Reborn as King of South America

Chapter 481 Attack
The sun sets and rises again. The dense forest is filled with pleasant bird calls. The forest spreads far away and connects with the plain. At the edge of the forest, on the winding hills, there is a tense and busy scene.

The soldiers cut down low trees and bushes with axes and saws, carried them to the side of the trenches, and used them as raw materials for building shelters and fixing the trenches.

The raised earth mounds were flattened with shovels and shovels and rammed into flat positions.

The position was used to place artillery. There was an entire battalion of 15 75mm Jianye Model field guns, which were placed at intervals of several meters or tens of meters according to different directions.

The gun cover was removed, the breech block was opened, and the crew members were nervously conducting the final inspection before the battle to ensure the stable performance of the artillery.

The Jianye Seven-Year Type 75mm field gun has a caliber of 75mm, a barrel length of 2.5 meters (36 times the caliber), an elevation of -11°~+18°, a horizontal angle of 6° left and right, a maximum range of 6500 meters, a muzzle velocity of 450 meters per second, a firing rate of 3 rounds per minute, and can be loaded with high-explosive shells, shrapnel shells, and armor-piercing shells.

The total weight is 1050 kilograms, and it needs six mules and horses to pull and move during marches and battles.

The 75mm Jianye Seven-Year Type field gun was put into service in March 1888. Before the outbreak of the Paraguayan War, 3 battalions had been formed. The General Staff of the Han Army planned that by the end of 7, the 1892mm Jianye Seven-Year Type field gun would gradually replace various types of medium artillery captured or purchased in the regular field army, so as to realize the localization of light and medium artillery.

The steam balloon was ignited and released. Several soldiers kept loosening the ropes in their hands and calculated the height to which the steam balloon rose. Two soldiers standing in the balloon basket carefully held the rope with one hand and held a monocular telescope with the other, constantly observing the situation around them.

When the steam balloon rose to a height of about 30 meters, the soldiers below the balloon waved the flags in their hands to make flag signals. The soldiers below responded quickly and fixed the rope on a dug up boulder. In order to prevent it from being not strong enough, several soldiers wrapped the rope around the stone a few more times.

About 75 kilometers southeast of the 2mm field artillery position, in a semi-underground field command room built with wood and covered with shrubs and leaves, Pang Zhenyun observed the progress of his own combat readiness and the defense situation of the enemy's frontline positions through a monocular telescope.

"8:30, time's up, order the 75mm artillery battalion to launch an artillery attack on the enemy's front-line positions!"

"Yes, sir!" the operations staff responded loudly, then left the command room and passed combat orders to the 75mm artillery position in the rear.

""Calibrate the shooting parameters! Azimuth 27-00, firing angle 06-80!"

At the 75mm artillery position, an artillery observer issued combat orders based on the flag data transmitted by the steam balloon and the actual observed situation of the enemy's front-line positions.

"Click, click", the gunner used both hands to turn the handwheels on the left and right sides of the gun barrel, slowly adjusting the left and right displacement and elevation angle of the gun.

"Cannon position and angle calibration completed!"

"One round to reload!"

"One round to load!" The gunner repeated the commander's instructions while twisting the rotary handle to open the breech block. The loader then took a shell from the ammunition box and loaded it.

"Loading complete!" The gunner continued to twist the rotating handle, moving the breech block to its initial position and closing the breech block.

"300 meters ahead, ready, fire!"

At the gunner's command, the gunner quickly pulled the rope connected to the tail of the artillery hammer, and then suddenly released the rope. The hammer rebounded under the force and hit the firing pin violently, triggering the primer of the shell.

"Swish", the shells hit the air, making a sharp sound of breaking through the air and shooting towards the enemy's front line position.

"Bang!" The shell landed about seven or eight meters away from the enemy trench, stirring up a cloud of smoke and dust.

"Second round reloaded, azimuth 27-00, firing angle 06-72!"

The gunner made adjustments based on the observed landing location of the test shells.

"Clang" the copper-yellow shell exited the barrel. The loader, wearing thick protective gear, took the hot shell and put it aside. Then he picked up the shell and, with the assistance of another gunner, opened the breech block and completed the loading of the shell.

"310 meters east by north, ready, fire!"...

Fifteen 15mm field guns completed test firing one after another, pouring firepower on different targets.

"Swish, swish, swish" one shell after another flew over the heads of the Brazilian soldiers, flying quickly in a flat arc.

"Boom boom boom", the fierce artillery bombardment continued, and the front-line positions of the Republic of Brazil were filled with a pungent smell of gunpowder.

"Bang!" A small mountain cannon deployed next to the first trench was hit by a shell. The gun carriage and the gun barrel separated, flew into the sky, and then fell heavily into a trench, with fragments flying everywhere.

"Ah, my leg." A Brazilian soldier who was hit by debris lay on his side in the trench, holding his injured right leg with both hands and howling in pain.

"Bang, bang, bang", several more shells fell, one of which landed in the trench. The shock wave generated by the explosion collapsed the earth walls on both sides, and the wooden boards supporting the earth walls broke into two. The exposed earth walls collapsed, burying several soldiers under the soil.

"The Han army launched a counterattack." The surviving Brazilian soldiers hid in the trenches, trembling.

Shells flew, figures moved, and several artillery bunkers and heavy machine gun positions observed before the war were in a mess, as if they had been wiped out from the ground. "The shelling achieved the intended target." Zhou Xiangyang, commander of the 75mm artillery battalion, made this assessment based on his observations of the enemy's frontline positions.

"Order the artillery to extend to the enemy's rear positions, focusing on attacking the enemy's trenches and troop bunkers!"

At the front line of the Han army, rows of soldiers lay sideways on a slightly sloping surface, supporting their upper bodies with their arms and looking straight ahead.

"Beep!" The sound of artillery gradually faded away, and an officer blew his whistle loudly, sounding the horn of attack.

"rush!"

With a shout, a group of soldiers in gray-black uniforms emerged from the open space where the two armies' positions met, and they moved forward like a shot arrow.

"Swish, swish, swish, bang, bang", the sound of artillery shells and bullets firing came to my ears, and we were getting closer and closer to the enemy position.

"Da da da", a fire snake spurted out from under a half-collapsed bunker in front of the right side of the charging troops, blocking the way of attack.

Several soldiers who were charging quickly were unable to dodge and were hit by heavy machine guns. They fell to the ground, blood flowing from their wounds. They opened their mouths slightly, trying to vent the unbearable pain, but no sound came out.

"Platoon leader, I'll go and drag them back."

A "new soldier" who had been in the army for two years and was experiencing a real war for the first time wanted to save the life of a wounded comrade but was stopped.

"Don't go, it's useless. He was shot in the abdomen by a heavy machine gun. He can't be saved."

A junior officer with a second lieutenant rank insignia on his shoulder stopped the soldier and reminded him, "Be sure to protect yourself from the enemy's heavy machine guns. If you are hit in the abdomen, head or other vital parts by a heavy machine gun, even God can't save you. Even if you are hit in other parts of the body and survive by chance, you will become disabled!"

In the brief moment that the officer was speaking, the injured soldiers gradually became motionless.

"Everyone seek cover nearby!"

The second lieutenant made a "lie down" gesture to the side and rear, and together with several soldiers under his command, crawled to a pit formed by a shell.

"The mortar group and the rear attack force are blocked by the enemy's heavy machine gun fire. If they want to continue to advance, they can only eliminate the heavy machine gun in the right front first! Wang Renxing, Li Jitai, Luo Yuanfa, gather all the grenades from your three squads. Then divide into two groups, two people in each group, take advantage of the blind spots of the enemy's heavy machine gun fire, crawl from the left and right wings, and blow up the enemy's heavy machine guns!"

"Yes, platoon leader."

The three people who were called out did not say anything extra. After receiving the order, they quickly moved to their respective hiding places.

A moment later, forty grenades were tied into four strings with ropes and handed over to four selected grenadiers to carry out the assault mission.

"Concentrate firepower and provide frontal cover."

Four soldiers, divided into two groups, slowly crawled forward along opposite routes. The second lieutenant commanded the remaining soldiers to fire bullets to attract the attention of the enemy's heavy machine guns.

"90 meters, 80 meters, 70 meters, 60 meters," the two soldiers crawling forward on the right whispered to estimate the distance. When they reached 60 meters, they looked at each other, stood up quickly, and rushed towards the target with all their strength. In just a few seconds, when they rushed to a position about 40 meters away from the heavy machine gun position, they were discovered by the enemy. "Da da da", the heavy machine gun turned its muzzle and fired a volley of bullets.

"Bang bang!" A soldier who raised his right hand and was about to pull the fuse and throw a grenade was hit by two bullets and fell to the ground helplessly.

"Hiss" the fuse of the grenade was pulled and thrown out with force by the remaining soldiers. "Da da da" another burst of bullets came and flew over the heads of the remaining soldiers. If the soldiers who threw the grenade did not lie down after the attack, they would be hit by bullets one second later.

"Boom", accompanied by the sound of grenade explosion, the wooden shed used as camouflage and support collapsed to the west, and the heavy machine gun position in the right front also temporarily stopped moving.

"Brothers, keep charging!" The second lieutenant stood up and just gave the order to continue the attack, the enemy's heavy machine gun opened fire again. It turned out that the grenade fell on the side of the heavy machine gun position, which only blew up the wooden shed above the fulcrum and injured several soldiers, but did not completely destroy the combat effectiveness of the heavy machine gun position.

Two more soldiers were hit. The second lieutenant bent down in pain and turned his gaze to the left side in front of him, where a group of attack teams were farther away from the enemy's heavy machine gun position.

Perhaps the first round of grenades caused more damage to the enemy, or perhaps the collapsed tower’s wooden shed blocked the left wing’s view.

When the two soldiers rushed to a distance of 30 meters from the enemy's heavy machine gun position, they had not yet been discovered.

"Charge!" The two soldiers stood up decisively, ran at full speed for more than ten meters, and threw grenades together when they were less than 20 meters away from the target.

"Boom boom", at a distance of less than 20 meters, two soldiers accurately threw two bundles of grenades into the heavy machine gun position, instantly blowing up the position completely.

The threat was destroyed, and the frontline troops, led by officers from various units, continued to attack the enemy's defense line. The mortar groups that fell behind and the remaining troops that were responsible for the first wave of assault also resumed the attack.

(End of this chapter)