readsfreenovel Chapter 117 Attack and Defense
Chapter 117 Attack and Defense
"Commander, the artillery position is under fire from the enemy." Before he could ask the officer beside him to find out the situation, a messenger came to report.
Upon hearing the news, Zeng He's face changed drastically, and he immediately shouted to the staff officer beside him: "Quick, let the artillery move their positions!"
Zeng He's voice was filled with a hint of anxiety and nervousness. At the same time, he looked ahead, secretly hoping that it was not too late.
The staff officers acted quickly and conveyed orders to various artillery units.
At the same time, the soldiers around the headquarters also began to pack up and prepare to evacuate their current positions. If they did not move their positions quickly, the enemy's artillery fire might bombard this place after bombing the artillery positions.
After seeing that no more shells were falling on the battlefield, Fang Weiguo shouted, "Quick! Get all the soldiers into combat mode and get ready for battle!"
"At the same time, strengthen the position's defenses to ensure we can hold this position."
The staff officer next to Fang Weiguo nodded and immediately turned around to convey the order.
Fang Weiguo continued to observe the movements on the battlefield with a telescope, not missing any signs of the Northern Army.
The next battle will be extremely fierce. After two encounters with the Northern Army, the troops will suffer heavy losses. Every soldier will need to try his best to reduce casualties.
At this moment, the entire battlefield was filled with a tense atmosphere.
Even though the Northern Army quickly relocated its artillery positions, several cannons were still destroyed. Most importantly, the shells exploded during the bombardment, resulting in the loss of a lot of shells and artillerymen.
After the Northern Army artillery position retreated, the artillery regiment of the 1st Division bombarded the positions of the three armies again, making Zeng He very angry.
There was no way. The artillery of a division had a range of 11 to 14 kilometers, while the longest-range artillery of the Northern Army was only a little over four kilometers.
The headquarters of the three armed forces has retreated three kilometers. Although it is still within the range of enemy artillery attack, as long as it can hide well enough, it is unlikely to be attacked by artillery fire.
After all, if there are no clear enemy coordinates, the enemy cannot blindly plow the entire attack range, doing so would be a pure waste of artillery shells.
At this time, the chief of staff asked cautiously: "Commander, should our troops continue to attack?"
"Continue." Zeng He uttered these two words coldly.
The main battlefield was in chaos with continuous artillery fire and smoke. On the two wings, the Northern Army took the opportunity to launch a fierce charge.
They surged towards the positions of the 103rd Regiment on the left and the 104th Regiment on the right like a tide, with shouts, gunshots and artillery fire rang out.
The Northern Army soldiers had a determined look in their eyes, bravely moving forward in the hail of bullets. They dispersed their formations, bent forward with their guns in hand, dodging the dense machine gun fire, and approached the First Division's position step by step.
"They are worthy of being the elite of the Northern Army." Fang Weijia and Fang Tianming sighed in their respective positions.
As the 32st Division stopped its shelling, the nd Division also formed a skirmish formation and launched an attack on the main position.
Because of the artillery bombardment and the certain losses suffered, the 32nd Division's attack was much more restrained and not as fierce as that of the 71st and 72nd Divisions.
Compared with the 71st Division, the 72nd Division had only 72 people. Even though the 71nd Division fought very tenaciously, its offensive intensity was far inferior to that of the st Division.
The positions of the 71rd Regiment, which were attacked by the 103st Division, felt great pressure.
Fang Weijia acted decisively and immediately issued an order: "Artillery company, set up the mortars! Aim at the enemy's formation and fire hard."
The chief of staff at the side wondered in his heart whether doing so would result in unnecessary waste of artillery shells, but he did not say much and just silently followed Fang Weijia's orders.
He understood that it was better to waste some shells than to allow the enemy to get closer and increase his forces.
Soon, the soldiers of the artillery company took action quickly, skillfully set up the mortars, began loading ammunition, and prepared to launch an attack on the enemy.
With an order, the mortar made a deafening roar, and shells whizzed out and flew towards the attacking enemy.
Although the 71st Division's attack formation was relatively dispersed, it still suffered a lot of casualties under mortar fire.
"Throw grenades." When the soldiers of the 71st Division approached the front line, the soldiers of the 103rd Regiment threw grenades under the orders of the company and platoon officers.
At the same time, grenade launchers from various units also whizzed towards the Northern Army.
Because the mortar attack was blocked, the follow-up troops of the 71st Division were unable to keep up. The Northern Army vanguard approaching the position was quickly repelled by grenades, grenade launchers, machine guns, submachine guns, and rifles.
As the remaining vanguard retreated, the subsequent attacking troops also withdrew.
The commander of the 71st Division saw this and could not help but curse: "Useless, all of you are a bunch of useless. Pass the order, let the 713th Regiment move forward."
Facing the furious division commander, the chief of staff did not dare to argue and had to go down to make arrangements. Soon, the soldiers of the 713th Regiment launched an attack on the position of the 103rd Regiment.
"It's never going to end, is it?" Fang Weijia couldn't help but curse inwardly when he saw that he had just repelled one wave of enemies when another one came up.
Then Fang Weijia found the chief of staff and asked, "Chief of Staff, do the troops have enough ammunition?"
"Commander, we don't have much mortar ammunition left, but the rest of the grenades, bullets, grenade launcher shells, etc. are all in sufficient supply," said the chief of staff.
The mortar has a longer range than the grenade launcher, and the maximum range of the grenade launcher is only more than 700 meters, so the mortar shells are consumed much faster than the grenade launcher.
Fang Weijia said coldly: "Request artillery support from the division headquarters, and at the same time fire all the mortar shells."
"When the enemy approaches, don't save your grenade launchers' shells and fire them hard."
The chief of staff did as Fang Weijia instructed without any hesitation.
After receiving the request for artillery support from Fang Wei's family, Fang Guoxuan said with a smile: "It seems that the Wei family is under a lot of pressure. Send a message to the artillery regiment to support the left wing battlefield."
"This can't be blamed on the Wei family." Chief of Staff Xie Yuan also smiled.
"The intensity of the attack on the front battlefield has been reduced under the artillery attack. The 72nd Division on the right wing has only 71 people, while the st Division on the left wing is fully staffed."
At this time, both of them were full of confidence in defending Yanping. As long as they ensured sufficient artillery fire, they could completely stop the enemy's offensive.
The only thing he was worried about was the number of shells, so Xie Yuan asked, "Captain, at this rate of consumption, are the shells in reserve enough?"
"Don't worry, our arsenal has been completed." Fang Guoxuan explained with a smile.
"The arsenal has started operation and ammunition will be supplied soon. In addition, the Second and Third Divisions have already arrived in Changhuan. If the ammunition is insufficient, we can ask them for some more."
"Besides, after the cement road is built, it will only take one day to transport supplies from Nanling to Changhuan."
With the artillery support on the left wing battlefield, the attacking 713th Regiment and the positions of the 71st Division in the rear were covered by the artillery fire of the st Division.
"Pass the order, let the 713th Regiment withdraw." The commander of the 71st Division had no choice but to give the order, while leading the guards to avoid the artillery shells.
He planned to wait for the enemy's artillery fire to stop and then move his headquarters two kilometers back. Being threatened by artillery fire all the time would make anyone feel unsafe.