The Japanese Army's Heavy Artillery Brigade was equipped with 150mm heavy howitzers. In this era, this caliber of heavy artillery was the ultimate weapon of the Japanese Army.
Especially in the Asian battlefield, due to the road, technology, national strength, and other reasons, the army of various countries rarely equipped with heavy artillery of this caliber.
Even the Japanese Army, which was the number one military force in Asia and the third in the world, only had eight to nine such heavy artillery brigades at its peak. Therefore, the Japanese Army had always regarded these heavy artillery brigades as strategic forces.
Currently, the Japanese army only had three Field Heavy Artillery Brigade regiments, one of which was deployed in Japan, and the other was allocated to the Japanese army in North China.
Therefore, the Japanese soldiers sent from Shanghai were only equipped with one heavy artillery unit, which was the independent 5th Brigade. This heavy artillery unit arrived with the second batch of Japanese reinforcements.
At that time, it happened that Xu Guoren led his troops to win the Lion Forest and Baoshan battles. Therefore, as soon as the independent 5th Heavy Artillery Squadron came ashore, Matsui Ishine, who was furious, ordered them to cooperate with the 3rd division to attack Baoshan.
Most of the casualties during the day came from the heavy artillery regiment of the Japanese. Because they were closer to the treasure mountain than the naval artillery regiment, and they had the observation hot air balloon and the information sharing of the army's offensive forces, they could fire in time and launch precise artillery attacks on the areas where the defenders were active and important firing points.
This was also the reason why Xu Guoren chose it as the primary target because the threat of the heavy artillery of the Japanese was too great for the defenders of Baoshan.
The five of them changed into Japanese military uniforms and relied on fluent Japanese to pass through the Japanese defense zone. Soon, they arrived near the Japanese heavy artillery position.
The heavy artillery of the Japanese army was located behind a forest five kilometers away from the east gate of Baoshan City. It was an open area.
The Heavy Artillery Brigade was surrounded by a Japanese infantry brigade responsible for its safety. However, at this time, the 29th Brigade of the 3rd Division and the various troops directly under the division headquarters surrounded Baoshan.
In theory, the Baoshan garrison would not be able to escape even if they had wings. Therefore, no one would have thought that someone would be able to pass through the Japanese army's heavily besieged defense zone at this time to attack and destroy their heavy artillery.
The Japanese were also humans. They had been busy all day and finally stopped fighting at night. They were all busy eating and sleeping.
The time that Xu Guoren and the rest chose was midnight. Therefore, most of the Japanese soldiers who were responsible for the safety of the entire Heavy Artillery Brigade had already fallen asleep. Only a few sentries were still on duty.
However, this low-level alert was useless to Xu Guoren and the other five people who were proficient in Japanese.
The five of them entered the forest in front of the Japanese Heavy Artillery Squadron easily. After observing for a while, Xu Guoren took the lead and swaggered towards the Japanese camp.
Xu Haodong, Zhang Ruofei, and the others followed in formation. It looked like they were patrolling sentries.
At this moment, all the Japanese soldiers were sleeping on the ground. At first glance, it seemed like there was no one around.
When the five of them approached the artillery position, they could clearly see that there were steel beasts that weighed thousands of pounds squatting on the artillery positions. According to Xu Guoren's knowledge of historical weapons, each of these heavy howitzers weighed 4,000 to 5,000 pounds. They were truly huge.
Although its performance was outdated, its power was immense.
This could be seen from the weight of the projectile. The grenade projectile fired by this howitzer weighed 36 kilograms.
Coupled with its range of nearly 10,000 meters, its firepower was still very powerful.
One cannonball weighed 72 pounds, and the explosive power was imaginable.
Looking at the dozens of heavy artillery, Zhang Ruofei felt a headache. He lowered his voice and said,""The Japanese's cannons are too big. With just the five of us, even if the Japanese don't move, it will take us an hour to finish blasting.”
Xu Guoren raised his hand and gestured for them to squat down. He thought for a moment and said,"What Ruofei said makes sense. With the strength of the five of us, there is no time to destroy all these heavy artillery. Therefore, I have decided that we will attack the command center of the Japanese Heavy Artillery Brigade. As long as we take down the command center, we can give orders on behalf of the Japanese and order them to fire at the Japanese warships on the east side of the river. At the same time, we will use radio messages to send a message to the navy.
The Japanese navy and the army were not on good terms. Once they were bombarded by the heavy artillery of the army, the navy would definitely use their cannons to cover this area!”
Zhang Ruofei's eyes lit up and he couldn't help but praise,""This is a good idea!"
"However, we must pay attention to one thing. We must not use guns during the operation, and we must not give the enemy in the Japanese command center a chance to shoot. Otherwise, we will alarm the other Japanese and alert them.”Xu Guoren said.
"Don't worry about that. We still have this level.”Zhang Ruofei smiled confidently.
"The Japanese's alertness and fighting skills are not on the same level as ours.”Yang Haotian nodded confidently in agreement.
"Haodong, what do you think?" Xu Guoren asked.
"Nothing ventured, nothing gained. We'll do as you say! At worst, we can just come and stir up the Japanese artillery positions!”Xu Haodong agreed.
Xu Guoren immediately led them into action.
The five of them pretended to be patrols and quietly passed through the Japanese Heavy Artillery Brigade's position. After some secret reconnaissance, they finally found the headquarters of the independent 5th Heavy Artillery Brigade.
The cunning Japanese had set it up in a forest two miles away from the artillery position. If Xu Haodong hadn't noticed the antenna erected by the Japanese, it would have been difficult to find it.
After confirming the target, the five of them immediately began to battle. They quietly found the hidden sentries near the Japanese command center and killed them one by one.
About three minutes later, the battle outside the command center ended silently. Xu Guoren and the others used daggers and bayonet to kill seven or eight Japanese sentries.
Niu Dagen even broke the heads of the Japanese soldiers so violently that they couldn't even scream.
The Japanese's command center consisted of two military tents, one big and one small. The small one was the confidential room, and the big one was the command center's war room and the rest room for the brigade commander and other officers.
Xu Guoren and the others found an opportunity to sneak into the confidential room next to them like ghosts. They used assassination methods to kill all the Japanese soldiers on duty inside.
Then, he sneaked into the big tent. At this time, there were only two combat staff officers on duty inside. The two Japanese were sitting in front of the map and chatting.
Xu Guoren and Zhang Ruofei sneaked over from the left and right. Suddenly, they twisted their necks and snapped them hard. Crack! The two Japanese staff officers were instantly killed.
After that, Xu Guoren and the other three pulled out their blood-stained bayonet and dagger and rushed into the small tents that were used as bedrooms around the big tent.
Pu, pu, pu, pu! The five of them raised their swords and slashed down. The sound of sharp blades cutting flesh could be heard continuously. Soon, all the Japanese in the command center, including a Japanese Major General Brigadier General, were assassinated.
After killing all the devils inside, Xu Guoren asked Zhang Ruofei, who was proficient in radio, to go to the confidential room with him to check the Japanese army's secret electric book and prepare to send a telegram.
Yang Haotian and Niu Dagen each held a Type 38 rifle and stood outside as sentries. Xu Haodong chose the military uniform of a dead Japanese staff officer, then walked out of the command post to convey the order to the Japanese artillery to turn the muzzle to fire at the Huangpu River.
Not long after, Xu Haodong came to the artillery position and ordered loudly in a hurried tone,""The command center has an emergency battle order. Everyone, get into combat mode immediately.”
Thousands of Japanese soldiers were awakened and quickly entered their positions.
At this moment, a colonel officer rushed over and asked respectfully,""What happened?"
"A batch of warships of the Celestial army is currently attacking the naval fleet anchored on the Yangtze River and at the mouth of the sea. The command center has received an order to immediately turn the cannon and fire at the mouth of the sea. This order is extremely urgent, execute it quickly!”Xu Haodong ordered in fluent Japanese.
"Is there any personal order from the regiment commander?”Shooting at the mouth of the sea was obviously not a small matter. The Japanese colonel was somewhat hesitant.
Xu Haodong suddenly flew into a rage. He raised his hand and slapped the Japanese colonel, stunning him."Bagaya Road, I already said that this is an urgent military situation. The commander sent me here to pass on the order.”
Within the Japanese army, there was a strict hierarchy. Although the rank of the staff officer that Xu Haodong was pretending to be might not be as high as that of the general, he represented the headquarters and was the superior.
Perhaps he was afraid of Xu Haodong's fiery temper, the Japanese commander quickly lowered his head and admitted his mistake."Ha Yi, this humble servant knows my mistake. This humble servant will immediately execute the order!”
After saying that, he immediately turned around and gave the order. The Japanese artillery position immediately began to get busy.
The Japanese artillery was well-trained. Not long after, the 36 howitzers adjusted their direction and opened fire at the command of the Japanese general.
The high-explosive armor-piercing bullets, which weighed more than 70 pounds, pierced through the thick night sky and flew toward the Yangtze River in the distance with dazzling exhaust flames amid the deafening explosions.
As soon as they fired, Xu Guoren and Zhang Ruofei also sent out the message. Then, they and Xu Haodong, who had just returned, withdrew from the Japanese headquarters.
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