It was already completely dark, but fortunately, a silver moon in the sky allowed the ground to be seen quite a distance. In the moonlight, the Japanese army was constantly moving forward in an earthy yellow uniform. On the position, the officers and men of the fourth regiment and the first battalion were already in full array, and the soldiers quietly aimed at the target with the help of the moonlight. When the Japanese were still two hundred meters from the front of the position, the heavy machine guns covering the attack opened fire.

The Japanese heavy machine gun position was about 500 meters away from the Chinese position, and at this distance, even during the day, it could only be suppressive fire, not accurate at all, and even so, the Japanese army's well-trained machine gunners still made it difficult for the Chinese soldiers in the trenches to raise their heads. Li Youming, who was in the fortifications, saw that the Japanese heavy machine guns posed a threat to the soldiers in the trenches, and immediately ordered the heavy fire company to use six small-caliber mortars equipped to strike at the Japanese heavy machine gun positions.

The power of small-caliber mortars is not comparable to that of the Japanese mountain artillery, and even the Japanese army's Type 92 infantry artillery is inferior, but it is still very powerful against the crane gun position. Six mortars fired three rapid fire in a short period of time, and then the artillerymen picked up the mortars and immediately shifted their positions. Eighteen shells whizzed down on the Japanese heavy machine gun position, causing heavy damage to the Japanese heavy machine guns.

By the time the retaliatory fire of the Japanese small artillery fell, all six mortars had left. At this time, the Japanese infantry had approached a hundred meters in front of the position, and the commander of a company in the trench commanding the battle shouted: "Fire!" Suddenly the soldiers in the trench pulled the plate machine one after another, and the heavy machine guns in the fortifications also spit out tongues of fire, and the dense firepower caused the attacking Japanese troops to fall down a large area at once.

As soon as the Japanese soldiers in front fell, the Japanese soldiers behind lowered their bodies and still attacked forward, and they were still fighting back with their weapons as they advanced. The Japanese grenadiers still pose a great threat to the soldiers in the trenches, especially the light machine gun fire points, which often can't finish one*, and the grenades and bullets fired by the grenadiers will fall accurately. After a few times, the light machine gunner was able to fire for only a few seconds before quickly changing positions, which seriously affected the continuity of machine gun fire.

Only the heavy machine guns in the fortifications ignored the attacks of the grenadiers, and even the bombardment of small artillery, which could effectively suppress the attacks of the Japanese troops. The soldiers on the position, after paying a certain number of casualties, completely suppressed the Japanese attack a hundred meters away, making it difficult for the Japanese to take a step forward. The captain of the brigade who was watching the battle in the rear of the Japanese army saw that the strength of his two squadrons was still difficult to attack the Chinese position, but suffered many casualties, so he could only order the retreat first.

The Japanese army withdrew, and the experienced Li Youming knew that the Japanese army was about to shell, and this old tactic that had not changed for thousands of years had been thoroughly understood by him. So an order was given, and all but the necessary observation posts were hidden. Sure enough, as soon as the fighters were well hidden, Japanese shells fell on the position. Another twenty minutes of artillery bombardment, after which the Japanese infantry again attacked the Chinese positions.

The blockade of Japanese reinforcements was unfolding in Tugboat Town, and the pre-war mobilization meeting of Li Changwu in the Chinese temporary headquarters outside the north gate of Zhangshu had also come to an end. It is said that it is a pre-war mobilization, in fact, it is to arrange the attack positions and attack tasks of each unit, and the morale of these battalions and regiment commanders who participated in the meeting is very high, especially when I heard that in the tugboat port town, in order to ensure that they can eliminate the Japanese army outside Zhangshu City, the Jurong Independent Brigade is fighting fiercely with more than 20,000 Japanese reinforcements, and it is even more eager to launch an attack immediately and wipe out all the troops on the position.

At the end of the meeting, Li Changwu ordered that the attack would begin in half an hour, and the battalion and regiment commanders hurriedly left the temporary headquarters. According to Li Changwu's arrangement, the attack was divided into two directions, with the 460th Brigade and the 462nd Brigade attacking as the main attackers, with a distance of 1,000 meters between the two attack directions, and the 211th Division's self-propelled howitzer and artillery regiments were also divided into two, providing fire cover for the two brigades respectively.

Half an hour passed quickly, and the Chinese artillery fire accurately fell on the Japanese position, not only from self-propelled howitzers and shells, but also from the 130 heavy cannon regiment. Considering that there was still an attack on the fortified city of Nanchang in the future, this time Wang Haitao ordered Tangshan Tiger to only fire five shells for one cannon. In this way, the Japanese positions were also bombed, and there were wails.

After ten minutes of artillery bombardment, the tank began to extend into the depths of the formation, and at this time, with the roar of the engines, the chariots slowly advanced towards the front of the Japanese position. The 460th Brigade used all the movable tanks here, and there were still four heavy tanks at the front. Before the Japanese army used heavy artillery, these heavy tanks were invincible, and the Japanese troops in the positions were simply unable to deal with them.

Standing high behind the position, Lieutenant General Shunjiro Takeuchi held a telescope and tried to observe the front, although the figure of the Chinese army could not be seen clearly in the dark night, the huge body of the heavy tank was still faintly visible in the moonlight. After looking at it for a while, Lieutenant General Shunjiro Takeuchi put down his binoculars, turned his head to Yamada Zhuoerzo, the chief of staff beside him, and said: "Yamada-kun, the Shina people have attacked, I saw them dispatch a lot of heavy chariots, these heavy chariots are extremely difficult to deal with, I am worried that the soldiers in front will be difficult to block the chariots of the Shina people. Do you think we should use the field artillery wing to strike at the tanks of the China?"

Yamada Zhuoer Dasa thought for a moment and replied: "Your Excellency the division commander, the artillery fire of the Chinese people is also fierce, and if you use the field artillery wing now, I am afraid that you will be counterattacked by the Chinese artillery fire, and the chariots of the Chinese people are still advancing, so the artillery effect will not be very good at this time." Aren't we still digging anti-tank trenches between the two positions? After the anti-tank trenches block the Chinese tanks and they are all down, the best opportunity for shelling will be the best opportunity to deal the heaviest blow to the Chinese tanks!"

Lieutenant General Shunjiro Takeuchi nodded and said, "Yo Xi! Yamada-kun's idea is very good! It's just that the soldiers on the first line can only be sacrificed." As he spoke, he had an unbearable expression on his face. Yamada Zhuoer said: "Your Excellency, the division commander, it is nothing to sacrifice some soldiers for the final victory, and there are only two infantry brigades on the first line of positions, and it is also their honor to break jade for His Majesty the Emperor and the Imperial Japanese Army. ”

Unbeknownst to the officers and men of the two infantry battalions on the first line, they had been abandoned by the division commander and chief of staff from above, and although they were panicked by the oncoming steel behemoths, they opened fire under the command of the officers in an attempt to stop the Chinese army's attack. The vehicles that could rush ahead ignored the oncoming bullets and advanced at a steady pace while attacking the Japanese troops on the position with their vehicle-mounted weapons.

In the face of the powerful offensive of the Chinese army, the Japanese troops on the position fell into despair, when the chariot unstoppably rushed to the front of the Japanese position, many Japanese soldiers rushed out of the trench with cluster hands, mines or explosives, and medicine bags, he shouted slogans and rushed to the chariot, hoping to die with the chariot with his own life. It's just that this hope is doomed to fail.

The infantry who followed closely behind the battlecar had encountered such a situation countless times, and the experienced soldiers had already prepared for the Japanese army's use of "human flesh bombing and bombing" when the chariot rushed to the Japanese position, and they were all ready to deal with it. Now the Japanese army really used this trick again, so the soldiers appeared from behind the battlecar and fired fiercely at these "human flesh bombs and bombs" who rushed up with their weapons.

Most of the Japanese soldiers who rushed out of the trenches were knocked to the ground by ferocious fire because they could not connect to the melee vehicles, and many of them were blown up because of the explosives and medicine packs on their bodies. A few unlucky soldiers rushed close to the vehicle, pulling the cluster hands, mines, explosives, and medicine packs on their bodies, and the heavy tanks rushing ahead ignored the small explosions.

After the Japanese army used "human flesh bombs and bombs" to no avail, and seeing that the Chinese troops were about to rush to the position, the captain in charge of the command drew his command knife and shouted: "Kill and give!" and took the lead in launching a counter-charge. In the past, the Japanese army encountered the Chinese army, and they could have the absolute upper hand in hand-to-hand combat, and the current captain also wanted to use hand-to-hand combat to repel the advance of the Chinese army, but unfortunately they met Wang Haitao's command.

Wang Haitao repeatedly taught the soldiers a lesson that when they can use weapons to solve battles, they should never engage in hand-to-hand combat, but this does not mean that everyone should be afraid of hand-to-hand combat, and when the two armies meet, the brave will win! At critical moments, they must dare to see red with bayonets! Therefore, in the training of peacetime, the training units in stabbing and sword skills have never relaxed for a moment. Seeing that the Japanese army launched a counter-charge, neither the 871st Regiment of the 460th Brigade nor the 878th Regiment of the 462nd Brigade had any fear.

Without the officer's order, the soldiers of the two regiments automatically formed a one-man combat group according to the method of training, first used the weapons in their hands to strafe the Japanese troops rushing over, and when the remaining Japanese troops approached them, they either raised their bayonets or drew their broadswords behind their backs and rushed towards the Japanese troops. However, the tank was moving forward at a very slow speed, and at the same time, the heavy machine guns on board kept spitting tongues of fire into the dense area of the Japanese army.

The Japanese troops who counter-charged were not as numerous as the two attacking regiments, they were at a disadvantage in weapons, they could not gain the upper hand in hand-to-hand combat, and there were dozens of irresistible chariots on a rampage, and such a battle was almost one-sided. After more than ten minutes of fighting, the Japanese army suffered heavy casualties and was difficult to support. The Japanese captain in charge of the command looked at the scene on the battlefield in despair and had to order all of them to retreat.

The troops who were strangled together could retreat as soon as they wanted, and the captain's order to retreat instead plunged the Japanese army into chaos, and they completely lost their fighting spirit and morale. The officers and men of the 871st Regiment and the 877th Regiment became more and more courageous as the battle passed, and after another 10 minutes, only a few more than 200 men of the two Japanese infantry brigades were able to escape back to the second line of positions, and the rest of the soldiers, including one of the captains, were killed on the position.

It was only an attack, and the capture of the first line of Japanese positions with few casualties, which greatly boosted the morale of all officers and men. The two commanders of the 871st Regiment and the 87th Regiment could not even bother to clean up the battlefield, so they ordered the troops to continue to attack the second line of positions in the morning. As soon as the vehicle started, fighters reported that an anti-tank trench was spotted not far ahead.