The sound of artillery stopped again, and the soldiers of the first company returned to the trenches under the shouts of the officers. While they began to treat their comrades, they also began to repair the fortifications.
A shrapnel sliced off half of Xu Rongfang's left ear, but he seemed unaware. He took the lead and waved the engineer shovel, shouting: "Quick, quick."
Shovels of loess flew out from the trenches. In the traffic trenches, a stretcher team composed of self-defense soldiers carried the stretcher and ran quickly. The blood of the soldiers was a stimulus to the farmers and workers, and it also made everyone more conscious. He devoted himself to the rescue work. In Ouyang Yun's words to Jiang Shuren: "We cannot let the soldiers bleed and then shed tears. The rescue work and pension must be in place, even if it means bankrupting the family."
The one responsible for the attack this round is still the 9th Division, but it has been replaced by the 7th Regiment of the 6th Brigade. At this moment, the commander of the regiment, Colonel Isa Kazuo, is standing on the hillside of the mountain called Lin Xiushan by the locals, holding a telescope Observing quietly, the sky was already bright, and the fog was being replaced by gunpowder smoke. On the position in front of the Xifeng Pass, the front trench was spitting out loess. The troops led by Lieutenant Colonel Akita Bamboo Soldiers were just waiting. The offensive echelon composed of a large group of soldiers was less than 300 meters away from the trench.
From this, he couldn't help but sigh: "The Chinese army opposite is indeed a strong army." Otherwise, at this time, the soldiers of the unit would have been lying on the fortifications with their guns drawn, and they would not have the mood and time to reinforce them. fortifications,
Because Xiangyue Qingji had dealt with the Xuebing Army several times, he was very taboo towards the Xuebing Army. Although the strength of his First Army accounted for almost two-thirds of the North China Front Army, from his heart, he was still willing to be a member of the Xuebing Army. The commander of the Second Army is responsible for the Shandong strategy. On the other hand, he is looking forward to defeating Ouyang Yun in his own hands. After all, this man and his student army have brought too much to the empire's attempt to dominate East Asia. If you can defeat him, you will not only gain glory in face, but it will also be a great help to your future career.
The speed of the rise of the Xuebing Army was simply unbelievable to the Japanese. For this reason, intelligence personnel in charge of intelligence work, including Kenji Doihara and Kyutaro Matsui, were reprimanded by the Ministry of War. Of course, by the time the Japanese realized By the time the Xuebing Army had become their biggest obstacle to conquering North China, it was already too late.
Fully automatic rifles, tanks with outstanding armor and gun caliber, mysterious weapons that can effectively kill fighter planes... Thinking of penicillin, off-road vehicles, televisions and other advanced industrial products, it seems that overnight, the Japanese suddenly discovered, It turned out that their military industry, which relied on sharp weapons, was actually outmatched by a small Chinese warlord. This also forced them to design new tactics for the Xuebing Army and change the previous troika of fighter planes, tanks, and artillery in combat. The role was replaced by the number of ground troops.
According to the plan formulated by Kozuki Kiyoshi and Sakai Takashi, along the Great Wall with Xifengkou as the focus, the Japanese army will use the human sea tactic to carry out continuous attacks. Even if they cannot defeat the Xuebing Army, they will still drag it to death.
Just when Isa Kazuo was thinking wildly, soldiers from both sides exchanged fire again. Summing up the experience of the failure of the previous attack, this time, the Japanese army increased the use of small force support firepower such as mortars and grenade launchers. The Japanese army participated The attacking force was a brigade of more than a thousand people, with a squadron-sized mortar unit, plus grenades. This kind of firepower output was quite terrifying. In an instant, the trenches Xu Rongfang was guarding were covered in smoke and flames. shrouded,
In the headquarters of the Second Division, Guo Da saw this situation through a telescope. He immediately ordered the division's artillery units to fire rapidly at the enemy in front of them for three minutes, and then immediately evacuate the existing positions.
The Second Division has a regiment-sized towed artillery, three-quarters of which are new howitzers developed by Xuebing Army Arsenal. Compared with howitzers from other countries at this time, because the steel quality is guaranteed, Xuebing Army Arsenal The howitzer diameter ratio is larger, and the range and accuracy have been greatly improved. The artillery regiment of the Second Division is set up at position 43 (on the combat map of the Xuebing Army, the combat area is divided into several positions. , marked with numbers, which is not only conducive to scheduling, but also conducive to artillery calculations.) Kuang Minghong, the commander of the artillery regiment, ordered the muzzle of the gun to be pointed at the forward position early. At this time, after receiving the order, just one minute later After completing the shooting preparations, he gave the order: "Fire." With the rumbling sound, 12 four-mm-caliber heavy artillery, 12 120-mm-caliber infantry cannons, and 20 75-mm-caliber mountain cannons appeared. The muzzles of the cannon burst into flames at the same time,
In the trench, the whistling sound of artillery shells was heard passing overhead. The faces of the soldiers in the company turned red. Sun Gang shouted loudly: "Comrades, do you hear it? Our cannon."
"Lie down." Opposite them, the Japanese officer who was holding a pistol or waving a command knife and directing the soldiers to advance in a neat skirmish line roared like a lone wolf.
Isa Kazuo obviously did not expect that the Chinese army would dare to fire at such a distance. You must know that the distance between the two enemies at this time was only within 200 meters, and it was not difficult to hear the sound of the artillery shells tearing the air, including Large-caliber heavy artillery. Although this kind of heavy artillery has a long range and great power, its accuracy is also shockingly low. The normal hit rate is only 20%-30%. He couldn't help but cursed bitterly: "A bunch of China lunatics." Then he issued an order to the artillery, asking them to find the opponent's artillery position to counterattack. Later, he raised his telescope and was stunned. This round of artillery bombardment by the Xuebing Army was obviously well-prepared, and not a single shell fell into it. The position was already square, and under the attack of this round of artillery fire, more than a thousand people of the Akita Bamboo Brigade suffered heavy casualties. In the fire caused by the explosion of the artillery shells, human body limbs and fragments flew everywhere, creating a Shura hell.
Isa Kazuo murmured: "How could this happen? This is too accurate." What he didn't expect was that the artillery position of the Xuebing Army was actually located less than five kilometers away from the main battlefield, and, The hardest mountain terrain was chosen. This ground ensured that the cannon would not deviate from the gun position and shooting angle due to the firing of the previous round, thus ensuring the accuracy of continuous shooting.
Although it was only three minutes of rapid fire, the results achieved by the artillery regiment were spectacular. After this round of artillery fire, the casualties of an entire battalion of Japanese soldiers reached 30%. Moreover, the mortar squadron that was under special care was almost completely destroyed. , not only suffered heavy casualties, but the mortars of various calibers equipped were also blown into scrap metal pieces, which had lost the meaning of continuing to exist on the battlefield.