Chapter 227 Im so frustrated (Subscribe! Monthly ticket!)
Major staff officer of the 114th Division and supreme commander of the forward reconnaissance squadron.
Becomes the first junior officer of the Japanese Army's Tenth Army to die in this battle.
Just two minutes after the battle began, the senior staff officer who had just obtained the first command in his life died.
Died by the grenade launcher, one of the best small firearms of this era developed by Japan.
Four consecutive grenades, under the order of the Chinese supreme commander Lieutenant Colonel Tang Dao, hit Hideyuki Koyama's hiding place accurately. The poor major's whole body was torn into three parts by the grenades.
As a result, they did not even have time to issue even one military order for the entire battle, if the previous order for the entire army to disembark and land was not counted.
This is definitely the most frustrating battle since the establishment of the Japanese Tenth Army, bar none.
It was nothing if the top commander was killed in the second minute of the battle. The Japanese army's relatively good command system allowed Captain Yamamoto of the 3rd Infantry Squadron to take over the command naturally. The Japanese army did not enter a situation where the Japanese army was leaderless and panicked.
.
On the contrary, with no way forward or retreat, they showed astonishing courage and fighting will. Without bunkers, they built bunkers with the corpses of their comrades killed by bullets and grenades.
If Major Hideyuki Koyama’s body had not been blown into several pieces and was no longer reusable, it is very likely that a certain major would have engraved his name in Japan’s war history. It would have been the first junior officer-level human sandbag in the history of the Japanese Army.
No matter in terms of strength, geographical location or firepower advantage, the Japanese army was inferior to the five infantry companies of the 67th Army that were besieging them, but their counterattack firepower was still fierce, and even suppressed the Chinese firepower at a certain period of time.
The reason is very simple. The dominant side obviously does not want to die, and the current battle situation does not make it necessary for them to fight to the death.
The cavalrymen were all experienced veterans, and they basically fired with their heads down, that is, while preventing themselves from being hit by bullets, they fired a few more bullets to increase the probability of hitting the Japanese army.
Including those light machine gun shooters who were sweating from the shooting, no matter how happy they were, they were just shooting bullets as fast as possible to increase the probability of hitting the Japanese devils.
The targets of the Japanese hiding in the grass more than 300 meters away are pitifully small. Who can guarantee that you can hit them by aiming for half a day? If you have the time, it is better to shoot a few more bullets.
This is probabilistic killing. Once you enter this mode, the post-war statistics of the entire World War II that one soldier was killed every more than 2,300 bullets are not so abrupt.
More than 500 Chinese soldiers fired a total of about 25,000 rounds of bullets in an intense shooting mode for more than ten minutes. However, in fact, the number of Japanese soldiers who were actually killed by the bullets would never exceed 20, and the real damage to the Japanese soldiers was
, and also the grenades. Fifteen grenades threw a total of 160 grenades, killing and wounding more than 30 Japanese soldiers, including its supreme commander Hideyuki Koyama.
The casualties of more than 50 people could be said to be heavy for the two infantry squadrons, but they were not serious enough to break their bones.
In fact, because of the stupidity of the navy and the mainland, they boarded the desperate sandbank and were suppressed and beaten by the Chinese who had superior positions and firepower. This cannot be considered aggrieved.
After all, it was both defensive and offensive, and the battle was not one-sided. The grenadier soldiers who risked their lives hiding behind a bunker made of the remains of their colleagues also used crazy and accurate grenades to completely destroy at least four Chinese light machine gun fire points.
Misfire.
But what the hell is it that all twelve Taisho 11 young machine guns were killed one by one five minutes after the battle started?
It was not killed by the Chinese grenade, but it broke down on its own
After the war, according to the description of Sergeant Shingo Katori, who jumped into the river in time and relied on his good water skills to become the only survivor of the 114th Division Reconnaissance Squadron, the Taisho 11 machine gun they carried suffered from jamming and other accidents one after another not long after the battle began.
As a result, they were unable to implement continuous fire suppression on the Chinese on the other side.
For a long period of time in the battle, the two infantry squadrons could only rely on the Type 38 rifles, which fired the bolt once, and the Chinese, who had more than 30 light machine guns, to shoot at each other.
That situation, if you think about it with your feet, you can imagine how frustrating it is.
Otherwise, how could the strong soldier who was rescued after swimming 30 kilometers downstream of the Huangpu River shed tears of pain when talking about this?
In the end, Japanese domestic weapons design experts gave an explanation based on the characteristics of the machine gun in Taisho 11 and the geographical environment at that time: the combat environment chosen by the 114th Division was wrong.
Minato is shameless
Facing the explanation given by the experts affiliated with the Army Headquarters, the senior generals of the Tenth Army could only respond with these four words.
But in fact, the Japanese experts were right, and they said what they said exactly.
Because, in order to meet the needs of the Japanese Army in terms of combat ammunition support, the little short-legged experts have used their imaginations and developed a large number of new technologies, making the Taisho 11 machine gun universally applicable to machine rifle ammunition feeders, which means
Infantry's five-round magazines can be used directly on light machine guns.
This is actually a very avant-garde idea. A box of bullets is opened and the five-round magazine has been loaded. The infantry can use it directly, and the light machine gun can also be used. This saves a lot of time in loading bullets and can be used in the shortest time.
Provide continuous fire support to the infantry.
However, this undoubtedly makes mechanical manufacturing extremely complicated.
Actual combat has proven that the simpler the structure of the firearm, the higher the reliability, and conversely, the worse the reliability.
If we use a human-like metaphor for the machine guns of this period, the DP series light machine guns of the Fighting Nation are like a rough guy from the northwest. He can eat well and sleep well in any environment, rarely complains and does not neglect his work;
The Germanic mg series light machine guns are like well-trained soldiers. As long as they follow the military orders, they can basically complete the mission;
The Taisho 11 machine gun, which is the main equipment of the Japanese Army, is just a pretty girl who never leaves the house or steps out of the door. It will be cold, hot, windy or rainy, and it will make her lose her temper.
In other words, the Taisho 11 light machine gun will have a relatively low failure rate only in seasons that are neither cold nor hot, neither dry nor wet, and under ideal conditions of careful maintenance and mild combat intensity.
And in this Jiangxinzhou, the morning fog itself was heavy, and the sand stirred up by grenade explosions was constantly blowing in the wind. The harsh combat environment made this delicate machine gun strike one by one in the 11th year of Taisho.
Having lost the most precious continuous firepower, the Chinese side that seized the fighter plane naturally aimed their light machine guns and grenade launchers at the only grenade launcher with some counterattack capability.
No matter how brave you are, you can't beat four hands with just two fists, right? Just like a brave young man who bravely raised his fists in the face of evil gangsters, but the final outcome is often that when Batman doesn't appear.
, he could only squat down, hold his head, and let the big stick beat him wildly.
Reality is so cruel and it does not change because of bravery.
Having lost their commander, their machine guns, their grenade launchers, their colleagues, and many more, the Japanese infantry did not wait for Batman, but for the dragon.
After spending enough time, the Chinese artillery, which had completely silenced the three gunboats, turned its muzzle.
Ten 150-caliber mortars hiding behind the hills showed their ferocious faces to a group of "warriors" who were crawling on the sand and unwilling to surrender.
