Since the Japanese attack on the left and right wings failed, the area outside Zhoujia Village has finally become quiet.
Two consecutive attacks failed. The Japanese army suffered losses as high as 176, and the puppet army lost more than 200 people.
The 28th Regiment did not use any heavy weapons at all and only used rifles to achieve such great results.
The Japanese troops, who had a bad start, realized that if they continued to consume in this exaggerated way, they might not destroy the 28th Regiment, but instead they would be eaten by the 28th Regiment first.
They began to choose the tactic of encircling rather than fighting. They built buildings outside Zhoujia Village and strengthened their defensive positions, hoping to completely encircle the 28th Regiment here.
After the meeting, these three guys agreed that they already occupied various roads and had a great strategic advantage, so there was no need to fight such a large battle for the time being.
Just wait until night, when the 28th Regiment is most mentally exhausted, launch an attack against them, and fight them in a round-robin battle.
There are only over 10,000 people in the Imperial Army. No matter how powerful the Eighth Route Army is, they will not be able to withstand repeated attacks by the Imperial Army in the short term.
28th Regiment forward command post.
After the Japanese army stopped attacking, the soldiers also began to clean up the battlefield and collect the bodies of their fallen comrades.
Because they did not use heavy artillery to bombard the enemy, the equipment captured this time was relatively complete.
In addition to hundreds of rifles seized, there were also thousands of rounds of rifle ammunition and grenades.
"Commander, look at the enemy's posture, they want to surround us here." Lu Fang raised his telescope and looked at the Japanese position.
The defenders in the left and right wing positions also sent back intelligence, and the Japanese army also stopped attacking and began to build positions.
Through the telescope, you can see a thousand meters ahead, where the little Japs are digging trenches with their butts stuck out, building machine gun positions. You can vaguely see the Japs' steel helmets, shuttling back and forth in the trenches.
In the attack position at the entrance of the village, as well as the positions on the left and right flanks, the little devil sent another squadron of soldiers up.
But this time.
They did not choose to attack, but instead repaired and strengthened their positions honestly.
The losses they suffered last time on the battlefield were still vivid in their minds, and they said they would never make the same mistake again this time.
Although the little devil's combat method is rigid, after suffering a loss, they will summarize it through a post-war meeting and improve the mistakes in their command.
In addition to the fact that the little devils themselves are well-trained and good at conducting post-war summaries, this is also the reason why the little devils are rampant in Asia.
Ding Wei raised his telescope and glanced at the busy Japanese soldiers, and a smile appeared on his lips.
The little devils are constantly harassing us. How can we allow them to build their positions so comfortably? It’s unreasonable not to cause them some trouble.
"Come here, call me Zhu Zhu." Ding Wei said without turning around.
"Yes!" A soldier responded and ran out quickly.
The entire Zhoujia Village was actually a large defensive position. After a while, pillars came trotting all the way.
"Captain, are you looking for me?" Wang Chengzhu asked with his head drooped.
After hearing the news from the previous battlefield, Wang Chengzhu could no longer contain his excitement.
I thought I could lead the artillery battalion, show off my skills on the battlefield, and blow up a bunch of little devils.
But the battle was over, and the artillery battalion had not received combat missions. As the commander of the artillery battalion, Wang Chengzhu naturally was not in a good mood.
"Why, you were not allowed to participate in the battle just now, are you unhappy?" Listening to Wang Chengzhu's sluggish tone, Ding Wei turned around and asked.
Wang Chengzhu said helplessly: "Captain, why are we sacrificing our soldiers for just a few dishes? Why don't we just bomb him and we'll be done?"
After following Ding Wei for a long time, Wang Chengzhu also fell into Ding Wei's habit of attacking first when he was in doubt.
If one shot fails, then try another shot.
"Idiot, if we reveal our real firepower right away, do you think the little Japs won't launch firepower against us?" Ding Wei scolded mercilessly.
Wang Chengzhu shrank his head and did not dare to speak.
The little devil really likes to do this kind of thing, to get the best reward in the battle at the smallest cost.
During the regular meeting held in the evening, the regiment mentioned countless times that the Japs liked to attack with a small group first.
Its main purpose is to deceive the opponent's important firepower points, and then quickly attack them.
Many examples in positional warfare have proven all this. Some troops who have never faced off against the Japs, or even a small group of soldiers who see the Japs, subconsciously pour out firepower.
Once exposed, endless bombardment awaits them.
"However, I will give you a chance now." Ding Wei pointed to the battlefield ahead and said, "Zhuzhu, if you see any Japanese in front, can you blow them up?"
Zhuzhu gestured with his thumbs to test the distance, and then said confidently: "No problem, if it can't be exploded at such a close distance, the artillery battalion might as well just hold the barrel and farm."
"Okay!" Ding Wei nodded with satisfaction: "Send an artillery squad to each of the three positions, using only mortars. Remember, fire one shot and move to another place, and never stay in one place for too long."
"Yes, leader, I promise to complete the mission!"
Hearing this, Wang Chengzhu was surprised and immediately stood up to salute.
After waiting for so long, aren't you just waiting for the regiment commander to give the battle order?
As soon as he took a step forward, Wang Chengzhu turned around and asked: "Captain, if you just let us fire, how many shots do you want us to fire?"
"A mortar has 10 rounds. We just give the Japanese a ring, but we don't really hit them." Ding Wei thought for a while and said with a smile.
10 rounds of artillery shells are enough. If you want to establish a position on my land, how can you go so smoothly?
Soon, Wang Chengzhu went down with Ding Wei's order.
Wang Chengzhu ran back to the artillery battalion position, gathered soldiers from three squads, and arranged them near the three positions.
Before leaving, Wang Chengzhu specifically told him to do a good job of surveying first, determine five bombardment locations, and change locations immediately after the first shot was fired to save bombardment time.
Although the purpose of this was to harass the little devils, and the 28th Regiment had plenty of ammunition, Wang Chengzhu was reluctant to use dozens of mortar shells just to hear the sound.
"After the five artillery pieces are finished, blow up the heavy weapons in the Japs' positions. Even if you can't find the fire positions, you have to kill a few Japs for me!" Wang Chengzhu said sternly: "The regiment commander is supervising the battle at the front. Don't do it.
Our artillery battalion is in disgrace, do you understand?"
Since becoming the commander of the artillery battalion, Wang Chengzhu's entire temperament has gradually changed.
"Understood, promise to complete the mission!" As soon as they heard that the regiment commander was in front, the artillerymen of the three squads immediately became energetic and moved towards the target position.
The artillery battalion has one squad of two mortars, three squads of six mortars, and 30 rounds of artillery shells, which is enough for the enemies on the periphery to have a good drink.
Wang Chengzhu was squatting in a trench at the entrance of the village. From time to time he looked out and stretched out his thumb to measure the distance between the two sides.
He kept turning the wheel with his hand, adjusting the angle of the mortar to determine the last firing point.
This is the advantage of the curved artillery. The artillery can hide in the bunker and hit the initial arc, and it is also easy to hide and will not easily reveal its position.
The most important thing is that compared to mountain cannons, mortars are lighter in weight and can be retreated immediately after firing a shot, making it easy to move.
At this time, the little Japanese was still digging trenches with his butt stuck out, unaware that his position had been targeted by mortars.
Wang Chengzhu adjusted the muzzle and aimed at a heavy machine gun that had just been placed on the enemy's position.
At this time.
The Japanese machine gunners have just completed the reinforcement work of the machine gun bunker.
Looking at the heavy machine gun position in front of him, Wang Chengzhu suddenly smiled and shouted in a low voice: "Let go!"
The gunner next to Wang Chengzhu immediately threw the cannonball in his hand into the barrel.
"Boom!"
A muffled sound suddenly sounded.
The shell immediately came out of the gun, drew an arc in mid-air, made a shrill scream, and fell towards the Japanese position.
The Japanese soldiers who were busy building their positions heard the screaming in their ears and subconsciously looked up.
At least dozens of Japanese soldiers saw a black spot appear in mid-air, and then continued to enlarge.
As the shells lowered lower and lower, the screams of the shells became more and more harsh.
They finally realized that it was a mortar shell.
"Bombardment!"
A shrill cry rang out from the Japs' position, and the Japs soldiers in the trenches fell to the ground one after another.
next moment.
The shell hit the heavy machine gun position hard, followed by a deafening explosion.
A ball of red flames rose from the ground and instantly enveloped the heavy machine gun.
moment.
The Japanese heavy machine gun position was shrouded in smoke. The thick smoke spread rapidly, completely covering the position with a radius of fifteen meters, making it difficult to see clearly what was going on inside.
What is certain is that that heavy machine gun is definitely doomed.
In order to facilitate the heavy machine gun to suppress fire, the Japs built the heavy machine gun position relatively high. Although it was reinforced, there were also sandbags around it.
The little devil also considered the fact that the 28th Regiment might have mortars, so he also took anti-shelling measures.
But they never expected that a shell from the opposite side would hit the machine gun position directly, which was completely beyond their expectations.
The fragments from the shell explosion were scattered everywhere. In order to save trouble and ensure the output of firepower, the Japanese placed two more boxes of heavy machine gun bullets here.
The shells exploded steadily in the position.
For a moment, there were bursts of whooshing sounds from the position, and machine gun bullets were wreaking havoc in the sky above the trenches.
The oval sputtering range of mortar shell fragments did not injure many Japanese soldiers, but the raging warheads caused secondary damage.
A squadron of Japanese soldiers targeted this position and caused heavy damage.
At least two teams of Japanese soldiers were injured and fell to the ground. They lost their fighting ability and lay on the ground, groaning in pain.
After the smoke cleared, the original machine gun position had disappeared, leaving only a gun pit and machine gun parts scattered everywhere.
The remaining Japanese soldiers immediately took up their positions, picked up their weapons and prepared to fight back.
"Mortar man, determine the position of the artillery on the opposite side and kill those Chinese people!" the Japanese squadron leader roared with a grin on his face.
Before they even saw what the person on the other side looked like, they lost a heavy machine gun. This was simply a shame for them.
Upon hearing this, the Japanese observers in the trenches immediately hid in a hidden place and observed the battlefield on the opposite side.
The crackling gunfire sounded one after another, and the originally noisy battlefield suddenly became lively again.
At this time, Wang Chengzhu had already led his troops to move to the next shooting location, and another mortar also sent a shell towards the enemy.
"call out!"
After the artillery shell made an arc in mid-air, it landed directly in the trench that the Japanese had just dug.
"Boom!"
With a violent explosion, the mortar shell landed directly in the narrow tunnel and exploded, throwing up several feet of soil.
The artillery squad that had measured the landing point in advance was extremely accurate and did not give the Japanese any chance to react, thus gaining an upper hand on the battlefield.
The trenches are inherently small, and after the mortar shells exploded, they immediately caused untold damage to the enemies in the tunnels.
Thick smoke suddenly swept through the tunnel, and countless metal fragments scattered like sharp arrows in the tunnel.
Inside the trench.
The Japanese screamed one after another, and under the impact of mortar shells, four or five enemies were knocked over.
When the smoke dissipated in the trench, the tunnel was filled with dense shrapnel. Broken limbs and broken arms were scattered everywhere. The corpses were all covered with shrapnel. The appearance of death was extremely miserable.
"Nishiuchi!" The Japanese light machine gunner mounted his machine gun and poured bullets with all his strength, venting his inner anger.
Nine light machine guns opened fire one after another, and several tongues of flame suddenly spewed out from the Japanese trenches.
"Baga!" the Japanese squadron leader roared, even though he wanted to step forward to stop the light machine gun from firing.
Now you don't even see the people on the other side, and the cannonballs on the other side are very good at it. If you are exposed, aren't you looking for a fight?
But before the squadron leader could successfully stop it, the shells flew towards the machine guns in the trenches.
The Japanese machine gunners also reacted very quickly. When they heard the scream in their ears, they immediately stopped firing and wanted to retreat with their machine guns in hand.
But this had no effect at all. As soon as they stood up, artillery shells followed and landed in the trench where they were.
Along with a series of explosions, the fire instantly swallowed up these machine gunners and tore them into pieces.
The Japanese machine gunner also did not expect that he had already hid in the trench, but still could not escape the fate of being bombed.
After the series of explosions, only two of the nine light machine guns remained.
The Japanese mortar operators were well-trained and quickly determined the impact point based on the direction of the flight.
But this was of no use. Ding Wei had long expected that the Japanese would counterattack, so he would not stay in one place and fire artillery.
Japanese gunners are not easy to deal with.
But the Japs' mortar crews didn't know all this. After confirming the location, they immediately launched a counterattack.
Little did they know, it was already an empty space, with not even a hair left.
Wang Chengzhu was hiding side by side in the trench. He heard the screams ringing in his ears and looked around.
I just happened to see the Japanese mortar shells landing at the spot where they had fired. If they hadn't moved in time, they would have been wiped out along with the people and the artillery.
Seeing this scene, Wang Chengzhu was even more convinced that the order given by the regiment commander to fire one shot and change the location was very correct.
Trenches at the entrance of the village.
With only two mortars, firing back and forth, the Japs in a squadron on the opposite side were completely suppressed.