In the dark, countless officers and soldiers on the western front of the Chinese positions in East Bengal were busy.

is in retreat.

Zhu Guangming received the retreat order issued by the regiment headquarters, and was shocked and angry, they even desperately rushed to repair a position that was more reliable than the standard fortifications, and they actually gave up like this? He was ready to make the attacking enemy run into a bloody battle in front of the position he had constructed under his command.

Zhu Guangming immediately ran to the regiment headquarters and shouted to the regiment commander: "Tuanzao, why are you withdrawing?" ”

The head of the regiment said angrily: "What are you doing so much? All you have to do is follow orders. ”

Zhu Guangming hurriedly said: "Regiment leader, my more than 100 brothers are tired of repairing the fortifications, and they gave up without letting go of this shot, so I have to give an explanation to the brothers, right?" ”

The regiment commander knew that Zhu Guangming was a student soldier, and these student soldiers were all trained by the Ministry of Defense as divisional and regimental officers. Of course, in order to avoid cultivating Zhao Kuo who is a soldier on paper, these student officers still have to go down to the company first and gradually improve. After hesitating for a moment, he said in a low voice: "This is still the meaning of Shangfeng, it is said that it was issued by the front army command." ”

Zhu Guangming's heart was awe-inspiring, and he sighed in his heart: "It's not good." The reason why the headquarters issued such an order should be knowing that the enemy would definitely launch a fierce artillery bombardment of our army's forward positions to avoid unnecessary casualties, after all, our positions are in the coastal area, and there are no anti-artillery holes on the positions. ”

The head of the regiment shouted with a blank face: "Now that you know, what are you doing in a daze?" ”

Zhu Guangming hurriedly responded and quickly returned to the position. Immediately ordered the troops to retreat quickly, leaving only the observation posts as required.

Watching the continuous evacuation of his officers and soldiers, Zhu Guangming looked down at his watch by the moonlight, the time was already three o'clock, and he was breathing a sigh of relief, when he saw countless red signal flares suddenly rising from the British army's distant position. Immediately afterwards, a burst of fire rose in many places behind the British army.

"Shelling!?" Zhu Guangming's cold sweat flowed down instantly, if he slowed down for a few more minutes, the consequences would be unimaginable.

He watched as the position he had just stayed on was overwhelmed by a violent explosion, and the sharp shells whistled with a deafening explosion, turning the forward position into a fernet of iron and fire. Almost at the same time. He found the distance behind him. Even the eastern front of the Bengal defense line was also stained red by firelight.

"Caught on both sides?"

On the British positions on the Western Front, under the roar of British officers, countless Arab legions poured into the positions under artillery fire.

"Charge! Shoot back! ”

The artillery fire extended in only three minutes, and the Arab legions almost stepped on the artillery point to rush to the Chinese front-line positions. Even the shelling accidentally injured many officers and soldiers of the Arab Legion. There were two units that stopped charging out of fear. It came under direct machine-gun fire from the Overseers, commanded by Olive. All of them are corrected on the spot.

"Indian Legion, follow up!"

Olife gave the order with a blank face, and Admiral Dannatt's vicious battle plan was. Let the colonial legions directly step on the artillery points and rush to the positions of the Chinese, and use the tactics of the continuous sea of people to attack the positions of the Chinese side, so that the armies of the two sides can be mixed together, and if several people cannot win one fight, then there is no way.

With the issuance of the military order, hundreds of thousands of Indian colonial legions poured into the Chinese positions behind the Arab legions like a tide -

When the Battle of East Bengal broke out, Dibrugarh's headquarters instantly became unprecedentedly busy, and countless front-line battle reports converged here.

"Attacking with artillery points?" Li Bufan frowned, he had heard of this tactic from the traverser Wu Di, it was said that it would take decades later, that is, the tactic that appeared in the sixties and seventies, but he didn't expect Dannat to use it in a hurry. Although he knew this tactic from Wu Di, he could not use it, because the accuracy of China's artillery technology and artillery did not meet this requirement. And he was convinced that the British artillery could not shoot with such accuracy, such an attack, which only showed that the British commander had lost his mind.

Zhang Xiaozhun said with an ugly face: "Yes." In this way, the British colonial corps rushed to our positions almost with the artillery fire, and advanced with the extension of the artillery fire. The first line of defense that we abandoned has fallen into the hands of the enemy, and the second line of defense is in jeopardy. ”

Li Songshan sighed and said, "Commander-in-chief, this is not the way to go on, otherwise the troops will suffer heavy casualties." ”

"People are really forced out." Li Bufan smiled bitterly and said, "Order the artillery to take out the enemy's artillery positions, and the mortar group to cover the rear of the enemy's charge, and block their follow-up troops with artillery fire." ”

Zhang Xiaozhun responded and immediately issued an order.

Li Songshan smiled bitterly: "I originally wanted to hide some strength and lure the main force of the British army as much as possible, but I didn't expect this situation to be the beginning of the game." ”

Li Bufan was silent and said: "How many troops did the British army cross the river?" ”

Li Songshan naturally knew that Li Bufan was referring to the real British army, and immediately said: "Two armies." ”

Li Bufan sighed deeply: "I hope it won't scare them away, otherwise it will be a big loss." He really hesitated just now, whether to expose only part of the firepower and make the battle situation anxious, so as to lure reinforcements from the British army in the rear. But Dannatt is too ruthless, so that the six or seven hundred thousand Arab and Indian colonial legions do not hesitate to accidentally hit the impact, the pressure on the front line of defense is too great, if you don't go all out to suppress the momentum of the other side, it is very likely to really open up a lifeline for the British army, then it is really a loss to steal chickens and rice.

Li Songshan thought for a while and said, "Why don't you let the troops directly give up the second line of defense and retreat to the third line of defense." Our third line of defense was five kilometers from the front line, and British artillery fire was no longer able to carry out shelling unless the artillery moved forward. We only need a small amount of exposed long-range artillery and the opponent's artillery for an artillery duel, and I think the British may still be fooled. ”

Li Bufan groaned for a while, and then said, "Okay." If you don't get the desired result, you don't have to wait. ”

At this moment, Li Bufan's mind was full of thoughts, and he knew that the troops who were entangled by the Chinese side in doing so would inevitably suffer heavy casualties. But he really wanted to inflict heavy damage on the main force of the British army, and doing so would have great significance for the whole war.

Before Zhang Xiaozhun's order was issued, Li Songshan personally went to the Ministry of Telecommunications to stop him and issue this decision.

On the battlefield, the Chinese artillery began to counterattack, and only a few dozen long-range guns were put into service, which was only one-tenth of the size of the hundreds of artillery pieces of the British army. However, the shelling quickly destroyed many of the British army's more front-mounted howitzers and 75mm field guns.

Immediately after the firing of hordes of mortars, countless shells fell on the follow-up impact road of the British Arab and Indian colonial legions, setting off a bloody storm in the sky. The Chinese side does not hide the use of mortars, and it is no secret that the Chinese defense forces are armed with a large number of mortars.

Dannatt looked at the heavy shelling on the battlefield with a telescope, his face gloomy.

Marshall on the side said with a pale face: "Damn, the Chinese actually have such fierce artillery fire?" ”

Mortars, also known as portable artillery, are light in weight and have a fast rate of fire, and a fast rate of fire means fierce firepower.

Dannatt said lightly: "That's a mortar for the Chinese." ”

Marshall frowned and said, "Mortars have such power?" ”

Dannatt said: "As long as the caliber of the mortar is large enough, it can be done." As far as I know, the Chinese divisional units are equipped with 150 mm caliber mortars, except for the range is a little worse, their power is definitely no less than 105 mm caliber howitzers. More than half a year ago, I fought with the Chinese in Myitkyina, and the Chinese used it. ”

Marshall was about to continue to speak, when he saw a staff officer flying over and said: "Report to the commander, six howitzer positions of our army have been destroyed by Chinese long-range artillery. ”

"Long-range artillery?"

Dannat and Marshall were taken aback, looked at each other, and almost simultaneously exclaimed: "How can their heavy artillery be transported to the front?" How many heavy artillery does the other side have? ”

The staff officer said: "At present, nine long-range artillery positions on the Chinese side have been discovered, and it has been reported from the front that the Chinese artillery is scattered, and there are only three heavy guns on almost each position, that is, an artillery battery." ”

Dannatt breathed a sigh of relief and said: "It seems that there is a total of an artillery regiment, it seems that the Chinese are also very well prepared, and these artillery pieces are either transported by plane or airship." After a pause, he said to the staff officer, "Contact our long-range artillery positions and ask if we can destroy the Chinese's artillery." ”

The staff officer said: "Commander, this is difficult. The opponent's artillery should have been carefully calculated, and its positions were all outside the range of our long-range artillery, unless we moved the artillery forward. But it is very dangerous to do so, because our artillery will also be within the range of the Chinese. ”

As he was talking, suddenly there was a loud cheer from the command room outside.

This made Dannatt frown and said to the staff officer, "Go and ask what's going on?" ”

"No need to ask." Hagrid pushed the door open and shouted, "Let me tell you that our troops have broken the defenders of the Chinese second line of defense, and that some of the troops have advanced to the third and final line of defense of the Chinese side." ”

Dannatt and Marshall were overjoyed: "This is indeed good news. ”

Admiral Hagrid said in a deep voice, "But I have bad news here. It was the attack of the Burmese Front that Xiafei was met with stubborn resistance from the Chinese army, and most importantly, in order to retreat quickly, Xiafei's headquarters had to destroy almost all the heavy weapons, and the ability to attack the fortified was greatly weakened. Without external support, it would have been almost impossible for this huge force to break through the Chinese defenses. ”

Dannat said lightly: "I have thought of it a long time ago." Otherwise I would have to spend so much effort to convince the Navy to join the war? Telegram to General Xia Fei, don't lose confidence, victory is at hand, and tomorrow at dawn, the Combined Fleet will arrive on the battlefield and give them strong fire support" (To be continued......