At the artillery position of the action team, Zhou Dapao set up a Wei Shen cannon, which was mounted in 12 units. It only loaded 6 shells at a time. 12 shells could fire two rounds;
In the second round, the shelling effect of the first round can be appropriately adjusted to maximize the shelling effect.
There was only one cannon, and naturally it was Zhou Dapao who personally operated the cannon. Deputy shooter Liu Erpao still had a long way to go before he could fire the cannon.
At that time, the needle pointed to five o'clock in the morning, Zhou Dapao tightened the gun rope decisively, and six 107mm rockets dragged their long flame tails and flew towards the Japanese fortifications, focusing on the gun towers and bunkers.
As the old regiment of the New Fourth Army set out to take position, Commander Fu finally received the artillery fire he was expecting;
Although he had been mentally prepared, he was still shocked by the movement and effect of the shelling. He saw several shells smash into the Japanese fortifications and completely cover the Japanese turtle shells.
"Boom boom boom..."
A series of explosions swallowed up the Japanese turtle shells, and the sky was filled with flying bricks and stones. The turtle shells that had been standing tall before all disappeared and turned into a pile of ruins. The barbed wire fences were blown up everywhere.
"This is too damn powerful. It would be great if our New Fourth Army also had such a magical weapon!"
After the first round of shelling, the Japanese gun towers and bunkers were basically bulldozed;
"Baga Yalu, enemy attack!"
"Ta-ta-ta..."
"Bah hook bah hook bah hook..."
The remaining light and heavy firepower of the Japanese began to fire aimlessly, which at least could embolden them. This simply provided fire guidance for Zhou Cannon.
Regarding the Japanese's behavior of seeking death, Zhou Dapao decided to help them. After fine-tuning, another round of shells flew towards the Japanese...
"Boom boom boom..."
Fierce artillery fire covered the Japanese defense line. When the smoke cleared, the Japanese position could only be described as horrific.
"12 shells, that's right!"
According to the agreement between the two parties, the artillery preparations were over, and the rest was the matter of the old regiment.
Commander Fu issued the attack order to Commander Xiong, who immediately led the assault battalion to start the attack;
More than 500 comrades in the assault battalion were divided into three echelons and took the lead in rushing to the Japanese blockade.
It wasn't until they were almost rushing to the Japs' position that sporadic gunshots were heard. Without the solid turtle shell, the few remaining Japs couldn't stop the assault company's attack at all.
It only took the assault battalion ten minutes to clear out the remaining enemies and advance in depth;
Seeing that the assault battalion had entered, Commander Fu immediately ordered the main force of the regiment to follow up. After they rushed to the blockade, the first battalion held the front, while the second and third battalions expanded to the two wings, sweeping away all the Japanese and puppet troops within one kilometer. Clear, then alert to both wings.
After dawn, the main force of the military rushed to the blockade, and it took only half an hour to cross the blockade and jump out of the encirclement.
The non-combatants of the military headquarters hid in the mountains and forests, leaving behind a regiment of guards. More than 6,000 other people set up pocket formations as planned, waiting for the Japanese reinforcements.
The sound of gunfire from the blockade soon alerted the Japs in the county, and they sent two squadrons of Japs to support the blockade.
Chu Xiong passed the blockade with the military department, and Political Commissar Xiang was in a surprisingly good mood, and the battle was easier than he imagined.
"Chu Xiong, where are your artillery? They made a great contribution this time."
"Political Commissar Xiang, they are on standby two kilometers away. The Guizi County is close, and their reinforcements should be arriving soon. Now we act as planned;
The Japanese can’t send too many reinforcements to a county. With hundreds of Japanese fighting against the sky, it’s not difficult to defeat them. The important thing is to mobilize the Japanese from Wucheng and eliminate them. Otherwise, if tens of thousands of us cross the river, they won’t be able to defeat them. It would be troublesome to cross over and attack.
Political Commissar Xiang naturally knew the danger of being attacked halfway across the river. Tens of thousands of troops had to be well prepared to cross the river. It was necessary to defeat the Japanese in Wucheng first.
According to the previously agreed battle plan, the Lao Yi Regiment defeated the Japanese reinforcements in the county town, and then surrounded Chungu County;
The main force was ambushing the enemy on the road through Wucheng to seek reinforcements, and Chu Xiong's action team was responsible for providing fire support.
Political Commissar Xiang continued:
"Chu Xiong, for the Japs who ambushed Wucheng, your heavy artillery will play the leading role. We don't know much about the performance of your heavy artillery, so we still need to listen to your opinions when choosing the battlefield for the ambush;
I suggest setting up a command post consisting of me, Deputy Chief of Staff Zhou, and you to study the ambush of the Japanese together. Do you have any good suggestions? "
The political commissar also saw that Chu Xiong was indeed good at fighting. Since he proposed the plan, in order for tens of thousands of comrades to cross the river smoothly, he did not mind letting Chu Xiong temporarily command the New Fourth Army headquarters' breakout operations, all for the sake of crossing the river.
Chu Xiong was not polite and chose a very open mountain ridge as the ambush site. The main force was ambushed in the surrounding mountains and forests, more than one kilometer away from the road.
The New Fourth Army would never choose this place. The ambush position was too far from the road and their machine guns couldn't hit it, let alone rifles and grenades.
When they came to the ambush area to inspect the pre-selected battlefield, Political Commissar Xiang did not speak, but Deputy Chief of Staff Zhou raised a question; of course, this could also be his replacement for Xiang and Ip Man.
"Brigadier Chu, this mountain range is very suitable for use as a battlefield, but is our main force's starting position too far away from the road?"
Chu Xiong had already guessed that they had this question, because they didn't understand Wei Shenpao at all, and the accuracy of that thing was a bit large, so he directly told Political Commissar Xiang:
"The political commissar's Wei Shencan is very powerful and has a very large killing range. The disadvantage is that it is not very accurate and has a large error. It can easily hit one's head if it is too close.
We need to send a regiment to block the valley entrance and allow the Japanese to set up camp;
Then when the artillery is fired, 24 shells are fired within half a minute. At least half of the Japanese will be killed or injured, and the rest of the dumpling making will be left to you. "
Several people suddenly realized that this was the case, so the professional matters had to be left to the expert Chu Xiong.
After listening, Political Commissar Xiang felt confident, and he waved his hand directly and said to Chu Xiong:
"Chu Xiong, you are an expert. I will leave this matter to you. We will listen to your command and see the splendor of the Tiger of China that the Japanese call us."
He also became interested and said to Chu Xiong:
"Just give the command with confidence. There might be a Japs from the regiment here, and we'll get to know him a lot!"
The two chief officers reached a consensus, and Chu Xiong was not polite. Only by wiping out the Japs in Wucheng could the main force of the military cross the river without any distractions.
After Chu Xiong took over the command, he first sent a small special force team, led by the New Fourth Army guide, to the direction of Wucheng to detect the Japanese movements;
Then they began to arrange troops. The new regiment was responsible for blocking the attack. The old third regiment, the new third regiment, and the old fifth regiment were ambushing on both wings, setting up pocket formations. It was the special agent regiment that covered the non-combatants.
Two 12-barreled Wei Shen cannons are ambushed on the ridge on the left wing, about 2 kilometers away from the road. Everything is ready, just waiting for the Japanese!
