Blood-Red Front

The forward positions of the 404th Detachment.

Hearing the continuous explosions outside, a soldier from the First Battalion, huddled in the tunnel, brushed the dirt off his hat and pointed to the sky above, saying:

"Everyone says the detachment commander has sharp eyesight and can easily identify enemy activity several kilometers away, but in my opinion, he can probably see into the future."

"Before the newly promoted troops arrived, the detachment commander repeatedly instructed us to dig reverse slope positions and tunnels, and he came to inspect them every day."

"Now that we have the tunnels for protection, we're not afraid of anything, not even a dozen bombers, or even all the newly launched planes."

Ma Daxi, standing to the side, brushed the dust off the map on the table and laughed, "You figured it out already, kid?"

"You used to always complain about being tired, but now you know what it means to sweat more in peacetime and bleed less in wartime."

The soldiers all gave a thumbs up. They weren't highly educated, but they knew that a good leader was one who could help them survive on the battlefield.

After a fierce bombing, the Chu Sheng Army launched another attack, and the 6th Regiment also advanced to the front line again from the tunnels along the communication trenches.

Although the front-line positions had been bombed beyond recognition, the newly promoted army still hadn't even reached the edge of the positions.

As he watched the newly promoted soldiers being slaughtered by the hidden machine gun bunkers on the mountaintop and the flanking fire from the positions, Okazaki's face grew increasingly grim.

Okazaki discovered that although the Hatsushige army had been bombing for so long, the opposite position was indeed in ruins, but the Xia army seemed unaffected.

"Brigade Commander, Xia Jun's reinforcements are incredibly fast!" The chief of staff said, somewhat surprised.

"No, it doesn't seem like reinforcements. Reinforcements couldn't arrive this quickly." Okazaki shook his head.

Even with trenches, such rapid reinforcements are highly unusual.

"Not reinforcements?" The chief of staff was even more surprised. "How did the Xia army survive such intense bombing?"

"I don't know either, but they survived." Okazaki's face grew increasingly grim.

The tunnel entrances were all disguised, making them undetectable by high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft, so Okazaki naturally had no way of knowing about them.

Okazaki racked his brains but couldn't understand how anyone could survive such a fierce bombing, yet Xia Jun did indeed survive.

After carefully observing the battlefield situation and pondering for a few minutes in front of the map, Okazaki said, "We must change our tactics."

"How can we change this?" the chief of staff asked urgently.

"Take it one step at a time!" Okazaki said.

"Stop bombing the reverse slope positions; it's not working now. Let them drop all their bombs on the frontal positions."

"The artillery observed the balloons taking off in sync and instructed the artillery to conduct counter-battery operations."

"At the same time, infantry and tanks should coordinate their attacks and advance, but the rapid attack should be changed to a steady attack."

"As the infantry advances a certain distance, the artillery fire will extend back a certain distance accordingly. At the same time, the infantry will build machine gun emplacements on the spot. After the emplacements are completed, the tanks will continue to advance."

"This process was repeated until they reached the enemy's position."

"As long as we can capture the hilltop, Xia's reverse slope position will collapse without a fight."

After hearing Okazaki's plan, the chief of staff immediately reminded him, "Brigade Commander, the enemy has anti-aircraft guns, and launching airships in front of the lines is extremely dangerous."

Because of the presence of priestesses, the artillery observation balloons of the newly risen army are rarely used for counter-artillery operations. They are usually launched from a position 7-9 kilometers behind the enemy lines, and their main task is to observe the impact points of friendly artillery shells.

If you want to counter artillery fire, the observation balloon must get within 5 kilometers of the front line and rise to an altitude of over 800 meters.

After all, the Xia army's artillery was some distance from the front line and was also hiding behind the reverse slope.

However, doing so would be far too conspicuous.

"We can't worry about that now." Okazaki waved his hand. "The priestess has fallen, and it will take several days to replace her with a new one. During this time, we can only rely on the warriors' spiritual strength."

"Execute the command!"

"Hi!"

Soon, the artillery observation balloon of the newly formed army rose up at a distance of 4.5 kilometers from the front line.

A nearly 20-meter-diameter off-white balloon hangs in the air, clearly visible even without binoculars.

……

The newly promoted army poured all its firepower into the front lines, and the intensity of their firepower made Guan Jianchu somewhat alarmed.

"The firepower of the newly promoted army is too fierce. The front-line positions are likely to be razed to the ground."

"Don't be nervous," Lin Zhiyuan said. "The frontal position is only our first line of defense; there are also reverse slope positions behind it."

"Even if we lose this hill, there are other hills behind it that we can defend."

"Of course, that's the worst-case scenario. The newly promoted army only has a few tricks up their sleeves, and they shouldn't be able to do anything to the 6th Regiment in a short time."

"Sir, the newly promoted army is now using its artillery advantage to advance step by step. I think they are trying to gradually erode our strength. Should we send the mountain artillery battalion to counterattack?" Guan Jianchu asked.

Although the number of Bofors mountain guns equipped by the 404th Detachment was small, their performance was superior to the Type 94 mountain guns of the newly promoted army.

"The mountain artillery battalion cannot act rashly before shooting down the observation balloons of the newly risen army," Lin Zhiyuan said.

The Bofors mountain gun is quite heavy and slow to move; firing it rashly could easily result in a counterattack.

"Observation balloons? They're not easy to shoot down," Guan Jianchu said, troubled.

With such a large target appearing in the air, the observation post could naturally see it clearly, but at present, the 404th Detachment had nothing that could threaten it.

"Hand it over to the sacrificial group and move a 40mm anti-aircraft gun forward."

The Bofors 40mm anti-aircraft gun has a range of up to 7 kilometers. Once it advances to the front line, a sudden attack would easily destroy the balloons.

"That's too slow," Guan Jianchu said. "Moving forward and building positions will take at least three or four hours. With such a long time, I'm afraid the newly risen army won't be able to reach the front lines."

Although the 6th Regiment fought bravely, it must be admitted that the individual combat capabilities of the newly promoted soldiers were indeed formidable.

"Let Muya and the others take their time. I'll go to the 6th Regiment's mortar company to personally command. As long as we destroy the accompanying artillery of the Chusheng Army, they won't be able to advance."

Lin Zhiyuan picked up the helmet from the table and put it on his head.

Without individual soldier radios, even with observation balloons, mountain artillery cannot provide timely support for infantry operations.

The real threat to frontline bunkers and firing positions in real time comes from the accompanying artillery of the infantry.

The initial army used infantry guns and grenade launchers, while the summer army used 82mm and 60mm mortars.

Once the accompanying artillery of the Rising Army is destroyed, their ability to attack fortified positions will be greatly reduced.

Hearing that Lin Zhiyuan planned to personally command the front line, Guan Jianchu was somewhat worried, but also relieved.

Everyone in the 404th Detachment knew Lin Zhiyuan's abilities. Guan Jianchu firmly believed that as long as Lin Zhiyuan took action, the artillery of the newly promoted army would be destroyed in a short time.

……