The War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression Begins in Songhu

Chapter 557 Sharpshooter (Two-in-One Chapter) (Seeking Monthly Tickets)
Time: 00:03 on the 28th.

Location: In a thicket on the edge of a valley between Chunhua Mountain and Donglin Temple.

"Damn it! This situation is not good. If you ask me to kill those Japanese sentries from a distance, that's no problem at all."

But once that gunshot rings out, all the Japanese soldiers on the entire position will probably be awakened.

After putting down his binoculars, Uncle Bo spoke in a voice so low that only a few people around him could hear him.

Upon hearing this, Zanana, who was lying to the side, did not speak, but her eyes showed a clear thoughtful expression, which Uncle Bo did not notice.

The above situation is actually quite simple to explain.

At 7 p.m., after a good afternoon of rest and a fairly substantial dinner, the two set off with the guard battalion and 50 snipers.

Because the guard battalion suffered considerable losses in the ambush of the Japanese 68th Regiment last night, it now has only 260 men left.

Therefore, the Northern Jiangsu Independent Regiment only mobilized about 300 people for tonight's night raid.

With the help of Uncle Bo, a veteran sniper, and Zanana, a formidable hunter, whose perception far surpasses that of ordinary people, they led the way.

Their extremely cautious actions involved taking a long detour, bypassing one Japanese attacking force camp after another, essentially carrying out a large-scale infiltration.

Ultimately, they discovered the valley before them without alerting any Japanese soldiers.

In the dim moonlight of the night, after making out the situation in the valley, everyone's spirits immediately lifted.

They knew that this was the perfect target for tonight's operation.

In this rather large valley was actually the Japanese artillery position that had been bombarding them relentlessly that afternoon, at least the largest one among them.

In the middle of the valley, there were more than thirty cannons of various sizes.

Among these artillery pieces, there are none of the small Type 92 infantry guns; most are 75mm mountain guns and field guns, and there are even nine 105mm Type 9 howitzers.

These nine 105mm howitzers must have been transported to the valley around nightfall.

The main reason is that no 105mm shells were fired during the Japanese artillery barrage this afternoon; otherwise, the situation for those holding the front lines would have been even more difficult.

However, now that they've run into them tonight, these 105mm howitzers probably won't be able to fire tomorrow.

Upon seeing the cannons, Uncle Bo and Zanana exchanged a glance, knowing that they had to take down the artillery position tonight at all costs.

But when they were actually ready to take action, Uncle Bo couldn't help but worry.

To protect the safety of this artillery position, the Japanese deployed two companies, a guard force of about four hundred men; these men built a defensive perimeter around the artillery position and slept on the position.

With the addition of artillery and supply troops, the number of Japanese soldiers in the valley was approaching a thousand.

If that were all, it wouldn't be a big problem. They weren't trying to kill all of these people; they just needed to blow up the cannons.

The real problem is that the Japanese have suffered too many losses at the hands of the Northern Jiangsu Independent Regiment, with their artillery positions and airfields being cut off.

In any case, the artillery position in front of them, as observed by Uncle Bo, was so difficult to attack that it was like a rat struggling for its prey.

On the one hand, the Japanese soldiers did not slack off as they had before; instead, they placed a large number of shells with fuses already attached right next to the cannons, making it convenient for them to take them and fire them at any time.

Instead, they dug some temporary pits dozens of meters away for storage.

Uncle Bo was even absolutely certain that the fuses and shells were stored separately.

This meant they had no choice but to rush to a position of sixty or seventy paces and fire a rocket to detonate the shell first.

Then they used the immense power of the exploding shells to destroy those cannons.

The only way to destroy these Japanese cannons was to rush close and stuff grenades into the barrels one by one.

By the way! Ordinary hand grenades are actually unlikely to directly damage the barrel of a cannon; they are more likely to cause minor damage to the rifling.

Unless the grenade inserted is a white phosphorus grenade that can generate high temperatures.

On the other hand, the wizards who made DIY white phosphorus grenades did produce a batch, and even tonight, many of the brothers led by Uncle Bo and Zanana were carrying one.

However, their current location was three or four hundred meters away from those cannons.

The Japanese had cleared away the bushes and weeds along this stretch beforehand, leaving it as an open, unobstructed area.

This means that as soon as they show their faces, they will be spotted by some sentries on the position.

Once the sentries spot them, the Japanese soldiers on the defensive positions will be alerted immediately, and the battle will begin in full-scale attack mode.

Immediately afterwards, other Japanese artillery and supply troops would also join the battle.

In that case, given the numerous light and heavy machine guns and firing positions the Japanese had deployed on the position, as well as their numerical advantage of more than three times, they would be at a disadvantage.

Even if all 300 or so men who launched the night raid tonight die, they might not be able to take this Japanese artillery position.

In short! Now, how to quietly eliminate the sentries on the Japanese defense line and buy everyone enough time to cross this open area undetected has become Uncle Bo's biggest headache...

******
After thinking for a while, Uncle Bo gritted his teeth and whispered to Zanana beside him:
"You stay here with the brothers from the guard battalion and wait for orders. I'll take some snipers to scout out the outposts. We've had training in this area before, although the time and intensity are a bit less, but we should still have a 20-30% success rate."

When the topic turned to the '20-30% success rate', Uncle Bo's face was full of helplessness.

He knew, of course, that a success rate of 20-30% was far too low, and that such an approach was too risky; the problem was that it was the only method he could think of under the current circumstances.

What else? They can't fire a shot right now; if they do, they'll be completely exposed.

After saying that, Uncle Bo prepared to get up and selected a dozen or so of his best snipers, former hunters, to go with him on this almost life-or-death reconnaissance mission.

As he stood up, Zanana placed a hand on his shoulder.

Instinctively, Uncle Bo tightened his shoulder, trying to shake off that hand; joking! He's a grown man, how could he be held down by a girl?

Then, to his dismay, he discovered that a grown man was indeed being held down by a girl, to the point where he couldn't move at all.

Suddenly, a huge sense of unwillingness rose in Uncle Bo's heart.

He believed that it was simply because he was in a hurry and his posture was incorrect, and that he, a grown man, was not being completely suppressed by a girl.

Just as he was about to muster all his strength and struggle one last time, determined not to lose face as a man, Zanana's terrifying warning voice rang out softly:
"Don't move! If you move again, I'm going to sit on you!"

Upon hearing this, poor Uncle Bo almost peed his pants in fright.

Especially after recalling how fiercely Zanana rode on a tiger and punched it repeatedly, he didn't think that this girl sitting on him was a reward.

Fortunately, just as the immense frustration and depression in Uncle Bo's heart began to rise, Zanana's next words made him forget all about his bad mood:
"Old cucumber! Don't be in such a hurry."

"I have a way to take out those Japanese soldiers remotely without alerting the others. Why don't you let me try?"

After Uncle Bo's spirits lifted, he was about to ask what the method was when he saw Zanana release one of his hands and take out a composite longbow from behind her, which was unusually long for an ordinary person.

Uncle Bo immediately understood what Zanana's method was: using a bow and arrow that wouldn't make much noise.

He immediately wanted to object, and his reasoning was:
With Zanana's terrifying strength and the astonishing draw weight of her longbow, there was no doubt about the range of her arrows after she fired them, but her accuracy was somewhat questionable.

Even though she often hunts in the primeval forest with a bow and arrow, her archery skills must be quite good.

But after all, there were more than just two or three sentries on the Japanese position facing this direction.

To kill these sentries one by one without alerting anyone else requires an incredibly high level of archery skill.

If it were the legendary archers of the era of cold weapons, they would probably have had such archery skills.

However, at the moment when he was about to voice his opposition, Uncle Bo must have swallowed it back.

It wasn't because at this point he had no other better options, so he decided to let Zanana take the risk and see how it went.

Rather, it was based on his willingness to believe in this team of time travelers.

So his objection, which was on the tip of his tongue, turned into: "Okay! But wait twenty minutes before you start."

In these twenty minutes, we can carefully observe whether there are any Japanese sentries lying in hiding, and then shoot them all with arrows to prevent any from escaping.

"Also, we'll need some time to arrange the brothers' cooperation after you successfully complete the operation." Zanana nodded in agreement to Uncle Bo's very reasonable suggestion...

Twenty minutes passed quickly. Under the careful observation of Zanana, Uncle Bo, and a group of mediocre snipers, the Japanese sentries in this direction were all identified.

There were five visible sentries and two hidden sentries, a total of seven sentries, in addition to two patrol teams of soldiers.

The two sentry teams need not worry; they have just finished patrolling this area and will not be back for at least fifteen minutes. That is enough time for them to complete their operation.

Also, don't think that the number of the seven sentries is too small; the Japanese are being a bit careless at this moment.

You should know! The Japanese troops protecting their artillery are now sleeping on the ground along the defensive line, so their reaction time is extremely short. The number of such sentries is already considered quite large.

Uncle Bo nodded, indicating that the brothers were all ready and Zanana could make her move at any time.

After seeing the nod, Zanana stood up.

He stood in the shade of a wild persimmon tree, took a deep breath, nocked an arrow, and aimed at a Japanese sentry lying prone at 11 o'clock.

After calculating the wind direction and the trajectory of the arrow for about seven or eight seconds, he decisively made his move.

After that, there was no scene of Uncle Bo and the others staring blankly at a sharp arrow flying in the sky, their hearts filled with the image of countless gods and Buddhas, hoping that this arrow would hit its target.

The visibility was already low tonight.

Adding to the arrows that Zanana had unleashed, their flight speed reached a terrifying 150 meters per second, making it a miracle that they could even be seen clearly.

After three or four seconds, when no one heard any screams of terror or pain from the Japanese soldiers, everyone was overjoyed, knowing that their target had been successfully shot and killed by Zanana.

Otherwise, regardless of the commotion caused by Zanana missing her shot.

Or perhaps the shot missed and failed to take down the target, in which case the Japanese sentry would have already been shouting at the top of his lungs.

After successfully hitting her target, this was just the beginning of Zanana's performance. She didn't even take a short break; instead, she took advantage of the momentum and fired off one arrow after another.

Before long, six more arrows were shot.

Similarly, several seconds after each arrow was fired, there was no sound whatsoever.

This means that all the shots hit their targets, and the thud of the sentry falling did not wake up the other Japanese soldiers; it means that the Japanese sentry has been successfully and secretly eliminated, solving their most pressing problem.

Seeing the above situation, a thought couldn't help but arise in Uncle Bo's mind:
Good heavens! If this girl lived in ancient times, she would not only be a fierce general who could charge into battle, but also a legendary archer who could hit a target from a hundred paces away.

With this in mind, and knowing that this one fighter jet was extremely valuable, everyone except Uncle Bo and Zanana immediately took action according to the previous plan.

They crouched low, watching out for small holes and branches on the ground, trying not to step on them and make a noise.

Covered in a lot of natural camouflage made of branches and weeds, they cautiously made their way toward the outer defensive line of the Japanese.

If one could look down from above at this moment, one could see a shrub that seemed to have come to life, constantly moving toward the Japanese artillery position.

As for why Zanana and Uncle Bo didn't travel with these people?
The former, Zanana, remained standing in place, nocking her bow and arrow, ready to strike at any moment.

This is so that if someone on the Japanese defense line suddenly wakes up and discovers something, they can be shot and killed immediately to save the situation.

The latter, Uncle Bo, was the top sniper of the Northern Jiangsu Independent Regiment.

With his amazing marksmanship, once the battle begins, whether or not he gets closer before firing doesn't affect his performance or accuracy in killing Japanese soldiers; it's like he's too lazy to follow along.

At this point, the key to this night raid was whether the slowly approaching group could successfully storm the Japanese position; or whether they would be discovered by the Japanese halfway there...

Unfortunately, the brothers were discovered before they could reach the Japanese defense line.

A Japanese soldier, presumably woken up by the urge to urinate, suddenly stood up from behind a pile of sandbags with light machine guns mounted on them and noticed that something seemed wrong in front of the position.

Even though Zanana fired an arrow immediately, her action was still too late.

Before a particularly thick and sharp arrow pierced the Japanese soldier's chest, he still managed to shout out two words: "Enemy attack!"

The piercing screams immediately shattered the tranquility of the valley, waking up even more Japanese soldiers.

Luckily! At this moment, the brothers who had slowly made their way over were only about twenty meters away from the Japanese position.

At this moment, they were holding a DIY shotgun in their left hand and a melon grenade with the safety pin removed in their right hand.

In Lao Li's words, a distance of only twenty-odd meters is enough for even a woman to throw a grenade into the position.

Almost at the same time the Japanese soldier shouted "Our elite troops!", Zanana and Uncle Bo, knowing they had been exposed, yelled the same two words from behind: "Attack!"

So, before the Japanese soldiers who were sleeping on the position could even get up, a large number of smoking grenades were thrown in.

The Japanese soldiers immediately took to the position and reacted in different ways.

Some people scrambled towards the grenades, trying to pick them up and throw them off the position; some lay down on the ground, clutching their heads; and some tried to run further away.

There was even a Japanese soldier who had just been awakened and sat up somewhat bewildered amidst the tremendous noise.

As a result, a Type 97 grenade, weighing about nine ounces, hit the unfortunate man on the head where he was sleeping without a helmet, knocking him unconscious again.

In the end, only a dozen or so hand grenades were hastily thrown out by the Japanese soldiers before they exploded.

The remaining grenades exploded a few seconds later, and the continuous explosions, along with the flying shrapnel and mud, almost completely enveloped the Japanese soldiers on that defensive line.

Although not all the Japanese soldiers in it would be killed in such an explosion.

But once the brothers rushed forward and started firing their DIY shotguns, even if the Japanese soldiers on the defensive line weren't all killed, they were seriously wounded and no longer posed a threat.

In the time that followed, about 300 brothers took off running and rushed up the Japanese artillery position in a swarm.

Under the guidance of junior officers, and following the action plan previously instructed by their superiors Zanana and Uncle Bo, they all began to act separately.

Most of the guards, along with the snipers, rushed forward another twenty paces and immediately formed a temporary defensive line.

They opened fire desperately, trying to stop the Japanese soldiers who were launching a frenzied counterattack.

Thanks to the guard battalion, which had the most submachine guns among all the units in the Hunan Provincial Supplementary Regiment, there were as many as sixty or seventy of them.

Once fired simultaneously, the firepower is quite intense.

There are also more than fifty snipers, who can easily prioritize killing any Japanese officers, veterans, and machine gunners who show themselves.

So even though the Japanese side reacted immediately and launched a counterattack as if their backsides were on fire, trying to drive them back out of the artillery positions.

However, despite the overwhelming firepower, the Japanese suffered heavy casualties in a short period of time, but the attack had no effect whatsoever.

The remaining small number of guards, two understaffed platoons, charged toward the various types of artillery.

After rushing to the front of the cannon, they immediately pulled out black iron lumps, or rather, DIY white phosphorus grenades, pulled the fuses, and threw them into the cannon muzzle.

Then huge plumes of smoke and flames burst forth from the cannons.

Although due to issues such as technology, raw materials, and processing level, the DIY white phosphorus hand grenade created by these wizards, crossbowmen, and welders was flawed.

The temperature they generate when burning is not as high as the terrifying 2700+ degrees of the M15 white phosphorus grenade, but it is still barely 2000 degrees.

The melting point of steel is only around 1500 degrees Celsius.

Even though the 2000-degree high temperature during the short burning time of a DIY white phosphorus grenade is not enough to completely melt the entire barrel, it does not cause any problems in damaging the rifling, deforming the barrel, or causing some minor damage.

Unfortunately, the problems mentioned above don't seem significant to the naked eye in hindsight.

If the cannon is fired forcibly, there is a very high probability that the barrel will explode.

In other words, the Japanese army's thirty-odd cannons are now completely destroyed; in tomorrow's battle, the brothers on the front lines will no longer have to endure the Japanese army's bombardment.

The Japanese did have over three hundred guns in this operation, but it's impossible for them to use them all against the Northern Jiangsu Independent Regiment.

You should know! The 74th Army was also a target that the old Japanese devil Anami Korechika wanted to eliminate as quickly as possible; because they had more troops, they also needed more artillery suppression...

(End of this chapter)