my bright sword career

Chapter 200

"Azimuth 158, distance 6860, fire plate timing 8, three rounds of shrapnel shot rapidly."

Zhuang Mancai, the commander of the Second Artillery Battalion wearing headphones, received the distance reported by the observer on the scout balloon, and then used the shooting meter vernier to calibrate the shooting positions of the shrapnel.The gunner who received the order then lowered the barrel of the M2 105mm howitzer, and used the direct sight to aim at the position in front of Qianqiu Bridge several kilometers away.

"Boom!"

As the bolt is opened, the loader pushes the 15-kilogram shrapnel into the barrel, and closes the barrel at will. The two ammunitionists behind the gun position hold a shrapnel respectively, ready to hand over the shell to the loader at any time. .

"Fire!" Zhuang Mancai shouted angrily while holding the headset.

Following Zhuang Mancai's furious roar, twelve 105mm field cannons whistled on the artillery position of the Second Artillery Battalion. The sound of the cannons was accompanied by a violent recoil and shook the ground. There were black explosions of smoke and orange-red muzzle flames, and the sharp piercing sound of shells flew straight to the forward position of the First Battalion several kilometers away.

The Japanese army who was attacking the first battalion immediately heard the "whoosh, whoosh" sound of piercing shells tearing the air, which was the roar of death.

"Quick... lie down..." The officers in the attacking team shouted.

"Boom, boom, boom..."

It was only about a hundred meters away from the front of the position, and the howling shells exploded in the air before they hit the target. Immediately, more than a dozen explosions sounded from the sky above the Japanese attacking formation, and more than ten clouds of black explosive smoke rose. This is when the shrapnel exploded. For the explosive smoke produced, each 105mm shrapnel contains more than 400 small steel bullets with a diameter of 18mm. The very small amount of explosives in the middle of the shrapnel only explodes the thin shell wall and disperses the steel shot. Under the action of inertia, more than 400 steel shots scattered into a barrage several meters wide and flew towards the target.

This kind of shot grenade is actually called an air-burst bomb. The biggest difference between it and traditional shells is that it will explode before landing to achieve greater lethality.The principle is that the projectile body is equipped with a radio altimeter to ensure detonation at a certain height.

The Japanese soldiers who came out of the open area were devastated at this moment.

The moment the first round of twelve shrapnel shells exploded, more than 18 projectiles with a diameter of [-] mm formed a dense barrage, which precisely exploded less than ten meters from the ground. The Japanese brigade attacking the first battalion, the fragile bodies of countless Japanese soldiers who had no time to escape were immediately torn by the high-speed flying steel bullets, and there was a scream of screams from the front of the entire position.

Those Japanese soldiers who managed to escape in the bunkers were all corpses and wounded hit by steel bullets and shrapnel, skulls shattered by bullets, and brains splashed as far as they could see.

The dry land in the forward position was now completely stained reddish brown by the blood from the wounded and corpses. The wounded soldiers who were hit by the shotgun lay on the ground struggling and howling in pain.

A black-gray steel ball rolled to the feet of the captain hiding in a bomb crater. This captain was the squadron leader who launched the attack this time. He picked up the steel ball with trembling hands. The surface of the cast iron steel ball was very rough. The steel ball in his hand even carried residual heat from his body temperature.

Before he could take a closer look at the shape of the steel ball in his hand, there was another burst of bullets tearing the air from the sky, and several steel balls identical to those in his hand hit his body, and the steel ball entered from the back of his skull. He rushed out between the eyebrows and tore his brain out a few feet away. He couldn't let out the scream that was congested in his throat until he died. The same steel shot took his life.

"This... what kind of shell is this, how could it explode in mid-air?"

Major General Tatsuya Kusaba, the head of the [-]th Brigade of the Japanese Army who was supervising the battle in a bunker at the rear, looked at the heavy casualties in front of his own soldiers with a look of shock and disbelief on his face.

On the side, the captain of the Ninth Regiment, Katagiri Goro, scolded even more, "Baga... what kind of shell is this, it will explode in mid-air?"

Cao Changchen said with a gloomy face: "This should be the latest air-burst bomb, but what I don't understand is that this latest type of air-burst bomb should be the most advanced technology in European and American countries, and it is said that because of the high cost, even European and American The country has not been equipped on a large scale, so how did the Chinese have such shells?"

Standing next to Caochang Chenji was No. 20 Lieutenant Nobuaki Ono, who said distressedly: "Your Excellency, brigade commander, after today's battle, our brigade suffered at least 1000 casualties. If the Chinese named Gao Hongming on the opposite side is wiped out, our division will probably suffer heavy casualties as well."

"There is no way around it." Cao Changchen sighed, "The commander of the division said that Gao Hongming's threat to the empire is too great, and the strength of only one regiment is here to compete with our two divisions. If we let him continue to develop, it will definitely become a serious problem for the empire, so we must eliminate him in the bud."

The two captains stopped talking. They also knew that Ishihara Waner's words were correct. If any threat is not eliminated in the bud as soon as possible, the difficulty of eliminating it will increase exponentially after it grows up. .

Seeing the two captains acquiescing to his words, Cao Changchen pointed to the position of the Liantai militia in front of him and said: "You don't think we lost thousands of people today, but according to my observations, the casualties of the Chinese people are not much better.

Moreover, their artillery also suffered a lot of casualties under the bombing of the army aviation. I estimate that after another day or two of fighting, their artillery will be exhausted. By then, without the support of artillery fire, how long can they resist the offensive of the imperial army? "

"Yo Xi, Your Excellency the brigade commander is wise."

The two nodded repeatedly, and Tatsuya Kusaba's analysis was very accurate.

Regardless of the large casualties of the Japanese army today, a large part of the casualties were caused by artillery fire.

Moreover, according to their estimates, the battle started today for only one day, and the opposing side consumed at least two thousand rounds of shells. According to this style of play, their shells will almost be exhausted tomorrow. The division's offensive may not last for half a day with the infantry on the ground alone.

Caochang Chenji's words are actually what many people in the Liantai militia are worried about.

When it got dark and the first day's battle was over, Wu Chengfeng ran to the regiment headquarters immediately, and saw Geng Changshun and Zhuang Mancai who had just arrived.

"Old Geng, Lao Zhuang, you two tell me, how many shells are left in your artillery battalion now? You are talking... How can you be so desperate to die!"

Seeing that both of them were silent, Wu Chengfeng's heart felt cold.

(End of this chapter)