afterglow

Chapter 21 The Eastward Task Force
The next few days and nights will be extremely cruel, and Zhou Changfeng knows this well. The officers and soldiers of his battalion must cross the mountains regardless of the cost, and stop the British and Indian troops who are trying to advance eastward.

A qualified commander must be a shrewd and ruthless decision-maker. The so-called "be kind to soldiers" actually means to be indifferent to life and death for the generals; for generals, casualties on the battlefield should only be numbers without emotion .

When the army leaped thousands of miles into the Dabie Mountains to face the enemy's siege and interception, and passed through the muddy yellow flooded area, even though the troops were exhausted after many days of forced marching, the commander still refused to stop and rest. If you stop, you may be killed by the enemy. The army besieged and died of exhaustion, and the whole group continued to move forward.

Furthermore, it is like the famous saying "I don't want casualties, I only want Tashan", which is a model of "love soldiers like sons, use soldiers like mud".

And this is the cruelty of war.

After an emergency replenishment of a batch of cigarettes and chocolates, nearly a hundred vehicles carrying the [-]st Battalion and the reinforced [-]st Team set off immediately, drove onto the rough dirt road, and headed straight to the south at noon on this clear day.

at the same time……

The "Wilson" task force is 4㎞ east of Gokhpur, and is currently 113㎞ from Dmagee, in an offensive state.

"Boom—boom boom—"

A dozen QF4.5-inch howitzers of the British-Indian Fourth Artillery Regiment (Battalion) have completed their combat deployment and are pouring shells into a mound and field several kilometers away.

Artillery lieutenant Arik bowed his body and observed the situation in the distance through the artillery mirror. He could see dense artillery fire blooming on the small mound, and the entire area was completely enveloped in flames and smoke.

It is known that there are about several hundred Chinese soldiers guarding this place, perhaps because of the short time, they only had time to build simple field fortifications.

Arik was sure that they would be on the verge of collapse after this round of shelling. How could the thin field fortifications withstand the fierce artillery fire?

QF4.5-inch howitzer, 114㎜ caliber, 15 times the diameter, was successfully developed in Qiyuan 7910. It has a wedge-shaped bolt and a maximum range of 6㎞. It was widely used in European wars and is considered one of the best medium-sized howitzers.

Although well-received at the time, it is outdated 20 years later.

However, because there are a large number of old artillery shells in stock, and the financial situation of the British Empire is becoming increasingly distressed, in order to maintain a strong fleet, naturally there is no financial resources to replace the Commonwealth Army with new artillery.

Of course, in the eyes of Lieutenant Arik, they are undoubtedly trustworthy battlefield veterans, which can smash 33-pound shells and 5 pounds of explosives into the enemy's head.

They were able to knock the Germans into a panic back then, and now they can also smash the Chinese people who are in front of them with their arms blocking the traffic.

As the preparations for the artillery fire ended, amidst the whistles of the officers and the urging of the non-commissioned officers, an Indian-Du soldier armed with an Enfield No.1 rifle got up from the ground and began to move forward in a skirmish line.

a thousand yards.

five hundred yards.

Three hundred yards.

The smoke and dust from the explosion slowly dissipated, but the opposite position was silent?
It's already passed the distance where the machine gun should fire, but they still haven't fired a single shot?

Lieutenant Arik snorted, but just as he was about to take his eyes off the gun mirrors, he saw a series of muzzle flashes.

The gunshots of "da da da" and "bang bang bang" resounded across the field instantly, and the two heavy machine guns arranged on the mound and the three heavy machine guns on the east field formed a tight crossfire.

Several strings of heavy machine gun bullets mixed with tracer bullets wove a fire net in a few seconds, and the soldiers of the British and Indian soldiers who were bowing and holding rifles were cut down like wheat.

The sound of "booming" explosions also came immediately, and a dozen rounds of 64mm and 80mm mortar shells precisely fell on the crowd of British and Indian soldiers who launched the attack, and the fine high-speed fragments tied the surrounding soldiers into pieces. sieve.

In an instant, that field became a killing zone.

The British and Indian troops who were hit suddenly were panicked. Although most of them hurried to lie down, some still fled and were knocked down in the hail of bullets.

Seeing that the attacking Company A and Company B had become slaughtered lambs, the battalion commander of the Nagpur Battalion shouted, "Damn it! Get rid of those machine guns!"

However, the defense of the Ming army on the opposite side seemed to be very organized. While continuing to suppress the firepower of the machine guns, smoke bombs fell behind the two companies.

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

The 76.2th Artillery Battalion, which continued to perform artillery support tasks, was therefore unable to adjust the firing elements and could only rely on the previous parameters to continue firing; the same was true for the frontier [-]mm mortars.

The two battered companies obviously didn't want to wait for death. They fired smoke bombs on the spot while fighting back, and then retreated back and forth.

Afterwards, everyone saw a number of soldiers fleeing through the smoke wall in a panic, with a lot of snot and tears smoked by red phosphorus smoke.

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

Dozens of corpses were scattered all over the place, lying on their stomachs or lying down, among which some dying wounded could be seen struggling.

"This is the price of underestimating the opponent. I don't think we should make the same mistake again." Major General Wilson put down his binoculars and said seriously.

Soon, dense artillery fire enveloped the target position again.

Air support from the Eighth Wing of the British Indian Air Force also arrived on the battlefield, and a dozen Fury fighter jets and Vincent bombers began to circle and attack; the latter dropped a series of 250-pound aerial bombs that seemed to level the entire mound .

After making full firepower preparations, the Royal Fifth Tank Battalion was also dispatched.

Subsequently, two companies of British and Indian infantry closely followed a dozen Vickers A9 cruiser tanks and Carden-Lloyd MkV ultralight tanks and launched an attack on the field guarded by the Ming army.

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

The 38rd Battalion of the [-]th Regiment was originally ordered to take a break because of the heavy losses in the offensive operations a few days ago. They rushed to stop them and they were not fully loaded.

Battalion Commander Guo Anbang originally intended to hit these arrogant turtle sons with a hammer, and then quickly retreated while the enemy army was in chaos.

However, after the beautiful defense at the beginning, the officers and soldiers who were about to retreat were blown up by the enemy planes. After finally regrouping, it was too late to retreat, because the enemy was ready to attack again. If they retreat, the motorized British and Indian troops will beat their asses.

The only two remaining anti-war guns were obviously unable to deal with so many enemy tanks. The Ming army could only try to attack the series of tanks with rifle grenades and heavy machine gun armor-piercing shells.

A fierce offensive and defensive battle unfolded immediately, with loud gunshots, loud cannon sounds, and blood overflowing. The small battlefield suddenly turned into a Shura field where the wills of the two sides clashed.

(End of this chapter)