Sword of Light: Humanoid Self-Propelled Artillery

Chapter 89 The Power of Heavy Artillery
Wang Gensheng also looked in the direction Kong Jie was looking, and indeed found that the Japanese were setting up artillery positions.

However, this time, the positions deployed were not infantry artillery positions, but mortar positions.

The mortar that Kong Jie mentioned, which was thicker than a thigh, was the Japanese's main gun, the 15.5mm Type 97 medium mortar.

This type of mortar is no longer equipped with a separate artillery battalion or artillery squad.

Instead, it was directly equipped to the independent artillery regiment and was directly commanded by the Japanese Lion Regiment.

Although this mortar has a short range of only 3,800 meters, it is very light at only 342 kilograms, making it easy to transport. More importantly, the shells it fires are very powerful, even more powerful than a 155mm howitzer.

The weight of a single shell is 25 kilograms, and the amount of TNT contained in it is as much as 10 kilograms.

In comparison, the Type 92 infantry gun's shell weighs only 3.8 kilograms, and its internal charge is only 600 grams.

As for the special grenade launcher with a caliber of only 50 mm, the charge is only more than 100 grams.

You have to know that the power of artillery in this era is not only determined by caliber, but more importantly by the amount of explosives in the shells.

So when Wang Gensheng saw through the telescope that the Japanese artillerymen were struggling to load a shell thicker than his thigh into the mortar, he ordered without hesitation:

"Retreat quickly, abandon the position and retreat quickly to the village! Our anti-artillery holes can't withstand such heavy artillery."

When Kong Jie heard Wang Gensheng's words, he immediately ordered a complete retreat.

Fortunately, they were all well-trained, so after hearing Wang Gensheng's words, they all began to retreat into the village in an orderly manner.

boom! boom! boom!
Just when Wang Gensheng led the soldiers of the third battalion to retreat into the village.

The 25-kilogram shell of the Type 97 mortar has also been dropped.

The explosive power of a 150mm shell is both astonishing and terrifying.

Wang Gensheng had never experienced this before, so naturally he didn't understand the terrible power of this kind of artillery shell, but now that he has experienced it, he understands it.

In the past, Wang Gensheng had only heard military fans bragging about how powerful the 150mm howitzer was, for example!
The shock wave pressure of a 150mm grenade within a radius of ten meters is usually between two hundred and four hundred, while the shock wave strength that the walls of ordinary civilian buildings can withstand is only ten kilopascals.

The 150mm howitzer hit the target head-on, and any solid fortifications and the people inside them were directly blown to pieces and buried alive.

It can even penetrate concrete walls over one meter thick, turning ordinary buildings into powder.

Of course, the 150mm grenade's lethality to personnel was even more terrifying, instantly shattering any soldier within a 20-meter radius of the blast center. Within a 50-meter radius, countless shrapnel flew everywhere, leaving no chance of survival.

Even outside a 150-meter radius, you're not safe; you could be hit by shrapnel. It's not until a 200-meter radius that people are considered safe, but if you're not protected when a grenade explodes, temporary deafness could occur even at 200 meters.

Generally speaking, a 150mm howitzer usually weighs about four tons, and a shell weighs about 50 kilograms.

The 120mm howitzer usually weighs about 1.5 tons, and each shell weighs about 15 kilograms.

As for the 75mm mountain gun, the barrel usually weighs about 800 kilograms, and each shell weighs about 5 kilograms.

As for the Type 92 70mm caliber infantry gun designed by the Japanese specifically for mountain warfare, it weighed only 220 kilograms, and a shell weighed only 3.8 kilograms.

While the 150mm mortar shell weighs only 25 kilograms, its charge is just as heavy as that of a howitzer shell. This is because the howitzer's longer range creates a high barrel pressure. To withstand this high pressure, the shell casing must be very strong and thick, leaving less room for the charge.

However, there is no such concern for mortar shells, so they can be made with thin skin and rich filling.

Generally speaking, the amount of explosives inside a 150mm howitzer shell is only eight to ten kilograms of TNT, which is equivalent to the explosives in a 150mm mortar shell, so the power is also comparable.

Therefore, the charge of most howitzers is generally between 15 and 20 percent of the weight of the shell.

The rate for mortar shells is between 35 and 40 percent.

As for aerial bombs dropped from airplanes, the explosive charge can reach more than 65%.

At this time, Wang Gensheng, whose ears were buzzing, took a quick look at the trench a hundred meters away that was bombed by the Japanese 150mm mortar. At this time, most of the trench had been collapsed.

As for the cat-ear holes dug next to the trenches, they were all collapsed by the earthquake, and most of the machine gun bunkers collapsed.

Wang Gensheng was very glad at this time that he retreated quickly, otherwise the casualties of the Third Battalion would have been extremely heavy. Even if they were not killed by the explosion, they would have been buried alive in the cat ear holes.

Seeing this situation, Wang Gensheng said to Kong Jie who was standing beside him without hesitation:
"Captain, according to the original plan, you should immediately lead the New Second Regiment into the underground tunnel and retreat. I will lead the assault team of the Special Cavalry Company to cover your retreat."

"Ah! What did you say? I can't hear you!"

Kong Jie's ears were temporarily tinnitus caused by the bombing, so naturally he couldn't hear what Wang Gensheng said!
In response to this, Wang Gensheng could only lean over to Kong Jie's ear and yell:

"Retreat as planned. The Japanese artillery is too powerful. We can't stop it!"

Kong Jie then nodded and ordered the messenger to call the second and first battalions defending in other directions.

After all, the defense line of the Third Battalion has collapsed. If the Second and First Battalions are not called back at this time, they will be trapped in a situation where they will be attacked from both sides.

What's more, facing such heavy artillery, the second and first battalions would only end up being annihilated by the heavy artillery if they continued to resist.

At this time, seeing that the Eighth Route Army had completely withdrawn its defenses and abandoned the outer defenses and retreated to the village, Captain Watanabe was naturally very happy, so he took the initiative to ask Captain Yu:

"The Empire's heavy artillery is truly formidable. Next, let my regiment charge into the village and wipe out the remaining enemies!"

It was obvious that Watanabe Taro wanted to get some credit. After all, the loss of ten Type 92 infantry guns last night also caused the regiment commander Watanabe to be scolded.

He even had to report to Yoshio Shinozuka to remove him from his position as the captain of the regiment, so naturally, Captain Watanabe had to show off today.

Otherwise, Yoshio Shinozuka might really remove him from his position as the commander of the corps.

It was just when the Watanabe Regiment joined forces with the other two infantry regiments to tighten the encirclement.

However, they didn't know that the New Second Regiment had already evacuated through the tunnel, leaving only Wang Gensheng's assault team of more than 30 people in the entire village.

Wang Gensheng was also terrified at this time, fearing that the Japanese would use heavy artillery to flatten Wangjia Village if they disagreed with him and would not engage in street fighting with him.

But when I saw the Japanese approaching Wangjia Village, I felt relieved. At least they could still fight in street battles and kill effectively.

(End of this chapter)