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The three infantry battalion captains who had been waiting on the side immediately received the order and left. The captain of the battalion who had been lying on the front line for ten minutes was especially excited.

Ten minutes may seem short, but it was like torture to him.

Under the mortar fire coverage of the 1st Battalion of the 1000st Independent Regiment, his soldiers dared not move a step. Although almost all of them found cover or lay in the ditch to avoid the artillery fire, the mortar had a large firing angle and a high trajectory arc, which could cause fatal damage to targets behind cover.

So, although it was only 10 minutes, one third of the 1000 Japanese soldiers were killed or injured.

This is also due to the fact that the 6th Division is a powerful field division with strong infantry military qualities. If it were a security division, it would have been defeated and wiped out in the face of such intensive artillery fire.

.....

In the trench of the first battalion, the company commander was overjoyed as he watched the soldiers crawling up from the ground one by one: "Battalion commander, the devils are getting up, your trick really works!"

The battalion commander took advantage of the enemy's inattention and snatched the cigarette he had not taken before and said, "This group of devils are not ordinary people. We can tell from their march! Therefore, even though we have strong firepower, we cannot cause serious damage to them in a short period of time.

So we lure them in, we cover them with firepower in the early stage, and then gradually reduce the firepower, so that the devils think that our shells are used up, and they will launch another attack. "

The company commander continued, "According to common sense, we have indeed used up all our regular artillery shells. Even other Tang armies or the Japanese would not carry too many artillery shells. But who would have thought that we are so well-off? Although our battalion only has 18 mortars, we have thousands of grenades alone. We have been firing for 10 minutes and have only used about 1000 grenades. We still have much more left!"

A battalion commander: "Yes, we came from Sichuan and Kang to fight the Japanese. We used to live in poverty and had to weigh every shell we fired. Now it's much better. We can fire thousands of shells without any pain.

This is also thanks to those trucks, which can continuously deliver ammunition to us!"

As he spoke, he looked at the Japanese soldiers in the distance again and said, "The Japanese soldiers are less than 500 meters away from us. It's almost time for the mortars to fire the second wave! Everyone, open fire and keep all the Japanese soldiers in the position!"

The order was transmitted to each company and platoon via walkie-talkie in an instant. 18 mortars opened fire again, and all light and heavy machine guns also started intensive mode.

The infantry precision shooters also turned on the sniper mode, specifically shooting the Japanese squad leaders and team leaders. As for the Japanese company leaders and battalion leaders, they basically did not rush to the front, but instead commanded in the center of the charging force or in the rear.

Boom boom boom...

Sizzle...

Da da da......

The sounds of firing from mortars, MG42 general-purpose machine guns, Gatling guns, etc. resounded throughout the battlefield.

At the temporary command post of the Japanese brigade, the brigade commander watched his soldiers fall one after another and immediately became furious:

"What's going on? Shouldn't the enemy have finished firing their shells? I was just paying attention to where their shells hit. There are nearly a thousand shells. Why are there still some?"

But no one answered him, because his three infantry captains had already advanced forward, and it would be difficult for him to withdraw his troops now.

Especially the brigade in the front, which was too close to the enemy position and had no way to retreat safely.

However, he was decisive and immediately called out to the signalman: "Quick, provide mortar fire support and notify the troops to retreat in an orderly manner!"

But his order was passed down, but it had no effect.

Because the infantry battalion received the order to attack with all their might this time, they charged forward fearlessly, and more than 800 people had been killed at this moment.

What the Japanese didn't know was that the scouts of the Independent 1st Regiment had already reached the vicinity of their mortar positions. Although the distance was far, the Type 88 telescope was enough to observe everything clearly.

"Artillery Battalion, Artillery Battalion, the Japanese mortar position has been discovered, the coordinates are..."

As the scouts reported the location of the coordinates, the artillery battalion of the Independent 1st Regiment, which was farther behind the mortar positions of the 6st Battalion, was already ready. They immediately adjusted the muzzles, and then six L118 howitzers opened fire, and grenades flew out.

The headquarters only banned the use of bottom-exhaust cluster bombs by the Yan County troops, and they were limited to bombing the enemy's heavy artillery groups. The artillery battalion of the Independent 1st Regiment could only use ordinary grenades.

But ordinary grenades were enough to deal with the Japanese mortars, and several waves of shells exploded in the Japanese positions.

Before the Japanese mortars had time to provide fire support to the first battalion's position, the organization was completely disrupted. The entire position was filled with dust, and mortar parts and Japanese corpses were blown all over the sky.

The main attack direction of the Japanese was the first battalion, and there were also feint attack troops attacking several surrounding locations. They all suffered almost the same blow.

First, the artillery regiment suffered heavy losses, and then the mortars were completely wiped out. Now the Japanese infantry had completely lost their fire support. Under the heavy firepower of the Independent 1st Regiment, they all became moving targets. The ground was littered with Japanese corpses. If it was daytime, you could see that the soil had been dyed red.

.....

"Your Excellency, the division commander, our troops have suffered heavy losses. We request artillery support. We request artillery support!"

The commander of the infantry regiment finally let go of his pride and kept asking for help from the division headquarters in the rear on the phone.

"We have no more artillery. Find a way to withdraw immediately. All combat missions are cancelled!"

This was the only reply he received, after which he lost contact with the division headquarters.

Kanda Masatane originally wanted to attack the Kamagata troops head-on in order to divert the firepower of the 176th Division and hope to withdraw the artillery units.

However, the infantry attacks in several places did not achieve any results, and the 176th Division never stopped firing at the two artillery regiments.

现在近百门火炮损失了超过八成，只有21师团的10余门重量较轻的山炮利用其机动性撤出来炮火圈，而第6师团的包括12门120毫米大口径火炮在内的总共48门火炮全部被炸成了破铜烂铁。

Moreover, under the dense fire coverage, the Japanese artillery shells were indirectly detonated, and more than half of the artillerymen did not withdraw and died in the explosion.

In this situation, the charge of the front-line infantry is meaningless and can only be a fearless sacrifice.

Therefore, Kanda Masatane had no choice but to order all the troops to withdraw. It was really a case of losing the rice while trying to steal the chicken, and not only losing the wife but also the troops.

He finally understood why the 21st Division held its position for more than a month without firing a single shot.

Because Sanguo Zhifu had suffered a bombing by cluster bombs in Linfen, he dared not take the initiative to provoke a war now. He could not afford to provoke him and could not win!