The Qing Dynasty

Chapter 400: The Allied Forces Charge

After giving the order, Wu Peifu blushed slightly and said to Teng Yuzao, "Teacher

Teng Yuzao waved his hand and said, "Zi Yu, you don't have enough heavy machine guns. You should also use the three heavy machine guns that Mingguang brought back. However, don't place them in front of the position. Place them on the sides of the two hill positions that control the main road."

"I'm afraid there will be a lot of foreign devils rushing over. Some of them will avoid the front of your position and try to attack your position from the side and rear."

"it is good!"

Wu Peifu nodded and said, "Teacher, since we are going to let the foreign devils come to fight, I will not hold back any tricks. Place two heavy machine guns on each side of the two hill positions, and the remaining twenty or so will be placed in front of the positions. All other troops will be on full alert behind the hills."

Five minutes later, as the smoke dissipated, it could be seen that the area where the coalition forces had been lying was already in ruins. Not only were there large numbers of dead bodies lying on the ground, but many of the bodies were also mutilated from being blown apart.

The remaining coalition forces were still lying on the ground in fear, not daring to get up, which made it impossible for Teng Yuzao to make a relatively accurate assessment of the coalition's casualties.

The only way to roughly estimate the number of coalition casualties is to look at the circular open spaces that were blown out among the dense crowds on the ground in the coalition area.

This time, ten rounds were fired rapidly, but a total of sixty 75mm shells fell among the coalition forces, causing heavy casualties to the coalition forces.

Although the coalition forces were lying on the ground, their crowd was too dense, and it was entirely possible that each shell killed or injured more than ten people.

Although the shelling had ended, the Allied soldiers lying on the ground were still unwilling to get up. Even when more than a dozen Three Kingdoms officers waved their pistols and command sabers and beat and kicked them, only a few of them were willing to stand up.

"Boom boom boom", at this moment, a deafening and violent explosion suddenly sounded on the battlefield, but this time the explosion did not explode among the crowd of company troops, but around the positions of the vanguard army on the other side of the river, blowing up a large cloud of tall smoke and dust.

For a moment, the coalition forces' artillery fire was far more fierce than that of the Guards Artillery Battalion, and the vanguard army's positions were blown into pieces, with dirt and rocks flying everywhere. Even the ceiling of the shelter where Teng Yuzhao was located, which was made of three layers of logs, sandbags, and dirt, was falling with dirt.

Not until then did a large group of coalition troops lying on the ground on the opposite bank dare to get up from the ground, and then, under the coercion of coalition officers, began to approach the stone bridge. Some even rushed across the stone bridge at the risk of being injured by their own artillery fire, and even set up heavy machine guns on the river banks on both sides of the bridge.

It was obvious that the commander of the coalition forces wanted to get close to the river under the cover of artillery fire. Once the shelling stopped, he would rush across the stone bridge before the vanguard army had time to open fire, and at the same time launch a charge in an attempt to break through the vanguard army's defensive positions in one go.

Then launch a pursuit of the vanguard army again until they catch up with the transport team carrying a large amount of ammunition and supplies and defeat the escorting vanguard army. If they can kill Teng Yuzhao in the process, that would be the best result.

Seeing the staff officers in the shelter in a panic, Teng Yuzhao spoke calmly.

"Don't panic. Although the caliber of the foreign devils' shells is large, judging from the sound, the maximum caliber is only 120 mm. With the protection of our shelter, even if a shell lands on us, it will be difficult to hurt us."

Seeing the somewhat chaotic shelter, Wu Peifu felt a little embarrassed and shouted harshly.

"If anyone is panicking or frightened again, get out of here. Your advisory duties will be over."

Wu Peifu's words really worked, and the shelter immediately became quiet.

Although the staff officers all turned pale when they heard the loud explosions of the Allied artillery shells right next to their ears, no one dared to hide in the shelter anymore.

Looking at the scene before him, Teng Yuzao couldn't help but sigh silently.

These staff officers had just graduated from the camp school. This should be the first time they had seen a scene like this, so it was normal for them to be frightened.

Teng Yuzhao thought silently, it seems that the staff of the Guards Association should be strengthened, or at least exchanged with the staff of other troops, otherwise the staff of the Guards Association would be a little weak.

The coalition's artillery bombardment finally stopped, and Teng Yuzao reached out from the wall to pick up his Mauser and load it, because he knew that the coalition was about to launch a fierce attack.

Sure enough, as soon as the running and attack stopped, the coalition forces that had already rushed across the stone bridge immediately split into two parts, spread out into a skirmish line formation, and took an attacking stance.

Because the front width of the two hills that served as the defensive support points of the Guards was too small, and the number of the Allied vanguard troops rushing across the river was too large, the skirmish lines of the two Allied forces were divided into six lines.

Dealing with a skirmish line formation attack is obviously much more difficult than the coalition forces' previous formations.

Although the coalition forces had attacked in formations in the past and would eventually charge forward, they had already been killed and wounded in large numbers before that, and the force of their impact was obviously much weaker.

The Russian army was mainly responsible for the frontal attack, with more than 2,000 fake British troops cooperating. The Russian troops in the front row had even begun to charge towards the position at a rapid pace.

Even the dozen or so heavy machine guns of the coalition forces that were covering the attack opened fire fiercely at the vanguard positions on the hill.

Even so, the Japanese troops and fake British troops rushing over the stone bridge from behind continued to pour across the stone bridge.

These soldiers who had just crossed the river were divided into two groups under the command of the Japanese army and the fake British army, with the Japanese army on the left and the fake British army on the right. They ran along the river bank towards the flanks of the two small hills on both sides of the road, trying to cooperate with the Russian army's frontal attack from the flanks.

However, no attention was paid to the two small hills on the flanks facing the road.

The flanks of these two hills are, in principle, forbidden areas for attack, because no matter which hill is attacked from here, the attacking troops will be hit by fire from behind by the defenders on the other hill.

"Order all battalions to take up positions. When the foreign devils are 150 meters away from the position, fire with volleys. When they are within 100 meters, heavy machine guns are allowed to fire. Everyone prepare for battle."

Since there was only one sentry left on the position, there would be a lot of casualties after this round of fierce artillery bombardment by the coalition forces. But after all, the number of people was small, so even if the casualties were great, they would be limited, not to mention that they had anti-artillery caves to hide in.

The armies of the great powers would not dig such simple anti-artillery holes because they could not withstand a direct hit from a shell, even a 57mm shell.

This type of anti-gun hole is actually only used to prevent artillery shells from falling directly into the trench.

Because there are anti-artillery holes for hiding, the shells that fall into the trenches will not cause any harm unless they fall directly in front of a hole, in which case they will kill the soldiers hiding in the hole. Otherwise, there will be no harm at all.

Without this simple anti-artillery hole to hide in, a shell falling into the trench would be enough to kill or injure more than a dozen people.

This sentry stayed on the position not only to guard against the Allied forces under the hill and prevent them from suddenly rushing upwards recklessly, but also to help the machine gunners lift the heavy machine guns into the anti-artillery holes in time when the Allied forces bombarded to avoid being damaged by artillery shells.

Heavy machine gunners are bound to suffer casualties, not just from the enemy's artillery fire. Heavy machine gunners are more likely to suffer casualties while shooting. If there is no assistance from others, it will be difficult to lift the heavy machine gun to a safe place in time.

However, once the coalition forces launch an attack, they will not only have this small number of troops.

Since the hills are not large, each hill is defended by a battalion of troops. Except for one sentry on guard on the hill, the rest of the troops are behind the hill. As soon as the shelling ends, they will quickly rush up the hill.

There is nothing special about these two hills. The slopes on all sides are very small and they are all gentle slopes. It is easy to run up and down. This is why a sentry must be left on guard.

When Wu Peifu gave the order, Teng Yuzhao had already raised his Mauser rifle and pointed the muzzle at a Japanese heavy machine gunner on the other side of the river.

(End of this chapter)