Rise From Eight Hundred

The 3,000 men of the 4th Division did not lose the reputation of the Japanese standing divisions in the first ten minutes of the battle.

For the officers and soldiers of the 3rd and 4th Battalions of the 4th Regiment who had fought against the 21st and 108th Divisions, the combat effectiveness of the Japanese troops that they successfully pressed on both sides of the road was far stronger than the opponents they had encountered before.

The failure of the infantry to seize the commanding heights did not affect its sharp counterattack with heavy firepower!

The infantry guns, mortars and even Type 41 mountain guns set up by the Japanese in a hurry were put into battle one after another three minutes after the battle started.

The infantry guns are direct-aiming guns, and the attack on close-range targets is self-evident. At least three firepower points on the hillside were shrouded in smoke and had to be forced to stop firing and move positions.

Because of the range, the mountain artillery could not cause effective damage within a distance of 500 to 800 meters, but the Japanese army chose to lay the muzzle flat and use it as a direct-aiming artillery. Seven or eight consecutive clouds of gunpowder rose on the hillside not far from the mountain road, accompanied by the figures of infantrymen being blown away.

The 5-kilogram shrapnel grenade was an extremely deadly threat to the officers and soldiers of the Fourth Regiment who had no trenches or bunkers.

The four 90-caliber mortars were set up in a col and kept firing at the hillside. Clouds of gunpowder exploded in the area where the infantry of the Fourth Regiment were crawling.

If you look down from the air, in the first few minutes of the war, the fields on both sides of the road belonging to the Japanese army and the hillside belonging to the Chinese side were constantly filled with gunpowder, and it was not clear which side had the advantage.

The Four-Line Regiment had ambushed the Japanese many times, such as the attack on the Guoqi Detachment in Guangde Laojinkeng, and an infantry regiment of the 14th Division in the Bihe River. Basically, they had kept the Japanese in an encirclement from the beginning. There had never been such a situation where the Japanese in the encirclement fought back and forth with them, especially when the equipment of the Four-Line Regiment was no longer what it used to be.

"Order the 60-meter-high mortars of each infantry squad to temporarily stop attacking the Japanese infantry, and use firepower to kill the Japanese artillery. Tell the two artillery company commanders that if they can't destroy half of the Japanese artillery group in five minutes, they don't have to do the job of artillery company commanders, and they can all go to the artillery squad to carry shells." Leng Feng, who rarely gets emotional, was furious for the first time.

"Damn it, I can't be the company commander, and you bastards, don't even think about being the platoon leader or squad leader. Come with me and move the shells." Qin Ruoyu, who was originally full of bookish airs, got angry and cursed Liang with a mouthful of swear words after receiving Leng Feng's original words from the signalman.

Whether he can be an official or not is secondary. The important thing is that he can't lose face for the Fourth Battalion, let alone Tang Dao.

Everyone in the entire Four-line Regiment knows that Shangguan Yun and he are old comrades of Tang Dao in the Battle of the Four-line Warehouse. Tang Dao took great risks to travel thousands of miles to Songhu, just to rescue these old comrades, and even set up the Fourth Battalion for them.

As a result, after a battle, he was nominated to be dismissed by another old comrade. Who can accept this?

Although anger cannot help improve the accuracy of artillery, it can definitely improve the efficiency of officers and soldiers of the artillery company.

The 60mm mortar gunners at the front were the first to find the Japanese artillerymen. More than 20 small guns abandoned the Japanese infantry's light and heavy machine guns and grenade launchers and fired at the Japanese artillerymen who were trying to fire.

Gun smoke instantly enveloped the Japanese artillery positions completely in the wild, which also pointed out the direction for the six 80mm mortars of the two artillery companies of the Four-line Regiment.

Of course, the heaviest blow to the Japanese artillery was the six 150mm heavy mortars led by Pang Dahai himself.

During the safe period, the six 150mm heavy mortars were placed in an area 1,500 meters away from the battlefield, where there were dense forests to cover the artillerymen. This was also because Leng Feng considered that if the battlefield was delayed for too long, the Japanese would have a group of bombers to help. If a carpet bombing came and destroyed the artillery battalion, even if the battle was won, it would actually be lost.

The dense forest covered the six big killer weapons, and also made them lose their most sensitive response to the battlefield. At least they did not retaliate against the Japanese army's almost crazy artillery group in the shortest time.

Leng Feng gave Pang Dahai face and only scolded the two captain-level artillery company commanders, but Deputy Battalion Commander Pang's fat face was a little embarrassed.

You know, since following Tang Dao, Pang Dahai has basically been recognized, and Pang Dahai himself has never slacked off. The mountain artillery he led can be regarded as one of the hardest teams in the entire Four Lines Regiment.

It's not just the hardship of various trainings. Tang Dao said that when there were no planes and tanks, the artillery was the most advanced technical branch of the Four Lines Regiment except for the arsenal.

But 90% of these guys in the artillery battalion were transferred from the infantry. It was difficult to even write their own names, let alone be linked to any technical branch.

Therefore, the artillery night school was established at Pang Dahai's suggestion when the Four Lines Regiment was still on the way to Taihang Mountain.

As long as it is not wartime, the artillery night school has two hours of various cultural courses every night.

In addition to several officers from regular artillery schools, many instructors are the proud students of physics, mechanics and other majors from Jinling University. Even under the suggestion of Tang Tuanzuo, the handsome old man Tan Tai has lectured on art courses.

What kind of experience is it for a group of rough guys to listen to the art lectures of the top Chinese calligraphy and painting masters of this era as if they were listening to a book from heaven?

Not to mention the ordinary artillery sergeants, even Pang Dahai and Cheng Tieshou, the two commanders of the mountain artillery and anti-aircraft artillery battalions, were drowsy after listening to it, not to mention the pain.

But they all persisted. The artillery night school has been running for a year. I don’t know how many artillery sergeants have not only learned all kinds of basic knowledge of artillery, but also many have been able to write a complete 400-word letter to their relatives in their hometowns. Some people can even write a lyric poem inspired by the battlefield.

‘A cannon shot shook the earth, awakening the soldiers who were dreaming. Just when they wanted to shout at the little recruits, they ran away barefoot! ’

Really, as soon as this poem came out, Deputy Battalion Commander Pang’s hard work for a year was finally fruitful, and the reputation of artillery as the cutting-edge technology branch of the Four-Line Regiment was completely confirmed.

Even the black and rough infantrymen could not dream of writing such a seven-character quatrain that reflects the reality of the battlefield!

Deputy Battalion Commander Pang, still with an old face, ran to find Captain Tan Tai Ming Yue and asked her to publish this poem reflecting the panic and bravery of the new recruits in the artillery battalion in the newly established "Taihang Brief".

That is a newspaper for the various units stationed in Taihang Mountain, and there are nearly 100,000 people reading it! The mountain artillery company of the Sihang Regiment will become a cultural benchmark unit in Taihang Mountain because of this poem.

Don't say, although Captain Tan Tai laughed so hard, he recommended it to the editorial department of Taihang Brief for publication in its original form, and it was highly praised by the headquarters of the 80th Army Group, who believed that the soldiers did not stop learning in the intervals between battles, and accumulated knowledge for the future construction of China, and should be a role model for the entire army.

You say, how can Pang Dahai and the officers and soldiers of the artillery battalion bear such humiliation? To some extent, they are more anxious than the two battalion artillery companies at the forefront.

Fortunately, the 60mm mortars and two battalion artillery companies pointed out the direction and coordinates for them with their artillery fire. Six Bofors mountain guns and six 150mm heavy mortars opened fire to cover these areas.

The Bofors mountain gun was fine. Its power was actually similar to that of the Type 41 mountain gun equipped by the Japanese army. At most, one shot would destroy people and objects in the area of ​​half a basketball court. However, the 150mm heavy mortar was comparable to the 155mm howitzer within a range of 3,000 meters.

The Japanese artillerymen, not to mention the hasty formation of a 30-meter straight-line distance for one gun, would probably be destroyed even if it was 100 meters under the bombardment of nearly 20 kilograms of projectiles.

The 150mm heavy mortar, which fired more than 30 shells in a row, also proved with its results that mortars are the king of artillery in mountain warfare.

The artillery and artillery of the 4th Division were hit by a rain of 400 60-mm mortar shells, 180 shrapnel shells, and 40 150-mm heavy mortar shells in less than five minutes. They were not crippled by such firepower in the open field battlefield, but died on the spot.

Several artillery pieces were only overturned by the huge air wave, and they could still be used as long as they were straightened, but nearly 95% of the artillery pieces were killed and injured by shrapnel and air waves.

The artillery pieces are still there, but the people are gone. Tell me if it is miserable.

"The 1st and 2nd Infantry Squadrons stay to block the enemy, and the rest of the units will find an opportunity to withdraw from the battlefield!" Seeing this, a Japanese Army Major issued a very rational order to retreat.

If this military order was quickly and efficiently transmitted to the Japanese troops, Leng Feng's troops at this time might still be able to severely damage this Japanese force, but they had not yet completely sealed the pocket, so they could not expect to wipe it out completely.

Amaterasu once again abandoned her believers. A 60mm mortar flew over and exploded less than 2 meters away from the Japanese major.

The flying shrapnel pierced the Japanese major and the 6 Japanese soldiers surrounding him. When another Japanese major reluctantly issued a withdrawal order, it was 5 minutes later than the temporary supreme commander of the 3,000 Japanese troops who had already died.

And these 5 minutes allowed an infantry platoon carrying 2 7mm heavy machine guns to seize a high ground 600 meters away from the rear of the Japanese army, firmly blocking the Japanese army's retreat from the highway.

Two 7mm heavy machine guns are simply not something that the human body can contend with. A bullet hitting the body is a bowl-sized wound visible to the naked eye. Such a degree of blood and flesh flying across the body defeated the Japanese army's last confidence in attacking this high ground.

After sending a telegram to the detachment headquarters, the Japanese major issued a military order to disperse and break out.

From this moment on, the Japanese infantry squadrons began to lose unified command and fought separately.

After only 20 minutes, the 4th Division, which had a strength of more than 2,600 people, comparable to an infantry regiment, collapsed. Compared with the strong combat effectiveness shown in the early stage, it was a typical tiger with a head but a snake with a tail.

But this does not mean that the battlefield is coming to an end. After 20 minutes of painful attacks, the Japanese army still has nearly 1,500 people. They are all veterans who have undergone two years of training, not 1,500 pigs.

Countless Japanese troops tried to hide in the mountains and forests. The ambush battlefield with a width of 1,600 meters was full of gunfire and became a mess.

Leng Feng immediately ordered the pursuit of the Japanese troops who had fled into the mountains and fields in infantry squads.

This was also the scene seen in the air by a bombing formation composed of 6 Japanese bombers an hour later.

Teams of blue were running in the mountains, chasing and encircling the ochre-colored ones scattered among the mountains. They really wanted to pull the handbrake and drop the heavy bombs hanging under the belly of the plane, turning the blue and yellow teams, whose numbers were not too different, into dust.

But obviously, no one dares to do this. Even if the war situation is obviously unfavorable to one's own side, no one dares to turn his colleagues and enemies into dust, which will inevitably lead to a military court.

Although the Japanese have never lacked crazy courage, this will never produce a moment when the entire country has an absolute advantage.

Especially when their commander was named Sasaki, this Japanese bomber formation circled helplessly at an altitude of 1,200 meters for several times. After all, they could not find a good bombing area and had no choice but to rush towards Ruicheng, 8 miles away. battlefield.

Ruicheng is still in the hands of the imperial army, and the Chinese are still in the fields outside the city, so the Japanese bomber formation can fully display its capabilities.

But the two battlefields were not far away. The huge roar of the Japanese planes had already reached the 46th Independent Brigade, and concealment of the entire army had long been inevitable.

Although they did not help their colleagues who were being surrounded and chased, these six Japanese planes at least gave the more than 600 Japanese troops still alive in Ruicheng County a breather, which can be regarded as an achievement.

But for the Japanese planes who are used to being arrogant in the sky, how can they bear it if they can't bomb the battlefield here and can't find the target at high altitude on the battlefield there?

Especially since the Battle of Zhongtiao Mountain, the boys of the Japanese North China Aviation Regiment, who have regained supplies of 120 fighter planes and more than 200 pilots, have never encountered decent resistance. The sky above the vast battlefield of nearly 200 miles is like the Imperial Army Air Forces The pastures allow them to fly freely.

Not to mention those Japanese Army Air Force pilots who had just arrived on the battlefield, players like Sasaki who had been ravaged time and time again by the terrifying ground firepower of the Four Elements were somewhat oblivious to the danger.

Therefore, under the repeated requests of the good guys, Captain Sasaki made an extremely wrong decision. Four 96 land attack aircraft dropped from an altitude of 1,500 meters to about 800 meters to search for the Chinese.

Sure enough, the lowered altitude allowed them to see several Chinese positions. Four heavy bombs were thrown near the target by the "hungry" Japanese pilots, causing four plumes of thick gunpowder smoke to rise.

"Lieutenant Sasaki, I request you to lower your altitude and shoot at the Chinese. They must pay with their lives for their stupidity." A Japanese second lieutenant looked at the dark blue figure running in the smoke below with ferocious eyes.

"Second Lieutenant Fukai, we are here to carry out the mission of bombing the enemy infantry. Please don't forget your duty." Sasaki instinctively wanted to persuade this second lieutenant with a profound background.

"Captain Sasaki, I remember the Legion Commander said in front of all of us that the Imperial Army Aviation Eagles not only have the speed of an eagle, but also the will of an eagle to soar into the sky. The infantry of the Empire struggled under the Chinese artillery fire. As the most proud eagle of the empire, if he just dropped the bomb and left like a walk, I think it would be worse than a group of sparrows!" The Japanese second lieutenant's tone when answering his immediate superior was full of arrogance.

As a leader among the younger generation of Army aviation pilots, it may not be enough for this second lieutenant pilot to have such confidence to talk to his boss like this, but his uncle is a colonel, so this amount should be enough.

"Okay! Lieutenant Fukai, you have convinced me. I wish you good luck. I will sweep the formation for you at high altitude." Sasaki looked helpless, but he finally agreed to the proposal of his arrogant second lieutenant pilot.

There is only one Four Elements Group in North China, so there shouldn’t be another one popping up!

Sasaki's idea is correct. The success of the Four Elements Regiment is almost impossible to replicate. At least there is no regiment-level unit on the Chinese battlefield that can do this.

The Independent 46th Brigade with 12 heavy machine guns is also impossible. Even if the Civilian Type 24 heavy machine gun without an anti-aircraft machine gun mount temporarily raises the muzzle, the violent vibration of the gun body will prevent it from forming a stable ballistic trajectory, and it will almost hit the general. The four Japanese fighter planes that dropped to a low altitude of 500 meters posed no threat.

But the 46th Brigade also has four 25mm twin-mounted cannons. These are widely equipped on Japanese gunboats, destroyers, battleships, and even aircraft carriers. Their main function is for air defense.

Brigadier Kong Da’s original idea was to let Japanese planes drop bombs at high altitudes. If they were allowed to fly in the sky, ‘bumpkins’ like them, who simply ran on the ground on two legs, could only endure beatings.

As a result, the Japanese planes went even further. After dropping more than a dozen bombs, at least the 46th Independent Brigade suffered nearly a hundred casualties. Four Japanese planes even pounced down from high altitudes, looking like they were sure to defeat you. How could that be possible? Tolerate?

"I'm going to wipe Tenonai's. The little devil is forcing me to go to Liangshan. Okay, I don't intend to go back alive anyway. Today I will see if the little devil's machine cannon is good at hitting my own plane." In the woods. Brigadier Kong Da, who saw the Japanese plane lowering its nose and rushing down crazily, became angry and threw his helmet to the ground.

"Tell Lao Wang that if he shoots down a stupid plane today, the marriage he mentioned last time between his precious daughter and my eldest nephew will be settled."

Lao Wang is the commander of the heavy machine gun company directly under the headquarters of the 46th Independent Brigade. Four machine guns were seized this time. The commander of the heavy machine gun company, who had grown up naked with Brigadier Xiao and Kong Da, immediately replaced the cannon with a shotgun, and threw the four heavy machine guns to the two. An infantry regiment, the heavy machine gun company was directly transformed into a machine gun company.

Lao Wang is indeed synonymous with the future of "stealing people", and his patience exceeds everyone's imagination.

Four Japanese fighter planes had fired back and forth twice on the battlefield. The crazy whips had stained the blood of at least fifty or sixty soldiers of the 46th Independent Brigade.

Brigade Commander Kong cursed so hard that the Japanese pilots in the sky could hear him, but he remained unmoved until the Japanese plane returned again and the altitude dropped to less than 350 meters. Then the four 25mm twin-mounted machine guns hidden in the woods opened fire together.

Although the shooters of the heavy machine gun company also gained experience in machine gun live ammunition shooting by attacking the Ruicheng city wall, their shooting accuracy was completely incomparable to the old shooters of the Four-Line Regiment, but the Japanese planes flew too low, and they were still four guns fighting together.

"Long live the Imperial Army Aviation, kill!" The young Japanese Army Aviation Lieutenant was excited at this time, shouting slogans while pulling the machine gun firing wrench.

The next moment, the sound stopped abruptly.

What appeared in front of the Japanese Army Aviation Lieutenant was a blood-red!

A 25mm shell exploded right in front of his windshield, and the solid windshield was instantly blown into pieces. The face and chest of the Japanese Army Aviation Lieutenant, who was just extremely excited, were pierced with glass fragments like small daggers, just like the thorns of a frightened hedgehog that suddenly opened.

The Japanese Army Aviation Lieutenant instinctively threw away the rudder and touched his face full of glass fragments. The severe pain that instantly spread to his brain nerves made him scream in pain.

That was also the last time the Japanese pilots heard the voice of Lieutenant Fukai Sora.

After losing the control of the pilot, the fighter plane with thick smoke coming out of the tail quickly turned downward. Under Sasaki's stunned gaze, it crashed into the ground and exploded into a fireball. The whole process took no more than 3 seconds.

The other three Japanese planes were like frightened birds, and their noses quickly pulled up.

The dark face of Lao Wang, who liked to "steal people" the most, became twisted and hideous at this moment. He had already stolen, so he had to "steal" it once, right?