Chapter 145 Liaoyang Meat Grinder

On September 19,1904, the Japanese army gathered 180,000 troops, hundreds of artillery and hundreds of heavy machine guns to launch a second full-scale attack on the Russian army on the front line of Liaoyang. However, unlike the frontal attack at the end of August, the Japanese army made a wide detour and tried to bypass the strong frontal defense of the Russian army. Line, attack from the side.

However, the Japanese army, which launched a circuitous attack from the left wing, was not surprised by the tenacious resistance of the Russian army. In the next few days, the two sides carried out a series of offensive and defensive operations around the left wing, but like the previous battles, no matter which side launched an attack or counterattack, it was not surprised by the fierce opportunity of the other side. Gunfire strike.

And due to the great increase in the firepower of both sides, whether the Japanese army launched an attack or the Russian army launched a counterattack, the progress was extremely slow. In the end, this mobile battle, which was intended to be circuitous, turned into a position war and became a war of attrition for the soldiers of Japan and Russia.

Chen Guangyuan, one of the military attaches who watched the battle, always exclaimed a lot when he recalled the battle!

"You didn't see it. Tens of thousands of people charged on the front and were knocked down by the enemy machine guns on the opposite side. That scene was really, tsk..." Chen Guangyuan remembered that at that time, the battlefield was not the smell of gunpowder smoke on the general battlefield, but the lingering smell of blood and corpses.

In this battle of Liaoyang, not only the Japanese army fully reflected the samurai spirit, but also the Russian army on the opposite side once again showed the garrison of various countries what a gray animal is.

Whenever the Japanese army launches an attack, countless Japanese soldiers with 'must-win' headscarves on their heads generally gush out of the trenches and chest walls, and some soldiers in front of them still hold bullet-proof shields, but this kind of shield has proved to be of little practical effect in the Battle of Lushun, not to mention close proximity, even if It will also be penetrated by machine gun bullets at medium and long distances. The reason why the Japanese army continues to use it is just hoping that it can bring a trace of comfort.

These charging Japanese soldiers will step forward step by step on the bodies of their comrades-in-arms. The Russian machine guns and rifle bullets on the opposite side will continue to hit them and then fall down. However, even if there is the last soldier left, they will still shout 'onboard' and continue to rush forward until the whole army is overthrown. Until it is destroyed.

However, every time the Japanese army occupied a position of the Russian army by relying on countless corpses, it was the turn of the Russian army to launch a counterattack. The Russian soldiers in gray military coats climbed out of the trenches one after another with the courage of the time of queuing up to shoot, and the noble officers wielding sabres kept shouting, cheering morale with various threats or ** , the Orthodox priests who accompanied the army will also keep reading the scriptures and form a death movement with the sound of the drums in the hands of the military band.

The Russian army's charge speed was not fast at first. After they climbed out of the trench, they moved forward step by step with the voices of officers and priests. They did not have any expression on their faces, nor did they shout. Even if their comrades next to them were hit by bullets or shell fragments, they would not even look at them.

Many officers put on a full set of military uniforms and walked in the front with their heads held high to show their courage and determination. Some even rode directly on a tall horse to swim in front of their troops as they did during the Napoleonic Wars, leading the troops forward.

There is no doubt that their courage is admirable to any soldier!

They walked forward step by step. After three or four hundred meters, the leading officers would wave the sabers in their hands and shouted, "Ula!"

Then the Russian soldiers behind him began to shout that Ula rushed forward desperately, and even stopped shooting back, but directly with rifles with bayonets.

And then it is naturally the turn of the Japanese Hatches heavy machine guns to launch their power. These heavy machine guns, which have been dragged to the position, are intermittently long-point shots. In the face of the dense Russian charge, they basically don't need to aim at a large area.

However, although the heavy machine gun is powerful, it will not be equipped with many on a certain front. In addition, it is necessary to change the chain and other factors. Once the firepower of the heavy machine gun cannot be continuously fired, the next moment, the gray animals of the Russian army will flood in and flood this trench in an instant.

Then a more brutal hand-to-hand battle will break out between the soldiers.

At this time, the Japanese generals who observed the war situation in the rear saw that it was not good and immediately ordered their artillery to shell the soldiers of the enemy and us who were fighting hand-to-hand, and the Russian side was the same.

This kind of war of attrition is almost similar to the Dagu Mountain and Xiaogushan battles in Lushun. The only difference is that the scale of the battle in Lushun is much smaller, while the scale of the battle in Liaoyang is much larger. You are embarrassed to say that you are attacking without a charge of tens of thousands of people!

If Lushun can still be regarded as a hard fortress by the Japanese army, then Liaoyang has completely become a meat grinder, and almost every big and small battle has become more people on both sides than who will die.

On that day, when the Russian sides continued to work hard, Zhao Dongyun continued to lead the third town and Jinzhou patrol battalion to stay in Jinzhou to prevent the war from spreading to Liaoxi.

While building fortifications in western Liaoning and defending western Liaoning, Zhao Dongyun did not forget to train and expand the army. There is nothing to say about the training of the troops. Just continue to maintain high-intensity physical fitness and live ammunition training. In addition to weapon factors to improve the combat effectiveness of the troops, the rest is training.

In terms of military expansion, the core of the expansion in recent months is still in the Jinzhou patrol camp. The Education Department has supplemented about 2,500 new recruits after preliminary training to the First Mixed Association in July, August, September and October. The First Mixed Association used these recruits to train three infantry battalions and heavy troops. By the beginning of October, the first mixed association of the Jinzhou patrol battalion was initially full.

In terms of weapons, rifles are naturally not a big problem because of Zhao Dongyun's Fuyuan Machinery Factory. Hundreds of rifles are sent every month, and now they are fully loaded.

However, heavy machine guns and mortars are still lacking a lot. If it is compiled according to Beiyang standards, the first mixed association naturally does not need mortars, and the heavy machine guns can be given at most.

The standard configuration of each town in Beiyang is 24 heavy machine guns. Although Beiyang has been under the influence of the Russo-Japanese War in recent months, Beiyang has been shouting to continue to increase the number of heavy machine guns, but it has not formed a unified system. Most of the chiefs of the troops are spontaneous, such as the current third town. From last year to the first half of this year, heavy machine guns were added, from 24 to 56. This is not the official behavior of Beiyang, but Zhao Dongyun's personal behavior.

Because the funds of Jinzhou patrol camp have not been insured by the imperial court, it has been supported by the small treasury in the third town. Although Zhao Dongyun's small treasury is not small, it is too much to spend money, so it is difficult to squeeze out too much money for Jinzhou. The patrol battalion was equipped with heavy machine guns and mortars, so the two standards of the first mixed association of Jinzhou patrol battalion were first equipped with six heavy machine guns and four 80mm mortars, and each battalion was first equipped with three 60mm mortars, which was basically halved according to the specifications of the third town.

After a while, your hand will be loose before it is fully equipped!

Although this heavy machine gun and mortar are not fully equipped, at least it is an army. This is not just an army. Meng Enyuan can't wait to invite Zhao Dongyun to watch the exercise.

Due to the relatively scattered stationing, three infantry battalions have been stationed in Panshan, Liaozhong and Xinmin counties for a long time. Therefore, Zhao Dongyun can see the remaining three infantry battalions, artillery battalions and other troops in Jinzhou, and these three battalions are also the new troops trained by Meng Enyuan in recent months.

"Your Excellency, you see, now is up to the first team of the 6th Battalion of the Step Team. Nearly half of the backbone non-commissioned officers in this team are old men from the third town, so although the army is the latest, the training results are the best in the 12th team of the 3rd Battalion!" Meng Enyuan continued to say to a small unit on the drill ground, "You see, they didn't launch a frontal attack immediately, but first used mortars to clear the heavy machine gun fire point of Team B."

Following Meng Enyuan's instructions, the 60mm mortar group of the first team of the 6th Battalion conducting the exercise conducted several rapid shots in a row after approaching the enemy's machine gun fire point 500 meters. Of course, this could not be a live bullet, but an exercise bomb that would only explode and only smoke.

In an instant, a number of smoke columns emerged before and after Team B's machine gun fire point, which was the smoke emitted after the exercise bullet landed. Immediately, the exercise referee ruled that Team B's machine gun fire point was severely hit, and many people suffered casualties and lost continuous firepower. At this time, the soldiers of the first team had already launched a circuitous attack on the right wing under the cover of their own heavy machine guns and mortars, and the opposite team B quickly stopped the rifle fire from intercepting.

After a while, the referee ruled that Team B's heavy machine gun replenishment had fired again, and the first team that launched a circuitous attack was suppressed, but then several mortar shells hit Team B's heavy machine gun fire point. This time, the referee finally ruled that the machine gun had been completely reimbursed.

After losing the cover of the machine gun, Team B on the opposite side can only organize rifles, * and its own mortar firepower to continue to suppress and intercept. This small offensive and defensive battle is as boring as any previous exercises. At most, it is to watch the soldiers firing drill bullets and smoke on the exercise field.

On the surface, it is far less interesting than the Red and Blue Army exercises of later generations, but laymen watch the lively and insiders watch the doorway. This exercise is very interesting in the eyes of most of the officers watching the battle.

"I didn't expect how effective this mortar could have an anti-machine gun!" Liu Tinggui and the artillery standard said, "If we have more mortars, won't we be able to blow up the enemy's machine guns one after another!"