On the afternoon of July 3, the night and the day of July 4, the harassment of the artillery of the Nationalist army passed quietly, and the time soon came to the night of July 4.

Under the excavation of the 10th Engineer Wing day and night, eight tunnels more than two meters deep and two meters wide extending from the Japanese attack position finally advanced under the northern city wall of Hankou!

For this, the 10th Engineer Wing paid a heavy price of more than 500 casualties!

It's just that in Shinozuka Yoshio's opinion, the casualties of more than 500 people are completely worth it, because these 500 casualties have won the 10th Division an opportunity that is enough to determine the outcome of the war!

……

At night, Yoshio Shinozuka once again ascended to the Toyo Mountain Observatory.

This time, Yoshio Shinozuka was followed to climb Mt. Toyohe, in addition to Chief of Staff Tsutsumi Buki, the commander of the 8th Infantry Brigade Okada and the commander of the 33rd Infantry Brigade, Kei Seya.

Kai Seya is the captain of the Seya detachment who was almost wiped out in Taierzhuang!

It is precisely because of the Battle of Taierzhuang that the originally empty-eyed Seya Kai has become very cautious, and it can be said that the whole person's concept of war has been completely subverted!

At this time, Kei Seya is trying his best to persuade Yoshio Shinozuka to be cautious.

"Division Commander!" Seya Kai advised, "It's too risky to invest sixteen infantry squadrons at once, sixteen infantry squadrons are equivalent to four infantry brigades, in case there is a mistake, Okayama and Matsue will be wasted!" In addition, the 40th Infantry Wing has just been rebuilt, so the combat effectiveness of our 10th Division is very worrying! ”

"Miss?" Tsutsumi retorted, "General Seya, I would like to ask, what can be missing?" ”

"We must not pin our hopes on the fact that the Chinese army does not know how to transcend the shooting method!" Kei Seya didn't despise him because he was a big sake, and his attitude became more sincere.

After a pause, Kei Seya continued: "Yes, since the twenties, as heavy machine guns were generally valued by the world powers, the way of infantry attack has undergone a revolutionary change, the dense attack queue has been gradually abandoned, and the skirmish line with a single soldier interval of more than five or even ten meters has gradually been valued, which has made the transcendent shooting method invented by the German army in the Battle of the Somme River gradually forgotten by the world because of the greatly reduced killing efficiency. ”

"But that doesn't mean that the Chinese army has never heard of the Transcendence Shooting Method!"

"After all, there are many senior officers in the Chinese Army who have studied in the United States or Germany, such as Zhong Yi, who graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point, and he probably read about the Battle of the Somme from the library of the West Point Military Academy!"

"Just because you've read the Battle of the Somme doesn't mean you know how to shoot beyond it!" ”

After a pause, he said, "For example, General Seya, you have also read the Battle of the Somme, but you don't know how to shoot beyond it!" ”

In fact, not only Kei Seya, but almost no one in the entire 10th Division knew how to surpass the shooting!

Yoshio Shinozuka is also a chance to see it by accident from a military publication!

Seya Kaiyan's face turned slightly red when he heard this, and he said, "I don't know the transcendence shooting method, but Zhong Yi may not." ”

"General Seya, this is just your guess!" Di Bujia Gui said, "We can't cancel an operation that is very likely to determine the direction of the Battle of Wuhan because of your simple guess!" ”

When Seya Kai was about to say more, he asked Yoshio Shinozuka to stop him.

Yoshio Shinozuka is like this, he is very willing to listen to various opinions before making a decision, but once a decision is made, then no one can change his decision!

At that moment, Yoshio Shinozuka said: "Seya-kun, I already understand what you mean, but you may not understand that the transcendent shooting method used by the German army in the Battle of the Somme is actually difficult to replicate!" First of all, are the heavy machine guns of the Chinese army enough? And how much more of their bullet reserves can support the huge consumption of the Yue Chao shooting method? ”

After a pause, Yoshio Shinozuka said again: "What's more, if the Shina Army wants to use the Transcendence Shooting Method, it must deploy heavy machine guns to open places, and in this way, it will also give the artillery cluster of the Imperial Army a chance to eliminate it at a fixed point!" Seya-kun didn't think that the imperial artillery couldn't clear dozens of heavy machine guns, right? ”

"Hello!" Seya Keimeng paused, and then continued, "Division commander, doesn't the Shina Army have a bunker?" ”

Yoshio Shinozuka said: "The Shina army did build a bunker, but the bunker has a great restriction on the firing angle of the heavy machine gun, and it is impossible to use the overshoot method in the bunker!" ”

"Sodesnay." Kei Seya said, "In this way, it's really a bit of a humble job. ”

"No, no, caution is necessary." Yoshio Shinozuka waved his hand, and then continued, "But tonight's attack is imperative!" Didn't you notice that the momentum of the Second Army's attack had slowed down? Once it falls into a protracted battle in Wuhan, even the battle of Wuhan may be reversed! ”

After a pause, Yoshio Shinozuka said again: "Therefore, the battle of Wuhan must be resolved quickly!" ”

"Hello!" Hearing this, Seya Kai was awe-inspiring, and said heavily, "I understand my humble position!" ”

……

In the night, Aso Hiroshi followed Ito Shinobu closely and walked forward step by step.

Because the sky was too dark to see the ground under his feet clearly, Aso Hiroshi suddenly stepped on the empty place and immediately fell to the ground, and the military kettle on his waist collided with the ground, making a soft sound.

A low-pitched shout immediately came from the front: "Baga, be careful with your step!" ”

Shinobu Ito also turned back and threw a stern glance at Aso, who quickly rolled over and got up, drooping his head like a schoolboy who had done something wrong, and followed behind Ito Shinobu again.

Ito Kanobu lowered his voice and said, "When marching at night, don't step on your feet, you have to step on your toes first, and then step on the ground after touching the ground!" ”

"Hello!" Aso paused, and replied in a low voice.

As he spoke, Aso looked behind him.

I saw that under the dark night, a group of imperial soldiers were groping forward along the curved tunnel, with steel helmets and bayonets, reflecting a faint light under the starry sky.

When he was quietly advancing forward, he suddenly found that Ito Kashinobu who was walking in front had stopped, and turned around and patted his steel helmet, Aso Hiroshi stopped, and then reached out and patted the steel helmet of the imperial soldier who followed behind.

After a while, the imperial army that was groping for progress all stopped, and then crouched down on both sides of the tunnel.

Aso squatted against the side wall of the pit with a rifle in one hand and his knee in the other.

Although he participated in two battles and escaped death twice, at this moment, Aso Hiroshi found himself still so nervous that he almost suffocated!

(End of chapter)