Chapter 1498 Have You All Learned How to Borrow Arrows From a Straw Boat?

The Japanese army, which had been hit hard, remained silent throughout the day.

However, in the evening, the 190th Division reported to the Hengyang Command that it had discovered that the Dingjia Wharf, Wangjia Wharf, and Yuehan Wharf on the east bank of the Xiangjiang River were crowded with people, and there seemed to be signs of a large-scale crossing of the river by the Japanese army.

Standing on Yanhui Peak again, Tang Dao looked far toward the Xiangjiang River with a telescope, and saw that the Japanese army in the east of the river was busy tying up wooden boards and car tires, and constantly gathering various materials for crossing the river, as if they were indeed crossing the river again.

At this time, a phone call came in, saying that the Japanese army in the east of the river seemed to have gathered again, and all the evidence seemed to indicate that the Japanese army would use the cover of night to force a crossing again tonight.

Even Zhao Zili called to discuss with Tang Dao, asking the artillery battalion of the Fourth Regiment to be vigilant and prepared at night. If the Japanese army planned to go all out, the heavy company of the artillery battalion of the Fourth Regiment would also need to join the attack sequence against the Japanese army's crossing troops.

The artillery command also reported to Tang Dao that it planned to transfer 12 82-gun mortars from the battlefield in the west of the city back to the city to assist the 190th Division in defending the river bank.

"All units should wait and see, and do not make any rash moves!" Tang Dao issued an unexpected military order to all units.

If Tang Dao had not asked Fang Xianjue to let the 190th Division return to Hengyang City, several officers and soldiers in the 190th Division would even think that Director Tang was deliberately making things difficult for them.

Although there were not many Japanese infantry, the Japanese artillery on the other side had more than 20 cannons. If the Japanese infantry really landed on the shore, their firepower point would be exposed, and it would not be so easy to be bombarded by more than 20 cannons.

"Such a military operation of the forced crossing level is about suddenness and secrecy. I have never heard of such a big fanfare.

Besides, the Japanese army suffered such heavy losses during the day and also witnessed the power of our artillery fire. If you say that there are destroyers and gunboats escorting the crossing of the river, I believe it. Just using these broken wooden boards to tie some tires to transport troops across the river, unless your brain is stuck in the door.

This is probably a pretense to deceive our army to mobilize and deploy in a disorderly manner, and provide assistance for the Japanese army's attack on the other three sides." This is how Tang Dao explained to Rong Youlue on the phone.

What he said was reasonable and well-founded, and Rong Youlue naturally had nothing to refute. He could only order his three battalions to deploy more sentries at night to raise vigilance.

Sure enough, in the middle of the night, the sentries of the 190th Division found that Japanese ships were coming down the Xiangjiang River from the upper reaches of the river, and light and heavy machine gun fire points opened fire one after another, and miserable howling continued to sound on the river.

However, no ship was seen approaching the 190th Division's defense line, but all the officers and soldiers of the 190th Division stared at the dark river with wide eyes throughout the night, fearing that Japanese ships would come out of the darkness.

Although they did not receive the order to fire, the Chinese artillerymen in the city did not dare to sleep, and sat in the fortifications around the artillery and waited.

It was not until dawn that the 190th Division realized that they had been fooled.

It turned out that the Japanese had played a routine, learning from Zhuge Liang's "borrowing arrows from straw boats" in the Three Kingdoms, tying chickens, ducks, dogs, and sheep on those wooden boards and tables, and then drifting down the river, creating the illusion that the army was crossing the river.

In the night, the sentries only saw dark shadows, and with high tension, they fired for most of the night, consuming a lot of bullets and killing a lot of livestock, and also causing two or three thousand people to be unable to sleep all night.

Yesterday, Matsuyama Yoshimasa suffered a great loss, with hundreds of infantrymen killed by Chinese artillery and fighter planes, but under the pressure of Yokoyama Isamu, he came up with the "borrowing arrows from a straw boat" and won a trick against the Chinese.

At least throughout the day, all the officers and soldiers of the 190th Division, from the division commander Rong Youlue onwards, were listless and yawning, but no one dared to sleep.

Because in the upper reaches of the Xiangjiang River, several Japanese gunboats weighing hundreds of tons were found, which could arrive in Hengyang at any time.

Gunboats are different from motorboats and wooden boats. They have armor protection, several anti-aircraft guns, and a 100mm main gun. They are definitely the overlords on inland rivers.

And because the ambush of the Chinese Air Force yesterday caused the Japanese crossing fleet to be almost annihilated, the number of Japanese fighter planes deployed over Hengyang today has increased significantly, and from time to time there are fighter planes in the sky dragging long smoke and whistling and plunging into the ground.

In the past, there was no air force to rely on, but now there is an air force, but we can't rely on air force fighters to solve everything! The Chinese infantrymen who are used to living in poverty will never have the arrogance of American cowboys.

"You should pay attention to rest and arrange the shifts reasonably. If nothing unexpected happens, the Japanese will still harass us tonight. They are not only playing with straw boats to borrow arrows, but also tiring the soldiers." Tang Dao said to Rong Youlue, the commander of the 190th Division, when discussing the river bank defense on the phone.

"I know this, but I am afraid that the Japanese will pretend to be real and pretend to be real. Brothers, no one dares to take it lightly." Rong Youlue's face was full of worries.

Since the outbreak of the war, this major general has not slept more than 4 hours a day, his eyes are full of bloodshot, and his beard has not been shaved for almost a week. If he takes off his general uniform and puts on ordinary people's clothes, saying that he is an old farmer, no one will believe it.

"Haha, the Japanese are desperate and are playing tricks with us, but they don't think about it. In terms of playing tricks, how many nations in the world can compare with our Chinese nation?" Tang Dao laughed easily on the phone.

"It's fine if they just pretend to be serious, but if they really want to do that, we will make them pay the price."

"Director Tang, please don't fool me." Rong Youlue naturally heard that Tang Dao had something to say, but he also knew that since he hadn't been informed, it was naturally a military secret.

"Haha! I promise to satisfy you, Commander Rong, and we may need the help of the brothers of the 190th Division." Tang Dao laughed.

"Of course, I have no choice but to do it. If Director Tang really has a way to defeat the devils in Jiangdong, I dare not say anything else, but just for the battle of Hengyang, under Commander Fang, my 190th Division will only follow the orders of the General Staff and will never shirk or delay." Rong Youlue replied on the phone with a firm tone.

As the commander of the 190th Division, Rong Youlue's promise is really amazing, which means that except for Fang Xianjue, his 190th Division will only listen to the orders of the General Staff.

A major general announced that he would obey the orders of an army colonel. This was almost impossible in any army. However, Tang Dao promised to make the devils in Jiangdong pay for what he said. The commander of the 190th Division really promised this. This was not only to repay Tang Dao's favor a few days ago, but also to defeat the world-famous Tang Da Tuanzuo to see if he really had the strength.

As for Tang Dao, he didn't care whether the 190th Division really followed his orders. His command ranking in the Hengyang Command was fifth. Unless there was a one in ten thousand chance that the four in front were wiped out, there would be no situation where he, a small operations director, unified the command of the entire army.

But Tang Dao thought it was a good choice to let the officers and soldiers defending Hengyang see the power of his four-line regiment and increase their confidence in defending the city.

After all, "reinforcements will arrive tomorrow" will become the eternal phrase that the Military Commission will use to comfort the Hengyang defenders 10 days later.

But the legendary reinforcements will never appear.

Among the tens of thousands of Chinese soldiers and civilians, only Tang Dao himself knew that the fate of Hengyang was not in the hands of external reinforcements or the Japanese, but in the hands of tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians inside and outside Hengyang.

Confidence will become something more valuable than food and ammunition.

Sure enough, as Tang Dao guessed, the Japanese army adopted the same strategy for the next two consecutive nights, using a large number of simple homemade wooden boards and rafts to tie pigs and sheep to the river, and also tied the pigs and sheep to the waterline of the raft, letting their limbs move around and make paddling sounds to confuse the defenders.

The 190th Division still did not dare to neglect it, and fired machine guns and rifles randomly, and the entire river bank defense line was restless for most of the night.

When the Japanese army came again in the early morning of June 8, there was obviously less gunfire this time.

For three consecutive days, the officers and soldiers of the 190th Division could not get enough sleep and were already exhausted. Many soldiers were still lying on their positions and shooting at the river, but they fell asleep at some point.

"Yoshi! The Chinese are finally tired!" As the commander of the 6th Infantry Regiment, Colonel Matsuyama Yoshimasa actually arrived at the river bank in person, and made this judgment after observing the firepower on the other side of the river with a telescope for half an hour.

"Order the fleet to set off, this time, we must win the battle!"

In a calm river bay 30 miles upstream of the Xiangjiang River, two gunboats with a displacement of 650 tons were parked there. Teams of Japanese troops kept quiet and boarded the ships quickly. In the shadow of the huge hull of the gunboats, there were 10 newly transferred 25-ton gunboats of the Japanese army.

A thousand-man infantry battalion will be transported by this fleet directly to the dock near Hengyang City for landing operations.

For this landing operation, Matsuyama Yoshimasa did everything he could, not only persuading his division commander to use his personal relationship to find the commander of the China Expeditionary Army, Tian Shunroku, but also transferred the two gunboats, Hozu and Hira, from the 11th Squadron of the Third Fleet of the Japanese Navy stationed in Jiangxia.

The displacement of these two gunboats is about 400 tons. They are equipped with 120mm main guns, several anti-aircraft guns and several anti-aircraft machine guns. Except for mines, they are basically sideways in the Yangtze River Basin.

In order to ensure that the two gunboats can reach Xiangjiang River smoothly, the already weak Japanese Navy even sent a flight squadron to escort them in three waves, all the way from the Yangtze River to Dongting Lake and then to the Xiangjiang River Basin.

The 10 gunboats are also equipped with 80mm mortars and 25mm machine guns. They have strong strike capabilities on the opposite bank and can carry two squads of infantry. They are the weapon for the Japanese army to control the Yangtze River and other inland river basins.

Yokoyama Yong praised the combat tactics of the 6th Infantry Regiment of the 3rd Division. He promised Matsukami Yoshimasa in a telegram that as long as the 6th Infantry Regiment can plant the military flag on the west bank of the Xiangjiang River, Matsukami Yoshimasa will be fully responsible for his promotion to Army Major General as the commander of the 11th Army.

It can only be said that no matter China or Japan, this commander has a set of big cakes to draw. The key is that the subordinates have to swallow this cake, even if they know it is a painting, they don’t know whether they can really fill their stomachs until the end.

At present, Yokoyama Yong’s eyes are almost red. Whoever dares to disobey his military orders will probably have no good results.

The well-prepared Japanese fleet turned off all engines and lights when it was 10 miles away from the pre-selected landing site. When the Chinese sentinels discovered it, the Japanese fleet was less than 2 miles away from the landing site and less than 400 meters away from the river bank.

In the flash of flares, the huge figure of the Japanese gunboat seemed to come from hell. The 120mm main gun spewed out terrible flames, and a heavy machine gun fortification made of sleepers and sandbags on the shore and the three machine gunners inside were blasted into the sky.

The 190th Division on the shore was like a cat that had its tail stepped on. All kinds of light and heavy machine guns, including rifles, were pouring crazily at the slowly pressing Japanese fleet. The artillery in the city also poured shells crazily onto the river two minutes later.

From time to time, shells exploded around the gunboat, which had a draft of 1.8 meters, causing water columns to rise into the sky.

This has to be replaced by the motorboats and wooden boats that the Japanese army rode two days ago. There is no need to directly bombard the hull. Just the waves caused by the explosion of the artillery shells can overturn them. But this kind of water column can not only give the gunboats a bath , doesn't seem to be of much use.

But at this moment, the two artillery brigades deployed by the Japanese army on the Jiangdong Plain also opened fire.

However, this time the Japanese army no longer engaged the Chinese artillery, but instead targeted the 190th Division position in the fortifications on the river bank.

The power of 24 75mm mountain cannons covering the bombing was definitely a nightmare for all infantrymen. When one cannon hit, an area the size of a football field was shrouded in gunpowder smoke. The infantrymen hiding in the trenches let alone the Japanese warships in the center of the Chaojiang River. The team fired. At this time, anyone who dared to raise his head and look into the river was a warrior.

The position of the 1st Battalion of the 586th Regiment of the 190th Division was filled with thick smoke. The commander of the 1st Battalion, Yang Jihe, rushed from the traffic trench to the front line trench with a submachine gun. He bent down and pulled up the soldiers hiding at the bottom of the trench: "Next door to Mala, all the gentlemen should get up. No matter how good you are, if you hide, the bastard Japanese will come ashore."

Seeing their battalion commanders roaring in and out of artillery fire, many soldiers regained their courage, held on to their guns, and fired desperately toward the center of the river to empty the bullets in the barrels.

Yang Jihe kept walking, bending down and running to the next position in the trench. If I remember correctly, that was the position of his 1st Sharp Knife Platoon.

There were gunshots in other positions, which meant that many officers and soldiers were still shooting despite the Japanese artillery fire. However, in the Sharp Knife Platoon, there were only rumbles of gunfire but no gunfire. This somewhat annoyed Yang Jihe.

However, when the infantry battalion commander, who was famous for his bravery, entered the position, he suddenly stopped in his tracks.

The miserable scene in front of him made this steel soldier who had experienced the test of war burst into tears.

The trenches were like hell on earth, with corpses and blood everywhere, and the entire trench was almost dyed red.

Based on experience, Yang Jihe could guess why this situation occurred. It should be that all the officers and soldiers of the sharp knife platoon were shooting at the river in the trenches. Even if the Japanese artillery fire came, they did not hide in the anti-gun holes in a hurry.

According to the probability, the chance of the shell falling into the trench was extremely low, but unfortunately, they were very unlucky this time.

At least two shells were impartial, falling into the trench of the sharp knife platoon one after another. Air waves and shrapnel swept through the trench of less than 120 meters, almost destroying the sharp knife platoon with 37 soldiers. The group is destroyed.

In the blood-red trench, there were only a few figures crawling with difficulty, pausing in front of each body, probably looking to see if their comrades were still alive.

"Go and mobilize two squads to hold this position for me, and carry those few down for me." Yang Jihe almost squeezed out this order from his back molars through gritted teeth.

Looking at the slowly approaching Japanese fleet on the river behind the gunpowder smoke, despair rose in the eyes of the usually tenacious infantry battalion commander.

"The Japanese army used gunboats, and our unit needs artillery support!" Rong You slightly's voice on the phone was hoarse.

"Fight for me. Each of the 1st and 2nd platoons will aim 50 rounds of incendiary bombs at the river to support the 190 brothers! The 3rd platoon will fight the Japanese artillery for me. According to the artillery coordinates sent by the reconnaissance company." Pang Panghai also ordered.

Suddenly, the eight extra mountain cannons used incendiary bombs to explode into a sea of ​​fire on the river. After a gunboat was hit, it burned blazingly in the middle of the river, and dozens of screaming people jumped from the boat into the water.

But this is obviously of no use. Severe burns will soon make them lose their strength and eventually drown in the water!

Another shell hit the stern of the "Hotsu", turning the more than 20-meter-long stern into a sea of ​​​​fire and blowing the two 25mm anti-aircraft guns installed at the stern into parts flying in the sky.

Dozens of Japanese sailors carried water pipes and worked desperately to put out the fire. Obviously, 6.5 kilograms of projectiles alone were not enough to pose a fatal threat to this armored gunboat.

However, the eight Bofors Mountain Cannons that fired incendiary bombs still posed a great threat to the Japanese fleet. They had to maneuver on the river and spread the formation more sparsely to reduce the number of Chinese artillery pieces that desperately counterattacked. threaten.

However, the 24 mountain guns deployed by the Japanese army on land still posed a huge threat to the 1st Battalion of the 190th Division on the river bank. The more than 400 officers and soldiers who did not have enough and could not retreat into the anti-gun holes could only gamble their luck in the 1.8-meter-deep trench. Artillery shells do not fall easily into trenches.

The suppressive firepower of the four guns of the mountain artillery battery of the Fourth Army Regiment Artillery Battalion was too weak, as Lieutenant Colonel Masi Kawai, then commander of the 2nd Artillery Battalion, 3rd Artillery Regiment, 3rd Division, standing in the fortification said: " There is no need to move positions, all the artillery of the Chinese have gone to attack the ships of the Maldives Navy. Gentlemen, please continue to let the Chinese tremble under the fire of our army! "

This time, the two artillery brigades of the Japanese army had already accepted the lessons of the previous two times and began to deploy their positions early in the evening. The distance between each artillery gun was more than 300 meters. Not to mention just 4 guns, even 40 guns were not necessarily How about their artillery position covering an area of ​​2.5 square kilometers.

As for the threat from the ground, are there any Chinese infantry here?

That can only be said that they still have little experience.

If they had asked the veterans in Tongguan, they would have known that the crazy Chinese dared to cross the surging Yellow River, let alone the Xiang River, which was no more than 600 meters wide?

In the darkness, at least more than 200 Chinese soldiers were crawling in the mud no more than 500 meters away from them.