450 siege points to fight for reinforcements, ask for tickets, ask for guaranteed tickets

On the Thousand Buddha Mountain in the south of Jinan, in the quiet and serene ancient temple Xingguo Temple, the headquarters of the Shandong Dispatch Army of the National Army has been moved here. Bai Chongxi was meditating on the map, there were many antennas outside the meditation room, and advisors at all levels were very busy coming in and out, passing on all kinds of information and orders.

Now the three Japanese divisions in Jinan City have been surrounded by a defensive ground rebuilt by using the outer city wall of Jinan. After discovering that the Japanese were trying to use the Chinese civilians in Jinan as meat shields to weaken the Nationalist army's firepower superiority, Bai Chongxi ordered the sappers to build this outflanking circle.

After five days and five nights of intense construction, the outer city wall of Jinan has been blown into a gentle slope seven or eight meters high by explosives. Trenches were dug along the inner ring of the gentle slope and barbed wire was planted, but no mines were laid. A large number of anti-artillery bunkers were also excavated on the gentle slope, civil fortifications, machine-gun fire points, and even several through tunnels were dug from the bottom of the gentle slope, which could be used both to mobilize troops and to serve as anti-artillery bunkers. On the outside of the gentle slope, where the Japanese artillery fired dead ends, a large number of mortar fortifications were built.

Although the defensive ground of the siege looked solid, Bai Chongxi's face was still slightly dignified at this time. What worries him is that the siege army is insufficient, and although he has a total of 210,000 troops in his hands, 50,000 have been dispersed to grab land. Only six divisions and one brigade could be used, of which the Fifth Division and the Eighteenth Division were placed on the defensive ground about 10 kilometers east of Jinan on the line from Lianhuashan to Xiaoqing River, digging trenches and defending them, blocking the three divisions of the Japanese army advancing westward. The 19th Division and the Armored Teaching Brigade were used to destroy the Japanese reinforcements, and they were placed behind Huashan on the north bank of the Xiaoqing River. The Fourth Division was the general reserve of the campaign, and it also had the task of not defending the two major military airfields of Laiwu and Tai'an, as well as the storage of large army materials. Only the 1st and 6th divisions were left to be used for the siege of Jinan. The four brigades were evenly placed on all sides of the outflanking circle of Jinan, while the two divisional units and the division's artillery were placed separately at the commercial port in the west of the city and at the foot of Maoling Mountain and Yanchi Mountain in the east of the city.

However, worries are worries, Bai Chongxi still has full control over the victory. In fact, the plan for this encirclement to send reinforcements and launch a decisive battle with the six divisions of the Japanese army under the city of Jinan was formulated by Bai Chongxi, and Luo Yaoguo, the chief of general advisers, did not point fingers after leaving the Shandong Front, and everything was left to Bai Chongxi and the Shandong Front, and the General Adviser Department just fully cooperated.

"Brother Jiansheng, why do you want to be so engrossed? We didn't even know we were coming? Li Zongren's voice suddenly sounded in Bai Chongxi's ears, and he turned his head to see that Li Zongren, An Sihua, and Li Jishen didn't know when they walked into the headquarters.

"Oh, here you are." Bai Chongxi smiled faintly and arched at the three of them to greet them. Li Zongren and Li Jishen also returned the salute with their fists, only the half-race An Sihua, who was taught badly by the Germans, saluted solemnly.

"Look here." Bai Chongxi smiled and pointed to the eastern section of the outer city of Jinan on the map. If nothing else, it is the address of the fiercest battle in Jinan. The reinforcements of the three divisions of the Japanese army came from the east, and it is very likely that the three divisions in the city will also break through to the east at the same time. In addition, the Japanese have always been prone to extremely real thinking, and when the time comes, it is likely that they will make a desperate gamble and use the sea of people to make a way out.

"This section of the defensive area is only 2.3 kilometers, but it is the key to the success or loss of the entire campaign. Brother Ren Chao, the 1st Brigade of your 1st Division is very likely to withstand the pressure of all the Japanese troops in Jinan City at that time, and if the Japanese are ruthless, 60,000 people will be pressed up in one go, can the 1st Brigade resist it? ”

Li Jishen frowned slightly, and at the same time, a trace of surprise slipped across his face. The 60,000 Japanese troops pressed up in one go, and the pressure was great, but in the same way, the credit must be particularly great, if the Japanese really fought for the position of the First Brigade...... Hehe, the officers and soldiers of the First Division of the National Army will not be soft when they kill, and after this battle, the first division will have to be the first division. Of course, if it can't withstand it and let the Japanese break out, this battle will be in the hands of the 1st Division.

"It's okay if you can't stand it." Li Jishen was hesitating, and An Sihua on the side suddenly interjected lightly. He took a step forward, poked the northeast corner of Jinan City with his finger, and said with a smile: "The 19th Division and the armored brigade under my command are here, only about 5 kilometers away from the defense of the first brigade...... I suggested that the 1st Division build another reserve defense ground on the line of Maoling Mountain and Yanchi Mountain. If the 1st Brigade could not stop it, it retreated to the reserve defensive position. Expect the Japanese to attack the reserve ground defense with all their might, and flank their left flank with armored troops. ”

"But what about the three divisions of the Japanese army advancing westward?" Bai Chongxi was noncommittal, and asked again.

An Sihua smiled coldly: "Wait until we have broken through the Japanese army in Jinan City and then go east to pursue." At the same time, let the Eighth Brigade stationed in Laiwu advance north to the area of the Jiaoji Line, and as long as we delay the Japanese army's westward march Corps, we can catch up with them. ”

Bai Chongxi clapped his hands when he heard this: "Okay, so it's foolproof." It is the casualties of the lost arms of the Japanese army in Jinan City, and we are also sure of them, Brother Ren Chao, then your first division should not fight hard with the Japanese, it is really impossible to ...... Just retreat to the second line according to Brother Sihua's style, and let the armored army crush them."

"Okay." Li Ji glanced coldly at this "half-foreigner" who came out halfway to grab credit. An Sihua's mixed-race status and experience in the German Army, combined with the Prussian style of doing things, made him the biggest outlier in the eyes of the Kuomintang veterans. However, this person is Luo Yaoguo's brother-in-law, the number one thug in Luo's class, and the teacher of the Whampoa Department...... It's a bit helpless.

Probably seeing Li Jishen's unkind face, Li Zongren, who was in charge of commanding the army to block the reinforcements, laughed twice: "Now that Britain and the United States have jointly come forward to remedy it, this war will end at any time." I'm afraid that these hundreds of thousands of devils won't have time to kill them all, and when the Japanese see that the signs are wrong, most of them will accept remedy. So we must hurry up and kill, and kill one more one. If the 60,000 infantry can really squeeze into the plain between Maoling Mountain, Yanchi Mountain and the outer city of Jinan, it would be good for Brother Ren Chao and Brother Sihua to show their skills...... If you can kill them all, the first credit for this battle will be the two of you. ”

Li Jishen's ears were slightly red, and Li Zongren's words didn't sound like a taste...... How does this mean that he Li Jishen wants to take credit?

……

On the night of April 18, the 17th year of the Republic of China.

About eleven kilometers east of Jinan City, the Lotus Mountain Highland.

"Shelling concealed ......"

As soon as the shouts began, a thunderous roar sounded almost simultaneously, and clusters of orange-red fireballs rose inexhaustibly in all directions of the position of the 35th Brigade of the Nationalist Army stationed on the Lotus Mountain Heights. Orange-red lines of fire in the sky rose from the back of Yuling Mountain in the distance at a rapid speed, and then roared towards Lotus Mountain, bursting through the trenches of the Kuomintang defenders, turning into a wave of heat and fragments that swept through everything. However, the commander of the 30th Brigade, Major General Guo Shuyan, did not care about the scene in front of him, and still stood in the reinforced concrete bunker on the top of Lotus Mountain, holding a telescope and enjoying the performance of the Japanese artillery with relish. Standing next to him was Qiu Qingquan, commander of the 18th Artillery Regiment, who, according to the Nationalist Army's artillery command regulations, was the first-line observation post during the war, which was the sturdy reinforced concrete bunker.

"Brother Yu'an (Qiu Qingquan), the Japanese artillery is behind Yuling Mountain, right?" Guo Shuqi put down the binoculars and said lightly: "It's a dead end, you can't hit them, right?" ”

Qiu Qingquan frowned: "The little devil is also good at learning now, and he knows that our plane is very powerful, and it has been changed to march at night and attack at night." And put the cannon on the back of the mountain...... Brother Shizhen (Guo Shuzhen), fortunately, our position is strong enough and there are many anti-artillery holes, otherwise we would have suffered heavy casualties."

"How many cannons do they have, can you hear that?" Guo Shuqi acted as if nothing happened.

Qiu Qingquan narrowed his eyes, stretched out his ears and listened for a while: "There should be more than 60 75mm guns, it should be a division, and their 150mm heavy artillery is estimated to be lost to the brothers of the aviation force." It looks like they can't help our Lotus Mountain...... The pressure on the 5th Division of the Northern Front may be greater, right? ”

Guo Shuqi shook his head lightly and put down the binoculars in his hand: "If you can't take this Lotus Mountain, the Japanese won't dare to advance westward even if they break through the position of the Fifth Division on the northern front." We are not an anti-Japanese ally, two divisions belong to artillery regiments with 108 heavy artillery...... With the observation point of Lotus Mountain, they have gone west and have not returned. So they're going to be going all out. Speaking of this, the corners of his mouth were slightly hooked, revealing a cold smile: "And I will make the corpses of Japanese people pile up under Lotus Mountain."

……

The Japanese artillery bombardment lasted only 20 minutes, and about 60 75mm field guns and mountain artillery fired a total of more than 3,000 shells, and almost all of the shells fell on the Lianhua Mountain Heights. The destruction of mine arrays and barbed wire directly east of the high ground and the loss of dry bunkers and civil fortifications were carried out, but for the Kuomintang officers and soldiers captured in the tunnels and anti-artillery holes, the casualties were extremely small and almost negligible.

Inside the establishment on Yuling Mountain, the advance headquarters of the 10th Division of the Japanese Army was located here. Honjo held up a telescope and witnessed the entire shelling. Although the Kuomintang positions on the opposite side seemed to have been overwhelmed by rows of fireballs rising one after another, it seemed that it had become a hell on earth...... There shouldn't be any life left to survive.

However, Shigeru Honjo, who has studied positional warfare in World War I, understands that a mere 3,000 rounds of 75mm shells is basically an itch for a trench area that was truly built according to European standards for positional warfare. And the Nationalist troops stationed on the opposite high ground are precisely the Germans who instigated the First World War, and they should have been stationed there for nine days, I really don't know what the position will look like? It seems that the only way to do this is to rely on the Imperial Army......

"Eight grids" Honjo Fan put down the telescope in his hand and scolded deeply, I don't know who he was scolding? Is this war that outweighs the losses and has almost made Japan lose its front teeth?

One after another, the flares rose into the air, illuminating the night sky, illuminating the earth, illuminating the defensive positions of the Kuomintang army, and illuminating the Japanese infantry who were engaged in the attack. Thousands of Japanese soldiers, forming a wave of earthy yellow skirmishers, led by junior officers holding sabers, shouted the slogan "onboard and onboard" and approached the forward positions of the Kuomintang army at a brisk pace.

The promenade line of the Japanese attack had not advanced a few steps forward, and suddenly a column of smoke rose up, which was the 30 75mm mountain guns of the 35th Brigade of the Nationalist Army and the artillery companies of the 70th and 71st regiments of the Nationalist Army. This kind of "extremely easy artillery" designed by the Japanese themselves is not difficult to produce and control, so it has been copied in large quantities by the current South China, and it has actually become an "anti-Japanese weapon".

The artillery bombardment of the Kuomintang troops was very fierce and accurate, and the Japanese army's not dense charging line was blown out of large and small gaps in an instant. For a while, the screams of the wounded Japanese soldiers one after another, the shouts of the Japanese soldiers who were still charging, and the explosions of shells roaring like thunder were mixed together, and it seemed that a symphony from hell was played. However, the Japanese charge did not slow down because of this, but instead accelerated its pace, as if they wanted to rush through this death zone......

"Pay attention to prepare for battle"

In the forward position of the Kuomintang defenders in Lianhua Mountain, all the commands of the junior officers sounded at this moment. Hundreds of officers and men wearing German-style infantry steel helmets and holding various weapons poured out from the anti-artillery holes in all corners of the trenches, rushing along the communication trenches to their respective combat posts. These pale-faced, somewhat nervous young people all belonged to the first battalion of the 71st Regiment of the National Army, and their battalion commander was Major Xie Jinyuan, who was not a few years older than them, and he was also a historical celebrity. In this time and space, he is still a graduate of the fourth phase of Whampoa, and now he has become a major battalion commander, which is much better than the official luck in history.

Dada......

More than a dozen Japanese heavy machine guns had already moved up and were erected on both sides of the Japanese assault infantry, and strings of bullets glowing with dark red light flew extremely quickly towards the Kuomintang positions. For a moment, columns of smoke rose in front of the trenches, and from time to time there were terrible shouts from wounded soldiers who had been shot by bullets. However, the Japanese machine guns were not satisfied for long, probably as if they had lost a bomb feeder. 80mm and 60mm mortars and 70mm infantry guns attached to the battalion and company level, as well as 50mm grenadiers deployed at the platoon level, fired back one after another...... Soon fireballs rose from all sides of the Japanese charging infantry, and the Japanese machine guns were silent. At the same time, the machine guns on the Kuomintang positions began to strafe, and bursts of flames swept by, and the charging Japanese troops were knocked down in rows like wheat harvesting. The rest of the Japanese troops did not lose their arms and rushed hard, but found the terrain and lay down. Slowly crawling forward, approaching the front of the Kuomintang position, the rifles of both sides also began to fire at each other.

Such pomp and circumstance were frequently staged in various places throughout the eastern front of Jinan. The three divisions of the Japanese army advancing westward were deployed from north to south, and at the same time they initiated a fierce attack on the entire defensive area held by the Kuomintang army. However, in the face of the strong positions and strong firepower of the 5th and 18th Divisions of the Nationalist Army, the Japanese offensive soon reached a stalemate, and there was no meaning except to increase casualties. The best result of the battle was that the onslaught only advanced a few hundred meters overnight, and did not even capture a single position held by the Kuomintang army.

……

Jinan City. Early in the morning of April 20.

The gunfire rang out sporadically, and there was never a time to stop. All night last night, there was also fierce fighting on all fronts in the city of Jinan. The three divisions trapped here launched eight rounds of onslaught on the eastern section of the outer city of Jinan, each joined by at least one brigade of infantry. A night of hard fighting, except for the dumping of thousands of corpses in front of the impregnable defensive ground of the Kuomintang army, also seemed to be meaningless.

"Your Excellency, last night the 2nd Division lost 311 men, and more than 200 were seriously wounded. The 5th Division lost 420 men and seriously wounded 305. The 6th Division ......"

I don't know that Muto Nobuyoshi, Makidayuki, Akai Harumi, and Fukuda Hikosuke, who haven't closed their eyes for a few days and nights, all have red eyes, and sit weakly in the Wanzhutang headquarters, listening to the advisers report on the losses of last night.

"What about the three divisions to the east? Where did they hit? Muto Nobuyoshi asked calmly.

"There has been no progress either, and the garrison of the Shina army is equally tightly guarded, and it seems to be impregnable......" The advisor's voice trembled slightly, and his eyes glistened with tears. Well, it's not that I'm afraid of death, but I have a premonition of defeat.

Fuji Nobuyi nodded his head lightly and said with a wry smile: "Is there any news on the peace talks?" ”

"Not ...... yet," the advisor shook his head.

Muto Nobuyoshi took a deep breath and waved his hand, motioning for the advisors to step down. I saw that there were only three lieutenant generals, division commanders and himself left in the room. Muto smiled bitterly: "It seems that the Shina army is much more powerful than we imagined, and if we want to get out of trouble in this battle...... We can only work on our own. ”

"Your Excellency General, why don't we continue to hold on, and join forces with the First Division, the Sixteenth Division, and the Westward Army, then there will be five divisions to save us."

It was the commander of the second division, Akai Harumi, who spoke tiredly, and glanced at Muto: "Your Excellency, the advisor headquarters is concerned...... Hopefully, we can hold on and wait for help. ”

Muto Nobuyoshi sneered twice: "If we insist on waiting for reinforcements, then the sacrifices of the 8th, 9th, and 10th divisions will be worthless, do you think that the people of China are just trying to block them?" ”