The shell hit the earthen wall outside the Japanese gun tower. In the explosion that shook the earth and the mountains, gunpowder smoke burst out along with the fireball, the smoke filled the air, and shrapnel flew horizontally.
When the smoke cleared, half of the earthen wall built by the Japanese outside the blockhouse disappeared without a trace.
Since they were firing from low to high, and the Japanese had stretched a layer of barbed wire outside and built an earthen wall, the shells hit the earthen wall and did not hit the tower.
But after this shot, the entire Japs turret was now exposed to the range of the 10mm howitzer.
Most of the soldiers in the first battalion had seen the power of 10mm high-explosive artillery shells, so they were not too surprised.
When the artillery was tested at the small Japanese stronghold in Dagu Town, a single artillery shell that hit the Japanese stronghold completely destroyed a small masonry gun tower and two small bunkers.
However, the Japs had never seen it before, and the huge noise and explosion startled the Japs in the blockhouse.
The shock wave swept towards the turret carrying choking smoke and sharp shrapnel. The shrapnel hit the wall of the turret, making a sharp metallic trembling sound.
Since the walls of the blockhouse were thicker, the space inside was relatively small. With more than ten Japanese soldiers coming, the inside of the blockhouse seemed very crowded.
"Baga, shoot!"
The Japanese squad leader yelled.
The two machine guns on the first and second floors suddenly screamed wildly, and the machine gun bullets poured towards the Eighth Route Army artillery position.
The one on the first floor is a crooked light machine gun, and the second floor is a Type 92 heavy machine gun.
But it is a pity that the Japanese gun tower is a full 800 meters away from the new regiment's artillery position. At such a long distance, the kinetic energy of the machine gun bullets is seriously insufficient, and the ballistics are very scattered, and there is no accuracy.
Moreover, each gun has a protective shield, so bullets cannot reach the Eighth Route Army's artillery.
This distance was already beyond the range of the grenade, and the Japanese were not equipped with mortars.
The rate of fire of this 10mm howitzer was 4 rounds per minute. The artillerymen were very proficient. They quickly reloaded a high-explosive shell and aimed it at the Japanese gun tower.
"Report, loading completed."
"put!"
The artillery squad leader shouted the order without hesitation.
The gunner in charge of pulling the string immediately pulled the firing rope.
"boom!"
The thunderous sound of cannon fire sounded again, and a ball of scorching flame suddenly bloomed from the muzzle. A strong wind swept by, and a cloud of dust was raised around the cannon body.
The sound of the 10mm howitzer firing and the movement during firing are wild enough.
As the saying goes, wildness will scare them.
The artillery shell traced a trajectory in the air and hit the Japanese gun tower directly.
According to the impact point of the first shell, the gunner adjusted the angle of the muzzle so that the shooting element could be aimed at the center of the turret more accurately.
The second artillery shell accurately hit the outer wall of the turret. In the explosion that shook the earth and the mountains, the Japanese turret suddenly burst into a ball of fire and smoke, and the smoke filled the air again.
When the smoke cleared, Zhang Dabiao and Yao Shangwen hurriedly raised their telescopes to take a look.
I saw that a large piece of the Japanese turret had fallen off where it was hit by the shell, and was dented, as if it had been gnawed by a dog, but the structure of the turret was still intact.
"How about it, Battalion Commander Yao, how many 10mm shells can destroy this turret?"
Zhang Dabiao looked at Yao Shangwen and asked.
Yao Shangwen squinted his eyes, thought about it carefully, and said solemnly: "The thickness of the Japs' turret is at least .3 meters. To completely destroy it, you will need at least dozens of 10mm artillery shells."
When the Japanese were building turrets, they tested the defensive capabilities of turrets and bunkers. The 10mm howitzers could only leave small craters in their outer walls.
Of course, the performance of the Japanese 10mm howitzer is not as good as the 10mm howitzer equipped by the new regiment.
However, it is enough to show that the defensive capabilities of the newly built bunkers and gun towers built by the Japanese this time are indeed amazing.
The difficulty of destroying the 70mm Type 92 infantry gun and 7mm mountain gun has increased exponentially.
However, the Japanese cut corners when building turrets and bunkers, and used 10mm howitzers to destroy them even if they were willing to spare the shells.
Zhang Dabiao secretly thought to himself, the Japanese have more than 100 such bunkers and gun towers, wouldn't they consume thousands of rounds of 10mm howitzers?
"Battle Commander Yao, we still have to attack the county town, so we have to use our artillery sparingly."
"In this way, our first battalion will coordinate with your heavy artillery battalion with infantry and artillery, and your heavy artillery battalion will provide cover. I will let the infantry and flamethrowers of the first battalion go up and roast the Japanese."
Zhang Dabiao's eyes were sharp and he made a suggestion.
"No problem!" Yao Shangwen nodded and said, "Our heavy artillery battalion will continuously bombard the Japanese artillery towers to provide artillery cover. Although the artillery shells cannot hurt the Japanese in the artillery towers, if the artillery shells explode on the artillery towers, the Japanese inside will definitely feel uncomfortable."
The power of 10mm high-explosive artillery shells is much greater than that of explosive charges.
The shell exploded on the wall of the turret, and the shock wave spread into the turret, which definitely made the Japanese feel uncomfortable.
If you're lucky, you can kill some Japanese.
Zhang Dabiao walked to the attack position of the first battalion's large troops, which was less than 600 meters away from the gun tower. He handed over the task of attacking the gun tower to the first platoon of the second company.
Zhang Dabiao said to the soldiers of the second company and the first platoon:
"When you attack later, don't just charge with all your might. In addition to the three-by-three tactics, you must also pay attention to close cooperation with the artillery."
"After firing the artillery, move forward quickly and look for bunkers to hide when the enemy shoots."
"Do you understand everything?"
The second company and the first platoon are almost all elite veterans, about 60 people, equipped with flamethrowers.
When Zhang Dabiao said this, the soldiers immediately understood what he meant and shouted in unison: "Understood!"
"attack!"
Under the leadership of the platoon leader, the soldiers dispersed and moved toward the Japanese gun towers in groups of three. The flamethrowers were protected in a safer position.
Zhang Dabiao looked at another hill, pointed at that hill, and ordered to the second company commander: "Second company commander, take people there to set up two heavy machine guns and a machine gun to cover the attack of the first platoon."
The hill is not high, but the top of the hill is almost at the same level as the Japanese gun towers, and is about 400 meters away from the Japanese gun towers.
Shoot towards the Japanese gun tower from there, and there is a chance that bullets or machine shells can be fired into the gun tower.
"yes!"
The second company commander turned around and headed towards the hill with his soldiers and weapons.
While the soldiers were attacking, the artillery fired another shot at the Japanese gun tower, and the shell hit the outer wall of the Japanese gun tower again, but not at the same point.
A huge explosion suddenly came, and the Japanese gun tower was filled with smoke.
While the little Jaap was stunned by the shock wave, the soldiers from the second company and one platoon sped up and ran towards the Jaap turret.
The weight of the m flamethrower plus a full tank of gasoline is 60 kilograms.
If it is carried by a strong warrior, it is nothing to a warrior with good physical condition.
The warriors carrying flamethrowers on their backs walked swiftly and swiftly, with two warriors each following them in a triangular formation.
Smoke shrouded the tower, and the concrete on the outer wall of the blockhouse collapsed.
After the two shots were fired, there was no movement from the Japanese in the fort for a long time.
At this time, the Japs' heads were buzzing, and the shells exploded on the outer wall, as if someone threw a packet of explosives at their heads.
But as the smoke cleared, the Japs gradually recovered, and the Japs' observers soon discovered the attacking Eighth Route Army.
"Captain, the Eighth Route Army has begun to attack!" the Japanese observer shouted loudly.
"Nani?" The Japanese squad leader's ears were temporarily deafened by the shells, and he could not hear clearly what the Japanese observer said.
The Japanese observer pointed to the observation hole, and the Japanese squad leader raised his telescope to see that sporadic Eighth Route Army soldiers were launching an attack, less than 400 meters away from the gun tower.
"Baga, kill the chicken and give it to me!"
The Japanese squad leader suddenly yelled.
"Da da da!"
The Japanese's two machine guns suddenly started screaming wildly, and the machine gun bullets were fired towards the Eighth Route Army in a fan pattern.
However, because the Eighth Route Army soldiers were spread out in formation, and while the Japanese machine guns were firing, they all found bunkers to hide.
Only one soldier was shot in the shoulder, and the injury was not serious. Immediately after the soldier was shot, a health worker ran up to give him an injection of morphine and bandaged the wound. A soldier behind him stepped forward to fill his place.
"Baga, here we go again!"
The Japanese team leader held up his binoculars to observe, and suddenly saw the Eighth Route heavy artillery firing again. He quickly moved away from the firing hole.
"boom!"
In an explosion that was like the earth shaking and the mountains shaking, the Japanese soldiers felt that their heads were about to be exploded, which was very uncomfortable.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, the attacking soldiers of the second company and the first platoon advanced several tens of meters further.
When the Japanese came to their senses and started shooting, the soldiers once again looked for cover and crawled to avoid it.
…
"Shooting like this is very useful, but it's a waste of shells."
In the field of view of the telescope, Zhang Dabiao watched the soldiers advance dozens of meters again and shook his head slightly.
10mm artillery shells are precious. Each shell weighs more than 80 kilograms. If used properly, one 10mm artillery shell can kill dozens of Japanese soldiers.
But right now, one artillery shell can only allow the soldiers to safely advance a few dozen meters, and at least a dozen artillery shells can allow the soldiers to advance to the turret position.
We have to find a way to save shells.
Although the artillery shells can be reused after the battle is won, these are 10mm artillery shells.
If it were mortar shells and 7mm mountain gun shells, Zhang Dabiao would not feel it was a waste at all.
Zhang Dabiao looked solemn and ordered loudly: "Give me the order, the artillery battery will set up the mortars and fire smoke grenades at the Japanese gun towers!"
Soon, the soldiers of the artillery company set up the mortar.
With a muffled sound, the scream of cannon shells descended over the Japanese gun tower, and then the gray smoke from the explosion quickly spread, completely covering the entire gun tower. The smoke was extremely thick, and the field of vision was completely impenetrable.
Seeing the first battalion firing smoke grenades, the heavy artillery battalion stopped firing.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, the soldiers of the second company and the first platoon continued towards the Japanese gun tower under the order of the platoon leader.
The duration of the smoke grenades is about one minute. When the smoke is about to dissipate, the artillerymen of the artillery battery quickly fire a few more smoke grenades to make up for it.
…
Seeing the smoke filling the outside of the shooting hole, the Japs squad leader's mood suddenly sank to the bottom.
The Eighth Route Army was actually equipped with smoke grenades?
And it’s such a sophisticated smoke bomb!
Now we are in big trouble!
Now the leader of the Japanese team, I just pray that there will not be many smoke bombs from the Eighth Route Army and that the smoke will dissipate quickly.
But the more you fear, the more you get. Not only did the Eighth Route Army have a lot of smoke bombs, but they were not of the type equipped by the little devils and had quality problems. Smoke bombs with less dense smoke could be compared.
The Japanese squad leader ordered the machine gunner to fire continuously.
It's as if the rattling sound of machine gun fire can embolden one's courage.
But the Japanese machine gunners could not see where the Eighth Route Army soldiers had advanced.
The Japs did not dare to go out to shoot from the blockhouses, because the Eighth Route Army's heavy artillery high-explosive shells could blow up dozens of meters outside the blockhouse without any vegetation.
Without fire suppression, the soldiers of the second platoon of the company took the opportunity to quickly close the distance from the gun tower.
During this period, a few soldiers were unfortunately hit by stray bullets, but most of the soldiers reached the barbed wire safely.
The soldiers cut the barbed wire with wire cutters and put up wooden boards. Several soldiers passed first, followed closely by the flamethrowers.
At this time, the Japanese machine guns were still firing aimlessly, unaware that the Eighth Route Army was already approaching.
Entering the range of the flamethrower, two flamethrowers from the first battalion and the second platoon held flamethrowers and pulled the ignition trigger at the Japanese turret.
All of a sudden.
Two fire dragons shot out from the nozzle of the flamethrower. The fire dragons sprayed out dozens of meters away in a straight line and disappeared from the enemy's shooting hole.
The next second, the sound of the Japs' machine guns stopped abruptly, and was replaced by the Japs' heart-rending screams.
After the Japanese machine gun misfired, the fire-breathing soldier quickly walked forward to close the distance, and continuously pulled the handle trigger, allowing the fire dragon to better enter the turret from the shooting hole.
The can contains a new type of burning agent, napalm.
This is a gel-like gasoline. The reason why this stuff is so powerful is that it sticks wherever it is sprayed.
After being driven by high-pressure nitrogen, it can be sprayed out in a straight line up to 0 meters away.
With this thing, the doom has come for these Japanese rats who huddle in strong gun towers and bunkers and shoot.
"Ah!" Immediately afterwards, more Japanese-style screams came from the turret.
The sprayed napalm burns and flows, and the small space inside the turrets and bunkers is the best place to exert its lethality.
Several Japanese soldiers opened the small door of the turret and ran out screaming, their bodies covered in flames, rolling on the ground and wailing in pain.
But this flame is like a tarsal maggot. No matter how the devil rolls and beats it, it cannot be extinguished. Instead, it burns more and more fiercely.
Some Japs wrapped in flames saw the Eighth Route Army soldiers standing here, and wanted to rush over and hug the Eighth Route Army soldiers to die together. However, before the Japs could get close, they were beaten into pieces by submachine guns.
Various Japanese-style screams came one after another from the turret, and burning flames emerged from the shooting holes in the turret.
A series of Japanese soldiers wrapped in flames ran out of the door. The soldiers had already run far away and stood in the distance quietly watching the Japanese soldiers wailing in pain.
Not long after, the Japs' screams subsided, and a strange smell of barbecue mixed with gasoline filled the air near the Japs' turrets.
Looking at the burnt corpses of the Japanese soldiers, the soldiers' eyes were filled with joy!