At the same time that Yi Jianping was communicating with Wang Guangyu, Yang Jicai at the foot of the mountain was facing a battle situation that was almost hitting him under the nose, but he didn't seem nervous at all. His calmness was almost scary. What he knew was that he might be very successful.
If you don’t know better, you might think that this person’s mentality is too good.
Yang Jicai calmly just held the telescope and carefully observed the changes in the enemy situation on the battlefield. At this time, the sky was already bright, and the observation line of sight was quite good, although the situation on the other side of the stone table could not be seen from here.
But he could still see quite clearly the situation of the Japanese troops under his nose.
As for the current situation of the Japanese army in the direction of the Stone Table, Yang Jicai handed over the observation task to Gou Zaihe of Bala Qirude. From the direction of Bala Qirude, the situation in the direction of the Stone Table can be clearly observed, which is better than the situation in the direction of the Stone Table.
On the rear side of the entire front, the situation obtained is clearer and more accurate. It is quite appropriate for the troops on the front line of Balachirud to be responsible for observing the enemy's situation in the direction of Stone Table.
However, considering Gou Zaihe's previous attitude towards his orders, Yang Jicai told him directly this time that if he was obstructing his orders and repeatedly discounting their execution, he, Yang Jicai, would not mind killing Ma Su in tears, even though Gou Zaihe's seniority was higher than
He, Yang Jicai, is much older, but Yang Jicai, who absolutely does not want the previous situation to happen again, still said something very serious.
And after a brief consideration, in order to ensure smooth command and avoid compromising the execution of orders before they occurred, Yang Jicai also informed Gou Zaihe of Wang Deyao's sacrifice and the order from his superiors to temporarily take over Wang Deyao's command.
After receiving Yang Jicai's extremely strong-worded order this time, Gou Zaihe over there was not as stubborn as before. Maybe the news of Wang Deyao's death was a serious blow to him. Maybe the mistake made by Shi Zhuizhi before,
He was left speechless, so this time he carried out Yang Jicai's order very happily.
According to Yang Jicai's request, the movements of the Japanese troops in the direction of Shizui were reported every ten minutes, especially the fact that the Japanese troops continued to increase their troops in the direction of Shizui regardless of the damage caused by artillery fire. They all made a clear and truthful report to Yang Jicai.
report.
As for the previous poor communication with Yi Jianping and Qiu Jintang behind him, it was actually Yang Jicai who consciously ordered not to answer any call requests from behind. Although he did not directly turn off the walkie-talkie, he did not respond to the call requests from there.
Give any reply.
He did this because he was worried that the two superiors behind him would interfere with his determination. He was also worried that the political commissar behind him would interfere with his own safety and interfere with his decision, even though he knew that his move might be severely punished after the war.
However, considering the current situation on the battlefield, Yang Jicai still made up his mind to take a risk.
However, although Yang Jicai himself did not care too much about the obviously unfavorable battle situation in front of him, behind him, his guards and communications staff, including the combat staff sent by Qiu Jintang to assist him in command, were now all in full gear.
Armed.
They were either carrying a submachine gun loaded with bullets or a pistol with the safety turned on. Each of them even had a safety cover inserted into his belt so that he could sound the alarm to prevent capture when necessary.
As for the grenades, the walkie-talkie pilot placed the two grenades that also pulled out the match cord directly on the walkie-talkie. A small bottle of kerosene was also placed next to the code book.
Compared with Yang Jicai's relaxed and confident attitude, the expressions on the faces of several people were quite nervous. There was no way, the defensive force was only one company, but the enemy troops they faced were several times greater. With someone being beaten right under his nose, anyone else would be equally nervous.
Turning his head and looking at the nervous expressions of several people, Yang Jicai waved his hands and said: "Don't worry, there is no problem. You all should calm down. I don't want to be a prisoner, and I won't let you people be prisoners. I'm still young, and I'm still young." If we haven’t driven the little devils out of China, it’s still too early to meet Marx.”
"I, the instigator, don't care, so why are you so nervous? Just screw on the safety covers of your grenades. Don't you blow them up first before the devils can get to them? Wouldn't that mean you blow yourself up?" Are you unlucky? The safety of the weapon is also turned off. Don't worry if it goes off and injure others."
After properly appeasing a few people who seemed extremely nervous, Yang Jicai said to the communications staff officer: "You can contact Commander Gou of Bala Qirude again and ask him about the situation he observed over there. Now from the front line of Shizuishi , how many Japanese troops rushed over."
"Also contact the two artillery batteries at the back, and ask the 75th Field Artillery Company to use the remaining two artillery pieces not to block the stone table line, but to increase all the firepower to the right wing. They must block it firmly. As the Japanese troops move to bypass the Aohan camp, a single Japanese soldier must not be allowed to rush through."
"Tell them to observe closely and fire as soon as the Japanese army shows signs of detouring to the right. While saving artillery shells, they cannot let a single Japanese army rush through their fire blockade. Now that the sky is brightening and the visibility is extremely good, I want to observe The direction of Japanese military movement should not be difficult."
"Tell them not to be timid just because the two field guns exploded due to their high rate of fire. The losses will be lost. It's not a big deal. As long as they can block the incoming Japanese troops, they can attack Aohan Yingzi." Even if all their artillery pieces were destroyed due to the detour and outflanking route, I will also give them credit."
Yang Jicai's words were in response to the fact that when the 75th Field Artillery Battery blocked the direction of Shizuishi, the two 38-type 75mm field guns were fired with large charges for a long time, plus the age of these captured Japanese artillery. It was already quite long and already old. As a result, two 75 field guns had their chambers exploded and all of them were lost.
This situation suddenly made the two artillery companies somewhat timid in the battle, and the rate of fire slowed down significantly. Not to mention, the field artillery company also had a long time during the shooting process. There was a pause. As a result, the blockade was not timely and a large number of Japanese troops rushed in from the direction of Shizui.
The Japanese troops that rushed in later not only intensified their offensive against Sumoyintala, but also tried to detour in the direction of Aohan Camp. In desperation, Yang Jicai could only order the 100mm howitzer battery to change direction and concentrate its firepower to block the Japanese army's westward attack. advance route, while the two mountain guns blocked and broke through the Japanese attack on the Balachirud front line.
Therefore, Yang Jicai, who was very worried that this situation would happen again, warned him with some worry. He also knew that the troops currently used were either the Type 38 field artillery captured by the Japanese army or a Polish-made one transferred from the Soviet army. The 100mm howitzer and the 75mm field gun are all second-hand goods, and their manufacturing and service life is very long.
Even some captured Japanese Type 38 field guns were assembled with original parts imported from Germany when the Japanese army was manufacturing the Type 38 field guns. They have been in use for more than 30 years now. Even if the quality of German gun steel is no longer Okay, but after so many years, it has aged extremely badly.
Compared with the captured Japanese new and improved Type 38 field guns, Type 90, Type 95 field guns, and Type 91 105 mm cannons, these two artillery pieces are not only mostly overused, but also appear to be quite Old, and some have even aged due to intensive use.
This situation does not only exist in these two types of artillery. The calibers and sources of the artillery of the Anti-Japanese Alliance are quite complicated, and they are basically second-hand goods, except for self-produced rocket launchers, mortars and recoilless rifles. Apart from that, there are almost no newly manufactured suppressive artillery pieces.
Although the number of artillery currently equipped is large, they are either from captured Japanese artillery, or from legal and Czech-made artillery transferred by the Soviet Union, as well as artillery made in Poland. Although these artillery, except for Japanese artillery and Czech mountain cannon, are all legal-made artillery. , or field guns made in Poland, they are all imitations of French artillery with the same caliber. The shells are basically universal, but the quality varies depending on the quality of the steel in each country.
Especially the Polish-made artillery re-exported from the Soviet Union, because the quality of Polish steel is not very good, the quality of these artillery itself is not very good, coupled with the years of manufacture and use, as well as the high-intensity use last year and this year, The artillery has aged quite badly.
Even among the Polish field artillery handed over from Jiangbei, in addition to the imitation French field artillery, many of them were jerry-built products made by the Soviets during the civil war that were captured during the Soviet-Polish War, or were manufactured by Tsarist Russia. Products of the war period, these field guns are in even worse condition.
On the contrary, those Czech-made artillery pieces that were captured by the Poles in the Czech Republic and then handed over to the Anti-Japanese War by the Soviet Union. Although the number is not large, it is incomparable with the Japanese and Polish-made artillery pieces, and the years of production and manufacturing are also long. It's not much shorter, but because the Czech Republic has the best steel quality in the world, the quality is far better than that of Polish and Japanese artillery.
Although those old artillery were repaired before being put into use by the Anti-Japanese Alliance, after all, the production and service life are there, coupled with the high-intensity use last year and this year, the condition of these artillery is generally not very good. , after long-term shooting, it is easy to be in danger of exploding the barrel.
Yang Jicai, who once served as a combat staff officer at the headquarters, is also aware of this. He also knows that due to conditions, although these artillery pieces are old, the headquarters has no source of new artillery, and also due to raw materials and technical reasons. , and without the ability to produce and manufacture new artillery, we can only make do with it for now.
Even for the sake of artillery safety, the headquarters grouped many artillery pieces that had reached the end of their service life into separate groups for artillery reserve and training purposes, and tried not to issue them to front-line combat troops as much as possible. However, the number of artillery pieces to implement the sea of fire plan was obviously not enough. , the headquarters can only pull out these reserve artillery and send them to the battlefield.
This time, one of the two field artillery regiments and two 100mm howitzer battalions deployed in the Aruhorqin Banner were in the same situation, so the artillery exploded due to long-term, high-intensity use and large charges.
The accident with the gun was not an accident at all.
In order to extend the service life of these artillery pieces as much as possible, and most importantly to avoid unnecessary casualties caused by accidents such as chamber explosions, the headquarters even mandated regulations on the rate of fire, maximum range, and shortened maintenance as much as possible.
interval.
But the current situation is urgent, and Yang Jicai can only take some risks, which is why two 38 field guns exploded in just five minutes. Although he also knew that if he used the frequency according to his previous use, these masters would
Various accidents will happen to the cannon, but at this time, he has no choice. It is better to cry with a few people than to cry on the battlefield.