In the underground headquarters, the brigade commander Shigeichi Hauda sat in a daze in his chair, which was a temporarily dug anti-artillery hole, at the foot of the mountain on the back, most of the area was underground. Because of the narrow space, there is only a radio station and a command room inside. There was also a table, probably the only one in the entire brigade, on which was a one-fifty-thousandth military map of the vicinity of Jiujiang, and an alcohol lamp that glowed with a ghostly glow.

Ha Tian revisited the Yaque Mountain on the map, that is, the peak where his command room is located, and was under the onslaught of the squadron, since yesterday, the squadron ** team occupied the 3077 high ground (Bazi Ridge) on the left side of the Yaque Mountain, opened the gate to the Yaque Mountain, and then it was a non-stop attack day and night.

Habata Shigeichi had been in this dim and damp basement for 5 days, at first he thought he could defeat his opponent, since yesterday he pinned his hopes on the 9th Division at Jinguanqiao, now he listened to the deafening sound of artillery outside, and felt a trace of despair.

"Your Excellency, Brigade Commander, our army has once again repelled the attack of the China!" The herald's voice reported a lack of energy, possibly due to a lack of food and water.

Shigeichi Hauda didn't react, his eyes were half-closed, as if he was asleep, and after a while, he opened his eyes and saw the herald standing dutifully in front of him, so he asked, "What time is it now?" ”

"Report to the brigade commander, it's 4 a.m. (Tokyo time)."

"Got it, you stand down."

At 4 o'clock in the morning Tokyo time, it was already numb, although the squadron did not let go of the opportunity to exhaust the Japanese army at night, but there was no doubt that it could give full play to the advantages of artillery and troops during the day, and another day of hard fighting of the Hakuda detachment came.

Suddenly, two people broke in, one fat and one thin, one tall and one short, it was the two infantry wings under him, Lin Yiqing and Watanabe Nobuyoshi.

"Your Excellency, Brigade Commander, there are a large number of soldiers who have fallen ill, and the military doctor suspects that it is food or drinking water poisoning."

"Massive? How many are there? Ha Tian revisited the two wing commanders who ran together regardless of the battle situation on the position, and felt that the situation was not good.

"More than 2,000 people!"

"Ahh Hakuda stood up in shock, 2,000 people, and now his combat troops add more than 5,000 logistics personnel, half of them are sick at once, so many people are sick, what should I do about the battle?

"What the hell is going on? So many sick, why didn't you report it until now! ”

"Your Excellency, Brigade Commander, since yesterday afternoon, there was initially a small number of soldiers with diarrhea and pain, I thought it was just a few cases, but since the night, the number of patients has gradually increased, and now... It's out of control now! ”

"The situation on my side is the same as that of Watanabe's troops, there are already hundreds of people in front of them who are in shock, and according to the analysis of military doctors, this may be caused by the high level of nitrous acid in instant noodles, because there is no poisoning in soldiers who do not eat instant noodles."

Ha Tian Shigeichi was furious, and slapped the table angrily, "Eight grids! Black-hearted Ando Company! The Imperial Army was fighting bloodshed on the front line, they cut corners on military food, this is a crime against the Great Japanese Empire, against the Great Japanese Imperial Army! ”

Hakuda was not in a daze, and hurried to the temporary field hospital to see the actual situation, saying that it was a field hospital, but in fact, it was a circle of shacks on the north side of the mountain where it was not easy for artillery to reach, and the shacks were crowded with wounded and sick Japanese soldiers.

Shigeichi Harata walked in and gasped. The sick soldiers were all blue-skinned and severely black; There are also many who foam at the mouth and hum in the ground, and some patients lie still, not knowing whether they are dying or temporarily shocking.

At the entrance of the field hospital, sick soldiers were still being transported, and they couldn't fit inside, so they were hastily placed in the open space outside, like wood, but unlike wood, these people could still shout, and occasionally roll in pain.

"Lin Dazuo! Lin Dazuo, are you okay! There was a sudden exclamation from behind Hata

Lin Yiqing Dazuo, the commander of the 1st Wing of the Taiwan Infantry Brigade, his face rose like a pig's liver, and he gasped for breath in his mouth.

The two soldiers next to him hurriedly grabbed him, and one of them quickly found a pass of salt water and washed his stomach.

Ha Tian looked at the captain of the wing who was twitching his hands and feet and his skin was discolored, and felt very helpless, hey, what is going on!

The sound of shells on the mountain became denser and denser, the sky was already completely bright, and the offensive of the squadron became fierce.

It seems that it was found that the resistance of the Japanese army had become weak, and the squadron increased its attack,

At 10 o'clock in the morning of September 9, the first large-scale attack of the squadron began, and the 107th Division, the 108th Division, the newly formed 18th Division and the 52nd Division invested 7 infantry regiments to carry out a unified attack.

"Boom..."The shells poured over like dark clouds, and each shell, like a heavy hammer, smashed on the ground. A full 20,000 heavy hammers smashed the Japanese positions on the ground and trembled, the position of the Hatian detachment was a sea of fire, the various units had lost contact, the hills hundreds of meters apart, they did not know what was happening, and the route of the main positions was also blocked by artillery fire. Xu Ming did not fire 1,000 shells this time, nor did he fire 3,000 shells, but ordered the artillery to use up all the 20,000 shells in stock.

Horizontally and vertically, it's up to this one.

After the artillery fire moved to the depth of the Japanese army, the attacking squadron was like a monstrous wave in a tsunami, like a Japanese position.

At three o'clock in the afternoon, Yaque Mountain, the main position of the Japanese army, was finally submerged by the huge waves of the squadron, and the Chinese military flag was erected on the mountain for the first time.

Nobuyoshi Watanabe, the commander of the 2nd Wing, held a command knife and stood above a valley, in which was the last new force of the Hatada detachment, with more than 500 devils wrapped in white cloth on their heads and carrying 38-type rifles brought to bayonets, and some Taisho 11-style light machine guns were also equipped with bayonets.

"Onboard! Onboard! Onboard! After bowing to the east, Watanabe Nobuyoshi raised his saber in the direction of Mt. Yajaku, which was the last counterattack of the Japanese army.

"Battalion commander, the devil is here!"

Zhang Deshui sat up from the ground and took a sip, "Grandma's, the little devil who can't be killed." ”

He shouted loudly: "Get up for Lao Tzu and line up!" Get on the bayonet! Preparation! ”

"Brothers, rush me!" Zhang Deshui shouted loudly and took the lead to rush down the mountain, and behind him were more than 500 ** soldiers who had just won the victory.

**********

Jinguan Bridge, Land Temple, the position of the squadron.

Here is the opposite of Yaque Mountain, the Japanese army attacked wildly, and the squadron held it to the death.

On September 7 the day before yesterday, after five days of hard fighting, Li Jue's 70th Army finally could not hold on, with the consent of Zhang Fakui, deputy commander of the 9th Theater of Operations, the 19th Division was withdrawn for rest, half a month ago, the 19th Division still had 9,000 people, but half a month later, when it was withdrawn from the land nunnery and Jiwoling in the remaining veins of Lushan, there were less than 800 people, and there was no one in the real ten.

It was replaced by Zhang Fakui's subordinate soldiers, the 4th Army. The 4th Army's combat style was similar to that of the Hunan Army's 70th Army, but it was more tenacious and aggressive.

Zhang Fakui not only defended during the day, but also counterattacked at night, and the Japanese army worked hard during the day, repeatedly fighting for the hill that they had taken, and lost all their essence overnight.

The battle was fought to this extent, whether it was China's Xu Ming, Zhang Fakui, Lao Chiang, or Japan's Hata Shigeichiyoshi, Sumizumi Ryosuke, Okamura Ninji, they all knew that the Japanese army had lost the battle.

The main position of Yaque Mountain has fallen into the hands of **, and the Japanese army has not yet completely conquered the outer position of Jinguanqiao, and is even in a tug-of-war. In the head-to-head battle between the two sides in terms of defense and attack, the Japanese army was completely defeated!

Okamura Ninji now knew that the troops attacking Yaque Mountain were the 26th Army, and at first he and his staff did not believe it, but the report of the 9th Division was true, and the main force of Jinguanqiao's Shina reinforcements was the 4th Army, known as the "Iron Army", so obviously, who was the enemy in front of the Hatada detachment? The answer is imminent.

“… The detachment was besieged by 5 times the most elite troops of Shina, and finally fell into a dangerous situation on the evening of September 9, Showa 13, when the communications unit burned the radio station, the baggage troops burned the last food and ammunition, and the military flag was destroyed to prevent the enemy from seizing it. It is worth mentioning that the breakthrough of our army was very smooth, which can be expressed effortlessly, but the pursuing squadron wasted a lot of shells, which is very fatal to China, which is short of materials. In the battle of Yaque Mountain, as of September 9, the 1st Wing of the Potian Detachment had 175 killed and 342 wounded, and the 2nd Wing had 87 killed and 211 wounded. (In an inconspicuous place at the bottom is a small line: 1,158 and 1,084 deaths in the two wings, respectively.)

―――――――― excerpt from "The Operational History of the Army in the China Incident" compiled by the Japanese Defense Agency

"Whether it's on a farm in Taiwan, or a townhouse in Tokyo, or even on a warship returning home, I'm thinking about why a force of 10,000 people can be wiped out in just seven days, and food poisoning and bad luck can't explain it. Later generations said that this was a mistake in the 11th Army's combat plan, and I want to say that this is a shallow remark that is unfounded and ignores the facts, and at that time, any emperor ** person, let him make a choice question, whether the 10,000 Botian detachment can hold on longer, or the 20,000 Chinese soldiers can defend the Jinguan Bridge for a longer time, I think, everyone will choose the former. In fact, the plan I drew up fully took into account the deployment of troops and the actual situation of both sides, and was even supported by Shigeichi Hata, but the only mistake I made was to believe his opinion, 'The Hatada detachment can hold out until any time, even if it is one year later!' 'The Hatada detachment simply cannot be entrusted with such a heavy task. This unit is composed of relatively weak soldiers in Japan, because they come from all over the country, lack a unified sense of hometown and identity, the training of this unit in jungle warfare and landing warfare before the war is quite rough and incomplete after actual combat testing, and the commander of the unit, Shigeichi Hatada, himself always focuses on food and enjoyment, and the soldiers are fighting bloodily, but he is looking for fun, I am very angry after hearing this, which is the main reason why I recommend that he be dismissed...

―――――――――― excerpt from Okamura Ninji's "Memoirs of Okamura Ninji"

"There are such insidious people in the world, who achieve a little success, take it for themselves, and if they fail, they push it to their subordinates." The soldiers are fighting bloodily, but I am looking for fun', what a shameless person can say, at that time, I didn't close my eyes for 7 days and 7! When I led only 300 men to withdraw from Yaque Mountain, I broke through more than 20 blockades along the way. 'The Hatada detachment fought poorly? I'm Shigeichi Hakuda, and I'm incompetent? My men and I never thought so, and even my opponent, Xu Ming, the best general in China, gave me a very high evaluation, 'The Potian detachment was a very elite unit of the Japanese army, good at fighting in complex conditions, especially in jungle warfare and mountain warfare; Shigeichi Harata is a very good general, very decisive and adventurous. Look what others say about me Shigeichi Hata!

The defeat in the Battle of Jiujiang and the defeat in the previous Battle of Anqing were not due to the ineffective fighting of the officers and soldiers at the front, but to the encounter with a terrible commander, a commander who was very terrible to his own people and very fond of the enemy. In several battles in Shanghai and North China, our army achieved major victories, but it was from the time Okamura Ninji became the commander of the 11th Army that the empire suffered a series of defeats! … I have sent telegrams many times that the current enemy is the 26th Army, the most elite of China, but he ignored it, and when my troops were dead and wounded, he also sent a telegram asking me to counterattack Jiujiang! Military orders are completely out of touch with reality. Mr. Okamura Ninji, you said that you could not forget the defeat in the Battle of Jiujiang in Taiwan, Tokyo, and even on the warships, and I wonder if it is more than 9,000 unjust spirits who are asking for souls from you and making you unable to sleep well. ”

―――――――― excerpt from Shigeichi Hata's "Nine Rivers, the Darkest Purgatory"