Moreover, this kind of firepower not only surprised Lin Guozhong and Zhou Zuopeng, but also caused great casualties to their subordinates with their precise strikes.

As the attacker, they have no position for the time being; The only way to get out of the current situation is to advance the large forces to within the minimum range of the mountain artillery.

When the time comes, they will cooperate with their own artillery fire to launch a fierce attack and crush the defense of the independent battalion in one fell swoop.

However, these more than ten miles of travel need to pay a great price.

Listening to the explosions in their ears, Lin Guozhong and Zhou Zuopeng's faces were very ugly.

After the two divisions collectively advanced 1.5 kilometers, Lin Guozhong immediately ordered the artillery to stop advancing, find a hidden place and continue to cover the positions of the independent battalion.

And as a result, it is even more difficult for the scouts of the separate battalion to detect the specific location of the enemy's artillery.

The front of the 18th and 39th Divisions had exceeded five kilometers from west to east, and it was not easy to bypass the advancing enemy forces and reconnoiter behind enemy lines.

Lin Guozhong and Zhou Zuopeng specially sent a cavalry battalion to guard the rear, and once they found the opponent's scouts, they would kill them with all their might.

On the first line of defense of the independent battalion, Hao Dabao stood on a stone with a pale face, holding a telescope and looking into the distance.

A bloodied cavalry company soldier was carried by two people to Hao Dabao, struggling to sit up from the stretcher, but in the end he couldn't.

Hao Dabao hurriedly walked to the stretcher, leaned over with a calm face and asked:

"What's going on?"

As soon as the warrior opened his mouth, a mouthful of blood gushed out:

"Lian...... Company commander, we are in one squad, all ...... It's all over, the enemy pushed up, only, only the infantry, artillery, artillery stayed, behind...... Rear...... We ...... There is no ......"

The warrior forced himself to finish the sentence, tilted his head, and swallowed his last breath.

He had been shot seven or eight times, and there was a fist-sized hole in his chest that had survived until now.

The half sentence that I didn't say should be to say "I didn't complete the task".

Hao Dabao stretched out his hand to close his eyes for the warrior, and said in a deep voice:

"Dig a pit in the trenches and bury him."

In this situation, the reconnaissance task can only be completed by the cavalry company, and the mobility of the infantry is poor, and even if the enemy's artillery position can be successfully detected, by the time the news is returned, the enemy will most likely have moved again.

"Three squad leaders!" Hao Dabao suddenly shouted loudly, startling the heralds behind him.

A baby-faced warrior who looked sixteen or seventeen years old immediately climbed up from the trench and stood upright in front of Hao Dabao:

"Here!"

Although he has become a squad leader, the childishness on his face has not been completely taken off, and his tightly pursed lips always seem to have a hint of a smile.

His name is Dog Baby, the dog baby who once said in front of Liu Cheng that he "can write and martial arts".

When he was transferred from Wudou Township, Hao Dabao got him to his cavalry company.

In the past few months, the progress of the dog baby has been very obvious, both riding and marksmanship have been greatly improved.

After the expansion of the cavalry company was completed, Hao Dabao let the dog baby be the third squad leader.

"The fighters of the third squad immediately mounted their horses and went around behind enemy lines to reconnoiter the position of the enemy's artillery; As soon as you spot it, fire a flare! Hao Dabao ordered with a black face.

"Yes! Mission completion guaranteed! The dog's voice was crisp, and there was even a hint of hoarseness unique to a teenager in the voice-changing period.

After the expansion of the cavalry company, one platoon was added, each with one hundred and twenty-six men; There were six squads in each platoon, and each squad included the squad leader, a total of twenty-one fighters.

Two minutes later, twenty-one horses jumped out of the position and disappeared from Hao Dabao's sight in the blink of an eye.

The sound of explosions continued in the ears, and the casualties of the Fourth Company and the Cavalry Company continued to rise.

After a while, a soldier of the machine gun company jumped into the trench and came straight to Hao Dabao:

"Report to Company Commander Hao, our Company Commander Duan asked me to ask if there are any enemy artillery azimuth coordinates!"

Hao Dabao took a long breath and said astringently:

"Go back and tell Company Commander Duan to pay attention to the sky, and after the scouts discover the location of the enemy's artillery, they will fire signal flares!"

Enemy shells continued to crash into the position, but the soldiers had to hide in the trenches as if they were fateful, praying that the shells would not fall into the trenches.

At this time, Duan Jinghe was standing shirtless next to a 75-mm mountain gun, and every time he fired a shell, he would immediately adjust the direction of the muzzle angle and quickly reload the shell.

"Tom!"

A shell flew out of the chamber, and the shock of recoil shook up a layer of dust.

After listening to the news that the warrior brought back, Duan Jinghe pouted his teeth and asked in a deep voice:

"How far is the enemy pushing up head-on?"

One of the heralds behind him immediately replied:

"According to the news that came back ten minutes ago, the enemy in front of him is still three kilometers!"

Duan Jinghe thought for a moment and shouted:

"Order the mortars to prepare for fire! Forty-five gauges, one kilometer in parallel, and artillery fire covering! ”

The ten mortars sent by Fein were all 80 mm caliber and had a maximum range of 2.8 kilometers.

Duan Jinghe had planned to wait until the scouts returned the distance next time before letting the mortars fire, but now it seemed that it was too late.

At this time, the two anti-tank guns had also fired, but the shells on the opposite side were much more fierce than on their side.

For a battle of this scale, more than four hundred shells were far from enough.

If the enemy's artillery could not be destroyed before the shells were finished, then the separate battalion would immediately fall into passivity.

Five minutes later, twelve mortar shells burst out of the chambers almost simultaneously and flew towards the approaching 18th and 39th Divisions.

"Boom! Rumble! Rumble! ……”

Soon after Liu Lang returned to his team, he returned to the temporary command post of Lin and Erren.

When he came, Jia Ba had instructed him that he must not let Lin and Erren be alone for a long time, and his task was to closely monitor Lin and Erren to prevent them from defecting.

Lin Guozhong was discussing with Zhou Zuopeng to speed up the march and enter the positional battle as soon as possible, but he was suddenly startled by a series of explosions in the distance.

The two looked at each other and said in unison:

"Mortar!"

For the two of them, there really is nothing unusual about mortars.

But an anti-Japanese detachment, which already had six or seven artillery pieces and a dozen mortars, could not but shock them.

At first, the reason why the two decided to push forward under artillery fire was to close the distance as soon as possible and force the opponent's mountain artillery and howitzers to become decorations.

Because whether it is an anti-tank gun or a mountain gun, they have a small adjustable design angle, and once they enter the minimum range, they are useless......