mtl008 Chapter 124: Blood and Fire Collision (4)
Chapter 124: Blood and Fire Collision (4)
Guo Xinkai was very anxious now. He had learned from Li Maocai about the ferocity of the Japanese attacking artillery fire, but he had not expected that the Japanese artillery fire this time would be so fierce, and this time there was artillery support from naval guns. Although he had previously asked the third company stationed on the front line to re-reinforce the trenches and anti-gun holes, but now after feeling the power of the naval guns, he had no idea about the situation of the front-line troops.
After a round of naval gun attacks, the Japanese field artillery immediately launched an attack. The dense shells were like rain, and the density of the impact points was simply scary.
Guo Xinkai shook his head, which was a little dizzy from the cannon fire, and shouted to a messenger who was only fourteen or fifteen years old beside him: "Niu Wa, go check on the front line and see what's going on. If you see Captain Zhou, tell him to hold on. I'll bring reinforcements to him as soon as the cannon fire stops."
After hearing Guo Xinkai's shout, Niu Wa tightened the helmet on his head, which was obviously a bit too big, and then ran out of the anti-artillery hole in the midst of artillery fire. He ran quickly along the communication trench towards the front-line trench.
When he was halfway through the run, Niu Wa was surprised to find that a large section of the communication trench in front of him had disappeared, and in front of him was a small puddle more than ten meters wide. Niu Wa knew that this was caused by the big bomb exploded by the Japanese. He had no mood to sigh at the moment, and hurriedly ran along the edge of the crater towards the front-line position.
When he arrived at the front-line position, he was shocked. The original trench line had been blown beyond recognition by artillery fire. There were craters of various sizes everywhere, and the trenches were also blown into sections. Relying on his previous memory, he ran to the vicinity of the original third company headquarters, but he was now confused. This section of the trench had basically disappeared, so he quickly ran to the previous anti-artillery hole location and started digging with the engineer shovel he carried with him, while artillery shells were still falling from all around.
Niu Wa dug hard for two minutes and finally dug a hole in the upper layer of loose soil. The anti-artillery hole below had not completely collapsed. Niu Wa was overjoyed and dug even harder. After digging out a hole that was big enough for one person to enter and exit, Niu Wa shouted loudly into the hole: "Captain Zhou, Captain Zhou, are you still alive?"
After shouting several times, a big hand covered in mud grabbed the entrance of the cave, and then Captain Zhou's head with a helmet on his head appeared. Niu Wa hurriedly helped Captain Zhou climb out of the cave.
After taking a few deep breaths, Captain Zhou looked around and found that the Japanese artillery fire had not stopped, so he quickly grabbed Niu Wa and said, "Niu Wa, go report to the battalion commander and ask him to bring everyone up. Tell him that the third company is gone and ask him to come up quickly. The Japanese will launch an attack soon, so go quickly."
Niu Wa was helping the soldiers behind him climb out of the cave when he was suddenly pulled to his side by Captain Zhou. Before he could react, he heard Captain Zhou loudly urging him to go back to the battalion commander for reinforcements, so he spread his legs and ran to the back under the gunfire.
Captain Zhou turned around and pulled out all the surviving officers and soldiers in the anti-artillery cave, and asked everyone to go to other anti-artillery caves to help see if there were any survivors. If there were, they should rescue them and be ready to fight at any time.
Niu Wa ran all the way back to the battalion headquarters in the second trench. When Guo Xinkai saw Niu Wa coming back, he quickly stood up and asked, "Niu Wa, how is it going up there? Have you seen Captain Zhou?"
Niu Wa leaned against the anti-artillery hole and took two deep breaths before saying, "Battalion Commander, Captain Zhou asked you to bring everyone up to reinforce them. He said the third company is gone."
"What? How many people are left in the Third Company?" Guo Xinkai was shocked when he heard Niu Wa's words. He anticipated that the situation of the Third Company might not be very good, but he did not expect that the news Niu Wa brought back to him was even worse than he expected.
"I don't know. The front-line positions were full of bullet holes. Captain Zhou's anti-artillery holes were blown down. I had a lot of fun digging a hole to rescue Captain Zhou from the hole. I saw less than ten people still alive. I don't know how many people were left in the other anti-artillery holes. In addition, a large puddle of water was blown out in the communication trench between the second-line trenches and the first-line trenches." Niu Wa told everything he knew while panting.
When Guo Xinkai heard Niu Wa's description, he knew that there were probably only a few people left in the third company, so he quickly shouted to the people around him: "Go and notify everyone, as long as you can move, go to the front-line trenches to reinforce now."
The people around him were also stunned after hearing Guo Xinkai's order. One of the officers said loudly: "Battalion Commander, the Japanese artillery fire has not stopped. If the brothers go up to reinforce now, they will have to brave the Japanese artillery fire and rush up. The losses will be great."
Guo Xinkai also knew that what the officer said was the truth, but he knew that if the Third Company waited until the Japanese artillery fire stopped, they would probably not be able to hold out against the Japanese attacking forces for even five minutes. Moreover, by that time, the Japanese artillery fire would extend backwards, and it would be even more difficult for him to lead his men to reinforce.
"Stop talking nonsense, just follow the order. Tell everyone to get up there and fight for me. Anyone who dares not to go will be punished by military law." Guo Xinkai didn't have time to explain to them. He just pulled out his revolver and gave the order to everyone again.
When everyone heard Guo Xinkai say this, no one spoke anymore. They immediately tightened their helmets and rushed out to notify the other troops in the anti-artillery caves.
Guo Xinkai's decision was correct. Just as he was leading his men to reinforce the front-line trenches, the Japanese artillery began to adjust its fire. In this short minute or so, most of the reinforcements rushed to the vicinity of the front-line trenches. Before Guo Xinkai and his men reached the front-line trenches, they heard the Japanese artillery continue to fire, creating a fire barrier between the first and second trenches, leaving a platoon of officers and soldiers running behind on the road to reinforcement.
As soon as they arrived at the frontline, Guo Xinkai ordered the troops to deploy and defend themselves by relying on the remaining trenches and shell craters. At the same time, he found Captain Zhou of the Third Company and asked loudly, "Captain Zhou, how many people are left in your Third Company?"
Captain Zhou was relieved when he saw Guo Xinkai coming up with reinforcements. He said to Guo Xinkai loudly, "Captain, there are only 34 people in our third company who can fight now. I am still asking people to continue looking for anyone alive."
When Guo Xinkai heard that there were only more than 30 people in the Third Company, his heart tightened. He felt that this time the Japanese attack might be more fierce than the one the First Battalion faced before. He looked in the direction of the second trench behind him and saw that the Japanese artillery fire was blocking their rear. It seemed that even if the regiment commander wanted to bring troops to reinforce, it would be difficult.
Guo Xinkai asked someone to count how many people were left in his Third Battalion. He knew that the next attack by the Japanese would be very fierce, so he had to make reasonable arrangements for the personnel before the reinforcements from the regiment commander arrived, and he had to hold out until the arrival of the reinforcements.
Pingyuan Yanagikawa was observing the effect of the artillery attack with a telescope. He was very satisfied with the navy's naval artillery attack. He believed that under such fierce artillery attacks, there would be few Chinese defenders left on the position. Under the guidance of the observation balloon, the field artillery regiment also created a fire blockade zone behind the position. Even if the Chinese army wanted to reinforce, they would suffer heavy casualties when passing through that fire blockade zone.
The officers and soldiers of the Fourth Squadron have already set out towards the Chinese army's position. In a few minutes, he will know how many troops are left on the Chinese position. The Third Squadron has also completed its gathering. After the Fourth Squadron exchanges fire with the Chinese defenders, they will set out and follow the Fourth Squadron to launch an attack on the Chinese army.
When the officers and soldiers of the Fourth Squadron rushed to more than 200 meters from the Chinese defenders' positions, a fierce gunfire rang out from the Chinese defenders' positions. This really scared Pingyuan Liu Zhengchuan. He felt that he must have hallucinated. Under such fierce naval artillery fire and field artillery regiment artillery fire, how could the Chinese army still have such fierce firepower on the positions? Where did they hide to avoid the artillery fire just now? Did they dig the trench ten meters deep? Otherwise, it would not explain why the Chinese army still had such fierce firepower.
The Fourth Squadron did not expect that the Chinese defenders on the position would have such fierce firepower. Due to insufficient preparation, more than 20 of them were knocked down at once. The remaining officers and soldiers immediately lay on the ground and started shooting at the Third Battalion.
Guo Xinkai's strategy was to delay. He ordered everyone to open fire after the Japanese army entered 300 meters. He must suppress the Japanese army within 200 meters of the position. He heard Li Maocai tell him that the Japanese army's shooting skills and small artillery were very accurate. He asked the soldiers to constantly change their shooting positions. At the same time, he ordered the light and heavy machine guns to change positions more often to avoid casualties as much as possible. He could only delay time now.
He had someone count just now, and found that his Third Battalion now only had more than 270 people. Before the reinforcements sent by the regiment commander, he could not let the Japanese into a bayonet fight. If the Japanese had reinforcements, they would definitely not be able to fight the Japanese. Although the losses would not be small, it was much better than a bayonet fight.
Pingyuan Yanagi Masakawa saw through the telescope that his Fourth Squadron was suppressed more than 200 meters away from the position. He became very anxious and hurriedly ordered two infantry guns to destroy the Chinese army's heavy machine guns as soon as possible, and then asked the machine gun squadron to increase firepower output to provide fire support for the Fourth Squadron.
Regiment commander Guo Ruixin was watching the battle on the front line with a telescope in the bunker of the command center. Due to the blocking of artillery fire, he could not see the situation in front clearly through the telescope, but judging from the density of the gunfire, the third battalion should have been pushed forward, and he felt relieved a little. When he first felt the bombardment of the Japanese naval artillery, he knew that this time the Japanese attack would be more fierce than the previous one. Now that he saw Guo Xinkai had already pushed all the troops forward, he felt a little more at ease.
But he also knew that he needed to send the Second Battalion to reinforce as soon as possible, but the Japanese artillery blockade area ahead forced him to continue waiting.