The Iron-Blooded Army of Beacon Fire

Chapter 110 We also have cannons
Late at night, some people are sad and some are happy.

In the No. 14 Army command post, No. 14 Army Commander Li Moan put down a battle report with a smile on his face. This battle report was exactly the one that He Wei handed over to Chen Zhen. Chen Zhen handed it over to the Seventh Regiment Headquarters as the current report. The focus of the battlefield, Li Mo'an is always paying attention to the battle situation on the Yanzhuang front line. This battle report is transferred from the regiment headquarters to the brigade headquarters, then from the brigade headquarters to the division headquarters, and finally from the division headquarters of the 14th Division to the No. [-] Army Corps. department.

Of course, the battle report presented to Li Mo'an was not the original version of the detailed battle report written by He Wei. At that time, He Wei was still thinking about capturing the King of Hell, so the battle report was written quickly and concisely, and only briefly described some Of course, it was impossible for the staff officer of the [-]th Division to hand over such a simple battle report to the commander of the entire battle process and the expected results.

This group of staff officers are all experts at writing detailed battle reports. Most of them are professional officers who have graduated from the Central Military Academy and other scientific colleges for a long time. When it comes to writing battle reports, He Wei, who is just starting out and has not experienced the staff position, is still a bit green. The focus of these staff rewriting battle reports was on the battle process. Since the only officer who participated in the whole battle was He Wei, He Wei became the well-deserved protagonist. After being promoted by Li Mo'an's front line, He Wei has become an internal member of the [-]th Division. Being a well-known celebrity, these advisers may also want to give He Wei a convenient favor.

In He Wei's original manuscript, there was only a brief description of his command process and emergency response, as well as his internal plans. However, after being polished by these advisers, in the battle report, He Wei's image suddenly became taller, and he could be said to be calm in the face of danger. If the command is determined, it seems to be the performance of a general with both wisdom and courage.

Of course, He Wei had no idea about these things.

Li Mo'an was naturally happy that the troops had won such a big victory at the front.

"It's a beautiful fight. This time the Japanese are going to be in pain!"

Li Mo'an handed the battle report to the acting army chief of staff Fu Zhaoqian and said excitedly.

After Fu Zhaoqian read it, he did not say the official good things. Instead, he questioned He Wei's estimated battle results: "Military seat, the battle results figures in this battle report are a bit suspicious. Hundreds of enemies were killed at one time. This Isn’t it a bit exaggerated to almost wipe out the front-line combatants of a Japanese Army infantry brigade at once?”

Li Mo'an waved his hand: "No, this He Wei is the lieutenant I promoted on the battlefield, a student in the eleventh batch of the military academy, and the platoon leader of the 57th company of the [-]th regiment. This cadre is very good. He has built a flying thunder cannon. I saw with my own eyes that he led his reinforced squadron, which was defeated by others. The number of enemy annihilations may be slightly exaggerated, but it is definitely a great victory, and Yanzhuang is still in our hands."

Seeing the army commander's excitement and tired look, Fu Zhaoqian smiled and nodded and said, "That's good. One more day of resistance at Yanzhuang will give our army's main defense line in the plains one more day to breathe."

Li Mo'an asked again: "However, as you can see in this battle report, He Wei hopes to get certain artillery reinforcements. I originally wanted to increase artillery to the direction of the [-]th Division. How are the artillery preparations now?"

Fu Zhaoqian said: "The military seat is still being prepared. According to the battle order, you are assigned to this line the fifth regiment of the Central Independent Artillery Corps, an artillery battalion of the Shanxi-Sui Army and the mountain artillery battalion of the 52nd Division of the [-]nd Army. I’m afraid it will take some time to integrate the regimental history commander. We still have to conduct air defense during the day and we dare not make large-scale mobilizations. We are still preparing.”

Li Mo'an frowned and nodded: "As soon as possible."

The artillery firepower assigned to the 52th Division by Li Mo'an is definitely not weak. It can even be said to be very strong. There are three artillery battalions in total, which is exactly the number of artillery pieces of an artillery regiment. However, these three battalions come from three different units. , the Fifth Artillery Regiment comes from the central independent artillery force, the Second Division Mountain Artillery Battalion is the artillery of the infantry division under the [-]nd Army, and the other battalion is simply Yan Laoxi'er's troops. The sources are different, so the difficulty of integration is naturally not low.

"Military seat, Commander Shi has arrived."

A staff officer came in and said.

"This means that Cao Cao Cao Cao is here, please come in quickly."

A sweaty colonel officer walked in quickly, saluted Li Mo'an and Fu Zhaoqian respectively and stood at attention.

"Hello sirs!"

"Thank you for your hard work, Captain Shi. Please sit down."

The person who came was none other than Shi Hongxi, commander of the Fifth Artillery Regiment. He was a third-term graduate of Huangpu Military Academy. He graduated from the Japanese Army Artillery School and the Artillery Research Class of Army University. His brother Shi Honglie was also a first-term graduate of Huangpu Military Academy.

"Chief of Staff Fu and I just talked about your artillery. How are your preparations now?" Li Mo'an asked.

Shi Hongxi said solemnly: "At present, the three artillery battalions have completed their unified assembly. Artillery is a technical arm. I am not complaining to you. The artillery models of the three battalions are completely different and the organization is inconsistent. We must guard against the Japanese during the day. There is a gap, so we can only make small-scale transfers of companies and platoons. The battalion in our regiment and the artillery battalion of the second division are equipped with mountain artillery, which can be dismantled and carried on horses. The battalion of the Shanxi-Sui Army is equipped with field artillery. , can only use horse-drawn horses, and the marching speed is not the same."

"We have just completed the assembly of the three battalions, but it will still take some time to enter the battle and unify the command."

"What's going on? Why can't we go into battle at any time after gathering?"

Shi Hongxi wiped his sweat and patiently explained: "Sir, it's like this. The artillery models of the three artillery battalions are inconsistent. They are equipped with different types of artillery and have different performances. This greatly increases the difficulty of firing command. Although my artillery In addition to an artillery battalion, the Fifth Regiment also has a regimental headquarters, but our regiment is the latest mountain artillery regiment, and the firing command and organization at all levels are set based on the new Bofors mountain artillery equipped."

"In this situation, it would be inconvenient to directly command the mountain artillery battalion of the Second Division and the field artillery battalion of the Shanxi-Sui Army. It will take time to adjust, and the performance and tactics of the artillery are also different. The Bofors mountain artillery equipped by our regiment is different from that of the Shanxi-Sui Army. The maximum range of the 88mm field artillery equipped by the Sui Army can reach [-] meters, while the maximum range of the Taisho Sixth-year-old mountain artillery equipped by the Second Division Mountain Artillery Battalion is only six kilometers. Tactically, our regiment can completely achieve long-distance indirect shooting and support. The mountain artillery battalion of the Second Division mostly uses the direct-aiming combat method to cover shooting based on terrain and objects, but fortunately, the cadres of this battalion have all received re-education from the artillery school and can also shoot indirectly."

After saying this, Shi Hongxi showed a hint of embarrassment and said: "However, the battalion of the Jinsui Army does not know how to shoot indirectly. Although the battalion commander has also been to the Japanese Army Artillery School for training, other cadres have never been exposed to it. Indirect fire education, if unified command is very difficult, I feel that all three battalions of artillery cannot be put into battle rashly, and it will take a certain amount of time to run in, adjust and coordinate."

Shi Hongxi was originally the commander of the artillery regiment, but the three elite Bofors Mountain artillery battalions under him were dismantled. Some companies were separated and assigned to this army, and some battalions were assigned to which army. Now The organic artillery under his command only has one mountain artillery battalion. The 150th Artillery Regiment is one of the most elite artillery regiments of the Nationalist Government. These independent artillery units equipped with Bofors mountain guns cannot compete with the [-]mm [-]mm guns manufactured by the German Rheinmetall Company. No one except the [-]th Heavy Howitzer Mechanized Artillery Regiment had served.

When did you encounter those troops equipped with Japanese-made [-] field artillery and old Hanyang-made field artillery who were not arrogant?

Whether it is equipment or tactics, it ranks first in the country's artillery. The Bofors Mountain Artillery, which has undergone complete German-style training, has fully mastered the most advanced indirect fire combat methods and the most advanced geodesic methods. When given Shi Hongxi was excited when he took over the command of the other two artillery battalions, but after taking a personal trip, his excitement turned into bitterness.

The artillery of the Shanxi-Sui Army cannot master the tactical skills such as indirect shooting that the Bofors Mountain artillery is accustomed to. In most cases, their shooting combat methods still rely on the traditional three-point and one-line direct aiming shooting and semi-covered shooting combat. The method is essentially no different from the three-point-one-line shooting principle of a rifle. There is almost no research and training on completely covered shooting and indirect shooting operations.

When Shi Hongxi first saw the twelve Taiyuan-made 88mm field guns neatly arranged in the Jinsui Army Field Artillery Battalion, he was excited because the combat performance of these large-caliber field guns was even better than that of the Bofors Mountain Cannon he was equipped with. Even stronger, but after inspecting the battalion and understanding the specific situation, he was filled with disappointment. If he couldn't shoot indirectly, his command would be in big trouble. Naturally, the power of these artillery pieces would not be fully utilized. .

Li Mo'an and Fu Zhaoqian were confused when they heard the bitter words spit out by Shi Hongxi, but they also understood something.

After a while, Li Mo'an handed the battle report to Shi Hongxi.

"Today the infantry won another great victory at the front, but unfortunately there was no artillery support."

As soon as these words were spoken, it was equivalent to throwing the problem to Shi Hongxi. Shi Hongxi also understood the meaning of the lieutenant general in front of him. Even if there were all kinds of difficulties, he would still provide artillery support to the front-line infantry. If he needed time again There may be a sense of evasion, and I'm afraid that the lieutenant general will no longer be so polite.

"Sir, I want to go to the front line of Yanzhuang to see the terrain and the defense situation of the infantry." Since the Shanxi-Sui Army's field artillery battalion can't be pulled up, at best, we can lead our own battalion of Bofors Mountain Artillery up. Thinking of this, Shi Hongxi made a request to Li Mo'an to go to the front line. As the commander of the German artillery regiment who has mastered the latest tactics and tactics, the top priority when arriving at the combat zone is to survey the terrain and survey the ground.

Fu Zhaoqian said: "It's already late at night. What do you think if you go up at this time?"

"Sir, the artillery survey does not distinguish between day and night, and I'm afraid it is safer at night. Even if the visibility is low, I can also ask the infantry officers. I can't guarantee that all three artillery battalions can be put into it, but the members of my regiment There is absolutely no problem with this camp." Shi Hongxi said.

Li Mo'an nodded: "That's it, Chief of Staff, immediately notify the [-]th Division to prepare, and let the commander of the front line... No, let He Wei personally lead Commander Shi to see the terrain!"

In the command post of the Sixth Company, He Wei only slept for less than two hours when he was woken up by a phone call. The call was from Chen Zhen, the regiment attaché. At first, He Wei was very resentful. After all, no one wants to sleep soundly. He was forcibly awakened, but when he learned that he was preparing to greet an artillery officer, he became particularly excited.

He expressed his desire for artillery in the battle report. After all, no one wants to be bombed every day and he can't help it, but he only expressed it with a few strokes. He didn't expect the artillery to be involved immediately, but he didn't expect that, This time I got an immediate response.

About half an hour later, the artillery officer who came to inspect the front-line position was escorted by an infantry platoon to the command post of the sixth company. He Wei originally thought that he was an artillery officer at the company and battalion level at most, but he did not expect that an artillery officer came. The colonel is the commander of the regiment, a lieutenant colonel is accompanied by three major battalion commanders, and there are five or six captains and second lieutenants.

Shi Hongxi acted very quickly. Although all three artillery battalions could not be put into battle immediately, he still called on the battalion commanders of the Second Division's Mountain Artillery Battalion and the Shanxi-Sui Army Field Artillery Battalion, and also brought along the commander of the Fifth Artillery Regiment. Attached to the school regiment, the mountain artillery battalion commander and several company commanders and observation officers, carrying a full set of surveying, mapping and geodetic equipment, arrived at the Yanzhuang position in a hurry.

"Hello, sirs!"

After inviting everyone to sit down, He Wei stood at attention and saluted. Although it was wartime, etiquette could not be lost.

"Are you He Wei, the platoon leader that Commander Li mentioned?" Shi Hongxi asked.

"Yes, sir!"

"I heard that you won the battle and killed hundreds of Japanese?"

"Yes, sir, it's a small victory. We killed about three or four squadrons of the Japanese army. It's a pity that we don't have artillery, otherwise the result will be even greater."

"Three or four infantry squadrons? That's hundreds of people. You are really loud for a lieutenant." The person who spoke was a major. He Wei looked over and saw that it was Zhao Jisan, the commander of the Mountain Artillery Battalion of the Second Division.

Zhao Jisan is different from several other artillery officers. He is not a cadre of an independent artillery unit, but a team-affiliated artilleryman from the 52nd Division of the 52nd Army. He usually interacts with infantry a lot. The [-]nd Army also fought with the Japanese in Baoding and Zhuozhou. There were many battles with heavy casualties and very heavy losses. He had seen infantry combat before. He Wei had eaten hundreds of Japanese soldiers as soon as he spoke. How could he believe it?
Of course, He Wei could understand the meaning of Zhao Jisan's words. His doubts were reasonable, but there were still colonels and lieutenant colonels at the scene. These high-ranking cadres didn't say anything. What's wrong with you, a major?

"That's right, sir, there are hundreds of people. Our company captured hundreds of rifles, and also captured a new 37mm Japanese rapid-fire cannon, which was placed in the nearby Tibetan Soldier Cave. Sirs, can you You can check it out at any time. Just go and see if it is true or not. Everything will become clear naturally. I also captured a lot of Japanese command knives. In previous battles, I presented the captured Japanese squadron leader's captain's sword to Commander Li of our army. For example, Sirs, if you don’t mind, I will give each of you a command knife when the military situation discussion is over.”

He Wei is like this, and others can't help but not believe it. Battle reports can be written casually, and captured weapons cannot be found casually. There is no way for the Czech style to be fake, and it is impossible for the Chinese style to replace the [-]-year-old cover.

Shi Hongxi changed the topic and said: "I have read your battle report. If you hope to have artillery support, then first introduce the nearby situation. The terrain and features must be as detailed as possible."

Hearing what Shi Hongxi said, He Wei understood that this was a real artillery battle. Although he was mainly infantry when he was a mercenary in his previous life, he also did artillery, but the artillery he played in his previous life was better than the artillery this year. The equipment is much more advanced. Laser calculators and electronic computers can easily obtain various parameter values ​​at the push of a button. The shooting error of artillery is only calculated in centimeters.

The artillery tactics of this era were crude and simple to him. He Wei did not dare to say that compared with the veteran officers who had been working for many years, but it was not a problem to be familiar with various principles and shooting tactics. big.

"Sir, the terrain here is not complicated. It is surrounded by endless plains. Although I am an infantryman, I also know a little about artillery operations. When I was at the Nanjing Military Academy, I also taught myself and received guidance from German consultants. The five major skills of artillery operations. Among shooting (shooting command), surveying (geometry), observation (observation), communication (communication), and artillery (artillery drill), geodesy is undoubtedly the most important. The front of our current garrison positions is all boundless. Open space.”

"The area of ​​more than three kilometers in front of our position is our fire battle area and obstacle area. The village occupied by the main force of the enemy is called Yongxing Village. It is about [-] kilometers away from our position. There are open fields and sweet potato fields along the way. There are no obstacles that can affect my artillery observation, and even the trees have been cut down."

Hearing what He Wei said, Shi Hongxi's eyes lit up. It seemed that the lieutenant in front of him was also familiar with artillery operations.

At the same time, he was greatly relieved when he heard that everything around him was open land. For artillery shooting, geodesy and observation were both very important. As the most elite mountain artillery unit of the national army, Shi Hongxi's fifth artillery regiment had already defeated the Germans. The observation and geodesy skills taught by the consultant are very good, but one unchangeable fact is that the current observation and geodesy skills of the Chinese artillery are still at the level stage. Observation and measurement, the two major artillery tactical skills, need to ensure that the target can enter Within the observation range of the observer at the observatory.

This is what Shi Hongxi is worried about. If the Japanese army hides in an anti-slope position behind a mountain or in other tricky and difficult-to-observe directions, then the problem will be huge.

"This terrain is indeed convenient for geodesy. What is the enemy's troop strength? Firepower? And how is the artillery equipment?"

"Sir, the enemy in front of us is about a reinforced regiment, equipped with a considerable number of tanks, and the artillery is not weak. Today, they launched a fierce bombardment on our position. According to my estimation, the enemy artillery has about two caliber levels. One is a mountain gun with a caliber of 75 mm, and the other is a larger caliber, which may exceed 150 mm, but its explosive effect will not exceed the 120 mm high-explosive grenade. According to the artillery model equipped by the Japanese army, it may be a [-] mm howitzer or One hundred and five millimeter howitzers.”

"What about the number of artillery pieces?"

The person who asked this time was an artillery major wearing the uniform of the Shanxi-Sui Army.

He Wei shook his head: "I'm not sure about that. I guess there might be a brigade."

Shi Hongxi thought for a while and said to He Wei: "I have been ordered by Commander Li to cooperate with you in the battle. I just talked with your commander Chen Tuanfu in Yanzhuangli. He said that you will be responsible for all matters, and our artillery will cooperate with you." You infantrymen, you also said in the battle report that artillery reinforcements are needed, what do you think?"

"Sir, artillery operations are nothing more than one pair of infantry and two pairs of artillery. Counter-battery shooting is too difficult and requires a large number of artillery. I hope that at least the next time the Japanese attack, the artillery can provide me with at least one company of artillery support. If If our company has artillery fire today, there will be more than just these hundreds of people left in front of the position."

"I thought how big your appetite was. We can still provide the support of an artillery company tomorrow. As for counter-artillery, the battalion in our regiment has this capability. Of course, it will definitely not be possible tomorrow. The situation on the battlefield , the Japanese army's artillery firepower still needs to be observed. I think it is worse than this. I will assign you a mountain artillery battery on your position, and leave some manpower to observe the terrain and measure the shooting map overnight. The other artillery units have not yet maneuvered in place. I have to look at the situation of the Japanese artillery before deciding on the placement. Artillery is an important weapon of the country and cannot be careless. I believe you can understand."

Shi Hongxi promised He Wei the firepower of an artillery battery. He Wei was overjoyed and immediately stood up and saluted excitedly.

"Thank you sir!"

(End of this chapter)