Chapter 108 The Power of 107 Rocket Launchers
Before the puppet army's mortars had fired a few shots, Wang Erniu's shells fell from the sky.
The Japanese knew that the Eighth Route Army had artillery, but they guessed that the Eighth Route Army's gunners were probably just idiots and not very capable.
Therefore, the mortars of the puppet army were gathered together and not separated, so as to exert their maximum power.
With the counterattack of six 82mm mortars from the Vanguard Battalion, the puppet army's mortar positions did not even have time to move and were directly destroyed by Wang Erniu.
When Wang Erniu saw the explosion in the distance, he hurriedly led his soldiers carrying mortars into the stronghold and reinforced the underground warehouse.
When the Japanese squadron leader who was responsible for assisting the attack in the rear saw that the puppet army's mortar position had been destroyed, he quickly commanded his artillery to launch a counterattack using the two Type 92 infantry guns they carried, trying to destroy the vanguard battalion's mortar position.
"fire!"
The Japanese squadron leader drew out his command knife, pointed at the location of the vanguard battalion's mortar position found by the artillery, and ordered the artillery to fire.
The Japanese's artillery level was indeed not low, and two shells directly hit the stronghold.
But at this moment, most of the soldiers inside the stronghold have hidden in the artillery towers or underground warehouses.
In order to make good use of the artillery tower to observe the battlefield, Qin Yangming asked comrades from local troops to help persuade the people to demolish some houses, take out the beams, and erect a large number of logs or beams side by side outside the artillery tower.
A large number of sandbags were filled between the logs.
If you want to hit the artillery tower, you must first blow a hole in the logs outside the artillery tower.
Even if the logs are gone, there is still a buffer layer made of a large amount of wood boards and sand behind them.
Therefore, the Japanese artillery bombardment did not cause any substantial damage to the soldiers of the Vanguard Battalion.
Wang Erniu used the exit of the warehouse, held the gun barrel with his hand, symbolically responded with two shots, and then led other mortar gunners to move to the backup position along the communication trench.
When the Japanese saw that the vanguard battalion's mortars were not moving, they told the puppet army that the Eighth Route Army's mortar positions had been destroyed and quickly attacked the Eighth Route Army's positions.
Because the Eighth Route Army position in Tongshi Town can be said to be built in a circle with the stronghold as the center.
Therefore, attacking from any direction can be said to be frontal.
Therefore, the puppet army commander did not choose to disperse his troops, but directly led the two battalions to charge in one direction towards the vanguard battalion's position.
The surrounding area was wide enough for two battalions of troops to launch a charge.
"boom!"
"Tom!"
As the mine buried 500 meters away from the front line was detonated, Wang Erniu ordered the gunner to fire flares.
The dazzling flares illuminated the puppet army troops below, and also guided the targets for the heavy machine gunners of the vanguard battalion.
Eight heavy machine guns deployed at the front line facing the direction of the puppet army opened fire first.
Fire snakes formed by bullets quickly swept towards the charging puppet troops.
The Japanese soldiers behind saw that the Eighth Route Army's firepower point was exposed, and hurriedly used the Type 92 infantry gun to prepare to directly fire and destroy the Eighth Route Army's firepower point.
After the Japanese set up the Type 92 infantry gun, they quickly aimed and fired, then moved.
Because of the cover provided by the charging puppet troops and the fact that the Japanese had removed the gun shield of the Type 92 infantry gun, the Type 92 infantry gun became even shorter.
Wang Erniu couldn't find where the Japanese Type 92 infantry gun was, so he had no way to fight back with mortars.
Under Qin Yangming's command, the heavy machine gunner fired a hundred bullets at the fastest speed, and then quickly dragged the heavy machine gun down from the position and hid it to avoid being blown up by the Japanese Type 92 infantry gun.
Masao Musashi in the rear was overjoyed when he saw the heavy machine guns on the Eighth Route Army positions cease firing one after another after the explosion.
He immediately ordered his troops to launch a full-scale attack.
The two regiments of puppet troops took the lead and quickly launched a charge towards the Eighth Route Army's positions under the cover of mortar fire.
Qin Yangming was delighted as he watched the mixed force of puppet troops and Japanese soldiers charging towards the position. "Rocket launchers, fire!"
"Yes!"
After receiving the order, Li Erhu quickly ordered the soldiers to operate the rocket launcher and start firing rockets according to the predetermined coordinates.
There are six 107 rocket launchers, each with twelve shells, which means there are seventy-two shells in one round of firing.
The power of the 107 rocket is no less than that of the current 105 howitzer shells.
It was equivalent to seventy-two 105mm howitzers launching artillery fire at the Japanese in an instant.
The killing range of a single rocket is enough to cover half a football field.
If the seventy-two rockets were evenly distributed, they would be enough to cover the attacking Japanese and puppet troops.
Even if it doesn't work, there's still time to fire a second round of shells.
Rays of fire shot up into the sky from the rocket launcher positions behind Tongshi Town and quickly flew towards the Japanese and puppet army troops three kilometers away.
"What it is?!"
A Japanese squadron leader who was following the troops in the charge looked at the flames in the sky rushing towards him and shouted out his doubts.
"Heavy artillery!"
"The Eighth Route Army has heavy artillery!"
A Japanese mortar gunner saw the explosion on the position and immediately shouted to the others around him.
"How come the Eighth Route Army has so many heavy artillery?!"
"That's not a cannonball. How can a heavy artillery shell spray fire?!"
"What is that? Help, help!"
Accompanied by rockets falling into the charge route of the Japanese and puppet troops.
The Japanese and puppet troops were completely stunned by the explosion.
The follow-up troops that had not yet rushed forward looked at the explosion in front of them and dared not continue charging. They immediately stopped and began to retreat.
The officers in command of the troops did not force the troops to charge. With so many artillery shells, not only the soldiers were afraid of death, they were also afraid of death.
The Japanese and puppet troops in the front were in bad luck.
They had already rushed into the 200-meter range of the position.
If they retreated, they would be bombed by rockets, so they had no choice but to continue charging forward, attempting to break into the Eighth Route Army's position and make their artillery afraid to fire.
But after these puppet soldiers and Japanese devils detonated a landmine one hundred meters away.
The grenade throwers who had been prepared immediately launched a counterattack.
The heavy machine gunner also pulled out the heavy machine gun again, loaded the ammunition belt and fired at the enemies in front.
The vanguard battalion's light equipment, automatic firepower and troop organization were more powerful than those of the Japanese. In particular, Qin Yangming seized a lot of the Japanese Type 92 heavy machine guns and Type 99 light machine guns when he attacked the stronghold.
All these weapons were placed at the front line as consumables, making the firepower of the vanguard battalion soldiers at the front line even stronger.
Once a large amount of automatic anger was released, the front line immediately turned into a hedgehog covered in flames.
Dense bullets flew towards the attacking forces of the Japanese and puppet troops like raindrops.
(End of this chapter)
