readx; "Report, the new 37th Division is ordered to report!"

"The new 37th Division, along the line of Guandi Temple and Liujia Station, took the initiative to attack the Yue army. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info"

"Yes!"

With this order, in April 1940, the forces of six divisions, including the newly formed 37th Division, arrived on the frontal battlefield and joined the battle sequence.

The Battle of Zaoyi broke out!

On April 1, the 37th Division of the Chinese Army, as the vanguard of the main attack, first launched an attack on Wangfu Bridge. For two consecutive days, Lieutenant General Kenyoshi Hirata, commander of the division, was not in a hurry to commit his troops, but used all artillery fire and opportunities to help the battle to wantonly and indiscriminately bomb the positions of the defenders of Wangfu Bridge. For a time, there were 10 hilltop positions on the first line of Wangfu Bridge, and the smoke and dust were covered and the flames were soaring into the sky.

The inexperienced defenders, the officers and men of the 37th, 38th, and 39th Divisions of the Fourth Theater suffered heavy losses, and their positions were bombed into patches of scorched earth.

In the shelter department, Lieutenant General Kenyoshi Hirata held a telescope and observed the smoke and fire rising in the distance, with a fierce smile on his face. Behind him, the commander of the 22nd Wing, Tanaka Shengdao Osa, held the command knife on his waist in his hand, and he couldn't bear to be anxious: "General, charge!" The Chinese army had been smashed down by artillery fire. Losing the fortifications, the Imperial Army will pick them up like ducks. ”

The commander of the 226th Wing, Ichikawa Daisa, who was standing on the side, was even more impatient: "General, we don't need so many shells to deal with the people of China." Maybe it only takes one round of group bombardment and their souls will fly! I beg your Excellency, General, to allow my wing to attack immediately. ”

Hirata Kenkichi put down the binoculars, turned around, looked at the two tiger generals under him, shook his head and said, "Don't worry. If the Chinese army does not have artillery, it is necessary to let them see the power of artillery and let them know what modern warfare is. In addition, there is an old Chinese saying that you should remember: strike first. Now that I haven't played against them, I've already made them lose by five points. Isn't that a good thing?! ”

At this time, he turned to the commander of the artillery wing, Kuniga Daisa: "Kuniga-kun, the artillery is doing a good job, let's do it well!" Keep 2 bases of ammunition, and the rest will be sent to the positions of the Chinese people. ”

After speaking, he turned around and whispered to himself and to these officials under him: "Don't worry! The war has just begun, and I don't know how many attacks there will be in the future? After speaking, he raised his binoculars again and admired the black scenery composed of artillery fire in the distance.

Kenkichi Hirata's words, in fact, are only half of it. The reason why he did not launch the attack and only bombarded it with artillery fire was because he knew his troops too well. The 37th Division is a special type B division in the army, which first entered the Chinese battlefield, and its soldiers were not only composed of reservists, but also most of them were traders and clerks.

Lieutenant General Kenyoshi Hirata, who graduated from the Army University, served as the vanguard of the main attack for the first time in a major war, so he naturally did not want to see an unfavorable situation for the division. In this case, he will not be able to deal with Okamura Ningji or the military department.

Hirata's concerns soon became a reality on the battlefield. In the battle of Wangfu Bridge, the commanders of the Chinese defenders were not idle. Tanaka and Nagaichiro Daisa, who were full of ambition, soon felt trouble.

On 3 April, after two days of unprecedented heavy bombardment, the defenders stepped on scorched earth, relied on improvised bunkers, craters, and even dead bodies that had been urgently repaired, lowered the attacking troops to a distance of twenty or thirty meters, and fiercely counterattacked with light firearms such as infantry, machine guns, and grenades.

The army tried every possible way, but the troops just couldn't rush up.

In the afternoon, Tanaka, Chuanwa, Nagaichichuan and other wing commanders could not hold their breath, and came to the front of the position with red eyes to personally supervise the battle.

The scale of the offensive is escalating step by step, the focus of the main attack is becoming more and more concentrated, and the offensive and defensive battles between the two sides are becoming more intense and tragic.

The front-line position from the Qinhe River to the Wangfu Bridge, the battle was tense and changeable, which made people breathless. Rong Guang, who had just been transferred to the 37th Division as division commander, was under pressure that he had never felt before.

Fortunately, the 37th Division did not disgrace him. On 4 April, although the position had been blown upside down by the Japanese army, it was scorched earth. But it was still firmly controlled by the 37th Division.

At about 4 o'clock in the afternoon, Tanaka Osa of the Japanese army threw the main force of the 227th Wing and a brigade of vehicles attached to it into the front of the 37th Division and launched a new round of fierce attack.

The battle on the positions reached a fever pitch.

Under the personal supervision of Tanaka Daisa, the major, medium, and squad leaders of the army pressed forward one after another, and the Xueliang command knife deterred the soldiers of the army. A large number of soldiers poured into the breakthrough with the corpses of their comrades, and the position of the 116th Regiment of the 37th Division was in an emergency, and the regiment commander saw that the situation was critical, and made a desperate bet, and took the only remaining guard company around him to counterattack, and the two sides launched a fierce hand-to-hand combat. Tanaka Daisa's reserves were exhausted, and he could only watch as the attacking troops were knocked down. Anxious and angry, he swung his knife and slashed a second lieutenant squad leader who had retreated in a panic.

The position of the 37th Division was restored, and the glory breathed out as if it had survived a great disaster. In this battle, hundreds of corpses were abandoned, but the defenders also suffered heavy casualties. From the commander of the 1st battalion downwards, a total of five or six hundred defenders were killed. Glory looked at the fewer and fewer brothers, and his heart was not relieved, although he won again and again. He knew that if he fought so hard and passively defended his position, the position would eventually not be defended. After thinking about it, he sent a telegram to the corps for the first time.

On April 5, Tanaka led reinforcements to swoop down on the 37th Division's Wangfu Bridge position again and released a large amount of poison gas. The dull sound of explosions mixed with pale blue smoke suddenly descended on the defenders' positions like ghosts.

The Chinese defenders were caught off guard, and more than 100 people immediately fell to the ground with bruised faces. The forward positions were chaotic for a while, and crises were lurking.

In the rear headquarters, Rongguang saw that the situation was not good, and urgently ordered the 114th Regiment to withdraw and recuperate to counterattack the forward formation and counterattack the enemy who broke through. During the battle, the regiment commander was unfortunately shot and killed, the officers and men lost command for a while, their positions were loose, and they were afraid of poison gas, and the counterattack finally failed, and the [***] retreated to the main position. Tanaka Shengdao Osa fought hard for several days, and finally took the forward position of the defense of the [***] team.

The commander of the division, Lieutenant General Kenyoshi Hirata, decided that the Chinese defenders had reached the end of their strength, and without waiting for the rest and replenishment of the various wings, he once again strictly ordered all units to take advantage of the victory to attack. The Hirata Kenyoshi Nobomo Bridge has been blocked for nearly a week, and has been severely reprimanded several times by Commander Okamura Ninji. At this time, he was eager to expand the results and break the deadlock.

Kenyoshi Hirata miscalculated.

The 37th Division lost its forward position, but the ambushes on several hills were able to effectively support the defense of the main position. After learning the news that reinforcements were coming, Rongguang also made some adjustments to the troops, and almost all the reserves were transferred to positions. The main position of Wangfu Bridge is more complete in fortifications, more substantial in personnel, and more intensive in firepower.

The attack of Tanaka and Kawakuro United was like hitting a wall. The front was blocked, and on the flank, heavy machine guns and mortar shells of the 2nd Battalion of the 117th Regiment of the 37th Division rained down from the sky and landed in the formation of the army. The attacking army suffered heavy casualties and was routed backwards on the entire front.

Tanaka Sacred Way was defeated and returned, annoyed and angry. After replenishing the troops, he drew out a brigade and a squadron of about 800 troops and transferred to attack the land and the mountain ridge in an attempt to remove the flank threat. However, the threat of the 800 army land nunnery was not solved, but it was pressed by the mortars and light and heavy machine guns on the side of the chicken nest ridge on the mountainside and could not raise its head.

Zhong [***] seems to have played [***] gossip with the army, there are ambushes everywhere, and there is firepower everywhere. Tanaka Daisa was at a loss for a moment, and the officers and men were also greatly shocked.

One of the soldiers recorded the following passage in the chronicle: "During several attacks, mortar shells rained down from the sky from above, and the imperial army was greatly threatened, and the casualties were terrible. "Not long after, this soldier also returned to Dongying under the fire. His account became the best evidence to record the battle.

On April 6, under the repeated urging of the commander of the Hirata Kenyoshi Division, Tanaka Osa personally led his troops to storm the position of the [***] team, and was killed on the spot by the [***]. There were few officers and men left in his wing, and the offensive came to a standstill.

At the same time, the Chinese defenders in other positions also thwarted Hirata's attacks with stubborn defenses and ferocious counterattacks. Hirata Kenyoshi fought hard for more than 10 days, and his wing commander was killed and wounded 1 and 2 wounded, hundreds of officers were killed and wounded, and thousands of soldiers were killed.

After the battle of Wangfu Bridge, the officers and men of the 37th Division of the Chinese Army suffered heavy losses.

In mid-April, the commander of the 11th Army, Lieutenant General Okamura Ninji, came to the Yichang front.

Yichang, for him, the commander of the corps, - is not the place to stay. It is only a few dozen kilometers away from the front-line battlefield, and the rumbling artillery in front can be faintly heard at night, and there are often companies and battalions scattered near Yichang. But Okamura Ninji didn't take these things seriously. This is his professional habit, every time there is a big war or a vicious battle, he always has to run forward, and he likes to look at the position. He loved to listen to the rumbling of gunfire, which was exciting, and he also liked to smell the slightly pungent smell of gunsmoke.

Okamura Ninji is in Yichang today and that's not all

In the temporary command post in Yichang, Okamura Ningji stood at the table with a gloomy face, motionless. His chief of staff and several section and division chiefs were restless in the outhouse. For more than 10 consecutive days, the commander has been in a bad mood. Okamura, who had always been resolute and moody, had yelled at his staff officers in the military headquarters a few days ago, which had never been done in the past, and the chief of staff, who had always been by his side and participated in the entire preliminary battle, knew his commander's troubles.

Lieutenant General Okamura Ninji was distressed and anxious because the attack had been frustrated and the main force had been unable to assemble for a long time.

Since late March, roads, bridges, stations, and wharves east of Yichang have been filled with chaotic marching processions. There was nothing wrong with the route of advance and the deployment of the advance drawn up by the headquarters of the 11th Army, and this chief of staff knew best. However, the poor march roads, the annoying rain, the laborious and time-consuming river crossing, and the chaos of logistics and supply seemed to be deliberately unable to get along with Okamura Ninji's hundreds of thousands of troops.

Complaints and negative morale began to emanate among the troops, which was clearly taboo before the war. For this reason, the chief of staff had suggested that the troops should be allowed to rest for a few days so that they could adjust the chaotic logistics and supplies. But Okamura refused, and his attitude was very resolute: "There must be no pause!" Moreover, the troops should accelerate the concentration of troops in Yichang. On the Yichang side, the Chinese army must not be allowed to have a chance to breathe. ”

Okamura Ninji is an authentic professional soldier. He knew that if he gave Zhong [***] one more day, the difficulty of his attack would be one point higher, and the cost of casualties would be one point greater. At present, it is said that the army is difficult, and Chiang Kai-shek in Yucheng is also difficult, and the military hard-fought contest is not only more than strength and wisdom, but to a certain extent, it is more than will.

But he hurriedly invested in Songpu, the B division, as the vanguard of the main attack, and it cannot but be said that he was defeated. The initial battle was frustrated, and Okamura Ninji calmed down. At this time, he understood that this place was no better than any previous battle, and the elite divisions of the Kuomintang in front of him who had defeated him were definitely different from those [***] teams he had encountered before. If this powerful force is not destroyed, it will be a nightmare in the future.

The impasse on the southern front must first be broken.

On April 12, Okamura Ninji ordered Vice Admiral Eitaro Uchiyama, who had just arrived, to lead his 13th Division, under the cover of the navy, to force a landing in the Harako area and attack in a roundabout way.

Okamura Ninji is worthy of being a master of battle and tactics. The roundabout attack can not only break the deadlock in the Wangfu Bridge area of the Hirata Kenji Division, but also directly copy the rear road of Gao Fei's 1st Corps. If this move can be successful, the positions painstakingly managed by Gao Fei's 12 divisions will be loosened on the whole line, and they will have to abandon their positions and move westward. This move is obviously more clever than directly relieving the siege of Hirata Kenyoshi's division.

The ace of the army, Okamura Ningci, relied on his superhuman strength and pointed the spearhead directly at the young warrior Gao Fei. As soon as the two trump cards collided, sparks burst out.

On the 21st, after the Sasaki Brigade of the Uchiyama Division finally captured Harako, it turned to Qiankou and Anlong without stopping. Goofy, who is not leaking, has long been prepared for this. The 26th Division and the 2nd Temporary Division, which were deployed in this area, attacked as soon as they saw the opportunity, dragging more than 10,000 men and horses of the Sasaki Brigade on the way. The two sides attacked and defended up and down the mountain, fought desperately, and fell into a melee.

Seeing this, Uchiyama Eitaro immediately transferred the first part of the Saeda Brigade to storm the southeast and flank the Chinese defenders.

The earth, in the blink of an eye, was annihilated by the rumbling guns and shouts of killing, and trembled in the light and blood shadows of the sword.

On the outermost edge of the southeast, there are two mountains standing beside the highway, overlooking the highway, just like two sharp teeth in the tiger's mouth. The 13th Division of the Uchiyama entered Anlong in the west, and it was necessary to take the two mountain ridges, east and west.

As a result, a difficult, protracted, and fierce battle arose in the east and west of the lonely mountains. This battle even decided the future war.

The first to attack the East Ridge was the Sasaki Brigade, which was blocked at its feet. Subsequently, the scale of the fierce battle became larger and larger, and more and more troops were invested. Two days later, the commander of the Uchiyama Eitaro Division found himself in a difficult situation.

The predicament of the 13th Division is most clearly seen from the fate of the 65th Yamaki Wing, the "fierce general" of the division.

The commander of the 65th Wing, Yamaki Kiyoyuan Dazuo, was fierce and cunning, and his ferocity and flexibility enjoyed a good reputation in the Central China Army, and the commander of the Central China Front Army, General Tian Junliu, gave Yamaki the title of "fierce general" for this. It was with this honor on his back that Yamaki eagerly threw himself into the attack.

On April 23, Lao Hei's 26th Division withdrew to Dongguling after annihilating the advance guard of the Shanmu Wing. Yamaki was annoyed and angry, and led thousands of officers and soldiers to reluctantly. But when they chased to the front line of Qiankou and Liujia Station, the first division of the 26th Division suddenly came out. The Yamamu Wing was caught off guard, with heavy casualties, and more than 3,000 people of the Wing were tightly entangled by the two divisions of the Medium [***] and could not get out.

Seeing this, the commander of Uchiyama Eitaro's division gasped, and hurriedly drew out a brigade of more than 500 people from the reserve to attack the defenders' flank, which made the Yamaki Wing cross the front entrance and Liujia Station. But for Yamaki, the nightmare has just begun.

On April 26, Yamaki Osa was ordered to advance south, but was suddenly ambushed by the temporary 2nd Division. Yamaki hurriedly adjusted his deployment and made a frontal feint with 2 squadrons, while the main force went around to the flanks and began to counterattack on the whole line, but it was like a large barracks of the defenders, and there were no weaknesses everywhere. From early morning to evening, Yamaki didn't even bother to eat, and organized 5 large-scale charges one after another, but they were all repelled by the 8th Regiment of the 2nd Provisional Division commanded by Xie Yi. The offense is at a loss.

The commander of Uchiyama's Eitaro Division was anxious, and ordered Yamaki to adjust his deployment overnight, and he must overcome the defenders' positions on April 28 and advance to Dongguling.

The commander of the Sasaki Brigade was also restless, and transferred 1 brigade of reinforcements to Yamaki Osa.

On April 28, as soon as the sky was light, Yamamu, who had not closed his eyes all night, organized infantry and artillery coordination, transferred reinforcements, and stormed the position of the 8th Regiment. The fierce fighting burned the scorched earth all over the ground. Regardless of the casualties, the army stepped over the dead bodies all over the field and rushed upwards wave after wave. During the battle, the regiment commander, Colonel Liang Zhengguang, was shot and martyred, and the remaining five or six hundred remnants of the regiment finally could not withstand the onslaught of Shan Mu's suicide surname and lost their positions.

Yamaki finally breathed a sigh of relief. He hurriedly ate some dried chestnuts and cold rice balls, drank a few sips of spirits, and led his troops to Dongguling.

On Dongguling, Xie Yizheng, the commander of the 2nd Division, led the remaining officers and soldiers of the division, waiting for Shan Mu, an old opponent, with red eyes. Liang Zhengguang's death had completely dispelled his idea of giving up Shanmu. During the combat mobilization, he just said to his officers and soldiers in a dumb voice: "Brothers, Regiment Commander Liang is watching you down the mountain now, you know how to fight!" ”

On the Lushan Mountain, where the cannon roared, the roar of thousands of officers and soldiers of the 2nd Division reverberated with anger: "Destroy the mountain and avenge Commander Liang!" ”

Since the morning, Yamaki has launched nearly 10 attacks, but the defenders have held their positions and will not retreat.

He felt like he had hit a hard wall, never surmountable. Looking at the fewer and fewer officers and soldiers under his command, his heart sank.

On the 29th, Yamaki's 15th attack was repulsed, and he could no longer be reserved. After hesitating for a long time, he still grabbed the phone and directly asked the head of Uchiyama Eitaro's division to ask for reinforcements.

Uchiyama Eitaro is unable to protect himself at this time, and there is no soldier in his hands to adjust. Facing the troubled Yamaki, he sighed and said the last sentence: "Yamaki-kun, the division is powerless, you can do it yourself." I only hope you don't disgrace the title bestowed on you by your commander! ”

Putting down the phone, Yamaki felt that the world was spinning. At this moment, a fire burst from the bottom of his heart, he unbuttoned his clothes, drew his war knife with a "bang", and rushed to the mountain with the remnants of three or four hundred people like crazy. In a dense burst of gunfire, Yamaki fell to a pool of blood with several bullets in his body, ending his dream of being an imperial warrior!

So far, the 65th Wing of the Chinese Army has been completely annihilated by the Chinese defenders!

(To be continued)