Time goes back to two minutes ago.
At this time, the Japanese artillery position was busy. The transport troops carried boxes of artillery shells into the artillery position, while several artillerymen opened all the boxes. Inside were shells as thick as a thigh, glowing with light. of projectiles.
A few more artillerymen opened the boxes of propellants, filled packages of propellants into thicker brass-colored cartridges, and neatly stacked these cartridges on the empty boxes at each gun position. The gunners were giving orders loudly, and the junior officers came to patrol the gun positions, paying attention to every movement of the soldiers.
It can be seen that the Japanese artillery is very well-trained. It looks like a busy scene, but in fact they perform their duties and are orderly.
You know, there are two ways of firing shells from modern artillery, one is fixed-loading shells, and the other is divided-loading shells.
Among them, the fixed-loading cannon can be understood as the type with a cartridge, which is the cannonball we usually see that combines the projectile and the shell (similar to a bullet). Its firing caliber is usually lower than 105 mm. Such artillery shells are finished products. The projectiles and propellant shells are assembled directly in the factory. When using them, you only need to take them out of the ammunition box, then screw on the fuze, and then you can directly push into the barrel and shoot.
The anti-aircraft guns and anti-tank guns we usually see, as well as mountain guns and field guns below 105 mm, almost all use custom-made shells.
The sub-loaded ammunition is what we call unpacked cannons. Its firing caliber is relatively large, that is, more than 105 mm.
The projectiles and the propellant shells must be stored separately. Only when used, push the projectiles into the chamber first, and then put the propellant cord into the chamber. At this time, the breech block is closed, and the projectile and the cartridge case are combined during this extrusion process, and the gun can be fired.
The Japanese army's 105 and 150 mm howitzers use separate shells.
So these devils carried the heavy projectile box next to the artillery, and when loading, they directly lifted the projectiles out of the box and loaded them.
The lighter propellant shells are placed directly outside after being charged for quick access.
Generally speaking, it is still difficult to directly detonate a projectile explosion, because its gunpowder is contained in a sealed and thick steel shell. This is only possible unless the inserted fuse is ignited or the projectile is exposed to a highly flammable environment. was detonated.
But the propellant is different. You can think of it as a pack of explosives, and any small flame may be ignited and detonated.
The reason why Li Han had to wait for the Japanese artillery shells to be in place before firing was because he had the idea of detonating the explosive charges. You must know that the enemy's propellant is not just one pack, but many boxes. As long as these propellants are detonated, it is possible to cause the projectiles placed nearby to explode. This is the most ideal outcome.
In front of the headquarters tent, Kyono Shunta was giving instructions to several squadron leaders on the bombardment targets on the map.
At this time, on the Japanese heavy artillery position, there were two 150 howitzer squadrons of the heavy artillery brigade led by Kyono Shunta, and two 105 howitzer squadrons of the 6th Division Artillery Regiment.
Logically speaking, as the most important and only heavy artillery group of the 6th Division, it should be personally commanded by the commander of the artillery regiment.
However, out of his appreciation and trust in Kyono Shunta, the division commander Masaemon Sakamoto gave full command to this major officer.
"Gentlemen, based on previous aircraft reconnaissance and probing attacks by frontline troops, the command headquarters has designated 8 artillery bombardment areas, which are..."
At this moment, a sharp and tearing sound cut through the sky, instantly interrupting Kyono Shunta's voice, and causing him to suddenly raise his head, and his face turned pale for an instant as he faced the sky.
As a professional artillery commander, he couldn't tell that it was the sound of large-caliber artillery shells tearing the air.
Just when he had this consciousness, two 105-caliber artillery shells passed over his head and landed in the back half of the artillery position.
"Rumble..." Two violent explosions, accompanied by light and flames that were particularly dazzling even in the daytime, and the two rising umbrella-shaped smoke clouds rushed into Kyono Shunta's sharply narrowed eyes.
Unfortunately, the entire Japanese artillery position is about the size of two football fields. The artillery is basically deployed in the middle and front of the position, with more than twenty trucks parked at the rear.
The strange thing is that the shell did not land where the car was parked, but landed exactly in the middle of the 100-meter-long open space between the car and the gun emplacement. In addition to damaging several trucks to varying degrees, it also killed or killed several trucks. It killed several Japanese soldiers, but did not cause any greater losses to the Japanese soldiers.
If the impact point of the artillery shell was slightly forward or ten or twenty meters back, it is hard to say that it would have caused a greater blow to the Japanese. You must know that the Japanese army trucks are equipped with a lot of ammunition, and any object within the 20-meter absolute killing radius of the 105mm howitzer will suffer a devastating blow.
But even so, smoke and dust billowed from the Japanese positions, the earth shook, and air waves rolled. The faces of all the Japanese soldiers suddenly turned pale.
Kyono Shunta, who was so shaken that he sat on the ground, was a little confused. He looked at Kuraki's staff officer next to him with a puzzled expression, with a questioning look in his eyes.
Didn’t your Kwantung Army Intelligence Department swear that the Chinese army does not have large-caliber artillery?
However, it's not just him who is confused, even Cangmu Guikou is also confused now. He was even thinking about whether it was an accidental attack from friendly forces.
Fortunately, Kyono Shunta reacted instantly. Now is not the time to hold people responsible, but how to deal with it.
There are two choices before him now. One is to measure or detect the position of the enemy's artillery as soon as possible and start counterattack and suppression as soon as possible. The other is to quickly transfer positions.
However, both choices are very difficult.
You know, there are no radars and computers now. To measure the enemy's artillery position, it is nothing more than relying on human and aircraft reconnaissance, and relying on the professional level and experience of the artillery to judge the opponent through the point of impact, ballistic trajectory, and the caliber of the artillery shells. Approximate location of artillery emplacement.
It is also very difficult to move the position immediately. Now that all the artillery has entered the gun position, it takes a lot of effort just to turn these artillery, which weighs several tons, not to mention having to move from a high depth. Drag out of the pit.
Moreover, in the process of transferring the artillery, there must be a period of time where it can only be beaten passively. Moreover, the artillery is also exposed in the open space without bunkers, making it more vulnerable to damage.
