Songhu: Never Give Up

Chapter 319: Battle with Lan Feng (2)

The Japanese still underestimated the role of anti-tank trenches and overestimated their Type 1 tanks. Watanabe Kazuo's Type tank was trapped in the trench without any suspense;

Although the tank was not damaged, it temporarily stopped in the pit. The accompanying infantry immediately used an engineer shovel to help it out.

This is not difficult. Just like when a truck is stuck in a ditch, you just need to use a shovel to level off some of the soil. It only takes a few minutes.

Qiao Wanchun was waiting for these few minutes. Even one minute was enough. Now these tanks were sitting ducks.
This was a rare opportunity, and he shouted excitedly:
"Fuck you!"

The eight main shooters ambushed in the first trench almost simultaneously leaned out, aimed at the enemy tanks, pulled the trigger, and then quickly retracted their bodies;
It was only a dozen seconds in total, and the Japanese had no time to react at all, as eight rockets with long tails of flames headed straight for the Japanese tank group.

"Boom boom boom..."

At least six tanks were destroyed and another was damaged.

The tank that was injured happened to be Watanabe Kazuo's tank, and he was so angry that he cursed:
"Bagayalu, there's an anti-tank gun! Fire!"

The Japanese infantry who reacted first fired frantically at the defenders' positions. Tanks were the Japanese's treasures and they could not afford to cause any damage.

The surviving infantrymen guarding the first line of defense were also firing at the Japanese to attract their firepower and give the rocket launcher operators a chance.

The platoon that had been defending the position had lost nearly half of its personnel after being ravaged by the enemy's heavy artillery, and the rest were firing at the enemy;
The platoon protecting the rocket launchers also spontaneously opened fire at the Japanese, and infantrymen accompanying the tank attack were shot and fell from time to time.

Fortunately, the distance between the two sides in the exchange of fire was 150 meters. The hit rate at this distance would not be too high. It mainly played a suppressive role, and whether it could hit or not depended on luck.

At this time, the 12 tanks that would have joined the second echelon also stopped and were being used as fixed turrets;

The vehicle-mounted machine guns were also firing continuously, and the defenders began to suffer casualties.

The remaining tanks of the first echelon were still struggling in the trenches, and the gunners who had already switched to rockets suddenly fired at the enemy tanks;
If no tanks were hit and caught fire, Qiao Wanchun had already ordered the rocket launcher operators to attack freely. The primary goal was to destroy the remaining five tanks in the first echelon.

The second echelon was temporarily out of reach, as Watanabe Kazuo's tank had been damaged, with only its tracks broken;

Watanabe Kazuo no longer had the arrogance he had before. He now saw clearly that the defenders actually had individual anti-tank guns. This discovery made him break out in a cold sweat.

There was a radio in his command vehicle, and he was about to use it to report this important intelligence to the division headquarters when a rocket came straight at Tank No. 1;

At that moment, he saw Aunt Amaterasu giving him an evil smile. He only had time to shout "Ah, meow spy" before the rocket penetrated the front armor of the tank and exploded inside the cabin.

He was hit by more than a dozen shrapnel and reluctantly entered Aunt Amaterasu's sack. None of the Japanese soldiers who saw her appeared could survive.

All the tanks in the first echelon were destroyed, while the tanks in the second echelon hid behind the wreckage of the first echelon tanks and continued to fire, covering the infantry's charge;

The rocket launcher operators began to attack the tanks in the second echelon. Although they were more than 300 meters away and there were wreckage blocking the way, their hit rate was not high.

But some people were still hit. After all, the effective range of the 40 rocket launcher is more than 300 meters, but the hit rate is low.

As the third tank was hit, the remaining Japanese tanks became frightened. They no longer cared about the lowly infantry and turned around and ran back.

The Japanese infantry could only continue the attack on their own. The battalion commander, Major Fukushima Tomohiro, believed that they could still capture the defenders' positions without tanks.

Seeing that the tanks had already fled, Qiao Wanchun led the brothers of the firepower company to evacuate the first position. There were casualties during the process, but the rocket launchers were taken away by others;
People can be sacrificed, but rocket launchers cannot be lost. They are all counted.

Each battalion has 16 guns and each detachment has 48 guns. The battalion commander is responsible for the overall situation and cannot afford to lose even a single gun.

The platoon leaders of the first position were eager for them to leave as soon as possible, so that they could fight the Japanese with all their strength;

Although there were only twenty or so people left in their platoon, they were not afraid of the densely packed Japanese soldiers rushing towards them.

"Brothers! Beat me to death!"

The brothers of Zeng Guokun's platoon followed the platoon leader and fired at the Japanese crazily. The charging Japanese were constantly shot and fell, but their firepower was too weak and they could not stop the charge of thousands of Japanese.

Lin Zhongfei, the captain of the 1st Battalion, would not let the brothers in the first trench suffer any loss, and immediately ordered the artillery company to fire at the Japanese.
Several Maxim heavy machine guns deployed in the third trench also fired bullets at the Japanese, knocking down dozens of them in an instant and forcing others to lie on the ground to avoid the rain of bullets.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Lin Zhongfei ordered the brothers who stayed behind in the first position to withdraw to the second trench. Their presence mainly served as a warning, and was no longer necessary now, so he left some seeds for Zeng Guokun's platoon.

The 1st Battalion's defensive front was about 1.5 kilometers long and was divided into left and right wing positions. The left wing was the st Battalion, the right wing was the nd Battalion, and in depth there was the rd Battalion and the Artillery Battalion.
Due to the time constraints, they only dug an anti-tank trench and three trenches at the front line. The first trench was a warning trench with only one platoon stationed there.

The second was the main trench, where two infantry companies were deployed;

The third trench was another infantry company, an artillery company, and the entire battalion's six Maxim heavy machine guns.

These six heavy machine guns, two on the left, two in the middle and two on the right, can form crossfire. The two mortars and two infantry guns of the artillery company adopt mobile defense. The six flying thunder guns are directly buried in a special tunnel, with only one gun port exposed.
The shooting angles were adjusted in advance, just enough to hit the second position. Once the Japanese occupied the second position, it was time for the Flying Thunder Cannon to fire.

When Major Fukushima saw that his attacking force was suppressed by the defenders' heavy machine guns, he immediately called in infantry artillery and called in mortar groups for suppressive fire.

Since it was a field fortification, the heavy machine gun position would be moved after a period of fighting to avoid being targeted by the enemy's artillery fire;

The 1st Battalion of the 1st Detachment was the foundation of the original 523rd Regiment. It was an elite German-equipped division with rich combat experience and a good defense. It was a true elite who had fought many battles. The commander of the 1st Battalion, Wu Qiujian, was the commander of the original 523rd Regiment and a third-term student of the Whampoa Military Academy. In another time and space, he was one of the few officers above the rank of battalion commander of the 88th Division who survived until the end of the Anti-Japanese War. The other one was Liao Lingqi, who also chose to be demoted and stayed in the guerrilla column to fight the Japanese.

The current 1st Battalion has 2500 men, no worse than a regiment, and lives the life of a regimental commander;
The first battalion commander Lin Zhongfei was also a veteran of the original 523rd Regiment. He took over the position of battalion commander after Yi Jin was promoted to battalion commander.

Having dealt with the Japanese many times, we naturally know how to guard against their infantry artillery;

The sniping position he chose had a wide firing range, and he could use a telescope to observe the enemy within a range of one thousand meters.

He equipped the mortar platoon observers with two telescopes, specifically to look for the Japanese infantry artillery, and to find ways to destroy them as soon as they appeared.

In order to create opportunities for the infantry artillery, Major Fukushima kept driving the infantry to charge at the defenders' positions, inducing the heavy machine guns to fire at them, thus killing a large number of Japanese soldiers while also exposing himself;
A Japanese infantry gun finally seized the opportunity and fired a shot at the heavy machine gun position in the middle. The first shot almost hit the target, and the heavy machine gunner was so scared that he quickly changed his position.

Unfortunately, it was too late. The main gunner of the Japanese was obviously an experienced old Japanese. He fired the second shot just a dozen seconds later, and this time the shell hit the position where the heavy machine gun was located.

The entire machine gun crew fell in a pool of blood, and the heavy machine gun was blown away. The Japanese main gunner just smiled triumphantly and aimed at another Maxim heavy machine gun.

But what he didn't know was that the defenders' mortars were not to be trifled with. When he just fired the third shot, two mortars flew over from the defenders' position;
One of the shells hit the Japanese infantry gun, not only blowing the gun into pieces, but also killing all six Japanese in the gun crew.

The Japanese infantry artillery squad usually had two infantry guns, with 2 people serving each gun, including many ammunition handlers. The core team had only 15 people, and they were all wiped out by the defenders' mortars.

The National Army's 82mm mortar is also a magic weapon for positional warfare. It is very effective against infantry guns, Type 90 heavy machine guns, and mm mortars. Experienced veterans can also hit the target with every bomb.

After one infantry gun was destroyed, the other infantry gun of the Japanese became much more obedient and could no longer fire openly, as they were all just "stealing chickens".

Colonel Ichiro Itanishi, the commander of the 59th Infantry Regiment that attacked the defenders, saw that the defenders were very difficult to deal with and that more than a dozen of their most valuable tanks had been lost, so he ordered the regiment's field artillery squadron to fire at the defenders.
鬼子的联队炮一般包括4门75毫米山/野炮，6至8门步兵炮，4至6门90毫米迫击炮，4门37毫米反坦克炮。

Strictly speaking, the mortar belongs to the regiment artillery of the Japanese, and can be strengthened to the battalion level when needed;
There are no mortars at the battalion level. The so-called battalion artillery is actually infantry artillery, which has only two pieces and is the same as the configuration of the infantry battalion of the German-equipped division.

The infantry battalion of the German-equipped division had a machine gun company, two 2mm mortars and six Maxim heavy machine guns. The firepower configuration of both sides was similar.
The Japanese had strong firepower at the division level. Class A and B divisions had special artillery regiments, which were composed of three artillery battalions. One of them was a heavy artillery battalion equipped with 3 12mm howitzers. There were 105 mountain/field guns of 75mm and above. If anti-aircraft guns were added, there were a total of 36 guns.

The ten divisions of the National Army combined did not have so many artillery pieces, not to mention planes and tanks, so for the Japanese to send out only one division, it would normally take more than a dozen divisions to fight back.

Following a command from Itanishi Ichirō, more than a dozen artillery pieces of various sizes from the 59th Regiment launched a covering bombardment on the First Battalion's position. The defenders' firepower was quickly suppressed, and Itanishi Ichirō nodded repeatedly, saying:
"Yoshi, the artillery warriors are doing a great job. We're going to let the Chinese have a taste of what it's like to be rained down with bullets!"

The senior staff officer Yukihiro Kurokawa still reminded him:

"Sir, according to intelligence, the defenders are China's top elite guerrilla column, commanded by Yue Qianli. They are equipped with a large number of artillery, so we should be cautious."

Itanishi Kazuyoshi said nonchalantly:
"Kurokawa-kun, you worry too much. Don't forget that we also have a heavy artillery regiment from the 6th Heavy Artillery Brigade assigned to fight with us.
Not to mention a small Yue Qianli, even Xue Boling’s entire Henan East Corps does not have as many artillery pieces as the 14th Division!
In the face of absolute strength, Yue Qianli is nothing to be afraid of.

The Japs did have the capital to be arrogant. Each infantry regiment was equipped with a heavy artillery regiment, which had 36 heavy artillery pieces of 105 mm or more. Even the German army could not achieve such a configuration.

The commander of the first battalion, Wu Qiujian, saw that the brothers of the first and second battalions were suppressed by the Japanese regiment's artillery and could not raise their heads. The Japanese infantry was about to rush into the first trench, so he decided to let the Japanese see the artillery fire of the first battalion.

一营同样装备了4门75毫米山炮和6门82毫米迫击炮、6门70毫米步兵炮，对标的就是鬼子联队炮；

Yue Qianli did not have the conditions to equip his troops with heavy artillery, but with sufficient captured weapons, he was able to equip the battalion level with enough heavy firepower to compete with the regiment's artillery.

Wu Qiujian also gave the order to fire. The four 4mm guns were specifically used to bomb the Japanese artillery, while the mortars focused on attacking the Japanese infantry. They only needed to fire 75 rounds rapidly to teach the Japanese infantry a lesson.

Rows of 75mm mountain artillery shells roared towards the enemy's regiment artillery positions, frightening Itanishi Ichiyoshi immediately;

It's true that good things don't work, but bad things work. The Chinese people really have the ability to get their artillery. He was so angry that he cursed:
"Bakayaro, it's the Imperial Type 41 75mm mountain cannon!

Who threw it to them? This is a crime! "

Major Kurokawa couldn't respond, because this involved the honor of many troops, who he couldn't afford to offend. His emotional intelligence wasn't that low, so he had to change the subject:
"Sir, the defenders only have a few mountain gates and a few mortars. If we order the artillerymen to turn their guns around, we can easily suppress them."

Colonel Itanishi, who was humiliated and angry, cursed:
"Bakayalu, what are you still standing there for? Blow up the Chinese artillery!"

The 1st Battalion Mortar Company fired only 12 rounds, which took a little over a minute, and then the gun crew withdrew with one man carrying the gun barrel and one man carrying the bracket and base;

The total weight was only 69 kilograms, and two strong men carried it and ran, so the position was moved very quickly.

Don’t underestimate these 12 rounds of rapid fire, they killed and injured hundreds of Japanese soldiers in Fukushima Battalion, and suppressed their offensive.
The bombardment of the four mountain guns also destroyed one Japanese mountain gun and two 4mm mortars, giving the Japanese a slap in the face.

Considering that mountain artillery cannot be moved as quickly as mortars, they only fired six rounds and withdrew after that, leaving no chance for the Japanese to retaliate.

The total weight of the Type 41 mountain cannon is more than 500 kilograms. It can be towed by a mule or horse, or it can be disassembled and carried by mules or horses. At most, it can be carried by more than a dozen people, with each person carrying one part. It has to be said that these Japanese cannons are very practical.

The artillery position chosen by Wu Qiujian had good road conditions. After the battle, they could harness mules and horses and move them. So when the Japanese retaliatory shells fell, they had already run several hundred meters away, and the explosion was in vain.

Colonel Itanishi suffered a loss. A forced attack would only result in more casualties, so he had to order the Fukushima Battalion to withdraw.

"Bagayalu, order the heavy artillery regiment to raze the defenders' positions!"

(End of this chapter)