The First Corps completely annihilated the Matsuura Division in Wanjialing, turning the entire battlefield into a cemetery.
Especially in Zhanggu Mountain, the fighting was the most intense near Leiminggu Village. Artillery shells were bombarded continuously and both sides repeatedly charged and killed, so that the corpses were piled as high as the hill and the soil was dyed crimson red with blood.
The rear was cheering and celebrating the victory, but on the battlefield where corpses were strewn across the field, the brothers did not bother to rest, dragging their tired bodies and started busy cleaning the battlefield, searching for the remaining enemies.
The battlefield is no longer the scene of heavy artillery fire in the past few days. After all, the main force of the Japanese has been destroyed, but sporadic gunfire still sounds from time to time.
Those Japanese stragglers were running around in the mountains. Although many were killed, some were still hiding.
Each regiment organized a number of search teams to continue the search, but there were not many remaining Japanese, and most of them slipped through the net, so the main task was to clean up the battlefield.
Although it is already October, the temperature is still very high. Because I have been fighting with the little devils in the mountains, I have no time to clean up. The corpses left everywhere have been for at least a week, and most of them have begun to rot, and the stench is filling the sky.
In order to prevent the occurrence of plague, the main task of each army is to bury the rotting corpses as soon as possible.
Yang Ling was shot in the arm while chasing Junroku Matsuura of the Japanese division. Although the division asked him to be sent to the hospital to recuperate, thinking that there was no one in charge in the regiment, he still stayed on the battlefield to direct the cleanup.
Battlefield work.
Yang Ling, like his brothers, was dirty and dirty and had no place to wash himself. His arms were hung with bandages around his neck and he was still on the battlefield.
Seeing Yang Ling's appearance, the brothers became a little closer to Yang Ling and admired him from the bottom of their hearts.
After all, the ability of an officer to personally lead people into battle can easily endear him to the brothers. Being injured makes the brothers feel that such an officer is worth following.
"Find all our brothers and don't let them explode into the wilderness."
In the ravine, on the high ground covered with scorched earth, there were scattered corpses everywhere, many of which had been blown into pieces by the bombs. However, Yang Ling still tried his best to bury these fallen heroes with his brothers.
When the brothers collected the bodies of those who died, they did not forget the trophies. There were countless guns and equipment left by the Japanese on the battlefield. Although most of them were broken, many of them were still usable.
"Kettles, towels, rifles, machine guns, bullet boxes... we want everything that can be used..."
Yang Ling accepted all these things as they came. Although there were no more bullets, for the Chinese officers and soldiers who were short of everything, even if they didn't use the other things, it was still good to take them and pay for them later.
Under Yang Ling's order, the brothers seized a mountain of items, including more than thirty light machine guns and ten heavy machine guns.
"Tuanzuo, Tuanzuo, cannon!"
Zhang Heizi even led his men to find two Type 92 infantry cannons with all their shells fired in the ravine. He was so excited that his face turned red.
Looking at these blood-stained Type 92 infantry cannons, Yang Ling also smiled. Their troops lacked weapons with such powerful firepower.
"Pull them all back, we will need them later." Although there were no cannonballs, Yang Ling had no intention of throwing them away. He would have cannonballs for one or two battles in the future.
The brothers gathered all the sacrificed brothers together, wiped their faces, found mats and rags to wrap them up, and then buried them on the spot.
Piles of small graves with new soil were erected. The brothers stood in front of these new graves, choked with tears in their hearts. Countless familiar brothers died in every bloody battle, and they didn't know when it would end.
"Brothers! Have a good journey!" Yang Ling raised his hand and saluted the buried brothers with a military salute.
The blood-stained brothers behind him also raised their hands to salute. Tears rolled out of many people's eyes. Buried here are many brothers who had taken bullets for them.
On the battlefield, they can entrust each other's back to their brothers, and it is these brothers who form the Great Steel Wall to resist the Japs. Countless brothers have fallen, and more brothers will stand up and continue to fight.
After burying the brothers, news came from the division that several Japanese divisions had rushed over and asked the brothers to leave Wanjialing and retreat to De'an.
"We have won the battle, and now we have to retreat..." The brothers did not understand.
In the past, we always lost battles and retreated, but now that we have won battles, we have to continue to retreat. The brothers' psychology was hard to accept for a while, and the joy of victory was gone.
Yang Ling knew clearly that although the victory was achieved on local battlefields, the Chinese Army was no match for the Japanese in the entire Wuhan battle.
The various troops fought against the Japanese who attacked Wuhan for several months, allowing millions of people in Wuhan and countless factories and schools to be relocated and evacuated. This was already a huge victory.
In the past, their retreat was an embarrassing retreat, but this time it was a proactive retreat, and the fierce fighting for several months had consumed a large amount of the Japanese's active forces. Wuhan was already an empty city, and there was no need to pay a huge price to defend this empty city.
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The Chinese *** team has been fighting with the Japs for a year. At the beginning, they fought for every inch of ground and fought head-on with the Japs using crude equipment.
In several major battles, not only did many elite troops lose their troops and generals, but the mountains and rivers were still in decline.
However, China has learned from such painful lessons and no longer cares about the gains and losses of one city or one place. Instead, it is preparing to rely on its vast territory to delay and consume the Japanese in a protracted war.
This time the Japanese wanted to quickly attack Wuhan and force China to surrender, but they were delayed and consumed by the Chinese army for several months in the surrounding mountainous lakes and swamps, resulting in heavy losses.
It can be said that China's protracted combat strategy has begun to bear fruit. The more the Japs attack into the hinterland of China, the more empty their rear will become, the battle line will lengthen, and the Japs' advantage will no longer be so obvious.
All the squadrons on the southern battlefield received orders to retreat, and Yang Ling and the others were no exception.
The brothers couldn't figure it out, so Yang Ling asked the company and platoon leaders to do the work. Now there is no supplies and ammunition, so they can only retreat. When the ammunition and supplies are replenished later, they will still have to fight back.
Regardless of whether the brothers were reluctant, the troops were still retreating, and the mountains of loot captured on the battlefield, as well as the Japanese martial arts banners, were all taken out of the mountain without leaving any trace.
Although all the troops won the battle, they were all miserable. Everyone was covered in gunpowder smoke and scarred.
On the road to retreat to De'an, countless tattered blue-sky and white-sun flags were fluttering in the wind. Soldiers filled with murderous intent were walking along the sidewalks and cars on the driveways. Everyone who was still alive was covered with captured odds and ends. It was different from the past.
Embarrassed, but a team of iron-blooded warriors tempered by the flames of war.
When the reporters saw such a silent but murderous troop, they were all moved to tears and rushed to take pictures, hoping to show the Chinese people that these brave officers and soldiers had wiped out a division of the Japs.
Take photos of their majestic figures.
However, the brothers did not accept this honor. They knew that the real heroes were the officers and soldiers who sacrificed their lives. They have been buried in Wanjialing and will forever guard this blood-stained land.