the world is at stake

Dozens of British artillerymen who were determined to revenge bravely joined the battle and were responsible for operating naval guns.

Lieutenant Colonel Wei Lepei personally commanded this artillery, and he also brought more than 700 Indian soldiers and other mercenaries. From the perspective of equipment and firepower, it is also a force that cannot be underestimated in Asia.

The only thing that makes the lieutenant colonel uneasy is that he still doesn't know the battle damage of his own warships and the attitude of the British government.Because the wired telegraph was cut, the portable radio was in the enemy's ranks.

Also because of the lack of convenient and reliable communication, the train guns of the Japanese army did not cooperate well with the front-line infantry.Wang Xin, who occupied Baohua Mountain, saw the opponent's infantry approaching him along the railway, and thought they were coming to die.

But Lieutenant Yamamoto didn't take it seriously. In his opinion, the coordination of his infantry and artillery was very good.It was nothing more than arriving at the predetermined location an hour late, which was also caused by Zhang Xun's patrol battalion and other expatriate troops.

Our own side was only delayed for one hour, so the corrupt, incompetent and untrained Chinese National Defense Forces should have reacted more slowly——Lieutenant Yamamoto came to this conclusion through his observation of Zhang Xun's patrol battalion.

But with such an error of one hour, when Captain Yamamoto took the train and appeared majestically at the front line and climbed up the hill beside the railway, what the telescope saw was a cloud of explosion smoke about three kilometers away.

Hundreds of 75mm grenades were hitting Zhang Xun's patrol battalion, and thousands of soldiers were running around on both sides of the railway line.Even the hundreds of Japanese officers and soldiers who were supervising the battle were also terrified by the bombing and were retreating quickly.

A group of Japanese soldiers slipped away early and ran to Captain Yamamoto.

Nakamura, who led the team, saw the train guns parked on the railway, and shouted angrily: "Yamamoto, why are you here now? Hurry up and fight back against the Chinese artillery."

Captain Yamamoto was really wronged.

Railway capacity is limited, and train locomotives and carriages are not on call.It was a great effort for the artillery to only delay for an hour.

But looking at the white gauze wrapped around Chief Nakamura's head, Captain Yamamoto could only put his legs together, said "Hi" loudly, and immediately organized artillery counterattack.

Five kilometers away, six self-propelled artillery and 75mm artillery towed by twelve trucks are desperately pouring firepower.The artillery observation posts of the National Defense Forces were arranged on Baohua Mountain, condescendingly watching the artillery shells on both sides of the railway line.

The command system constructed by radio stations and wired telephones allowed the eighteen Krupp mountain guns to exert their full power.As the frontline commander, Wang Xin clearly saw through the binoculars that the opponent's assembly position was covered by artillery fire.

As soon as the Japanese train artillery appeared, the artillerymen of the National Defense Army immediately fled.

The self-propelled artillery put away the hoe, and rushed to the backup position with the ammunition cart and all the guns within 5 minutes.The towed type is much slower, and the artillery needs to be folded and hung on the truck compartment first, and then all the crew run away.

The Japanese Type 10 heavy howitzer completed shelling preparations within 76 minutes, and the British 7mm naval gun was even faster, firing in [-] minutes.

Due to the flat terrain on the riverside and the short distance, the artillerymen of both sides almost shot at each other, and more than a dozen shells swished and landed on the original artillery positions of the National Defense Forces.

The self-propelled artillery ran fast without any damage; but there was a towed 75mm mountain gun that ran slowly and was affected by shrapnel from 150mm grenades.

As far as Wang Xin could see, half of the gun crew was covered in smoke and dust from the shelling, and at least five or six gunners were killed or injured.Artillery combat is so cruel, and the range is not far enough to be bombed alive.

On the Japanese side, Colonel Nakamura reorganized the attack, and more than 5000 troops opened up three front and rear skirmish lines on the two-kilometer-wide front, alternately covering the advance.

After confirming that the Chinese artillery was suppressed, Nakamura led the supervisory team to suppress the battle in person.When the first line of skirmishers approached the National Defense Forces position, he ordered his own artillery to extend, and at the same time drew out his saber and shouted to the supervisory team - kill chickens!

The battlefield was noisy, and no one could hear Colonel Nakamura shouting 'Assault' 50 meters away.But Japanese officers at all levels accepted the order and were ordered to launch a regiment-level charge.

The scene suddenly became spectacular.

At least 1000 Japanese soldiers stood up straight, forcing the patrol battalion and the overseas volunteers assigned to them to attack forward.

On the battlefield to the north of Baohua Mountain, there seemed to be a wavy line of people. Wearing helmets, carrying water bottles, and carrying rifles, soldiers of all colors rushed forward, aiming to occupy a simple position about 300 meters away.

When this group of people approached to a distance of [-] meters from the position, a large number of firepower points suddenly revived under the ground that had been bombarded by Type [-] heavy artillery.In particular, there are a few more 'Maxim' heavy machine guns near Baohua Mountain.

The canvas belts were shaking, and the machine gunner aimed at the side of the enemy's skirmish line, pouring firepower desperately.The Japanese army and the patrol battalion that had come up straight fell down with a plop, bleeding all over the ground.

Sikh Asan, who was wearing a turban, was knocked down by machine guns, and a few hundred people turned around and ran away immediately.Some people are still advancing on the battlefield, some people are panicking, and some people lie on the ground and hug their heads.

The artillerymen of the Wehrmacht who had just run away also appeared again at this moment. They changed their shelling positions and projected shells at the attacking enemy again.

In less than 10 minutes, [-] to [-] corpses fell in front of the Baohuashan position, scattered in all directions, either in front or behind.Colonel Nakamura looked behind with his eyes wide open, but he didn't have any intention of ordering to retreat, instead he waved his saber again...

"Tiannao black card, onboard!"

The Japanese army who retreated a little bit moved forward again, forcing Zhang Xun's patrol battalion and the British's third brother troops to charge together.

If anyone doesn't rush, the machine guns of the Japanese military supervisory team can kill people very quickly.

The soldiers of the patrol battalion had never thought of fighting such a tough battle that they did not fear death at all, and they were so frightened that their livers and gallbladders were torn apart.It seems that people are rushing, and they just plopped down on the ground, pretending to be dead.

Before the patrol battalion pretended to be dead, more than 700 Sange troops simply knelt down.Many people dropped their guns and simply surrendered.It's just that they surrendered not to the National Defense Forces, but to the Japanese army that forced them to attack.

The Japanese army cares about this?Seeing someone kneeling down begging for mercy, he simply stabbed him with a bayonet.The third brother who stabbed hundreds of people cried for his father and mother, and simply ran towards the National Defense Army's position with his hands raised.

At the foot of Baohua Mountain, several side-firing "Maqqin" positions destroyed more than a dozen [-]-round ammunition belts in a short period of time.The cooling water pipes of the machine gun were boiling, and scalding steam was bubbling outward.

In the eyes of the shooter, a long tongue of flame spewed out from behind the muzzle flame shield, and the enemies who rushed up had no way to dodge. The bullets spurted blood from their bodies at an extremely fast speed, and the ground smoked.Ricochets hit rocks or rails and fire sparks.

Empty shell casings piled up under the tripod, clanging against each other.In order to maintain the firepower, the machine gun team poured the water in their kettle into the steaming cooling tube to ensure that the barrel would not overheat and blow the chamber.

The Japanese army's tactics are so rigid, a simple summary is 'the artillery bombards, the infantry rushes; the infantry rushes after the artillery bombards'.Back and forth on this routine, no change.

Man Lu Zuo was in charge of the reserve team in Zhenjiang. Hearing the continuous sound of gunfire in the direction of Baohua Mountain, he asked Wang Xin nervously on the radio, "How is the battle in your department? How much did you lose?"

"Less than one hundred." Wang Xin was overwhelmed with tension, facing the enemy corpses on the battlefield, he reported loudly: "The enemy casualties are at least fifteen thousand, but they are still charging us.

The Japanese soldiers were well trained, but their officers' tactics were not worth mentioning.

I am preparing to mobilize the machine gun truck for a counter charge, and try to kill and injure the enemy's vital forces as much as possible.The enemy's train gun is only three kilometers away from my front, and I might have taken it down with a single charge. "

There were not many casualties on the front line, and the results were not small. The audience was relieved to hear that.But he asked Wang Xin to wait for a while, "Let's cooperate in the open space and let those triplanes straf the enemy's artillery positions."

"Ah... when did our planes install machine guns?"

"Just last night. The imperial capital brought us two newly-made planes. In addition, the Germans provided us with a batch of weapons and ammunition, which are just used to deal with these little devils."

At this moment, five big red triplanes flew over from the north of the Yangtze River and arrived at the sky above Baohua Mountain along the river bank.They no longer carried bombs, but instead mounted a modified air-cooled machine gun in the rear seat.

Captain Yamamoto, who commanded the train artillery, was having a headache from the anxious battle situation. Nakamura's command gave him the illusion that he was under Lushun 203 Heights—the casualties were too great!

Chapter 36

At the end of February, the season is warm and cold.

On the special train for transporting troops from Nanjing to Zhenjiang, the six Japanese-made Type 150 heavy artillery were fully deployed.Dozens of Japanese artillerymen were shirtless, sweating profusely, and worked hard to load [-]mm shells into the barrel.

Every shot is earth-shattering, and the projectile can kill unprotected targets within 50 meters when it hits the ground, and overturn a truck weighing several tons and emit a column of smoke.

It not only caused huge casualties, but also gave the opponent an indelible psychological shock.

The sequelae of the battlefield of veterans often come from the overwhelming artillery fire. Even if they can survive with all their hands and feet, they will leave serious stress injuries.

Using the six heavy artillery well, the Japanese army could stop several divisions of the national army from advancing on the battlefield before '45'.

The reason why Colonel Nakamura is full of confidence in his "pig sudden" tactics is that he has an overwhelming advantage in artillery fire.He believed that the Chinese artillery on the opposite side was not his opponent at all, and the infantry would inevitably flee after being bombarded.

The National Defense Forces on the opposite side spent the whole night repairing field fortifications, but it was difficult to restrain their inner fear under artillery fire.Many soldiers were frightened and jumped out of the trenches and artillery holes, and fled the battlefield desperately, causing unnecessary casualties.

But the Japanese army's "Zhutu" fired two or three hundred shells for nearly an hour, and the Chinese army on the opposite side showed no sign of collapse.Its artillery runs around the battlefield like ghosts and ghosts, going east and west for a while. Although the range is limited, it can always add some chaos.

There are not many Chinese soldiers on the forward position, most of them are in the anti-gun holes two or 300 meters away.Those anti-blasting holes were excavated last night with explosives. As long as they are not directly hit by 150mm shells, they will be difficult to destroy.

What made Nakamura even more unacceptable was the unknown number of 'Maxim' heavy machine guns on the battlefield.The shooting positions of these high-firing weapons are relatively well arranged, not only difficult to be destroyed by artillery fire, but also difficult to find.

The fierce regimental charge was originally an effective means of breaking through the enemy's formation, and it could create multiple attack points on the wide frontal battlefield.But in the face of the intensive side shots of 'Maqqin', one battalion will be consumed for each charge.

After rushing more than a dozen times, the casualties of the Japanese army approached [-], and more than half of them were real devils.

The battle lasted only an hour, and Nakamura had fewer and fewer troops to attack.The warriors who dared to fight fell on the front line, and the incompetent cowards disappeared without a trace, and the communications soldiers of the headquarters could not contact them.

When the British 76mm naval guns stopped shelling, only the six [-]-type heavy guns on the train continued to fire, maintaining Nakamura's remaining face.

But this little face like a fig leaf will not be left.

Colonel Nakamura looked at the position of the National Defense Forces with his binoculars, and the staff officer beside him exclaimed: "Your Excellency, look, the Chinese plane has appeared."

Five big red triplanes were flying over the river, only 300 meters above the ground.The weather was fine, and Nakamura could see the pilots wearing goggles and the ribbons tied around their necks with their naked eyes, as well as their unscrupulous attitude of looking down.

Looking through the binoculars, there are no bombs on the plane, but the rear seat bomber is manipulating the machine gun.

This machine gun has an iconic top-mounted curved magazine, but the butt is shortened and changed to a grip type, and a large heat sink is added to the barrel. It looks like a variant of the Madsen machine gun.

In the sky, Lin Yi led the team, ignoring the Japanese infantry on the front line, and found the very conspicuous train gun parked on the railroad track one minute later.The six Japanese-made heavy artillery can never admit mistakes.

"Follow me and prepare for the 'Death Spiral'." Lin Yi flicked the joystick lightly, the body tilted slightly, and began to circle around the train cannon on the ground.

The captain turned, and the five triplanes dexterously turned their fuselages, hovering at an altitude of about 200 meters.The bombardiers in the rear seat all giggled and aimed their light machine guns at the ground, aiming at the Japanese artillery.

The little Japanese are still stupid on the ground. After all, they have not received air defense training, and countries have not established a system to equip aircraft.The soldiers only regarded the plane as an investigation, and were more interested in seeing the strange things.

Occasionally, those with a quick mind would at most grab a rifle and shoot a few rounds into the sky.

But the plane in the sky looks slow, but its actual speed is about [-] kilometers. Without rapid-fire weapons, it is impossible to shoot accurately.After all, not everyone is like Fatty Jin, who shoots down jet fighters casually.

Zhou Qingfeng didn't have this ability either.

Instead, after the five triplanes began to circle, the Madsen light machine gun in the back seat fired briskly at the ground.The advantage of a rapid-fire weapon is that it is naturally corrected by the bullet's drop point, and it can be fired continuously after a few test shots.

The Japanese artillery was still in a daze, and the rain of bullets roared down.

The gunners standing on the train became the key targets, and five 'Madsen' concentrated fire on the first [-]-type heavy gun, knocking down nearly half of the dozen gunners on the spot.

As soon as the gunshot rang out, the Japanese soldiers on the ground woke up like a dream and ran around to avoid it.They tried to hide behind the artillery and the train, but the five triplanes formed a circle, hitting 360 degrees without any dead angle, and no matter how they ran, they were within the range of fire.

There is nowhere to hide!

'Madsen' had only thirty rounds in its magazine, and couldn't last ten seconds in a row.In the interval of firepower in the air, the Japanese soldiers on the ground fled outward like ants flooded with boiling water.

Even the most stubborn Japanese military officers had a blank mind, not knowing how to deal with the Chinese fighter planes in the sky.They wield their sabers and muster their men, often only to be targeted.

There are also British naval artillery on the train manipulating 76mm naval guns to seek revenge from the Chinese.When they saw the big red triplane firing towards the ground, they all opened their mouths wide and looked terrified, as if they were struck by lightning.

Can you still play like this?

Shooting down from the sky, how can they be beaten?

Not only did he shoot downwards, but he also shot in circles.How can a two-dimensional ground beat a three-dimensional air attack?

Out of fear, many people ran away desperately, just wanting to stay away from those bright red flying monsters in the sky.

There are also clever ones who drill under the train, hoping that the aerial shooter will not be able to see it, and praying that even if they see it, they will not be able to shoot through the train chassis.

Little Japan is a bit stupid, after being attacked by the air, he will not hide or dodge, shouting on the spot and trying to organize air-to-air shooting.The no-name mercenaries hired from Shanghai compete with their legs, not seeking to outrun the plane, but just to outrun their companions.

Brits are smarter, they think the bottom of the car is the safest first.But when they wanted to enter this safe refuge, they found that the extremely clever Sikh Asan had already grabbed the best seat, and the train was already crowded.

Lieutenant Colonel Wei Lepei was furious and raised his pistol and shouted: "Come out, cowardly Indians. The British Empire needs you to fight bravely. The time has come to serve His Majesty the King!"

The three Sikh brothers shook their heads vigorously, preferring to shake off the headscarves that they regard as their lives, rather than come out to fight.Lieutenant Colonel Wei Lepei was forced to squeeze under the train with a group of curry-flavored Indian servants, saving his life first.

The damage done by the five triplanes was not that great, after all, the firepower of the 'Madsen' light machine gun was still a bit weak.But their wings fly in the sky, and they can easily defeat any organized resistance on the ground.

Where there are many people on the ground, Ji Yi and others will fly there.The speed of the plane is so fast that no one can run it.So on the battlefield near Baohua Mountain, the mountains and plains were like herding sheep, with thousands of big-headed soldiers running around.

Without the artillery barrier, Wang Xin's troops immediately pushed forward across the board.Even the full brigade seats gathered all the trucks of the troops, and rushed forward with the infantry.

The 'Maxim' deployed on the ground was re-installed on the roof of the truck, and charged forward with the most ferocious firepower.The carriage was full of soldiers, and many of them were riding outside the carriage.

The battlefield was filled with gunpowder and smoke, and the screams shook the sky.When he saw the Chinese rushing over in a truck in the binoculars, Nakamura, who was in command at the front line, knew that his side was going to die.

"It was too fast for us to react."

The truck detachment did not come from the railway line, but from the weak flank of the Japanese army - where a group of third brothers should be stationed, but they did not know when they retreated from their positions, and they did not tell Nakamura.

But the rain of bullets came from the side, and Nakamura watched helplessly as the situation quickly deteriorated in a direction that was not good for him. "Those damned Indians have a battalion! They ran away without any resistance."

It's okay without artillery support, and there is still a huge gap in the front line, and the Bushido spirit can't hold it.Nakamura personally led the team to gamble, but he blocked the bullet for the third brother without even saying "thank you".

Back then, the Japanese warlord team was cross-fired by the heavy machine guns of the truck unit, and their lungs were about to explode. Whoever dared to covet the friendship of the third brother who came to help, the third brother would definitely let him keep all his capital.

Seeing that his own side was divided and surrounded by the National Defense Forces, cut into small pieces that could not support each other, Nakamura shouted "Heavenly Troubled Black Card" in a hoarse voice, and he felt like waving a saber to cut open his stomach on the spot.

The opponent's maneuvering speed is several times that of his own, and he can concentrate superior forces at a certain point on the front line to make a breakthrough.Without heavy artillery support, infantry on two legs would never be able to withstand the impact of mechanized infantry.

If the offensive and defensive firepower is not equal, the balance of victory will be tilted.

"Why? Why are the Chinese taking the lead in using trucks on the battlefield?"

Strings of broken soldiers hurried past Nakamura, and he couldn't stop them at all.There are only about two companies of supervisory teams still guarding around him, but they are powerless.

It's not that the great powers don't want to engage in mechanization, but that the current trucks still use belt drives, like factory machine tools, and their reliability in dealing with complex terrain is very poor.

The trucks of the Wehrmacht break down at every turn, and they can only carry a large number of spare parts and rely on recruited technicians to maintain them.There is no other way for high-ranking officers such as full brigade seats. They must boldly use vehicles such as trucks and planes to quickly improve the combat effectiveness of the troops.

As for Japan, it only had the ability to manufacture trucks after World War I, don't think about it now.

Discovering Nakamura's staunch enemy equipped with machine guns and light artillery, he followed the self-propelled artillery of the Wehrmacht infantry and put down the hoe one kilometer away, and smashed the shells over in a few minutes.

The 75mm mountain cannon is also a cannon. After five or six rounds, it almost plowed the position of Nakamura.

Wang Xin deliberately tried to coordinate the open space of the battlefield, and used the radio to request control support from the division headquarters full of brigades, and summoned five triplanes to beat Nakamura's headquarters vigorously.

The Japanese warlord team was dizzy by the speed of the firepower response, and was forced to ask Nakamura to give "combat guidance" immediately and order to retreat quickly.

"Where can we retreat? No two legs can't run against the truck on the opposite side." Nakamura took out his "Meiji [-]" revolver with a bitter face, shook his head and said, "Be loyal to the emperor, we cannot surrender."

Chapter 37