Rise From Eight Hundred

As time went by, the Japanese army continued to arrive at the battlefield.

In addition to the arrival of all members of the 45th Infantry Regiment, the 47th Infantry Regiment also followed up breathlessly.

However, the battlefield, which was no more than 1,500 meters wide, obviously could not accommodate the thousands of people from two infantry regiments.

In order to prevent being killed by dense bullets, each wave of soldiers engaged in the attack was destined to not exceed 4 infantry squadrons.

However, before Ushijima Mitsuru arrived in person, there must be a first commander on the front line.

The 47th Infantry Regiment, which arrived right after the 45th Infantry Regiment, was mainly attacking under the city of Matsue, and the remaining personnel of the three infantry battalions were about 2,000 people, so it only sent about 3 infantry squadrons to assist the 45th Infantry Regiment in the attack, which was also obviously handing over its own command.

And Setouchi, the chief of staff of the 36th Infantry Brigade, who followed the 47th Infantry Regiment, was also very tactful and only participated in the coordination, and did not regard himself as the current first commander to make decisions.

This has always been an awkward point for the chiefs of staff of the Japanese Army. In terms of position, whether it is a division or a brigade, the chief of staff is the second person in charge besides the chief officer. However, in order to ensure the absolute authority of the military chief, the Japanese Army has equipped the chiefs of staff of each department with basically two ranks lower than the chief officer.

For example, if the commander of a division is a lieutenant general, the rank of the chief of staff is basically a colonel of the army, and only a small number of senior officers are major generals of the army.

But what makes the chiefs of staff at all levels embarrassed is that the chiefs of the subordinate regiments or brigades are often only one rank lower than the first chief officer, which means they are one rank higher than them.

And for Setouchi, how can he, a lieutenant colonel, give orders in front of a colonel? Especially when the other side was defeated and even did not hesitate to directly accuse Commander Yanagawa Heisuke in front of all his subordinates, he rushed up and said, "Brother was sent by the brigade commander." Isn't that embarrassing?

The lieutenant colonel of the army was sure that, except for the few guards around him, no one here would listen to him.

But this was also good. There was Ushijima Mitsuru who made a mistake above, and Kanda Masatane who took the initiative to jump out to command the two regiments below. No matter what the situation was after this battle, he didn't have to take the blame.

Based on this mentality, after Setouchi arrived at the temporary headquarters of the 45th Infantry Regiment in a small forest, he did not speak again except for reiterating the order that Ushijima Mitsuru must assist the 6th Heavy Artillery Brigade as soon as possible.

For Setouchi's relatively tactful behavior, Kanda Masatane, who did not even say a word of courtesy, was more disdainful than going with the flow. He disdained to play any courtesy with an army lieutenant colonel.

The Japanese Army's 92-type infantry gun weighed 200 kilograms, and the 75-type mountain gun weighed more than 600 kilograms, which could basically be disassembled and transported.

Moreover, the Japanese army had a large number of pack horses. Although the artillery units were not as mobile as the infantry who were all lightly equipped, they would never lag behind too much.

Before Ushijima Mitsuru and the brigade were about to arrive at the front line, the artillerymen had actually taken their positions according to Kanda Masatane's requirements.

The 45th Infantry Regiment had 10 92mm infantry guns and 4 75mm mountain guns. Although the 47th Infantry Regiment only sent 3 infantry squadrons to participate in the battle, it generously handed over all the artillery of its regiment to Kanda Masatane for deployment.

20 minutes later, the Japanese army's 8 mountain guns and 20 92mm infantry guns began to speak one after another.

But in these 20 minutes, the battlefield was never quiet.

Just like two beasts who had already planned to fight to the death, even darkness could not stop them from showing their sharp white teeth.

Murderous intent was everywhere.

Before the bombardment, the Japanese army was not so cruel as to ignore the wounded soldiers who might still survive lying on the front line of the battlefield. They sent a large number of soldiers into the battlefield in the dark, trying to drag back the wounded soldiers who still had a few breaths.

However, after hearing the noise, the Chinese soldiers on the opposite side took the initiative to fire flares, and the figure of the khaki crawling on the ground was clearly visible in the field.

The distance of tens of meters or even hundreds of meters is beyond the reach of grenades, but that is the simplest killing range of rifles.

The riflemen in the trenches used the white light to shoot at the creeping khaki, and the khaki crawling on the ground did not show weakness and kept firing back. Seeing this, the heavy machine guns behind the Japanese positions also fired to provide cover for their infantry.

This led to the mortars behind the Chinese positions to join the battle and attack the Japanese heavy machine gun positions.

In the darkness, the clear bullet marks fired continuously by the heavy machine guns were like bright lights in the dark night, making it easier to determine the direction than during the day.

In other words, in these 20 minutes, except for the Japanese headquarters that were still deploying troops and waiting for artillery support, the Chinese and Japanese armies on the front line were actually not idle.

If you shoot, I will shoot, if you use heavy machine guns, I will use mortars.

Of course, the Chinese side took the initiative, while the Japanese army, which wanted to rescue the wounded, was passively counterattacking. Moreover, the Chinese side, which had trenches as a barrier, had a full advantage.

Twenty minutes later, not many wounded soldiers lying on the front line of the battlefield were rescued, and dozens of people were killed and injured. Two heavy machine guns and their shooters were blown up by shells.

Kanda Masatane had to issue an order for all troops to retreat five minutes before the shelling. As the Japanese army's unique hand-cranked alarm sounded, the Japanese infantry retreated unwillingly, and the Chinese soldiers also knew the opportunity to curl up in the trenches.

Pang Dahai, who was behind the position, hurriedly ordered all mortar squads to move their positions.

Sufficient combat experience reminded the Chinese officers that the Japanese army, which had an advantage in manpower, would never give up so easily. The reason why they did not launch a large-scale attack for 20 minutes was just waiting for artillery.

The previous painful defeat certainly caused heavy losses to the Japanese army, but it also reminded them that without artillery, they were not much different from the Chinese army.

The 82-caliber mortar was the most heavily armed weapon equipped by the Chinese Army, not because it was powerful, but because it was light enough. The total weight of the Anti-Japanese War meritorious artillery, including the base, was only more than 60 kilograms. Only four soldiers were needed to carry it and run away.

Five minutes was enough for the fire support company to run 400 meters sideways.

Pang Dahai's prediction was correct, and the guess of the Chinese officers who ordered the soldiers to curl up in the trenches as much as possible was also correct.

A total of 28 Japanese artillery pieces participated in the bombardment.

The eight mountain guns first began to cover the original position of the mortars and fired about 20 shells. Then they turned their muzzles to bombard the hills with the clearest coordinates, and the 20 infantry guns bombarded the infantry trenches on the other side of the stream.

The entire battlefield was almost illuminated by the flash of the shells.

The Japanese infantry, almost without waiting, started to bombard the Chinese trenches with infantry guns, and then bent over and trotted all the way to approach from more than 200 meters away.

But this time, they invested much less troops.

On the long 1,500-meter front, the total force would not exceed 2 infantry squadrons of 400 people.

This is the shrewdness of Kanda Masatane.

Since they have been delayed here for more than 40 minutes, they don’t care about delaying a little more. The fate of the 6th Heavy Artillery Brigade is important, but the lives of his Imperial Army are not cabbages that can be thrown away casually.

The purpose of doing this is to ensure that the gap between each individual soldier reaches five or six meters. If you want to rely on intensive firepower without aiming, the hit rate will never be too high.

Moreover, as long as one of the six infantry squads of two infantry companies can rush into the Chinese trenches to slow down the opponent's attack, the three subsequent infantry companies he arranged can charge at high speed and finally defeat the opponent completely.

The Chinese who lost the protection of the trenches can only become prey for the Imperial Army to hunt in the wilderness without any cover.

Kanda Masatane has even thought about it. Even if he has to rescue the 6th Heavy Artillery Brigade as soon as possible, he will leave three infantry companies to hunt down all the Chinese who have fled in the wilderness.

He wants to hang a Chinese corpse on every tree here to let those damned Chinese know that those who resist will die.

Of course, all this is based on his sufficient artillery advantage.

Now, he has