Although the lethality of this kind of fuel-air bomb against hard targets is not as good as that of ordinary high-explosive bombs under the same tonnage, its lethality against soft targets, especially live forces, is several times higher than that of high-explosive bombs of the same weight. Times, the massive vacuum created when it exploded made it almost impossible for people inside the fortification to survive.
The two air-fuel bombs that fell into the interior of the Miaoling Fortress, and the huge high-temperature and high-pressure fireball produced by the explosion, produced heat energy with temperatures as high as thousands of degrees, which not only caused huge losses to the Japanese troops inside the fortress, but also drained the entire interior of the fortress. The air was so thick that all the Japanese soldiers in the fortress suffocated to death before they could close the protective iron doors of each partition.
The mushroom cloud caused by the explosion soared into the sky from the skylight penetrated by the Wandashan bomb. The scene was spectacular. The two 700-kilogram air incendiary bombs that landed outside the fortress did not cause much damage to the Japanese army. casualties, but in conjunction with the two internal explosions, a huge vacuum zone was formed around the Miaoling Fortress.
The shock wave generated by the explosion, under the unique geographical conditions of the Wanda Mountains, caused violent earthquakes to be felt along the Honey Mountain line two or three kilometers away. This violent explosion and the huge shock wave produced made the people who had originally experienced A huge internal explosion transformed Camel's Hump from a beautiful mountainous area into an unrecognizable boulder.
The successful use of this bomb tactic not only completely destroyed the Japanese resistance from Honey Mountain to Miaoling area, but also created a successful experience for the subsequent dealing with other Japanese fortress groups. However, the success of this tactic not only It was because these bombs were so powerful and the Japanese army made their own mistakes when building the fortress group.
In order to achieve maximum combat efficiency, the Japanese army hollowed out the entire mountain when building fortresses, and then built underground passages and bunkers at various levels to form an effective combat unit. The upper part was generally used for heavy artillery and artillery bunkers. , the mountainside contains various permanent and semi-permanent fortification groups, while the mountain legs are equipped with secret attack points and various bunkers and warning fortification groups to prevent enemy attacks.
The various hills covered by the fortress group are not only connected by roads on the surface, but also many have secret underground roads to communicate with each other. Some underground passages can even drive trucks and tanks, especially as the so-called frontal defense of Dong'an. In Miaoling, where the main fortifications are located, in wartime, its tanks can be fired directly from the attack point inside the mountain.
As the outpost of the entire Honey Mountain Japanese Army Fortress Group, the 458 Highlands has internal underground passages that not only provide a large number of convenient external passages for personnel to attack, but also have two underground roads that can be used directly by tanks and heavy equipment. Its widest one can carry two military trucks parallel to each other.
What the Japanese army did was to transform the entire mountain into a large-scale fortress group that could be used as both an offensive starting point and a national defense fortification. Honey Mountain looks like this, as does the Miaoling area deep in Honey Mountain, including the entire The fortress groups in Northeast Manchuria are basically of this size.
For this kind of fortification, although it is extremely strong and concealed, and its frontal strike resistance can even withstand direct hits from 500 kilogram bombs and about 150 mm artillery shells, there is one shortcoming that is difficult to overcome. The interior must not be breached.
Once the interior of the mountain is attacked by an opponent, the opponent can use the large number of convenient passages built inside the mountain to quickly attack the interior of the fortress group. This shortcoming may not have been thought of by the Japanese army when they were building fortifications, or they may have been thought of but not taken into consideration.
Because the Kwantung Army built these fortifications, in addition to a small number of defensive tasks, most of them were used as starting points and fire support points for attacking the Soviet Union. For the Kwantung Army, the responsibilities of these fort groups for attacking garrison points and fire power fortifications were far away. Higher than its defense can only.
Therefore, under the circumstances that focus more on offense, it is not surprising that necessary passages are built inside the fortress group to allow a large number of personnel and equipment to quickly enter and exit. However, in this way, as long as one place inside the fortress is detonated, or If the opponent breaks through, the entire interior of the fortress will be seized by the opponent and completely destroyed from within.
After Qin Zesheng's two companies broke into the fortifications, the Japanese troops on the 458th Highland of Honey Mountain were forced to blow up all the upward passages from the bottom of the fortress, preventing their opponents from completely capturing the entire 458th Highland. , but it was also because of this reason that the Japanese troops on Camel's Hump caused the entire fortress to collapse after the ammunition depot was detonated. As for the Miaoling Fortress, they will not talk to you at all, and will directly use new bombs to talk to you.
Only three bombs hit, completely destroying the entire fortress inside Miaoling Mountain, killing almost all the personnel. This is probably something that the Kwantung Army senior officials did not expect when they built these fortresses, and they should not be able to It occurred to me that at this time, glide bombs and air-fuel bombs were two almost epoch-making weapons and equipment, and no one had even put forward the idea, let alone experience.
Looking at Du Kaishan who was a little stunned by the power of the new bomb, Yang Zhen put down the telescope in his hand and said to Du Kaishan: "What are you still thinking about? Why don't you immediately take advantage of the fact that the Japanese army has become a lone force and concentrate its forces to attack four or five people?" The Eighth Highland was captured quickly, so the remaining Japanese troops, which no longer have the support of heavy artillery, do not need to expend any effort. However, one thing is that the remaining Japanese troops are not allowed to escape."
Du Kaishan nodded quickly after hearing this and said without any hesitation: "No. 1, please rest assured that we will resolutely follow your request and cleanly eliminate all the twelve Japanese garrison troops from Miaoling to Honey Mountain. We will definitely not Will let a Japanese soldier escape."
Du Kaishan here nodded and agreed to Yang Zhen's request without thinking about it, while Qin Zesheng's movements over there were much faster. As soon as Yang Zhen issued the general attack order, he had already started to act first, and at this time, he was already on the four sides. The two companies commanded by Wu Ruofu in the north of the 58th Highland adopted front and rear pincer attack tactics against the Japanese troops on the 458th Highland.
Since there is no longer the threat of Japanese heavy artillery, and all Japanese reinforcement routes have been cut off, Qin Zesheng's all-out attack on the remaining Japanese troops on the reverse slope of the 458 Highlands and the ridge connected to Camelback is not wasted. Too much strength.
Although the remaining Japanese troops on Highland 458 are still resisting tenaciously, without backup, the main force may have been wiped out. The morale of the last remaining Japanese troops on Highland 458 has dropped to the freezing point. Even I lost the courage to resist, and I just relied on the Japanese army's customary Bushido spirit to persist.
In order to deal with the remaining enemies as soon as possible, Qin Zesheng devoted all his main forces and adopted front and rear pincer tactics. He used the two companies led by Wu Ruofu, who had restored contact, to launch an attack on the reverse slope of the 458th Highland. He personally commanded a battalion and attacked from the front. Launch an attack.
Attacked from two sides, and there was no threat from the opponent's heavy artillery at the foot of the mountain. He could let go of the artillery and attack with all his strength, but it did not make him expend too much effort. However, after the battle, the opponent A lot of effort was spent on clearing out the remaining Japanese troops on Highland 458.
It was originally planned to take two days to solve the Japanese fortress group from Honey Mountain to Miaoling, but I did not expect that it only took less than twelve hours from the launch of the attack to the end of the battle. This result is probably considered to be an unprecedented one in the history of fortress attacks in the world. No small miracle.
Of course, this is not only due to Wu Ruofu's good luck. A bunch of cluster grenades that hit the ammunition depot inside the Japanese Army's Camelback Fortress can be completely explained by his luck in destroying the Camelback Fortress from the inside. It can also be said that the new equipment and new warfare application of law.
First of all, rocket launchers, which can not only carry out anti-tank operations, but also destroy enemy field fortifications and even semi-permanent fortifications, are light, low-cost, and much more powerful than the rifle grenades currently commonly used, and their shooting accuracy is relatively high. This portable weapon can be used on a large scale with almost unlimited use in any terrain conditions.
This makes it possible to destroy the enemy's various field and semi-permanent fortification groups and armored vehicles in combat, especially in mountain operations, without relying solely on relatively bulky artillery, especially direct-aiming artillery, let alone in combat. Use cluster grenades and explosive packs to destroy local fortifications and armored vehicles head-on, which will cause greater casualties.
In this attack on the Japanese fortresses on the front line of Honey Mountain, it was the large number of rocket launchers that destroyed most of the Japanese army's civil fortifications serving as flank cover, allowing the troops to use a large amount of concrete to shoot down the Japanese army's permanent fortifications. The hole was blocked, creating prerequisites for taking the front of the 458th Highland with little casualties.
The use of fuel-air bombs and napalm bombs, two weapons of mass destruction, has also drastically reduced the casualties in attacking fortresses. Otherwise, without the large-caliber heavy artillery and special concrete-destroying bombs of the armies of the great powers, in such a short time and casualties, it is almost impossible to take down these permanently prepared fortifications with a concrete thickness of more than two meters.
The emergence of a variety of powerful new weapons, and a set of effective regulations for their use, as well as relatively successful tactics on the battlefield, made the cost of capturing the Japanese fortresses in the Miaoling area far less than expected.
Originally, according to Yang Zhen's budget, if he wanted to capture the entire Japanese fortress group from Honey Mountain to Miaoling without occupying an absolute advantage in firepower, he would probably have to be mentally prepared for a regiment to be crippled, but from now on Judging from the statistics of casualties, the price paid was less than one-third of his bottom line.
A considerable part of the casualty figures occurred during the battle for the ridge and when reinforcements were sent to the mountains, passing through the firepower network composed of Japanese heavy artillery. If these were not counted, the entire capture of the 458 Highlands as the main battlefield would have resulted in casualties. Not even one has come yet.
The most important thing is that this time can be said to be a relatively successful battle, both in terms of equipment use and tactical application, and these relatively successful experiences gained this time will also provide a basis for almost all the Kwantung Army's construction in the future.
A good foundation was laid for the fortress group in the northeastern border area.