Chapter 1076 The blood outside Niangziguan is like frost
If Snowflake Mountain is the sad place for Lieutenant General Zhao Shoushan, the commander of the 17th Division, he lost more than half of the main infantry regiment, more than 1,500 officers and soldiers, a colonel commander and two main battalion commanders, and the entire main infantry company.
The army was wiped out with half of the people left, which made him heartbroken and unable to sleep at night.
That Fulu Ridge is a place Lieutenant General Zhao Shoushan will never forget.
There, just two days of fighting made him grow old overnight.
It was the night when the artillery fire stopped on the second day, and the entire Niangziguan battle was on its fourth day. It was the night five days after his 17th Division first came into contact with the Japanese army from Jingxing County.
The moon is bright in late autumn, but the night is as cold as water.
Zhao Shoushan, who climbed up to the highest peak of Fulu Ridge alone to take a look at most of the positions of his 17th Division under the moonlight, had tears in his eyes and his hair was like frost.
It is not the late autumn hoarfrost on the bodies of soldiers who are prostrate, lying on their backs or huddled in various postures, but the huge grief that makes this Shaanxi man who looks elegant but passionate in glasses and who is only about forty years old, almost visible to the naked eye.
Black hair turns into white hair.
The mountains and plains are covered with autumn frost like snow, covering not only the land of China, but also the remains of the officers and soldiers of the 17th Division.
There was no time to restrain, because there was never a break in the fighting. For two consecutive days, the Japanese attack never really stopped.
There was no reserve team, and even the recruit reinforcements rushed to the battlefield. There was no stretcher team, and even the guard battalion of the division headquarters was on the front line. When the war was at its most critical, even the stiff bodies of comrades and the remains of Japanese invaders were found.
, were all built into fortifications and used as bunkers.
Zhao Shoushan never thought that a blocking battle would be so brutal. It was so brutal that he, an army lieutenant general who was used to life and death and had been in the army for more than 20 years and never thought about returning alive since he entered the battlefield, did not dare to watch it again.
A glimpse of your own position.
As far as the eye can see, there are red, black, yellow, and more dark blue all over the mountains and plains.
The red is not blood, but the maple leaves and cuckoos in late autumn. The black is rocks. The yellow is soil. And the dark blue is his soldiers.
They were lying like that, lying on the battlefield that was once filled with smoke, in various postures. They were all dead, in this land that belonged to them.
They all fell in front of the position, and no one was behind the position.
The deep blue in his eyes made the Army Lieutenant General's heart feel like a knife, and he was so sad that he couldn't help himself. At that moment, he also doubted whether he had done something wrong. He should not have promised Liu Lang to stay in Snow Flower Mountain and Fulu Ridge.
Resisted the Japanese invaders for five days.
Up to now, the real mountain blocking battle has only lasted four days! But how many of the more than 12,000 officers and soldiers under his command are left?
Jiuguan was bombed by more than 20 Japanese bombers and nearly ten rounds of 105 howitzers, which almost turned the entire top of the mountain into powder.
But what about his Fulu Ridge? It was bombarded by twelve mountain guns and twelve field guns in turns, without any turns.
Because the shelling never really stopped. From early morning to early morning. From late at night to late at night.
Even now, in Mazuiliang, one kilometer away from the main position, the sound of artillery is still rumbling and the sound of killing is loud. There, the Japanese army has re-selected a key breakthrough position after two days of consecutive attacks and failed several times. They have been fighting for a whole day.
, regarded as the last mobile unit of the 17th Division, the division headquarters security battalion rushed to the rescue of Maziliang.
The guard troops around him no longer have any soldiers from the 17th Division. They are all guarded by the security platoon of the independent regiment that escorted reporter Liu Xueyuan to this desperate place.
The Japanese bombers made not just twenty sorties, but more than fifty sorties. For two consecutive days, the sky above Fulu Ridge was filled with the terrifying roar of planes.
The vast expanse of black exposed on the hillside is the work of aerial bombs and artillery shells. The huge air waves swept away the soil and dust that originally covered it, thus revealing what should have been underneath the soil layer.
Rocks more than ten centimeters away.
This was the first time Zhao Shoushan had seen such a violent bombing in his more than 20 years of service in the army. What did the officers and soldiers of the 17th Division, who had only spent two days building fortifications at Fululing, use to withstand this terrible artillery fire?
The answer is simple, use your life.
Yes, when the trenches dug on the shallow ground, less than half a meter deep, could not withstand the Japanese artillery fire, the soldiers who survived the artillery fire would, led by their platoon commanders, company commanders, and battalion commanders, pounce on them.
Go down the mountain, fight hand-to-hand with the Japanese soldiers, mix with the Japanese soldiers, and even if you die, you have to stick your bayonet on the Japanese invaders.
Regardless of the obstruction of Yan Qiguan, the guard platoon leader of the Independent Regiment who came with Liu Xueyuan, the army lieutenant general who was already a little older stood on the position, standing proudly.
The brigade commander, regiment commander, battalion commander, company commander... and even the young soldiers who were only eighteen or nineteen years old and had just grown hairy beards under his command could die. Why would he, an army lieutenant general, cherish his life?
The lieutenant general of the army must be vulnerable at this time. If he died here, maybe he would not have to face thousands of fellow villagers in Hu County, Shaanxi Province. He, Zhao Shoushan, took away more than ten thousand people from Hu County, but he did not know that
How many people can pay it back?
With flashes of tears, the Army Lieutenant General's eyes stopped at Jingpu Pass, a position on the south side of the main peak of Fulu Ridge where the gunfire had silenced. There, his 102nd Regiment was almost completely wiped out.
The last infantry battalion of the 102nd Regiment, which suffered heavy losses at Snowflake Mountain, took the initiative to fight. It was there that it fought hard with the Japanese invaders for a whole afternoon before being exhausted.
Battalion Commander Li Zigan was seriously injured. One of the last two company commanders was killed and the other seriously injured. Liu Xitang, the ninth company platoon leader and a member of the Red Party, led the entire platoon into repeated hand-to-hand combat with the Japanese army, but no one survived. The entire infantry battalion, with only one remaining
More than a dozen people persisted until reinforcements arrived and were forced to retreat after repeated strict orders from the brigade headquarters to retreat and repair.
But, does an infantry squad need any repairs?
The main peak position he was currently on was the one where Geng Jinghui, the commander of the 47th Brigade under his command, personally visited the front-line position. When ammunition and food were exhausted, he used the rocks in the mountains to fight the Japanese invaders from a high position to hold it.
Geng Jinghui's brigade suffered not half casualties, but more than half.
Under the 47th Brigade, the 102nd Infantry Regiment had less than one infantry company. The 101st Infantry Regiment suffered nearly half of its casualties here.
The weapons and equipment of Li Weimin's corps, which was originally a supplementary regiment to the general reserve, were worse than those of the other four infantry regiments. Many officers and soldiers even did not even have guns in their hands. They could only wait for the soldiers with guns to die in battle, and then take them with them.
Guns take to the battlefield.
However, it was soldiers like this who still held on for two days in the north of Fulu Ridge. Even if the regiment leader Li Weimin was seriously injured, they would not retreat.
Not only did they not retreat, but under the command of the commander of the desperate battalion who took over the command of the seriously injured regiment commander, they launched desperate tactics that made the Japanese invaders tremble.
There will always be an infantry platoon on the position. No matter how many people are left under the Japanese artillery fire, even if it is just one person, they will fight to the death after the Japanese army attacks the position.
Then, a signal flare will be fired, and the division's remaining 6 mountain guns will cover the position with artillery fire. Regardless of whether it is enemy or friendly, all will be wiped out in the tremors of the earth and mountains.
Once, it’s the same. Second time, it’s still the same. Three times, it’s still the same.
An infantry company, except for the injured who could not move, walked towards the position with their heads held high, and then merged with the Chinese land.
The Japanese, for the first time, backed down.
One Chinese person is not afraid of death, they are not afraid, just kill those who are not afraid of death. Ten people are not afraid of death, they are not afraid either, their guns and artillery are enough to kill these threats.
But aren’t hundreds of people, thousands of people, tens of thousands of people, or even tens of millions of people afraid?
The Japanese army didn't expect such a big number. It was just over a hundred people. Even though they knew that they were just bait to lure the enemy into the position, they still went to their deaths and left the Japanese soldiers who far outnumbered them on the position and turned into smoke together.
.
"The Chinese are all crazy." These were the exact words sent by the Japanese infantry battalion commander responsible for the main attack on the supplementary regiment position to the new brigade commander, Major General Yoshio Utsuki.
The Japanese infantry captain, who sent three infantry squads of nearly 150 people in succession, but all of them were turned into ashes along with the Chinese on the position, violated military orders for the first time and was unwilling to send another person into the seemingly undefended Chinese position.
They can die in battle, but they cannot die in vain by being cheated by the Chinese like this.
Because they cannot face death calmly like the Chinese. Where is Amaterasu, it is better not to go.
Looking at the side of the main peak position, overlooking the main peak position, the Army Lieutenant General standing on the position, with tears streaming down his face, stood with his head held high while facing the dark Japanese position 800 meters away without any lights.
"The demonic atmosphere is permeating the enemy's territory, and a hundred battles will be fought as a national tragedy.
When the soldiers charge to kill the enemy, the moon outside Niangzi Pass is like frost."
This was the first time I had such close contact with Lieutenant General Zhao Shoushan after staying at the 17th Division headquarters for two days. Liu Xue, who accompanied him to the main position, wrote the poem at the beginning of his third field diary.
"The moon outside Niangzi Pass is like frost." Looking at the back of the middle-aged army lieutenant general who took off his helmet to reveal a little bit of white hair, Liu Xueyuan knew that the general who was crying might be trying to say: the blood outside Niangzi Pass is like frost.
But, how could he bear to say it?
That blood is the blood of his officers and soldiers, the blood of thousands of soldiers!
The battle lasted until midnight, and the number of officers and soldiers killed in the 17th Division exceeded 5,000, exceeding the total strength of an infantry brigade.