And this is just a small microcosm of this tragic battle.
The broken-arm second lieutenant platoon leader named Zhang Wanmu also created his own glory after washing away his shame.
For two consecutive days, the infantry company on the position had been rotated seven times, but the second lieutenant platoon leader had never left the position once.
In his own words: "This is my position. My brothers are here watching me. I can't leave them behind anymore."
However, his life ended in the seventh round of rotation!
A heavy bomb dropped by a Japanese aircraft hit an area less than 30 meters away from the position, and a stone the size of an egg that was blown away by the bomb hit him.
Human life is sometimes very tenacious, so tenacious that it can survive several rounds of artillery fire and Japanese infantry charges, but sometimes it is also extremely fragile, so fragile that a small stone can take away that once extremely tenacious life.
The ensign is dead!
The stone hit his neck. When the soldiers who had fled the artillery fire found him, he was lying quietly in the dilapidated trench where he stayed for two days and one night.
There were no last words, no breath, and there was no pain on his face. He just lay there quietly, looking at the sky.
"Veteran, there's no need to feel any more pain!" Tang Dao, who also had a haggard look on his face, watched as he was being carried off the battlefield. The sallow face of the veteran whom he had encouraged and praised couldn't help but burst into tears.
Tang Dao almost never shed tears on the battlefield, even if his closest comrade-in-arms died in front of his eyes, but at this moment, he shed tears for a veteran with whom he had not known much.
Most of the soldiers he brought were not soldiers. Before arriving here, they had only received formation training, and many of them had not even fired more than ten times.
If they had not had the experience of the Battle of Tongguan, not to mention the shells falling all around them, I am afraid that more than half of them would wet their pants when the gunfire went off.
This is why Tang Dao did not simply use serious military law to deal with the defeated troops who had lost their position and retreated. He led by example and gave them a chance to be brave.
And these young people from central Sichuan not only did it, but they did it even better than he imagined.
Take this Army second lieutenant who lost half his arm. He participated in the Battle of Songhu and the Battle of Songjiang. He eventually retired due to injury due to the loss of a hand. After returning to his hometown, he was hired by Tang Jili as an instructor to train new recruits.
He doesn't need to participate in the battlefield anymore, but the Sichuan Army's new regiment needs veterans to lead it. Otherwise, Tang Dao and other five people, even with three heads and six arms, can't gather 4,500 young people who are essentially farmers, let alone have some combat effectiveness. Already.
The veterans, who were more or less disabled, did not shirk their responsibilities. Not only did they come, they also followed Tang Dao on the Tongguan battlefield and came to Zhongtiao Mountain.
The bare wrist was already shocking, but on the battlefield, due to a shrapnel passing through, the stump of the arm became shorter again.
Although he was bandaged with hemostatic cotton and gauze, the pain of the exposed muscles and broken bones constantly rubbing against the rough gauze was probably something only the patient could understand.
What's more, this kind of severe pain lasts for dozens of hours!
At any time, the second lieutenant of the Army would hold a wooden stick in his mouth. When the pain was extreme, he would put it in his mouth to prevent himself from biting his tongue.
His originally dark face had always turned a sickly pale color. This was due to the large amount of blood loss and too much pain. His body functions had already been overdrawn.
Perhaps, at the moment before dying, the calm-faced veteran felt a sense of relief! He had completed his mission and would no longer suffer that kind of inhuman pain.
After two days and one night of fierce fighting, what was the outcome of the Sizhoushan battlefield?
Not to mention that all the five peripheral highlands have been lost, leaving only the remaining four main highlands and the six re-established small highlands below the main highlands.
With Tang Tuanzuo's tenacity and commanding ability, he was forced to endure the loss of all the outer highlands. You can basically imagine how fierce the battlefield was in these two days and one night.
The 20 newly reorganized infantry companies under Tang Dao's command have been reduced sharply to 10. If the remaining heavy machine gun squad and mortar squad officers and soldiers are included, the more than 5,300 officers and soldiers originally stationed in Sizhou Mountain are actually only 2,000 now.
people.
That means the battle damage rate is over 60%!
In the Western world's understanding, when the battle damage rate of an army exceeds 20%, it will lose its combat effectiveness; if it exceeds 30%, the battle will be impossible to fight.
But this army, with a recruitment rate of 90%, not only did not lose its combat effectiveness even though the battle damage rate exceeded 60%, they were still on the battlefield, holding on to their guns.
Even though their eyes were desperate and their faces were full of exhaustion, they were still on the battlefield, and the victory was not tilted towards the Japanese army because of the heavy casualties. They were like desperate sheep fleeing into the mountains.
Do you think such a soldier is worth Tang Dao’s tears?
From a certain perspective, Tang Dao had to thank them and these illiterate young people for accompanying him to fight for the entire country and nation.
Use your own future in exchange for the future of more people!
The young people during the entire war who were supposed to have a bright or ordinary future were destined to be sacrificed by this era. Their lives were anchored as soon as they set sail!
And what about the Japanese, who have gradually come to dominate the battlefield?
In fact, there is not much happiness.
Major General Yamada Seiichi, who was determined to attack even though he suffered huge losses, was determined to launch another attack before sunset. He looked at the casualty figures, equipment losses, and ammunition losses reported by his two infantry regiments.
Looking at the list of requirements, I couldn't help but twitch the corners of my eyes.
Not counting the previous 2,000 casualties, after adding another 1,000 heavy troops to the two infantry regiments, after these two days and one night of fighting, the two infantry regiments still had less than 3,000 infantrymen left to attack.
, this was the result of the two army commanders strictly ordering those with minor injuries not to leave the battlefield.
That means that out of the 6 infantry brigades, only 3 are still fighting. At this moment, his infantry brigade has basically been disabled, and the Chinese defense line in this mountain is still stubborn.
keeping it.
Without capturing the three highlands with an altitude of 600 meters, any troops trying to pass through this mountainous area will be hit by heavy machine guns and mortars, and a large number of baggage and pack horses will not be able to pass smoothly.
But if he wants to capture the three main highlands, how many people will be left in his infantry brigade? Yamada Seiichi, whose eyelids were twitching wildly, did not dare to think about this problem at all.
In addition to the heavy casualties suffered by his 21st Brigade, the 7th Infantry Regiment of the Third Division was not much better. The actual situation was even worse.
In order to prevent the 7th Infantry Regiment from disobeying Yamada Seiichi's dispatch, Itagaki Shiro even personally sent a message to the Third Division Headquarters to explain the importance of this battle, and he did not hesitate to promise the lieutenant general who had been beaten to disgrace in the Battle of Tongguan.
Division Commander, if he had been promoted and left the Third Army that day, he would definitely recommend him to be the commander of the Third Army.
Even the arrogant Shiro Itagaki did not hesitate to lower his stature and use the most direct and direct tactics of coercion and coercion. How can Colonel Kawabe, who is just a flag on this chessboard, have the slightest resistance?
The 7th Infantry Regiment actually suffered over 800 casualties on the first day, and the number of 400 killed in battle was even more shocking. However, under the strict military orders, Colonel Hebian could only bite the bullet and continue to drive his officers and soldiers to attack wildly.
The infantry regiment, which originally consisted of more than 3,800 troops including baggage troops and various auxiliary arms, was counted on the evening of the next day and found that fewer than 1,500 could still participate in the attack.
This good guy, the 21st Reserve Brigade was just crippled. He directly made his own infantry regiment severely disabled. The regiment leader is basically an infantry captain.
To be honest, when he saw this casualty figure, Yamada Seiichi's first thought was that he didn't believe it. Someone in Baga was falsifying the figures.
This is not the first time this has happened in the Imperial Army. The 'Injury-Free Division' he replaced is one of the best. The number of casualties cannot be faked, but the head is wrapped with gauze and some blood is applied.
Wounded soldiers are by no means uncommon.
When changing defense, Yamada Seiichi witnessed a player who was wrapped like a mummy jumping off the stretcher, picking up a box of cans and eating like a strong wild boar.
"Seeing the majesty of the Steel Army, the officers and soldiers of our division were inspired by boundless courage. The young men must have enough food to gather enough energy to continue fighting for the empire and His Majesty the Emperor!" Major General Konosuke Big Bear with a big belly immediately defended himself.
The agile posture of his soldiers explained.
Seeing this guy licking his face and talking nonsense seriously, Major General Yamada Seiichi used all his strength to control his right hand that was about to move.
At this time, there was no mood for masturbation, but he was afraid that he would kill this shameless guy with a knife.
He even had reason to believe that the Army Major General who was still smiling when he was licking Zhang Bilian, the "gang" he said in an emphatic tone was definitely not the one he should be talking about.
According to his observations and calculations, of the thousands of people reported seriously injured by the 4th Division's Western Assault Detachment, perhaps one-fifth of them were injured. This is because the vendors from Osaka are very honest.
"You anus soldiers and mainlanders know something. This not only shows that we are fighting hard, but also can replenish a batch of medicines. Once this thing changes hands, it will be the most thoughtful comfort to the eager women and children in Osaka Castle."
If Major General Konosuke Ohma's words of disdain when he turned around were known to His Excellency Yamada Seiichi, who was holding back his face and turned red, he would probably not be able to bear it anymore with his right hand that has been touching the handle of the command sword.
"If you don't dare to cut people and leave them somewhere to make hair, if you have the ability, put them somewhere else. I'll be disgusted to death." Mr. Big Bear can definitely say this.
Who asked Masao Nakamura to replace him without moral ethics? If the Chinese broke the contract and stopped giving him penicillin, he could prick all the major general-level officers in the headquarters with needles for three years.
‘I would rather demolish ten temples than destroy one business!’ This is the survival philosophy of Osaka people.
However, compared to Yamada Seiichi who was psychologically stimulated and became a little dark, Colonel Kawabe of the 7th Infantry Regiment was a simple and good boy.
There was no need for Yamada Seiichi to send his Lieutenant Colonel and Chief of Staff to personally verify the situation. The field hospital had already reported the figures, and there were more than 1,300 seriously injured soldiers who needed treatment and rest.
After adding up the two items, the remaining 1,000 people were naturally left in the cold.
Because the weather was cold enough, there was no need to worry about the remains decomposing. The corpses covered with white cloth were piled on the roadside 3 kilometers away from the battlefield. Trucks sent by the headquarters to transport ammunition and supplies were towed to the outskirts of Yuncheng for centralized processing.
I heard that a large crematorium has been built there. Not to mention the large amount of wood cut down, the amount of gasoline and diesel used as auxiliary fuel alone is tens of tons.
The three infantry regiments that the Japanese army put into combat had only 4,500 infantrymen still able to fight as of the evening of January 13. The casualty rate was basically over 60%.
In other words, just looking at the battle damage rate, China and Japan have miraculously reached a balance, and no one can say that they are better than the other.
However, from the perspective of soldier consumption, China took a big advantage. The Japanese army invested more than 9,000 infantry, and now only half of them are left. That is a shortage of 4,500, while the Chinese side has a shortage of 3,300.
Moreover, judging from the consumption of ammunition and other materials, Japan suffered a huge loss.
In the Sizhou Mountain battlefield in the past few days, because Nakamura Masao regarded this place as the main breakthrough point, the number of bombers dispatched reached a hundred sorties. This was an intensity that no other battlefield in the entire Zhongtiao Mountain battlefield had reached.
The bombs dropped were no longer measured in pounds or kilograms, but more than 30 tons!
The shells fired were even more astonishing. Even on a battle-level division-level battlefield like the Battle of Central China, they had not reached this level of intensity.
The 30 infantry artillery pieces owned by the Japanese side fired a total of more than 8,000 rounds in the past few days. The Type 41 mountain gun fired more than 5,000 rounds that shocked the Japanese themselves. The 105 howitzer also had to support other battlefields.
A little less, but still an astonishing more than 800 rounds.
This does not include grenades fired from small-caliber grenades, the total number of shells is nearly 14,000.
Even Yamada Seiichi, who had experienced the Battle of Xinkou, had never had such strong artillery support.
In the understanding of this Japanese Army Major General, under such fierce artillery fire, even the mountains will be destroyed, and the people in the mountains, even if they are steel, will be melted!
Unfortunately, the Chinese disappointed this Japanese Army major general.
From yesterday to now, on that position belonging to the Chinese, some people have fallen and others have stood up.
Even in the highlands that had been conquered by imperial officers and soldiers, they did not capture many wounded soldiers, because as long as the wounded soldiers could still move, they would still participate in the battle until their blood was exhausted and they died.
Apart from the living and dancing people, there are only dead people left on the battlefield! There are no half-dead people at all.
The Chinese people under artillery fire are like the weeds in the mountains of China. Even in autumn and winter, the patches of withered and yellow grass can easily be burned away by a mountain fire, but by the next spring, they will be lush and green again.
His tenacity made Yamada Seiichi want to meet the commander on the opposite side and ask him how he did all this.
But Yamada Seiichi would not know that it was not just what the commander wanted. That tenacity was earned by more than 1,800 lives!
In the sunset on January 13, the jungle on the backside of the last few highlands of Sizhou Mountain was almost covered with dark blue.
They did not have the privilege of being wrapped in white cloth by the Japanese soldiers who had relatively abundant supplies. The most everyone could do was to follow the custom of Sichuan and cover their faces with a piece of yellow paper, and let them walk to the Naihe Bridge on Huangquan Road. If they had some money, they could pay off the obstacles.
Imp.
But, the north wind blows, and yellow paper is flying all over the sky!
Tang Dao, who was standing on the high ground, saw that his slightly sunken eye sockets turned red. He glanced at the exhausted officers and soldiers in the trench, and a look of determination appeared in his eyes.
"Raise the death flag!"
In the past few days, some highlands have been conquered, some lost highlands have been recovered, and even Tang Dao himself has led a death squad to fight on the front line. Tang Dao has never used the 'death flag' written by the old father in Sichuan for his son to go on an expedition.
But now, it’s time to use it.
The Japanese army will inevitably make a final attack before sunset. Under the huge casualties, the low-morale recruits need to muster up the courage to block this attack and gain a precious night for the Sizhou Mountain defense line.
"Command to the whole army, today's battle is either the enemy's death or our own death! The 1,800 martyrs behind us are looking at us, and the tens of thousands of fellow villagers in Sichuan are looking at us.
Tang Dao will wait for the Japanese in the trenches with you. If I die in the battle, there is no need to wrap my body in white cloth or send me a yellow paper. I will put my body under this "death flag" and watch.
You win the final victory in this blocking battle.
Reinforcements will arrive tomorrow, and we will surely win!"
Tang Dao's order was quickly transmitted to all positions by the signal soldiers. The soldiers, who had only eaten one cold dry steamed bun a day and were already lifeless, looked at the high ground in the middle with bright eyes.
The determination of the supreme commander and the hope of the arrival of reinforcements successfully inspired courage that had been concealed by numbness and despair.
By this point in the war, the new recruits were actually no longer considered new recruits.
Using the rules of natural selection, regardless of whether there is luck or not, those who survive to this day are undoubtedly the result of survival of the fittest.
Each soldier had escaped countless rounds of artillery fire. Hearing the sharp scream of the artillery shells piercing the sky, he no longer just huddled in the trench with his head in his hands and shivering like before. Many of them even imitated the behavior of veterans.
With a cigarette in his mouth, he calmly judged the impact point of the cannonball.
There are only so many places on the position. As long as the artillery shells don't happen to fall into the craters or trenches, the solid ground will help them block the splashing shrapnel and air waves. If they are unlucky and hit them, it can only be said to be 'damn it'.
Bird up'.
Fear and futile attempts to dodge are all of no use to Jiba!
Losing the fear or numbness of death is an important step for new recruits to reach the psychological level of veterans. The tragic battlefields in the past few days have directly matured these soldiers who are still alive.
In addition, various individual soldier skills and tactics that were originally not worth mentioning, such as shooting skills, each soldier can fire at least 300 rounds of live ammunition, are still on the real battlefield. This kind of growth cannot be achieved on the training ground.
.
Even if 'Guaiguai' has gone through all this, as long as its trotters are forked, I'm afraid it can still shoot a human body within a hundred meters.
They are not yet elite soldiers, but they are well-deserved veterans.
This chapter has been completed!