The sky was just bright at this time, and the mountains around Xifengkou were shrouded in a hazy mist, mixed with a little smoke. A murderous aura filled the world, making Xu Rongfang and the others couldn't help but tighten their grip. The steel gun in his hand refused to relax at all. After the rumble of the cannon stopped, silence temporarily became the protagonist. A quarter of an hour later, rustling footsteps could be heard all over the mountains and plains. After a while, a jabbering Japanese call sounded, wearing the The Japanese soldiers wearing steel helmets and khaki military uniforms shouted and rushed towards the Xuebing Army's position.
The sound of machine guns "click, click, click" rang out, and the bullets hit the soil and rocks on several commanding heights of the defenders. After a while, the sharp sound of grenades tearing through the air sounded, and the mortars, which were used as small unit support firepower, There were also grenades that began to be thrown into battle by the Japanese army. First there was the "rumbling" sound of grenade explosions, and then the sound of explosions of melon grenades.
The smoke began to spread everywhere, and the splashed mud fell on Xu Rongfang's helmet. He remained motionless, only staring closely ahead. Beside him, Sun Gang, the former deputy company commander who was newly promoted to the instructor, looked worriedly not far away. There, a soldier was hit in the left chest by a shrapnel, but he was determined not to leave the line of fire. At this time, he was letting the health workers bandage him.
The screams of the Japs were clearly audible. They were getting closer and closer to the first line of defense. There was a temporary pause in the sound of artillery. Xu Rongfang knew that this was the Japs moving the mortars forward. Next, If nothing else goes wrong, there will be a new round of shelling. This round of shelling will definitely bring greater casualties to them. With this in mind, he turned his attention to the mortar platoon's position.
Gu Qiangping suddenly stood up at this moment. The mortars in the artillery platoon were not placed together. He waved the triangular flag in his hand fiercely, and immediately, the sound of cannons sounded.
"Bang bang" the unique gunshot of Sanba Gate rang out. Gu Qiangping, who stood up at this time, undoubtedly became a living target. The little devils who rushed over naturally would not miss this opportunity. They were far away from Gu Qiangping at this time. The distance from Pingping was no more than three hundred meters, which was the best shooting distance of Sanba Dagai. However, Gu Qiangping certainly would not be stupid enough to stay there and wait for death. As soon as the order to fire was issued, he retreated.
"Hush," the sound of grenades breaking through the air began to become the main sound on the battlefield. A few minutes later, the Little Japanese's mortars rang again, and the mortars from both sides took the lead in starting the battle.
At this time, Ouyang Yun, after making an important decision, calmed down. The front line of Xifengkou now gathered most of the troops of the Xuebing Army, including the Second Xuexi Division, the 29th Army's Teaching Corps, and Zhang Qingyu's Special First Brigade. , not far away, there are also self-propelled artillery brigade, Hu Li's tank regiment... According to the previously formulated plan, the Xuebing Army not only has to hold off the enemy in front of Xifengkou, but also after the Japanese army changes due to the big barrier. , we must also take the initiative to attack from Xifengkou, waiting for the opportunity to launch an encirclement and suppression campaign against the Japanese like the Great Victory of Tianjin.
Malanyu was an accident, but Ouyang Yun believed that under the command of Zhang Yantian and Qin Dechun, there would be no problem in defending it. Picking up his binoculars, he looked down the mountain and saw one of the Japs' mortar positions being hit by three grenades. Hit at the same time, three or four little Japs flew into the sky with their teeth and claws open. The overwhelming Japanese troops were in front of the first line of defense of the Second Division. A series of explosions suddenly erupted on the mountainside on both sides. This was because the little Japs had stepped on a landmine. , the peaks on both sides outside the Xifengkou Pass, because of the mountain terrain, Guo Da did not arrange garrison troops, but the Xuebing Army's sufficient mines gave him the confidence to make such an arrangement. The minefield was far away from the Second Division and the Xifengkou Great Wall. It was too close. In this case, it was impossible for the Japanese army to send engineers to clear mines. Therefore, in the end, they had no choice but to abandon their plan of all-out advancement and instead attack from the front.
In Ouyang Yun's eyes, the Japanese's long skirmish line really began to shrink, both sides stopped, and only the middle one began to advance forward, "200 meters, 150 meters, 100 meters." He counted silently, in his heart. Gradually, Xu Rongfang sweated. Putting the enemy into the best range and then attacking can naturally kill the enemy to the maximum extent. However, if the position cannot be suppressed, or the Japanese rush over, then their company will will fall into despair,
On the battlefield, the sound of mortar fire is getting less and less. On the one hand, it is because a lot of losses were caused in the exchange of fire. On the other hand, the closer and closer distance between the two sides makes the artillerymen on both sides fear of accidentally injuring their own people. He kept stopping, "50 meters." Ouyang Yun recited this number silently in his mind, but the Japanese stopped shooting. When they started running wildly, the unique gunshots of Maxim and Wei Qing rang out, like exploding beans. The sound of gunfire poured out along the entire trench, like a huge scythe, mowing down almost all the enemies within 100 meters on the opposite side at once, and the grenade thrown by the first hand was heard a few seconds after the gunfire. The explosion of hundreds of grenades landed in the enemy group and set off a thick gray-black smoke screen in front of the position. Under the firelight in the smoke screen, khaki figures flew up, fell down, and groaned...
Under such fierce firepower, in just ten minutes, the first wave of the Japs' attack was forced to stop. Then, when the khaki crowd retreated to their fortifications, the sound of cannons rang again,
Ouyang Yun put down the telescope and said to Chen Shichang and Mu Jiandie who were beside him: "I hope the little devils will not dispatch the air force." He then asked Chen Shichang: "Do Brigadier Zhang Yantian and Division Commander Li Ganjiang have any reports on the battle situation?"
Chen Shichang shook his head,
Mu Jiandie said: "The Japanese army still doesn't know what weapons we used to shoot down so many of their fighter planes in Renqiu and Zhangjiakou. The Japanese will definitely not dispatch aviation easily until they understand this."
Ouyang Yun frowned slightly and said: "It's hard to say. If the second division's defense is too good, then even if the special code is not available, it will be impossible to even think of flying a plane. If the casualties are too great, Xiangyue Qingsi will definitely be killed because of the domestic The pressure forced me to make a desperate move, and now I just hope that Li Ganjiang can act faster."
This round of artillery fire lasted for half an hour. The continuous shelling for half an hour cut off half a meter of the ground height of the position defended by Xu Rongfang's "Prodigal Son Company". In this way, not only the trenches they were guarding appeared The landslide caused a lot of shell-proof caverns to collapse, causing their company to suffer heavy casualties.
Upon seeing this, their regiment leader Wang Xiuhua hurriedly sent someone to sneak over from the traffic trench to question them before the gunfire stopped, asking them if they could still hold on.
Xu Rongfang replied decisively: "We have only consumed less than one-tenth of the ammunition, so we can persist."