They didn't think that there were still several kilometers of the front line in their artillery positions, how could there be shells falling?

The equipment of the various armies in the Beiyang system is generally similar, and the direct army on the opposite side is very clear about the firing range of the 75-mm field guns and mountain guns that the Feng army is equipped with in large quantities, so when constructing artillery positions, they often calculate the range of the artillery on both sides, especially the range of the mountain artillery, in order to be able to hit the infantry positions of the Feng army at the same time, but also to avoid being destroyed by the 75 mm field artillery of the Feng army, it is necessary to build an artillery position at an appropriate distance......

In the past week or so, although there are many artillery pieces of the two armies participating in the battle, basically the artillery provides fire support for the infantry, and it is rarely said that the artillery will be directly deployed to the front line, and then hit the enemy's artillery positions, because in this almost plain battlefield, everyone's artillery positions are equivalent to no cover, and your 75 mm field guns can hit the artillery positions of the direct army, and at the same time, there are many 75 mm field guns of the direct army, which can also hit the artillery positions of your Feng army.

This also led to the fact that there was no large-scale artillery duel between the two sides, but the situation today is a little wrong.

"This is not a 75-millimeter shell!" A major of the direct army on the front line had a black face, not to mention that as an old artilleryman, he could hear that this explosion was definitely not the explosion of a 75-millimeter shell, even other junior officers and veterans could hear it.

Distinguishing the caliber and quantity of enemy artillery by the sound of the explosion of shells on the battlefield is the basic skill of an officer!

"This is not the sound of Fengjun's 120 mm mortar, and the trajectory just now does not look like the curved trajectory of a mortar!" The more he thought about it, the more he felt a cold sweat break out on his back.

However, before he could say anything, a captain of the direct army next to him panicked and said: "This is a heavy artillery, at least a long-range heavy artillery with a caliber of 100 mm!" ”

As if to prove his answer, as soon as he finished speaking, there was a whistling sound in the sky, and the major of the direct army had a face like ash, and shouted loudly: "Retreat, retreat!" ”

However, before his voice was finished, more than ten shells fell near the position of the artillery battalion of the direct army, and two shells fell into the middle of the artillery position, although the explosion did not destroy the artillery, but still caused many casualties, and this caused panic in the position of this artillery battalion, because any experienced artilleryman knows.

The two rounds of three rounds and two rounds of shelling just now must have been proofreading shots, and this third round is the beginning of large-scale shelling, and in the process of shelling, the opponent will definitely continue to correct the trajectory, and when the fourth and fifth rounds of salvos come over, it is estimated that this artillery position will become a real hell on earth.

At this moment, this artillery position is already completely chaotic, some people want to pull up their horses, put the artillery on and retreat, and some people just spread their feet and run.

And this situation is even more obvious after the fourth and fifth rounds of shelling, with many rounds of shooting, this shell falling into the artillery position is more and more, and this 100 mm shell explosion power is not as terrible as the 120 mm mortar shell that makes the direct army talk about the color change, but the power is far better than the 75 mm shell, this shell falls into the artillery position and explodes, a large number of shell fragments will scatter out, and then harvest the lives of everyone encountered, and a few shells fell near the artillery, directly overturning the artillery to the ground and even deforming it.

By the time the sixth and seventh rounds of shelling came, the artillery positions of the direct army had completely collapsed, and some of the artillerymen were urgently dragging their artillery back, while more were running backwards, and the shell craters in the open space were full of corpses.

Listening to the proofreading report on the balloon, Wei Anpo laughed, and then drew a big cross on the map where the No. 1 position was written.

"Stop firing five more rounds each, check the artillery, and then prepare for the next round of shelling!"

With the intensive artillery bombardment just now, the position of the artillery battalion of the direct army over the mountain has basically suffered heavy losses and lost its combat effectiveness, and then Wei Anpo has to hit other artillery positions of the direct army.

And half an hour later, Lu Yongxiang looked at the battle report that came urgently, and his face suddenly turned black: "This long-range heavy artillery got by Zhao Dongyun there, and there is a battalion as much!" ”

"Now the situation on Yinfeng's side is very bad, this mountain artillery battalion has lost less than half of its artillery, and more than half of its artillery has lost, I'm afraid it will not be easy to restore its combat effectiveness and rejoin the war!" The major next to him said: "Division commander, do you think we are coming back to Yinfeng?" ”

Lu Yongxiang shook his head: "What's the panic, it's just a defeat in the artillery battle, the Yinfeng defense line has been built for many days, and the first brigade is an old unit, and I left more than 30 heavy machine guns, and the Feng army on the opposite side is only a division, it is impossible to attack the Yinfeng defense line in a short time, and now it is still the first line of Huanxizhuang, and the order is to go down, my department continues to go north, and we can't stay!" ”

In this era, especially the troops that adopt new tactics and are equipped with a large number of heavy machine guns, their defensive combat capabilities are actually far greater than their offensive capabilities, which was not obvious during the Russo-Japanese War, but this was fully reflected in last year's Battle of Tongzhou and the Tangshan Battle that is now breaking out.

At the beginning, Lu Yongxiang attacked the 7th Mixed Brigade of the Feng Army, which had only 5,000 troops, with a force of more than 20,000 troops.

Later, Lu Yongxiang followed the example of the Feng army and also played defensive operations, and in the many counteroffensives launched by the Feng army a few days ago, not only failed to break through the defense line of the direct army, but also suffered a lot of losses.

Moreover, in the direction of Huanxizhuang today, the 1st Mixed Brigade of the Direct Army is facing a three-sided attack, if it is replaced with the use of old tactics, the troops without heavy machine guns are estimated to collapse on the first day, and although the 1st Mixed Brigade is facing a four-fold enemy attack, it is very strong, and the defense line is also crumbling, but in any case, it has not been defeated, this is already a day of holding, if it can hold the second day, and wait for Lu Yongxiang's reinforcements to arrive on the third day, then it can be declared that Zhao Dongyun's large-scale counteroffensive ended in complete failure.

These examples almost all illustrate the same thing, that is, the defensive capability of today's army, especially the troops of the Beiyang system, exceeds the offensive capability, and this is true of the Feng army, and the same is true of the direct army.

When Xu Bangjie used heavy artillery to launch a large-scale attack on the first brigade of the first division of the Yinfeng line, the battle on Huanxizhuang's side was even more intense, and due to the urgency of time, Zhao Dongyun had already asked the front-line troops to strengthen the offensive many times, and even crossed Meng Enyuan, and directly issued instructions to Chen Guangyuan of the third division to strengthen the offensive.

Although this instruction is a verbal instruction, and it is not a formal order, Chen Guangyuan still does not dare to despise it!

However, the 1st Mixed Brigade was as if it were the 7th Mixed Brigade 10 days earlier, and under the enemy's superior force offensive, although it seemed dangerous at every turn, the two-sided attack launched by the two divisions of the Feng Army was stunned and could not be gnawed.

When the direct troops in the direction of Yutian and Baodi were only reinforced, the troops of the First Army in the north and west of Huanxizhuang felt more pressure, and Meng Enyuan's First Army at this time not only had to undertake the task of attacking the main force of Huanxizhuang, but also had to intercept the enemy's 11th and 12th divisions reinforced from Baodi, Yutian and other directions.

If it is said that the Seventh Mixed Brigade of the Direct Army is facing a three-line attack, but in fact, the troops of the First Army are also fighting on a three-front front, and this is to see who can't hold it first.

However, when people, even Wang Yingkai and Zhao Dongyun's eyes were firmly fixed on Huanxizhuang, there was a great change in the Yinfeng line in the south of Tangshan.

As Wei Anpo's heavy artillery battalion was put into the battlefield, the first day of its entry into the battlefield was a long-distance artillery battle, knocking out a mountain artillery battalion of the direct army, which once again maneuvered forward two kilometers that night, and then launched a large-scale artillery bombardment directly on a field artillery battalion of the direct army further back after being deployed.

You must know that at that time, the field artillery battalion of the direct army was a full five kilometers away from the front line of infantry engagement, and under normal circumstances, the shells of the Feng army would not hit their heads at all, and if the 75 mm field artillery of the Feng army was deployed close to them, then it would also be discovered by the front-line troops of the direct army at the first time, and then this field artillery battalion of the direct army would be able to launch counter-artillery operations first.

However, the heavy artillery battalion of the Feng Army had a firing range of more than 10,000 meters, and it was also a mobile deployment carried out at night, and when the position of this field artillery battalion of the direct army was attacked at dawn the next day, the first reaction of the officers of the battalion of the direct army at the beginning was to observe the trajectory and then open fire to counterattack, but after seeing the explosive power of the shells and calculating the trajectory and the position of the enemy, he despaired.

Because at this time, the position of the heavy artillery battalion of the Feng army was still 8,500 meters away, which completely exceeded the range of the 75-millimeter field gun in his hand.

Although the situation of this retreat was better, and the loss of only three artillery pieces and dozens of artillery personnel, the retreat of the battalion also means that the first brigade of the direct army on the front line of Yinfeng has lost direct and powerful artillery support.

Although it failed to destroy many enemy troops, it forced the enemy's artillery units to retreat, which was also a great result.

As soon as he learned that the field artillery battalion of the direct army had begun to retreat, and only a few mountain guns that had been involved yesterday remained, Xu Bangjie realized that his opportunity had arrived.

The defensive operations of this era were the cooperation of artillery, machine guns, trenches and infantry, almost one link after another, only when the artillery opened fire to suppress the enemy's charge, long-distance preparation, etc., the heavy machine guns were able to suppress the enemy at a distance of 500 meters at the maximum range, and the follow-up infantry was able to hide in the trenches to collect the remnants of the charging soldiers.

And when the enemy loses artillery, even heavy machine guns and trenches can withstand the enemy's attack.

Imagine that when the enemy is approaching from afar, and the shells above your head are still exploding, forcing you to hide in the anti-artillery hole, and by the time the enemy's artillery extends to the rear and fires, the enemy is probably already rushing in front of you.

And more importantly, the Feng army is also equipped with a large number of mortars, especially the 60mm mortar, which is almost the nemesis of heavy machine guns. In the previous battle, due to the very heavy artillery fire of the direct army, it was difficult to get the mortars close to deploy and find a suitable firing position, but now the artillery of the direct army no longer threatens the mortar units of the Feng army.

The mortar groups of the 9th Division of the Feng Army, especially the 80-mm mortar group, swaggered and opened fire directly on the open ground, and the target of their bombardment was not the infantry positions of the direct army, but the heavy machine gun positions of the direct army.

The smaller 60-millimeter mortars were even closer to a distance of only four or five hundred meters, and then the heavy machine guns of the direct army were eliminated at a fixed point.

Xu Bangjie never thought that he would be able to capture the Yinfeng line alone, his offensive on the Yinfeng front line was just a diversion attack, and the task from yesterday to the present was to exert huge pressure on the first brigade on the opposite side, and then force the second brigade led by Lu Yongxiang to return to the Yinfeng line, so as to create more favorable combat conditions for the Huanxizhuang line.

In the plan formulated by the Operations Department of this campaign, the breakthrough points were Fengdengwu and Huanxizhuang, and finally the first division of Yinfeng to surround Lu Yongxiang was finally headed.

However, Xu Bangjie did not expect that with the support of the Independent Heavy Artillery Battalion and the Third Independent Mortar Battalion, his own troops' attack on Shun Cheng Dù would far exceed expectations.

The Ninth Division, with the support of more than 60 barreled artillery, more than 30 120-mm heavy mortars, and more than 100 80-mm and 60-mm mortars, first knocked out the artillery units supporting the 1st Brigade of the Zhi Army, and then cleared out a large number of heavy machine guns of the Feng Army by means of guò mortars.

When he learned that the artillery fire and heavy machine guns of the Feng army on the opposite side had been lost, Xu Bangjie did not hesitate to put the last reserve, that is, the 39th Regiment of the 19th Brigade, and then ordered the whole division to charge.

On a six-kilometer-wide front, in the face of tens of thousands of Feng troops rushing up, the Zhi army could still resist stubbornly at first, but they could not stop the Feng army's full line charge with a large number of heavy machine guns, and when the soldiers of the 9th Division threw grenades close to the direct army trenches and rushed forward with rifles loaded with bayonets.

The first brigade is completely collapsed!