readx; From the time Company Commander Zhou served as the battalion commander, in less than two hours, the army's attack was already the third round. Pen ~ fun ~ Pavilion www.biquge.info wave after wave of devils are constantly devouring the lives of the living soldiers around him, seeing that there are fewer and fewer brothers around him, the freshness of the so-called battalion commander of Company Commander Zhou is no longer gone.

"No, we have to find a way, I can't fight with them when the devils come!"

"What can you do, company commander, you see, we used to use grenades to bombard his son of a bitch, but now the number of grenades is getting smaller and smaller, but the devils are endless, and batch after batch comes!" Soldier Zhou Kang sneered.

"Then what do you say, wait for death!" Company Commander Zhou replied to him angrily, and suddenly came to his heart: "I forgot, in the future, all grenades can't be thrown indiscriminately, gather them, and give them all to the fool alone!" ”

The fool's bullet was accurate and far, and the strength was great, and it happened that most of the people were already hungry at this moment, so Dole handed the grenade to the fool: "Those of us who don't have grenades, let's fight with the devil with bayonets when the bullets run out, so as not to waste food and rob the brothers of their lives." There was a sense of desolation in the ridicule of the soldiers, these men saw the brothers around them fall one by one, and everyone understood that they would lie in this Hengyang City at some point, but sooner or later.

"In order to give full play to the power of the grenade, dig a foxhole for me outside the position, to be able to effectively drop the bomb and get as close as possible to the large crater of the whole battalion's position, soon, I will let our fool's grenade blow up the devil's guts!" Company Commander Zhou clearly had tears in his eyes when he said this, two hundred masters pinned such a glorious task on a mentally abnormal person, how cruel it was, but they had no choice.

"Fool, you have to remember that the devil will drop bombs as soon as he approaches the effective distance, because your position is not with us, once the grenades run out, you must quickly find a way to get close to us, don't fall in love!" Lian Commander Zhou repeatedly told him, he found that the fool did not have any expression on his face, but he did not smirk as usual, he even wondered, could it be that the fool also began to think at this time?

The devil's attack came as soon as it was said, and the fool squatted motionless in the foxhole, seeing the devil soldiers rushing towards the [***] position like a tide, and one by one the butts were facing him but he was unconscious, and the fool's face showed a smile.

"Blow you up, blow you up!" The fool's mind gradually came up with the scene of the villagers being slaughtered by the devils a few months ago, the old man was crying, the children were crying, the fool's grenades flew towards the enemy group with full anger, and the dense grenades were scattered like a torrential rain, far and accurate, and the devils within a radius of 100 meters were blown up to the point that the ghosts cried wolves, and there was no room to fight back.

"Fools, beware, beware of the devil's machine guns!" In the scuffle, Company Commander Zhou's shouts rang out, but the fool turned a deaf ear.

"Hehe, it's out of bullets, and the grenades are running out soon!" The fool held a few remaining grenades in his hand, but he didn't dodge or dodge, and looked at the group of devils around him with a smile on his face.

"Damn, don't you want to live, come back, withdraw!" Over there, the company commander Zhou was shouting, but the fool rushed into the enemy group with a grenade high: "Kill the devils, I will kill a few more devils" The last sentence was not finished, and with a bang, the grenade in the fool's hand exploded, and the person had disappeared.

"Kill!" The death of the fool aroused the fighting spirit of the Chinese defenders, and hundreds of Chinese soldiers began to fight back without their lives, and the devils did not expect that the Chinese defenders, who seemed to be dying, still had such fighting spirit, and this round of attacks finally stopped again in a burst of bloodshed.

The second round of the general offensive ended in a rain of blood.

Hengshan Yong, commander-in-chief of the 11th Army, rushed to Hengyang from Changsha, looking at the ruined and broken city, how could he not believe that it took nearly 100,000 elite imperial troops to be firmly stuck in such an unknown small place for a month, which was like a huge black hole, devouring his war machine and his dreams.

"If you can't take Hengyang anymore, the commanders above the division level will collectively disembowelment outside Hengyang City!" The words of Dian Junliu were still in his ears, which made Yokoyama Yong decide to make a desperate bet and sweep Hengyang with the absolute superiority of five and a half divisions, and the third round of general attack will begin in a new round of blood rain.

"Your Excellency Commander, the 74th Army and other units of the Central [***] Brigade are approaching me, the 5th Army is also ready to move, and two of the four main forces of the Yucheng Army are disturbing me!" The senior staff member reported to Isamu Yokoyama: "Do you organize troops to block it!" ”

"No need, the defenders of Hengyang are too stubborn, and if they don't comprehensively solve the defenders of Hengyang, I, I, I, I, will not be able to explain to the emperor, let alone His Excellency Hideki Tojo, Hengyang has become the first obstacle that affects the popularity of our emperor's [***], and I must do my best to deal with Hengyang!"

"Hey, but how to deal with the Chinese reinforcements!"

"Leave him alone!" Isamu Yokoyama waved his hand in a contemptuous tone: "At present, except for the Hengyang defenders, any squadron [***] is not in my eyes!" ”

The people of Jiwo Mountain in the suburbs of Hengyang shouted joyfully, and the 58th Division of the 74th Army, known as one of the four main forces, approached Hengyang with difficulty, and Qiu Yaodong, deputy chief of staff of the 74th Army, raised the telescope and looked at Hengyang for a long time, and sighed: "It's all like this!" ”

"Senza, do you want to get in touch with the defenders right away?"

"Brother Zhong Lin, what do you think?" Qiu Yaodong did not answer the questions of his subordinates, but directly asked the battlefield commander at the time, Zhang Lingfu, the commander of the 58th Division.

"Commander Fang's situation is in danger now!" Zhang Lingfu sighed meaningfully.

"Yes, Hengyang has been fought like this, in a sense, it is unbearable to fight anymore! But-" Qiu Yaodong paused: "My 74th Division of the 58th Army has lost more than forty percent of our troops in order to Hengyang, and we are currently the only defender close to Hengyang, but in a sense, we can become the second Hengyang defender at any time!" ”

"You mean"

"Brother Zhong Lin, emotionally speaking, we really need to get in touch with Hengyang and help prevent Hengyang, but do you know why only my 58th Division is approaching Hengyang now?" Qiu Yaodong looked at Zhang Lingfu meaningfully.

"May I hear and teach!"

"If you can't do your best, you don't do your best!" Qiu Yaodong smiled: "On the eve of the commander of the Fang army guarding Hengyang, he had just experienced the Battle of Changde and had time to make up for it in the future."

"Yes, Commander Fang should say that it is really benevolent and righteous to my 74th Army! Rescue Changde as the most powerful teacher! ”

"But after all, he rescued the 57th Division, not Brother Zhong Lin, your 58th Division!"

"Once you enter Hengyang, the 58th Division is about to become the second Hengyang defender!" Qiu Yaodong sighed: "According to reliable information, the army has now launched five and a half elite divisions to destroy Hengyang, and one or two divisions will join Hengyang to assist in defense, in my opinion, the outcome will not be different." ”

Zhang Lingfu was speechless for a long time.

"Then how should we explain to Hengyang, how to explain to the chairman!" Zhang Lingfu muttered to himself.

"There is no need to explain anything, how can Brother Zhong Lin not know the truth that the law does not blame the public, my 58th Division can still lose thousands of troops to the suburbs of Hengyang, and the hundreds of thousands of troops of other troops are not itching in their boots, this matter The 62nd Army has learned from the past, we only need to learn from the 62nd Army to retreat the whole army, and send a message to the Hengyang defenders, which can be regarded as encouraging and encouraging the soldiers defending the city!"

Zhang Lingfu was in a heavy mood, he knew that what Qiu Yaodong said was not unreasonable, but he also understood the truth of shooting the first bird, so why did he want to be the first bird to rescue Hengyang, he didn't want his troops to become the second Hengyang defender.

As early as July 24 and August 4, in order to encourage the strong men who defended the city, the chairman of the committee successively awarded the Qingtian and Baiyue Medals to Ge Xiancai and Zhou Qingxiang, hoping that they could make persistent efforts and continue to create greater brilliance, but the people in Hengyang have become numb to everything, and the unattainable reinforcements are their greatest desire.

"Good news, Throne!" Chief of Staff Sun Mingyu squeezed out a smile on his face, hunger and fatigue had already made this chief of staff with a military temperament weak.

"yes, good news again!" Fang Xianjue also forced himself to smile: "Which reinforcement is this time?" ”

"74th Army!" A trace of sincerity flashed on Sun Mingyu's face: "I think, they should really be reinforcements!" ”

"Is it the 74th Army, it has been confirmed that it is the 74th Army?"

"Yes, it's really the 74th Army, the 58th Division of the 74th Army, under the leadership of Commander Zhang Lingfu, finally approached Hengyang after tenacious fighting, and has now reached Jiwo Mountain!"

"The 58th Division has arrived at Jiwo Mountain?" Fang Xianjue's face was overjoyed, but then it dimmed again: "Why not Yu Chengwan's 57th Division!" ”

"I think there may be many reasons, but the 74th Army is known as the 35th Army, the combat effectiveness of the three divisions is not weak, and the relationship between divisions is also quite harmonious, no matter which division should be the same!"

"But when it is said that in Changde, it is his 57th Division that is rescued by the 10th Army!" Fang Xianjue was faintly a little uneasy: "Anyway, let's send a team out to connect!" ”

"Which troop will you send?"

"Do you need to say?" Fang Xianjue shouted, "Guard! ”

Pingzi got up from his sleep - during this time, Fang Xianjue told him to sleep more if he was fine, maybe it would be difficult to sleep in the future.

"Whoa!" Hirako arrived neatly dressed.

"You hurry to the special agent camp and order Battalion Commander Cao to take people to Jiwo Mountain to meet the reinforcements!"

"Reinforcements are here again!" Hirako was a little unconvinced.

"Cheer up, move fast!" Although Fang Xianjue didn't believe in the so-called reinforcements, this was a hope after all.

What happened to Battalion Commander Cao was almost the same as last time, they didn't see a single figure in Jiwo Mountain, and even when they turned back, they didn't know how to report to the commander.

"Chief of Staff!" Battalion Commander Cao directly found Sun Mingyu this time.

"Is it up to the end again?" Sun Mingyu seemed to have expected it: "What should be said is still to be said, report to the military seat, there is no time to hide it." ”

"Chief of Staff, it's still okay to break through now!" Battalion Commander Cao sighed: "My more than 100 brothers still have no one to sacrifice, and there is not much difficulty along the way. ”

"Got it, I'll immediately convene all the division commanders to discuss!" Sun Mingyu smiled bitterly.

Then a meeting was held in the office of the Chief of Staff without the presence of the commander.

"Guys, what is the current attrition of the troops?" Sun Mingyu seemed to ask knowingly.

"The troops have not been formed for a long time, because it is the main attack point of the devils, my troops have lost more than ninety percent, and the 8th and 9th regiments have been slightly better after they came in, but there is almost no one on the position at present!" Commander Ge of the Tenth Division had a deep voice: "I can't fight for long." ”

"I'm not much better there, there is a huge defensive line on the Western Front, I currently have a 7th regiment, and the loss is more than 7 percent, and there are few people!" Zhou Qingxiang, the commander of the Third Division, sighed: "Actually, according to what I mean, we should have broken through a long time ago!" ”

"Yes, we're no better!" The commander of the 190th Division, Rong Youluo, and the commander of the 54th Division, Rao Shaowei, have the number of the so-called division, but from beginning to end, the combined strength of the two is only one regiment, especially the 54th Division has only one division headquarters, and its strength is less than one battalion.

"Break through, we have no choice but to break through!" Zhou Qingxiang continued to propose: "The military seat, then we will do the work together, it is obvious that if we do not break through, the whole army will be annihilated, can you bear it, bear to watch the number of the Tenth Army disappear in the hands of our people." ”

"But the military seat will not agree, after following him for so many years, no one knows him better than me!" Ge Xiancai sighed: "The military seat will never do anything to abandon the wounded soldiers, let alone nearly 10,000 wounded soldiers!" ”

"Yes, every time he says that he wants to kill more devils, one for two, according to me, in fact, this is a last resort, the devils don't give us a way to live, we can only fight with the devils to the end, but do we really have to go to the point of annihilation of the whole army!" Sun Mingyu smiled bitterly: "The soldiers of the Ten Armies are all waiting for you to give them a way to live, we can't show them a dead end!" ”

"So what do you say, what do you do?"

Everyone at the scene fell into deep thought.

August 3rd, midnight.

The sky in Hengyang after the rainstorm is dark.

Hengyang, which had experienced the baptism of war, was crowded with dense figures, and fighter planes flew over Hengyang in batches one after another, followed by earth-shaking explosions.

This round of bombardment was more fierce than ever, nearly 100 fighters above, and countless heavy artillery pieces were assembled below, and after the bombing of the planes, 10,000 artillery bombardment began, and then the army began to attack Hengyang in an all-round way with 5 and a half divisions and more than 100,000 absolutely superior troops.

As for the effect of this attack, the "History of the War" recorded: "It is expected that within one day, this city will be captured, but the enemy's defending general, General Fang Xianjue, is the No. 1 brave and good tiger general, and the three divisions of his 10th Army are all determined to die, stubbornly resisting, and every inch of land must be defended, and his spirit of fighting in a lonely city is really admirable." The first time I tried to attack with all my might, I was forced to fail again. During the fierce battle for more than 40 days, not a single soldier of the enemy surrendered to us, which is really a rare news since the war. ”

The heavy artillery bombardment of the Yue Ping Mountain position destroyed all the bunkers, trenches, and barbed wire, as well as the village houses on both sides of the high ground, and the wooden fences in front of the position. However, at this moment, a change is quietly taking place in the positions of the Chinese defenders.

Just when the army thought that the defenders had all been killed, they rushed to charge. Dense gunfire rang out in the pond in front of the position, and the gunfire was close to the water, killing and wounding the Japanese army to death. The artillery observers of the army repeatedly reconnoitred and surveyed, but failed to discover the location of the infantry firing point of [***]. And these bullets fired against the water continued to frustrate the infantry. The artillery had no choice but to re-bombard the [***] pillboxes, bunkers and other fortifications that had been blown up. As a result, it was still impossible to clear the firing point of the [***] team, and once the attack began, it would be like a storm on the water, and the charging soldiers were shot and fell to the ground.

Could it be that these bullets were fired from the water? The army was puzzled.

By August 5, Lieutenant General Iwanaga Wang, commander of the 116th Division, had discovered through his telescope that there was a depression on the east side of the pond at the foot of Yueping Mountain, so he ordered artillery to bombard the embankment by the pond. The heavy artillery wing of the Yue army fired 30 shells in rapid bursts, blasting a large gap in the embankment, and the water in the pond dropped rapidly to expose the wide bottom of the pond. Therefore, he learned a lesson, lowered the front line of the front position on Yueping Mountain to the same level as the edge of the pond, reduced the upper and lower amplitude of the gun holes, covered it with paved stones, and cleverly concealed it with a wooden fence, and successfully avoided the ground-air artillery fire of the Japanese army.

"The Chinese army, cunning and cunning!" Iwanaga couldn't help but marvel.

This is the "surface fortifications" that caused heavy casualties to the Yue army in the defense of Hengyang, these fortifications were built at the forefront of the battlefield, when the Yue army charged in front of the "water fortifications", [***] soldiers shot in concealment, and the attacking Yue army had nowhere to hide, and this "surface fortification" in front of the Guangyue Pingshan position killed no less than 500 officers and soldiers. Such a "surface fortification" guard is the same principle as a machine-gun bunker and a foxhole, but in fact it is a ruined boat, just such a big butt-sized place, waist-high water, and the soldiers guarding it have to sneak in quietly in the dark night in advance, and if the battle is not fierce during the day, they have to stay in it and remain motionless, and only suddenly attack when the army attacks.

On the western front, most of the positions in the northern half of Wuguiling of the 8th Regiment of the 3rd Division were lost, and Jiang Zhuguo, the commander of the 3rd Battalion, was seriously injured and did not retreat; Regiment commander Zhang Jinxiang ordered Su Zhuo, commander of the 2nd Battalion, to lead the remaining 60 people of the battalion to rush into the enemy position and restore the position. However, Su Zhuo died heroically in the counterattack.

The positions of Jielong Mountain and Yueping Mountain, which were held by the 28th Regiment of the 10th Division, were the places where the heavy artillery shells of the Chinese army were most intensively bombed, and the fortifications were completely destroyed. In order to avoid suffering too many casualties caused by the artillery bombardment, regiment commander Zeng Jing commanded three battalion commanders to lead the troops to give up part of their positions, and when the Yue army was halfway in, they first exploded with grenades, and then loaded bayonets, launched a counteroffensive, and drove the Yue army out of their positions. When the fierce battle was in full swing, the headquarters of the 3rd Division retreated and passed near Yueping Mountain. Division Commander Zhou Qingxiang personally led the engineer company of the division headquarters to assist in the counterattack at the critical moment. Seeing this, the officers and men of the 28th Regiment were even more courageous, recaptured their positions in one fell swoop, and quickly restored the fortifications destroyed by the Japanese army, and waited for the battle.

The positions of Tianma Mountain and Xichan Temple, which were guarded by the 3rd Division and 9th Regiment, were also among the positions with the most fierce fighting. The army pushed more than 30 cannons to a place only 200 meters away from the position and fired at close range. Under the heavy artillery bombardment, the attacking troops entered and exited several times, and all the officers and men of the 6th Company of the 9th Regiment were killed, and only more than 30 people of the 3rd Division's search company were still guarding the position. The first line of positions from Yanglin Temple to Yilai Street defended by the 7th Regiment of the 3rd Division was mostly mud and ponds formed by the release of water. It is said that the army is inconvenient to attack. However, in the third general attack, more than 200 people of the Yue army broke into Yilai Qianjie. Under the leadership of Commander Ju Zhenhuan, the defenders fought a fierce battle with the enemy, fighting each other in short combat, fighting to the death from house to house, and finally annihilating the incoming army. Battalion commanders Hou Shude and Wang Jinding were seriously wounded, and there were only more than 100 people left in the 7th Regiment.

Two days passed, and although the army made little progress, the general offensive suffered setbacks at every turn. However, after more than 10 days of attrition, the remaining combat strength of the 10th Army was basically exhausted. By the end of the battle on August 5, the positions and fortifications of the 10th Army had been destroyed by the artillery and air firepower of the army, and they could no longer be repaired. The 10th Army had become an empty shelf, and many companies existed in name only, with only three or five men remaining. Seeing that the ammunition was depleting day by day, the soldiers were being killed and wounded one by one, and there was no news of reinforcements, Fang Xian felt that he couldn't swallow it.

Fang Xianjue was constantly sending electricity: sending a telegram to Commander Xue Yue, who had prejudices against him, to Wang Yaowu, a classmate of the third phase of the Whampoa Military Academy and commander-in-chief of the 24th Group Army, and to Li Yutang, the veteran commander of the 10th Army and his old commander: "Hengyang is in danger, personal affairs are small, national affairs are big, saving soldiers is like fighting fire, no matter what, please send a regiment of troops to rush into the city, we have our own way, no matter which friendly army enters the city first, our Xianjue will definitely kowtow to the commission and ask for him to be awarded a blue sky and white medal." ”

In the afternoon, Fang Xianjue convened an emergency military meeting.

Most of the generals had just returned from the front, their torn uniforms covered in battle dust and their faces swarthy and shiny. The two generals, Ge Xiancai and Rong Youluo, were covered with several battle wounds and bandages. The air-raid shelter was extremely dull, and the entire underground air-raid shelter trembled slightly under the heavy artillery bombardment and aircraft bombardment of the Japanese army.

"For today's plan, I'm afraid we have to break through!" Zhou Qingxiang, commander of the 3rd Division, said helplessly.

Senior Staff Officer Peng Kefu of the Army picked up the "Review of the Battle of Changde*" issued by the Military Commission: "Colleagues, what did Division Commander Cheng Wan say at the Nanyue Military Conference when he broke through the siege after the Battle of Changde? ”

After the Battle of Changde, President Jiang's tone at the Nanyue Conference was still fresh in everyone's memory: "How can you Yu Chengwan be the commander of the family, why can you bear to abandon your wounded officers and soldiers and flee privately!" I have not personally interrogated Yu Chengwan now, and Division Commander Yu Chengwan must be tried by a military court. Not only will Yu Chengwan be tried, but other officials who retreat at the same time must all be dealt with in accordance with the law of the revolutionary army, and they will never be treated leniently! ”

This sentence asked the sore spot, and everyone was gloomy.

Fang Xianjue: "Without the chairman's words, I will never agree to break through, break through?" Now the breakout force is there, and it can be highlighted. But we're gone, what about so many wounded soldiers? The enemy will kill the wounded soldiers when they see them, and Yu Chengwan, who is always virtuous, can not ask the wounded soldiers, but we can't do it first, who of you can bear to leave the wounded soldiers and let the enemy kill them?! If we break through the encirclement, even if the commission does not hold us accountable, how can we bear to give up the more than 8,000 wounded officers and soldiers? Yes, leave them behind, and who will be alive in the future, who will be willing to be your subordinate again?! ”

"Never break through, you must defend to the death, each of your division commanders is only allowed to stay with 4 guards, and the rest of the personnel will go to the front line to fight. If it is found that there is one more person left, it is said that it is disobeying the order, and it is said that you are sorry brother! Fang Xianjue has actually emphasized this many times, and when this desperate situation is said again, it should be that he has already made up his mind to die.

"Even if there is only one soldier and one bullet left, you are no longer allowed to say anything about breaking through. Our foresight will never flee privately, and if necessary, everyone will come to the military headquarters and kill us together; If I want to kill myself, I'll do it first. You must know that I have committed suicide, and even if you escape, the commission will never forgive you. I believe that in the future, you will also be difficult to behave! ”

The positions of the 28th Regiment at Yueping Mountain and Jielong Mountain were broken through by the Yue Army in the early morning, and the Yue Army occupied nearly one-third of the position. The division commander General Ge Xiancai personally led more than 10 guard platoons and 20 division headquarters handymen to raid the back of the Yue army, and the regiment commander Zeng Jing and the battalion commanders Zhai Yugang and Yu Long fought with wounds, rushed to the front line, and finally annihilated all the more than 200 people who broke into the position before dawn. Although the position was restored, only about 70 officers and men remained on the position of the 28th Regiment.

As soon as Zhou Qingxiang, commander of the 3rd Division, returned to the division command post from the military headquarters, he lined up with his guards to the forward position. He ran directly to Castle Peak Street, where the 7th Regiment could no longer hold on. After Division Commander Zhou led his troops to repel the repeated attacks of the Yue army before dawn, he finally stabilized the position on Castle Peak Street.

That night, Fang Xianjue formulated two emergency measures at the tense moment when there was fierce fighting on all fronts and frequent alarms:

1. Assign more than 200 staff members, staff officers, staff members, and miscellaneous personnel of various units of the military department who have been organized and trained to various street fighting fortifications in the urban area to prepare for street fighting; 2. The infantry battalion of the provisional 54th Division, which was withdrawn south of Tielu Gate to take up the task of defending the river, was placed on the north side of Jielong Mountain, near Suxianjing, and Siqian Street with its three infantry companies, and the battalion's defense was taken over by the staff of the 54th Division's headquarters and miscellaneous officers and men.

By August 7, the 10th Army, which had been exhausted by dead and wounded, had been struggling for another day in the ruins. At this moment, the communication between the various positions was interrupted, the situation was isolated, most of the fortifications had been destroyed, and the soldiers had been found everywhere in the city.

At 3 o'clock in the morning, the position of the 5th Company of the 568th Regiment of the 190th Division was broken through by the Yue Army. Company commander Rove and 30 officers and men were all killed. The army then expanded to the left flank, Lu Jingzhong's battalion commander suffered from the enemy on his back, the situation was extremely critical, and the deputy regiment commander Li Shi led 20 non-commissioned officers of the regiment headquarters to reinforce them, cutting off the retreat of the army, and the deputy regiment commander Li Shi was killed in the battle. The remnants of a Catholic church resisted stubbornly, and the follow-up troops of the Japanese army tried to break in. At this time, Fang Xianjue hurriedly sent the battalion commander Cao Huating to lead the remaining officers and soldiers of the special service battalion of the military headquarters to reinforce quickly, and the troops suffered heavy casualties in the attack. However, the follow-up troops of the Yue army in the outer trenches were finally cut off and blocked, and the two armies became in a state of confrontation.

On this day, more than 600 people of the army unexpectedly broke through the Qingshan Street position from the north of the city, and then spread rapidly, Wang Jinding, the commander of the 4th Battalion of the 7th Regiment of the 3rd Division, was martyred in front of the battle, and the regiment commander Ju Jinghuan was also shot and died. Fang Xianjue had a company of the Provisional 54th Division, which had been stationed on Siqian Street the night before, had a reactionary counterattack against the Yue Army, and the two sides were in a state of melee. At this moment, the army near Yanwuping took the opportunity to break in, and there was a great tendency to connect with the army on Qingshan Street. However, at this time, the military headquarters of the 10th Army could no longer concentrate a force that could recover Qingshan Street, and only a team of less than 200 old, weak, sick and disabled and miscellaneous soldiers fought on the position. The Yue army who entered Qingshan Street went down Siqian Street with an attempt to divide the entire Hengyang City.

However, when the plane of the Chinese Air Force dramatically dropped a warrant from Chairman Chiang: "It is said that the 62nd Army will attack Daximen, the 79th Army will attack Xiaoximen, and the 100th Army will attack Qingcaoqiao." They all have self-confidence, and they will definitely be able to attack, and they hope to send someone to guide them. At the same time, he received a communication bag with a note inside: "Ming said that reinforcements are allowed to enter the city, the Air Force Headquarters." ”

What's even more funny is that Chiang Kai-shek at this moment is still full of hope in his memoirs: "According to the various reports, although the northern part of the city was attacked by the enemy, its scope has not been expanded, and it is not a desperate situation. Only by urging the reinforcements, Ming said that the rapid advance as scheduled, in terms of momentum, the participation of the chariot in the battle, should be successful as scheduled! ”

He pinned his last hope on the participation of the Fifth Army's tank regiment, because this was the first time since China's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression that tank units were used in a structured battle. But how did he know that the army had deciphered the code, mobilized the Type 47 rapid-fire gun to ambush, and was waiting for the appearance of his tank regiment!

On 7 August, Chiang's tank regiment had arrived at a place 10 miles from the city on the outskirts of Hengyang, and finally the "tank rescue" plan was stillborn because of the anti-tank guns of the Japanese army.

However, Chiang Kai-shek judged from his decades of experience in the military and his keen perspective: "The strength of the side has been used to the last limit!" But there is a lot of truth to this.

Indeed, the Yue army is also at a critical juncture at this time, and once it fails to hold on, it will be completely defeated.

On the Tianma Mountain position, the fierce battle of the army finally ended, and there were less than 20 people left in the squadron of more than 150 people. According to the recollection of Lieutenant Izaki, the squadron leader of the Chinese army who attacked the position, at the time of the third watch, Captain Watanabe ordered the position now occupied by the 10th Squadron to be handed over to the 1st Squadron to take over the defense. Only then did Izaki understand what was going on -- all the officers of this squadron had been killed, and this was a squadron without officers but under the command of a corporal.

At the Xichan Temple position, the 100-mm and 105-mm heavy artillery transported from Wuhan, Yueyang, Changsha and other places continued to bombard the [***] position, and the explosion was earth-shattering. The 120th Wing then attacked, but failed on several occasions. The heavy artillery of the army kept bombarding the forest position behind the Xichan Temple, and the dense forest was blown to pieces, and some were uprooted, and the fire was blazing. Under the cover of frantic artillery fire, the wing was about to storm the pillbox on the north side of the road. But in less than 20 minutes, he was driven down by [***]'s bayonet and grenade counterattack. After the battle, only 43 of the 800 officers and soldiers of the whole regiment remained, and the task of attacking the position of Xichan Temple had to be changed to the 218th Wing of the 34th Division.

On August 4, the commander of the 11th Army, Isamu Yokoyama, who was wearing the rune of "Emperor Amaterasu's Great Shrine", personally commanded the army to begin the attack. The army concentrated more than 100 heavy artillery pieces and more than 40,000 shells to bombard the fortifications of the [***] position; Flat-fire guns, mountain guns, and field guns all advanced to a distance of less than 500 meters from the [***] position, and carried out direct fire on the spotting points of the witnesses' fortifications; Air Force planes carried out carpet bombing of all areas of the city.

During the saturation bombardment and artillery bombardment, the [***] position was completely covered with smoke and bullets, and many soldiers were stunned and even suffocated by the smoke. The loud explosion caused many people to bleed their eyes or become deaf in both ears. The pillboxes were completely destroyed, the outer trenches collapsed, the barbed wire fences were blown away, the wooden fences caught fire and burned, all the targets on the positions were swept away by the artillery fire of the Japanese army, and most of the heavy weapons erected by the defenders on the positions were destroyed.

On the position of the 116th Division on the Western Front, the 3rd Squadron and the 4th Squadron of the 133rd Wing of the Yue Army each climbed the cliff and crossed the trench with bamboo ladders, and soon encountered a dense and accurate rain of grenades.

The Kurose 133rd Wing is famous, it is the strongest wing of the 116th Division, and it is also a wing with outstanding achievements. In several battles of Changsha, this wing also fought with the Tenth Army and was the sworn enemy of the Tenth Army, but in this Hengyang Defense Battle, the first-class wing of this army was almost completely casualized: there were only 80 people left in the first brigade, all of whom were wounded; Only 7 people remained in the second brigade

Wing Commander Hei Lai, who was holding a telescope, watched as the two squadrons disappeared from view.

Soon, the 1st and 2nd squadrons, which were the assists, were also attacked by cluster grenades thrown from the bushes behind the depression fortress and in the left rear, and the two squadrons disappeared from sight.

"Fire! Fire! Annoyed and angry, Heilai shouted.

The shells whistled and exploded on the position, and blood and flesh flew everywhere they went, and it was impossible to distinguish which was [***] and which was the soldier.

On August 4, in the morning light, Kurose led a wing of less than 1,000 people to hold a ceremony to worship the emperor, and then led the newly replenished recruits to rush to Tenma Mountain again.

But by 9 a.m., only half of the men were left, and he had to give the order to halt the attack.

That night, Kurose, the captain of the major general, led three lieutenants and the acting captain of the group to command a wing of about 300 people to attack again, but he still suffered heavy casualties. By August 5, Kurose had organized eight attacks in a row, but they were still blocked 800 meters away from the west gate of Hengyang.

Ding-ding, a series of phone rings.

"Captain Kurose, why didn't you attack?" The commander of the 116th Division, Iwanaga Wang, asked viciously.

"Report to the general, after the death of Lieutenants Fujita and Kaisiano, the only officer who served as the commander of the brigade and had combat experience was Lieutenant Sickguchi! There were only three officers left, Second Lieutenant Hirono, Second Lieutenant Miura, and Second Lieutenant Kyota, and it was really difficult to organize an effective attack. Kurose replied dejectedly.

"You're going to attack no matter what. Otherwise military law engages! "Iwanaga is indisputable.

"Hey! Your Excellency the division commander, I should personally hold the flag of the wing to attack the Hengyang Army, and never fail to live up to the cultivation of the division commander! ”

"Flag bearer, please move the flag of the 133rd Wing forward secretly. I will personally raise the flag in the middle of the night for the last charge, please be sure to plant the flag of the 133rd Wing on the head of Hengyang City. ”

"But general, if you can't attack the city, or if the flag is confiscated, what if it's good!"

"I will disembowelment to thank the Emperor!" Kurose swears.

It is said that the army has always regarded the military flag as the soul of the troops, and if the military flag is confiscated, it will mark the permanent disappearance of the troops. But unfortunately, Kurose's 133 team flag was finally not planted in the castle, and his team was basically wiped out.

The 68th Division of the Chinese Army also made slow progress. The commander of the 57th Brigade, Major General Shima Genkichi, personally acted as the leader of the death squad, and wherever there was danger, his figure appeared. On August 6, just as Shima Genyoshi was demonstrating a grenade counterattack for his soldiers, a mortar battery from the 28th Regiment of the 10th Division [***] exploded him to pieces.

That night, Isamu Yokoyama was extremely angry at the command post on the front line in Hengyang.

Yokoyama gritted his teeth: "The telegram ordered all troops to concentrate all heavy artillery units to bombard the city of Hengyang at 3 o'clock tomorrow morning until all the shells are gone." Inform the Air Force to bomb Hengyang at all costs. From 8 o'clock, the divisions must attack at all costs until the defenders stop resisting or are completely annihilated! If Hengyang cannot be captured - all the divisional commanders and above will be disemboweled, in order to thank the emperor! ”

After two days of strong attack, the army suffered heavy casualties, and a large area of diarrhea was widespread among the army, and even the commander of the 11th Army, Lieutenant General Isamu Yokoyama, who came to command the battle, had diarrhea all the time, but in order to stabilize the morale of the army, he had to hold on to the hard top. (Because the staple food could not be guaranteed, the army had to collect freshly ripe rice and put it in a steel helmet, and then pound it into rice with wooden sticks.) If there are no vegetables, use pepper leaves and pumpkin leaves instead. I ran out of pepper leaves and pumpkin leaves, so I had to eat with salt. Therefore, even the commander of the army, Isamu Yokoyama, had diarrhea due to poor diet, and his body was weakened).

In less than four days from August 4 to August 7, the Yue army had fired nearly 40,000 shells at the positions of the defenders of Hengyang. At about 2 p.m. on 7 August, the heavy artillery wing of the Japanese army was left with only one-tenth of the shells that had to be kept in the artillery battle, which was the number of shells that could not be used according to the regulations. Beginning on 5 August, some of the troops went to the suburbs of Hengyang to grab grain, and even divided their troops to the suburbs to grab rice and make rice. As early as 5 August, six brigade commanders were killed in battle, and an even bigger problem was again facing the generals of the army: The re-selected squadron leaders and squadron leaders were once again out of gear, and it was already difficult for the army to find noncommissioned officers with minimum training to take up officer posts.

Both sides smell the end of the war.

After more than a month of insistence, the defenders of Hengyang almost ran out of ammunition, and the unwounded soldiers were less than 3,000 people, and the 68th Division, which had received several times the reinforcements, advanced fiercely from the southern front with the assistance of the 13th Division, and the 116th Division of the Western Front attacked the middle [***] team trenches, and the Chinese soldiers flowed in the waist-high deep ditch water trenches with the Yue army, although they were outnumbered, but the Yue army was never able to completely occupy the positions of the Chinese [***] team, and the positions just captured were quickly recaptured by the [***] team risking death with cluster grenades, The soldiers on both sides of the position were almost simultaneously silenced by the sound of the explosion.

The first to break through the defense line of the [***] team is the north gate, the north gate guarded by the 190th division has less than a battalion by August 3, and the murderous devil is a whole division of the 58th division, every soldier of the 190th division has become a bloody man, but they can't face the devil who has reached more than ten times the advantage in terms of firepower and numbers, the position of the 190th division is full of dense corpses, but the Chinese soldiers are also exhausted, The Chinese soldiers watched in their dying sight as the army stepped into Hengyang City, but they could not do anything.

Commander Fang Xianjue resolutely decided to call back to Chairman Chiang. The telegram was drafted by General Sun Mingyu, chief of staff, and after everyone read and signed it, it was handed over to Chief of Staff Rao Abel for sending. After it was issued, the order was given to destroy the radio station and burn the document codebook, all the written materials, and the personal notebook. and burned the orders of the war officer, the ciphers, the symbols, the soldiers' handsheets, and the orders of the artillery commanders. Cai Rulin, the war supervisor and artillery commander, ordered the cannon to be blown up, and was also ready to die, and the defenders of Hengyang knew that the last day was coming, so they sent the last telegram before the destruction of the radio, which also became the "last telegram", and the message was as follows:

Chairman Jiang Junjian:

After the enemy broke through from the northern city this morning, he started a street battle in the city, and our officers and men were killed and wounded, and there were no more soldiers to block the attack. This electricity is probably the last electricity, see you in the next life!

The staff Xianjue led the chief of staff Sun Mingyu, and the division commanders Zhou Qingxiang, Ge Xiancai, Rong Youluo, Rao Shaowei and others knocked together! ”

(To be continued)