My client Li Yunlong

"Everyone in the company has them. Grenades, instantaneous fuses."

"Prepare, release."

rear.

The position of the artillery company of the 772nd Regiment.

As the artillery company commander's command was issued, four 120 mortars were arranged in a staggered manner, roaring in turn at their respective positions, and one 16-kilogram shell after another flew towards the Japanese position in the distance.

The gunners, shirtless, carried shells one after another.

Boom boom boom··

One shell after another landed on the first line of the Japanese position, causing a burst of fireballs and filling the Japanese position with smoke.

···
"Report, the observation post has discovered the artillery position, which is four kilometers ahead."

"idiot."

The devil's third position.

A Japanese artillery observer quickly reported to the Japanese.

The devils are still quite capable.

The whole country has been building up the army for decades, and the so-called locust army has been forged. Although it is distorted, it is still capable.

Despite being insufficiently equipped, the artillery observers still discovered the enemy's artillery position in a very short time. Of course, after all, they had been stationed here for half a year, so it was not difficult to discover it.

Upon hearing the news brought by the artillery observer, Colonel Jingxia gritted his teeth and wished he could immediately order the artillery to launch a counterattack against the enemy artillery and completely destroy the enemy's artillery.

Although there is a strong position.

But the enemy's artillery can still cause casualties.

The sixteen-kilogram shell is more powerful than the 105mm grenade.

Even though the casualties were not great, the damage caused to the positions by the artillery bombardment was very serious and had a serious impact on subsequent battles - without a complete position, the infantry would have no way of resisting the enemy's tanks.

Since all the cement was used to build anti-tank piles, most of the positions were civil structures.

But in the end, Colonel Jingxia still gritted his teeth and did not order the six Type 105 mm howitzers to fire.

It’s not because it would expose the artillery position and lead to enemy counterattack.

Up to now, the Eighth Route Army is still not equipped with long-range suppression artillery, so there is no need to worry about the safety of its own artillery.

It's not because of a shortage of ammunition.

With the improvement of domestic industrial capacity, the Empire's artillery shell production has greatly increased, the manpower is sufficient, and the protection of transportation routes has become increasingly safe. The Locust Army now has more sufficient artillery shells. The only pity is that the anti-tank artillery has not yet been put into service.

This is because six Type 105 mm howitzers were deployed on the fifth position in order to suppress the infantry accompanying the tank attack.

It is eight kilometers away from the first line of defense.

The Type 105 mm howitzer has a range of only ten kilometers.

But the enemy's artillery positions were four kilometers away from the first line of defense.

Out of reach.

"idiot."

The colonel in the well could only spit out "Baga" silently.

····
After half an hour of artillery preparation.

"Free Fire."

"Range: within the Japanese army's first line of defense, maximum distance five kilometers."

rear,

At the artillery position of the 772nd Regiment, the artillery company commander adjusted the artillery position.

Free fire!

Although the 120 mortar is a smoothbore gun, thanks to advanced technology and high-precision shells, its shooting accuracy is quite high, comparable to the old Krupp mountain gun.

As the free bombardment began.

Under the guidance of the artillery observer, the squad leaders of each artillery group began to call out the names of the Japanese positions and important targets.

"Target, 330, flank machine gun bunker."

"Grenade, delayed fuse, three rounds."

"Fire."

Cannon No. 1 was aimed at a machine gun bunker.

"Target, 201, anti-gun hole, armor-piercing shells, time-delay fuse, fire."

The No. 2 gun was aimed at a Japanese front-line anti-artillery hole.

"Target··"

"Target···"

····
"Report."

"The 1st Infantry Battalion, the heavy machine gun squadron encountered enemy artillery fire and lost three Type 92 heavy machine guns."

"Report."

"The 1st Infantry Battalion, the forward anti-artillery cave was hit by enemy artillery fire, the No. 1 cave collapsed, and an infantry unit lost contact."

"···"

The bad news flew into the hands of the colonel in the well like snowflakes.

Colonel Jingxia's face turned livid.

The enemy's terrifying weapons are not just tanks, but also artillery.

Advanced artillery.

In fact, there was a consensus in the North China Front Army’s staff that the enemy’s artillery was much more advanced than tanks.

Even so, the enemy currently has no barreled guns, the largest caliber infantry artillery, only some 120 mortars.

The terrifying thing about this mortar is not only its range of 7,700 meters and its accuracy comparable to that of an old Krupp barreled gun, but it weighs only 200 kilograms.

The most terrifying thing is those incredible shells.

cannonballs.

Can you imagine that a mortar shell weighing only sixteen kilograms can penetrate a two-meter-thick, standard three-layer civil engineering structure?
How can this be?

For the Empire, this is something that only 150-level field artillery can do.

But enemy shells can.

And it was the kind of mortar shell that only fell at a speed of over a hundred meters.

How did the enemy do it?
So far, the Imperial technicians still don't know! Only manufacturing, its warhead seems to be completely different from the Imperial one, and the explosive power is also greater.

"Enemy tanks are coming up."

At this time, a Japanese soldier reported.

"Order, the death squads, get ready."

Taking a deep breath, suppressing the anger in his heart, Colonel Jingxia gave the order.

So what if the technology is advanced?

Ground combat is different from air force combat.

Four fronts,

This time, he wanted to leave behind all fifteen of the enemy's tanks, and even more than a thousand infantrymen.

After giving the order, the colonel came out of the bunker, raised his binoculars and looked at the enemy's tank troops in the distance.

···
"left."

Inside the first tank, Cheng Shifa, who was personally commanding the battle, gave the order.

According to orders from superiors.

In this battle, the main task of the 772nd Regiment was to capture the positions south of Ze County, prepare for the subsequent encirclement of Chi County, and then capture Chi County and begin to slowly recover the southern Hebei base.

Six months.

It's time to practice offensive tactics.

"left."

Following Cheng Shifa's order, the attacking force consisting of 15 tanks and more than 1,000 infantrymen suddenly turned around, bypassed the Japanese front position, and tried to penetrate to the left.

Although the left side had ditches, bumps, gravel areas and complex terrain, there was also half a squadron of Japanese soldiers defending and a wide trench dug by the Japanese soldiers.

But with fifteen tanks leading the way, the ditches and gravel areas were easily broken through, just like a steamroller, clearing a path. As for the wide trench, it was directly flattened by the engineer tanks.

The most powerful feature of mechanized troops is their mobility.

Build roads through mountains and build bridges over rivers!
This is something that light infantry cannot do.

Unless it is narrow and complex mountainous terrain.

More than a thousand infantrymen also easily passed along the path opened by the tanks and went straight to the rear of the Japanese, which was the fifth position where the artillery unit was located.

As for the half-squadron of Japanese defenders - they ran away.

···
"Captain, the enemy has crossed the left flank and is heading for the artillery position."

The Japanese immediately reported the news to Colonel Jingxia.

"idiot."

The colonel's face suddenly changed.

The development of the war situation was completely beyond his expectations.

Although the Underground Regiment is the elite regiment of the 6th Division, it is also an elite Type A division equipped with tanks.

But the Japanese tanks... especially some of the tanks in the early days of the war were mostly small and weak in power, with poor chassis and reliability. Their maneuverability was hard to describe.

A slightly higher ditch, trench, or earth wall is not impossible to cross, but it is easy to break down and collapse after crossing it.

Plus there's a serious lack of power.

Bullying some old trenches is OK.

But it has almost no ability to maneuver over long distances and large areas in complex terrain.

Mobility and Sherman gap are two completely different things.

The types of tanks are also very simple.

In this context,
Even though the Japanese were severely beaten by the army's tank clusters for half a year, the army had always lacked excellent tank crews, and the tank drivers were all half-way drivers.

It's good enough if it can be started.

Naturally, it is impossible to achieve coordination.

Not only Sakata, but Colonel Inoshita also did not expect that the complex terrain on both wings of the position south of Ze County was an area where tanks and even large troops could pass through.

When fifteen tanks and more than a thousand soldiers appeared at the fifth line of defense of the underground regiment, that is, behind the underground regiment.

When the remaining fifteen tanks of the 772nd Regiment, and a reinforced battalion of infantry, also began to attack synchronously on the front line, Colonel Ioshita knew that the Ioshita Regiment was in trouble.

"Tanks are so maneuverable."

At this moment, Colonel Jingxia once again realized why tanks are the king of land warfare.

"Order the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Infantry Battalions, the Artillery Battalion, and the Battalion Headquarters to abandon their equipment and retreat from both wings."

Colonel Jingxia gave such an order.

Although the area south of Ze County is a flat and open area, the reason why the Locust Army sent a regiment to garrison here again is because this is a main passage, and other locations have complex terrain.

Not suitable for long distance maneuvers.

Since the enemy tanks have surrounded us from the front and back, there is no point in continuing to hold on.

The only strategy now is to preserve our manpower.

Following Colonel Jingxia's order, more than 3,000 Japanese soldiers south of Ze County began to abandon their equipment and flee to the Japanese positions on both wings.

···(End of this chapter)