bayedsolid Chapter 188 Bombardment
Chapter 188 Bombardment
"Keep the speed down, don't go too fast!" Chen Dong reminded the driver. Tanks are safer when they attack in groups, otherwise they are easily surrounded and attacked by enemy infantry.
Chen Dong turned around and looked behind him. A squad of infantrymen were carefully following behind the tank, and he felt relieved.
Suddenly, several machine gun bullets struck the tank, sending sparks flying. Startled, Chen Dong quickly ducked inside and closed the hatch.
"Fire! Fire now!" A Japanese lieutenant, sword in hand, lay prone in front of the heavy machine gun and shouted sharply.
He had never seen such a steel behemoth before, so he could only order the heavy machine guns to fire.
"Rat-a-tat-tat," the heavy machine gun spat out a string of fire, but the big guy opposite was unharmed and still slowly advanced.
"Stop! Two hundred meters ahead, heavy machine gun and artillery at 11 o'clock!" Chen Dong shouted from his observation post.
The tank paused and came to a stop. Then the turret began to rotate.
"Fire!" With Chen Dong's command, a loud "boom" resounded, shaking the tank.
"Good! Well done!" The heavy machine gun in their line of sight was blown into the air, and several Japanese soldiers nearby died horribly. Chen Dong even saw a leg fly more than ten meters away.
"keep going!"
Dozens of tanks thundered into the Japanese positions, causing the Japanese soldiers to scream in terror. Many Japanese soldiers were so frightened that they wet themselves, threw down their guns, and fled in all directions like madmen.
However, these men were quickly killed by the tank's synchronized machine guns and the accompanying infantry guns.
Sun Chuanwu raised his hand and fired a shot, killing a Japanese soldier who was about to fire a sniper's shot, then reloaded the gun. He took the cigarette from his lips and took a deep drag.
"Be careful, everyone, don't let something unexpected happen!"
"Yes, platoon leader!" the infantrymen behind the tank answered in unison.
"Company commander, you should get down! It's too dangerous for you to be lying on top of the tank!" his orderly said anxiously.
"Why get down! It's much more comfortable to hitch a ride, and the view is better from above! Don't worry, the bullets that can kill me haven't been invented yet!" Sun Chuanwu said disdainfully.
No sooner had he finished speaking than a loud bang came from in front of the tank. Startled, Sun Chuanwu tumbled off the tank.
It turned out that the tank had been hit head-on by a 75mm mountain gun. The gun brought the tank to a stop, but it started up again after a short while. It seems the mountain gun failed to penetrate the tank's armor.
"Ptooey, ptooey, ptooey!" Sun Chuanwu scrambled to his feet, spitting out the mud and sand from his mouth.
"Company commander, if you keep doing this, I'm going to report you to the political instructor!" The junior orderly immediately stepped forward to check on the company commander, and thankfully, the company commander was not injured.
"You talk too much, kid! I'm scared of you! I'm not going up there, okay? What are you guys laughing about? Get your act together!" Sun Chuanwu roared angrily, his face contorted with embarrassment.
Several soldiers quickly turned their heads away; their company commander was notoriously afraid of the political instructor.
Their political instructor, acting on the regimental commander's orders, kept a close watch on the company commander at all times. This left the company commander utterly helpless.
At the headquarters of the Japanese First Division, Matsumura Tsutomu knelt on the tatami mat with a face full of anger, while the officers below him all bowed their heads.
Unexpectedly, the Chinese army advanced so quickly, defeating one of his brigades and now rushing towards his division headquarters. Unfortunately, his 1st Division suffered heavy casualties in Lushun and was simply unable to resist the Chinese offensive.
However, Nogi Maresuke, commander of the Third Army, ordered him to launch a counterattack against the Chinese army.
He was powerless to even defend himself, so how could he launch a counterattack! In particular, the soldiers were terrified when they saw tanks they had never seen before on the battlefield.
Their weapons were utterly incapable of destroying the enemy's tanks. Nogi Maresuke was a madman, a madman who never valued the lives of his soldiers!
If this continues, my First Division is likely to be wiped out!
"Boom, boom, boom..." Several explosions interrupted Matsumura Tsutomu's thoughts.
"An explosion there? Was it artillery? Call them right away!" Matsumura Tsutomu's expression changed drastically.
Soon a staff officer ran over; "Reporting to the division commander, our artillery has been subjected to precise artillery fire from the Chinese artillery!"
"It's over, it's all over!" Matsumura Tsutomu collapsed onto the tatami mat.
The dozens of cannons his artillery regiment had prepared were all recently purchased from Germany. He had been reluctant to use them, but only when he saw the Chinese bring out their armored vehicles did he order the artillery to deploy.
Unexpectedly, the artillery position was subjected to precise artillery fire from the Chinese as soon as it was established. How did the Chinese find our artillery position? Could there be a traitor among us?
On the Japanese artillery positions, a large number of artillerymen were moving shells and other supplies. Some soldiers were packing up their cannons, intending to move them.
They all knew that the explosions just now were merely test firings by the enemy. A barrage of artillery fire was imminent.
At this point, fleeing for their lives would have been the best course of action, but these cannons were too precious. They were all imported from Germany by Japan at a high price, and no one dared to abandon them.
"Fire! Fire! Shoot down that damn plane!" In the artillery escort, an enraged Japanese lieutenant colonel brandished his sword and roared at the sky.
Their artillery had just deployed, their positions weren't even set up yet, and they'd just launched their observation balloons when these damned planes spotted them.
It must have been that the plane sent their coordinates to the artillery behind them, which is why they were shelled.
Unfortunately, no matter how angry the Japanese were, they couldn't do anything about the planes in the sky. Not to mention that the Japanese didn't have anti-aircraft weapons, at that time, apart from Shen Lian, no one in the world had the concept of air defense.
Japanese soldiers could only raise their rifles and fire into the sky, creating a noisy cacophony, but they couldn't even touch the edge of the planes.
Shen Lian naturally knew that now that his tanks were in action, the Japanese army would inevitably use heavy artillery against him.
He had long ago secretly ordered the construction of several airfields and transported several planes by train.
This rudimentary reconnaissance aircraft wasn't even equipped with weapons. Its range was only three or four hundred kilometers, but that was sufficient for locating key Japanese targets.
"Coordinates confirmed, fire ten rounds in rapid succession!" The First Army Group's artillery group, with hundreds of cannons, pointed their dark muzzles straight at the blue sky.
"Firing complete!"
"Second Artillery Corps fully loaded!"
"Release!" With a loud roar! "Boom boom boom boom boom..."
A plume of white smoke billowed from the muzzle. The deafening sound made the artillerymen cover their ears.
Explosions erupted and shrapnel flew everywhere on the Japanese artillery positions.
A 150mm shell fell, blasting a hole one or two meters deep and five or six meters in diameter in the ground. There was no living thing within a radius of several dozen meters.
A barrage of shells rained down, causing the Japanese artillerymen to cry out in pain and flee in all directions.
Unfortunately, by then it was too late for them to run!
Shells rained down like hail. Smoke and dust from the explosions enveloped the entire Japanese artillery position.