Although Major Seto Keiji was a little messy, his vision was still quite accurate. His method of abandoning the front and concentrating his forces to attack the flanks was also very vicious. And the man he kicked to the front came to the front line instead of Shangguan. The former Kwantung Army retired captain who commanded him tried his best to save his own life.
As soon as the Japanese artillery fire turned, the pressure on the platoon blocking the Japanese army in the front was greatly reduced. However, He Fangnen's plan to encircle and annihilate the enemies on the flanks was seriously threatened. Not only was the Japanese artillery fire extremely fierce, but the cavalry squadron that was thrown in brought a great impact to the battle. There is a considerable threat coming.
Moreover, the enemy troops on the flanks were also aroused with ferocity after discovering that their opponents focused their main attack force on themselves. Maybe they knew that their main force was behind them, and maybe they knew that the Major would not spare them if they were defeated. Coupled with the support of artillery fire, the Japanese police officers, who were the backbone of the Puppet Manchukuo Railway Guard Squadron, performed significantly more tenaciously than their colleagues in Xinyuan.
Major Seto Keiji's rapid adjustment of deployment made He Fangnen's original plan to defeat the enemy forces on his flanks in the shortest possible time extremely difficult to implement. The subsequent Japanese and puppet troops used infantry and cavalry coordination tactics covered by artillery fire, and even more It posed a considerable threat to them, and the extremely fierce Japanese artillery fire caused huge casualties to the three platoons he led.
Especially when adjusting their deployment, the Japanese army's fierce artillery fire caused a lot of casualties to the troops' actions. The entire army arrived in front of Taolaizhao, only to rest for a while and hastily built some simple fortifications before launching an attack. These simple fortifications were launched. , was almost razed to the ground by fierce Japanese artillery fire, and was simply not enough to cover the movement of troops.
As soon as the troops here began to move to the flanks, the Japanese artillery fire followed. After all, it was a regular Japanese field division. Its artillery skills were quite superb. The explosive points of the Japanese artillery shells almost followed the movement of the troops. Even if They were all veterans who had been trained for a long time and had long lost their fear of artillery fire. However, the Japanese artillery fire was too dense.
The troops were exposed on the bare plains with almost no cover. They could only bravely walk through the barrage of Japanese artillery shells. Although the straight-line distance for the troops to detour from the frontal defense line to the flanks was not far, that was it. The distance of one hundred and eighty meters caused He Fangren almost a platoon of casualties.
As the war progressed, the Japanese and puppet troops invested more and more troops, and the number of casualties under Japanese artillery fire was getting higher and higher. The situation not only did not go as He Fangshen expected, but it became increasingly unfavorable to He Fangs. The fierce battle lasted only half an hour, and He Fangren, who had only two platoons left in hand, could no longer carry out his original plan to defeat the enemy on the flanks first.
The troops originally prepared to defeat the enemy on the flanks were suppressed by the Japanese army's intensive artillery fire and the cavalry's repeated assaults in conjunction with the infantry. Not only were they unable to defeat the enemies on the flanks, they themselves were suppressed by the Japanese army and unable to move in the blocking position. , and the casualties are increasing.
If it weren't for several general-purpose machine guns constantly changing positions and using high-speed alternating fire to prevent the Japanese and puppet cavalry from attacking, I'm afraid the troops would now have to carry rifles and fight hand-to-hand with the Japanese and puppet cavalry. And in such a flat terrain He Fangren could imagine the outcome of the confrontation between the infantry and the cavalry without their fire cover. He could imagine it with his eyes closed.
Seeing the artillery shells that kept falling on their own position, the suppressed troops could hardly raise their heads, and the puppet Manchukuo cavalry, under the cover of several Type 92 heavy machine guns from a heavy machine gun squadron behind them, repeatedly attacked their position. , He Fangren's brows furrowed tighter and tighter. Now the Japanese army's tactics were very clear, and they had already made up their minds not to engage in close combat with them.
Their tactics are to use artillery to suppress their own machine gun fire and destroy their artillery as much as possible to create conditions for cavalry to break into their positions. The infantry will quickly follow up after the cavalry breaks through their positions in order to attack them in one go. Wipe them all out here.
In other words, the current tactics of the Japanese and puppet troops have changed from the previous infantry-based assault method to the cannibalization tactic of using cavalry under the cover of artillery fire to quickly break through and go away with one blow. Although this tactic is not new, it is But it is a tactic that is currently putting the greatest pressure on He Fangren's troops.
The Japanese artillery fire was not only fierce, but the accuracy of its firepower was also extremely high. Even the two Type 92 infantry cannons were specially designed to chase after the machine guns. As long as the machine guns stayed in one position for more than three minutes, their shells would immediately chase them. The Japanese army had a spirit of never giving up without destroying the machine guns of the Anti-Japanese Alliance. This tactic of the Japanese army undoubtedly greatly weakened the Anti-Union's means of dealing with the Japanese and puppet cavalry.
The Japanese and puppet cavalry in front of them were also very cunning. They did not attack blindly. They just used the mobility of the cavalry to swim back and forth 400 meters away from the anti-alliance position. As long as the anti-alliance machine gun fire here was Under the suppression of artillery fire, if there was a slight weakening or pause, the Japanese and puppet cavalry over there immediately took advantage of the cavalry's maneuverability and rapid assault power in the plains to launch a sneak attack.
Moreover, this group of cavalry was absolutely unwilling to fight after succeeding in a sneak attack. After a successful attack, they immediately withdrew. During the assault, they also consciously opened the distance between each other and formed an offensive posture of twos and threes with two wings as the main force and frontal assault as the supplement. , to avoid the opponent's fire attack within a range of 400 meters. Anyway, there are not many anti-alliance troops in front, and they can't take care of the front but not the two wings.
Although the general-purpose machine guns and large-caliber machine guns currently equipped by the Anti-Japanese Alliance have extremely high rates of fire and are the most effective weapons against the charge of cavalry groups, they can only constantly shift positions under the threat of Japanese artillery fire. Although several mortars are attached Cannons and recoilless rifles tried to use firepower to prevent the Japanese artillery from suppressing the machine gun positions, but they themselves were also killed by the Japanese artillery fire and suffered heavy losses.
Especially the only 82 mortar deployed on the flank. Although it destroyed a 92 infantry gun during the artillery counterattack, it was also destroyed immediately by the Japanese artillery suppression regardless of losses. This mortar was also destroyed. The loss of the 82 mortar with a range of more than 2,000 meters deprived the anti-alliance forces in front of Tao Laizhao of its longest-range support weapon, which was also the only support weapon that could penetrate Tao Laizhao from the existing position.
The 82 mortar with the longest range was lost, and the remaining 60 mortar became more flexible, but its maximum range of 1,500 meters was still too close, and the power of its ammunition was relatively small. Talking about the Japanese mountain field artillery in Taolai Zhaonai, it was very difficult to suppress the Japanese 92nd Infantry Artillery.
As for the 57mm recoilless rifle, its main function is to destroy enemy fortifications and suppress enemy machine gun fire. When launching grenades, its maximum range of three thousand meters is much farther than the 60 mortar. , but the artillery was much less powerful, and it would be simply too difficult to engage in an artillery battle with the Japanese mountain artillery.
Facing the increasingly unfavorable situation, although He Fangren could still maintain his composure, he also knew that if he could not change the passive situation in a short time, he might really lose everything. On the one hand, the firepower deployment was adjusted according to the actual situation. All the 60 mortars, recoilless rifles and the only large-caliber machine gun on hand were used to suppress the firepower of the Japanese infantry by taking advantage of the range and maneuverability. superior.
All the remaining five squad machine guns and all three general-purpose machine guns were concentrated on the two wings, specifically to deal with the main force of the Japanese cavalry that continued to launch raids from the two wings. As for all the remaining automatic rifles, they were concentrated on the front to deal with them from the front. Some Japanese and puppet cavalry in a frontal assault.
He understood that if he did not destroy the puppet Manchukuo cavalry squadron that currently posed the greatest threat to him, he would never be able to change his passive situation. Although this tactic would cost him quite heavily in the face of the superior Japanese artillery fire. The price was high, but he couldn't care less about it now that he was already red-eyed.
In order to destroy the cavalry squadron that posed the greatest threat to him in one go, He Fangren repeatedly told the machine gunners not to fire when the enemy cavalry was less than three hundred meters away. At the same time, no matter what tactics the Japanese and puppet troops used in front of them, When the group launches an attack, no artillery fire is allowed within 300 meters, and no shots are allowed.
He knew very well what the distance of three hundred meters meant to the cavalry, and he also knew what the consequences would be if the Japanese cavalry broke through his position. However, the current development of the battle situation left him with no choice but to risk it. There is no way to deal with this risk. If we don't eliminate this group of Japanese and puppet cavalry, the few troops we have on hand will most likely be worn away by them bit by bit.
In order to deal with these cunning cavalry at once, although they are small in number, but they pose a considerable threat to themselves, He Fangren will not only risk losing all machine gun firepower in one battle, but also be faced with Japanese cavalry that can quickly attack. In view of the danger of a breakthrough, all machine guns were moved to the two wings, and the recoilless gunners were ordered to load the only two shrapnel shells carried in this battle into the barrels.
And before the Japanese and puppet troops in front of him entered the optimal shooting range of 300 meters, he was not allowed to fire another shot, even if it was a knife from the sky. This time, he was also betting that the Japanese and puppet troops thought that he did not fire from 300 meters away. The embers here have already suffered casualties and will attack with all their strength, instead of testing the mobility of the cavalry like they are now, and then indiscriminate bombing after the firepower points are exposed.
In his own words, according to the original plan, the remaining troops in his hands would not last long. He did not even have to wait for the Japanese artillery fire to eat away at him bit by bit. Once the ammunition of several general-purpose machine guns was consumed, , waiting for death in the same way.
Rather than just waiting passively, it is better to fight with all your strength. Even if this reinforced company is completely destroyed, Tao Laizhao's Japanese and puppet defenders will not be any better. Even if they can't see the hope of victory, as long as they can It is enough for the follow-up troops to reduce the pressure and buy time.
He Fangren was ready to fight with all his strength. Compared with his miscalculation last time, this time he almost made the gamble right. After seizing the front line of Majiatun in the west, he hurriedly heard the gunshots here. With the cooperation of Cao Hui's command and the cooperation of the artillery that arrived, he brought two companies over to reinforce Cao Hui. Although he paid a heavy price, he finally captured Tao Laizhao before the Japanese reinforcements arrived.