The artillery position arrangement on the side of the independent battalion was handed over by Liu Cheng to Duan Jinghe.

Duan Jinghe has been fighting guerrilla warfare for a long time, so he naturally knows the truth that he can't put his eggs in one basket.

Artillery fire was indeed laid out on the northern slope of Phoenix Mountain, but only the 100-millimeter howitzer.

The remaining four 75-mm mountain guns were at this time in a depression behind the second line of positions at the foot of the southern slope.

Originally, Duan Jinghe was a little bottomless in his heart, because more than 95% of his artillery company were newly recruited recruits, and among the soldiers brought from Zhang Guanyi's side, only more than 20 people who had joined the guerrillas with him could control this kind of 75mm mountain artillery.

But if he wants to carry out a precise strike almost beyond the maximum range, even Duan Jinghe himself doesn't have much confidence, let alone the soldiers under him?

At first, he was indeed a little worried, but after Tian Liuwa led a fat man who resembled a hot air balloon to find him and told him about the characteristics of the fat man, his worries disappeared in an instant.

Zang Hao is the fat man who once made great contributions outside Jilin City.

After Duan Jinghe heard about the incident, he immediately decided to let Zang Hao stay on the northern slope and personally control the 100-millimeter howitzer.

The maximum firing range of that gun can reach more than nine kilometers, and as long as the scouts can detect the position of the opponent's artillery, the 100-millimeter howitzer can "surprise" the opponent's artillery and inflict huge losses.

According to the current situation detected by the scouts, Duan Jinghe selected a bearing coordinate from it and immediately sent it to the north slope to give it to Zang Hao, who was already gearing up and eager to try.

Liu Cheng did not have the slightest doubt about Duan Jinghe's judgment, and immediately told Duan Jinghe that he could fire at any time.

For the victory or defeat of this battle, Liu Cheng sees it very seriously.

This was not only the first battle of this scale under his command, but also the first head-to-head battle between him and Zhang Haipeng, and it was also very important to be able to inflict heavy losses on the enemy first.

Four-fifths of the soldiers in the current independent battalion are new recruits who are entering the battlefield for the first time, and if they lose the first battle, it will definitely leave a shadow in their hearts.

This is what Liu Cheng is most worried about.

Originally, he wanted to put the first and third companies in front of the enemy, but Chifeng's Okamoto brigade had to be defended by those two companies, which was also a helpless move.

On the other side, just as Liu Lang was about to leave Lin and Erren's forward command post, the ground under his feet suddenly shook violently.

Lin Guozhong and Zhou Zuopeng's faces changed at the same time, and they immediately ordered someone to go and check.

After a short time, a guard ran over in a panic and reported to the two that they were under artillery fire five miles to the west, and a 75-millimeter mountain cannon had been blown up.

Before the battle was fought, they lost a mountain artillery first, and the shocked looks on the faces of Lin Guozhong and Zhou Zuopeng were indescribable.

And according to the reports of the guards, the shells that fell into the position could easily be judged by the power of their explosion, and they were not seventy-five millimeters, but more than one hundred millimeters.

This cannon can have such a big gain, in addition to Zang Hao's accuracy, Han Shaoyuan also contributed a lot.

In the process of shell manufacturing, he improved the charge of the shell, increased the transverse explosive and finely adjusted the flow line of the shell on the premise of ensuring that the weight of the shell remained unchanged, which improved the stability of the shell during flight to a certain extent, so as to ensure that the deviation of the landing point of the shell was reduced.

Faced with this situation, Lin Guozhong and Zhou Zuopeng immediately decided to launch a full-scale attack, and the front as a whole advanced 1.5 kilometers, and at the same time ordered the artillery to start firing back.

"Boom! Rumble! Rumble! ……”

Before the two sides could see the figure on the other side, the battle had already begun.

Due to Lin Guozhong and Zhou Zuopeng's timely adjustment of the offensive formation and the distance between adults, the artillery attack effect on the side of the independent battalion was difficult to meet expectations, and it was impossible to effectively block the advance speed of Lin and Zhou Er's troops.

Moreover, the number of mountain artillery on Lin Guozhong and Zhou Zuopeng's side far exceeded that of the independent battalion by three times, and after narrowing the distance between the two sides to the range of artillery fire, the pressure on the independent battalion's side suddenly doubled.

One after another, the cannonballs whistled and fell into the position from above their heads, instantly turning the position that had been calm a second ago into a Shura killing field.

Explosions and screams mingled; stumps and broken arms, blood splatters; Many of the soldiers who had been hiding in the trenches for a second to wait for the battle to begin were blown away by shells before they understood what was happening;

The mangled body flashed through the air, drawing a bright red parabola, and then falling to the ground like a broken kite.

Many of the soldiers didn't even let out a scream, and their lives had already come to an end.

Liu Cheng stood halfway up the mountain, holding a telescope to observe the situation in the first line.

In this regard, he can only wait quietly, powerless to change.

This is the casualties that must be faced and borne in a large-scale war, not to mention Liu Cheng, even if all the military talents since ancient times are dug out of the grave, he can only stand here and wait quietly for the opportunity.

For Liu Cheng, who is in a command position, this is a test.

Those battles in the past were not battles at all compared to the present, whether it was an attack on a small county town like Panshi, or a frontal battle with the 3,500-day puppet army, as long as the combat effectiveness of the troops was strong enough and the morale was strong enough, they would be able to achieve victory.

However, in the face of such heavy firepower battles, individual combat effectiveness has no chance to be brought into play.

Both recruits and veterans must survive this artillery attack before they have a chance to face close combat.

In that mountain depression, Duan Jinghe was directing the four 75-millimeter mountain guns to fire non-stop.

The two anti-tank guns and the twelve mortars were already in other positions and would open fire as soon as the enemy came into range.

Four against eleven, the independent battalion fell behind in the intensity of firepower.

Despite the support of the 100-mm howitzer on the northern slope, they fell behind.

However, due to the fortifications built in advance on the side of the independent battalion, the casualties were not large, after all, not necessarily one out of ten shells could accurately fall into the trench.

It's just that the scouts of those cavalry companies suffered heavy casualties, and of the fifty scouts sent out before, less than twenty came back alive.

Hao Dabao gritted his teeth with hatred, but he could only wait for the enemy to get closer.

Lin Guozhong and Zhou Zuopeng are not in a better mood than Liu Cheng now, and they didn't expect to be counterattacked to this extent.

According to the previous speculation of the two, the independent battalion could only have two or three 75-mm mountain artillery guns at most.

But now, judging from the intensity of artillery fire, there are at least five or more, and one howitzer with a caliber of more than 100 mm is among them!