The Japanese observation balloon was safe and sound one second, but was shot down by a sudden tongue of flame the next.
After clearing the security risks in the sky, the two artillery battalions of the 16th Brigade took off their camouflage on the ground, and the artillery pieces reflected dazzling light in the sun, as if they were giant beasts about to wake up.
"Target area 19, cover with artillery fire for five minutes!"
"The First Artillery Battalion is ready!"
"The Second Artillery Battalion is ready!"
The commander of the 2nd Artillery Battalion was Lu Bingwen, who was originally the battalion commander of the 28th Army Artillery Regiment. He had a stern look on his face and urged the officers and soldiers to speed up their actions.
The instructor of the Second Artillery Battalion, named Qian Zhenyang, stepped forward and said, "Bingwen, don't tense up your face too much. Relax, you won't make any mistakes!"
After most of the officers and soldiers of the Artillery Regiment chose to surrender, political workers at all levels were stationed in the Artillery Regiment. Zhou Weihan gave special instructions. Regardless of whether they sincerely defected to the Eighth Route Army or had other ideas in their hearts, as long as they sincerely fought against the Japanese, political workers at all levels must
Be sincere.
Since then, the two artillery units, which originally belonged to different camps, exchanged tactics with each other, and their relationship has become increasingly harmonious.
"Is this method reliable? We only have one chance. Once the Japanese react, they will..." Lu Bingwen was a little worried.
"I'm not saying that your worries are completely unnecessary. The coordinates around Shangqiu were measured one by one by our two artillery battalions. You have more theoretical knowledge than I do. Don't you see the superiority of this method of warfare?
"
In today's world, the tactics used by artillery in various countries are not much different, but they are different.
The grid coordinate method currently used by the Hebei-Shandong-Henan Column was first proposed by Chen Feng. In nearly three years of training and actual combat, and through the joint efforts of many commanders and combatants, the grid coordinate method has become more and more perfect.
When fighting the Japanese army, as long as there is a home field advantage and the grid coordinate method has been tried and tested, the Japanese army can always be struck accurately.
Although Shangqiu was previously occupied by the Japanese army, it did not mean that the Eighth Route Army did not understand the topography of Shangqiu, not to mention that the Japanese army gave them enough buffer time.
Several operational staff officers of the 16th Brigade and commanders and fighters of the two artillery battalions went around Shangqiu City. They not only created a military sand table, but also mapped the surrounding shooting areas into a precise grid coordinate table.
Each artillery position of the First Artillery Battalion and the Second Artillery Battalion has a dedicated estimator. After obtaining the azimuth parameters provided by the observer, and comparing them according to the grid coordinate table in hand, the accurate shooting elements can be obtained.
This allows a direct surprise attack without test firing.
It can not only carry out precise strikes, but also carry out artillery fire coverage, and is superior to the Japanese army in terms of tactics.
The three artillery units of the Kwantung Army are all mixed and used in different scenarios. Mountain artillery and howitzers have short barrels and a wide range of high and low shooting angles, and can be hidden behind reverse slopes. However, field guns have long barrels and high and low shooting angles.
The range is small and cannot be used behind cover.
This situation led to the fact that once the Kwantung Army's artillery fired, the observers of the 16th Brigade immediately discovered its location and noticed the difference in Area 19 where the tank teaching brigade's artillery position was located.
"Damn, what a good 105 howitzer, it's such a pity that it blew up like this!"
After giving the order, Li Yunlong was still distressed. He actually left his command position and ran to the regimental headquarters of the 11th Regiment of the 16th Brigade.
"Brigade commander, it is better to cut off one of his ten fingers than to hurt him. The Japanese 105 howitzer is too powerful and our defenses cannot withstand it at all!"
Qin Yuezhong, the leader of the 11th regiment, tried his best to comfort him, but Li Yunlong suddenly got angry: "Go, go, do you need to teach me lessons here?"
Not long after, continuous explosions were heard from the Japanese position. Li Yunlong heard the sound and observed with his artillery scope, and saw with his own eyes the flames rising from the Japanese position.
"Hey, my 105 howitzer is just gone!" Li Yunlong seemed to have lost his soul, sitting down on the sandbag and hammering his thighs with his fists.
Although the conditions of the Eighth Route Army are now better off, especially since each brigade of the Hebei-Luyu Column can be equipped with an artillery battalion, and ordinary weapons and equipment are simply not worth mentioning, who would object to having too many artillery pieces?
When there was a meeting in Shangqiu, Li Yunlong took the initiative to lead his troops to stick to Shangqiu. This was undoubtedly a sacrifice for the overall situation, but he also had other ideas.
Just because we, Lao Li, stood firm in Shangqiu and attracted the main force of the Kwantung Army, if we could capture the Japanese howitzers after the war, we would be able to leave a few for the 16th Brigade.
Caliber is the truth, how can a 75mm mountain gun compare to a 105mm howitzer?
At this moment, the walkie-talkie at the headquarters of the 11th Regiment rang in time, and the observer's voice came out: "Report, the Japanese army's 105 howitzer position has been completely covered by our army's artillery fire!"
After regaining his composure, Li Yunlong stood up and took the microphone of the walkie-talkie, and said in a deep voice: "I'm Li Yunlong, you're doing a great job, I'm going to eat meat tonight!"
When the Eighth Route Army's artillery shells landed on the artillery position of the Japanese tank training brigade, the Japanese artillery fire had not stopped yet, so they were not aware that the Eighth Route Army's artillery had begun to counterattack.
"Nani?" Yamashita Fengwen, who was a little proud at first, was suddenly alarmed by the nearby explosion.
"Commander, the chariot is teaching the direction of the brigade. It should have been shelled by the Eighth Route Army!"
Following the pointing direction of the officer who reminded him, Yamashita Fengwen's face instantly turned livid, and he slammed the telescope in his hand to the ground. The artillery position of the chariot teaching brigade was shrouded in fire and thick smoke.
"Baga, our army is obviously covering it with artillery fire. How does the Eighth Route Army carry out precise attacks on the artillery of the tank teaching brigade?"
"This is not common sense!"
Yamashita Fengwen was very puzzled. Even if the Eighth Route Army's artillery was made of iron, it should have turned into scrap metal under the bombardment. How could it be possible to fight back?
An officer on the side reminded: "Commander, are you going to notify the tank teaching brigade to evacuate immediately?"
"Baga, if Hideo Yamaji doesn't have this decision, how can he still be the brigade commander? Immediately notify the other two artillery units to move their positions!"
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! "Hi!" The scolded officer trotted away.
Yamashita Fengfumi did not allow the remaining artillery units to launch a counterattack. The Eighth Route Army was able to accurately bombard the tanks and teaching brigade positions, indicating that the other two artillery positions were also at risk of exposure.
Not to mention that the location of the Eighth Route Army artillery positions has not yet been discovered. If we do not move first, when the location of the Eighth Route Army artillery positions is discovered, I am afraid that the remaining two positions will be submerged in artillery fire.
Since the infantry of the Guards Division was currently following the tank in the offensive, Nobuhiro Okayama, the commander of the 57th Division, was always with Yamashita Fengfumi.
The old devil observed the Eighth Route Army position ahead and saw the Japanese infantry advancing gradually under the cover of tanks. The Eighth Route Army did not show up at all, and he did not find any trace of the Eighth Route Army artillery.
However, Nobuhiro Okayama, an old Japanese soldier, was alert and quickly noticed something was wrong: "Commander, according to my observation, the artillery of the Eighth Route Army is not hiding on the high ground, but on the ground!"
"No, more accurately, it should be underground, but the disguise was too good before, so our army's observers didn't notice it!"
Yamashita Fengwen heard the words and nodded: "Okayama-kun, you are right. The Eighth Route Army commander opposite is very cunning. We cannot take it lightly!"
The results of this counterattack were extremely significant. 36 M1 mountain guns immediately covered Area 19 with artillery fire. Within five minutes, a total of nearly a thousand shells were fired.
All 12 105-caliber howitzers and 12 75-caliber field guns of the Kwantung Army's tank training brigade were destroyed, and all the little Japanese on the position were also dead.
After the bombardment ended, the two artillery battalions quickly changed positions. Because of Li Yunlong's commendation, Lu Bingwen's face turned red as if he had drunk strong alcohol.
"How about it, I'll just say it's no problem!" Qian Zhenyang said.
"It's clean and tidy. I've never won such a victory before. It's so enjoyable! It's so enjoyable!"
"In the past, in the national army, artillery was a treasure. Shangfeng did not dare to dispatch the artillery casually. However, the infantry was defeated too quickly in the face of the Japanese offensive. Many artillery pieces were captured by the Japanese before even a few shots were fired!"
"To be honest, our artillery regiment is equipped with excellent artillery performance, but we didn't have much actual combat experience before today. Today we finally saw blood!" Lu Bingwen was convinced at this time, and his previous worries were completely gone.
The Japanese army suffered heavy losses in the artillery battle, but the infantry made considerable progress. It only took more than ten minutes to occupy the first position of the 16th Brigade and 11th Regiment.
The Japs' plaster flag was planted on the newly occupied position. The Japs brigade captain in charge burst out with heroic spirit and directed more than a thousand Japanese infantry to quickly deploy firepower points to prevent the Eighth Route Army from counterattacking.
"Report to the summit. Under the suppressed firepower of the imperial army's chariots, the Eighth Route Army was vulnerable to a single blow. They only resisted briefly and were captured!"
The Japanese army was only conducting a tentative attack this time. Unexpectedly, the offensive went surprisingly smoothly, so before waiting for follow-up orders from Shangfeng, the Japanese captain found that the Eighth Route Army on the opposite side was still silent and issued another attack order.
More than 30 Japanese tanks crossed the trenches and continued to advance. The infantry who had been crawling in the trenches got up and followed them.
At the headquarters of the 11th Regiment, Li Yunlong observed every move of the Japanese army. He deliberately gave up his position to give the little Japanese a little sweet taste first.
But he never expected that the Japanese army did not follow common sense. Instead of bombarding their own positions, the artillery fired fiercely at several mountains and forests.
The Japanese infantry tanks gradually approached, but there was still no movement in the second position of the 11th Regiment, falling into a dead silence.
The Japanese captain didn't care about this at all, and waved his sword randomly: "Spread it!"
After hearing the order, more than a thousand Japanese infantrymen launched a fierce attack from the Japanese tank formation. Unexpectedly, the position was empty, only some grenades and ammunition were scattered.
"Sir, is there anyone on the Eighth Route Army position?"
"Nani?" The Japanese captain was a little confused, and he didn't understand what was going on for a while.
In fact, Li Yunlong deliberately did not deploy any troops in the second position of the 11th Regiment. After a slight resistance, the commanders and soldiers in the first position withdrew directly to the third position.
Tojo Toshio's chariot team was placed in the first echelon's combat sequence by Hideo Yamaji. At this time, he vaguely felt that something was wrong.
The Japanese in the same car didn't care. He wiped his sweat with a towel and raised the corners of his mouth slightly: "Tojo-kun, the tank troops of the Empire of Japan should achieve such a record. Their flesh and blood bodies are vulnerable to the torrent of steel!"
Tojo Toshio shook his head. He was not an idiot like Yamashita Tomita. He just wanted to report his concerns to his superiors through the radio.
