Comrade, your ingredients are too complicated.

Chapter 228 The 120th Division's Artillery Coverage!

"The typos are corrected, today is Shuangwen!"

On the west side of Zhongtiao Mountain, the third army defense line.

While the air battle was taking place above Luoyang City, the North China Front Army Command issued an order to attack across the board.

Because in the previous defense battles of Zhongtiao Mountain, the powerful force of the Third Army has always maintained an unbeaten record.Neiji Okamura clearly pointed out in the pre-war meeting that the key to breaking through the Western Front lies in whether the attack on the Third Army goes smoothly.

If the third army can be defeated, Zhongtiao Mountain can be captured, and it is necessary to concentrate a force several times that of the enemy to focus on encirclement and suppression.

In order to ensure that the advancement of the 36th Division and the 37th Division would not be disturbed by the Kongyi Division, he also played Tianji horse racing with the Eighth Route Army.

The old devil deliberately sent a small group of Army Aviation as bait in Gaoping, the nearest place to the southeast of Shanxi. He would rather sacrifice some valuable air power to ensure the progress of the western front.

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The third army is the veteran Central Army, which belongs to the Yunnan Army system.The officers are all from Yunnan Province, and most of them graduated from the Yunnan Province Lecture Hall.

After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, their main battlefield was in Shanxi.It has experienced many large-scale battles such as the Battle of Taiyuan, and the number of casualties is also very large.

However, among the preserved fruits, the Yunnan Army has always been known for being good at defense and blocking warfare.

In this battle of Zhongtiaoshan, they defended their positions with 7 people from the 12th, 34th, and 6000th main divisions.Even if more than half of the casualties were lost, they did not take a step back.

It is worth mentioning that in addition to the weapons supplemented by bald heads, there are very few French equipment in the army.

If the Audio-Technica is allowed to visit and study in the Third Army, they will find the familiar Lebel 1886, the disliked Shaosha light machine gun, the father of the 1914-type heavy machine gun, Hatches M60, 81mm and [-]mm Brown German mortar.

Even most of the soldiers with steel helmets wear Adrian cockscomb helmets.They used to have four Hotchkiss 25mm anti-aircraft guns, but unfortunately they were destroyed in the war.

In addition to the above-mentioned weapons that the Eighth Route Army also has, the Third Army also has the Hotchkiss M1922 light machine gun with poor performance, and the Hotchkiss M1930 anti-aircraft machine gun that can be used for both high and flat purposes.

The troops also learned the tactical thinking of the French army during World War I, and the operations revolved around the company's Hatzikis heavy machine guns.

These are all due to the vigorous development of the province's economy after the Southwest Gas King came to power.Not only did it unify taxes, but it also turned lollipops and tin mines into cash cows.

Not only successfully solved the problem of insufficient financial resources, but also exchanged a large amount of weapons and equipment for the troops.

It's a pity that Gas King only bought ready-made weapons and failed to import the production line successfully.

In addition, the Gallic Chicken had already surrendered, and the road was forced to be blocked under Xiaotian's intervention. Naturally, the ammunition in hand now uses one round less.

Let's shift our perspective to the west side of Zhongtiao Mountain, the headquarters of No.12 Army.

Since the northern line of defense was breached by the 41st Division, the defenders could neither respond from east to west nor support from north to south, and the battlefield situation completely fell to the side of the devils.

"Teacher! You retreat quickly! This place is too dangerous!"

"Your injury is still not healed, leave the highland to the brothers! We will definitely take it back!"

The speaker was Yang Yukun, the deputy commander of the No.12 Division of the Third Army. In the previous battle for positions, Division Commander Cun led the troops to fight back heroically.

However, the enemy's firepower was strong, and several [-]-type heavy machine guns fired several rows of bullets, causing the commander of his own teacher to be shot and fell to the ground.If it weren't for the desperate cover of the guard platoon, it is very likely that he would have died for the country.

Due to the severe shortage of medical supplies in the army, the wound on Commander Cun's chest has not healed at this time, and the white cloth on his chest has been soaked in blood and turned bright red.

Seeing that Commander Cun did not reply, Yang Yukun directly ordered to the battalion commander beside him:

"Go and escort the division commander to the army command post. I will be in charge of the command here! If the division commander is missing a hair, I will take you as a question!"

But at this moment, Master Cun stretched out his hand to wrap the bandage around his chest tightly again.After tightening the wound, he supported the guard's arm and struggled to stand up again.

At present, the Shuiguduo Highland on the left wing has been captured by the 36th Division, and the entire division's positions are exposed to the enemy's firepower.

After getting up, he was fearless in the face of danger, reluctantly walked out of the command post, and looked at the officers and soldiers on the left and right.The soldiers on the battlefield were killed and injured countless times, and even ran out of ammunition and food.

"Who is our teacher? You kid wants to command me before I die?"

"The head can be broken, the blood can be shed, and the high ground must not be lost. We want to take back this high ground! Pass my order! Everyone bayonets! Fight to the end with the little devil."

"I also know the difficulty, so I have already contacted the army commander! Support will arrive soon. It is much better to die desperately than to sit and wait for death."

As soon as the words fell, shells from the 36th Division poured towards the positions of the [-]th Division like a torrential rain.

One of the shells landed near the headquarters as if it had eyes, and directly blew off Commander Cun's right leg. Blood gushed out like a spring, and the injury was very serious.

Several officers and soldiers were killed on the spot, and the command system of the [-]th Division was completely paralyzed for a while.

Fortunately, most of the grassroots officers are veterans. Although they lost the command of their superiors, the companies and platoons temporarily withstood the pressure by relying on the tacit understanding over the years.

In a special heavy machine gun position, more than a dozen soldiers are working together to move a Hotchkiss M1930 anti-aircraft machine gun out of the anti-aircraft hole.

The gun has a caliber of 13.2 mm and is capable of both anti-aircraft and flat fire.Not only can it effectively suppress the devil's machine gun fire, it can even penetrate the Type [-] light tank.

But there are also many shortcomings, the first is that it is too heavy.It weighs more than 300 kilograms even without sights, and each time it is used, more than a dozen soldiers serve it together.

The biggest problem, of course, is the lack of bullets.There is no arsenal in the Republic of China that produces 13.2mm bullets, and the Eighth Route Army, which is the only one that uses legal weapons, does not use high-level dual-purpose machine guns.

"Platoon leader, you have to think about it. This machine gun is the only one in the division. If it is killed by the devils, our special heavy machine gun team will really exist in name only."

"And there are only 97 rounds of bullets left, and the fight lasts for at most 1 minute."

The soldier's words didn't shake the platoon leader. He just brushed off the dirt on his helmet, and then smiled as if he was dying, as if he was ready to sacrifice himself.

"That's not right. Anyway, there's no way to replenish the bullets. It's not bad to die with the old buddy after this battle."

"It's a pity that I didn't go home to take a look before I died. After four years of floating outside, I really want to eat a piece of pork liver and bream from my hometown."

The soldiers didn't chat for long, and the devil's infantry began to follow the Type [-] light tank.

Feeling the vibration of the ground, everyone sweated silently.But the machine gunner was not in a hurry to fire, and the entire special heavy machine gun platoon was still waiting for the opportunity.

If you fire now, you will only expose your position and firepower.The enemy's accurate grenade will never give them a chance to finish 97 rounds of bullets.

When several Hotchkiss heavy machine guns and Maxim on the frontal position attracted the devil's attention, the machine gunner took a deep breath and pulled the trigger.

Boom boom boom!
The dull gunshots sounded!
With the addition of the R3B tripod, the anti-aircraft machine gun is surprisingly stable.

A round of 13.2mm bullets flew from the enemy's undefended side, instantly stirring up a bloodbath.

With such a large caliber, the devil infantry will have their arms and legs broken even if they just touch it, and the lucky beast will be interrupted by the middle.

The powerful kinetic energy makes it possible for one bullet to kill several enemies, and the poor 6mm side armor of the Type [-] light tank is also easily broken.

The ammunitionists hold the magazines tightly and count silently in their hearts. They will immediately change the magazines every time the last shuttle is fired.

With such a powerful firepower blessing, the enemies of a tank squadron and an infantry squadron were quickly reimbursed on the way to charge.

It's a pity that the good times didn't last long. Even if the machine gunner deliberately saved bullets, the pitiful amount of ammunition prepared made the special heavy machine gun platoon lose its all-powerful ability.

Hotchkiss M1930 anti-aircraft machine gun, flameout.

The soldiers in the platoon took out their rifles and melee weapons one after another, ready to continue fighting with the devils.

Half an hour later, the No.12 Division's position was in jeopardy.But the sacrifice of the soldiers was not in vain, and the support was finally in place!

It was not any army that rushed to the battlefield first, but the shells poured out of a semi-artillery battalion!

The depth of the Zhongtiao Shanxi line is only 30 to 50 kilometers. From a military point of view, it can be said bluntly that there is basically no depth here.

Because it is a rocky mountain, the first-line positions cannot be built into semi-permanent fortifications, and the defense capability is very weak.

Before the start of the war, all the high-level officials of the Third Army racked their brains and discussed a way to fight.

That is to set up front-line positions to guard key positions and prevent the Japanese army from continuing to advance.If the first position cannot be defended, all officers and soldiers will retreat to the second line to continue defending.

Use this almost non-existent depth to block the enemy layer by layer.

In order to strengthen the firepower, Commander Tang of the Third Army also placed the only artillery regiment in the middle of the two fronts.Once a division is in a tight situation, it will immediately support it with artillery fire.

If the second-line positions cannot be defended, then retreat south or go north to break through.

In fact, this kind of tactic is no different from the overlord of Chu's desperate situation, leaving almost no way out for himself.Once the devils broke through the two lines of defense, the soldiers of the whole army did not have much time to retreat.

Choosing to retreat south means being pushed into the Yellow River by the devil's planes, artillery and tanks.

Going north is even more difficult. With two divisions and one brigade standing in front of us, the future is uncertain even if we break through.

The remaining artillerymen were supporting the 7th Division. Since the 80th Army on the left was beaten and retreated, it seemed that they were about to give up their positions.

In order not to be surrounded, the army commander decided to give priority to covering the retreat of the 7th Division.

Now that the artillery and the 7th Division have slowed down, the division commander Li Shilong personally rushed to the battlefield with reinforcements.

Due to the width of the battlefield, although the devils have the upper hand, they can only use refueling tactics.After an hour of fierce fighting, the 7th Division and the 12th Division jointly withdrew to the second-line position.

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The devil's attack regardless of casualties made the second front line like a candle in the wind.

Before the battle situation deteriorated completely, Army Commander Tang convened a meeting of division and regimental commanders.On the one hand, it is to check the morale and casualties of the three troops, and on the other hand, it is to discuss the next security.

Because Commander Tang insisted on moving the army headquarters to the second line of defense before the war, one was to supervise the defense of the first-line positions, and the other was to show that the commander was willing to live and die with the soldiers to boost morale.

Unexpectedly, this move turned out to be a blessing in disguise.

Before the start of the war, the Devils had gone through the previous eleven attacks and the infiltration of the special high-tech company, and found out where all the headquarters including the group army, army, and division were located.

The transfer of the headquarters led to the return of the devil's elite troops without success.

When other military-level headquarters were unable to convey orders, Commander Tang always kept in touch with the three front-line divisions.It's not like the two armies in the north, which collapsed without much fighting.

As a man from Yunnan Province who revealed the bloodiness of a soldier from the inside out, Mr. Cun, who had just woken up, immediately expressed generously:
"Please rest assured, Commander, we are now fighting for the nation, and the No.12 Division will never embarrass the folks in our hometown!"

"Soldiers have guns in their hands and swords in their waists. Soldiers would rather die with their chests up than bow their heads to survive!"

Seeing the gunshot wound on the opponent's chest and the broken leg, everyone present was moved.

In this situation, Commander Tang took out his suicide note from the drawer.Then with a smile on his face, he said calmly:
"The current situation is extremely dangerous. When there is something we can do, we should do our best to restore the original situation. Otherwise, we should preserve the personality for the country and the nation. I have made up my mind to succeed or become benevolent."

"The army of the Republic of China only had commanders who died in battle, but no commanders who were captured. Don't start with the third army."

"Next, I will give three options. Everyone will vote democratically to see where the troops will go."

In the first option, the troops are divided into regiments as units, and the enemy's situation is divided to break through.

This idea was proposed by Army Commander Tang a day ago, but unfortunately, the headquarters of the Fifth Army was dispersed by the enemy, and the life and death of the commander of the Army Group was uncertain.

A military commander cannot make a decision without a clear order from his superiors.But now it has come to a critical moment of life and death, and the entire Third Army will be wiped out if it does not break through.

The second option is to cross the Yellow River south. This order was just sent by the Commander-in-Chief of the First Theater.

Due to the critical situation of the battle, the headquarters of the Fifth Army could not be contacted.He could only skip the group army and directly issue an order to the army level to let the third army cross the Yellow River south.

As soon as the words fell, all the teachers and chiefs of staff expressed their views.

Everyone has no hope for the second one. After all, it is hard to say whether the ferry can be kept after breaking through to the north of the northern defense line. I am afraid that even if they retreat to the Yellow River, they will not be able to cross the river.

Listening to the discussion, Commander Tang signaled everyone to be calm.

"An order is always an order. I have sent the 43rd regiment to the ferry for field inspections."

"If everything goes well, then the three divisions will cover alternately and retreat according to the orders given by their superiors."

At this moment, Mr. Cun, leaning on the ammunition box, asked the questions in everyone's mind.

"Commander, you only mentioned two options, so what's the third option? Could it be that you want to fight with the No.80 Army to the end?"

Commander Tang didn't answer directly. He first looked at the wristwatch in his hand, and then pretended to be mysterious and said:
"Third, of course it's a bloody battle with our allies. Even if we bet on the number of our third army, we have to fight to the death with the little devils."

"Friendly army? How can we have any friendly army?"

Suddenly, the phone in the command post rang, and everyone's attention was immediately attracted.

The call was from the forward observation post. After Commander Tang picked up the phone, everyone immediately became silent, wanting to hear what happened on the front line.

"Commander! The Devil's 36th Division and 37th Division have been bombarded! It's a bombardment I've never seen in my life! It's spectacular!"

"I saw through the telescope that every inch of land seemed to have a shell falling! This is the real artillery coverage, and this is the real artillery support! It seems to be all 105 heavy grenades!"

"The Air Force of the Eighth Route Army is back too! There are at least a hundred of them! All are single-wing fighter jets!"

"Commander! We are saved!"

The words of the forward observation post made everyone except Commander Tang confused.Fortunately, the Air Force understands, after all, these three days have been fighting side by side.

But the 105 heavy grenade is a bit dreamy. Such a cluster of shelling, even the 17 artillery regiments of the Jinsui Army at the peak of the year, could not do it.

Before anyone could ask, the hum of propeller engines suddenly came from the sky.

Everyone in the headquarters suddenly became tense. They were afraid that it was the devil's fighter jets that had discovered the location of the Third Army headquarters.

"What are you panicking about! Do you think I'm panicking?"

After the army commander spoke out, the three division commanders and the chief of staff immediately calmed down.Everyone carried Commander Cun's stretcher to the outside of the command post.

I saw 25 huge transport planes that had never been seen before, pulling strange box-shaped planes to the sky above the headquarters.

Under the surprised gazes of the five people, 25 box planes disconnected from the transport plane and glided silently towards their area.

"Guard battalion! Follow me!"

"Go and see our friendly army, what good things have they prepared for us!"

Moments later, hundreds of people found the Horsa gliders.Everyone couldn't wait to open the belly of the aircraft to check the types of supplies inside.

"Commander! It's a bullet! It's definitely 8mm! I've been fighting Lebel for half my life! It's absolutely impossible to admit my mistake!"

"There are guns here! Three-eighth big cover! Lebel! Water dripping! It's official! Even the bullets are sorted! There are also 7.92 caliber Hotchkiss heavy machine gun bomb protectors!"

"My place is full of mortars! 81mm! 60mm! They must be original French! Incredible! They are brand new!"

"Meat! Here's pork and chicken! There's corn bread and fried noodles!"

After the shock, everyone looked at Commander Tang with incredulous eyes.I saw that the opponent had already picked up a box of ammunition and ran towards the second position.

"What are you looking at! Hurry up and move! Wait for the soldiers to eat and drink enough! Take the newly arrived weapons! Fight with the little devil! Do you want to watch the friendly army fight alone?
"You graduates from the Army Lecture Hall! Have you forgotten that one of our classmates is in the Eighth Route Army!"

"Quick! Everyone move!"

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Eight kilometers behind the 36th Division and the 37th Division, a bearded man with a pipe in his mouth gave orders at the forward command post. He shouted towards the artillery position on the phone:

"Three artillery regiments! Boom! The rapid-fire guns are about to fire at full speed!"

"Eight months of production of cannons and shells! Just for today! Hit me! First fire a third of the shells and listen!"

"I've been fighting for half my life! What's wrong with being extravagant once! We have Zhang Wanhe to tell us all about it! All your artillerymen are open to me!"

　Come, come, the bearded master with two machetes is here!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)