"Chinese infantry is approaching!"
"A thousand yards."
"There are too many of them!"
After entering their respective positions, the British and Indian soldiers had just set up their guns and looked down. The entire sight was filled with small black dots.
The three teams in the first echelon all have their own attack routes and goals. They attack as skirmishers. Although their total number is only 500, they seem to be spread over the mountains and plains.
"Eight hundred yards."
"Six hundred yards."
"Free Fire!"
The Lewis machine guns and Enfield rifles rang out one after another, and a Vickers heavy machine gun deployed on the right side of the position also spit out tongues of flame, and the sounds of "ta-da-da" and "bang-bang-bang" were endless.
In the blink of an eye, at least ten Ming soldiers were shot and fell to the ground, but the others continued to move forward as if nothing happened. After a few breaths, they stopped and fell down one after another.
Now that the enemy's firepower point has been exposed, the mortars and heavy machine guns deployed at the offensive starting position will not be polite; for a while, the three heavy machine guns all turned their muzzles and fired at the enemy Vickers. Bullets poured where the machine guns were.
With a few "bang bang" sounds, six mortar shells roared out in succession, falling towards the target in perfect parabolas.
The Vickers heavy machine gun team, which had just finished shooting an entire 250-round ammunition belt, was planning to move to another machine gun position, but they did not expect the Ming army to counterattack so quickly.
Although most of the mortar shells landed nearby, one landed right in the middle of the trench. Suddenly, smoke from the explosion burst out mixed with blood mist and pieces of clothing.
Observing the silence of the enemy's firepower point, the lying soldiers ended their shooting, immediately stood up and continued to trot forward.
The Ming army, which was divided into three groups to attack, encountered more or less minor setbacks along the way. However, because the previous artillery attack was quite effective, the British and Indian army's defensive efficiency was greatly reduced. It didn't take long for them to defeat them. Arriving at the foot of the mountain.
Several platoon-level strongholds seemed to have been stunned by previous shelling, and no effective resistance has been organized until now.
However, the British and Indian troops in the main position on the hilltop were completely opposite. They relied on a solid position with twists and turns of trenches, staggered traffic trenches, multiple machine gun positions and mortar positions, and a shelter at the top composed of two layers of logs and a layer of steel plates. Try your best to resist.
The fierce battle continued until 1:40 in the afternoon. The first echelon participating in the attack and the second echelon joining the battle later had removed most of the enemy's strongholds and bunkers outside of the enemy's main position.
The isolated main position on the hilltop was still resisting stubbornly. For more than two hours, the red-eyed British and Indian artillerymen operated three MkII 76.2mm mortars and fired a total of thousands of shells, and seven The Vickers heavy machine gun was refilled with water at least three times.
After the miscellaneous fish in the periphery are cleared away, it is natural to use all our strength to deal with the remaining big fish.
While the officers were coordinating the siege, the soldiers who had fought fiercely for several hours were sitting or lying resting in the recently captured British and Indian army positions, surrounded by enemy corpses in various forms of death.
Maybe they would have felt nauseated an hour ago, but now they have adapted to this environment very quickly.
After a while, the engineers who were temporarily transferred to support arrived, equipped with heavy-duty blasting tubes, explosive packs, flamethrowers and other critical equipment.
The bombardment started again, and the shells falling like raindrops seemed to have blown the enemy's main position into a sea of fire, with debris flying everywhere, and nothing could be seen clearly under the billowing smoke.
Perhaps before, everyone was naive and believed that the enemy could be wiped out by violent shelling alone. The most they could do was clean up the battlefield, but now they have understood the current situation.
"Every unit enters the impact position! Cover the engineering operations!"
"Puff" sounded several times, and the smoke grenades fired by rifle grenades and mortars fell in front of the enemy's main position, and billowing smoke immediately filled the air. This was to obscure the enemy's sight.
One after another, the engineers hunched over and rushed out, facing the enemy's aimless shooting as they came to the mountain path.
There are ferocious barbed wires scattered all over the place. If they are not destroyed, the infantry will obviously not be able to successfully launch an attack.
However, when the two engineers approached the barbed wire fence, they stepped on the mines arranged here. With a bang, dust flew into the air, and the broken legs were blown away like tree branches.
"Hitata Sennin's!" The engineer sergeant shouted with gritted teeth: "Fire smoke! Clear mines! One group goes first..."
The words stopped suddenly, and the nearby soldiers turned to look, only to see that the sergeant's helmet had been blown away. The bullet entered from the front and took away the back of the head when it came out. Red and white things splashed all over the floor.
The engineers worked in groups of three and connected the blasting tubes, each weighing ten kilograms, together section by section, and then extended into the mine laying area.
Pull the fire! Back off!
A deafening explosion sounded, followed by several smaller roars. A long crater was blasted in front, and several small craters appeared nearby, which were detonated landmines.
After repeating this many times, a fairly wide path was opened up in this minefield.
The engineers placed small flags on both sides of the road as a warning, and then began to try to blast the barbed wire fence ahead.
Naturally, the British and Indian troops would not sit idly by. The mortars that had turned their direction opened fire immediately, and mortar shells whizzed down.
Several engineers were immediately shrouded in the smoke of the explosion, and the blasting tubes they were carrying were killed in the explosion, leaving no trace of their bodies.
The commander of the second battalion, who witnessed all this, couldn't help but became furious. He took the phone and yelled: "What the hell is the artillery grandson doing?! I'm going to chop your head off!"
"Battal Commander! The position of that artillery array is tricky. If our artillery shells are missed far away, they will fall on our own heads!" the other end of the phone replied a little aggrievedly.
"Then deliberately shoot near-misses! Or use smoke bombs! Just interfere with their firing, don't you know how to adapt to changes!"
"Yes Yes."
After a while, our artillery shells flew towards the enemy's mortar position, and the British and Indian army's shelling finally stopped.
The engineers stepped on the wet soil soaked with the blood of their comrades and rushed forward again. After several booming explosions, several series of barbed wire fences fell apart.
"Beep beep beep——"
"Wan Sheng!"
Due to the limited width of the offensive passage, the attacking Ming army could only invest up to one platoon of troops at a time.
Adding fuel tactics is a taboo, but sometimes it is unavoidable.
After paying dozens of casualties, the Ming army finally rushed to the front line of the British and Indian troops. However, they were blocked by enemy machine gun fire and were unable to achieve a breakthrough, so they had to rely on bunkers to start shooting on the spot.
In the fierce exchange of fire, soldiers from both sides were constantly throwing grenades, and a dull explosion often brought several screams.
"Covering fire!"
Several engineers with flamethrowers on their backs rushed over, bravely and fearlessly jumped onto the traffic ditch, completely ignoring their behavior like living targets.
The stream of fire that spewed out was like a fire dragon, roaring and sweeping across the enemy's position. The enemy soldiers that were poured on it turned into burning men, fluttering and rolling, and letting out miserable wails.
The shock of the flames became the straw that broke the camel's back. Company C of the 2nd Assam Regiment (Batalion) stationed at the main position of Gangrigabu Mountain immediately collapsed. The Chinese infantrymen carrying rifles with bayonets were a few steps away. It swept across the entire mountain in ten seconds.
"Wan Sheng——"
