.

Williams could only smile bitterly. This thing looked small. It was at least a thousand meters above the ground. Not to mention a rifle, even a heavy machine gun couldn't reach it.

Williams thought the Russian airship was flying over to assess the damage.

Unexpectedly, the airship flew directly towards the headquarters.

Nagasaki had been bombed by airships, and airships were no secret to the Japanese.

However, Williams was not afraid, because the defense of the headquarters was quite complete. Unless the airship dropped a bomb weighing more than one ton, it would be impossible to penetrate the headquarters.

The airship is not here to bomb the headquarters.

But here for hot air ballooning.

Since the Japanese army did not have airplanes or airships, they could only use hot air balloons to correct the impact of artillery shells.

The Japanese hot air balloon was right next to Williams' headquarters.

The crew on the hot air balloon didn't realize what was happening.

As the airship flew closer and closer, the sense of oppression brought to Williams became stronger and stronger.

Williams suddenly realized that Japan could never win the war.

blah blah-

Heavy machine guns fired continuously at the hot air balloon from the pod below the airship.

The hot air balloon soon burst into flames and fell to the ground, and all the observers in the basket were spared.

This was not over yet. The airship did not fly away and continued to shoot wildly at the Japanese soldiers who were running around like headless chickens on the ground.

When fired from the ground, even a heavy machine gun with the longest range cannot hit an airship due to gravity factors.

But hitting it from above will double its power.

There is a game of whack-a-mole in Vladivostok, which is very popular among Vladivostok people.

The shooters on the airship were like whack-a-mole, shooting for 20 minutes before leaving with satisfaction.

It can't be said that he is satisfied, it is probably because he has run out of bullets.

Now that the airship's bullets are out, you can go back to the rear and continue to replenish them.

The Japanese heavy artillery was wiped out, but there was no place to replenish it.

Unless they continue to be captured from the battlefield.

Williams decided in an instant that even if Japan offered Williams 200 times his salary, Williams would resign and leave this hellish place.

(End of this chapter)