The next few days and nights would be brutal, and Zhou Changfeng knew that his battalion and men must climb over the mountains and mountains at any cost to intercept the Anglo-Indian army that was trying to advance eastward.

A qualified commander must be a shrewd and ruthless decision-maker, the so-called "mercy does not take charge of the army" actually means that the general should look down on life and death; For generals, casualties on the battlefield should only be a number without emotion.

When the army leaped thousands of miles into the Dabie Mountains to face the enemy's encirclement and interception, passing through the muddy Yellow Flood Area, even though the troops were exhausted after many days of forced marching, the commander still resolutely refused to stop and recuperate - if they stopped, they might be surrounded by the enemy, and they would die of exhaustion, and they all continued to advance.

Moreover, as the famous saying "I don't want casualties, I just want Tashan", this is a model of "loving soldiers like sons and using soldiers like mud".

And this is where the cruelty of war lies.

After urgently replenishing a batch of cigarettes and chocolates, nearly 100 vehicles carrying a battalion and a reinforced detachment set out on a rough dirt road and headed straight south at noon.

Meanwhile......

Task Force Wilson is 4km east of Gohpur and currently 113km from Demagee and is in attack.

"Boom-boom-boom-"

More than a dozen QF 4.5-inch howitzers of the Anglo-Indian Fourth Artillery Regiment (Battalion) have completed their combat deployment and are raining shells on a mound and field a few kilometers away.

Artillery Lieutenant Aric bent down to observe the situation in the distance through the artillery mirror, and could see the dense artillery fire blooming on the small mound, and the whole area was completely enveloped in flames and smoke.

It is known that there were about a few hundred Chinese soldiers guarding the area, perhaps because of the lack of time, and they only had time to construct simple field fortifications.

Aric was sure that they would be on the verge of collapse after this round of shelling, and how could the thin field fortifications withstand the ferocious artillery fire?

The QF 4.5-inch howitzer, 114mm caliber, 15 times diameter, was successfully developed in 1910, with a wedge-shaped bolt and a maximum range of 6km, which was widely used in European wars and was considered one of the best medium howitzers.

Although it was well received at the time, it is no longer relevant today, 20 years later.

However, due to the large number of old artillery shells in stock, and the financial difficulties of the British Empire, in order to maintain a strong fleet, it is natural that the British Commonwealth Army has no financial resources to replace it with new artillery.

Of course, in Lieutenant Arik's view, they were undoubtedly trustworthy veterans of the battlefield, capable of smashing 33-pound shells and 5-pounds of explosives into the heads of the enemy.

They were able to bomb the Germans to the brink in the past, and now they can also smash the Chinese in front of them with their mantis arms blocking the car.

As the artillery fire was ready, to the whistle of the officers and the urging of the non-commissioned officers, an Indu soldier armed with an Enfield No. 1 rifle got up from the ground and began to move forward in a skirmish.

A thousand yards.

Five hundred yards.

Three hundred yards.

The smoke and dust from the explosion slowly dissipated, but there was silence on the opposite position?

It's long past the distance where the machine guns should fire, but so far they haven't fired a single shot?

Lieutenant Aric scoffed, but he was about to take his eyes off the gun mirror when he saw a series of muzzle fires.

The sound of "da-da-da" and "bang-bang" gunfire instantly resounded in the field, and the two heavy machine guns arranged on the mound and the three heavy machine guns on the eastern field formed a tight crossfire.

Strings of heavy machine-gun bullets mixed with tracer rounds weaved a web of fire in a matter of seconds, and the British and Indian soldiers bowed and rifle in hand were cut down like wheat.

The sound of "boom" explosion was also heard, and a series of more than a dozen 64mm and 80mm mortar shells accurately landed in the crowd of British and Indian troops who launched the attack, and the fine high-speed fragments pierced the surrounding soldiers into a sieve.

In an instant, the field was a killing area.

The Anglo-Indian troops who were suddenly attacked panicked, and although most of them hurriedly lay down, some people still fled and were knocked down in the rain of bullets.

Seeing that Company A and Company B had become lambs to the slaughter, the commander of the Nagpur battalion cried out, "Death! Get rid of those guns! ”

However, the defense of the Ming army on the opposite side seemed to be extremely orderly, and while continuing to maintain the suppression of machine gun fire, a smoke screen fell on the back of the two companies.

Soon, a "wall of smoke" rose up and lay across the middle of the field, blocking the view of the large British and Indian troops, who could only hear screams and gunfire coming from the opposite side of the smoke wall.

As a result, the 4th Artillery Battalion, which continued to carry out the task of artillery support, could not adjust the firing elements and could only rely on the previous parameters to continue firing; And the same is true of the 76.2mm mortar at the front.

The two companies that had been beaten clearly did not want to wait for death, and they fired smoke bombs on the spot as they fought back, and then rolled and crawled backwards.

Then, everyone saw a soldier fleeing through the smoke wall in a panic, snot and tears smoked by the red phosphorus smoke.

However, due to the hot weather, the updraft quickly blew away the wall of smoke launched by the Ming army, and the situation in the area just now gradually became apparent.

Dozens of corpses lay on their stomachs, and some of the dying wounded could be seen struggling.

"That's the price of ignoring our opponents, and I don't think we should make the same mistake again." Major General Wilson put down his binoculars and said solemnly.

Soon, dense artillery fire once again enveloped the target positions.

Air support from the 8th Wing of the Anglo-Indian Air Force also arrived on the battlefield, and a dozen Fury fighters and Vincent bombers began to circle and attack; The latter dropped a barrage of 250-pound bombs as if they were about to raze the entire mound to the ground.

After adequate fire preparation, the Royal 5th Tank Battalion was also dispatched.

Subsequently, two companies of Anglo-Indian infantry closely followed a dozen Vickers A9 cruisers and Carden-Lloyd MkV ultralight tanks to attack the field held by the Ming army.

It was Wilson's order to settle the field positions first, and then besiege the isolated mounds.

The 3rd Battalion of the 38th Regiment had been ordered to rest because they had suffered heavy losses in the offensive operations a few days earlier, and they were not fully equipped when they came to block the attack in a hurry.

The battalion commander Guo Anbang originally intended to smash a hammer on these arrogant turtle sons, and then quickly evacuate while the enemy army was in chaos.

However, after the beautiful defense at the beginning, the officers and soldiers who were preparing to retreat were bombed by the enemy planes, and they finally regrouped but there was no time to retreat, because the enemy was ready to attack again, and if they retreated, the motorized British and Indian troops would beat them in the ass.

The only two remaining anti-aircraft guns were clearly unable to cope with so many enemy tanks, and the Ming army could only try to attack the barrage of tanks with grenades and heavy machine gun armor-piercing shells.

A fierce offensive and defensive battle immediately began, with the sound of gunfire, cannon fire, and blood overflowing, and the small battlefield suddenly turned into a Shura field where the wills of the two sides clashed.