On the night of February 18, 1939, Baotou East, Shenmujia Town. As soon as you enter the town, you can smell a strong smell of gunpowder smoke and blood. The rows of houses and shops that used to be lined up are long gone, replaced by ruined walls, devastation, stumps and broken arms, and bloodshed everywhere, all showing the cruelty of war.

A Japanese brigade attacked from noon during the day under the cover of artillery fire, but it was still unable to resolve the battle until dark. Several times they broke into the town and were driven out by the defenders, and both sides suffered heavy casualties. In particular, on several street intersections, due to repeated battles between the enemy and us, the bodies of the officers and men of the two armies were pushed and stacked on top of each other alternately, blocking the intersections. This annoyed the Japanese army, but also couldn't help but have a trace of admiration. It is important to know that this is just a small town, and there are no strong fortifications.

"Sakahara-kun, the Chinese army here is really tenacious!"

"Sodosne! In order to avoid greater losses, I think we can only surround them first and wait until dawn to deal with them! ”

"Yo Xi!"

……

In fact, the first battalion of the 303rd Regiment stationed in the town suffered very heavy casualties, and it was completely supported by a force of faith. A battalion of more than 800 people before the war has now only two or three hundred left.

"Water!" The battalion commander groaned, his chapped lips turning gray. He was seriously wounded and was lying on a stretcher made from a door panel. As the wells were buried by artillery fire, the troops had been without water for a long time.

Several guards rummaged around, shook the jars and jars when they saw them, and really found a jar with water after looking for a long time. Shake it, and there is a gurgling inside. Open it and take a look. A smell of sour radish came to my face. It turned out to be a jar of radishes pickled by the fellow himself, probably because he was too hasty when he fled, and he didn't have time to pick it up. Fortunately, because the jar was placed in the corner, the roof was not smashed when the artillery bombarded it.

The guard was overjoyed, hurriedly ran back with the jar, took a small bowl with the jar lid, tasted it himself, felt that it tasted good, and hurriedly handed it to the mouth of the first battalion commander. While feeding, he said, "Camp." The water is coming! You can taste it, and it's a little sweet! ”

The battalion commander took two sips, slowly opened his eyes, and looked around with difficulty. "When is this?" he asked. And what about the deputy battalion commander? Tell him to come to me right away! ”

The guard's nose was sour. Choked up: "Camp, vice-seater, he has already sacrificed!" Staff Officer Wen, Company Commander Li, Company Commander Wu, and Platoon Commander Zhang. All sacrificed. From noon to now, we have lost hundreds of brothers. Camp, our camp is almost finished, woo woo ......"

The battalion commander felt a pain in his heart, closed his eyes for a while, and asked again: "Who is commanding the troops now?" ”

The guard hurriedly wiped away his tears and explained: "The devils are shelling hard, so now it's a dispersal operation." The 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th companies were each divided into groups to guard the town, and there was only one command squad at the battalion headquarters here, and there were seven more including us! ”

The battalion commander nodded and said, "Go quickly, call a few company leaders to Lao Tzu!" ”

Several guards hurriedly ran to inform, and soon, the platoon commander Zhao of the first and third platoons, the platoon commander Tang of the second company and the first platoon, the deputy company commander of the third company, and the commander of the fourth company Hu all hurried over, and when they saw the battalion commander waking up, they all shouted happily: "Battalion, battalion, you are awake!" ”

Seeing several subordinates coming, the battalion commander finally showed a smile on his face and scolded: "Lao Tzu said a long time ago, you dogs have the hardest lives, and you won't accept such a vicious battle!" ”

Several officers smiled. Company Commander Hu, who had a good relationship with the battalion commander, also sarcastically said: "Battalion seat, didn't you also confiscate a shell from Lord Yan?" Hehe, this is called Wang Ba's life for a thousand years! ”

Deputy Company Commander Huang, who was a little calmer, asked, "Yingzao, are you planning to break through?" ”

The battalion commander nodded and said, "Well, if you don't break through, you're really going to end the fight!" Lao Hu, you immediately count and see how many guns we have! ”

Company Commander Hu said: "The camp, there is no need to count, there are only so many people left, and we will know the Tao in total." He also said to Zhao, Huang, Tang, and the others: "We still have 75 brothers in the fourth company, 51 of whom can move, two light machine guns, 80 rifles, and five shell guns!" ”

Platoon Commander Zhao thought for a moment and said: "We only have 36 people in our company, of which 7 are seriously wounded, and there are still two light machine guns left, but one is a captured crooked handle, and the rifles are not counted, but there are definitely more than people, and there should be five or six shell guns, but the bullets are almost gone." ”

Platoon Commander Tang coughed and said, "There are still 50 people left in our second company, but there are many serious injuries, and only 27 of them can move around on their own. There were also two light machine guns, both of which were captured crooked handles, there were a lot of rifles, two for each person was enough, there were six shell guns, and some bullets. ”

Deputy Company Commander Huang continued: "We still have 65 people in our third company, 18 people are seriously wounded, and there are three light machine guns, two Czech-style ones, and one crooked handle. The rifles are also enough, there are four more shell guns, and there are still a lot of bullets left. ”

The remnants of the four companies plus the battalion command squad, the results of the statistics came out quickly. The 1st Battalion of the 303rd Regiment, excluding 73 seriously wounded, now has a strength of 214 men, 10 light machine guns, 25 shell guns and a number of grenades. In addition, there was a heavy machine gun and a mortar.

The commander of the first battalion was silent for a moment and said, "Brothers, now that the little devils have relaxed their vigilance, it is a good time for us to break through. Wait a minute, you quietly move your troops to the east of the town, and then fight your way out together. Don't stop no matter what you encounter along the way, and after breaking out of the encirclement, you will move in the direction of Shiguai Town. ”

Company Commander Tang asked with some anxiety: "Camp, then, what about the wounded?" "They have the most wounded in the second company, and the proportion is also the largest, if one carries one on their backs, I am afraid that they will not be able to run away when the time comes.

The commander of the first battalion sighed and said, "It is estimated that if you can save it, you will bring it, and if you can't do it, you will be given a glorious bullet." ”

Several officers nodded solemnly, feeling a heavy weight in their hearts, and they were overwhelmed. Half an hour later, the remnants of several companies came over.

The commander of the first battalion looked at it and saw that the troops had shrunk by more than half, and his heart ached again, only to feel that it was dark in front of him. I almost fell.

"Camp!" Several guards hurriedly stepped forward to support them.

The commander of the first battalion said in a deep voice: "It doesn't matter, I'm fine!" Go, bring the jar of turnips, and everyone will eat it separately, and it will take a lot of strength to wait. ”

The guard Xiao Zhang answered and hurriedly moved the jar over. Everyone was so thirsty that their throats were about to smoke, and they couldn't help but shake up when they smelled the sour radish. It's just that there are more monks and less porridge, and such a little radish is not enough for everyone to eat, so they have to line up, and each person stepped forward and cut off a small piece with a bayonet and put it in his mouth. Since everyone is very restrained. More than 200 people were divided. There was even a small half of the altar left.

The battalion commander looked at the jar and was stunned, waved his hand and said, "Let's go, all squads and platoons should be careful, don't make too much noise!" ”

Ten minutes later. The remnants of a battalion quietly moved to the junction east of the town. The commander of the first battalion was also carried over by several guards. Because the weather is too cold. The Japanese troops on the opposite side are all lighting fires. The fire stretched far away, which showed that the Japanese army had a large area of control.

The battalion commander observed for a while, lowered his voice and said, "Do you see it?" Wait a minute, and rush forward in this direction. Do you remember how to say an enemy attack in Japanese while rushing? ”

Everyone nodded. At Zheng Weiguo's suggestion, Fu Zuoyi's department also carried out Japanese language learning activities. However, their focus is different from that of the Eighth Road and Jizhong.

The Eighth Route Army had to learn a total of 57 sentences of Japanese, and with the exception of a few units that were used to obtain intelligence and disguise themselves for reconnaissance, their main purpose was to launch a political offensive and convert prisoners. For example, there is a sentence "Wow Wow Wow, Sen Feni Bombarded Si Road", which is painted everywhere on the walls of the base area. This means that we treat prisoners favorably, so that the Japanese soldiers can surrender with peace of mind.

The main purpose of learning Japanese in Jizhong was to camouflage the Japanese army and disguise themselves for sneak attacks, the most famous of which was the Blue Eagle Force. In addition, it is necessary to obtain information, interrogate prisoners, and shout before the battle.

The Japanese language learning carried out by Fu Zuoyi's department is very different from the above, although it is very simple, but it is very distinctive. They mainly learned only a dozen sentences, including "defeated, defeated", "retreated", "the commander was killed", and so on, specifically to disrupt the enemy's command on the battlefield. It is said that it worked very well in the previous battle of Baotou, and the Eighth Route and Jizhong sides are also ready to use it.

The commander of the first battalion also instructed: "Don't mess up when you break through, let alone huddle together, just rush out in the order of the first, second, third, and fourth companies." Then the troops were restructured, so that the soldiers with crooked handles walked in the front to form a commando to confuse the enemy, and the soldiers with shell guns took cover in the center, and the soldiers with Czech light machine guns were in the rear.

Company Commander Hu looked at the fire outside, a little eager to try, and said in a low voice: "Yingzuo, what are you waiting for, let's kill Lu now!" ”

The commander of the first battalion nodded and said, "Okay, the heavy machine guns and mortars are ready, the commandos will move immediately, and the other troops will follow!" ”

The assault team quickly rushed forward. Two Japanese sentries were patrolling the intersection, but the two unlucky men were stabbed to death with bayonets by the commandos before they could shout. The rest of the Japanese soldiers gathered around the fire, and when they heard the noise, they hurriedly shouted, "Ono-kun, what happened?" ”

"Enemy attack!" Seeing that their whereabouts had been revealed, the fighters immediately attacked. They shouted "enemy attack" in Japanese while slashing with crooked handles. Heavy machine guns and mortars also opened heavy fire, and the Japanese soldiers sat around the fire, literally live targets. And the surrounding Japanese troops were also confused, and for a while it was not clear who the attacker was.

Taking advantage of this moment, a large battalion of troops also came up, and shell guns and grenades went into battle together, and soon killed a bloody road.

Company Commander Hu hurriedly said: "Camp, let's withdraw too!" ”

The battalion commander pointed to the heavy machine guns and mortars, as well as the rifles piled up next to him, and said, "Blow up all these things, you can't leave them to the devils!" ”

Company Commander Hu hurriedly instructed the soldiers to tie up the cluster grenades, but he did not expect the Japanese army to react quickly, especially the infantry guns that had been aiming at the intersection and opened fire immediately after hearing the sound of gunfire. As a result, a burst of bombardment blocked the fourth company and the battalion headquarters in the town.

Company Commander Hu hurriedly said: "A few of you, quickly break through with the camp, and cover with me in four companies and ten platoons!" ”

The commander of the first battalion shouted: "It's too late, don't think about leaving with me!" Retreat, leave me alone! As he spoke, he pulled out his pistol and shouted, "Quickly withdraw, this is an order!" ”

Company Commander Hu hurriedly glanced at the guard Xiao Zhang. Xiao Zhang hurriedly stretched out his hand to knock out the pistol of the first battalion commander, and several people set up a battalion commander and ran.

Early the next morning, the Japanese attacked the town again. But he was disgraced by the suicide attacks of the seriously wounded. Captain Nishijo Hirohisa asked a little unwillingly: "Yaga, is it possible that this time there is nothing?" ”

A Korean soldier came running with the pickle jar in his arms and reported: "Your Excellency, Captain, we found this in the town, and it tastes so good, your Miximi! ”

Xicheng Hongjiu was so angry that he flew up and kicked the jar out of the alley.

After the first battalion of the 303rd Regiment broke through, it was received by the 302nd Regiment stationed in Shiguai Town, and more than 100 people successfully returned to the unit at the end. Subsequently, the main force of the 303rd Regiment in Shaerqin also succeeded suddenly, but the casualties were also very large. The two regiments were combined. Withdrew to Baotou overnight and held on.

Wait until dawn. The Second Cavalry Army, the Northeast Advance Army, the newly formed Fifth Brigade and other surrounding troops rushed to the periphery of Baotou. Commander Dong Qiwu ordered the 101st Division and the newly formed Fifth Brigade to hold in the city, and the Second Cavalry Army and the Advance Army did not enter the city because they were cavalry, but deployed defenses north and west of Baotou respectively. to contain the Japanese siege operations.

8 a.m. on the 19th. The battle for the Japanese attack on Baotou officially began. Due to the large casualties of the tank units on the eve of the previous day. did not dare to act independently anymore, and instead used the tank squadron as a unit to cover the attack of the infantry brigade. The troops quickly reached the east of Baotou City, but when they arrived, they found that they could not fight. Because there was a moat in the east of Baotou City at that time, called the East River Channel, the water flow was very large, not to mention, it was still connected to the Yellow River. The defenders blew up several more bridges above. If you want to attack, you either have to wade through the river or take a detour. In fact, it is impossible to wade into the river, because the river has just thawed, and it is the sky outside the plug, and whoever dares to go down the river must freeze to death.

The commander of the 11th Independent Infantry Wing, Haruki Isayama, hurried to the front line, looked at the wide river and couldn't help but be stunned, and hurriedly said: "Can you send sappers to build a bridge?" ”

The chief of staff of the wing, Ogawa Kurokihara, shook his head and said: "Your Excellency, Wing Commander, I am afraid that the casualties will be too great under the threat of enemy firepower. ”

Isayama Haruki Osa said with some annoyance: "Then how did the Shina people attack last year?" ”

Ogawa Kurokihara Shosa hurriedly explained: "The Shina army attacked from the west, and the river was frozen at that time. He also suggested: "There is no moat north of Baotou, we can attack from that side!" ”

Isayama Haruki Osaku waved his hand helplessly and ordered: "Go around to the north of the city!" ”

Unexpectedly, as soon as the troops turned around, they were attacked, and it turned out that there were pillboxes and hidden bunkers built by the Japanese army in the east of the city. After the 35th Army was stationed in Baotou, in order to prevent Japanese air raids, it deliberately made some camouflage. This time, the Japanese army approached the east gate of Baotou, and their attention was attracted by the moat, but they ignored the nearby fortifications.

"Yaga!" Isayama Haruki was furious and ordered the troops to eradicate the fortification first. However, this fortification was built to prevent heavy artillery (the Japanese army had always worried that the Soviet Union would attack from Suiyuan), and the Japanese army fought for a long time, but the loss of troops did not make any progress.

When the defenders in the east of the city saw it, their morale was greatly boosted, and they took advantage of the height of the city wall to attack the Japanese army. In particular, howitzers, machine guns and mortars cost the Japanese army dearly.

Isayama Haruki Dazuo had no choice but to ask for artillery reinforcements from his superiors, and sent troops to bypass the Donghe trough and launch an attack to the north of Baotou City. However, Baotou City is indeed very strong, and the mountain artillery of the wing and the 75-caliber field artillery temporarily attached to it cannot break through the city wall at all. Dong Qiwu is also the chief general under Fu Zuoyi, although his true inheritance of the tactics of defending the city is not leaky.

After a morning of fighting, the defenders could be said to have coped with it very easily, and the officers and men of the 303rd Regiment also took the opportunity to take a good rest. Commander Dong Qiwu was so busy that he also transferred the 302nd Regiment out of Lu to fight several counterattacks. Although there are not many gains, it makes Isayama Haruki Osa not embarrassed.

However, after noon the pressure on the defenders increased. The three wings of the Japanese 26th Division all arrived at the perimeter of Baotou, and then quickly blocked the eastern, northern and western parts of the city under the cover of the chariot troops. Because the south of Baotou was surrounded by two moats, the West River Trough and the East River Trough, the Japanese army was unable to attack. However, it was also difficult for the defenders to get in touch with the outside world, because the Yellow River was to the south, and the Japanese troops could send planes to bomb at any time.

Boom Boom Boom ...... Since there was no moat in the north of the city, the Japanese army began to concentrate artillery on the city walls and gates, and the masonry and rubble were scattered from time to time. Commander Dong Qiwu was not to be outdone, and ordered the artillery to desperately counterattack in the city. As a result, an artillery battle broke out between us and the enemy across the city walls.

Although the Japanese artillery was stronger, the defenders still had a lot of advantages after a melee. Because the city wall is in their hands, it is equivalent to controlling the commanding heights, and they can observe the position and movement of the Japanese artillery positions at any time. On the other hand, the Japanese could not know the location of the artillery of the defenders of the road, and even the effect of the artillery bombardment could not be accurately judged.

Lieutenant General Shigetoku Kuroda, commander of the 26th Division, saw that it was not a way to continue fighting like this, so he had no choice but to ask the commander of the Mongolian army, Naosaburo Okabe, for help.

"Nani? The artillery battle fell to the downwind! Kuroda-kun, are you sure that's the case? Naosaburo Okabe said in surprise.

Kuroda Shigetoku hurriedly said: "Hai! The artillery fire of Fu Zuoyi's army became more fierce than last year. We can't break through the city walls, and the armored troops can't help, so we are simply helpless, and I ask Your Excellency the Commander to order the heavy artillery units to come immediately, and it is better to ask the army aviation units for tactical guidance! ”

Okabe Naosaburo snorted and said, "Yo Xi, it seems that Commander Tada has judged very accurately, and this is indeed the material passage of the Shina Army. Kuroda-kun, the heavy artillery unit has arrived in Salazie and is unloading the truck, and I think it will be able to arrive before the evening. He also instructed: "We have received news that the main force of Fu Zuoyi's department will also arrive in Baotou tonight, and you had better break the city wall overnight, and then gain a firm foothold in the city!" ”

Kuroda was overjoyed, hurriedly leaned his legs, bowed his head and said, "Haiyi! ”

In the east of Suicheng, a head suddenly poked out of a weed pile. Holding a telephone in his hand, he said anxiously: "Quick, inform the commander that the Japanese heavy artillery unit has arrived in Salazi, and we must find a way to hold them back, and we can't let them reach the outside of Baotou City smoothly." "The phone lines stretched from the weeds to the telephone poles, and it turned out that the conversations had been eavesdropped.

In the afternoon of the same day, the main force of more than 3,000 guerrillas of Daqingshan of the Eighth Route Army suddenly launched a fierce attack on the front line of Salazi, Shamujia, and Shaerqin. In order to avoid losses, the Japanese army's heavy artillery units had to defend on the spot, and arrived in Baotou the next morning, and at this time Fu Zuoyi had personally led the new 32nd Division into Baotou City last night. It can be said that all units of the Suiyuan National Army relied on flesh and blood to once again fight for a glimmer of life for Baotou.

It is said that there is a glimmer of life because the situation in which the enemy is strong and we are weak has not been fundamentally changed. In terms of combat capability, a three-unit division regiment, a field heavy artillery brigade, and two tank wings have far exceeded the overall strength of the Eighth Theater. Moreover, the newly formed 32nd Division is also moving westward along the Pingsui Line. This kind of strength, not to mention taking Baotou, is the possibility of destroying the resistance of the entire Suiyuan.

Dong Qiwu said to Fu Zuoyi: "Deputy Commander-in-Chief, I just received a telegram that the new 31st Division has also arrived twenty kilometers northwest of Baotou and joined the Second Cavalry Army. The 35th Division of the 81st Army also arrived 30 kilometers west of Baotou and could rush to the aid of Baotou at any time. ”

Fu Zuoyi nodded a little tired and said, "Well, that's all we can do, now it's up to Zheng Huzi to see how!" ”

Dong Qiwu asked curiously, "Chief Zheng, how are they going to fight?" Wai Wei to save Zhao? ”

Fu Zuoyi nodded again, stretched out his hand and poked heavily at a certain point on the map. (To be continued......)

PS: I thought of a very sad story today, but I didn't write it, Great Khan!