Anti-Japanese War, weapons designer at Fengtian Arsenal

A Japanese squad appeared at the end of Hongjiang Road under the cover of two Type 89 medium tanks.

The troops stationed on Hongjiang Road were led by Squad Leader Pan Dezhang of the 5nd Company, 1st Battalion, 2th Regiment.

As soon as he saw the headlights of the Japanese tanks appearing on the opposite corner of the street, he threw away the cigarette butt in his mouth and shouted to the surrounding soldiers: "The short mules are coming! Fight! Show the courage of the young and old men of Guangdong! Fight hard! "

As he said this, he rushed to a Maxim heavy machine gun, pointed the gun at a tank and started firing wildly!

Other soldiers of the 19th Route Army also responded, hiding behind sandbags or in tall buildings on the side, and launched an attack on the Japanese mixed tank and infantry formation.

The moment the two Japanese tanks drove out of the intersection, they immediately straightened their bodies. They were less than 300 meters away from Squad Leader Pan Dezhang's heavy machine gun. If they didn't quickly aim the front of their thickest armor at the enemy, they might really lose a piece of their armor from the side.

Don't think that it can't be done because the Maxim caliber is small. The side armor of the Type 89 tank is only 15mm, and it is a riveted armor plate. If it is shot continuously by a heavy machine gun, it may cause loosening and the whole armor plate to fall off, which would be the end of it.

As the Japanese tanks were turning, Squad Leader Pan Dezhang kept firing. Heavy machine gun bullets hit the tank armor, creating a bunch of sparks. Several bullets, due to the shooting angle, hit the armor plate and bounced to the side, killing a Japanese hiding in the corner, causing this group of Japanese to suffer a small amount of casualties before they even showed their faces.

After the tanks successfully turned, the Japanese soldiers quickly rushed out of the corner, hid behind the tanks, or occupied the surrounding streets, while steadily pressing forward and firing at the troops led by Squad Leader Pan Dezhang.

As soon as the Japanese tanks turned around, the heavy weapons facing the position of Squad Leader Pan Dezhang included two 57mm cannons and two 6.5mm vehicle-mounted machine guns. The 19th Route Army, which had originally had a defensive advantage, instantly fell into a disadvantage.

This is what a tank is like. As a mobile fortress, when it is pushed in front of the enemy's fortress, it can use its armor and firepower to make up for the enemy's defenses that have been arranged in advance.

Squad leader Pan Dezhang fired calmly, and the Maxim heavy machine gun made slow but continuous firing sounds, but the heavy machine gun was unable to penetrate the front armor of the Type 89 tank. Even though the tank that he was paying close attention to had nearly a hundred bullet holes, the tank was still advancing steadily.

Two Japanese tanks fired two 57mm high-explosive shells at the heavy machine gun position of Squad Leader Pan Dezhang. One shell missed and hit a civilian house in the rear, shattering the glass. One shell hit the sandbag on the side of the heavy machine gun, causing no damage to the gun.

While the artillery was reloading, the Japanese crew immediately fired with the vehicle-mounted machine gun. Squad leader Pan Dezhang was unfortunately shot in the arm. He let out a painful howl and the heavy machine gun stopped firing for a while.

He immediately checked his shot arm. A large piece of flesh was torn off by the bullet and his entire arm was bloody. However, he felt that no bones were injured, so he should still be able to fight!

"Wu Pei, come here! Change the bullets for me!

Wu Quan! Bandage me up! "

The two brothers Wu Pei and Wu Quan rushed over immediately. Wu Quan saw that Pan Dezhang's hand was bloody and shouted.

"Squad leader! They're all rotten! Let's go to the field hospital!"

"Stop talking nonsense! You're going to give orders after I leave? Wrap it up for me! Stop nagging like a gossip!!"

Wu Quan didn't dare to say anything. He took out a bandage and quickly bandaged him. Wu Pei also finished changing the bullets. Pan Dezhang immediately controlled the heavy machine gun and resumed shooting.

When the Japanese tanks saw the heavy machine gun firing again, they were actually frightened for a moment. They fired several shots in a row, but the shells all hit the heavy sandbags in front of the Maxim heavy machine gun and failed to completely destroy the heavy machine gun.

Seeing this, the tank commander was worried that the precious tank would be damaged, so he actually ordered the tank to reverse.

The Japanese squad leader in charge of the attack was confused. If you run away, won't we be exposed to the range of the heavy machine guns?

He immediately ordered his troops to retreat to a safe corner using tanks as cover. Well, all the previous efforts were wasted and so many people died in vain.

The Japanese squad leader smashed the tank with a rifle. The Japanese tank commander opened the door and started cursing before the squad leader could even start.

"Bakayarro!! How dare you smash the precious armor of the Imperial chariot with a cheap rifle butt? I will send you to a military court!"

The Japanese squad leader was stunned for a moment, and then started cursing.

"Bakayarō! Why are you retreating? Why don't you just drive forward and destroy the enemy's position? Eight of my soldiers have died following the tanks. Your retreat makes their deaths worthless! You bastards! You are the ones who should be court-martialed!"

But after he said this, the conductor did not feel the slightest bit of guilt, instead his face was full of contempt.

"On the battlefield, you infantrymen just have to die, but we tank commanders have a lot more to consider.

Do you know how precious our tanks are? You can't fill every rivet with your life! The heavy machine gun on the opposite side is too well protected by sandbags. Our artillery can't destroy it by force. If we get too close, the front armor may be destroyed!

As a tank commander, I will never allow the tank to take such risks! This is a blasphemy against the empire's precious wealth, and I must commit seppuku to apologize for it! ! "

The squad leader was yelled at by the tank commander and was completely numb. The life of an infantryman is not worth an anchor nail? The tank cannot be put at risk? Then why did the Empire build these big iron lumps?

He cursed the tank commander madly in his heart, but he knew that the whole military atmosphere regarded tanks as treasures, and his status as a small team leader was not as valuable as the tank commander with the rank of second lieutenant in front of him.

There was no other way, the squad leader could only order the soldiers to attack the 19th Route Army's defense line. Of course, he did not order the soldiers to rush forward blindly, as this would be asking for trouble with the enemy's heavy machine guns. Instead, he ordered the soldiers to advance along the houses on both sides towards the 19th Route Army's position. As long as they could occupy the houses on both sides and get close to the heavy machine guns, then this street would be taken!

The decision made by the Japanese squad leader was correct and the progress was very smooth. Although Route 19 also stationed soldiers in the house, the Japanese soldiers had the advantage in this battle for the house because of their better equipment and stronger quality.

Moreover, the Japanese army had a lot of Nambu 14 pistols. Although people usually complained about the various problems with this pistol, it was much better than a rifle in close combat for a house.

Soon, the houses seized by the Japanese were successfully pushed to the side of the sandbags controlled by the soldiers of the 19th Route Army.

After a squad of Japanese soldiers killed the 19th Route Army soldiers in the building, they quickly rushed to the rooftop of the third floor of the building, took out grenades, detonated them and threw them downstairs.

A scream of fear was heard downstairs, followed by a series of explosions, in which squad leader Pan Dezhang and several soldiers were killed or injured.

“Squad leader!!”

The two brothers Wu Pei and Wu Quan cried out in grief and rushed over to check Pan Dezhang's injuries.

Pan Dezhang was hit by several shrapnels and was on the verge of death. With his last bit of strength, he said to the two soldiers he brought from Guangdong: "Go to the next line of defense... Stay alive..."

After saying that, he breathed his last.

"Woo woo woo, squad leader!"

The two brothers howled in pain, but they had no time to savor the sorrow because the heavy machine gun was destroyed and the Japanese launched a full-scale attack.

A large number of Japanese soldiers poured out from the houses on both sides and the streets opposite at the same time. They shouted "Load!" and quickly launched a charge.

The soldiers on this line of defense were outnumbered and were quickly shot dead.

The two brothers Wu Pei and Wu Quan did not retreat but held on to the end. They threw all the grenades on their comrades and stopped the Japanese for about 3 minutes.

They used up the few ammunition they had, took out their bayonets and stuck them on the muzzles of their guns, jumped out of the cover, and engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the Japanese. In the end, they were outnumbered and the two brothers died under the Japanese bayonets.

"Yoshi, we've taken this street, let's move on to the next one!"

Seeing that the heavy machine guns that posed a threat to them had been eliminated, the Japanese tank commander ordered the tank to continue moving forward with satisfaction.

They soon arrived at the intersection of Baoshan Road and Baoyuan Road, and encountered the team led by Tan Zuoping, deputy company commander of the third company, who was stationed there.

When Tan Zhaoping saw the Japanese tanks appear at the intersection, he knew that all the brothers on Hongjiang Road were dead. A trace of sadness flashed through his heart, and then he shouted loudly to the soldiers around him: "The short mules are coming! Brothers, get ready for battle! Bring up the newly bought big guns! Take good care of the Japanese tanks and see if the businessman surnamed Li is telling the truth!!"

The soldiers of the Ninth Route Army immediately moved and rushed to the positions that had been prepared long ago. Tan Zuoping crawled behind a hidden sandbag where four soldiers were lying, controlling two gray-black guns with surprisingly long barrels.

The soldiers punched two small holes in the thick sandbags so that the bullets from the rifles could hit all the enemies coming from across the street.

Tan Zhaoping asked: "Brothers, are you familiar with the big gun drill? I will use you soon, don't embarrass me!"

A second lieutenant pressed his shoulder against the butt of his rifle, staring at the mechanical sights without blinking.

Without even turning his head, he said, "I know it well. I know it well enough. I even sleep with it in my arms. If anything goes wrong, it will definitely work!"

"Have you memorized the contents of the anti-tank manual? There is a chance that this gun will not be able to penetrate the front of the tank!"

"I'm familiar with it. The little notebook has a clear picture of what the inside of the tank looks like. Attack the observation window, the tracks, the connection between the turret and the gun, the ammunition rack on the side, and anything else at the back!"

Tan Zuoping nodded with satisfaction and lay aside waiting for the anti-tank gun to find an opportunity to fire.

These two big guns are naturally anti-tank guns made by Li Qinwu. However, unlike the ones he made in the Fengtian Arsenal using the Liao-made Maxim barrel, 12% of the parts on this gun are made of ceramic steel. Only the bolt, needle, and trigger assembly are traditional metal parts. Oh, and the buttstock also uses a large piece of softened rubber as a buffer. The entire gun cost only oceans.

The reason why it is still so expensive is that Li Qinwu's anti-tank gun production line has not been rolled out. If large-scale production is rolled out, the price can be reduced to less than 10 oceans.

But now the price is already outrageous. You can buy an anti-tank weapon for 15 dollars. When Li Liangwei, who was acting as an arms dealer at the time, found General Cai Tingkai's adjutant and said he would provide them with 300 anti-tank weapons, the adjutant looked at Li Liangwei as if he was a fool.

After Li Liangwei suffered a setback in opening a small shop in Ergou Village, he gave up developing in this area. He crossed out "I Opened a Small Shop in the Republic of China" before he even finished writing the three golden chapters, started a new page, and wrote the title "I Was an Arms Dealer in the Republic of China".

Seeing that his adjutant did not trust him, he immediately took his adjutant to find an open space and used an anti-tank gun to penetrate a 200mm piece of armor within 17 meters.

The adjutant was shocked and took him directly to see General Cai Tingkai.

When General Cai Tingkai learned that the businessman named Li could provide him with weapons, he became extremely enthusiastic. There was no other way. The National Government wanted to compromise with the Japanese and asked him to withdraw from Shanghai, but he knew that once the 19th Army withdrew from Shanghai, Japan would immediately replicate its success in the Northeast. Therefore, he disobeyed orders and refused to execute the retreat order.

The consequence of this was that all supplies were cut off. General Cai Tingkai also tried to seek help from the Shanghai consortium, but the local consortiums were all dependent on someone, and that someone showed disgust towards General Cai Tingkai. How could these consortiums that took orders from someone help him?

Moreover, these consortiums also believed someone's words and thought that as long as they made concessions, Japan would withdraw its troops, the fighting would not escalate, and their industries in Shanghai could be preserved. Therefore, they were disgusted with General Cai Tingkai who resisted resolutely.

Poor General Cai Tingkai, he fought bravely on the front line to protect their property, but instead he incurred such disgust.

Therefore, General Cai Tingkai was so happy to learn that Li Liangwei was willing to support him, and promised to take him to eat Buddha Jumps Over the Wall after the battle.

However, General Cai Tingkai had a secret at this time. He had no money left. At the instruction of someone, the Ministry of Military and Political Affairs did not allocate a penny to the 19th Route Army. Even the materials for the construction of fortifications of the 19th Route Army were bought by him with money borrowed from his fellow townsmen and friends. Now the arms dealers came to his door, but he could not afford it. What should he do?

Li Liangwei knew about this a long time ago and he had a solution.

The weapons he brought this time included 300 anti-tank guns and 1500 Sten submachine guns. All of these guns were ceramic steel guns produced by the No. Ceramic Steel Factory in Hutoushan. A large amount of ceramic steel materials were used on the guns, with only a few metal parts.

The actual price of these guns was quite cheap. The total value of this batch of goods was only about 8000 oceans. Li Liangwei really didn't care about such a small amount of money. He would be happy to give all the goods to General Cai Tingkai, but in order to do business with other armies in the future, he couldn't offer too low a price at the beginning.

So Li Liangwei came up with an idea: use the Japanese tanks as payment.

If the soldiers of the 19th Route Army have the opportunity to paralyze the Japanese tanks, they can bring back the wreckage if conditions permit. Li Liangwei's caravan also has some heavy vehicles that can tow tanks.

Each Japanese tank was worth 5000 oceans, no matter if it was good or bad, even if it was burned down to a frame, it was an incentive for the soldiers to make money on the battlefield.

Li Liangwei reported the price of this batch of arms to General Cai Tingkai as 20 oceans. As long as 40 tanks or other vehicles could be destroyed, the money would be gone.