The firing position chosen by Zhou Tong was blown into a sea of fire by the intensive artillery fire of the Japanese army. It's just that to the surprise of the Japanese artillery, their side opened fire with all their might. But the mountain artillery on the opposite side of the Eighth Road was still firing stubbornly, not to mention, and the shells were accurate and ruthless.

In just a few minutes, two heavy machine gun positions and a 90-millimeter mortar were destroyed by this hateful mountain gun, which could not be killed like Xiaoqiang. For this reason, the Japanese artillery in Qiaokou was severely reprimanded by the Japanese commander in the town. I can only cheer up and transfer all the artillery fire to Zhou Tong's head.

In fact, although the Japanese artillery had the advantage, they were never able to defeat Zhou Tong's mountain artillery, which was not because the Japanese artillery did not work hard, nor because their technology was not exquisite. At present, although with the continuous expansion of the Japanese army, the output of munitions cannot keep up, and the number of artillery belonging to various units of the Japanese army is getting smaller and smaller, the quality of the Japanese artillery is absolutely still basically maintained at the first level.

And the performance of all kinds of artillery is also quite outstanding. In particular, the Type 94 mountain artillery now used by the Japanese army in Qiaokou has greatly increased its firing range, so that the firing range of this mountain artillery is not even lower than that of the Type 38 field artillery. At the same time, it also maintains the lightness of the 41-type mountain gun, which can be decomposed and transported, and the overall weight is more than 200 kilograms lighter than the 41-type mountain gun.

Whether it is the reaction speed of artillery fire, or the accuracy of artillery strikes, including the performance of artillery, it far exceeds the average Chinese army. The Japanese artillery at Qiaokou was never able to destroy the hateful mountain artillery on the opposite side of the Eighth Road, not because they did not work hard, but because the last spare artillery position chosen by Zhou Tong was very cleverly positioned, so that their shells were ultimately in vain.

As early as when Li Ziyuan was preparing to attack Qiaokou, he and He Sanliang were observing the movement of the Japanese army in Qiaokou at the hidden commanding heights in front. Zhou Tong did not rest, and kept pondering the deployment of artillery positions. As early as when he received Li Ziyuan's order, Zhou Tong took into account the possible disparity in the comparison of enemy and enemy firepower.

After all, having experienced the largest artillery battle with the invading enemy since the beginning of modern Chinese history, at least so far, he was extremely impressed by the battle that destroyed his entire artillery regiment. In particular, he was also an artillery squad leader who fought on the front line, and he was particularly impressed by the quality of the Japanese army's artillery and combat methods.

The Jin mountain cannon in his hand back then, although it was also an imitation of the 41-style mountain cannon in his hand. However, this 41-type mountain gun was already used as a wing gun in the Japanese army at that time. The Japanese army's divisional mountain artillery wing has begun to replace it with the Type 94 mountain artillery with better performance. The Jin-made artillery could not be compared with the Japanese artillery in terms of range or shell power.

What's more, in addition to mountain artillery, the Japanese army also has a large number of field artillery, large-caliber * guns, and cannons with a longer firing range. A single Jin mountain-building artillery, even if the Jin Sui Army used almost all of the main artillery forces at that time, it was still incomparable with the Japanese army. In the artillery battle, the artillery of the Jin Sui army could only do everything possible to fight the Japanese artillery.

He knew that if he fired at one place for a long time, once the Japanese army had artillery above the mountain artillery to participate in the battle, his mountain artillery would not survive for more than 20 minutes or even less. Moreover, the mountain gun in his hand is only a Japanese wing artillery.

Among their divisions and possible reinforced artillery, there are also the new Type 94 Mountain Artillery and the 105 Heavy Mountain Artillery with a longer range. If you add field artillery with a longer range, or a large-caliber * gun, then the comparison of strength between the two sides is even more rewarding. Even if the Japanese army only dispatched a few mountain guns, it was not something that one of their own artillery could compete.

If you shoot one shell yourself, the other side will fire back dozens of shells if you can't do it. There is only so much of their own shells, and after they run out, it depends on whether the troops can capture them. If it is not captured in a short period of time, then the next batch of shells will be replenished, and I don't know if it will be the Year of the Monkey.

Not to mention the gap in the quality of the artillery of the two sides, which has not yet been counted. The Japanese artillery had all undergone live-fire training, and the mountain artillery platoon under his command had only fired a few shells during the entire training. This is still specially approved by Li Ziyuan, the regiment commander, if he changes to an ordinary army, the leader will not have this determination.

If this is added, then the contrast in strength between the two sides will be even greater. So he gave himself this mountain cannon and chose more than a dozen firing positions. The mules of the pack cannons were also hidden near the position. After joining the Eighth Route Army, Zhou learned about guerrilla warfare. He combined the guerrilla tactics of the Eighth Route with the performance of the mountain artillery in his hand to create a set of guerrilla artillery tactics.

When firing artillery, it never fired three shots at one position, and at most two shots were fired before moving the position. Thanks to the few mules that Li Ziyuan brought from the logistics department of the division, he was also energetic and professionally trained. If it were still those dozen or so donkeys, the cannon would have to blow up the nest by itself.

This is the fundamental reason why Zhou Tongneng can still bring out the artillery under the superior artillery fire of the Japanese army. The artillery position chosen by Zhou Tong this time was placed in a protruding part of a mountain in the northeast of Qiaokou, with a naturally outwardly inclined rock on it, forming a natural protective position.

Unless the Japanese artillery shell directly hit his gun position, as long as the 120 mm* gun did not fire, other artillery could hardly pose a threat to him. Zhou Tong first knocked out the Japanese 120 mm * gun, in addition to the fact that this old gun was too lethal to the infantry, it was also too threatening to his own artillery position.

The rock above his head, according to Zhou Tong's judgment, is not a problem to resist 75 mm mountain shells, but it is basically impossible to resist 120 mm *. Therefore, his intention to take this position as the last preparatory position and take the lead in knocking out the Japanese army's 120 mm * guns is also one of the reasons.

Defeating the biggest threat, Zhou Tong didn't care about the counterattack artillery fire from the Japanese army on the opposite side. Nail it here, shoot out shells one by one. Although he could not reach the Type 94 mountain gun, which had a firing range of more than 8,000 meters, the mountain gun in his hand had no problem hitting the Japanese machine gun and mortar positions.

The bloody battles of the Battle of Xinkou brought too deep memories to Zhou Tong. In particular, the chaotic state during the retreat brought him unforgettable memories for a lifetime. In that chaotic retreat, the few guns they painstakingly kept on the battlefield were finally blown up under the pursuit of the Japanese troops who came in in the confusion*.

Therefore, when Li Ziyuan decided to only attack tentatively, in order to provide artillery cover when the troops retreated, this position was not used by Zhou Tong before. This time, in order to cover the retreat of the first battalion, Zhou Tong couldn't care about anything else. Although this position can only fire in the direction of Qiaokou, but cannot fire at 360 degrees, it is enough for the current situation.

Ignoring the counterattack artillery fire from the Japanese army, Zhou Tong used the natural position he had chosen to desperately fire and suppress the Japanese mortar and heavy machine gun positions in front, so as to gain a favorable opportunity for the retreat of the first battalion. And He Huizhang, who had been transferred to a new position, also continued to suppress the Japanese artillery in front with cold artillery. Provide the necessary fire cover for the retreat of the battalion ahead.

Under Li Ziyuan's order, this time He Huizhang was also ruthless, and instead of advancing and retreating, he took advantage of the advantage of the road and directly advanced to a small hill less than 500 meters in front of Qiaokou.

After He Huizhang's mortar was also fired, Zhou Tong immediately turned the muzzle of the 41-type mountain gun in his hand and did not suppress the Japanese mortar position. Instead, he first knocked out the 92 infantry cannon that used Qiaokou as a cover, and then came into contact with danger for He Huizhang. Using his own few shells, he blew up a blockade line on the periphery of Qiaokou.

Under the cover of He Huizhang and Zhou Tong's desperate fire regardless of firepower and danger, the first battalion blocked by Japanese artillery fire in front finally withdrew. However, the entire battalion and one reinforced company lost more than one-fifth of its casualties, and more than half of the casualties of the Sharp Knife Company had lost its combat effectiveness. The two reinforced heavy machine guns were all lost.

Not only did the first battalion suffer heavy losses, but Zhou Tong did not hesitate to limit the artillery shells in order to cover the retreat of the first battalion. When attacking the outer line, all the mountain shells carried were already exhausted at this time. In fact, the mountain artillery, which was no longer available, could only be buried at the time of transfer, and the artillery could only be temporarily converted to infantry.

He Huizhang lost a mortar, as well as consumed most of the shells he carried. It turned out that the shells carried by the two mortars were only six rounds left at this time. The dozen or so mules that Li Ziyuan brought from the logistics of the military sub-division were also killed and injured in the Japanese counterattack artillery fire, and only half of them remained.

But the first battalion was reluctant to withdraw, but the Japanese soldiers behind them saw the fish that had been hooked, and they had the posture to run. He immediately mobilized his troops and opened the gate to pursue him. Before Zhang Zijian, who had barely withdrawn, stood his ground, two squadrons of the Japanese army rushed out from Qiaokou, and under the cover of the artillery fire that followed behind, they killed in the direction of Li Ziyuan's retreat.

In order to cover the retreat of the main force, Zhang Zijian commanded a battalion that had actually been disabled to be reduced into a reinforced company, and followed the retreat route to fight and retreat to the west. And at the same time that the Japanese puppet army in Qiaokou pursued Li Ziyuan's department. Even on the two wings of Qiaokou, especially in the direction of Huguan and Luoma, dense gunfire rang out almost at the same time.

The dense gunfire on both flanks clearly told Li Ziyuan that the Japanese troops in the north and south had begun to outflank him. The situation developed rapidly, and Li Ziyuan was told that he was counter-ambushed. Several Japanese light bombers in the sky also flew over the Qiaokou battlefield. The troops who chased Li Ziyuan all the way bombed and provided targets for the Japanese pursuing troops behind Li Ziyuan.

Although these Japanese light bombers could only carry small* and did not have much bomb load, the threat to the Eighth Route Army, which had no ability to release air, was quite great. The most important thing is that the damage caused by these planes is not only the killing and injury of the troops, but also the ambush battle that Li Ziyuan is preparing to take completely fails.

According to the original plan, the 2nd Battalion, which had set up an ambush circle to the east, was discovered by Japanese planes in the sky because of poor concealment, paying attention only to concealing the ground and neglecting to conceal the air. As a result, when the Japanese army was pursuing, they carried out a fire attack on the ambush position of the second battalion.

Under the bombing of Japanese aircraft, the second battalion had no choice but to abandon the original plan and evacuate quickly. In fact, even if the second battalion was not discovered by the thief's eye in the sky, Li Ziyuan's ambush plan could not be implemented. Because the number of Japanese puppet troops dispatched from Qiaokou far exceeded the number that he could solve by ambushing troops.