Chapter 325: Krupp is reborn!

"Can't we get in?" At the rear command post of the 59th Division, Zhang Deneng frowned as he looked at the battle report from the front sent by his subordinates.

This is not the first time this has happened.

In the past two years, the Fourth War Zone has attacked Guangzhou several times.

Every time, after advancing a certain distance, we could no longer advance.

The Japanese army's reliance on fortifications and fighter planes prevented them from advancing any further.

This time is the closest they have been to Guangzhou.

The effectiveness of Japanese fighter planes was reduced by half.

Equipped with American weapons, their combat effectiveness has been greatly improved.

Now they are only five kilometers away from Guangzhou.

It's just such a short distance, there's no way to get in.

The three independent infantry brigades stationed in Yangcheng were all sent out to defend their positions.

There were only a few troops directly under the 23rd Army Headquarters in the city.

Not only that, even puppet troops were sent out to assist in defending the positions.

In addition, there are reinforcements coming to support.

A rough calculation shows that there were tens of thousands of Japanese troops around Yangcheng.

They don't look like many at ordinary times, but once they gather together, they are still very scary.

At least Zhang Deneng was no longer as calm as before and was somewhat nervous.

"Yes, Commander, why don't we retreat first?" someone suggested.

"Shut up, I don't want to hear this kind of talk again. This time I have given a military order to the commander of the war zone. If you can't take Yangcheng, I will personally hand over my head." Zhang Deneng glared and then continued.

"Before that, I will definitely shoot you."

After hearing this, everyone in the command center looked at each other in bewilderment. Those who had previously proposed retreat no longer dared to mention it.

"Commander, it would be great if we had heavy artillery at this time." The chief of staff said.

"Our 105mm howitzers are useful, but their range is still insufficient. If we get too close, we will easily be counterattacked by Japanese fighter planes and artillery. We lack air defense means."

"Our fighter jets can't stay in the sky all the time to provide escort, they also need to return to refuel and replenish ammunition."

Hearing this, Zhang Deneng could only sigh. These problems are not easy to solve.

"I know everything you said. As for heavy artillery, it's not easy for us to replace it with American weapons. As for heavy artillery, I really don't dare to think about it."

This sentence is true.

He really couldn't imagine heavy artillery.

It is not easy to have a 105mm howitzer.

Just then, the communications staff rushed in and said excitedly.

"Division Commander, Division Commander, heavy artillery, heavy artillery."

"What heavy artillery? I know. If I had heavy artillery, would I still endure this?" Zhang Deneng said angrily.

"No, it was the heavy artillery of the Sichuan Army. Not long ago, the Communications Office received a telegram from the war zone saying that the Sichuan Army provided support from a heavy artillery regiment and an armored regiment to help us capture Yangcheng."

"The Sichuan Army Corps sent people just now, and they are outside now." The communications staff officer said all in one breath, and Zhang Deneng didn't even have time to scold him, and ran straight outside.

When he saw the people outside, he was even more excited.

"Are you from the Sichuan Army?"

"Yes, sir, I am Shi Xiaomao from the Heavy Artillery Regiment of the Allied South Sea Task Force." Krupp stood at attention and saluted in a standard military salute.

This is the official designation of his artillery regiment.

"That's great, that's great, thank you for your support. If it weren't for you, I would have been ready to withdraw. The Japanese army is too difficult to deal with." Zhang Deneng was choked up and couldn't speak for a while.

He thought that with American weapons and equipment, he would be sure to win.

Who knew that the Japanese army was not a pushover and defended very tenaciously. Relying on the defensive fortifications built in advance, they resisted step by step, causing heavy casualties to his 59th Division.

"Sir, we are here to help you knock out the teeth of the Japanese army. The Japanese army without teeth is worse than dogs." Krupp said confidently.

If someone else told him this, he would definitely sneer at it, but the other party was the Sichuan Army, the undefeated Sichuan Army, and he believed it unconditionally.

"Sir, can you tell me the location of the Japanese artillery? And can you lend me your phone?"

"No problem." Zhang Deneng immediately invited Krupp in, and then the artillery staff told Krupp all the coordinates that had been drawn previously.

Of course, as a professional, Krupp did not immediately call for heavy artillery to counterattack.

Instead, he kept asking about the location of the bombardment and then kept gesturing on the map.

During this period, he had discussions with the artillerymen of the Japanese 4th Division.

Know some of the habits of the Japanese artillery when deploying artillery positions.

Now is the time to verify whether what I have learned during this period is useful.

"Um, can I ask, how many heavy artillery did you bring?" Finally, Zhang Deneng couldn't help but ask.

The main thing was that when he looked at it, Xiao Mao kept gesturing at something on the map, but he didn't use any phone to mobilize heavy artillery, so he was naturally a little worried.

"Not many, just fifty 155mm howitzers and dozens of American-made 75mm light howitzers. The terrain here is too complicated. Only this kind of mobile and flexible howitzers suitable for mountain warfare can meet the needs of the artillery." Krupp said casually.

To be honest, he looked down on the American 75mm light howitzer. His performance was relatively mediocre. Apart from being mobile and flexible and suitable for mountain warfare, it had no other advantages at all.

But before setting off, Cun Yunsheng specifically asked him to take all these artillery pieces with him, saying that they could be used when the time came.

Sure enough, after entering Guangdong Province, he discovered that this kind of complex terrain could only be handled with this American 75mm light howitzer.

At this moment, there were frequent sounds of people gasping for breath throughout the command center.

My goodness!

Fifty heavy artillery pieces?
Is this the heroism of the Sichuan Army?

Isn’t this too luxurious?
to be frank!
For a moment, Zhang Deneng even had the urge to rob the other person.

Really!

Fifty heavy artillery pieces!

How many heavy artillery regiments can this equip?

At this time, Krupp had almost finished calculating the coordinates of the Japanese artillery positions. He looked at the headquarters as if he had seen a ghost, thinking that they thought the number was too little.

"Do you think it's too little? It's mainly because the roads here are too bad. If the roads were better, one hundred 155mm heavy artillery would definitely be no problem." Krupp explained.

Because when besieging Lashio, two hundred artillery pieces were used, and the overwhelming artillery fire made the Japanese army cry for their parents.

There is not a single decent building in the whole of Lashio.

Most of the Japanese soldiers in the city were killed by artillery shells.

So in Krupp's eyes, a strong city like Guangzhou must need more heavy artillery.

But due to the poor road conditions, they could only transport fifty heavy artillery pieces first.

"It's a lot." After a long time, Zhang Deneng finally uttered this sentence.

The main reason is that he doesn't want the other party to see that he is a country bumpkin.

It’s just fifty heavy artillery pieces.

not much!

Ah!
Not much really!

Krupp didn't think much about it. It was mainly because of the experiences during this period that broadened his horizons.

Do not!
In other words, Krupp has always had high aspirations.

After all, he studied in Germany and knew that the great powers had tens of thousands of artillery pieces, so what were a few dozen heavy artillery pieces?

"Commander, the artillery regiment's phone is connected." The major officer who came with Krupp picked up the connected phone and said immediately.

"Give it to me, I'm Krupp." Krupp took the phone and immediately ordered.

"Order, fire ten rounds rapidly, target the Japanese position, coordinates..."

"Repeat it again..."

"Yes..." After confirming that everything was correct, Krupp hung up the phone, then said to Zhang Deneng with a simple smile.

"Sir, have your troops prepare. Once the artillery fire ends, move forward immediately. The armored forces will then attack with you."

Upon hearing that there was an armored regiment, Zhang Deneng, who was already stunned, could only respond mechanically.

"Okay, okay, okay. I'll have all the troops get ready immediately."

…………

"boom!"

"boom!"

"boom!"

At the Japanese artillery position, the Japanese artillerymen who were still wreaking havoc heard sharp whistling sounds coming from the sky and subconsciously raised their heads.

As a result, dozens of heavy artillery shells were seen hitting directly near their positions.

A violent explosion sounded.

"Evacuate quickly, evacuate quickly! This is heavy artillery, evacuate quickly!"

The first shell hit very close to the artillery position, and the loud noise made his ears buzz.

He could clearly see the terrified faces of the soldiers around him, and the shouts from their mouths were already swept into the sky along with the rising dust.

Some Japanese artillerymen who did not have time to hide were directly taken away by heavy artillery shells.

"Baga, why is there a heavy artillery?" According to his judgment, this is an American-made 155mm howitzer.

This is already within the range of heavy artillery.

When did the Chinese army on the opposite side have such large-caliber heavy artillery?

And there are so many?

He had been reported of heavy artillery before, but he didn't care at all.

The 105mm and 120mm howitzers had to extend forward to reach their artillery positions.

But once extended, their 105mm field guns could devastate the enemy.

He believed that their artillery strength was definitely capable of destroying the half-baked Chinese army's artillery.

But now he was dumbfounded. There were at least dozens of heavy artillery pieces.

This firepower configuration has caught up with the Japanese heavy artillery division.
"Boom!" There was another loud noise, and a 105mm field gun was blown into four or five pieces and flew into the air.

The Japanese soldiers who were unable to dodge were directly crushed to death by the falling parts.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!" The continuous sounds made the Japanese artillery officers' hearts sink.

"This is at least more than ten heavy artillery pieces?"

"Do they really have so many heavy artillery?"

"boom!"

There was another loud bang, and a 105mm field gun was gone.

As the enemy continued to adjust their coordinates, basically every shell that landed would take away a 105mm field gun.
"Damn it, how come the other side knows our artillery deployment coordinates so well?" The Japanese artillery officers could only watch as the field guns were destroyed one by one.

……

Major General Kato Akira of the 8th Independent Infantry Brigade on the front line can be said to have experienced hell and heaven, and then heaven and hell.

He was almost in despair, but what happened?
He was rescued by the fire from the field artillery position.

He was still thinking of waiting for the artillery fire to end and catching the Chinese army off guard. However, before he started to counterattack, he saw loud noises rising from the rear of the Chinese army.

Immediately afterwards, dozens of artillery shells were seen streaking across the sky and firing towards the field artillery positions in the rear.

Then a loud explosion was heard.

boom!
boom!
boom!
The field artillery position that was originally showing off its firepower suddenly came to a standstill.

The field artillery position that he had placed high hopes on was gone.

"Ruined."

"Baga, why do the Chinese troops on the other side have so many heavy artillery?"

"This is definitely not the firepower configuration that the Fourth Army should have."

Major General Kato Akira went crazy, and all he wanted to know now was who was on the other side?
Why do you have so many heavy artillery?

And not using it at first?

Unfortunately, no one answered them.

"Heavy artillery is still exciting. The Japanese artillery is finished." Tang Lian, the commander of the 176th Regiment on the front line, couldn't help but sigh as he watched his own artillery begin to show its power.

"Heavy artillery is still cool. Let's see if the Japanese dare to be so proud."

"It's really exciting. I didn't expect that the division headquarters has so many heavy artillery. It's really beyond my expectations."

"This shouldn't be the division's artillery, right?" someone expressed his opinion.

After all, how could they not know what kind of artillery the division had?
If they really had 155mm heavy artillery, they would not have been suppressed by the Japanese army.

Even lost some positions.

"Is it support from the war zone?" After hearing this, Tang Lian also became a little confused.

If it is support from a war zone, it is still possible.

After all, as a theater commander, you must have some equipment to protect your position, right?
"It's possible. After all, only the war zone can produce so many heavy artillery pieces."

.........

On the other hand, Lieutenant General Nakazono Moritaka, who was originally full of confidence, was really annoyed since he received the request for help from the Independent 8th Brigade.

He ordered his own field artillery battalion to open fire.

I originally thought it was stable and that we could repel the Chinese army.

After all, no matter how powerful the Chinese army is, it will retreat when faced with the empire's artillery fire.

The results of it?
Reality gave him a big slap in the face!
Dozens of 155mm heavy artillery directly slapped his face to the ground.

"Baga, why are there heavy artillery? What on earth does the intelligence department do?"

"Damn it, my field artillery battalion."

Seeing that there was no sound from the field artillery battalion's position, Lieutenant General Nakazono Moritaka knew that they were doomed.

Although it hurts, I can only bear it now.

The officer in charge of intelligence liaison lowered his head and did not dare to respond.

He was also very puzzled. There were clearly no 155mm howitzers in the Fourth War Zone, so why were there dozens of heavy artillery here?

You know, they have a lot of intelligence personnel in China, so they know the organization of each unit very well.

Originally, only the Northeast Army had heavy artillery and even a production line.

Later, all these things fell into their hands.

After that, some 150mm heavy artillery of the German-equipped division caused them to suffer a lot in the Battle of Shanghai.

But later the shells were used up and dropped on the Battle of Shanghai.

For a ragtag army, they normally only have 60mm mortars, and it is already very difficult for them to have 105mm howitzers.

This is why the Japanese army was so rampant. If all the miscellaneous armies had heavy artillery, would they dare to be so rampant?

So, now facing the heavy artillery of the Fourth Army, the Japanese army panicked.

They don’t know how to fight?

Or, how should they fight?
"Commander, I suspect these artillery pieces are from the Sichuan Army Corps." The officer in charge of intelligence said stiffly.

"Impossible..." Lieutenant General Nakazone Moritaka was about to refute when he thought of a possibility.

That was when it was Lashio, and the Sichuan Army deployed hundreds of heavy artillery.

If it was the Sichuan Army, then it is very possible.

　Sorry, I was delayed for a few minutes while checking!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)