Rise From Eight Hundred

Chapter 1143 Battle of Qingshiyan (6)

September 12!

The sound of gunfire from the Qingshiyan position still resounded through the mountains!

However, the offensive of the Japanese infantry unexpectedly slowed down. The whole day's offensive involved less than 1,500 infantrymen. I think the huge casualties for two and a half consecutive days made the Japanese commanders a little overwhelmed.

However, the intensity of the attack from the ground has decreased, but it does not mean that the overall offensive has eased. The Japanese army still has complete air superiority.

Four Japanese planes flew from the direction of Yuancheng and were about to dive and drop bombs. Shangguan Yun did not dare to neglect it and ordered the 20mm machine guns and 12.7mm heavy machine guns of the 4th Battalion to fire at the highest rate of fire when the Japanese planes had not dropped to 1,500 meters and the straight-line distance was about 1,300 meters.

Qingshiyan is different from Niangziguan. The Niangziguan position is wide enough, with a radius of more than 4 square kilometers. Unless the heavy bombs dropped by Japanese planes are dense enough, they will not cause great damage to the four-line regiments with trenches, tunnels, and anti-artillery holes.

And there is also an anti-aircraft company following. The 24 20mm anti-aircraft guns and dozens of anti-aircraft machine guns are like a hedgehog with its spines blown off, which can make any Japanese plane below 2,000 meters pay a heavy price.

But the entire Qingshiyan defense line is only more than 1,300 meters, and the depth is at most 700 meters, less than one square kilometer. If the Japanese plane drops a 500-pound bomb on the position, even if there is only one, most of the infantry platoon will be instantly wiped out.

You know, on the "Menshu" position, the Japanese army attacked for two days and suffered hundreds of casualties. The 4th Battalion only lost 4 infantry squads. Compared with this acceptable loss, the threat from the air is too great.

Shangguan Yun is extremely grateful to Tang Dao for equipping each infantry battalion with machine guns and large-caliber heavy machine guns that can be used for both ground and air defense. If there were no these two treasures, his 4th Battalion would have to watch the terrible heavy bombs fall today, and dozens or even more Chinese soldiers would have been killed.

At that moment, Shangguan Yun suddenly realized why the Tang Dao Society insisted that the four main infantry battalions give up the 37mm anti-tank guns that can fire armored shells and shrapnel grenades, and choose to equip the artillery companies of each battalion with 20mm machine guns that have a slightly single function and are not particularly powerful. That is to prepare for air defense.

Only in this way can the four infantry battalions have completely independent combat capabilities and still have the strength to fight when facing a small-scale Japanese aircraft group.

Otherwise, if the ground firepower is strengthened at all costs, the 4th battalion can only watch and be beaten when facing Japanese aircraft today.

Shangguan Yun ordered the machine guns and 12.7mm anti-aircraft machine guns to fire in advance, and he never thought about shooting down Japanese aircraft. It was just a deterrent to prevent Japanese aircraft from easily entering the medium and low altitudes to drop bombs and reduce their hit rate!

Shangguan Yun's strategy worked. The Japanese planes were frightened by the white smoke that kept bursting out of the sky. The four Japanese planes that were originally diving down from 2,000 meters to reach an altitude of 1,200 meters quickly pulled up and started to drop bombs after approaching Qingshiyan for hundreds of meters, but the altitude had reached 2,300 meters, which was still the range of 20mm anti-aircraft guns.

The Japanese army had no intention of fighting at all. After a wave of high-altitude bombing, they immediately turned and flew away!

The altitude of more than 2,000 meters is naturally easy for professional medium and large bombers with aiming instruments, but it is too high for fighters such as the 96 war that are mainly used for air combat.

It looks like a bombing, but if you are still so weak next time, don't bomb it! This is the true portrayal of the Japanese Army Major General who approached the front line and hid in the bunker at this time.

The fireballs rising from the heavy bombs in the telescope are too far away from the Chinese positions!

His Excellency Major General Shiro Kumeda is indeed a good infantry commander, and his sense of space is quite strong.

The four heavy bombs basically fell on the stone mountain of Qingshiyan, but they were at least three or four hundred meters away from the various positions on the hills. Apart from the sound and the burning heat waves that made the Chinese soldiers' hearts beat wildly, there was basically no damage!

But to be honest, can we really blame the Japanese Army Air Force pilots for being too timid?

If you were a pilot, and you knew that you were going to deal with the devil of the Four-Line Regiment that had shot down and injured almost two Army Air Force squadrons, would you shrink your balls first, just like looking down from a thousand meters high?

The Japanese Army Air Force is definitely not a coward, as has been proven in the Battle of Shanghai and the subsequent large and small air battles on the Chinese battlefield.

The brave Chinese pilots even used their planes and their bodies as the last bullets to hit the enemy head-on after they had used up all the bullets in their machine guns. However, even in the face of such a group of opponents who were so brave that even the devil would respect them, the Japanese Army Air Force pilots did not retreat, and completely occupied the air superiority with the advantage of the number of aircraft.

Not being a soft egg does not mean you can become a fool. When you know that there is an opponent who is like a hard stone and you will definitely knock out your big teeth if you bite it, will you still bite it with all your strength!

That is something that only a very stupid guy would do, let alone a pilot who was selected from the best of tens of millions of people?

What's more, because the Jindong Campaign was in full swing at this time, the 5th Division, the 18th Division, the 20th Division and the 21st Division were calling for air support on various attack routes. The 108th and 109th Second-Line Divisions, who were fighting with more people against fewer, actually had the nerve to ask the Front Army Command for air support. The Army Major General who served as the temporary Army Air Force Corps was so embarrassed that he cursed them in the operations room for being shameless.

You said, these army aviation pilots are not stupid, why would they risk their lives to help these shameless people?

The Japanese also choose their own way. There is a big difference between the army lieutenant general and the army lieutenant general. If it weren't for Shiro Kumeda who was airdropped from the front army headquarters to the 108th Division as the major general brigade commander, he would not have thought of the support of these four fighter planes just for the face of the already declining Xia Xiongyuan.

To put it bluntly, for the famous unlucky child in North China---the 108th Division, it is good to have fighter planes, so don't have too high expectations for the bombing effect!

Therefore, the Japanese offensive was not very strong throughout the day. Instead, after finally waiting for the four Japanese planes to "show" in an almost inferior way, the Japanese offensive was strengthened again in the evening amid the roar of Major General Shiro Kumeda, who felt discriminated against and was extremely angry.

However, it was useless. The officers and soldiers of the 4th Battalion, who finally got a day's respite, beat the Japanese army back with a tide of bullets.

The three howitzers that had ceased fire for a day also poured the ammunition saved for a whole day on the heads of the Japanese special forces who were wrapped in menstrual belts.

Yes, although the last wave of Japanese special forces was almost annihilated, the trenches on the "Bolt" position were destroyed in several places, so that the Chinese soldiers were forced to use the remains of the Chinese and Japanese sides on the position as fortifications for piling, which made Kumieda Shiro seem to have found a chance to win.

Soon, the second special forces were organized.

This idea coincided with Chu Shaoyun's idea. If one human bomb can't kill you, then add a few dozen more human bombs. There will always be a few who can rush in and kill you.

Moreover, the explosion of the explosive pack will result in no body left, and it can also provide no "materials" for bunkers and fortifications on the position, which is perfect!

But Shangguan Yun, who had returned from the ‘Menshu’ position, had already anticipated this possibility, and gave Deng Ying and Fan Mobei a special order. Once they found that there were Japanese soldiers like the death squad mixed in the Japanese attack queue, they should immediately fire three red flares about 100 meters before the Japanese arrived at the position!

The three howitzers of the battalion artillery company would provide artillery support to the area 50 to 100 meters in front of the ‘Menshu’ position!

On the one hand, Shangguan Yun did not want to see the tragedy happen again, forcing his officers and soldiers to use the remains of their brothers as shelters; on the other hand, if such a ‘bomber’ of the Japanese army was detonated by artillery fire, it would also set off a bloody storm in the Japanese infantry formation. Once a 5-kilogram explosive pack exploded, the damage to infantry without shelter was no less than that caused by a 105 howitzer shell.

Sure enough, with only one wave of artillery fire, the three howitzers used less than 40 shells, and the Japanese tasted the consequences of being dominated by their own commanders.

At least four "bombers" carrying explosive packs were detonated by artillery fire. Several fireballs exploded on the battlefield, and at least 30 Japanese infantrymen were blown away by the air wave, and even one head flew into the Chinese trench nearly 100 meters away.

That should have been torn off by the surging air wave. The helmet was still buckled on the head. The smooth bottom of the helmet was like a gyroscope, spinning on the muddy ground of the trench!

That extremely brutal scene made even the veterans who were used to the bloody battlefield a little creepy!

It was such a blow that the Japanese army was forced to retreat when the sun set and only a trace of afterglow remained!

The night is the time period that soldiers on both sides look forward to the most.

It is not because they can rest, but only in this night when even their comrades can't see their faces clearly, will the commanders of both sides stop fighting and stop large-scale battles.

Being able to live to see the warm sun the next day is the expectation of every soldier on the battlefield!

Only at this time, soldiers from both sides have the opportunity to put down their tightly held guns and look for their friends in the same platoon and class to see if the other party is still alive!

Those who are still alive, no need to say much, just take a cigarette from their own or the other party's pocket, take a few puffs, and then wave and return to their own battle position.

If they can't find it, tears are the most useless product. Most soldiers look up to the sky to refill the tears that are about to burst out, and return to their battle positions, just stay in a daze for several hours without saying a word.

The person who understands them best, says goodbye to each other before going to the battlefield, and promises that whoever lives will take care of the other's parents, is gone!

They just want to recall the rough face of their brothers over and over in their minds, for fear that they will forget it after a long time!

Years are ruthless, but people are affectionate!

Sadness can make people numb, but it will not make soldiers lose their vigilance!

Because at night, it seems that there will be no large-scale battles, but danger is everywhere!

If the battlefield during the day is a gladiatorial arena, the soldiers on both sides are like gladiators in the arena, staring with bloodshot eyes and breathing heavily, wanting to kill each other, then the night is like a primitive jungle world, where every bush and even a leaf hides murderous intent, and the transformation of the identities of hunter and prey may be in an instant.

This is how I spent three consecutive nights, with attacks and counterattacks happening all the time, and gunshots and explosions erupting almost every once in a while in the seemingly quiet night!

The iron caltrops and anti-infantry mines thrown in front of the position had long been flattened by artillery fire. If the enemy infantry came up in the dark, everyone on the position would die.

The flares were also limited, and the 4th Battalion was not as generous as the Japanese, and could not set up searchlights to continuously scan and illuminate the 100 meters in front of their trenches.

In addition to being divided into several rounds of 2-hour shifts and adding a large number of sentries, the Chinese soldiers on the position could only use the most crude method, placing the damaged wood that could no longer be used for fortifications 20 to 30 meters away at night, and then igniting it with gasoline to increase visibility in front of the position.

But this ignition job is also extremely dangerous. The bright flames are too obvious in the dark. The Japanese side has long placed cold shooters waiting 400 meters away to hunt down the soldiers responsible for igniting the fire.

What is even more painful is that the Japanese army will also fire grenades hundreds of meters away to blow up the fire that was finally lit.

As a result, ignition and firefighting became a focus of both China and Japan at night, and the front-line Japanese army even did not hesitate to use infantry artillery to participate in the battle!

The gunshots and explosions that sounded from time to time in front of the Qingshiyan position were not much weaker than those during the day.

Come on, if you don't let me have a good time, then I won't let you have a good time either!

Fan Mobei, who was anxious, even drew 10 elite veterans from the positions where the troops were not many in the past two nights to form a night harassment team!

For two consecutive days, the harassment team that touched the top of the mountain not only gave the Japanese army a big "surprise", but also completed the construction of a "flying thunder cannon" gun mount 180 meters in front of the Japanese field camp, and successfully threw 4 10-kilogram explosive packs into the Japanese camp. There was also a miracle of a two-person team sneaking into the Japanese trench and taking away nearly half of the Japanese squad with a submachine gun fire output.

And because of the deep night, the two-person team wearing Japanese military uniforms actually returned to the position miraculously.

However, the record could not be counted until nearly a month after the war, when the senior intelligence personnel of the Military Statistics and Investigation Bureau unexpectedly saw the battle report of the 108th Division on that night.

In that night raid led by Chinese soldiers, more than 20 Japanese soldiers were killed or seriously injured by the explosion of explosives that flew in inexplicable ways, but compared with the 36 people who were killed or seriously injured by the Chinese submachine guns that sneaked into their trenches, that loss was actually small.

A complete infantry squad in the trench area was actually written off! As for the Chinese as the attacker, in layman's terms: not even a hair was left! It is simply an unprecedented shame in the history of the Imperial Army.

The intelligence transmitted to the Ministry of Military Affairs made a group of senior officials dumbfounded!

Those big men with the rank of general and lieutenant general are not people who have never seen the world. They would not even frown when facing the casualties of thousands or tens of thousands of people on the battlefield, but the Four-Line Regiment, which was extremely passive on the battlefield with thousands against tens of thousands, could actually launch such a raid to wipe out the opponent. It was really a small knife pulling the butt---opening!

The Sihang Regiment had fought several brilliant battles on the battlefield in North China, which had let the important officials of the Ministry of Military Affairs know that the Sihang Regiment was an elite division, but many people attributed this to Tang Dao himself.

It was really because Tang Tuanzuo performed too amazingly in several battlefields from Sihang Warehouse to Songjiang and then to the night attack on the Sixth Heavy Artillery Brigade.

The general view of the elders was that without Tang Dao, the combat effectiveness of the Sihang Regiment would be at least halved.

But this small attack war changed many people's views. The battle of Qingshiyan was nearly 200 kilometers away from the main force of the Sihang Regiment. Tang Dao's focus was on the main battlefield of Niangziguan, and he definitely did not have so much energy to personally command the Qingshiyan battlefield.

The continuous victories have brought about a qualitative change in the elite division of the Sihang Regiment. According to their current performance on the battlefield, even without Tang Dao, their combat effectiveness would not be reduced too much.

Fortunately, Tang Dao understood human nature too well. After the Battle of Eastern Shanxi, he did not continue to keep a low profile. Instead, he used the 22nd Army Headquarters to invite the Ministry of Military and Political Affairs to report the military merits of the Battle of Eastern Shanxi, and strived for various treatments for many officers and soldiers under his command. The battle report was no longer half-truth and half-false as in the past, but seven-tenths true and three-tenths false!

A certain elder who received this intelligence immediately checked the battle report of the Four-Line Regiment, and after comparing it, he breathed a sigh of relief.

He was not afraid of the strength of the Four-Line Regiment, but he was afraid that the Four-Line Regiment would be strong and he was still hiding it. What was his intention?

As his mood improved, some people suggested that the Four-Line Regiment be transferred back to the Central Army, but he rejected it himself.

Jiangxia could no longer be saved. The capital was about to be moved to Shancheng, which was the territory of the Sichuan Army. At this time, he was asked to dig the elite of the Sichuan Army. Even if he was asked to do it, he couldn't say it, right?

Of course, that was all for the future. At night, China and Japan were on guard against each other. On the outside, the battlefield seemed to be quiet, but in fact, both sides in the trenches were ready for battle. Not to mention that all kinds of knives were pressed under their bodies, and the bullets had not been ejected from the gun chambers. They were ready for a night fight at any time.

The soldiers responsible for shooting flares were even more vigilant. The guns were beside them. If there was a gunshot, it would be illuminated in less than five seconds!

But tranquility is still the main theme!

However, the quiet night sky was finally broken.

But the blazing gunfire did not come from the Qingshiyan battlefield, but from 3,000 meters behind Qingshiyan.

From the highest peak of Qingshiyan, the scarlet bullet marks were like a wave of meteor showers, tearing through the dark night sky and rushing towards the mountains shrouded in darkness!

Looking at this scene, even Shangguan Yun, who had experienced many battles and was knowledgeable, couldn't help but take a breath.

According to his estimation, such exaggerated firepower cannot be achieved without the continuous firing of 70 or 80 machine guns.

The 4 infantry battalions of the 4th Regiment are already extremely well-equipped, but according to the calculation that one infantry squad is equipped with one light machine gun, a platoon has only 4, a company has 12, and the entire 4th battalion has only 36.

But now the terrifying scarlet bullet marks thousands of meters away definitely exceeded the configuration of his 4th Battalion's light machine guns!

The battle-hardened Army Major was wrong!

The Czech light machine guns that were firing desperately on that mountain were not seventy or eighty, but one hundred, close to the total number of equipment of the three main infantry battalions of the Fourth Regiment.

More than a thousand Japanese soldiers who were rated as the unlucky brigade after the war met the most bizarre Chinese miscellaneous army!

On this quiet night!

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