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Chapter 346 Invading the city!

In Changzhi City, the headquarters of the 37th Division.

The chief of staff, Ishida Kinzo, was very concerned and said to Lieutenant General Hirata Kenkichi: "Your Excellency, division chief, judging from the current situation, the imperial army can retake the city wall in at most 10 minutes. You haven't slept for 2 days. Do you want to take a rest first?" ?”

"No need." Hirata Kenkichi waved his hand and said, "Has the 1000 artillerymen issued weapons and ammunition yet?"

"The artillerymen were already queuing up to receive weapons and ammunition 10 minutes ago." Ishida Kinzo said, "Now, we have an extra 1000 infantry."

"The head of the division is wise, I admire him."

Ishida Kinzo did not forget to flatter him.

Hirata Kenkichi said: "Immediately report to Commander Shinozuka that the current situation in Changzhi County is stable, and there is no problem with our department sticking to it for 3 days."

"Hi!" Ishida Kinzo immediately went to the telegraph soldier and dictated to the telegraph soldier the telegram sent to the headquarters of the First Army.

However, Ishida Jinzang had just finished dictating the telegram.

Almost as soon as he finished speaking, a violent explosion suddenly sounded nearby, and the shock wave of the explosion was violently transmitted from the ground.

Hirata Kenkichi staggered suddenly, and quickly reached out to support the table, while Ishida Kinzo sat down on the ground beside him.

"Baga Yalu, head of the division, move quickly!"

Ishida Kinzo's face changed drastically. He thought that the position of the division headquarters was exposed and that the Eighth Route Army was bombarding the division headquarters.

The shell just now was definitely a 105 howitzer, and the sound of the explosion was very close at hand, at most only one street away from here.

"Don't panic, it might be a stray bullet." Hirata Kenkichi was very calm, "It is impossible to reveal the position of the division headquarters."

Another shell fell and exploded nearby, but farther away from division headquarters.

This made Hirata Kenkichi and Ishida Kinzo heave a sigh of relief. It seems that the target of the shells fired by the Eight Route Army is indeed not the division headquarters.

"咻咻咻咻..." However, before they lifted their hearts back to their stomachs, there was another sharp whistling sound in the sky.

In an instant, the faces of Hirata Kenkichi and Ishida Kinzo changed, and the Eighth Route's artillery group was covering the city with artillery fire.

The two shells just now were obviously test fires.

"Boom..."

The sound of huge explosions exploded continuously in my ears.

"Why did the Eight Routes dare to cover the city with artillery fire?"

Colonel Ishida Kinzo yelled in an unbelievable tone.

"Biga! Apply to the headquarters immediately!" Hirata Kenkichi said sharply, "We need air support. Even if the air force cannot destroy the Eighth Route Artillery positions, they must hover in the air so that the Eight Route Artillery Groups cannot fire!"

"Hi!" Ishida Kinzo suddenly lowered his head and stood at attention, then turned around to prepare a telegram.

The communications staff came in hurriedly, and reported with a pause: "Your Excellency, Division Commander, each artillery brigade of the artillery regiment was bombarded by eight groups at the same time, please ask for tactical guidance!"

"Baga! Road!" Hirata Kenkichi said angrily, "Order the artillery brigades to hide immediately, and push the artillery to the hidden position as quickly as possible, fast!"

"Hi!" The communications officer suddenly lowered his head and stood at attention, then turned around and walked away quickly.

Watching the figure of the communications staff leave, Hirata Kenkichi's expression suddenly became extremely ferocious.

It was only then that Hirata Kenkichi realized that he had underestimated the quality of the Eighth Route artillerymen. How did the Eighth Route artillery achieve such precise artillery strikes?

In Hirata Kenkichi's view, as long as the artillery positions of the Eighth Route can be eliminated, the situation will turn to safety. It is impossible for the imperial army to defeat the infantry of the Eighth Route. The only thing that poses a major threat to the Imperial Army is the artillery of the Eighth Route!
The sweeping troops reported that they suffered heavy losses under the eight-way artillery bombardment, and now the eight-way artillery has played a vital role again.

If there were no Seventy-Five Mountain Cannons and [-] Howitzers on the Eighth Route, it would be difficult for them to even approach the city walls, let alone attack the city!

In the final analysis, if the Eighth Route Army did not have mountain artillery groups and high-quality artillery, it is estimated that the Eighth Route Army is still fighting the imperial army's mopping up troops in the base area at this time, and it is impossible to hit Changzhi.

"Baga, the aviation soldiers are a bunch of trash, a bunch of trash!" Kenkichi Hirata cursed angrily.

……

When the devil artillery observers call artillery fire, they mainly provide distance and azimuth to the rear, and the artillery calculates the shooting elements.

The shooting parameters calculated by this method often have large errors between the impact point and the target.

The shooting parameters calculated by the Eighth Route Army using the precise method are calculated by the observers and passed directly to the rear artillery.

Therefore, if you are not hitting a precise target, you don't need to test fire, just come up and cover it with artillery fire.

If it is to hit a precise target, it also needs to be pre-fired, and then adjust the shooting elements according to the impact point of the fired shell.

When Duan Peng called for artillery fire for precise bombardment.

Swordsmen on the other three walls are also calling for precision bombardment.

In less than 5 minutes, more than half of the more than 30 mountain artillery and field artillery installed by the devils on the street had been lost.

The headquarters in the city also turned into a sea of ​​flames under artillery fire.

Hirata Kenkichi listened to Shinozuka Yoshio's arrangement, and had already transferred the headquarters before, so he was saved from disaster.

"Division Commander, Division Commander!"

Narita, the captain of the 37th Regiment, whose face was blackened by gunpowder, with bandages wrapped around his hands, hurriedly trot into the division headquarters with an extremely ugly expression.

"Narita-kun, how is the artillery regiment going?" Hirata Kenkichi asked in a deep voice.

"Division commander, the artillery regiment is over!" Narita Dazuo reported, "The seven-five mountain artillery and the seven-fifth field artillery of each brigade were attacked by the eighth artillery group, and most of them have been lost."

"How many guns are left?"

Narita Dazuo said: "There are only five guns left, and the interval between the eight-way test firing is very short. We have no time to transfer the mountain cannons and field cannons. The eight-way artillery shells hit over, causing the shells to explode. Most of the artillerymen who were operating the cannons were broken. !"

Seventy-five mountain guns and seven-five field guns are heavy and not as easy to transfer as 60mm mortars.

What's more, the county is so big, even if the devils push all the mountain cannons into the house, the Sword Squadron can still call in the artillery to bombard it accurately.

But the devil's artillery was helpless against the eight-way artillery group.

"Bagaya Road!"

Hirata Kenkichi felt that his heart was bleeding. The Artillery Wing was his heart and soul, but he did not expect to lose it in a few minutes.

What's more, he still hoped that the Artillery Wing would shine in the street fighting in the future. Without the street fighting of the Artillery Wing, would he still be able to fight eight ways?
"Call Commander Shinozuka immediately and ask for tactical guidance!" Hirata Kenkichi looked at Ishida Kinzo with a hasty tone.

"Hi!" Ishida Kinzo suddenly lowered his head and stood at attention, then turned around to prepare a telegram.

……

Outside Changzhi City, the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army.

Li Yunlong's vision through the artillery mirror, Zhao Gang and Kong Jie's vision through the telescope.

After seeing Duan Peng calling for artillery fire to hit the city, first there was a rumbling sound of artillery.

Immediately afterwards, the artillery fire that the devils smashed on the city wall decreased immediately, until finally it disappeared completely.

"Haha." Seeing this scene, Kong Jie immediately laughed, "The Devil's headquarters and the Devil's cannon position should have been destroyed."

Li Yunlong said: "It would be great if this wave of shells killed that old devil in Pingtian, then we can make a lot of money."

For the sake of this battle, it can be said that it has severely damaged the 37th Division of the Japanese Army.

Because in addition to killing 4 to 5000 devils in the wild, today they killed a lot of devils, and the artillery unit of the 37th Division was also killed, and the battle is still going on.

1000 tons of weapons and ammunition and 1000 tons of food have been obtained.

Next, if he wants to make more money, he has to kill the old devil Pingtian.

Of course, none of these devils in the city can even try to escape.

"Report!" Huang Erhu put down the high-power walkie-talkie, turned around and reported, "Duan Peng of the Sword Squadron has reported that he has called artillery fire to destroy the enemy's artillery position and headquarters."

"That's right!" Kong Jie laughed, "Old Li, you hit that old devil in Pingtian seven inches in the face."

"It's nothing." Li Yunlong turned his head and said, "Telegraph soldier, immediately send a message to ask about the battle situation between the first attack group and the third attack group."

"Yes!" The telegraph soldier immediately sent a telegram to the first attack group and the third attack group.

It didn't take long for Ding Wei and Cheng Shifa to call back. The contents of the calls were similar, saying that the cannon had blown down the city wall, and the infantry had entered the city and fought street battles with the devils.

Now Kong Jie became anxious, picked up the walkie-talkie and commanded the troops to enter the city from the north and west walls, and attack along the city wall.

After summarizing the telegrams of the first attack group and the third attack group, Li Yunlong asked Zhao Gang to draw up a telegram to report to the headquarters, and then sent it to the headquarters.

……

Taiyuan.

First Army Command.

The 37th Division sent a telegram saying that the current situation is stable and there is no problem in sticking to it for 3 days.

In less than 15 minutes, another telegram was sent, requesting the aviation troops to dispatch immediately to destroy the eight-way artillery position.

However, only a few minutes later, another telegram was sent, saying that the 37th Artillery Wing of the 37th Division was completely lost, and asked for tactical guidance.

Seeing these three telegrams, Shinozuka Yoshio's lungs almost exploded.

"You idiot Hirata, you only care about moving the headquarters away, but you actually ignore the concealment of the artillery regiment!"

If Hirata Kenkichi was in front of him at this time, he would probably draw out his sword, stab Hirata a few times, and let him bleed.

The eight-way artillery can destroy your headquarters, can't it blow up your artillery positions?
"You can make such a fatal mistake, how dare you ask for tactical guidance?" Yoshio Shinozuka roared angrily.

All the combat staff hurriedly bowed their heads and were busy, no one dared to touch the commander's bad luck at this time.

Kusuyama Hideyoshi said: "It should be that the observers of the Eighth Route Artillery reported the position and distance of the 37th Artillery Regiment to the rear artillery group on the city wall, and guided the artillery group to attack. This caused the 37th Artillery Regiment to be severely damaged. Defend the city wall from being breached, and prevent the Eight Routes from occupying the city wall."

Yoshio Shinozuka's mood stabilized a little when he heard this, and he also knew that it would be difficult for the imperial army to defend the city wall under the cover of the artillery group on the Eighth Route.

"Mr. Nanshan, why didn't the air force destroy the artillery positions of the Eight Route Army?" Yoshio Shinozuka asked.

The pilots of the 9th Flying Squadron of the First Army have all been killed by the Sword Squadron, and there are only more than 10 aircraft left.

The air support called by Yoshio Shinozuka is the 8th Flying Squadron under the direct control of the North China Front Army, and it is currently stationed at the Xincheng and Wusu airports.

Kusuyama Hideyoshi said: "According to the report of the 8th Flying Squadron Captain Mizutani, the Eighth Route has set up hundreds of fake artillery positions within a few kilometers of Changzhi, Licheng and Xiangyuan counties..."

"Hachi!" Shinozuka Yoshio said angrily and helplessly, "Sly Hachiro!"

After a pause, Shinozuka Yoshio said: "Order, the 2nd Guards Division speeds up to attack the sky, and all fighter planes take off to help the 37th Division. In addition, order the 37th Division to stick to the two Wait until the reinforcements arrive!"

"Hi!" Kusuyama Hideyoshi suddenly lowered his head and stood at attention, then turned around and walked away quickly.

(End of this chapter)