Because of this arrangement of the Japanese division commanders, the battlefield appeared that the defenders were hit by artillery fire before they saw the attacking troops. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

As soon as the Japanese army came up, they used more than 50 field guns of a field artillery company to bombard the defenders' positions, and even if the defenders drilled into the anti-artillery holes as soon as possible, the sudden artillery fire still caused at least 300 casualties to the defenders.

When everyone hid in the anti-artillery hole, they finally held out until the end of the shelling and returned to their positions.

The positions that everyone held out for hours had been bombed to the ground.

Look at the gaps everywhere, or the trenches that have been filled.

Except for a few officers in the garrison regiment, everyone else looked at all this in front of them and was at a loss.

And the attacking troops, which had not appeared on the battlefield all along, appeared at this time.

And like a heavenly soldier, he appeared directly three hundred meters in front of the formation.

Before the remaining hundreds of people in the garrison could react, the heavy machine guns of the Japanese troops providing fire cover rang out.

Because Li Zhilong was only an hour's journey from here, this meant that the Japanese army had to take the position in front of them within an hour. Otherwise, the next attack will be very difficult.

An hour was an attack for the Japanese army. Therefore, from the moment he entered the battlefield, the division commander made a decision in his heart that he must defeat the defenders with one attack.

To achieve this, the division commander ordered a field artillery company to shell the defenders' positions. More than 30 heavy machine guns from three heavy machine gun squadrons were directly dispatched and scattered in small units to provide fire cover on a battlefield stretching for one kilometer.

In addition, in order to defend against the cavalry units of the defending army, the division commander directly reinforced the attacking troops with twenty light machine guns.

Together with the twenty light machine guns originally equipped by the two brigades of the attacking troops, there were a total of forty light machine guns. With such powerful machine-gun firepower, the division commander was confident that he would be able to block the cavalry attack.

After seeing the strength of the Japanese attacking force, the brows of the two regiment commanders subconsciously furrowed, and realized that the next two regiments were afraid that they would have to fight a real tough battle. Even if the final victory is won, the troops will suffer heavy losses.

"What are you still doing in a daze, waiting to die? Immediately enter the position, while the Japanese army has not yet rushed up, seize the time to repair the trenches. The commander of the garrison, who had a calm face, yelled at his subordinates angrily.

The commander of the cavalry regiment also followed the order: "The Japanese army is equipped with too many machine guns, and then using cavalry to assault them is no different from sending them to death." The cavalry regiment was all there, and all of them dismounted to fight. Enter the position, give me all the weapons, and be sure to stop the Japanese attack! ”

"The artillery immediately opened fire and tried to destroy the Japanese heavy machine guns as soon as possible. Without the heavy machine guns, we would have a better chance of repelling the Japanese attack. ”

The two regiments had less than 1,700 soldiers left, and they immediately rushed to the positions, some lying on the positions on guard, some arranging heavy machine-gun positions, and some wielding sapper shovels to repair the trenches.

Less than half a minute after everyone had been working, the screeching of shells across the sky reached everyone's ears.

Because the Japanese heavy machine gun positions were too scattered, the mortars equipped by the artillery company did not carry out test firing. Directly with the platoon as a unit, aim at the three heavy machine gun positions of the Japanese army at one time, and fire shells at the fastest speed.

After destroying a heavy machine-gun position, the three mortars of this mortar platoon immediately aimed at the new target and continued to fire shells.

Taking advantage of the fact that the main force of the Liaodong Army with heavy artillery had not yet returned to help, the Japanese field artillery wing had no scruples, and the mortar company began to counterattack less than a minute and a half after the artillery was fired.

Although most of the counter-artillery shells missed, the Japanese field artillery wing had more artillery, and when a round of shells passed, there were always shells that hit the target or exploded near the target.

As a result, mortar batteries also began to suffer casualties. In order to preserve strength, it was necessary to fight for a minute to transfer a new artillery position.

As a result, the idea of the mortar battery to knock out the Japanese heavy machine-gun positions in a short time was shattered.

The attacking troops of the two Japanese brigades were also anxious when they saw the heavy machine guns behind them one after another.

Taking advantage of the fact that the Liaodong Army had not yet fired, he rushed forward desperately.

It was expected that the Japanese attacking troops would give themselves at least two minutes to repair the trenches. Unexpectedly, it only took half a minute for the Japanese army to rush to a position of more than 100 meters in front of the battle.

At this time, even if the two regiment commanders were unwilling, they could only order the troops to start the battle on the basis of the half-repaired trenches.

Because the cavalry regiment was all used as infantry to defend the position, the cavalry regiment accounted for most of the more than 1,000 defenders of the position.

Compared with the recruits of the garrison regiment, the combat effectiveness of these veterans of the cavalry regiment is obviously much stronger.

Although the Japanese offensive firepower was still very strong, the defenders fired bullets from the position from time to time, which also continued to cause casualties to the Japanese army.

In less than half a minute, the two brigades lost as many as three or four hundred people.

At this time, more and more heavy machine guns were destroyed behind the Japanese army. As their offensive firepower weakened, the blocking fire of the two regiments on the position became stronger and stronger.

In addition, the closer the Japanese attacking force was to the defenders, the higher the hit rate of the defenders.

Therefore, the more the Japanese army rushed forward, the greater the casualties of the troops. If the attack continues according to the current tactics, even if the troops succeed in killing the defenders' positions, the attacking troops will be repulsed by the Liaodong Army due to heavy casualties.

The Japanese wing commander who led the charge was well aware of this situation. With a frown, he decisively ordered the troops to stop advancing and lie on the ground to shoot at the Liaodong Army. Wait until the defenders are almost trenched, then launch an attack and take the defenders' positions in one go.

As soon as the Japanese lay down, their casualties were much less.

Not only that, but because the Japanese could aim accurately while lying on the ground, the casualties of the defending cavalry regiments and garrison regiments were much greater.

"The Japanese were too cunning, flat-chested machine gunners, concentrating all their firepower to suppress the Japanese attacking forces. The riflemen were all aiming and wounding them in large numbers, otherwise we would never have been able to hold our position. The cavalry commander, whose brows were furrowing deeper and deeper, ordered decisively.

"Also, inform the artillery behind me that I don't care what method they use, destroy the remaining heavy machine guns of the Japanese army as soon as possible, and then shell the Japanese attacking troops and repel them as soon as possible. In this way, we are no match for the Japanese army. ”

The commander of the cavalry regiment was right, the two sides had just exchanged fire for less than two minutes, and the cavalry regiment and the garrison regiment had lost nearly two platoons.

On the other hand, the Japanese troops lying on the ground, although they were subjected to suppressive strafing from dozens of light and heavy machine guns, the forty light machine guns they were equipped with were not vegetarians.

Therefore, after two minutes of shooting, their casualties were on par with those of the defenders.

After firing at each other for a few more minutes, the two commanders of the defending regiments slowly became anxious. Because, the casualties of the troops are simply too great. (To be continued.) )