Songhu: Never Give Up

Chapter 148 Cold Gun and Cold Cannon Movement
The yellow corpses scattered all over the ground told Captain Ishino that if you act impulsively in front of a heavy machine gun, you will turn into a ghost. More than 100 Japanese soldiers charged towards the rain of machine guns, and more than half of them lay down in a few minutes. The rest retreated in a panic, their courage was broken;
Captain Ishino rarely blamed them. If they didn't run faster, no one would be able to come back, and at most the defenders would have wasted a few hundred bullets.

Lieutenant Colonel Mizuguchi ordered a retreat, and Captain Ishino immediately withdrew with the remaining troops as if he had been pardoned. The first formal attack was repelled again;
Two squadrons rushed forward, and when they retreated, only one squadron was left. This was the cruel reality facing Major Mizuguchi.

Even though they were all beasts deeply poisoned by Bushido, they would still feel the pain when the sword cut their bodies. The Mizuguchi Battalion had only four infantry companies in total.

"Ishino-kun, we can't keep fighting like this. The defenders' firepower is too strong. The Seventh Regiment left too many weapons and ammunition. It's obviously not going to work if we rely on human wave tactics.

We should focus on attacking the three gaps near the main gate, and send one squadron at a time. We must control the distance well, and select some sharpshooters to shoot the defenders from 3 meters away, slowly wearing down the Chinese."

Shi Ye naturally had no objection, and he still led the team to charge and catch a sheep to fleece it, since he had experience.

After Captain Ishino received the order and left, he selected more than 30 Japanese soldiers with accurate shooting skills from the entire battalion and temporarily formed a "sniper team". The team leader was Captain Masanobu Chida, the best sniper of the 19th Regiment.

"Ishino-kun, let me correct you, he is the best sniper in the 9th Division!"

After receiving the sniper mission, Captain Chida arrogantly told Captain Ishino that they were good friends from the same hometown;
Chida has a great talent for shooting and was once selected to study at a German sniper school. After returning to his country, he was not valued and thought that he was not appreciated for his talent. This time, he finally got the chance to show himself.

Yuan Guangyi soon discovered that the Japanese had changed their tactics. Although the Japanese's offensive power had been reduced, the casualties of the brothers in the infantry company were rising sharply. Moreover, the Japanese's shooting skills had suddenly become much more accurate. Almost every shot hit the flesh. Anyone who showed his head would be shot.
He realized that this was no accident and immediately reported the abnormality to Yue Qianli. A word instantly popped up in Yue Qianli's mind - "cold gun and cold cannon movement". In the West, there is a professional tactic - sniper warfare!

Although there is no special sniper tactic at present, the Japanese sharpshooters are also very troublesome. This forced the 527th Regiment to use the "cold gun and cold cannon" tactic. Captain Jiang Shaoying of the regiment's reconnaissance company was called in and said to him:
"Captain Jiang, the Japanese are playing some fancy tricks. Pick some brothers with good marksmanship to go to the ruins on the rooftop to play with the Japanese. Let them see what a real sniper is."

After Yue Qianli was promoted to regimental commander, the reconnaissance platoon was upgraded to a reconnaissance company, and the former platoon leader, Lieutenant Jiang Shaoying, was promoted to captain and company commander.

He was a special operations commander trained by Yue Qianli. After listening to Yue Qianli's words, he understood what was going on. He nodded and took the order. Saluting on the battlefield meant that one thought the superior had lived too long.

Then Yue Qianli ordered the artillery battalion to send out two mortars to cooperate with the reconnaissance company, mainly using cold artillery tactics to sneak attack the enemy's heavy machine guns and infantry artillery, and also to deal with the enemy's snipers.

After Jiang Shaoying left, Yue Qianli said to Captain Yuan:

“The devils are now using sniper tactics, charging with a small number of troops to lure you into fighting back;

The Japanese sharpshooters are hiding in the distance and sniping you, especially the machine gunners and officers.

The enemy is changing, and so am I. You can also pick some brothers with good marksmanship to shoot them from behind.
In addition, we will select some brothers who are good at throwing bombs accurately and strong to form a bomb throwing group. We will use guns to deal with those far away and grenades to deal with those close by. This is the cold gun and cold artillery tactics. If the Japanese group charges, we will use heavy machine guns to serve..."

Yue Qianli's habit of being a know-it-all came back again, and the people below him just loved it. Captain Yuan was so excited that he nodded repeatedly, then left happily.

After Captain Yuan returned, he changed his fighting style and weakened his firepower. He specially selected dozens of soldiers with good marksmanship to form a "cold gun" platoon and a grenade platoon, and started fighting the Japanese with cold guns and cold cannons. Now it was the Japanese's turn to have a headache.

Outside the building, a hundred or so Japanese infantrymen launched an attack on the main gate in a stealthy manner. Three heavy machine guns were arranged in a fan shape a few hundred meters away, constantly suppressing the defenders with firepower. The Japanese sharpshooters were waiting to snipe and kill important targets of the defenders. The tactics were very targeted.

This time, when the Japs' skirmish line advanced to a distance of about 100 meters, the defenders, contrary to their usual practice, did not fire any more shots, but just let them jump up and down like monkeys;
They got bored after playing for a while and had to keep moving forward. After 80 meters, still no one paid any attention to them.

60 meters!
Suddenly, sporadic gunshots broke out in the building. The Japanese soldiers who were charging were shot and fell one after another. The casualties rose sharply. The frightened Japanese soldiers fell to the ground one after another, and then fought back with crackling sounds. Although it had no effect, it gave them courage.

The Japanese heavy machine guns were also firing desperately, trying to kill the defenders with stray bullets. Suddenly, an 82mm mortar shell flew from the roof of a building a few hundred meters away on the right wing and accurately hit a machine gun position, instantly destroying the gun and killing the man.

The headquarters building stretched for hundreds of meters horizontally, and the Type 20 mortars were highly mobile, so this cold artillery made the Japanese very crazy. They had to move to another location after firing a shot. The Japanese artillery had no way to deal with them and could only sit and wait. Since the appearance of the defenders' cold artillery, the Japanese heavy machine guns have become much more obedient, and can only be replaced by light machine guns for support, and they have to move to another location after firing a few bursts;
Without the support of heavy firepower, the Japanese riflemen became lambs to be slaughtered, and they could only pin their hopes on the sharpshooters.

After the defenders changed their tactics, Captain Chida had no choice but to lower his status and start sniping ordinary soldiers of the defenders;
He also realized that the Chinese had the same idea as Major Mizuguchi, and was using precise shooting to block the attack of the infantry group. He had already targeted a Chinese.

This Chinese fired three times, changing positions three times, and shot and killed two Japanese riflemen. Such a master deserves his serious attention;

He had already calculated the opponent's activity pattern and pointed the muzzle of his gun at a shooting position in advance, waiting for the opponent to show up.

Sergeant Deng Fuqing, a sniper from the artillery battalion infantry company, had killed two Japanese soldiers in succession and moved to a new shooting position, ready to kill another one. He quietly extended the muzzle of his gun and fired a shot at the Japanese soldier.
At the moment he fired his gun, Captain Chida's gun finally found him. Although he couldn't see the man clearly at a distance of more than 300 meters, Captain Chida still pulled the trigger based on his feeling.

Deng Fuqing just turned his head reflexively, but the bullet still hit his left eye. His vision went black and he fainted.

Two medical soldiers came running over with their backs bent. One of them checked and shouted excitedly:
"It's still breathing. The bullet is stuck in the eyeball. Take it down quickly."

Qiantian showed a smug smile on his face and quickly changed his shooting position, but what he didn't know was that because of this shot, he also exposed himself;
If he had not changed the shooting position in time, Jiang Shaoying would have sent him back to his hometown. Because Qiantian was too cautious, Jiang Shaoying still did not find a chance to shoot and could only wait patiently.

Now the entire battlefield has no impact on him. He has only one goal, and that is to deal with such a brutal and cunning scourge. He doesn't believe that his target will not take action.

The battle was still going on. Captain Chida, who had just succeeded in the sneak attack, set his sights on a light machine gun. This light machine gun had been suppressing the Japanese infantry, and it also changed its position after firing three bursts of fire.
This trick was effective against the Japanese grenade thrower, but this time he encountered a professional sniper like Captain Chida. As soon as he fired the first burst of shots, he was roughly locked by Captain Chida's gun and was waiting for his second burst of shots.

His first burst of fire knocked down a Japanese soldier, and then he aimed at the Japanese soldier and fired a second burst of fire;
An evil smile appeared on Qiantian's lips again. Gunshots rang out and the bullet pierced the main shooter's helmet. This "skirmisher" from the Guangdong Army was shot and fell down. When he died, his eyes were wide open with anger and he was full of resentment.

Qiantian's smile froze instantly, his forehead was instantly covered with cold sweat, and his eyes were filled with fear. He smelled the breath of death;
As a sniper, he had his own unique perception of death. He knew that he could not avoid the shot, so he did not struggle anymore, but showed a strange smile in the direction where Jiang Shaoying was hiding...

The bullet hit him between the eyebrows, freezing the smile on his face. Those who didn't know would think that he was facing death with a smile, but in fact, he was already in despair at that moment.

Jiang Shaoying also had a smile on his face, because he saw the fear and despair in the eyes of the Japanese through the four-fold telescope - yes, he was the "God of Death"!
After killing Qiantian, Jiang Shaoying quickly changed to a sniper position. Yue Qianli told him that no one should be underestimated on the battlefield, especially snipers, as there were too many people who capsized in the gutter.

After Jiang Shaoying killed Captain Chida, the level of other Japanese sharpshooters was much worse. Under the joint attack of the reconnaissance company's sniper team and the artillery battalion's cold gun platoon, the Japanese sharpshooters were almost wiped out, and Captain Ishino had to order a retreat.

Major Mizuguchi didn't have any better solution and could only ask the regiment commander for tactical guidance. His battalion had suffered more than 300 casualties, and they could not capture the headquarters building with their limited strength. He was bound to be scolded.

Colonel Hitomi Hidezo cursed:
"Bakayaro, that idiot Mizuguchi retreated after only 300 casualties. He brought disgrace upon the warriors!
Tell that bastard Mizuguchi that the division commander has issued a strict order, and even His Majesty the Emperor is paying attention to the battle in the headquarters building;

The 527th Regiment must be annihilated. Yue Qianli must be found alive or dead, at any cost!"

The senior staff officer of the regiment, Major Hirose Hayata, gritted his teeth and defended Major Mizuguchi:
"Your Excellency, the garrison has at least 3 men. Isn't it too weak to rely on just a few hundred men from the Shuikou Battalion?"

Hitomi Hidezo originally wanted to say that the Imperial Army's fighting power was 7 to 1 against the Chinese, but when he remembered that this was the German-equipped 88th Division that had embarrassed him at Yunzaohama, he changed his words:

"Then send the second and third battalions to reinforce them. If they still can't win with a 1:1 ratio, they will be loyal to His Majesty the Emperor!"

Hirose Hayata

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(End of this chapter)