Traveling through 1937, starting from the Battle of Songhu

Chapter 287 Heavy Artillery Attack

After a night of tossing and turning, Mizukawa Kita walked out of the room with somewhat blurry eyes, looked at the sky, and sighed in his heart.

The sky was gray again, as if foreshadowing that his attack today would not go smoothly.

From the beginning till now, he has always disagreed with the division commander's decision, but he has no choice as he is a higher-ranking official and can suppress people with low status.

"Ohashi-kun, organize the soldiers to leave the city!"

Mizukawa Kita, who was in a bad mood, gave a light instruction and, under the escort of the Japanese soldiers, walked to the convoy not far away, got on the car, closed his eyes and began to rest.

Ohashi Kangmei replied in a low voice and silently began to organize the soldiers to get on the bus.

The Japanese learned their lesson this time. The three-wheeled motorcycle team was in the front, the engineers were scoping in the back, and the remaining five armored vehicles were left at the end.

It didn't do any good anyway, so Daqiao Kangmei just pretended to ignore it.

After leaving Boye County, the convoy headed towards Ding County at a snail's pace.

Major General Kurokawa, who had been paying close attention to the Laiyuan Independent Regiment's change of position, naturally received the news a long time ago. With the cavalry regiment present, their intelligence was much faster than that of the Mizukawa Brigade.

Of course, nothing happened along the way, and the special forces had already withdrawn their guard near the artillery camp.

There were too many good things, and Gu Changfeng didn't dare to let ordinary soldiers go. The special forces team just didn't have any tasks, so Gu Changfeng called them over.

By noon, the Japanese soldiers slowly arrived five kilometers away from Ding County.

"Ohashi-kun, has the Kurokawa Brigade arrived yet?"

Mizukawa Kita asked,

He was unwilling to take action against his own brigade, as the incident was caused by the poor protection of the 110th Division, and it resulted in him suffering heavy losses.

At this time, Mizukawa Kita was not very happy.

"Your Excellency, the Kurokawa Brigade has arrived west of the city and is ready to cooperate with our attack."

Operations Staff Officer Yasumi Ohashi stated truthfully.

Mizukawa Kita thought for a moment, sighed slightly, and gave a direct order: "Have all units prepare, notify the Kurokawa Brigade, and launch the attack in half an hour."

"The Seino Brigade is responsible for the south, and the Shimamura Brigade is responsible for the east."

"Order the artillery regiments to disperse their bombardment and not to gather together."

In fact, he also had hope in his heart. What if the Laiyuan Independent Regiment was crippled or wiped out?

This time he brought an artillery regiment with him, which included 105 150mm and 16mm cannons, as well as many mountain and field guns.

With his brigade of more than 5000 people and Kurokawa's brigade of more than 3000 people, they can definitely win.

What Gu Changfeng didn't know was that the Japanese army with tens of thousands of troops was actually afraid of him. If this were told to others, it would be so funny.

In fact, it is not surprising that Mizukawa Kita had such doubts. The Laiyuan Independent Regiment had made great achievements in the Jinling battlefield.

After arriving in the Jin-Cha-Ji war zone, they successively annihilated two regiments of the devils, and more than ten thousand people were killed.

In addition to the turmoil last night, which caused him a large number of casualties, how could he not be afraid?

This army is very evil, this is what Mizukawa Kita thought in his mind.

Major General Kurokawa received the news quickly and immediately ordered the two battalions to prepare.

He also brought half of the artillery regiment, a total of 8 75mm howitzers, two 105mm cannons, and seven or eight mountain cannons, so his strength was not bad.

Thirty minutes later, the Japanese heavy artillery began to attack.

Boom boom boom!

There were violent explosions on the walls of Ding County. Fortunately, each camp had been prepared to withstand the bombardment, so although there were casualties, they were not that great and were still within an acceptable range.

There was nothing we could do about it as time was too short and the construction was relatively crude.

"Damn it, the devil is crazy!"

Zhang Caiqian was already lying in ambush in the northwest of Ding County. His mission was to wait for news from Gu Changfeng.

They were not needed in the battle to defend the city, so Gu Changfeng let Zhang Caiqian's regiment be responsible for the final attack.

"Commander, listening to the noise, the Japanese have deployed dozens of heavy artillery, this..." Battalion Commander Wu Zhengsheng said worriedly.

It was obvious that there was movement. For these veterans of the battlefield, they knew the Japanese artillery squadrons and regiments like the back of their hands.

"Headquarters has asked us to cooperate with the Laiyuan Independent Regiment. If the situation becomes unfavorable, we will directly launch an attack."

Zhang Caiqian gritted his teeth and said,

He didn't know what cards Gu Changfeng had, so in this situation, he had to act according to circumstances.

"Commander Gu, the Japanese have invested heavily this time. This configuration can almost equip two artillery regiments."

Wu Mazi couldn't help but speak.

"I'll show them what heavy artillery is later." Gu Changfeng said arrogantly while standing at the foot of the city.

Fortunately, we took the risk and prepared Katyusha, otherwise we would be doomed. With the simple fortifications on the city wall, even if we could fight, the result would be heavy casualties.

The Japanese artillery bombardment did not last long. With 6 heavy artillery pieces, even if the Japanese dispersed their artillery fire, the artillery battalion could quickly find their corresponding positions.

Boom boom boom!

Six heavy artillery pieces roared, and the shells whistled towards the Japanese artillery positions.

Mizukawa Kita's order to disperse the bombardment was indeed effective, at least the first round of bombardment only destroyed 6 of their guns.

"Damn it! The Chinese have heavy artillery. Hurry up and shoot them down." The commander of the Japanese artillery regiment, Kimura Chiyo, shouted with lingering fear.

He was extremely grateful for the brigade commander's decision at this moment, otherwise, with his arrogant character, the artillery position would have suffered heavy losses by now.

Indeed, after six rounds of 6mm caliber howitzers, even if dozens of Japanese guns were not completely destroyed, only a limited number would remain.

After all, once a shell explodes, there will be basically no survival within a few kilometers.

Mizukawa Kita heard the noise, turned his head and looked at the artillery position a few miles away, muttering, "As expected."

Whether it was from the battle reports of the Jinling battlefield or the battle reports of the Laiyuan battlefield, he was very clear that the enemy had heavy artillery, but he did not expect that the Laiyuan Independent Regiment had increased its artillery.

In fact, it was not just the National Army that was investigating this matter. The Eighth Route Army and the Japanese were also investigating the source of the artillery, but no one had discovered it.

"Order the infantry to attack, and the artillery regiment to seek an opportunity to locate the Chinese artillery positions."

"Send a message to the Kurokawa Brigade, have their cavalry regiment attack and try to locate the Chinese artillery positions."

Mizukawa Kita said, since fighting is unavoidable, then try your best.

Lu Daya was very confident in his subordinates. After a round of fighting, he did not hesitate at all and changed positions directly.

Artillery confrontations are also very dangerous. If you are not careful, the enemy can easily find an opportunity. He is very cautious about this.

Boom boom boom!

Just as the artillery battalion soldiers evacuated, the Japanese artillery bombardment arrived.

But it just kicked up a cloud of dust and didn't do anything.

After a round of artillery fire, Chiyoko Kimura immediately ordered his subordinates to change positions.

He didn't know the result of the bombardment, but after losing 6 mountain cannons, he became cautious.

The Kurokawa Brigade received the news, and soon the Japanese cavalry regiment headed north under the leadership of their commander.

The combat effectiveness of the Japanese cavalry regiment is not bad. They are much stronger than other arms in terms of mobility and firepower.

The reason why we didn't take action yesterday was simply because of the large number of heavy machine guns from the Independent Regiment.