The 37th Division stumbled all the way, and its forward 226th Regiment finally arrived near the closed gate.
As expected, they were not disappointed. There was a troop on the slope at the exit of the valley, already in full formation. The densely packed trenches made Colonel Sato's scalp numb just looking at them;
During the day or so that they were dragged in the valley by the Third Brigade, the more than 7,000 soldiers of the Fourth Preliminary Regiment did only one thing, which was to dig fortifications.
In order to strengthen their air defense and artillery defense capabilities, they cut down a large number of trees on the nearby mountains, and all the artillery defense holes were reinforced with trees.
Trees have a certain degree of elasticity. The trees and their branches are covered on the shell-proof hole. There is a layer of trees, a layer of soil, and a layer of branches and a layer of soil. It covers three layers, and short wood is used to support it inside. Such a bomb-proof hole Even if the artillery shell hits it, it will be bounced away, and the anti-aircraft and anti-artillery effect is very good.
Unless it is a direct hit by a heavy aerial bomb, you can only blame your own bad luck. After all, the probability of being directly hit by a heavy aerial bomb is very small.
Colonel Sato had no good way to face the Chinese people who were waiting for them. His regiment had suffered nearly one-third casualties along the way. The key was that he had no weapon to attack the enemy, so he could only report it to the division commander and wait for support.
The Sato regiment was nearly two kilometers away from the main force of the division, and they directly sent communications troops to report the enemy situation to Lieutenant General Adachi. Lieutenant General Adachi was not too surprised.
"Okubo-kun, order the 37th Field Artillery Regiment and the 37th Engineer Regiment to support Mr. Sato. All the engineers will be dispersed and replenished to the Sato Regiment. We must seize the sealed gate before dark;
Order the 235th Regiment to move closer to the division headquarters and be sure to guard the retreat of the division headquarters;
Other ministries camped on the spot to guard against sneak attacks by the Chinese!
Send electricity to the 41st Division and urge them to break through the Panwangshan defense line as soon as possible and rendezvous with our troops as soon as possible. "
The 37th Division still had nearly 10,000 soldiers who could fight, so he was not in a hurry to ask Xiao Zhuoyinan for tactical guidance. If he did not use this kind of power to ask for help or not, it would affect his future in the army.
Following Lieutenant General Anda's order, various units of the Japanese 37th Division began to take action. The division headquarters and the 237th Regiment set up camp on the spot and built a ring of fortifications along the highway;
After the 236th Regiment received support, it began to attack the position of the 4th Preliminary Regiment. The black muzzles of more than a dozen heavy artillery pieces from the Field Artillery Regiment were already pointed at the position of the 4th Preliminary Regiment. The battle was about to break out.
Of the 7,000 men in the Preliminary Fourth Regiment, 4,000 were broken troops who were gradually gathered up. Chu Dapeng organized them into 8 infantry battalions and 1 artillery battalion;
The Preliminary Fourth Regiment is a first-level regiment. The artillery battalion is equipped with 4 12-barreled 107mm Wei Shen cannons and 16 Wei Yixiao cannons. This is the standard configuration of the first-level regiment artillery battalion. The artillery battalions starting with 80 in the second-level regiment are only equipped with 16 Menwei laughed.
Since the number of battalions has more than doubled, the original 12 Wei Yixiao cannons in each main battalion have not been folded, but remain unchanged. This means that only 3 of the 8 battalions are equipped with Wei Yixiao cannons.
The Preliminary Fourth Regiment built three lines of defense at the gate. Each line of defense is 300 to 800 meters apart, two kilometers deep, and 600 to 1,000 meters wide in front.
One battalion was placed in the first line of defense, two battalions in the second line, two battalions in the third line, and the other three battalions were fortified outside the sealed entrance to prevent emergencies.
Whether we can block the 37th Division's breakout at the sealed gate is the key to annihilating the 37th Division and winning the battle of Zhongtiao Mountain. It is a matter of great importance. Chu Xiong handed over this arduous task to his old brother Chu Dapeng is not only a trust in him, but also a test for him!
At three o'clock in the afternoon, the Japanese Field Artillery Regiment completed its adjustments and began to launch a fierce artillery bombardment on the 4th Preliminary Regiment's position, and the blocking battle officially began.
"Boom boom boom..."
"Boom boom boom boom..."
Raining artillery shells fell on the position, stirring up dust and covering the sky;
The soldiers of the Fourth Preliminary Regiment huddled in large and small shell-proof caves, silently enduring the torment caused by the shelling. Many people's ears were almost deafened by the shock.
When the Japanese artillery fire reached the sixth round, the regiment-affiliated artillery battalion locked onto the Japanese artillery position. The distance from the artillery camp was about 2 kilometers. The Japanese were bullying the fourth regiment and did not hit their artillery.
In the headquarters of the fourth regiment, Chu Dapeng had long disliked the Japanese artillery. As soon as he heard that the target had been locked, he said excitedly:
"Okay! The stupid Japanese are bullying me for not having artillery, right?
Order the Wei Shen Artillery Battery in the artillery battalion to fire three rounds at the Japanese. I will cover them! "
"fire!"
One minute later, 4 Wei Shen cannons smashed 48 rockets at the Japanese artillery position. The Japanese artillery was miserable...
"Boom boom boom boom..."
Just one coverage destroyed more than half of the Japanese heavy artillery, and the artillery suffered heavy casualties.
"Bagayalu! What kind of work?"
Colonel Sato, who was proudly watching the bombing of the fourth regiment, was completely dumbfounded. He did not expect that a regiment of the 78th Army could engage in a firefight with their field artillery regiment.
You must know that this is the heavy artillery of the division. In the past, they massacred the Chinese unilaterally. They did not expect that a regiment could retaliate in kind and use artillery.
"Boom boom boom..."
Just one minute later, another round of heavy artillery hit. The Japanese artillery had no time to move their positions, so they could only watch helplessly as they were bombed.
Sato's eyes were almost on fire. Without heavy artillery, this battle would be difficult to fight. He could only rely on infantry to pile up the enemy with human lives.
"Boom boom boom boom..."
Another round, Sato closed his eyes in pain, the artillery was finished, and so was the 37th Division!
Sato's pain is Chu Dapeng's happiness. It seems that people named Chu like to base their happiness on the Japanese's pain. They laugh without restraint and praise their artillerymen while laughing:
"Okay, great fight! This time the artillery battalion has done a great job, I want to take credit from them!"
"Kill the chicken and give it to me!"
The furious Sato gave the order to attack, and then more than a thousand Japanese shouted and rushed towards the first position of the Fourth Regiment, and the offensive and defensive battle to seal the door began.
"Ququququ..."
Whistles sounded one after another on the battlefield, and groups of soldiers bent down and ran out of the artillery holes, reaching their respective fighting positions and preparing to give the Japanese a hard blow.
When the Japs' skirmisher line entered an area of more than 100 meters, the machine guns on the position opened fire. At least twenty machine guns formed a crossfire, pouring a storm of bullets at the Japs. Each Japs fired at them from a distance. Those who were blown up did not give the Japanese a chance to get close enough to show off their marksmanship.
At least dozens of the Japanese were swept down, and the others were suppressed to the ground so that they could not move.
At this distance, the Japanese's grenades could not reach them at all, and they could only use a small number of infantry guns and mortars to suppress the machine guns of the 4th Preliminary Regiment.
The Japs have infantry artillery and mortars, and the Preliminary Fourth Regiment also has mortars and Weishen cannons. Once the Japs' heavy firepower is concentrated, the Preliminary 4th Regiment will use the Weishen cannon to cover it.
After several rounds of fighting, the Japanese infantry artillery no longer dared to show up.
Fearing the Chinese's heavy artillery, the Japanese's skirmishers were spread out very far, with at least five meters between soldiers. It was not even cost-effective to use Wei Yixiao's artillery to blast them.
Good steel is used on the blade. There are nearly ten thousand Japanese in the 37th Division. They must fight until dark. As soon as it gets dark, it will be the 78th Army's turn to take action.
The Japanese's first round of attack only lasted for half an hour before being repulsed. Since the exchange of fire was relatively far away, casualties on both sides were minor.
While the two sides were having an exploratory contest, the 37th Division headquarters also settled down. Since they learned that the 78th Army had heavy artillery, they retreated another two or three kilometers, and the Japanese became smarter with their bombings.
The situation of the exploratory attack on the front line was reported to the division headquarters. The situation was not optimistic. Mochizuki suggested to Lieutenant General Adachi:
"Your Excellency, Division Commander, the enemy's firepower is very powerful. After the loss of the field artillery regiment, the Imperial Army has fallen behind the 78th Army in artillery fire. They actually have a large number of heavy artillery in one regiment, with a caliber of more than 100 mm and a range of It is also more than two kilometers, and we cannot break through based on our own strength.
I suggest requesting air support from the Commander, and please allow the use of special bombs! "
In the face of life and death, Adachi no longer cared about his face and said to Colonel Okubo:
"Yoshi, please ask the Commander for tactical guidance. Use a plane to blow up the door and seal it!"
