Compared with the Niangziguan position eight kilometers away, which was already thundering with artillery fire, the Wululing area, where the terrain was even more complex and changeable, seemed peaceful.
But only the officers and soldiers of the 17th Division who were still busy on the main peaks and adjacent highlands knew that this tranquility would not last long.
Each battalion and company has conveyed a notice from the division headquarters: An infantry brigade of the enemy's 20th Division, with more than 10,000 artillery, engineer, and cavalry troops, is coming from the direction of Jingxing with great momentum. All units have entered the highest wartime alert!
The 20th Division is an old rival. In October last year, the 17th Division fought a bloody battle with the 20th Division at Fululing!
Snowflake Mountain, the gateway to Fululing, is a highland composed of the main peak of Snowflake Mountain with an altitude of more than 700 meters and nearly 10 surrounding mountains of various sizes.
To their side is the only passage in this mountainous area. People and vehicles can enter Fulu Ridge through this passage, and then proceed 8 kilometers to Niangzi Pass!
Since ancient times, if you want to enter Niangziguan from the North China Plain, this is the only way to pass besides the main road.
The 17th Division will naturally deploy heavy troops here.
The 102nd Regiment under the 17th Division was ordered to garrison Snowflake Mountain!
The reason why it is the 102nd Regiment is that it was the 102nd Regiment that took the initiative to fight. In October last year, this was also their defense area.
Wearing a steel helmet and military uniform and followed by only a guard squad, Zhao Shoushan walked up to a high ground about 800 meters away from the main peak.
A major infantry battalion commander who had already been notified hurried over with his three captains to greet him, but was stopped by the accompanying lieutenant colonel adjutant with a wave of his hand.
Standing on this hilltop with an altitude of more than 500 meters, overlooking the various fortifications and bunkers that the soldiers were constantly reinforcing a hundred meters away, a trace of pain flashed in the eyes of the white-haired general.
If Fululing is his sad place, then Snowflake Mountain is his heartache!
In the battle of Fulule Ridge last year, an infantry regiment under the 17th Division suffered 70% losses in the battle. No one in the three infantry companies survived. Its colonel commander Zhang Jun had to order the abandonment of the defense, and the Snow Flower Mountain position was lost.
As a result, the main force of the Japanese army was depleted on the main battlefield of Luling, and several highlands were divided and surrounded, causing all members of the two infantry battalions to die on the highlands.
Zhao Shoushan was furious and ordered his beloved general to be shot. Even though a group of officers from the division knelt down to plead for mercy, they did not relent.
Thinking of the scene that day, tears welled up in the white-haired general's eyes.
As a division commander, how could he not know that when an infantry regiment has lost more than half of its battle losses and can still hold on, it is already extremely powerful.
The battle loss was 70%, and it was a strong army among strong armies.
But that battle was different from ordinary battles. He and the entire 17th Division could not retreat, nor could they retreat. Behind them was the flank of Niangzi Pass. If Niangzi Pass was lost, the hinterland of Jin Province would open to the Japanese invaders, and thousands of people would be able to retreat.
The people of Wanjin Province will fall into the flames of war.
Zhang Jun is the guard squad leader who followed him when he was the company commander. The two have known each other for fifteen years, and their relationship has long gone beyond the ordinary relationship between superior and subordinate. They are as close as brothers, which is not an exaggeration.
But he retreated at such a critical moment!
If we don't kill him, how can we deal with the more than a thousand soldiers who died in the battle due to the fall of Snowflake Mountain and were divided and surrounded by the Japanese army? How can we deal with the tens of millions of people in Jin Province?
Colonel Zhang Jun did not ask for life. He only asked them to take one sentence with them before the firing squad opened fire: "I deserve death, but I beg you, for the sake of our old friendship, to take my brothers from the 102nd Regiment home!"
However, he failed to fulfill the request of the army colonel who was ordered to die!
The 17th Division, which had less than 3,000 men when it retreated, could only carry away those who were still alive, and those who died could only be returned to the mountains and wilderness!
In this battle, the 17th Division came to Fululing again. The first thing all the officers and soldiers of the 17th Division did was not to build positions, but to search for corpses all over the mountains and fields!
Local people had buried most of them in the spring, but there were still thousands of corpses lying in the shallow bushes.
Snowflake Mountain is the best!
There are no snowflakes in Snowflake Mountain, but there are white bones all over the ground. Even if his soldiers die, they still have to suffer from wind and rain!
How heartbroken would their parents be if they learned about this?
This is a white-haired general whose mind is already as hard as gold and stone. Every time he thinks about this, his heart is cut like a knife!
The white-haired general just stood in silence and looked down. After an unknown amount of time, the adjutant came up and reported softly: "Master's seat, the commander of the 102nd Regiment and the company commanders of each battalion are here, waiting for your lecture!"
"Then let them all wait at the tomb of the martyrs! I'll be there right away! Let the brothers from Highland 521 stop for a moment. I have something to say to them." The white-haired general waved his hand and said.
The tomb of the martyrs was just completed yesterday. The remains that can be searched in the entire Snowflake Mountain are all gathered here. It is a combined tomb of more than 800 people.
The address was selected by Colonel Cheng Pengjiu of the 102nd Regiment guarding Snow Flower Mountain. It is on the side of a highland below the main peak of Snow Flower Mountain.
In his words, the heroes of our brothers are not far away and will fight side by side with the rebuilt 102nd Regiment!
Stationed on Highland 521 is an infantry company of 138 people, plus regimental commanders, battalion commanders, and company commanders who came from various highlands in Snowflake Mountain. The officers and soldiers of the 17th Division stood in front of the martyrs' tombs in three rows. The first row was the officers.
, the two rows behind are all soldiers.
The white-haired general stood in front of them.
"Brothers! I know that not many of you have been to this place called Snowflake Mountain, because most of those who have been have stayed here forever.
At this time last year, our 102nd Regiment had a full strength of 1,890 people. When we left, there were only 700 left, and everyone was injured! The 1,190 people who did not leave are all in front of you!"
The white-haired general's tone was not as passionate as Kang's, but rather calm.
But whether people are familiar with him or not, they can clearly feel the pain in the heart of the Army Lieutenant General when he talks about this number from the bits of white hair exposed when he removes his helmet.
In the officer queue, most of the officers' eyes were red.
Because, in the past, 80% of the 102 regiment, from the colonel commander to the lieutenant platoon leader, died in battle. These people were all promoted after surviving the war.
In the queue of soldiers, there were many who bowed their heads and shed tears. In the tomb opposite, all their robes were buried.
"And now, our 102nd Regiment of the 17th Division is still defending Snowflake Mountain, and when the enemy comes, we are the 20th Division. I ask you, do you want to avenge such a bloody feud?"
"want!"
"If I don't take revenge for this, I will be ashamed to be a man of the Three Qin Dynasties!"
.....
Under the leadership of the commander of the 102nd Regiment, more than a hundred officers and soldiers roared in unison!
"Okay! This battle in Shanxi Province is not like the last time when the defense line was broken and there were tens of millions of people behind it, but it is still a matter of great importance.
If the defense line is broken, the triangular momentum of our 70,000-strong army in eastern Shanxi will be broken up, and the Japanese army can march straight in to threaten the flanks of friendly forces. Our 70,000-strong army in eastern Shanxi will be completely destroyed!
Therefore, this battle is more dangerous than last year, and it is a fight to the death!
I, Zhao Shoushan, swear an oath in front of the heroes who died in the battle of our 17th Division. In this battle, the 12,000 officers and soldiers below me and Zhao Shoushan of our 17th Division will coexist and perish on the same position!
Those who retreat will be killed! Those who fear war will be killed! Those who say they will retreat will also be killed!
In addition, please rest assured that all the brothers of the 102nd Regiment, neither I nor the division headquarters will go there for this battle. It is right behind your Snowflake Mountain. If you are gone, I, Zhao Shoushan, the division headquarters personnel and everyone in the guard camp will fill in.
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If you leave before me, I will not shed tears, because I know that I, Zhao Shoushan, will soon join you!
If I die before you, then please don’t be sad, please continue to hold the gun in your hand and kill the enemy!”
The white-haired general whose tone was calm just now was now like an angry lion, and the sound of cracking rocks echoed in the mountains!
"Kill the enemy!" Seeing that the division commander was so determined that he actually moved the division headquarters to Snowflake Mountain, the officers and soldiers of the 102nd Regiment were also filled with enthusiasm. They raised their guns one after another and started fighting at the division headquarters where they were determined to fight to the death.
In front of the commander, he shouted wildly!
The courage of a general is greater than that of a soldier!
"Kill the enemy!" The roar of more than 100 people reached another high ground, and the soldiers on the high ground also raised their arms in response!
"Kill the enemy!" The entire Snowflake Mountain position was filled with rumbling roars.
The war hasn't started yet, but the fighting spirit is already surging on Snowflake Mountain!
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"What are the Chinese doing!" Less than 3 miles away from the Snowflake Mountain position, the leading Japanese soldiers of a hidden team were startled by the sudden rumbling roar and hid in the dense forest.
It wasn't until a few minutes later that they realized it was the Chinese shouting slogans. Although they couldn't hear clearly what they were shouting, they could still feel the determination of the Chinese soldiers on the opposite side.
Chinese, this is a demonstration!
The information was quickly passed back to the ears of Yoshito Takagi, commander of the 39th Infantry Brigade of the 20th Division, who was still eight kilometers away from Snowflake Mountain.
"Haha! How dare a defeated general speak out bravely? He's just cheering himself up before the battle! Don't worry about them." Takagi Yoshito put down the information in his hand, his eyes full of contempt.
Unlike the 21st Division who didn't know their opponent at all, Takagi Yoshito already knew the number of the opponent he was about to face.
The 17th Division also learned from the Four Elements Regiment and formed its own reconnaissance force. Takagi Yoshito even sent out up to 200 spearheads before the main force arrived at Jingxing.
This also means that the main forces of the two sides have not yet met, but the top scouts have already fought in the mountains and dense forests.
In just 24 hours, the reconnaissance troops of both sides exchanged fire more than ten times, with each suffering casualties.
Relying on a captured Japanese soldier, the 17th Division learned under torture that its opponent was the 39th Infantry Brigade of the 20th Division. The Japanese also discovered the 17th Division's serial number from the armbands of the Chinese scouts who died in the battle, which also made Takagi
The righteous person has determined the opponent he will face this time.
In the battle of Niangziguan of the 20th Division last year, the 39th Infantry Brigade mainly faced the enemy head-on. The 40th Infantry Brigade of the 20th Division fought against the 17th Division at Fulule Ridge. In the heart of the arrogant Yoshito Takagi, the 40th Infantry Brigade
The combat effectiveness of the brigade is far inferior to that of our own 39th Infantry Brigade, but it was still able to defeat the 17th Division.
Moreover, all the elite members of the 17th Division were killed in the last battle, but one year was not enough to recover. This time, he and the 39th Infantry Brigade brought three artillery brigades from the artillery wing of the division.
What can the 17th Division do to fight against his tens of thousands of troops?
Takagi Yoshito is not arrogant out of thin air. This time, the 20th Division seems to be divided into two. The 40th Infantry Brigade is mainly responsible for cooperating with the 18th Division on the eastern front to attack the Chinese army's defense line.
The 39th Infantry Brigade was the main force to attack Niangziguan, but due to time constraints, the 40th Infantry Brigade only carried an artillery brigade, a tank squadron and part of the engineer regiment.
The 20th Division is a permanent division, and its artillery wing can have four artillery brigades, three 75mm mountain artillery brigades and one 105-mm howitzer battalion.
This means that the 39th Infantry Brigade will have heavy fire support of 24 75mm mountain guns and 12 105mm howitzers, plus 8 75mm mountain guns and 8 90mm mortars owned by the 2 infantry wings of the infantry brigade.
artillery, 20 70mm infantry guns, the total number of artillery available for the entire infantry brigade is as high as 72!
If you add in the air support that can arrive at any time, as well as most of the baggage regiment, two engineer squadrons, and two cavalry squadrons he brought this time, the total strength of the army is as high as 12,000, he wants to ask, which division?
Can his defeated generals withstand the intensive firepower of such an army just by shouting slogans?
Indeed, theoretically and logically, no flesh and blood body can survive such terrible artillery fire!
But if this confident Japanese major general had the opportunity to witness that battle on the ice field, he would know that miracles are always created by people.
At that time, the Chinese soldiers were not facing them, but the American cowboys who were armed to the teeth. The 72 artillery pieces that made Yoshito Takagi confident. In front of the American cowboys, he was a typical little Karami!
Even if they were to hit a small hill, the Americans would have dozens to hundreds of bombs, plus dozens of bombers flying in the sky to drop bombs.
That was a serious bomber. It could carry more than five tons of bombs in a single sortie. How many times could it instantly kill the 96 fighter jets of the Japanese North China Front that could only carry a thousand pounds of bombs?
After the artillery fire, the rock layers on the highlands will become softer than mud, and the mountain peaks will be reduced by several centimeters!
Can anyone still live?
There are still, and the fight continues!
There is an old Chinese saying that man can defeat nature! It is always the man himself, not the equipment, who determines the victory of a war.
Cannonballs and bombs can break the flesh and blood, but they can never break the human spirit and will!
It’s just sacrifice, but it’s inevitable!
The choice made by the arrogant Yoshito Takagi is exactly the same as that of the fat Lieutenant General who is about to be roasted. As soon as he comes up, he will serve him with a big stick first!
To him, it doesn't matter what trump card he has or not, he just plays his cards right, so what can the Chinese do?
Aren't they just going to be bombed?
He just wants to use his big weapons to smash the so-called will of the Chinese people!
The truth is only within the range of the cannon! Yoshito Takagi was a big fan of Bismarck, the iron-blooded prime minister in German history, and he highly respected this iron-blooded theory.
Just as the two infantry brigades of the 21st Division began a large-scale attack on the main defense line of Niangziguan, the Snowflake Mountain position also received the first round of artillery fire from the 20th Division.
Twelve Type 91 105 howitzers with a range of up to 10,500 meters were the first to attack!
The main peak position of Snowflake Mountain and nearly ten highlands on its flanks were all included in the attack range, and all positions were blown into a sea of flames and filled with gunpowder smoke.
The Type 91 105 howitzer is the largest caliber artillery piece belonging to the Japanese division. The shell weighs 18 kilograms and has a charge of 2.52 kilograms. The projectile travels thousands of meters in the air at a muzzle velocity of 454 meters. When it hits the ground, its lethality is as high as 32 meters.
If you do a simple calculation and calculate the area of a circle, you can know that the killing area of the gun's shells is as high as more than 3,200 square meters.
How big is a basketball court? It is 28 meters long, 15 meters wide, and covers an area of 420 meters and 3200 meters. That is close to the area of 8 basketball courts.
When a 105-caliber artillery shell falls, a sea of fire covers an area of 3,200 square meters. What will it look like if twelve cannons fire at the same time?
In the morning, the Niangziguan defense line was only bombarded by four 105 howitzers, and no protrusions could be seen.
With nearly 20 minutes of firepower assault, each howitzer fired at least 40 shells, and the highlands of Snowflake Mountain were ravaged by 500 shells, which was simply miserable.
The 1.8-meter-deep trench collapsed in more than a dozen places visible to the naked eye. These were not hit by artillery shells head-on. However, even though the impact point was still more than ten meters away, the trench was squeezed inward and deformed due to the violent energy and completely collapsed.
If there was someone hiding inside, he might be crushed to death by the earthen wall!
The heavy machine gun fortifications that the soldiers spent two days building with three or four layers of sacks and logs to be resistant to grenade attacks had already been blown into pieces, and both the people and the machine guns were reduced to a pile of parts.
The autumn sun in the afternoon is actually quite warm, but at this moment, the temperature on the position has increased by at least ten degrees, because not only the fortification horn trees on the position are burning, but also the surrounding woods and shrubs are burning.
The Japanese army not only used blooming grenades, but also used brimstone bombs, which are simple versions of incendiary bombs!
The main purpose of turning the entire mountain forest into a sea of fire is not to burn many Chinese soldiers to death, but clearing the woods and shrubs on the highlands will give the subsequent infantry more visibility when attacking.
Soon the Japanese army will regret this.
Because the vision of their infantry is much clearer, but the Chinese soldiers have the same, and they are condescending, making it easier to kill!
After the raging artillery fire, except for the crackling sound of burning wood, miraculously there were not many cries and howls from the position on Highland 489, 300 meters away from Highland 521!
There, there was an entire infantry platoon of 50 people stationed there.
This seems a bit weird!
Snowflake Mountain Highlands is different from Niangziguan's main defense line. Due to terrain reasons, Japanese artillery can only fire in the direction of the side slope. This results in Niangziguan's main defense line having a long enough reverse slope, which is a blind spot for Japanese artillery fire.
However, the terrain of Snowflake Mountain is plum blossom-shaped, and there must be defenders on each high ground. This results in the area that can be used for anti-slope avoidance of artillery being not available on every high ground.
When artillery fire strikes, the only things that can protect soldiers are artillery holes and trenches!
Under this fierce bombardment, losses are inevitable!
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PS: Yesterday I went to the county for something. My dear, the wine in the mountainous area is really strong. Fengyue is the dregs of wine. Just smelling it makes me feel drunk, let alone drinking at least 3 taels. What?
No one back home knew about it, so I didn’t even ask for leave.
Although I don’t have to go to class this June, I have too many official matters. I will go to several universities in Jinling, Hangzhou, and Shanghai to study in the second half of the month. I want to let my book friends know in advance that the update will not be satisfactory, but there will be a holiday in July.
Finally, Fengyue will definitely work at full capacity.
