readx;? On the morning of that day, the Japanese formed a fleet on the Yangtze River, with the heavy cruiser Kaohsiung as the flagship, the light cruisers Naka and Yuliang, the destroyers Muyue and Ruyue as the auxiliaries, and four gunboats as escorts, and approached the Laoshan Battery. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 Except for the four small gunboats that did not have large-caliber guns, each warship had several large-caliber naval guns, and the flagship Kaohsiung was equipped with five 5o times diameter 2o3 mm twin guns.

Fifteen kilometers away from Laoshan on the river, the Japanese cruisers lined up in the center of the river, and only the large-caliber naval guns of light and heavy cruisers in this fleet could hit Laoshan from here, and neither the destroyers, let alone the small guns of the gunboats. In order to improve the accuracy of the naval guns, a seaplane was also taken off from the light patrol to correct the artillery fire.

When the Japanese fleet was 20 kilometers away from Laoshan, the observation post on the top of Laoshan saw the arrival of the Japanese ships and used the walkie-talkie to notify the artillery on the gun emplacement. When the Japanese ships stopped their ships, the artillery on the batteries was also ready for shelling. At the same time that the Japanese warships began to shell the Laoshan Fort, the German-made 150 heavy guns on the fort also began to shell the Japanese troops.

The distance of 15 kilometers is the best distance for the artillery firing of both sides, the naval guns on the Japanese ships have been corrected by observation aircraft, and they are also very accurate, and the shells continue to explode on the rocks above the battery and in front of the battery, but fortunately, the gun emplacements are shrunk in the mountain wall, and the shrapnel that flies into the gun position is basically hit on the mountain wall, that is, some of them fly into the gun emplacement, and they are also blocked by the shields on the guns, so although the Japanese guns are very fierce, the casualties of the artillery on the battery are not large.

And the shells fired from the guns on the batteries seriously threatened the Japanese warships on the river. The aiming of the German-made heavy artillery was done by relying on the observation post on the top of the mountain, and after the observation post measured the distance and bearing, the coordinates were reported to the artillery on the gun emplacement by walkie-talkie, and the artillery only needed to calibrate the muzzle according to this coordinate. Twenty heavy guns were aimed at the same target, and as a result, a large area around the target was covered by artillery fire.

The artillery battle lasted only five minutes, and the Japanese light cruiser Nake was shot first, and a series of 448 kilogram howitzer shells fell on the body of the light cruiser, although the howitzer shells were not as effective against the warship as the armor-piercing shells, but the shock wave and shrenel after the explosion of these howitzers also formed a metal storm on the deck of the Nako, as long as the Japanese troops who were exposed to the explosion range were hit with a fatal blow, and even the command room in the middle of the ship was hit by shrapnel.

Although the light cruiser Nako was not seriously damaged, the large losses of the sailors also seriously reduced his combat effectiveness. The fleet commander on the heavy cruiser Kaohsiung, Rear Admiral Oshima Kawaichi, saw that the Naka had been hit, and while ordering the continuation of the artillery bombardment of the Laoshan battery, the warship Naka withdrew from the battle.

During the artillery battle between the Laoshan Fort and several Japanese cruisers, two destroyers quietly approached the Laoshan Battery, each equipped with four single-mounted guns of 45 times the diameter of 12o mm. When the two destroyers were only about eight kilometers away from the Laoshan Battery, the guns on the destroyers also joined the artillery battle.

The artillery battle between the two sides lasted for two hours, and when the Japanese warships saw that they could not successfully destroy the Laoshan Battery, and two more warships on their side were damaged, the commander Oshima Kawaichi decisively commanded the fleet to withdraw from the battle. As soon as the Japanese fleet withdrew, the artillerymen on the battery also collapsed to the ground tiredly. After two hours of high-intensity artillery fighting, no matter how good the physical strength of these artillerymen was, they could not bear it, and one shell of this heavy artillery weighed 48 kilograms.

The Japanese warships did not fight, and the infantry did not take advantage of it. The 18th Division was attacking Yeji and Jinzhai on the second road, and was constantly harassed by small groups of troops along the way, coupled with the difficulty of walking the mountain road, it took two days to reach the defender's position. Guarding Ye Ji was the 274th Brigade of the 91st Division, and the brigade commander, Major General Ma Bingxiang, also fought here from the Shanghai battlefield, and had quite rich experience in Japanese combat.

Located at the junction of Henan and Anhui, Yeji Town is a recess surrounded by mountains, and there is a highway in front of the town that can barely pass through trucks, Shangliu Highway, which connects Lu'an City in Anhui Province and Shangcheng County in Henan. A few kilometers south of Yeji Town is Fujin Mountain, which is on the south side of the Shangliu Highway, and it is condescending to completely block this highway, and the Japanese army can't do it if they want to bypass.

Brigade Commander Ma Bingxiang placed the 562nd Regiment, which had the strongest combat effectiveness, on the frontal battlefield of the main peak, with the 1st Battalion of the 563rd Regiment on the left position, the 2nd Battalion on the right position, the 3rd Battalion as the reserve of the whole brigade, and the heavy firepower battalion divided into two and handed over to the two battalions for use. On the top of the main peak, there is a mortar battalion of the whole brigade, and the guard battalion directly under the brigade is placed in Yeji Town.

The 23rd Brigade of the 18th Division of the Japanese Army, under the leadership of Brigade Commander Hiroshi Otsuka, went straight to Yeji Town, and when the troops walked to Fujin Mountain, there was now a squadron stationed on Fujin Mountain. After carefully looking at the terrain, Hiroshi Otsuka understood that in order to pass through the road in front of him, Fujin Mountain had to be captured, otherwise it would be impossible for the troops to pass under the mountain safely.

Since this is the case, then it is necessary to attack the mountain, Otsuka Hiroshi asked the mountain artillery brigade that came with him to set up the artillery position, and the twelve seventy-five mountain guns were aimed at the main position in front. At the foot of the mountain, an infantry brigade also set up four Type 92 infantry guns and a dozen mortars, and was ready to attack.

Xie Boting, commander of the 562nd Regiment, and his soldiers knew very well about the Japanese army's offensive method of first shelling, then infantry attacking, and then shelling after attacking, so when repairing fortifications, they would never forget to dig some anti-artillery holes in the mountain wall behind the position. On the main frontal position, from the first line of defense to the top of the hill, a total of three lines of defense were built, each line of defense was the strength of a battalion, the heavy fire battalion was also divided into three, and handed over to the three battalions for use, and the regimental guard company was temporarily hidden as a reserve in a cave on the top of the mountain.

At this time, there were only a few observation posts on the first line of defense hiding behind the fortifications and watching the Japanese troops under the mountain, and their officers and soldiers were hidden in the anti-artillery holes behind the position, and eight of the ten people in the 562nd Regiment were veterans, and no one was afraid of the Japanese attack, and those recruits had also experienced two or three battles when defending Xuzhou, although they were not as calm as these veterans, but they did not have the tension of the recruits.

Sure enough, the attacker was not big, and the Japanese shells landed accurately on the position. The 12 mountain guns, a dozen mortars, and four Type 92 infantry guns were much weaker than in previous battles, and none of the officers and men in the anti-artillery holes took such shelling seriously. Ten minutes later, the Japanese mountain artillery stopped, only mortars and 92 infantry artillery were bombarded, and a large group of infantry also formed a formation and climbed up the mountain.

The observation post shouted: "Little Japan is coming!" The officers and men in the anti-artillery hole rushed out one after another and entered the position under Japanese artillery fire. The height of Fujin Mountain is okay, but it is not very steep, and the soldiers have cleared the firing boundary before, so the Japanese did not find it too difficult to climb, and the position on the mountain is not a trench dug out, but a gable more than one meter high built with soil and stones dug up when digging anti-artillery holes.

Many more shooting holes were dug in the gable, and the soldiers stuck their guns out of the shooting holes and condescendingly attacked the Japanese troops. The heavy machine guns, on the other hand, built several bunkers with stones on both sides of the position, and used crossfire to block the route of the Japanese attack. The Japanese were still the same, setting up heavy machine guns at a distance of 300 meters from the position, and when the infantry advanced to a distance of 200 meters from the position, the artillery fire stopped, and the infantry began to advance while firing.

The Japanese attacked from the back, and even if the slope was not steep, the charge would be much slower, so the Japanese did not enter the range of 100 meters, and the commander of the first battalion did not give the order to shoot. When the Japanese army entered the range of 100 meters, the commander of the first battalion gave an order, and light and heavy machine guns, submachine guns, and semi-automatic rifles opened fire at the same time.

There were more than 1,000 Japanese troops in an infantry brigade, and it was insignificant to fall dozens of them, and the Japanese troops behind were still bent over, fighting back while continuing to rush upward. The grenadiers in the Japanese ranks also hit the grenades behind the gables, and the fragments of the grenades caused casualties to the defenders.

The Japanese army charged upwards against the bullets of the defenders, and when they were only 50 meters away from the gable, hundreds of grenades flew out from behind the gable, and many of these grenades rolled down the hill for a short time before exploding, and hundreds of grenades made the Japanese soldiers who rushed in front suffer heavy casualties, coupled with the strafing of many automatic weapons on the position, the Japanese army could not withstand such casualties, and finally left hundreds of corpses and withdrew.

The first advance and reform suffered heavy losses, which made the face of Hiroshi Otsuka, the brigade commander, ugly, and then he organized several attacks, all of which were in vain, and the first line of defense on the mountain was full of corpses of Japanese soldiers, and the officers and soldiers of the first battalion also suffered dozens of casualties. The defenders' firepower was fierce, but the consumption of bullets was also very large, but fortunately, the 274th Brigade was well prepared, and the anti-artillery holes were full of ammunition.

The attack on Yeji was blocked, and the 35th Brigade and the two mountain artillery brigades led by the division commander Chang Na Chengyi in Jinzhai County also failed to please them. After Guo Rudong, the commander of the 91st Division, received the support of an independent mountain artillery regiment, he was more confident, and as soon as the Japanese troops began to assemble and prepare for the attack, Guo Ruxuan used this independent mountain artillery regiment to give Jiu Na Chengyi, the division commander, a dismount.

This mountain artillery regiment of the Heavy Artillery Brigade of the 90th Army was composed of Japanese mountain artillery captured on the battlefield, and originally there were 26 mountain guns, but after Wang Haitao returned, he added 12 to them, which is 38 mountain artillery, which is two more than the 36 mountain guns of a mountain artillery wing of the Japanese army.

Jiuna Chengyi didn't expect that there would be so many artillery pieces in the Chinese army at once, so the artillery in the city caught Jiuna Chengyi off guard, and the Japanese soldiers who were assembling in the artillery fire fell in pieces, and those who did not fall also scattered and fled, and the whole team was in chaos, but fortunately, the Japanese army was well-trained, and under the command of officers at all levels, they quickly retreated and withdrew out of the range of artillery, and after regrouping, the 35th Brigade lost more than 600 soldiers without attacking, and this number made the division Chang Nacheng angry。