During the artillery battle, with the joining of the anti-alliance artillery to cover the artillery group, the defenders' artillery was suppressed by the superior firepower of the Japanese and puppet troops, and they steadily gained the upper hand. After several artillery battles, the Japanese and puppet troops' The intensity of suppressive artillery fire dropped significantly, and the firepower of the Japanese and puppet artillery dropped sharply, greatly reducing the pressure on the frontal position defense.
The artillery originally assigned to the Third Regiment no longer had to move positions after firing a few rounds as before. Even after firing a round of artillery shells at the fastest speed, they immediately packed up and moved. As for the accuracy, it was basically I couldn't care less, I could finally concentrate my energy and firepower to support the battle on the mountain. With the full support of the artillery, the defensive battle on the mountain gradually began to be fought in a orderly manner.
Especially the two 107 rocket launchers that the Anti-Japanese Alliance participated in to intercept the firepower of the Japanese and puppet troops. One salvo covered the attack formation of a company of the Japanese and puppet troops. After the two guns covered the firepower at one time, the Japanese and puppet troops launched an attack. There were almost no soldiers left in a company. After several attacks, the Japanese and puppet troops suffered heavy losses. Corpses were strewn across the mountains, and the corpses of Japanese and puppet troops were everywhere.
The anti-alliance artillery units responsible for suppressing the Japanese artillery were well-trained and experienced in actual combat. These artillery pieces were modified self-propelled artillery and moved quickly. In addition, they used Type 90 field guns. This type of artillery was among the Japanese army. It is also the latest and longest-range field gun, both in terms of range and accuracy, exceeding the Type 38 field gun and Type 41 mountain gun used by the Japanese army.
As for the old and rather bulky Meiji 38-type 120 howitzer, it can barely cope with the 41-type mountain cannon, but it is no match for the latest 90-type field gun developed by me. For the old artillery, it was okay to bully the Type 41 mountain artillery with a short range. Facing the four self-propelled artillery pieces of the Anti-Japanese Alliance that were much higher in mobility and power, they were blown to pieces in a round of artillery battle.
During the artillery battle, another negative consequence of the heavy losses of the Japanese and puppet artillery was that the fire support provided for the offensive dropped significantly. It could no longer control the defenders on the opposite mountain, as well as those behind the mountain, as before. The support artillery fire was suppressing it, but on the contrary, our own offensive was suppressed by the opponent's artillery, which made it worse.
The failure of these six consecutive offensives brought casualties to the Japanese and puppet troops at the foot of the mountain far exceeding those of previous attacks. Four infantry battalions of the puppet Manchukuo army and two Japanese infantry squadrons of different structures were put into the attack successively. The firepower from high ground 1613 on the front and the firepower from the two highlands on the flanks resulted in more than 80% casualties.
Not to mention the puppet Manchukuo army, which is far less tenacious than the Japanese army. Even the serious Japanese army would find it difficult to withstand this kind of casualty rate. These six attacks were like returning to the light. In these six camps, After the company-level charge was repelled, the intensity of the Japanese and puppet troops' attacks dropped significantly. They did not launch the entire regiment and entire battalion attack before launching the attack, but instead adopted a platoon-level offensive as the main one, supplemented by the company-level offensive.
The intensity of the offensive was also incomparable with that before. There was never any continuous group charge of troops like before. The intervals between offensives became longer and longer. By 4 p.m., the Japanese and puppet offensives had completely stopped. After the battle, they were not invincible. The fierce battle in the middle of the night plus the fierce battle for almost a whole day was probably not only a lot of casualties, but also quite tired.
The Japanese offensive finally subsided. Although the defense troops on the mountain could breathe a sigh of relief, they did not dare to relax in any way. The Japanese and puppet offensive had stopped now, but they still had to seize the time to re-repair the Japanese and puppet forces. Military artillery fire destroyed the fortifications, and at the same time redeployed the troops on the three highlands.
An hour after the puppet army's offensive subsided that day, based on their itinerary and marching speed, the two men should have arrived within two hours after the anti-alliance forces arrived, but it was just as Yang Jicai expected. Just like that, the two mounted infantry regiments that had gone the wrong way finally arrived at the front line of Straw Hat Mountain.
Although he was quite dissatisfied with the slow movements of these two mounted infantry regiments, for Lin Zhiqiang, the shortage of troops at hand was finally alleviated. At least the troops on the mountain could be withdrawn to rest. After the Corps arrived, Lin Zhiqiang immediately dispatched three companies to go up the mountain to replace the extremely tired troops on the mountain.
However, considering that although the troops of these two regiments are formed from old troops, they were formed not long ago, and there are still some problems in the integration of the troops. Moreover, these two regiments have just arrived and are not familiar with the terrain and battle conditions. At Yang Jicai's suggestion, Lin Zhiqiang left one squadron of the third regiment on each of the three highlands.
At the same time, according to the previous tactics of the Anti-Japanese Alliance, some troops were immediately mobilized to go up the mountain, and tunnels were dug on the reverse slope to store troops and ammunition. Drawing on the experience of previous battles, a large amount of drinking water, food and ammunition were stored in these tunnels, especially It is the most consumed grenade, and 20,000 of them were stored in the anti-slope positions on three highlands in one breath.
This amount is almost the ammunition allocated by the headquarters brought by the leading brigade and the two cavalry regiments that came up as reinforcements, as well as all the grenades among the materials brought by Yang Jicai, especially the powerful Soviet-made grenades and those made by the Anti-League There are thousands of blasting tubes stored in one go.
The mortar company originally deployed at the foot of the mountain was also moved up the mountain, a large number of mortar positions were built in the anti-slope position, more than a hundred mortar shells were stored, and several machine gun positions were also re-reinforced. and adjustments, and with the assistance of cadres from the Anti-Japanese League who went up the mountain, the firing range of the heavy machine gun was divided.
Instead of focusing on maximizing the intensity of firepower as before, regardless of whether it was safe to put the machine guns together, when the battle started, there was no focus on the arrangement of machine gun firepower, and several 12.7mm guns were brought up the mountain. caliber machine gun and three Soviet-made water-cooled heavy machine guns, specifically used to block the 1052 Highland on the opposite side and the movement route from the Japanese army's starting position on the mountainside to the foot of the mountain.
After this series of deployment adjustments were completed, Lin Zhiqiang finally breathed a sigh of relief. Although it would take some time to excavate the tunnel fortifications on the reverse slope, with the arrival of reinforcements, the forward troops were finally no longer able to form a single-line operation. We are in a difficult situation where even the reserve team cannot be mobilized.
With the troops in his hands relatively loose, Lin Zhiqiang, in addition to leaving a reserve team to strengthen the battalion, decided to mobilize some troops, using the anti-alliance troops as the backbone, to prepare to recapture Yangshugou to the south of Straw Hat Mountain and Chexigou Gate to the north. The two flank covering positions that had to be abandoned due to lack of troops were used to expand the depth of defense on both wings.
Of course, there are also the 1052 Highlands and 863 Highlands that were also abandoned before. Certain tactical counterattacks must be implemented. At least the Japanese and puppet troops currently on the mountainside of the main peak must counterattack. Pure defense is not Lin Zhiqiang’s style. , there was no way before, there were too few troops on hand, and there was no ability to even take tactical counterattacks.
Now that reinforcements from two full cavalry regiments have arrived, although the troops on hand are still at a disadvantage, the comparison of forces is at least not as disparate as before. Now that there is a certain amount of troops on hand, it is still necessary to implement certain tactical counterattacks. .
It's just that his idea was unexpectedly opposed by Yang Jicai. In Yang Jicai's view, although these two mounted infantry regiments were drawn from time-tested old troops, less than half of them were completed from the integration of the troops to the completion of the formation. Months later, the combat effectiveness has not been formed at all, and there are still many local armed forces that were added to the army before departure.
When these two regiments were formed after leaving the customs, it took a lot of effort to advance to the army headquarters. Anyone who could ride a horse in each unit was transferred to these two new cavalry regiments. Even so, there were still some Some soldiers learned to ride horses only after they were adjusted to this unit. However, being able to ride a horse does not mean being able to fight on horseback. It is still early for these two regiments to truly form combat capabilities.
Due to the lack of mobile troops, the advancing army did not send these two regiments to the battlefield, but only assigned them the task of supporting the traffic lines along the way. They were worried that this cohesion had not yet been formed and the final adjustments had not been completed to the formation of the troops. Once a strong enemy is encountered in a field battle, it may be difficult to form an effective combat posture. Otherwise, the two regiments, whose own structures are still being adjusted, may collapse.
If the rest of the troops were not deployed this time, and the headquarters had no mobile forces except for a guard regiment, it would be impossible for the headquarters to take the risk of sending these two regiments to reinforce the front line of Straw Hat Mountain. The key node on the river battlefield is located.
Under such circumstances, if they are allowed to rely on favorable fortifications to stick to their existing positions, they can still persevere. However, it is somewhat difficult for them to fight a tactical counterattack with a company-level structure, even if they can win it. , once the Japanese and puppet troops launch a group offensive during the day, it will be difficult to hold on for too long. On the contrary, it will consume its own troops, which are not strong yet.
According to the current situation, the best way is to stick to the existing position. With the current firepower greatly improved, the two highlands at 1052 and 863 in front of the main peak are not too important. It is better to control the firepower. The most important task on the front line of Straw Hat Mountain now is to stick to the front line here.
To prevent the Japanese and puppet troops from concentrating their forces to open a gap and break out to the west when the entire army launches a full-line counterattack, when their retreat is cut off, the most important task of these two horse-mounted infantry regiments at present is to train with fighting, as soon as possible At the same time, we should improve the organization and adjust the equipment and troops as soon as possible during the battle. As for the idea of launching a tactical counterattack, we should put it aside for the time being.
In response to Yang Jicai's persuasion, Lin Zhiqiang shook his head several times, but nodded again and again. The situation of the two regiments was indeed not very good. Although the mounts were not satisfactory, and there were a lot of mules mixed in, they were good. It is also a mobile force, and its marching speed should be much faster than that of pure infantry.
Moreover, when the battle started at the front line of Cao Mao Mountain, we received the reinforcement order from the headquarters. However, it took nearly a whole day to get to the front line of Cao Mao Mountain from the junction of the western part of the paddock and Keshiketeng Banner. Not only did we go wrong in the process Even though we have lost our way, there are still a lot of people falling behind.
Of course, this situation is related to the fact that these two regiments have only completed the most basic training. Except for a few companies with old cavalry companies, many soldiers have just learned to ride horses, and because most of the horses are slave horses, they have not yet been trained. Completing ** has something to do with it, but to still be able to walk like this after only a few dozen kilometers is a good indication of some issues.