Chapter 9 Volleyball Tactical Time Difference

  Diqin waved his hand, and the soldiers hiding behind him quickly crouched down into the trenches. This was a frontline trench, and it wasn't until now that Zhang Meng understood why Diqin had ordered them to rebuild the trenches - it was for this tactic.

  Zhang Meng also didn't understand, how did Zhai Qin know the devils would definitely attack like this? He wasn't Zhao Kai, and as he ran into the position, he asked: "Company Commander, how did you know the devils would attack like this?"

  Dai Qin glared at him and said: "Before fighting, move your brain, no matter who attacks, it's all like this. If you attack, it will be the same."

  Zhang Meng stared blankly, isn't the battlefield about tactics? Why are they all the same? He thought for half a day but still couldn't figure it out. But he couldn't think anymore, the devils were already charging up.

  Honmura Kakō, the lieutenant commander, was not one to be trifled with either. He too was a graduate of the Tokyo Military Academy and had plenty of combat experience. Seeing his squad return with more than half casualties made him furious.

  Based on the counterattack at the position, Murata knew the characteristics of this tactic. They divided their forces, each time only exposing one position, attracting suppressive fire from their own side, and positions that were not attacked could shoot calmly. When all their positions were exposed, their attacking troops had already suffered heavy casualties and could no longer attack, this commander was cunning.

  However, such tactics were useless against the Imperial Japanese Army. One of his small teams was a probing attack, and as soon as they discovered their firepower points, their own machine guns and artillery would make them fail.

  He knew that this position was only defended by a single company, while he had a battalion of over 1,000 men. If they launched a heavy attack, the enemy's position would not be exposed and could withstand it. But if they were fully exposed, not only would machine guns cause countless casualties among Chinese soldiers, but also rocket launchers would blast open this position.

  With this in mind, Nobuo Tadokoro immediately ordered the first company to attack the mountain slope, and the second company followed. This was a 174-man company, and two companies were about 350 people. Let's see what methods the defending Chinese army has.

  The first time they repelled the devils, more than 20 devils were eliminated, and only a few wounded remained on the defensive position, which greatly boosted the morale of the soldiers of the third company and the guard company.

  This young master is too good at making long heads, and he is no longer worried about the enemy's attack, all of them are confident.

  Diqin hid in a bunker and said to Zhao Kai: "Don't forget what I told you, the machine gun must be moved quickly. The transition between each position must also be fast, whether we can win or not depends on this."

  Zhao Kai has already conceded this time, nodding and saying: "Don't worry, I'll personally direct it, there won't be any problems."

  This time, the commander of the attack was Lieutenant Commander Asakura Takashi, the first company commander of the Oni. Because the battalion commander had entrusted him with the tactics of the Shanha troops on the mountain, he did not hesitate and commanded his own company to advance in a scattered state towards the slope.

  The devils also drew lessons, the more hesitant, the more time they gave to the Chinese army to prepare, so a squadron of devils attacked quickly. They held bayonets, crouched down, and charged up the hillside at high speed. Machine guns from the departure position behind them wildly swept the blocking positions.

  The devils relied on their powerful weapons and used machine guns to suppress the firepower on the mountain slope. Kaku Hon believed that they could attack the upper position at once. Because behind the first company was the second company, the two companies covered each other, even without the cover of machine guns, it was not something the Chinese army could withstand with just the accurate shooting of the Imperial Army.

  Indeed, the attack had already reached halfway to its destination, and there was no sound of gunfire on the battlefield. Just when Benmura Kiakaburo thought this time would be a success, machine gun fire rang out from the defensive position above the stronghold. This was the first time machine gun fire had been heard from the stronghold, and it was a new machine gun emplacement.

  Honmura Kakō gave the order, and the enemy machine gun immediately turned its muzzle to fire at the third company's machine gun position. However, Honmura didn't expect that this position only fired a burst of bullets, and when his machine gun was about to be taken away, the well-trained enemy soldiers rushed up the mountain. But before they could rush out a few steps, another position unleashed a frenzied barrage of machine gun fire.

  This time, because the devils' attention was attracted by the first machine gun position, they all stood up and rushed forward, only to be swept down by this wave of machine guns. The devils' machine guns below had to shift their target again. But as soon as they turned around, another burst of machine gun fire came from elsewhere. On a not-too-wide position, there were actually four machine gun positions.

  Commander Shōsuke Kurihara also had command ability, and immediately ordered the second squadron in the rear to suppress the enemy's machine guns with rifle fire, and launched a mortar attack on four of the enemy's machine gun positions.

  But whether it was Motofuji Kakuei or Asakura Takashi, they were all drawn in by the machine guns. The machine guns providing cover from behind and the grenade launchers in front were all drawn to the machine gun position and fired wildly at it. They had all forgotten one thing: the infantry that had been quiet until then. When Asakura Takashi drew his sword and led the charge forward, suddenly there was a loud burst of gunfire as all the soldiers who had been hiding in their trenches opened fire.

  No matter if it's a machine gun or a grenade launcher, adjusting positions takes time, but the shooting speed on the mountain slope is very fast, and bullets are like raindrops coming. Those crouching grenadiers preparing to launch grenades were the first to be unlucky, many were shot dead, the attacking devils fell down like a field of corn swept by a strong wind, although many were those who fell themselves, but also suffered heavy casualties.

  The devils were numerous and had ample firepower. Immediately, they dispersed to deal with these infantrymen, but not for long. Soon, Yamagata Kō discovered that the shooting on the hillside was rhythmic, as if there was some sort of rule. However, he couldn't quite put his finger on what the rule was.

  Sometimes it was machine guns, sometimes rifles. They didn't fire together, but rather intermittently, sometimes here, sometimes there. The attacking imperial army and the rear-covering heavy machine guns could only follow suit. In just this short distance, hundreds of imperial soldiers had already fallen.

  Looking at the approaching enemy army's position, Murakami Kōjiro gave a fierce order: "Don't retreat, continue to attack."

  After all, such a battle cannot concentrate on using weapons and cannot stop the imperial army's attack. With casualties, we must take down this position. At this time, retreating back would abandon all previous efforts.

  The attacking company commander, Takao Asakura, was furious because he couldn't keep up. He always fired back after the enemy opened fire, but they didn't shoot much in each place, just a burst of shots and then retreated to the trenches to open fire from another location.

  Unless his grenade launcher hits the trenches, it's useless. But in a hurry, how can it be so accurate? Moreover, grenadiers cannot fire while lying down, they must get up, and thus become the first target of attack.

  Hearing the captain's order, he also understood that this was not the time to fall behind, and could only charge forward with casualties.

  At this time, two battalions had already gathered together, one of his battalions had suffered casualties of up to three-quarters, and he could only merge the second battalion to launch an attack.

  Dí Qín was naturally worried, this is a familiar problem. These soldiers have not received such training and do not coordinate well with each other. If it were a strictly trained unit, with their volleyball-style tactics, the devils would be lying here.

  To make matters worse, they had too few machine guns, only four, and all of them were light machine guns. Zhao Kai's guard company was better equipped than theirs, but still only had four machine guns, which formed the four machine gun positions. The firepower was insufficient, there were not many people, and the gaps between them were large, with poor coordination. As a result, soldiers kept falling down, killed by the enemy's machine guns, or blown up by grenades fired from grenade launchers.

  Watching the soldiers running back and forth on the battlefield, completely disregarding life and death, Zhai Qin couldn't help but admit that the National Army soldiers weren't afraid of death, they just didn't have good tactics and equipment.

  Hiding behind him made Diqin a bit embarrassed, but after firing a few shots, his shoulder still hurts now. The bullets don't know where they flew to. It's better not to show off, wait until there's time to practice properly. This original Diying Fei only has the ability to quarrel with his wife, his body is just a rich kid, it's already a miracle that he didn't die from Shanghai to Nanjing.

  Unexpectedly, they were killed by the aerial bombing. If not, they wouldn't have been able to come back themselves. Zhai Qin looked at the devils approaching the position and said to Zhai Gui beside him: "Inform Zhao Lianzhang that as soon as the devils enter position one, bomb them, then launch a countercharge, remember to retreat quickly."

  "Yes, young master" Di Gui ran outwards with a much bigger temper than Di Qin.

  As he watched his troops approach the position held by the Chinese army, Gonjiro felt that their casualties were worth it. This unit was unknown to him and its tactics were highly skilled. But before he could even feel happy for a minute, a series of explosions erupted among the Imperial Army in front of the position, with a very high density of blasts.

  Without looking, relying on experience, Kaku Ranko knew that this was the sound of a hand grenade explosion. He was shocked in his heart: "Hachigane-ro, Asakura Ryū is really a fool".

  On the battlefield, soldiers must stand up to throw grenades. If they don't throw far enough, standing up means being shot dead by machine guns or being shot dead by soldiers, so even though the power of grenades is much greater than that of bullets, it's only a short-range defensive weapon and can never replace guns and cannons.

  But Asakura Takashi actually allowed the Chinese army to use hand grenades on such a large scale, wasn't he an idiot? He had just finished scolding when he saw through his binoculars that there was no sign of the Chinese army standing up on the position, how could there be such a large-scale grenade explosion?

  Honmura Kakō still didn't understand what was happening, but the battlefield had undergone a huge change. In front of the third company's defensive position, almost every hand grenade exploded one after another, and sometimes several exploded at the same time. The defensive position was shrouded in smoke from the explosions, and Honmura couldn't see the casualties of his soldiers from afar. However, with such large-scale explosions, there was no need to guess that the Imperial Army had suffered heavy casualties.

  The battlefield of the Chinese army erupted in a chorus of battle cries, and soon the remnants of the Imperial Army were seen fleeing back through the smoke. The village's Akagane shouted frantically: "Artillery, artillery, interceptive fire!"

  Asakura's assault troops had approached the front line, when the explosion occurred, his first reaction was that he had stepped on a landmine. He shouted at the soldiers to lie down in place and not move.

  As long as they didn't move, they wouldn't trigger the landmines. But his orders had no effect whatsoever, and the explosions continued unabated, while the fallen soldiers were also unable to escape their fate. In just a few short minutes, the Japanese troops attacking up the mountain slope were left dead or wounded all over the place, and Asakura was forced to order a retreat.

  But just as he finished giving orders, another explosion occurred at his feet, and Asakura Ryoko didn't have time to say anything before being blown to pieces.

  Without command, the second-in-command, Lieutenant Colonel ōno Sanrō, immediately took over and led the soldiers in a hasty retreat. At this moment, the Chinese army on the position began to charge, which was a counter-charge against the surprise attack.

  The Third Company and the Guard Company were superior in position and victorious. The sound of gunfire was loud, the shouting shook the sky, a brief charge, the originally battered and disheveled devils, hastily retreated, leaving behind a large number of corpses.

  The soldiers who had won the battle had long forgotten their fear, charging down the mountain slope with bayonets. Behind them, a furious voice shouted: "Zhao Kai, Zhang Meng, Wang Ba Dan, come back quickly!"

  But Diqin's voice was like a mosquito compared to the shouting. He rushed out of the bunker and ran forward, forgetting his fear in his haste. Just as he was about to catch up with the soldiers ahead, he shouted: "Retreat, retreat, everyone fall back!"

  Originally, the soldiers were delighted to see Lian Zhang rushing down. But when they heard Di Qin's words, they all paused in shock. Seeing Di Qin jumping and shouting, Zhao Kai suddenly remembered Di Qin's order and immediately shouted: "Stop the pursuit, retreat back to the formation!"

  Just as these soldiers were running back, the sky transmitted the sharp whistling sound of shells. At this point, everyone understood that without thinking, they all rolled and crawled towards the position. Just a few steps away from the position, the shells finally landed among them.