Chapter 105 Can the anti-aircraft gun be placed flat?

"Damn it, I finally figured it out." Before the fake artillery positions were blown up, Krupp finally figured out the location of the Japanese artillery positions.

"Notify Captain Zhu that this is the Japanese artillery position. Tell him to open fire immediately." Krupp wiped the sweat from his forehead and shouted to the messenger.

"Yes."

On the other side, at the Japanese artillery position, Colonel Souji Tomei put down his binoculars and a satisfied smile appeared on his face.

Looking at the thick smoke rising in the distance, it was obvious that the previous artillery attack hit the enemy's artillery position and detonated the shells at the same time.

It seems that the information provided by the division headquarters is correct.

The artillery staff officers who had previously questioned the situation chose to shut up.

After all, the explosion produced such a huge amount of smoke that anyone who is not a fool can see it.

Therefore, their heavy artillery definitely destroyed the artillery positions of the Sichuan Army.

The Japanese troops on the front line had already cheered.

As long as they destroyed the Sichuan Army's artillery positions, they could then cross the river, capture Myitkyina, and wash away their shame.

After all, these days have been so frustrating.

"Continue the bombing and completely destroy the artillery positions of the Sichuan Army." Colonel Soji Tomi said loudly.

"Hi." The subordinate responded immediately.

Little did they know that at this moment, at another position of the Sichuan Army, the American-made 155mm howitzer was adjusting its coordinates.

"Everyone, listen to my command, target XXX, position XXX, test fire one round."

Heavy artillery is different from mortars. The coordinates need to be adjusted for each shot.

Zhu Maoqin, who had been looking forward to it for a long time, stared at the 155mm howitzer in front of him. He remembered what Du Yuming said that after the war, he would give away the equipment of an artillery battalion.

Don't give me too many, just two of these 155mm howitzers will be enough.

The gunners at each gun position immediately moved their guns.

"Gunner No. 1 is ready..."

"Gunner No. 2 is ready..."

"Gunner number three is ready..."

"Gunner number four is ready..."

"........."

"........."

After hearing the loud reports from the gunners, Zhu Maoqin was filled with pride.

When had he ever been so rich?

"Fire!" Zhu Maoqin took a deep breath, then puffed up his chest and roared loudly.

"boom!"

"boom!"

"boom!"

As the rope was pulled back violently, the barrel of the gun retreated violently, and the shell rushed out of the barrel at high speed and flew towards the Japanese artillery position in the distance.

The Japanese soldiers who were celebrating at the front line heard the sharp whistle and subconsciously raised their heads.

“Heavy artillery???”

All the Japanese soldiers were confused. Why were there heavy artillery on the opposite side?
Judging from the sound, they are obviously heavy artillery with a caliber of over 150mm, and there are a large number of them.

When did the Sichuan Army possess so many heavy artillery?

This is impossible.

Some Japanese troops have realized that this is a conspiracy.

But it's too late.

The shells hit the target position at an extremely fast speed.

boom!
The tremendous power of the explosion could be felt from a long distance away.

In particular, the huge shock wave blew away the surrounding trees.

The Japanese artillerymen who were busy at the position were even more frightened.

Why was there an explosion?
They thought that someone was carrying a shell that exploded.

As a result, a series of explosions sounded, making them realize that something was wrong.

"Baga, it's heavy artillery, it's heavy artillery." The Japanese artillery commander roared in fear after coming to his senses.

Colonel Souji Tomei, who was observing, was also confused.

Why are there still heavy artillery?

How many heavy artillery pieces did the Sichuan Army have?
"Is this an American-made 155mm howitzer? Where did the Sichuan Army Corps get this heavy artillery?" The other artillery staff officers were also dumbfounded.

They didn't expect that the Sichuan Army could really endure and even last until now.

"Baga, this is a trap. The Sichuan Army is trying to find our heavy artillery positions."

Everyone else is looking at him with idiotic eyes, is there anything else to say now?

Isn't this obvious?

Colonel Souji Tomei was even more furious. He didn't expect that he had been fooled again.

Of course, he did not doubt that the artillery position that was bombed previously was fake.

After all, the sound of the artillery shells exploding was seen by many people.

All I can say is that the Sichuan Army is really wealthy and powerful, as they acted like nothing happened even after so many of their artillery pieces were blown up.

"Where did the Sichuan Army get so many artillery pieces? And so many artillerymen to operate them?" Colonel Soji Tomi's words made everyone fall silent.

The operation of heavy artillery is not like that of a mortar, it can be operated by one person.

Dozens of people are needed to carry the shells, calibrate coordinates, dig fortifications, etc.

Judging from the sound of the explosion, there were at least six 155mm howitzers, which was more than the artillery company could possess.

boom!
The second round of shells came again.

This time they were very close to the Japanese heavy artillery positions, and the Japanese soldiers on the positions were very frightened.

It was impossible to retreat.

After all, this is not a mortar that you can just carry and run with.

"Sir, the Chinese heavy artillery is very close to us." An artilleryman said fearfully.

Not only him, but others also looked at the gunner eagerly.

No one knows whether the next round of shells will fall on their heads.

It is too late to move the heavy artillery now. It is obvious that the enemy has found their artillery position and is constantly calibrating the coordinates. It will take three or four rounds at most to find them.

In other words, if you don't run now, you will surely die later.

The gunner didn't know what to do. The normal plan was to retreat first and save the artillery first.

After all, if heavy artillery is gone, it can be rebuilt, but if people are gone, it is not so easy to train them.

However, if they retreated without orders, they would definitely be punished by military law, so the gunner did not dare to order a retreat.

I can only grit my teeth and let them continue to persevere.

In fact, Colonel Soji Tomi was also betting that the Sichuan Army Corps had not discovered their artillery positions.

After all, there has been no damage to the heavy artillery positions so far, which means that the enemy has not found their specific location.

Unfortunately, things don’t always go as planned.

The third round of shells came again.

boom!
This time, a 150mm cannon position was hit by a shell and exploded, blowing away dozens of surrounding artillerymen. There were broken limbs and arms everywhere, and even heads were missing, with only torsos moving around.

It's no exaggeration to say it's hell.

This scene greatly stimulated other Japanese troops.

Many people just ran away.

"Colonel, please let the artillerymen withdraw? The heavy artillery can be transported back if it's gone. But if all the artillerymen are gone, the 56th Field Artillery Regiment will also be gone." The artillery staff officer pleaded bitterly.

Colonel Souji Tomei also came back to his senses from his previous madness. After a moment of silence, he spoke with gritted teeth.

"Retreat, forget about the heavy artillery."

"Hay."

Upon receiving the order, the Japanese artillerymen ran towards the safe area without saying a word.

The Sichuan Army soldiers on the front line couldn't help but gasp when they saw the chain explosion happening in the distance.

"Damn it, this is a heavy artillery, the power is too terrifying."

"Blast them! Blast these bastards to death!"

"Xiao Dongyang, why aren't you so arrogant anymore?"

"Krupp really wasn't bragging. Did he really find the Japanese artillery position?" Lin Yi couldn't help but mutter as he looked at the smoke rising in the distance.

He used to think that Krupp was bragging, but now it seems that he is just a frog in a well.

The fourth round of artillery shells once again crossed the river and hit the heavy artillery position.

boom!
boom!
This time, two heavy artillery pieces were detonated. Unfortunately, the Japanese army had already fled in advance, so only a pile of scrap metal was left behind.

Since the approximate position has been circled, you can then find the opponent's true position by simply adjusting the angle up and down.

So when the first heavy artillery was destroyed, Krupp knew they had found the right one. Zhu Maoqin then began to adjust the angle and continue firing strictly according to the coordinates.

"Well done." Upon hearing the good news from the front line, Zhu Maoqin pounded the table and said excitedly.

Krupp also had a smile on his face and didn't even have time to wipe the sweat off his face.

For him, this was really a very exciting heavy artillery showdown.

Using five truckloads of artillery shells as bait to map out the Japanese heavy artillery positions was definitely a brilliant artillery battle, and it might even be included in military textbooks in the future.

"Send a telegram to the regimental commander and tell him that the Japanese artillery positions have been completely destroyed by us. Next, we will carry out a ground-clearing bombing on the Japanese positions according to the previously formulated plan." Krupp said to the signalman.

"Yes." The signalman responded immediately.

Floor-cleaning bombing?
Zhu Maoqin was stunned, not knowing what this meant.

Perhaps seeing Zhu Maoqin's confusion, Krupp explained with a smile.

"This is a term invented by our regimental commander. It means to identify the positions where the Japanese troops are stationed and then bomb them at a distance of one meter at a time. No one, not even an ant, will be spared."

“That’s called floor-wash bombing.”

After listening to his explanation, Zhu Maoqin suddenly realized, then his face changed and he looked at the other party.

"You mean, we're going to fight from morning till night?"

"No, if Japanese planes attack in the morning, we still have to rest. But at night, we must fight all night long." Krupp smiled shyly.

Only Zhu Maoqin couldn't help wiping the cold sweat from his forehead. He suddenly felt sorry for his subordinates.

They will definitely be in a state of despair next.

"However, I still hope that Commander Zhu can dispatch some artillery to the frontline to help during the day." Krupp said again.

"What help?" Zhu Maoqin asked subconsciously.

"The regimental commander has brought in several 88mm anti-aircraft guns, and hopes that you can send some people to the front line to help fire." Krupp explained.

"Ah? Anti-aircraft guns? Is it air defense? That's right, our artillery has the advantage now. If we want to expand the advantage, we must have air defense." Zhu Maoqin said self-righteously.

"No, what the regimental commander meant was to place the anti-aircraft guns horizontally and fire at the Japanese positions on the other side of the river. It's very simple, but most of the artillerymen on the frontline have only touched mortars and don't know anything about anti-aircraft guns, so we need your people to help teach them." Krupp shook his head and said.

"Put the anti-aircraft guns down?" Zhu Maoqin asked, looking at each other in bewilderment.

Can this thing be laid flat?
Can we still fight if we lay flat?

What on earth did the other party think of this?
"Yes, just put it flat. I've tried it. It's very simple, but the power is really good. I think it is definitely several times more powerful than anti-tank guns when used to attack tanks." Krupp said confidently.

Now Zhu Maoqin was even more confused. Is there such a thing?
"Okay, I don't have anything to do, so I'll take some people over to see the power of the anti-aircraft gun when it is leveled." Zhu Maoqin thought it would be better for him to go there in person.

He always thought that anti-aircraft guns were used for air defense and shooting down airplanes.
How can it be laid flat to attack infantry? Tanks?

Krupp was not surprised by Zhu Maoqin's suspicion. After all, he was also shocked when he first heard about it.

　There is one more chapter! I went out to take my kids out for a walk in the evening, so I came back a little late. I am catching up now! I will try to update one more chapter before 11 o'clock!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)