The Iron-Blooded Army of Beacon Fire

Chapter 199 Positions and Cannons

Before dawn, all the officers and soldiers of the 956th Regiment took action. On the main position with defense fortifications as the core, Guangdong officers and soldiers wielding shovels and pickaxes could be seen everywhere digging earth, carrying bags, and strengthening the fortifications.

The rows of looming trees near the highway were all cut down by the vicious hands of the officers and soldiers, and then tied into strings with ropes and iron sticks and pulled up to the main position on the high ground, becoming construction materials for defending the country. .

Boxes of 7.92mm rifle ammunition, hand grenades, and 82 mortar shells produced either from the Guangdong Shijing Arsenal, from abroad, or from the Jinling Arsenal were moved into the highlands by the soldiers. in the ammunition storage facility.

On the main position, among the originally lonely and extremely cold light and heavy machine gun fire bunkers, there are many more sandbags, earth bags, soil, and log structure bunker fortifications. These civil structure bunker fortifications are different from those with only the front. The concrete fortifications of the shooting ports are different. There are shooting ports of different sizes on the top, bottom, left and right.

In addition to these newly added bunker fortifications, the renovation work of those concrete bunkers and traffic trenches is also in full swing.

Among the Guangdong officers and soldiers, there are also many officers and soldiers from the special agent battalion. Although it is not yet bright, it is very easy to distinguish between the two. The Guangdong officers and soldiers all wear Tony-style flat steel helmets purchased from the United Kingdom. All soldiers are equipped with A diagonal long bullet belt, while the officers and soldiers of the secret service battalion wore German-made M35 steel helmets and grass green tactical vests designed by He Wei.

If you look closely at these newly added fortifications and the renovation measures of the original concrete defense fortifications, they actually have the charm of He Wei's battle at Xinkou, especially the newly added civil fortifications, which completely replicated He Wei's battle at Xinkou Carefully constructed fortifications.

"Brothers, follow this method and install the barbed wire inside the shooting port of the bunker. Make two horizontal and two vertical lines to form a net. It must be tied tightly."

In front of a concrete heavy machine gun fortification, Senior Private Chen Ada from the 1st Infantry Company of the Special Agent Battalion was squatting in front of the shooting port of the machine gun fortification, holding a bundle of barbed wire in his hand to demonstrate how to tie the shooting port barbed wire to the officers and soldiers in front of him.

This barbed wire mesh for the shooting port is a grid of vertical and horizontal wires laid out at the shooting port of the bunker. It was originally a construction technique that He Wei came up with when he was at Xinkou and promoted it in the Sixth Company. Although it looks inconspicuous, it is The 16th Infantry Regiment in Xinkou lost at least three figures because of this small barbed wire fence.

In order to comprehensively transform and strengthen these fortifications, He Wei pulled out all the veterans from the original 10th Division in the special agent camp, who had been with him since Xinkou, and divided them into several groups to guide the officers and soldiers of the Guangdong Army to strengthen the transformation and fortifications.

Chen Ada is one of them. His current military rank is first-class private, but more than a month ago, he was just a second-class private in the 10th Division. He followed He Wei on the Xinkou battlefield and fought to death. His infantry Of the fourteen members of his squad, only he and the deputy squad leader, a corporal, are still alive today. After the establishment of the special agent battalion, he was promoted to a first class soldier.

Surrounding Chen Ada were all the officers and sergeant squad leaders of an infantry company of the 956th Regiment. Everyone was listening carefully to what he said.

"Brother, what is the use of this thing? Why do you need to add barbed wire to the machine gun nozzle?"

A Guangdong captain asked.

Chen Ada straightened his chest and did not speak. Instead, he placed a hastily arranged barbed wire fence with a steel helmet on the shooting port. He then took out a long-handled Gong grenade from his tactical vest and fired at it. He stepped back more than ten meters in the direction of the mouth, and then threw the grenade under the surprised eyes of everyone. The grenade was naturally accurately thrown at the shooting mouth at such a close distance. However, it was blocked by the barbed wire and even bounced away.

Needless to say, Chen Ada’s actual demonstration has already explained everything. The surrounding Guangdong officers and soldiers also understood the function of this thing. A second lieutenant couldn’t help but admired: "Although this thing is no better than a gun or a cannon, it can really fight a war." But it can save lives.”

The remaining officers and soldiers also admired this, and naturally learned this simple and easy-to-use construction technique. On the battlefield, there were many officers and soldiers of the secret service battalion like Chen Ada, and some of them were teaching how to lay out the barbed wire fence. , some were explaining on the spot how to build new thunder cannons, some were showing Guangdong officers and soldiers step by step how to use grenades and leaves to transform Luzhai, and some were instructing Guangdong officers and soldiers to build advanced civil bunker fortifications.

As teachers, the veterans of the secret service camp did their best to teach under He Wei's instructions, and the Guangdong officers and soldiers also learned seriously. These construction techniques and new "firearms" pioneered by He Wei in the Battle of Xinkou, It was further carried forward by the spy battalion, spread to the entire position, and radiated to the entire 956th Regiment.

And these things will continue to be radiated to other troops by the officers and soldiers of the 956th Regiment in future battles and even in the war of resistance for several years. The final effect is unknown, but what is certain is that there will be a large number of Japanese troops. Therefore, he was buried in a foreign land.

"Prepare, release."

Boom-boom

There were also continuous artillery firing orders on the position, and the sound of artillery and the sound of twisted steel came from the two 47mm tank defense guns of the special agent battalion artillery company and the two 47mm tank defense gun platoon of the attached Army Armored Corps tank defense gun platoon. The 37mm tank defense gun was pulled up at the instruction of He Wei and began to fire at the very strong bunker door locks that did not have bunker keys.

All tank defense guns were pulled to a distance of 100 meters from the target and fired. The hit rate was extremely high. The speed and armor-piercing power of the armor-piercing projectiles were retained to the maximum extent. It hit almost immediately with one shot. As the bunker doors were penetrated one by one, there were cheers and cheers, and the opposite yells and helplessness. The cheers were naturally caused by the Guangdong officers and soldiers watching the bunker doors that they could not blow open with grenades and mortars. The tank defense cannon was happily penetrated with ease.

The helplessness is that the officers feel sorry for these artillery shells that should be used on the enemy. The precious artillery shells that the country exchanged for real money and resource trade from abroad are used in such places due to poor organization.

In front of the main position, He Wei was standing on the slope below the high ground and looking forward with a telescope. The commander of the 956th Regiment, Cai Rubai, and the major of the 956th Regiment were holding operational maps and commanding and deploying.

Below the high ground, hundreds of officers and soldiers were setting up obstacles and minefields on the periphery of the position. Before withdrawing, the 960th Regiment had already laid out considerable obstacles, barbed wire, Luzhai and highland trip wires in front of the main position. This saved the officers and soldiers of the 956th Regiment a lot of trouble.

The only additional task was to lay minefields. After coordination between He Wei and Cai Rubai, the engineer battalion of the 160th Division dispatched an engineer company to the position to assist in the operation, and brought a lot of detonating equipment and landmines. This batch of landmines, Together with a batch of Type 92 70mm infantry artillery shells seized from the Japanese army and ten German-made 150mm heavy-duty explosive grenades left over from the artillery school, they formed a sizable minefield.

With the completion of this obstacle area and minefield, the entire defense system gradually took shape, forming a three-layer defense system with permanent and semi-permanent defense fortifications as the core, and obstacle areas and minefields as peripheral auxiliaries.

While He Wei and Cai Rubai were discussing various details of the defense deployment, Sun Xisheng, the communications platoon leader of the special agent battalion, suddenly ran over with a telegram, saying that it was a telegram from the military police headquarters in the city. He Wei took the telegram and Look, the signature of the telegram is General Xiao from the Military Police Headquarters.

The content of the first telegram is as follows: "Commander He of the Nanjing City Defense Special Agent Battalion. I heard that your department severely damaged the enemy troops outside Jurong. Your victory report has been passed on to all departments. After hearing this, all the military divisions were greatly boosted in morale, but the war situation remains the same. The situation was severe. The 74th Army guarding Chunhua and the 41st Division at Qixia Mountain were both fiercely attacked by the Japanese. Their positions changed hands repeatedly, and the fierce fighting between the two sides was extremely fierce. According to reports from Commander Wang Yaowu of the 51st Division of the 74th Army, The Japanese aerial bombardment was extremely violent. The division suffered heavy casualties and the pre-positioned defense fortifications on the Chunhua line were extremely unsuitable. I have ordered the Anti-aircraft Artillery Second Company of the 42nd Artillery Regiment to dispatch the 51st Division and your position to assist in air defense. Please be careful. In addition, the defenses near Xiaguan have been deployed. The headquarters military police and the 36th Division have entered the preset positions near Xiaguan. The naval artillery team and prefabricated cement works have been constructed. The transportation of civilians is still in progress. It can transport more than 30,000 people across the river every day. I hope your department will send you more good news."

After reading this telegram from General Xiao, He Wei had a certain understanding of the current war situation. It seemed that the Chinese army was defending miserably, but the Japanese had not made much progress. However, if the battle continued for a few more days, I am afraid the situation would be dire. Not so anymore.

The only good news is that the defense deployment near Xiaguan has been completed. I heard that several military police regiments and the 36th Division have occupied positions near Xiaguan, and the artillery team supported by the navy has also arrived at the designated position. At least more than 20,000 troops near the pass entered the established positions and stood ready, unlike the historical Nanjing defense battle, which was extremely chaotic. This gave He Wei another confidence.

General Xiao saw that the 74th Army was badly bombed by the Japanese in today's battle, so he took advantage of his part-time job as the capital's air defense commander to take the initiative to strengthen an anti-aircraft artillery battery for himself. It was General Xiao's sincere help that helped him. Looking at the telegram, He Wei couldn't help but feel a little warmth in his heart.

Although in He Wei's opinion, to deploy an effective anti-aircraft firepower network for a field infantry regiment's position, an anti-aircraft artillery battery is completely useless, but He Wei knows that this is the limit of what General Xiao can do. The current Nanjing defenders The air defense force is simply pitiful, and it is all pieced together. There are only twenty-seven anti-aircraft guns of various calibers in total. These twenty-seven anti-aircraft guns also include fixed gun emplacements deployed in various fortresses. There are very few 88mm fixed anti-aircraft guns on board, and there are very few field anti-aircraft guns that can really be used for mobile air defense, and they come from different military units. They can only be said to be better than nothing. He Wei then handed Commander Xiao's telegram to Cai Rubai. Compared with He Wei, Cai Rubai was obviously looking forward to the upcoming anti-aircraft artillery battery, and excitedly told He Wei that he must shoot down a few Japanese planes to vent his anger. ''

He Wei could only smile bitterly after hearing this. Cai Rubai received systematic military education too early and did not have a deep understanding of modern weapons and tactics. Naturally, he did not have a deep understanding of air defense operations, let alone the essentials.

But as a time traveler, He Wei is well aware of the shortcomings of ground anti-aircraft artillery and air defense.

Using anti-aircraft guns for air defense is indeed exciting and satisfying, but it is by no means a cheap thing.

This is a purely defensive operation. The current range of various anti-aircraft guns is limited. If the enemy plane does not fly within your effective range, you will have no way to hit it. If you have a chance to hit it, your own side will inevitably be hit first. If it is in a position where it is first attacked by bombs dropped by aircraft, the best way is to prevent it from intruding, that is, to use aircraft to fight for air supremacy. But in the current situation in China, the Air Force was almost wiped out in the Battle of Songhu. Any possibility to compete with the Japanese air power.

But, since it can't fight airplanes, it's pretty good when used flatly to fight infantry and tanks!

In addition, General Xiao also forwarded to He Wei a copy of the battle report submitted by Wang Yaowu, commander of the 51st Division, to the Nanjing Garrison Headquarters that day for He Wei's reference. Although the content is not much, it can be said word for word. They all reveal the word "tragic": "Our division encountered the Japanese army today. The enemy covered us with fierce artillery fire and bombed us indiscriminately with aircraft, causing our division to suffer extremely heavy losses. The defense fortifications near Chunhua were all destroyed." It was a machine gun bunker with an obvious target at a long distance, and its shooting port was very large. The Japanese army used tanks as cover and used tank guns to shoot directly at the shooting port of our machine gun bunker. Therefore, the officers and soldiers in our bunker suffered heavy casualties, and the battle was extremely intense. It was brutal, with continuous artillery fire and blood flying everywhere. Some officers and soldiers had their arms blown off, some were concentrated on the head and their brains burst. Many heavy machine guns were also damaged. Zhang Lingfu, the commander of the 305th Regiment of the Division, was injured in the battle. .

In addition, in order to form a strong and deep position, our division's position required a lot of work, and the troop transport force responsible for external operations was weak, and there was an extreme shortage of explosive materials and obstacle materials. Although it was built through a starry night, it ended up being that the front was too wide and there was a lack of materials. , the position failed to achieve the expected level of solidity. Moreover, our division fought fiercely for two months near Luodian, with more than half of the officers and soldiers casualties. Later, it assumed several cover missions in Qingpu, Kunshan, and Wangting. It fought alone and lost all its elite troops. Although it was replenished several times, they were all from the fields. The new recruits felt insufficient for combat work. "

He Wei read the telegram from the 51st Division and couldn't help but gasped. The 51st Division, which was stationed in Chunhua, also used defense fortifications as the core of its defense, but they did not have He Wei's good luck.

Firstly, the terrain nearby was flat and plain. Secondly, they had no time to correct the problems of the national defense fortifications. They could only use their flesh and blood and lives to fight the Japanese army. Through the battle report of the 51st Division, He Wei seemed to be able to see the tragic scene of the officers and soldiers of this division going forward and holding on to their positions despite the fierce firepower of the Japanese army, sacrificing their lives for their country while opening their mouths to the poor-quality defense fortifications.

About half an hour later, the anti-aircraft artillery company sent by General Xiao also arrived at the position. After receiving Tao Heiwa's notice, He Wei immediately left the high ground and saw dozens of mules and horses carrying machine guns. He and more than a hundred officers and soldiers drove down the road one after another, and under the guidance of the security sentries of the secret service battalion, they drove towards the back-slope permanent shelter where the main force of the secret service battalion was hidden. After a burst of people neighing and horses hooting, He Wei saw The commander of the anti-aircraft gun company leading the team.

"Sir, Chen Xunhuai, commander of the 7th Company of the 42nd Army Anti-aircraft Artillery Regiment, has come to your headquarters to report on the orders of the Air Defense Commander General Xiao."

A captain officer saluted He Wei and reported. After He Wei returned the salute, he immediately walked towards the anti-aircraft gun company in three steps and two steps. The horses in between were all loaded with artillery parts and green ammunition boxes. Looking closer, He Wei Wei immediately recognized that this company was equipped with the Sulotong ST5 mm machine gun, which was called the th Cannon in the Chinese army.

This kind of 20mm small machine gun is widely equipped in the army. Some elite German-style adjustment divisions such as the Teaching Corps, the 87th Division, the 88th Division, the 89th Division, the 36th Division, and the 25th Division Each infantry regiment of the other departments is equipped with a small artillery battery equipped with six 20mm machine guns, which can not only level fire anti-tank anti-fortifications, but also high-speed air defense. It is a cutting-edge weapon equipped by the national army.

In addition, this kind of small artillery is also equipped in large quantities to independent anti-aircraft artillery regiments for air defense. The anti-aircraft artillery company assigned to He Wei by General Xiao belongs to the 42nd Anti-aircraft Artillery Regiment. The entire regiment is equipped with 100 Eight Sulothong 20mm high-level dual-purpose machine guns.

"Hurry up, lift up the gun stand and put it under the gun body."

"Unload the cannon, unload the cannon."

After the anti-aircraft artillery battery reached the foot of the mountain on the back of the high ground, the squad and platoon leaders immediately organized their officers and soldiers to disassemble and reassemble the artillery and began to pull the artillery onto the high ground.

He Wei took the company commander through the ranks of the anti-aircraft artillery company, and the two chatted all the way. Only then did He Wei learn that the company commander was a student of the eighth phase of Huangpu and a student of the Army Air Defense School. With his anti-aircraft gun battery in the city, he served as an anti-aircraft gunner.

However, they never got a chance to fire. The reason was that the Japanese aircraft did not fly over the guarded area. However, other anti-aircraft artillery units fought hard with the Japanese aircraft. They also managed to take down a few Japanese aircraft, but the losses were It was also very big. Two Sulotong small guns from a 20mm anti-aircraft gun platoon of some other unit, along with dozens of people and dozens of horses, were hit by bombs dropped by the Japanese army, and they were all blown up into the sky.

The words of the artillery company commander were full of anxiety and worry about air defense operations. Similarly, this battle example also confirmed He Wei's views on ground air defense artillery operations. Such a precious and limited number of artillery was destroyed in this way. In exchange for The result of the battle was only a few Japanese aircraft, which was really not worth the gain.

He Wei took the company commander to look at the terrain, and then climbed up to the fortifications at the top of the highland. The company commander also expressed his determination to fight to He Wei in a timely manner.

‘Sir, our company has a total of three combat artillery platoons with six Sulothong cannons. We also have enough shells and can go into battle anytime and anywhere. ’

He Wei nodded, raised his finger and pointed to a small artillery fortification with a reinforced concrete structure, and said: "Brother, I also understand your difficulties. This air defense task is eliminated. Six machine guns can't defend against any aircraft. Besides, there are strong fortifications here, which can also be used as concealment, so you guys should pull up the cannons as soon as possible and get into these small artillery fortifications. There is no need for planes to attack. You just follow the order and open fire, hit infantry and tanks."

Hearing that He Wei was exempted from the air defense mission of the anti-aircraft artillery battery, and instead focused on attacking land targets, Company Commander Chen immediately became energetic. He patted his chest and assured He Wei: "Don't worry, this plane is not easy to fight. Our 20mm cannons are more than enough for the Japanese tanks and infantry. Our company will never withdraw until they defeat hundreds of Japanese soldiers. The Sulotong cannons attached to my company cost the country 200,000 yuan each. The price was bought from abroad, so I have to get my capital back this time..."

After setting up the newly opened anti-aircraft artillery battery, He Wei ordered the officers and soldiers of the special agent battalion to assist the officers and soldiers of the anti-aircraft artillery battery in firing artillery, and then went to find Chen Xinsheng, the commander of the artillery company of the special agent battalion, to inspect the formation of the temporary mixed artillery unit.

Unlike He Wei's step-by-step defense, the 16th Division is in trouble. Nakajima Jingo, the commander of the 16th Division, learned that an infantry brigade of the 9th Regiment was completely destroyed. He was shocked at first, and then I don't believe it.

After repeatedly confirming with the Ninth Infantry Regiment that the news was true, Nakajima Konsogo immediately became furious and ordered the entire division to advance at full speed and attack the Chinese army. Especially the Ninth Regiment's captain, Katagiri Gorō, was aggressive. He led his troops in pursuit, and the following three infantry regiments and the regiments directly under the 16th Division also pursued with all their strength, but they continued to pursue, but were hit hard again.

After He Wei and others withdrew, the engineer battalion of the 160th Division used great efforts to completely blast the road. However, before the engineer battalion of the 160th Division withdrew, they were also in the destruction area and the wilderness on both sides. There were many prizes left for the Japanese, including laid mines and grenades that had their caps pulled open and tied with ropes. In addition, the engineers of the 160th Division also dug mines on both sides of the road. There were many traps with sharpened pieces of wood and grenades inserted into them.

As a result, the Ninth Regiment, which was in a hurry to advance, was suddenly hit. More than a dozen people were killed by landmines and grenades, and a dozen more people fell into traps and were pierced by wood into sieves.

The Ninth Regiment was frightened at this moment, because the blasted hole on the road was surrounded by chaos, and the wilderness on both sides was overgrown with weeds. Therefore, the Ninth Regiment did not dare to continue to advance because no one could tell. There were landmines somewhere, and the Japanese infantry regiment was not equipped with mine-clearing equipment. Therefore, the commander of the 9th Infantry Regiment, Katagiri Gurō, had no choice but to request the division to send out engineering troops to assist. After this, the 16th Division The marching speed was delayed.

Because the 16th Division is a permanent field artillery division, its combat scenario is applied to operations in plain areas. Each infantry regiment is equipped with many heavy weapons and baggage. The artillery regiments within the organization are also equipped with the same equipment. Field guns and howitzers carried by horses cannot be dismantled, and must be driven in by road.

As a result, the four infantry regiments of the 16th Division and several directly affiliated regiments with more than 20,000 people and a large amount of heavy equipment crowded on the road and stopped, delaying them for five or six hours.

By the time the Engineer Regiment of the 16th Division completed the repair of the road damaged by the 160th Division, it was already late at night, and the commander of the 16th Division, Nakajima Kongo, was worried about the Chinese army's night attack and the inconvenience of night marching. , had no choice but to swallow this breath and ordered the entire division to camp on the spot. More than 20,000 people in the 16th Division camped along the road overnight in fear.

Ever since the 3rd Infantry Brigade of the 9th Regiment was completely wiped out by He Wei, the 16th Division seemed to have started a doom mode. All kinds of bad luck and dangers came one after another, and the precious time was wasted as a result. Doubts gave the Chinese army that set up positions in front of it more ample preparation time.

(End of this chapter)