Rise From Eight Hundred

In the dark and cramped tunnel, Tan Tai Ming Jing was writing a letter to his parents!

To be precise, not only to the old Tan Tai couple, but also to the parents of the 15 brothers in his infantry squad, although most of them were not in the tunnel at all, they basically stayed in the position outside the tunnel.

But that was the request made by all the brothers to him, the "cultural soldier", before going to this position.

It's not that the position they were stationed in was so dangerous, but it was a routine of the Four Lines Regiment to write a suicide note before going to the battlefield. This job was naturally handed over to the cultural soldiers who came down from the battalion and often told them stories in the evening.

And now, what Tan Tai Ming Jing wrote was a suicide note! Moreover, there was very little time left for him.

The battle was so fierce that it could not be more intense.

The Japanese army's wave after wave of attacks was almost endless. Even though it was now dark, flares were still flying all over the sky, illuminating the battlefield.

Death was no longer common, but could be seen everywhere.

Whether it was Chinese or Japanese.

Less than 10 meters away from Tan Tai Ming Jing were the remains of his squad leader, which Tan Tai Ming Jing had found during the 15 minutes between battles.

He always remembered what the veteran squad leader had said to him before going to the battlefield: "I'm not afraid of death, but my body was given to me by my parents. No matter how much, I'll take it back and bury it next to my home. My parents will always have a thought."

The veteran squad leader was blown to pieces by an infantry gun. The squad leader, who was carrying an MP38 submachine gun, killed and wounded at least dozens of Japanese soldiers in the fierce battle during the day, and became a thorn in the eyes of the Japanese army.

An infantry gun was transported by the Japanese army to a position less than 400 meters away from the battlefield. When the squad leader was desperately shooting at the Japanese infantry who had approached 70 meters, the infantry gun fired, accurately hitting the fortifications where the squad leader was, and even the fortifications, people and guns were blown to pieces.

After searching for a long time, Tan Tai Ming Jing only found a few pieces of remains. The extremely strong Northeast man weighing 130 kilograms was reduced to pieces of flesh and blood weighing only a dozen kilograms.

Therefore, the suicide note that Tan Tai Ming Jing wrote for the squad leader was: Parents, when you read this letter, I have also died in the battle, but I do not regret it. My military medals and accumulated military pay, rewards, and pensions should be enough for you to support me for the rest of my life.

I hope that you can live a good life after your grief, and your younger brother, sister, and their children can take care of you on your behalf. Only then will your sacrifice be meaningful. I will write my last words on the Jinlong Peak Plateau in Zishan!

The Jinlong Peak Plateau is located in the northwest corner of Zishan. There are gullies and steep mountains there. Not to mention that it is not suitable for the transportation of large equipment such as artillery and tanks, even if light infantry advances, it will take a lot of effort. Therefore, in Tang Tuanzuo's plan, only one infantry squad is needed to guard the main peak to prevent the Japanese light infantry from crossing mountains and entering the Zishan Mountains.

Any wise commander would not spend much effort on such a useless breakthrough.

This task fell on the 13th squad of the 7th company of the 3rd battalion.

This is an infantry squad without many honors, and even without much glorious combat history.

In fact, as a reserve squad or supplementary squad, the 13th squad was established only half a year ago. There were only two veterans serving as squad leaders and deputy squad leaders, and the rest were all recruits from southern Hebei in the first half of 1939. In the words of the veterans, they were a group of new recruits.

Compared with most of his comrades, Tan Tai Mingjing, who came from the battalion, was the third most senior veteran in the entire infantry squad.

But except for the two squad leaders, no one knew that the communications soldier assigned from the battalion was called Tan Tai Mingjing. They only knew that this white-faced young man was called Tan Mingjing, so everyone called him by the nickname Mirror.

And these soldiers who had only proved themselves on the training ground did not know that at least half of the reason they came to Jinlongfeng Highland was because of the young man nicknamed Mirror.

Tan Tai Ming Jing finally reached the training standard set by Leng Feng before the New Year. He scored 45 rings with five bullets from a 50-meter target with a Black Star pistol, 26 bullets from a 32-round magazine with a 100-meter target with a submachine gun, 87 rings with 10 bullets from a Czech semi-automatic rifle at 230 meters, 22 minutes of cross-country running with 15 kg of full gear for 5 kilometers, and could fight a veteran for 2 minutes without losing in fighting.

And this is already the standard for being selected as a reserve soldier in the reconnaissance company.

Leng Feng could no longer refuse Tan Tai Ming Jing's request to go to the front-line troops, but for the safety of this young man who was eager to fight, Leng Feng finally moved his selfishness and arranged him in the 13th Infantry Squad of the four reserve squads of Li Jiujin's 7th Company.

But this time, tens of thousands of Japanese troops attacked, and the main force of the third battalion was fully deployed. Several high ground outside the main position could only be defended by the reserve squad.

Under such circumstances, the 13th squad of the 7th Company was arranged on the Jinlongfeng Highland.

However, even Leng Feng and Li Jiujin probably didn't expect that a small high ground 10 miles away from the main position, which was easy to defend and difficult to attack, would become the breakthrough point of the Japanese army.

In other words, it became the only position where the Japanese army could prove themselves in the entire Zishan battlefield.

. . . . . . . . . . .

The battle on Jinlongfeng Highland broke out on the morning of the fifth day of the Zishan battlefield!

The first three days of the Zishan battlefield were basically dominated by the Four-line Regiment. The Japanese artillery fire posed no threat to the various positions of Zishan with a complete defense system. Once the artillery fire stopped and the infantry attacked, the officers and soldiers of the Four-line Regiment who drilled out of the tunnel and entered the trench would use intensive firepower to teach the Japanese a lesson.

After two consecutive days of strong attacks, the Japanese army was beaten to a bloody pulp, not to mention corpses everywhere!

On the fourth day, the Japanese suddenly changed their tactics. They no longer used artillery to attack the infantry, but used artillery and infantry to attack together.

The barrage of bullets that exploded on the defensive positions was less than 100 meters away from the Japanese infantry at the closest point. Even if the infantry and artillery were trained to the top level, there was no way to guarantee that their soldiers would not be swept into their own artillery fire.

But the First Division did just that.

The distance of 100 meters was not enough for the officers and soldiers of the Fourth Regiment to get out of the narrow tunnel one by one and enter the broken trenches.

Since the Japanese were so crazy, the battalion and company commanders of the Fourth Regiment were also ruthless people who fought out of the mountains of corpses and seas of blood. Which one of them was a good person?

He immediately ordered all the artillery fire he could to cover the front of the position, and ordered each platoon to enter the trench with one-third of its troops.

If you dare to die, then we will accompany you. We at least have a 2-meter-deep trench for protection. What do you have?

In just two days, in this almost cruel battle of life and death, the three infantry battalions of the Four-line Regiment lost more than 500 people.

The Japanese army's casualties cannot be counted, because both sides invested a lot of artillery bombardment, and many bodies were fragmented, but it is estimated that there must be nearly 3,000 casualties.

In fact, the Four-line Regiment was still conservative. According to the Japanese war report after the war, only Okabe Saburo cruelly issued a desperate attack order, and the first day of the attack with infantry and artillery less than 100 meters away, the First Division and the Third Division lost more than 1,800 people and seriously injured 1,700 people, almost a complete infantry regiment.

That is, the First Division had enough soldiers, with a total of 30,000 soldiers, otherwise the casualties on this day alone would make an infantry brigade lose its combat effectiveness.

But even with sufficient troops, on the fifth day of the Battle of Zishan, the First Division replenished 4,000 baggage soldiers and engineers to the four infantry regiments on the front line. That means that even if the losses of the Third Division are not counted, in the first five days of the war, not counting the artillery and other arms lost in the artillery battle, the First Division lost more than thousands of front-line infantry alone.

Almost one infantry battalion disappeared every day on average.

It is said that when Shinozuka Yoshio watched the battle report of the First Division after the war, his forehead was full of cold sweat in the weather of only more than ten degrees.

Compared with the tragic Battle of Zishan, the losses of his 10th Division in the Battle of Zhaojiazhuang were simply not worth mentioning.

But no one would have thought that when the Sino-Japanese War history experts discussed the Battle of Zishan in the future, the first thing they mentioned was not the three main battlefields where the main force of the Japanese army attacked, nor the jungle hunting battle where the elite soldiers of both sides sniped and chased each other in the mountains and forests.

Instead, it was the Jinlongfeng Highland, which was nearly 10 miles away from the main battlefield.

It was not because there was the brother-in-law of Tang Dao, the highest commander of the Zishan battlefield, but because an infantry squad that was not even close to the main force actually fought a bloody battle with a Japanese infantry battalion.

The comparison of troop strength was an exaggerated 1:70!

And that was only the number of Japanese troops facing the enemy in the 13th squad of the 7th company. In order to prevent the Chinese rescue, Miyauchi Yoshio, who had completely fallen into madness, also requested to use 4 105 howitzers and 8 150 howitzers to block the area with uninterrupted artillery fire.

That's not all. Kataoka Kaoru, who was scolded by Duo Tianjun on the phone, also went all out and sent 12 fighter planes to drop nearly 100 incendiary bombs on the area at high altitude, burning the mountains and forests within a radius of nearly 5 kilometers into a charred black.

The purpose of these artillery fire and bombing was no longer to kill the Chinese soldiers on the high ground, but simply to prevent the Chinese reinforcements.

In other words, it was to use the heavily surrounded Jinlongfeng Highland as bait to kill the reinforcements of the Chinese troops.

From a purely tactical point of view, this may be the only bright spot of the First Division's battle in the northwest of Zishan.

Because they did hit the soft spot of the 3rd Battalion of the Four-Line Regiment with a left hook.

The Four-Line Regiment never abandons any comrade-in-arms. Even if they know that the place has become hell, they will rush into hell!

Even if their comrades-in-arms have turned into ashes, they will pick up the ashes with their hands!

Li Jiujin, who has been in the army for 12 years and has never even scratched his skin, was seriously injured!

Li Jiujin, who was eager to reinforce Jinlongfeng, personally led two main infantry squads and a reserve squad of 40 people to advance in the mountains under the Japanese artillery fire.

A 150 howitzer unfortunately fell less than 70 meters to the side of Li Jiujin who was advancing.

No matter how strong the body and indestructible courage are, they are very fragile in front of heavy artillery that can knock down solid fortifications.

Six officers and soldiers died on the spot, and 13 were injured, including the company commander Li Jiujin. Looking at the Jinlong Peak Heights less than 800 meters away, the reinforcements could only carry the seriously injured and the remains of their comrades and stop.

Otherwise, all the wounded left on this battlefield would die, and all the remains would be torn into pieces by the continuous artillery fire.

After receiving the news that Li Jiujin was seriously injured, Leng Feng, who was always calm and almost cold, instantly had a layer of blood mist in his eyes.

Those who know him know that Leng Feng is already extremely angry!

"More reinforcements, tell the 7th and 8th companies that all our officers and soldiers who climbed the Jinlong Peak Heights will be recorded as second-class combat merits!" Leng Feng issued a tragic military order.

Another 6 infantry squads were drawn from the front-line battlefield to form new reinforcements, ready to rush into the death battlefield that was already filled with incendiary bombs and artillery fire.

"Stop the reinforcements and wait until the artillery battalion has sufficiently suppressed the Japanese artillery before reinforcing them!" Tang Dao's military order came in time, stopping Leng Feng's somewhat irrational orders in his rage.

If Tang Dao did not give the order in time, perhaps these 100 elite soldiers would be able to pass through the heavy artillery fire and enter the Jinlongfeng Highlands, but according to the intensity of the Japanese artillery fire that was also in a frenzy at the time, surviving one out of ten was already the best result.

The 3rd Battalion will suffer even greater losses than on the main battlefield because of the battle on the Jinlongfeng Highlands.

"But the regiment commander, if you don't reinforce, not to mention that I can't explain to the company commander Tan Tai and the director Tan Tai, I won't have the face to see the families of the 15 brothers in the 13th squad. As long as they enter my 3rd Battalion, they are my soldiers, Leng Feng. I can't give up on them because of the loss, not just because Ming Jing is there." Leng Feng, who said this, had tears in his eyes, which was extremely rare.

That should also be the extremely rare tears of Battalion Commander Leng since Leng Feng's brother died in his arms.

On the other end of the phone, Tang Dao, who was always brave and ruthless, was silent for a few seconds, but still said firmly: "Execute the order! I will explain to the families of the sacrificed officers and soldiers and their parents. The officers and soldiers of my Sixing Regiment can sacrifice, but the sacrifice must be valuable enough!"

The reinforcements of the 3rd Battalion all stayed in the mountains and forests 4 miles away from Jinlong Peak, looking at their own high ground submerged by artillery fire, helpless.

No one knows what Tang Dao's mood was when he issued this extremely cruel military order. Perhaps only Ye Chenghuan, who was also in the command post, could know that Tang Tuanzuo, who rarely showed personal emotions during the war, hung up the phone with Leng Feng and sat in silence for ten minutes.

On one side are 15 officers and soldiers of his own side and his brother-in-law, and on the other side are more than a hundred elite soldiers of the 3rd Battalion who are ready to die. This is indeed a difficult choice.

In particular, his wife and father-in-law are both in the army. If they knew that this military order that almost gave up rescue came from Tang Dao, how would they feel?

Tan Tai Ming Jing, but he is the only son of old Tan Tai. How heartbroken will Mrs. Tan Tai, who is far away in Shu, be?

"Commander, should we order a part of the mountain infantry company to take a detour and enter from the other side of the battlefield? Even if they cannot reinforce Jinlongfeng Highland, they can also involve some Japanese troops and relieve the pressure on Jinlongfeng Highland?" Ye Chenghuan stared at the map for a long time and gave a cautious suggestion.

"The terrain there is dangerous. Even if the mountain infantry company abandons heavy weapons and travels light, it will take 3 hours to detour 13 miles, and there is also the risk of being surrounded by the Japanese army that will continue to increase its troops." Tang Dao waved his hand and rejected Ye Chenghuan's proposal.

Obviously, Tang Dao had already thought of this move, and he overturned it himself.

"Are we helpless and just watching Ming Jing and the 13th squad of the 7th company being eaten alive by the Japanese? This is my fault. When I received the tactical plan of the third battalion, I took into account the pressure on the main position and did not ask them to send a main infantry squad to the Jinlongfeng Highland. Otherwise, they would definitely hold out until our reinforcements arrived." Ye Chenghuan was full of regret and extremely self-blaming.

"Director Ye, do you believe that there will be miracles in this world?" Tang Dao suddenly raised his head and looked at Ye Chenghuan who was blaming himself.

"What?" Ye Chenghuan obviously did not understand what Tang Dao meant.

"You know, I have never had the habit of abandoning my comrades. This has nothing to do with Ming Jing on that battlefield. Even if Tan Tai is on the high ground right now, I will make the same choice." Tang Dao's eyes flashed with brilliance, and he took a deep breath and said with extraordinary determination.

"The main reason why I made this choice to reduce the losses of the 3rd Battalion is that I believe that the 13th squad of the 7th company will not let me down, and Mingjing will not let me down either. Even without reinforcements, they can hold the high ground."

Ye Chenghuan opened his mouth, but swallowed the four words "That's impossible!" again.

He wanted to deny Tang Tuanzuo's almost impossible belief, which was a judgment based on his experience in the army for more than 10 years, but deep down, he also hoped that this completely impossible miracle would happen.

However, even Tang Dao, who said that he would not let himself down, did not expect that the battle at Jinlong Peak would last a whole day and night!

The 501st Regiment, which was beaten to a bloody pulp on the main battlefield, actually regarded a mountainous area where a large-scale army could not enter as a second battlefield.

Under the overwhelming artillery fire of 12 Bofors mountain guns and 8 150 heavy mortars mobilized by the Four Lines Regiment for fire support, two infantry battalions were used to enter the mountainous area.

One infantry battalion set up blocking positions on the surrounding mountains to block the Chinese reinforcements, and another infantry battalion attacked the Jinlong Peak Heights.

The Four-Line Regiment was equally strong. When the Japanese heavy artillery fire finally stopped, it sent out two guard companies and the main force of the 7th Company, which was furious because Li Jiujin was seriously injured, to attack the Japanese defense line in the mountains.

"Even if all members of your unit die in battle, you must not let any soldier of the Four-Line Regiment reinforce the heights. I will use the heads of all the Four-Line Regiment soldiers on the heights to commemorate the officers and soldiers of my First Division who died in battle!" This was the military order issued by Miyauchi Yoshio to the major captain of the 3rd Infantry Battalion under his command.

The main reason why Miyauchi Yoshio and even Okabe Saburo were willing to exchange the lives of nearly 2,000 Japanese infantrymen for a Chinese high ground that was not so important to both sides was that they both knew that the battle of Zishan was already lost, and the only thing that could help the First Division to regain its ground was this somewhat unexpected Chinese high ground and the dozens of soldiers of the Fourth Regiment on the high ground.

The First Division could accept failure, but could never accept a failure without any results.

Because they represent not only the powerful Kwantung Army Group that is going to confront the Bear Country, but also the glory of the ‘Imperial Way Faction’. That is the military group that advocates a decisive battle with the Bear Country. If they are beaten into this dog-like state by the Chinese, the blood they shed in the coup will not only be worthless, but will also become a laughing stock in history.

Therefore, for the Four-line Regiment, the battle on the Jinlong Peak Highland is about the survival of their comrades, while for the First Division, it is the illusory glory of the faction.

Neither side will give up!

The 376-meter-high Jinlong Peak, which has been bombarded by heavy artillery from both sides to the point of being almost soft, is destined to be covered with blood and flesh!