On the northern front, Li Yunlong used his main force to approach the north bank of the Yellow River on the Beijing-Hankow Line and the brigade commander's main force approached Mengjin Ferry, attracting the attention of the little devil's northern Henan defense line. His agricultural tricycle assault force instead appeared dozens of kilometers away. Breakthrough at Sishui Pass and cross the river!
"Quick, quick, quick!" After Shen Quan followed the fast attack group across the river first, he commanded a company to consolidate the beachhead position.
The other soldiers of the fast attack group began to dismantle the carriages and use the boards of the carriages to build pontoons!
Now with the support of rubber from Nanyang, things like rubber boats and assault boats have begun to spread to engineering camps. Although they are not as fast as those of later generations, the assault boats driven by this Luwang engine are barely passable, and they are not towable. A powered rubber boat quickly formed the prototype of a pontoon here.
But after the carriage boards were laid, a simple pontoon was formed. After all, the narrowest point here was only more than 300 meters. Although the water flow was a little faster, the forward commandos swam over from the upper reaches and captured the other side with only a small team of Japanese soldiers. After patrolling the area, a few nylon ropes were quickly pulled up with an assault boat. After piling and fixing, the rubber boats and assault boats began to be connected in series one after another.
Then the carriage panels were dismantled and laid on to serve as a pontoon, and then all that was left of the agricultural tricycle was a bare frame. However, after removing the carriage and the ammunition on it, the weight of the body became lighter and it drove over the pontoon lightly. The last few vehicles even Dragging mountain artillery and infantry artillery also passed the pontoon bridge smoothly!
A complete beachhead defense position was established on the south bank, and then the infantry team began to pass through in large numbers. It was useless even if a small group of Japs came occasionally in the middle. It was not enough for the commandos to counterattack.
In this way, before the small group of Japanese soldiers could react and intercept, the rapid attack group of more than 3,000 people from the Zhongyuan Cluster crossed here.
After taking off the carriage panels and loading them into the vehicle, Shen Quan did not stop at all. They all boarded the agricultural tricycle and headed towards the Jaap positions on the south bank of the Beijing-Hankow Line, more than 60 kilometers away.
Since Jiang Fang’s Little Japs patrol team had not had time to gather the situation layer by layer to the Little Japs’ 12th Army headquarters, the rapid attack group suddenly appeared behind the Little Japs’ south bank defense line like lightning, allowing the 63rd Little Japs infantry guarding the south bank to The brigade was caught off guard.
Seeing the sound of shelling coming from behind, Major General Tokutaro Nakajima, commander of the 63rd Infantry Brigade, slapped the intelligence staff officer and asked angrily. "Nani, why did the Tuba Road people appear behind our backs? Are the intelligence agencies all pigs?"
Faced with the bombardment of Li Yunlong's artillery on the other side, Nakajima Taro couldn't bear it. The opponent's artillery firepower was unusually fierce and their numbers were overwhelming. He didn't even dare to let his artillery brigade counterattack for fear of being exposed. The target was directly killed by the opponent. Now the artillery firepower of the opponent's side has been shown to be more than three times that of our own side.
Nakajima Taro didn't expect to encounter a new enemy behind his back, and he was about to explode!
Amidst the sound of artillery coming from behind, the enemy had at least one mountain artillery squadron, one 92nd Infantry Artillery Squadron, and more than five mortar squadrons who began to bombard the back of their position. How could they fight?
"Artillery Brigade, immediately counterattack the enemy behind you!" Although Nakajima Taro was furious, he did not forget to counterattack the enemy.
"The 11th Brigade and the 12th Brigade attack and kill all the enemies behind them!" Taro Nakajima observed the size of Shen Quan's rapid attack group for a while and roughly estimated the size of more than 2,000 to 3,000 people.
According to his experience, it is basically enough to invest two large groups in counterattack.
After all, not every Eighth Route Army team is as capable as the Expeditionary Force Group. Nowadays, most of the Eighth Route Army troops are still slightly inferior to the strength of the little devils.
Therefore, even second-line security divisions such as the 62nd Division still have a certain psychological advantage when they face the Eighth Route Army. After all, they have always had the upper hand in all aspects such as training and equipment.
However, this time they were destined to be disappointed. The rapid attack group created by Li Yunlong not only has advanced means of transportation in this era.
Moreover, all the selected team members are experienced veterans. Counting under Li Yunlong's command, they are all first-class elite troops, and many of them come from the old background of the Dagushan guerrilla detachment led by Gao Jianwu and Shen Quan.
They saw the little Japs crawling out of the trenches and rushing toward them, howling, and the old soldiers grinned one by one. I have never seen such a cooperative kid come out to kill someone.
One by one, they searched for suitable terrain and set up the light and heavy machine guns. Just waiting for the little devil to hit him head on.
The other side. After firing several rounds of salvos, the mountain artillery company and the 92nd Infantry Artillery Company of the fast attack group immediately moved their positions. They are all veteran warriors from Dagushan. I am already very familiar with the timing and routine of the little Japanese artillery counterattack.
There is no idea of fixing a fixed position for bombardment with the Japanese artillery. Instead, they use a few shots and then change places. Don't give the little Japanese artillery a chance to lock in position.
Their main task is to draw out the Japs' artillery. In this way, the artillery of the main force on the other side will discover the Little Japanese artillery position and then destroy it.
Sure enough, their tactics were very successful. When the artillery brigade of the Little Japanese started shelling, the artillery observation post on the other side immediately discovered the movement on the Little Japanese side.
Soon, Li Yunlong's hidden 105mm howitzer battalion began the first round of shelling under the guidance of the artillery observation post.
Although the first round of artillery attack was a bit off, still several hundred meters away from the Xiaojiazi artillery position, after the correction in the second round, Gao Jianwu's 105mm howitzer battalion quickly sent the shells to the Xiaojiazi artillery position. .
After three or four rounds of covering shelling, the artillery brigade of the Little Japanese was almost completely destroyed.
Shen Quan keenly discovered this fighter plane, and began to direct the artillery and mortar troops to advance towards the Japs' position, and began to conduct precise artillery fire against the Japs rushing over!
Now that the main force of the Little Japanese artillery has been killed, it is his turn for the artillery to start carrying out large-scale destruction of the Little Japanese infantry!
The 11th Infantry Battalion and the 12th Infantry Battalion, which were charged by the little devils, were frustrated to find that the Tubal Road opposite was not only not rustic at all, but was also ridiculously well-equipped.
The 60mm mortars and 82mm mortars were comparable to the equipment of a division. The shells fell like raindrops on the charging team.
In comparison, the enemy's 4 mountain guns and 4 92 infantry guns seemed a bit monotonous because their firing speed could not keep up with the mortars.
These two infantry brigades have their own artillery squadrons with four 92 infantry guns, but within a few minutes of their appearance, the swarming covering artillery bombardment quickly overwhelmed them!
You know, including the 82mm mortars, the fast attack group has 48 artillery pieces that are equivalent to the 92nd Infantry Cannon!
With 48 guns against 8 guns, even a pile of them would kill the Japanese artillery squadron!
After killing the two artillery squadrons of the Little Devils, the next battle will be even less suspenseful. The rapid attack group warriors are fully equipped with 200 light machine guns and 40 heavy machine guns. In the Little Devils 11th Infantry Brigade and the 12th Infantry After the brigade passed through the death circle of shelling from 1500 meters to 500 meters with bruises and bruises, they found that they had entered the circle of light and heavy machine gun fire again!
But at this time, they had no way out and could only press forward. Then one by one they died under machine gun fire. There were almost 2,500 Japs in the two infantry brigades, and almost none of them were wiped out by the rapid attack group in less than half an hour!
When Nakajima Taro saw that his troops were just like a flock of sheep lining up to die, his eyes were so bloodshot that they were about to burst!
"Turn in! Order the 13th Infantry Group and the 14th Infantry Group. We will immediately move into the second line of defense positions!"
Although Nakajima Taro wanted to tear the enemy into pieces and avenge Yusui's two infantry brigades, he sadly found that he really couldn't do it.
Without the coordination of artillery, whether they rush out now or stay in place, they are waiting to die. The group of Tubalu weapons that mysteriously appeared behind them were frighteningly powerful.
In terms of infantry weapons, it has far exceeded the standards of the Locust Army's elite troops.
What's more, they were also under artillery fire from Tubal Road on the other side. This battle has been fought so far, and there is no point in continuing it.
Chen Quan found that the little devil was about to escape, but he did not catch up immediately. After all, the most important thing for him now is to consolidate the position on the south bank and protect the bridge so that Li Yunlong's main force can cross the river!
The Central Plains cluster thus broke through the Yellow River defense line on the south bank of the Little Devils, and the main force continuously crossed the Yellow River.
...
"Old Chen, you did a good job!" Li Yunlong sat in a truck and drove across the Yellow River. He punched Shen Quan on the shoulder and said with a smile on his face when he came to greet him.
"Old captain, you created a very strong fast attack group. If we had more teams like this, beating the little devil would be like beating a son!" Shen Quan replied with a smile.
These words made Lao Li's mouth crack even more.
Li Yunlong has now learned Gao Jianwu's firepower-is-king move. Whether it is a squad, platoon or company, he has been thinking about it a lot and went to the Jinyang Arsenal to wait for weapons. Even when he met the senior commander, he was very determined to attack him. want!
In addition, when Gao Jianwu fought against Lu'an, he left a lot of money with him. When he came out again this time, he brought a lot of property with him!
Needless to say, most of the 75mm mountain guns and field guns captured from the Little Devils were brought out, a total of six 75mm mountain guns and field gun battalions;
Lao Li took two battalions of 105mm howitzers captured from the Little Devils without bothering them.
Now he has 8 regular artillery and howitzer battalions in one cluster. Each of his artillery battalions now has 18 artillery pieces. These 8 artillery battalions are a total of 144 barrel guns!
Compared with the poor man who only had one 75mm Italian cannon when fighting for peace in the world, Lao Li is now extremely rich. He can also follow Gao Jianwu to play the tactic of artillery being king and covering firepower!
Just like Shen Quan was able to fight so smoothly this time, except for one thing, they suddenly appeared behind the little devil, which had a surprise attack effect.
On the other hand, Lao Li has been suppressing the guarding Japs with artillery fire on the other side. He can quickly eliminate the Japs artillery brigade, so that Shen Quan and the others are not in danger of being suppressed by the Japs' artillery fire, and then they are quickly killed. The reason why the little devil has two large groups of infantry!
Artillery is now the protagonist of the battlefield, with artillery's firepower covering and opening the way. In addition, the machine gun firepower is so rich that even the little devils doubt their lives.
That's why Shen Quan fought so beautifully in this battle.
The two of them chatted with each other about simple business for a while, and soon fell into a new round of battle command.
After taking down the little Japanese's riverside defensive position, Li Yunlong and the others felt confident and bold enough to let the heavy equipment come over the bridge.
The 75mm mountain artillery and the 92nd Infantry Artillery can barely pass through the pontoon bridge composed of rubber boats and assault boats, but the 75mm field gun and 105mm heavy artillery are not easy to break down. They weigh more than 2 tons and 3 tons, and it is impossible to pass through the pontoon bridge. .
After all, the rubber boats and assault boats produced now are all prepared for infantry. In many cases, the upper limit of heavy weapons passed is a 75mm mountain gun weighing more than 500 kilograms and 600 kilograms!
A tricycle with its carriage disassembled could barely pass.
This is why Li Yunlong and Shen Quan must seize the Yellow River Bridge. If they relied on the pontoon bridge alone, many of their heavy weapons would not be able to get across.
The entire Central Plains cluster is now considered a big business, with more heavy weapons and trucks now. After all, it has occupied several cities and has seized a lot of things from the little devils.
Now that the bridge was under control, following Li Yunlong's order, the main force of the Central Plains Cluster crossed the river in batches through the bridge.
Tens of thousands of people and hundreds of cars of all types passed through the bridge in a mighty manner, which made Li Yunlong and Shen Quan feel a little proud.
"I wonder what that kid Gao Jianwu's expeditionary force group looks like now." Li Yunlong looked at his own team and couldn't help but think about comparisons.
After all, Lao Li still has a peacock-type personality that loves to show off. Even if Gao Jianwu came from under him, Lao Li still wanted to compete.
"Old commander, I think it's better not to compete. I heard that Lao Gao's side has not only built several heavy artillery regiments, but also has 155mm howitzers and 150mm howitzers. There are more than 200 tanks in total. There are even 100 tanks. Fighter." Shen Quan said leisurely from the side.
After hearing this, Lao Li's face darkened. Okay, let’s pretend that we didn’t say what we just said. Compared with Gao Jianwu’s expeditionary force group, it seems that our own army has to work harder in all aspects of weapons and equipment.
...
The Yellow River, which used to be like a natural moat, is now nothing to Li Yunlong's troops. Relying on the super maneuverability of the fast attack group, a simple attack in the east and west destroyed the Yellow River defense line that the little devil had worked so hard to build.
After Li Yunlong reported his progress to the brigade commander. The brigade commander asked Li Yunlong to send a rapid attack group to Mengjin Ferry to help deal with the enemy's Yellow River Ferry defenders!
Li Yunlong and others broke through the Yellow River defense line at lightning speed, but things were not going well for the brigade commander. They were still shelling each other with the little Japanese guarding the Mengjin Ferry.
The two outflanking troops have not yet reached the position of outflanking, and unlike the fast attack group, they did not use assault boats and rubber boats to build pontoons to pass through. Instead, they chose to sneak across the river carrying light weapons. In addition to light and heavy machine guns, there were only a few 60mm mortars and grenades!
Compared to the fast attack group, their weapons and equipment are simply rudimentary, and the entire unit only lasts one regiment!
After hearing the progress on the brigade commander's side, Shen Quan did not stop after Li Yunlong crossed the river. After replenishing a wave of ammunition and fuel, he led the rapid attack group to the west. According to the location designated by the telegram, this time Shen Quan and the others wanted to They ran 120 kilometers and went straight to the Japanese defensive position at Mengjin Ferry.
Although the overall strength of the Grand Brigadier's development is stronger, the difference in flexibility and diversity in the construction of the army is quite obvious compared to that of Li Yunlong's department, and many of them are still traditional models.
After all, without Gao Jianwu's whimsical ideas and views on the future development of the army, the brigade commander was several times behind Li Yunlong in terms of concepts.
The brigade commander lost an opportunity to understand many of Gao Jianwu's ideas. Therefore, many of the tactical ideas and troop organization improvements that Li Yunlong learned from Gao Jianwu's stolen troops were actually ahead of most Eighth Route generals in this era.
Just like the fast attack group led by Shen Quan, although Li Yunlong was laughed at by many people for a while, Li Yunlong soon used his record to prove that he was not just having fun.
After its establishment, it carried out several long-distance raids to familiarize the rapid attack group with its own equipment and tactics, and achieved good results, taking advantage of the huge tactical advantages of rapid maneuvering.
All of a sudden, the first-generation agricultural three-wheelers were out of stock!
Many base areas want to learn from Li Yunlong's example and build a rapid reaction force, especially in places with better terrain, so the need is even more urgent.
Unfortunately, the current production capacity of agricultural three-wheelers is limited. After the second-generation four-wheeled Red Star cars came out, the production capacity was almost all tilted towards the second-generation Red Star cars. In addition to pulling goods, they also towed heavy artillery.
The 75mm field gun and the 105mm howitzer have no problem towing. When the clutch and gearbox technology were conquered by the masters invited by Gao Jianwu, Red Star Motors became more mature and based on the Harley VL (1200cc) engine improvement of King Lu. Model, the new high-horsepower model of v2 (1500cc), has increased the power from 28 horsepower to 35 horsepower.
The second-generation four-wheeled Red Star car is based on the V2 engine, achieving a load capacity of 2.5 tons and towing.
Now the brigade commander's side is mainly equipped with this kind of Red Star second-generation vehicle, which tows a 75mm field gun and a 105mm howitzer. The vehicle can also carry some artillery shells and artillery. One vehicle has multiple uses and can be transferred quickly. In a sense, this is equivalent to the truck cannon of later generations.
Of course, there is still a gap of nearly a century in terms of transfer speed and accuracy of aiming strikes.
...
Shen Quan led a group of fast attack horses and rushed towards Mengjin Ferry non-stop. From the Yellow River Ferry on the Beijing-Hankow Line to Mengjin Ferry, the distance was more than 100 kilometers. If we simply relied on two people to walk on two legs, even if they were running non-stop, the more than 100 kilometers would probably be too long. You can't walk all day and night.
But now that there are tricycles, even if they are considered weak means of transportation compared to later generations, they can travel at least more than 30 kilometers in an hour. These more than 100 kilometers are walked on the hard roads that were simply built in this era. Shen Quan Arrived in 4 hours.
This speed directly exceeded the speed of information dissemination within the Little Devil. When Shen Quan appeared like a whirlwind with a fast attack group behind the Mengjin Little Devil's defensive position.
The little devils defending here were confused and had no idea what kind of magical team was coming.
But soon they got a taste of the powerful artillery fire coverage. Due to the artillery exchange with the Grand Brigadier, the Grand Brigadier had destroyed both the Little Japanese's 75mm field guns and 105mm howitzers.
This gave Shen Quan the opportunity to rush close to the Jaap's defensive position. After closing the distance, he directly faced the key defensive position of the Jaap to cover the key positions with firepower. He rushed up from behind and destroyed the Jaap's firepower points one by one through infantry artillery.
At this time, a main group of swimming troops sent by the brigade commander finally arrived!
Although they said they were swimming with arms more than 20 kilometers upstream, they could only run on two legs. Compared with Shen Quan's tricycle, the speed was obviously much slower, so although the distance was close, the people were actually running farther away. later.
But this time was just right, just in time for Shen Quan to remove the firepower point of the little devil's position!
As a result, the team of little Japanese defending this section of the Yellow River defense line could not hold on any longer. Under the fierce attack of the Central Plains Rapid Attack Group, one section after another of positions was breached.
These little devils' river bank defense firepower points were all set up facing the Yellow River. Unexpectedly, this time the enemy mainly came from behind, which made the little devils appear very passive.
However, Shen Quan didn't care about this at all and commanded his troops. Before the little devil could react, he started to attack one position at a time.
In this attack, Shen Quan adopted a steady and steady strategy. Use mountain artillery to establish an artillery position at the back, push the 92 Infantry Artillery to the Little Japanese defense line close to the firepower point, and then knock out the firepower points one by one.
Although this tactic seems a little slower, it is extremely effective and has the lowest risk. After several hours of fierce fighting, the swimming troops sent by Shen Quan and the brigade commander directly cleared the little Japanese's south bank position!
The Japs put a regiment here to defend. Compared with the Yellow River Bridge that Li Yunlong faced, the number of troops was smaller, but the firepower was not weak at all, and was even stronger.
If Chen Quan hadn't brought the fast attack group to coordinate the operation, and relied on the group that swam over, I'm afraid they might not have been able to win this position in a day and night.
Now, as soon as the rapid attack group arrives, in two or three hours, Shen Quan and the newly formed security group who came over will jointly kill all the little devils!
The entire north of the ancient capital of the Six Dynasties was thus opened to the brigade commander's tens of thousands of troops!
