The next few days and nights will be extremely cruel, and Zhou Changfeng knows this very well. His battalion of officers and soldiers must climb over the mountains and mountains at all costs to intercept the British and Indian troops trying to advance eastward.
A qualified commander must be a shrewd and ruthless decision-maker. The so-called "compassion does not control troops" actually means that generals should take life and death lightly; for generals, casualties on the battlefield should only be numbers without emotions. .
When the army leaped thousands of miles into the Dabie Mountains to face the enemy's pursuit and interception, and passed through the muddy Yellow River area, even though the troops were exhausted after many days of forced march, the commander still refused to stop and recuperate - if he stopped, he might be defeated by the enemy. The army was surrounded and exhausted, and everyone continued to move forward.
Furthermore, it is like the famous saying "I don't want the number of casualties, I just want Tashan". This is an example of "loving soldiers like sons and using them like clay".
And this is the cruelty of war.
After urgently replenishing a batch of cigarettes and chocolates, nearly a hundred vehicles carrying a battalion and a reinforced team set off immediately, drove onto the rugged dirt road, and headed straight to the south on this sunny noon.
at the same time……
The "Wilson" task force is located 4km east of Gokhpur and currently 113km away from Dhemaji. It is in offensive status.
"Boom-boom-boom-"
More than a dozen QF 4.5-inch howitzers from the British-Indian Fourth Artillery Regiment (Battalion) have completed their combat deployment and are pouring shells into a mound and field a few kilometers away.
Artillery Lieutenant Arik bent over and observed the situation in the distance through the artillery mirror. He could see dense artillery fire blooming on the small mound, and the entire area was completely shrouded in flames and smoke.
It is known that there were about a few hundred Chinese soldiers guarding this area. Perhaps because of the lack of time, they only had time to build simple field fortifications.
Arik was convinced that they would be on the verge of collapse after this round of shelling. How could the thin field fortifications withstand the fierce artillery fire?
The QF 4.5-inch howitzer, with a caliber of 114㎜ and a caliber of 15 times, was successfully developed in 1910. It has a wedge-shaped gun bolt and a maximum range of 6km. It was widely used during the European War and is considered to be one of the best medium-sized howitzers.
Although it was well received at the time, it is outdated today twenty years later.
However, because there are a large number of old artillery shells in stock, and the British Empire is increasingly financially distressed, in order to maintain a strong fleet, it naturally does not have the financial resources to replace the Commonwealth Army with new artillery.
Of course, in Lieutenant Arik's view, they are undoubtedly trustworthy battlefield veterans. They can smash 33-pound shells with 5 pounds of explosives on the enemy's head.
Back then, they were able to beat the Germans into a state of disarray, and now they can still smash the Chinese who were trying to block the car in front of them into running away.
As the preparations for the artillery fire ended, amidst the whistles of the officers and the urging of the non-commissioned officers, an Indu soldier holding an Enfield No. 1 rifle got up from the ground and began to move forward in a skirmish line.
A thousand yards.
Five hundred yards.
Three hundred yards.
The smoke and dust caused by the explosion slowly dispersed, but there was silence on the opposite side?
They have already passed the distance where the machine gun should fire, but they still haven't heard a single gunshot?
Lieutenant Arik scoffed, but just as he was about to take his eyes away from the artillery scope, he saw a series of muzzle flashes.
The gunshots of "ta-da-da" and "bang-bang-bang" instantly resounded across the field. The two heavy machine guns placed on the mound and the three heavy machine guns on the field to the east formed a tight crossfire.
Several strings of heavy machine gun bullets mixed with tracer bullets weaved a fire net in a matter of seconds, and the hunched-over British and Indian soldiers holding rifles were cut down like wheat.
The sound of "boom boom" explosions also came immediately, and a dozen rounds of 64mm and 80mm mortar shells accurately landed in the crowd of British and Indian soldiers who launched the attack. The fine high-speed fragments tied the surrounding soldiers into pieces. sieve.
In an instant, the wilderness became a killing zone.
The British and Indian troops were panicked by the sudden attack. Although most of them hurriedly fell down, some still ran away and were knocked down in a hail of bullets.
Seeing that Company A and Company B that launched the attack had become lambs to be slaughtered, the commander of the Nagpur battalion shouted, "Damn it! Kill those machine guns!"
However, the defense of the Ming army on the opposite side seemed to be very well organized. While continuing to suppress the machine gun fire, smoke bombs fell one after another behind the two companies.
Soon, a "wall of smoke" rose up across the middle of the field, blocking the sight of the British and Indian troops. They could only hear screams and gunfire coming from the other side of the smoke wall.
The 4th Artillery Battalion, which continued to perform artillery support tasks, was therefore unable to adjust the firing parameters and could only rely on the previous parameters to continue firing; the same was true for the 76.2mm mortars at the front.
The beaten two companies obviously didn't want to wait to die. They fought back hard while firing smoke bombs on the spot, and then retreated backwards while crawling on the ground.
Then, everyone saw soldiers hurriedly escaping through the wall of smoke, their noses filled with snot and tears smoked by the red phosphorus smoke.
However, due to the hot weather, the updraft quickly blew away the smoke wall launched by the Ming army, and the situation in the area just now gradually became apparent.
Dozens of corpses were scattered around, lying down or lying down, and some dying wounded could be seen struggling among them.
"This is the price of despising your opponent. I think we should not make the same mistake again." Major General Wilson put down the telescope and said seriously.
Soon, intensive artillery fire once again enveloped the target position.
Air support from the Eighth Wing of the British and Indian Air Force also arrived on the battlefield. A dozen Fury fighters and Vincent bombers began to circle and attack; the latter dropped a series of 250-pound aerial bombs that seemed to level the entire mound. .
After sufficient fire preparations, the 5th Royal Tank Battalion was also dispatched.
Subsequently, two companies of British-Indian infantry followed closely a dozen Vickers A9 cruise tanks and Carden-Lloyd MkV ultra-light tanks and launched an attack on the wilderness guarded by the Ming army.
It was Wilson's order to deal with the field positions first and then to besiege the isolated mounds.
The Third Battalion of the 38th Regiment was originally ordered to rest and recuperate because it suffered heavy losses in the offensive operations in the past few days. They rushed to block the attack and were not fully equipped.
Battalion Commander Guo Anbang's original intention was to give these arrogant turtles a hard blow, and then quickly evacuate while the enemy troops were in chaos.
However, after a beautiful defense at the beginning, the officers and soldiers who were preparing to retreat were blown away by enemy aircraft. They finally reorganized but had no time to retreat because the enemy was already ready to attack again. If at this time, If they retreat, the motorized British and Indian troops will kick their butts and beat them.
The only two combat anti-tank guns were obviously unable to deal with so many enemy tanks. The Ming army could only try to attack the series of tanks with rifle grenades and heavy machine gun armor-piercing projectiles.
A fierce offensive and defensive battle immediately began, with loud gunshots, thundering cannons, and blood spilling. The small battlefield instantly turned into a Shura field where the two sides' wills clashed.
