At about 3 o'clock in the afternoon of October 13, 1899, outside the mouth of the Eagle Gorge, because the first line of positions had been bombed by Japanese artillery, under the order of division commander Ni Fan, the officers and men of the third division abandoned the first line of positions and retreated to the second line of positions, and then the Japanese army occupied the first line of positions outside the mouth of the gorge.

After that, the commander of the 18th Division of the Japanese Army, Kimura Yuheng, sent a fully equipped infantry wing, under the cover of Japanese artillery fire, to continue to attack the second position of the Dingbei Army outside the mouth of the Eagle Gorge, hoping to take advantage of the victory to pursue and capture another position of the Dingbei Army.

However, Kimura Youheng took it for granted that if the position of the Dingbei Army was so easy to capture, the first position outside the mouth of the Eagle Gorge would not have cost the Japanese army tens of thousands of people, so this wing of the 18th Division was attacked head-on by the officers and soldiers of the 3rd Division who were waiting for the second position, and the wing of more than 2,000 people attacked for half an hour, not only did not even touch the edge of the second position, but there were less than 600 people left who could continue to fight, and even the wing commander of this wing was killed.

At this time, the commander of the 19th Division, Tachibana Koichiro, also sent a full infantry wing to join the attack on the second line of positions outside the mouth of the Dingbei Army's Eagle Gorge, and half an hour later, this wing became similar to the fate of the 18th Division, with losses of more than two-thirds, and the only thing stronger than the wing of the 18th Division was that the wing commander was still alive.

Kimura Yutsunetsu and Lichi @ Hana Koichiro were originally going to continue to send troops to attack the second line of positions outside the gorge of the Eagle Gorge of the Dingbei Army, but suddenly received an order from the commander Oyama Iwa to stop the attack, so the Japanese attack on the 13th stopped.

Yutsune Kimura and Koichiro Tachibana returned to the headquarters of the Northern Dispatch Army of Japan's China. Warmly welcomed by the commander Oyama Iwa, Oyama Iwa personally bowed to the two division commanders and said, "Kimura-kun, Tachibana-kun." You are the heroes of the empire, and you are also the heroes of our army sent to the north of Japan. Your two divisions have captured the first line of positions outside the mouth of the Eagle Gorge, so that our entire northern China dispatch army can see the hope of breaking through the Eagle Gorge, and we will report your merits to the base camp and to His Majesty the Emperor! ”

Oyama Yan's words made the division commander of the 16th Division, Yamanaka Shinyi, and the division commander of the 17th Division, Senba Taro, look not very good, if it weren't for the crazy attack of their two divisions yesterday, the 18th Division and the 19th Division would not have wanted to capture this position of the Dingbei Army today.

Koichiro Tachibana said at this time: "This is also thanks to the attack of the 16th and 17th Divisions yesterday, and Kimura-kun and I picked up the cheap. ”

Yamanaka Nobuyi and Senba Taro heard Tachibana Koichiro's words, and their faces improved a little.

Dashan Yan also turned around and said, "The merits of Yamanaka-kun and Xianba-kun are also not small. I will also report your merits to the base camp, to His Majesty the Emperor! ”

At this time, Kimura Youheng said on the side: "Commander, why don't you continue to attack the second line of the Dingbei Army outside the mouth of the Eagle Gorge?" We should take another position of the Dingbei Army in one fell swoop. ”

Da Shanyan shook his head and said: "In today's attack, your two divisions have already suffered a lot of casualties, and I must ensure that a certain number of veterans are left for each division, otherwise additional troops will be transported from the Japanese mainland and supplemented to the divisions. Ladies and gentlemen, you must know that our next battle is still very difficult, not only to break through the Eagle Gorge! ”

Kimura Yutsune didn't say anything more, he had already counted the losses of his division. Today's offensive 16th Division lost 6,225 killed, with nearly 400 seriously wounded, a third of its losses. He guessed that Tachibana Koichiro's 19th Division also suffered about one-third of the casualties, just like Commander Oyama Iwa said. If the offensive continues, the two divisions will be demoralized.

Early in the morning of the 14th. Dashanyan sent two new divisions, the 20th Division and the 21st Division, to launch an attack on the second line of positions of the Dingbei Army outside the mouth of the Eagle Gorge.

On the morning of the 17th, the Japanese army captured the second position of the Dingbei Army outside the gorge of the Eagle Gorge, and on the 20th, the Japanese army dispatched the last two divisions, the sixth division and the eighth division, with the cooperation of nearly 50 light tanks of the two ace divisions of the Japanese army, the two divisions captured the last position of the Dingbei Army outside the gorge of the Eagle Gorge, so far the positions of the Dingbei Army outside the gorge of the Eagle Gorge were all occupied by the Japanese army.

In the headquarters of the Third Division, Ni Fan frowned and looked at the Japanese casualty report in the past 9 days from the beginning of the offensive, and then handed this casualty report to Hu Desheng, the commander of the Seventh Division.

In these nine days of the Japanese army's frantic attack, it was somewhat difficult to rely on only one third division, so the support troops of the seventh division had already entered the position outside the mouth of the gorge east of Eagle Gorge and fought side by side with the officers and men of the third division to resist the Japanese attack.

Hu Desheng took the casualty report and sighed secretly, the third and seventh divisions experienced the bloody battle of Maimaicheng and the great battle of Darkhan City in the war with the Russians, and the veterans who had been trained for several years at the earliest suffered very large losses, and their vitality had not yet recovered, and most of the officers and soldiers of the two divisions were supplemented later, and these officers and soldiers used to be reserve militiamen, and their training was much worse than that of the regular army.

Now after these nine days of fighting, the 3rd and 7th Divisions have suffered great losses, and a considerable number of them are veterans who have been trained for several years, and it seems that the 3rd and 7th Divisions will have to take a long time to recover their vitality, and the battle is not over, the Japanese army will definitely continue to attack the Eagle Gorge, and the casualties of the 2 divisions will increase.

In nine days of fighting, the 3rd Division lost 12,025 killed and more than 2,000 seriously wounded, and the 7th Division suffered smaller losses, 7,933 killed and more than 1,200 seriously wounded. The artillery of the Dingbei Army lost 39 heavy howitzers with a caliber of 155 mm, 77 howitzers with a caliber of 105 mm, 198 field and mountain guns with a caliber of 75 mm, as well as more than 100 mortars with a caliber of 88 mm and more than 150 mortars with a caliber of 60 mm.

Hu Desheng said: "Old Ni, the last position outside the gorge mouth on the east side of Eagle Gorge has been lost, do you think you need to launch a counterattack to take back the last position outside the gorge?" ”

Ni Fan shook his head and said: "Although we have the strength to recapture the position, but the position outside the gorge has been dilapidated after these days of fighting, today is the last position outside the gorge is not lost, I am also ready to order the troops to withdraw to the Eagle Gorge, but unfortunately it is a step late, otherwise today's losses will not be so big, I didn't expect the Japanese army to concentrate so many tanks at once." ”

Today, the 6th Division and the 8th Division, the 2 ace divisions of the Japanese army, suddenly used nearly 50 light tanks to cooperate with the Japanese infantry to launch a charge on the last position outside the gorge, and the officers and soldiers of Dingbei guarding the last position were caught off guard, so that the Japanese army entered the position of the Dingbei Army with a charge. Braving the artillery fire of the Dingbei Army, Ni Fan saw that the shape of the position was very unfavorable to his side, even if he sent support troops, it would be useless, so he gave the troops who were still in the white-knuckle battle an order to retreat.

However, in the end, only a small number of officers and soldiers were able to withdraw to the Eagle Gorge, and most of the officers and soldiers on the position could not be withdrawn, and they fought with the Japanese army until the last moment.

Hu Desheng said: "Our losses are not small, but the Japanese losses should be greater, the next is the battle for Eagle Gorge, although the hills on both sides of Eagle Gorge are not high, but we have built a large number of fortifications on each hill, plus in the passage of Eagle Gorge with the hill fortifications on both sides to build 8 positions, as long as we have sufficient troops, the Japanese army will lose 100,000 200,000, don't want to break through Eagle Gorge!" ”

Ni Fan nodded and said: "The infantry brigade of the second division and the infantry brigade of the fourteenth division have been transferred by me, we have no problem in terms of strength, the next step is to use the Eagle Gorge to consume the strength of the Japanese army, wait for the arrival of the five divisions transferred from Baikal and Outer Mongolia provinces, and then launch a counteroffensive against the Japanese army." ”

Hu Desheng asked, "How long will it take for those five divisions to arrive?" Where are you going to let them meet? ”

Hu Desheng did not stay at the headquarters of the Third Division for the past few days, but returned to the headquarters of the Seventh Division, constantly dispatched troops of the Seventh Division to support the front-line positions, and also walked around the positions in the Eagle Gorge to boost the morale of the officers and men of Dingbei in each position.

Ni Fan pointed to the map on the table and said: "I sent a telegram to their five divisions, asking them to converge in the town of Olang, which is 150 kilometers north of us, and then set out from the town of Olang, cross the Sikhote Mountains, and then follow the east of the Sihote Mountains, quickly approach the Eagle Gorge, and attack the flank of the Japanese army." However, the provinces of Baikal and Outer Mongolia are far away from us, and most of the areas are inaccessible, that is, the 36th and 37th divisions transferred from Baikal Province, because they can take a section of the train along the Trans-Siberian Railway, which is the fastest, and it will take 3 or 4 days to reach the town of Olang, and when the 5 divisions can attack the flank of the Japanese army, I expect it will take at least half a month. ”

Hu Desheng nodded and said: "Half a month is just right, we can use Eagle Gorge to consume more Japanese troops, and the Japanese army should not want to break through Eagle Gorge within half a month." (To be continued......) R1292