Although it is still unclear how powerful the 203mm heavy howitzer equipped by the Soviet army is, judging from the power of the Soviet 152mm howitzer during the Battle of Nomonhan, the power of this larger caliber howitzer is definitely It won't be too small. If the Soviet army dispatches dozens of these large-caliber heavy artillery in one go during the battle, then the result will be this.
The power of the Soviet 152mm howitzer has fully allowed the Japanese to understand in actual combat the gap between their own artillery performance and range and others. The range of the Soviet 152mm howitzer, It is a full six kilometers farther than the latest Japanese Type 96 150mm howitzer.
You have Type 92 and Type 96 150mm cannons with a long range, but others also have Type A 122mm cannon and Type 30 107mm cannon with similar ranges. The gap means that if you want to hit someone, you can't reach them, and if someone wants to slap you, they will slap you directly from a long distance away.
For the Kwantung Army, the power of the Soviet 152mm howitzer and 122mm howitzer is already amazing. If this power can only be greater, the 203mm super howitzer hits its own position. What else can resist it, even though the Japanese also have similar howitzers, and the Type 45 240mm howitzer has a larger caliber.
But our heavy howitzers take a lot of time from transportation to placement, and once they enter the position, it is difficult to move. However, the Soviets' heavy howitzers are mobile, and their long-legged ones can be used with large guns. Powered by tractors, they could be pulled everywhere and the Soviets could put them on any battlefield they wanted if they wanted.
Although the Japanese army was dissatisfied with the combat effectiveness of the Soviet aviation force in the First World War at Nomonhan, it could even be said to be scornful. They were also somewhat dissatisfied with the combat effectiveness and tactics of their armored forces. Most of the Japanese soldiers believed that they were defeated in terms of numbers, and Definitely not lost on quality.
The performance of the Type 95 tanks equipped by the Japanese army and the Type 97 tanks that participated in the war for the first time was not inferior in the slightest to the Soviet BT fast tanks and T-26 tanks, and the technical and tactical level of the Japanese tank crews was also far higher than The Soviet army's infantry-tank cooperative combat capability is not comparable to that of the Soviet army. Compared with the Soviets, the only difference between the Kwantung Army and the Soviets is the gap in the number of tanks they have overwhelmingly.
But in this battle, what really impressed the Japanese army the most was the Soviet army's ever-present and overwhelming artillery fire. The Kwantung Army was really frightened by the Soviet artillery in this battle. Well, the overwhelming artillery fire inflicted by the Soviet army in that battle became an unforgettable nightmare for almost all Japanese officers and soldiers who participated in the war.
The Japanese have always considered themselves to be very discerning in doing things. In order to avoid future wars, the Soviet army's almost terrifying artillery fire destroyed their artillery positions. Since the country's limited strength cannot significantly increase the artillery establishment, After repeated consideration, the Kwantung Army decided to change all artillery positions in the fortification areas in the Tongliao area to underground or semi-underground.
At the beginning of this year, facing the aggressive momentum of the Anti-Japanese Alliance and fearing that they would be attacked by the Soviet Army from the west and the Kwantung Army from the north, they mobilized two more directly affiliated engineering regiments and recruited soldiers from southern Manchuria. Twenty thousand laborers were hired, and the original fortifications in Tongliao were further improved and reinforced.
In order to speed up the progress, the Kwantung Army adopted the method of exchanging human lives for speed. By squeezing Chinese labor, it made a major improvement to the original fortification group in a short period of time, especially the flank fortification group facing the north. Adjustments and modifications, although not all were completed when this campaign was launched, the main fortifications were basically completed.
It's just that these Japanese troops worked hard. The so-called border fortification zones that were originally used to deal with large groups of Soviet armored assaults were not used on the Soviet troops. Instead, the Anti-Japanese Alliance caught up first. Whether it was Wang Guangyu on the Linxi battlefield or Chen Hanzhang in the Tongliao battlefield suffered a lot from this.
Compared with the Linxi battlefield, where the Soviet-made 152mm howitzers and 122mm cannons obtained from Outer Mongolia were used in desperation to fire directly. These large-caliber artillery fired flatly, almost overwhelming the Japanese troops. The permanently prepared and semi-permanent prepared fortifications built were sent directly to Xitian Wang Guangyu. Chen Hanzhang, who did not have such conditions, suffered even more.
Compared with the Tongliao battlefield, the fortification areas in the Linxi battlefield hardly played a big role. Wang Guangyu created a huge trap, but his actions in Outer Mongolia created opportunities for him to quickly solve the Linxi battlefield. With considerable conditions, it can be said that without these powerful Soviet-made artillery, his advancement speed on the Linxi battlefield, where the terrain is more unfavorable, is estimated to be not as fast as Chen Hanzhang.
These Soviet-made howitzers and cannons not only suppressed the artillery of the 23rd Division, but were even more powerful in dealing with its permanent fortifications. Especially the Type A 19th 122mm cannon, which fired flatly at a distance of 500 meters. , its lethality and destructive capabilities are quite astonishing. Almost no permanently prepared fortifications of the Japanese army can withstand horizontal fire within a distance of 500 meters.
Even the Japanese permanent fortifications built along the mountains cannot withstand the fire of 152mm howitzers. It can be said that without these Soviet-made artillery, there would be no Linxi battlefield today. When interspersed, the equipment and Wang Guangyu, who is similar to Chen Hanzhang, is probably still gnawing bones on the periphery.
Looking at the entire World War II, and even the process of the Sino-Japanese War, the Japanese's strategic vision is actually not very good, but there are always some exceptions. This time, the Kwantung Army started to raid the reinforced fortification groups at the beginning of the year, but now it is It was really a blind cat that met a dead mouse, which brought great trouble to the Anti-Japanese Alliance.
Although the reconstruction and reinforcement of these permanent fortifications seemed a bit hasty and the construction time was a bit short, for the Japanese who always pay attention to meticulousness, the quality is not bad. All the fortifications are constructed with high-grade cement. The thickness of reinforced concrete in all core fortifications is generally around seven to eighty centimeters, and some fortification groups are even thicker, reaching one meter thick.
Although it cannot be compared with the fortress groups built by the Japanese army in the eastern areas such as Hutou and Dongning, which can withstand the level fire of artillery of more than 150 mm, the thickness of their fortifications is far beyond what the original simple field fortification groups can achieve. In comparison, at least the artillery currently owned by Chen Hanzhang is basically helpless against its core fortifications.
These fortifications, especially the core permanent fortifications, not to mention the shells of the 57 recoilless rifles and the rockets launched by the rocket launchers, will not leave even a crater if they are directly hit at close range, even if the 75mm field gun shoots flatly , cannot destroy these core permanent fortifications, and a direct hit will only dig a shallow hole on the surface, which cannot be destroyed at all.
In particular, although the number of artillery pieces in the anti-alliance equipment is large, due to its own military production capacity, it only has ordinary anti-personnel explosive grenades and incendiary bombs, and lacks some special artillery shells such as concrete-destroying bombs. Coupled with the lack of large-caliber artillery, Chen Hanzhang's
The artillery is even more helpless against these thick-skinned and permanently prepared fortification groups.
After the Kwantung Army occupied the Northeast, how many fortifications were built in the Northeast in order to go north to attack the Soviet Union, which it regarded as its imaginary enemy. Not to mention the current Anti-Japanese Alliance, no one knew even decades later what these so-called fortresses and border buildings were.
The fortress area is not only widely distributed, but the firepower is deployed very tightly, and its solidity is also quite strong.
In a critical battle lacking heavy artillery, Chen Hanzhang's most effective method during the attack was to use 14mm and 12mm anti-aircraft machine guns to block their shooting holes with long-range flat fire, and to use tank guns to target their shooting holes on the periphery of the minefield.
Carry out precise shooting and cover the infantry to gradually clear the surrounding bunkers.
At the same time, concentrated mortars and mountain artillery of the regiment and camp are used to clear the anti-infantry and anti-tank minefields around the fortifications with intensive artillery fire, and then cover the tanks and infantry groups to move forward to capture, or the engineers use large equipment
A charge of dynamite charges to blow up the core fortification.
However, although this tactic has made relatively great progress, the progress is not smooth under the interference of artillery fire from the rear of the Japanese army. Although the flat-firing 14mm machine gun can easily penetrate the Japanese army except for the core fortifications,
Most of the cover bunkers.
However, the height of these bunkers was combined with light and darkness. Some even the infantry had rushed to the core fortifications before the bunkers were exposed and opened fire. Moreover, most of the bunkers and fortification groups around the core fortifications of the Japanese army were deployed in a plum blossom shape, forming a mother-fortified structure.
Overall structure.
It not only has a bunker group facing forward, mutually arranged with the main fort, and providing cross-protection, but also a large number of flank bunker groups deployed on the flanks to specifically cover the core fortification group. However, these bunkers and bunkers built on the flanks are difficult to attack.
Discovered and destroyed.
These bunkers are very low in height, no more than 50 centimeters above the ground, and are set up at extremely tricky angles. Even if they are discovered, the flat-firing anti-aircraft machine guns cannot reach such a low angle of attack. There is almost nothing they can do about them.
It cannot block its firepower point.
At the same time, in the entire triangular fortification area, there are not only a large number of permanently prepared fortifications, but also after the Battle of Nomenhan, the Japanese army also based on the experience of this battle, starting from the intersection of the Xiliao River and the Dongliao River in the east and ending in Kailu in the west
The area is located on the east bank of the Xinkai River, starting from the Horqin Left Wing Rear Banner in the south to the south bank of the Xinkai River in the north to the Horqin Left Wing Middle Banner. There are a large number of anti-tank trenches and a complete trench system.
These anti-tank trenches formed a wide anti-tank defense line between the Xinkai River and the Xiliao River. What depressed Chen Hanzhang and his tank soldiers the most was that although the quality of the Japanese anti-tank artillery was as poor as ever, the number was also as small as ever.
, the threat to his tank troops can be said to be almost negligible.
But this time Chen Hanzhang discovered that the Japanese army had laid a huge number of anti-tank mines on the battlefield, which he had never seen before. In order to clear these mines, which were no more threatening to tanks than meat bombs, the Japanese army's intensive infantry firepower
In front of the enemy, artillery fire had to be used as much as possible to clear it, but the consumption of artillery shells used for mine clearance further aggravated the unnecessary loss of artillery shells.
The interleaving troops did not carry large-caliber artillery due to operational needs, especially the lack of large-caliber direct-aiming artillery. Because of the high speed requirements, the artillery equipment they were equipped with, in addition to rocket launchers with relatively good maneuverability, included All artillery pieces larger than 100 mm were left behind.
In particular, the bulky large-caliber artillery was all left behind. Chen Hanzhang's two divisions, a tank brigade and a cavalry brigade, all the artillery together, except for a 100mm howitzer battalion, were still seventy Five-mm mountain field guns are the main ones, and the Second Tank Brigade, which is the main assault force, has only sixteen self-propelled guns modified with 75-mm Type 38 field guns.