The 62nd Infantry Regiment finally arrived at the Niangziguan flank after an arduous trek of five and a half hours and at the cost of nearly 180 casualties of officers and soldiers!
Looking at the undulating mountains with dense vegetation in the distance, he could clearly hear the rumble of cannons coming from several kilometers away. Hengshan Ze wanted to lead the army all the way into this mountain forest. Maybe it wouldn't take until dusk to cooperate with the main force.
The pincer attack destroyed the infantry regiment, which was rumored to be magical within the front army.
But Hengshanze, who has a military career of more than 20 years, is not a reckless man. He knows that there must be Chinese soldiers hidden in the lush mountains in front of him.
A victory on the battlefield may still be called a fluke, but the Four Lines Regiment's solid record has proven the ability of its commander. He will never abandon such an important area on the flanks and will only station troops on the front.
Therefore, Hengshan Ze, who was eager to win, had the patience to order his three infantry brigades to send out nearly ten groups of reconnaissance troops, with a strength of more than 160 people, to conduct reconnaissance on the mountains in front of him!
The Chinese soldiers on the highlands will naturally not tolerate them, and will even shoot and kill the Japanese reconnaissance soldiers who dare to approach the highlands from a distance of 300 meters!
"Bang! Bang! Bang!" sporadic gunshots continued from the afternoon to nearly dusk!
This highland reconnaissance battle in which the Japanese reconnaissance elite sacrificed their lives was not over until the simple sand table in front of Yokoyama Sawa was filled with white flags representing the enemy!
At the cost of 42 deaths and 48 injuries, the Japanese reconnaissance elites were able to ascertain the general situation of the Chinese troop garrison for Yokoyama Sawa, who liked to use sandboxes instead of maps before the war.
Seeing the densely packed small white flags on the sand table, Hengshan Ze also had a headache. The Chinese side almost never spared any high ground in the mountains. Each high ground was like a nail. If they wanted to pass through, they had to pull them out one by one.
This is just what is in front of us. It is obvious that there must be garrisons on the hills deep inward. The 62nd Infantry Regiment has no shortcuts and can only attack and attack again.
Moreover, it is not possible to gather troops in one place and completely use a certain highland as a breakthrough point. Although it can form an absolute force to tear a hole, the mountains here cannot deploy troops. Once covered by heavy firepower, casualties will increase exponentially!
And what's even more terrible is that it will attract more and more Chinese reinforcements, and as the army kills people, it will form a terrible "hollow" concept, that is, the Chinese may be able to concentrate all their troops and firepower to fight decisively with them by taking advantage of their geographical advantages.
The narrow bottom of the high ground where a large number of troops can enter will also become an obstacle to the army, which is perhaps what the Chinese want to see most.
Therefore, the infantry must spread out and use the three lines as a breakthrough. As long as there is a gap, they will divide and encircle each other, first annihilate the Chinese nails on the 4,000-meter-wide continuous highland on the first line, and then advance deeper into it.
.
Hengshan Ze knew very well that this battle could not be solved in a day or two, and the best strategy was to take it step by step!
But he knew in his heart that it was the same thing, but in practice, this ferocious Japanese army left winger became a completely different person.
Just like the highland attack faced by the First Infantry Brigade under his personal supervision!
After exploratory shelling with the four mountain guns and two infantry guns he carried and half an hour of observation, Yokoyama Sawa personally formulated the tactics of the 1st Infantry Battalion.
Taking the lowest highland in the edge zone as the breakthrough point, although the Chinese on the highlands on both sides will definitely use heavy machine guns for fire support, it is obvious that there will not be many troops on that highland, and as long as that highland is occupied, the area
The Chinese on the two highlands had to divide their forces to defend their flanks, which correspondingly reduced the pressure on the front.
This move is called "pulling teeth from the tiger's mouth", which directly confuses the Chinese commanders who must have more troops stationed on the two highlands!
And that so-called low highland is exactly the 209.1 highland where Tu Yunsheng and Boss Cao are!
An infantry squad of 17 men faced a Japanese infantry squadron of 184 men, a strength comparison of 11 to 1.
At 5 p.m., near dusk, with the long blast of Japanese hand-cranked sirens, three Japanese infantry squads entered the battlefield one after another.
The most brutal battle in the Niangziguan defense war began here!
.
.
.
.
.
Boss Cao, who had disguised himself as a stone on the battlefield, had been lying there for ten minutes, just to protect the two Japanese invaders he had targeted 200 meters away, even though the Japanese infantry artillery shells were just ten meters away from him.
There was an explosion, and rocks and soil flew into the sky and hit him painfully. The choking smoke penetrated his nostrils and made his nose and mouth black.
A grenade fired by the grenade team hit the machine gun team of Squad 4, killing one of the two machine gunners and injuring one.
The machine gun shooter I had been with day and night for three months was a cheerful Sichuan man. The hearty man was blown up by a grenade and he was two meters high. The blood of the cheerful man flew on the face of the lying boss Cao. Cao almost didn't have to look back.
The boss knew that the cheerful Sichuan man could no longer tell him how smart his three-year-old son was and how virtuous his hard-working wife was. His 24-year-old young life ended abruptly on this autumn day.
Damn the Japanese! The tears in his eyes did not stop the sight of Boss Cao. The super grenadier, who could almost throw grenades 80 meters away, knew that if he wanted to avenge his comrades, grenades alone would not suffice. This time he had to use them.
own gun.
A middle-aged man who had joined the army for less than four months had been keeping his eyes on the Japanese grenadier soldier who had no idea but was extremely cunning enough to hide his figure.
It was not until ten minutes later that the Japanese grenadier soldier quietly poked his head out to observe the battlefield situation and look for the Chinese firepower. The middle-aged man who had been in the same posture for ten minutes in the hail of bullets suddenly pulled the trigger.
Hit with one shot.
The 7.92 caliber bullet accurately hit the five-pointed star on the Japanese helmet. The distance of 200 meters made the warhead with a muzzle velocity of 810 meters per second arrive almost instantly.
In the crosshairs of the Czech-made short-barreled rifle, Boss Cao could completely see the head of the Japanese grenadier who was hit suddenly falling back.
Boss Cao knew that the little devil was dead.
Hitting this location, the rolling bullet will open the human skull and turn the brain tissue into a ball of mud.
At this moment, Boss Cao, who had no idea about military merit, finally understood the meaning of what Tang Tuanzuo said during the training of the recruit company.
"There is no ultimate success, nor fatal failure. The most valuable thing is the courage to keep moving forward!"
As long as soldiers go to the battlefield, success and failure are no longer something they can consider. All they have to do is kill the enemy and continue to kill the enemy!
This is actually the fourth wave of attacks by three Japanese infantry squads taking turns to attack Highland 209.1.
In the first two waves, the Japanese army had already discovered that the troops on this small highland were insufficient, and there were no heavy firepower points, but the light firepower was very fierce, especially the highlands on both sides that would provide it with mortar fire support from time to time.
Therefore, starting from the third wave, the Japanese army became much more resolute, taking full advantage of the complex terrain in the mountains and constantly alternately covering the advance. An infantry gun from the rear even came as close as 800 meters to the area to provide artillery support.
Fortunately, although the altitude of Highland 209.1 is not high, the area is not very large, and the Japanese gave the Fourth Squadron nearly three days, which was enough for the Fourth Squadron to cooperate with the brothers of the Engineer Company to build a trench with two trenches and
Several shell-proof holes are relatively complete fortifications.
Semi-automatic rifles, submachine guns and a light machine gun fired fiercely, suppressing the Japanese troops beyond the 120-meter cordon.
However, the Japanese army refused to retreat and continued to shoot at the 4th squadron at an area about 150 meters away. Six grenade launchers also stayed on the battlefield more than 300 meters away and bombarded the battlefield indiscriminately, forcing the 4th squadron's infantry to fire a few shots.
You have to change your fighting position, otherwise you may be targeted by the grenade.
That undoubtedly greatly reduces the firepower density!
In the end, the three 60-gun guns placed on the high ground where the platoon headquarters was located opened fire together, and the third wave of Japanese attacks was repelled.
Putting small-caliber mortars into platoon-level combat units is definitely Tang Tuanzuo's wisest choice, especially after the test of this highland offensive and defensive battle.
Although the caliber of the 60mm mortar is small, it is not much larger than the 50mm caliber of the Japanese grenade, but the charge of its shell is more than twice that of the Japanese grenade, and the projectile fragments are much more.
The damage caused is definitely unmatched by grenades.
Especially after the firing angle is fixed, a skilled gunner can achieve a density of one round every three seconds, which means that within one minute, three 60-gun guns firing at full speed can fire 60 rounds.
The mortar squad that was ordered by the second lieutenant platoon leader to focus fire for three minutes ended up firing 200 rounds of artillery shells in one go, accounting for a quarter of the entire artillery squad's stored ammunition.
Even the second lieutenant platoon leader couldn't help but feel so sick when he heard this number.
The supply camp carried a lot of small-caliber mortar shells this time, but the number that could be distributed to each infantry battalion would never exceed 10,000.
Good guy, in less than an hour after the battle started, he shot down 300 rounds in a platoon, and nearly 1,000 rounds in a company. It would be strange if the battalion commander and company commander knew about it and would eat him alive.
But he had no choice. The Japanese actually played a trick. They only invested one infantry squadron in attacking two highlands with three infantry squads and one mortar squad, but they only invested one infantry squadron in attacking the small highland where the 4th squadron was.
An entire infantry squadron was committed.
What if he, a platoon leader, doesn't give full support? The Fourth Line Regiment is not in the habit of abandoning its comrades!
Moreover, if Highland 209.1 is lost, the highlands on both sides will lose flank protection, and the Japanese army can completely invest heavy troops to launch attacks from two mountain ridges or even from behind.
No matter what, we must support you!
This small-caliber mortar produced in the French Empire kept making a terrifying sound like opening a beer bottle, which completely became a nightmare that would scare the Japanese infantry awake every night after this offensive and defensive battle.
Because no one knows where the shells will land. No matter where you are hiding, those terrifying shells that rain down from the sky and can turn a ten-meter radius into a hell are likely to put you within the attack range of shrapnel.
In a sense, this small-caliber mortar, which is specially designed to kill infantry, even caused more pain to the Japanese troops hiding on the hillside than the larger-caliber mountain cannon and howitzer.
However, a charge of a few hundred grams is destined not to produce too strong a shock wave, but more irregular shell fragments will make people want to dig a hole and hide in the ground to feel safe.
Even if you are lying down, you may be smashed into pieces by the shell fragments flying everywhere.
When it comes to killing people, guns are always better than guns.
Even though the 16 soldiers on Highland 209.1 fired thousands of bullets in one hour, only a dozen Japanese soldiers were killed or injured.
But the efficiency of defeating an enemy with more than 300 rounds of bullets is actually much higher than the level of the Western World War during World War II.
But compared with the result of the 200 shell bombardment caused by 60 mortars targeting the Japanese infantry for three minutes, it was really weak.
The front width of Highland 209.1 is actually only 60 meters, and the vertical height is just over 200 meters. However, the hillside is a gentle slope of more than 40 degrees. In fact, the length of the slope from the bottom of the mountain to the top of the mountain is about 500 meters. The Japanese troops were distributed between 330 meters and 120 meters away from the top of the mountain.
The area is about the size of two football fields.
This also means that even if the Japanese infantry is completely hiding in the position in the form of a skirmisher line, there will be a Japanese soldier hiding every two or three meters on average. Faced with such a density, there will be one artillery shell falling every ten meters on average.
The horrific density of bombing is also a tragedy.
If he was lucky, even if the cannonball exploded two meters away from him, there would only be a splash of ash when he hid in a natural stone pit. At most, his ears would be deafened by the "big firecracker" and he would lose his hearing in a short period of time.
Those who were lucky enough to cling to the ground were only hit by the scattered gravel or shell fragments. Whether it was a leg or an arm, as long as it was not a vital part such as the head or chest and abdomen, although the injury was bleeding and painful, it still hurt.
You can always breathe.
Even if it’s the choking smoke.
Those who are unlucky, that is, the unlucky ones, whether you are hiding behind a rock or in a shell crater, a shell that happens to fall on or near your head will blow you into pieces.
Of course, such unlucky people are still a minority after all, only twenty or thirty.
In fact, being directly killed by a bomb and returning to the arms of Amaterasu should be said to be lucky. Those who were not so lucky but were injured and survived are the real unlucky ones.
A simple first aid kit may be able to stop the bleeding, but it cannot stop the pain. What is even more frightening is that he has lost the ability to move and can only lie down and watch the shells continue to fall. The feeling of being sentenced to a suspended death may be something no one wants to try.
Three minutes of mortar shells rained down, and the Japanese infantry position was filled with howls of ghosts and wolves.
Regardless of Chinese or Japanese, not every soldier is a hero. Many heroes are forced to do so. What can we do if we don't fight?
Kill one to get enough money, kill two to earn one! This is the psychological construction that Chinese soldiers do for themselves when they are desperate.
To be loyal to His Majesty the Emperor and for the spirit of the samurai, this is the psychological comfort that the powerful Japanese army gives itself before dying!
Unfortunately, except for a quarter of the infantrymen of the newly formed 21st Division, which are veterans, most of the remaining soldiers are either recruits with one year of military service or reservists. They have not yet reached the level of soldiers in a permanent division.
What's more, no matter how tough your nerves are, no matter how strong your mental hypnosis is, when you see your blood flowing like tap water, your muscles cracking like the open mouth of a suckling baby, and the yellow subcutaneous fat can be clearly seen.
When it is visible, it will be completely broken!
Giving milk to crying children is not just for children. If anyone shouts loudly, the medical staff will naturally crawl over faster.
As the siren sounded, the Japanese troops retreated, dragging the wounded and corpses with them.
A hail of shells shattered the third wave of attacks launched by Yokoyama Sawa himself.
All the officers and soldiers of the 4th Squadron breathed a sigh of relief and quickly notified the stretcher team 400 meters behind the mountain to carry down the two seriously injured people who were hit by bullets. The remaining lightly injured people were left in the trench by medical soldiers.
bandage.
All the members replenished their ammunition and went into the bombhole to drink water and repair. They originally thought that the Japanese army would not launch another attack after being frustrated, so they would just take turns to keep vigil at night to prevent the Japanese army from sneak attacks!
Unexpectedly, the Japanese army was only separated for less than 20 minutes, and actually launched the fourth wave when the sun was setting. It seemed that it would not stop until the day was over, and it would have to burn the midnight oil to fight.
The fourth wave of Japanese attacks once again reached a stalemate, but this time, the Japanese formed a death squad with white cloths tied across their chests, and crawled close to the area only 100 meters away from the trenches!
Even grenades and light machine guns are only 200 meters away!
The two sides almost engaged in a face-to-face exchange of fire! The Japanese troop strength was still as high as more than 140, but there were only 14 infantrymen in the trenches!
This has not reached the range of Boss Cao throwing grenades, so Boss Cao suddenly turned into a cold gunman. But don't tell me, his marksmanship is not bad. With the unique calmness of a middle-aged man and the hard training in the recruit period, he actually managed to
The Japanese grenadier was shot in the head from 200 meters away.
And this was not just his first prey in the nearly 25-minute fierce battle. Before that, he had also killed a guy at the front who had a fleshy face and a knife hanging from his waist.
Boss Cao didn’t know that that guy was the second lieutenant of the Japanese army’s death squad. He was a veteran who had been in the army for more than 8 years. He had experienced the Battle of Rehe and the Battle of Marco Polo Bridge, but unexpectedly he died on an unknown hillside in the Taihang Mountains, and
He was killed by a Chinese recruit.
The two targets that Boss Cao killed were very valuable, but this still cannot relieve the current pressure on Highland 209.1. The Japanese army is slowly approaching the top of the mountain relying on the fire cover from the rear and its strength advantage.
The platoon headquarters had previously sent a signal to tell the 4th Squadron that the mortar ammunition consumption was too high, and the next fire support would have to wait until the 4th Squadron fired a red flare.
Originally, Tu Yunsheng planned to request an infantry squad for support because of the heavy Japanese troops. However, after hearing the fierce sound of gunfire from the distance, he knew that the entire company was stationed on high ground to meet the enemy. Company Commander Li Jijin only had three soldiers in hand.
An infantry squad and a guard squad serve as reserve teams, but the entire company has up to 10 highlands to garrison, and at least there are still 14 infantrymen available on our side, and there is still enough ammunition. I plan to bite the bullet and hold on for a while, but the weather may be different.
The Japanese army stopped attacking.
Yes, until this moment, all the officers and soldiers of the Fourth Army Regiment, including Li Jijin, the commander of the Seventh Company, the highest commander in this area, had not realized what the Japanese commander they faced this time would do for his dream.
