Rise of 1926 sodu
As soon as the test shot was over, Gao Zongbao issued an attack order by phone. A few seconds later, Song Zhe heard a loud shout of charge in his ear, and through the artillery observation mirror, he could see that on both sides of the high ground, there were figures wearing the characteristic olive green uniforms of the Security Forces.
The observation position where Song Zhe-wu was located, obliquely facing a small high ground, from which the troops attacking on both sides of the high ground could be seen. The frontal attack was carried out by the 1st and 2nd battalions, with two battalions in front and behind, without using the triangular formation required in peacetime, but simply forming a scattered line of attack. Song Zhe-wu knew that they wanted to wait for the artillery fire to stop, so that more soldiers could rush up to the position at the first opportunity. The 3rd and 4th battalions on the north side were also doing the same thing.
Song Zhe-wu could vaguely see through the artillery observation mirror that the Guangxi soldiers on the small hill had emerged from their firing holes and trenches, entering the battlefield. When they were still 200 meters away from the high ground, the charging troops almost simultaneously stopped charging and lay down on the spot. The Guangxi army in the mountain trench was preparing to counterattack the Baoyi Army's charge, but was confused by the strange behavior of the Baoyi Army. The commander of the Guangxi army, who was observing the battle situation at the observation post in front of the mountain, quickly realized what was happening and immediately shouted loudly to the staff beside him: "Hurry up and inform the troops to prepare for artillery fire, they are going to bombard us!"
Unfortunately, they were too late. Before he could finish speaking, he heard a sound he had never heard before - the dense, piercing whine growing louder and louder, almost instantly reaching his head. A 75mm mountain gun shell and an 82mm mortar shell hit the bunker one after another, directly hitting the bunker made of logs and mud. The bunker was immediately blown up, and the people inside were killed or injured.
In Song Zhiwu's observation mirror, the artillery attack had a stunning sensory effect. The three regiments of Song Zhiwu's security forces had a total of over 760 guns, and nearly 800 shells fell on this small area of only over 4,000 square meters at the same time, with an average of less than 5 square meters per shell. The smoke and dust produced by the explosion of nearly 800 shells instantly rose into a huge cloud of smoke in the air above the small high ground, as if the small high ground had suddenly grown taller.
The bombardment did not stop immediately, but continued with five rapid shots. With the continuous explosion of shells, the smoke on the hilltop rose higher and higher under the impact of the scorching shockwave produced by the explosions. After the five rapid shots, the artillery fire shifted to the semicircular defense area behind the hill. At this time, the two assault teams at the foot of the hill suddenly jumped up and rushed into the smoke, until the second echelon also climbed to the top of the mountain, and the smoke gradually dissipated.
At this time, in Song Zhe-wu's artillery observation mirror, the change on the small highland can be clearly felt. If there are photos before and after the war, comparing the two will reveal that the small highland has become significantly shorter after the shelling. The change is so great that no one would think it was the same location in the photos. On the small highland, it is almost impossible to distinguish where the trenches were and where the anti-artillery caves were.
The troops who rushed up the small high ground only encountered a few places where they were either heavily fortified or incredibly lucky, and did not encounter the small groups of Guangxi soldiers who emerged from the artillery caves that had been bombarded by nearly 4,000 rounds of shells. Almost as soon as they clashed, they were overwhelmed by the surging Baoding Army in the green tide of people. The troops trampled the deep mud under their feet and quickly crossed the small high ground, rushing towards the Guangxi army's position behind the mountain. The two regiments on both sides of the small high ground launched an attack on the Guangxi army's position behind the high ground as soon as the artillery fire stopped.
Without the firepower support of Little Round Top, the defensive position behind it, composed of a brigade and a regiment, had been shattered by intense artillery bombardment. Especially the defense towards Little Round Top was extremely weak, the entire position was centered around Little Round Top and should have been the strongest point to hold out, but it was breached first, troops charging down from the mountain directly rushed into the central area of the position, under internal and external attacks, the entire position fell into chaos, and the various units of the Confederate army quickly poured into the position from all directions.
Yang Tenghui's division was the old unit of the Seventh Army, which was the backbone of the Guangxi clique. Although these Guangxi veterans were not tall, they had been in the army for many years and were skilled in combat, putting up a fierce fight in close quarters. However, there was only one regiment, with the addition of the division's direct unit, totaling just over 3,000 men. When the small hill was shelled earlier, the Guangxi army brigade commander knew that the troops on the small hill could not hold out and immediately dispatched troops to prepare for reinforcements. Before the troops departed, his position came under a dense barrage of artillery fire. Such intense shelling quickly disrupted his position, and the troops preparing to reinforce the small hill were the worst off. As soon as they assembled and formed up, the dense artillery fire rained down on their heads, with predictable results. When the security forces appeared on the small hill, he knew that his brigade was finished and immediately fled towards Xiaogan with his guard unit.
As soon as the security troops rushed into the position, the victory was very clear. The third battalion of the second division, which served as the reserve team for the entire division, did not participate in the attack, and only one or two battalions were engaged in combat. However, the organization of the security troops was based on the German military system, with a super-large organization aimed at fighting against the Japanese army. A regiment had more than 7,000 people, four front-line infantry regiments had more than 4,000 people, and two regiments had more than 8,000 people. In addition to the disparity in numbers, the security troops' small group bayonet skills were unmatched at home.
The commander of the Gui army ran away, and the others immediately gave up their resistance. Some surrendered, while others followed their commander in a desperate attempt to escape. Compared to those who escaped, the ones who surrendered were much luckier. The escaping soldiers had only run for a short distance when they heard the thunderous sound of horse hooves behind them. When they turned around, they were immediately frightened out of their wits and saw thousands of war horses charging towards them, with cavalrymen holding up thousands of shiny battle knives, chasing after them in a flash. The cavalry had no advantage on mountainous terrain or in dense firepower, but now, on the plains, they were in their element, pursuing the fleeing troops with ease. The commander of the Gui army had originally wanted to set up an ambush and fight while retreating, but the escaping troops couldn't stop running and were chased by the cavalry regiment until they were scattered all over the place. Soon he gave up this unrealistic idea, because he saw two cavalrymen, holding up their blood-stained knives, charging towards him from behind...
In the command center of the Second Division, staff officers were excitedly discussing in hushed tones the intense and spectacular scene of the artillery bombardment just now. Although there are often artillery firing exercises in the daily drills of the Taoyuan troops, it has never been seen before that so many cannons concentrated on a single target for simultaneous firing.
Gao Zong furrowed his brow in deep thought, and Song Zhe Wu felt a bit uneasy, thinking that Song Zhe Wu was heartbroken over those artillery shells. Now he also thinks that the artillery shells were indeed used too much. Just now, news came back from the front line that when they charged up, there were less than 100 wounded soldiers left on the position of the Guangxi army, and only a few dozen people were left hiding in several unfallen artillery caves. The reserve team of the Guangxi army, which was hidden behind the high ground, had about two companies with more than 200 people. The troops attacking the high ground suffered almost no casualties. It seems that five rounds of shooting are a bit excessive, and three rounds would be enough to achieve the goal. If they had saved two rounds of shooting, that would have been tens of millions of dollars!
Actually, Song Zhiwu was not heartbroken by the cannonballs, but he was shocked by the power of his own dense and not-so-fierce artillery fire. His thoughts flew back to the battlefield against Japan 8 years later. Facing the Japanese army with its strong firepower advantage, Song Zhiwu could even imagine the tragic scene of Chinese soldiers hiding in trenches being bombarded by the Japanese army's fierce artillery; he finally understood why a single Japanese division could defeat several Chinese divisions or even several corps. Although powerful firepower cannot be said to be the decisive factor in determining the outcome of a war, it is absolutely a major factor. The current firepower intensity of his troops was comparable to that of a Japanese brigade, which was at the level of a security army's regimental level, and the security army had the upper hand; his 60mm mortar was not comparable to the Japanese grenade launcher; compared with the Japanese divisional level, they were evenly matched or slightly advantageous in terms of firepower. However, when comparing a security army division with a Japanese division, the security army was at a disadvantage, although it still had an advantage in terms of artillery numbers, but lacked heavy artillery. Currently, his entire army, except for the artillery brigade's over 100 120mm mortars, did not have cannons exceeding 100mm caliber, while the main force divisions of the Japanese army were all equipped with a heavy artillery brigade, which was equipped with 155mm howitzers! He believed that as long as he had ten or more 155mm howitzers, the scene on this small high ground would be replayed. He needed cannons, and even more so, heavy artillery with large calibers...
