Chapter 657 Defense (II)

As soon as it was dawn, the attack began again. As yesterday, the battle was still opened by heavy shelling, shells falling from the sky to positions with a whistling sound, and a violent explosion that boiled the whole battlefield, fired by British-made sixty-pounder howitzers. After the cannonballs hit the ground, they exploded violently, throwing the dirt and stones on the ground into the air tens of meters or even hundreds of meters, and then falling back to the ground, like rain, even if the soldiers on the ground were not directly injured by the shells, these stones and clods falling from the air may also cause indirect damage to the soldiers.

It was not safe to just huddle in the trenches, and the soldiers had to look for all the cover that could provide cover against the rain of stones falling from the sky, and the 'doors', the wood, the beams, the benches, almost everything that could be covered in the trenches were erected, and then covered with a thick layer of earth, which was a simple anti-artillery bunker, where the casualties caused by the artillery fire could be minimized.

Squatting at the entrance and exit of the anti-artillery bunker, Colonel Jiang Yiwu carefully studied a military map in his hand and compared it on the map with a scale.

Then. A major officer hurried into the bunker and 'handed over' a note to Jiang Yiwu.

Jiang Yiwu glanced at the contents of the note, which was a handwritten order from Zhao Qi, the supreme commander of the "Daejeon Force," and he hoped that Jiang Yiwu would call the field airfield and urge the bomber units to attack as soon as possible and bomb the Japanese heavy artillery positions.

"Where is Commander Zhao now?"

Jiang Yiwu raised his head and asked the major officer.

"Boom!"

A heavy artillery shell exploded near this anti-artillery bunker, and the earth shook, and the major officer hurriedly squatted down, patted the dirt off his shoulder, and shouted a few words at Jiang Yiwu.

"Commander Zhao is now south of the position, and the Japanese artillery is also being shelled there, and the shelling is more fierce than here!"

"You tell Commander Zhao to stabilize the morale of the army! I'll go to the airfield right away and urge the bombers to take off as soon as possible! ”

Jiang Yiwu also shouted loudly, now the shelling is so fierce, he is also the first time in his life to understand, when fighting in the country before, the enemy's artillery fire is at an absolute disadvantage, but now, the Japanese artillery fire is fierce, far beyond the pre-war estimates, under this fierce shelling, the morale and morale of the army will be affected, Jiang Yiwu's reminder is not unreasonable.

The major officer nodded, then rushed out of cover and ran to the southern position in the 'crossing' trench.

Jiang Yiwu put away the map and orders. With two soldiers, they also rushed out of the bunker and rushed to the nearest command post, but the field telephone could not be shaken at all, the Japanese shelling was indeed very fierce, and the telephone lines in many positions were destroyed by artillery fire, and it would take time to completely repair them.

Jiang Yiwu didn't have so much time to wait, he took the two soldiers, and ran along the 'Jiao' trench to the northwest position, those stones falling from the sky made their advance very difficult, and they had to put some empty bullets. The medicine box was raised overhead to ward off the gravel, this is a mountainous area, many of the ground only have a thin layer of dirt on the surface, and the bottom is full of rocks, and when a shot goes down, the flying stone fragments are sharp and heavy, which is no weaker than the lethality of shrapnel, and in this kind of terrain, digging trenches is almost impossible, so. Jiang Yiwu had to be 'exposed' to the ground from time to time to face the power of artillery fire.

It is precisely for this reason that the position in the northwest has almost been abandoned by the defenders, where it is impossible to dig trenches and bunkers, and only a 'chest' wall cannot withstand the Japanese artillery fire, at the beginning, Jiang Yiwu strongly opposed Zhao Qi's plan to establish a defensive position in the northwest, but his opposition had no effect, Zhao Qi not only spent a lot of manpower and time on that undangerous position, but also adversely affected the entire defense plan formulated by Jiang Yiwu.

Zhao Liu, the supreme military commander of the "Goryeo Independent Army", did give Jiang Yiwu a lot of power, but this "Shang Fang Sword" did not work for Zhao Qi, a senior officer who was also a leader of the volunteers, Jiang Yiwu was helpless, but his duties could not be abandoned, and he could only seek cooperation in disputes and compromises with Zhao Qi, but he also had a trump card in his hand, that is, the bomber squadron and fighter squadron of the Chinese Air Force, because the heavy artillery firepower was inferior to the Japanese army, Zhao Qi could only count on the bomber force to suppress the Japanese artillery fire, in fact, since seeing the Japanese artillery fire, Zhao Qi obeyed Jiang Yiwu's words.

However, the bomber unit also had difficulties, since yesterday afternoon, the railway connecting Uiju and Anju was cut off by the Japanese army, the subsequent transportation of fuel and bombs has been interrupted, and the fuel stored at the field airfield is only enough for a few sorties, so the commander of the bomber unit believes that unless the battle has reached a critical moment. Otherwise, the bombers will remain on the ground in order to come in handy at critical moments.

What is a "moment of truth"? In Jiang Yiwu's view, now is the critical moment, and it is urgent. Yesterday, the Japanese troops attacking Anju City had already used heavy artillery to continuously bombard the positions of the Goryeo Independent Army near Anju, causing heavy casualties to the Korean officers and men; although yesterday's Japanese attack was repulsed, today's posture is only afraid that the Japanese commanders will plan to give full play to the advantages of heavy artillery; in this situation, many Korean officers reported to Jiang Yiwu that the morale of the troops was low, and if they could not find a way to suppress the Japanese artillery fire as soon as possible, the front-line positions were very likely to change hands.

In order to boost morale and, more importantly, to strengthen the confidence of the soldiers in holding their positions, Jiang Yiwu decided to personally go to the airfield to urge the bomber units to dispatch; according to the order of the General Staff, the airfield in the northwest suburbs of Anzhou is now under the direct command of Jiang Yiwu, and the air force units must also obey his dispatch.

Finally rushed to the airport, Jiang Yiwu immediately gave an order to the commander of the bomber unit.

The commander had no choice but to order two fighters to take off. Went to the southeast to carry out tactical reconnaissance of Japanese artillery positions.

Twenty minutes later, the two fighters returned one after another, bringing the exact coordinates of the Japanese heavy artillery positions back to the airfield.

After another five minutes, one fighter took off, and soon half of the squadron's fighters flew up and began to circle over the airfield to provide cover for the bombers, after which six light bombers took off and flew southeast under the cover of the fighters.

Looking at the bombers in the distance. Commander Jiang Yi sighed, on the current battlefield in Anzhou, China's air force has an absolute advantage, as long as it can ensure the supply of fuel and ammunition, it will not be a problem to hold Anzhou for half a month, but the current problem is that the supply of oil cannot be replenished.

The Goryeo Independence Army disguised itself as the Japanese Army and fought all the way from the Yalu River to Anju, and in order to seize the strategic point of Anju, this unit did not pay attention to the Japanese troops stationed in the northern border area of Korea.

Jiang Yiwu did not expect the Japanese army to move so quickly, although the Japanese troops from the north were still far away, but if they did not launch a counterattack on the Japanese troops from the south as soon as possible, then Anzhou would soon be surrounded by two Japanese troops.

Now there is only one armored train that Jiang Yiwu can use in his hands, and it is not a train gun, relying on this armored train, not only can not suppress the heavy artillery fire of the Japanese army, but also cannot ensure the smooth flow of the entire railway line.

As early as when formulating the battle plan, the General Staff took into account the fragility of the land logistics line, so from the very beginning, there was a backup logistics support plan, that is, to use those training submarines as transport ships to deliver supplies to the Anju defenders, but this logistics supply plan was not easy to implement, starting from the Wuming Bay base, the submarine had to sail a certain distance in the Yellow Sea, and then pass through the dangerous waters of West Korea Bay, which may have to be used in the way of underwater navigation, so that the speed of the voyage could not be very fast. After entering the Qingchuan estuary, the submarine had to sail some distance against the current, which was even more dangerous, and even the Japanese army artillery could pose a threat to the submarine.

Moreover, the carrying capacity of the submarine is limited, and it can only give priority to the supply of the most important combat materials, so this sea supply plan is far inferior to the railway supply plan.

However, now that his eyebrows were burning, Jiang Yiwu could not take much care of it, and immediately sent a wireless telegram from the airport to the army staff, hoping that the army staff would immediately start a backup supply plan and send the fuel most needed by the air force units to Anzhou first.

When Jiang Yiwu received a telegram from the army staff, the bomber units that had attacked the Japanese artillery positions had also returned, and the air raid went very smoothly, destroying five Japanese heavy artillery positions, destroying one Japanese telegraph station, and bombing the railroad south of Anzhou.

The performance of the Air Force is good, the rest is up to the Army.

Jiang Yiwu immediately returned to the front, and at this time, the first offensive of the Japanese infantry began, although there was no heavy artillery cover, but under the cover of field artillery fire, the Japanese infantry offensive was very fierce from the beginning.

"Command! Armored train sortie! ”

Jiang Yiwu gave the order to attack the armored train troops, which was also another trump card in his hand.

Under the cover of armored trains, the troops of the front-line positions repelled the first attack of the Japanese in half an hour, and then, the artillery battle of both sides began.

"Inform the front-line artillerymen and try to save shells as much as possible."

Jiang Yiwu was suddenly embarrassed to find that the troops were short of not only fuel, but also artillery shells, and under the reminder of the staff officer, Zhao Qi also noticed this problem, so the defender's artillery fire quickly fell silent.

"It's an uphill battle, and it depends on which side has the stronger will and the logistics are more secure."

Standing in front of the map, looking at the staggered positions of the two sides of the 'warring', Jiang Yiwu sighed, then moved his gaze to the south and drew a circle in the south of the map, which is the intended combat area of the guerrilla detachment.

This war is not only hard and cruel, but also full of deceit and deception, which is the sublimation of the art of war, but it is also a contest of wills between the two sides of the war.