Rise From Eight Hundred

More than 6,000 people led by Nishimura Motoichi arrived at Jiulong Mountain in the evening of the 17th. Because the mountain was steep and a part of the troops were still on the way, Nishimura Motoichi did not rush into the mountainous area.

Even Nishimura Motoichi, who was afraid of the Four-Line Regiment, did not send out scouts to avoid falling into the tiger's mouth and giving away his head for nothing.

This top student of the Japanese Army Academy completely entrusted the task of scouting the enemy's situation to aerial reconnaissance. It seemed that the infantry strength was preserved, but in fact it left the opponent with a lot of preparation time and a not very clear enemy deployment map.

When the opponent had powerful anti-aircraft weapons, the reconnaissance aircraft did not dare to lower the altitude at all. The altitude of more than 1,000 meters could not give the commander too much advice.

Moreover, the reconnaissance aircraft could not arrive until 9 am on the 18th at the earliest. It would take another half a day to return to the airport and inform the infantry command headquarters of the reconnaissance results through the radio. It would be almost afternoon again when Nishimura Motoichi made deployments based on these.

That was equivalent to giving the Chinese another 24 hours of preparation time.

This is also one of the reasons for the defeat of the Jiulongshan Battle summarized at the post-war meeting of Japanese generals.

How strong is the civil engineering work of the Four-line Regiment now?

If various weapons and equipment are sharp spears in the hands of soldiers, used to take the lives of the enemy, then field fortifications are shields in front of soldiers, and are the last guarantee of soldiers' lives.

How much Tang Dao attaches importance to the upgrading of weapons and equipment, there is a multi-view fortification construction.

Although the company, platoon, and squad leaders of the Four-line Regiment are promoted by their military exploits and achievements, they have an extremely important assessment during their tenure. If the assessment fails, the treatment is retained but the military position cannot continue to serve.

That is the actual combat assessment of civil engineering operations!

There are all kinds of trenches and tunnels on the mountains around Dakouzidong Town. In fact, more than half of them are the results of the excavation and acceptance by the officers of the Four-line Regiment at all levels.

Of course, before that, the one-week training with Tang Tuanzuo as the chief instructor and Bai Sheng, the company commander of the engineering company, as the deputy chief instructor is a must for the newly appointed officers.

In addition to the necessary civil engineering technology, Tang Tuanzuo also attached great importance to tools. Almost one-fifth of the fine steel that can be used to make gun barrels was used by Tang Tuanzuo to make various crude tools for digging and digging soil.

That's not all. The new "cyclone explosive" has not yet been equipped to the front-line combat troops, but Bai Sheng's engineering company has already equipped it with 200 kilograms.

And its purpose is not combat, but to blast the hard geological soil layer!

Even the few active new anti-infantry mines "broad sword" designed and produced by Tang Tuanzuo are basically equipped to the engineering company.

Moreover, not everyone who wants to be an engineer can be an engineer. First of all, you have to be a soldier who has been in the army for more than half a year, and you have to go through strict assessments, which is more difficult than becoming an artilleryman.

It can be said that within the Four-Line Regiment, engineers are second only to high-tech arms such as artillery, both in terms of personnel treatment and equipment.

Of course, the various departments of the Four-Line Regiment have not complained too much about the importance of the engineering company. The results of several major battles have proved the importance of the engineering force.

Without the correct planning of the engineers and the efficient civil engineering work, the casualties of the four-line regiments in the battle of Jindong alone would have increased by at least 10%, which would have cost hundreds of lives.

After the systematic training and actual combat in 1938 and the updating of various equipment, Tang Dao could confidently say that even if its engineering troops were not among the top three in the world, they were at least stronger than the Japanese army, which was the best in Asia.

The Japanese army's strong civil engineering work had already caused enough suffering to the Chinese army and American cowboys in World War II. In this time and space, Tang Tuanzuo was just "returning the favor" and taking the Japanese's path to leave them with nowhere to go.

Therefore, after the Japanese reconnaissance plane discovered the hiding place of the army at noon on the 17th, Leng Feng no longer concealed it and started the "digging mountain" mode with great fanfare. He used the 8 hours in advance and the 24 hours generously reserved by the cautious Nishimura Motoichi, a total of 32 hours of civil engineering work, and dug more than 5,000 meters of trenches on Hill 872 and several small hills attached to it.

And this is just the surface of the work. In order to prevent Japanese bombing, there are more than 20 tunnels buried 6 meters deep underground.

In addition, there are 26 machine gun bunkers with logs as the top and covered with a 2-meter thick soil layer!

Each bunker is equipped with heavy machine guns and even 20mm machine guns. Unless the Japanese army uses 70mm infantry guns to accurately bombard them, or close-range blasting, these deadly things can make the Japanese army lie on the ground and cannot move forward until they die.

The entire 872 highland was like a hedgehog with all its thorns spread out. If the Japanese army came to provoke them, it was almost inevitable that they would be covered with thorns.

The 981 highland on the 46th Independent Brigade was slightly worse. Even though Leng Feng specially sent out nearly a thousand special tools of various types from the engineering platoon, and even took out the precious 300 kilograms of "cyclone explosives" to help blast the hard rock formation, the 46th Independent Brigade only managed to build 12 machine gun bunkers and 13 tunnels for hiding soldiers, and also dug 4,500 meters of trenches on the surface.

That was the result of the desperate work of more than 3,700 troops and more than 600 Japanese prisoners of war on the 46th Independent Brigade for 32 hours.

Speaking of these more than 600 prisoners of war from the 4th Division, it really made the Chinese soldiers open their eyes.

This group of hawkers from Osaka were quite honest during the march. After all, there was an infantry company to guard them. And in this kind of war, the bullets were loaded and the safety was turned on. Whenever the prisoners of war moved, they would shoot them. kill.

However, when they arrived at Jiulong Mountain and were asked to participate in civil engineering operations due to lack of manpower, they encountered strong resistance from the prisoners of war. They believed that they had strictly obeyed the Chinese orders and achieved no one causing trouble and no one escaping during the march. The Chinese should comply. The terms negotiated by both parties after the surrender did not include labor such as helping to move the earth. If the Chinese insist on doing this, then they, who have abided by the spirit of the contract for generations, would rather die!

Good guy, facing this group of Japanese who "swore not to work to the death", even Brigadier Kong Da and Battalion Commander Leng, who had always been decisive in killing, were a little dumbfounded. However, Tang Tuanzuo, who was far away in Sizhou Mountain, came up with a plan after knowing about it. Idea, give me money!

Prisoners of war were paid on an hourly basis. The hourly wage of 2 yen per hour was more than 20 times the salary of Japanese soldiers serving in the military, which was a substantial premium.

Is this possible? After all, they are prisoners of war, and their life and death are in the hands of China. No matter how high the salary is, even if it is paid in cash, they can get it back with a few bullets.

"Tell the highest-ranking prisoners of war that 'tomorrow' will be your guarantee. Even if they unfortunately die in this battle, the rewards for their labor will be handed over to their superiors in full." Tang Dao's reply. easy to understand.

Although he thought it was fantasy, Leng Feng, who had great trust in Tang Dao, also went to the Japanese prisoners of war to negotiate with the Japanese prisoners of war with the mentality of giving it a try.

As a result, the Japanese prisoners of war actually succumbed to the high daily wages.

The most eye-catching thing is that this group of Japanese prisoners of war not only did not cheat during the work, not to mention working as hard as the Chinese soldiers, they even gave a lot of professional advice to the 46th Independent Brigade in the process of building fortifications. .

Chinese officers and soldiers

I'm afraid they didn't capture a group of Japanese invaders, but a group of hidden soldiers who broke into the enemy's territory!

But in the words of the Japanese prisoners of war, they can do as much work as they pay for. The Chinese are not stingy with money. Naturally, they are also like 'a scholar will die for his bosom friend'!

God, "A soldier will die for his bosom friend." Brigadier Kong Da, who had always been jealous of the sun, had the urge to destroy all his views at that moment.

Of course, this was also the most bizarre prisoner of war that Brigadier Kong Da encountered during the long Patriotic War. Such good things would rarely be encountered in the future.

For example, the more than 300 artillery prisoners of the Fifth Division captured at Shunwangping Sihang Regiment were extremely difficult to manage despite their small number. Those guys looked honest on the surface, but in fact they were thinking about what to do all the time. Escape.

Because there were many seriously wounded soldiers in the Fourth Army Regiment during the Battle of Shunwangping, it was obviously not suitable to march with seriously wounded soldiers in such a war, so we simply transferred two squads of about 60 people from the baggage company, plus the guard platoon of the third battalion. 120 people stayed in the mountains of Wangwu Mountain, responsible for the safety of more than a dozen medical soldiers and 70 to 80 seriously injured soldiers, and responsible for the supervision of more than 300 prisoners of war.

Each prisoner of war was tied up in groups of ten with iron wires as shackles. In addition, Adong was asked to call 100 young men from the village to issue weapons and act as temporary guards.

Of the more than 200 heavily armed personnel, half were still front-line soldiers who killed without blinking an eye. The more than 600 people who were replaced by the 4th Division were definitely honest. As a result, once the main force of the Four Lines Regiment left, the group of Japanese prisoners of war moved from the second Things started happening the next day.

Not only did they try their best to escape, they also attacked the inexperienced young militiamen, and even held two militiamen hostage with knives and threatened the officers and soldiers of the Fourth Army Regiment to ask for their release. If the lieutenant and the guard platoon leader had not made a decisive decision, he continuously ordered the shooting and killing of the participating militiamen. Among them, the cold and decisive killings of more than 30 Japanese soldiers completely shocked the Japanese prisoners of war, and the consequences were disastrous.

By the time Nishimura Yuanichi and more than 10,000 Japanese troops arrived at the two highlands at 4 p.m. on January 18, who had spent the whole day reconnaissance and troop deployment, the Chinese soldiers on the two highlands were already ready.

Looking through the telescope at the rows of trenches on the high ground in front of him, Nishimura Motoichi felt bitter in his mouth. He attacked the high ground bit by bit like peeling corn husks. In the end, the seven infantry brigades under his command could still be left. how many people?

Obviously, Nishimura Genichi really thought too much.

The Japanese army, which started attacking at 5 pm on January 18, never imagined that from this moment on, everyone here would embark on a path of no return.

After spending hundreds of lives, Nishimura Yuanichi finally tested the strength of the firepower of Highland 981 and Highland 872.

The Japanese Army Major General, who had been pushed to the point by Shiro Itagaki, also officially made the decision. The 872 Highland, which the Japanese army called the "Single Edge Peak", was mainly used for containment and fire suppression, while the 981 Highland, which was called the "Fishbone Ridge", was The tactic of gathering heavy troops for siege.

It has to be said that at least from this point of view, Nishimura Genichi still has a few skills. He will at least avoid the strong and attack the weak, and use the 46th Independent Brigade as a breakthrough point.

Even though Leng Feng has no more than 1,500 infantrymen available for combat, the individual combat effectiveness and equipment of its soldiers are much stronger than those of the 46th Independent Brigade. In addition, they are more skilled in civil engineering operations, so the difficulty of conquering them is actually much greater than that of the 46th Independent Brigade. 981 Highland.

But even the weakest link in this Chinese army is also stronger than the Japanese army imagined.

Just that battle on the night of the 18th broke two of Nishimura Genichi's teeth.

. . . . . . . .

An unnamed highland belonging to Highland 981 is located more than 800 meters below and to the right of the main Highland 981. It is stationed by only one infantry platoon.

The entire position was pitifully small, with only one anti-artillery hole for avoiding artillery fire and two trenches no longer than 300 meters in front and back. There were no heavy machine guns on the position, only 4 light machine guns and 3 grenade launchers, and the rest were basically rifles.

The 52 soldiers had a total of 68 Zhongzheng rifles, Hanyang rifles, and Type 38 rifles. In terms of light firepower alone, it exceeded a full-strength infantry platoon of an ordinary Chinese army.

But this was absolutely not worth mentioning for the Japanese army. In the past, let alone sending out an infantry company, even an infantry squad could conquer it under the cover of heavy machine guns and infantry guns.

But this time, it really opened the eyes of the Japanese.

It was this unknown small position that the Japanese sent an infantry squadron of 178 people plus 4 heavy machine guns and 2 infantry guns to assist, and even 4 mountain guns to cover the artillery fire first. Moreover, the coordination between the Japanese infantry and artillery had reached the limit. The infantry had already reached the front of the highland trench 180 meters away, and the mountain guns and infantry guns had blown up the high ground with smoke.

Whether in terms of firepower, manpower or the strong cooperation shown by the Japanese army, it was already the peak level of the Japanese army. No matter how you look at it, it was a matter of one drum.

But there is never anything certain in this world, there are only uncertainties.

The Chinese infantry on the position actually waited until the Japanese infantry approached 120 meters from the front of the position before starting to fight back sporadically.

They were basically rifles, and the lack of continuous fire suppression from light machine guns made it difficult for the Japanese army not to have the illusion that "the Chinese have been almost killed by artillery fire."

The Japanese infantry had already straightened their bodies and stepped forward with their legs, shouting "on board" to start the charge!

A red flare rose into the sky, but it did not alert the Japanese infantry who had already started running. They only thought it was a signal that the Chinese infantry was about to enter the trenches.

Therefore, the Japanese infantry just wanted to run faster and faster, and rush to the area where they could throw grenades before the Chinese reached the front-line trenches.

Victory was less than 50 meters away from them!

But the sharp whistle of "咻儿~~" that broke through the air made the Japanese infantry's eyes more bright from then on.

It was a ball of light formed by the explosion of countless mortar shells.

The night in northern China always comes earlier in winter. It is already dark at 6 o'clock in the evening, but Nishimura Motoichi will never give the opponent another night of rest.

The fortifications that were spread all over the mountains and fields almost overnight made Nishimura Motoichi clearly know that the Chinese relied on sleepless nights to dig out such a huge system of field fortifications, which was at the cost of huge physical strength.

If he does not launch an attack now while the opponent is weak, and waits for the opponent to have a good sleep at night before attacking, isn't that pure stupidity!

Therefore, a wave of nearly 10 shells fell and exploded, enough to illuminate most of the hillside, allowing the Japanese commanders 600 meters away to see the scene of the artillery massacre.

Although the Japanese infantrymen were dispersed at a wide enough distance and crawled in a timely manner, the Chinese artillery shells were like waves in the sea, one after another, giving the Japanese infantrymen on the hillside no chance to breathe.

The only thing they could do was to lie on the ground and pray for the Chinese artillery fire to end quickly by silently praying for the blessing of Amaterasu.

That was the artillery position composed of 10 82-gun mortars deployed on the flank of Hill 981, which was also the artillery force supported by Leng Feng’s troops.

Given that they had 6 Bofors mountain guns and 6 150mm heavy mortars, as well as 6 80mm howitzers owned by the two battalion artillery companies, and a 60mm mortar squad in the infantry platoon, Leng Feng believed that they were far better than the 46th Independent Brigade in terms of artillery support, so he simply used the 6 82mm mortars transported by the baggage company and transferred 12 experienced mortar gunners to support the 46th Independent Brigade.

Brigade Commander Kong was also a smart man. He used these 6 mortars as the squad and transferred 2 82mm mortars from each of the two infantry regiments to form a mortar company.

The location of this mortar company was destined to specifically support the small hills below the main hill.

That was because although they had 12 Type 41 mountain guns captured from the Japanese army, the artillery of the 46th Independent Brigade was not proficient in controlling the mountain guns, and the firing range of the mountain guns was limited, and the set firing parameters were all aimed at the direction of the main position.

The coordinates in front of each small highland had long been marked by experienced gunners and equipped with serial numbers. Once a call came, the 10 mortars only needed to cover the artillery fire according to the coordinates corresponding to the serial numbers.

The crude communication in the Chinese army could only ensure that there were telephones at the battalion level, but the observation posts were densely distributed on the battlefield, enough to let the battalion know which position fired the emergency flare.

It was precisely because of this information delay that the Japanese infantry rushed forward nearly 80 meters.

The Japanese army made a mistake because they did not "quietly enter the village" this time. If you charge, you charge, and you are crazy about shouting "board". Why don't the Chinese defenders on the position quickly fire the red flares that symbolize the emergency?

The artillery had already set the rules. The artillery coordinates were based on 40 meters from the front of each highland, unless there were 3 red flares, which was based on the position as the coordinates for artillery fire coverage.

Therefore, 10 mortars basically fired a base number, almost 10 shells per gun.

100 artillery shells would be absolutely disastrous for a Japanese infantry squadron crawling on the mountain without any cover.

In just one minute of saturation bombardment, in the end, only less than 30 people in this infantry squadron that did not even see the shadow of the Chinese were able to successfully retreat from the hillside.

With a casualty rate of more than 80%, this infantry squadron is no longer crippled, but dead.

And this is only the first wave, the speed of troop consumption is absolutely dumbfounding for the Japanese commander.

"The Chinese will never have a large reserve of artillery shells. A small hilltop has gathered so many artillery. It seems powerful, but in fact it is strong on the outside and weak on the inside." A Japanese major in charge of the area gritted his teeth and analyzed so.

His analysis makes sense, but the subsequent battle situation has proved that it is better not to analyze it.

From 6 pm to 10 pm, the infantry battalion launched a total of 5 rounds of attacks, an average of more than 40 minutes.

Why was there no sixth round?

That's because the infantry battalion finally gave up.

It's not that they are scared, but that there are not many people left in the infantry battalion.

On this unnamed hill, the Japanese infantry battalion paid the price of more than 390 deaths and more than 260 serious injuries.

The unnamed hill is still in the hands of the Chinese.

And this is just one of the teeth that Nishimura Motoichi lost. ()