At the eastern foot of Baima Ridge, the rolling Changlan Dock, Jiangjiawu and Liujian Dock are distributed in the shape of "Pin", and an anti-aircraft artillery position is arranged on each hill.

When the **** plane passed, eighteen Bofors anti-aircraft guns and twelve Erly anti-aircraft guns fired intensive artillery fire at the Japanese planes that followed, attacking the Japanese planes from multiple directions in all directions.

Almost instantly, a dense burst of cannon fire rang out at the eastern foot of the entire White Horse Ridge, and smoke clouds bloomed in the sky.

Before the Japanese pilots could react, three planes had already been hit by a dense rain of bullets on the spot, two of them exploded in volleys, turned into a puff of smoke and fell into the mountains, and one was hit in the fuel tank, the flames instantly covered the entire plane, and the fighters rushed into the distant mountains with the sound of the whirring wind.

The Japanese fighter plane that followed quickly pulled up, but still did not escape the artillery fire, a shell hit the tail of the plane, and the devil pilot struggled to control the rickety plane, constantly pulling up the altitude and flying towards the northern sky.

These devil planes flew too low, almost grazing the hills, and the anti-aircraft gunners below had already taken aim, so almost every shell accurately found its target in the air.

The rest of the devil fighters hurriedly flew with their wings slanted, dodging the dense air defense net and flying around the sky over Baima Ridge at the last moment.

At this time, six Japanese fighters flew into the northern sky again, and the number of Japanese planes suddenly reached ten, occupying an absolute advantage in numbers.

The fighters did not dare to respond to the battle, and when they saw the great power of the antiaircraft guns of the New Second Army, they immediately flew at a low altitude around the line of Baimaling. The Japanese aircraft group was very jealous and did not dare to get too close, but only circled high in the sky around Baimaling, disappointing the air defense troops of the New Second Army, who were waiting for the battle.

Although the pilots' skills are very bad and the number is small, in the face of the joint efforts of the aircraft and anti-aircraft guns, the Japanese fighters have a bit of a feeling that the dog bites the hedgehog and has nowhere to put his mouth.

After hovering in the air for nearly a quarter of an hour, the Japanese aircraft group finally made a decision - to leave the defensive position of the New Second Army and fly towards the northern sky.

The entire air battle lasted for half an hour, and the **** fighters, who were absolutely inferior in numbers, won the victory at the cost of shooting down two Japanese fighters without any casualties.

The officers and men of the New Second Army on the nearby mountains all rushed out of their hidden places, raised their guns and cheered loudly, and the **** planes that flew a few laps in low altitude also shook their wings and put on a few happy poses to greet the officers and men of the New Second Army.

Throughout the day, the Japanese planes stationed at Jianqiao Airport flew over the defense line of the New Second Army many times to look for opportunities, and the **** fighters did not show weakness, and with the cooperation of ground air defense, they repeatedly destroyed the Japanese army's plans, especially the heavy bombers, encountered dexterous fighters, and were shot down five in a row.

The air force worked in vain and did not dispel the idea of the Japanese attack.

In accordance with the deployment of the Central China Front, the army aviation first violently bombarded the defense line of the New Second Army, and then the 23rd and 33rd divisions followed up and launched a fierce attack on the defense line of the New Second Army, which was covered by poison gas bombs. If the aviation is blocked by **** fighters and the air defense units of the New Second Army, it can only wait for the heavy artillery units to arrive at the front line from the north bank of the Qiantang River before attacking.

It should be said that the plan formulated by Kawabe Shozo was relatively safe, but it did not receive the support of the two division commanders of Komatsubara Michitaro and Ganji Shigetaro. Although they had heard of the terrible situation of Wu Ming and the New Second Army, they thought that the exaggerated elements were the majority, and they were on the front line and decided to change the plan after meeting and discussing it.

In the early morning of 19 June, just after dawn, the 23rd and 33rd Divisions of the Japanese Army each transferred a wing to launch an attack on the main positions of the New Second Army on the Mae Chi Ridge and Kengwu Mountain, which were held by the New Second Army, from both sides of the Puyang River and the Huangtong River.

The two divisions equipped all the artillery that could be mobilized to the forward troops, and an overwhelming barrage of shells flew towards the positions of the New Second Army.

The New Second Division, the New Third Division and the Independent Division were distributed in a zigzag pattern, with the New Second Division and the New Third Division in the front, guarding the left and right flanks, and the Independent Division being stationed as a reserve on the line of Baimaling and Hutong Mountain for timely reinforcements.

In the face of the Japanese attack, Luo Yuming and Yang Sixian were not very worried, but only kept abreast of the situation at the front by phone.

Although the vast majority of devil soldiers have never been on the battlefield, they are young and vigorous and dare to work hard, and at the same time, officers at all levels and non-commissioned officers at the grassroots level are carefully selected from the main divisions and regiments, and in terms of combat effectiveness, they are on a par with the New Second Army, which is full of new soldiers.

The Japanese attack was fierce, and under the supervision of officers at all levels, the young soldiers, who had been brainwashed by the spirit of bushido, shouted the slogan of allegiance to the emperor, and crashed into the defensive positions like a tidal wave.

Although the Japanese offensive momentum was fierce, the officers and men of the New Second Army, who were hiding in trenches, pillboxes and other fortifications, quickly repelled the first Japanese attack.

After learning the news that the Japanese army was repulsed, Wu Ming couldn't sit still any longer, and secretly took Zhang Ying, Chengyuan and others to the dense forest at the foot of the southern foot of the Meichi Mountains by car, and then walked to the command post of the new Second Division.

When the general of the new Second Division welcomed Wu Ming into the command post, the smile on Luo Yuming's face disappeared, and he complained: "Junzao, why did you come to the front?" ”

"What's the matter, I can't come and see if I can't do it?"

Wu Ming snorted, came to the lookout, and picked up the telescope around his neck to observe the situation in front of him.

"As early as before the war, the chief of staff ordered that it was strictly forbidden for the military to sit on the front line...... You are the backbone of our New Second Army, it is too dangerous here, and the Japanese army will do everything they can, and they may drop poison gas bombs at any time. ”

Luo Yuming came to Wu Ming's side and persuaded bitterly: "The Japanese army is brewing a second wave of offensives, military seat, you should go back to the military headquarters!" ”

"It was because the Japanese army had just attacked, so I had to observe it on the spot in order to make a rough estimate of the Japanese army's combat strength. Well, stop talking nonsense! ”

Wu Ming waved his hand, interrupted Luo Yuming's nagging, turned his head slightly and asked, "Can you introduce the battle situation in detail!" ”

Seeing that persuasion had no effect, Luo Yuming had to give up and hurriedly seize the time to report:

"Junzuo, our division is the old foundation laid by you, and the two regiments of the First Brigade are currently on the front line. The Japanese army on the opposite side was much weaker than the 114th Division in terms of combat effectiveness, but it was victorious in not fearing death, and during the assault, the devils fell to the ground in waves, and the corpses were all over the field, and the others still did not change their faces until the whole army was annihilated. ”

"Due to the threat of our anti-aircraft guns, the Japanese planes did not dare to easily lower their altitude for bombing. Lacking air support, although the Japanese attack was fierce, our army occupied a favorable position and had relatively complete trenches, pillboxes and bunkers as cover, and the Japanese army did not bargain at all! ”

"Yes, there is a question that you must consider...... At present, the Japanese heavy artillery has not had time to be dispatched, and you can easily deal with it. ”

Wu Ming Zhengse asked: "But if it is suppressed by the Japanese heavy artillery unit, how will your department respond?" As early as the Battle of Wuhan, the Japanese army dropped poison gas bombs on ****. In addition, at present, the number of gas masks in our army is seriously insufficient, and there are many shortages in your division, so you must prepare in advance! ”

"Yes!"

Luo Yuming stood upright and was about to explain his countermeasures, when Lu Dazhong, the deputy commander of the new Second Division on the side, suddenly pointed to the forward position and reminded: "Military seat, division seat, you see, the Japanese army has launched an attack again!" ”

Wu Ming and Luo Yuming hurriedly picked up the binoculars and looked at the starting position of the Japanese army in front of the mountain.

In the telescope, the 75-mm mountain guns and 70-mm infantry guns of the artillery squadron and the infantry artillery squadron under the Japanese wing began to test fire, and a Japanese fighter plane repeatedly circled in the air to do artillery fire calibration. It seems that after the first wave of attacks was thwarted, the Japanese began to become a little more cautious.

The devil is like destroying the defenders with only artillery fire, and the cannonballs are fired for no money, and this round of artillery preparation alone took nearly a quarter of an hour.

Most of the officers and men in the trenches withdrew into the air-raid shelters, but there were still a small number of soldiers left to prevent the Japanese infantry and artillery from taking advantage of the opportunity to attack. At the end of the shelling, although most of them were unharmed, many soldiers were blown away by the shells.

The smoke of gunpowder dispersed under the mountain breeze, and the flag of the Flying Tiger Army of the New Second Army was still fluttering, and the newly splashed blood made the flag more bright and dazzling.

As soon as the artillery fire stopped, the devil's attack began, and about a brigade-sized Japanese soldier, wearing steel helmets and 38 large covers, advanced under the leadership of the leading officer holding a command knife.

At the front of the male crane's nose, seeing the devil soldiers attacking all over the mountains, Wang Dayuan, the deputy of the second regiment, was a little surprised, turned his head and shouted to the back: "Tuanzuo, the little devil is still five hundred meters away from us!" ”

"I know!"

Lu Gang replied casually, only to see him shout at the hidden artillery position behind: "Are you ready?" ”

"Ready!"

The cannon company commander replied in a loud voice.

"Shoot!"

With Lu Gang's order, there was a muffled sound from the Xionghebi anti-slope artillery position, and the 16 August 1 mortars roared in unison, and bursts of fire went straight to the Japanese artillery position.

Lu Gang hurriedly grabbed his binoculars and carefully observed the Japanese artillery position set up in the south of Shangzhuang Village, four miles away: the firepower of the 16 mortars collectively stunned the Japanese artillery.

In a burst of fire and smoke, the Japanese artillery rushed one after another, and a mountain cannon and infantry cannon overturned to the ground. The shelling did not stop, and after just a few seconds, another volley was fired, which this time triggered the ammunition of the artillery belonging to the Japanese wing, and in the huge explosion, a mushroom cloud evaporated, and the Japanese artillery position instantly fell into hell on earth.

The commander of the 23rd Division, Michitaro Komatsubara, who was observing the Japanese attack in the back, had his eyes popping out, and he muttered: "Eight Geyalu, when did the Chinese army have such powerful firepower?" What do the intelligence services eat? ”

The division commander on the side, Chief of Staff Suzuki Osa, was silent, the firepower of the New Second Army has always been very strong, but the information sent before did not attract enough attention from Lieutenant General Komatsubara, so he deployed the artillery to such a high position in a daze, and this time it finally caused big trouble!