latelenovela Chapter 235 The Cavalry Company is Still Useful
Chapter 235 The Cavalry Company is Still Useful
There was naturally no cavalry in the original battle sequence of the 72nd Brigade, but after a field investigation, Li Shaoyi believed that cavalry should still be retained given the existing traffic environment.
So after returning from Nanjing, each regiment added a cavalry company. The cavalry companies of the three regiments had a total of about 300 people. After the troops set off, the cavalry companies took the lead and rushed to the front. Who made them have lower requirements for roads?
Now they were the first to arrive. When they saw the Japanese army in the distance, the cavalry company commander Wei Minghai did not launch an attack immediately. Instead, he waved his hand to let his men stop and investigate the surrounding situation. Only by knowing yourself and the enemy can you win every battle.
Captain Wei was the cavalry platoon leader of the 29th Army. He was acquired by the 3rd Regiment Commander Zhao Tiezhu in exchange for two Maxim heavy machine guns.
Anyway, the commander of the 29th Army who did business with him treated Zhao Tiezhu as a sucker. He used two Maxim heavy machine guns and 3,000 rounds of ammunition specifically to exchange for a cavalry platoon leader. I really don't know if you are crazy.
But Zhao Tiezhu had other thoughts in mind. After the cavalry platoon leader was replaced, it took him less than a month to support our cavalry company. Isn't it just two Maxim machine guns? We can afford it.
Anyway, both sides think the other side is the boss...
When Wei Minghai discovered this Japanese army, his soldiers were not idle either. The four 60mm mortars were all assembled. They were training hard and trying to improve every second. Now they were needed.
"Company Commander, these devils seem to look down on us."
The scout, riding on a tall horse, said that when enemy cavalry appeared in the distance, the infantry should immediately set up a defensive line. If you let their cavalry rush over, you will not have a good time.
"It's best if they don't look down on us. When the artillery fire starts, we'll go around to their north side and attack from their tail. We'll keep a tight grip on them and won't attack from the side. If we do, we'll suffer a lot of damage."
Wei Minghai quickly arranged the combat mission, and his men nodded. They were located on the west side of Watanabe's Battalion. If they launched a charge from here, the more than 1,000 people in Watanabe's Battalion would form a long snake formation, and the Japanese's marksmanship was not weak, so their cavalry company would definitely suffer heavy casualties.
But if we launch an attack from the north at this moment, that is the tail end of the Japanese long snake formation, and there are only one or two hundred people left. Even if we want to deploy temporarily, we have to see who is faster among us, not to mention that we have four mortars for support.
"Listen up, everyone! Put away your sabers! We are cavalrymen of the new era. We must ride in one hand and hold a gun in the other."
Wei Minghai took out the twenty-shot gun from his waist, which was his main weapon.
When we formed the cavalry, we said that no matter what kind of enemy troops we encountered, we had to use firearms to attack. As for the original sabers, they were not very useful.
"Yes."
Standing in the front row were the backbone of the cavalry, each of them holding a German submachine gun.
"Prepare for battle and set up machine gun positions. What era is this? Let these cavalrymen take a good look."
Captain Watanabe also understood that they could not escape back, so they had to set up machine gun positions. As long as these cavalry dared to charge, they would be in trouble.
After receiving the captain's order, the infantrymen under his command immediately got busy. Several machine gun positions were set up on their west side, and large sacks filled with all kinds of stuff were thrown down from the vehicles. This became a temporary trench.
The other soldiers also found places to defend themselves.
Just when they were ready, the cavalry on the opposite side actually began to move northward, with no intention of a frontal attack, and the sound of artillery shells exploding was heard nearby.
"The artillery team is returning fire."
Seeing the artillery falling on his position, Captain Watanabe immediately gave orders. Under Captain Watanabe's battalion was an artillery squad with 55 people serving two Type 92 infantry guns.
When the troops were advancing, their infantry guns were in a disassembled state, so after the captain's order was issued, the artillery team did not immediately retaliate, but assembled their infantry guns as quickly as possible.
Seeing the busy artillery, Captain Lubian shook his head with some disgust, but he also knew that this was a necessary procedure. The speed was not slow now. Among all the garrisons in Tianjin, they had conducted exercises and competitions. The artillery team under Captain Watanabe had achieved excellent results, so it was not easy to scold them now.
Wei Minghai's cavalry troops were divided into three groups. One group protected four mortars and launched an all-round bombardment on the Watanabe Battalion. The other group rushed towards the rear and harassed the northern area of the Watanabe Battalion with the weapons in their hands.
There was another group of about forty people who were holding rifles with scopes and were wandering around the Watanabe Battalion. They would shoot when they saw an opportunity, and every time they shot, they would get results.
Although the soldiers of Watanabe's battalion are more accurate in shooting, they have no advantage over the soldiers of the 72nd Brigade who are equipped with scopes, unless you are a sharpshooter.
After several exchanges of fire, more than 30 Japanese soldiers had died, but it seemed that only one person on the opposite side fell off his horse and was quickly taken away by his own people.
They are all shooting at a distance of several hundred meters, but they have an extra scope and have received professional training. Your soldiers only rely on mechanical aiming, which is really far inferior.
Captain Watanabe realized that the cavalry in front of them was not going to fight a decisive battle with them, but to hold them back.
Nearly twenty minutes had passed since they appeared, and the Watanabe Battalion had not moved forward at all.
Just now, Captain Watanabe wanted to go back first, but his rear was bitten tightly by these cavalrymen. As long as your soldiers ran towards the city with guns, those cavalrymen would rush up immediately and bite your rear hard, and each bite would kill more than ten or twenty people.
But if you turn around to build a machine gun position, these cavalrymen will run far away, directly out of the range of the machine guns, leaving you no chance to fight.
The artillery unit consisting of four mortars gave Captain Watanabe even more headaches.
Seeing Captain Watanabe's men launching an offensive against the artillery, these people immediately dismantled the mortars and rode their horses to the next location. How could their legs compete with those of horses?
How can we compare when we don’t have wheels on our legs?