Chapter 204: Removing the Artillery Tower

After watching the parachute training of the 1st Marine Regiment, the brigade commander, division commander, deputy chief of staff and deputy commander-in-chief took a car directly back to the headquarters.

Since Tada Shun and Shinozuka Yoshio both stepped down, the North China Front Army and the First Army, which changed their commanders, became very weird. The devils in the entire Shanxi Province seemed to have changed a group of people.

The enemy forcibly conscripted civilians during the day and built artillery towers and bunkers on a large scale. At night, they strictly guarded and all troops retreated in fortifications.

Although it was still the old way, the cage policy was still implemented. But under the command of Iwamatsu Yoshio, the First Army became more stable.

The four people just returned to the headquarters and happened to meet a communicator from the brigade. After seeing the bosses, the comrade immediately dismounted and saluted and said:

"Hello, chief! Brigade commander, Comrade Chen Tao has sent back information. And he used an express route this time. Something big must have happened to the devils."

Since the outbreak of the war, the brigade commander rarely directly participated in the work of agents and intelligence.

But as a once powerful spy chief, he still promoted some outstanding talents.

Chen Tao, who was just mentioned, is one of them. This comrade has become the commander of a puppet army and can even enter and leave the staff of the Japanese division at will.

With this relationship, the Taiyue Military Region sent a lot of intelligence personnel to the enemy-occupied areas.

From then on, a large amount of intelligence from the Japanese puppet army was continuously sent to the 386th Brigade through this line, reducing the losses of the southeastern Shanxi base.

After hearing the word Chen Tao, the brigade commander put away his smile, took the top-secret intelligence, and began to read it carefully. Half a minute later, he looked strange and seemed to be holding back his laughter.

"Good news, Iwamatsu Yoshio and the existentialist master broke down in the talks, and the two sides almost fought at the wine table."

"Sure enough, where there is a sleeping dragon, there will be a phoenix chick. The new commander and chief of staff of the First Army are really talented."

As soon as the voice fell, the division commander, deputy chief of staff, and deputy commander-in-chief immediately surrounded him. The three of them began to circulate the intelligence, and they were amazed at the whole process.

Since 1937, the devils have tried to lure the egg dancers to surrender, and this task is also the mission of the successive commanders of the First Army.

Compared with Shinozuka Yoshio, Okamura Neiji placed greater hopes on Iwamatsu Yoshio.

This is mainly because the other party is a "China expert" who followed the second-generation intelligence chief of Xiaozizi in his early years and worked in intelligence work against China in BeiP for a period of time.

As soon as the old devil arrived in Taiyuan, he wrote an invitation letter to the egg dancer.

The words in the letter were extremely flattering, and he also recalled the past of the two, hoping to pave the way for the future surrender.

However, the chief of staff of the First Army did not think so. As a well-known brave but foolish person in the Japanese army, he perfectly played his characteristics of being unable to do things well and more likely to fail.

During the talks, this Major General Hanatani Masaru was arrogant and did not take the egg dancers seriously at all.

It should have been a peace talk of equal status, but in the end there was not even the most basic respect. The angry egg dancer completely determined his new strategic direction, which led to the failure of the attempt to induce surrender.

"Yan Laoxi was irritated by the First Army's pretentiousness."

After reading the entire intelligence, the deputy chief of staff breathed a sigh of relief.

"The good news in February is really continuous. First, the situation in the south was resolved, and then the Japanese lost another naval admiral."

"Now even the last hidden danger in Shanxi Province has been completely eliminated. The situation is very good!"

As soon as these words came out, everyone nodded repeatedly. The deputy commander came to the battle map and stared at the enemy situation map to express his opinion.

"I think the troops have rested enough. We should take advantage of this spirit and make some achievements to pave the way for the next stage of the big battle."

"The First Army of the Japanese is building roads, adding artillery towers, and even sending spies to the base. Our Eighth Route Army can't do nothing, otherwise we will definitely have to fight back in the spring."

"The new equipment has not been run-in in actual combat since it was obtained. It's time to launch a small-scale attack."

The deputy commander's point of view was recognized by everyone present, and the deputy chief of staff on the side kept recording with a pen, and then tore it off and handed it to the communicator.

"Notify troops at all levels to make pre-war mobilization and select targets near the defense zone to detect the enemy. Two days later! Act immediately!"

"Good!"

In the early morning of February 20th, southeastern Shanxi.

Kong Jie leaned against a big tree and looked carefully at the artillery tower in the distance with a telescope in his hand. Although Huang He had returned to the border area long ago, he left enough support equipment.

For things like telescopes, the logistics department still has a lot of inventory, and each regiment can be allocated a batch.

"Captain, I have sent people to watch this artillery tower for several days. The number of enemies does not exceed 30, with one heavy machine gun and three light machine guns."

"Do you think we should use the old method or directly use new weapons?"

The purpose of the headquarters this time is very simple. One is to let the troops get familiar with the new weapons as soon as possible, and the other is to clear the defensive fortifications of the Japanese in Shanxi Province.

Although the troops already have a batch of Miss 75, and even formed two new artillery regiments.

But the transportation problem has not been solved yet. Once it is deployed, it is likely to be targeted by the Japanese and chased and beaten. If it is not handled well, it will become the transport captain, which leads to the fact that the artillery tower has not been cleaned up.

Now that we have new weapons, we can use actual combat training and deal with illegal buildings by the way.

After all, whether it is a 40mm or 50mm mortar, a lot of practice is needed to ensure the hit rate.

After hearing the question from the first battalion commander, Kong Jie did not answer directly. He took out a cigarette and sniffed it to refresh himself, and then began to arrange the tactics for tonight.

"The telephone line is not cut, right? We still have to rely on this artillery tower to fish."

"I just took a look at the map. There are three squadrons of the nearest devils. After the battle starts, it is estimated that they will arrive at the scene in more than half an hour to reinforce."

"After the battle begins, the first battalion is responsible for feinting, don't fight too hard. The second battalion is responsible for attacking the reinforcements and strive to end the battle in 45 minutes. The third battalion is the reserve team and is reserved for emergencies."

After receiving the order, the first battalion commander immediately began to perform the task. In just five minutes, dozens of soldiers crouched and approached the artillery tower.

At a distance of 600 meters from the artillery tower, a company commander signaled everyone to switch to a crawling state.

The area around one kilometer here has been cleared by the devils. With the searchlight on the roof, it is very likely that the enemy will discover it if you rush in straight.

With the help of the moonlight, everyone can already see the full picture of the artillery tower.

It covers an area of ​​more than 100 square meters, with walls and barracks next to it. There is a trench two meters deep and more than three meters wide outside the building complex, and barbed wire and mines are also arranged.

In addition, the location is high and overlooking, which can be regarded as easy to defend and difficult to attack. This level of fortifications is difficult for troops without direct-fire weapons to deal with.

This is why the troops basically deal with artillery towers at night, which is too disadvantageous for the attackers during the day.

While crawling forward, the company commander ordered the rocket launcher soldier next to him:

"After the battle begins, you two will find your own position. At that time, fire one shot to test the power. If it is too fierce, stop first and wait for my order to fire again."

After approaching a position of 200 meters, the veterans began to slightly raise their rifles in their hands. They aimed at the searchlight on the roof, ready to attack at any time.

"Fire!"

After more than a dozen gunshots, the two searchlights shattered to the ground, and the surroundings fell into a brief darkness again.

At this point in 1941, the individual capabilities of the Japanese had not declined. Hearing the sudden gunfire, they quickly rushed to their combat positions.

In less than ten seconds, a flare was launched, and the battle between the two sides became fierce from the beginning.

Bullets were fired from the various firing ports of the turret, and the flames were extremely conspicuous in the dark night. Xiao Rizi tried to suppress the invading enemy with the surging barrage of bullets to buy more time for his companions.

Under the cover of his comrades, two soldiers with 40 fire and ammunition handlers approached the position of 150 meters from different angles.

This distance was stuck at the limit of the effective range of the rocket launcher. Fortunately, the target of the turret was large, and there was a great chance of hitting it as long as the luck was not particularly bad.

The four soldiers had a clear division of labor and began to prepare according to the daily training.

As soon as the gunner set up the folding mechanical sight, the ammunition handler took out the shells and loaded them from the front. Then he crouched and moved to a safe position to prevent accidental injury.

After the soldiers turned on the trigger safety, they immediately adjusted their posture to aim and pulled the trigger directly.

As flames emerged from the tail of the rocket launcher, two rockets were fired at the turret from different positions.

Boom × 2!

An armor-piercing shell directly hit the turret in the distance. This unexpected attack directly broke the Japanese firepower network.

The fortifications that originally took time and effort to solve were easily destroyed by 40 fire, and this was because the angle of the hit was not very good.

The other hit the wall, and the area over there was now full of smoke and dust.

Although the soldiers had imagined the power of the rocket launcher countless times, the extremely impactful scene still made them stunned for two seconds.

After coming back to their senses, the two gunners immediately moved. According to the pre-war arrangement. They had to find a suitable shooting position again and wait for the order from their own company commander.

In the ruins, the dying Japanese squad leader crawled to the phone. Na Qiang took a breath to pick up the phone and informed the nearby county garrison of the news of the attack on the turret.

"Artillery bombardment, we are under artillery bombardment."

"The enemy's attack is too fierce, the amazing power is at least 105 caliber howitzers. But they don't have many troops, only 300 at most."

The message of the request for help soon spread to the nearby county town, and an unknown enemy carrying heavy artillery appeared. The Japanese Major Yamane Jiro immediately ordered an attack.

"The cavalry squadron will set off first. Your mission is not to fight the enemy. You only need to scout along the way to ensure that the follow-up large forces are not ambushed."

"The mobile squadron and the infantry squadron will follow closely and go straight to the reinforcement target!"

After giving the order, Yamane Jiro hesitated for a moment and reported the news to the Taiyuan direction.

Although the captain who asked for help said that the enemy had only 300 people, he did not believe that a 105 caliber heavy artillery was something that a battalion-level unit could have.

A squadron of cavalry set off from the county town, and the sound of horse hooves startled the sleeping people.

After the Hundred Regiments Campaign, all the Japanese became extremely cautious. They knew that their enemies were no longer the same as they were before, but were now evenly matched.

Under the leadership of their captain, the troops dispersed from the main road and carefully scouted all the areas along the way that were suitable for ambushes.

In order to ensure the safety of the large force, they even entered the woods, which were not suitable for cavalry.

They were afraid that a group of enemies would rush out from some corner. No one wanted to fight the enemy in a disadvantageous terrain. It was no different from suicide.

Yamane Jiro, who was waiting in the county town, breathed a sigh of relief after receiving the news that there was no ambush on the road. He immediately got into a truck and led his two squadrons to the location of the artillery tower.

At the current slow speed, rescue would definitely be too late. He didn't think about saving people at the beginning. He attacked simply for the heavy artillery.

Although there was a high probability that there was no chance to capture it, as long as it could be destroyed, it would also be a capital for his promotion.

Looking at the three bends leading the way in front, Yamane Jiro frowned impatiently, and the soldiers who used machine gun firepower to scout from time to time interrupted his thoughts.

After fighting in Shanxi Province for so long, he knew that the Eighth Route Army's favorite tactic was to surround and attack the reinforcements. Often, they would feint to attack a target and then ambush the reinforcements that came.

Although there were already cavalry scouts, I didn't know why I was still very uneasy.

Facts have proved that people who can be active in the fierce battlefield for so long usually have good intuition.

The Japanese cavalry subconsciously thought that the Eighth Route Army would definitely choose a suitable terrain to ambush, but they did not expect that Kong Jie's second battalion was near the main road and even built simple fortifications.

When the three squadrons were halfway there, the soldiers immediately launched an attack. At the beginning of the battle, the second battalion commander pressed all his troops.

The first targets to be hit must be those trucks. The newly arrived 50mm and 60mm mortars poured shells on the road that the vehicles must pass.

The light and heavy machine guns also fired a dense metal storm. As soon as the sound of long bursts sounded, dozens of Japanese infantry fell to the ground.

Seeing that the number of enemies was more than expected, Kong Jie directly pulled out two companies from the reserve and put them on the battlefield.

There was no place to make shelter on the flat road. The soldiers of the independent regiment attacked from both wings and put out the counterattack organized by the Japanese again and again.

Both the Type 10 grenade launcher and the Type 89 grenade launcher lost to the Brandt 50mm mortar in this duel.

With no advantage in numbers, weapons and terrain, the three squadrons of the devils struggled for only twenty minutes.

Looking at the corpses on the ground, Kong Jie issued a new order with disgust:

"Clean up the battlefield, don't take the devil's weapons, even the militia doesn't like to use these junks now."

"The headquarters has instructed that this operation should focus on speed!"

"Go to the next artillery tower, our independent regiment's goal tonight is to kill ten!"

The next chapter is a bit behind, so I'll read it tomorrow at noon.