The undulating mountains and vegetation have been completely burned by the sulfur incendiary bombs fired by the Japanese, leaving them bare and charred black. Under the charred wooden piles are exposed rocks.
On the battlefield with a radius of five or six kilometers, criss-crossing trenches, bunkers, and rolling mountains cut the battlefield into a mess.
On this complex battlefield, the defense lines of both sides were intertwined, and many of the commanding heights on the hills were taken away by the Japanese under the cover of artillery fire.
But once night falls, a commando team composed of Chinese officers and soldiers will recapture these lost positions, and the two sides are exchanging fire day and night.
Several large-scale Japanese attacks were repulsed. Fighting in low mountainous areas like Wushimen, every mountain ridge became a nightmare for the Japanese.
Even if it is a large-scale attack, they have to send a large number of troops to fight for these hills, because they are like time bombs. If they are not cleared away, they will be stabbed at some point.
Every large-scale Japanese attack was consumed in such a battle for the top of the mountain. Their progress was slow, almost moving forward step by step.
However, when they were driven back to the starting position of the previous day's attack early the next morning, this made the Japanese officers almost crazy, so another attack began.
Although the Japanese soldiers are well-trained and have higher tactical literacy than Chinese officers and soldiers, they are exhausted and their combat effectiveness is severely weakened by such endless torment and consumption.
The commander of the 106th Division, Matsuura Junrokuro, had to change his tactics and mobilize elite combat forces to start fighting at key points, hoping to break through the Chinese army's defense line.
However, the Chinese officers and soldiers who had only been added to the army for a few weeks had grown up in the flames of war and were able to fight independently in a systematic manner.
They can inflict enough damage on the little devils by gathering in groups of three or five and using cold guns everywhere, forcing the little devils to restrain their arrogance. They must be cautious in every attack because they don't know where they will fly out.
A bullet can kill them.
The commander of the 106th Division, Matsuura Junrokuro, was at his wits end. No matter whether it was a frontal attack, a night attack, a side attack or an artillery bombardment, all of them failed.
The several-kilometer-long defense line of the Chinese Army was like an iron wall. Although it was a mess, his troops were still unable to break through.
The two sides were in a stalemate at the Wushimen and Yongfeng Bridge lines. Just like a month ago at the Jinguan Bridge battlefield on the Nanxun Line, Matsuura Junrokuro once again fell into a bitter battle with no hope of a breakthrough.
"boom!"
The dull gunshot sounded, and Luo Wencai's shoulders were numb from the force coming from the gun butt.
A Japanese soldier who cautiously stuck his head out to observe was shot in the head, and fell heavily on his back in the trench. The bullet smashed his head, and the helmet was like a red and white rotten tofu.
Luo Wencai had been lying here for two hours, and finally looked for an opportunity to kill this Japanese observation post.
Seeing the Japs fall, a proud smile appeared on his lips. He didn't dare to wait any longer, and ran towards the other end of the trench with his gun in hand.
"Teng Teng Teng——"
The Japanese's Type 92 heavy machine gun roared, and the bullets penetrated the fighting position where Luo Wencai had just been crouching, sending up a large amount of smoke and dust.
"Bang! Bang!"
The two grenades also fell accurately one after another. In the smoke of the explosion, a large amount of soil was stirred up on the spot, and then they fell again.
When Luo Wencai reached a safe place, he sat down and breathed heavily. The sound of Japanese gunfire had stopped. Maybe they thought Luo Wencai had been beaten to death or blown up.
"What's the number?"
A brother disguised in a sack was hiding behind the entangled barbed wire. He saw Luo Wencai sitting in the trench breathing heavily and asked in a low voice.
Luo Wencai chuckled and made the sign of three, causing the lying brother to laugh and curse in a low voice: "You are really the damn king of hell. If a devil touches you, you will be damned for eight lifetimes."
"How many did you kill?" Luo Wencai's face was full of pride. He killed three Japanese in just one day. For him who had just joined the army a few weeks ago, he had already surpassed 90% of his brothers who had joined the army at the same time.
"I only injured one, and I almost confessed." The brother said with some frustration.
"Puff!"
While the two were talking, a string of bullets suddenly flew over, sending smoke and dust flying everywhere.
The lying brother returned a shot and dragged Rowan before continuing to move along the trench.
The two sides were in a stalemate on the front line of Wushimen. If there was any slight disturbance, the two sides would fire at each other from time to time across the trenches.
Yang Ling specially selected a group of brothers with good shooting skills from the entire regiment for a day of battlefield training, and then scattered them on the battlefield to shoot the Japanese.
Most of this group of brothers who are good at shooting are experienced veterans, but there are also recruits who have just joined the army, such as Luo Wencai and others.
In the past few days of fighting, these brothers have grown from strangers to familiar ones. Although more than ten people have been lost, those who survived have all become hunters.
They lurked on complex battlefields and attacked and killed the Japanese, making the Japanese miserable and afraid to show their faces.
Luo Wencai and the others were acting like ghosts and had made a lot of gains in the past few days. The Japanese also sent some old Japanese to retaliate in kind. The Japanese's counterattack undoubtedly made this hunting operation more dangerous.
The war has made the brothers grow up rapidly. Although everyone in the trenches is dirty and covered in gunpowder and blood, their eyes are becoming more determined, and they are gradually tempered into a tough iron army.
The war was not progressing smoothly, which made the commander of the Japanese 11th Army, Okamura Neiji, also very anxious. Although he ordered the frontline divisions to attack by force several times to open up the situation, the results were not satisfactory.
Also looking gloomy were a group of staff officers in the headquarters. They were lying on the map with tired faces, trying to formulate a new attack plan to break through the squadron's defense line in one fell swoop.
However, they underestimated their opponents. General Xue Yue, commander of the 1st Corps of the 9th Theater District, who was responsible for fighting in the De'an area, strictly ordered all units to defend to the death.
The various armies and divisions under the First Corps also knew that Commander Xue could not get rid of the sand in his eyes, so they risked their lives and fought bloody battles with the Japs on all fronts.
Whether it was the Ruiwu Road, the Nanxun Line, or the Wushimen Line, the Japanese moved forward step by step at almost the speed of a tortoise, paying heavy casualties.
"General, General Matsuura, commander of the 106th Division, requested that the troops retreat to rest and recuperate."
While Commander Okamura Neiji was frowning, a staff officer came over with a telegram.
Matsuura Junrokuro's troops were really unable to attack. Facing the Chinese Army's iron-walled Wushimon defense line, his troops' casualties were increasing day by day, and the injuries and illnesses caused by the hot weather also remained high.
The troops were exhausted and had lost the ability to continue attacking. If they continued to hold on, they would repeat the same mistakes as they had on the Nanxun Line a month ago, so he risked being scolded and asked the troops to retreat and rest.
The commander of the 11th Army, Okamura Neiji, looked at Junroku Matsuura's telegram and remained silent for a long time. He was under tremendous pressure from the base camp.
While the northern front battlefield continued to make breakthroughs, his southern front turned into a war of attrition. He was very reluctant to withdraw his troops from the battlefield at this moment, and wanted to order Matsuura Junrokuro to persist.
But he also knew that Matsuura Junrokuro would not have sent a telegram unless he really couldn't hold on.
"Reply to General Matsuura and allow the troops to retreat to the Majailing area to rest for a week, but they must capture De'an and cut off the Guangdong-Han Railway after one week."