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 outside the area 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 Group Army, they could only prepare for the worst when faced with the Japanese army whose strength and equipment far exceeded theirs.
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 an old suspicion formation? In fact, the Japanese army has already sent out elite troops to outflank it. The captain and company commander, who has sufficient combat experience with the Japanese army, was so anxious that several big bubbles quickly appeared on his mouth. One of his three infantry platoons
They non-stop built field positions in the mountains and forests to prepare for a desperate fight with the Japanese army, while the other two platoons ran desperately to occupy two commanding heights.
It was not until half an hour later that the captain, company commander and officers and soldiers were surprised to discover that they had indeed overthought the situation and that a large 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 posed 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 fucked. 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 sending their main force 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 do not 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 mountainous area and enter the plains, we will have no chance of defending against this Japanese army." 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 powerful 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 death 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 the 772nd 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 just like that. 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 not 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 two Japs pretending to be Japanese!" 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 772 regiment that was circling? Of course he did, but in his original words: "Our unit is responsible for intercepting the Chinese regular army, not the peasant army. If we abandon this position because we are chasing a group of peasant troops,
It is a must-pass transportation artery. Is this a trick of the Chinese 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 speaking, 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 reason is 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 and 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.
Appears 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.
The face is innocent.
God damn airborne, the Chinese don't even have a damn few fighter jets, where's the large transport plane coming from? His Excellency Lieutenant General Yoshio Shinozuka was not at the scene, otherwise he would have pounced and tore the mouth of this stupid guy.
But Major General Konosuke Ohma 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 can make 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.
Neither was released nor blocked a single Chinese regular army, which turned the 10th Division surrounding the Chinese into a sandwich biscuit. This was a major tactical mistake 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 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 772 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, Shinozuka Yoshio almost laughed out of anger.
There is no precedent for an Imperial division being 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 also trying to play this trick. That is not the saying that the Chinese often say, "Go to the toilet with a lantern - you are looking for shit!"
"The whole army is shrinking 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 and was later known as
It is one of the most slap-in-the-face quotes.
Of course, I dare to say this because of Lieutenant General Yoshio Shinozuka'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. In the end, under the cover of reinforcements, it was not completely wiped out, making a small battlefield become the veteran's lifelong nightmare.
One of the regrets.
However, Yoshio Shinozuka overlooked one point: no matter how awesome the fortifications are, it still 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 attack 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.
Twenty-four mortars fired wildly at the Japanese frontline for nearly three hours, almost making Lieutenant Colonel Kuroda Saburo, the frontline commander responsible for resisting the 772nd Regiment, cry.
This Japanese Army lieutenant colonel, who had been promoted half a month ago because of his good performance as acting captain, never expected that in addition to the Four Troops, the Chinese army could have such exaggerated heavy firepower.
In just one afternoon, more than 300 imperial officers and soldiers were killed or injured by Chinese artillery fire.
What's even more terrible is that, with the help of artillery fire cover, the Chinese dug forward crazily, as if they wanted to connect the trenches with their own trenches.
Rather than engaging in field battles and engaging in fortification duels, this was really beyond the expectations of the Japanese commander.
Of course, the 10th Division was not a vegetarian when it was reduced to three artillery positions protected by its own infantry positions. It began retaliatory bombardment of the 772nd Regiment's positions early.
But don’t forget that there are also artillery on the Four Lines Regiment’s position at the far end of the battlefield. The ultimate range of the 150-meter heavy force is only 3,300 meters. It cannot rely on the Japanese mountain artillery position. However, due to the shrinkage of the Japanese defense line, the nearest one
The artillery position was only 1,600 meters away from the front of the position, completely within the range of 150 meters.
The artillery positions just don't open fire. When they open fire, the thick smoke can be seen thousands of meters away. The "little wild monsters" of the reconnaissance company who are still wandering around the battlefield are waiting for this moment.
The 12 150-meter heavy-duty guns and 12 80-mm howitzers in the battlefield raised their muzzles high and focused their fire on the coordinates sent by the scouts using the field radio!
The Japanese artillerymen who hastily moved their positions did not have time to dig out sunken ground fortifications for each artillery position like the Four Lines Regiment did. To break the sky, they would pile up a circle of sandbags around the artillery to protect against heavy machine guns.
Not bad, but facing the air wave caused by a 150-pound artillery shell weighing nearly 20 kilograms, it can be said to be vulnerable.
"Fight back! Fight back! Find the Chinese artillery position for me and fight back!" Yoshio Shinozuka, whose face turned purple because of the fireball rising from the artillery position, almost roared and ordered.
He never thought that one day the artillerymen of the Imperial Division would be pressed to the ground and rubbed by poor Chinese.
Perhaps maintaining the advantage of heavy firepower is the last thing the Japanese Army Lieutenant General wants to retain.
As a result, the two Chinese armies he faced were mercilessly trying to tear one of them off. How could Lieutenant General Shinozuka Yoshio, who wanted to retain his dignity, endure it?
The overwhelming artillery shells hit several coordinate areas that the Japanese artillery observers found after careful observation.
But what the Japanese artillery observers didn't know was that before firing, Tang Dao ordered more than a dozen camouflage points to light firewood moistened with water and add white phosphorus. From a distance, the rich and somewhat white smoke looked very similar to the gunpowder smoke after the artillery fire.
resemblance.
What the Japanese saw may have been real artillery positions, but most of them were camouflaged open spaces.
The shells fired by the Japanese artillerymen were most likely to help dig up the ground in Zhaojiazhuang, and the shells that landed on the real artillery positions were protected by sunken fortifications, so air waves and shrapnel had almost no impact.
The artillery squad suffered damage, that is, two telephone lines were blown down by artillery fire, making it unable to receive orders from the company headquarters in a timely manner 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 captured the Japanese frontline infantry and beat them. The artillery of the Fourth Line Regiment grabbed the Japanese artillery positions distributed in several places and beat them. The Japanese artillery was to protect the enemy.
The angrily counterattack of the underpants.
After fighting all afternoon, Shinozuka Yoshio almost vomited a mouthful of blood when he received the report from the artillery regiment.
Of the 36 mountain artillery pieces, 5 were originally damaged by Chinese sneak attacks. The shooting was completed in one afternoon. Now, 11 of the remaining 31 pieces of artillery were destroyed, leaving only 20 pieces. Not to mention the remaining 20 pieces, the artillerymen suffered more than 500 casualties.
If Yoshio Shinozuka had been wiser and decided to run away at this time, I am afraid that there would not have been that famous rout. The independent regiment and independent battalion were not strong enough to form a complete encirclement of the 10th Division, leaving two wings on both sides.
With a gap of more than 3 kilometers, the 10th Division had to run away, but the Chinese soldiers, who also relied on only two legs, could not keep them.
But the news that the two mixed brigades would arrive on the battlefield the day after tomorrow gave Yoshio Shinozuka the determination to continue to persevere. It was fine if he couldn't suppress the Chinese. Could it be that he couldn't even stop them?
Therefore, throughout the night, the sound of digging in the trenches of the two armies continued.
Regardless of whether it was the Fourth Army Regiment or the Independent Regiment, they all dug forward in shifts. The Japanese army also did not dare to stop for a while and desperately deepened and reinforced their trenches.
It seems that both sides have planned to compete to see who can dig more soil without relying on bullets.
Both China and Japan are exhausted!
This kind of physical work is no easier than fighting. In the words of young Adong, he would rather fight the Japanese face to face than wield a pickaxe to dig holes like a hard-working bamboo rat.
This is a physical and mental test for any soldier.
Because of this kind of work, after the sun rose, it actually lasted for most of the day.
Eager to make up for yesterday's mistake, Japan's North China Front Army Aviation Corps once again dispatched a bomber group of 16 fighters, this time led by Captain Sasaki.
However, the Japanese bomber group, which did not easily enter the core area of the battlefield and cruised outside the battlefield, was dumbfounded after sending reconnaissance planes that entered the low-altitude area as if they were dead.
The Chinese trenches and our own trenches are almost touching each other from 900 meters in the air. If they drop bombs, it means killing one thousand enemies and losing nine hundred to themselves.
That's ridiculous. Making a mistake once may be an accident, but making the same mistake again just one day later is a definite fool. Captain Sasaki is an extremely smart person.
As a result, 16 Japanese fighter planes roared and circled for several times on the outside of the battlefield, then turned around gracefully and interacted with the eagerly awaited 10th Division on the ground.
The thrifty Captain Sasaki even ordered that heavy bombs were not allowed to be thrown away. The empire's resources must not be wasted. This caused the fuel gauges of several Japanese planes to light up red when they landed.
As long as Captain Sasaki hesitates for a few more minutes, this bomber group may become the first bomber group in history that did not drop a bomb, fired a bullet, or encountered any attacks, but was almost run out of fuel by its own bombs and crashed.
of weirdness.
The Japanese pilots have a pretty good eye. In fact, the closest trench between China and Japan is only 60 meters away. That is definitely the limit of distance between cheeks.
.........
ps: Tomorrow is my daughter’s 18th birthday. I promised my daughter to take her and her grandparents to a hot spring resort, so I’ll take a day off tomorrow! ()
This chapter has been completed!