In the newly captured Lizishan position, an Italian officer was directing his soldiers to quickly prepare to hold on to the position.
Lizi Mountain is located on the northwest side of Rongcheng County. Although this mountain is only three to four hundred meters high, it is the commanding height. As long as you occupy this mountain, you can rely on the terrain to pose a sufficient threat to the county seat three to four thousand meters away.
By then, not to mention other artillery, even the 75mm mountain artillery of the Guards Division will be able to reach the county town.
Yes, the Japanese troops who landed in Shandong have all huddled in Rongcheng County and its surroundings. Although this is also a dead place, in order to delay the Italian army and buy time for the Japanese troops in the Liaodong Peninsula and Korea, its commander, Major General Izawa Hachiro, even
A death order was issued, requiring every Japanese soldier to fight to the last man. (In order to prevent senior officers from being captured and shaking the morale of the army, senior officers such as Yamagata Aritomo and Yamachi Motoharu had been picked up on a dark night.)
Of course, this order was executed well at the beginning, because the Japanese army concealed the news of the defeat in the naval battle. The shelling of Qinglong Bay was said to be a sneak attack by the Italian fleet while the combined fleet was away.
Therefore, the resistance of the Japanese army is very strong. Even if the Italian artillery washes the ground, the remaining Japanese troops are very combat effective. However, after the artillery is suppressed, the Japanese army can only rely on the Murata rifles in their hands to counterattack the offensive of Italian soldiers. However, the Japanese Murata
The rate of fire of the rifle is very slow. The Murata Type 13 and Murata Type 22 that it is mainly equipped with are single-shot rifles. Each shot fires a bullet. The latest Murata Type 22 magazine rifle is scarce and cannot be used.
use.
As for the small number of Gatling six-barreled machine guns, they were too bulky and could easily attract Italian artillery attacks, making them perform poorly on the battlefield.
Moreover, the Gatling gun needs to be manually fired and has many shortcomings. Compared with the Maxim of the Italian army, there is a gap of two generations.
Therefore, after being given special attention, the role of the Gatling gun in defense is not very obvious.
The influence of these various factors was also the main reason why Japanese positions were breached one after another.
In view of the fact that the Lizishan position is an important commanding height of the Japanese army, it is reasonable for it to attract a counterattack by the Japanese army after it was captured by the Italian army.
A large group of Japanese troops withstood the bombardment of Italian artillery fire and launched a counterattack.
"Fire!"
The officers defending the position immediately gave the order to open fire after the Japanese troops entered a distance of 400 meters.
Following the officer's order, the soldiers on the position immediately used their weapons and pulled the triggers on the charging enemy.
The crisp gunshots of Carcano rifles rang out densely in the position, and scenes of Japanese soldiers being knocked down in the distance kept appearing. Of course, in the defensive battle, the absolute protagonists were the several Maxim machine guns on the position.
As an absolute murder weapon, the Maxim machine gun's performance in defensive battles was unparalleled. Continuous shooting swept away the charging Japanese troops.
Major General Hachiro Izawa, who was watching the battle from a distance, breathed fire from his eyes.
"Baga, the enemy's firepower is so strong, why did Lieutenant Colonel Honda rush in like this? Isn't this a waste of soldiers' lives?"
Major General Izawa completely forgot about his strict orders to retake the position, and instead became concerned about the lives of the soldiers.
There was no way. When General Yamagata Aritomo and Lieutenant General Yamachi Motoharu left, they were strictly ordered to defend as long as possible. It was best to defend for a month, leaving enough time for the Japanese troops elsewhere. Of course, this was not possible.
If so, then half a month is acceptable.
Since Major General Izawa stayed, he was naturally determined to die, so he basically adopted a defensive approach. After all, defense always has an advantage over offense.
Of course, he does not always defend. For example, at key points, he also prepares reinforcements or counterattacks.
As the commander of the troops that reinforced Li Zishan, Lieutenant Colonel Honda was delayed by enemy artillery fire and the reinforcements were delayed, allowing Li Zishan to be captured by the enemy. He had an unshirkable responsibility and it was understandable that he should be allowed to recapture Li Zishan.
However, the firepower of the Italian troops who captured Lizishan was too fierce, so the Honda team could only be defeated.
In fact, the Japanese army themselves also knew that there was a generation gap between the Murata rifles in the hands of their own soldiers and the opponent's Carcano rifles. How could a single-loaded single-shot rifle compete with the opponent's magazine rifle in terms of firepower.
But now it's too late to change, so the soldiers can only grit their teeth and persist.
The Italians did not give the Japanese army a chance to persist. After repelling the Japanese attack, the Italian army immediately dragged the cannon up the mountain.
In the next two days, relying on the advantage of occupying the commanding heights, the Italian army successively captured Dongzhao Mountain, Yujia Mountain, Yatou River and other places, and semi-encircled the Japanese army in Shandong in Rongcheng County.
Of course, the Japanese army did not stop resisting in the past two days. Feeling that they were about to be destroyed, the Japanese army launched one after another to stop the coalition's actions. However, they did not have the upper hand in weapons, personnel, or geography.
Under such circumstances, it was difficult for the Japanese army to take advantage, and they basically suffered the most losses.
Watching the Italian-Qing coalition forces push the Japanese army into a desperate situation step by step, the morale of the Japanese army itself is also declining, and deserters have appeared among the Japanese officers and soldiers.
This made Major General Pulev very satisfied, and it also made the Qing army overjoyed. Some people even acted without authorization to gain the upper hand and show off their prominence. However, it was obvious that some people thought too much. The Japanese army's position was still stable, and they lost thousands of soldiers for this.
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This made Pulev furious and demanded an explanation from the Qing army. In fact, Pulev did not need to be angry, the Qing army itself was also angry. Should such a blind guy continue to do bad things?
?
So he wanted to stand out but he did it. Under the pressure of Zhou Fu, the chief envoy of Zhou, Ding Ruchang summoned everyone to kill a blind guy and sacrifice it to the flag. This kind of guy who was not successful enough but was more than exposed, dared to harm Li Zhongtang.
No matter who is standing in the background.
After the farce-like dispute between the Qing troops, the general attack on Rongcheng County began three days later.
This time Major General Pulev waved his hand, and two consecutive days of shelling honed the skills of the Italian artillery officers and soldiers, and also made the Japanese army and Mr. Zhou turn pale.
All the 30,000 rounds of artillery shells raised by Mr. Zhou were hit by this bombardment, but the effect was very good. The positions outside Rongcheng County were reduced to scorched earth, and most of the buildings in the city were destroyed.
Not to mention the city wall, it is a key target for attack.
According to statistics after the incident, the Japanese army suffered nearly 2,000 casualties in this shelling, and those who were not injured were also severely damaged mentally. In addition, the loss of weapons was even more alarming, with only 13 of its 47 cannons left usable.
Of the 11 Gatling hand-cranked machine guns, only 3 were usable. Then the loss of ammunition and other supplies was also huge. After all, this was the first time the Japanese army had seen such an indiscriminate attack with rich wealth, and they had no precautions.
Since the Japanese army was knocked out of spirit during the shelling, what are they waiting for? Major General Pulev finally allowed the Qing army to attack this time. The Italian army was responsible for the main attack in the west, while the north and south sides were left to the Qing army (the east side was not
The distance is the sea).
This time there was finally no mistake. It only took two days for the Italian main attack to capture the city wall from the west. Then the Qing troops on both sides also captured the city wall with the help of the Italian army.
At this time, in accordance with European practice, Major General Pulev sent an envoy to ask the Japanese troops to surrender. After all, it was now clear that the surviving Japanese troops were trapped in a dead end with no possibility of escape.
However, in the face of Pulev's persuasion to surrender, Major General Izawa Hachiro Duan Ran refused.
Since the enemy persisted, there was nothing more to say. After another two days of fighting, the Japanese troops entrenched in Rongcheng County were completely wiped out.
At this point, the Japanese troops who landed in Shandong have been eliminated in their entirety. There may be a few who escaped by chance, but they no longer pose a threat.
In this battle, Italy lost 581 people, injured 987, lost 17 artillery pieces, and at the cost of more than 50,000 shells, 14,200 Japanese troops were wiped out, 5 artillery pieces were seized, more than 2,900 guns were captured, and more than 6,000 Japanese troops were captured.
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Of course, there is also the credit of the Qing army, its ally. If the Qing army were not responsible for transporting supplies, detecting the enemy's situation, and protecting the flanks, the Italian army would not have been able to achieve such a smooth victory.
But no matter what, this heavy battle report can relieve Li Zhongtang's pressure to some extent. Of course, this is without considering the consumption of ammunition.
