At this time, it can be seen that he has participated in the Battle of Linyi and has the experience of He Sanliang who has defended Linyi. He was resolutely opposed to the use of the houses in the village as the first fortifications, and he believed that the Japanese would definitely mobilize artillery to participate in the battle. These typical dwellings in the southeast of Shanxi Province are very reluctant to defend against infantry artillery. If the Japanese army dispatches mountain artillery, it is likely to become their own grave.

In He Sanliang's view, since the Japanese army had already discovered its traces, it had not launched an attack for a long time. Just send troops to clamp down on a few directions around him that can break through, in order to dispel the idea of breaking through first. Its real intention, most likely, was to wait for the arrival of follow-up artillery.

Although how much artillery the Japanese army would send to participate in the battle, He Sanliang did not know and could not make a prediction under the premise that there was no intelligence support and no reconnaissance troops could be dispatched. But there is one thing He Sanliang can make a judgment, that is, the Japanese army will definitely not invest less artillery in this battle.

Because the Japanese troops who arrived in advance carried some mortars and infantry guns. According to the comparison of the strength and firepower of the two sides, although some mortars are not suitable for this kind of offensive operation. However, when necessary, the 92 Infantry Gun, which can be used as direct-aim artillery fire, has no problem in providing combat support.

The Japanese army was slow to move, and even the arrival of armored units did not take immediate action. He Sanliang clearly judged that the Japanese army was waiting for the arrival of follow-up artillery. Although large-caliber artillery is not necessarily, he believes that the Japanese army is very likely to use more powerful field artillery to attack the fortifications.

So He Sanliang stopped the idea of the troops and wanted to use the house as the main fortification. Just put some cross-fire holes in the walls of these houses, and remove all the doors and windows. Only as a fortification on which the troops could rely in the necessary street fighting.

But at least until Li Ziyuan decided to fight street battles with the Japanese army, He Sanliang firmly disagreed with the use of houses as the main fortifications. He Sanliang made use of all the paths in the village, and dismantled all the doors and windows of the houses, and opened a gap in all the courtyard walls.

The corners of the village roads, the vegetable patches in front of and behind the houses, and the stone walls between the courtyards were used as simple fortifications. At the same time, He Sanliang asked people to use local materials, made some wooden ladders from part of the wood in the village, and distributed several in each direction.

So that when necessary, you can go up to the roof and use the condescending height of the roof to concentrate the fire. If only the roofs of these houses had not been destroyed under Japanese artillery fire. He Sanliang's idea is very clear, that is, when needed, the entire village can be turned into a three-dimensional fortification at any time.

The ground-to-air firepower of the Japanese army in Linyi World War I impressed him too deeply. The troops are concentrated in such a small village, even if the strength of a reinforced company is too small. If the Japanese army concentrates a large amount of artillery fire, it will suffer more than half of the casualties before the battle.

In the first battle of Linyi that year, although the Third Army Corps where he belonged was only one 40th Army, there was only one 39th Division with two brigades and a supplementary regiment under the army, with more than 13,000 horses. However, more than 600 light and heavy machine guns, four mountain guns plus dozens of mortars, and more than 200 grenadiers were also excellent among the miscellaneous armies.

The Northwest Army has always been known for its military training, and although the Third Army Corps was a miscellaneous card in the Northwest Army in those years, most of the troops under its jurisdiction were veterans of a hundred battles. The officers at all levels are also from many years of military background, and they are basically the elite who survived the Central Plains War, and their combat effectiveness is also strong among the miscellaneous armies.

But although the first battle of Linyi was earth-shattering, the three legions he was in were almost wiped out in the first battle. Most of the casualties were caused by Japanese artillery fire. Although these houses can provide some protection, they cannot withstand the blows of Japanese artillery fire. A shell goes down, and a class along with the house is basically reimbursed.

These houses are not unusable, but they must not be used until they enter into street fighting and let the Japanese artillery have some scruples. The road in the village was narrow, and except for the dirt road from east to west, the Japanese artillery could not follow the infantry in the rest of the place. As long as the connection between the Japanese infantry and artillery is cut off, these houses can be used.

When deploying defensive forces, He Sanliang even ignored Li Ziyuan's opposition and controlled Liu Lianming's direct platoon in his hands and used it as a general reserve. At the same time, he urged He Huizhang's fire platoon to build at least five reserve positions with the only heavy machine gun he had.

He Sanliang's idea was that when defending, no matter which direction the Japanese army used as the main direction of attack or several frontal offensive tactics, they would adopt the method of stubbornly blocking on the one hand, putting the Japanese army into the village on the other, and using street fighting to kill and injure the Japanese army as much as possible. If you don't fight with the Japanese army, you can't fight to the death.

Instead, they made full use of their own troops, each of which had the advantage of strong combat capability, and relied on the narrow streets in the village to disperse the Japanese troops to fight. Almost all the cadres opposed He Sanliang's approach, and only Li Ziyuan resolutely supported him.

This is Li Ziyuan's greatest advantage, I have never fought this kind of hard-fought frontal positional battle, especially in the face of the enemy's absolute superiority in firepower. But you know, I'll learn from you. As long as your suggestions are reasonable, I will take them. It was also with Li Ziyuan's resolute support that He Sanliang's plan was successfully implemented.

Under the joint promotion of Li Ziyuan and He Sanliang, the defense system of the entire village was made in accordance with He Sanliang's requirements. In terms of combat deployment, it was also deployed according to He Sanliang. After the battle started, everyone, including Zeng Sheng, understood He Sanliang's intentions.

Just two hours after Li Ziyuan came down from the roof, the Japanese puppet army, which had been fully deployed, officially launched an attack on the village that Li Ziyuan was holding under the cover of artillery fire. This time, he made up his mind to completely solve Li Ziyuan and completely solve the Japanese army here, and he used the most fierce artillery fire when he came up.

In addition to a mountain artillery squadron and an independent mortar squadron that were in place before, two 120-mm howitzers were even mobilized from Changzhi. As for the infantry guns and mortars that participated in the battle, they were not counted among the artillery thrown into the Japanese army. When the first round of Japanese artillery fire came, Li Ziyuan felt that he was being attacked by an artillery wing of the Japanese army.

In particular, the two Meiji 38-year-old 120-millimeter howitzers, although they were antique guns with a range of only more than 5,000 meters, were rarely used by the Japanese army on frontal battlefields. However, the 120-millimeter grenade it fired caused considerable lethality in the face of an opponent who could not do without the same artillery fire.

The frenzied Japanese artillery even pushed these two old antiques to a distance of 500 meters from the village under the cover of mortar and light and heavy machine gun fire, and flattened the guns to fire directly. No matter how strong the houses in the village were, they could not carry a 120-millimeter grenade. The houses in the village are not destroyed as long as they are hit by a single shot.

With the addition of a large number of mountain artillery, infantry artillery and mortars, the entire village was destroyed by the Japanese army. The first round of artillery fire completely baptized the entire village. The whole village was like a small boat swinging back and forth in the midst of artillery fire.

Those houses that looked sturdy could not withstand a single shell from a Japanese 120-mm howitzer. If it weren't for He Sanliang's resolute disagreement, the house would be used as a fortification. Under this round of artillery fire, at least one-third of Li Ziyuan's troops were crushed to death by Japanese artillery fire in the destroyed houses.

Just after the first round of Japanese artillery fire ended, before the troops could catch their breath, several Japanese planes flew over and fired another burst of bombing and strafing, and more than a dozen bombs fell, and the last few remaining houses in the village were also destroyed in the Japanese bombing. By the time the Japanese attacked, the village was in ruins, and there was not even a completed house left.

Wait until the Japanese planes have finished dropping bombs and run out of machine gun bullets. The Japanese army did not even make a tentative attack, but when they came up, they threw in two infantry squadrons, and under the cover of armored vehicles, mountain artillery, infantry guns, mortars, and light and heavy machine guns, they launched a fierce attack on the village that Li Ziyuan was holding on from the east and south.

Since following the 129th Division to cross the Yellow River eastward and enter the Shanxi battlefield, this is the first time he has experienced this high-intensity combat mode in which ground-to-air firepower and infantry artillery firepower are coordinated. Most of the operations of the Eighth Route Army were mainly general and mobile warfare. This kind of stubborn positional warfare is rarely fought unless it is necessary.

The difference in combat style, strength, and firepower, as well as the limited ammunition, doomed this kind of desperate approach, and it should be avoided as much as possible for the Eighth Route Army. The Eighth Route Army, which preferred sports warfare, generally set out according to its own firepower, mainly fighting ambush warfare and close combat.

Even if it is necessary to fight, most of them rely on the mountains to resist one by one. Because of the tactics, when fighting against the Japanese army, the target selected is generally the formation of troops below the brigade level. The firepower invested by the Japanese army on the battlefield was generally infantry artillery that was more suitable for mountain combat, at most a few mountain guns.

Like today, howitzers with a caliber of more than 100 mm have been pulled up, and it is the first time that Li Ziyuan has encountered it. If it weren't for He Sanliang, he would have quite a lot of experience in fighting this kind of positional warfare. After today's artillery fire, Li Ziyuan, who was powerless in the face of the fierce artillery fire of the Japanese army, really didn't know how many casualties he would suffer.

Facing the two squadrons of the Japanese army that launched an attack under the cover of ground-air fire. Although it was the first time to encounter such heavy artillery fire from the Japanese army, Li Ziyuan still held his mind and commanded the troops, using the walls of the houses outside the village and the ruins destroyed by the Japanese army to resist stubbornly.

In order to minimize the casualties of the Japanese direct artillery fire, Li Ziyuan ordered the troops to put the Japanese troops within a distance of 100 meters before firing, and concentrated the maximum firepower to fire at the nearest distance. In order to avoid the threat of Japanese infantry guns and grenadiers, his machine gun fire was arranged in a cross arrangement, and multiple spare fire points were selected.

After the Japanese advanced to a hundred meters, the grenadiers suppressed the Japanese troops under the cover of artillery fire, alternately covering the advancing machine gun crews. His own machine guns concentrated their fire and hit his follow-up second echelon. As for the first echelon of the rapid breakout, rifle platoon guns were used at a distance of fifty meters. When entering the final distance of fifty meters, grenades and submachine guns are directly greeted by crossfire.

The Meiji Type 38 heavy machine gun arranged in the south was strictly in accordance with Li Ziyuan's order, and the Japanese troops were absolutely not allowed to shoot within the range of 100 meters of full speed impact. The Japanese artillery fire was too fierce, and it was difficult for the heavy machine guns to move their positions. If you fire too early, you can easily be destroyed by the Japanese.