coobybook Chapter 209: Lao Li, did you just get kicked in the head by a donkey? Otherwise, how could you come
Chapter 209: Lao Li, did you just get kicked in the head by a donkey? Otherwise, how could you come
Based on the information provided by Ma Xiaotian, Junichiro Hatoyama began to detonate the mines buried in advance by the independent regiment in key areas. It took less than a day to open up the 30-kilometer road. At the current speed, the mine clearance work can be completed in two days at most.
"General, the mine clearance work is going very smoothly. In three days, the army can launch an offensive against the independent regiment according to the predetermined plan!" Junichiro Hatoyama reported excitedly.
Katayama Ichiro didn't expect that good news would come one after another, and replied excitedly: "Yoshi! This is indeed exciting good news. Today is really a double happiness. The first batch of ammunition replenished by the headquarters for us has arrived at noon today, and the second batch of ammunition will arrive in two days. This makes me very confident about the next offensive operation!"
"Hatoyama-kun, whether we can launch the attack on the Independent Regiment on time this time depends on whether you can complete the road mine clearance work within the scheduled time. The closer we get to the final moment, the more cautious we must be. We still have plenty of time. We must not rush for success and cause the engineering squadron to suffer heavy losses. That would be very unprofitable for us. Our offensive action this time must be steady and steady. We must fight the Independent Regiment in an upright manner and crush the opponent with our positive strength. As for those conspiracies and tricks, I disdain to use them!"
"Relying on conspiracy and trickery to win can easily make people dependent on it, and the result will only be self-defeating!"
Junichiro Hatoyama understood what his division commander meant. He replied with a serious face: "General, please rest assured. I will never be impatient. I will definitely clear all the minefields set up by the independent regiment and will not leave any hidden dangers!"
The speed at which the Second Mixed Brigade cleared the minefield was indeed beyond Lin Zhenhua's expectations. You know, in order to remedy the situation, he personally led people to bury mines again on the Heiyunling route, but the effect was very poor. Especially when he received news that the Japanese were planning to send troops to capture nearby civilians, this made Lin Zhenhua worried. He hurried to the regiment headquarters to ask Li Yunlong and Zhao Gang if they had any good countermeasures?
"Lao Zhao, Lao Li, the Japanese are planning to use ordinary people to clear minefields. I estimate that they will do this on the last day. We have to find a way to solve this problem quickly. We must not let the nearby ordinary people clear mines for the Japanese!" Lin Zhenhua said anxiously.
Zhao Gang could not help but sigh, and replied in a tangled tone: "College student, now we have no way to take out the buried mines. In order to prevent a similar situation like Ma Xiaotian from happening again, the mines were laid completely randomly this time. Even we ourselves don't understand it. It can be said that the minefield about 20 kilometers away from our frontline position has basically become a forbidden area. Anyone who dares to walk in will find it too difficult to get out!"
Li Yunlong also slammed the table heavily and cursed angrily: "Damn it, the damn Japanese devils are too insidious. They are forcing us to find a way to take out the mines we dug. We must not fall for this. I have sent a battalion of troops to evacuate the civilians nearby. So far, no civilian has been captured by the Japanese devils. As long as the Japanese devils can't catch anyone in the end, they will have to pay with their own lives!"
Lin Zhenhua felt that Li Yunlong was a little angry. There was no room for luck in this matter. In order to solve the current dilemma, the Independent Regiment must respond.
Li Yunlong suddenly had an idea and asked curiously, "College student, I forgot to ask you before, how far can the 84 heavy artillery pieces you brought back this time shoot? Tell me in detail so that I can have an idea!"
Lin Zhenhua didn't know why Li Yunlong asked this, but he knew that Li Yunlong was never vague about serious matters, so he introduced in a calm tone: "Our 48 105mm heavy howitzers have a range of about ten kilometers, 24 120mm heavy howitzers have a range of about 11 kilometers, and 12 105mm heavy howitzers have a range of about 13 kilometers. If all of them use extended-range shells, the range can be increased by another three to five kilometers!"
"But the number of extended-range shells is too small, only about 100 in total, which is only two rounds of bombardment. It won't have much effect at all! Lao Li, are you planning to bombard the Japanese outside the minefield to prevent them from using civilians to step on the mines?"
Li Yunlong replied with a smile: "College student, you are really a worm in my stomach. This is my idea. What do you think of my idea?"
Lin Zhenhua rolled his eyes in annoyance and cursed in a bad tone: "Li Yunlong, you are a fool. Those 84 heavy guns are the real treasures of our independent regiment. You actually planned to use them to scare the Japanese. I doubt if you were kicked in the head by a donkey. How could you come up with such a stupid idea?"
"It's better to use our rockets instead of heavy artillery shells. There are 36 rockets stored in the factory warehouse. As long as we reduce the amount of powder in the warhead and increase the weight of the propellant, the rocket can fly farther. Its range will be much longer than that of the 150mm heavy howitzer. I estimate that it can reach about 20 kilometers. There is absolutely no problem. The power will be relatively small. As long as it can fall into the crowd of devils, its lethality cannot be underestimated. The important thing is that it can cause huge psychological pressure on the devils!"
"Besides, the minefield is 20 kilometers away from our frontline positions. Even if there is a blank area in front of us, our heavy artillery can't reach it, even if the Japanese use extended-range shells!"
After listening to Lin Zhenhua's explanation, Li Yunlong suddenly realized that he had indeed taken it for granted and wanted to rely on the terrain to increase the range of the heavy howitzer. He also knew that it could only increase the range by about one kilometer at most and might not be able to hit the Japanese.
"College student, then you can modify our rockets and give the Japanese a surprise. Can you put the napalm paste you made before into them? Then the Japanese can have a taste of the feeling of being burned by fire!" Li Yunlong said with a smirk.
Lin Zhenhua thought about the difficulty of this. After all, he had never done this before, so he had to experiment thoroughly. Otherwise, he really didn't dare to agree. He could only reply vaguely: "Lao Li, let me think about this matter carefully when I go back. I will give you an accurate answer tomorrow!"
"Old Zhao, is there any news about the phosphate mine I asked you to find?"
Zhao Gang scratched his head a little embarrassedly, and replied in a low voice: "College student, I have been keeping an eye on this matter since I arranged it, but there is no news yet. If you want to refine the white phosphorus, you can only continue to collect animal bones. Apart from this, there is really no other way at the moment!"
Lin Zhenhua didn't expect that phosphate mines would be so difficult to find. It shouldn't be that difficult, but he has a lot of things to do right now. After this busy period, he plans to look for phosphate mines carefully.
"Old Zhao, you don't have to blame yourself too much. Just because we can't find it now doesn't mean we can't find it in the future. Anyway, we're not in a hurry to use it!" Lin Zhenhua comforted him.
"College student, you'd better go back as soon as possible and modify the rockets for me. The Japanese will attack us in two or three days. We don't have any extra time to waste. I still have to go to the troops to check the defense situation of each unit. Lao Zhao is also responsible for the defense of the base!" Li Yunlong urged hurriedly.
Lin Zhenhua didn't say anything more. He hurried back to the arsenal and began to improve the rocket. After reducing the amount of explosives by 70%, the range of the rocket reached about 20 kilometers. However, the power of the explosion had been weakened to the lethality of a 20mm artillery shell. This really made Lin Zhenhua scratch his head. After spending such a huge price, the lethality was only slightly greater than that of two grenades. It always felt very uneconomical.
As for adding napalm paste into it to make a napalm incendiary bomb, after several attempts, they all failed. In desperation, Lin Zhenhua could only give up temporarily and leave this problem to be solved later!
In the next two days, the Japanese's mine clearance work encountered some setbacks and suffered some minor losses. If the Second Mixed Brigade had not had sufficient ammunition, they would not have dared to use such an extravagant mine clearance method. They would have directly dispatched artillery to bombard the minefield and deliberately dropped some explosives. This made the mines buried by the independent regiment completely ineffective and they were easily pulled out by the Japanese.
"Hatoyama-kun, let the troops rest for a day tomorrow, and launch an attack on the Independent Regiment on time the day after tomorrow! Before the battle begins, let our artillery units first conduct a covering bombardment on the Independent Regiment's positions to destroy their fortifications. This will make it much easier for the infantry to attack the day after tomorrow!"
"As for the support from the aviation force, don't think about it for now. I estimate that it will take another ten days for the aviation force to be able to really go out and provide us with air fire support. In the next few days, we will need to carry it on our own!"
Junichiro Hatoyama asked cautiously: "General, let's fire half a base number of shells tomorrow to test the strength of the independent regiment."
"Yoshi! This test is very necessary. We must be cautious. According to the intelligence sent by the headquarters, the independent regiment has obtained at least two regiments of German equipment. They must have 105mm heavy artillery. Let our heavy artillery squadron find the enemy's heavy artillery and destroy them as soon as possible!"
"In order to ensure the success of our offensive this time, the headquarters has mobilized a total of eight 105mm howitzers, four 120mm howitzers, and two 120mm howitzers. All the artillery of the independent regiment is within our strike range!"
"Due to the restricted roads, the only one that has arrived is the Kawada Squadron equipped with eight 105mm howitzers. The remaining two heavy artillery squadrons are still on their way. Fortunately, our artillery has a long range. In this regard, we have a firm advantage. As long as we can find the location of the independent regiment's heavy artillery, we can destroy them in the first place and turn their heavy artillery into a pile of scrap metal!"