Chapter 230: Bloody Battle of Peng Zecheng (Third Update)

Early in the morning of August 4, with the sudden arrival of the Japanese air force, the Pengze front, which had only ceased fire for less than half a day, fell into a state of engagement again.

The 27th Division of the Japanese Army learned after reconnaissance that the Chinese defenders stationed in Pengze were no longer the fearsome Dirt Eight Road, but were replaced by the vulnerable Shina government army, and the division commander, Lieutenant General Masaharu Honma, was overjoyed, and immediately assured the commander Okamura Ninji that he would definitely be able to take the county seat of Pengze within three days.

But Honma Masaharu didn't know that the Chinese commander opposite him was a hard stubble, and by no means a soft persimmon that was vulnerable to attack.

Although this General Xue is not very famous now, in the next few years, he shines in the entire anti-Japanese battlefield, and is recognized as the Chinese general who annihilated the most Japanese troops, including Okamura Ninji, Inaba Shiro and other senior Japanese generals were defeated under him.

After arriving in Pengze County yesterday afternoon, Xue Yue instructed the troops to strengthen the city fortifications and build more than a dozen strong pillboxes and a fort in Pengze County. Although this battery is somewhat rudimentary, it is far from being comparable to ordinary artillery positions.

Knowing that the Japanese reinforcements outside the city had arrived, he was worried that the defenders in the city were insufficient, and the 155th Division of the 64th Army of the 29th Army was also transferred into the city, so far there were three divisions of defenders in Pengze County, namely the 59th Division and the 90th Division of the 4th Army and the 155th Division of the 29th Army Corps. Among them, the 59th Division guarded Nanshan, the 155th Division guarded Shanglingbao and Shuangfengjian, and the 90th Division was in the center.

The Japanese army was very strong, there were no surprise attacks, no sneak attacks, only blatant assaults. However, Honma Masaharu didn't expect that Peng Ze's defenders would be so difficult, and the first line of defense stumped his 27th Division.

The first to engage the enemy was the 64th Division of the 55th Army, a Cantonese unit of the army. Formerly known as the Eighth Route Army of the Guangdong Army, it participated in the operations on the north and south banks of the Yellow River. After the Battle of Wuhan began, the 64th Army was transferred to the Wuhan battlefield and subordinated to Xue Yue's First Corps.

The 155th Division is the starting unit of the 64th Army, with four infantry regiments, an artillery battalion, and a guard battalion, with a total strength of more than 9,800 people, and the commander of the 64th Army, Li Hansoul, concurrently serves as the division commander.

Li Hansoul is a backbone general of the Guangdong family. And he is also a general with a broken backbone and patriotic sentiments. At the beginning of 1936, there was an incident in Shantou where a Japanese soldier was killed, causing an uproar in Japanese-Chinese relations. Organize and prepare for the battle. At the same time, he and his soldiers wore armor and swords to guard the front line of national defense in the Chaoshan region on the edge of the South China Sea.

At this time, Chen Jitang, a Cantonese warlord and Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi of the Gui family, joined forces to launch the "June 1 Southwest Incident", attempting to wave his army to Wuhan under the banner of "going north to resist Japan", and then go down the Yangtze River to Nanjing. Carry out armed opposition to Chiang in order to replace him.

Li Han's soul saw that this was a serious problem. He believed that Chen Jitang's self-kindness was his personal favor, and his resistance to the central government was a public enemy. After repeated persuasions to no avail, he "sealed the gold seal" and resigned to go to Hong Kong. Three links of well power and literature: First, it is to persuade Chen Jitang to rest and settle together. Defend against foreign insults; The first is to present to the head of the Central Committee of the Kuomintang, explain the inside story of the Southwest Xingjun, and please coordinate the plan to unite the War of Resistance; First, it is difficult to invite the generals at all levels in Guangdong Province to be in a difficult situation, and they must not be complied with.

Once the message was sent, the impact was significant. Chen Jitang betrayed his relatives and left the wilderness to go to Hong Kong. After the Southwest Incident was resolved, Li Hansoul returned to Guangdong and resumed his post, which shows this person's patriotism!

Moreover, Li Hansoul is also quite courageous in fighting, 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 Ma Zheng. It was precisely because of this that Xue Yue would hand over the most important Shangling Bao and Shuangfeng Tip Line to Li Han's Soul Department for defense.

In fact, the situation of the 155th Division is indeed very good, the weapon configuration and the quality of the soldiers are relatively good, and its combat effectiveness is relatively strong among all the troops in the Battle of Wuhan. Therefore, after entering the position, all the soldiers under the division commander Li Hansoul were ready to fight the incoming enemy.

Perhaps the 106th Division suffered a big loss in yesterday's attack, so you dispatched aviation, first bombarding the defenders' positions indiscriminately, and also firing at low altitudes. Then the artillery wing of the 27th Division carried out another 20-minute artillery bombardment of the Shanglingbao position outside Pengze City, followed by an infantry attack.

The 465th Regiment of the 155th Division was stationed at the Shanglingbao position, which fought back bravely under the command of the regiment commander Zhang Xueshan, and the artillery battalion also returned fire. Zhang Xueshan ordered the officers and men to respond calmly to the battle, and when the enemy was within 80 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, who suffered heavy casualties.

Later, the Japanese army organized a second attack, and the scale was successively expanded to the brigade level, but it was still repulsed by the defenders.

Both sides fought fiercely for a day at Shanglingbao, with heavy casualties, and the 27th Division did not achieve the expected breakthrough, but suffered losses. Seeing that it was temporarily difficult to break through the frontal position, Lieutenant General Honma Masaharu immediately ordered the commander of the first wing of the Chinese garrison in the garrison, Tanigawa Daisa, to lead his troops and an artillery brigade to detour back to the Shuangfeng tip line south of Shanglingbao, in an attempt to outflank the 155th Division and flank the 155th Division successively.

However, what Masaharu Honma didn't expect was that the defenders also had a unit stationed at the tip of the twin peaks, and there were quite a lot of them, and Hasegawa's troops suddenly fell into a bitter battle, and it was difficult to break through for the time being.

Seeing that the plan for a roundabout attack was not successful, Honma Masaharu changed to a breakthrough with the whole army and stormed the Kamiling Bao and Shuangfeng Peak positions.

However, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on the 4th, the 27th Division did not advance an inch, but suffered heavy losses, with Hasegawa Wing and three squadron leaders killed in the battle, and countless wounded.

On 5 August, the Japanese attacked again, as they had done yesterday, with air forces appearing and more than three times as many as yesterday. The shells smashed into the defenders' positions like they didn't want money, and the powerful firepower immediately tore apart the positions of the 155th Division. At the same time, the artillery wing directly under the Japanese division headquarters also began to shell the defenders to provide effective fire support for the infantry attacking on the ground.

The Japanese artillery fire was beyond imagination, and more than 2,000 rounds of shells fell from the headquarters position outside Pengze in a short period of time, destroying all the fortifications in the eastern part of the city.

Perhaps thinking that the strength of the headquarters in yesterday's attack was not strong enough, Lieutenant General Honma Masaharu directly ordered Okazaki Seisaburo, the commander of the second wing of the Chinese garrison army under his headquarters, to personally go into battle, and first launched an attack on the defenders' positions on a brigade-level scale.

Although the fortifications had been destroyed by the Japanese artillery fire, the defenders still did not retreat half a step and used the dilapidated fortifications to fight to the death with the enemy.

When the Japanese infantry approached the position, in an instant, the gunfire was loud, the sound of killing shook the sky, shrapnel splashed everywhere, and flesh and blood flew everywhere. At the height of the battle, the commander of the 155th Division, Li Hanxun, even went to the front line to inspire his subordinates, and successfully repelled the fierce attack of the Japanese army, inflicting heavy losses on the enemy.

However, Lieutenant General Honma Masaharu was determined to forcibly capture the Kamiryo Bao position and rush into Pengze Castle. Therefore, Okazaki Osa was ordered to take the Shanglingbao position at all costs, and then Okazaki Osa personally led more than 3,000 people under his command to launch a group charge against the position of the 15th Division.

It was shocking that thousands of Japanese soldiers with bayonets rushed towards the defenders' positions desperately, almost ignoring the dense guns and bullets of the defenders.

Although the defenders resisted stubbornly and successfully repelled many Japanese attacks, the Japanese still came like a tide, and the 465th Regiment suffered heavy casualties in the fierce battle, and a fully equipped infantry regiment now has less than 800 people left.

Fortunately, Xue Yue still had reserves in his hands, and when the 465th Regiment was about to be unable to hold on, the reinforcements of the first regiment quickly arrived on the battlefield and replaced the 465th Regiment, which had lost 70% of its strength. (To be continued.) )

PS: PS: The third update is delivered, the author's sincerity is full, everyone has seen it, and then it depends on everyone's performance! Monthly passes, recommendations, and rewards are all smashed!