afterglow

Chapter 37 Ambush Airdrop

During the time when his own reinforcements arrived, Zhou Changfeng carefully observed the battle situation. Dozens of his own troops were shooting at the enemy troops hiding in the ruined walls, but the latter only returned fire with rifles, and the machine gun fire remained concealed.

Pretty cunning huh?
A sergeant shouted: "That one over there! Do you know where the devil's machine gun is?!"

The wounded soldier hiding behind the airdrop box replied loudly after hearing the words: "There is one at the balcony window on the second floor! Another one is on the first floor next door... under the shadow of the ruins!"

These British and Indian troops who successfully penetrated the Ming army's defense line were a combat patrol led by Second Lieutenant Dragan, consisting of two infantry squads and a 2-inch light mortar team. Good location, intend to stick to this place, and become a fishbone stuck in the defense zone of the Ming army.

As a Greek-born Englishman, Second Lieutenant Dragan was famous in school for his boldness and impulsiveness since he was a child. Now he cherishes his opportunity to serve in the military. His short-term goal in life is to win an MC, which is the Military Cross. The successful operation behind enemy lines made him feel that the medal was already waving to him.

Ming army messengers and small groups of infantry continued to pass the three-way intersection all morning, but he kept ordering to keep silent and prohibit firing; and then an airdrop box that slowly fell made him overjoyed—a god-sent opportunity to wait for the rabbit.

"You take two squads to go around from the left and block their way to break through." Zhou Changfeng gestured forward, and ordered another officer: "You spread out along the right, and you will rush in to eliminate them later, pay attention to using the automatic arms!"

When his side circled to the two wings, he also directed other soldiers to maintain the suppression of the house with rifle grenades and light machine guns.

The enemy's two light machine guns finally opened fire, and the sound of "da da da" shot overwhelmed the sound of other rifles.

Zhou Changfeng found that the Lewis light machine guns of the British and Indian troops were obviously better in terms of short-term firepower persistence-the 47 rounds of magazines were enough for the shooter to fire more than a dozen short bursts, compared with the Type 25 light machine guns equipped by the Ming army It uses a [-]-round magazine.

However, the old-fashioned Lewis light machine gun cannot replace the barrel, and its huge heat dissipation tube is better than nothing; but this is not the case for our own side. Even a single person can quickly replace the barrel of the Type [-] light machine gun.

Long-stroke piston air-guided type, iron lifting lock, double-row single-feed magazines below, four-stage air intake adjustment, theoretical fire rate of 22 rounds per minute, and a combat weight of 26 catties. It refers to the Finnish Ratti M26 , Czech Prague ZB-7, Swiss SIG Qilali KE[-] and other guns, the carefully designed [-]-type light machine gun is definitely the ingenuity of Jinling Arsenal.

From Zhou Changfeng's point of view, at least it must be [-]% in terms of appearance, and the angular shape is very smooth and tough.

In any case, it is a better choice to fight more and fight less, and it would be even better if you can concentrate superior firepower.

So when the outflanking teams on both wings were ready, a Type [-] heavy machine gun team also rushed behind a low wall on the south side of the three-way intersection.

After a few rounds of 64mm mortar shells fell, the Ming army, which fired simultaneously from multiple directions, completely suppressed the British and Indian troops in the ruins in an instant.

According to Zhou Changfeng's order, the soldiers who launched an assault from the right rushed to the wall at once, first threw grenades inside, and then took guns to sweep anyone they saw inside.

Several Indian-Du soldiers were knocked down before they recovered their senses. Other enemy troops who reacted also began to throw grenades. Lewis light machine gun shooters even shot directly at the ruins through the wall. Anyway, this fragile brick wall couldn't stop it. 303 full power rifle ammunition.

In the blink of an eye, there were also several casualties on our own side, and the assault was blocked. After dragging back a surviving wounded person, more than a dozen soldiers of the Ming army fired at the enemy at close range.

The short stalemate lasted only a few minutes. After the assault was blocked, the annoyed officers and soldiers brought a few blasting tubes from a nearby ammunition supply point; they blew the fuse and threw them a few meters away like throwing a javelin.

In addition to the thin steel shell on the outside, the ten-pound blasting barrel is filled with B50-type charge—50% ammonium picrate + [-]% TNT.

"Boom! Boom!"

Two blasting tubes exploded one after another. The deafening bang and the sweeping shock wave made the soldiers of the Ming army around feel their brains buzzing, and the blasted stumps, arms, and debris even fell hundreds of meters away.

Before the smoke and dust cleared, the soldiers rushed into the place that had completely collapsed into ruins, and the few enemy soldiers who were lucky enough not to go to the sky on the spot were also dying at this moment.

Second Lieutenant Dragan, who is eager for honor, is now missing. Although he can't get the Military Cross, the Death Medal is stable.

After disposing of this daring British-Indian army unit without delay, the First Battalion finally had time to check the supplies dropped by the air.

Since the four service planes took the risk of low-altitude and low-speed hovering airdrops, all [-] boxes were recovered completely.

The specifications of the airdrop boxes vary from big to small. This time, a small 250-jin airdrop box was used, which meant that a total of two and a half tons of supplies were obtained.

48箱八零迫弹、每箱3发共144发；24箱六四迫弹、每箱8发共192发；28箱二三重尖弹、每箱1000发共28000发；18箱十八式手雷、每箱20枚共360枚。

Not many, it can only be said that it is better than nothing.

Just after [-] o'clock in the morning, when Zhou Changfeng made people send power to request the headquarters to continue airdropping supplies, the bombardment of the British and Indian troops began again.

Looking at Height Zero covered by artillery fire, he sighed involuntarily: "It's another difficult day."

In order to hinder the bombing of the British and Indian Air Forces and interfere with their aiming and bombing, the soldiers arranged anti-aircraft smoke in the urban area at the request of Zhou Changfeng-cut the empty oil barrels in half, place one at an interval of 100 meters, and throw wood and plastic into them. , torn clothes, twigs, tires cut into small pieces, etc.

A pile of burning bonfires emitted black smoke, and under the action of the low-pressure airflow in the tropical monsoon climate, dozens of billows of black smoke shot straight into the sky.

The British and Indian troops fired some colored smoke bombs towards the city of Demagi. However, a dozen fighter jets and bombers were belatedly hovering over Demagi, unable to see the target smoke at all.

Looking down from the sky, the thick black smoke turned Dmagee into a realm of chaos, and the pilots had to drop bombs indiscriminately.

The falling aerial bombs exploded loudly, and dazzling fires flickered in the billowing black smoke, making this small place feel like hell.

After the fierce shelling and bombing, the attacking force with the Hyderabad Battalion as the main force and the Raigal Battalion as the auxiliary left the starting position immediately, and attacked Height Zero from the front and right flank respectively.

At the same time, the hundreds of British and Indian troops stuck between the small hill and the urban area did not sit idle. Instead, they attacked Height Zero with rifles, machine guns, and light mortars, and even sent several platoons to carry out a feint attack. Support the frontal attack.

(End of this chapter)