Sword of Light: Humanoid Self-Propelled Artillery

Chapter 84 Infantry and Artillery Coordination
At this time, the commander of the Watanabe Regiment, Watanabe Dairo, was in his temporary regiment headquarters, angrily cursing at Ichiro Omoto:
"Baga! Are you a pig? You dare to command so many soldiers to charge without even clearing out the enemy's machine gun fire points? What do you think you are as a warrior of the empire?"

Captain Watanabe was right in what he said. You must know that according to the Japanese infantry combat manual, no large-scale charge is allowed before the enemy's machine gun fire points are cleared. Only small-scale charges can be used to lure out the enemy's machine gun fire points. Only after they are confirmed to have been destroyed can a large-scale charge be carried out.

That's why there is artillery bombardment followed by infantry charge, and then artillery bombardment after infantry charge. Although it looks simple, it is actually a small-scale scattered infantry charge to attract the enemy's firepower points and mark them.

Then use artillery to clear the enemy's firepower points one by one. After confirming that there are no firepower points, a large-scale charge will be launched to occupy the enemy's positions.

Instead of launching a large-scale charge right from the start, causing massive casualties.

Of course, Wang Gensheng was also aware of the Japanese's attack method, so Wang Gensheng also made a lot of fake machine gun bunkers.

That is, a half-meter-high mound of earth is piled up in front of the trench. This mound looks no different from a machine gun bunker, and can only be distinguished if you walk very close and observe carefully.

Of course, if they open fire, they will be exposed by the flames from the machine gun muzzle, but fortunately, unless they are directly hit by a shell from the Type 92 infantry gun, it will not have much impact.

"Hi! Thank you for your guidance, Captain!"

However, Watanabe Dalang was unwilling to let it go despite Ichiro Yumoto's attitude of admitting his mistakes. Instead, he said:
"If you haven't captured Wangjia Town before sunset today, then you will lead the charge yourself!"

So under the pressure of Captain Watanabe, Captain Ichiro Omoto had to start close reconnaissance.

That's right, Ichiro Omoto has already thought of a solution. First, conduct reconnaissance, then mark the machine gun fire points, and finally bring the Type 92 infantry gun closer for direct bombing.

In this case, Ichiro Xiongben didn't believe that he couldn't destroy these machine gun bunkers.

Of course, this method is naturally not wrong. The Type 92 infantry gun is not only capable of large-angle indirect firing like a mortar, but can also perform direct firing at close range like ordinary infantry guns.

After all, compared with indirect shooting, the accuracy of direct shooting is naturally much higher.

Unfortunately, what Ichiro Omoto didn't know was that while he was observing the machine gun bunker on the Wangjia Village position, he himself was also marked.

In order to observe the machine gun bunker more carefully and accurately, Ichiro Omoto himself was less than 400 meters away from the position.

Wang Gensheng naturally saw Xiong Benyilang who was observing with a telescope. Of course, Wang Gensheng didn't know that this person was the captain, but there was no doubt that the guy who could observe the enemy with a telescope must be at least a squadron leader.

So Wang Gensheng immediately made a gesture to Baili Xiu who was lying on the roof behind him.

Baili Xiu followed the direction indicated by Wang Gensheng's hand gestures and indeed found Xiong Benyilang observing with a telescope. Wang Gensheng had also told Baili Xiu the key points of sniping.

That is to prioritize sniping valuable targets, such as those holding samurai swords or binoculars.

After all, binoculars and samurai swords are standard equipment for the Japanese military.

boom!
As the gunshot went off, a second later, a flower of blood appeared on Ichiro Xiongben's head, and he fell to the ground lifeless.

After sniping Ichiro Xiong Ben, Baili Xiu immediately rolled down from the roof of the house without hesitation. After all, this was not the first time for Baili Xiu, so he naturally knew that what would come next would definitely be artillery fire.

Sure enough, within half a minute, the surging artillery fire immediately destroyed the house where Baili Xiu had just been.

Looking at the house that had become a ruin, Baili Xiu was terrified. If he had been slower or more hesitant, he would have been buried with the house. However, just when Baili Xiu had managed to escape by chance.

On the other side, Watanabe Taro looked at the corpse of his captain and felt extremely embarrassed.

Looking at Ichiro Omoto who was shot in the head with precision, Captain Watanabe was certain that the sniper who killed Captain Omoto was the same one who killed his brother.

Although he was very angry, Captain Watanabe also understood that anger could not solve the problem. Anger would only make him lose his mind and make even more stupid commands.

For example, Captain Watanabe now naturally wants to go up close and command in person, but the body of Ichiro Omoto, which is still not cold yet, tells Watanabe that he cannot do that.

The outcome of doing this might be the same as that of Captain Sakata.

Captain Watanabe couldn't help but think of the infantry and artillery coordinated operations he had learned at the military academy.

To understand the coordination between infantry and artillery, it is not simply a matter of artillery bombardment followed by infantry charge, and then infantry charge followed by artillery bombardment.

In reality, artillery bombardments are targeted, and artillery preparation generally has several purposes.

The first is to strike the enemy's firepower points, or at least destroy the clearly known firepower points.

The second is to prevent soldiers in non-permanent fortifications from waiting in their battle positions, that is, to use artillery fire to drive away soldiers on the defense line.

The third is to suppress the enemy's artillery fire to prevent your own soldiers from being attacked by the enemy's artillery fire during the charge.

When a large number of artillery shells explode on the enemy's positions, some of the enemy's less solid positions will be blown up, such as machine gun bunkers.

At the same time, the enemy soldiers will quickly hide in tunnels or various anti-artillery holes, at least to avoid direct artillery fire.

In this way, our soldiers do not have to face the enemy firepower directly during the attack.

This is the most basic mode in general combat, which is the so-called artillery bombardment followed by infantry charge.

Of course, there is a gap between the end of artillery preparation and the soldiers' charge. Whether the enemy soldiers will quickly come out of the tunnel and take position to counterattack depends on the training and technical and tactical levels of both sides.

It is obvious that the charge commanded by Captain Xiong Ben just now did not fully implement the concept of coordinated infantry and artillery operations. At least after the artillery bombardment, they were unable to immediately rush into the enemy trenches to engage in close-range bayonet combat.

You have to know that the Japanese bayonet fighting was designed to deal with close-range combat in the trenches. It's a pity that the charge just now was a very failed one, and there was no sign of coordinated combat between infantry and artillery.

If Ichiro Omoto had ordered the Japanese soldiers to charge before the artillery bombardment ended, they could have taken advantage of the dust raised by the artillery bombardment and the gaps when they were hiding in the cat ear holes to protect themselves from the artillery.

In this way, we might be able to rush into the trenches and engage in close-range bayonet combat with the Eighth Route Army inside.

In general, the essence of infantry-artillery coordination is to charge while suppressing the killing radius of artillery fire.

(End of this chapter)