Bright Sword's Bloody War of Resistance

Chapter 879 Give the Devil a Surprise

That afternoon, the Kwantung Army suddenly sent reinforcements to Shangqiu. After several fierce battles with the Japanese army, the cavalry regiment retreated to the junction of Shangqiu, Yucheng and Xiayi.

Not long after, a large number of Japanese troops appeared in front of the 16th Regiment of the 11th Brigade, which was responsible for defending the outer fortifications on the east side of Shangqiu. The Japanese army did not rush to launch an attack. A main force was responsible for monitoring the movements of the Eighth Route Army on the position, and the rest of the Japanese troops began to set up camps.

At the 16th Brigade Headquarters, Li Yunlong was summarizing information received from all parties. In front of him was a sand table with Shangqiu as the center, on which the terrain and defensive fortifications were clearly visible.

"The cavalry regiment just sent a telegram that Sun Desheng's troops arrived at Jiazhai in the northeast of Shangqiu, and Qin Fuwen's troops arrived at Dahou Township in the southwest of Shangqiu!"

After saying this, Xin Tiebing, Chief of Staff of the 16th Brigade, planted the two red flags representing the cavalry regiments in their respective positions.

"Commander, I'm worried that our current defense strategy is too risky."

Before Xin Tiebing could finish his words, Li Yunlong interrupted him: "The command center has no objections, why are you worried?"

"Eh!" Xin Tiebing smiled helplessly. The chief of staff's job is to find and fill in the gaps for the military commander. Although he knows that it will cause Li Yunlong's dissatisfaction, he still has to raise the issues that need to be raised.

"It's normal to be worried!" Li Yunlong changed the subject and tried to save face for Xin Tiebing: "Don't even mention the few troops we have. Even if the entire column was deployed on Shangqiu's internal and external defense lines, the troops would only be barely enough!"

"There is no other way but to take risky measures. Fortunately, there are brother troops around to take care of us. The Japanese army does not dare to surround us from all sides yet. This is good news!"

At this time, Shangqiu had six established infantry regiments. The 16th, 10th, 11th Regiments and the Independent Regiment under the 12th Brigade were the trump cards in Li Yunlong's hand. There were also the Dingtao and Chengwu core regiments under the Southwest Shandong Military District.

As he had no idea of ​​the Kwantung Army's combat effectiveness, Li Yunlong did not dare to invest heavily, let alone underestimate the Japanese army. So he placed the 11th Regiment at the forefront on the east side, and the 10th Regiment, which had the strongest combat effectiveness, served as a reserve force in the second-line position.

Li Yunlong judged that Shangqiu was close to Cao County to the north, and the Kwantung Army did not dare to launch an attack from the north easily, so he ordered the Dingtao Core Regiment to defend the north side, the 16th Regiment of the 12th Brigade with slightly stronger combat effectiveness to defend the south side, and the Chengwu Core Regiment to defend the west side.

The independent regiment remained in the city as the general reserve force. The two thousand young and strong men who had received simple training and led by the Shangqiu Prefectural Committee could be called militia. They were responsible for maintaining public order in the city, transporting supplies, and transferring the wounded.

However, the defense line outside Shangqiu City extended outward as much as 12 kilometers. Even if each regiment was on the front line, the troops were too dispersed. Once the Japanese army launched a fierce attack, the defense line would be easily breached.

In the direction of the Japanese position, a Japanese observer slowly rose in an observation balloon to a height of about four to five hundred meters, trying to find out the Eighth Route Army's defensive arrangements and provide directional parameters for the next Japanese attack.

In the eyes of Japanese observers, the Eighth Route Army's positions were full of gullies and bunkers, and from time to time they could see crowds of people somewhere, but they did not find the location of the Eighth Route Army's artillery positions.

"We have not found any artillery positions of the Eighth Route Army so far. There are several high grounds three to five kilometers away from our current position. They are covered by mountains and forests, and we are unable to find out their true position!" The Japanese observer contacted the ground forces via radio.

On the other hand, the Eighth Route Army also noticed the observation balloons rising above the Japanese positions, but did not shoot them down.

Artillery is an important presence in modern warfare. It can not only cause great damage to infantry, but also threaten armored units. The strength of the Hebei-Shandong-Henan Column was inevitably exposed in the previous battle with the National Army, and the Japanese army had to be on guard.

此次关东军上的台面的成建制炮兵共有三支，战车教导旅团配备的12门105口径榴弹炮、12门75口径野炮，五十七师团炮兵联队的36门山野炮，近卫师团炮兵联队的48门山野炮。

In addition to the two artillery battalions equipped by the two detachments, there were a total of 75 artillery pieces with a caliber of 84 or above gathered on the Shangqiu front line, and there were also infantry guns, mortars, rapid-fire guns, etc. In terms of the use of artillery, it was actually simple and crude. As long as the enemy's artillery was killed, the remaining infantry would be like meat on the chopping board, waiting to be beaten.

But there are only two ways to destroy the enemy's artillery. Either take them by surprise and get the upper hand, or just fight one for one.

"Ten minutes later, all units will begin shelling the designated targets on time!"

After receiving the order, the three artillery positions of the Japanese army began to prepare and revised the firing parameters based on the azimuth parameters provided by the ground observers.

"position."

“7.4 km away”

"Three test shots, fire!"

On the position of the Tank Training Brigade, all the artillery positions were ready. As the flag bearer waved the plaster flag in his hand, a muffled sound of "boom boom" suddenly came from the position.

Driven by the propellant, the shell soared into the sky, rushed out of the barrel, and drew an arc in the sky. The target direction was exactly the high ground and dense forest where the observer reported that the Eighth Route Army artillery might be hiding.

As the explosions sounded, large balls of fire and thick smoke suddenly rose from several high ground. After just over ten seconds, the Japanese army's heavy artillery fire once again covered the designated targets.

"My goodness, the Kwantung Army's devils are so rich and powerful that they make such a big noise as soon as they come in. Fortunately, the high ground is just a decoy arranged for the devils!" The speaker was the commander of the 11th Regiment, Qin Yuezhong.

This time, the 16th Brigade is equipped with two American mountain artillery battalions, with a total of 36 mountain cannons, which are Li Yunlong's treasures.

Li Yunlong had long been prepared for this move by the Japanese, so he did not deploy his artillery on the high ground. Instead, he deployed it in the tunnels of the ground positions and camouflaged them so that no one could tell what was going on.

While the officers and soldiers of the 16th Brigade were stationed in Shangqiu, they paid no attention to anything else but widening and strengthening the Japanese army's fortifications. The interconnected tunnels were wide enough for a truck to pass through.

There are special anti-gun holes around each gun position. If there is no time to move, the artillery will drag the nearby artillery into the anti-gun hole.

"Yoshi!" Yamashita Tomoyuki, who was at the command center, was extremely satisfied with the current artillery bombardment effect.

"The artillery of the Empire of Japan is technically capable of crushing the Eighth Route Army. Even if we fail to inflict heavy damage on the Eighth Route Army's artillery this time, we will leave them with no place to hide!"

Yamashita Tomoyuki changed the Japanese army's previous tactics and did not order the artillery to bombard the Eighth Route Army's positions. Instead, he told the Japanese artillery not to be stingy with shells, and to rely on the advantages of sufficient numbers of artillery and shells to provide continuous artillery coverage of possible hiding places for the Eighth Route Army's artillery.

This move did achieve a preemptive effect. At the same time, dozens of tanks in the first echelon of the tank brigade launched a charge accompanied by a large number of infantry.

At this time, the Eighth Route Army artillery observation posts successfully obtained the approximate location of the Japanese artillery positions under the bombardment of Japanese artillery fire.

Li Yunlong had been paying attention to the battlefield situation. Seeing that the Japanese artillery had revealed its position, he gave the order: "Order the artillery battalion to launch a counterattack immediately!"