NCCnovel Chapter 108 Hell on Earth
Chapter 108 Hell on Earth
Kazuo Kihara was startled by the loud explosion, and then he squatted on the ground with his head in his hands.
Oops!
It turns out that the Eighth Route Army has two artillery groups!
After a calibration shot, the howitzer battalion's 60 105mm howitzers loaded with high-explosive shells began extended firing.
The 150mm infantry gun was also loaded with high-explosive shells and began to fire at the scattered Japanese soldiers.
In an instant, the short five-kilometer road slowly turned into a fire dragon.
The infantry at the front were torn to pieces by the strong airflow and fragments, with broken limbs flying everywhere and blood flowing like a river.
The artillery at the rear, along with their infantry guns, were lifted into the sky, and then slammed heavily to the ground, turning into a twisted ball.
Ten minutes of shelling plowed the road like a plowed field.
The 105 howitzer group fired 5000 shells in ten minutes.
The 150-man infantry gun fired 250 rounds in ten minutes.
The howitzer scout observed that the Japanese artillery regiment had been almost destroyed, so he began to move to the position of the Japanese infantry regiment and began to command the howitzers to eliminate the gathered infantry at a targeted point.
The 105mm howitzer responded, adjusted the firing angle, and cleared out the crowded Japanese soldiers point by point.
Kazuo Kihara was furious as he saw the cannonballs following them as if they had eyes.
In the past, the Imperial Army's artillery had always chased the Eighth Route Army, but why did it happen the other way around today? Kazuo Kihara had no time to lament that things had changed over time, so he quickly retreated with the remaining infantry.
When Kazuo Kihara fled back to Pingshun County in a panic, he found that there were less than 3800 people left in the reorganized regiment of more than 1500 people, and they had basically lost their combat effectiveness.
The artillery regiment was even worse off. All 12 infantry guns were lost, and more than 2300 artillerymen were too concentrated and their shells exploded, so only less than 800 escaped.
Nagano Yuichiro was so angry that he picked up his command knife and broke the desk.
"Baga! What is the intelligence department for? Why didn't they discover such important information that the Eighth Route Army had heavy artillery?"
Nagano Yuichiro called the North China Front Army Headquarters to demand accountability.
The chief of Section 2 of the General Staff and Tomoji Taka immediately took out the relevant reports and read their analysis reports word by word to Yuichiro Nagano.
"General, before the battle, we informed the 37th Division's staff that Li Yunlong's troops had heavy artillery, and asked them to take anti-artillery into consideration when formulating combat plans!"
Nagano Yuichiro was frustrated and hung up the phone angrily, then summoned his staff and questioned them one by one.
It turned out that he was an arrogant young officer who believed that the Eighth Route Army could not have heavy artillery.
After scolding the North China Front Army's General Staff for being stupid, he tore up all the intelligence about the Eighth Route Army having heavy artillery.
Just because of a stupid staff officer, a full-strength infantry regiment and an artillery regiment were ruined, and they didn't even see the Eighth Route Army.
Nagano Yuichiro immediately ordered the execution of the self-righteous staff officer and strictly ordered all staff officers to erase this matter from their minds.
After learning from his mistakes, Yuichiro Nagano reported to General Ningji Okamura and decided to continue to gather superior forces and speed up the offensive.
调集37师团步兵226联队、装甲车第37中队，与残余的225、227联队汇合，从背面进攻。
The 69th Division of Linfen area, led by Keisuke Miura Tadayoshi, the 82th Infantry Brigade, and the 83nd/84rd/85th/th Independent Infantry Battalions, attacked the Independent Column’s headquarters from the direction of Changzhi.
At the same time, the First Flying Regiment of Taiyuan (Yi'e Flying Regiment) was mobilized to bomb the artillery positions of the Independent Column.
The First Flying Regiment consists of the Fifth Flying Squadron (light bomber), the Eighth Flying Squadron (fighter), and the Third Independent Flying Squadron (heavy bomber), with a total of 48 aircraft.
Nagano Yuichiro was given three days to rest. He piled all the information on his desk and analyzed the combat effectiveness of the independent column word by word.
As Nagano Yuichiro's investigation deepened, he was completely shocked by the terrifying existence of the Independent Column. He regretted his stupid decision, but was also grateful for having saved his life.
A large number of automatic weapons, well-trained professional soldiers, and a large number of field artillery and heavy artillery.
This level of firepower far exceeds that of all Japanese troops at the same level.
Nagano Yuichiro fell into deep thought, how could he defeat such a terrifying existence?
Apart from air superiority, they have no other advantages.
The most likely tactic to succeed now is to use aircraft bombing to suppress the Eighth Route Army's artillery, and then take the opportunity to push the infantry to the front of the Eighth Route Army's position, build fortifications, and then mix with the Eighth Route Army to make the Eighth Route Army's artillery unable to cope.
Based on this idea, Nagano Yuichiro drew up a combat plan and reported it to the North China Front Army Headquarters.
Before this, the Eighth Route Army had always taken the initiative in close combat, but unexpectedly, the Japanese would also follow suit and learn to fight like the Eighth Route Army.
After the shelling ended, Li Yunlong and Wang Meng personally went to Zhang Dabiao's position to offer their commendations.
"Zhang Dabiao. I didn't expect you to be good at commanding artillery? How about we let you switch with Wang Chengzhu?"
Zhang Dabiao chuckled, feeling a little embarrassed.
"Commander, being an artilleryman is good, but it's not fun to not be able to chop off the Japanese's heads myself! I'd better stay in the infantry regiment."
"You have some ideas, kid. Okay, I'll give you a bowl of instant noodles, but don't eat it all by yourself. Give some to the Second and Third Regiments. After all, they also contributed manpower and artillery!"
"Yes!"
Li Yunlong and Wang Meng then went to the howitzer position and saw Wang Chengzhu slurping instant noodles.
"Well done, Zhuzi!"
Wang Chengzhu swallowed the instant noodles in no time and then wiped his mouth.
"Commander, Chief of Staff, I didn't embarrass you, did I?"
"Not bad, not bad. It seems you haven't been slacking off during this period. Keep working hard. When you have trained your artillery well, I will ask the Chief of Staff to get you a 150mm howitzer!"
Wang Chengzhu's eyes lit up when he heard this. The 150mm howitzer is a big gun, and it is guaranteed to not make a sound if it hits a person.
"Really? Chief of Staff!"
When Wang Meng saw that Li Yunlong had already slipped away, he realized that he was a local rich man.
However, the Japanese suffered a loss this time, and next time they might dispatch a heavy artillery regiment. At that time, we really need to get some 150mm howitzers. The 105mm howitzers alone are not enough.
"Practice well, you will have plenty of good guys. The most important thing right now is to prevent the enemy from retaliating. The Japanese will definitely not give up after suffering such a big loss. The planes may arrive soon."
"Chief of Staff, all our howitzers are in holes, and our anti-aircraft guns are ready. When the Japanese planes arrive, we'll see how we can shoot them down with our slingshots!"
Wang Meng nodded. Wang Chengzhu was a rough but smart boy, and a good candidate for artillery duty.
"Okay, when you shoot down a plane, we'll give you a 150mm howitzer."
Wang Chengzhu shouted loudly, fearing that Wang Meng would go back on his word.
"Brothers, did you hear that? The Chief of Staff has spoken. Once we shoot down the plane, we will have 150mm howitzers!"