Sword of Light: Humanoid Self-Propelled Artillery

Chapter 295 Seizing the Artillery Position
Wang Gensheng was surprised to hear this news, and then said:

"Alright, then give me the Seventh Infiltration Company! They've already learned to ski, so having them with me will make our movements faster!"

And so, the Seventh Company of the Eighty-Nine Lions once again became Wang Gensheng's subordinates.

Soon, Wu Qianli led the Seventh Company, which had infiltrated the area, to Wang Gensheng's location. Company Commander Wu Qianli saluted Wang Gensheng and said:

"Seventh Company, 132 men reporting for duty!"

Wang Gensheng nodded when he heard that there were 132 men. Fortunately, the number of casualties was not high. Originally there were 157 men, but after the encirclement and annihilation of the Polar Bear Regiment, only 25 men were killed. Of course, this was mainly because the Seventh Company did not participate in the previous battle at the signal tower; it was Wang Gensheng who led the Marine Corps.

In the subsequent events of Chosin Reservoir, when the Seventh Company captured the Gagari Airport, a battle loss report was given, showing a loss of 78 men, meaning that half of their combat strength had been lost.

That's equivalent to a 50% casualty rate. Such a high casualty rate would have caused a general army to collapse long ago, but they still continued their attack and even captured the Watergate Bridge.

Wang Gensheng glanced at Wu Qianli, then looked at Lei Suisheng beside Wu Qianli and asked:

“Lei Suisheng, your Lion Chief said you can also operate US howitzers. Our mission this time is to launch a surprise attack and take over the US artillery positions, then turn the guns around and bombard the US airfield runway again, preventing the US from evacuating the wounded. So your artillery platoon is key to this mission!”

Upon hearing Wang Gensheng's words, Lei Suisheng immediately assured him:

"No problem, I'm familiar with these US howitzers. Back in my day..."

However, before Lei Suisheng could finish speaking, Wu Qianli nudged him with his elbow, interrupting him. Wang Gensheng glanced at Lei Suisheng's age and naturally understood the reason. There was no way to restore his original position unless he had risen up before the war. If he had surrendered, there was naturally no way to restore him to his original position.

Therefore, it was already quite good that Lei Suisheng could become the platoon leader of an artillery platoon, and Wang Gensheng naturally wouldn't dwell on this issue, simply saying:
"Alright! That's all in the past. Now we're fighting the US military and the Allied forces. Don't forget what happened fifty years ago with the Allied forces. Fifty years have passed, and they still want to repeat it, thinking that we, the Chinese, are weak and easy to bully. So this time, we must show them our strength! We are no longer the Chinese of fifty years ago! Let's begin!"

As soon as Wang Gensheng finished speaking, he led the Marines and more than 130 men from the Seventh Company, forming a ski team of over a thousand people, toward the artillery positions at Hagaru-ri Airport.

Of course, to bypass the front of Hagaru-ri Airport and launch a surprise attack on the heavy artillery positions behind it, it would take an extra five or six kilometers. And with the snow piled up to half a meter deep, it would take at least two or three hours to walk there if you didn't know how to ski.

Fortunately, with the skis, Wang Gensheng led the Marines and the Seventh Company to the rear of the heavy artillery position in just over ten minutes.

Because of their speed and the fact that they were all covered by white cloaks, even though it was already daytime, the reconnaissance planes in the sky did not discover that a team of a thousand men had bypassed the area and infiltrated near the heavy artillery position.

Upon arriving at the target area, Wang Gensheng immediately spoke to the communications officer:
"Alright! We have reached the target area. Let the Eighty-Nine Lions launch their attack!" As Wang Gensheng sent the telegram, the leader of the Eighty-Nine Lions also launched an attack. However, it was just a feint. So the leader of the Eighty-Nine Lions naturally could not organize a dense charge. Instead, he made a lot of noise but little action and had his warriors launch a spread-out charge.

From the perspective of the US military, the hills north of Hagaru-ri were almost entirely filled with Japanese soldiers, but the personnel density was unusually low; you couldn't see more than two people within ten meters. As a result, the heavy machine gun fire and artillery bombardment were naturally ineffective.

Even a 155mm howitzer shell wouldn't kill two people, and if you're unlucky, it might not even kill one.

However, faced with such a large-scale attack, Smith was naturally panicked and immediately requested support from the 155mm howitzers at the heavy artillery positions, since howitzer support was much faster than bomber support!
Bomber support would take at least half an hour to an hour! But howitzer support can be completed in minutes or even seconds.

After all, bombers are not fast to begin with, and it takes time to fly a distance of several hundred kilometers.

Unfortunately, just as the heavy artillery positions opened fire, Wang Gensheng also launched an attack with his Marine assault team, and as always, Wang Gensheng charged to the front with his M2 heavy machine gun.

With the aid of mental perception, even at a distance of more than 300 meters, Wang Gensheng was still able to use a heavy machine gun to blow up the soldiers in the defensive tower of the heavy artillery position.

Of course, once the distance exceeded one hundred meters, Wang Gensheng no longer had the energy to enhance his killing ability. Three hundred meters was not a very long distance, so Wang Gensheng quickly led his assault team to occupy the artillery position. As for the barbed wire around the artillery position, Wang Gensheng simply used heavy machine gun bullets to cut it, without needing any shears to cut the barbed wire.

After eliminating the artillery on the artillery position, Wang Gensheng immediately waved his hand, and Wu Qianli arrived with Lei Suisheng. Indeed, Wang Gensheng dared not let the Seventh Company, which had no protection whatsoever, follow him in the charge.

This is similar to how Wang Gensheng never allowed the Marine Corps' fire support team to charge alongside the assault team.

After Wang Gensheng's side captured the artillery position, Smith realized that he had been tricked. It turned out that the real target of the reinforcements was his artillery position, not to attack Hagaru-ri Airport. As for the front of Hagaru-ri Airport, although the Eighty-Nine Lions made a big show of attacking, not a single one of them actually charged towards the trenches and firing points!

However, before Smith could even catch his breath, the runway at Hagaru-ri Airport was once again devastated by the bombardment of twelve 155mm howitzers.

The airport runway, which had just been repaired that morning, was once again riddled with craters, making it impossible for transport planes to land.

Of course, it must be said that Lei Suisheng was indeed quite skilled. He didn't need to calibrate his shot and hit the target directly with one shot, leaving Smith's side with no time to react before the airport runway was blown up.

Of course, what Wang Gensheng didn't know was that Lei Suisheng was extremely familiar with the US military's M1 grenade launcher, knowing all its parameters by heart. That's why he could start firing without calibration, since he had been carefully taught back then.

(End of this chapter)