Chapter 10: Anqing (24)

Since entering China in 1937, the Fifth Division has not fought defense, and what is more troublesome is that this time the Fifth Division is alone in depth, except for a Taiwanese mixed brigade that can fight side by side, that is, the battleships wandering on Qinzhou Bay are still close neighbors, but the battleships cannot go ashore and cannot assist the Fifth Division to hold the pass. There is also a thorny problem, although the battleship can replenish the ammunition of the Fifth Division in Nanning at any time, and the planes on the battleship can also support the Fifth Division in Nanning at any time, but there can not be one person to replenish, not that they are unwilling to make up, but there is really no one to make up, because at this time of the war, manpower is extremely tight, Japan's national strength, and the men who can carry guns have all come to China, and those who stay in the country, except for women, can only be old people and children, and there are some men who are disabled on the battlefield and can no longer go to the battlefield. Even these disabled men have to complete the work of breeding the next generation in Japan. Japan has never found people so precious as it is today, and the base camp has nothing to do but recruit locals to form supplementary troops in Taiwan, South Korea, and northeastern China.

It was necessary to sacrifice the least number of people in exchange for a long period of occupation, which was Imamura's first priority. Looking at the opponent, it was a steady stream of troops, the new 19th Division was defeated, the 175th Division came, the 175th Division was defeated, the 135th Division fought across the river, the 135th Division was repulsed, and it was replaced by the 170th Division, the 170th Division fought Nanning City, and the 200th Division came. 200 divisions, what a number that collapses, based on 10,000 people in a division, 200 divisions show that the Chinese army will not be less than 2 million. According to the news, the next opponent will be the Chinese army, known as the giant, the Fifth Army, the 36th Army, the 99th Army, as well as the 26th Group Army, the 35th Group Army, and the 37th Group Army on the Guangdong side.

Fortunately, these opponents did not arrive at the same time, otherwise one person and one soak in urine would have rushed down the Yongjiang River to feed the fish. Imamura is not an easy person to give up, he likes to take on challenges, and the goal is to overcome. This 43-year-old lieutenant general was considered a young Zhuang faction among the old Japanese generals, a native of Miyagi Sendai, who was sick when he was a child, and his physical condition was very poor, and he was still wetting the bed until he was 9 years old, because of lack of sleep, he dozed off every day in class, and later transferred to Xinfatian Middle School to study, and his health improved. After the Russo-Japanese War, Japanese militarism prevailed. In 1905, the Japanese emperor personally held a military parade at the Aoyama Army Training Ground, and after visiting the parade, Imamura, who was originally going to study economics, was admitted to the 19th class of the Army Non-commissioned Officer School with the support of his mother, and graduated as a second lieutenant in December 1907. After that, he was admitted to the Army University with the rank of lieutenant, and in 1915, he graduated from the 28th class of the Army University with the first grade, and was awarded a sword by Emperor Taisho. Since then, he has risen all the way up as an army elite. In August 1916, he was attached to the Military Affairs Bureau of the Ministry of the Army, and in May 1917, he was a lieutenant. From 1918 he was appointed military attaché to Britain and India. In August 1930, he was promoted to Dazuo. In August 1931, he was appointed chief of the Operations Division of the General Staff Headquarters, and in April 1932, he was transferred to the commander of the 57th Infantry Wing. In August 1933, he became the principal of the Army Narashino School. In March 1935, he was the commander of the 40th Brigade Major General. In March 1936, he succeeded Seishiro Itagaki as deputy chief of staff of the Kwantung Army, and on August 2, 1937, he was appointed officer of the Infantry School. On November 21, 1938, he succeeded Kishiri Ando as commander of the Fifth Division. He is a commander who has risen step by step, and is a current classmate of the Army University along with Honma Masan and Hideki Tojo, and is a war villain with great military talent.

After the Battle of Xubu, the Fifth Division was transferred back to Kanto, and it was not until October that it was transferred from the northeast to Sanya, Hainan, to take over the arduous task of entering southern Guinan. Under the successful operation of the South China Front, the Chinese military was completely caught up in the maze of the Imperial Army's landing in Zhanjiang and other areas of Guangzhou Bay, so much so that almost all the troops were transferred to the Xijiang River and Guangzhou Bay to be deployed, and Guinan became an open field. With the assistance of the navy, the landing operation was very smooth, Fangcheng and Beihai were easily taken, not a single soldier was injured, and in the subsequent attack on Xiao Dong and the march to the south bank of the Yongjiang River, the Fifth Division suffered some damage, but it was not much, and it was within an acceptable range. The battle of crossing the Yongjiang River lasted for a whole day and a half, plus nearly half a day of street fighting in the city of Nanning, and in two days, it brought relatively large casualties to the Fifth Division. At present, it seems that the Taiwan Mixed Brigade is mainly responsible for the defense of Qinzhou and the traffic safety along the road from Qinzhou to Nanning, which is the lifeline of the Fifth Division, and all supplies need to be transported from this line without any accidents. All the units directly under the Fifth Division went to repair the Nanning airfield, and once the airfield was repaired, the army aviation would be able to land, and once the army aviation had the support, the battle would be much easier. The two main brigades, the 9th Brigade sent a 41st Wing to Zuojiang to carry out the mission, in Nanning there was only one 9th Wing and four infantry brigades available, the 21st Brigade and two Wings were quite neat, and although the 21st Wing and the 42nd Wing were damaged in the battle of crossing the river, they did not lose their vitality and were the main force in this operation.

The 21st Brigade must be hidden, and they will assume the heavy responsibility of defending the future, and as for the work of clearing the remnants of the Chinese army in the north and east of Nanning, leave it to the 9th Brigade to complete!

The decision was made, the order was given, and the 9th Wing of the 9th Brigade immediately went to Ertang.

On November 25, 1939, the Battle of Ertang began, Foziling, a hill that could not be called a ridge at all, a road was winding, and the officers and soldiers of the 170th Division who had built a night of fortifications were weakly sleeping in the bunkers. With the roar of airplanes in the distance, all the people woke up, this is the Japanese plane flying from Qinzhou Bay, in the past two days on the Yongjiang River, this kind of roar has not been heard less.

Shao Yizhi came up with the troops, he held the hand of the 170th brother, and thanked him repeatedly, because of the help of the 170th brother, they slept peacefully all night, and when they woke up, they had a complete work. Shao Yizhi said: "The rest will be handed over to us, you go down and rest, if we can't stand it, we still want you to go up." ”

The 600 regiment entered the position, and the 175 division withdrew to Santang to rest. Dai Anlan took Guo Qi's supplementary regiment to Wutang, met with Li Xingshu, and also received the news that the Japanese army was about to attack, Dai Anlan asked Guo Qi to continue to advance, and only rested after arriving at Ertang, and he himself and Li Xingshu entered the temporary headquarters.

"According to Shao Yizhi's intelligence, this is the Ninth Wing of the Ninth Brigade of the Fifth Division, General Li, you have been fighting with the Japanese army for ten days, do you have any understanding of the other party's establishment?" Dai Anlan asked.

Li Xingshu nodded and said, "I understand, but I don't understand." ”

"What do you mean by that?" Dai Anlan asked puzzled.

"In terms of troops, the number of the Fifth Division that appeared this time was slightly less than that of the Fifth Division in Taierzhuang, when the Fifth Division had 28,000 people, and this time it should be less than 25,000 people, including the personnel directly under the division headquarters." LI XINGSHU SAID: "BUT THE COMBAT EFFECTIVENESS CAN BE VERY DIFFERENT, THE FIRST IS THE ARTILLERY, 75 MOUNTAIN ARTILLERY, 75 FIELD ARTILLERY, 70 INFANTRY ARTILLERY, 70 MORTARS, THE FIREPOWER IS VERY FIERCE, IN ADDITION TO THE TANK, THE JAPANESE ARMORED TANK APPEARED THIS TIME IS NOT ONLY EQUIPPED WITH HEAVY MACHINE GUNS, BUT ALSO 37MM ARTILLERY, FIRING IN THE MARCH, IT IS SIMPLY A MOBILE FORTRESS." ”

DAI ANLAN NODDED, AS A MEMBER OF THE FIFTH ARMY, HE KNEW WHAT IT WAS LIKE TO EQUIP TANKS WITH ARTILLERY, MOST OF THE FIFTH ARMY WAS BRITISH VICKERS TANKS, WHICH WERE EQUIPPED WITH 47MM GUNS, WHICH WERE SLIGHTLY LARGER THAN THE CALIBER OF THE JAPANESE ARMY. However, Vickers is relatively larger, heavier, and inflexible, and in these lofty mountains and mountains in Guangxi, it may not be able to take much advantage of the Japanese Army's Type 94. The Japanese Type 94 tank was not equipped with artillery in the past, only equipped with two heavy machine guns on it, after the Battle of Xubu, the Japanese army began to remodel, the new tank changed the previous square turret to a round type, added artillery, and put the machine gun in a secondary position. This time, the Fifth Division actually had tanks to help, which was indeed beyond Dai Anlan's expectations. If the Japanese army can repair the airfield in the shortest possible time and transfer a batch of planes from Weizhou Island, with planes on board and tanks below, it will be even more difficult for Nanning to fight.

Just when Dai Anlan and Li Xingshu were discussing, the communications staff officer sent a telegram, Dai Anlan took it and looked at it, handed it to Li Xingshu, and said, "The enemy's attack has begun!" ”

The 131st Division is still in a hurry, their target is the Qitang Mountains of Nanning, to build a second line of defense east of Nanning, and the target of the 188th Division is the Kunlun Pass in Jiutang, which must be arrived tomorrow evening, otherwise, once the Japanese army breaks through the Ertang Defense Line, and then breaks through the Qitang Defense Line, it will be able to occupy Kunlun Pass as if it were no man's land, and once the Kunlun Pass falls into the hands of the other side, it will not be easy to get it from the other side.

The rest of the 200th Division, under the leadership of Peng Bisheng, also set off for Wutang, the 600th Regiment had already ignited the flames, and an infantry brigade of the Japanese army was attacking Ertang under the cover of tanks.

The head of Shao Yizhi's head was dusty, looking at the empty way, and he was a little puzzled, this attack of the Japanese army was a little different! Since the morning, two planes have flown over their heads, and the planes have not dropped bombs, but have just made a big circle around their already repaired positions and left, and soon after, there was the roar of tanks.

Tank guns and artillery have been fighting at their positions for nearly half an hour, and they still haven't seen the charging Japanese troops, Shao Yizhi is a little anxious, this graduate of the sixth phase of Whampoa is a little incomprehensible, could it be that the Japanese army wants to use artillery shells to play with them for a day today!

Shao Yizhi's idea was correct, Imamura Jun not only gave the division's artillery and armored vehicle brigade to the 9th Wing, but also gave an instruction to defeat the Chinese army in Ertang, but not a single person can die, as for the attrition, don't worry, use up as much as you want.

So Shao Yizhi saw the strange tactics of the Japanese army for the first time, and the shadow of the plane once again appeared in the sky, circling in a circle in the air, with the guidance of the plane, the tanks and artillery on the ground of the Japanese army seemed to be on the eyes, where the national army was piled up, the shells flew to where, and the brothers of the 600th Division had nowhere to hide in the rain of bullets, and the situation was extremely bad.

Until the afternoon, perhaps the Japanese thought that the positions of the Chinese army had been completely destroyed, under the guidance of the tank, a squadron of Japanese troops rushed up, the speed of the Japanese charge was not fast, closely followed by the tank, although the Type 94 tank was thin and small, but it was enough to resist the bullets of the formal rifle, the Japanese added a few more machine guns to the tank, so that the shooter lay on the tank and strafed forward.

Indeed, as expected by the Japanese army, after several hours of bombardment, the Ertang position had been destroyed, the trenches had been blown flat, the bunkers had been lifted away, and the soldiers of the 600th Regiment were lying in ambush in the foxholes, fighting separately. The superiority of the Japanese tanks was vividly reflected, the bullets of the Chinese soldiers, hitting the tank car, made a clanging sound, but the bullets of the tank, but the lives of the soldiers of the 600th regiment were harvested minute by minute.

Shao Yizhi gave a decisive order to insert the enemy's infantry group and engage the Japanese in close combat, so that his tank advantage would disappear. He took the lead and pounced on the Japanese army. At this time, a row of machine gun bullets swept in, Shao Yizhi was hit by 2 bullets in the shoulder, in order not to affect morale, Shao Yizhi still insisted on not retreating, and as a result, he was shot in the chest again, and died a glorious martyrdom at the age of 35.

Guo Qi's supplementary regiment, which had already arrived, saw that the situation was critical, and he had no time to rest, so he threw down his backpack and picked up his gun and entered the battle group, and the commander of Guo Qi was very scheming, taking advantage of the vicious battle between the 600 regiment and the attacking enemy, and attacked from the side of the tank, disrupting the tank's position, and the Japanese army had been preparing for several hours at a time The attack was disintegrated and the attack was repulsed.

At the same time, the 135th Division's emergency telegram had been fluttering over the whole of China, and while the 9th Wing of the 9th Brigade of the Japanese Army was attacking Ertang, the other two infantry brigades were directly inserted into Laohuling along the Yongwu Highway, and the 135th Division was caught off guard, panicked, and retreated to the peak pass.