With the end of the air raid, the Fourth Artillery Battalion, which had been bombarded before, was also re-equipped. Although many officers were killed and injured, resulting in reduced efficiency, it was not difficult to simply shell a fixed target.
"哃-哓哃哃——"
As the artillery fire of the British and Indian troops was completed, more than a dozen QF4.5-inch howitzers that had been re-corrected roared; the six QF3.7-inch mountain guns of the mountain artillery company of the Gurkha regiment (battalion) also followed closely. Fire followed.
"Boom boom boom—boom boom—"
Liu Qidong experienced the shocking feeling of earth-shattering for the first time in his life in his bomb-proof cave. Before, he had at most witnessed a fixed target bombarded by thousands of cannons, but now he became a living target.
People who have not been there may think that the power of the medium-caliber howitzer is not strong and cannot be compared with the six-inch heavy howitzer, but that is also a score!
The 33-pound 4.5-inch grenade containing 5 pounds of explosives is indeed far from comparable to large-caliber artillery shells or aircraft bombs, but it is still deadly enough.
The previous air strike caused the entire position to lose as many as 20 people, and now how many casualties will the continuous ferocious bombardment cause?
Under the cover of enemy artillery fire, Liu Qidong felt that even a 76.2mm mortar shell was enough to make people frightened, let alone a 4.5-inch grenade.
Unlike the reinforced shelter, the so-called anti-gun hole does not actually protect against direct hits from artillery shells. Its function is to avoid damage from flying shrapnel.
What's more, even if the multi-person shelter at the top is reinforced with chopped logs, it can only withstand 76.2mm mortar shells. It will also be useless if it is hit by a 4.5-inch grenade.
Amid the non-stop bombardment, the Ming soldiers huddled in foxholes, traffic trenches, and artillery holes covered their ears and kept their mouths tightly closed. Of course, there were also brave people who chose not to cover their ears and just opened their mouths.
Some people say that the modern army is just a group of guys digging in the dirt wherever they go. This is indeed a true portrayal of the army. The officers and soldiers felt that as long as they were given a day and a night, they could build a more solid and complex position. However, it was a pity that they did not have sufficient preparation time this time.
Perhaps in order to vent the grievances accumulated in the past two days, the British and Indian troops opened fire wildly as if they did not spare any ammunition. Countless shells fell on the hills like a thunderstorm.
"Haori, the British are more generous when it comes to firing artillery than they are when drinking. I'm afraid two thousand artillery shells, large and small, have been dropped in this quarter of an hour!" A sergeant smoked a cigarette carelessly and complained.
Although everyone had the foresight to hide in the second-line position to avoid the artillery fire, the artillery bombardment was not very accurate, and there would always be some long-range missiles falling on the second-line position.
And because the second-line positions were constructed more hastily and sloppily, the casualties caused were not small.
"Medic! Save people!"
A soldier was injured by a 3.7-inch mountain artillery grenade. Because the impact point was very close, not only was his left leg broken, but he was also bleeding from all his orifices due to internal injuries caused by the shock wave.
The ruptured femoral artery was spewing blood at an exaggerated speed, soaking the soil below in an instant.
The medical soldiers who came rolling and crawling over immediately turned him over on his back, and then asked others to help hold down his abdomen, "Press here! Press hard!"
The medical soldier, who had only learned about it in textbooks and dummies before, and now saw this scene for the first time, was also in a hurry at the moment, but he did not dare to panic, because he knew that with the speed of the femoral artery bleeding... as long as he was delayed for a short while, he would not be able to save him.
The broken artery obviously cannot be stopped by bandaging alone, and a tourniquet is not suitable now, because the unfortunate man's lower limb is gone from the thigh.
The young medical soldier took out an aluminum box from his large satchel, which was filled with small steel clips. He wanted to use these hemostatic clips to clamp the ruptured blood vessels.
Just as a shell landed not far away, another soldier who had been helping to hold down the groin area subconsciously loosened his hand, and then the warm blood spurted out and sprayed all over the face of the medical soldier.
"Don't let go!" the medical soldier yelled. His hands were trembling. He tried several times before clamping the blood vessel.
After bandaging the severed limb and giving it an injection of pain relief, it was finally taken care of.
The blood on his face dripped down to his chin. Before he could wipe his face, he heard the miserable cry for help again.
The soldiers felt the rumbling in their ears and the waves of heat. At this time, all they could do was pray that they would not be unlucky. If the shells fell next to them, they might not be able to be saved by the gods.
At this time, everyone noticed that the enemy's artillery fire seemed to have weakened, and the impact point was gradually shifting back?
There were some observation posts left on the forward position and the main position. They were lucky enough to survive and noticed that the British and Indian troops 1,500 meters away were ready to attack.
"Puff, puff, puff!" more than a dozen times, a series of smoke bombs were launched at the foot of the hill, and a circle of smoke rose from west to south.
Seeing this, a soldier fired a yellow flare into the sky, which meant: The enemy was attacking and the distance was greater than two miles.
In this case, there is no rush to enter the position immediately, because if the enemy is cunning, they may suddenly launch another round of firepower attack, which will cause a big loss to our side who has just entered the position.
Zhou Changfeng named the mound where a team was guarding and whose elevation was unclear, Highland Zero. At this moment, he also saw the signal flares rising over there, so he made a call.
"Hello? Command? I'm Liu Qidong."
"What's the situation over there? The enemy has used a smoke screen to obscure the view, so I can't observe it here."
"Don't worry, battalion commander. If I can't withstand one round of attacks, I might as well find a piece of tofu and kill me." A series of coughs from Liu Qidong came from the other side of the microphone, "Ahem! However, if we need artillery help later, we must Just in time."
About half a quarter of an hour later, the observation posts hidden on the periphery of the battle line discovered the British and Indian troops bypassing the flanks under the cover of smoke.
As a result, two consecutive yellow signal flares were fired from just south of Heights Zero.
While the shelling continued to suppress the defenders, tanks accompanied the infantry from the front, and the infantry detachments attacked the flanks of the position in a roundabout way?
This is a trick that has been used in ancient and modern times, both at home and abroad. It is old-fashioned but practical. Task Force Wilson finally put it into practice after being beaten up.
Zhou Changfeng felt that these British and Indian troops were really stupid and upright, or too contemptuous - so focused on besieging the highlands? It's not like we're here to sit and watch a show in the city. You should at least send an infantry detachment to contain them.
No wonder the colonial armies of the British Empire were so good at being beaten to pieces by the Japanese in history.
Zhou Changfeng reached out and clicked on the map, and casually ordered:
"I guess it's Area B 7 and Area B 12. Let the artillery platoon prepare, and we will target them later and fire directly."
"The third team immediately organized a platoon-level team with reinforced heavy machine guns and mortars. After leaving the city, they went directly south and went around to their roundabout team."
"Think we will passively defend? That's ridiculous. I wonder how much tuition they will have to pay in the end to learn flexible offensive and defensive warfare."
