There were no surprise attacks, no sneak attacks, only blatant assaults. The Botian detachment did not expect that it would be met with stubborn resistance from the squadron before it saw Pengze County. Peng Langji was the closest place to the Japanese army in the squadron, where the Provisional Ninth Division of the 64th Army was stationed. The Ninth Division, also known as the Ninth Reserve Division, was established in the autumn of 1937 with Zhang Yan as the division commander.

The Ninth Division has four infantry regiments, an artillery battalion, and a guard battalion, with a total strength of more than 9,800 troops. Zhang Yan is a native of Kunming, Yunnan. He graduated from the eighth artillery department of Baoding Army Military Academy and the sixth special class of the Army University. Zhang Yanchuan is a student of the second phase of Huangpu, the old department of the 11th Division, Chen Cheng's confidant, and is deeply valued by Chen Cheng.

Zhang Yanchuan has the courage to fight, and he is very cautious, and he will only make a move when he is fully prepared for every big battle, which is quite similar to Han Yunhua. From the Northern Expedition to the Central Plains War to the Jiangxi "Bandits", Zhang Yanchuan has always followed Chen Cheng closely, and during this period, he has repeatedly made military exploits and has been continuously promoted by Chen Cheng. During the Battle of Wuhan, Zhang Yanchuan served as the commander of the 9th Reserve Division, which was subordinate to the Li Han Soul Department of the 64th Army of the 2nd Corps, and was responsible for the garrison of the south bank of the Yangtze River from the east bank of Bali Lake in the west to the Suojianglou in the east. In order to deal with a new round of Japanese attacks, Xue Yue specially applied to Chen Cheng, commander of the Wuhan Garrison Headquarters, to transfer the battle sequence of the 9th Division to the First Corps.

Although Xue Yue didn't know much about the Ninth Division, he knew a lot about Zhang Yanchuan, the commander of the Ninth Division. Moreover, Xue Yue also knew that the Reserve Ninth Division had received additional care from Chen Cheng, and its weapon configuration and soldier quality were relatively good, and its combat effectiveness was relatively strong among all the troops in the Battle of Wuhan. Under the leadership of Zhang Yanchuan, the whole division was gearing up and ready to attack the incoming enemy.

Although the Hakuda detachment was invincible in the battle some time ago, the price paid was not small. About 4,000 soldiers were killed in the battle, and the total number of troops lost amounted to almost half of the detachment. The General Staff Headquarters of the Japanese Army was very dissatisfied with such a battle situation, and after replenishing the Hatata detachment, it immediately reassigned Okamura Ninji, then commander of the Second Division of the Kwantung Army, to serve as commander of the 11th Group Army. The reason why the Japanese army dared to commit this taboo was that Okamura was very familiar with Jiujiang and Central China.

Okamura Ninji is a China expert, who has been engaged in intelligence work in China for many years, and once served as the captain of the Chinese student team of the Japanese Army Non-commissioned Officer School, Chen Yi, Yan Xishan, Sun Chuanfang, Sun Dianying and others are all his students. In 1926, as a Japanese military adviser, Okamura Ninji commanded the army of warlord Sun Chuanfang in Jiujiang and Nanchang to fight against the Northern Expeditionary Army, and the opponent at that time was the 4th Army led by Zhang Fakui. In order to facilitate his command, Sun Chuanfang handed over to Okamura Ningji a panoramic map of 1/50,000 of central China, which was the most detailed map of China at that time and an important piece of information that Japan had been coveting for many years. Okamura was overjoyed, and after Sun Chuanfang fled in defeat, he risked his life to bring the map back to Japan. Most of the military maps used by the Japanese army in the Battle of Wuhan are copies of this map.

In mid-September, Okamura Ninji arrived in Nanjing and officially exercised the command of the 11th Army. Subsequently, he moved the command post forward and set up it in Anqing, and commanded the battle to attack Wuhan on the front line. In this attack on Pengze, Okamura Ninji planned to attack from multiple directions in a pincer offensive, showing a situation of full flowering: the Hatian detachment was attached to the Marine Corps, and the main force of the naval fleet and the main force of the air force were sent westward along the Yangtze River, and its main strategic target was the entire territory of Pengze County. The 27th and 101st Divisions of the Japanese Army were preparing to bypass Pengze County and directly attack Hukou, while the 106th Division bypassed Poyang Lake and approached Jiujiang.

Lieutenant General Okamura Ninji understood that the combat effectiveness of the squadron at this time was generally inferior to that of the Japanese army, and only by forming a group could it have the capital to fight with the Japanese army. As long as the squadron is disrupted, it is possible to solve the various breakthroughs one by one, coupled with the cooperation of the troops on the north bank of the Yangtze River, Okamura Ningji is full of confidence in this attack.

In the early morning of 19 October, the Botian Detachment of the 11th Army of the Central China Front of the Japanese Army, escorted by more than 10 warships, forcibly entered Pengze County and shelled the positions of the Penglangji Pre-9th Division along the river. Under the command of division commander Zhang Yanchuan, the Ninth Division, fought back bravely, and the artillery battalion of the Ninth Division returned fire. The two sides exchanged shots for more than 1 hour. Subsequently, the 1st Wing of the Taiwanese Infantry of the Hatian Detachment, under the leadership of Wing Commander Sato Yadaisa, stormed the position east of Penglangji, and at the same time the Japanese ships began to cast smoke screens to cover the attack of the Hatian Detachment. Zhang Yan ordered the officers and men to calmly respond to the battle, and when the enemy was as close as 30 meters, light and heavy machine guns and other firepower were fired at the same time, killing and wounding hundreds of Japanese soldiers at once, and the rest fled in a hurry, repelling the first attack of the Japanese army. The Chinese artillery took advantage of the situation to fire at the fleeing Japanese troops, and one of the shells hit the headquarters of the 1st Brigade of the 1st Wing of Taiwan, and all the commanders of the 1st Brigade were killed. ,

Both sides fought fiercely at Penglangji for a day, both suffered heavy casualties, and the Botian detachment did not achieve the expected breakthrough, but lost its troops. Seeing that it was difficult to break through the frontal position for the time being, Lieutenant General Shigeichi Harata immediately ordered Ryo Takahashi, commander of the 2nd Infantry Wing of Taiwan, to lead his troops and an artillery brigade to return to the back of Peng Langji and successively flank the 9th Division.

However, shortly after the departure of the 2nd Infantry Wing of Taiwan, Takahashi Ryodasa sent a telegram saying that the Chinese army also had a unit stationed in the watershed, and it was quite large in number, and it was difficult to break through for the time being.

As soon as Hatashige saw that the plan for a roundabout attack could not be achieved, he changed to a breakthrough with the whole army and stormed Penglangji and the watershed. On the morning of the 20th, more than a dozen Japanese ships opened fire on Peng Langji with all their might, and the powerful firepower of the ship's heavy artillery immediately tore apart the position of the Ninth Division. At the same time, the powerful air force of the Japanese army also rushed to the battlefield as soon as possible to provide effective fire support for the Hatada detachment. Under the orders of Lieutenant General Shigeichi Hata, the 1st Infantry Wing of Taiwan, under the personal leadership of Wing Commander Sato Yadaisa, launched a group charge against the positions of the Chinese defenders in Penglangji, and thousands of Japanese troops with bayonets rushed towards Penglangji desperately.

The officers and men of the 35th Regiment of the 9th Pre-9th Division, stationed in the eastern position of Penglangji, responded to the battle under the command of regiment commander Mao Daijun, and used the improvised fortifications built to fight the enemy to the death. In an instant, the gunfire was loud, the sound of killing shook the sky, shrapnel splashed everywhere, and flesh and blood flew everywhere. Mao Daijun personally went to the front line, inspired his subordinates, and repelled the fierce attacks of the Japanese army many times, inflicting heavy losses on the enemy. However, Lieutenant General Shigeichi Harata was determined to forcibly capture Penglangji, and the dense Japanese infantry formation continuously attacked the position of the 35th Regiment. Although the officers and men of the heroic 35th Regiment repelled many Japanese attacks, the Japanese still poured in like a tidal wave, and the 35th Regiment of the Ninth Division suffered heavy casualties in four hours of fierce fighting, and a fully equipped infantry regiment now had less than 1,000 men left. When the Japanese army concentrated its forces to attack the position of the 35th Regiment and dropped more than 2,000 rounds of ammunition on the eastern position in a short period of time, destroying the fortifications of the eastern position of Penglangji, Mao Daijun braved the intensive artillery fire to run back and forth between several positions, and continued to command his subordinates to start a tug-of-war with the Japanese army.

At half past two o'clock in the afternoon, the battle had lasted for seven hours, and the Japanese army's offensive method had changed from aircraft artillery to aircraft artillery and tear gas bombs. After a day and a half of fighting, two of the four infantry regiments of the Ninth Division had lost their combat effectiveness, and the 35th Regiment, which had suffered the heaviest losses, now had only more than 600 men left.

Afternoon... Half, the 26th Regiment of the Ninth Division took over the position of the 35th Regiment and replaced the 35th Regiment for rest. Lieutenant General Shigeichi Habata saw that Peng Langji's squadron was still pouring out, and immediately knew that today's attack did not seem to have made progress, so he stopped the attack.

At the same time, the battle at the watershed also came to an end, and like the battle at Peng Langji, the second wing of the Taiwanese infantry at the watershed did not make a breakthrough. Under the stubborn resistance of the squadron, the 2nd Infantry Wing finally retreated after leaving behind thousands of corpses. However, the 155th Division of the 64th Army stationed at the watershed also suffered heavy losses, and in less than a day's fighting, the 155th Division lost a total of nearly 2,000 men, about twice as many as the Japanese army.

For two consecutive days, he failed to break through the defensive line on the periphery of Pengze, and not only Lieutenant General Shigeichi Harata felt depressed, but even Okamura Ninji, who was far away in Anqing, was also very surprised. Unlike Xue Yue, Lieutenant General Okamura Ninji didn't know anything about his opponent, let alone knowing that he was invincible.

In desperation, Vice Admiral Okamura Ninji had no choice but to ask the navy to assign the only more than 300 marines on the Pengze front to the Hatada detachment, and ordered the Hatada detachment to take Penglangji by the 22nd at the latest.

On the 21st, Lieutenant Commander Shigeichi Harata will continue to command the troops to storm the Penglangji position, and as on the 20th, it will still be aircraft artillery and warships, and the same infantry group will charge. In the melee, a part of the Japanese army quietly bypassed the eastern position, where the fighting was fierce, and launched a surprise attack on Peng Langji's flank. The 9th Division immediately launched a counterattack, and the two sides repeatedly rushed and killed, fought in a tug of war, and fought until dusk. However, this group of Japanese troops who suddenly appeared was extremely strong in combat, all equipped with light machine guns or submachine guns, and the firepower was extremely fierce, and the defenders of the Ninth Division were caught off guard for a while, and suffered heavy losses for a while. With the help of the Marines, the Hatian detachment finally made some progress in its offensive, and finally gained a firm foothold opposite the position of the 9th Pre-Division after paying extremely heavy casualties, forming a close standoff with the 9th Pre-9th Division. At 9 o'clock in the evening, Zhang Yanchuan adjusted his deployment and used the reserve of a battalion to form an assault team, preparing to take advantage of the fact that the Japanese planes and warships could not exert their might in the dark, and take advantage of the unstable foothold of the landed Japanese troops to carry out a counterattack and recapture the opposite position.