After winning the battle of Kudzu Temple Fair, the Second Route Army led by Gu Changfeng successfully entered the northeastern plains and immediately launched a crazy and torrential offensive.
The advantages of the mechanized troops were demonstrated to the extreme on the thousands-mile plain. It was almost a march similar to drag racing. The tanks, armored vehicles and personnel carriers of the Second Route Army were speeding toward the battlefield in the wilderness, on the highway, and beside the railway.
As we advanced toward our goal, we did not encounter even a small-scale Japanese obstruction along the way.
Three hours later, the 1st Tank Regiment and the 4th Armored Infantry Regiment of the 36th Tank Division of the 8th Tank Army, as the vanguard of the division, occupied the undefended Tao'an County (today's Baicheng). The follow-up troops circled the city and continued to follow the instructions.
The tasks received by each department are carried out in different directions at high speed.
Six hours later, Zhendong County to the north of Tao'an and Taonan County to the south were liberated. Twelve hours later, Tailai County, Da'an County, and Kaifeng County also planted the red and colorful 79th Army flag of the Anjia Army almost at the same time.
Only twenty-four hours later, the main force of the Second Route Army had successfully captured Liaozhong, occupied Liaoyuan City (today's Shuangliao), and threatened Siping. As a partial division, the 136th Division of the 42nd Army of the Northern Front had successfully fought with the First Army.
Reunited at Jiangqiao on the south bank of the Nenjiang River, the Third Army of the East Route Lienke Town Guogongfu (today's Songyuan City), Wangfu Town, and Chaigang successfully occupied Nong'an County, which was only 60 kilometers away from Changchun.
Under the scorching sun, the Anjia officers and soldiers who were marching on the troop transport truck felt drowsy. They cheered up and made some pre-war preparations to gather murderous intent, such as wiping the I-type automatic rifles in their hands.
, or tinker with the military spurs, engineer shovels, etc. that you carry with you.
In an armored command vehicle, An Ruiguang, the major commander of the 9th Motorized Infantry Division Reconnaissance Battalion, placed the map flat on his legs, lowered his head and concentrated on making labels. The military map had already been filled with marks.
Next to him, a staff officer kept reciting some place names. An Ruiguang drew the marks of the explored areas on those place names, and then drew an arrow straight ahead. The front lay across the Wanbaoshan hilly area beside the railway and highway to Changchun.
The main goal of this exploration.
The Air Force's reconnaissance planes closely monitored this area at all times, but they were unable to effectively conduct reconnaissance of buildings, mountains and woods. For the sake of safety, they attacked the advancing Third Army headquarters and divisions eastward. A large number of scouts had to be sent to carry out the investigation.
A comprehensive search.
"Air force reconnaissance planes have explored this area..."
Major An Ruiguang, who is twenty-one years old this year but has five years of military service. He graduated from the Boy Scout Academy and the Xufu Military Academy. He regards An Yi as his father. He traced his fingers across the areas drawn in circles with red pencils, and then pointed to the plain area.
of dense woods, with a very focused expression:
"Let the soldiers check the equipment. We may have to walk into the woods ahead. It lies next to the path of the main force. Once the Japanese army sets up an ambush there, it will pose a great threat to us!"
The reconnaissance battalion stopped one kilometer away from the Wanbaoshan forest area. An Ruiguang jumped to the ground from the open back door of the armored command vehicle, raised the military telescope on his chest, and observed carefully.
"Order the mortar battery to prepare!"
The dark forest was silent. Usually there would be flocks of birds gathering above such woods, but now there was nothing to be seen. An Ruiguang felt something was wrong, and immediately ordered an exploratory bombardment of the woods to lure out the birds that might be hiding in the woods.
Let the enemy mistakenly think that they have been discovered and fire back, so as to reduce the risk when entering the forest for exploration.
After the order was issued, the battalion's mortar company became busy. They quickly disassembled the mounting device between the mortar and the vehicle mounted on the back of the armored personnel carrier, jeep, and personnel carrier truck, and then four people
Group. Adjust gun position.
Artillery company commander Hu Xuefeng also has his own telescope, but this telescope is different from those worn by ordinary commanders. It can survey coordinates and accurately set up bombardment points.
According to regulations, artillerymen must carefully find hiding positions for themselves before conducting shelling. Sixteen 100mm-caliber mortars were towed under the slope.
The shooting principle of the mortar is arched ejection, so you don't have to worry about hitting your head when firing the shells down the slope. The loading method of this mortar is the same as that of ordinary 50, 60, and 81-caliber mortars.
No different, but due to the increased caliber
Large, its barrel appears longer, which not only increases the range, but also increases the workload of the loader. They usually have to expend a lot of effort to hold the shell into the barrel, and use the principle of impact air pressure to load the 15
A mortar shell weighing one kilogram was fired.
An Ruiguang ordered the entire battalion to enter combat mode. After putting down the officers and soldiers of the reconnaissance battalion, the armored personnel carrier pointed the front of the vehicle in the direction of the woods. The machine gunner sat in the shooting position. General-purpose machine guns were also set up on the tops of jeeps and troop transport trucks.
The machine gunner unlocked the safety cover and was ready to fire.
"Bang--"
Continuous shelling sounded like muffled thunder, and after about two or three seconds, bombs fell everywhere in the forest ahead, flames shot into the sky, and branches and leaves of trees blown up in the smoke flew everywhere.
At this time, the high-level dual-purpose machine gun in the center of the top of the armored personnel carrier was also controlled by the shooter, spraying ammunition into the woods. Wherever the dense bullets hit, the tree trunks were hit with a "snap" sound, and each tree fell down.
Fall to the ground.
This was not over yet. The sound of the I-type general-purpose machine gun tearing through cloth could be heard, and the machine gunners on the jeeps and troop transport trucks also began to conduct exploratory shooting.
The general-purpose machine guns on more than a dozen troop-carrying trucks and several jeeps in the entire battalion fired at the same time. Coupled with the huge lethality of high-level and flat-purpose machine gun bullets, the trees outside the forest were instantly covered with bullet holes. In addition, the mortar company's
Artillery shells fell densely, and trees fell in pieces.
An Ruiguang lay down behind a slope, holding a telescope in his hand and watching carefully. His eyes never left the forest for a moment. During the two-minute test, he found no one running or other movements in the forest. He couldn't help but shake his head and secretly laughed at himself for being nervous.
Immediately ordered to stop firing, and then sent a squad of officers and soldiers to approach the woods in a skirmish formation.
Five minutes later, eleven officers and soldiers came outside the forest, made gestures to each other, then raised their I-type automatic rifles and quickly rushed into the forest.
About seven or eight minutes later, a sharp whistle suddenly came from the forest. This was followed by intensive gunfire and explosions, which were also mixed with noisy human voices.
"How hidden it is!"
An Ruiguang frowned, turned to the correspondent and said: "Report to the division headquarters immediately, we have an encounter with the Japanese army at the edge of the Wanbaoshan Forest, 33 kilometers south of Nong'an County!"
Eight of the eleven officers and soldiers who entered the forest area retreated. They did not retreat in a disorderly manner. After retreating to the edge of the forest, due to the increased enemy firepower, they had to lie down in a depression to take cover, and then kept firing towards the rear.
gesture.
An Ruiguang held up the binoculars and watched one of the sergeants nervously, interpreting the gestures: "...encountered a squadron of Japanese troops. The opponent had six crooked machine guns. It was suspected that there were a large number of Japanese troops hidden in the forest.
....."
"Boom——"
The sergeant who was holding out half of his head to gesture was suddenly hit by a bullet fired from the woods on his helmet, and his whole body fell instantly.
Fortunately, the steel helmets equipped by the Anjia Army had extremely high defense. Soon the sergeant stretched out half of his head again, but this time his posture was lower than before. Judging from the content of the gesture, the officers and soldiers of this class also discovered that
The figure of a Japanese tank could be seen, but because the outside of the tank was covered with branches, it was impossible to confirm what model it was.
After An Ruiguang put down his telescope, he immediately instructed his correspondent to report this important information to the division headquarters, and then ordered the entire battalion to open fire to cover the retreat of the officers and soldiers in front.
Eight soldiers were hiding in six depressions, two of which accommodated two people.
Zheng Heng is an ordinary soldier in this class. He is from the An Nanjing tribe and is 17 years old. He comes from Taiyuan City, the steel capital of South China. Due to the land reform, his family has their own land for the first time. The people's patriotic enthusiasm is unprecedentedly high. Just last summer.
When he reached the age of service, his father personally sent him to the county and asked the conscription chief to accept him.
Zheng Heng is not tall. After education at home and in the army, he has identified himself as a member of the Chinese nation. He speaks Mandarin very proficiently. When facing the 79th Army flag during the recruit oath, he solemnly promised:
Dedicate your life to the rise of the Chinese nation!
However, the ideal is great, but the reality is cruel. Although Zheng Heng was excellent in all aspects of training and experienced several battles after being assigned to the army, facing the test of life and death at this moment, he still could not avoid the fear in his heart and lay nervously
The bottom of the depression was breathing heavily.
Bullets kept flying back and forth not far from his head. Just now, squad leader Sergeant Tiegang was hit by a bullet in his helmet. When the whole person fell in front of him, Zheng Heng's heart almost stopped. The fear of death forced him to the point where he was almost overwhelmed.
He screamed uncontrollably.
Fortunately, Nanhua's high-standard steel helmets made with German alloy technology are strong and durable. Just like his surname, Squad Leader Iron climbed up from the ground with determination and continued to deliver information. From this, Zheng Heng understood the regulations that he had memorized as a recruit.
One of them is that you cannot take off your steel helmet on the battlefield no matter what. It turns out that at critical times, a steel helmet can really save your life.
At this time, the Japanese troops had already rushed out of the woods. Judging from the situation, they did not seem to be equipped with artillery. They only used 38-type rifles to fight back. The gunfire was sparse and the number of troops seemed insufficient.
Looking from Zheng Heng's position, he could clearly see that the Japanese soldiers were firmly suppressed in the foxhole by the general-purpose machine guns and high-level dual-purpose machine guns behind him, unable to move. Although Zheng Heng did not know what this meant, squad leader Tie
However, Gang was certain that during the shelling just now, the Japanese soldiers hid in foxholes to escape the artillery fire and bullets.
The powerful firepower of the Anjiajun reconnaissance battalion suppressed the Japanese attack. When the mortar company launched another artillery bombardment, Tiegang used hand signals to give the order for the entire class to retreat, and the officers and soldiers in various depressions immediately followed the order.
However, just when Tiegang jumped out of the depression and was about to lie down, a bullet penetrated his right thigh. When the heart-breaking pain hit his brain, his right leg went limp, and his entire body instantly lost balance and hit him hard.
On a flat ground with no cover.
Zheng Heng watched his comrades in various hollows leap out despite the hail of bullets, circling around like civet cats to avoid the pursuit of bullets. Just as he was about to follow suit, he saw the squad leader fell to the ground after being shot, followed by several more shots.
Bullets rustled around the pit, and he was so frightened that he had difficulty breathing and collapsed on the ground at the bottom of the pit.
Zheng Heng was selected to join the reconnaissance battalion because of his outstanding individual qualities. However, in fact, he had very little actual combat experience. Although he had participated in six battles on his resume, they were all in downwind battles. He followed the officers and soldiers in front and shouted.
Just launch a charge and face death for the first time like today.
The human body is a complex machine. When frightened, the spirit will be highly tense, the blood vessels will contract and spasm, and the cerebral blood vessels will suffer from insufficient blood supply. The brain will be temporarily deprived of oxygen, causing the person to temporarily lose the ability to move. This is the case for Zheng Heng now.
.
"no!"
Zheng Heng saw that the other six comrades were unaware of what was happening behind them and were constantly moving and accelerating their retreat to the rear. The bullets fired from the woods continued to knock out dust around his squad leader, and he shouted loudly in his heart: "
I want to save him." But at this time, he didn't even have the strength to move his fingers, so he couldn't help but curse his own incompetence loudly in his heart.
~~~~~~~~~~
ps: Wow, there have been so many rewards in the past two days, so many monthly passes, and so many free chapters. The Emperor is so grateful!
Thank you brothers for your support. Don’t worry, the emperor will work hard to write "Iron Bones" to repay everyone's love! (To be continued)