Chapter 237: Group Leap Forward
The infantry platoon that launched the feint attack formed two skirmish lines with three infantry squads, rushing to the front of the main attack squad, the sergeant squad leader advanced with the squad light machine gun crew, and the remaining three rifle groups made a feint assault.
An infantry squad of twelve people is divided into four groups, including a light machine gun group and a rifle group, the combat core of the infantry squad is light machine guns, so the squad leader of each squad is responsible for managing and controlling machine gun fire, providing cover and support for the assault rifle group.
After a charge, the Japanese positions in the distance were getting closer and closer, and the soldiers of the feint platoon tightened the trigger and prepared to engage the enemy.
The Japanese defensive position was fired at by the 82 mortars of the preparatory battalion, and the two mortars could not cover the entire Japanese position, at most they could cause a certain amount of damage to the Japanese soldiers in the foxhole.
The other part was the reinforcements of the 59th Wing, and after the shelling, the Japanese soldiers in the foxhole took refuge in the anti-artillery holes, and only the Japanese troops in the bunker remained in their positions.
The core of the defense of the Japanese position is the pillbox, which is a field fortification built urgently by the Japanese sappers, there are about eight or nine fortresses on the entire defense line, the inside of the fortress is quite spacious, it can accommodate two light machine gun groups or a heavy machine gun group at the same time, and there are spare ammunition inside, the Japanese army has built these fortifications in a short period of time after launching an attack on the Chinese army, and the efficiency and flexibility can be said to be quite high.
The observation post in the fort saw that the Chinese troops were getting closer and closer, so they fired their guns into the sky from the opening behind the fort, which was a signal agreed upon by the Japanese military in advance.
The forward squad of the infantry platoon of the first company in the charge was exactly less than 200 meters away from the Japanese army at this time, and the prescribed firing distance of the Japanese defenders in the position was 120 meters, which was much earlier than the previous firing distance.
The Japanese troops everywhere placed a certain amount of ammunition in the foxholes, and the positions and positions, and the communication trenches and pillboxes were connected to each other, and this urgently constructed fortification was about to come in handy.
"The shelling is stopping, get ready for battle!" As the attacking infantry platoon and the Japanese position got closer and closer, the mortar fire of the preparatory battalion also decreased, and when it came to the distance of the Japanese fire, everything had to be fought by the infantry platoon itself.
Rushing to the front of the attack squad, that is, the first squad leader under Platoon Commander Liu held the Zhongzheng rifle, three meters away on the right hand side is the light machine gun shooter in the squad, the first squad rushed to the front, lined up in a skirmish line, there was a distance of more than three meters between each soldier, the squad leader, the machine gun shooter and the machine gun deputy shooter formed a machine gun group, and the other three groups of rifle groups advanced in parallel on the two wings of the light machine gun group.
The squad leader saw that the artillery fire on the Japanese position was gradually thinning, and the speed of his legs continued to increase, which drove the assault speed of the entire infantry squad, and the action of holding the gun in one hand also turned into holding the gun in two hands, and the body of the Zhongzheng rifle was gradually raised, and the muzzle of the gun was pointed directly at the Japanese position.
"Boom" - with the explosion of the last mortar shell, the fire cover provided by the 82nd mortar platoon ended here, which also meant that the Japanese were about to open fire.
"Spread out, spread out, it's coming!" Warnings and battle orders sounded in the attacking infantry platoon, and the forward squad further dispersed the distance between the individual soldiers.
After a burst of machine gun sound, the Japanese soldiers in the foxhole followed the machine guns in the fort and opened fire with the rifles in their hands, attacking the national infantry in front of them.
After the Japanese opened fire, the attacking infantry platoon inevitably suffered casualties, two soldiers in the first squad of the forward were knocked down, and the second and third squads in the rear were slightly better, but one soldier was shot through the steel helmet by a bullet from the 38th rifle and fell to the ground on the spot.
"Get down!" The first squad leader quickly lay down, the light machine gunner on the right hand side moved very tacitly in the direction of the first squad leader, the deputy shooter also climbed over, the light machine gunner loaded the light machine gun, aimed the crosshair at the Japanese stragglers who were firing, and pulled the trigger.
Three short machine gun shots rang out, the light machine gun group opened fire at the same time, the three rifle groups of the first squad began to assault one by one, when the first squad was under Japanese fire, it was about 120 meters away from the Japanese position on the first line, and it was still far away, after the light machine gun group controlled by the squad leader fired at the Japanese army, a rifle group led by the deputy squad leader took the lead in launching an assault, the first squad lost two soldiers under the rapid fire of the Japanese army, and only the rifle group led by the deputy squad leader had no casualties among the three rifle groups, and the other two rifle groups lost one soldier, the most complete rifle group launched a surprise attack.
Behind them, the light machine guns of the second and third squads also opened fire to help, covering the first squad of infantry, and the Soviet-style light machine guns in front of the position also sounded one after another, and the remaining two rifle groups of the first squad lay down on the spot and covered the rifle crews that were assaulting with rifle fire.
The so-called group leap forward, when a group is in a surprise attack, the rest of the personnel must concentrate their firepower as much as possible to attack the enemy and provide fire cover for the group that is assaulting.
Most of the Japanese troops in the foxhole began to shoot, and in the forts built, there were only four or five fortresses, that is, about half of them were shooting, and the Japanese troops would not expose all their firepower until they had to do so, at least they thought that the dozens of Chinese soldiers in front of the position were not worth their complete fire now.
The machine gun fire in the fortress not only caused casualties to the first squad of the assault at the beginning, but also the second and third squads in the back were also swept down by machine guns, and the three-person rifle group that launched the first assault miraculously no one was hit, and the three veterans covered each other, constantly maneuvering, and sometimes shooting on the move, and the three people jumped more than ten meters and stopped, and no one was knocked down.
"Hurry up!" The leader of the first squad shouted to the rifle group behind the flank, the first group has advanced, it is time for the second group to go up, each group has advanced a certain distance and then stopped, and the group behind has gone up in turn, so that the distance to the enemy can be continuously shortened.
The second group had already lost one person, after the first group led by the deputy squad leader jumped forward, the second group rushed out from the left flank of the machine gun group and began to carry out their leap, the Japanese were not stupid, when the first rifle group skillfully jumped forward, the Japanese began to increase their vigilance and concentrate their firepower on the national army that launched a surprise attack in front of the formation.