The most cattle cottage in the Anti-Japanese War

Chapter 331 The key to victory

In fact, Wang Zhankui felt that this battle was a bit useless, and he didn't want to just go back like this. In that case, he would feel a little embarrassing in the face of the newly created 187th Division.

In Wang Zhankui's heart, he hoped that Gao Jiu would find a way, and he also believed that Gao Jiu would definitely find a way.

The reason why he said this was because he didn't want Gao Jiu to be embarrassed.After he finished speaking, he looked at Gao Jiu with anticipation in his eyes.

The officers were all the same as Wang Zhankui, they all felt that Gao Jiu should have a solution, so everyone turned their attention to Gao Jiu.

Gao Jiu looked at the Japanese army position on the opposite side, then at the pier in the center of the bridge, turned his head to look at the crowd, and his trademark smile appeared on his face again.

When everyone saw Gao Jiu like this, they knew that he had a solution.As a result, smiles appeared on everyone's faces.

Wang Zhankui asked: "Jiuye, I knew you would have a solution, how do you say we fight?"

Gao Jiu smiled and said, "The devil is guarding the other side of the bridge. Is it difficult for us to fight over?"

Wang Zhankui said: "It's really not easy to fight over such a narrow bridge with so many devils on the opposite side."

Gao Jiu asked again: "It's not easy for us to fight over. If the devils want to fight over, can you hold the position on the bridge?"

Wang Zhankui said confidently: "Relying on our firepower, if the devils want to fight over, it's a dream. Even if the devils' reinforcements come to a regiment, their strength cannot be used, and I can still defend him three times." Days and three nights."

The officers and soldiers of the cavalry battalion were also full of confidence in guarding the bridge, and they all said that it was no problem to guard the bridge.

The artillery company commander was still a little puzzled. He said, "Jiuye, we can't beat it, and neither can the devils, but no one can install explosives on the bridge. The bridge can't be blown up either?"

Gao Jiu asked, "How did you attack the devil's bunker just now?"

After this reminder, the artillery company commander felt his eyes light up, but he thought about it carefully, shook his head again, and said: "You mean that we use cannons to bombard the middle of the bridge like a bunker. A bridge pier? I’m afraid it won’t work. The pier is too thick, I think it must be as thick as six or seven meters.”

Gao Jiu personally went to the pillar on the bridge to see it, and he said: "The location I said to hit is 6.8 meters in diameter."

The artillery company commander shook his head like a rattle, and he said, "With our three cannons, even if we fight for a day and a night, we won't be able to blow up that pier."

Gao Jiu asked: "On that pier, there is a hole in the middle. Our 24 artillery pieces hit a point at the same time, and then we used armor-piercing shells to open the hole, and then used high-explosive shells to shoot into that hole. What do you think? Can a single bridge pier withstand the simultaneous explosion of 24 shells in several rounds?"

Wang Zhankui understood, and he said, "Jiu Ye, this is a good idea. I'll send a telegram to the commander right away, asking him to transfer all the artillery battalions over."

The artillery company commander also said excitedly: "Jiu Ye, I also understand that if 24 cannons bombard one point at the same time, I can guarantee that it will definitely blow up that pier in less than ten rounds."

Zhiyuan County, the 187th division headquarters.

After receiving the telegram from Wang Zhankui, Chief of Staff Liu came to Wang Jindong.

After reading the telegram, Wang Jindong said, "I didn't expect this to happen. It seems that our intelligence work needs to be strengthened."

Chief of Staff Liu said: "It's not easy to fight like this. You see, did they send an artillery battalion to support them according to their request?"

Wang Jindong nodded and said, "Then pull up the artillery battalion!"

Chief of Staff Liu sent a staff officer to call the artillery battalion commander and reconnaissance section chief.Chief of Staff Liu briefly introduced the situation, and said to the artillery battalion commander: "You immediately take all the Bofors Mountain Cannons and go to the Lanxi River Bridge for support."

The artillery battalion commander accepted the order and went down to make arrangements.

Wang Jindong said to the chief of the reconnaissance section: "The bunkers of the Japanese army are so strong that this situation is enough to affect the progress of the entire battle. If Brother Gao was not there, what kind of losses might have been caused? This incident shows that your The reconnaissance work is not detailed enough, we must learn from this lesson, the more detailed the reconnaissance work, the better."

The head of the reconnaissance section said with some shame: "I'm sorry, sir, what you taught is that the humble staff must learn from this lesson and strengthen the rigor and meticulousness of reconnaissance work."

Not long after, the Artillery Battalion Commander came back. Not only did he come back, he was also followed by the logistics director of the newly formed 187th Division.

The artillery battalion commander said with an unhappy face: "Report to the commander, Director Sun will not let you receive armor-piercing shells, and he is unwilling to give more shells."

Chief of Staff Liu asked unhappily: "Director Sun, what do you mean?"

Director Sun of the Logistics Department said aggrievedly: "Division seat, chief of staff, our entire division only has 40 rounds of armor-piercing shells, and the artillery battalion asked for them. And they still need to receive four base shells, a total of 1200 rounds. But one-third of our logistics inventory, isn’t it too much? Besides, isn’t it a bit wasteful to use shells to blow up bridge piers?”

When Chief of Staff Liu heard this, he immediately became furious, and reprimanded him, "You are really confused, how can you think about things like this?"

Wang Jindong was not happy anymore, he stared and said: "Brother Gao and Captain Wang are fighting bloody battles ahead, but you are here to care about everything. I ask you what are the armor-piercing bullets and artillery shells for? Are they used to fight devils? Now They are beating devils, but you don't let them use it, so what are you keeping it for?

Do you know how much pressure on our 187th Division can be relieved by blowing up the Lanxi River Bridge?How much force do we have to invest in preventing the Japanese army from Henan?How many resources are consumed?

What are cannonballs worth?It's used up, let's find a way to get it, stop talking nonsense!Do it now. "

"Yes, Master, I know I was wrong." The logistics chief led the artillery battalion commander away with a face full of shame.

After the director of the logistics department left, Chief of Staff Liu said to the other officers in the war room: "Just pretend that you have never heard of this matter. No one should spread it to the outside world. Don't let it reach Brother Gao's ears. I understand. ?"

"Understood!" The officers replied together.

Wang Jindong understood what he meant. Gao Jiu had made too many contributions to their 187th Division, and even now he was fighting for their 187th Division. If the 187th Division was so petty, it would chill Gao Jiu's heart and make him look down on him.

Wang Jindong nodded and said, "We can't be sorry to Brother Gao."

Lanxi River Bridge.

After sending a telegram to Wang Jindong, Gao Jiu suggested that the three companies of the cavalry battalion be divided into three groups, each group was divided into two parts, and only half of the company was left at the bridgehead at a time, and they were rotated every two hours. Avoid hoarding a large number of troops at the bridgehead and being killed by enemy fire.

After the arrangement was completed, he and Wang Zhankui left half of the company and withdrew with other troops, waiting for the arrival of the artillery battalion.

An hour later, the reinforcements of the Japanese army arrived. Because of the bridge, it is not clear how many reinforcements the Japanese army has come, but it doesn't matter. No matter how many Japanese troops come, they can only attack from the bridge. As long as they can hold The bridgehead is victory.

On the opposite side of the bridge, a Japanese major was asking the squadron leader guarding the bridge about the situation.The name of the Japanese major was Bei Dao, and he was the captain of the infantry brigade of the 37th Wing of the 108th Division of the Japanese Army. He led his own infantry brigade to come for reinforcements.

After listening to the report, Major Bei Dao couldn't figure out what the national army on the other side was going to do.If the national army on the opposite side wants to cross the bridge and perform some mission, but the opponent's force is not very large, at most there is only one battalion, what can such a small number of troops do after crossing the river?

Shao Zuo Bei Dao judged that this national army was going to blow up the Lanxi River Bridge.Before Bei Dao joined the army, he was a student of the Osaka School of Architecture. He knew the general architectural structure of bridges very well.He knew that for bridges like the Lanxi River Bridge, only by blowing up the main pier in the center could the bridge be completely destroyed.Even if the national army controls the other side of the bridge, even if they can install explosives on the bridge deck, the damage to the bridge will not be great, and it will be easier to repair in the future.

After careful consideration, he decided to send machine gunners and soldiers with good marksmanship to deploy along the river bank to ensure that they could block every bridge pier with firepower and prevent the enemy from placing explosives on the pier. At the same time, he saw that the opponent's troops were insufficient. Decided to launch a strong attack to regain the bridgehead on the other side.

It has been introduced before that this bridge is a steel frame bridge with many cables and steel frames on it.For the bridgeheads at both ends, the use of artillery was greatly restricted, and Bei Dao could only send infantry to attack from the bridge.

Not long after, the Japanese army launched a tentative attack. They only sent a small number of pioneers to cross the middle of the bridge. When they encountered fierce fire from the officers and soldiers of the cavalry battalion, they dropped two corpses and retreated.

Then, the Japanese army's official attack began. They first sent a squad of pioneers to carry sandbags, followed by a small group of Japanese soldiers, and slowly moved towards the other side of the river. When they approached the middle of the bridge, they lay down on the bridge. , slowly crawling forward, moving the sandbag forward while advancing.

The officers and soldiers of the cavalry battalion had fought many battles with Gao Jiu and had rich combat experience.Faced with this situation, they fired with machine guns to suppress the enemy's firepower, so that the enemy could only lie down behind the sandbags in a very low posture. The bloody holes made it difficult to shoot at the opposite side, which effectively reduced the casualties of the cavalry battalion soldiers.

Although the bunkers built by the Japanese army were knocked down, the remaining parts were still much higher than the ground. Some officers and soldiers with good marksmanship lay on the ruins of the bunkers, so that they could see the enemies behind the sandbags.

The devils lay on the ground and moved slowly, which happened to be the targets of the officers and soldiers of the cavalry battalion.

There were also some sharpshooters among the ghost soldiers, who also pushed forward slowly with sandbags. After crossing the middle of the bridge, they lay down there and launched a sneak attack, causing considerable casualties to the officers and soldiers of the cavalry battalion.

Seeing this situation, Ning Wen, Ning Wu and Li Xiaoshan volunteered to join the battle, and Gao Jiu let them go.The three of them each found a concealed location to deal with the sharpshooters of the Japanese army, and quickly killed the devils who carried out sneak attacks one by one.

The Japanese army moved with difficulty to a distance of 40 meters from the bridge head. Due to the fierce firepower of the officers and soldiers of the cavalry battalion, they lay on the ground and threw the grenade forward at a distance of no more than 30 meters.The officers and soldiers of the cavalry battalion seized the fighter planes caused by the 10-meter distance and threw a large number of grenades forward.

Since the Japanese army was lying on the ground, the power of the grenade would be affected. After the officers and soldiers pulled the ring, they delayed for two seconds before throwing the grenade forward.

Many grenades exploded in the air, and the Japanese soldiers hiding behind the sandbags suffered heavy casualties. They did not advance to the distance where they could throw grenades, and they were basically reimbursed.

Seeing that this method was not feasible, the other Japanese soldiers who followed retreated temporarily.

Near the center line of the bridge, they piled up sandbags and stood in the middle of the bridge. They kept raising the sandbags so that they could better garrison troops behind.

Since mortars could not be used to deal with these enemies on the bridge, the officers and soldiers of the cavalry battalion really had no way to attack the Japanese army.The grenadiers of the Japanese army hid behind the bunkers piled up with sandbags, but they were able to play a greater role, constantly causing casualties to the officers and soldiers of the cavalry battalion.

Seeing this situation, Wang Zhankui asked the artillerymen to push the two Bofors cannons directly onto the bridge.

This Bofors 75mm field gun produced in Sweden has a shield height of 1.32 meters, which can effectively conceal the body of the artillery.High and low shooting range: -10 degrees to 50 degrees, that is to say, it can shoot in parallel, or even shoot downwards.

The artillerymen aimed their muzzles directly at the enemy's sandbag fortifications. The 6.5 kg artillery shells were extremely powerful. After a few shots, the sandbags were blown to pieces, and the Japanese soldiers behind the sandbags suffered heavy casualties.

Without the cover of sandbags, the devils behind had no choice but to turn around and run for their lives in a hurry.The officers and soldiers of the cavalry battalion chased after their backs with machine guns, and kept sweeping them to the ground.

Seeing that this method would not work, the devils became impatient, and pushed the Type [-] infantry artillery they brought onto the bridge, and the two sides started an artillery battle.

The shells fired by the National Army's Bofors Mountain Cannon weighed 6.5 kg, far exceeding the 3 kg shells of the Japanese Type 8 infantry gun.The Type 92 infantry artillery of the Japanese army also has its advantages, that is, it is light, flexible and has a fast firing speed.However, it has its disadvantages on this occasion today, because its shield is only 0.62 meters. Under the fierce machine gun fire of the national army, the Japanese artillery could only bend down and hide behind the artillery, which affected their observation and observation. Aiming, which affects their shooting accuracy and shooting speed.

In this artillery battle, since the National Army's Bofors Mountain Cannon was erected there in advance, and the Japanese artillery had to be pushed onto the bridge, the National Army had a certain advantage. They took advantage of the time when the Japanese army erected the artillery , fired several shells in a row, one of which directly hit a Japanese Type 6.5 infantry gun, and the violent explosion of the [-] kg shell directly blasted the Devil's Type [-] infantry gun into the air.The artillerymen of the Devils were blown up with their limbs flying and suffered heavy casualties.

The devils were not afraid of death, and other artillerymen pushed a [-]-type infantry artillery onto the bridge. This time, the artillery shells fired by the national army exploded near the infantry artillery, destroying the infantry artillery as well, killing The Japanese artillery who operated the artillery.

Captain Bei Dao brought a total of four [-]-type infantry artillery. Seeing that the two artillery had been destroyed, he thought of a way and sent a dozen soldiers to charge forward to attract the artillery fire of the national army and use the national army During the interval between the firing of the army's artillery, the remaining two Type [-] infantry artillery were quickly pushed up and fired shells at the artillery of the national army.

They quickly fired four shells, one of which hit a cannon of the national army. The 3.8 kg shell was still very powerful. The artillery of the national army was destroyed, and all the artillerymen operating the artillery were sacrificed.

The remaining gun of the national army fired a shell, which hit the middle of the two Japanese guns. The 6.5 kg shell was very powerful. All the Type [-] infantry artillery was overturned, and the artillerymen were also killed and injured.

At the same time as the artillery shells of the national army exploded, the shells fired by a [-]-type infantry artillery hit the shield of the artillery of the national army, and also destroyed the artillery of the national army. .At this time, all the artillery of the enemy and us on the bridge was destroyed.

The artillery company commander saw that the artillery on the bridge head was destroyed, and the officers and soldiers suffered heavy casualties. He was so angry that he personally led the people to push the last remaining mountain cannon to the bridge.

The devil no longer had the Type [-] infantry artillery, so the national army's mountain artillery played a great role. The artillery company commander kept firing the artillery, effectively preventing the Japanese army from launching another attack.

The captain of Bei Dao has now discovered that artillery is the key to victory in this battle, so he also sent a telegram to the regiment captain for help.

After this artillery battle, Gao Jiu suddenly realized the danger—the Japanese reinforcements were only two hours away from the Lanxi River Bridge, and the national army needed four and a half hours away from the Lanxi River Bridge.Except that Wang Zhankui sent a telegram an hour and a half earlier, after the Japanese artillery arrived,

For at least one hour, the officers and soldiers of the national army need to use light weapons to fight against them. During this hour, the weapons of the national army are at a disadvantage, and the casualties are bound to be very heavy.

Gao Jiu explained the situation to Wang Zhankui, and Wang Zhankui summoned all the officers of the cavalry battalion and asked them for their opinions.

This battle has been going on for so long, and the officers and soldiers of the cavalry battalion have suffered a lot of casualties.The officers and soldiers of the cavalry battalion were already red-eyed, and they all said that they would stick to their positions desperately, and buy this hour for the artillery of the national army to arrive.

Wang Zhankui sent a telegram to Wang Jindong again, asking him to send someone to urge the artillery battalion to speed up the march.

Seeing this situation, Gao Jiu decided to cross the river to harass the Japanese army and buy time for the soldiers of the national army.

In order to prevent the enemy from approaching the bridge from the river, the Japanese army laid a large number of mines within 500 meters on both sides.

Gao Jiu took a cavalryman from the cavalry battalion and rode his horse for a distance of 2 kilometers away from the river bank. Then he handed the horse to the soldier and told him to wait here. He ran to the place by himself. riverside.

Gao Jiu didn't take off his clothes, but just took off his shoes and socks, wrapped them in a raincoat and put them in his backpack.

After crossing the river, it doesn't matter if the clothes are wet, but it is too uncomfortable to have water in the shoes.

Then Gao Jiu jumped into the water and swam towards the opposite bank.

After crossing the river, instead of attacking the Japanese army at the bridgehead, he ran a few kilometers in the direction where the enemy reinforcements were coming, and found a mountain forest with complex terrain, preparing to attack the Japanese artillery convoy and delay their arrival bridge time.

Gao Jiu was lying on a piece of soft grass, enjoying the sunbath comfortably, waiting for the arrival of the Japanese artillery convoy.

The national and Japanese troops at both ends of the Lanxi River Bridge were waiting for their artillery units to arrive.The Japanese army stopped attacking, and the national army had nothing to do. Both sides stopped shooting, and the battlefield temporarily calmed down.

About an hour and a half later, Gao Jiu heard the sound of a car engine. From the sound, it could be heard that they still had at least 10 minutes before they could come here.

Gao Jiu lay on the ground for another 5 minutes, then stood up, and saw a convoy of Japanese troops approaching, a total of 12 trucks pulling Type [-] infantry artillery.In front of the Japanese artillery convoy, there were three motorcycles, and then a truck full of Japanese soldiers, which were the escort troops for the runners.

Gao Jiu didn't shoot this time. He took out two grenades, tied them together with a rope, and when the Japanese army came within 50 meters of him, he threw them directly at the compartment of the truck full of Japanese soldiers. .

Thanks to the book friend Panda at Jiajia for the reward and support, and thanks to all the book friends who subscribed
(End of this chapter)