However, Hu Weidong also knows that even off-road vehicles cannot be compared with tracked armored vehicles after all, for example, although the heavy artillery brigade that Hu Weidong originally planned to call together has been changed to vehicle-mounted artillery, and the automobile platform is also used by heavy off-road trucks, but because the weight of the heavy artillery is too large and the center of gravity is too high, the requirements for road conditions are very high, and the current China can only pass these big guys on the trunk roads connecting provincial capitals and some other large and medium-sized cities, so Hu Weidong had to give up the plan to let these heavy artillery participate in the war. This also gave birth to the idea of self-propelled heavy artillery

However, to Hu Weidong's rejoicing, the 40-tube 122mm vehicle-mounted rocket launcher is much lower than the vehicle-mounted large-caliber heavy artillery in terms of load and center of gravity, and even those sections with slightly worse road conditions are passable, and these rocket launchers are also the biggest killer weapon in Hu Weidong's hands. As for the 12-barreled 107mm rocket launcher that is lighter and has stronger cross-country ability, Hu Weidong has already brought it, and these 180 guns are almost all of the current belongings of the 15 th Group Army, but in the operation of large corps, this kind of sharp weapon that is more suitable for guerrilla warfare is not as good as the 40-barreled 122mm vehicle-mounted rocket launcher, and it is far from the same range and firepower density, even if it is three times the number of them

Due to the joint onslaught of several main infantry regiments of the 15th Army such as the Tiger Regiment and the mechanized troops of the new 51st Division, Ishihara was forced to order his subordinates to voluntarily abandon a large number of positions many times in order to reduce casualties, and if you count the positions directly seized by the enemy, the area of the Japanese 2nd Army's position has shrunk by more than half compared with the beginning of the war. At the same time, the density of personnel on the Japanese positions was also greatly increased compared with that in the early days of the war, and this was undoubtedly very conducive to the use of rocket artillery, a weapon of mass destruction. Speaking of which, Ishihara is a wise general. But he didn't expect Hu Weidong to dare to transfer reinforcements from the rear again, and they came so quickly, which cannot but be said to be a big mistake on his part.

Timely assistance from 40-barreled 122mm vehicle-mounted rocket launchers. Hu Weidong, who was very good at using artillery, was greatly confident, but considering that the area of the existing Japanese positions was still not small, and the cost of rockets was very expensive, Hu Weidong did not let the rocket artillery attack immediately. Instead, he waited until after the sun had set before giving the order, and as an artillery expert, he knew that the psychological shock caused by a rocket salvo was much greater at night than during the day, and a decision by Ishihara unexpectedly further strengthened the effect of the bombardment

He is one of Japan's most outstanding strategists. Although Ishihara was not afraid of taking risks, he was still very cautious when he was not sure, so he did not think about defeating the enemy directly in this battle at first, but planned to wait for the follow-up reinforcements to arrive before launching a large-scale counterattack. However, in the afternoon of the same day, the Japanese army in Nanjing sent a telegram that shocked him, and it turned out that due to the unexpected activity of the Northeast Anti-Japanese Alliance, the 200,000 newly formed troops in Japan that were originally to be sent to the Central China Battlefield were forced to be transferred to Manchuria to stabilize this territory that was more important to Japan. As a result, it "affected the whole body" and directly affected the situation on the battlefield in Central China.

In the following period of time, there was no domestic reinforcement, but Nanjing was directly threatened by the main force of the New Fourth Army, so the Japanese Central China Dispatch Army was even forced to abandon a large number of occupied areas west of Hefei in order to shrink its forces, and naturally it was even more impossible to send reinforcements to Ishihara's Wan'er Division. In this case. If you are not sure of defeating the Chinese ace 15th Army, then retreat to Huainan and put your strength first, but with the current situation of the 2nd Army of the devil, where is the chance to safely withdraw from the battlefield?

According to the report of the 18th Division, which was still attacking Bengbu, Ishihara had completely lost confidence in its recapture of Bengbu, and he clearly realized that the only chance to turn defeat into victory was for his 2nd Army to defeat the hundreds of thousands of elites of the Chinese Red Party in front of him, but how easy was this to say? After thinking about it, Ishihara felt that there was only one way that might work, and that was a night attack. Although the Japanese army may not be better at night combat than the 15th Army, there are many uncertainties in night battles, so the relatively weaker side is more likely to take advantage, and in the face of no chance of winning in frontal battles, this is almost the only way Ishihara can pin some hope on it.

Under Ishihara's orders, many devils were ready to fight their positions with the hope of zuihou to turn the tide with a successful large-scale night attack, in order to avoid alarming the powerful enemy, they unimaginably did almost silently, but before they could get out of the position, they heard a terrible scream in the air in front of them, and the sky that was originally dark because of the clouds and the moon was instantly illuminated by brilliant firelight, The rain of death, more magnificent than any kind of fireworks or salute in the world, fell on the Japanese positions in an instant, quickly turning them into a sea of blood and fire

"It's Chinese rocket artillery, be careful." Some of the old devils who knew that they were powerful immediately warned those young recruits in the army, but no matter what they did, it was in vain, and the 122mm rockets equipped with the rocket artillery regiment directly under the group army were equipped with cluster warheads with amazing lethality, and the instantaneous density of the rockets was already large, and it was even more amazing after dozens of sub-shells were scattered from each warhead, and to a certain extent, the dead angle of shrapnel killing was greatly reduced. In comparison, although the power of the 12-barreled 107mm rocket launcher is much smaller, and the cluster warhead is not selected because of the caliber, the total number of this kind of rocket artillery is more, and the air-burst warhead selected is also amazing, and it is really without any dead ends, and it is very suitable for relatively small caliber shells, so it also causes a fairly good killing effect.

The unavoidable fierce blow caused considerable damage to the Japanese army, and the despair in the hearts of the Japanese officers and soldiers continued to spread, especially when the darkness of night was already more fragile than the day. Originally, with Ishihara's prestige and ability, even this may not be able to stabilize the morale of the military, but a major advantage of the 40-barrel 122mm vehicle-mounted rocket launcher that surpassed the times was soon highlighted (to be continued). )