As soon as the shells of the Japanese heavy mortars fell on the position on the south bank of the Laodao River, Tang Weimin, who was hiding in the anti-artillery hole, changed his face. From the movement of the shell explosion, he was puzzled to perceive the difference between the Japanese shelling this time, and this kind of movement is definitely only found by heavy shells. Tang Weimin scolded: "Grandma's little Japan, even heavy artillery is used." ”

As the shells continued to fall, the original strong fortifications on the position also began to be damaged, and when some anti-artillery holes were directly hit by shells, the solid roof of the caves were blown down, and many battles were buried in the anti-artillery holes. Even if they were not hit, the soldiers who were hiding in the anti-artillery hole were shocked and their mouths, noses, and ears were bloodshot.

The heavy artillery shells shrouded the entire position in gunpowder smoke and dust, and Tang Yikuan, the brigade commander on the second position, was also alarmed by the movement of the artillery bombardment, and from the telescope, he could see that the front position was covered with smoke and dust, and he couldn't see anything clearly. But based on experience, Tang Yikuan also knew that it was the Japanese army that used heavy artillery.

Tang Yikuan immediately ordered a reconnaissance team to be dispatched to find out the coordinates of the Japanese heavy artillery positions and the number of artillery pieces, and then report to the division headquarters to see if the divisional heavy artillery regiment could knock out the Japanese heavy artillery positions. Tang Yikuan knew very well that no matter how strong the position was, it would not be able to withstand the repeated bombardment of the Japanese heavy artillery, and if the Japanese heavy artillery was not defeated, the officers and soldiers guarding the position would pay great casualties.

Twenty minutes later, Major General Tang Zhence, the commander of the 5th Brigade of the 3rd Division, who was observing the defenders' position, nodded with satisfaction with the bombardment effect of the heavy mortars, and waved his hand to the captain of the 1st Tank Brigade on standby, Yamazaki Monday, who bent down and replied in understanding: "Hi!"

Yamazaki came to his chariot at a trot, jumped into the chariot in a few steps, and with a wave of his hand he vigorously forward, the engines of the eight Type 97 medium chariots, including himself, let out a roar and drove towards the Laodao River, behind them was an infantry brigade of the Sixth Infantry Wing.

The smoke and dust on the positions on the south bank of the Laodao River had not yet cleared, and the bombardment of the Japanese heavy mortars had stopped. When the smoke and dust on the position cleared slightly, a soldier found that the Japanese tanks were covering the infantry and were about to cross the Laodao River. The soldier shouted, "Platoon commander, the Japanese tanks are coming!" and just after shouting, he was shot and fell to the position.

Tang Weimin was organizing the rescue of the soldiers buried in the anti-artillery hole, when he heard the shouting and turned his head to look in the direction of the Laodao River, he happened to see two Japanese combat vehicles landing on the south bank from the river. At this time, the fortifications on the south bank position had almost been blown up, and the soldiers used various bunkers to return fire at the Japanese troops who rushed up, but in the case of fighting separately, the damage to the Japanese troops was not great, and they were also a little helpless against a few tanks.

In this case, it was impossible to organize a complete defensive line, and Tang Weimin, in order to avoid greater casualties, decisively ordered to abandon the position and retreat all. In order to prevent the Japanese army from continuing the pursuit, more than a dozen seriously wounded and more than 20 lightly wounded took the initiative to stay behind, and some of the wounded tied grenades and explosives bags to their bodies, and rushed to the onrushing tanks without hesitation, and blew up and injured one tank each at the cost of all sacrifices. These wounded held back the Japanese army for 20 minutes, buying time for the troops to retreat, at the cost of all their lives.

The Japanese attack caused the 543rd Regiment to sacrifice more than 260 officers and men, and the number of wounded was also more than 300, and it also lost the first line of positions on the south bank. Tang Weimin lowered his head and came to the front of the brigade commander Tang Yikuan with a look of shame.

Tang Yikuan had a gloomy face, looking at Tang Weimin, who was a little embarrassed. Tang Yikuan still admires Tang Weimin, the nephew of his own family, and Tang Weimin can't be blamed for this defeat, but as a battlefield commander, Tang Weimin still bears considerable responsibility. Tang Yikuan didn't say much, just let Tang Weimin go down to rest first.

Tang Yikuan's non-criticism behavior made Tang Weimin uncomfortable even more than scolding himself. Tang Weimin raised his head and glanced at Tang Yikuan, whose face was a little softened, and said, "Brigade, I'm ......" Tang Yikuan interrupted him and said: "Don't be in a hurry to review it first, you go back and rest first, and then summarize it carefully, see what is wrong, and then talk about it." ”

Tang Yimin lowered his head, saluted wordlessly, and withdrew. The Japanese army captured the first line of positions, which was bound to expand the results of the battle, and then the main force of the division crossed the river and attacked the second line of positions, Tang Yikuan asked the 544th Regiment on the second line to prepare to meet the enemy, and on the other hand reported the situation to Tang Renxin, deputy army commander and commander of the 90th Division.

Tang Renxin heard that during the attack, the Japanese army not only used heavy artillery, but also used tanks, and Tang Weimin carelessly lost the position on the south bank of the Laodao River. The heavy artillery regiment of the 90th Division was immediately ordered to prepare and strike at the Japanese heavy artillery positions, and as for the Japanese tanks, the 90th Division had the means to deal with them, which Tang Ren believed was not worried.

The reconnaissance unit sent by Tang Yikuan soon got the news, and Tang Yikuan was relieved to learn that the Japanese army was using a 270-mm caliber heavy mortar to launch an artillery attack. Tang Yikuan was most worried that the Japanese army would use large-caliber heavy artillery to attack, because of the range, even the range of the division's heavy artillery regiment was not enough to counterattack, so it would be troublesome.

Tang Yikuan, who knew the situation, asked the reconnaissance troops to keep an eye on the Japanese heavy mortar unit, and as soon as the other side established an artillery position again, he immediately sent a report to report the coordinates and direction of the position. On the one hand, the field artillery battalions of the three regiments were asked to concentrate their firepower and prepare to strike at the Japanese army, and at the same time reported the situation to Tang Renxin.

Tang Renxin, who received Tang Yikuan's report, also secretly breathed a sigh of relief and agreed to the plan of using all the field artillery of the 271st Brigade to counterattack. Not only are the artillery battalions of the three regiments of the 271st Brigade concentrated, but the regimental commander Wei Hai was also arranging defenses on the positions of the 544th Regiment. Knowing that the Japanese had tanks in the battle, four 82 recoilless guns had been prepared in the bunker, and five 40 rocket launchers were also ready to attack.

The heavy mortar bombardment, combined with the infantry charge under the cover of the chariots, took the position of the defenders of Shina on the south bank of the Laodao River in a single attack, much to the satisfaction of the commander of the 3rd Division, Lieutenant General Takahashi Tagaji. The 3rd Division had all crossed the Laodao River in the afternoon, and the advance approached the second line of defensive positions defended by the 544th Regiment.

The Japanese still set up heavy mortar positions 2,000 kilometers in front of the defenders' positions, and the infantry battalion of the 6th Wing, which was still under the cover of tanks, was preparing to attack. The commander of the 5th Brigade, Major General Tang Zhence, prepared to take the defender position in front of him with a charge before dark.

The Japanese army did not expect that when their heavy mortar unit established an artillery position, a few pairs of eyes were fixed on them, and as the telegram with the coordinates of the Japanese heavy mortar position was sent to Tang Yikuan, the 54 75-caliber field guns gathered by the three regiments of the 271st Brigade were ready to be fired.

The Japanese heavy mortars received the order to attack, and as soon as the first shell was fired, the artillery fire of the 272nd Brigade returned fire and fell overwhelmingly on the heavy mortar position. Fifty-four field guns were fired at the same time, easily covering the heavy mortar positions with artillery fire. A Japanese heavy mortar brigade with 24 heavy mortar companies, captain Matsuura Kakunakasa, and hundreds of artillery soldiers were all wiped out under artillery fire.

The artillery commander of the 271st Brigade, after destroying the Japanese heavy mortar position with artillery fire, still did not relent, and ordered the artillery to shift the muzzle and hit the shells on the heads of the Japanese tanks and infantry who were preparing to attack. The whole brigade of the 271st Brigade held its breath, the Japanese launched attacks on several positions at the same time, and the other positions were held, but the 90th Army, which had the strongest combat effectiveness, was the first to lose the first-line positions, and its face was red when it was said. Therefore, the whole brigade was holding back their strength to give the Japanese army some color.

The artillery fire fell intensively on the heads of the tank brigade and infantry brigade that were preparing to attack. The defensive performance of the Japanese tanks was very poor, and under this artillery fire, the six tanks involved in the attack (two were damaged in the previous battle) were immediately reimbursed, and the two unlucky ones were hit by the support and exploded into a fireball.

The other two chariots, which had escaped the first day, did not care about anything, and increased their throttles and fled to the side, but many infantry fell under their wheels along the way. The infantry brigade that had been shelled was even more unbearable, the attack formations had already dispersed, the officers and men were scurrying everywhere, dodging shrapnel flying indiscriminately, and a large area of the bombardment was full of soldiers scurrying around, and there were dead bodies everywhere, and a field was also dyed red.

The fierce artillery fire of the defenders made Major General Tang Zhence, who was present, stunned, such a fierce artillery fire, he had never encountered it in battle, this was even more fierce than the artillery fire of his divisional artillery wing, Major General Tang Zhence's heart was full of shadows. This artillery fire made the 544th Regiment very dissatisfied, under the bombardment of artillery fire, the Japanese attack was gone, as if a table of good dishes was carefully prepared, but the guests did not come, which made the whole regiment of the 544th Regiment very uncomfortable.

Although the 90th Division lost its first line of position here, after this artillery fire, the form stabilized, and the Japanese army could not launch an attack today. On the Chunhua Mountain position, the 92nd Division of the 53rd Army was unable to advance an inch after withstanding the wanton bombardment of military planes. The more critical thing now is the 37th Army on the Gaoziling position.

The 60th Division of the 37th Army had already invested four regiments on the main position of Gaoziling, and the Japanese army had reduced the four regiments by more than half in one day's attack, and the ridge positions on the left and right sides were also attacked by the Japanese army, and the 60th Division could not be reinforced. Fortunately, in the evening, the 140th Division took the initiative to attack and ambushed a Japanese baggage squadron, not only eliminating more than 200 Japanese troops, but also capturing a batch of weapons, ammunition and military supplies.

This ambush made the 40th Division feel threatened from behind, and had to reduce the strength of the attack and draw out a part of the troops to protect the transportation line. It also made Chen Ji, the commander of the 60th Division, breathe a sigh of relief.