Before the remnants of the 3rd Infantry Wing led by Inoue Kojiro had fully entered Hengyang City, they heard the rumbling sound of artillery coming from behind the Chinese position, and soon one shell after another fell with a scream. Seeing the more intense shelling than before, Kojiro Inoue's face also changed color. While ordering his subordinates to speed up their entry into the city, he secretly prayed for good luck for Haruo Ozawa.

Haruo Ozawa and his 64th Infantry Wing are now suffering, the shells that fall from the sky have left the soldiers without a safe hiding position, and all the officers and men, including him, the wing leader, are lying under the trench or in the corner of the bunker, enduring the ravages of artillery fire, and no one knows whether any shells will fall next second or shrapnel will penetrate their bodies.

Haruo Ozawa and his men were devastated by the saturation bombardment for a whole hour, and finally endured until the artillery fire weakened, and before they could catch their breath, they heard a soldier shouting: "The people of Shina are attacking!" Haruo Ozawa got up from the ground, not thanking Aunt Amaterasu for her care, nor caring about the soldiers who were killed, and ordered the soldiers to enter the blocking position.

After Ozawa had given the order, he had time to poke his head out of his bunker and raise his binoculars to observe the attack of the Chinese troops on the opposite side. What he saw in the telescope took him aback. Two hundred meters away, countless Chinese soldiers opened the straggler line, skillfully performing various tactical moves, taking advantage of various terrain types on the battlefield, and were rapidly approaching their positions.

With Wang Haitao inspecting the battle situation in the back, Zhang Lingfu also used all his strength to attack the second line of defense of the Japanese army, Zhang Lingfu sent the two regiments of the 546th Regiment and the 547th Regiment at once, and there was a great tendency to seize the Japanese position in one go. More than 5,000 people of the two regiments were in front of the position several hundred meters wide, and even if the stragglers formation was stretched very wide, it showed the thickness of the formation.

This is to determine that the Japanese army has no artillery available, so Zhang Lingfu dared to send both regiments to participate in the attack at once, otherwise the Japanese army will come down with artillery fire, and the two regiments will suffer heavy casualties at once. But now they were putting tremendous pressure on the remnants of the Japanese who were still holding their positions. Under the strict orders of the officers, the Japanese troops on the position desperately opened fire on the Chinese soldiers who rushed up, and from time to time some people in the attacking team were shot and fell.

The officers and men of the 90th Division are not the kind of rookie recruits, they are all veterans of the battlefield, coupled with strict training, they can give full play to their various skills in the attack. The more you move forward, the better you can do to protect yourself, and everyone has a good spirit, and in the continuous movement forward, you must not only protect yourself, but also use accurate marksmanship to fight back.

The gunfire on the Japanese positions was quite lively, but the number of Chinese soldiers killed and wounded was limited, and the light and heavy machine guns and grenadiers that were the most lethal in peacetime became the focus of the sharpshooters in the Chinese army. The Heavy will be killed after not firing a few rounds, and he will fall down shortly after being replaced by a Heavy Gunner, and no one will dare to take the initiative to operate the machine gun after several times.

The grenadier was in a similar situation, as soon as a soldier dared to pick up a grenadier, a bullet would fly towards him. Without such sharp weapons as machine guns and grenadiers, the lethality of the Japanese positions was greatly reduced, and as long as the Japanese soldiers in the trenches dared to stretch out their bodies a little more, they would become the targets of the Chinese light and heavy machine guns. The Japanese soldiers could only huddle in the trenches and shoot outward.

Seeing that the Chinese army was getting closer and closer to the defense line, Haruo Ozawa was getting more and more anxious, but in the face of the Chinese army's attack like mercury, he couldn't think of a way to deal with it for a while. When the Chinese soldiers who rushed to the front were less than 100 meters away from the defensive line, the Japanese soldiers on the position were reprimanded by the officers, and the attack became even more fierce.

The two sides were very close to each other, and the soldiers who rushed in front could already see the hideous faces of the Japanese soldiers in the trenches, and at this time, the results of the Japanese army's long-term training also appeared, and the accuracy of shooting was greatly increased, coupled with the scolding of the officers, regardless of life and death, the number of casualties of the troops who had passed the attack increased significantly, and the soldiers were also suppressed on the ground about 100 meters away from the position and could not advance.

Seeing that the attack of the Chinese army was suppressed, Haruo Ozawa couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief and was busy directing the troops behind to reinforce the second-line positions. In the Chinese observation post, Zhang Lingfu couldn't help but be a little anxious when he saw this scene, and he ordered the signal soldiers beside him: "You go and call Zheng Lin, the commander of the artillery battalion, immediately." The signal soldier left in response, and after a while, Zheng Lin trotted to Zhang Lingfu.

Zheng Lin was originally the commander of the artillery battalion of the 547th Regiment and the best sharpshooter of the 272nd Brigade. After the 272nd Brigade assumed the main attack mission, Zhang Lingfu gathered all the heavy mortars of the brigade together and handed them over to Zheng Lin to command. As soon as Zheng Lin arrived, Zhang Lingfu said repeatedly: "Old Zheng, the attack of the 547th Regiment has been suppressed, can he support them with artillery fire?"

Zheng Lin walked to the observation hole in a few steps and observed the situation on the front line with the artillery mirror. After a few minutes, he straightened up and said: "Brigade seat, the distance between the two sides is too close, if you want to support them with artillery fire, the mortar position must move forward, and at a distance of three hundred meters, I can be sure that the shells will accurately hit the small Japanese trench." ”

When Zhang Lingfu heard this, he was overjoyed and said repeatedly: "Okay! Lao Zheng, you quickly transfer your position, now there are soldiers bleeding and dying every second in front, you must throw the shells into the small Japanese trench within ten minutes." Zheng Puli replied: "Yes, brigade seat! I promise to complete the task!" After speaking, he saluted and trotted out of the observation post.

Ten minutes passed quickly when he was fine, but now Zhang Lingfu felt that time passed so slowly. From time to time, he raised his hand to look at his watch, and then nervously observed the situation on the front line with his binoculars. The suppressed troops on the front line were also under the cover of machine guns, and some fighters were sent to try to rush forward, but the Japanese firepower was quite intensive, and they tried to attack twice in a row, but they had to retreat, but they suffered more than a dozen casualties.

The stalemate is not good, the two sides shoot at each other, and the disadvantage in the ground makes the troops suffer a lot. Du Haifeng was a little breathless, and he said to Li Yuntian, a battalion lying on his stomach: "Grandma's, there are only 100 meters left to rush to the position of Little Japan, but I was pressed here, I am really aggrieved!" Li Yuntian replied: "Tuanzao, Little Japan has no heavy weapons, or I will take a battalion to rush once, even if I fight hard, I will rush to the position of Little Japan!"

Du Haifeng reprimanded: "Don't mess around, you kid, don't you know the commander's temper? The victorious commander who fought with his life will never be happy when he knows it." After hearing this, Li Yuntian said: "Then what should I do? I can't keep stiffening here!" Du Haifeng thought for a while and said: "You transfer some machine guns to concentrate on firing at the small Japanese section of the trench, and strive to suppress the firepower of this section of the trench, and then send a company to try to attack this section of the trench." ”

Li Yuntian replied: "Understood, Tuanzao." I'll arrange it right away!" After speaking, he was just about to leave when he heard the sudden sound of "Tong, Tong, Tong" behind him. At this time, Li Yuntian did not leave, and said to Du Haifeng: "Tuanzao, is the sound of our heavy mortars, listening to the sound of artillery is only two or three hundred meters away from us, and the artillery position has moved forward?"

Before Du Haifeng could answer, one by one* had accurately landed in the Japanese trench, which immediately shrouded the Japanese trench in gunsmoke and dust, and the sound of shell explosions was mixed with the screams of Japanese soldiers. Du Haifeng said excitedly: "It must be Lao Zheng, a sharpshooter, who did it, only he can command his subordinates to shoot such an accurate cannon." ”

Du Haifeng raised his binoculars and observed the Japanese position for a while, then turned his head to Li Yuntian and said: "The opportunity has come! Yuntian, you lead a battalion to break forward and stand by 50 meters away from the Japanese trench. Li Yuntian responded excitedly: "I understand the humble position, don't worry, the first battalion is guaranteed to complete the task!"

The shelling still lasted for ten minutes, and in ten minutes, Zheng Lin led a group of his own subordinates to use 20 heavy mortars to set off a bloody storm in the Japanese trenches, and the Japanese troops were completely overwhelmed by this sudden shelling, and for a time they were scurrying around, looking for a place to avoid the shelling, and they could not care about blocking the Chinese army at all.

In these 10 minutes, Li Yuntian led the 1st Battalion to advance a few dozen meters, and now the troops were only 40 meters away from the Japanese trenches, and as long as the shells deviated a little, the 1st Battalion would be killed or wounded. As soon as the sound of the artillery stopped, Li Yuntian shouted: "Drop the bomb!" and took the lead in throwing the prepared grenades and shells into the Japanese trench. Like him, more than 100 fighters in front of him also threw prepared grenades and bullets at the same time.

Amid the dense explosions of grenades and bombs, Li Yuntian shouted, "Brothers, follow me!" and took the lead in rushing out. At this time, the Japanese position could no longer organize an effective blockade, and the first battalion easily rushed into the Japanese trenches. A hand-to-hand combat ensued. Haruo Ozawa was also stunned by the sudden shelling, and by the time he could react, a battalion had already rushed into the trench.

Haruo Ozawa understood that once the trench was lost, the second line of defense would be over, and the troops could only retreat to the last line of defense under the city walls, and the Chinese army could not accept it with its ferocious artillery fire. The second-line positions must be defended, and the trenches must not be lost. So Haruo Ozawa immediately drew his command knife, pointed in the direction of the trench, and shouted: "Kill it!" and personally rushed forward with the last infantry brigade of the 64th Wing.

The wing commander personally charged, and the morale of the Japanese soldiers was boosted, and they also rushed up in the direction of the trench with a wild shout. On the Chinese side, after Du Haifeng saw the first battalion rushing into the Japanese trenches, he also led the 547th Regiment to charge, and at the same time, Xiao Changxin and the 546th Regiment also rushed up. Fighters from both sides fought around the trench.