Chapter 1515: Debut (Part 1)
Ever since he knew that the position in front of him was occupied by the Four-line Regiment, the commander of the 27th Division, Ochiai Jinjiurō, had been full of ambition.
He finally had a chance for revenge.
If we were to say which division suffered the most miserably at the hands of the Four-line Regiment on the battlefield in North China, I'm afraid no less than six Japanese divisions would come out and say that they were qualified.
Among them, there must be the 109th Division. Since this unlucky kid was stationed along the Chang-Han Highway, he and his unlucky brother the 108th Division were beaten to pieces by the Four-line Regiment. In the end, let alone whether to mop up or not, as long as the Four-line Regiment did not join the 683rd Brigade of the 80th Army to covet the county town where they were entrenched, they would have been very satisfied.
Even at the end, the 109th and 108th divisions were terrified by the Four-Line Regiment. They did not dare to hang some guerrillas or intelligence personnel who claimed to be led by the Four-Line Regiment at the city gate as before, and many of them were simply released.
The Four-Line Regiment was a devil to other divisions, but it was even more of a nightmare for the two divisions stationed closest to them!
Unfortunately, Ochiai Jinjiurō, who graduated from the Imperial Army Academy in 1914, served as the Colonel Chief of Staff of the 109th Division during the period he considered the darkest period of his life.
Can you imagine? An excellent imperial soldier who had served as the major battalion commander of the Shanhaiguan Garrison Army in China since 1934 and had always regarded China as fat meat, actually watched helplessly as a Chinese infantry regiment suppressed the imperial division and was unable to do anything. What kind of frustration was that?
But everything on the battlefield depends on strength. The 109th Division just couldn't win and would lose every battle. Even if it was frustrating, it had to endure it.
Fortunately, Ochiai Jinjiro had someone behind him. He only sank for a year in that extremely dark day before he was transferred to the position of senior staff officer of the Eastern Defense Force Command and then to the deputy director of the Central China Liaison Department of the Asia Development Board.
The Asia Development Board is a specialized agency responsible for handling the affairs of aggression against China. It is the commanding agency for Japan's economic aggression against China. The Japanese Prime Minister serves as the president, and the foreign minister, finance minister, army minister, and navy minister serve as vice presidents.
Because of this experience, Ochiai Jinjiro was promoted to the deputy chief of staff of the China Expeditionary Army General Staff two years ago, until he replaced Takeshita Yoshiharu as the acting commander of the 27th Division two months ago, and officially served as the division commander after being promoted to lieutenant general on June 10.
What Ochiai Jinjiro did not expect was that the first opponent he met as the division commander was the opponent who woke him up from nightmares countless times.
It was just a different time. This time, the Four-Line Regiment no longer had the rugged Taihang Mountains as a barrier, nor the 80th Army as a powerful friendly force to rely on. Instead, they had to face the siege of 100,000 imperial troops.
At this time, he was a lieutenant general division commander with 22,000 troops.
There is an old Chinese saying: cause and effect cycle!
So, the Japanese Army Lieutenant General, who was extremely excited but still remained calm, sent out 4 infantry battalions in the first attack.
Two infantry battalions were on the front battlefield of Huangchaling, with 2 infantry squadrons as one round, a total of four rounds, and launched an uninterrupted attack on the front battlefield.
An infantry battalion was deployed on each of the left and right wings of Huangchaling, and four rounds were also formed at the infantry squadron level to attack the two wings.
The firepower cover for them was 48 Type 92 heavy machine guns and 160 Type 96 light machine guns, as well as 16 infantry guns, 24 mortars, and 130 grenade launchers.
Of course, there were also the tank units that the Japanese army was most proud of, including 12 Type 97 tanks and 6 Type 95 light tanks belonging to the 13th Regiment of the 3rd Tank Division.
About 3,600 infantrymen rushed to Huangchaling from three sides, which looked like a group of locusts as Li Jiujin saw!
And just as Ochiai Jinjiurang thought, the strength of the Japanese was greatly enhanced at this time, but Huangchaling had already been completely changed after being hit by at least 1,000 heavy artillery, more than 20 heavy bombs and more than 4,000 other large and small shells.
The 3,000-meter-long artificial cliff collapsed in dozens of places, and the collapsed loess formed a slope that people could walk on at will. The deep trenches that buried 3,000 Japanese soldiers are now intermittent, and it is no longer possible to drive the Japanese infantry into the deep trenches and kill them wantonly by relying on these fortifications as before.
The positions are densely covered with craters of varying sizes. Many trenches supported by logs were collapsed by 150 heavy artillery, and even three 12.7mm heavy machine gun bunkers were hit by heavy bombs, leaving only a dark pit.
If Li Jiujin had not judged that the Japanese army would not take a short time to prepare for this artillery fire, and would not use infantry to launch a charge in a short time, and thus transferred most of the personnel and guns on the position to the reverse slope tunnel, the 10-hour artillery bombardment alone would have been enough to half-cripple the powerful 3rd Battalion.
Even so, the observation post still left on the front line lost 6 people and seriously injured 8 people, and they were still in the permanent fortifications that could defend against 105 howitzers, which shows how terrible the Japanese army's artillery preparation was this time.
To a certain extent, the defense of the fortifications at the Huangchaling position was less than half of the previous one.
Facing such terrifying firepower cover from the Japanese army and the round-by-round attacks of 3,600 infantrymen at one time, Li Jiujin, a veteran who had been in the army for almost 20 years, felt a little unsure.
This feeling was the first time since the Four-Line Regiment had completely established a foothold in Taihang Mountains.
At Zhangjiashan, Iwanaga Wang was on the front line. This time, the Japanese Army Lieutenant General once again prepared 15 infantry battalions with nearly 11,000 infantrymen.
To some extent, Iwanaga Wang was more eager to capture the position in front of him than Ochiai Jinjiurō, who had just arrived here.
After all, the humiliation deep in Ochiai Jinjiurō's heart was left five years ago. Time is a good medicine that can change any pain. Ochiai Jinjiurō, who has been rising in military rank, did not immediately bring up all 10 infantry battalions of his division and put them on the gambling table. It can be seen that although he also wanted to take the position in one wave, he still had some reservations.
For Iwanaga Wang, it was this position in front of him that swallowed up nearly 10,000 lives of his 116th Division in less than a month. This was a failure he had never experienced in his military career.
The Japanese Army Lieutenant General knew very well that if it were not for the Army Headquarters to avoid the temporary replacement of generals and continued low morale, he, the division commander, might have reported to the local government long ago.
If he wanted to stay in a good place after the war instead of returning to his homeland to retire, his only chance was to capture the southern position of the city and break through Hengyang City.
Therefore, Yan Yongwang chose to go all out and pulled all the main forces of the supplemented 116th Division to the front line, forming a terrifying 6-wave attack group, which could ensure that there would be continuous infantry attacks in front of the Zhangjiashan highlands within 2 hours.
Yan Yongwang didn't believe that there was any unit that could withstand such a high-intensity and large-scale infantry advance after a day of bombardment with large-caliber grenades such as 150 and 105.
Indeed, the highlands of Zhangjiashan were already devastated at this time. The bushes that originally covered the hillside had long been blown into pieces. Looking around, there was nothing but black.
The soil on the hillside had long been soft, and people walking on it could reach their ankles with loose soil!
The 10th Division deployed a total of 3 infantry regiments on the main positions of Zhangjiashan, Huxingchao and other fronts. The 28th, 30th and 31st regiments had a total of 6,300 troops. They lost more than 800 people in the artillery bombardment on this day, and the number of troops has been sharply reduced to 5,500, only half of the Japanese troops that are about to start attacking.
And there are only 30 heavy machine guns and 90 light machine guns for defense, and no more than 30 artillery of various types, which is far less than the 40 infantry guns, 40 mortars, more than 130 heavy machine guns and 290 light machine guns deployed by the 116th Division to cover the infantry charge.
It can be said that at this time, the Chinese soldiers on the southern position of the city had only more than 6,600 troops, and they were also behind the Japanese in terms of light and heavy firepower. Their only advantage was that they were high above and had trenches that had not yet collapsed.
At this time, the Hengyang Artillery Command was also stretched to its limits in the face of the Japanese army's three-sided attack on Hengyang. It had to put all its mountain and field artillery on the firepower support of the plains in the west and north of the city, leaving only the 32 Type 81 mortars gathered in the south of the city.
If an infantry division-level battlefield has 32 mortars for artillery support, it is definitely a very happy thing for a commander, but at this time, when Master Ge, who was at the division command, heard that there was no mountain and field artillery support, his face was full of bitterness.
"Get me Director Tang." Ge Youcai said in a heavy tone.
The artillery command could not be counted on, and Ge Youcai could only see if Tang Dao could help. Although the 12 mountain artillery of the Sixing Regiment was assigned to the unified command of the artillery command, the Sixing Regiment Artillery Battalion still had a heavy mortar company. Even if the 12 150 heavy mortars were distributed to Zhangjiashan, it would be a great help.
"The heavy mortar company cannot move. I promised Li Jiujin and his 3rd Battalion that whenever the Japanese army attacks with 3,000 infantry, the heavy mortar company's 12 mortars will fully support them with firepower." Tang Dao rejected the request of Master Ge on the phone, which was rare.
Ge Youcai's eyes were more bitter, but he knew that Tang Dao also had his own difficulties. The Japanese army in the direction of Huangchaling definitely deployed more than 3,000 troops, and the total strength of the 3rd Battalion of the Four-line Regiment in Huangchaling was only more than 1,100 people. The ratio of the forces of the two sides was 1:3, which was even greater than the ratio of more than 10,000 Japanese troops that his 10th Division faced.
If he were Tang Dao, he would definitely make such a choice.
"However, my artillery battalion just imported several new artillery pieces from the Americans before the war, but I have never been willing to use them. Today, the Japanese have invested heavily, so of course I can't hide them anymore. Since you have spoken, Division Commander Ge, I promise you that 9 guns and 6 rounds of salvos will attack the Japanese troops in the 6 positions from Zhangjiashan to Huxingchao.
However, this new artillery has poor accuracy. When reporting the coordinates of the artillery attack, it is better to be 300 meters away from our positions, otherwise it is easy to accidentally injure our officers and soldiers!" Tang Dao changed the subject and said.
"Thank you, Director Tang. I will request artillery support from your artillery battalion according to the real-time battle situation." Ge Youcai's eyes were bitter, and he tried to express his gratitude.
Although he finally got the promise of artillery support from Tang Dao, 9 small-caliber artillery pieces and 6 salvos could not be of much use. It was just better than nothing.
After hanging up the phone, Ge Youcai did not call Fang Xianjue. He knew the commander's personality well, and he also knew that the positions in the west and north of the city must be extremely difficult. Otherwise, he would not have chosen to place the 30 most powerful mountain and field artillery on those two battlefields when he knew that the Japanese army in the south of the city had deployed so many troops.
"Damn it! Let's do it! Tell Zeng Jing and other regiment commanders that Zhangjiashan is our graveyard. They should not be afraid of being alone when they die. As a division commander, I will never live in vain and will stay here with them." Ge Youcai, who was holding back his anger, threw his helmet on the table fiercely and issued a battle declaration for the 10th Division to fight to the end.
The second battle of Hengyang had just started for one day and it had reached a fever pitch.
The 3rd Division had more than 4,000 troops; the 27th Division had more than 4,000 troops; the 116th Division had more than 11,000 troops; and the 68th Division had more than 6,000 troops.
This was just the infantry. If the auxiliary arms such as artillery and armored troops were included, the Japanese army had deployed more than 30,000 troops in the attack at dusk on July 9.
This accounted for nearly one-third of the total Japanese troops besieging the city, but it was far more than the total Chinese troops.
The Hengyang Guard Regiment, which was originally responsible for the defense of the city, was forced to gather in the north of the city to serve as the reserve of the 3rd Division. The 2nd Battalion of the Four-line Regiment also arrived in the west of the city to serve as the reserve of the west of the city. The 1st Battalion of the Four-line Regiment and the Taihang Independent Company, which had completed their rest, had also assembled at Yanhui Peak, ready to support Zhangjiashan at any time.
On this day, the Hengyang Command was forced to use 90% of its strength under the heavy pressure of the Japanese army.
The first to enter the attack line were the 27th Division. There were still some machine gun bunkers on Huangcha Ridge, and the flames of the MG42 machine gun were still the nightmare of the Japanese infantry.
However, as an old rival of the Four-line Regiment, Ochiai Jinjiurang had already anticipated this. His response was not to let the infantry launch a "board charge". He knew that in front of this German-made high-rate machine gun, using military orders to drive soldiers to charge was undoubtedly suicide.
He moved almost all the infantry guns of the entire division to an area 1,300 meters away from the front line to cover the Chinese firepower points with artillery fire. He did not ask for this direct-aiming artillery to destroy those annoying machine gun bunkers, but only asked for continuous artillery fire to interfere with them and prevent them from shooting continuously, even if it was just to block their sight with gunpowder smoke.
As for those Chinese infantrymen in the trenches who had continuous firepower such as submachine guns and assault rifles, Ochiai Jinjiurang also played the routines of the Western battlefield.
Of the nearly 100 heavy machine guns he deployed on both wings, only one-third were direct fire, and most of them were projectiles at 1,000 meters away.
There was no need for accuracy, just relying on the large number of machine guns and using probability to kill Chinese soldiers in the trenches. Even if they could not kill them, they had to prevent Chinese soldiers from lying on the edge of the trenches and shooting at their own infantry without scruples.
These two moves are indeed useful. Facing the continuous bombardment of dozens of infantry guns, even if the bunker is strong enough to withstand the direct attack of the 70mm infantry gun, the flying shrapnel is not a joke, and the continuous thick smoke blocks the sight. It is difficult for the soldiers in the machine gun bunker to keep firing continuously.
Even if the soldiers in the trenches are not afraid of death, they will more or less be a little cautious about the Japanese army's rain of bullets thrown from a thousand meters away.
The casualties of the Japanese infantry at 300 meters away have been greatly reduced, and the speed of advancement has also increased a lot.
Fortunately, the Four-line Regiment is not a novice on the battlefield. Seeing that the Japanese are playing like this, they are not polite. All 60 mortars will meet with 3 80 howitzers to bombard the infantry artillery positions and heavy machine gun positions a thousand meters away, completely giving up the suppression of the infantry.
Smoke continued to rise from the forest where the Japanese army was located. In the 20 minutes after the battle started, the losses of the Japanese artillery and heavy machine gun positions actually exceeded those of the front-line infantry.
"Order them to continue to suppress the Chinese positions with firepower at all costs. This is the last desperate effort of the Chinese." After receiving the casualty report from the infantry artillery and heavy machine gun positions, Ochiai Jinjiurang's face remained cold.
He knew very well what kind of troops his opponent was. If they couldn't even fight back, then why did they suppress the two major divisions in the Taihang Mountains and hide in the county town?
To defeat such a terrible opponent, it is useless to have more people. This has been proved by the Imperial Army in the Taihang Mountains with several years and the blood of tens of thousands of Imperial soldiers.
It is necessary to use consumption!
Yes, it is to use the advantage of numbers and materials to fight a war of attrition!
No matter how strong the bison is, if its wounds are left bleeding, it will eventually fall down and become the lion's dinner.
If a complete Four-Line Regiment was here, even though Ochiai Jinjiurō was now the commander of the 27th Division, he would not have the confidence to win.
But here, there was only a part of the Four-Line Regiment, and he was fighting with a division of 20,000 soldiers. He had enough manpower and material resources to fight with the enemy.
Moreover, he was still waiting, waiting for the large-caliber heavy mortars of the Four-Line Regiment.
He knew that was the killer of the Four-Line Regiment. Only when that thing appeared could he force out the true strength of the Four-Line Regiment.
As the Japanese lieutenant general who wanted revenge wished, 12 150mm heavy mortars appeared, and shells fell on the battlefield, rising black smoke, and Japanese soldiers flew up from time to time with violent explosions.
However, compared with the overall width of the attack line of Huangchaling on three sides of 3,800 meters, the firepower of these 12 150mm heavy mortars was still too weak.
Ochiai Jinjiurō could fully afford this loss, and he could accept it even if 12 more mountain cannons were added.
Then, a strange howl suddenly sounded in the air. It was a sound that had never appeared on the battlefield. The sound was so loud that it suppressed the already extremely fierce gunfire on the battlefield.
The Japanese Army Lieutenant General looked up involuntarily and saw dozens of white traces flashing in the air, like the waves stirred up by a group of sharks swimming hard in the sea to fight for food.
What is that thing? The Japanese soldiers who were startled by the strange sight in the air and looked up had the same thought in their minds!
The next moment, dozens of white traces that cut through the sky slammed down to the ground.