Chapter 292: An Accident in Hugging the Grass and Beating the Rabbit
Just after the colonel and chief of staff of the 23rd Division had been completely destroyed by the artillery that had high hopes for him, he put his only remaining hope in his two bodies, which were struggling in the fire net within thirty meters. When this squadron was able to break through the fire net, rush into the defender's position and defeat the defender in hand-to-hand combat, they did not realize that the defender's artillery had turned its muzzle.
The flag carriers under him kept waving the signal flags in their hands, urging the troops not to stop. For Matsuda Iwa, his surprise troops were gone, and he could only adopt hard-fighting tactics. As for the final battle in this battle, He didn't care how many people were filled in, but this guy with red eyes had forgotten the fangs that the defenders had hidden before, and now they had bared them out.
The defenders turned the artillery muzzle and opened fire on the tank regiment which was still recovering its energy according to Ikoma Hayashi's request and preparing for a tank duel with the enemy. At the same time, a 76mm field gun had already According to the predetermined scale, the muzzle was aimed at the high ground where he was.
And this target is too obvious. It stands alone on this small highland on a flat terrain. The ruler has been calculated long before the battle started. It hardly needs any correction. The anti-alliance artillery over there can do it even with their eyes closed. Hit the target with the cannonball.
Because this highland stands alone on the surrounding grassland, it is too prominent. All Qi zodiac signs did not choose it as a position because the terrain here is higher than the 12th line, because there is neither depth nor flank cover. , and if it is too prominent, it will become a target of Japanese military firepower.
If too many troops are deployed, even if they cannot all be accommodated, they will become targets of Japanese artillery fire. If too few are deployed, they will be isolated from the main force behind them, making it difficult to defend this place. Therefore, Qi Zhibiao believes that instead of wasting troops in vain , it is better to use fire control.
However, this guy's eyes are still very poisonous. Although he doesn't know that the Japanese army will set up the entire command post of the 12th line here, he knows that according to the terrain here, the Japanese army will definitely build a communication center here to fight. In order to communicate with the rear artillery, the surrounding terrain in this area has already been marked with shooting rulers according to the different ranges of the artillery in his hands.
However, Qi Zhibiao did not expect that the Japanese army would concentrate large-scale artillery fire to cover the charge as soon as they came up. The Japanese army's intensive long-range artillery fire made the suppressed defenders unable to raise their heads at all. The entire defensive position was flattened by the Japanese army's artillery shells. , even when he participated in the fierce battle at Jinsha Gang, he had never experienced such intensive artillery fire.
The Japanese army did not care about their ammunition reserves at all. In just half a day of fierce fighting, thousands of artillery shells of various calibers were dropped on the Twelve Tut line. The Japanese offensive was not so much a coordinated attack by infantry and artillery as it was a forced attack with artillery shells. The attacking troops were forced forward bit by bit.
In order to preserve the artillery strength under the Japanese artillery fire when the Japanese army did not hesitate to fire, he did not bother to go here before. However, because this is the only commanding height around here, the Japanese army not only placed the forward command post here , when selecting the artillery observation points, all the artillery observation points were placed here because the terrain here is slightly higher.
From the perspective of the Japanese army, since the defenders did not have artillery, the view from here could observe the entire battlefield and also had a certain concealment function. It was undoubtedly a good two-way choice. However, they did not know that the defenders did not have the time to take care of this place before. , rather than not taking this into consideration.
Matsudayan was really too careless. He only saw that the defenders had no artillery, and the accuracy of the light and heavy machine guns at a range of 1,500 meters was negligible. Moreover, the high hill itself was a natural bunker. As long as there were no Artillery and infantry weapons alone cannot defeat him.
In fact, the Japanese artillery fire fired from the rear was so accurate, with almost no deviation. Even any brainless person would know that there must be a Japanese artillery observation post here, not to mention Qi Zhibiao, a veteran Years of veterans.
After making up his mind to take a risk, Qi Zhibiao simply came to hunt rabbits and solved the Japanese observation post here and the communication transfer station that he must have in his mind. In his opinion, there must be something with the Japanese army somewhere. Communication system for artillery contact at the back, otherwise the Japanese artillerymen so far away would not have such good eyesight.
Qi Zhibiao, who had just made up his mind to take a risk, didn't know that this place was not only a Japanese artillery observation post, but also the highest headquarters of the entire Japanese army. He wanted to hit those rabbits while raking grass, but he actually There was also a colonel-level rabbit who only wanted to blind the eyes and ears of the Japanese artillerymen Qi Zhibiao, but he did not expect that he also killed a Japanese colonel and the chief of staff of the division.
Just as a defender thought it was hiding 700 meters away, the defenders without artillery would not do anything to them. Even if they did, the distance of 700 meters plus the thickness of the armor would definitely not be able to penetrate their own armor. While there, they were concentrating on firing cold artillery, and the shells fired from the anti-alliance positions were simply unprepared. The Type 95 light tank was hit by a 76mm field gun high-explosive shell and was directly reduced to parts. at the same time.
In just two minutes, eight 76mm field artillery shells tightly covered the high ground where he was. Of course, the Anti-Japanese Alliance did not know that he, the chief of staff, would personally supervise the battle here. Their goal was just this The Japanese artillery observation post on the high ground, Colonel Matsuda Iwa, was just the rabbit that was accidentally hit by the grass.
Although the number of artillery shells originally aimed at this highland from the direction of Twelve Tu was not many, only eight artillery shells, but these eight artillery shells, plus one artillery shell that drove the tank but missed, the total was nine artillery shells. It is enough to cover this area, which is no more than ten meters wide from east to west and no more than five or six meters long from north to south. In fact, it is just a small high hill unique to the grassland area.
Rather than saying it is a highland, it is better to say that this small hillock is a big bag of earth. As the eight artillery shells that fell in a short period of time exploded one after another, the entire hillock was completely covered by the dust raised by the shells. After the dust settled, there was no longer a living person on this high hill, not even a complete corpse.
In fact, according to the military qualities that the Japanese officers and soldiers on this high hill should have, it is not impossible to escape this disaster, and when the defenders' artillery has appeared, the most important thing they should do is to retreat immediately, because once the artillery appears, , the small high hill where they are located is the most obvious target.
However, despite the danger, Matsuda Iwa, as the supreme commander here, not only did not order a retreat, but also desperately urged the troops to carry out follow-up attacks. Who is bold enough to dare to order a retreat, just because all his efforts are in vain, and because the opponent in front of him is too Because of his scheming, he dealt a heavy blow to his battle plan, but Colonel Matsuda Iwa, who almost risked his own life and launched the attack himself, thought of retreating.
In addition, the defenders' artillery fire was transferred too quickly, leaving little time for Matsuda Iwa and his men to react. Many times, confidence is a good thing, but being too confident is tantamount to unlucky one. At this moment, Matsuda Iwa, who wanted to plot against the defenders, was tricked by the defenders, and the price he paid was something he could not bear.
Colonel Matsuda Iwa's poisonous plan of indiscriminate firepower was finally wiped out together with him. He was plotting against others, but he did not expect that others were plotting against him. Although they were unintentionally and intentionally plotting, it also made his painstaking efforts come to an end. It was all in vain and cost him his own life.
As the body of the colonel, who did not hesitate to come to the Twelve Tu front lines to supervise the battle as the division's chief of staff, was blown into parts, the supreme commander was killed unexpectedly, but in fact it was expected. Coupled with the fact that Commander Ikoma Hayashi, who controlled the strongest assault force of the 23rd Division, insisted on going his own way and refused to cooperate, which directly led to the final failure of the Japanese counterattack in the direction of Twelve Tu.
A good start often heralds a good ending, while a bad start often leads to nightmares until the end of everything. Although the failure of one battle does not mean the failure of the entire campaign, it does Many times the fall of the first domino will be like the dominoes, and it will be the beginning of the entire defeat.
The failure of the Japanese attack on the front line of Twelve Tut directly led to the total failure of the 23rd Division's desperate counterattack. The failure of the 23rd Division's all-out counterattack and the final annihilation of the entire army also led to the Japanese army's The most critical link in the entire counterattack was lost.
The failure of the 23rd Division in this counterattack was just like the wings of the butterfly in America that changed the global weather. The consequences were absolutely catastrophic for the Kwantung Army. Matsuda Iwa's decisive blow to the Twelve Threads The attack ultimately failed, coupled with the subsequent tank battle, the overall defeat of the 3rd Tank Regiment.
The entire 23rd Division's troops invested in the Twelfth Front were completely destroyed, which became what was later known as the Kwantung Army's biggest disaster, and directly led to the Kwantung Army's complete loss of the ability to counterattack the Allied Forces in the future. The failed butterfly wings.
Of course, these are all things for later. It’s not that I escaped because I went down the mountain to urinate. At this time, I was commanding my own tank regiment to retreat with all its strength due to the counterattack of the defenders’ artillery. And I was in a hurry to deal with it and was still charging desperately. , in some areas, small Japanese troops had already broken through the blockade of the last thirty meters of firepower network, and Qi Zhibiao, who rushed into his position, did not expect it.
Over there, Qi Zhibiao organized firepower against the division chief of staff who did not yet know who had given the death order to his subordinates. At this time, his soul and body had returned to the embrace of their so-called Amaterasu, and he was still desperately launching attacks regardless of casualties. The attacking Japanese troops intercepted, and on the one hand, they mobilized the mobile forces of the last platoon in their hands to expel or completely eliminate the small groups of Japanese troops that had penetrated into the Japanese positions.
He had not expected that the opponent's large-caliber anti-tank gun would still have huge lethality at a distance of 700 meters. Although the defenders' artillery that impressed him had only carried out three artillery bombardments on the tank regiment. minutes, and the shooting accuracy can only be described as unsatisfactory.
However, despite being unprepared, two Type 95 tanks, a Type 97 tank, and a Type 94 armored vehicle were each destroyed. Although not many tanks were hit, as long as they were hit by one shot, It was completely destroyed, especially the Type 94 armored vehicle known as the Bean Tank, which was blown several meters away by the entire shell.
At this time, Lieutenant Colonel Ikoma Hayashi, who was commanding his tank regiment to retreat at full speed in order to avoid greater losses, had no intention of caring about what the Colonel's chief of staff had become, let alone what he had become. Let’s worry about how far the battle ahead has progressed and whether Colonel Matsuda Iwa’s dying attack succeeded.