readx; When the shelling stopped, the Suzuki Wing went on the offensive, and thousands of Japanese troops rushed out of the trenches in a sea of waves, and the earthy yellow crowd rushed through the burning woods to the top of the mountain. Pen, fun, and www.biquge.info

Yuichi Yamaguchi clutched his rifle and ran forward, the rough mountain road causing him to stumble and nearly fall several times, while the same squad of soldiers stumbled along. About fifty meters from the first line of trenches of the defenders, the soldiers at the front stepped on a mine, and with a violent explosion, a bloody thigh smashed into the pass's chest, causing him to feel a pang of nausea. Yamaguchi walked quickly through the blood and scraps of flesh on the ground, and followed the team upward, by which time the sharp energy of the soldiers seemed to have disappeared and began to advance cautiously.

After continuing to advance for 200 meters, the attacking troops had already stepped on more than a dozen mines, and nearly 100 soldiers were lying on the hillside, groaning in pain, waiting in despair for help to arrive.

By the time the troops had crossed the second line of trenches and advanced a hundred meters in front of the defenders' last line of defense, a fierce barrage began: a dense stream of machine-gun bullets swept down dozens of soldiers at the front like a torrential rain in June! Yuichi Yamaguchi quickly fell to the ground, then looked to the left and right, and saw the soldiers crawling through the trees like ants, clinging to the ground, looking for a place to hide. Behind every rock, every stake, and even a slightly raised slope, there were soldiers.

At this time, the artillery below the hill began to fire again, and the shells exploded incessantly near the defenders' trenches, igniting a raging fire and thick smoke. The attacking troops, who had been suppressed by the fire of the defenders, immediately jumped up and rushed towards the front, while constantly firing fire. Yamaguchi looked at the looming Chinese soldiers in front of him, feeling very frightened, so he quietly slowed down and consciously fell behind the group. At a distance of more than fifty meters from the trenches, the defenders counterattacked with grenades, and a hundred and ten grenades flew out almost simultaneously, covering the attacking troops at once, and the soldiers fell in pieces, however, the nightmare had just begun, the grenades flew out of the trenches one after another, exploded overhead, and shards of cast iron with a screeching sound burrowed into the dirt, tree trunks and human bodies.

Yamaguchi hurriedly threw himself behind a tree stump, and two meters to his left, the military cao fell to the ground on his back, his white intestines flowing from the hem of his tattered uniform, and soon stained with blood and mud. In vain he tried to stuff his intestines back, but it flowed more and more, and he turned his head with difficulty and shouted towards the mountain pass: "Help me!" As he spoke, he stretched out his scarred arm.

At this time, another grenade fell, and a piece of shrapnel slashed off a large piece of the back of Jun Cao's head, and Jun Cao's arm waved weakly a few times, and then pulled down. Yamaguchi subconsciously shrank backwards, desperately burrowing his head into the dirt, and in the woods beside him, the soldiers all shrunk their heads in their shoulders and crawled back like caterpillars against the ground - the grenades of the defenders seemed to be endless, and there was only one way to die if they continued to stay!

After returning to the starting position, the mountain pass fell into the trench like an empty pocket, and was no longer willing to get up, and the fierce gunfire rang out on the hillside behind him, and another army began to attack. However, the same fate befell them, and Yamaguchi clearly saw nearly a hundred corpses being carried down by the retreating soldiers.

An hour after the gunfire had subsided, Yamaguchi's squad set out again, attacking under the cover of an unprecedented heavy artillery fire, supported by a dozen more bombers, unlike the previous ones.

After half an hour of indiscriminate bombardment, the Yamaguchi squad rushed to the top of the hill behind the large force, and by this time the squadron had already withdrawn from its position and retreated to the bottom of the mountain.

In a clearing, Yamaguchi saw a long line of corpses, lying side by side, shoulder to shoulder, in various positions, most of them very ugly dead. The troops passed by the pile of corpses, their noses filled with the pungent smell of corpses, and the soldiers examined the dead in horror and with the curiosity and inner tremor of the living to know the secrets of the dead. Most of the dead were very young, except for the one on the far right, with the lieutenant's epaulette, a man of some age, whose large mouth, which still beared the traces of the last silent shout, was listlessly drooping with a thick rindan, and two eyebrows were tightly locked on his pale face, as if he did not understand why he had lived so short.

Behind him lay a short, stocky, faceless soldier with his chin resting on his bare chest and a narrow forehead with burnt marks. A little further afield was a haphazard pile of fragments of a stump fitting military uniform, and a little further away lay a corpse that was almost a child, a volley of machine-gun bullets piercing his chest, and four holes in his uniform, all charred at the edges.

Several soldiers beside Yamaguchi folded their hands, praying for the dead, and then turned sharply and walked away like blind men. The soldiers walked silently through the woods, no one speaking for a long time, as if trying to forget what they had just seen. In front of a mountain beam, the troops stopped, and Yamaguchi heard a soldier behind him say: "Isn't the Shina army very weak, how can it kill so many people in battle?" ”

The other one is obviously a veteran: "The army on the other side is different, they are the strongest in China, even more powerful than the Kwantung Army!" There was a clear timidity in his tone.

The recruit continued, "But they shouldn't be able to escape this time!" Behind is a river, and they have no way out! ”

The veteran said disapprerovingly: "The people of the branch are very cunning, and the 19th Route Army is even more cunning, just now they obviously have the strength to spare, but they gave up the position, obviously they have been prepared for a long time, and it is difficult to say what will happen later!" ”

As if to verify the old soldier's account, the commander loudly ordered the troops to advance at full speed and pursue the [***] team, as the new 2nd Division was retreating south across the river behind the mountain. It turned out that the squadron had already built a pontoon bridge, but the bridge deck was more than ten centimeters below the water surface, and it was hidden from the reconnaissance personnel of the army.

On the other side of the creek was a dense jungle, and when the pass reached the pontoon bridge, it was clear that the broken squadron had disappeared into the middle of the woods. Yamaguchi's brigade was the first to cross the river in pursuit, and when they were halfway through, dozens of shells accurately covered the section where the pontoon bridge was located, and dozens of soldiers were swept into the torrent along with the broken bridge, and the hundreds of people who had already crossed the river suddenly became alone.

The artillery of the [***] squadron continued to bombard the north bank, and the Japanese troops who had gathered here to prepare to cross the river immediately dispersed, leaving dozens of bloody corpses on the wide river beach.

Immediately after, countless figures emerged from the middle of the woods, shouting and rushing towards the army on the south bank. In the dense rain of bullets, the Japanese army fell one after another, and the originally clean river beach was suddenly splashed with blood.

Yamaguchi lay on the ground, put his rifle on top of a corpse, and fired a few random shots, until he realized that the magazine was empty, surrounded by dead bodies and intermittent moans.

At this time, a Chinese soldier rushed towards Yamaguchi with a murderous face, the rifle in his hand was aiming, Yamaguchi hurriedly threw away the rifle, knelt on the ground, and shouted a lament that had been beaten countless times: "Don't kill me!" I'm Chinese! ”

Hearing fluent Chinese coming out of the mouth of the soldier of the Yue Army, the Chinese soldier hesitated, his finger stopped at the moment of firing, he pointed the muzzle of the gun at the face door of the mountain pass, and asked loudly: "Are you Chinese?" ”

Seeing the hope of survival, Yamaguchi replied without hesitation: "I am Chinese, Taiwanese, my Chinese name is Yan Zheng, and I was forcibly conscripted into the army!" ”

The Chinese soldier immediately understood, but could not accept such a huge change, kicked Yan Zheng to the ground, and scolded: "Since you are Chinese, what the fuck are you mixing with myself!" ”

Wiping the blood from the corners of his mouth, Yan Zheng finally breathed a sigh of relief: "The surname has finally been saved!" ”

When all the bombers of the Japanese army came to the new second division's river crossing area, there was no longer a squadron on the empty river beach on the south bank, only a few crows jumped around on the dead corpses, croaking from time to time. Reconnaissance planes were urgently dispatched to search for the traces of the [***] team in the vast mountains, hoping to find targets for the ground forces. However, more than a dozen sorties in a row were all in vain, and although the planes flew as low as possible, the dense woods and difficult terrain prevented the pilots from discovering the target. The squadron may have moved into the distance, and at the same time, they may be hiding in the jungle not far away, watching their every move.

As for the next action goal of the troops, the commanders of the three divisions of the army had their own opinions, and finally had to report to Okamura Ninji and let him decide.

Okamura Ninji was facing an unmanageable situation: the Ninth Division was heavily damaged by the 19th Route Army, and the scattered soldiers were actually more than killed in battle, adding up to more than half, basically losing their combat effectiveness, and they had to be replenished and recuperated immediately; The 3rd and 27th Divisions were slow to move, allowing the 19th Route Army to escape calmly and farther and farther away from each other; The 101st, 106th, and 26th Divisions lost track of the new 2nd Division, despite paying a great price. Not only did the planned goal of the three-way army encircle not achieve, but he lost his troops and lost his generals, so that he did not know how to explain to the base camp.

Based on the last intelligence from the reconnaissance department and Okamura's own speculation, he believed that the 19th Route Army would either continue its movement south to escape the pursuit of the Imperial Army, or march west from the area south of Poyang Lake to join up with the rest of the Ninth Theater. If it is the first case, it is very dangerous to continue the pursuit, because it is getting closer and closer to the opponent's base area, and it has also deviated from the main combat goal of the base camp, if it is the second case, as long as the 11th Army conquers Hukou and occupies Jiujiang, it can force the main force of the [***] team to appear, gather and annihilate it again!

After careful consideration, Okamura Ninji ordered his troops to abandon the pursuit of the 19th Route Army, join the division of Madang, and then concentrate their forces to attack the fortress of Hukou, and continue to carry out the Wuhan battle plan formulated by the base camp.

However, to Okamura Ninji's expectations, after the main force led by Gao Fei joined the new Second Division, it did not continue to move south, but stopped, peeking at Madang, Anqing and other places. Okamura had no choice but to deploy two divisions in the Pengze area to defend against the 19th Route Army, and put all the rest of the troops into attack the Hukou fortress.

Just when the 11th Army of the Yue Army was struggling under the stubborn resistance of the 19th Route Army, the actions of the Jiangbei Second Army in Jiangbei also fell into a dilemma!

North of the Yangtze River [***] belongs to the command of the Fifth Theater Commander's Department, and since Li Zongren is ill, Bai Chongxi will act as the commander. At the beginning of his tenure, Bai Chongxi transferred the elite division Xu Yuanquan's 26th Group Army to the west of Hefei and backed the eastern foothills of Dabie Mountain for a protracted war. Other troops were deployed at the northwest foot of the Dabie Mountains and along the Yangtze River to the south of the Dabie Mountains. Bai Chongxi's strategic policy for the troops in this theater is: Blocking the enemy's intrusion in the dangerous areas north and south of the Dabie Mountains, or luring the enemy into a zone favorable to us and annihilating them, so as to secure the north bank of the Yangtze River.

At the same time, in order to facilitate command, Bai Chongxi divided the troops of the Fifth Theater into three combat corps: Left Corps: Commander Sun Lianzhong. Responsible for the northwest foot of Dabie Mountain; Right Corps: Commander Li Pinxian. Responsible for the south of Dabie Mountain, taking advantage of the intricate favorable terrain of the harbor on the north bank of the Yangtze River to annihilate the enemy; Central Corps: Commander Liao Lei. The main force was hidden in the hinterland of the Dabie Mountains, and part of the troops were held at the dangerous passes on the eastern side of the Dabie Mountains to prevent the army from entering the mountains.

The four divisions of the Second Army of the Chinese Army, stationed in Hefei, attacked along the northern foot of the Dabie Mountains in two ways, in an attempt to move south from the Xinyang area and encircle Wuhan from the north.

Sun Lianzhong of the Left Corps of the Fifth Theater commanded the 30th Army, the 42nd Army and the 71st Army of Song Xilian under the jurisdiction of the 2nd Group Army, to block the enemy on the line from Huoshan to Shangcheng Shawo. At the same time, Hu Zongnan's 17th Army Corps, the 22nd Group Army of the Sichuan Army, and Zhang Zizhong's 27th Army Corps faced the Yue Army east of Xinyang.

The 13th Division of the Japanese Army, under the command of Lieutenant General Zhu Zhoulibing, the commander of the division, attacked Fujin Mountain, the forward guard position of the Left Corps of the Fifth Theater.

Fujin Mountain is close to the Yejiaji at the border of Henan and Anhui, and the mountain stands on the south side of the highway like a fan-shaped majesty. Lieutenant General Song Xilian, commander of the 71st Army, commanded the 36th Division and the 88th Division of the post headquarters to build positions on the mountains and fight the enemy advancing westward. Therefore, the enemy troops stormed the hilltop positions at any cost.

However, under the stubborn resistance of the [***] team, for ten days, the army failed to advance a single step in front of Fujin Mountain. The enemy could not attack the frontal position, so he sent a part of the 10th Division to reinforce it. The enemy took advantage of the night sortie to make a detour to Fujin Mountain, in an attempt to knock out Song Xilian's headquarters and cut off the supply lines of the defenders.

However, the enemy's movements were discovered by local peasants, who immediately rushed to report to the 88th Division. The commander of the division, Zhong Division, immediately made a decision and ordered the 528th Regiment, under the leadership of his fellow villagers, to set up an ambush at the dangerous pass on the road that the enemy must pass. The enemy penetrated into the ambush area and suffered a sudden blow, killing and wounding more than 300 people immediately.

The 13th Division of the Chinese Army is one of the 17 standing divisions of the Chinese Army, and is one of the most elite main forces of the Chinese invasion army. In the end, even the commander of the division, Lieutenant General Hou Zhou, when he reported to the commander of the 2nd Army, admitted that he was helpless against the [***] squadron on Fujin Mountain.

After several replenishment of troops, the 13th Division resumed the offensive, while Song Xilian's troops suffered heavy casualties after a long period of battlefield attrition, and urgently needed to be replenished, and finally had to take the initiative to withdraw from their positions, so that the army could continue to advance.

The 13th and 16th Divisions and the Lazy Valley Detachment of the Army, passing through the Fujin Mountain area, marched west to attack the Mall. Sun Lianzhong deployed all the three corps of the Left Corps in the area of Shawo and Xiaojieling to fight a decisive battle with the enemy. The left corps took positions on the left and right flanks to meet the enemy, with the 30th and 42nd armies as the right flanks and the 71st corps as the left flank. Under the cover of aircraft, heavy artillery and tanks, the 13th Division and other units of the army attacked the right flank. The officers and men of Sun Lianzhong's 2nd Group Army carried forward the decisive spirit of Taierzhuang, fought bloody battles, and repeatedly repelled enemy attacks.

The outstanding performance of the squadron shocked the world and also made the command of the Japanese army feel unexpected, and hurriedly transferred the 4th Division of the Kwantung Army from the northeast to reinforce Okamura Ninji's 11th Army, in an effort to break the deadlock.

Since the ships of the Third Fleet were blocked by mines laid by the Admiralty and could not advance, the Army had to act as the vanguard and attack the fortress at Hukou.

The army first dispatched dozens of fighter-bombers to bomb and indiscriminately bomb the Hukou fortress and the surrounding positions, and since the limited strength of the Chinese Air Force had been completely exhausted in the air battle over Wuhan, the enemy's bombers bombed and strafed with impunity. After several days of heavy air raids, the positions of the squadron had all turned into scorched earth, and a strong smell of scorched lakes could be smelled several kilometers away, and the fortress guns and fortified bunkers were also destroyed under the long saturation attack, and the army units responsible for defending the fortress lost artillery support.

The 4th Division of the Kwantung Army immediately threw in the strength of an infantry wing to assault on all fronts, and engaged in a series of fierce battles with the auxiliary units of the 26th Division of the 43rd Army of the Sichuan Army guarding the fortress.

Although the Sichuan army was poorly equipped, its will to fight to the death was no worse than that of any army, and they relied on their flesh and blood to block the army outside the fortress for two days, no matter how fierce the enemy's firepower and how ferocious the soldiers were, they never retreated. In the end, all the artillerymen of the fortress grabbed rifles, submachine guns and other light weapons, and together with the Sichuan army, repelled the ferocious attack of the Japanese army. At the front of the position, the corpses of the soldiers were everywhere, and the defenders also suffered heavy casualties, staining the batteries with blood.

The army could not attack for a long time, so it had to send bombers and heavy artillery to attack in turn, and then send infantry to assault again. At this time, the officers and men of the fort had already suffered all casualties, and the surviving officers and men, including the light and serious wounded, all clung to their steel guns and continued to fight against the Japanese army in the smoke and flames.

The gunfire on the Hukou fortress position finally stopped, and when the thick smoke gradually cleared, there was no trace of any fortifications, and corpses were scattered all over the devastated scorched earth. Hundreds of soldiers cheered and rushed to the fortress, hanging the blood-red plaster flag at the top of the position!

(To be continued)