Although the dozens of other infantrymen who were lying in ambush had taken aim, they did not fire.
Without a scope, only a few talented shooters can effectively attack the target four hundred meters away. For ordinary people, it is a blessing to miss one out of ten shots.
The humanoid target at this distance looks just like a small black dot to the naked eye. You have to use a ruler to shoot. Every breath and breath can make the bullet miss several meters.
The short bursts of "listen" continued regularly, as if death was knocking on the door.
C Company, which was killed one by one like a lamb to the slaughter, suffered more than 30 casualties in just one minute, and Major Eben also scratched his arm by fragments.
After finally determining the source of the firepower, three 2-inch light mortars began to fire at the small forest. The high-explosive shells falling one after another stalled the Ming army's machine gun fire.
The second lieutenant who was smoking leisurely fell down immediately, but was burned by the cigarette butt. Then he ordered angrily: "What a fool! Shoot all the shells and crush them!"
Company C, which had been hit by another round of shells, no longer wanted to hold on. Now it was attacked from the front and back, and the flank attack plan was no longer suitable to continue, so Major Eben decisively ordered a retreat.
So, under the fire of heavy machine guns and mortars, C Company, which failed to make a detour, fled back in panic after suffering thirty-seven casualties.
However, Company A and Company B, which were attacking frontally at this time, did not know this. The fierce exchange of fire coming from there made them think that the roundabout attack had worked.
This means that the Ming army facing them must disperse their firepower and troops to deal with the flanks, so...
"Second row, third row, let's go!"
"Let's go!"
Amidst the sounds of go and let's move, several red and white flares flew into the sky. Twenty-odd Lewis light machine guns and Vickers heavy machine guns in the distance opened fire at the same time. A dozen tanks were not to be outdone and fired wildly.
With the assistance of flaming snakes, densely packed British and Indian soldiers bent over and rushed towards No. 0 Heights carrying rifles.
These earth-brown figures no longer looked as lazy as before. They were rapidly approaching with the support of fierce firepower. The open space of more than 200 meters was reduced to less than 100 meters in the blink of an eye.
The Ming army on the main position was suppressed, with raindrops of bullets whizzing by. The VZ.35 heavy machine guns on both wings could only fire intermittently, and the other soldiers could not aim steadily.
The enemy troops who reached the foot of the mound began to rush upward, and many of them began to use grenade launchers to throw Mills grenades upward.
In this case, the most useful weapon for the defenders was nothing more than grenades, so the soldiers leaned directly on the bunker and threw a large wave of grenades forward.
The grenade with the safety pin pulled out bounced off the handle in mid-air, igniting the internal fuse and exploding as soon as it hit the ground a few seconds later.
The Chinese have a long history of using gunpowder weapons for city defense, which can be traced back at least to the Song Dynasty 900 years ago. The Ming Army in the classical era had already widely used various explosives. The grenades equipped by the Ming Army today are officially called Type 18 grenades, and their prototype is the French Army's F1-1916 grenade.
Made of cast iron, thirty-eight prefabricated fragment slots, and sixty grams of explosive, the F1 grenade can be said to be a classic handed down from generation to generation. The Russian army also copied it into the famous Ф-1 grenade.
As a series of grenades exploded, more than a dozen British and Indian soldiers screamed and were knocked down by flying fragments; the mortar shells that fell one after another also burst into dazzling fire among the crowd.
The broken body was thrown to the ground by the explosion. Rolling air waves mixed with high-speed fragments swept all around. The successive explosions of grenades and mortar shells smashed gaps in the British and Indian army's skirmishing formation.
The enemy troops of the first echelon whose momentum had stagnated immediately dispersed to the left and right sides, leaving the impact area in the middle to the subsequent second echelon.
Liu Qidong, with an excited look on his face, shouted loudly. The entire team of officers and soldiers were shooting and dropping bombs desperately. At this moment, they could not care less about the enemy's suppressed firepower. If they were timid, they would be broken through!
Mills grenades that fell into bunkers and traffic trenches caused a lot of casualties to the Ming army holding the position. Through the plumes of smoke after the explosion, the injured wounded covered in blood could be seen struggling.
In the hospital building, Zhou Changfeng has been watching on the sidelines until now. He is constantly calculating in his mind the number of troops invested by the enemy - the two companies in the first wave totaled more than 300 people, and then two more companies in the second wave are attacking. move.
Half a quarter of an hour later, Company A and Company B of the Raigar Battalion were repelled in all three attacks and were forced to retreat to the attack starting position to start shooting.
"Keep pushing! Don't stop!"
At the sound of the keep pushing order, B and C companies of the second wave of Hyderabad regiment (battalion) arrived and immediately took over from them to continue the assault operation.
The Lewis light machine gun team moved forward a certain distance, and the 2-inch light mortar fired smoke grenades and high-explosive shells at the Ming army's heavy machine gun fire points. The British officers blew their whistles while giving orders.
Zhou Changfeng, who was paying attention to all this the whole time, shouted into the microphone: "Now, fire!"
Four 80mm mortars deployed at two positions immediately fired three rapid fire rounds in accordance with the predetermined fire support plan.
Twelve mortar shells landed in front of No. 0 Heights one after another. Blood and flesh flew everywhere in an instant. The British and Indian troops who launched the attack from a standing posture suffered numerous casualties in the blink of an eye. Broken limbs and pieces of equipment were flying all over the sky.
Since the target was an unprotected soft target, all the bombs fired in this round of shelling were personnel anti-personnel bombs. Different from the commonly used anti-explosive bombs, the explosives filled in the personnel anti-personnel bombs dropped from 420g to 280g, but an additional 64 A prefabricated diamond-shaped fragment, the effect can be imagined.
The murmur of the observation post came from the microphone held by Zhou Changfeng, "Chen Na... strong! Uh... report, the effect is good... no... excellent!"
This round of offensive by the British and Indian troops was immediately disintegrated, and several companies that suffered heavy losses had to retreat quickly.
The smoke, smoke, and dust gradually dissipated, and nearly a hundred corpses were scattered in the fighting area with a radius of more than three miles.
Just now, another A9 cruise tank and two Carden-Lloyd ultra-light tanks were destroyed by the Ming army's battle defense team. Together with the three tanks in the morning, there are now a total of six regiments worth more than 7,000 pounds or 2,000 pounds. A multi-pound bonfire was burning, billowing black smoke.
"Sir, call from Lingzhi headquarters!"
"Let Highland Zero report casualties and ammunition consumption..." Zhou Changfeng said as he took the message from the communications soldier.
He glanced at it quickly, and basically asked about the situation of the battle. At the same time, he informed that the retreat of the 34th Division was going smoothly, but the 12th Division was stuck by the maltose-like British and Indian troops and was trying to get away.
"Call back, we are in good condition, and the enemy's offensive is relatively dull. However, my ammunition arrangement is based on the previously given defense time. If the time is extended, the ammunition will not be enough; if necessary, please try to replenish it."
"yes."
——————————-
[Although history and military affairs are almost inseparable, this is a historical text category after all, so I will not write about war all the time. There are about 40,000 words left in this war plot, so stay tuned for the follow-up. 】
[Tomorrow Tuesday is the time to test the waters and promote PK again. There will be four updates as usual. Everyone must catch up in time and hope not to fail in promotion...]
