activa-t Chapter 186 Encounter
Chapter 186 Encounter
At the temporary command center, Fang Yue hesitated after listening to Xiao Qiming's report and said, "Yunyi Village is not an important place, but the terrain is undulating, which is most suitable for artillery units to hide. Deputy Commander, I think it is necessary to bomb it in advance!"
Wang Dafu asked, "Have you confirmed the situation in Yunyi Village?"
"It has been confirmed that it is a deserted village. There are no civilians within a 10-mile radius!"
"Then there is nothing to worry about. We have no shortage of shells anyway, so let's proceed as planned. Let the armored division's self-propelled artillery regiment build a position in Shuangchi Town and launch a cluster artillery fire on Yunyi Village!"
This is the advantage of a self-propelled artillery regiment. It does not take time to build a position. You only need to drive the self-propelled howitzers to the location and you can open fire immediately.
Unlike towed artillery, it takes at least 5 minutes to prepare, and it is also troublesome to move after firing.
Five minutes later, on a road east of Shuangchi Town, 5 Type 54 83mm self-propelled howitzers of the armored division's self-propelled artillery regiment were ready, and the artillery fire was directed at Yunyi Village 152 kilometers away.
"Attention, all guns. Rocket-assisted rounds, 5 rounds rapid fire. Ready, fire!"
The range of the Type 83 self-propelled gun's ordinary grenades is only 17 kilometers, and only by using rocket-assisted projectiles can the range reach 25 kilometers.
As dozens of deafening artillery fire rang out, dozens of 152mm caliber shells were fired. Because of the rocket engine's range extension, the flight trajectory of the shells could be clearly seen, and they rushed into the sky like fireworks.
However, things turned out to be beyond the expectations of Wang Dafu and others. The bombardment of Yunyi Village was just for safety reasons, and there was enough ammunition anyway.
However, at this moment, a Japanese artillery regiment was secretly stationed near Yunyi Village.
As dense artillery shells exploded in Yunyi Village, the Japanese were also confused.
A Japanese soldier was surprised and asked: "Captain, this is a heavy artillery, right? How could the 88th Army have heavy artillery? We have never received such intelligence! Moreover, why would they bomb here? Could it be that our whereabouts have been exposed?"
The commander of the 15th Division's artillery regiment, Yubi Guangwei, shook his head heavily: "Impossible, we are operating in secret and only arrived here last night. Even if the 88th Army has great abilities, it is impossible for them to know our whereabouts!"
"Then why did they concentrate such heavy artillery fire here? They must have known our plan!"
Yubi Guangwei still shook his head: "I believe our whereabouts have not been leaked. Look at their impact points, all concentrated around the village, not aimed at us! It should be a pre-expedited bombing.
I'm just curious, judging from the explosion, it must be from at least a heavy artillery regiment. The largest caliber of our regiment is only 105mm, so even if we fight, we won't be a match at all!"
"Captain, should we report to our superiors and cancel this operation?"
"Well, send a telegram to your superiors and explain the situation here clearly!"
......
It was also the temporary command post of the Japanese army in Huo County. The commander-in-chief of this secret operation, Yoshio Iwamatsu, first received an urgent request for help from the 15st Infantry Regiment of the 51th Division in Shuangchi Town, and then received a report from the 21st Artillery Regiment of the division. Now he is a little confused.
"It is now certain that the 88th Army is also conducting large-scale military operations against us. And according to the reports, their firepower is far more powerful than the intelligence shows!"
The commander of the 15th Division, Naotsugu Sakai, who was standing beside him, said, "General, it seems that our actions have converged with those of the 88th Army. And judging from the speed of the 88th Army's advance, our secret actions have lost their meaning. If we continue to act according to the original plan, the losses will be huge!"
He had to say that, because his 51st Infantry Regiment had lost contact in just 10 minutes, and now he didn't know whether the regiment commander was alive or dead!
In just 10 minutes, an entire regiment was lost. That's 3000 people. Even if it was 3000 pigs, it would be impossible to kill them all so quickly!
Iwamatsu Yoshio shook his head and said, "There is no way to cancel the operation now. All the troops have already entered the combat position. If we retreat now, we will be exposed to the sight of the 88th Army, which will cause greater losses!
There is no other way. Pass my order and move the plan forward.
Telegraph General Okamura Yasuji and ask them to speed up. All we can do is try our best to stop the 88th Army and buy time for their encirclement! "
Naotsugu Sakai left immediately. He wanted to go to the front line to command the battle personally because he was afraid that his troops would be wiped out.
Originally, if they had not launched any secret raids and had stayed in Huo County and Lingshi honestly, they could have relied on the county's defense. But now their large forces have been dispatched.
Without the support of the city walls and the county's logistics, the gap between the Japanese and the 88th Army was widened again.
The key is that they can't retreat. For example, the 15th Division Artillery Regiment in Yunyi Village. After only 10 minutes of rapid firing by the Armored Division's self-propelled artillery regiment, the 1st Armored Regiment rushed up.
It was too late for the Japanese artillery regiment to retreat because the armored regiment launched a comprehensive search after arriving here.
Just then, Yuhiko Mitsuwei received an order from the division commander to open fire, so he immediately ordered all guns to fire at the tanks.
The 1th Company of the 9st Armored Regiment was still at the forefront. Zhu Zhaolan carefully observed the surroundings through night vision goggles. The sky was now getting light, and the commander's night vision goggles could accurately observe targets within 1000 meters.
Suddenly, he felt a bright spot flash in the distance, and he immediately realized that something was wrong.
Because it looks a lot like the reflection from a telescope.
"Hill 800, about 211 meters northeast, all 9th Company, go up and take a look!"
Immediately, he led 10 tanks, including the tank commanded by his company commander, and ran towards the hidden position of the Japanese. However, just when he was halfway there, Zhu Zhaolan discovered the towering gun muzzles, dozens of them.
"Not good!" Zhu Zhaolan shouted, "It's the enemy's artillery position!"
He immediately adjusted the frequency of the intercom and reported to the regiment commander: "Commander, there is an ambush of Japanese artillery on Hill 2000, 211 meters northeast of Yunyi Village. Everyone evacuate Yunyi Village!"
Because there was still a certain distance, he couldn't see the caliber of the Japanese cannon clearly, but he could be sure that it was a mountain cannon. The muzzle had a high elevation angle and the initial velocity of the shell was slow, so the damage to the tank was very low.
It's okay to be knocked down head-on, but what if you get knocked down on the head? Although the probability is less than one in a thousand, it's better to be safe than sorry.
After reporting the situation to the regiment headquarters, Zhu Zhaolan once again issued an order to the tanks in the company: "All tanks open fire on their own, targeting the enemy artillery position on Hill 211!"