While his own reinforcements arrived, Zhou Changfeng carefully observed the battle situation. Dozens of his own men were shooting at the enemy troops hiding in the ruins. However, the latter only responded with rifles, and the machine gun fire remained concealed.
Pretty cunning, huh?
A sergeant shouted: "That one over there! Do you know where the Japanese machine gun is?!"
The wounded soldier hiding behind the airdrop box heard this and loudly replied: "There is one balcony window on the second floor! There is another one on the first floor next door...under the shadow of the ruins!"
These British and Indian troops who successfully penetrated the Ming army's defense line were a combat patrol led by Second Lieutenant Dragan, consisting of two infantry squads and a 2-inch light mortar team. They chose such an excellent location. Good location, I plan to stick to this place and become a fishbone stuck in the Ming army's defense zone.
As a Greek-British man, Lieutenant Dragan has been famous in school for his boldness and impulsiveness since he was a child. Now he cherishes his service opportunities very much. His short-term life goal is to win an MC, which is the Military Cross. This time The successful operation deep behind enemy lines made him feel that the medal was already waving to him.
Throughout the morning, Ming army messengers and small groups of infantry continued to pass through this three-way intersection, but he had always ordered silence and no firing; and then an airdrop box slowly fell, which made him overjoyed - it was a God-given opportunity to wait and see.
"Take two squads to go around to the left and block their way out of the encirclement." Zhou Changfeng gestured forward and ordered another officer: "You guys spread out along the right side and rush in to eliminate them later. Pay attention to using the automatic arms!"
While his own side was moving around the two wings, he also directed other soldiers to use rifle grenades and light machine guns to maintain suppression of the house.
The enemy's two light machine gun firepower points finally opened fire, and the "click-click" sound of gunfire suddenly drowned out the sounds of other rifles.
Zhou Changfeng discovered that the Lewis light machine gun of the British and Indian Army was obviously better in terms of short-term firepower sustainability - the 47-round bullet disc was enough for the shooter to fire more than a dozen short bursts. In comparison, the Type 33 light machine gun equipped by the Ming Army A 25-round magazine is used.
However, the barrel of the old Lewis light machine gun cannot be changed, and its huge heat sink is better than nothing; but this is not the case on our own side. Even a single person can quickly change the barrel of the Type 33 light machine gun.
Long-stroke piston gas-operated type, jammed up and down lock, double-row single-feed magazine at the bottom, four-stage air intake adjustment, theoretical rate of fire of 500 rounds per minute, and a total combat weight of 22 kilograms. It is based on the Finnish model. The Type 33 light machine gun, which was carefully designed after the Russian M26, Czech Prague ZB-26, Swiss SIG Kirari KE7 and other guns, can definitely be regarded as the ingenuity of Jinling Arsenal.
In Zhou Changfeng's opinion, at least in terms of appearance, he must be rated 80%, and his sharp-edged appearance is very smooth and tough.
In any case, it is better to attack more and less. It would be better if you can concentrate your superior firepower.
So when the outflanking teams were ready, a Type 20 heavy machine gun team also rushed behind a low wall south of the three-way intersection.
After several 64mm mortar shells fell, the Ming army, which fired from multiple directions, instantly completely suppressed the British and Indian troops in the ruined wall.
According to Zhou Changfeng's order, the soldiers who launched the assault from the right rushed to the wall, first threw grenades inside, and then entered with guns to shoot at anyone they saw.
Several Indu soldiers were knocked down before they could recover. Other enemy soldiers who reacted also started throwing grenades. The Lewis light machine gun shooters even fired directly at the ruins through the wall. The fragile brick wall couldn't stop them anyway. 303 full power rifle ammunition.
In the blink of an eye, there were several casualties on our side, and the assault was blocked. After dragging back a wounded person who could still be saved, more than a dozen Ming soldiers started a close-range shooting with the enemy.
The brief stalemate lasted only a few minutes. After the attack was blocked, the annoyed officers and soldiers took several blasting tubes from a nearby ammunition supply point; they pulled the fuse, and then threw it a few meters away like a javelin.
In addition to the thin outer steel shell, the ten-pound blasting tube is filled with a full Type II charge - 50% ammonium picrate + 50% TNT.
"Boom! Boom!"
The two blasting tubes exploded one after another. The deafening roar and sweeping shock wave made the surrounding Ming soldiers feel their heads buzzing. The blown-up stumps, broken arms and debris even fell hundreds of meters away.
Before the smoke and dust dissipated, the soldiers poured into the place that completely collapsed into ruins. The few enemy soldiers who were lucky enough to survive were already dying at this moment.
Second Lieutenant Dragan, who longs for honor, is now missing. Although he can't get the Military Cross, he can secure the Death in Action Medal.
After getting rid of this daring British-Indian army unit without any delay, the first battalion finally had time to inspect the air-dropped supplies.
Since the four service planes took the risk to perform low-altitude and low-speed hovering airdrops, all twenty boxes were recovered completely.
The specifications of the airdrop boxes vary from large to small. This time, a small airdrop box of 250 kilograms was used, which means a total of two and a half tons of supplies were obtained.
48 boxes of 80-point bullets, 3 rounds per box, a total of 144 rounds; 24 boxes of 64-point bullets, 8 rounds per box, a total of 192 rounds; 28 boxes of 2- and 3-point bullets, 1,000 rounds per box, a total of 28,000 rounds; 18 boxes of 18-point bullets grenades, 20 per box, 360 in total.
There aren't many, so I can only say it's better than nothing.
Just after eight o'clock in the morning, when Zhou Changfeng sent someone to generate electricity and request the headquarters to continue airdropping supplies, the British and Indian army's shelling began again.
Looking at Highland Zero covered by artillery fire, he couldn't help but sigh: "It's another difficult day."
In order to hinder the British and Indian Air Force's bombing and interfere with its targeting and bombing, the soldiers arranged anti-aircraft smoke in the urban area at the request of Zhou Changfeng. They cut the empty oil drums in half and placed them one hundred meters apart, and threw in wood, Plastic, torn clothes, tree branches, tires cut into small pieces, etc.
Piles of burning bonfires emitted thick black smoke, and under the action of low-pressure airflow in the tropical monsoon climate, dozens of billowing black smoke shot straight into the sky.
The British and Indian troops fired some colored smoke bombs into the urban area of Demaji. However, more than a dozen fighter jets and bombers that arrived belatedly hovered over Demaji, and the target indicating smoke could not be seen clearly.
Viewed from the sky, the thick black smoke turned Demaji into a realm of chaos, and the pilots had to drop bombs randomly and call it a day.
The falling aerial bombs exploded with a bang, and dazzling firelights flashed out in the thick black smoke, making this small place feel like hell.
After the fierce shelling and bombing, the offensive force, led by the Hyderabad Battalion and supplemented by the Raigarh Battalion, immediately left the starting position and launched an attack on Highland Zero from the front and right wing respectively.
At the same time, the hundreds of British and Indian troops stuck between the hill and the city were not idle. Instead, they attacked Highland Zero with rifles, machine guns, and light mortars, and even sent several platoon-level detachments to conduct a feint attack. Coordinate the frontal attack.
