In all previous wars, including those in Europe, the battlefield experience of the present army was only infantry confrontation, and the tactical principles they followed were movement warfare, positional warfare, blocking warfare, sneak attack warfare, concealment of oneself, and destruction of the enemy. But now, for the first time, they encountered a real difficulty, which was that they could not effectively conceal themselves in front of the enemy's artillery.

Due to the unfavorable conditions of the terrain and the time relationship, the soldiers only dug shallow trenches and did not build deep fortifications. More importantly, the conservative army had no ideological preparation or experience in building deep fortifications.

“…… We have never encountered such terrible artillery fire. Many years later, Ichiro Katsuda, a 79-year-old veteran of the former infantry of the Guards Division, still told reporters with trepidations, "...... Think about it, the Chinese army we had in our impression at that time, a regiment had several mountain guns, even if the equipment was the best, as soon as the battle started, as long as the machine guns rattled, they quickly dug a shallow pit to avoid the bullets. Therefore, there has always been a saying in the Chinese army that 'new recruits are afraid of artillery, and veterans are afraid of machine guns', which has become our joke. But the battle at Lushunkou was not the case at all. Do you know how fierce the guns of the warships of the China people are? Tell you, a few steps a pit! The shells on those battleships were as thick as oil drums, and a single shell could blow up a house! ……”

The Chinese army's shelling of the Yue army can be said to have been unimagined by the Yue himself before.

"First of all, two very slow China Navy observation planes swaggered over our positions to conduct unscrupulous low-altitude observations of our positions. A few minutes later, the warship began its test launch under the guidance of the aircraft. The first large-caliber shell, like a stupid black crow, screamed and swept over our heads, then 'boomed' and exploded behind the vault of a chapel. The blow was so terrible that the roof of the chapel was immediately toppled by the scorching waves, leaving a crater of shells more than ten meters in diameter on the soft ground. ”

"The second shell of the warship in Shina was corrected and hit a private house that we had requisitioned, blowing to pieces the cooking squad that was hiding in the house for cooking, and I watched as a pot of steaming white rice was blown up into the sky......"

On this very day, the mighty Chinese fleet concentrated its artillery fire on the positions of the Yue army, and these powerful shells were accurately calculated and rushed towards the positions of the Yue army as if they had eyes. The simple fortifications and low walls built by the officers and men could not withstand the bombardment of the Chinese fleet, especially the more they hid in the buildings in order to conceal themselves, the more heavy the casualties became.

The massive shelling of the Chinese fleet continued into the evening. When the tide of Chinese infantry began to attack on the bloody remnant sun, the counterattack of the Yue army had become very weak, and there were less than 1,000 officers and men of a brigade and regiment alive and still fighting. Brigade commander Akio Kusai struggled to get up from the collapsed rubble and raised his pistol to stop the soldiers who were trying to retreat.

"Death to the retreater, did you hear it?"

These were the last words that the general left in the world during his lifetime.

Just a few minutes later, a firework of cannonballs hit him head-on, and the sky was immediately filled with a mist of pink blood. The brigade commander was "shattered" on the spot at the age of 42.

That night, the brigade was completely annihilated, and the commander of the 3rd Division, Lieutenant General Jiro Oniwa, urgently dispatched another wing to reinforce it. However, in the two days of fierce fighting, most of these reinforcements were also killed and wounded, and they were forced to retreat.

The battle situation was urgent, and Hikoroku Yokoyama and Jiro Oiwa entered the front-line command post.

It is less than three thousand meters from the front line, and the various units of the Japanese army are already assembled here and are on standby.

“…… Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to remind you in particular that, according to the report from the Tokyo side, three divisions of the enemy's second reinforcement force have landed, and the enemy's attempt is to rendezvous with the enemy on land by outflanking it. Our army must take advantage of the enemy's unstable foothold to regain the lost positions and form a group defensive front supported by each other's horns. ”

"Hi Yi!"

It rained lightly all day, and at night, a thin mist rose on the flowing fields, and the surroundings were unusually silent, and even the frogs, who were usually the most lonely, stopped making noise.

It was said that the commander of the 7th Brigade of the 3rd Division of the Army, Yuyuki Kusaka, was lying behind a low wall to observe the enemy's situation. In his binoculars, a figure that appeared and disappeared quietly in a circuitous way towards his left flank under the cover of the morning fog.

Grass Deer is also a graduate of Imperial Land University. Like all the powerful young men in the army, he rose to the high post of commander of the brigade of major generals at the age of less than 30. Soldiers in wartime are not quite the same as in peacetime, and in peacetime they can sit in a limousine like politicians and talk about intrigue and intrigue, and in wartime, they must use their military exploits and achievements to pave the way to success as generals.

According to reliable information, a large number of squadrons landed in the vicinity of Jinzhou Bay and Laohutan, and their vanguard troops once occupied Wafangdian. That night, the army increased its troops on a large scale and recaptured Wafangdian in one fell swoop, and the 7th Brigade was ordered to build a position and defend on the spot. However, the second batch of reinforcements of the three main divisions of the Chinese army and a number of artillery tanks landed one after another, and according to intelligence, it is expected that at least four Chinese divisions will compete with the Chinese army for the strategic location of Wafangdian.

Thinking of the current situation, the commander of the Caolu Brigade couldn't help frowning slightly.

Judging from the map, Wafangdian is close to the river and Shakou in front of it, and the county seat of Zhuanghe is backed by it, which is the only place where the landing Chinese army intercepts the back road of Ludagang. Wafangdian is very close to Haikou, and the terrain is flat and open, completely under the cover of the powerful artillery fire of the [***] ship. At the same time, Wafangdian is also an important strategic support point, if it is lost, the squadron can set up heavy artillery here and bombard Ludagang with all its might.

On the first night, the commander of the Grass Deer Brigade personally led his subordinates to observe the terrain. He found that Wafangdian was surrounded by a network of ditches and rivers, suitable for the concealed movement of infantry, and that there was a forest a mile outside the town, and the small river in front of and behind the forest was covered with dense reeds. With the intuition of a professional soldier, he keenly foresaw that the squadron would launch a sneak attack on the army, and the bamboo forest and reeds would become the only way to cover the enemy's sneak attack on Wafangdian.

As expected, before dawn, the forward observation post called, and the prediction of the brigade commander was confirmed.

In the telescope, the long figure was still moving silently, and its spearhead had already crossed the woods and began to detour to the side of Wafangdian. The chief of staff whispered beside him: "There are really a lot of people from China, do you want to strengthen it again?"

The brigade commander shook his head, yesterday he had only put a squad of troops into the woods, and in front of the position, he had ambushed another squad to intercept the enemy's retreat. He expected that the enemy who would sneak up on him would only be assisted by a small force, and the main direction of attack would still be in front of Wafangdian.

"Wait for the enemy to enter the ambush circle and open fire at my command...... Be sure to catch a few live bites! ”

In the early days of this war, the [***] team showed unprecedented madness, once they were surrounded, they often chose to fight to the last man, and even the wounded soldiers would pull grenades and kill themselves once they were captured. This spirit of war that will not surrender to the death has become a myth for a time, and it has been circulated in the army.

But the commander of the Caolu Brigade, who was full of confidence, was determined to break the myth of war among the Chinese.

"Tom!" As a flare lifted into the air, the silence of dawn was broken by the sound of heavy gunfire. The enemy was ambushed, leaving behind many corpses and fleeing backwards. Officers and men came out of the ambush in all directions, shouting and pulling the triggers, as if they were chasing and intercepting thieves, and chased the enemy who was encircled.

But just as the army was about to annihilate the attacking squadron, a series of flickering flares rose up, illuminating the dark night sky as bright as day. Immediately afterwards, the Chinese occupying the Yue army position turned on the searchlights, and the guns of both sides rang out at the same time, dragging long shells and machine gun bullets flying in the searchlight column like fireflies.

More than 4,000 officers and men were driven by the searchlights, forced to stand up straight in the unsheltered fields, and then rushed to the enemy line without hesitation, shouting and holding their bayonet rifles. The Chinese army, which had already set up a trap, weaved a net of death with its guns and bullets, and the tongues of fire spit out by countless light and heavy machine guns were like sharp steel whips violently slapping the body of the attackers, and the sharp bullets were like sharp sickles, cutting the Japanese army to the ground piece by piece. The cannon of the [***] ship moored in the sea also rang out. Rows and rows of accurately calculated shells exploded like ploughs on the unobstructed open field, the earth was turned up deeply, and the flesh and blood life was thrown into the sky and into the abyss of death along with the scorching waves.

This thrilling and spectacular scene, illuminated by the strong light emitted by the flares of the Chinese army, sank forever into the minds of the few survivors of the Chinese army, like a film that was suddenly exposed.

Stopping the enemy's attack at night turned into a veritable massacre.

In fact, there was only one battalion of the Chinese army that carried out the sneak attack at that time, and although the number was small, they were fully supported by the naval guns, because during the day, the Chinese artillery had already calculated the firing elements in the open field, and the naval guns all had fixed firing positions, so that even in the dark night, they could repeatedly attack any area in front of the position. Thousands of officers and soldiers became the first victims in this fire net.

An air-tearing shell blew the fragile thigh of the Grass Deer Brigade Commander into oblivion. At that moment, he only felt that someone had been knocked to the ground, and his face was pressed against the cold black soil of the Liaodong Peninsula that exuded a strong humus smell, and his body could no longer stand. His hearing began to fade, the fire of the cannonballs flashing before his eyes like a silent movie, and the blood gushed like tap water down the broken arteries. He opened his mouth, but could not make any sound, so he had to watch as the hordes of soldiers were swept away in the furious dance of death, like dead leaves in the wind. The young brigade commander sighed softly, the fantasies in his mind began to blur, and the stream of life gradually flowed away, so he tried to keep Ji Yi, and keep the impression of his hometown, his parents, and his wife and children. But he didn't work out. That attachment to life is like a kite with a broken string that finally floats away and disappears into the boundless dark sky.

The next day, when the sun rose red, the corpses of more than 3,000 of the dead of the Japanese army were covered with the earth in a remote field full of white wild chrysanthemums, and the sky was covered with gunsmoke. This scene was so tragic and thrilling that the squadron, which hated Yue so much, also made an exception at the suggestion of the US advisers to stop the shelling for one day, and asked the Yue side to send people to collect the remains of the war dead.

And the same tragic battle is raging on all fronts.

Lushun Kou, Tiger Beach.

When the first tank of the [***] team appeared at the forward position, the morning fog had not yet dissipated, and the artillery of the 2nd Field Heavy Artillery Wing of the Honhon, Satada Jun, lay in the shelter of the water and did not reach his knees, observing the enemy situation with a high-powered telescope imported from Germany. In order to prevent artillery shelling and air raids, the command post of the division and regiment made an exception and moved into an underground shelter, which was reinforced with logs on top, and there was a similar large shelter to hide the mobile strength of a brigade.

Tank groups of the [***] team appeared one after another. There were about seventeen or eighteen tanks, all of which were light tanks that used steam sleeves to emit light smoke but were not very fast, and they were separated from the infantry and marched in multiple columns in the morning fog. Tada Jun saw that due to the fog in the morning, not only did the enemy not carry out routine artillery bombardment, but also that each tank had an exposed tankman waving a small flag to communicate with each other. So Tada Jun expected that the enemy did not find out that his reinforcements had arrived at night, so he decisively issued an order: the troops on both flanks attacked in concealment, and the frontal troops must blow up the enemy tanks.

The defensive position of Tada Jun's unit is located in the northeast of the urban area of Luda, only a few miles away from the positions of the army in the bay and Shakou, and is a strategic point on the way to the city to meet the division of the army in the middle of the Lushunkou battlefield to resist the landing enemy. Since the attack of the squadron has already shaken the defense line of the Yue army in many places, if this place is lost and the two Chinese armies are combined, the battlefield situation will immediately have a fundamental reversal that is not conducive to the Yue army.

Therefore, Lieutenant General Hikoroku Yokoyama personally issued a death order: Those who lose their positions will be severely punished according to military law.

The 2nd Field Heavy Artillery Wing, which had come to reinforce from the mainland, was ordered to take over the defense of the 2nd Wing of the 3rd Division here before the rain. The second wing, the earliest unit to participate in the war, had been beaten to pieces by the Chinese, and after taking over, it retreated to the rear defense line to rest. After the Second Field Heavy Artillery Coalition Army took over the defense, the officers and men who had never participated in the battle were enthusiastic about fighting, and they were all grinding their fists and preparing to fight to the death with the [***] team.

As the morning mist lifted, an autumn apple-like sun rose brilliantly over the sea, spreading its radiant light and heat generously on the war-torn land, spreading every inch of the earth.

Suddenly there was a "buzzing" vibration sound in the air, as if many swarms of flies were gradually bumping into the clear air from far and near, and the officers and men raised their heads one after another, looking for the source of the sound in horror. Tada Jun quickly turned the telescope, but he only had time to see countless small silver shavings that shook with metallic light released from the depths of the huge burning sun, and the sun's light immediately burned his eyes.

At this moment, he already understood that this was a sneak attack on them by the Chinese's planes with the help of the sun's rays!

"Enemy planes are coming! …… Troops evacuated! Tada Jun hissed.

But it was too late, and this time, even the sun, which represents the "god Amaterasu", was on the side of the Chinese.

About 200 Chinese planes flew suddenly from the east with their backs to the sun over the Japanese military positions, and the officers and men of the Syrian army were horrified to see such a picture of war that they had never seen before: the sky was covered by the neat formation of a huge group of bomb-carrying planes, the sunlight seemed to have become dim, and the heavy roar of the engines shook the earth. Many of the soldiers who had seen so many planes for the first time stared up at the sky, as if they could not understand where these big steel birds had flown from.

“…… At that time, our officers and men were not afraid of death, and their morale was high, and it should be fair to say that in that battle, there was not a single cowardly person in our army. Jun Tada, who survived, recalled, "When the enemy planes attacked us, it was not because we didn't know how to defend against air defense, as we were accused of later, but because it was a network of rivers and the water level was too high to build air defense fortifications. ”

"If our infantry charges with the Shina army and fights 'swordsmanship', I bet the Shina will not have the upper hand. If our weapons were similar to those of the Shina people, I don't think the Shina would dare to be so rampant...... The problem is that the disparity in weapons between the warring sides at that time was too great, we were rifles, they had warships, planes, artillery and tanks, could they just not be afraid of death? Even if you build a position with hundreds of millions of your own flesh and blood, you can't withstand the bombardment of bombs......"

A few years later, Tada Jun was criticized for this sentence by fanatical war elements in his country for the crime of "weapon-only theory" and "shaking the morale of the military", and he almost had a nervous breakdown.

The fact is that in the summer of 1921, the devastating bombing on the outskirts of Ludagang brought a catastrophe to the army. More than 200 Chinese planes carried out an almost non-stop carpet bombing of this military position, which was only a few square kilometers in size, for more than three hours. The sound of the violent explosion shook his position like the sky was cracking, and the thick smoke and waves of air raised by the explosion covered the earth like scorching rain and fog for a long time. The fortifications and artillery positions carefully constructed by the Yue army were quickly destroyed, and the positions were full of broken arms and stumps, and a hundred-year-old tree groaned and snapped, and the uneven branches were covered with the rags and rags of the officers and men's rags and blood.

(To be continued)