The supreme commander of the Japanese army on the position outside the north gate of Hengyang City was the wing commander of the 34th Infantry Wing of the 3rd Division, Kazuo Takahashi, who ordered the artillery to carry out a covering artillery bombardment of the front of the position. Matsumoto Zefu asked in a trembling voice: "Your Excellency, Wing Commander, do you mean to cover the front of the position with artillery fire?"

Kazuo Takahashi asked coldly: "Matsumoto-kun, are you questioning my orders?" Matsumoto Zefu Nakasa hurriedly lowered his head and said: "Your Excellency, there are still soldiers of the empire at the front of the position who are fighting with the people of China, is it ......" Before Matsumoto Zefu Nakasa finished speaking, Kazuo Takahashi was already angry and scolded: "Yaga! Shut up! Don't you see that there are not many soldiers left in the empire?"

Kazuo Takahashi was still angry after scolding, and raised his hand to give Matsumoto Zeo a few more slaps. The strict hierarchy in the Japanese army made Matsumoto Zefu dare not distinguish at all, so he could only lower his head and respond repeatedly: "Hey, hey!" The signal soldier next to him trotted to the artillery position early to convey the order of the wing commander, and Matsumoto Zefu secretly saw Takahashi Kazuo's attention on the forward position again, so he quietly wiped the blood on the corner of his mouth, and then also set his eyes on the forward position.

The forward positions were originally garrisoned by the 2nd Infantry Brigade, but not long after the hand-to-hand combat began, the 1st Infantry Brigade was ordered to reinforce the forward positions. The vast majority of the hundreds of soldiers who are still fighting with the Chinese army on the front line of the position are soldiers of the 1st Infantry Brigade. Matsumoto Zefu was promoted from the 1st Infantry Brigade little by little, and he still has a lot of affection for his subordinates, who are also fellow villagers and compatriots.

After a while, the artillery squadron in the wing opened fire, eight 75-caliber mountain guns, eight Type 92 infantry guns and twelve 80-caliber mortars opened fire at the same time, the shells screamed and fell towards the front of the position, and suddenly the explosion of the shells drowned out the roar of the fighting, and the smoke and dust enveloped the figures of the soldiers on both sides.

Wei Erxi and Wei Lixuan, who were paying attention to the fighting between the two sides in the back, were stunned by the scene in front of them, and Wei Lixuan scolded fiercely in anger: "I am your little Japanese ancestor!" scolded and smashed his fist on the wooden pillar of the observation post, and blood suddenly flowed out. And Wei Erxi was much calmer, and after finally passing the shock at the beginning, he immediately ordered the signal corps with a murderous face: "Order, the brigade artillery battalion will open fire and resolutely destroy the small Japanese artillery!"

Soon the twenty-four 75-mm imitation German field guns of the artillery battalion of the brigade in the rear of the position opened fire, and the shells flew directly to the artillery positions behind the Japanese positions. A few minutes later, all the Japanese artillery was silent, and the front of the position calmed down. A covering artillery bombardment by the Japanese brought the fighting to a halt, and the fighters on both sides were dodging the shelling and had no intention of fighting each other.

After the smoke at the front of the Japanese position was blown away by the wind, a scene of wolf was revealed, Wei Erxi had already mobilized the 881st Regiment to reinforce it, and Wei Lixuan rushed directly with the guard company. After Wei Lixuan rushed to the position, there were large and small craters in front of him, as well as the corpses of Chinese and Japanese soldiers lying on the ground, and at this time, the officers and soldiers of the 880th Regiment who were not affected by the shells also ran over, and before Wei Lixuan could speak, they began to rush to rescue the wounded.

This area, where the Japanese artillery bombarded was concentrated, happened to be the front line of the Japanese position, and it was also the place where the two sides fought the most fiercely, and this artillery fire caused heavy losses on both sides. Of the more than 500 soldiers still fighting by the Japanese army, less than 200 were able to escape back to their positions, and the rest remained on their positions. The 1st and 2nd Battalions of the 880th Regiment also suffered heavy losses.

The commander of the first battalion was seriously wounded, the commander of the second battalion died, and three of the six company commanders were killed, two were seriously injured, and one was slightly injured, and the combined casualties of the soldiers of the two battalions reached 60%. Faced with such a tragic scene, Wei Lixuan's eyes were red and his face was murderous. After the 881st Regiment rushed up, the regiment commander Chu Zhengyang was busy sending troops to the Japanese position and serving as a guard, and on the other hand, he was busy directing the soldiers of the 880th Regiment to send the wounded down first.

Wei Lixuan walked in front of Chu Zhengyang, gritted his teeth and said to Chu, Zhengyang said: "Avenge our regiment and kill these little Japan!" Seeing Chu Zhengyang's solemn nodding and agreeing, he saluted him and retreated back with the seriously wounded. Chu Zhengyang couldn't help but sigh as he looked at Wei Lixuan's back leaving, he understood that the 880 Regiment had been hit so hard, and he was afraid that it would take a while to recover his original qi.

After such a tragic confrontation, the battlefield was temporarily quiet. Although the 881st Regiment occupied a Japanese position, it was not in a hurry to attack until it had clearly observed the depth of the Japanese position, and after the Japanese lost nearly two infantry brigades and half an artillery squadron at once, Wing Commander Kazuo Takahashi was also busy rearming the defense, and he was powerless to counterattack.

There was silence on the position outside the north gate, and the battle between the west gate and the south gate was in full swing. The position outside the West Gate was the most important position of the Japanese army, not only the position was densely fortified, but also the sturdiness was the best. Two infantry brigades were placed on the first line of positions 500 meters wide and 100 meters deep in the front, and there was also a squadron of heavy machine guns and a squadron of rapid-fire guns on the positions to assist in the defense.

The 3rd Infantry Wing and the 64th Infantry Wing, which were the most effective units of the 3rd Division, were sent to garrison the position outside the West Gate at the same time, and the abundance of troops also made the commander of the 3rd Infantry Wing, Inoue Kojiro Osa, full of confidence in holding the position. Inoue Kojiro Osa said to Haruo Ozawa, the wing commander of the 64th Wing, at the command post: "Ozawa-kun, with my third wing stationed in the position, if the people want to capture the position, how many lives do you guess will have to fill it?"

Haruo Ozawa was not optimistic, and replied: "Iyama-kun, we must not underestimate the Shina army, it is said that the Shina army we are facing is not only strong in combat, but also extremely good in weaponry, not only the number of artillery is extremely large and powerful, but also there are huge chariots. As soon as the Chinese army throws these heavy weapons into the attack, I am afraid that we will not be able to stop the attack of the Chinese army. ”

Haruo Ozawa's answer made Inoue Kojiro Osa extremely dissatisfied, and he said unhappily: "Ozawa-kun, don't listen to those rumors, I still know what the Shina army is like, even if they are given these advanced heavy weapons, it is not certain whether they can use them well!"

Opposite the Japanese army's West Gate position was the 90th Division, and in the battle of attacking the Yumu Mountain position, Tang Yiqun's 271st Brigade lost some troops, so the task of the first attack was handed over to the 272nd Brigade led by Zhang Lingfu. Don't look at Zhang Lingfu is not an old man who followed Wang Haitao to raise troops, but he still won Wang Haitao's trust.

Among Wang Haitao's subordinates, Zhang Lingfu has always been very low-key, but with his high cultural literacy, he has the deepest understanding of Wang Haitao's tactical concepts. In particular, he has a more thorough understanding of the use of heavy weapons, including the more advanced tactical concepts of infantry-tank coordination and infantry-artillery coordination, and he is also more bold and skillful in using them.

Before the attack, Wei Erxi did not send the chariot to attack at the same time as the 880th Regiment for fear that the chariot would suffer, but Zhang Lingfu was different, he lined up a mixed armored battalion in front of the 545th Regiment that was preparing to attack. Proficient in infantry coordination, he knew how much of a role chariots, especially tanks, would play in an offensive and how many casualties would be reduced to infantry.

The 85-mm howitzer and artillery regiment of the 90th Division and the Japanese 240 heavy howitzer and artillery regiment launched an artillery bombardment of the Japanese positions at the same time, and the two artillery regiments had different powers and different targets, and the 85-mm howitzer and artillery regiments were slightly less powerful and did little damage to the strong fortifications on the Japanese positions, so they specifically bombed the Japanese soldiers in the trenches.

The Japanese 240 heavy howitzer and artillery are powerful and powerful weapons for destroying the strong fortifications of the Japanese positions, so its target is those bunker fortifications. It's just a pity that the number of heavy howitzers and artillery is a little less, only 24 pieces, and it is inevitable that there will be places that cannot be blown up during bombing. The artillery bombardment continued for half an hour, and the barbed wire, horse rejection and other obstacles set up in front of the Japanese position had been cleared in the artillery fire.

The 545th Regiment was a thousand meters away from the Japanese position, and as soon as the order to attack was issued, first more than 20 combat vehicles slowly moved forward under the roar of the engines, and soon formed a triangular attack formation. At the forefront were four heavy Cheetah tanks, followed by six light tanks, followed by eight heavy armored vehicles and ten light armored vehicles.

As soon as the chariot moved forward, the 545th Regiment followed closely. As in normal training, there is a different number of fighters behind each vehicle to cover the advance. On the Japanese position, the soldiers had just recovered from the shelling when they heard someone shouting: "The chariot of the Shina people is attacking!" and they were driven into the defensive position by the junior officers.

The positions of the two armies were far apart, and the heavy machine guns were of little use at this distance, only a few dozen mortars in the regiment could be used as cover. But as the tank advanced, the vehicle-mounted artillery and vehicle-mounted heavy machine guns began to wield. The vehicle-mounted artillery was designed to fire at heavy machine-gun fire points on Japanese positions, while the vehicle-mounted heavy machine guns were used against soldiers in trenches.

Seeing that the heavy machine guns on his own position had no effect on the attacking tanks, but were destroyed by the artillery on the tanks in China, the Japanese commander on the forward position was in a hurry, and he hurriedly ordered the rapid-fire artillery squadron to open fire on the attacking tanks. The Japanese army's 37 mm rapid-fire guns can be used against armored vehicles, especially light armored vehicles, which can be destroyed if they hit the vital point.

However, the Japanese army set its target on the tank that was rushing ahead, and the composite armor of the Cheetah-type heavy tank was inclined at 60 degrees to the front, and the thickness reached 30 centimeters.