Bright Sword: From Northwest Shanxi to Shangganling

Chapter 127: Baa, Baa, Here Comes the Sheep

At the southern entrance of Erlang Mountain, several patrol teams went forward for patrol.

"Sergeant, will the Japanese come today?" A young soldier asked in a low voice, wrapping his cotton jacket around himself.

"Since the regiment commander said that the Japs will make some small moves, then they will definitely take action." The squad leader said casually.

Since the establishment of the new Second Regiment, the commander's orders have never gone wrong.

I just don't know where the Japanese will launch a surprise attack.

"Comrades, please be alert. The Japanese are not to be trifled with. You can open fire directly when you encounter the enemy." The squad leader turned his head and ordered.

The mission of their patrol team is to detect the enemy situation in advance, and the mission is accomplished as soon as the gunshot is heard.

"Yes!" Everyone nodded.

A few minutes later, the squad leader of the patrol team suddenly raised his hand to signal.

Everyone immediately dispersed and formed a battle formation.

Following the direction of the squad leader's finger, everyone vaguely saw dark shadows moving around, and there were quite a few of them, at least two or three hundred people.

"Don't fire the light machine guns, fire freely with your rifles!" the squad leader ordered.

It was night time, and if the light machine gun opened fire, the muzzle flash would immediately expose their position.

However, the Type 38 rifle they used had almost no muzzle flame, making it perfect for shooting from behind.

"Snap!" "Snap!" "Snap!".
The Japanese soldiers who were sneaking forward fell to the ground subconsciously when they heard the gunshots.

The patrol team only hit three Japanese soldiers in one wave.

The Japanese squadron leader saw that he had been exposed and simply stopped hiding.

"Deploy battle formation and launch an attack!" ordered the Japanese squadron leader.

"Kill the chicken and give it to me!"

"Thump, thump, thump." "Thump, thump, thump."
The Japanese machine guns immediately began blindly firing in the direction of the patrol team's gunfire.

"Retreat! Let's retreat to the front line!" the patrol team's squad leader immediately ordered.

There were only a dozen of them, and they could not fight against hundreds of Japanese soldiers at all. All they could do was launch a surprise attack.

As the patrol team retreated, the Japanese also began to advance.

When they were 300 meters close to the position and preparing to attack, the 60mm mortar on the position suddenly fired several flares.

The Japanese figure was immediately exposed to the eyes of the soldiers of the 12th Company on the position.

The production of flares is not difficult, but due to the shortage of raw materials, the output is not large, and generally the New Second Regiment will not use them.

"Fight!" Gao Ye, the company commander of the 12th Company, shouted at the Japanese.

"Thump, thump, thump." "Thump, thump, thump."
"Snap!" "Snap!" "Snap!" "Snap!".
Faced with fierce firepower attacks, the Japanese were unable to attack the position for a while.

Moreover, in order to launch a night attack, the Japanese reinforced squadron did not carry heavy machine guns, and the light machine guns of the troops alone could not achieve fire suppression.

"Baga!" The Japanese squadron leader felt helpless when looking at the Eighth Route Army's positions that had been prepared in advance.

"Everyone, move back and break contact with the Eighth Route Army!" The Japanese squadron leader knew that he had already failed, so there was no need to waste time and increase casualties.

As the Japanese squadron leader gave the order, the Japanese gradually retreated and returned to their positions immediately after leaving the Eighth Route Army's firing range.

Before Gao Ye could send anyone out to clean up the battlefield, the Japanese artillery shells came over.

"Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!".
The Japanese artillery shells covered almost the entire Nankou position from far to near.

Gao Ye hid in the anti-artillery cave, listening to the continuous artillery fire outside and said: "The Japanese are so rich, when will our New Second Regiment be so rich?"

"Captain, we're not bad either. The regiment has 18 82mm mortars, and the firepower is strong enough." The deputy commander laughed.

"There's still no comparison between the power of mortars and mountain cannons." Gao Ye sighed.

Regardless of the range, the power of the shells is much greater than that of the 75mm mortar.

"We will definitely have it in the future," said the deputy company commander.

"Yes, there will definitely be one." Gao Ye nodded.

Apart from anything else, the New Second Regiment still has two Italian cannons, but the shells are too expensive and there is no place to replenish them, so every shell has to be approved by the regiment commander.

At dawn, the artillery fire that had been going on all night finally stopped.

The soldiers of the 12th Company immediately came out to repair the fortifications.

After that night's shelling, except for a few blind spots, the rest of the Nankou position had been flattened.

Such fierce artillery fire cannot be blocked by civil engineering works.

Even semi-permanent fortifications buried deep underground would be destroyed by continuous artillery shells.

However, just as the soldiers of the 12th Company were busy repairing fortifications and preparing to counterattack the Japanese attack.

Suddenly, everyone heard a sheep bleating.

When I looked up, I saw that the Japanese had brought more than a hundred sheep from somewhere and were driving them towards the minefield.

The sheep was stepping over the mines in front, followed by more than 300 Japanese soldiers.

Chen Chengxing in the rear also noticed this scene and hurried to the front line. After observing for a moment, Chen Chengxing ordered: "Gao Ye, focus fire on the minefield to scare the sheep away."

"Captain, don't be anxious." Gao Ye said hurriedly.

"Ok?"

"The mines I buried in that section are large tread mines, which will only be triggered when people or horses step on them. The weight of a sheep is not enough to detonate the mines." Gao Ye explained.

"Big mine? You are really a genius." Chen Chengxing said with a smile.

In the past, when the Japanese faced minefields, their favorite thing to do was to use animals to step over the mines. I didn’t expect Gao Ye to think of this.

"Hehe." Gao Ye touched his head and smiled.

As the flock of sheep passed by, they only stepped on a few trip mines, and the rest of the mines were intact.

Seeing this, the Japanese soldiers following behind finally put their minds at ease and followed bravely. "Scatter! Scatter!" the Japanese squadron leader shouted.

Following the order of the Japanese squadron leader, the Japanese troops began to slowly change from one group to two groups, and then to four groups.

Gradually began to form an offensive formation.

As they dispersed, someone soon stepped on a landmine.

"boom!"

"boom!"

"Damn it! How could there be mines here?" The Japanese squadron leader looked a little ugly.

He originally thought that he could launch the offensive smoothly, but he didn't expect the Eighth Route Army to be so cunning.

Gao Ye, who was on the battlefield, saw that the Japanese had entered the minefield. He glanced at Chen Chengxing and found that Chen Chengxing had no intention of giving orders. He immediately waved his hand and ordered, "Attack!"

"Thump, thump, thump." "Thump, thump, thump."
"Snap!" "Snap!" "Snap!" "Snap!".
"Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!".
The machine guns and mortars on the position were firing at full capacity.

After being hit, the Japanese became even more panicked and wanted to use cover to defend and counterattack.

However, this movement triggered a lot of landmines.

After all, Gao Ye could see that the places the Japanese thought were bunkers were actually important locations for laying mines.

This two-pronged approach made the Japanese like a lost dog. In less than half an hour, they suffered hundreds of casualties.

Seeing that the firepower of the Eighth Route Army showed no signs of weakening, and as time went on, the sound of heavy machine guns was heard on the battlefield. The Japanese squadron leader hurriedly ordered: "Turn around! Turn around!"

The troops could not deploy at all in the minefield, and everyone moved very carefully for fear of stepping on mines.

This is more terrifying than being killed by a direct explosion.

In this situation, all the soldiers' combat movements were severely distorted and their actions were slow, which was greatly disadvantageous to combat.

After hearing the order to retreat, the Japanese soldiers felt relieved.

They all retreated quickly along the same route they came.

Nobutsu Sakata, who was watching the battle on a distant hill, looked at the retreating troops with a face so gloomy that it seemed as if water could drip from it.

The Eighth Route Army's defense was really tight, and without the support of large-caliber heavy artillery and tanks, it was not easy to break through the tightly defended line head-on.

Nobutsu Sakata, who was still a small second lieutenant during the Russo-Japanese War, had a deep understanding of this.

"Order the Third Battalion to get ready."

"The artillery squadron moves forward immediately and sets up its position within 2 kilometers from the Eighth Route Army's frontline position. Attack the Eighth Route Army's firepower points with all your might!" ordered Nobutsu Sakata.

Through observation, Nobutsu Sakata discovered that the South Exit position was obviously easier to break through than the front position, and once it was broken through, Taohua Village could be attacked directly.

However, due to the terrain of this place, the mountain artillery cannot completely cover all positions from a distance.

In order to cover all of the enemy's positions, the artillery must be moved to the front of the positions.

After receiving the order, the artillery squadron of the Sakata Regiment immediately moved to the front line with four Type 4 mountain guns.

Knowing that the Eighth Route Army had artillery that could threaten them, the artillery squadron did not act rashly after arriving.

First, building an artillery position and then pushing the artillery to the artillery position can greatly improve the survivability of the artillery.

As the Japanese regiment's artillery moved forward, the 12th Company's position was completely exposed to the Japanese firepower.

After the preparations were completed, Nobutsu Sakata gave an order and four Type 4 mountain cannons began to continuously pour shells towards the position of the 12th Company.

At the same time, the mountain artillery battalion in the distance also opened fire again.

"Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!".
Chen Chengxing was looking at the dense flames on the ground in the command center and realized that he could not just let the Japanese bombard him.

The Nankou position is different from the front position. Due to the terrain, Nankou cannot accommodate too many people.

A battalion can be deployed on the front position, but only a company can be deployed on the three lines of defense at the south entrance.

Once all the firepower points of the Nankou position were destroyed, it would be difficult for them to defend against the subsequent wave-like attacks by the Japanese.

"Connect me to the field artillery platoon." Chen Chengxing said.

The only one that can support the Nankou position now is the field artillery platoon on Erlang Mountain.

"Hello! This is Chen Chengxing. I order you to bombard the Japanese artillery position in front of the Nankou position. Rapid fire for one minute!" Chen Chengxing gave the order directly after the call was connected.

Now the only thing the field artillery platoon can hit is the forward-moving Japanese Type 41 mountain artillery position.

The Italian artillery is a cannon with a relatively straight trajectory, while the Japanese mountain artillery is a howitzer with a more curved trajectory.

Therefore, if the Japanese mountain artillery hid behind the small hill and launched artillery fire, the Italian artillery would not be able to hit them.

After the artillery squadron of the Sakata Regiment moved forward, although it was able to strike all the firepower points in the Nankou position, it was also exposed to the attack range of the Italian artillery.

If the Italian gun fires at full speed, it can fire more than 15 rounds per minute, but the barrel also faces overheating after firing.

After a minute of rapid fire, the Italian guns could hardly fire again for half an hour.

So it's pretty much a one-time deal.

Two minutes later, the Italian guns, having completed their test firing, began firing at full speed.

"Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!".
The Japanese artillery positions were immediately covered by explosions.

Although the Japanese built standard field artillery positions and separated them by more than 30 meters, they were still knocked down by the Italian artillery shells.

The Japanese artillery squadron immediately began to scramble to transport the artillery. The Type 540 mountain cannon was very light, only kilograms, and a few Japanese soldiers could just drag it and run.

However, although the Italian artillery's counterattack was timely and sharp, several firing points on the left side of the Nankou position were still destroyed by the Japanese artillery.

The Japs took the opportunity to advance several hundred meters.

The infantry of both sides had already started firing at each other, and a chaotic battle broke out in front of the positions.

If we fail to defeat the Japanese and allow them to advance, the consequences will be disastrous.

(End of this chapter)