At night.

A crescent moon hangs high in the sky.

Behind the second stronghold of the devils, in the hanging basket of the artillery observation balloon on the long-range cannon position, the artillery observers of the devils braved the biting cold wind in the air and held binoculars to observe the distant shell landing point.

"Yo Si."

Looking at the flames bursting out of the eight 105 long-range howitzers, this devil sincerely admired and smiled.

Artillery, look at the overall performance.

Range, accuracy, power, rate of fire, mobility, none of which can have obvious shortcomings.

A single item with outstanding performance will not be of much use on the modern battlefield.

For example, those old antiques in World War I, heavy artillery with a caliber of more than 200 calibers, the power is huge, one cannon can destroy the position of a squad, and the concrete bunker can be penetrated with one shot, but it is still eliminated, because of the weight of dozens of tons, it takes more than 100 people to transfer the position every time, it takes at least half a day, and the range is obviously not good, and it can be easily suppressed by the enemy's mountain artillery.

However, as the best cannon of the Imperial Japanese Army, the Type 92 105 long-range cannon is very good in terms of range, power, and accuracy, and can fire outside the enemy's range, and the power is enough to destroy the enemy's forward positions.

The rate of fire and mobility are also good, and it is a perfect artillery.

This is the true god of war.

An artillery that can control the situation on the battlefield.

Last time, four long-range 105 cannons combined with twenty 75 mountain guns under the infantry company company could comprehensively suppress the enemy's fifty artillery pieces, and even have spare strength to support the forward positions.

This time, the number of long-range cannons has been increased to eight, and the mountain artillery under the infantry wing has also been increased to 35, which will definitely be able to inflict heavy damage on the enemy's artillery units, and can also support infantry operations to a greater extent and destroy the enemy's forces.

under his field of vision.

Eight 105 cannons and 35 75 mountain guns of the Imperial Army have been fully fired, and the dense shells have fallen on the positions of the Eighth Route Army on the opposite side, and the Imperial Army on the fourth stronghold has also begun to move, under the cover of artillery fire, gradually approaching the enemy's position, preparing to rush to the enemy's position while the artillery fire extends forward, and completely destroy this group of enemies who hinder the imperial holy war.

"Come out."

The corners of his mouth hooked, and the devil artillery observer looked at the rear of the Tubalu position in the distance.

As soon as the enemy artillery fire appeared, he would report the position of the enemy artillery to the long-range cannon brigade as quickly as possible, and he believed that the imperial artillery could quickly suppress and even destroy the enemy's artillery, clearing the way for the army's attack.

It didn't surprise him.

Soon, the artillery of the separate regiment began to counterattack.

He could see clearly.

On the forward position of the independent regiment, dense muzzle fireworks began to flicker, this is a mortar, there are 120 heavy guns, and 82 caliber medium forces, and at the rear of the position, there is also a touch of different muzzle fireworks, this Bofors 75 mountain gun.

Mortar shells flew towards the approaching attacking forces of the Empire, and the mountain artillery shells crossed the arc and landed in the direction of the Imperial mountain artillery positions, this time the enemy gunners were better than last time, the accuracy was not bad, and the firing was in the right direction.

The goal of the independent regiment's counterattack did not surprise the devil observer either.

The progress of artillery was also expected by him, and the fact that the Independent Regiment could fight with the Empire for so long without being wiped out must not be a waste.

But!

"Nani?"

Looking at the number of cannon flames in his field of vision, his eyes widened suddenly:

"One... A hundred? ”

"The number of front-line mortars has not decreased either?"

"How is this possible!"

······

"A hundred mountain cannons?"

"The number of mortars has not decreased either?"

After receiving the news, in the Heian County Headquarters, Kazuki Yamamoto and Shinji Kosa glanced at each other, and the same thought flashed in their eyes.

Li Yunlong concealed his strength.

In the last attack, the independent regiment had only fifty mountain guns, and in front of them, there were a hundred mountain guns firing.

Moreover, in the expectation of the two, since Li Yunlong sent troops to attack Heyuan County, and basically occupied the county seat in only six hours, this shows that he sent a lot of troops, and they are all elite troops.

Otherwise, it would be impossible to explain why the Imperial garrison of Heyuan County could be wiped out so quickly.

No wonder.

At the same time, the two of them suddenly felt in their hearts.

No wonder Li Yunlong dared to divide his troops to attack Heyuan County during the confrontation with them.

"General Yamamoto, what should I do?"

Shinji Kosa looked at Kazuki Yamamoto.

Compared with Yamamoto, Kosa Shinji knows very well that his background is too bad, and after making achievements in Heian County and collecting a large number of urgently needed materials for the empire, he and Yamamoto were promoted to major generals at the same time.

His promotion was solitary, and no one celebrated.

And Yamamoto, a bunch of powerful lieutenant generals and division commanders called to congratulate, which shows the huge gap.

The decision of the base camp also illustrates the fact that there were a large number of recruits around Ping'an County, and several new wings were formed after fierce battles, and these units were under the command of General Yamamoto, who was responsible for the auxiliary.

Those who wanted to come to pick peaches, a bunch of major generals in the Chinese dispatch army, etc., seemed to be blocked by General Gangmura and General Shinozuka who resumed his post. General Yoshimoto also contributed a lot.

Obviously, General Yamamoto was a celebrity in the imperial military circles at this time, with a backstage and real power.

So hug your thighs.

"Go on the offensive."

Yamamoto Kazuki flashed sharply.

After commanding the fierce battle in Ping'an County for so long, he also had some experience in commanding large troops.

The last offensive was only a little more than a month, and in such a short period of time, it is absolutely impossible to say that the independent regiment can double the size of the artillery unit.

Since this is the case, let's take this opportunity to test the specific strength of Li Yunlong's independent regiment.

"Hey."

Shinji Kosa bowed his head, like a subordinate.

"Let's go to the front line."

Yamamoto ignored Kosa's flattery, or rather, didn't realize it.

As the commander of the special squad, Yamamoto is different from the vast majority of devil commanders, he knows very well that what he sees at the headquarters is different from the actual situation on the front line.

Only by going to the front can we see the most practical battlefield and make the most appropriate judgment on the situation.

······

The mountain section from Gecun to Ping'an County.

The Ping'an County Devil Garrison, and the Independent Regiment, the two sides broke out again, and compared with the last time, the scale of the battle was larger, and the two sides dispatched more troops and used more artillery.

Under the night sky.

Shells slashed like meteors before crashing into the opposing positions, a puff of explosive flames lit up the sky.

As soon as the battle began, it went straight to the white heat, and the two sides directly engaged in a large-scale artillery battle.

Artillery is the courage of the army, the soul of the infantry, and the god of war.

In the last engagement, the devil's four long-range cannons and twenty-seven mountain guns, coupled with the superiority in the quality of artillery and the familiarity with artillery battles, comprehensively suppressed the fifty Bofors mountain guns of the independent regiment, and the artillery was overwhelmed.

But after the last artillery battle, the artillery unit of the independent regiment has been reborn.

Over the past month or so, Iwamori has not only organized personnel to familiarize themselves with the new long-range 105 howitzer, but also trained all artillery units to improve the problems found in the last engagement, and conducted targeted artillery combat training.

Considering that the devil had observation balloons, the artillery of the independent regiment was weak in observation, and the devil had long-range cannons, Iwamori boldly arranged some of the artillery in the forward position, and the observation group was even directly arranged in the front line, and at the beginning of the battle, he chose to concentrate artillery fire, giving full play to the numerical superiority of his own artillery, forming a local situation of three to one, four to one, and even five to one.

After Iwamori's arrangement, even if the quality of the artillery of the independent regiment was still inferior to that of the devil, as soon as the two sides started fighting this time, the situation fell into anxiety at that time.

Eight long-range 105 cannons, thirty-five mountain guns, and one hundred Bofors mountain guns of the Upper Independent Regiment, although they have a certain advantage, but in a short time, no one can help anyone.

The purpose of artillery warfare is to suppress, annihilate enemy artillery, and gain artillery superiority.

But now, the situation in the artillery battle is scorching, and no one can spare energy to support the forward infantry.

The independent regiment is not in a panic, each battalion has a mortar group, the artillery fire is fierce, but the devils can't, although they are equipped with 94 mortars, but there are few pitiful, all counting on mountain artillery to artillery support!

Thereupon.

Compared with the scorching of the artillery battle, the battle between the front-line infantry was completely different, in the face of the fire support of hundreds of mortars of 60, 82, and 120 calibers, the devils attacked several times, and directly repelled with mortar fire.

There is no way, the firepower of the independent regiment is too strong.

"Attack."

Seeing this situation, Zhang Dabiao, who had already taken command of the front line, personally led the troops to launch a counterattack, and there was a great tendency to occupy the fourth position of the devils in one fell swoop.

And Yamamoto was not to be outdone, mobilizing a large number of new troops to launch a counter-charge, while at the same time interspersed with elite troops waiting for an opportunity.

Yamamoto, as the commander of the special forces, naturally knew very well that a unit with inferior equipment and a serious lack of military training could only make up for the shortcomings in firepower and training by relying on morale.

So after the arrival of domestic recruits, while providing fine grains, meat and other delicious food, he increased the brainwashing of bushido, and publicized day and night to be loyal to the locusts and the imperial holy war, and even did not hesitate to reduce the time of military training for this.

Only after a minimum of one month of bushido training will Yamamoto release new recruits into battle.

The effect is obvious, although the military quality of these heavily brainwashed recruits is still a mess, their courage is no different from that of the elite division at the beginning of the war, and they never hesitate to stare at the machine gun fire net charge.

Of course, Yamamoto did not forget to teach these cannon fodder to put out a wide range of skirmishers.

In the face of these scattered groups of cannon fodder, coupled with the weakening of firepower at night, by dawn, the counterattack launched by two battalions of nearly 5,000 troops led by Zhang Dabiao was forcefully repulsed.

At this moment, the artillery of both sides also began to gradually begin to divide the winners.

The eight long-range cannons of the devil sat firmly on the Diaoyu Tai, and under the observation and command of the aerial artillery observation balloon, they launched a fire suppression on the artillery of the independent regiment, gradually controlled the situation, and even destroyed many artillery of the independent regiment, but the mountain artillery unit of the devil was not comfortable, and the losses were also not small under the attack of Iwamori's concentrated fire.

In terms of the number of battle losses, the two sides were tied one to one.

"Three battalions, five battalions."

After being frightened by the sea of tactics, Zhang Dabiao seemed to be angry, grabbed the hat on his head and threw it, and mobilized two battalions of reserves to prepare for another attack.

With his order, the three battalions of the separate regiment, the fifth battalion, which had long been prepared in the rear, entered the position.

Needless to say, the third battalion is one of the main battalions of the independent regiment, and its combat effectiveness is resounding. As for the fifth battalion, this is an adaptation of the new regiment, and the backbone of the battalion are all soldiers of the new regiment and one battalion, and they are also elite, and in terms of the quality of the soldiers and the combat effectiveness, they are not weaker than the three battalions of the independent regiment at all.

Unlike the front-line troops, the ranks of these two battalions were generally armed with recoilless guns.

Meantime.

Yan Sheng also picked up the phone:

"The first, second, and third artillery groups, for extended-range shells, target: devil long-range artillery positions."

·····

Ping'an County Front.

In a bunker in the third line of Japanese strongholds, it was a front-line command center.

"Fortunately, the other side does not have long-range artillery."

Seeing that the situation was gradually shifting towards the Imperial Army, and watching the attacking forces of the Independent Regiment begin to retreat, Shinji Kosa finally breathed a sigh of relief.

In the battle just now, he was nervous, the independent regiment can be called a terrifying infantry support firepower, the attacking troops of the imperial army cannot get close to the opponent's position at all, but the independent regiment can easily attack.

At night, if the enemy attacks on a large scale, the outlying positions in front of the fourth stronghold may not be able to block it.

Fortunately, the long-range artillery was able to suppress the enemy's artillery, and fortunately, the organized counterattack drove the enemy back in time, otherwise it would have been troublesome once the enemy's artillery had obtained a position to suppress the long-range artillery.

Kosa Shinji's breath was not finished, and suddenly, a series of explosions rose from behind, and before Yamamoto and Kosa could wonder what the explosion was about, the phone rang.

The telegraph staff officer picked up the phone and immediately reported to Yamamoto:

"General, the long-range cannon position has been shelled by mountain artillery, and there is no damage so far, and the heavy artillery brigade is organizing the transfer."

"What's going on?"

Kosa and Yamamoto looked at each other, their eyes full of doubt.

Long-range cannon positions are being shelled by mountain artillery!

Wasn't the Independent Regiment repulsed?

So how did they get the shelling positions?

The two of them knew very well that the maximum firing range of the Bofors mountain artillery of the independent regiment was only 10.5 kilometers, and unless it went to the rear of the fourth position, it would definitely not be able to hit the position of the long-range cannon.

Soon, the phone rang again, and the news came to answer the doubts of the two:

"The artillery of the Separate Regiment is in front of the opponent's position, and its Bofors Mountain Artillery has a firing range of thirteen kilometers."

"Nani?"

"It can't be!"

Kosa and Yamamoto suddenly felt dizzy.

This situation was really beyond the expectations of the two, who thought that the independent regiment might have a new type of long-range artillery, and that the European and American powers had heavy artillery with a range of 17 or 8 kilometers.

But the Bofors mountain artillery with a range of more than thirteen km, what is going on?

In this era when the development of artillery shells lagged far behind that of artillery, the most mainstream way to increase the range of artillery was to increase the barrel.

Compared to the shock of Yamamoto and Kosa, above the long-range cannon position, the devil artillery observer held a high-powered artillery scope and looked at the dozens of mountain guns firing on the position of the independent regiment in the distance.

At this time, the sky had already dawned, and with the help of high-powered sights, he could clearly see that on the position of the Independent Regiment in the distance, the cannon was still the same kind of Bofors mountain artillery, but why did the firing range suddenly increase by three kilometers?

What's going on?

What's the situation?

His eyes were glazed.

In the temporary command of the front, the phone rang again, and the staff officer continued:

"The Independence Regiment has attacked."

"Withdraw the attacking troops, rely on the fourth stronghold, and block the attack of the independent regiment."

Yamamoto took a deep breath and regained his composure.

The enemy's mountain artillery suddenly increased its range by three kilometers, and although it was not clear what was going on, he believed that with the solid bunker group in front of the fourth line, he could hold off this wave of attacks.

But...

Next, there was no long-range heavy artillery to suppress the independent regiment to build a road, and once the road extended to the range of large-caliber mortars, then it was only a matter of time before the fourth stronghold was breached.

It's just that Kazuki Yamamoto is obviously not aware of a pattern, and so far, none of his speculations have been accurate.

Just two hours later, he received the message again:

"General, all the outer positions in front of the fourth stronghold have been breached, all the firing points have been destroyed, and the three newly formed brigades of the front line that have had time to retreat in the future are surrounded by the enemy."

After the staff officer finished speaking, the headquarters suddenly fell into a deathly silence.

Yamamoto and Kosa looked at each other even more.

In just two hours, nearly a hundred ring fortifications and machine-gun forts outside the fourth stronghold were all cleared?

And!

Li Yunlong, he was actually outside the strong position group of the imperial army, planning to encircle and annihilate the three brigades of the imperial army?

Yamamoto's chest rose and fell violently, his face was pale, and the green tendons of his hand holding the katana were exposed, obviously angry by this act, but after taking a few breaths fiercely, he let go of his hand and did not give any orders.

Taiyuan Airport was no longer able to take off planes, and the planes were all transferred to the south to prepare for the No. 1 operation.

The mountain artillery units suffered huge losses, and the long-range cannon units were also in a state of suppression.

In the face of Li Yunlong's superior long-range artillery units and the overwhelming superiority of mortar firepower, attacking during the day can only be a waste of troops.

"Let's go, let's go to the fourth stronghold."

Yamamoto gritted his teeth.

He wanted to see why, in less than three hours, all the forward positions had been breached.

·······

It's late in the evening.

In front of the devil's position, after completing the annihilation of the three encircled devil brigades, Zhang Dabiao ordered the troops to retreat.

"It's a pity."

Looking at the half-buried bunker group of devils not far away, Zhang Dabiao sighed.

The devil's bunker looks very strong, but in fact, 160 is forced to make a shot, and it is no different from the paper paste, and it is easy to shoot one shot, unless there is a concrete bunker, but the devils in Ping'an County obviously don't have this thing.

It's just a pity that the time hasn't come yet.

According to the regiment commander's plan, after the independent regiment has the ability to swallow the more than 20,000 devils gathered outside Ping'an County in one bite, and wait for the devils in the south to launch an attack, they will not make any move.

At present, the first condition of the independent regiment has not been met.

However, after this battle, the independent regiment will have enough cement and medical kits, and there will be no need to worry about running out of medicines. Tank units and mechanized units can also be expanded.

"It should be soon."

Zhang Dabiao's side, Yan Sheng licked his lips.