Chapter 243: The Massacre at the Mouth of the Datong River

Just when Katsura Taro broke through the defense line of the Yalu River. K. Genji and Nozu Michiguan also reached the last moment in their flanking attack on Pyongyang's Nie Shicheng. After the Mudantai Heights and the Datongjiang positions fell successively, the main force of Nie Shicheng's troops finally began to withdraw outside the city. In the city, part of the troops were left to contain the siege troops of the mountain Genji. All the 105mm guns were relocated to an unnamed high ground outside the city, where they were to do their best for the retreat of the Beiyang Army. Under the cover of the troops on both flanks, the main force of Nie Shicheng's troops prepared to begin attacking the blockade line of Nozu Dokan.

To the surprise of the Japanese army, it was not Nie Shicheng's Pyongyang garrison that fired the first shot in the Pyongyang Breakout Battle, but the naval guns of the Beiyang Fleet! After Xu Jie rushed back to Lushun from Tianjin, the repair of the fleet did not go very smoothly, but the dangerous situation in Pyongyang City had made it necessary for the Beiyang Fleet to support immediately. At this time, the Guiyuan, which had been repairing in Shanghai, also completed the repair work and returned to Lushun, so after discussing with Ding Ruchang, Liu Buyun and others, Xu Jie took the six capital ships of the Beiyang Fast Fleet to cover the transport fleet and sailed to the mouth of the Datong River, and transported 2,000 troops to prepare for the reception.

In this way, under the cover of six warships totaling more than 40,000 tons, a convoy of dozens of ships of various kinds sailed mightily towards the mouth of the Datong River. "Isn't it? The Japanese actually deployed their defensive lines so close to the sea. Are you afraid that the ship's guns won't be able to hit? Luang Weili put down the binoculars and said in surprise. I have the feeling that Motoharu Yamachi or Michikan Nozu did not get the real picture of the defeat of the Combined Fleet at all. Xu Jie sneered, if you change the angle, Xu Jie will also hide part of the defeat in the naval battle, after all, if you want to fight, stabilizing the morale of the army is the first. But how much to hide depends on the actual situation.

"Okay, each ship prepares, prepare to shell the Japanese field fortifications, and then log in the troops to occupy the beachhead and prepare to meet Nie Junmen's troops." Xu Jie ordered.

Then the six warships of the Beiyang Fast Fleet drew a circle on the sea surface and lined up in a single column to approach the shore. At the same time, the Japanese troops on the shore suddenly discovered that the dragon flag representing the Beiyang Fleet was actually hanging on the strange warship! "Is this the Beiyang Fleet?" "When did the Beiyang Fleet have such huge warships?" "Where is our combined fleet?" All sorts of chattering spread among the soldiers.

"They are indeed the Beiyang Fleet, and the 3 ships behind are Guiyuan-class battleships! This is how my brother's friend's neighbor's boat was sunk and he was fished up. Absolutely, yes! A military cao said loudly. Look at its main guns, two in the front and one in the back, and a row of guns on the side, this is obviously the far level. Looking at the group of companions who were still a little dazed, the military officer jumped to his feet and said.

"What about our navy?" "Fuji and Yashima, the largest in the Imperial Navy, are not as strong as them?" "The Imperial fleet isn't going to be finished, is it?" Soon this shock quickly turned into fear, and spread like a plague among the Japanese army. Looking at the slowly rotating turret of the battleship in the distance, watching the muzzle of the black hole gradually aim at him, this powerful pressure has made many people's spirits on the verge of collapse. "Fast forward to the bunker." I don't know who shouted, the other Japanese soldiers were stunned for a moment, and then ran towards the anti-artillery holes that had just been dug or had not been dug yet, and some soldiers even fought for an anti-artillery hole.

"Let's shoot." Looking at those chaotic Japanese soldiers, Lang Weili did not have a trace of fighting**, this is like a peerless master who pulls out the long sword in his hand and suddenly finds that his opponent is a kitten! It's a disappointing situation! But these three words are undoubtedly the doomsday verdict for the Japanese army, and the vast majority of them will be ruthlessly devoured by the artillery of this fleet! …,

Accompanied by the roar of the huge cannons, the Tianjin battleship, which weighed 10,000 tons, also shook slightly, and six 10-inch guns and four 6-inch guns were fired one after another. This was followed by the Lushun and Weihai, and then the Guiyuan 3 ship. From the shore, the flames from the guns of the six warships formed a wall of fire and quickly approached the shore. A few seconds later, before the Japanese could hear the sound of shelling, a shell had already fallen on the Japanese position!

The 227kg high-explosive grenade plunged headlong into a trench, and then with a loud bang, the energy generated by the explosion spread through the air and the earth to the four circles, and many Japanese soldiers in the vicinity were not hit by shrapnel at all, nor were they burned by the flames, but were directly shattered by the powerful shock. Some of them were crushed by the overpressure air. Some of them were close to the wall of the anti-artillery cave and were shattered by the powerful vibration, and some were lucky enough to have their eardrums shattered. Some of them also began to have bloodshot eyes, and everything in front of them was blood-red, and they couldn't see anything clearly.

But that's just the beginning. This will be the heaviest shelling that the Japanese have experienced since the start of the war! A full 14 10-inch guns, 9 8-inch guns, 26 6-inch rapid-fire guns and 6 4.7-inch rapid-fire guns poured death rain on the Japanese offensive on the coast. What do these numbers mean? Even if all the 107mm heavy guns of Nokan Michitsu are combined, they are not comparable to the projection volume of the six 4.7-inch guns in Beiyang. The combat rate of fire of the ship's guns was from 6 to 8 rounds a minute. And the 107mm land gun can reach 2 rounds in 1 minute, which is quite good! And the weight of the bullet is bigger than yours!

"I just felt the earth shaking, like an earthquake. There was a constant thunderous roar in the air, but unlike thunder, the sound was so connected that you couldn't tell one of them apart, like there were countless drums banging in your ears at the same time. I don't have the guts to poke my head out, because I know that if you open the door to the bunker, you can lose your life. In this case, even a gust of wind is enough to shred your lungs! A Japanese soldier who survived by chance recorded this in his diary.

Suddenly, a shell entered the water more than 100 meters in front of the Guiyuan. The high column of water caught Xu Jie's attention. "There's Japanese artillery over there." The sharp-eyed Lang Weili pointed to a high ground in the distance and said. "That's right, it's just that it was hidden at first, and now they're firing." A staff officer said. "Looks like it's still a 107mm cannon. There are not a few divisions in the Japanese army. Sweep them away. Xu Jie sneered.

To say that the original intention of Nozu Michikani to place a small number of 107mm guns here is definitely not to deal with possible warships. First, Nozu Michikani does not think that the Beiyang Fleet can now appear in the waters off the Datong River. After all, the base camp report didn't say it. On the other hand, this was so that after the rearmost line of defense was torn apart, the Japanese could still control the coastline through the heavy artillery deployed on the flanks, so that the Qing army could not retreat smoothly. It is not impossible to even sink a couple of transport ships. But God played a huge joke on him. This artillery is not facing unarmed transport ships, nor the exhausted Beiyang Army, but the elite warships of the Beiyang Fleet armed to the teeth!

With the order of the flagship, the Kaiyuan at the end of the line turned its guns and bombarded the Japanese artillery position. A few minutes later, a rain of 6-inch and 4.7-inch shells reduced the Japanese artillery positions to a pile of ashes! Since then, another ban has been added to the Japanese artillery drill code: it is strictly forbidden for artillery to shoot at warships!

The projection of more than a dozen tons of ammunition per minute was shattered by the nearby Japanese defense lines. The thick smoke of gunpowder and the smell of blood filled the battlefield. "Let's stop firing at the ships, order the marines to prepare for the landing, pick up Nie Shicheng's troops, and send a signal directly if they need artillery support." Xu Jie looked at the Japanese position that had been bombed to the surface of the moon, and his heart couldn't help but tighten. "How much silver has been knocked out this time," Xu Jie said in his heart. …,

At the same time, Nie Shicheng's breakthrough operation was officially launched. If you want to leave, the artillery can't be taken away, so let's just run out all the shells, so the Beiyang heavy artillery unit stationed in North Korea carried out the last battle, a crazy battle. The cannonballs were fired at each other as if they didn't want money.

Beiyang is good at defending, which does not mean that it will not attack. As early as when the Japanese army was beaten in the head and bled under the defense line of Beiyang, the officers of Beiyang were thinking about what to do if one day we attacked. As early as the beginning of the preparation of the Beiyang New Army, Xu Jie had subconsciously integrated the tactics of the Storm Commando into the Beiyang Army Drill, and in the face of the coordinated operation of the Japanese army's Gatling artillery and mortar artillery, Beiyang learned from it, but at the same time, it also found shortcomings. That is, there is no particularly effective way to strengthen the fortifications with the roof.

Machine gun fire is top-notch against infantry, but it has nothing to do with hard targets. Although the mortar is fast and lightweight, if it is attacked to the top, the power is obviously not enough with only a small charge. In order to deal with these concealed fortifications, direct fire was necessary. And direct fire can only be something like a 57mm Krupp camp gun. But there's a problem with this thing, which is that the car will back away after firing a cannonball, unless you bury the wheels in the dirt. But then it is obvious that it is impossible to maneuver.

For this problem, Shao Yu and other officers of the Beiyang New Army came up with a solution. Since the machine gun can be equipped with a bracket to prevent the gun from shaking. So why can't artillery? Just do it, Shao Yu and the others first chose the 6-pounder gun as the experimental target, the 75-pounder gun was too heavy and difficult to get, and the 3-pounder gun was too powerful to use. Therefore, the 57mm Krupp gun became the first choice, and something similar to the later stationary hoe was added to the back of the gun. Used to prevent the displacement of artillery. And this artillery was named assault artillery! In addition, bulletproof steel plates were installed in front and on the sides of the gun truck. The purpose of its use is to be able to maneuver within a certain range and provide direct fire support when the troops are attacking.

Of course, this artillery must be used in cooperation with other units. The whole combat system is as follows: first of all, the heavy artillery suppresses the exposed enemy fire points, and at the same time, after completing the shelling of the opponent's position, it continues to bombard the surrounding enemy positions to isolate the target position from the opponent's defense system. Sharp strikes followed, with units armed with machine guns and mortars alternating cover while destroying enemy forces along the way. If it is found that there are fortifications such as bunkers that cannot be solved, then they are solved directly with 57mm anti-aircraft guns. (Of course, it can only deal with temporary field fortifications, and 57mm guns are of little use for those fortifications that have been prepared for a long time.) Then the advance troops entered the enemy's trenches, opened the gap and widened the gap, and the follow-up troops entered the battlefield and completely broke through the opponent's position.

There is one more shift tonight, which will completely end the land war in North Korea. After a few more chapters of political wrestling with the center, the naval battle will begin next Monday~~. There will be the shelling of Yokosuka and the engagement with the Russian fleet. Everyone, give us a lot of support.