Chapter 653 Iron Fist Force (II)

There are two trains that Shen Shanglian brought to Borobao. One was an ordinary armored train, armed only with small and medium-caliber cannons, and the other was a train gun equipped with 280 mm naval guns, in addition to a small number of sappers, but due to the lack of heavy machinery and equipment, it was not possible to repair the railway bridge that was blown up by the Japanese army.

The railway bridge was just a small bridge, and according to Shen Shanglian's experience, as long as he had enough heavy machinery and equipment, he could repair it in a few hours with just these sappers under his command, but he really didn't have those machinery and equipment on hand now.

Fortunately, the telegram was received just now, and the engineering troops behind had already arrived in Tashan Town, and would arrive at Borobao Town at noon today, and the main force was close behind, and if nothing else, the Battle of Gepin would be able to start today.

Shen Shanglian's hanging heart was put down, and he immediately ordered the artillery observation balloon on the train gun to be raised, although it was still more than 20 kilometers away from Gaiping, but relying on the artillery observation balloon, it was still possible to reconnoiter the battlefield.

On the telegram just now, Wu Luzhen, the former commander-in-chief of the enemy, had suggested that the railway artillery temporarily retreat. In order to make sure everything, but Shen Shanglian did not immediately order a retreat, he wanted to reconnoiter again, after all, this place is already very close to Gaiping, in order to ensure the order of the arrival of the main force, it is necessary for the railway artillery to take some risks, and with the thick armor and powerful firepower on the armored train, even if it is attacked by the Japanese army, Shen Shanglian is sure to hold on until the main force arrives, according to the information currently available, the Japanese Kwantung Army is only equipped with a small number of field heavy howitzers, although there are some heavy siege artillery, But it is difficult to maneuver, and it is difficult to threaten the maneuverable armored train.

Out of caution, Shen Shanglian also sent some soldiers at the same time, driving the patrol car towed behind the train cannon to patrol the railway line north of Boluobao to ensure the safety of the railway, on this way, he rushed too fast, whether there were Japanese troops stranded in the area north of Boluobao Town, he did not know, so he needed to send a special 'door' patrol team, as for the patrol car, it was a light rail car manufactured by Wuhan Locomotive Factory, powered by diesel engines, which could be used to patrol the railway. You can also walk in front of the armored train and train guns to explore the way, this time to Boluobao Town, Shen Shanglian carried a total of two such patrol cars, surrounded by armor, set up machine guns, both defensive and offensive power, much stronger than infantry.

Just when the artillery observation balloon rose to a height of more than 20 meters, the observer standing in the balloon gondola rang the electric bell, which was a signal, indicating that the air threat was detected and the balloon height needed to be lowered immediately.

Shen Shanglian heard the electric bell, hurriedly ran out of the train gun command room, climbed on the roof of the car, looked at the sky, and soon saw a small black dot, but the distance was still far away, and it was not clear whether it was a Chinese plane or a Japanese plane for the time being, the reason why the balloon observers were in a hurry to descend the height of the balloon was mainly out of caution, of course, if the height of the balloon was too high. Then you have to rely on that parachute.

After a few minutes, the roar of the engine became clearer and clearer, and Shen Shanglian carefully identified the plane flying from the south with a telescope, and finally confirmed that it was a Japanese plane, and the sunburst flag on the wings was quite eye-catching.

"Air defense! Air defence! ”

Shen Shanglian jumped off the train and gave the order.

"Woo———— woo————"

The air defense sirens sounded violently, and all the officers and men immediately prepared for battle, and the roof of the armored train and the air defense combat car of the train gun was also opened, the hydraulic press lifted the air defense weapon platform in the car, the anti-aircraft "fire" guns raised their muzzles one after another, and the machine gunners also set up machine guns on the roofs of the town, and the muzzles of the guns were all pointed at the southern sky.

There are two main types of anti-aircraft 'fire' guns on the trains: one is a 47-mm medium-caliber high-firing gun, which feeds ammunition with a cartridge, and the other is a 20-mm small-caliber high-firing gun, which feeds ammunition with a drum.

Soon, the Japanese Navy's "Falman" fighter flew over the town of Boroburg at an altitude of about 1,000 meters, and swooped down on the armored train parked outside the town.

"Fire! Fire! ”

The commander of the anti-aircraft 'shooting' artillery immediately gave an order, and in an instant, dozens of 'high-firing' guns of different calibers opened fire almost simultaneously, and the shells flew into the sky with the tracer light of orange and red, and exploded at different heights, and dozens of 'flowers' of death immediately bloomed in the sky. Shrapnel flew one after another, forming a barrage.

In this dense rain of bullets, the Japanese naval fighter was still desperately trying to get closer to the railway line, and struggled to drop a few small bombs from the plane, these aerial bombs, weighing only a few kilograms, certainly did not threaten the safety of the armored train, and did not even throw on the railway line, but just fell far away in the farmland, blowing up some dirt.

The anti-aircraft guns continued to fire into the sky, and at the same time, the machine gunners in the town couldn't help but open fire, but at the current altitude, it was impossible for the machine guns to pose a direct threat to the aircraft, and it was the anti-aircraft guns that really worked.

"Boom! Rumble! ”

Almost at the same time, two high-altitude 'fire' shells exploded near the Japanese fighter, and the flying shrapnel almost immediately tore the thin plane in half, and the train artillerymen on the ground watched as the plane disintegrated at an altitude of 1,000 meters, and then split into several parts, spinning and falling from high altitude to the ground, two of which were pilots, and for some unknown reason, until they fell to the ground and fell into a 'meat' pie, and they did not open their parachutes.

"Probably Japanese pilots don't carry parachutes. Now the Japanese army can still fly aircraft. This is a bit unreasonable, and our air force needs to make persistent efforts. ”

Shen Shanglian put away the binoculars and muttered a few words to the staff officers beside him, to be honest, he was indeed a little strange, the Japanese Kwantung Army was still able to dispatch planes to fight, which seemed to show that the Chinese Air Force's clearance operation was not very perfect.

After this frightening air raid, Shen Shanglian did not dare to be careless, and after arranging the air defense forces, he once again ordered the artillery observation balloon to be raised to monitor the southern battlefield.

Twenty minutes later. Information came from the balloon observers that a Japanese unit was coming from the direction of Gaiping, with a strength of about 1,000 men, and was still ten kilometers away from the town of Boroburg, and it was in a marching column.

This distance is a bit far, Shen Shanglian did not immediately order the cannon, he waited patiently for more than ten minutes, and waited for the Japanese army to get closer, and then he decisively gave the order to open the artillery.

The artillerymen quickly loaded the shells of the 280-mm train gun into the barrel, and then quickly withdrew to a safe area, prostrate on the ground, and an artilleryman holding an electronically controlled fire-starter stared at Shen Shanglian's face.

"Fire!"

Shen Shanglian gave an order, only to hear the sound of "boom", the earth shook, the cannonball rushed out of the muzzle, flew into the air, the strong muzzle impact 'wave' "stirred" the air near the train cannon "stirred" and "swinged", so that everyone felt the strong pressure from the air.

Bombarding the infantry queue with naval artillery is somewhat like killing 'chickens' with knives, but in order to deter the Japanese army and cover the retreat of the Chinese civilians in the town, Shen Shanglian still decided to fire a few cannons.

A few seconds later, the 280-millimeter high-explosive shell landed on the ground from the air, and the distance was so far that most of the artillerymen actually did not see any flash of explosion, but the balloon observers did observe the explosion of the shell.

"Near-missed! Easterly! The error is 500 meters! The ranks of the Japanese army have changed! ”

"Fix the ballistics!"

Shen Shanglian gave the order to re-fire with an expressionless face, and a few minutes later, another 280 mm high-explosive bomb passed, this time, the shell did not miss, directly hit the Japanese ranks, and caused some casualties, but the Japanese troops did not retreat, only scattered slightly, and then continued to advance in a skirmish formation towards the town of Borobao.

"Have the people of the town retreated?"

Shen Shanglian asked the staff officer and received a positive answer. If the people were unwilling to abandon their family business before, then after the train cannon fired, the people were finally willing to retreat, after all, the sound of the cannon was louder than the thunder, even people without military common sense can understand that this Borobao town is about to become a battlefield, and the gentleman does not stand under the dangerous wall, and the Russo-Japanese War of that year is a historical experience.

"Let's get out too! Heroes don't suffer immediate losses! ”

Shen Shanglian decisively gave the order to retreat, although the armored train is not afraid of the infantry, but if it is surrounded by more than 1,000 Japanese infantry, it is not a happy thing, after all, the main task of the railway artillery is not to entangle with the enemy infantry, and now the main force of their own infantry has not yet rushed over, it is better to retreat as soon as possible before the enemy rushes to the front.

"Woo———— woo————"

A few long whistles, the train cannon left first, the powerful power of the steam engine pushed the train to the north quickly, Shen Shanglian commanded the armored train to be in charge of the palace, standing in the driver's cab of the locomotive, Shen Shanglian glanced south, and then took a sip of hatred.

"Lao Tzu will come back! When the time comes, don't blame Lao Tzu for being polite! ”

This retreat was retreated to a distance of 20 kilometers, and it was here that Shen Shanglian met the main force and the engineering troops, and Wu Luzhen, the former commander-in-chief of the enemy, also arrived by train with the former enemy headquarters.

Asked about the situation ahead, Wu Luzhen did not immediately give the order to attack, but decided to rest on the spot and wait for the follow-up troops to arrive.

Although the second, third, fourth, and fifth armies received orders to advance south at the same time, considering the terrain of the northern part of the Liaodong Peninsula, in order to prevent crowding, Wu Luzhen placed the Fifth Army and the Second Army at the forefront, and the Third Army and the Fourth Army were temporarily placed between Liaoyang and Yingkou as reserves.

The Japanese unit that had advanced to the town of Boroburg did not continue to advance north, but stopped in the town of Boroburg, where it appeared that the Japanese troops were attempting to set up an outpost in the town according to the report of the Chinese cavalry reconnaissance unit that had gone to reconnoitre.

At this time, the Second Army had not yet arrived, and Wu Luzhen finally decided to send an infantry unit to assist the railway artillery in attacking the town of Borobao, which would be used as an outpost for the Chinese attacking forces.

At five o'clock in the afternoon, the attack was launched, under the cover of railway artillery, two infantry regiments carried out a frontal attack on the town of Borobao, although the Japanese resistance was very stubborn, but only an hour of resistance, the Japanese soldiers' will to fight collapsed under the power of flamethrowers and train guns, most of the Japanese army was annihilated, and the small part of the Japanese army fled in the direction of Gaiping, and the town of Borobao was declared to be recovered a few hours after the fall.

The rest depends on the engineers, under the support of heavy machinery and equipment, the engineers played a very high work efficiency, and repaired the railway bridge that was blown up by the Japanese army before dark, and at this time, the Second Army finally arrived at the battlefield, that is, in this army, Shen Shanglian met the former commander of the train artillery unit, Zou Runyou.

Now Zou Runyou is the supreme commander of the armored forces, and he was accompanied by an armored regiment equipped with tanks and armored vehicles, accompanied by field artillery.

Shen Shanglian was very envious of Zou Runyou, in his opinion, the mobility of tanks and armored vehicles is far superior to that of armored trains, and this is the correct direction for the development of armored forces, and this is the real "iron fist force" of the army.

Of course, envy is envy, how much of a role the armored forces can play in this battle still needs to be tested in actual combat, after all, the terrain in the northern part of the Liaodong Peninsula is not suitable for a rapid assault of armored forces.