The Republic of Heroes

The Honma Regiment was suppressed by artillery fire at Dongchengtou, Yexian County. At this time, Honma Yuichi was lying on the ground, deeply regretful, regretting that he should not have taken the enemy lightly, and fell into the trap of the Chinese.The density of shells did not weaken at all, but became more and more rapid in rhythm. The officers and soldiers around were constantly being hit by shrapnel, and the screams and wailing were endless.In previous battles against the Chinese, the Japanese army had always had the advantage in firepower, suppressing the Chinese with artillery of various calibers, and then they took the opportunity to charge and mop up the enemy who had become helpless due to the bombing. .

It is obvious that this is the situation now, the difference is that the Chinese who was passively beaten has become Yuichi Honma, and the person waiting to annihilate the enemy has become a Chinese.This is something he cannot tolerate anyway, and he must find a way to change this passive situation.

While Honma Yuichi was thinking about how to deal with the possible next attack of the squadron, Okamura Ningji and the main force of the Ninth Division had also arrived, but he was not in a hurry to attack the county seat, but sent Yamamoto The wing went to search for the squadron's artillery position.He was still keenly aware that as long as the squadron's artillery positions were eliminated, half of the battle would have been won.The infantry without heavy fire support can only become fish on the chopping board in the face of the strong fire coverage of the Ninth Division.

Soon, the Yamamoto United team entered the dense forest at the foot of the mountain. After entering it, they realized that this mission was not that simple.After a few dull explosions, the Japanese soldiers who were the first to search and advance screamed, fell to the ground bloody and howling in pain.It turned out that the squadron actually planted landmines specially designed to kill infantry on the edge of the dense forest.As it goes deeper, more and more people step on landmines.Although the landmines would not seriously damage the combat effectiveness of the entire Yamamoto Regiment, it dealt a heavy blow to the heart, and the morale of the Japanese army turned from a high to a low.

While the Japanese army frequently stepped on landmines, Yamamoto's heart sank to the bottom of the valley. The landmines not only prevented them from entering the mountain, but the continuous explosions also exposed their targets, which was equivalent to telling the squadron that they were coming. .

After crossing these minefields, what is waiting for them in front is probably the ambushes of the squadron.For a moment, Yamamoto even thought of retreating.Unlike Honma Yuichi, although he is also the captain of the Dazuo United, he has never participated in actual combat. He has been serving in the local area. He was transferred to supplement the Ninth Division, which suffered heavy losses in the Songhu War, and arrived in Tianjin by boat. Afterwards, after a brief corrective training, he boarded the ship again and went south to Hainan. Finally, after last night's landing battle, he experienced the first military operation in his military career that was not a drill.

And this time leading the unit to search for the artillery positions of the Chinese Army, it is the first time that Yamamoto led the army to carry out a combat mission independently, so if he retreats in such a shameful way, his future in the army will surely end here .He himself and his family will be discriminated against and humiliated because of his cowardly performance.This is unacceptable to Yamamoto, so even at the risk of stepping on a landmine, he must bite the bullet and move forward.

The sound of the cannon gradually went down, but it was still enough for the Yamamoto Regiment to identify the direction. As long as they went in the direction where the sound of shells pierced the air, they would definitely find the artillery position of the Chinese Army, but the Chinese artillery would obediently wait. are they going?

Yamamoto, who had already crossed the minefields, was puzzled in his heart. According to common sense, when his entire alliance was confined to the minefields, it was the best opportunity to ambush when he was alive and had just crossed the minefields, but he shot at the most appropriate place** The team didn't show up, is this their mistake, or is there a bigger trap ahead?

The answer in Yamamoto's heart is actually more inclined to the former, but he is different from Honma Yuichi, his humble background makes him cautious at all times, and because of this, he has served in the mainland for so many years but has never participated in actual combat, which is considered rare up.At this time, this character trait, which is not considered an advantage, had to be said to have saved his life and made the battle situation more complicated.Of course, this is all for later.

Now Yamamoto is already facing another big problem. The sound of the artillery from the Chinese artillery positions has completely stopped, and they have lost the source of sound to distinguish the direction. The tall trunks and broad leaves in the dense forest block the sun, and it is no longer possible to use the direction of the sun. Orientation.What is even more unfortunate is that even the only officer with a compass was killed by a landmine. Due to negligence, the compass and the officer's body were abandoned in the minefield.Now that things have happened, it's really not working, and it's not working.

The squadron is likely to be waiting in the dark for them to enter the ambush circle.At this time, he was faced with a difficult choice, should he continue to move forward or retreat?After several considerations, Yamamoto did not order to continue the search, because it is likely to go farther and farther away, and eventually farther and farther away from the division headquarters.There was no order to retreat. Similarly, while losing direction, any movement may get lost and drift away from the expected destination.

Therefore, Yamamoto chose to stand by.He never imagined that it was precisely because of this order that they stopped on the only way for the artillery of the squadron to move to the next bombardment point, which hindered the plan of the Chinese artillery to quickly get in place.In the end, it almost changed the tide of battle.Of course, this is also a story.

Okamura Ningji was very satisfied when the sound of the artillery stopped. He believed that this was probably because the Yamamoto United had made some progress, so he ordered to attack Yexian County in stages.At this time, the Second Attack Wing, which had failed in Xicheng in the early morning, finally returned to the team, and its leader gave a detailed description of Zhang Zhonglin's combat methods.

After listening, Okamura Ningji frowned, it seems that Honma Yuichi is also in danger.Even if the infantry rushed up, they might not be able to rescue him in time, after all, there were still several miles away.How can we suppress the actions of the Chinese army?

By the way, Okamura Ningji had an idea, why not also use shelling?As long as the impact point is moved as far as possible to the inner side of the city wall, the Chinese army can be held back as much as possible.In this way, the main force of the Ninth Division won time.

Thinking of this, Neji Okamura did not hesitate any longer, and ordered decisively: "Prepare the howitzer, the inner side of the east city of the target county."

Although they didn't understand why the commander ordered the bombardment, and the bombardment was likely to accidentally injure one of their own people, the artillerymen adjusted their shooting positions as quickly as possible and fired the first cannonball!