January 16th afternoon!
The truck riding on Major General Genichi Tamura entered Yuncheng. What awaited the Japanese Army Major General who had marched hundreds of miles in 24 hours was a devastated logistics base.
The millions of military rations that the North China Front spent nearly a month hoarding here have been turned into coke, and three-quarters of the ammunition that could support an army of hundreds of thousands in another battle was blown up.
Although Yuncheng is still in the hands of the 4th Division after a tenacious resistance, it is actually not much different from it.
Perhaps in this disastrous defensive battle, the only bright spot of the 4th Division was that the casualties were much less than expected. The nearly 5,000 people who participated in the battle were placed in various strongholds in the city by the great bear Yukinosuke, intending to fight for every inch of land.
But obviously the Chinese have no interest in the city. Their goal is to obtain the most valuable supplies for the Japanese troops on the front line.
As soon as the tactical goal was achieved, they immediately fled thousands of miles away.
But facing the fat Major General with his head covered in bandages and his old classmate from the sergeant academy rushing towards him with tears in his eyes, what else could Genichi Tamura say?
They have worked very hard. At the most critical moment, the Major General Brigade Commander brought the escort squadron to the front line. Not to mention that he, a Major General of the same level, could not criticize. Even if His Excellency Commander Shiro Itagaki came, he would probably only be able to criticize.
Give more comfort.
Yes, Genichi Tamura and Konosuke Ohma are classmates in the same grade and subject. Although they have a normal relationship in school, they were taught by the same teacher after all. They met under such circumstances, and they would hug each other.
It's really not that big of a deal to kick someone's feet away, right?
‘It’s not my fault that my classmates don’t work hard, I just blame my enemies for being too cunning!’ has become a routine comforting phrase.
"Tamura-kun came all the way to support us, and I am deeply grateful to Okuma Konosuke. Tamura-kun can have a good rest here for a day. I immediately arranged for wine and food. The food here is great. There are also singing and dancing programs, Chinese women's
The gentleness is no worse than those on this island!" The Japanese Army Major General, who was comforted by his old classmate, now had a big smile on his face and was simply a model for the future sales industry.
"Listen to my arrangements, and you won't suffer or be cheated." Majin Buu, who is enthusiastic but not flattering, gives guests full comfort and security.
"Mr. Big Bear, although that Chinese army is insignificant, it is like a thorn in the vest. If it is not removed, it will not calm the hearts of our imperial officers and soldiers on the front line.
In order to ensure victory, Mr. Itagaki has deployed troops and firepower far beyond theirs this time. After resting for 2 hours, our troops will set off. Don't be too polite, Mr. Ohkuma." Faced with such enthusiasm, Tamura Motoichi said
After a few polite words, he asked.
"You and I have been classmates for several years, and there is a question that I don't know whether to ask or not?"
"Tamura-kun, before the war, I would have probably answered you, if you can help it, don't ask, but now! I am the newly defeated general, you can do whatever you want." Daxiong Konosuke picked up the teacup and answered with an indifferent expression.
road.
"My consolation is to feed the dog?" Genichi Tamura almost choked to death on the dog-faced bear.
But who can become a major general in the army, and who has not yet become shameless? Just pretended not to hear, Genichi Tamura simply went straight to the topic: "I want to know, Mr. Big Bear, do you still have the courage to avenge your shame?"
Nearly six hours had passed since the Battle of Yuncheng. The reason why he came so eagerly was not specifically to see his colleague's jokes. He wanted to personally persuade him to join forces with him. If there were two more
With an infantry brigade, he would be much more certain.
In fact, on the way here, the intelligence sent by the frontline headquarters showed that the Chinese who attacked Yuncheng were not only the thousands of people who broke out of the encirclement, but also the Four Elements Regiment who had fought with the Guoqi detachment in Wangwushan.
Part one.
'Shadow of the Famous Tree of Man', the name Si Xing Tuan is definitely a nightmare for all departments of the North China Front. Nowadays, the number of divisions and brigades that have suffered losses in front of them is no less than an even number, and the number of lieutenant generals and major generals they have killed is also the same.
I can’t count them on one hand.
Although Genichi Tamura is also very arrogant, he knows that he is still far behind compared to the famous Yamashita, but isn't such an awesome person also the soul of the four elements' subordinates?
Therefore, with more troops, he would feel more secure.
Otherwise, he would have had a good chat with this shameless hawker from Osaka! When he was in school, this guy would often sell souvenirs brought from his hometown. It was not until much later that he and his classmates knew that they had bought
Dried fish and pancakes are twice the local price and still expensive.
Big Bear Konosuke's head instantly shook like a rattle!
‘Baga! Why don’t you even think about pretending?’ What Tamura Genichi wanted most at that moment was to punch this guy in the face.
"It's not that our 4th Division doesn't want to avenge its shame, but that I have a more important mission that I need to stick to. The glory of destroying that Chinese army belongs to you, Tamura-kun!" Daxiong Yukiyuki sighed, looking like I didn't want to but.
Can't seem to do it.
"What do you want to hold on to, Mr. Big Bear?" Genichi Tamura was a little confused.
"Yuncheng! This place is the most important supply base for our hundreds of thousands of troops on the front line. His Excellency Shiro Itagaki sent me six military orders yesterday. Yuncheng is as important to our army as Kyoto is to our nation. I can't do it for a division.
I want to abandon this important mission in my honor. Let alone Tamura-kun, even the commander of my division and even Commander Shan Shanyuan cannot let me leave this position that thousands of our division warriors have guarded with their lives." Daxiong Yuxinosuke said impassionedly.
.
When he gets to the emotional point, tears flash down his face.
Tamura Genichi was stunned.
He really underestimated the shamelessness of his old classmate.
I bought dried fish at more than double the price back then. Really, that was probably the time when this product was the kindest.
Apart from a piece of charcoal in Yuncheng, what else needs you to protect?
"Okuma-kun, since this is the case, I have nothing to say. I wish you to remember your mission, guard this empty city, and say goodbye!" Tamura Genichi stood up and left the house with an ugly expression.
"If Tamura-kun doesn't worry about this, our department is determined to live or die with Yuncheng." Daxiong Konosuke sent him out and stood at the entrance of the command department to say goodbye to his classmates and friends.
"Bah!" The moment the door closed, two Japanese army major generals more than twenty meters apart each spit on the ground.
As the saying goes, 'different paths do not lead to mutual agreement', Genichi Tamura looked down upon the Osaka hawker and was beaten up and completely withered, but Konosuke Ohma did not want to be buried with some idiot.
Although this round of offensive and defensive battle was formed after bargaining and careful discussion between him and Shangguan Yun, the offensive power displayed by the Four Lines Group in this attack battle that was almost a 'drill' was still shocking.
But for Okuma Konosuke, what is even more terrifying is not the fighting power of the Four Elements Group, but the energy hidden behind it.
Just the explosive that blew open the city wall, Daxiong Yunosuke was sure that it could not be produced in China.
The Western world has always been dissatisfied with the Empire's all-out war against China, an ancient country in the East. It is not a secret within the Empire to secretly provide military and civilian aid to China. However, before breaking up with the Western world, the Empire can only endure it for now.
However, the Four Lines Regiment's use of such advanced and powerful explosives undoubtedly shows that Western military aid has reached an extremely terrifying level, but the imperial intelligence department still knows nothing about it.
What does this mean? It means that sooner or later the empire will have to confront the entire Western world. It lacks intelligence penetration into the Western world, and the probability of failure is extremely high.
Everyone, including Tang Dao, only saw Major General Konosuke Daxiong's greed for money, but no one knew his sensitivity to the global situation.
This small businessman from Osaka actually predicted six years in advance that his empire, which seemed to be flourishing now, would fail in the future and spread to the global war.
The burial he mentioned may not be referring to the battle with the Four Elements Group, but with the ambitious senior officials of the empire.
Okuma Konosuke may not have expected that his words would come true!
It's just that his old classmate didn't wait until six years later.
Tamura Genichi divided his 20,000-strong army into two groups and pursued the fleeing Chinese army.
Japan's North China Army Airlines dispatched up to 40 reconnaissance sorties for this purpose, flying back and forth for dozens of miles around Yuncheng to search for traces of the Chinese army.
Even if the army with a strength of more than 8,000 is protected by mountains and forests, it cannot avoid such high-density reconnaissance by Japanese reconnaissance planes.
Finally, at noon on the 17th, a Japanese reconnaissance plane discovered an infantry company marching in the mountains. Although the infantry company was fully camouflaged, the reconnaissance plane lowered its altitude and used its onboard machine gun to test and kill several of its comrades.
Finally, some light machine guns fired back angrily.
Several heavy machine guns hidden in the mountains and forests also quickly participated in the shooting and wounded the reconnaissance plane, but did not shoot it down, allowing the reconnaissance plane to determine the general location of the Chinese army, Jiulong Mountain, about 15 kilometers away from the urban area of YC.
After receiving the information transferred from the Army Aviation, the two Japanese troops away from here, like two packs of wolves that smelled blood, rushed towards Jiulong Mountain, a branch of Zhongtiao Mountain that stretches for dozens of miles, at high speed.
"Yo Xi! The Chinese are seeking their own death by hiding here." After reading the map, Nishimura Genichi finally felt better because the big bear Konosuke was completely ruined.
Why Nishimura Genichi so confidently declared that the 46th Independent Brigade and the Leng Feng Division were seeking death was because of the unique topography of Jiulong Mountain.
It is true that this is a big mountain, but because it belongs to Zhongtiao Mountain, there are more than 30,000 Japanese troops on the other side of the mountain. As long as a few mountain roads are blocked, the Chinese will not be able to enter the hinterland of Zhongtiao Mountain.
In other words, it is a dead end, and his army of more than ten thousand people can block them life and death in it.
The only thing that Nishimura Genichi regrets is that he cannot rely on this simple siege method to starve the Chinese army to death in this mountain.
Because, after losing supplies, the hundreds of thousands of troops on the front line can only last for 7 days at most. After 7 days, they will have to evacuate the whole line. This is what Itagaki Shiro gave him in private.
Although Itagaki Shiro did not explain it too straightforwardly, Nishimura Yuanichi also knew the subtext of Itagaki Shiro: In the battle of Zhongtiao Mountain, with the destruction of Yuncheng's supplies, it was a foregone conclusion that the return would be futile, but whether the honor can be restored can be found.
To save face, annihilating this Chinese army will become the last hope.
If possible, Shiro Itagaki still has hope of becoming the commander of the North China Front, and he, the less successful major general commander of the mixed brigade, may also become the commander of the lieutenant general division!
If not, then just think about it yourself!
A lieutenant general who has lost hope of promotion but is ambitious will have no psychological burden dragging a few unlucky children into the water.
This is what Nishimura Genichi figured out after being rejected by Okuma Konosuke with shameless reasons. But by then, he had already boarded Shiro Itagaki's pirate ship, and it was too late to regret it!
Since we can't fight without bloodshed, we can only fight hard and use the seven days when the Chinese cannot escape to attack the mountain and kill them.
Nishimura Genichi was quite sensible. If it was a simple siege as he thought, then he really had the wrong idea.
Although the Independent 46th Brigade and Leng Feng's Department did not carry a large amount of military rations, they still had ten days' rations for a single soldier, and the Fourth Line Regiment's baggage company and artillery company had a large number of pack horses. If they were forced to kill the horses for meat, they could also make the entire army
Hold on for another ten days and a half.
Besides, with Tang Dao's ability to control the battle situation, how could he let his two warriors escape into Jiulong Mountain with thousands of troops, unless he knew that Yuncheng's supplies were destroyed and the Japanese army of hundreds of thousands could not fight for a long time?
In dead-end terrain.
In fact, after the Japanese army launched another all-out attack on the 15th, Tang Dao felt something was wrong and immediately ordered Shen Laoliu's reconnaissance platoon following Li Jijin to conduct reconnaissance in the direction of Yuncheng.
Finally, on the night of the 15th, a team from Shen Laoliu's reconnaissance platoon detected the top soldiers of two Japanese infantry squadrons more than 30 kilometers away from Yuncheng.
The leading soldiers were all at the infantry squadron level. You can imagine the size of the main force following them. Tang Dao immediately realized that the target of this Japanese army was the 46th Independent Brigade and Leng Feng's Department, and immediately ordered Leng Feng to do so before the morning of the 16th.
End the Yuncheng raid.
Even if you are exposed to some strength, you must end it as soon as possible, so as not to be overtaken by the main force of the rushing Japanese army.
After three consecutive days of fighting, the physical strength and energy of the officers and soldiers of the Independent 46th Brigade and Leng Feng's Department were close to the limit. If they were not able to rest and recover, and were pursued by this Japanese army again, the danger would be self-evident.
Fortunately, Luncheng is surrounded by mountainous areas, and it would take time for the Japanese reconnaissance planes to track their whereabouts. In the end, with Tang Dao's strong support, the Independent 46th Brigade and Leng Feng Division chose the Jiulong Mountains, a dead-end mountainous area that seemed unfavorable to them.
As a defensive position.
Tang Dao chose this place for no other reason than the difficult terrain. As long as he stayed here for a week and the main force of the Japanese army was forced to retreat, this heroic army that broke through two cities and destroyed an important Japanese supply base could finally be saved.
Taking the initiative to put yourself into the encirclement is indeed an extremely helpless choice.
However, considering the situation and equipment of the two armies at that time, there was only one way to go. The Japanese army, which had control of the air, had eyes in the sky. Unless the army was flying at night and hiding in daylight, it would not be able to hide it from them. However, this was undoubtedly a serious delay.
If they increase their marching speed, they will soon be overtaken by the Japanese troops who have arrived in Yuncheng.
Tang Dao’s choice ultimately proved to be correct. After the war, Highland 981 in Jiulong Mountain, which the Japanese North China Front called ‘Sadness Ridge’, was described in the ‘Asahi Shimbun’ as follows:
This is a mountain that will scare the faint of heart just by looking at it. Countless branch veins extend from the main vein to the east and west, reminding people of the backbone of a fish and making their hair stand on end!
Therefore, this area has difficult terrain and is easy to defend but difficult to attack!
Any climber who wants to climb this mountain will have to exert a lot of physical strength, not to mention that there are nearly 3,400 soldiers on this mountain.
Yes, in order to ensure that the two armies can support each other, Brigadier Kong, Leng Feng, and Shangguan Yun negotiated and found a total of two main highlands in the mountainous area with a radius of 5 square kilometers. A peak with an altitude of 981 meters was named 981 Highlands.
, another peak with an altitude of 872 meters is named 872 Highland.
The two highlands are arranged on the left and right wings, like the two horns of a cow. If any highland is besieged, it will be attacked by artillery from the other highland, which can be used for mutual support.
The 46th Independent Brigade is stationed at Highland 981.
And Genichi Nishimura, a kid with a head full of wisdom, finally decided to pick the weakest after several rounds of fire tests, and gathered heavy troops to besiege Highland 981.
Although the Independent 46th Brigade does not have as many artillery pieces as Leng Feng's troops, thanks to the 12 mountain guns and 4 25mm machine guns captured from the Japanese army, its heavy firepower is comparable to that of a standard finishing division, which means it is slightly lacking in heavy machine guns.
Fortunately, Leng Feng ambushed the two infantry brigades of the 4th Division. Although 60% of the Japanese heavy machine gun squadrons were damaged due to their focus on the positions of the Japanese heavy machine gun squadrons, they still captured 10 relatively intact Type 92s.
Heavy machine guns, nearly 20 grenades and 16 Type 96 light machine guns, plus all Type 38 rifles, were all handed over to the Independent 46th Brigade.
This allows the two infantry regiments of the Independent 46th Brigade to defend Highland 981 to have a total of 34 heavy machine guns of various types, 60 light machine guns, grenade launchers that can basically reach 2 for an infantry platoon, and rifles that can reach 18 for an infantry squad.
In terms of ammunition, there is naturally no shortage. In order to carry more ammunition, the Chinese soldiers, who have always regarded food as their life, were so distressed that they burned hundreds of thousands of kilograms of military rations.
The ammunition is sufficient and regardless of the light or heavy firepower, it is not weaker than the seven infantry brigades under Nishimura Genichi, and is even a bit stronger.
This was something that Shiro Itagaki never thought of, so that the smug Nishimura Genichi was just the first wave of cannon fodder in the Battle of Jiulong Mountain. The second wave of cannon fodder rushed to die on the third day of the battle.
This became the most unforgettable battle of "Heartbreak Ridge" for the North China Front at the beginning of the year 1939.
Itagaki Shiro also failed to recover from this battle and became a dispensable and marginal figure in the Japanese army. All generals and commanders had ambitions that were destined to be impossible to realize.
It was not reactivated until the Pacific War broke out a few years later. One can imagine the fate of the unlucky children who were ordered to garrison Guadalcanal.
There was no need to wait to be hanged on the gallows like in the past time and space, this unlucky child's small intestine filled with Yoneda was dried on the island. ()
This chapter has been completed!