Chapter 1519 The Sunset over the Lonely City (Part 1)
"Platoon leader, do you think we can still return to Taihang Mountain alive? In one month, the fruits on the mountain will be ripe. I haven't eaten mountain grapes for a long time. I lost my parents when I was a child. My favorite is autumn. No need.
By hunting, I can fill my stomach."
In Hengyang City, in an underground tunnel where more than half of the building had collapsed, Adong was lying in the arms of Boss Cao, murmuring softly.
Luo Dahu on the side looked at his once extremely strong young squad leader with a worried face and said nothing.
Now Luo Dahu is no longer a recruit. This middle-aged man who traveled half of China from north to south did not expect that he only joined the army for 60 days and became a veteran.
Because, during these 60 days, he fought almost every day, changing from a farmer who knew nothing but strength to a man who could operate pistols, rifles, submachine guns, machine guns, and even mortars.
of veterans.
He has to know how to use these weapons, because those who know how to use them will die, and those who can't use them will die faster.
Of course, for Luo Dahu, he believed that the main reason why he could survive was not how fast he grew on the battlefield, but more about luck.
Because, the Class 4 he belongs to is much more tyrannical than him.
For example, the sergeant's precision shooter nicknamed Hawkeye has been in the army for three years and once shot a Japanese soldier with naked eyes from 380 meters away. His gun handle has four straight characters engraved on it, which means that this precision shooter has a definite record.
He shot and killed 20 Japanese soldiers, and those killed by the Japanese soldiers in rounds of charges were not included.
According to this calculation, Hawkeye killed at least 50 Japanese soldiers, but even such a terrible marksman died.
He died in Huangchaling. 50 days ago, when the Japanese army organized nearly 3,000 people to carry out an onboard charge on Huangchaling, he hid in a bomb crater and shot several Japanese soldiers in succession. He was discovered by a grenade launcher from the rear of the Japanese army.
At least 6 grenade launchers were used to cover the crater where he was hiding.
The Japanese are crazy! They used at least 30 rounds of grenades against an infantry fire point.
He and his rifle were blown to pieces by a grenade, and it was Luo Dahu who collected the body for him. Because the remains were broken into several pieces, and there were no bags on the battlefield, he had to wrap him up in the military uniforms of himself and squad leader A Dong and carry him to the tunnel behind.
inside.
At that time, because the Japanese army transferred another heavy artillery brigade and carried out artillery fire blockade on the rear of the southern position of the city day and night, many stretcher teams and wounded soldiers who came to support disappeared in the terrible artillery fire.
In order to reduce losses, the command headquarters had to order that, except for the wounded, the remains of all fallen officers and soldiers must be buried on the spot.
In order to prevent his brothers from dying and being destroyed by Japanese artillery fire, the battalion commander Li Jiujin ordered all the bodies to be placed deep in the tunnels. When the position was about to be evacuated, the tunnels would be blown up and the victims would be killed.
The brother's remains were buried deep underground.
During the 10-day battle, no less than 300 remains were densely packed in the tunnel originally used to hide soldiers.
In fact, there are still few. It is said that in the Pre-10th Division position in Zhangjiashan and Tiger Nest area, the sound of digging can be heard every night. It is not digging trenches, but digging pits to bury people.
The Pre-10th Division suffered at least 2,600 casualties. It is said that because there were so many casualties, many wounded soldiers refused to be sent back to the city and continued to stay on the front line.
The sergeant squad leader who once threatened Dean Tantai with a gun in the field hospital had both of his legs blown off, but still refused to leave. Finally, he was defeated at the front line. When the Japanese infantry stepped over half of the "dead bodies" and searched forward, a
A soft "whistle" sound suddenly sounded from under the motionless half-body of the corpse.
That was the sound of three grenade fuses burning, and it was also the last weapon his colleagues left for him before leaving.
He kept these three grenades for himself and three Japanese infantrymen.
There is also Da Xiong who is good at bayonet fighting. He is a big man from southern Hebei, and he is a fellow villager with Luo Dahu. He is tall and strong. He can lift a 12.7 mm heavy machine gun with one hand, and he can carry a 38-type rifle he picked up.
It's as easy as holding a bean sprout.
During the first hand-to-hand battle with the Japanese soldiers who rushed to the position, Luo Dahu saw with his own eyes that he used a 38-type rifle to assassinate five Japanese soldiers in a row and still had the strength to spare. He even pulled out the gun before it was too late and rolled on the ground several times with a Japanese soldier in his arms.
Finally, he used his hands to strangle the strong Japanese soldier to death.
But even such a strong veteran died!
The Japanese heavy artillery suddenly ignored the soldiers who were more than 200 meters outside the position and opened fire on the position. Daxiong was shooting on the front line at the time, and the first round of 15 shells hit the trench area where he was.
Although his nearly 190-pound body was hidden in the trench, the air wave caused by a heavy artillery shell that exploded less than 20 meters away from him easily rolled up his strong body and threw him outside the trench.
When his body was collected, there was miraculously no external damage to his body, except that his chest was soft. Luo Dahu, who already had enough battlefield experience, knew that the shock wave caused by the shell explosion had broken all his sternum, and his heart and
All the internal organs were smashed by the huge force.
The death of two powerful veterans is not the end, but just the beginning.
Although they were mentally prepared, the cruelty of the battlefield still exceeded everyone's imagination.
The 3rd Battalion fought against the Japanese in Huangchaling for 28 days! Even though Zhangjiashan and other main positions diagonally behind were successively occupied by the Japanese, the 3rd Battalion still held on for another 10 days.
During this period, Class 4 went from the full complement of 20 people to 18 people, then to 15 people, and finally to 9 people.
Luo Dahu didn't know how many rounds of Japanese attacks he had repelled. In the end, he was too lazy to look at the time and couldn't even remember how many days he had held out at Huangcha Ridge.
Because the death that is constantly coming has long been the main theme on this battlefield. Whether on or outside the position, corpses and human tissues are scattered everywhere, and life and breathing have become rare things.
Luo Dahu was paralyzed, and he even hoped to die early, but veterans kept sacrificing their lives, but he miraculously survived on such a hell-like battlefield.
He shot Japanese soldiers with a rifle, shot Japanese soldiers with the pistol left behind by Hawkeye, and pierced the chests of Japanese invaders with a three-edged army thorn.
He was a Japanese, and he was also a young man. However, he was only seventeen or eighteen years old. Luo Dahu still clearly remembered that when the Japanese soldier stepped on the corpse of his comrade and rushed up the mountain, he was stabbed in the chest by a guy with a three-edged sword.
The look in his eyes at that time showed surprise, unwillingness and relief.
Or perhaps, for that young devil, he had no intention of continuing to live on such a bloody battlefield!
Death is a relief for the officers and soldiers of both China and Japan who have fought bloody battles for nearly a month!
Of course Luo Dahu didn't know how many Japanese soldiers the 3rd Battalion killed in the Battle of Huangchaling. This number was not announced by the Japanese even after the war. It was not until after the Icefield War that the infantry was established on the basis of the 3rd Battalion of the Sihang Regiment.
The brigade's battle at Changjin Lake shook the world, and the statistics of the Battle of Huangcha Ridge in Hengyang were uncovered by the Americans.
From July 9 to August 6, the remnants of the 3rd Battalion broke through the blockade and returned to Hengyang City. The 3rd Battalion of the Sixing Regiment on Huangcha Ridge first crippled the 27th Division, and then crippled the 3rd Division. A total of
9,368 Japanese soldiers were killed, 497 were missing, and 13,000 were injured.
It is said that the American commander who saw this data was stunned for a long time and scolded the intelligence officer. If he had known that the infantry brigade had such a brilliant record in the battlefield against Japan, he would not have used only one cavalry division.
To fight it, at least the Army's 2nd Infantry Division or 7th Infantry Division must be added.
You know, according to the battle report of the 11th Army, in Huangchaling, the 11th Army invested a heavy artillery brigade with 24 150mm howitzers, two artillery regiments with 62 75mm mountain field guns, and most of the 31 tank regiments.
Type 97 tanks and infantry, totaling more than 24 infantry brigades, took turns to attack.
Once one division is exhausted, another division will be moved in, and the total number of Chinese infantry on the mountain ridge including support will not exceed 1,800.
The battle report of the 11th Army recorded that they almost completely annihilated the stubborn Chinese defenders on Huangcha Ridge. Only a small number of Chinese broke through the blockade with the support of artillery fire and disappeared. However, only Luo Dahu and other officers and soldiers of the 3rd Battalion who retreated to Hengyang City were able to
Clearly, including Tu Yunsheng's independent company, they had 597 people withdrawn into Hengyang City.
After continuous fighting, the 3rd Battalion has been completely crippled. Except for a small number of 60-pounders brought back, all the howitzers and 81mm mortars, 150mm heavy-duty guns, 20mm machine guns, 12.7mm heavy machine guns, all
All heavy equipment exceeding 40 kilograms was blown up and destroyed before being evacuated from Huangchaling.
When the 3rd Battalion entered Hengyang City for the final street fighting, it had become a standard light infantry battalion.
The always cheerful and optimistic 3rd Battalion Commander Li Jijin entered Hengyang City and saw the regiment commander Tang Dao who came to greet him in person. As soon as he finished the military salute, he hugged the upright Tang Tuanzuo and burst into tears.
The middle-aged man, who is nearly 40 years old, did not frown during the 28 days of hard and bloody battles; he did not hesitate at all when he personally ordered the bombing of weapons and equipment that could not be taken away; he lit the fuse with his own hands to blow up the tunnel and bury 800 comrades.
, not a single tear was shed...
But the moment he saw Tang Dao, he cried like a child.
"Captain, my 3rd Battalion is gone! All my brothers in the 3rd Battalion are almost dead! My heart hurts so much! I can't bear it anymore." Li Jijin knelt on the ground and cried loudly.
Even the strongest soldier couldn't bear to look at his appearance.
"Blame me, blame me, Brother Li. It's all my fault that the 10th Preliminary Division didn't hold its position. The 10th Preliminary Division couldn't stand you and left you to fight alone." Commander Ge Youcai, who came to pick up Li Jijin and the 3rd Battalion, hugged and cried bitterly.
The major and battalion commander also burst into tears.
But can Li Jijin and the 3rd Battalion blame the 10th Preliminary Division?
No wonder.
The 10th Preliminary Division has tried its best.
Their 3rd Battalion was attacked by two Japanese divisions in turn, but the 10th Division was attacked by four Japanese divisions in turns.
Over the course of 18 days, the Japanese army successively transferred three more divisions from around Hengyang City to participate in the siege of Hengyang, bringing the number of Japanese divisions attacking Hengyang City to 7.
On the outskirts of Hengyang City, there are only 4 divisions and 5 independent mixed brigades with less than 70,000 people left. In order to prevent the main force of the Chinese army from rescuing Hengyang City, the China Expeditionary Forces Headquarters urgently seconded 2 infantry divisions from the Kwantung Army.
The group arrived in Tanzhou by train.
In the past half month, China has had more than 300,000 troops outside Hengyang, and it also has sufficient air superiority, and is fully capable of fighting a war of encirclement and annihilation with a huge disparity in strength.
But what are they doing? Only the 4 infantry divisions of the 27th Army attacked the Japanese army under the leadership of Li Yutang, and the 3 infantry divisions of the 62nd Army, led by their commander Huang Tao, went deep into Hengyang alone.
.
However, the Chinese army with less than 70,000 people had already tried its best after breaking through three Japanese blockades.
The 151st Division of the 62nd Army arrived at Yumu Mountain in the southwest suburb of Hengyang, only 7 kilometers away from Hengyang City. The sound of gunfire and gunfire from the fierce battle with the Japanese army could be heard throughout Hengyang.
But it was just there. Hengshan Yong, who had arrived at the front line of Hengyang to personally supervise the battle, personally ordered to suspend the attack on Hengyang and use the strength of three divisions to attack the incoming Chinese army.
In just one day, the 151st Division lost two regiment commanders and more than 2,000 officers and soldiers, and the entire division had to retreat to prevent being surrounded by the Japanese army.
That was also the closest Hengyang City came to reinforcements. By the time the two Kwantung Army divisions arrived, the Japanese troops outside Hengyang had reached 140,000 again, and China had completely lost the opportunity to rescue Hengyang City.
The 300,000-strong army could only watch helplessly from the periphery as hundreds of thousands of Japanese troops surrounded Hengyang City and violently attacked, breaking through all the defense lines outside Hengyang City, breaking through Hengyang City's last line of defense, the city wall, and breaking into the city.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! Most of the people who care about this war, including Western journalists and American soldiers, think that this war is called the 'Moscow of the East'
The city defense battle is about to come to an end.
No one would believe that the less than 8,000 Chinese defenders in the city could withstand the attack of hundreds of thousands of Japanese troops.
Because at that time, the top commander of the Hengyang garrison sent a telegram to the Military Commission as follows: "The enemy has conquered all positions outside our city. The 10th Division has prepared 7,000 troops. After three rounds of replenishment, there are only 2,000 troops, which is less than the daily number.
Regiment; the 3rd Division had more than 8,000 before the war, and after 3 rounds of replenishment, there were still 3,000 left; the 190th Division had only 800 men left, and the Hengyang Guard Regiment suffered all casualties in the counterattack on Zhangjiashan, with less than 200 wounded soldiers; the Four Lines Regiment fought hard
Under this, the entire army is less than 3,000; we still have 8,000 soldiers in Hengyang that can fight, and we don’t know when reinforcements will arrive.
However, I, the army of Hengyang, are determined to repay the country with death and to repay the dedication of training. See you in the next life! Fang, Zhao, Sun, Tang, Zhou, Rong, Ge Tongkou!"
Perhaps at this time, the only Westerner who still had confidence in the Battle of Hengyang was Stilwell, Chief of Staff of the Chinese Theater.
He told Miss Laura, general manager of Rockefeller's Far East Company: "Although the outskirts of Hengyang are lost, there is still Hengyang City with an area of 2.8 square kilometers. Street fighting has always been the most dangerous battle in the military. Commander Fang and Commander Tang are both
The most powerful commanders, and their subordinates are all the most elite Chinese soldiers. I don’t think the Japanese can capture this city, even if they are willing to bear more than 100,000 casualties!”
In the eyes of many people, those are just words to comfort Miss Laura, and there is no possibility at all.
But General Stilwell said: "Before the war, the Japanese Army's training and combat effectiveness were unparalleled in the world. When the troops were in formation, from the generals to the nobles, they all fought according to the principles of tactical combat.
, not a trace of chaos, making it difficult for the opponent to take advantage of it.
Although there are few outstanding strategists among Japan's senior generals, they rarely make major mistakes in basic principles. This is an extremely rare quality in war.
At that time, the combat capability of a Japanese soldier was approximately equivalent to that of seven or eight Chinese soldiers. If Chinese soldiers were slightly stronger in that aspect, perhaps the Chinese soldiers' "fearless spirit" was slightly superior, but Japanese soldiers also ranked 100% in the world in this regard.
On top of the ninety-five troops.
The Japanese army, even on a global scale, has difficulty finding rival armies at the tactical level.
I think it is impossible for China to win this war, even if their opponent is an aggressor and is unjust, because the difference in strength is too huge."
Stilwell's evaluation is no longer high, but praise.
But if you think about it carefully, this seems to be true.
"However, after the July 7th Incident in 1937, as a military attache of the Embassy in China, I once passed by a mountain and saw a scene, and I changed my view.
Looking from a distance, I found a long thing on the top of the mountain in the distance moving slowly like a centipede. When I got closer, I saw that it was a truck. The front of the truck was damaged after being bombed by Japanese fighter planes. As a result,
Chinese soldiers from an infantry regiment used pure manpower to push the freight train from both sides, advancing slowly like a snail!" Admiral Stilwell continued.
"I watched silently for a long time, until the freight train weighing thousands of tons gradually disappeared in front of my eyes. I said to myself: This spirit of the Chinese people will definitely enable them to get through the most difficult moments of the war.
, and finally conquer Japan!"
"And now, isn't it true? Seven years have passed, and Japan has not conquered this country, and they are becoming weaker and weaker.
Just like now, they used more than 6 times their troops, but they still couldn't capture an ancient small city.
I personally think that not only will they be unable to capture this small city defended by the most elite Chinese soldiers, but this battle will become a turning point in history. After this battle, the Japanese Army will no longer have any large-scale offensives on the Chinese battlefield. Basically,
Become defensive until the end of the war."
Admiral Stilwell said loudly to the sad-looking Laura in his office.
His words were also recorded in famous quotations from World War II.
Because, he almost 100% predicted the outcome of the war.
Why he said it was not 100% was because he did not say that Japan would surrender unconditionally, and he had no way of knowing that his country would create two big fat bombs.
At this time, Luo Dahu in Hengyang City certainly had no idea that a famous Western general would have such strong confidence in them.
He only knew that Hengyang had reached its last moment.
His squad 4, no, it should be said platoon 3, has reached the end of its rope.
Before he joined the 3rd platoon, there were 84 officers and soldiers in the 3rd platoon. Now, the number of people who can still be contacted is less than 16 in the 3 groups.
His squad leader, A Dong, actually only has half a person left.
Adong's left arm was neatly severed at the elbow by shrapnel from an infantry gun 10 days ago. He was simply bandaged and continued fighting.
Yesterday, his right leg was hit by a grenade again, leaving only a little bit of skin and tendons attached. He gritted his teeth and chopped it off with a knife.
Luo Dahu's originally dark face was now as pale as snow. Luo Dahu, who had been unable to cry a single tear, could only feel worried at this time.
He was afraid, he was afraid that he would have no more comrades in arms. Before that, he had already sent away 16 comrades in arms with his own eyes.
ps: When I wrote this title, Fengyue was filled with reluctance, but the story has an ending, right?
