The naval guns on the gunboats in Hanoi posed a great threat to the bunkers, but because of the type of ground, it was difficult for these naval guns to hit the bunkers accurately, and most of the shells hit the walls of Lao Son Town. Shortly after the Japanese bombardment of Laoshan Town, the second batch of 36 bombers flew over Laoshan Fortress.

This time, the Japanese planes still dropped most of the bombs on the positions in the old mountain town. No matter how strong the bunker is, it can't be supported under multiple bombardments, and most of the more than a dozen bunkers have been opened skylights, but most of the soldiers inside have withdrawn into Laoshan Town through the tunnel, and only more than 20 soldiers died in the bunker.

The bunker in front of the old mountain town was destroyed, and the happiest was the captain of the Marine Corps, Yoshio Takeshita. Yoshio Takeshita looked at the black smoke bunkers in the telescope, and said excitedly: "Yo Xi! Let the warriors of the empire attack, the fortress of the people of China is no longer in danger." ”

So under the command of Yoshio Takeshita, another 1,000 Japanese troops launched an attack on Laoshan Town. Although the bunkers outside Laoshan Town were not particularly important, they had been lost in such a short period of time, which made Liu Yuzhu, the commander of the 570th Regiment, still taken aback. After losing the bunker, the next thing to defend the Japanese army was the wall of the town.

The 570th Regiment and the Engineer Regiment on this wall have put a lot of effort into it. Not only was the wall changed from a single layer to a duplex, but the additional layer was made of large rocks on the mountain, and the wall was only 2.5 meters high and 1.2 meters thick, which was strong enough to withstand the bombshells.

In the hollow mezzanine of the wall, there was a platform on which the warriors could stand and shoot out through the firing holes that had been opened. The number of soldiers in the wall was small, only an infantry platoon and half a fire company, but the armament was still very strong, and the light and heavy machine guns removed from the bunker were added, bringing the number of light and heavy machine guns here to a staggering forty.

The Japanese still used artillery to bombard the wall first, but even the shells of the 105-caliber howitzers hit the wall, and the wall was not damaged much. And the Japanese army's 37 rapid-fire guns could not touch the wall. After ten minutes of shelling, Yoshio Takeshita stopped the shelling and let the Japanese infantry attack.

The one who attacked the Japanese army was a squadron leader, and he also had a good expression on his face when he faced this wall. Although the wall was not high, it was more than two meters high, and it was unlikely that he could climb it empty-handed, so how could he climb it even if he could get under it?

The squadron leader drew his command knife, pointed at the wall of Laoshan Town in the distance, and shouted: "Kill it!" With the wave of his command knife, his soldiers lined up in an offensive formation and launched an attack on Laoshan Town. The troops under Wang Haitao had strict requirements during training, that is, they should give full play to their advantages in firepower and prohibit the release of empty guns.

Therefore, the commanders were also accustomed to fighting only when the Japanese troops were closer, so that they could give better play to their advantages in firepower. Only a few regiments of the 90th Division were able to accurately destroy the enemy from a distance of 200 meters. The Japanese army entered the range of 200 meters, and there was still no movement here on the wall, which made the Japanese squadron leader who led the attack mutter: "The people in the city will not all escape." ”

The Japanese army was striding forward, and it was about to approach a hundred meters, and a company commander commanding within the wall watched the Japanese approaching from the observation hole and shouted: "Fight!" The soldiers under his command pushed open the shooting holes one after another, revealing countless black holes in the muzzles. Then, more than a dozen heavy machine guns fired bullets at the Japanese almost simultaneously.

Seeing that they were very close to the wall, and there was still no movement there, the Japanese army couldn't help but relax a little. But at this moment, countless bullets rained down, and the advancing Japanese troops fell one by one like a strong wind blowing through the rice fields. At this time, the defenders gave full play to their advantage in firepower, with more than ten heavy machine guns and dozens of light machine guns, firing in a fan area, and there would be no dead ends at all.

The soldiers in front of them fell down one by one, and the squadron leader who led the team reacted, where did the people escape? It was clear that they had set a trap and were waiting for them. The frustrated squadron leader shouted, "Shoot, shoot!" The Japanese soldiers fell to the ground and fired back with their weapons. The Japanese army's marksmanship has always been good, but under the rain of bullets, they are also required to accurately hit a small shooting hole 100 meters away, which is difficult for some strongmen, so the Japanese army's return fire will cause little damage to the defenders.

After firing at each other for a while, the squadron leader who commanded the battle saw that his soldiers were suffering more and more casualties, and the intensity of the fire on the opposite side had not decreased at all, so he could only reluctantly order a retreat. Yoshio Takeshita, the captain of the attack this time, saw it very clearly, and he understood that in order to attack this town, he must first destroy this wall. Therefore, Takeshita Yoshio no longer let the infantry go up to die, but ordered all the artillery to concentrate their artillery fire and bombard the wall.

Yoshio Takeshita didn't know that even if he blasted open the wall, there would be countless bunkers and various fortifications waiting for him behind the wall. After Yoshio Takeshita gave the order, the artillery fire of the Mugun army began desperately to bombard the wall. Unfortunately, the strength of this wall was beyond Takeshita's expectations, and the wall did not move after half an hour of artillery bombardment.

The Marines were desperately attacking Laoshan Town, and the artillery battle between Laoshan Fort and the Japanese warships on the river had already decided the winner. The power of the large-caliber naval guns on the warship is sufficient, but no matter how powerful it is, it will be in vain if it hits the battery. However, the heavy guns on the battery hit the Japanese ships more and more often, and finally a shell hit the light cruiser Yura, just in time for the warship's control tower.

The shell pierced through the armor wall of the tower and exploded inside the tower, sweeping through everything in the tower with great force, and almost all the commanders of the warships, including the captain, were killed by the shell. The light cruiser Yura, which had lost its command system, stopped on the surface of the river and was hit by shells one after another like targets.

By the time the fleet commander on the flagship, Shiro Kawako, found out that something was wrong, the Yura had already lost power, and a fire had already ignited on the deck of the warship. Shiro Kawako hurriedly ordered the two destroyers to come back, one on the left and one on the right, holding the unpowered Yura back. Without the Yura light cruiser, only the two warships Takao and Nake were left in a gun battle, and Kawakoshiro saw that he could no longer fight today, so he ordered the whole army to retreat.

The warships retreated, and the marines could no longer attack alone, and Takeshita Yoshio was worried that his troops would be bombarded by the heavy artillery on the batteries, so he hastily withdrew his troops. After a fierce battle for a long time, the Laoshan Fortress was quiet again. The gun chambers began to be cleaned and ammunition was sorted out on the batteries, and the old mountain town also began to repair the fortifications and treat the wounded.

On the Yangtze River, the Japanese Yangtze River Fleet had no advantage in the face of Laoshan Fortress, but outside Huaiyuan City, after the Japanese 101st Division came up with reinforcements, it had an absolute advantage in the face of the 277th Brigade guarding Huaining County. The Fifth Division of the Japanese Army besieged Huaining County for more than half a month, although the Ninth Brigade was completely lost, but it also captured all the positions outside Huaining County, and now the 277th Brigade in Huaining County still has less than 3,000 people left, holding the city wall fortifications of Huaining County.

The 101st Division of the Japanese Army was a fully staffed Division A regiment that had just been replenished from the Japanese mainland with reserve soldiers, with a total of 24,000 officers and men. Among them, the artillery wing was specially strengthened, and the 36 mountain guns equipped with the artillery wing were replaced with 12 new-type field guns of 75 caliber and 24 120 mm cannons, and an independent heavy mortar brigade was specially added, equipped with 24 heavy mortars of 240 mm caliber.

The commander of the 101st Division is still Lieutenant General Masaki Ito, and there is no change in the main officers under his command. This time, the first opponent he encountered when he returned to China was still Wang Haitao's 277th Brigade of the 93rd Division.

After the arrival of the 101st Division of the Japanese army, the Japanese army in front of Huaining County increased to nearly 30,000, with 3,000 to 30,000, even if the 277th Brigade was very strong in combat, the 277th Brigade had no chance of winning in such a disparity in strength. When Wang Haitao learned through the reconnaissance regiment that Okamura Ningji had increased troops on the Huaining front again, and that it was still the old opponent's 101st Division, he whispered: "It's really a narrow road!" and then ordered the 271st Brigade of the 90th Division to reinforce Huaining without hesitation.

After receiving Wang Haitao's order, under the leadership of brigade commander Tang Shoukuan, the 271st Brigade had more than 8,000 troops, all fully loaded and set off for Huaining County. As soon as the 271st Brigade set off, the 277th Brigade in Huaining County received the news, and Li Yuanhong, deputy commander of the 93rd Division and commander of the 277th Brigade, who commanded the battle in Huaining County, also breathed a sigh of relief.

Li Yuanhong was originally the commander of the 542nd Regiment of the 271st Brigade, and was a capable general under Tang Yikuan, but he was later promoted to brigade commander and deputy division commander step by step because he followed Wang Haitao to break through from Nanjing to Jingxian County. Although he was on the same level as Tang Yikuan, in front of the old chief, Li Yuanhong did not dare to hold it up, and he also understood that when it came to commanding battles, he was still not as good as Tang Yikuan.

After the 271st Brigade arrived in Huaining County, because the war was tight, Tang Yikuan did not have much politeness with Li Yuanhong, and directly took over the command, and ordered the 543rd Regiment to take over the defense of the northern city wall. After Tang Weimin, the commander of the 543rd Regiment, spread out the strength of the two battalions on the city wall, the 568th Regiment was able to remove the city wall and rest for a while.

The 568th Regiment and the 543rd Regiment were originally brother regiments in the 90th Division, and they were the same from the construction of fortifications to the arrangement of firing points. There is nothing wrong with receiving the defense. The difference is that the number of heavy weapons is that the 568th Regiment is more, and it must be the main regiment that follows Wang Haitao's side.