After listening to the report of the artillery staff officer, the first reaction of the division commander was not to believe it. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

After a few seconds, the division commander's face became even more solemn.

If what the artillery staff said was true, then the Liaodong Army was really equipped with this new type of artillery. The Liaodong Army, which is not equipped with new artillery, is so difficult to fight, not to mention the Liaodong Army equipped with new artillery in front of them.

When he became more and more worried about this reinforcement trip, the division commander did not lose his mind.

In a few seconds, he ordered to the artillery staff officer in front of him: "Baga, are you all stupid pigs?" If you can't find the artillery positions of the Liaodong Army, you will not open fire on the positions of the Liaodong Army on the hills, suppress them with artillery fire, and cover the retreat of the attacking troops! ”

The artillery staff officer was stunned for a moment, and then immediately reminded: "However, division commander, the attacking force is too close to the Liaodong Army, and the shelling of the Liaodong Army on the top of the mountain is easy to injure our own people by mistake. ”

"Baga Yalu, you are really a stupid pig, stupid. Didn't you see that the attacking troops were being slaughtered by the Liaodong Army? I would rather see some of the attacking warriors wounded by mistake than see the attacking force annihilated. ”

"Also, now that the Liaodong Army is on the position, the artillery will definitely cause a lot of damage to the Liaodong Army!"

Soon, a series of violent explosions sounded in the position of the Liaodong Army on the mountain.

As soon as the explosion sounded, the bullets fired at the Japanese soldiers on the hill became thin.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, the Japanese avant-garde brigade had less than two hundred men left, and immediately stared at the artillery fire and retreated.

The division commander, who had already sensed that the road of reinforcement would not be so peaceful, had already rushed to the front of the division at this time.

Seeing that the avant-garde brigade had successfully retreated from less than a squadron, the division commander with a solemn face did not curse. He just told them to go down and rest, and then he stared at the hill, which was still covered in artillery fire, and said nothing.

Because he didn't know anything about the Liaodong Army in front of him, in order not to delay here for too long, and also to reduce the casualties of the troops. A Japanese field artillery brigade fought for 20 minutes before the artillery ended.

Although the power of field artillery was not as powerful as that of heavy artillery, after ten minutes of artillery bombardment, a large part of the trenches that the Liaodong Army had painstakingly dug on the top of the mountain were blown up, and almost 200 Liaodong troops fell in the shelling and could never stand up.

After the division commander thought that the defenders of the hill had been almost bombed, he immediately sent a new infantry brigade to attack.

To the surprise of the division commander, the Liaodong Army guarding the hill seemed to be unable to die. It depends on the attacking troops sent out by themselves to rush up the hill. The sound of artillery shells, light and heavy machine gun fire, and rifle fire were once again like detonated powder kegs, and they were very lively on the hilltop.

Before the division commander could react, the position with more than a dozen heavy machine guns was covered by artillery fire and there was no movement.

The attacking troops, which had lost the cover of heavy machine guns and were armed only with rifles and a small number of light machine guns, were first killed and wounded by the sudden fire, and then were suppressed by the defenders with bullets on the offensive road.

"Baga, how can this be, why are there so many Liaodong troops on the mountain?" The division commander shouted with a long mouth and a look of shock.

This time, the division commander did not hesitate and immediately ordered the artillery to open fire on the hill to cover the retreat of the attacking troops.

As soon as the cannon sounded, the Liaodong Army guarding the hill knew that it could not be defeated.

Because they were only ordered to hold off the Japanese troops here for an hour, they saw the Japanese troops who were rapidly retreating in front of the position. The commander of the defending battalion also decisively gave the order to retreat.

Staring at the shells that kept falling overhead, he quickly retreated back along the trench.

The commander of the Japanese division, who did not know that there was no one on the hill, directly ordered the field artillery brigade to shell for half an hour before stopping in order to vent his anger.

After all, the hill defenders made him lose two more infantry squadrons and one heavy machine gun squadron for the attack just now.

As soon as the shelling was over, a new infantry brigade launched a new offensive against the Japanese.

This time, the Japanese easily occupied the already empty hilltop position.

The passage to move on was opened, and the division commander was not in a good mood.

Just by looking at the division commander, he knew that the Liaodong Army defending the hill had retreated by himself, and since this was the case, there was no merit in laying down the mountain.

After the commander of the first regiment and one battalion of the fourth division hurriedly retreated to the second line of defense with the remnants of less than 300 people, Yang Xingguo and the main force of the division also arrived here.

After listening to what happened to the first battalion, Yang Xingguo frowned, and decisively decided: "Contact the commander of the heavy artillery regiment Wang and take the heavy artillery and set it up." As long as the Japanese field artillery fires, immediately counterattack and destroy them. ”

"After a while, the blocking battle put the first regiment and the second battalion up, and the third battalion as a reserve. I'm going to knock out at least one wing of the Japanese army here today before leaving. ”

An hour later, the mighty contingent of Japanese troops appeared in Yang Xingguo's field of vision.

Because the blocking position was directly across the official road, and when there were still four or five hundred meters, the Japanese avant-garde brigade stopped.

Perhaps it was the heavy losses of the avant-garde brigade in the previous battle that made the Japanese army afraid, and in the face of the Liaodong Army blocking in front of them, the Japanese avant-garde brigade not only did not take advantage of the situation to attack, but also put on a defensive posture.

After the situation was reported to the commander of the Japanese division, because he did not know the strength and strength of the Liaodong Army behind the position, he did not want to see the division commander who was sent to death by his subordinates.

Soon, the position of the Liaodong Army a few hundred meters away was shrouded in gunsmoke.

However, the Japanese field artillery wing did not become arrogant for long. In less than two minutes, an even more piercing scream suddenly sounded over the battlefield, and then a violent explosion spread from the Japanese artillery position.

"Heavy artillery, it's heavy artillery, the Liaodong Army in front of us has heavy artillery!" The artillery staff officer next to the division commander who instantly changed color shouted with a frightened face.

The chief of staff also reacted from the shock caused by the screaming sound, and suggested to the division commander: "The artillery positions must be transferred immediately, otherwise the field artillery wing will be completely blown up by the heavy artillery of the Liaodong Army." ”

The division commander also reacted from the shock and immediately ordered: "Then what are you doing in a daze?" Immediately order the field artillery wing to shift positions! ”

"And the infantry, pause the offensive. The Liaodong Army is equipped with heavy artillery, and to attack now is to send it to death! ”

After quickly issuing a few orders, the chief of staff who turned around asked with a worried face: "Then we won't reinforce Gaizhou?" ”

"Reinforcements, of course!" The division commander affirmed without thinking about it.

"However, with our current artillery strength, fighting hard with the heavy artillery units of the Liaodong Army is no different from sending them to death. Therefore, I will report the situation here to the commander and ask for artillery support. Even if there is no heavy artillery, give me a field artillery wing, and I am confident that I will fight against the heavy artillery units of the Liaodong Army and fight all the way to Gaizhou. ”

"Otherwise, the strength of one of our divisions will be wiped out by the Liaodong Army before it reaches Gaizhou!" (To be continued.) )