Show the sword, start from the guerrillas

Chapter 947 Chapter 946, Poison Gas
The 108th Division had three infantry regiments. The one present was an infantry regiment plus a mountain artillery battalion. The rest of the troops were not included in the attack plan.

In the eyes of Division Commander Saito, there are bombers, tank assault groups, and 105mm howitzers to assist in the battle. These troops are enough! The Eighth Route Army only has two regiments of troops left in the position. These troops can definitely take it down!

But now it seems that he really underestimated the combat effectiveness and equipment level of the Eighth Route Army, and finally understood why a large area of ​​the occupied area in North China was lost in a short period of time. Although the Eighth Route Army and the Central Army are both Chinese armies, they are not at the same level in terms of weapons and equipment or combat quality!
If there is any difference, it is that the number of the Eighth Route Army is still a little small, only a few hundred thousand people, not enough to cover more areas, and it is still in the development stage. On the other hand, the Central Army has a force of millions of people at most, and at most several million troops, which has a great advantage in numbers.

Of course, judging from today's battle, a large team has no advantage in the face of powerful weapons.

The second attack of the Japanese was still being prepared. Saito felt unsafe, so he called the Second Infantry Regiment in Xinxiang and planned to transfer them to the attack position. At the same time, he also issued a new order to his own artillery position, asking the artillery position to change the type of ammunition.

The second attack of the Japanese still needs time, and the 17th Regiment is not without reaction, they are also actively preparing for battle. In this battle, 17 heavy guns of the 9th Regiment were finally pulled out of the tunnel and placed outside the western position, which was specifically aimed at the Japanese mountain artillery position!
In the previous battles, the Japanese tanks were almost wiped out without playing much of a role, and even those tanks that fell into the anti-tank pits were given special attention!

How to say it? The bottom of these anti-tank pits is not pure soil, but corn stalks about 40 cm thick. And the anti-tank pits are covered with a combination of wooden bars + wooden boards + corn stalks + soil covering layer, which now fell to the bottom of the anti-tank pits along with the tanks.

So, during the intervals of the battle, some grenadiers replaced their weapons with special incendiary bombs and fired a few rounds at the bottom of the anti-tank pit. As a result, the straw at the bottom of the pit was ignited, and the flames jumped up high, giving the driver in the tank a barbecue.

Faced with the flames engulfing the tanks, the Japanese soldiers in the tanks ran out from the roofs one after another and then became the targets of the precision shooters.

Now that the threat of tanks was gone, the artillerymen of the 17th Regiment had a goal - to destroy the enemy's mountain artillery positions! As long as they were within the range of the 120mm heavy mortars, the artillerymen were confident that they could accomplish this task.

Based on the previous battle analysis, the commanders of the 17th Regiment also realized that the next step of the Japanese would probably be a large-scale infantry attack, so they also made adjustments for the infantry.

For example, the 9st and 2nd companies, which suffered the most losses, were replaced by the reconnaissance company, and the th company took the place of the nd company. Also, the troops lost in the battle were replaced by troops from the transport team in the northwest and southeast positions adjacent to the main position on the west side, completing the full compensation of troops.

After doing all this, the soldiers found anti-artillery holes on the battlefield and hid in them, leaving observation posts on the battlefield, observing and waiting for the next attack from the Japanese.

"The Japs are just like Cheng Yaojin's three axes. Once we defeat them, they have no more tricks! So, comrades, after we finish this wave of attacks, it's time for us to deal with the Japs!"

"But squad leader, I heard that the Japanese have sent a division, and they are using tanks. Can we defeat them?"

"You idiot, the tanks have become barbecue grills, and more than a thousand Japanese soldiers have been wiped out. We only suffered about 200 casualties. How come we can't win?"

"Our scouts have been busy these days. One of the three Japanese regiments went to the railway line, one stayed in the county town, and one went out of the city to fight. I think the Japanese haven't attacked yet, which means they are mobilizing the troops in the city! Don't worry, we only mobilized one regiment, and we have become like this now. Our military sub-district has 17 regiments like the 6th Regiment!" "Comrades, guess where our sub-district artillery regiment is hiding? And where is the sub-district special agent regiment hiding? The special agent regiment is larger than our 17th Regiment, it is a large regiment with four units!"

"All's fair in war. We set up a Bagua formation here to attract the enemy's attention. It's just bait for fishing. The real killer move is not here!"

"It's not that bad actually. As long as the Japanese don't intend to raid our base, the military sub-district doesn't necessarily have to capture all the counties along the railway line. We still have to put control over the newly liberated counties!"

The soldiers hid in the anti-artillery cave, smoking and talking, and looked up from time to time, waiting for the battle to start. Unlike the lively atmosphere in the anti-artillery cave, the observation sentries outside were nervously looking outside, waiting for the Japanese to make a move.

More than an hour later, there was finally new movement in the west.

Chirp, chirp, chirp… In the sky, the whistling sound of artillery shells broke the silence of the battlefield, and then more than ten shells exploded on the westernmost position. Then, yellow smoke quickly spread, and it was obvious that it was not a good thing.

"Damn it, it's poison gas!" After a cry of alarm, the sentries on the western position blew their whistles decisively to warn their comrades. Squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak... With two consecutive short whistle sounds, the atmosphere on the battlefield became tense.

"Poison gas! Gas masks, quickly..." In the anti-artillery cave, the soldiers quickly took out their gas masks and put them on. This was a speed they had practiced for a long time to achieve.

The Japanese's poison gas is so toxic that it only takes a few seconds for a person to die, so the speed of putting on the gas mask must be fast! In fact, the most dangerous people at this time are the observation posts outside, because they need to blow whistles to remind their comrades, and there is no time to put on gas masks.

As a result, some whistles were blown but then there was no sound, followed by the figures of sentinels falling into the trenches. In order to remind their comrades of their safety, the sentinels decisively chose to sacrifice their own time and blow the whistle for a while longer... However, after blowing for a while, they lost their strength, foamed at the corners of their mouths, and some even had blood on them.

"Fuck my young mother..." Looking at their comrades falling in the trenches, the soldiers wearing gas masks felt their hearts burn with anger.

Chirp chirp...Boom boom boom...The Japanese's poison gas bombs continued to explode, but this did not cause any harm to the comrades who were wearing gas masks. It only added to their endless anger.

Finally, the poison gas bombs stopped bombing, but it was not because the Japanese were willing to stop, but because the artillerymen who were also wearing gas masks fired back with 120 heavy mortar shells!

(End of this chapter)