With artillery and machine guns, and artillery shells in place.
The artillery units looked at the brand-new cannons with expressions of surprise.
Reimbursement will not be calculated until Taiyuan is captured. However, Li Yunlong led his troops to shoot down 110 aircraft this time.
Therefore, these mountain cannons and howitzers airdropped from the battlefield were earned from long-term business, while the machine guns were temporarily credited.
Because this time the mountain cannon was also hoisted by a helicopter.
This greatly saves the artillerymen's time. After all, it takes a lot of time to assemble dozens of mountain cannons in the dark.
About two hours later.
Outside the north of Taiyuan City, about 1 kilometer away from the city wall.
Wang Chengzhu led a howitzer battalion and a mountain artillery company to quietly build artillery positions in the dark.
Ten 75mm mountain guns and 12 105 howitzers were lined up.
Behind the gun emplacement are cannon shell boxes neatly stacked like a hill.
Because it was at night, and because the Japanese and puppet troops all knew the news that the Eighth Route Artillery Position was destroyed, and because the Japanese and puppet engineers blocked and repaired the gap in the city wall that was blasted by the Eighth Route Artillery, the Japanese and puppet troops on the city wall The army did not use flares to observe the situation in the distance.
There is a searchlight every few hundred meters on the city wall, which shoots down the city wall to guard against night attacks by the Eighth Route Army.
However, it is also the existence of these searchlights that provide eye-catching shooting elements for each gun position.
The soldiers of the second battalion, led by Zheng Yu, crawled forward with weapons in hand and found a hiding place 500 meters away from the city wall.
If you go a few dozen meters further, you will probably be spotted by the searchlight on the city wall.
"Battalion Commander, all artillery positions are ready!"
"Batalion Commander Wang, the howitzer battalion is ready!"
The 1st company commander of the mountain artillery battalion and the 1st battalion commander of the howitzer battalion, who had adjusted the last mountain cannon and howitzer to shoot at Zhuyuan, reported to Wang Chengzhu.
"Five minutes left."
Wang Chengzhu looked at his watch in the dim moonlight, and said without any fluctuation in his tone: "Fire on time in 5 minutes."
Wang Chengzhu, who has gone from being a gunner to the current artillery battalion commander and then to the reinforced artillery regiment commander, has completed a transformation like a rebirth.
Become an experienced commander whether leading troops or fighting.
According to the combat plan formulated by the headquarters, the general attack began at 2:30 in the night. The new regiment, as well as the artillery of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd attack groups fired at the city wall at the same time.
At this point, the Japanese and puppet defenders on the city wall were very tired, while the Eighth Route Army's attacking troops began to rest and recharge their batteries after dark.
Moreover, in the eyes of the Japanese and puppet troops, if the Eighth Route Army had no artillery, it would lead to death if it attacked the city again.
Looking at the mountain artillery and howitzers lined up in the dark night, Wang Chengzhu couldn't help but sigh in his heart: battlefield airdrop supplies are a damn good thing. No matter how much is lost, they can be replenished in time. There are sufficient battlefield airdrop supplies, and fighting is a pleasure.
"Whether we can break down the city wall and open the passage for the infantry depends on our bombardment, so our bombardment is very critical."
"We are not in a hurry. We will attack one point at a time. We will first concentrate our artillery fire to open a gap, and then move our artillery positions to open another gap."
Wang Chengzhu said to his company commander and the 1st Battalion Commander of the Howitzer Regiment.
During the day, artillery fire was fired at the city wall from an artillery position five or six kilometers away from the city wall.
Because it is a direct fire, even if the special forces of the Sword Squadron use high-power walkie-talkies to guide the artillery fire, the efficiency is relatively low.
It took more than 2,000 rounds of artillery shells to break through six gaps in the city wall.
Compared with the 3-kilometer-long city wall, these six gaps were not enough to see, and the Japanese and puppet troops quickly blocked the gaps.
But by pushing the cannon closer and aiming straight, almost every cannon can hit the city wall, which is not only highly accurate, but also very precise.
Wang Chengzhu couldn't help but sigh again, it would be much better if there were heavy artillery with a caliber of more than 150 to hit Taiyuan.
Although the 75mm mountain gun and 105mm howitzer are enough to hit Taiyuan, their power is still far from that of heavy artillery with a caliber of 150 or more.
However, heavy artillery with a caliber of more than 150 caliber is too heavy and cannot be pulled without a car.
Time passes steadily and coldly.
"Two minutes to prepare!"
"Sixty seconds to prepare!"
"Thirty seconds to prepare!"
"ten!"
"Nine!"
“…”
"three!"
"two!"
"fire!"
"Send a surprise to the little devil!"
In the last two sentences, Wang Chengzhu's long and rough howl spread far away at night.
The gunners in charge of string pulling at each gun position did not hesitate to pull back the match rope in their hands.
Boom boom boom…
Balls of gunfire burst out from the muzzle, and the recoil of the gun ejected from the barrel caused a cloud of dust to rise from each gun position.
22 shells were fired towards the city wall, then hit the city wall and exploded, sending up a huge fireball and smoke.
The artillery units of Ding Wei's 1st Attack Group, Cheng Shifa's 3rd Attack Group and Kong Jie's 3rd Attack Group are the same as the New Regiment.
The artillery was set up 1 kilometer away from the city wall in the south, west and east directions.
At the same time, the same number of Eighth Route Army mountain artillery and howitzers as during the day fired directly at the four walls of Taiyuan.
"Boom, boom, boom!" Explosions like muffled thunder and landslides spread from Taiyuan City to all directions.
The smoke rises again!
…
Time goes back one minute.
Taiyuan.
Japanese First Army Headquarters.
Communications Staff Officer Toshimatsu Kasai said to Yoshio Shinozuka with concern: "General, you haven't slept all day and night. Do you want to take a rest first?"
With the chief of staff here, Yoshio Shinozuka can also rotate soldiers on duty.
However, after Hideyoshi Kusuyama left, Yoshio Shinozuka was on almost 24-hour wartime duty.
Because many emergencies require the commander or chief of staff to make a decision.
Coupled with the sudden attack on Taiyuan by the Eighth Route Army, Yoshio Shinozuka had to command the defense of Taiyuan in addition to commanding the battle in the Central Plains.
"No need."
Yoshio Shinozuka waved his hand and asked, "Is there any movement on the Eighth Route outside the city?"
"There is no movement." Kasai Toshimatsu said, "The Eighth Route Army has lost its ability to attack the city, and it should be besieged instead of attacking."
Yoshio Shinozuka nodded in agreement.
Without artillery, the Eighth Route Army soldiers would die if they attacked again.
This is no longer the age of cold weapons. Under the cross blockade of machine gun fire on the top of the city, let alone the 30,000 people on the Eighth Route Army, even if 300,000 people come, they still can't attack the city.
The Eighth Route Army always likes to kill more enemies at the lowest cost.
At this time, the Eighth Route Army attacked again, which obviously did not conform to the Eighth Route Army's style. The Eighth Route Army should have surrounded Taiyuan for a while and then retreated.
Li Yunlong, Li Yunlong, do you even want to chop off this lieutenant general’s head?
Idiot's dream!
Yoshio Shinozuka has reported to Commander Shun Tada that the Eighth Route Army has lost its ability to siege the city.
However, the reinforcements that were due to arrive were still on their way.
While Yoshio Shinozuka was thinking, a violent explosion was heard from the north of the city. A moment later, continuous rapid explosions were also heard from the east, south and west of the city.
After listening carefully for a moment, the expressions of Yoshio Shinozuka and Toshimatsu Kasai suddenly changed.
At first, the two thought it was the sound of mortars and Type 92 Infantry Cannon, but after listening carefully, they found that such a loud sound was definitely not caused by shells fired by Type 92 Infantry Cannon and mortars.
Lieutenant Colonel Toshimatsu Kasai shouted in disbelief: "75 mountain artillery group, 105 howitzer group!"
"Rumble..."
Huge explosions continued from all around.
How can this be?
Yoshio Shinozuka lost his composure just now.
Haven't the Eighth Route Army's artillery positions been destroyed, and haven't the mountain artillery and howitzers been blown up by aerial bombs? How could there still be so many mountain artillery and howitzers?
Didn't Li Yunlong take out all the mountain artillery and howitzers at the beginning?
What went wrong?
A communications lieutenant hurriedly ran in, lowered his head and said: "Report to General, Lieutenant Commander Kasai, and the city wall defenders reported that the city wall was heavily bombarded by the Eighth Route Artillery. The Eighth Route artillery position is very close and is aiming direct fire at the city wall."
"Bagaya road!"
Shinozuka Yoshio said angrily: "Kasai-kun, immediately order the artillery troops to destroy the Eighth Route Artillery Position!"
"Hi!" Kasai Toshimatsu suddenly lowered his head and put his feet back to stand at attention, then turned around and shook the phone.
At this time, another communications lieutenant hurriedly walked in and reported loudly: "Report to the general, eight-way artillery fire is destroying the city wall. The squadron commanders stationed on the city wall request tactical guidance!"
"Bagaya Road!" Shinozuka Yoshio held a sword in his hand, "Order the troops stationed on the city wall to defend the city wall at all costs. If the city wall is lost, the squadron leader will have his belly disemboweled to express gratitude to the emperor."
"Hi!" The two Japanese communications lieutenants suddenly lowered their heads and stood at attention, turned around and left in a hurry.
After the two Japanese lieutenants left, Yoshio Shinozuka's expression became extremely ferocious.
Only then did Yoshio Shinozuka realize that he still underestimated his opponent, Li Yunlong.
This guy is definitely the most cunning and ruthless opponent he has ever encountered. This guy's trump cards are simply endless!
In the past, he and Li Yunlong only fought indirectly, so this feeling was not strong. It was not until now that the two of them fought head-on that he truly felt how terrifying Li Yunlong was.
Li Yunlong actually hid half of the mountain artillery and howitzers, and used half of the mountain artillery group and howitzer group to lure the Japanese aviation group into attack.
In this way, not only can a large number of Japanese aircraft be shot down, but the fleet can also be prevented from attacking the infantry on the Eighth Route.
In the dead of night, when everyone is quiet, they will pull out the other half of the mountain cannon and howitzer, and aim directly at the city wall.
If Yoshio Shinozuka was a bystander, he would even want to applaud Li Yunlong.
Although the Japanese army had 24 mountain guns and field guns in the city, the number was still too small compared to the Eighth Route Army's artillery.
And this was at night. Although the Eighth Route Army's artillery position was not far from the city wall, after a series of operations such as finding the Eighth Route Army's artillery position and determining to shoot Zhu Yuan based on the impact point, the Eighth Route Army's artillery position had long since disappeared.
If the Eighth Route Army's artillery was allowed to blast through dozens or twenty gaps in each city wall, and the Eighth Route Artillery launched another fierce attack, the consequences would be disastrous.
The fact was just as Yoshio Shinozuka expected.
Less than ten minutes after receiving the order, the Japanese artillery position in the south of the city was ready.
However, the Japanese artillery units need to calculate the distance and direction based on the distance and direction provided by the observers on the city wall.
After the observers gave the Eighth Route Army the distance and direction of the artillery position, they then adjusted the shooting elements according to the impact point, and the firepower covered the area.
The Eighth Route Army's artillery had already opened two gaps and moved away, and the kid's artillery shells covered the loneliness.
The Eighth Route Army artillery positions outside the north, east and west of the city had no enemy artillery fire to counter them. The artillerymen fired their cannons at the city wall unscrupulously.
(End of chapter)
