Rise From Eight Hundred

Not only did the scouts who found the position of the howitzer began to sniper them mercilessly, but the officers and soldiers of the guard and infantry companies who had already rushed in also used a torrent of bullets to let them know that if they gathered around the cannon again, they would die.

Of course, there were also successes.

The continuous explosions and loud noises knocked the soldiers who were crouching and rushing forward 200 meters away to the ground.

There was even a team of Japanese soldiers who fearlessly threw grenades into an ammunition point storing 105 howitzer shells. The fireballs formed by the explosions of at least 40 20-kilogram 105 howitzer shells illuminated most of the sky above the battlefield.

The huge sound made the eardrums of most people in the battlefield within a radius of nearly one kilometer hurt, and even the Chinese and Japanese troops on the Niangziguan front line five or six kilometers away heard it.

Such a terrible explosion, not to mention that several Japanese soldiers who were only a dozen meters away from the center of the explosion were blown to ashes, even the 105 howitzer with a total weight of 1,900 kilograms of gun body and gun carriage dozens of meters away was overturned. If it weren't for the fact that the howitzer was placed in a valley, with rocks on both sides blocking the power of more than 300 kilograms of shells exploding together, not to mention that the howitzer made of steel would be destroyed, an infantry squad that was only 200 meters away would have been finished.

Even so, several people were injured by the flying rocks, and another seven or eight people were injured by the shock wave formed by the explosion, and an infantry squad basically lost its combat effectiveness.

Fortunately, Pang Da, who was not far away, led two scouts to arrive and directly established a defensive position around the wounded until another infantry squad arrived with medical soldiers five minutes later.

That was also the biggest loss suffered by the two companies in this battle, and the soldiers who were injured were basically classified as seriously injured.

By 6:20 in the morning, fifty minutes after the battle broke out, the sky was already bright, and the figures of people tens or even hundreds of meters away were clearly visible, and the battle had come to an end.

Except for a part of the Japanese army that took advantage of the previous darkness to either escape into the mountains or flee to the north where there was no gunfire, joining the defenders of an infantry squad and fleeing towards Jiuguan, the rest of the Japanese army was annihilated on the position of the 21st Artillery Regiment.

In the wilderness, the bodies of Japanese soldiers lying everywhere can be seen.

However, this time they did not kill all of them. As long as they knelt on their knees and raised their hands to surrender, they were not killed, and all were sent to be guarded by special people.

This was the suggestion of Lieutenant Kobayashi Koichi of the Allied Forces. His original words were that he did not want to be a commander without troops, after all, he was a lieutenant, right? Tang Dao certainly knew what was in his mind, and he just hoped to save some of his compatriots, which was also human nature.

Considering that the 21st Division had just entered China not long ago and had not committed any heinous crimes, with the precedent of Lieutenant Kobayashi Koichi, there must be many people who want to live, and especially for technical arms such as artillery, living is more useful than dead. Even if you don't want to help fight, you can always be an instructor!

At worst, it's okay to keep it as a bargaining chip with the Japanese North China Front Army. Tang Dao knows that there are still many patriotic patriots in Pingbei City, many of whom are people in the literary and artistic circles who have some friendship with Lao Tantai.

In any era, don't underestimate the power of scholars. They are powerless, but they have a lot of ink in their stomachs, and they speak in a set of sets, and their ability to "fool" is first-class.

Of course, for those who are unwilling to surrender, let them die!

Compared with the foreigners in Japan, Tang Tuanzuo still prefers to be a little softer.

If the number is enough, Tang Tuanzuo would not mind letting this group of "soft and cute" short legs hold flowers and pull the banner of "Long Live the Chinese Nation" to slide around Niangzi Pass after the battle of Jindong.

In the end, there were 197 captured Japanese soldiers, but more than 1,300 were killed. According to the scale of an artillery regiment of the Japanese Army's Horse-drawn Division of about 3,000 people, there may be only a large part here. Together with the guarding infantry, the total strength of the Japanese army here is about 2,100 people. The Japanese who can escape are only 500 at most. More than 70% of them were captured and killed, which is basically considered to be a complete annihilation.

However, for Tang Tuanzuo, who personally planned this night attack plan, the number of Japanese killed is not the most important thing. What is important is how many artillery pieces were seized. The Japanese did not flee at the sight of the enemy. Many of them persisted to the end, and they did not do a lot of "evil things" such as bombing artillery.

What happened to their lives? How could they attack precious artillery pieces? Every time the two company commanders Yang Xiaoshan and Qian Dazhu heard a violent explosion, they were heartbroken. They couldn't live a normal life now!

Even more painful than them were the 160 artillerymen who entered the battlefield at the end. Each of them only had a Black Star pistol. If the cannon was gone, what were they doing here? Holding a pistol and shouting "biu~~~biu~~~biu" at the people who were about to rush over?

It can only be said that with the victory after victory since the establishment of the Four-Line Regiment, the morale of the officers and soldiers of the Four-Line Regiment has become higher and higher. 500 people raiding an artillery position and annihilating the enemy is not enough for them.

In the past, basically everyone would pat their butts and carry the captured guns and ammunition back to drink celebratory wine happily. Who would still be here patting their thighs and thinking about the troubles of how many intact cannons they had captured with a face full of heartache?

Even if there is, it is too damn hard to pull it away! The 75 mountain gun weighing 700 to 800 kilograms is fine, but the nearly two-ton 105 howitzer can't be pulled away even if they are given dozens of cows, right?

Of course, Tang Tuanzuo didn't want to leave at all!

First, the purpose of seizing the Japanese artillery position is not only to destroy the Japanese heavy firepower, but also to play a trick of "using barbarians to control barbarians"!

Relying on its 105 howitzer with a range of up to 10 kilometers, the 21st Division has been so arrogant this week. The main position and the more distant flank heights have 105 large-caliber howitzers participating in the regiment, causing great casualties to the infantry on the heights of the Four-line Regiment.

According to statistics, the first, second and third battalions have more than 700 officers and soldiers killed in battle, 800 seriously injured, and 1,500 casualties in this week, one-third of which were lost under the Japanese artillery fire! The 105 howitzer is the biggest accomplice of the 21st Division.

That's good. Now, it's their turn to be bombed.

The mountain artillery company and heavy mortar company of the Sihang Regiment have also been prepared. When the artillery group here starts to bombard the Japanese army, there will be 12 Bofors mountain artillery and 12 150 heavy mortars participating in the bombardment.

The number of artillery that will be used to attack the Japanese army on the front line depends entirely on how many artillery can be captured in this battle.

Second, and most importantly, the position of the artillery regiment is located between Jingxing and Niangziguan, and it is only more than a thousand meters away from the only accessible mountain road, which firmly blocks the retreat of the 21st Division to Jingxing County.

If the 21st Division, which has pack horses, carts, and various types of tanks, wants to pass, it must take this road. There is no other way to go.

Yang Xiaoshan and Qian Dazhu have received Tang Dao's orders. Except for one platoon left in the guard company to be responsible for the safety of the newly occupied artillery position, the remaining five infantry platoons and one fire support platoon all rushed to the high ground on both wings near the mountain road to establish blocking positions!

This artillery group, together with 500 infantrymen, will become the iron bolt to block the 21st Division!

In fact, Tang Dao never thought that the battle of Jindong was just a simple defensive battle from the beginning! What he wanted was not the heads of thousands of Japanese invaders, but the lives of tens of thousands of Japanese invaders.

This night attack was the most fatal blow of Tang Dao's counterattack against the 21st Division. He actually used inferior forces to counter-encircle the 21st Division!

If Tang Dao did this at the peak of the 21st Division, it would definitely be a dead end. The 21st Division with a strength of 19,000 only needed to allocate 5,000 people to block the main force of the Four-Line Regiment. The remaining more than 10,000 people only needed half a day to swallow up these 500 elites without leaving any residue, even with the help of artillery.

Unfortunately, even if the 21st Division is still a lion now, it is a lion that has been drained of half its blood. Not to mention fighting with a pack of hyenas, even a gazelle might be able to knock it over.

A week of hard defense only created an illusion for the Japanese commander, making him think that no matter how tenacious the Chinese side was, they just wanted to hold the defense line to avoid being annihilated by the opponent with superior manpower.

The acting commander of the 21st Division, Nagano Kameichiro, was completely deceived by the Tang sword!

What's more terrible is that this week's tactical deception was not a tug-of-war game of retreating while the enemy advanced. It was a head-on defensive battle that was fiercely consumed. The Four-Line Regiment suffered 1,500 casualties, but the 21st Division consumed a large number of its manpower.

The remains and wounded transported to Jingxing County and then transferred to Shimen alone reached more than 4,000, not to mention the many bodies that were blown to ashes and not collected on the battlefield. Six of the nine regular infantry battalions under the 21st Division had been crippled, and a 3,600-man baggage regiment had replenished half of its troops to the front-line troops.

Tang Dao was so stingy. The Japanese killed his brother, so he had to pay back ten times his life! The three Japanese infantry regiments on the front line of Niangzi Pass had to die!

But the premise of all this was that the captured artillery was enough to stop the upcoming fierce counterattack of the Japanese army.

Tang Dao's prediction was correct. Nagano Kameichiro, who received the farewell telegram from Awahara Komeichuzu, became a "crazy man" at that time!

There was no time to yell in the headquarters. He immediately picked up the phone to notify the two infantry regiment commanders on the Niangziguan front line, and immediately mobilized an infantry battalion with infantry artillery to support the 21st Artillery Regiment position where the division headquarters was located, and a tank squad with 5 Type 94 and 2 Type 89 tanks accompanied them.

This is the best force that can be mobilized on the Niangziguan front line!

As a division commander, Nagano Kameichiro knew too well what the loss of the artillery position meant.

Not only did it lose most of the division's heavy firepower, but the more terrifying thing was that the area blocked the only retreat of the 21st Division.

Even if he thought that the four-line regiment, which had been fighting for a week and was equally weak, did not have the ability to surround him, but leaving the retreat in the hands of the opponent was undoubtedly a situation that any commander could not sleep peacefully.

Therefore, the failure of the 21st Division was not without reason. Until now, Nagano Kameichiro did not know how big his heart was against the Chinese commander.

Sometimes, greed can lead to destruction, but if a commander who has reached the peak of battlefield control is greedy, then perhaps it is "the bolder the man, the more productive the land."

When the two infantry battalions arrived aggressively 30 minutes after the artillery regiment's gunfire had stopped, they were blocked by the high ground on both sides of the mountain road.

Just as the two Japanese commanders suppressed their blushes and each ordered two infantry squadrons under their command, under the cover of all the tanks of the chariot team, they tried to eat up the hundreds of Chinese troops who dared to stop them without perfect fortifications. ...

The sharp screams of "Hugh~~~~Hugh~~~~Hugh" filled the entire sky.

Unfortunately, the 160 artillerymen of the Fourth Line Regiment who entered and occupied the artillery position had already picked up their most familiar 'guns'!

A distance of more than a thousand meters is exactly the range of various types of howitzers!

Three intact 105 howitzers and 14 still usable 75 mountain guns were the final capture of this battle. That is to say, the overturned 105 howitzer was too heavy and could not be repaired in a short time, otherwise the shelling would have been added this time. The Japanese army should have four 105 heavy artillery pieces.

Without these to rely on, how could Tang Tuanzuo be willing to let the elites of his two companies do the kind of life-and-death blocking work?

Paying huge sacrifices in exchange for the final victory may seem like the ruthlessness of the commander, but in fact it is more of helplessness. If victory can be achieved at the smallest cost, why would the commander be unwilling?

The 400 infantrymen with almost no fortifications on the high ground on both wings are actually more of just soy sauce. What really determines the direction of the battlefield is the captured artillery and the incoming artillery shells.

The faces of the two Japanese Army Major Zuo quickly turned from red to white, especially when the shock wave caused by the explosion of a 105 howitzer shell blew apart the bodies of more than a dozen Japanese infantrymen who were already prostrate on the ground like leaves in front of the hillside. After coming.

They all know that it's over, everything is over!

Not only their two infantry brigades, but even the entire division!

Because the Chinese actually grabbed the 105 heavy artillery! Moreover, the Chinese also have artillery, Western-made artillery with extremely long range and high accuracy.

Then, the Chinese seemed to hear the thoughts of the two of them, and the whistle of sharp artillery shells piercing the sky came again. This wave came from their rear, belonging to the direction of Niangziguan.

Yes, the Yingshan Artillery Battery of the Sixings Regiment, under the orders of the Tang regiment, participated in the war!

In this small area, there are actually 3 105 howitzers and 26 75 mountain artillery bombarding them. These two Japanese infantry brigades are really worthy of pride.

The sky was already bright at this time, but what was even brighter was the entire mountain that was lit up!

More than 0.5 square kilometers of mountain forest are within the range of shelling!

"Te Liang, retreat, retreat for me!" As early as when the 105 howitzer began to speak, the Chinese officers and soldiers on the two flanks of the high ground rolled and climbed towards the back of the mountain after the two originally brave commanders of the company roared. Run away.

Before leaving, the artillery platoon leader led the team embarrassedly told the two of them that they had never operated the 105 howitzer, so the error would inevitably be large. They would try their best to hit the high ground with the first few shots, but once they fired with full force from behind, they would I can't control it anymore.

What it really means is that that area will be concentrated by artillery fire anyway, and infantry brothers, you will not be needed!

As the saying goes, "Listen to others and eat enough." When you see that the artillery platoon commander is only 300 meters away from his high ground when he claims to shoot forward, God knows if they will hit the top of the mountain with one artillery fire. The two large company commanders are still running away with their heads in their hands. .

Bravery is not what Xia Jiba uses!

Seeing the green signal bomb fired on the infantry high ground to indicate a smooth evacuation, Tang Tuanzuo, who was standing in front of the field radio station, naturally waved his hand and ordered: "All artillery positions, two artillery shell bases, 30 minutes!"

That means that 1,500 rounds of artillery shells will be poured here.

War is also a part of life. If you can't resist it, then enjoy it! Even if all you enjoy is despair.

At this moment, the Japanese soldiers struggling in the artillery fire finally realized the feelings of the Chinese soldiers they faced on the North China battlefield who could only be covered by their artillery fire. It was probably the same as their extremely desperate mood at this time.

No matter how strong the fortress is, it is still fragile in the face of the raging artillery fire.

A year ago in Songhu, 750,000 Chinese soldiers built the Great Patriotic Wall with their flesh and blood. In front of the crazy Japanese naval guns, the average daily casualties were in the thousands.

The Japanese invaders could not be allowed to destroy the whole of China within the three months that they boasted, and they could not even advance in Songhu. This was the result of the bloodshed of more than 300,000 officers and soldiers on the battlefield.

That is a fortress built with flesh and blood, and a line of defense built with will.

The struggle at that moment between the two Japanese infantry brigades without any bunkers in the mountains actually had nothing to do with will. They were running around, just trying to survive this crazy bombardment.

But unfortunately, that is in vain. No matter brave or cowardly, they will be wiped out in this rain of shells!

In fact, it didn't even take half an hour. There were not many Japanese infantry left alive on the battlefield.

All the Type 94 tanks on the mountain road had long been overturned by the turbulent air waves. The two remaining Type 89 tanks were still alone on the mountain road because of their thick armor and large size, or because of good luck.

It wasn't that they didn't want to run away, but they couldn't run away. Huge shell craters trapped the two poor Type 89 tanks in the middle of the road.

When the infantrymen of the Fourth Line Regiment returned to the battlefield, they couldn't help but feel happy when they saw these two tanks trapped on an isolated island.

They had captured the Japanese; they had taken the artillery pieces; but they had never driven the tanks in their childhood, so they didn’t know how they felt.

Now, the opportunity has come!

A phoenix without feathers is no better than a chicken, and a tank without infantry protection is nothing!