After listening to Tao Jingfei's idea of changing tactics, Yang Zhen did not answer him immediately, but stood up and looked at the map of the entire Tianjin city hanging on the wall. His eyes were on the red arrows marking the progress of the attacking troops, and he examined them for a long time before he said, "Do you have a detailed setup of the Japanese artillery positions now?" ”

"And the Japanese naval fleet on the Haihe River, have you figured out the rules of its actions? Judging from your previous battle situation, now we want to completely solve the enemy defending Tianjin and take Tianjin as completely as possible. Solving the Japanese artillery and the Japanese naval fleet on the Haihe River, this is where the key problem lies. ”

No. 1 did not answer his own request first, but instead asked about the Japanese fire support. Tao Jingfei was slightly stunned, then immediately reacted, and hurriedly walked to the map and said: "No. 1, judging from the number of Japanese artillery that has been discovered so far, the artillery deployed by the Japanese army in Tianjin is quite strong. ”

"Although we solved part of the Japanese artillery in the peripheral battles, especially in the battles between Junliangcheng and Yangliuqing. However, the strength of the Japanese artillery in Tianjin is still quite strong. Tianjin was the strategic supply center of the Japanese army in North China, and the number of large and small military warehouses of the Japanese army here was far higher than that of Beiping. ”

"There are not only military warehouses and reserve weapons warehouses for the Japanese army, but also a large number of naval warehouses here. Almost one-third of the reserve weapons of the entire Japanese North China Front were stored in Tianjin. Here, the navy has also hoarded a lot of equipment and supplies. ”

"The artillery installed by the Japanese naval ships and the Japanese anti-aircraft artillery groups on both sides of the Haihe River were mainly transferred from these military warehouses. There were even some weapons and ammunition that were produced locally by the Japanese army using the Tianjin Dagu Shipyard. It was precisely because of the abundance of ammunition that the Japanese army could use artillery on the battlefield at any cost. ”

"Although we solved part of the Japanese artillery in the peripheral operation, the Japanese army used the stock artillery to restore part of its strength in a short period of time. At present, the artillery of the Japanese army in Tianjin is equipped with the exception of the artillery belonging to a division. Not counting the warships of the Japanese Navy on the Haihe River, there was also a separate field heavy artillery brigade, two separate mountain artillery squadrons, at least one separate mortar group, and four separate artillery squadrons equipped with old artillery from stock. ”

"All of its artillery strength is combined, there are hundreds of mountain artillery, mortars of more than 100 millimeters and howitzers. From the past few days of operations, we have found that the Japanese artillery has adopted the tactics of dispersing and deploying in squadrons and firing in a concentrated manner. In addition to the fact that each artillery group has its own blocking direction, the all-round firing is carried out by a separate mobile artillery group. Moreover, these mobile artillery groups are mainly borne by the naval guns of the Japanese Navy fleet on the Haihe River. ”

"Judging from the locations where the Japanese artillery has been deployed now, its large-caliber artillery positions are mainly deployed in Shishan Street in the Japanese Concession, Yanshouli in the British Concession, and Tongxingli and Mobil Kerosene Company in Hedong. In total, there were eleven Meiji 38 150 mm howitzers, 2 91 105 mm howitzers, and six Meiji 38 120 mm howitzers. ”

The mountain artillery positions are mainly deployed in Zhonghouli and Liujiatai in Hedong, Shoufeng Flour Company and Xiushan School in the Italian Concession, Tianjin Normal School in Hebei and the front line of the Sailor Battalion. In Hexi, it is mainly concentrated in the French barracks and Tongyili in the French Concession, as well as the Confucian Temple and Yoshino Street in the Japanese Concession.

"All its artillery positions, except for the Shoufeng Flour Company and Xiushan School in Hedong, and the French Barracks and Confucius Temple in Hexi. Almost all of them are set in densely populated areas. Even directly on the spot use of reinforced civilian buildings, opening artillery firing ports on the walls. Although the firing range was somewhat limited, it also prevented us from carrying out air strikes. ”

"One, the Japanese are cunning in the setting of artillery positions. A large number of parks and school playgrounds in Tianjin were not used, and most of the artillery positions were set up in residential areas. Even despite the difficulty of artillery maneuvering, it was placed in the alley area, and the artillery positions selected were the most densely populated areas. ”

At the same time, all the artillery positions of the Japanese army were set up in the core of the main defense area that they were entrenched. After determining the Japanese artillery positions, we organized ground assault troops to attack their artillery positions on many occasions. However, because the surrounding Japanese army deployed heavy troops to block the attack, they failed to achieve their goal. ”

"But No. 1, we also found in the battle that the Japanese artillery in Tianjin, the number of new artillery is not much. The main force is still the old-fashioned Type 38 field artillery and the Type 41 mountain artillery, and even a considerable part of the old-fashioned Type 31 mountain artillery with short range and low power, as well as the trophies captured in the battle with Chongqing. The 150-mm howitzers that the independent heavy artillery brigade was equipped with were also mainly Meiji 38-type 150-mm howitzers. ”

"It's just that these old things are not worth mentioning in the field, but in this kind of street fighting, the power is not small. The firing range of several thousand meters of the Trinity mountain artillery is almost like a toy in front of the Soviet-style cannon of our division. But in this Tianjin city, it still poses a lot of threats to us. ”

"As for the Japanese naval fleet on the Haihe River, the scope of activity is mainly from the mouth of the Sancha River upstream to the Yangzhuang section of the river downstream. However, there is no fixed berthing place, and it is basically not stationed in one position for a long time. Basically, the situation there is critical, so we will support in that direction. ”

"Although the Japanese air force has attacked us, there are still one gunboat, two shallow-water heavy gunboats and two sea-sweeping boats, seven temporarily converted mobile barges and sailboats, three icebreakers equipped with artillery, and five small gunboats."

"According to the intelligence of the underground party in Tianjin, as well as the combat experience of the past few days, these ships are equipped with a total of one 152-mm naval gun, four 120-mm high-level dual-purpose guns, and seven 76-mm anti-aircraft guns. The number of temporarily installed 41 and 31 mountain guns is at least 10 or more, and as for the original equipment and the temporary installation of small-caliber machine guns, the number is as high as several dozen. ”

"In fact, the threat posed by these ships to our entire combat operation is not only the long range and great power of the naval guns. The biggest threat is its ability to maneuver. They drove up and down the Haihe River, where the Japanese line was in danger and immediately opened fire in that direction. ”

"Although Tianjin is a river port, it is impossible to drive large warships. However, under the painstaking management of the Western powers for many years, there are not only several large and small piers in the city, but also the waterways and docks are specially designed. Small and medium-sized warships can complete the U-turn without leaving the city. ”

"Before we could attack the city, the Japanese army blew up the ice on the river in the city of Tianjin. Coupled with the coordinated actions of the three strengthened icebreakers, the refrozen ice on the Haihe River has been continuously opened. At present, the ice on the Haihe River not only failed to restrict the maneuver of Japanese warships, but on the contrary, our army was unable to use the ice on the Haihe River to open up the connection between the two sides of the Haihe River. ”

On both sides of the Haihe River, the Japanese army set up a large number of 25-mm anti-aircraft guns and 13-mm anti-aircraft machine gun positions. On both sides of the Haihe River in almost the entire urban area of Tianjin, a cross-fire network is formed. In addition, the surface of the Haihe River is not wide, and in order to avoid accidentally injuring the civilians on both sides of the river, our attack aircraft group can only dive and attack along the course of the river. ”

"Its route happened to fall in the crossfire network formed by the Japanese anti-aircraft artillery groups on both sides, so the attack aircraft group suffered heavy losses in the attack operation. At present, although the air force has withdrawn from the battlefield, as the supreme military commander of the Tianjin battlefield, I think they have done their best. ”

"It's just that after the aviation was forced to withdraw from the battlefield, there was no air threat, and the Japanese ships on the Haihe River became even more arrogant. He even dared to moor downstream of the Jintang Bridge without any maneuvering, and directly fired at our tank units entering the city with naval guns. On several occasions, I used tanks and infantry to attack the Japanese artillery positions, but I was destroyed by these small gunboats. ”

While Tao Jingfei reported, the combat staff officer beside him also quickly replaced the map of Tianjin on the wall with a detailed map showing all the exposed artillery positions of the Japanese army, as well as a stack of photos of the Japanese artillery positions taken by aerial reconnaissance.

Yang Zhen looked at these photos and maps very carefully. Judging from the Japanese artillery positions marked on the map and shown in the photos, Yang Zhen can see that the setting of these artillery positions shows that the Japanese army is indeed aiming at the firepower characteristics of the Anti-United Nations, and it is very painstaking.

Just as Tao Jingfei reported, most of the Japanese army's artillery positions were set up in densely populated areas in Tianjin. Moreover, most of the artillery positions were set up in civilian houses, directly using civilian houses as covers. Responsible for providing fire support in that direction, open a firing hole directly on the wall in that direction. In addition, the selected houses are all sturdy buildings according to the photos.

Although the firing range was greatly affected, the maneuverability of the artillery was also limited to a certain extent. However, before the war, the division of labor between the various artillery groups was strictly divided, and all the artillery groups had their own goals. In cooperation with some artillery positions that can fire in all directions, as well as ships on the Haihe River, a dense firepower network has been built in the entire urban area of Tianjin.

Even though these artillery positions were rudimentary, they were hardly reinforced except for the use of existing houses. In a well-fortified building, after all, it is a dwelling, and the protective power is not at all comparable with that of a military fortification. Not only could they not withstand a single shell of more than 100 mm caliber, but a 76 mm shell could easily destroy their improvised artillery position.

However, although the Anti-Japanese Union had an absolute superiority in artillery firepower, it was simply unable to return fire in the face of the artillery positions set up by the Japanese army in residential areas. Unless the first hit can be achieved, it is not necessarily the Japanese artillery that suffers from the first shot, but the surrounding people.

In doing so, the Japanese army used the surrounding people as human shields. Use the Chinese as a cover for them to block the counterattack artillery fire of the anti-alliance. The main reason why the Tianjin offensive was so difficult was that these artillery positions of the Japanese army could not be solved for a long time.

Yang Zhen was looking at the map, and his head was constantly thinking about how to solve the current stalemate. If the Japanese artillery is not destroyed, not only will the troops have to pay a great price on the battlefield, but the process of liberating Tianjin will also have to be postponed indefinitely. The most important thing is that the Japanese army's unscrupulous use of artillery fire will cause heavy casualties to the civilian people in Tianjin.

According to the current situation, even if Tianjin is laid. The largest industrial and commercial city in North China will also be completely in ruins like the original Xinjing. As for the number of civilian casualties, I am afraid that it is even more astronomical. If this were the case, the city would have lost any meaning even if it had been captured.