Rise From Eight Hundred

At 7 o'clock in the morning on January 15, 1939!

The independent 46th Brigade and the First Division of the Fourth Army Regiment arrived in Yuncheng and launched an siege against Yuncheng.

This should be the largest counterattack launched by China against the Japanese army in the Battle of Zhongtiao Mountain. According to the battle report of the West Turbulence Detachment of the 4th Division responsible for defending the city, the Chinese used at least 16 75-caliber guns from 7:00 to 9:00 Mountain artillery and more than 40 mortars of various calibers shelled the city wall area.

The artillery brigade affiliated with the West Assault Detachment in the city launched a resolute counterattack against the Chinese. During the two-hour artillery battle, both sides threw more than 2,000 artillery shells.

According to the recollections of a heavy soldier from the 5th Division after the war, the two-hour shelling was the most terrifying battlefield he had ever seen in his life.

The Chinese artillery shells fell like raindrops, accurately landing inside and outside the city wall, easily demolishing the city wall that was 5 meters high and more than 2 meters thick. If it were not for the extremely wise foresight of the then top commander in the city, Okuma Konosuke, on the Chinese side Before the war started, most of the defenders were ordered to retreat to residential areas. In this round of shelling alone, hundreds of thousands of imperial officers and soldiers would die in the Chinese artillery fire.

The strong heavy firepower of the Chinese was just the beginning of the tragedy for the Yuncheng defenders. At about 9 a.m., a violent explosion that was unknown many decibels higher than the loud bang that sounded in the early morning sounded in the south of the city.

Most of the soldiers and ordinary Chinese people in Yuncheng were stunned by the loud noise.

The windows of all the houses in the south city direction were broken by the earthquake, and more than 30 houses a hundred meters close to the city wall were destroyed, as if they had experienced a major earthquake.

At the moment when they felt that the sandbag bunker they were in was shaking and seemed to be collapsing, many Japanese soldiers ran out of the bunker and stood in the open area regardless of the shells that might hit them.

In fact, the Japanese soldiers living on the islands have more experience with natural disasters such as earthquakes than the Chinese. It is simply a fear engraved in their bones.

The Japanese army committed empiricism. It was not an earthquake, but it was definitely an event more terrifying than an earthquake.

That was a dynamite explosion!

The Chinese vented artillery fire for a full 2 ​​hours, but it turned out that it was just to cover up their crazy digging underground.

The Chinese did not know how many explosives were stuffed into that tunnel, and they actually caused a man-made earthquake.

That is the result that 500 kilograms of 'whirlwind explosive' can achieve. Let alone blowing through a solid city wall, even a 6,000-ton destroyer here will be blown up in half.

That is to say, the tunnel did not have time to dig under the city wall, but exploded underground about seven or eight meters away from the city wall, but this was still terrifying enough.

A gap more than fifty meters wide was opened in the city wall toward the south city. Hundreds of tons of sand, gravel and soil were thrown into the sky and hit hard inside and outside the city, causing hundreds of houses to be smashed to pieces.

Although most of the more than 300 personnel of a baggage squadron belonging to the Fifth Division responsible for garrisoning the area retreated to the second line of defense that had been deployed 70 to 80 meters behind the city wall when the artillery fire came.

But no one expected that they had escaped the rain of Chinese artillery shells, but they had not escaped the massive "high-altitude rock rippling". Countless soil was mixed with tens or even dozens of kilograms of stone. It appears extremely fragile under the acceleration of gravity, let alone the fragile human body.

It was like a fly meeting a fly swatter. As long as it hits, there will be a puddle of meat on the ground!

Of more than 300 people in this round of explosions, only less than a small team survived.

The heavy soldier of the 5th Division who had the opportunity to recount his personal experience ran like crazy on his own position after the explosion.

Not to escape, but to find fellow Hiroshima residents who are still alive.

What soldiers fear most on the battlefield is not death, but loneliness!

All the familiar people have died, and I am the only one left. The loneliness that is cold to the bone, people who have not experienced it personally will never be able to understand it.

In the past, this was a patent reserved for Chinese military personnel.

Watching his comrades who were as close as brothers die one by one in front of him, watching the enemy approaching step by step, the lonely soldier looked at the surrounding enemy troops with tears in his eyes, and pulled the string of the grenade at his waist.

At that moment, death seemed suddenly not so scary, but instead a kind of warmth and happiness.

Now, it is finally the Japanese's turn.

Unfortunately, the lonely Japanese soldier did not find a colleague or fellow villager in the ruins with whom he could vent his anger until he was pulled away by a colleague who came from a hundred meters away.

Five minutes later, about an infantry company of Chinese soldiers rushed into the city wall.

However, they did not rush to attack the city. Instead, they established a cover position first and steadily. In the end, more than 600 Chinese soldiers entered the city wall.

Brutal street fighting is about to break out.

During these more than two hours, except for the defenders in Yuncheng who were passively beaten, the Japanese army also made efforts in other directions.

For example, on the front line of Nakatiao Mountain, under the strict orders of Shiro Itagaki, war broke out in the hundreds of miles of mountains again. Even Yamada Seiichi, whose face was beaten and swollen, brazenly launched another attack on Sizhou Mountain.

It's just that the scale is no longer as large as before. The attack line exceeding 5,000 meters can contain no more than a thousand Japanese infantry at most.

For the soldiers of the Sichuan Army's new regiment who had experienced the impact of 3,000 people, this intensity was just a warm-up level.

Now many soldiers will not even hold their guns tightly and wait in the trenches with nervous faces, just waiting for the squad leaders to blow the iron whistle, and then lie on the edge of the trench in a panic and shoot at the bottom until the bullets in the gun chamber are empty.

Now more of them have their guns beside them, waiting silently, waiting for the order to sound, and then some of them lie on the trenches, aiming at the "shit yellow" they can see and pulling the trigger.

And some of them calmly unscrew the back cover of the grenade in the trench, put them one by one within their reach, and wait for the brothers lying in the trenches to report the distance loudly.

"120 meters, 80 meters, 70 meters"

The soldiers bent up again, pulled the string, and threw the grenades down the mountain one by one, regardless of whether they were accurate or not, all they had to do was to throw all the grenades on hand.

Without the need for artillery fire from the rear to cover the front of the position, it was with this extremely tacit cooperation that the soldiers in the front-line trenches relied on a small number of machine guns and single-shot rifles and grenades in the hands of the infantry, which was enough to form a barrier that was difficult for the Japanese infantry to cross.

With only a few casualties, the attacking Japanese army was driven down the hillside.

After nearly a week of tempering in the fire of war, they are no longer new recruits now.

If the recruits were like a piece of steel billet from the day they left their hometown, then the long march and the battle of Tongguan were smelting, allowing the soldiers to see the cruelty of war with their own eyes and abandon the trace of luck in their hearts; and the cruel Sizhoushan defense battle was tempering, putting these soldiers in the fire of war and hammering them repeatedly until those who survived knew how they survived, and the sharp blade had gradually formed.

The Sichuan Army Corps at this time may not be considered a strong army, but its combat effectiveness has increased rather than decreased compared to a week ago. If Yamada Seiichi wants to capture the outer positions as before, the price he pays may be much greater than two days ago.

But obviously, the arrogant Yamada Seiichi was like an eggplant hit by frost at this time - wilted! The tactical purpose of his attack was not to conquer, but to involve.

Yes, it sounds incredible, but it is true.

The dignified Japanese Empire's more than 100,000 troops were stationed here, not to capture the city, but to hold back the Chinese soldiers in the mountains. Any Japanese general with a little shame might have the urge to cut his neck.

But the thick-skinned Itagaki Shiro didn't think so. In his eyes, face is not important. What is important is that he cannot lose this battle as the commander of more than 100,000 troops.

If the "New Year's Day Offensive" launched by the headquarters wins, he has an 80% chance of being promoted to the general of the army and the new commander of the North China Front Army. If he fails to achieve the expected results, he can at least continue to serve as the commander of the Third Army, but if he fails, I am afraid he will lose the trust of the headquarters.

And Yuncheng is the key to the victory or defeat of this Zhongtiao Mountain Battle.

As the highest commander on the front line, although he did not know much about the combat effectiveness of the 4th Division, he could not rely on an "uninjured imperial army" to win the battle.

Therefore, on the one hand, he issued six military orders to let Okuma Yukinosuke defend Yuncheng, and on the other hand, he actively mobilized troops.

The tactical purpose of this daytime attack was to deter the Chinese army in Zhongtiao Mountain from making any rash moves, and secretly, they quietly left the front line through one infantry battalion after another.

By noon, the 3rd and 4th Independent Mixed Brigade and an infantry battalion of the 5th Mixed Brigade, a total of 7 infantry battalions, two cavalry regiments, two artillery battalions, a total of 32 artillery pieces, and two tank squadrons, a total of 28 tanks, were assembled 100 miles away from Yuncheng.

He personally appointed Major General Motoichi Tamura, the commander of the 3rd Independent Mixed Brigade, as the first commander and ordered his troops to rush to the Yuncheng battlefield in two directions.

There were more than 8,000 infantry and cavalry, plus artillery, armored troops, and auxiliary troops such as baggage soldiers. The size of the Japanese army, which was assembled from three mixed brigades, was as high as 20,000. The total strength of this unit alone was far greater than the current 46th Independent Brigade and the Lengfeng Division of the Fourth Regiment. If the 6,000 Japanese troops in Yuncheng were added, the strength would definitely be more than twice as much.

And Itagaki Shiro did a very good job of keeping secrets, and the Chinese side did not notice anything unusual.

But then again, even if they noticed something unusual, the main force of the Chinese side was powerless, and basically they could only watch as a part of the Japanese army viciously rushed towards the army that they had fought to the death and escaped from the siege.

Itagaki Shiro made infantry deployments to the best of his ability, and the Japanese North China Army Aviation also did its best to support the Yuncheng direction. A bomber formation of up to 36 fighters was divided into three rounds and appeared on the scene at around 8:30.

Fortunately, the Sihang Regiment has always attached great importance to air defense. The 12 7mm anti-aircraft machine guns and 12 Suloton 20mm machine guns that came with the artillery unit were deployed on several high ground about 7 miles away from Yuncheng. Although it was not enough to complete a wave of tough ground-to-air counterattacks, it was still possible to make the Japanese planes extremely cautious.

Most of the Japanese aircraft groups dropped bombs on the ground at an altitude of 1,500 meters. The phenomenon of Japanese aircraft flying almost over the top of the mountain and using onboard machine guns to strafe the Chinese trenches on the Zhongtiao Mountain battlefield did not occur here at all.

The machine guns that were all replaced with shrapnel shells used shells to declare that the 1,000-meter altitude was a no-fly zone!

However, although most of the bombs were dropped by Xia Jiba, they also caused nearly 100 casualties among officers and soldiers of the 46th Independent Brigade and the Four-Line Regiment. Even the mountain artillery positions had to cease fire for 20 minutes to avoid the bombing of Japanese planes.

This also made Tang Dao more deeply aware of the lack of ground-to-air firepower. The 20mm machine gun could no longer meet the needs of the Four-Line Regiment's air defense, and the German 40mm anti-aircraft gun had become a necessity.

Fortunately, Rostav had replied to Tang Dao before New Year's Day, saying that 48 40mm anti-aircraft guns were about to arrive at the port of Tianjin, and would definitely be delivered to the Fengfeng Coal Mine outside Handan before the Chinese New Year.

There was also good news from the No. 1 Laboratory led by Grunov. The 4-mounted 7mm heavy machine gun proposed by Tang Dao had also begun mass production, and by the time the Chinese New Year arrived, about 60 guns could be delivered to Dakouzidong Town.

As long as the "motorcycle rear three-wheel" accessories promised by the little foreign girl could be delivered before the New Year, Cheng Tieshou's air defense company would usher in a comprehensive replacement of "changing bird guns for cannons".

By then, the low-altitude defense firepower network below 1,200 meters composed of 32 4-mounted 7mm heavy machine guns, the medium-altitude defense firepower network from 1,200 meters to 2,500 meters composed of 24 20mm machine guns, and the high-altitude defense firepower network from 2,500 meters to 4,000 meters composed of 24 40mm anti-aircraft guns will become a three-dimensional air defense network above the heads of the infantry of the Four-Line Regiment.

Moreover, with the "three-wheeled vehicle" designed by Tang Tuanzuo himself, which can be used as a weapon platform and a vehicle for carrying artillery, the mobility of the air defense company will become the strongest in the Four-Line Regiment.

That is, the problem of fuel is a bit tricky, but Tang Dao has already had a plan for this, and has basically reached an agreement with the headquarters of the 80th Army Group.

The Four-Line Regiment will use food and weapons and equipment for trade exchanges. The only oil field in China controlled by the 80th Army Group in the northwest will provide 300 barrels of gasoline and diesel for the Four-Line Regiment every month. If it were not for the Japanese New Year's Day offensive, the first batch of 300 barrels of oil should have arrived at Dakouzidong Town.

Although the quantity is still a little small, it is basically enough for the Sihang Regiment, which now only has 100 trucks that cannot travel far, a Japanese 89 tank mainly used for training, and 100 "three-wheeled vehicles" that are still in the imagination.

If it is not enough, what else does the Japanese have? The one who robs him is that Tang Tuanzuo, who is also the deputy director of a certain office and the county magistrate of Licheng County, has never ignored the Japanese troops in these counties.

If it weren't for the New Year's Day offensive launched by the Japanese in advance, Tang Tuanzuo would have planned to spend the New Year in Licheng County?

Anyway, as long as these planned things become a reality, Cheng Tieshou will truly become an iron head and a steel head.

Without 3 flying squadrons of Japanese planes risking their lives to penetrate the ground, it is impossible to imagine that the bombs can be dropped on the heads of the infantry of the Sihang Regiment by luck as now.

As for January 15th, whether it is Itagaki Shiro or Shan Shanyuan, they have tried their best to help the Yuncheng Japanese army that has been beaten for a long time.

But this could not prevent the defeat of the Japanese army in Yuncheng!

First, the south city wall was broken by the Chinese side in the form of blasting, and the Japanese defenders suffered more than 400 casualties. Although they were basically the baggage soldiers of other divisions left in Yuncheng, they were also the soldiers under the command of Mr. Okuma Konosuke, right?

Major General Okuma Konosuke was extremely sad and listed it in the battle report and reported it to Itagaki Shiro.

After the war, Itagaki Shiro, who went to Yuncheng, which was almost riddled with holes, to inspect the gap in the city wall that was tens of meters wide, could only lament that the baggage squadron of his division that was almost completely destroyed was a matter of fate.

Major General Okuma Konosuke really tried his best. When the city wall was broken, he had already placed his 2,300 infantrymen in various key locations in the city, intending to engage in the most brutal street fighting with the Chinese.

That would not only defend the city, but also achieve the purpose of the delaying tactics that Itagaki Shiro secretly devised, to drag the nearly 10,000 Chinese troops in Yuncheng, waiting for the army that was galloping towards here a hundred miles away to counter-encircle them.

But no one expected that the Chinese were not fooled. They were not in a hurry to conquer the entire city, but used small forces at night to carry out infiltration attacks on Yuncheng, just like a pack of wolves surrounding a flock of sheep.

Faced with this tactic of killing the master with random punches, the Japanese army in the city finally revealed a flaw. Three warehouses with a large amount of food were on fire, and two ammunition depots with ammunition were hit by Chinese mortars and caused a huge explosion.

The originally dark night sky was completely lit up. There was no need for any flares at all. Soldiers on both sides could see each other's eyebrows and eyes from a hundred meters away.

The Chinese stopped the offensive in the second half of the night.

With the help of gasoline, the fire burned for a day and a night. The water poured by the firefighting team of hundreds of people organized by Konosuke Okuma quickly turned into steam, and then formed fog after encountering cold air. The fog that filled the whole city made the small Yuncheng look like a legendary fairyland.

Although it was tragic, the good news was that the Chinese ran away.

Not only did the Chinese who entered the city disappear, but even the Chinese outside the city disappeared. This was the news that the brave reconnaissance pioneers of the Western Assault Detachment risked their lives to bring back to the command center in Yuncheng.

The battle of Yuncheng ended in such an almost bizarre way.

Itagaki Shiro, who received the news in the early morning of January 16, drew his knife and smashed the coffee table.

The important thing in Yuncheng is supplies. What's the use of that broken city with few hairs?

"Baga! Tell Tamura to find the Chinese and surround them. Eliminate them at all costs, at all costs." Itagaki Shiro's roar could be heard a hundred meters away.

After issuing the military order, Itagaki Shiro sat down on the worn-out wooden chair with a dejected look on his face!

He knew too well that with the disappearance of a million military rations, the Battle of Zhongtiao Mountain could almost be declared over.

And the existence or non-existence of the emerging Chinese army had become his last redemption after the defeat in this battle.

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