readx; About five kilometers to the south of Xiangshan, there is a small hill called Zangshan Ji, the altitude is almost the same as that of Xiangshan, behind the mountain is a small lake with an area of several square kilometers, overgrown with dense reeds and wild grasses, and under the reeds and wild grasses is waist-deep silt, which is difficult to pass. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 After discovering that the Japanese army was coming to help, Ma Debi immediately retreated his troops to the Tibetan Mountains and Rocks to set up defenses, which were not only out of the range of naval guns, but also could threaten the enemy's flank at all times, making it an excellent blocking position. After the main force of the army landed, it launched more than ten attacks on Zangshanji, but without exception they were repelled by the defenders, and finally had to pin their hopes on the air force.

However, as soon as a dozen or so bombers of the Chinese army flew from the river, they encountered seven Chinese fighter-bombers flying from Wuhan, and the two sides immediately became entangled in the sky, and the deafening sound of gunfire and the roar of motors spread far in the air. After more than 10 minutes of air fighting, three Chinese Air Force planes were shot down and one was damaged, while the Yue Army lost seven planes. Seeing that the planes could not be counted on, the ground troops of the Yue Army again shifted their attention to the Changshan position east of Madang Fortress, hoping to break through the defenders' defense line from here.

Responsible for guarding Changshan was the 1st Battalion of the 1st Regiment of the 26th Division, and the battalion commander was Rongguang.

After the troops took over the position, he immediately commanded his subordinates to rush to repair the fortifications, focusing on repairing and reinforcing the original dozen reinforced concrete bunkers, and at the same time carrying out a comprehensive defense with a focus, depth, and core in accordance with the standards of the Sichuan army: The forward positions formed a tight crossfire network with light and heavy machine guns, equipped with mortars in important areas, and the artillery company directly under the battalion headquarters was deployed on the top of the hill to support the entire position at any time. Around the position, three barbed wire fences were laid in succession, a circular communication trench was built on the mountainside, more than 100 zigzag paratrooper pits were dug on the side facing the Yangtze River, and at the same time, all the trees and wild grasses that were convenient for the Japanese army to approach were burned to the ground, so that there was nothing to hide.

The 1st Battalion took advantage of the time when the army attacked Xiangshan to quickly build a complete defense system, but Rongguang still felt uneasy, so he personally took a squad of soldiers to the side of the Yangtze River at the foot of the mountain to inspect the terrain.

At this time, the sun had set, and the empty night sky was studded with stars, and the evening breeze blew, bringing bursts of the fragrance of rice flowers, and bursts of frog chirping sounded in the ears from time to time.

Glory led the warriors silently through the position to the rice fields at the foot of the mountain, and the frogs, which had been croaking endlessly, felt the approach of humans and stopped chirping. The group didn't go far before they noticed that the water in the rice field was getting deeper and deeper, and finally it was waist-deep. Rongguang suddenly remembered that a few days ago there had been a heavy rain, and the river had risen over the levees, turning the rice fields into lakes. In this way, if the Yue army chooses to attack here, it will definitely be difficult to move an inch! He hurriedly ordered the warriors to retreat to the foot of the hill and continue to reconnoiter to the north.

To the north of Changshan is a small lake called Taibai Lake, which is less than a meter deep when there is not much rain, and the bottom of the lake is a flat sandy area, which is convenient for troops to wade into. Rongguang originally planned to look at the depth of the lake after the rise and judge whether it was necessary to place a guard force here, but before he reached the lake, he suddenly found that all the frogs in the lake in front of him were quiet, and he hurriedly gestured to the soldiers to prepare for battle, and then turned his body sideways and listened to the sound in front of him.

There was a sound of rushing water from the lake, and when I looked intently, I saw several black figures walking out of the reeds, and Rongguang hurriedly pointed his pistol in front of him, and asked in a low voice: "Stop!" Password! ”

Several black shadows were obviously stunned for a moment, and then a thick Henan accent sounded: "Don't shoot, your own people!" ”

Rong Guang did not let his guard down, and with a wave of his hand, a dozen or so soldiers behind him spread out in a fan shape, quickly outflanking him, and the muzzle of the black hole pointed at the four men in the encirclement.

At this time, the man with a Henan accent said again: "You are [***] brothers, right? We are the Admiralty Mine-Laying Rangers! ”

Rong Guang stepped forward, carefully identified the opponent's military uniform by the faint starlight, and when he saw a huge torpedo behind the four people, he immediately knew the identity of the other party, hurriedly inserted the pistol back into the holster, and then motioned to the soldiers to put away the gun, and asked, "We are from the 26th Division." Are you really the Breeze Rangers? Why is it not in the Yangtze River, but you came here? ”

The man with a Henan accent replied: "I am Wang Jianfeng, the captain of the Navy's minelayer boat 223, and the night before yesterday I was laying floating mines in the river with the 093 boat, and the 093 boat was unfortunately entangled in the army's underwater blocking net and sank. After laying mines, our boat was discovered by the Japanese warships, shelled, and the speedboat ran aground on the riverside, so we had to push the only torpedo here and hide and wait for the opportunity to attack the Japanese warship again. ”

Rong Guang asked puzzledly: "Now that the speedboat is gone, how can you still launch torpedoes?" ”

Wang Jianfeng replied without hesitation: "We plan to push the torpedo directly from the river to the side of the enemy's warship, and then detonate it directly!" ”

Glory was shocked into a cold sweat: "You want to die with the enemy?" ”

Wang Jianfeng smiled miserably and said: "The gap between our navy and Yueben is too great, the large-tonnage ships have been lost, and even the minelayers are left. The army brethren are fighting bloody battles on the shore, how can we stand idly by! As the saying goes, 'if you are willing to cut your body, dare to pull the emperor off the horse', we must let the devils know that although the Chinese navy is poorly equipped, its heroic and tenacious spirit is no worse than that of any army, and anyone who despises us will have to pay the price! ”

Rong Guang looked at the resolute face of the naval officer, felt his heart fluctuate, and he couldn't help himself, he asked softly, "Is there anything you want my brother to help with?" ”

Wang Jianfeng smiled happily and said, "A few of us have been hungry for three days, so you can get some food, and you can be a full ghost!" Then he added embarrassedly, "It's better to have some wine!" ”

Rongguang hurriedly said: "No problem, this little brother can still help!" ”

Glory and the soldiers helped push the torpedo to the river, and then took a few naval brethren to the position for a feast. Before leaving, Wang Jianfeng said to several of his subordinates: "The geographical location of Taibai Lake is very good, now that the river is rising, you can directly enter the Yangtze River, which is very convenient for laying mines, you must send this information to the Admiralty, so that other brothers can directly transport mines from the land to the lake, so that you can avoid the planes and warships of the army!" ”

After speaking, he stood up, clasped his hands into fists, and said loudly: "Thank you, brothers, for your hospitality, and if you have the opportunity in the next life, you will definitely be invited to drink!" Then he strode out.

The glory was sent all the way to the river, watching Wang Jianfeng alone push a huge mine and drift downstream, and in the distance, dozens of warships of the naval fleet of the Navy were quietly parked on the river, and the searchlight on the bow of the ship scanned the nearby water surface from time to time.

Dozens of minutes later, a huge explosion was heard in front, and then a warship slammed its bow from the water, and then smashed heavily on the water with a raging fire, then tilted to the side, turned over, and quickly digested in the dark river water.

The whole fleet was awakened from its sleep, and the soldiers and officers hurried out of the cabins and ran to their posts, and immediately after, searchlights were turned on, illuminating the river near the fleet as if it were daylight, and the four machine guns mounted on the warships were lifeless to strafe suspicious targets in the river. Ten minutes later, the warships lifted anchor one after another and headed downstream, driving several dozen kilometers before daring to stop.

The next morning, the formation of the warships, which had been tossed all night, became more cautious, and successively sent more than a dozen motorboats to open the way in front of them, and only then did they dare to sail towards Madang Fortress.

The impatient army commander could not wait for the support of the navy, so he directly sent a brigade of infantry to form three assault groups, carrying heavy machine guns, and assaulted the Changshan infantry position from the mouth of Taibai Lake. As soon as the enemy entered the rice field, he immediately fell into the water half-cut into the water, and could only use one person to fire from the crane gun and shoot while advancing.

Rong Guang commanded the defenders of Changshan to block the attacking troops of the Yue army, and the light and heavy machine guns arranged at the front of the position opened fire together, the fire was extremely fierce, and the dense bullets flew like bees in the enemy group, and the Yue troops were shot and died, and the water was full of corpses and bloodstains. Unwilling to be defeated, the army invested two brigades in succession and launched four attacks in five hours, but under the stubborn resistance of the defenders, all of them returned in vain, leaving countless corpses in Taibai Lake.

Seeing that the infantry attack made no progress, the army had no choice but to dispatch more than a dozen warships again to carry out continuous artillery bombardment of the infantry position in Changshan. Every time the warship changed direction, the guns on one side of the battleship fired at the same time, and more than 100 shells rained down on the position, and the continuous explosions set off gunpowder smoke and flames in the sky. Some of the fortifications on the defenders' positions were destroyed, some fighters who did not enter the bunker in time were hit by shells, casualties began to increase, and the battle became very fierce.

After half an hour of shelling, the Yue army thought that the defenders had collapsed, and took advantage of the situation to attack Changshan again from Hudang, trying to break through the defenders' defense line in one fell swoop with the cover of strong firepower. However, the defenders met the attack with unprecedented heavy artillery shelling and dense machine-gun fire, announcing the army's error of judgment, and at the same time, dozens of corpses were added to the lake of Taibai Lake.

The weather suddenly became hot without warning, and as soon as the fiery red sun jumped out of the clouds, a thin mist rose on the surface of the river, and a layer of gray vapor that looked like clouds and not clouds, like fog and not fog, floated low in the air on the bare slopes on both sides of the river, and made people breathless. The trees, reeds, and weeds around the battlefield seemed to be seriously ill, their branches hanging listlessly, and their dusty leaves hanging languidly and motionless. There was not a single cloud in the clear sky, the wind had disappeared without a trace, and the banks of the Yangtze River fell into a deathly silence, except for the tireless flying and circling of flies on the blood-stained ground.

Last night, Gao Fei received a telegram from the headquarters that the follow-up troops led by the army commander had arrived in Pengze, and this news made him feel very happy and felt a sense of relief in his heart. However, after getting up in the morning, his right eyelid kept jumping, which was obviously a bad omen, and when he contacted the fact that Yue Jun had not moved for a whole day, Gao Fei immediately had a sense of foreboding in his heart!

Gao Fei successively made several telephone calls to Ma Debi, Madang Fortress, and the Changshan position, reminding him of the movements of the Yue army, and then picked up a telescope to carefully observe the movements of the Yue army fleet on the river.

At 8:30 a.m., 24 Japanese bombers flew toward Madang Fortress under the escort of seven fighters, and immediately afterward, dozens of ships anchored downstream simultaneously anchored and joined the attack.

The bombers flew and circled over the positions of the [***] squadron, constantly dropping heavy bombs and sulfur incendiary bombs, and the sound of violent explosions could be heard more than a dozen kilometers away. At this time, the anti-aircraft guns of the defenders began to counterattack, and the dense shells drew dazzling lights in the sky, constantly chasing the enemy planes. Fighter jets swooped down with a roar, a dense stream of machine-gun bullets hitting the rocks and sending strings of sparks. The gunners stood majestically in the face of the rain of bullets, aiming at the bombers and firing fiercely, one soldier fell, and his comrades immediately made up for it. In a short period of 10 minutes of air defense operations, the antiaircraft artillery battalion shot down and damaged one enemy plane, but lost an entire company of troops.

At the same time as the anti-aircraft guns and the fighters duel, the formation of warships entered the waters near Madang Fortress again, and then lined up on the river, hundreds of naval guns of various calibers began to fire at the same time, and the speed of six rounds per second poured steel and explosives on the position of the [***] team, at this time, the incendiary bombs dropped by the bombers were still able to raise flames several meters high. In the blink of an eye, the three positions of Zangshan Rock, Changshan and Madang Fortress all disappeared into the billowing smoke, accompanied by the deafening explosion The dazzling fire light pierced through the thick smoke like lightning, and the blue-gray shrapnel whistled and flew in all directions, cutting everything around.

The attack lasted for more than two hours, and the army fired a total of more than 40,000 shells, and the position of the [***] team withstood at least three shells per square meter, and the Changshan position, which was mainly attacked by the army, was completely overturned by heavy artillery fire, and the elevation of the top of the mountain was completely reduced by more than three meters; Three barbed wire fences were blown to pieces, and the fixed piles were burned to black charcoal, and green smoke continued to rise; Most of the traffic trenches built around the mountain were razed, and the rest were cut into isolated small sections; Eight of the telephone lines connecting the thirteen bunkers were blown up, and the battalion headquarters had only one and a half companies of troops under its direct command, leaving the soldiers to fight on their own.

At eleven o'clock, the army finally stopped shelling, and the position of the [***] team was empty, only the charred branches were still slowly emitting green smoke.

The 101st Division mainly attacked the Madang position, the Potian detachment and the marines pinned down the defenders of Zangshanji, and the 26th Division had just arrived from Huaining to reinforce the main attack, and their target was the Changshan position east of Madang. Having learned the lessons of the previous failures, the 26th Division abandoned attempts to make a detour behind its position and launched an attack directly from the river, and in the first wave of the offensive two squadrons were committed in the hope of breaking through the defenders' lines in one fell swoop. At the same time, just as a dozen motorboats transporting the attacking troops set off, the fleet began to shell the depth of the Changshan position to cover the landing of the troops.

The attack of the Yue army came suddenly and violently, which caught the squadron by surprise and suffered heavy losses, only three soldiers of a platoon of the defenders of Changshan who remained on the position survived, and a bunker was hit twice in a row by a 250-kilogram aerial bomb, and finally was hit by a 203-millimeter grenade fired by a warship, and none of the 20 or so soldiers hiding in it were spared.

Rongguang looked at the approaching motorboats on the river and hurriedly planned how to repel the enemy's attack: all the obstacles at the front of the position had been destroyed by the artillery fire of the army, and the enemy's attack troops could quickly advance to the front of the position after landing! The troops at his disposal were only more than 100 people, and it was difficult to withstand the offensive of the Japanese army under such heavy artillery fire from the enemy.

Glory used his fingers to sketch the location and position of several lost bunkers on the ground, and carefully analyzed them, at this time, a bold plan appeared in his mind!

Rongguang divided his 150-strong army into three battle groups, one group was responsible for defending the hilltop position, and the other two groups went around the hillside to the foot of the mountain and attacked from behind the army.

After assigning the task, he picked up the submachine gun, drilled out of the bunker, and stood at the exit of the tunnel, the artillery bombardment outside was still very fierce, and from time to time shells fell near the exit, and it seemed that it was not easy to pass through the enemy's artillery blockade.

Rongguang frowned, and after waiting for a while, he turned around and shouted, "Everyone, pay attention, do it like me!" After saying that, he hung his submachine gun around his neck, and took advantage of the gap between the enemy's shelling, jumped out of the trench, and rolled down the side of the hill without hesitation!

The soldiers followed his example, spotted the gap in the enemy's artillery fire, jumped out of the trench one by one, ran a few steps up the hillside, and then rolled down the slope.

I don't know how long it took, but Rongguang felt his head hit a rock hard, and the steel helmet made a crisp sound, and there was a feeling of dizziness in his head. He shook his head vigorously and moved his limbs, finding that despite the burning pain all over his body, he could still move his body freely.

The ravine was full of weeds more than a man high, and because it was in the dead end of the shooting, it unexpectedly survived. After Rong Guang and the others gathered more than a dozen warriors around him, he immediately crawled forward at full speed and approached the river.

After climbing for a while, there was a sudden shout of Iriwala in front, and the team immediately stopped.

Rong Guang bent his waist, quietly parted the weeds in front of him, and poked out half of his head to look ahead: more than a dozen motorboats had all docked, and the soldiers of the army kept jumping from the boats into waist-deep water and walking towards the shore. The early landed troops hurriedly set up simple machine-gun bunkers, and the infantry, under the command of the officers, quickly formed an attack formation, ready to start charging at any moment.

(To be continued)