The shell slides into the shell, and the tail end comes into contact with the ball-axis firing pin. The propellant is instantly activated and deflagrates, releasing a high amount of energy that spreads to the surrounding narrow space and finally converges at the rear end of the projectile, generating a propulsive force based on physical laws. Push the cannonball to accelerate forward.
In one thousandth of a second, a cannonball weighing about 1.5 kilograms was accelerated to a speed of more than 100 meters per second.
"boom!"
A brief flame burst out from the metal muzzle, and the metal cannonball that inherited its exclusive mission shot out like an arrow from the string, tearing the air and flying towards the target.
"Groan!" In an instant, the familiar and sharp sound of shells breaking through the sky was heard again in the increasingly bright sky.
"Nani?!" Masaizumi Sakai, who was crouching and shifting his shooting position, heard the screams of artillery shells approaching quickly in his ears. He suddenly felt something was wrong. He raised his head and looked back. His sharp vision captured three high-speed flying artillery shells. Different ballistic trajectories fly towards their respective locations.
Seeing such a scene, Masaizumi Sakai's whole body was cold and his soul was full of ghosts. He suddenly stood up, his body suddenly burst out with all the energy, his legs swung wildly, and he ran at the fastest speed in his life.
No rules!
These Chinese people don't follow the rules!
Despicable, rude, unscrupulous, and completely without the sense of honor of a special shooter!
Under normal circumstances, if one of the attacking sides on the battlefield sends special shooters, the other side will usually send equivalent units to engage in a fierce showdown between high-end units. This is one of the unspoken rules of the battlefield.
Although the Chinese did not cultivate special shooters or snipers, they should at least send out sharpshooters to fight against him.
But what is the reality?
The opponent directly uses mortars to attack!
The threat of death was getting closer and closer. Adrenaline was soaring. The screams of artillery shells in his ears were sharp and urgent. Masaizumi Sakai, who had already run with all his strength, had no time to think more. The next moment, a black spot that left an afterimage of high-speed movement suddenly appeared. In sight, it fell two meters ahead.
As a familiar and loud explosion entered his ears, Masaizumi Sakai felt that his body had lost all consciousness for an instant, with no strength and no pain. Hot blood gushes out from the wound, and his vitality flows away at an extremely fast speed. At the last moment of his life, Various images flashed through his mind quickly, and then he was left with one thought -
A smart special shooter will never shoot at the same position once instead of three times.
The death of a special marksman caused no waves.
…
Since the 686th Regiment had far more weapons, equipment and bullets than in history, it did not blow the charge horn to close the distance between the two sides and engage in hand-to-hand combat. Instead, it continued to use the terrain and absolute advantage of long-range firepower to suppress the Japanese Third Battalion on the road. , advancing steadily.
If the weapon is good and the bullets are enough, who wants to fight hand-to-hand combat?
Nowadays, as time continues to pass, the field of view becomes clearer and clearer. The entire Qiaogou battlefield has entered a white-hot state. The shooting skills of all the soldiers of the 686th Regiment have become more and more intense, and they can be said to be skillful in fighting. The number of casualties in the Third Battalion continues to rise. More than three hundred people have arrived.
What is the concept of more than three hundred people?
For the Japanese brigade of a thousand people, the casualty rate reached 30% within an hour of the battle. This was something that had never happened since entering the Chinese battlefield.
Breakout!
Must break out immediately!
Under the cover of fire from the Third Squadron, the First and Second Squadrons gathered about 400 Japanese soldiers, put on gas masks, and moved forward using the smoke and burning car wrecks.
The target is directly at the Laoye Temple Highlands.
"Captain, a large number of Japanese infantry are moving towards the Laoye Temple Highlands with the intention of seizing the commanding heights." Yang Yong, deputy commander of the 686th Regiment headquarters at the Qiaogou position, quickly observed the movements of the third brigade and hurriedly reported to the regiment leader Li You.
When Li You heard these words, he immediately took out his binoculars and quickly came to the observation port of the headquarters. He looked at the large number of Japanese infantrymen marching in the smoke, and then looked at the still quiet Laoye Temple Highlands in the distance. He frowned and asked Said: "What's going on? Why is there no movement in the Laoye Temple Highlands? Where are the friendly troops?!"
"It seems that the friendly troops have not come." Yang Yong shook his head and replied: "The 685th Regiment is fighting alone, and there is a big hole in our encirclement."
Laoyemiao Highlands is located on the left side of the intersection of Ranzhuang and Weidai Highways. According to the Pingxingguan attack plan, this is an ambush position for two regiments of the Shanxi-Sui Army. The 115th Division did not deploy troops here before the war, only at the foot of Laoyemiao Highlands. Lay minefields in the area.
Originally, after the battle started, the 685th Regiment and the Jinsui Army were supposed to attack the Japanese from both sides, but so far there is still no movement in the Laoyemiao Highlands.
The pincer attack at the Ranzhuang intersection has now turned into a head-on fight between the 685th Regiment and the Japanese vanguard.
"Damn it! I know these beasts are unreliable!"
Li You's face changed drastically, and he was extremely angry. He gritted his teeth and kept calm: "No, something big is going to happen. Lao Yang, you contact Battalion Commander Zhao immediately and request to suppress the Japanese attacking team. We must not let this group of Japanese invaders reach Laoye Temple. Correspondent class, notify The mortar company and the first battalion directly under the regiment continued to block the Japanese attacking team, and then reported the news of the unarrival of friendly forces in Laoyemiao Highlands to the brigade headquarters, quickly."
The situation of no friendly troops coming is extremely fatal. The Japanese army only needs to occupy the Laoye Temple high ground and establish a defensive position, which will instantly reverse the battlefield situation between the enemy and ourselves. At that time, the prone attack of our own troops will turn into an upward attack, making the attack more difficult. The Japanese army on the mountain will Just wait for work and wait for the reinforcements to arrive.
And this means that the main combat goal of annihilating the Japanese reinforcements has failed.
No!
The Japanese army must not be allowed to capture the heights of Laoye Temple!
The opportunity only lasts once. If we can't seize it, there will never be such a precious fighter plane that can wipe out 4,000 Japanese troops.
It is obvious that the smart and cunning Japanese will never stumble twice in the same place.
"What, the friendly forces didn't come?! What the hell are these people doing for food!" The battlefield situation was constantly changing. When Zhao Zhangcheng received the notice, he was dumbfounded. After thinking about it for a while, he had to grit his teeth and order the mortar battalion to give up the current freedom of movement. Open fire tactics and switch to concentrated fire suppression shooting mode.
The so-called suppressive shooting, as the name suggests, involves massing a large amount of artillery fire to cover enemy targets with firepower, making them unable to move or use roads to move.
Although this artillery tactic is beneficial to suppressing large numbers of Japanese infantry groups, it is not so effective on the battlefield.
Why?
The reason is very simple. The power and range of the Type 37 mortar are not enough to achieve the desired effect of suppressive shooting. The caliber of artillery used in suppressive shooting operations on the European battlefield is usually more than 105 mm, and the mainstream caliber is 150 mm. The Soviet Union The eldest brother uses a 203mm large-caliber heavy gun.
In terms of strike benefits, 60mm mortar suppressive shooting is far inferior to the current free-fire shooting tactics.
However, the war situation changed, and Zhao Zhangcheng had to make adjustments.
The four mortar companies quickly changed their tactics. The 24 37-type mortars adjusted their firing at the fastest speed. They aimed at the large number of Japanese infantry that were marching quickly on the road. They entered the rapid fire mode and began to pour ammunition crazily.
"Bang, bang, bang!" Mortar shells were fired one after another as if they were free, and the density of firepower delivery reached the highest level in an instant.
In the sky, the steel rainstorm when the ambush battle started appeared again. Artillery shells symbolizing death hit hard and exploded, easily covering the highway area where more than 400 Japanese soldiers from the 1st and 2nd Squadrons were located. Many The Japanese soldier had no time to escape and was killed on the spot.
Immediately afterwards, the regiment leader Li You transferred the mortar company, two heavy machine guns and two Czech light machine guns of the group to also join the battle sequence to block and intercept the Japanese attacking team.
The density of firepower was high, reaching the highest level since the Qiaogou ambush battle broke out.
For the 686th Regiment, the combat goal is very simple. In a word, this group of Japanese troops cannot be allowed to go to the Laoye Temple Highlands.
"Use the car bunker to crawl, the enemy's mortar range is limited!" Facing the extremely fierce fire suppression from the entire division's mortar battalion and the 686th Regiment, the Japanese captain in command was not timid at all. He held the command knife tightly in his right hand and roared loudly .
The surrounding Japanese infantry did not hesitate and strictly followed the orders, lying on the road and crawling forward. Although the enemy's firepower was very fierce, as long as they left the effective range of the mortars, they would escape.
In this Qiaogou ambush battle, the biggest threat faced by the Third Battalion was not the light and heavy machine guns, but the 60mm mortar group located on the mountain ridge line.
Artillery's dominance of the battlefield is no joke.
"Now, the infantry artillery unit, set up artillery to attack the enemy's artillery position on the mountain ridge!" At this time, after discovering that the enemy's mortars were fully suppressing the attacking troops, the captain of the third battalion, Cangshan Yuanye, did not hesitate to seize this opportunity. He yelled at the infantry artillery unit that was ready not far away.
As the order was issued, eight Japanese artillerymen from the infantry artillery unit not far away quickly pulled out the last Type 92 infantry gun hidden behind the car wreckage and built a firing position as quickly as possible.
Cangshan Yuanye had two intentions in asking the 1st and 2nd Squadrons to attack the unknown high ground ahead. One was to really prepare to seize the commanding heights, and the other was to take this opportunity to try to divert the attention of the opponent's artillery and gain a chance to counterattack.
Cangshan Yuanye knew very well how terrible the free-fire tactics used by the division's mortar battalion were. More than 70% of the heavy weapons of the Third Battalion were lost to this tactic.
If there was no way to get the opponent to change their artillery tactics, the Third Battalion would have to pay an extremely heavy price to escape from this ambush area.
The price... may be as high as 70% casualty rate.
Fortunately, after throwing out a large number of infantry as a bait, the opponent's artillery successfully took the bait.
Now, as long as they can successfully counter the enemy's artillery and seize the opportunity when the opponent loses long-range fire strikes, the remaining troops of the Third Battalion can break out to the unknown high ground ahead, leave the ambush area, join the Kurokawa Battalion, and lay the groundwork for seizing the commanding heights. Base.
When the commanding heights are gained, the game is considered alive.
It is definitely not the character of Cangshan Yuanye to sit back and wait for death. Even if he is in a desperate situation, he must look for a chance to survive.
The eight professional artillerymen set up the Type 92 infantry gun as fast as they could in their lives, adjusted their firing elements, and aimed at the mountain ridgeline division's mortar battalion position directly ahead.
Load the cannon and lock the breech block.
"Bang!" In an instant, the Japanese gunner pulled the rope decisively, and the inconspicuous Type 92 infantry gun, which was only a few tens of centimeters in height, suddenly shook, and a 70mm high-explosive shell flew out.
"Enemy shells! Get down!!!" Zhao Zhangcheng, who was always paying attention to the battlefield at the Shanling position, caught the sound of the Type 92 infantry cannon firing. A sense of extreme danger enveloped his body, and he roared extremely anxiously.
Careless.
Zhao Zhangcheng did not expect that the little devil actually hid a Type 92 infantry gun.
There was no time left for Zhao Zhangcheng to regret or reflect. When the voice fell, only the soldiers with the four nearby guns in the entire artillery position quickly fell down. The other soldiers were too far away to hear. At this moment, at more than 200 guns per second, The 70mm high-explosive projectile flying at a speed of 1.5 meters was already at the end of its trajectory, piercing the sky like an arrow and slamming into the right side of the artillery position.
"Boom!" The explosion of the artillery shell released shock waves and metal fragments. The sound was deafening. A black smoke column appeared above the position. Two cannons in the nearby area were immediately affected. Six or seven soldiers fell. The division's mortar battalion appeared for the first time. casualties.
(End of chapter)
