The defense line of the 2nd Battalion and 3rd Company of the 13th Regiment was set up at the forefront of the 8th high ground, and the fighting was most intense, not only with the infantry of the 3rd Company itself, but also with 2 heavy machine guns, 3 light machine guns and 2 60mm mortars, which were completely the firepower of a battalion. However, this firepower can also be seen from this configuration of firepower, which shows how important the position defended by the 3rd Company was.

Behind the defense line of the 3rd Company is a flat field, and the area behind the flat ground is the position of the artillery company, which has 4 75-mm field guns, and the 2nd Battalion has been notified that the artillery regiment will continue to reinforce an artillery company here, continue to compete for the artillery coverage of Heights 8, and try to completely reverse the situation on the Eastern Front.

"Ge Laozi, we are fighting here to the death, their artillery is good, they know to hide behind and shoot!" The company commander of the 3rd Company, Xie Yan, got up from the ground with a scolding, and then patted the dust on his body, but at this time, the military uniform on his body was already covered with mud, which made him frown even more.

"Ge Laozi, you know how to shoot 'cannons' at Lao Tzu's position!" Xie Yan had just soiled his uniform by falling to the ground to avoid the shelling, which made Xie Yan feel furious.

"And those artillerymen, damn, I know how to put empty cannons there, Lao Tzu fights so hard and I don't know how many cannons to shoot to support me!" Xie Yan continued to curse.

This, a sergeant next to him said in a low voice: "The artillery side does not have enough firing range, and they can't give us direct artillery support!" ”

Xie Yan didn't listen to it, but when he heard it, he scolded loudly: "Lao Tzu knows that Lao Tzu learned artillery at the Fuzhou Military Academy!" ”

scolded him and didn't care about a few people behind him, took out the Zeiss telescope to observe the front line, and then put down the telescope from time to time and took out a pen and paper to draw and write, and after about a while, he looked at the paper he drew repeatedly and said: "Give the order to the third row, let them pay attention to the small ditch in the east, where the Zhejiang army has touched it." ”

As soon as he finished speaking, he heard several whistling sounds, followed by several dull explosions, and it was the shelling of the Zhejiang army, Xie Yan had long known that the Zhejiang army on the opposite side had arranged at least 4 cannons to support in order to recapture the No. 8 heights, Xie Yan, who was born in the artillery department, knew that it was still far away from him when he heard the sound of the cannonball, so he didn't bow his head, but picked up the telescope and looked at the place where the cannonball fell, but after an instant, his face changed color.

After carefully looking at it with a telescope again, Xie Yan's face showed an anxious look: "Damn, this Shi Fengjun is too unlucky, he was bombed twice in half a day, herald, hurry up and check the situation and report back!" ”

Xie Yan's 3 companies were only strengthened by two heavy machine guns, one of which was Shi Fengjun's heavy machine gun group, and as a grassroots officer, Xie Yan had a great understanding of the power of heavy machine guns in just one day. As a result, Xie Yan greatly appreciated the light machine gun, but it was only when he led his troops to guard one of the defensive lines on Heights 8 that he really saw the power of the heavy machine gun for the first time.

As the enemy charged in waves, the heavy machine guns swept the enemy down one by one like cutting wheat. In the end, Xie Yan's relevant tactical arrangements were completely centered around two heavy machine guns and several light machine guns.

At present, Shi Fengjun's heavy machine gun team has been shelled, and I don't know if it was a simple casualty or even a heavy machine gun was reimbursed.

Xie Yan was expecting the heavy machine gun to rattle again, but he didn't hear it, and when the herald returned, he reported: "Company commander, the sergeant and others were shelled, the shells happened to fall in the trench, many members of the machine gun crew were killed, the sergeant was also seriously injured, and the heavy machine gun was also seriously damaged!" ”

"Damn!" Xie Yan wanted to scold something, but he didn't know where to scold for a while, and immediately said: "Order the second platoon to transfer the light machine gun to fill the vacant position!" ”

After the herald went, he continued to give the order, but when he found that there was no herald around him, he immediately said to his orderly: "You go to the battalion headquarters quickly, and say that we have lost a heavy machine gun, and now we urgently need heavy machine gun support!" ”

The orderly was stunned for a moment before he felt like he turned around and ran towards the battalion headquarters.

At this time, Xie Yan was again using a telescope to observe the front line. The Zhejiang army at this meeting obviously also found that the heavy machine gun that caused them heavy casualties was not sounding, and immediately organized a new round of charge. Although a light machine gun was transferred in time to replenish the position, the continuous firepower of the light machine gun and the continuous firepower of the heavy machine gun could not be compared at all, and it did not take long to change the magazine, and it was impossible to effectively suppress the enemy's attack.

Seeing that the situation was about to deteriorate, Xie Yan couldn't care less about scolding, and immediately shouted: "Reserves, follow me!" ”

But at this time, there was only one medic left behind Xie Yan!

At the same time, several generals of the Zhejiang army on the opposite side were holding binoculars to observe the battle situation ahead, and after putting down the binoculars, one of them said: "Yes, the eighth regiment is really the commander's descendant troops, and its combat effectiveness is extraordinary. ”

"Brigade Commander Li said that when he was in Xuzhou, the Eighth Regiment beat Zhang Xun to the ground, and today it is not easy to deal with a national army!" An officer next to him also said with a smile.

But at this time, a person on the side said: "The Eighth Regiment is ruthless, but the Nationalist Army on the opposite side is not weak, since the fierce battle in the morning, the people are only seven or eight hundred people in a battalion, and the front and rear have blocked the repeated charges of our two regiments, so that our army has suffered more than 500 casualties, and the Ninth Regiment is even more because of the mutiny." ”

Hearing this person's disgusting words, the faces of several officers on the side also became not very good-looking, and immediately the brigade commander snorted and said: "You only see that there are only 1,000 people, but you don't see that the firepower of the national army is much stronger than our army, and those heavy machine guns have caused us heavy casualties!" Now as soon as the artillery knocks out a heavy machine gun of the enemy, the enemy will still not be able to resist! ”

At this time, the headquarters of the 2nd Battalion on Heights 8 had already received reports of the loss of 3 companies of heavy machine guns, but there were only so many heavy machine guns, and they were not replenished at all after they were destroyed. And more importantly, the Zhejiang army's attack on the No. 8 Heights was not limited to one direction of the 3rd Company's position, but also launched a charge from several other directions at the same time, and the commander of the 2nd Battalion analyzed the information obtained from various places, and found that the enemy army was entangled in at least three or four thousand troops. ”

After Xu Jingqing, who had just returned from a meeting at the division headquarters, received a letter from the 2nd Battalion asking for help, he immediately sent a company to support, and then ordered the 1st and 3rd Battalions to launch an active offensive to create pressure on the Zhejiang army from the side, thereby indirectly relieving the pressure on the 2nd Battalion. However, in the afternoon, Xu Jingqing was rewarded, and the frontal enemy forces of the 1st and 3rd battalions increased on a large scale. If the enemy troops in front of the 2nd Battalion are added, according to preliminary judgment, the 13th Regiment faced as many as 10,000 enemies in front of it, while the 13th Regiment is only more than 3,000 people, and the situation becomes critical again.

At this time, in the headquarters of the First Division, Yuan Fang was discussing the military situation with several staff officers.

One of the operational staff officers said: "According to the information obtained so far, the 13th Regiment should be facing the Fourth Brigade and the Fifth Brigade of the Zhejiang Army. In addition, the cavalry company of the division reported that the 13th Regiment found an enemy force of several thousand people about ten miles away, and the staff speculated that because it was the sixth brigade of the Zhejiang army that had not appeared on the scene, it was rumored to be led by Zhu Rui himself.

In addition, the enemy's offensive in the direction of the 11th and 12th regiments has weakened, and there is no sign of a large-scale battle at present, which indicates that the enemy has put the main direction of attack on the eastern front in the future! ”

Yuan Fang looked at the map and asked after a while, "What is the situation of the 13th Regiment now?" ”

"According to Commander Xu's report, although the 13th Regiment is currently facing heavy enemy attacks, it is still relying on the first line of the No. 8 Heights for defensive operations, but the casualties are large, and Commander Xu has repeatedly sent requests for support!"

Looking at the layout of troops on the map, Yuan Fang also felt helpless.

Even though the firepower of the national army is better than that of the Zhejiang army, and even the training is better than that of the Zhejiang army, after all, it is the first time to fight on the battlefield, and the enemy army is Zhu Rui's second division, which has been fighting with Beiyang for half a year, and more importantly, it is at a great disadvantage in terms of troops, and the one-to-three disadvantage is not so easy to offset. There are so many troops of their own, but the other party can rely on the advantage of troops to mobilize heavy troops to besiege their subordinates.

"The battle line is still too long, and the battle line must be shortened!" Yuan Fang was silent for a long time and finally made a decision: "Order the 12th Regiment to move closer to the 13th Regiment, and be sure to send a battalion to the 13th Regiment defense area tonight; The 11th Regiment abandoned its original position and moved southeast to take over the defense area of the original 12th Regiment. ”

Yuan Fang has made up his mind to pay attention, since the number of troops is insufficient, then I will further shrink the defensive line, and finally rely on the advantage of firepower to defend and wait for reinforcements to arrive. Don't you Zhejiang army just want to go down in one fell swoop, see if I don't break your teeth.

When Yuan Fang made such a decision, Lin Zhaomin had already returned to the Shaoxing headquarters, and at this time, the first regiment of the guard division had already arrived in Shaoxing by boat.

"Deputy Division Commander Yu, you're finally here!" Lin Zhaomin was in a good mood after seeing Yu Ruofei.

Yu Ruofei first saluted the military salute before saying: "After two days of turbulence on the sea, it has finally arrived!" ”

"How are your troops, and when will they be ready to fight?" Lin Zhaomin knew that the First Division was in a hurry to wait for reinforcements.

Yu Ruofei said with a wry smile: "Some soldiers are seriously seasick, and the heavy weapons and equipment and ammunition will still be on the ship, I am afraid that it will be ...... for a while."

Lin Zhaomin nodded and said, "Then you should be able to recover tomorrow, right?" ”

Yu Ruofei said: "There is one night as a buffer, which is enough." ”

"That's good!" Lin Zhaomin said: "Ming said that your department will set off again!" ”