The two sides of the war are fighting with firepower, and without enough firepower to suppress it, even if there are more troops and no matter how clever the tactics are, the side will pay huge casualties.

The firepower of the devil's attacking troops was suppressed by the security regiment. As soon as the enemy is out of cover, they will be killed or wounded by stray bullets that come from the air.

"Sudden !!"

"Boom, boom, boom!!"

The bullets and shells of the security regiment flew sideways around the devil's position, mercilessly killing and injuring the devil's soldiers.

The enemy was beaten by the security regiment, and the attacking force of more than 1,000 people suffered four or five hundred casualties.

Four or five hundred casualties, which was a huge casualty price for the 8th Wing.

After taking the two lines of defense of the 18th Brigade before, the devil soldiers only paid for these casualties.

The little devils who attacked in front were suppressed, and the captain of the devil wing immediately mobilized a number of long-range artillery.

The devil artillery did not open fire indiscriminately, they targeted the firing point in the distance, and concentrated their fire to launch the artillery bombardment.

"Tom !!"

"Tom !!"

Dozens of mountain guns and field guns opened fire at the same time, and dense shells flew over the river with tail flames, smashing into Xiaoshi Village with a fierce momentum.

The shells slammed into the ground, and the explosion was deafening.

"Boom, boom, boom!!"

Shells exploded everywhere, shrapnel and cracked debris flew everywhere.

The devil's field artillery and mountain artillery are much more powerful than mortars, and many machine-gun fire fortifications built of stones in the village were directly hit by shells and collapsed.

The soldiers, who were hidden in the fortifications, blew up from the houses with weapons and people.

"Ahh......h

Some soldiers near the blast site were injured by shrapnel and rubble.

In the blink of an eye, the little devil artillery fired more than a hundred shells.

Many of the fire fortifications and civilian houses in the village collapsed, and the officers and men of the Security Regiment and the 18th Brigade suffered hundreds of casualties combined.

Just when the devil artillery was bombarding fiercely, Li Hong personally came to the front line of Xiaoshi Village.

When the battle of Chengbei began, Li Hong had been thinking about countermeasures at the headquarters.

The 4th Division of the Japanese Army is not another devil division, the enemy's tactics are quite flexible, the devil soldiers are well-trained, and the enemy's firepower is strong and difficult to deal with.

Previously, Li Hong had proposed to Commander Li in the theater to use elite troops to guard against the Japanese 4th Division.

The commander of the theater also agreed with Li Hong's suggestion, but the more elite units of the Central Army did not listen to the command of the theater at all, and had no choice but to let the 18th Brigade defend the defensive position in the north of the city and resist the Japanese 4th Division.

Facts have proved that Li Hong was very far-sighted and prescient, and if the Central Army had been able to take over the task of defending the north of the city, the 4th Division would not have taken the two defensive fronts north of the city so easily.

Li Hong was concerned about the overall situation of the Taierzhuang Campaign, and he was always worried that the defensive position in the north of the city would be lost, so he decided to personally come to the front line to command the operation.

In the corner of the small stone village, in a private house with strong stone walls.

The houses are surrounded by sandbags and a few breastwork walls, which are very defensive, and if they are not hit by aerial bombs, ordinary shells will never be able to destroy the fortifications.

This is the brigade headquarters of the 18th Brigade, and as soon as Li Hong arrived at the headquarters, he called the battalion commanders of the three battalions over.

"Regiment, regiment, regiment!!"

Ma Shangfeng, commander of the cavalry battalion, Meng Dazhu, commander of the third battalion, and Li Wang, commander of the fourth battalion, ran into the headquarters one after another.

After several battalion commanders came, they briefly reported to Li Hong the casualties of each battalion.

After listening to the reports of his subordinates, Li Hong frowned when he learned of the casualties of the battalions.

The casualties of several battalions have reached more than 300 people, and the casualties of the 18th Brigade are even greater, leaving more than 1,300 people in the whole brigade.

Zhao Dashan walked up to Li Hong and said respectfully: "Advisor Li, I will hand over the command of the 18th Brigade to you now, will you take command?" ”

At the critical juncture, Li Hong did not shirk, he nodded, spread out a map and studied the surrounding terrain for a while.

"Pass my order, all troops will stop firing first, and all the troops on the outskirts of the village will withdraw to the village!"

The heralds of the various units immediately went to convey Li Hong's order, and soon the defenders stopped firing, and all the defenders on the outskirts withdrew to the village.

In the night environment, the fire points of the fire are densely packed, and the fire is simply a live target for the enemy's artillery.

The security regiment did not have long-range artillery, and there was no way to deal with the artillery position in the distance of the devil, and the defenders could only stop firing and reduce the attack from enemy artillery.

The artillery of the 18th Brigade is mainly some small and medium-caliber artillery, and the only mountain artillery company has suffered more than half of the casualties, and the range of the medium-caliber mountain artillery cannot hit the devil's artillery position as far as that.

If the firepower on the battlefield is insufficient, then it can only be passively beaten, and the strength is in front of you, and it must be recognized that the enemy's firepower is strong.

As soon as the fire of the officers and soldiers of the security regiment and the 18th brigade stopped, sure enough, it didn't take long for the devil artillery in the distance to stop shelling.

After the enemy's artillery fire stopped, Li Hong then gave an operational order to Meng Dazhu, the commander of the third battalion.

"You immediately take your battalion and detour back to the flank of the devil attack force, and when the devil attack force launches an attack, your battalion will attack the enemy from the flank!"

"Also, as soon as the battle begins, the little devil artillery unit will definitely shell, and your battalion will send an artillery platoon to quietly move to the nearby stone mountain to establish an artillery position, and kill the artillery position of the devil in the distance!"

"Understood, Tuanza!"

Meng Dazhu saluted, turned around and left the headquarters.

It didn't take long for Meng Dazhu to leave Stone Village with his troops taking advantage of the darkness and detouring from the flank of the enemy's attacking troops.

The fighting between the two sides ceased for a moment, and the Devil's front-line combat commander gathered more than a thousand more soldiers, re-established mortar positions, and the enemy prepared to attack again.

"Artillery attack !!"

The devil commander gave an order, and the devil attack troops launched an artillery bombardment.

The devil artillery did not fire any more flares, and directly opened fire to suppress it.

"Tom !!"

"Tom !!"

The sound of heavy shelling broke the silence around them.

Dozens of mortars opened fire together, and dense shells bombarded the outlying positions of Stone Village one after another.

The artillery fire on the outlying positions was raging, many of the fire fortifications on the positions were damaged, and the stones were torn apart by the shells.

The devil's artillery fire was very fierce, if Li Hong hadn't withdrawn his troops in advance, otherwise, so many shells would have been smashed down, and many soldiers would have to be killed or injured in the peripheral positions.

The devil mortar poured out a burst of artillery fire, and the artillerymen, in order to avoid being counterattacked by the defenders, immediately moved mortars and ammunition and hurriedly moved their positions.

The devil officers of the various squadrons, seeing that the artillery fire stopped, immediately ordered their subordinates to attack.

"The infantry charged forward, captured the position in front, and gave the duck and chicken to the !!"

"The infantry charged forward, captured the positions in front, and gave the ducks and chickens !!"

The little devils of the two squadrons acted as the vanguard, and the enemy, armed with weapons, scattered in a straggler formation, charged separately towards the outer positions.