Although it did not carry mountain artillery, the city had its own strong military support, and although the quality of the manufacturing was not high, the output was enough to lose a few guns and provide fire support for the Jin Sui army artillery. This time, the defense of Taiyuan was a bloody investment, and three mountain artillery regiments, one field artillery regiment, and more than 90 mountain artillery pieces were mobilized in one go to provide fire support.

In addition to the anti-aircraft artillery belonging to the infantry involved in the counterattack, light and heavy mortar fire. The counterattack firepower mobilized by the defenders in the city this time can be described as quite unprecedented. In the entire battle for the periphery of Taiyuan, only the Battle of Dongshan can be compared. Within the range of its firepower, there was almost a cloud of smoke.

Moreover, the tactics of defending the enemy's counterattack this time were formulated extremely tightly, and it was not until the periphery had already fired its artillery that it began to provide fire support. More than 90 mountain artillery pieces deployed inside and outside Taiyuan City smashed the dense artillery shells onto the Dongshan position. Combined with the battalion-level mortars, the density of their firepower is unprecedented.

Although the enemy's counterattack in this division was not only Li Ziyuan's own position, but the direction of Li Ziyuan's troops, who defended the main position, was the top priority of the enemy's attack. Several artillery positions of the defenders inside and outside the city, thousands of mountain artillery shells, plus American-made, state-made, and Jin-made*, blew Li Ziyuan's position into a sea of fire.

Under the cover of artillery fire, the elite of the Central Army carried a Chinese rifle, or an American-made* or Thomson*. Under the command of the officer, under the cover of the intensive fire of light and heavy machine guns behind him, he launched a fierce attack on the position of Li Ziyuan's headquarters in turn.

Within three hours, Li Ziyuan's position dropped an average of more than 700 or 800 rounds per hour. The fierce battle lasted only three hours, and the entire Niu Huozhai position was almost completely razed to the ground by the defenders, except for some reinforced concrete fortifications built by the Jin Sui army before the war.

The communication trenches between the various positions have been blown up from more than one meter deep to touching the face of the feet. The sound of artillery in the direction of Niuhuo Village and the smoke from the explosion of the shells could be heard clearly from more than ten miles away. The troops at the front relied on the fortifications built before the war and desperately insisted on resisting.

However, this time the defending enemy in the city counterattacked, but the Jin Sui army only provided fire support, plus dispatched a division to beat the side drum. Moreover, this division also belongs to the 30th Army, which was airlifted in the later period, and is also a unit of the Central Army, not a unit of the Jinsui Army. The king of Shanxi dispatched only cannonballs, not a single soldier.

After the battle began, Li Ziyuan's hand holding the telescope never let go. In the end, it is the elite of the Central Army, whether it is the cooperation on the battlefield, or the firepower allocation and tactical literacy, as well as the quality of the officers, they are more than a step higher than the Jinsui Army. Moreover, the will to fight is also higher than that of the main force of the Jin Sui Army.

One attack wave is crippled, and the second attack wave immediately follows. Each attack was mutilated, and the rest of the men did not retreat, so they were nailed there and built fortifications with corpses to resist on the spot. Seeing the scene in front of him, Li Ziyuan remembered the Japanese army at the beginning. Although the tactics are different, the fighting will of this central army is really not comparable to that of ordinary miscellaneous armies.

An officer with a large-brimmed hat and a * in his hand even led the charge. This is absolutely unseen in the Jin Sui army. The officers took the lead in the charge, and the soldiers behind naturally did not show weakness. Batches of desperate players rushed upward, and the light and heavy firepower in their hands swept towards Li Ziyuan's position.

Perhaps he really realized the importance of the Shanxi battlefield, and when the elite of the Central Army fought with a miscellaneous army like the Jin Sui Army, it was difficult for no friendly army to move like a mountain. But it really made a bloody investment, and the attack momentum was fierce wave after wave. Even the officer death squads used such tricks.

He Sanliang, who was beside Li Ziyuan, observed for a period of time and said to Li Ziyuan: "The elite of the Central Army in person is far superior to us in firepower. Do you think it's a bit of a shrink position? In such a hard way, our front-line position may not be able to resist for too long. ”

"And once the establishment is disrupted, according to their charging momentum and firepower configuration, it will be difficult for us to retract it. When the time comes, not to mention that the front-line positions cannot be restored, even the depth will be dangerous. My suggestion was to concentrate my forces and make a local counterattack, driving the enemy at the front of the position out five hundred meters, and the rest of the troops to shrink back on the spot. ”

Regarding He Sanliang's suggestion, Li Ziyuan pondered for a while, but did not answer He Sanliang immediately. Instead, he said: "Lao He, the momentum of this Central Army is really good. At least this offensive is still clear-sighted. The will to fight does not look like an ordinary army. From bottom to top, it is all revealing a sense of arrogance. ”

"Do you know which troop it is? This equipment is not available in the Jin Sui Army. There is no way to give so many American weapons and equipment, to a miscellaneous army like the Jin Sui Army. The U.S. armament unit is really different, at least this infantry firepower density is not comparable to the Jin Sui army. ”

In response to Li Ziyuan's inquiry, He Sanliang said: "This is not an ordinary army, it is the 214th Division of the Youth Army over there. Although there is a lack of heavy weapons, all light weapons are domestically made equipment, plus some American weapons. This is the Imperial Forest Army prepared for the prince over there, and this is the first time we have encountered these young soldiers. ”

"And this kind of semi-American armed force, this is the first time we have encountered it. In the battles of Jinnan and Linfu, they fought against the troops of the Central Army of the United States and the Central Army transferred from the Shaanxi battlefield, and also defeated several of their brigades. I heard that a lot of good weapons have been captured, but the combat effectiveness is far more than "

"Now it seems that these forces do have some means. Whether it is in terms of the allocation of troops and firepower, or the tactical use of the attack, and even the tenacious will to fight, it is far from being comparable to the Jin Sui army. Let's be cautious, I'm afraid that with the method of fighting the Jin Sui Army, I'm afraid it won't work for these young soldiers. ”

He Sanliang's thoughts, Li Ziyuan put down the binoculars and pondered for a while and said: "Tell the front-line troops to give up all the peripheral fortifications." The whole division alternately covered and all withdrew to the inner line positions. Tell Zhou Tong that even if he, the commander of the artillery battalion, runs out of shells, he has to cover Lao Tzu to remove the front-line troops. ”

Li Ziyuan's order, He Sanliang smiled a little bitterly: "Deputy commander, the mountain artillery battalion of our division is eleven Jin mountain artillery." Even if you add the five mountain guns attached to the column, it is only sixteen mountain guns. Even if you smash the pot and sell iron, I'm afraid there is no way to fight against the opponent. Judging by the drop of shells and the sound of explosions, there were at least three more artillery regiments over there. ”

"The difference in firepower is so great that it is less than one-fifth of what people have. Even if the division's more than 30 82 mortars and 60 60 mortars are counted, the difference in firepower is still too great. In my opinion, when we shrink, we still have to be prepared to pay a certain price for casualties. ”

He Sanliang was worried, but Li Ziyuan smiled and said: "Don't worry too much, Lao Zhou is a smart person, he knows what to do in this situation." Now their battle formation is too complete, and we don't have much of a chance. Shrink the position, let their formation become denser, and we will have a chance. ”

"Lao He, you will personally contact Dong Ping immediately. Go and talk to him in person, let his regiment prepare me for battle and wait for my orders. But before he gets my order, even if the cow camel village is beaten into a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood, he has to calm me down. Also, you will reorganize all the non-combatants of the agency and strengthen them to the front line. ”

Li Ziyuan's voice fell, and He Sanliang was stunned for a moment. He raised his head and said, "Deputy Commander, we are now at an absolute disadvantage not only in terms of firepower, but also in terms of troops. Even melee firepower is no match for them with a lot of automatic firepower. ”

"And if we shrink our positions, their offensive front will definitely be shortened, which will also increase the density of their troops and firepower. Let's fight back at this time, it is very likely that we will be injured by the tiger if we fail to fight the tiger. Lao Dong's regiment is the only regiment that we are still in the form of. ”

"If we run out, we won't even have the last reserves, how will we fight the next battle? Lao Li, you still have to think about it carefully. If you really want to fight, do you ask for reinforcements from the column? Even if it's a group, at least our pressure can be reduced. ”

Regarding He Sanliang's request, Li Ziyuan shook his head and said: "Now is not the time to ask for help, the situation of the column is not much better than ours. The two brother units, neither of which completed the replenishment. Our column also served as the defense of the entire Dongshan. Now we have been ordered to attack instead of defend, and the strength has been used to the extreme, and the column is now simply not capable of supporting us. ”

"But don't worry, man. After our counterattack starts, reinforcements will be found themselves. Even if it's not our column, it's no worse than us going there. We have an absolute disadvantage in firepower, and if our brother is beaten passively all the time, we won't be able to last long. ”

"During this time, we have suffered a lot of casualties, and I don't believe that they will also suffer as many casualties as there are. Although most of Lao Tzu's more than 100 turntable machine guns are imitation products from Taiyuan, there are still many Soviet-made original goods from Nanjing to Taiyuan. These turntable machine guns are not decorations, and our crossfire is enough to inflict a lot of casualties on them. ”

"Although their previous offensive was fierce, their sharpness was also decreasing little by little. If we shrink the defensive line, their morale may be higher, but the attacking spirit will definitely decrease. As long as you find the right node, after hitting him for one to two hours, completely polishing his sharpness, and his attack strength begins to decline, it is time for us to fight back. ”

"The technical and tactical level of these guys is indeed much stronger than that of the Jin Sui Army. The melee firepower configuration, as well as the combination of light and heavy weapons, far exceeded our previous opponent, the Jin Sui Army. However, on the battlefield, they pay attention to one drum, and then decline, and then exhaustion, and when the excitement of their breakthrough passes, the sharp spirit will be exhausted. ”

"We don't have as many as them, but our *s and bayonets aren't vegetarians. The biggest weakness of an opponent with a large number of automatic firearms is the poor ability to fight in the white edge. The rifle is out of bullets, and there are bayonets to fight for. But *if you run out of bullets, these* are not even as good as a broom. ”

"And automatic firearms have a fast rate of fire and a fast consumption of bullets. This kind of bullet is produced by the Taiyuan Arsenal, and the original American goods are indigestion. There are indeed American planes over there, but they have the supply capacity of the Americans. After the occupation of the Wusu airfield by our troops, their airlift capacity was greatly reduced. ”