The Iron-Blooded Army of Beacon Fire

Chapter 205 Bloody Battle in Tangshan 6

Below the high ground, it is no exaggeration to say that it was bombarded indiscriminately. The main force of the Japanese army opened up many safe passages in the minefield, completely replicating the attack process of its two leading squadrons. The infantry was almost crowded. Lie down on the newly opened safe path.

The infantrymen carrying explosive tubes carefully blasted the obstacle area. Two leading infantry squadrons had already figured out the reality of the Chinese army's obstacle area at the cost of their blood. These Japanese troops who rushed up later would naturally not repeat the same mistakes and be defeated. Grenade blows up in the obstacle area.

The Japanese army's blasters were all very careful in detonating the Luzhai and barbed wire fences. Therefore, no one of the Japanese soldiers who went out to blast this time died from the booby traps. This also meant that almost all the main force of the Japanese army lay down and stagnated in the mines. District.

"Brother, I think it's almost done."

In the command post of the 956th Regiment, Cai Rubai couldn't hide the excitement on his face and looked at He Wei. Since the two of them reacted like this, it was natural that the Japanese had fallen into their scheme.

Now the main force of the Japanese army is lying down in the minefield. This minefield is not only loose-fired and compression-fired landmines, but also mixed with large quantities of electric shock mines. These mines are from the 956th Regiment. The equipment brought from Guangdong was produced at the Shijing Arsenal in Guangdong. Although its weight is not as large, rough, sturdy and rough as the Shanxi-made mines used in the battle of Xinkou in the past, it is still comparable and has a considerable charge. Can.

In addition to these electric shock mines in the minefield, there are also a large number of mines modified with 92 infantry artillery shells and 150mm howitzer shells.

There were almost two hundred rounds of 70mm Type 92 infantry artillery shells and ten German-made 150mm heavy-duty explosive grenades. The power of the ten German-made grenades was especially great.

This batch of grenades was discovered by He Wei at the Army Artillery School in Tangshan. Needless to say, they belong to the 18th Army Field Heavy Artillery Regiment stationed at the artillery school all year round. This regiment is equipped with the SFH type III imported from the German Rheinmetall Company. A heavy field howitzer with a diameter of times and mm, the power of its shells is self-evident.

In other words, the main offensive force of the Japanese army is lying on a large number of electric shock mines, infantry artillery shells and heavy howitzers without knowing it. They are even thankful that they have easily eliminated the loose-fired and pressure-fired landmines deployed by the Chinese army. As everyone knows, there are greater and more terrifying dangers on the ground.

"Hurry, move the things over here."

"Detonator, detonator, take it out."

The major of the 956th Regiment agreed with the platoon leader of the special agent platoon, each holding a detonator, and directed the soldiers of the special agent platoon of the 956th Regiment to move out ten detonators one after another. After placing them away one by one, the major The regimental assistant walked up to He Wei and Cai Rubai and asked excitedly: "Sir, let's detonate it now, let these Japanese carrots taste what it's like to be bombed, and send them to take a clay plane."

"hold on."

He Wei persuaded him, because he felt that it was too early to detonate now. In these few minutes, although the main force of the attacking Japanese army was still lying down and detonating step by step.

The sixth squadron of the 9th Infantry Regiment and the first squadron of the 20th Infantry Regiment, which were the first to open a breakthrough and demonstrate combat attacks for the subsequent Japanese troops, had already left the main force behind them far behind. They took the lead and were able to attack with ease. Break through the obstacle area and move forward.

During its assault, layers of deer villages and barbed wire fences were gradually blasted away. The vanguard of its attack was about to tear apart the obstacle area, rush to the open space less than 500 meters behind the obstacle area, and then... Will climb to high ground and launch an attack on the high ground.

Seeing more than 200 Japanese troops approaching closer and closer, He Wei suddenly decided to postpone detonating the landmines.

"Brother Cai, why don't we slow down and wait until the Japanese troops at the forefront attack our high ground before detonating the mines. By then, the subsequent enemy troops who will be bombarded by the mines will inevitably be overwhelmed, and the Japanese troops at the forefront will also be overwhelmed. They will be exposed in the open ground, and when we attack these reckless headless flies with fierce firepower, the results will be great."

Cai Rubai raised the telescope, estimated the distance, and said: "This is a good idea, but the distance is too far. The distance between the highland and the open land is more than two kilometers, and the horizontal distance from the obstacle area is also three kilometers. Although it can be seen clearly , but attacking with light weapons from such a long distance may not be able to completely annihilate them.”

He Wei nodded. He had forgotten about this. He used the telescope to zoom in to see the attacking Japanese troops. However, at such a long distance, when the big soldiers looked down with their naked eyes, what they saw was There are groups of small black dots, making it impossible to achieve any decent accurate shooting.

"Damn it, artillery can't hit it now. The Eighty-two mortar can hit us from such a long distance. It's better to just use the machine gun and risk it all."

He Wei was also anxious. Seeing that the leading Japanese army was about to rush out of the obstacle area, he simply gritted his teeth and stamped his feet, rejecting the decision he had just made not to easily use machine guns to attack the Japanese infantry.

His words meant that a terrifying battle with twenty-millimeter machine guns shooting directly at flesh and blood was about to begin. There was no other way. The six mountain cannons of the temporary artillery group were unable to fire. The distance was too far, and the rifles It is not easy to aim with light and heavy machine guns, and the ballistic trajectory of bullets and shooting accuracy are greatly affected. Moreover, the 956th Regiment added a lot of recruits after the Songhu War. The shooting accuracy of these people is also a big question mark.

The other is the explosive thunder cannon that I deployed on the position. To be honest, the range of this thing is also very limited. Essentially, it uses the air waves generated by the explosion of explosives to throw out another batch of explosives. The flight state is unstable, and naturally There is no accuracy to speak of. It is more suitable for attacking cluster targets in large-scale group charges. It is used to attack just two infantry squadrons. The cost-efficiency ratio is really uneconomical.

Now only the Sulotong 20 machine gun can be used. When the Major of the 956th Regiment heard what He Wei said, he also hurried to the phone leading to the anti-aircraft gun company command post and shook the phone. When a bloody massacre was about to take place, Cai Rubai suddenly held down the phone and said to He Wei: "Brother, the French heavy machine guns in our regiment are equipped with land-based optical sights. If we use the heavy machine guns to shoot, we may be able to fight."

"Oh? That's great. Shooting with a sight is definitely more accurate than shooting with the naked eye. Why not use tracer bullets on both the light and heavy machine guns, and let the heavy machine guns use tracer bullets to fire first to indicate the target for the light machine guns."

He Wei did not have a deep understanding of the establishment and equipment of the Guangdong Army. He had been in the Central Army system, and the heavy machine guns he had come into contact with were generally only issued with simple anti-aircraft sights, so he judged others by himself. The application was applied to the Guangdong Army, but they did not expect that the Guangdong Army's heavy machine guns were actually equipped with land-attack optical sights.

In fact, He Wei also felt that the Hotchkiss 1914 heavy machine gun equipped by the Guangdong army was just a commodity from the First World War. It was about the same as the Maxim heavy machine gun equipped by the Central Army and was far from advanced, so how could he think of the optical sight? .

Now that I know there is this thing, this battle will be much easier to fight.

"Then let's do this, the regiment attached, notify all battalions, all light and heavy machine guns will be replaced with tracer bullets, and follow the order to fire at the Japanese troops rushing at the front, and strive to annihilate them all in one fell swoop."

Cai Rubai shouted, and then this battle order was conveyed to various light and heavy machine gun fortifications. The heavy machine gunners installed optical sights on the Hotchkiss heavy machine guns and replaced them with machine gun bullet plates equipped with tracer bullets. The light machine gunners also replaced the Czech light machine guns with magazines equipped with tracer bullets.

During this period, the Japanese assault progressed more and more rapidly. The two infantry squadrons at the front were about to break out of the obstacle area and enter the open space ahead. The main force of the Japanese army in the rear also opened up at least half of the passage in the obstacle area. , about to pounce in right away.

He Wei also felt that it was time, so he squatted down and brought a detonator. Cai Rubai, the major of the 956th Regiment, the spy platoon leader, the ordnance officer and several sergeants also took one to detonate. The weapon was ready to detonate. At this time, the main force of the Japanese army, which was still repeating the process of crawling-blasting-opening passages-maneuvering, was still unaware of it.

He Wei took one last look outside the observation port and was about to press the detonator when suddenly a sharp whistling sound came. He subconsciously thought it was an artillery shell, turned around and rolled to the blind corner of the command post where he could hide.

Cai Rubai and the others were all rolled out of the battlefield, and they were all so hidden, but what they were waiting for was not the violent explosion and vibration caused by the direct hit of the artillery shell on the command post. "Sir, it's two flares. The Japanese fired a green flare."

I saw that the two Japanese infantry squadrons at the front had completely broken through the obstacle area, and were quickly pouring out from the breach, rushing towards the open space in front of the obstacle area, and at the same time fired two more signal flares.

"On board, attack, charge forward, we must be the first to plant the flag of the 9th Regiment on the mountain."

"The soldiers of the 20th Regiment must not lose to others, come on."

More than two hundred Japanese soldiers swarmed out of the breach in the obstacle area and rushed into the open area. Then, they skillfully and quickly transformed the dense formation into the standard infantry squadron open formation of 200 meters long and 200 meters wide. .

The two green flares it fired were a signal to stop the artillery cover. More than two hundred Japanese troops from the Sixth Squadron of the Ninth Infantry Regiment and the First Squadron of the Twentieth Infantry Regiment braved the hot air waves and flying missiles. Dust spread out and rushed over the open ground, and from time to time there were broken stones and pieces of soil flying in. All this was caused by the Japanese shelling.

The modified Type 38 field artillery and the Type 91 105mm howitzer of the 16th Division are both powerful artillery pieces. The 22nd Field Artillery Regiment in the rear is desperately shelling the top of the highland ridge. There are many rocks on the mountain. If one breaks, a large amount of gravel will fly down. From time to time, there will be a few near-misses hitting the mountainside, which is very easy to cause accidental injuries.

Therefore, the 6th Squadron of the 9th Infantry Regiment and the 1st Squadron of the 20th Infantry Regiment, which were leading the charge, both sent signals to stop shelling to prevent accidental damage.

As for the artillery cover when attacking high ground, it will soon be replaced by the Type 92 infantry artillery that follows up behind the main infantry force.

"Go ahead."

"Onboard, rush."

The cries of more than 200 Japanese soldiers suppressed the gradually sparse explosions of artillery shells, and they launched an attack formation on the open ground unscrupulously. He Wei, who was in the command post, was stunned for a few seconds and felt the obvious weakening of the surrounding shelling. Realizing that this was a good opportunity, he ran to the observation window of the command post and raised his telescope.

What he saw was the Japanese infantry charging wildly in the open ground. He could even see a few sun flags and Japanese officers waving sabers. Looking behind him, the Japanese troops who were crawling in the minefield were also making some progress. Also break through obstacle areas.

"Now, detonate the mines."

He Wei roared and ran to the detonator and pressed the mine detonator without thinking. Cai Rubai and others also rushed over and pressed the detonator backwards. The air in the command post seemed to be stagnant. There was a violent vibration, followed by a huge explosion sound that reached the sky. An arc of electric current followed the detonator, completely detonating the mines and artillery shells in the minefield.

At this moment, the explosion of landmines seemed to be completing some kind of handover with the explosion of Japanese field artillery and howitzers, almost seamlessly connected.

Many of the Japanese infantrymen who were crawling on the road in the middle of the minefield were unprepared and unconscious when they were blown up to the sky by a heat wave and shock wave coming from the ground. The first one to explode was one made by the Guangdong Ishii Arsenal. Electric shock-fired mines, followed by modified Type 92 70mm infantry artillery shells.

It exploded in the end, but the most powerful one was the batch of 150-mm-caliber heavy-duty explosive grenades manufactured by the German Rheinland Company. Although this batch of grenades was small in number, only ten, it was surprisingly powerful. The shells were exploding. In an instant, a column of smoke and dust more than ten meters high was set off, and the torn limbs and broken arms of the Japanese soldiers were blown into the sky. Many Japanese soldiers were even cut in half by the waist, and various weapon parts were mixed together. Human body parts and flesh and blood went to heaven.

Looking down from the high ground, the subsequent attack line composed of ten infantry squadrons of the Japanese army was almost flush with the explosion zone produced after the mine explosion. The vast majority of the Japanese troops were suddenly killed and injured in the prone position. Some Japanese army's blasting tubes were also detonated in the violent explosion, which also caused a lot of damage to the Japanese army.

The situation on the battlefield was reversed at this moment. Screams, explosions, curses, and shouts were mixed together, playing a song of death. Not only were many Japanese soldiers killed while lying on their waists, but also The attacking formations of these ten Japanese infantry squadrons that were blasted by landmines were also cut in half as if they were cut in half. The Japanese troops in the minefield suffered heavy casualties, crying like ghosts and wolves, and those who did not enter the minefield were lucky enough to survive.

No matter how elite the Japanese army was, the attack could not continue in the face of such a tragic situation. Many Japanese soldiers began to maneuver or run around in order to avoid it. More or less chaos occurred, and many of the running Japanese soldiers had just left. They had reached what they thought was a safe zone, but they were running around again, stepping on landmines while maneuvering. Many of those running around were killed by bombs, but they remained motionless, and those who stayed in place became survivors.

The reason is very simple. The area of ​​the passage opened by the Japanese army in the minefield is limited. They are just rectangular passages. The Japanese army can only clear out the loose-fired and pressure-fired mines in this narrow passage, but not the others outside the passage. , there is nothing you can do.

Those Japanese soldiers running around were like wild dogs with their tails burned off. If they left the passage area they opened, they would inevitably step on the pressed and loose mines that had not been eliminated. Therefore, Tragedies were staged again. Many Japanese soldiers who were running around were shattered by landmines exploding under their feet as soon as they entered what they thought was a safe area.

After this blow, the attack momentum of the ten Japanese infantry squadrons slightly behind came to an end. The violent explosions and tragic wails not only made He Wei and others in the command post on the high ground look satisfied, but also made people on the open ground look satisfied. More than two hundred Japanese soldiers from the 6th Squadron of the 9th Infantry Regiment and the 1st Squadron of the 20th Infantry Regiment were stunned. Many Japanese soldiers couldn't help but look horrified when they saw the tragic conditions of their comrades in other squadrons behind them.

And their disasters followed one after another.

In the command post on the high ground, Cai Rubai, the commander of the 956th Regiment, looked at the tragic situation of the Japanese army and boldly issued a battle order into the telephone transmitter: "The light and heavy machine guns of each battalion started shooting."

This brief order was quickly conveyed by telephone to each company of the 956th Regiment, and from the command post of each company to each light and heavy machine gun firing fortification.

"Ready to fight."

"Fire, shoot."

A few seconds later, the eighteen Hotchkiss heavy machine guns belonging to the heavy machine gun companies of the three infantry battalions of the 956th Regiment opened fire first. The heavy machine gun shooters aimed their muzzles through the scope at the open ground that had not yet completely The 6th Squadron of the 9th Infantry Regiment and the 1st Squadron of the 20th Infantry Regiment were deployed. After pulling the trigger, eighteen bullets mixed with tracer bullets were shot condescendingly into the open field like eighteen fire dragons flying randomly. More than two hundred Japanese troops were on board.

The clear gunshots of the Hotchkiss heavy machine gun came one after another. After this battle, the high ground that had been silent for a long time finally began to shoot bullets. Looking down from the high ground, the open land below was already unobstructed, and with the addition of optical sighting With the help of tools, the shooting accuracy of this round of heavy machine guns was much higher than expected.

After several rounds of strafing, the Japanese soldiers in the open ground were knocked down like rice harvesters. There was no place to hide in the open ground. In addition, the two Japanese infantry squadrons had not yet fully deployed into the attack formation. Therefore, He can only be beaten passively.

This was just the beginning. Soon, the light machine guns of the 956th Regiment also began to fire according to the trajectories of the heavy machine gun tracer bullets.

(End of this chapter)