Chapter 20: Critical Crisis
At 13:44 on July 10, 1937, the command of the 29th Army of Nanwan, the battle of Wanping started on the seventh day, Tong Linge moved the military headquarters to Nanwan for better command of the battle, and left Zhang Shouling's training regiment in Beiping.
The divisions, regiments, and brigade commanders of the 29th Army all arrived, and they only listened to the discussion: "Lizheng! Everyone stood solemnly, waiting for Tong Lin Pavilion to walk towards the door, and sat on the first seat and looked at everyone.
As soon as Tong Linge came up, he got straight to the point and said: "Since the 7th, it has been obvious to everyone that our army has been fighting outside Lugou Bridge and Wanping City, and the Japanese are going to occupy Beiping, and the problem is that most of the Japanese troops have not yet moved, so our army has taken care of it. ”
"The National Youth Regiment pinned down most of its forces on the 13507 heights, making it impossible for the Japanese to advance as originally planned. Now our 29th Army has completed the division of the Japanese forces. Zhang Zizhong said.
Tong Linge stood up, walked to the map of the military occupation of Pingjin, looked at it, and said, "It seems that the enemy wants to divide us in Fengtai District in two!" ”
"Not bad!" Zhang Zizhong also walked to the map and said: "It is the 2nd Battalion of the National Youth League on the west bank of the Yongding River, in the depression of the 'several' shaped river, the 13507 Heights, the 39th Brigade of Takagi Yoshito of the North China Garrison Army, pinned down here, so that the 40th Brigade of Yamashita Fengwen did not dare to launch an offensive in the direction of Yongding, resulting in the 1st Mixed Brigade and the 11th Mixed Brigade of the Garrison Army in Shimen Battalion, Yungang, Shaguo, and Huaxiang, although they have been spread out, but they have not launched an offensive, only the infantry brigade of Zhengsan by the river has fought with our 29th Army in Lugou Bridge and Fengtai. At present, the 112th Brigade and the 113th Brigade under the 38th Division of our country have cut off the route of the Japanese army's withdrawal to Langfang and can retake Langfang at any time, and the 114th Brigade has formed a division of the troops of Zhengsan on the riverside at Lugou Bridge and Fengtai District. ”
Tong Linge looked at everyone present with considerable satisfaction and said: "The rise and fall of the country is the responsibility of the husband, I have received a telegram from Commander Song ordering us to fight back with all our might. The National Youth League is in full swing on the 13507 heights, although we cannot support their troops, we can use the maximum artillery fire to support the National Youth League. I ordered the 29th Army to support the National Youth League with all possible possibilities. ”
"Yes!" All the soldiers stood solemnly and responded like thunder.
Tong Linge knew in his heart that Japan had not yet made every effort to fight this battle, but the 29th Army and the entire Pingjin seemed to have used their strength, if the National Youth League could contain the offensive plan of the entire garrison army on the 13507 heights, then they still had the capital to sit down and negotiate with the Japanese.
For a time, Lao Zhuangzi's outer position, the 13507 Heights, seemed to be not only pulling the eyes of the entire Pingjin army and civilians, but also the eyes of Nanjing. Chiang Kai-shek also understood what role the 13507 Heights played in the battle situation in Pingjin, contrary to his previous determination and hesitant attitude towards the Japanese, he telegraphed Shen Shaofan to use his greatest strength to hold the 13507 Heights.
In the evening, the sunset was like blood, and the 13507 heights withstood the crazy attack of the devils with one time, but in less than ten minutes, the hillside in front of the 13507 heights gathered dense, and the yellow devils rushed up towards the entire 13507 heights under the cover of artillery fire and machine guns. The soldiers of the 2nd Battalion have not yet patted off the dust on their uniforms, and once again put themselves into the battle, on the western slope of the 13507 Heights, all the mortars of the 2nd Battalion kept coming from the sound of 'Peng, Peng ......', all the guns on the position were spewing flames with all their might, and the devils fell in pieces under the powerful fire net, but the devils still rushed towards the high ground without hesitation, as if they didn't care about the casualties, they kept screaming in their mouths, charging while shooting, and the crooked handles and heavy machine guns in the back also retreated forward with the troops charging in front.
Bullets flew sideways, Teng Hao watched his soldiers fall one by one in front of his eyes, and an evil fire rose in his heart, and when he saw that the devil was about to rush to the position, he pulled out his command knife and shouted: "Commander! Blow the trumpet! As he spoke, he took the lead and rushed towards the devil, and the soldiers saw that the battalion commander took the lead in the charge, and they were not to be outdone, and some put a spear on the MP40 (the German-made MP40 submachine gun also had a sharp blade of flesh, which was a long steel thorn with three grooves, also called a gun stab, although it was not long, but the three grooves pierced the vital point, and the bleeding was extremely fast, and the power was not inferior to the bayonet of the Japanese Type 38 rifle, which was the prototype of the later semi-automatic rifle stabbing ), some carried a scimitar, and some even rushed up with an engineer shovel like a flood discharge from the gate, and immediately shouted to kill; Gunshot; The sound of the cannon melted into one, and I saw that the soldiers were all red-eyed, and no one was afraid of the devil's bayonet, and a hand-to-hand battle lasted for nearly half an hour, and the shouting of killing gradually fell, and the devil was once again repelled by the soldiers of the 2nd battalion.
"Quick! Fortify your position. Nie Yufeng shouted, "The devil is about to open fire." ”
The soldiers were digging holes in the soil to prevent artillery attacks, and almost at the same time, the shelling of the devils began, and the fierce artillery fire covered the entire 13507 heights, and the soldiers of the 2nd battalion were clinging to the soil holes, watching the artillery fire of the devils plow the 13507 heights like ploughing the ground. Nie Yufeng studied architecture before entering Whampoa, and he had a good understanding of what kind of fortifications could defend against artillery fire, so the devil's fire coverage of 13507 did not bring great casualties to the 2nd Battalion. Now the 2nd Battalion is no longer the difference between officers and soldiers, and they are all on the front line of the position, even Teng Hao and Nie Yufeng are the same.
"The devil is coming!" One of the soldiers shouted.
Teng Hao looked down the hill slightly and said, "Damn! Don't let your grandpa gasp anymore. ”
Nie Yufeng said: "The devil must have used a brigade to beat one of our battalions in batches, and we lost more than a hundred brothers in a charge just now. ”
Teng Hao spat and said: "Order all companies not to charge without my orders, and greet the devil with a grenade when he gets close." There are many devils, and we are not cost-effective to fight with them with bayonets. ”
The battalion firepower of the National Youth League is equipped with quite strong ammunition, and the ammunition is relatively sufficient, plus each soldier uses MP40 submachine guns to shoot continuously, and the firing power is far stronger than that of the devil's 38 big cover, thousands of tongues of fire are 'sudden' on the position, there are no thousands of devils charging at the same time, and they can't get close to the position of the 2nd battalion at all. The devils have always used the tactic of shelling and then charging, and the 2nd Battalion of the National Youth League saw that the devils were attacking, so they hid in the earth holes, waited for the artillery to stop, and then went to the front of the trench with machine guns; Submachine gun; The grenades greeted together, and after the fight, the soldiers also understood, and when they repelled the charge of a group of devils, they hid in the dirt hole, and as soon as the cannon stopped, they consciously went up to the edge of the trench to prepare to block the attack, and there was no need for the officers to remind them again. In this way, the two armies did not stop until midnight, and in the early morning of the 11th, the 2nd battalion attacked about 100 times, but the casualties were also quite large, and the strength of a battalion was almost half lost, and Takagi Yoshito carried out a fire blockade on the east bank of the Yongding River in order to prevent the National Youth League from supporting the 13507 heights. At six o'clock in the morning, the 1st Company of the 2nd Battalion stationed in Mahegou also took advantage of the gap between the devils' artillery fire to take all the ammunition of the entire battalion to the 13507 heights.
A few days ago, because of the attack on Langfang Airport by a task force, Japan's Second Flying Group was almost completely wiped out, but there were still dozens of planes capable of fighting in the air, and at 8 o'clock on the morning of the 11th, Japanese planes dropped hundreds of bombs on Mahegou, leveling the entire Mahegou. The North China garrison attaches no less importance to the 13507 Heights than the Squadron Tashiro Wanichiro, and all the artillery wings and battle troops of the garrison troops are sent to the 13507 Heights, almost encircling them. The artillery wing of the garrison army and the original artillery of Yoshito Takagi blockade the 13507 heights and the surrounding areas more intensively. In the past few days, Yoshito Takagi has paid an extremely painful price for the attack on the 13507 Heights, so in order to maintain the strength of the final general attack on the 13507 Heights, the 13507 Heights have been bombed 24 hours a day, and the shells have been rained down on the 13507 Heights.
Although the 2nd Battalion had worked hard to build the fortifications on the 13507 heights, it could not withstand such a large attack, and the entire hill was almost cut off, and the entire position was subjected to an unprecedented attack, which was probably difficult for even a division to withstand. The soldiers of the 2nd Battalion were no longer impressed, and some even hid in the soil cave with their guns in their arms, and once the shells blew up his soil hole, they would be considered martyred.
Teng Hao laughed and said, "Drink! Little Japan really looked down on me, a small battalion commander, and greeted the entire garrison artillery to my 2nd battalion. As he spoke, he lit a cigarette and sang Peking Opera leisurely in the earthen cave.
Tong Linge, deputy commander of the 29th Army, learned that a battalion of the National Youth League was under unprecedented artillery fire on the 13507 heights, and a burst of fire came out and said: "Damn! Did the little devil bully our squadron without a cannon! Ordered the ** heavy artillery battalion of the 29th Army to open fire on the Blue House. ”
Shen Shaofan was still drawing circles and lines at the regimental headquarters, and seemed to be indifferent to the 13507 Heights, but he blocked the sky and couldn't hold his breath, so he pulled Zhang Wenshan and rushed to the headquarters. As soon as he entered the regimental headquarters, he shouted: "Shaofan! What the hell are you doing? The 2nd battalion is almost finished by the devil's artillery, what are you doing? ”
Shaofan didn't raise his head or stop the work in his hand, let alone answer any questions, he put down the work in his hand after staying in a daze, looked at the time, turned around and said to the sky: "You go back immediately and prepare to go." ”
Thinking that he would let the pre-dry column go to support the 13507 heights, he hurriedly said: "I have been ready for a long time." I'll go right away! ”
"Wait. Wait for my command! "Shaofan Dao.
Blocking the sky and said, "What? Still have to wait! Can't wait for the 2nd battalion to be almost finished. ”
Shaofan said with a smile: "The 2nd battalion is over, is it still the main battalion of our National Youth League?" ”
"But ......"
Before Shaofan finished speaking, he preemptively said solemnly: "Execute the order!" ”
"Yes!" Tianfang replied weakly and left angrily.
Shaofan thought for a while and said, "Take the 2nd battalion." ”
"Report!" A correspondent said: "13507 Heights has lost contact. ”
Shaofan said: "Send someone to the 13507 heights." As he spoke, he took out a pen and wrote something on a piece of paper.
13507 The artillery fire of the devils on the high ground began to stop, because of the attack of the heavy artillery of the 29th Army, Qingwadian was also shocked, and Takagi Yoshito once hid in an improvised air-raid shelter, he looked at the time and felt that it was time for a general attack, ordered the troops to prepare for the general attack, and at the same time ordered the artillery to stop firing.
At this time, Teng Hao had already received Shaofan's order, looked aside, and then handed it to Yufeng to look at. Yu Feng said: "Lao Teng gives an order!" ”
Teng Hao nodded and said, "Order......"
"No one is allowed to move without orders."
"Shoot as soon as you hear the order, and drain all the bullets in your guns."
"I heard the charge all charge and fight the devil in close combat until the devil is repulsed."
“………………………………”
One after another, orders were passed to the company headquarters, and the company commander gave them in the trenches. The fighters began to change ammunition for their MP40; For MG42 reload chain; Reloading the Czech ZB26 and even the artillerymen reloaded their own Mauser 98 rifles, which they didn't use, to be sure to kill more devils in a single shot.
In the early morning of July 12, 1937, the chaotic footsteps on the hillside slowly approached the 13507 heights, but Teng Hao still did not make any movement, but the pre-dry column had already started from the old Zhuangzi.
footsteps; messy footsteps; Dense messy footsteps. The warriors could already hear the footsteps of the devils, only twenty meters away from them, and they could not even hear the devil's speech. All the people were sweating, their hearts were almost beating to their throats, and the guns in their hands seemed to be impatient, but the soldiers were still waiting for the battalion commander's order.
It was a long night, yes for the soldiers of the 2nd Battalion on the 13507 Heights, yes, and also for the soldiers of the pre-cadre column who had just come out of Lao Zhuangzi, especially Shen Shaofan, who stood outside the house and looked at the direction of the 13507 Heights, and kept looking at his watch.
"Report! The spy company and the reconnaissance company were all assembled. Zhou Sai ran over and said.
Shaofan nodded and walked towards the courtyard where the troops were gathered, and at this time Zhang Wenshan ran out and said, "Shaofan, you can't go." ”
"Why?" Shaofan took the steel helmet handed to him by Qian Dabao as he walked: "The 2nd battalion is desperately working on the 13507 heights, and I am sitting in it as the regiment commander." ”
"You are the head of a regiment, what if you have three longs and two shorts, what will happen to the National Youth League?" Wenshan is still chasing Shaofan.
Shaofan took the MP40 submachine gun again and said impatiently: "Don't worry, I'm not a paper mud, what will happen?" ”
"No way!" Zhang Wenshan stood in front of Shaofan and said, "If you don't worry, I'll lead the team." ”
Shen Shaofan looked at Zhang Wenshan and said with a smile: "Zhang Da Xiucai! I'm even more worried if you go, so you can stay at the regiment headquarters and take care of Lao Zhuangzi with Chen Chen. ”
Zhang Wenshan still didn't give up on Shaofan, Shaofan really lost his patience this time and shouted: "Song Qing! ”
"Yes!"
"Pull Deputy Chief of Staff Zhang down for me!" Shaofan swallowed.
"This ......"
"What a! Don't pull Deputy Chief of Staff back yet. Shaofan's eyes widened, and he lifted his feet in long boots and came towards Song Qing.
"Shen Shaofan, don't mess around and block the sky; Sun Zhiyu and you are all out, who will take this group! Zhang Wenshan was still yelling while being dragged away by Song Qing.
Shen Shaofan turned his head to Zhang Wenshan and smiled helplessly: "Zhang Wenshan, you are really a dead brain, me and Tianfang; Of course, the feather is not there at all, and you are the head of the group, are you reading eight shares when you were a child, and you have a bad brain. ”
Zhang Wenshan broke away from Song Qing's hand, looked at Shaofan, knew that he was not capable of keeping him at all, so he said, "Boy, you must come back." ”
"Nonsense! Where can I go if I don't come back? Shaofan said with a smile.
Zhang Wenshan said: "Don't worry, the regiment headquarters has me?" ”
Shen Shaofan smiled, patted Zhang Wenshan's shoulder heavily with his hand, and said heavily: "Remember our plan, it's up to you below." ”