Rise From Eight Hundred

Didn't Okuma Konosuke, who personally led 5,000 men to intercept the enemy's troops, encounter the 772nd Regiment?

Of course I did.

The leading company of the 772nd Regiment, which was entering Handan at full speed and heading toward Xingtai, almost collided head-on with a large force of 5,000 Japanese troops.

That's called being caught off guard. The closest distance between the two sides will never exceed 600 meters!

According to the captain and company commander, they were seen by the long queue of Japanese troops marching over the cliff, and the Japanese troops also had motorcycles and tanks. Looking at the scale, let alone a reinforced company of more than 200 people, it was only 5 kilometers behind. More than 4,000 main forces of the 772nd Regiment from outside have caught up. It will probably be a bloody battle against this main force of the Japanese army.

More than 200 Chinese soldiers had no time to panic and could only hide in the nearby mountains and forests. Many of them were already prepared to sacrifice.

Even though they were already the most elite infantry regiment in the 80th Army, they could only prepare for the worst when facing the Japanese army, which far exceeded them in strength and equipment.

Who would have known that a jaw-dropping and bizarre scene would occur. The Japanese army had no intention of causing trouble for them. Instead, they found a nearby field and began to build a field position. Not long after, smoke was still rising from the field position.

This is the rhythm of cooking in a pot!

Is this considered a suspicion formation by the Japanese army? In fact, elite troops have already been sent out to outflank him? The captain company commander, who had enough combat experience with the Japanese army, was so anxious that several big bubbles quickly appeared on his mouth. One of his three infantry platoons was building a field position non-stop in the mountains and forests to prepare for a desperate fight with the Japanese army. The other two platoons Then run desperately to occupy the two commanding heights.

It was not until half an hour later that the captain, company commander and officers and soldiers were surprised to find that they had indeed overthought it. The Japanese army 800 meters away had really set up camp.

That is, the Japanese army firmly blocked the dirt road. If they wanted to cross the dirt road, they would definitely have to fight with this Japanese army.

If you don't want to use this road that can pass large vehicles, you have to leave the mountains and take a detour. This is also a difficult problem thrown to the leader Wang Xiaoqiang who arrived more than an hour later.

If Wang Xiaoqiang's past personality was followed, the Japanese would be lousy and they would be beaten. But today is different from the past. Tang Dao personally led the main force of the Four Lines Regiment and the main force of the Southern Hebei Division to fight a fierce battle with a Japanese A-type division 80 kilometers away. The purpose of the division headquarters and brigade headquarters in sending their main group was not to fight with the Japanese army here, but to rush to the battlefield to cooperate with Tang Dao in a decisive battle with the main force of the Japanese army.

The 772nd Regiment has nearly 5,000 troops and is an extremely important part of Tang Dao's tactical plan. If they don't arrive on time and wait for the Japanese North China Front to react and assemble heavy troops, it will be a matter of life and death for tens of thousands of Chinese soldiers.

"Let me take a detour!" Wang Xiaoqiang carefully observed the Japanese army's field positions and made a decision that was extremely important for the Zhaojiazhuang battlefield.

"But commander, once we leave the mountains and enter the plains, we will have no chance of defending if this Japanese army comes up." A battalion commander asked with a worried look on his face.

No one dared to ignore a Japanese army that was close to the strength of an infantry brigade, not even an elite infantry regiment like the 772nd Regiment with German and Japanese weapons.

"Leave in batches to test the reaction of the Japanese army. If they dare to pursue our regiment, leave one battalion and two companies to resolutely block it. Call the Jinan Division and ask them to send nearby troops to assist and support. The other battalions and companies will follow me to the front. Cheng Zhaojiazhuang." Wang Xiaoqiang's eyes showed determination.

In order to win the main battlefield, Wang Xiaoqiang was ready to stop the strong enemy with 1,100 officers and soldiers, and the remaining 3,000 main troops continued to rush to the battlefield.

"Yes!" The four major battalion commanders nodded in unison and accepted the order.

With more than 1,100 people blocking a Japanese army with more than 5,000 troops, the probability of sacrifice was more than 80%, but for the sake of victory, no one retreated.

The officers and soldiers of the 772nd Regiment said their final farewells to the troops responsible for blocking the attack, and began to enter the plains and bypass the Japanese positions as planned.

Although they were more than 10 miles apart, even a tough guy like Wang Xiaoqiang had a solemn look on his face. If the Japanese army desperately attached themselves to the main force of his 772 regiment, let alone support the Zhaojiazhuang battlefield, it would be hard to say who would win or lose in a single battle with this Japanese army.

But a miracle happened. The Japanese army seemed to be collectively deaf and blind, turning a blind eye to the billowing smoke and dust caused by the people and horses several kilometers away. Not to mention sending troops to attack, there was not even an intrusive artillery fire.

Even among the more than 1,100 officers and soldiers who were ready to sacrifice their lives to stop them, they waited until the main force had left for a long time, but no Japanese soldiers came.

No one is here, so why don’t you stop the bird, run away!

At two o'clock in the afternoon on the 18th, more than 1,100 officers and soldiers all withdrew from their blocking positions and rushed to Zhaojiazhuang in hot pursuit of the main force.

"I'm afraid these Japs are not disguised as Japs!" Wang Xiaoqiang, who was on his way, felt a strong sense of regret in his heart.

Why don't he be more decisive and defeat these cowards in less than two hours?

Wang Xiaoqiang and the 772nd Regiment have hit a brick wall. The 4th Brigade is a genuine Class A division, with three infantry brigades at full strength, an armored squadron and an artillery battalion, plus two A squadron of heavy troops, not to mention the 772nd Regiment, even if you add the 771st Regiment, you will have to break a few big teeth if you want to eat them.

Didn't Okuma Konosuke see the detouring 772nd group? Of course, he saw it, but in his own words: "Our department is responsible for intercepting the Chinese regular army, not the peasant army. If we abandon the defense of this necessary traffic artery because we are chasing a group of peasant soldiers, then is it a trap for China?" Man’s plan to lure the tiger away from the mountain?”

Moreover, Major General Okuma Konosuke also responded in this way when faced with questions from the Japanese North China Front after the war.

Indeed, in the early stages of the march, the 772nd Regiment, in order to avoid exposing their whereabouts, all changed out of their military uniforms and put on regular clothes. Roughly, they looked similar to the armed brigades of various counties, except that there were more pack horses used to carry heavy weapons.

Major General Okuma Konosuke's reasons are irrefutable, because the military order he received was to intercept the Chinese regular army coming out of the Taihang Mountains. If the Chinese really tried to change things, he would have been fooled.

But the fact is that Major General Okuma Konosuke was very smart and firmly guarded the main traffic road leading to Xingtai. He did not fall into the trap of the Chinese. However, the Chinese's more than 4,000 regular troops still magically descended from the sky. On the morning of July 19, Appeared near the main battlefield of Zhaojiazhuang.

"Then don't worry about me. Who knows whether the cunning Chinese used airborne means to accomplish this impossible situation. Apart from that, I really can't find any other reason." Major General Okuma Konosuke said. Innocent face.

The gods are airborne. The Chinese don’t even have a few fighter jets. Where are the large transport planes coming from? His Excellency Lieutenant General Shinozuka Yoshio was not present at the scene, otherwise he would have pounced on and tore the mouth of this fool who was pretending to be stupid.

But Major General Okuma Konosuke will definitely give anyone who dares to hurt him a slap in the face. Any Japanese army general who is familiar with him will know this guy's generous personality.

As the saying goes, "Money makes a fool of himself." Under the heavy-spending management of the Lieutenant General of the 4th Division, more than 5,000 Imperial officers and soldiers of the 4th Division led by Okuma Konosuke were able to kill more than 5,000 Imperial officers and soldiers in the field for several days. It was not released, nor did it block a single Chinese regular army. The 10th Division that surrounded the Chinese turned into a sandwich biscuit. This was a major tactical error that miraculously no one mentioned.

Of course, there are also factors in this that the two big bosses, Lieutenant General Shinozuka Yoshio and Commander Tatenjun, have also not been held accountable.

It is true that the Japanese Army Base Camp does not want to change a field commander again in just six months. At the same time, the face of His Highness the Prince must be taken into consideration. You cannot say that His Highness the Prince is blind!

Although that is a fact.

Since Duo Tianjun took office, a lot of various plans have been written, but the reality is that there has been no progress on the front lines of Zhongtiao Mountain and the Taihang Mountains in southeastern Shanxi. The "Operation Qingxiang" in the occupied areas has been repeatedly frustrated. In the end, a The permanent division is completely disabled, it is purely a Japanese version of 'Duo Tiankuo'!

In short, regardless of whether Okuma Konosuke did it intentionally or unintentionally, the 772nd Regiment finally arrived at the battlefield at 10 a.m. on July 19.

Yoshio Shinozuka was really confused at that moment. It was not that thousands of Chinese rushed to the battlefield, but that an imperial permanent division was actually surrounded by Chinese.

Yes, not only did the independent battalion that stayed 8 kilometers away left the position they had worked so hard to dig and headed for the battlefield, the 772nd Regiment that had just arrived also divided into two directions and headed towards Zhaojiazhuang.

This turned out to be a rhythm of making dumplings for him with the Chinese army in the encirclement. After the shock, Yoshio Shinozuka almost laughed out of anger.

There is no precedent for an Imperial division to be surrounded and severely damaged by the Chinese army on the Chinese battlefield, but that was when the Chinese mobilized more than five times the number of troops to encircle it, and there were an unknown number of Chinese on the periphery who struggled to block the Imperial reinforcements.

And now the Chinese have roughly the same strength as his 10th Division, but they are still trying to do this. Isn't that what the Chinese often say, "Go to the toilet with a lantern - looking for shit!" ’

"The whole army shrinks its defense line. I want to see what the Chinese use to attack. Their trenches and fortifications can make us bleed out, and we can do the same!" Yoshio Shinozuka said this almost arrogantly, which was later known as It is one of the most slap-in-the-face quotes.

Of course, the courage to say this is naturally due to Lieutenant General Shinozuka Yoshio's confidence in the construction of civil engineering works under his command.

Otherwise, the Yamazaki Brigade in the past time and space would not have relied on fortifications to withstand the 683 Brigade's mad attack for a day and night, and finally was not completely wiped out under the cover of reinforcements, making a small battlefield become the veteran's life. One of the regrets.

However, Yoshio Shinozuka overlooked one thing: no matter how awesome the fortifications are, it takes time.

The 772nd Regiment, which had just arrived on the battlefield, rested for less than an hour and immediately launched an attack on the Japanese defense line.

Moreover, the 772nd Regiment also played tricks that the 10th Division was very uncomfortable with.

The Japanese army's conventional offensive routine was to bombard the enemy with artillery and then attack with infantry, and then attack with artillery after the infantry attacked. They relied on such wave after wave of attacks to consume the opponent's ammunition and fighting spirit, and finally led to victory.

However, the 772nd Regiment finished the cannon fire and continued to fire the small artillery, and then the big artillery bombardment, while the infantry frantically started digging forward from their own trenches. You could see with your eyes that in less than one afternoon, the positions of the two armies went from being 600 meters apart to Within 300 meters, the infantry can even use rifles to shoot accurately in the trenches.

In order to support Tang Dao this time, Brigadier Cheng spared no expense and assigned a mortar company with 6 150 heavyweights and 18 82nd mortars directly under the brigade headquarters to the 772nd Regiment. This is almost as much as the 683rd Brigade has accumulated in the past two years. All the heavy firepower comes down.

24 mortars bombarded the frontline positions of the Japanese army for nearly 3 hours, almost making Lieutenant Colonel Saburo Kuroda, the frontline commander responsible for resisting the 772nd Regiment, cry.

This Japanese Army Lieutenant Colonel, who was promoted half a month ago because he did a good job as the acting commander of the regiment, never expected that in addition to the Four-Line Regiment, there was also a Chinese army that could have such exaggerated heavy firepower.

In just this afternoon, more than 300 imperial officers and soldiers were killed or injured by Chinese artillery fire.

What's more terrible is that with the help of artillery cover, the Chinese dug forward frantically, as if they wanted to connect the trenches with their own trenches.

Instead of playing field battles, they played fortification duels, which was really beyond the expectations of the Japanese commander.

Of course, the 10th Division's three artillery positions that were withdrawn to the protection of their own infantry positions were not vegetarians, and they began to retaliate against the positions of the 772nd Regiment early.

But don't forget that there are also artillery pieces on the Sihang Regiment's position, which is the closest to the battlefield. The maximum range of the 150mm heavy mortar is only 3,300 meters, which is not close to the Japanese mountain artillery position. However, due to the contraction of the Japanese defense line, the nearest artillery position is only 1,600 meters away from the front of the position, which is completely below the range of the 150mm heavy mortar.

It would be fine if the artillery position did not fire. Once it fired, the thick smoke could be seen thousands of meters away. The "little monsters" of the reconnaissance company who were still wandering around the battlefield were waiting for this moment.

The 12 150mm heavy mortars and 12 80mm howitzers on the battlefield raised their muzzles high and fired at the coordinates sent by the scouts using the field radio!

The Japanese artillery, which hastily moved their positions, had no time to dig out sunken ground fortifications for each artillery position like the Four-Line Regiment. At best, they could pile up a circle of sandbags around the artillery. That thing was okay to defend against heavy machine guns, but it was simply vulnerable to the air waves caused by 150 shells weighing nearly 20 kilograms.

"Fight back! Fight back! Find the Chinese artillery position for me, fight back!" Shinozuka Yoshio, whose face turned purple due to the soaring fireballs from the artillery position, almost roared and ordered.

He never thought that one day the artillery of the Imperial Division would be pressed to the ground by the poor Chinese.

Perhaps, maintaining the advantage of heavy firepower was the last bottom line that the Japanese Army Lieutenant General wanted to keep.

As a result, the two Chinese armies facing him wanted to tear one of them down mercilessly, which made Lieutenant General Shinozuka Yoshio, who wanted to retain his dignity, bear it?

The overwhelming artillery shells hit the several coordinate areas found by the Japanese artillery observer after careful observation.

But what the Japanese artillery observers didn't know was that before opening fire, Tang Dao ordered more than a dozen camouflage points to ignite firewood soaked in water and add white phosphorus. The thick and somewhat white smoke looked very similar to the gunpowder smoke after the artillery was fired from a distance.

The Japanese may have seen real artillery positions, but most of them were camouflaged open spaces.

The shells fired by the Japanese artillery were most likely to help Zhaojiazhuang turn the soil, and the ones that fell on the real artillery positions were protected by sunken fortifications. The air waves and shrapnel hardly caused any damage to the artillery squad, that is, two telephone lines were cut by artillery fire, so that they could not receive the company's orders in time for 20 minutes.

To put it bluntly, on the afternoon of the 19th, it was mainly a battle between the artillery of both sides. The artillery of the 772nd Regiment caught the Japanese front-line infantry and the artillery of the Four-Line Regiment caught the Japanese artillery positions distributed in several places and beat them, while the Japanese artillery was an angry counterattack to save their underwear.

After fighting for an afternoon, Shinozuka Yoshio received a report from the artillery regiment and almost vomited blood.

36 mountain guns, 5 of which were damaged by the Chinese sneak attack, were finished in an afternoon. Now, 11 of the remaining 31 guns were destroyed, leaving only 20 guns, and more than 500 artillery casualties.

If Shinozuka Yoshio was wiser at this time and decided to run away, I am afraid there would not be that famous rout. The independent regiment and independent battalion were not strong enough to form a full encirclement of the 10th Division. There were more than 3 kilometers of gaps on both wings. As long as the 10th Division ran, the Chinese soldiers who also relied on only two legs could not stop them.

But the information that the two mixed brigades would arrive at the battlefield the day after tomorrow gave Shinozuka Yoshio the determination to continue. It was okay if he could not suppress the Chinese, but could he not even stop them?

So, throughout the night, the digging sounds in the trenches of the two armies continued.

Whether it was the Four-Line Regiment or the Independent Regiment, they were all taking turns to dig forward, and the Japanese army also did not dare to stop for a moment, and worked hard to deepen and reinforce their trenches.

It seemed that both sides had decided to compete with each other by seeing who dug more soil instead of relying on bullets.

Both China and Japan were exhausted!

This kind of physical work was not easier than fighting. In the words of the young man Adong, he would rather fight the Japanese face to face than swing an iron pickaxe to dig holes like a hardworking bamboo rat.

This was a physical and mental test for any soldier.

Because of this kind of work, after the sun rose, it lasted for most of the day.

Eager to make up for its mistakes yesterday, the Japanese North China Front Army Aviation Corps once again sent out a bomber group consisting of 16 fighter planes, this time led by Captain Sasaki.

However, it was useless. The Japanese bomber group that did not easily enter the core area of ​​the battlefield and cruised outside the battlefield was dumbfounded after sending a reconnaissance plane that was ready to die and entered the low altitude.

The Chinese trenches and their own trenches were almost close together when viewed from 900 meters in the air. If they dropped bombs, it would mean killing 1,000 enemies and losing 990 of their own.

Then they bombed a jiba. Making a mistake once might be an accident, but making the same mistake again just one day later would mean that he was a fool. Captain Sasaki was an extremely smart man.

So, after 16 Japanese fighter planes roared and circled over the periphery of the battlefield for several circles, they turned around very casually and separated from the 10th Division that was looking forward to it on the ground.

The frugal Captain Sasaki even ordered that heavy bombs should not be dropped. The resources of the empire must not be wasted in vain, which caused the fuel gauges of several Japanese planes to light up red when they landed.

If Captain Sasaki had hesitated for a few more minutes, this bomber group might have become the first strange thing in history that did not drop a bomb, fired a bullet, or encounter any attack, but was almost run out of fuel and crashed due to its own bombs.

The Japanese pilots had good eyesight. In fact, the distance between the Chinese and Japanese trenches was only 60 meters, which was definitely the maximum distance for face-to-face combat.

. . . . . . . . . .

ps: Tomorrow is my daughter's 18th birthday. I promised my daughter that I would take her and her grandparents to a hot spring resort. I will take a day off tomorrow! ()