"The Chinese army resisted very fiercely in the direction of Laohuozicheng."
Yamashita Noryo, chief of staff of the Eighth Division, said: "Our vanguard encountered extremely fierce resistance and made it very difficult to advance. The four tanks and two armored vehicles that entered first were all damaged..."
The division commander Jutaro Onodera looked gloomy. Hearing the report from the chief of staff, his brows tightened more and more: "The situation is very critical. Our 2nd, 3rd, and 4th railway garrison brigades are being frantically attacked by the Chinese army.
, Lao Huozicheng has cut off the connection between our 8th Division and the Railway Guard Brigade, we must open up the main road as soon as possible, connect all our defense areas, and protect Manchuria!"
"However, our troops are insufficient, and our weapons and equipment are not enough..." Yamashita Yeliang said with worry: "The Chinese people are very well prepared for this military operation. I'm worried...
"
Jutaro Onodera spoke solemnly: "Yamashita-kun, if we lack troops, we can make up for them with the will of the soldiers. If we don't have enough weapons, we can make up for them with the enthusiasm of the soldiers. Even if the Eighth Division is completely defeated, we must still stop the Chinese."
Attack. Chief Nogi is our role model!"
"Hai!" Yamashita Yeliang promised not loudly.
He knew very well that once the division commander decided something, no one could change his mind. But as someone who had studied in Germany, he also knew more clearly the tactics used by Nogi Nogi Nogi in the Russo-Japanese War.
, the strategy of exchanging human lives for victory is completely undesirable.
In the deepest part of Yamashita Noryo's heart, he even believed that Nogi Nogi's act of burying so many Imperial soldiers in the Russo-Japanese War was an act of complete understanding.
However, he did not dare to express this idea...
Under the strict demands of Onodera Jutaro, the Japanese offensive suddenly intensified.
A large number of troops were invested in Laohuozi City. Artillery shells were flying around this small county town. The "rumbling" sound of the artillery shells made the earth tremble.
But the more this happens, the more it proves: the Japanese are really anxious!
They eagerly hope to open up the main road connecting the railway garrison, and desperately hope to save themselves from the passive situation in the Northeast...
The period before victory is always dark...
Laohuozicheng was completely submerged in enemy artillery fire.
There are shells roaring everywhere, Chinese, Japanese... Soldiers are strangled together everywhere... Blood dyes the earth red, and death appears every minute here.
Things... Surviving has simply become a luxury...
The Japanese finally used what they thought was the most powerful weapon:
Meat bomb tactics!
Even though their own artillery fire was unable to suppress the opponent, the Japanese still let wave after wave of soldiers launch a higher charge than the previous wave!
Groups of soldiers rushed towards Laohuozicheng.
There are fierce battles everywhere in the city and outside the city...
Liu Xiang finally moved!
This Sichuan general, nicknamed "Babihu", put all his reserves that he had been reluctant to use into the battlefield, cutting off the connection between the Japanese troops who rushed into Laohuozi City and the Japanese troops outside Laohuozi City.
In this way, Lao Huozicheng formed a very complicated relationship.
In the city, the Japanese troops were fighting with the Chinese soldiers hiding everywhere; outside the city, the newly reinforced Japanese troops were eager to complete the rendezvous with the Japanese troops in the city and completely occupy this fateful county town.
Liu Xiang personally supervised the battle on the front line.
If you advance, you will live, if you retreat, you will die; if you hold on, you will live, if you lose it, you will die! The whole brigade is united and defends the position to the death; the officers and soldiers of the whole brigade are of one heart and one mind; they are greedy for life and afraid of death, and do not hesitate to kill!
This is Liu Xiang’s fatal order to his subordinates!
In fact, for the officers and soldiers of the whole brigade, there is nothing to bargain with. The brigade commander has placed his headquarters on the front line. Everyone is ready to throw their lives here!
The 8th Division was at the forefront of the 17th Regiment, which Jutaro Onodera had placed high hopes on.
This coalition, which is mainly composed of Akita people, has inherited the usual characteristics of the Akita people, taking their time in doing things and having difficulty making decisions. In fact, they arrived at Laohuozicheng very early, but the captain Aoki Kamoto did not immediately
Instead of launching an attack, they kept waiting for orders from their superiors. This also caused the 17th Wing to lose the best opportunity and had to face the Chinese's re-strengthened positions and fell into a bitter battle.
But Akita people also have another personality:
Absolutely obey orders!
"You must enter Lao Huozi City before three o'clock in the afternoon!"
After receiving this order from Jutaro Onodera, Katomo Aoki no longer hesitated and immediately put the Igarashi Infantry Brigade into the attack!
Liu Xiang was on the front line, as was Japanese captain Takaaki Igarashi.
Both sides received death orders!
The most brutal battle in Laohuozicheng broke out...
Within an hour, the Japanese army launched four attacks. The fierce sound of gunfire plunged everything on the battlefield into a terrifying state.
Soldiers from both sides were strangled with flesh and blood on this small battlefield.
On the way to the charge, Japanese corpses piled up like hills. However, the Igarashi brigade, which emphasized absolute obedience, did not seem to see huge casualties at all. Instead, they still stubbornly launched endless attacks again and again.
Thanks to the efforts of the Igarashi Brigade, the first line position outside Laohuozicheng of the 11th Brigade of the Chinese National Defense Force fell into the hands of the Japanese.
But Liu Xiang was not angry, but instead showed a happy smile.
This was my first time fighting against the Japanese army, and I was a little worried before.
The defeat of the Manchus and the Qing Dynasty during the Sino-Japanese War and the results of the Russo-Japanese War gave some Chinese people the idea that the Japanese troops were very elite and capable of fighting. It was not a simple matter to defeat them.
Easy things.
But when I experienced the war personally, I found that it was not all like this...
The Japanese simply traded human lives for victory.
"What is the population of Japan?" Liu Xiang, who had retreated to the second line, suddenly asked.
The chief of staff was startled for a moment, then shook his head in confusion.
In fact, Liu Xiang does not need to know the answer.
He smiled slightly: "According to this method of fighting, if there are a few more big battles, how many troops will Japan have that can be used on the battlefield? When all their experienced and rigorously trained soldiers are dead, they will
With what force can we continue to maintain the war?"
This general who had already demonstrated his talent during the Sichuan Civil War made no mistake in his judgment.
Indeed, once a full-scale war breaks out between China and Japan, as the war continues, the loser will definitely be the Japanese. Their domestic manpower and material resources will definitely make it impossible for them to support a full-scale war between China and Japan.
Especially when they will soon lose all their overseas colonies... huddled on a few small islands, the final result can only be failure...
Liu Xiang's judgment was very accurate, but now he still had to face the strong pressure from the Japanese Eighth Division.
Although the Japanese army's tactics were undesirable, their densely packed and tsunami-like attacks still plunged Liu Xiang and his officers and soldiers into a fierce battle.
Having secured the front-line position, Takaaki Igarashi's confidence greatly increased, and he immediately plunged his troops into an even more brutal war!
The Japanese troops chanting unknown slogans came in like a tide, and then fell under the intensive firepower of the Chinese Army. After retreating slightly, it didn't take long for a new charge mixed with slogans to start again.
.....
Once, twice, three times...
The arms were swollen from the beatings by the soldiers, and numbed by the beatings by the soldiers.
They mechanically pulled the triggers, mechanically threw the grenades, and then mechanically watched the attackers die in front of them...
Life has become the most worthless thing on this cruel battlefield...
Artillery shells often exploded around the temporary brigade headquarters of the **11th Brigade, which made the guard company commander Guo Haian a little worried. He persuaded the brigade commander to retreat several times, but Liu Xiang refused.
"Tell Shen Jiaqiang in the city that I am helping him block the Japanese people outside the city, and let him launch a full-scale counterattack in the city and eat all the Japanese people who enter Lao Huozi City!"
"yes!"
"Where are our reinforcements?"
"I just received a telegram. It can arrive as soon as tomorrow afternoon!"
"Tomorrow afternoon, tomorrow afternoon..." Liu Xiang pondered for a while and suddenly said: "Tell the brothers that the reinforcements will arrive the day after tomorrow. Let them cheer up and hold on until the day after tomorrow!"
The chief of staff was startled again, and then immediately understood what the brigade commander meant...
The closer the reinforcements are to arriving, the easier it is for the soldiers to become nervous, anxious, and restless. Once the reinforcements arrive earlier than they expect, it will be a huge boost to the soldiers' confidence and morale!
Takaaki Igarashi obviously also felt the threat of the imminent arrival of Chinese reinforcements, and the entire brigade's attack was once again strengthened!
The Japanese captain threw all his troops onto the battlefield.
With red eyes, the Japanese screamed "Ouch" and launched rounds of attacks. The large number of deaths only stimulated their nerves.
Everyone on the battlefield has completely forgotten life and death by this time, and human life has become the most humble thing in their eyes.
Many of them had no idea why such a war was being fought, but the purpose of the war had nothing to do with the soldiers.
That's something politicians play with, and it's just a decision made by people at the top.
For soldiers, there are only two things they have to do: