Zhou Wu listened to Ding Ning's words and was silent for a long time, Ding Ning was right, with the current strength of less than 5,000 people in the independent brigade, he was not qualified to fight a war of attrition with devils who were several times their size.
If you have to fight hard, these 5,000 people will all be finished in a few hours, and you should think carefully about how to block the crazy attack of the devils in the afternoon battle, and also minimize casualties.
At this time, the weather changed again, the sun that appeared in the morning hid in the thick clouds again, the sky quickly became overcast, Zhou Wu's mood improved slightly, at least the bombers of this kind of weather devil would not be dispatched to the position to bomb indiscriminately.
They finally don't have to defend against the guns on the devil warship and the sky above their heads, they just need to concentrate on dealing with the little devils attacking on the ground.
The devils also noticed the change in the weather, and they couldn't wait to start intensive artillery preparations for the positions of the independent brigade, as usual, the devils mainly used the warships and naval guns at the mouth of the Yangtze River, supplemented by other army mountain artillery.
At this time, everyone hid in the anti-artillery holes that had been dug long ago, and although the artillery rumbled outside, the ground shook, and the dust and mud were flying, for the fighters of the independent brigade, they basically did not suffer much damage except for the loud noise caused by the explosion of large-caliber shells.
After nearly half an hour of artillery preparation, the devil's infantry launched an attack on the new position of the independent brigade under the cover of more than a dozen tanks.
Now the devil is still a thousand meters away, Zhou Wu told Gao Xiangfa, Ding Ning, Wang Ding, don't rush to fire first, when the devil tank wades across the river, all the firepower will fire together, and the enemy will definitely achieve good results.
Ding Ning said on the radio: "Brigade seat, when the devil's tank wades across the river, the earthen mines that we have placed in the river in advance can play a role, and judging from the number of those mines, it is estimated that these dozen tanks will not be good." ” Zhou Wu said: "Lao Cheng, when the devil's tank wades across the river for a while, you can't be idle, greet the devil's tank fiercely with armor-piercing shells, and after the shells are finished, rush forward for me, and drive back the infantry who crossed the river for me." ” "Yes, I have no shells, I can use a heavy machine gun, I use a heavy machine gun to shoot them with nowhere to escape."
Lao Cheng happily agreed.
Zhou Wu also informed Zhang Ercheng of the howitzer battalion through the radio, asking him to concentrate his firepower on the river and the open ground in front of him, not to spare the shells, to use all the shells at hand, to dismantle the artillery after the shells were exhausted, and to prepare for retreating to Changshu.
"Brigade seat, don't worry, now the shells I have at hand can at least last until the evening retreat, I'm afraid that when we get to Changshu, our artillery will run out of food, won't it become scrap metal, it seems that I, the commander of the artillery battalion, will change careers to become infantry."
Zhang Ercheng said depressedly.
"Lao Zhang, when you arrive in Changshu, as long as the defense fortifications over there are still in our hands, there should be no problem with your artillery shell supply, according to Lao Zhai, who has long been in Jiangyin, there are still super-large caliber German fortress guns on the defense fortifications over there, in case your artillery has no shells available, you can go to Jiangyin to command the large-caliber fortress artillery, then it will be more enjoyable to fight."
Zhou Wu quipped.
"Brigade seat said and laughed, I really can't bear these dozens of cannons, although the maximum caliber is only 100 mm, but they have been with me day and night for three months, and I have feelings, I am panicked and uncomfortable."
Zhang Ercheng told the truth that he regarded the lifeless cannons as his own children, and he actually developed feelings for them.
Zhou Wu understood Zhang Ercheng's feelings very well, and he could only comfort that as long as the 79th Army was still there, there would be no big problem with the supply of artillery shells, and there must be ammunition reserves in the fortifications anyway.
As soon as the two finished talking, the devil's tanks had already driven to the river, apparently they also knew that there was a small river here before the attack, so these tanks only paused slightly, and immediately slowly entered the water, preparing to swim across the river and go straight to the position of the independent brigade on the other side of the river.
Zhou Wu saw the movement of the devil's tank clearly in the telescope, and he saw that the devil's tank was about to cross the middle of the river, so he immediately ordered: "Lao Ding, detonate the mine Lao Zhang, wait for the mine to explode, and bombard the devil's infantry within a kilometer of the river and the other side of the river."
Before the words fell, Ding Ning had already commanded people to detonate the earthen mines made of grenades buried in the river and in the middle of the river, only to see a column of water rushing to the sky, the explosion was deafening, when the first Devil Type 95 tank was blown up by the earthen mine, the body tilted to the side, lying in the middle of the river and not moving, it seemed to be a burp.
The rest of the tanks panicked and wanted to climb to the other side of the river as soon as possible, but the huge waves set off by the explosions of mines around them greatly affected the vision of the tank crews, and before they could recover their senses, two more tanks were hit by the earth-made mines, and smoke billowed from them.
Seeing that the situation was not good, the tankmen inside hurriedly climbed out of the tank, jumped into the cold river, and desperately paddled backwards.
At this time, Zhang Ercheng's artillery opened fire, and the scene of sixty or seventy guns of various calibers firing in a salvo was quite spectacular, and Zhou Wu's vision was completely obscured by the fire and smoke generated by the shelling.
The already small river was completely obscured by the smoke from the explosion of the shells, and Zhou Wu could not see a single gap in the telescope, Zhang Ercheng was following his instructions, and kept shelling the river and the other side of the river with his head in his head.
At this time, the brothers of the national army on the position were like watching firecrackers and fireworks during the New Year, and they were all on the battlefield watching Zhang Ercheng and they kept firing at the river.
In the past, it was the first time that the artillery fire of the national army overwhelmingly bombarded the devil's assault formation with large-caliber heavy artillery shells from warships, but it was the first time that the artillery fire of the national army overwhelmingly bombarded the devil's assault formation.
The strange thing is that the devil naval guns, which were active in the past, did not return fire today, allowing Zhang Ercheng to keep pouring steel and fire into the river.
Zhou Wu looked at the situation in front of him with a telescope, and at the same time wondered in his heart, what happened to this devil's naval guns today, could they have become honest With the consistent virtue of devils, they will definitely not be so honestly shelled by the national army, unless the range of naval guns is out of reach.
This is unlikely, the new position is only two miles away from the second-line position, and the range of the devil's large-caliber naval guns is more than enough, so they still have something to hide Zhou Wu glanced up at the gloomy sky in his thoughts, and saw that the weather was getting more and more gloomy in the afternoon, and it seemed that it was going to rain at night, and he suddenly understood the crux of why this devil warship didn't open fire.
It is not because the range of naval guns is not enough, the devils are equipped with giant cannons with a caliber of more than 200 millimeters, and the most unfortunate range must be 15 or 6 kilometers, and some super-large caliber cannons can even hit a range of 20 or 30 kilometers.
The farthest distance between this place and the mouth of the Yangtze River is only 17 or 8 kilometers, and there should be no big problem with the range of the devil's naval guns, but the problem is that the weather is bad today, and although the range of the naval guns is extremely long, it is necessary for reconnaissance planes to correct their orientation to be dispatched to hit and hit accurately, otherwise it will be a waste of such a large shell.
Except for adding a little smoke and noise to the positions of the national army, it actually has no effect at all.
Zhang Ercheng's artillery is different, first, their largest artillery is a 100-mm howitzer, the smallest is a 60-mm mortar, the farthest can hit 10 kilometers, and the closest can only hit three or four kilometers.
Zhang Ercheng's position parameters of the river were like a stream, he either didn't make a move, and as soon as he made a shot, he came with a rapid salvo, hitting the tanks that were crossing the river in a hurry and the devil infantry behind them, and fell under the double blow of mines and artillery fire.
Zhou Wu estimated that the shelling had been continuous for half an hour, and in order to find out the casualties of the devils, he ordered Zhang Ercheng on the radio to stop shooting for the time being, and wait for him to find out the situation of the devils before firing.
Zhang Ercheng listened to Zhou Wu's order, and immediately stopped the bombardment of the river, this wave of continuous shooting was really fierce enough, they beat the barrel of the mortar red, and if they continued to fight like this, they would definitely explode. t1706231537: