si-mexico Chapter 1256 Assault
Chapter 1256 Assault
A certain place in Henan Province
"Everyone, take your rice balls and enter the position. From this moment forward, no one is allowed to leave the position. Everything must be done within the position. Remember your mission here: to open up new living space for the Empire and His Majesty the Emperor, and to acquire more land for your loved ones back home..."
Battalion Commander Shinichi Kubota was shouting these words loudly, and the soldiers' ears were already calloused from hearing them. They were ordered to be stationed on the third line of defense, which was originally a reserve line. Many people thought it wouldn't be needed, since there had never been a case of someone being able to break through all three of their lines of defense in succession. But today, this strange thing had actually happened, so they and the men from the other two battalions rushed to the third line of defense. At this moment, they were eating while reinforcing their positions.
"This is completely useless. The enemy is a purely mobile force with tanks and armored vehicles. Our trenches are of no use to them at all. We need a lot of anti-tank artillery. As for relying on our soldiers' suicide attacks, the 72nd Army already has a countermeasure."
Squad Leader Nobe looked at his soldiers and said helplessly. He had just met one of his fellow villagers, a squad leader who had been carried down from the first line of defense. That man had told him about the situation at the first line of defense.
The first line of defense took almost half a month to build, and it even used reinforced concrete to construct numerous pillboxes. But what was the final result? It didn't even last a day, and more than 3000 Japanese soldiers perished along with it.
When the infantry began their attack, the planes in the sky and the artillery on the ground launched their attack almost simultaneously. The bombs and shells falling from the sky almost made their heads spin. At this moment, everyone's mind was a complete mess.
According to the squad leader, he had never seen such intense artillery fire in his life. Although he survived, his lower body was blown to pieces. If it weren't for the medics nearby, he probably wouldn't have survived.
When the squad leader was speaking, Squad Leader Nobe dismissed everyone around him, afraid that his men might panic if they overheard. Although we also had artillery support, apart from the 12 Type 92 infantry guns, there was practically no other artillery support on the position.
Just as they stepped out of the cabin, Squad Leader Nobe encountered a disabled veteran from his hometown. He had reportedly lost both legs and an arm on the Pujiang battlefield and was now useless in the war. The returning ship could take him back.
He told Squad Leader Nobe something at the time: the 72nd Army was completely different from other armies. Against other armies, you could use all your skills and achieve victory on the battlefield. But if you encountered the 72nd Army, you had to prioritize saving your own life. The overall war situation was irrelevant to you, because you couldn't guarantee victory anyway.
Squad Leader Nobe was young and impetuous at the time, and wouldn't listen to a word his seniors said. Now, seeing more and more wounded soldiers being brought down from the battlefield, even though they hadn't seen anyone from the 72nd Army yet, they were already starting to feel uneasy.
When Squad Leader Nobe turned around, he saw several of his men strapping grenades to their bodies. This was something that should be encouraged, but he had studied it in modern infantry school; dealing with an enemy tank onslaught this way was practically suicidal.
In true armored warfare, one should deploy their own tanks to engage the enemy in direct combat. However, their 40-plus tanks were all reduced to ashes in the first wave of attack, including their normally invaluable tank crews. From that moment on, they and a surrounding division lost the cover of their armored forces.
Many Japanese officers and soldiers believed that while their country was far wealthier than China, they simply couldn't afford to support these armored units. The sheer cost of refueling them daily was staggering. The amount of fuel delivered in a truckload of drums wasn't even enough for a single morning's use.
How exactly do they manage to maintain the 72nd Group Army of China? Do their tanks and armored vehicles all run on water? Otherwise, where do they get so much oil? Isn't this country supposed to be an oil-poor nation? Like us, all the country's fuel is imported from abroad.
Just as the squad leader was thinking about these things, a fireball about ten meters high appeared in the distance, and everyone looked at that direction in astonishment.
"All large-caliber heavy artillery pieces are concealed."
Before they could react, a company commander next door had already shouted. All the soldiers were fairly well-trained, and they quickly jumped into the trench and pressed themselves against the trench wall.
Squad Leader Nobe and his soldiers had never seen such a massive explosion. Although they had seen bombing raids by the air force before, this was caused by artillery fire.
They originally thought that their division's 105mm artillery was heavy artillery, but this was far more powerful than 105mm artillery. Squad Leader Nobe had this much insight.
"Captain, what kind of artillery is this?"
The private next to the squad leader said fearfully, his whole body trembling.
Just as Squad Leader Nobe was about to answer, the ground suddenly shook violently, and he could no longer speak. The few shells that had just landed were merely for determining coordinates; now, more than 20 shells had struck their position, leaving many people bewildered.
Squad Leader Nobe knew very well that the impact of the shell was immense. Although they were lying in the trenches, they still felt the force of the impact. This was something you couldn't avoid; many soldiers felt a tightness in their chests, and they knew they would soon cough up blood.
This was an extremely serious internal injury; if anyone were to stand up at this moment, it would likely be the last time they did. Fortunately, most of the people were huddled in the trenches.
A 203mm heavy gun!
Squad Leader Nobe finally realized that this was even more powerful than the 155mm heavy artillery he had previously thought it was.