Rise From Eight Hundred

January 7, 1939!

The Japanese 9th Route Army officially launched a fierce attack on the 4th Army Defense Area!

Especially in the Zhangjiashan area where the 55th Division was stationed, the Japanese army actually assembled 24 mountain guns, a dozen infantry guns and even more than ten mortars to bombard the positions of the 55th Division!

The 55th Division only had 6 mountain guns and 24 82nd mortars. Its heavy firepower was completely overwhelmed by the Japanese army. If it hadn't been for the geographical advantage of the highlands, it might have been all over the line just in front of the Japanese army's official attack on the first day. collapse.

Because an infantry battalion commander suffered too much damage in the crazy Japanese shelling, he ordered his troops to withdraw from the front-line trenches and hide on the back of the mountain without receiving orders from the regiment and brigade headquarters.

As a result, when the Japanese army made a tentative attack during the interval between shelling, the observation post failed to send a signal in time, resulting in the temporary loss of the battalion's position.

Although the infantry battalion commander immediately led his troops to counterattack and drove out an infantry squadron that occupied the position at the cost of nearly 300 casualties, the thrilling situation was such that the white-haired general sitting in Munan Town broke into a cold sweat. .

Due to the strategic depth problem of only 20 miles in the middle section of Zhongtiao Mountain, the 4th Army had to adopt a chain defense. The more than 30,000 troops of the entire Army's 4 infantry divisions were almost all distributed on large and small hilltops and highlands at the forefront of the mountainous battle against Japan. A chain with a width of 25 miles was formed, firmly locking all the routes followed by the Japanese army in a semi-arc siege.

There are not many advantages, but there are many disadvantages. If any important high ground in this chain is broken, the Japanese army's ability to penetrate enemy lines is obvious to all. A gap may cause the entire line to become passive.

After General Yang had to temporarily escape overseas due to the Chang'an Incident, the commander of the 4th Group Army surnamed Sun can be said to be the flagship figure in the Northwest Army today. Based on his experience, how could he not know that this kind of width is sufficient but not deep enough for a thin defense line? There are shortcomings, but they are forced to do so.

The Japanese army is advancing in multiple directions, and its strength is almost the same as that of the 4th Army. The only thing facing the 4th Army is to deploy defenses at multiple points and defend at multiple locations.

To put it bluntly, the only way is to get ready and fight to the death with everyone involved.

This was only the first day, and the Japanese army almost allowed the Japanese army to break through one of the important highlands. How could they fight further?

Strict military orders represent ruthlessness. The infantry battalion commander of the major, who was at the forefront of the army and suffered several wounds, was killed on the spot with a gun by his regimental commander in tears to prove military law. However, what was recorded in the division's battle report was that the army major fought hard on the battlefield and died. Sacrifice for the country.

Although his subordinates were dissatisfied with the unfair treatment they suffered, after receiving the news, no one in the other departments dared to disobey the military order. Even if the Japanese artillery fire was overwhelming, they still stayed in the trenches.

Whenever the Japanese infantry advanced within a 200-meter range, the soldiers fought back bravely!

According to internal battle reports of the Japanese army, on January 7 alone, the artillery of the Nakamura detachment under the jurisdiction of Masao Nakamura fired about 1,500 artillery shells of various types, and the infantry wing invested more than 3,000 infantrymen in 4 attacks.

Such a ferocious offensive was repulsed by various units of the Chinese army on the opposite side.

The Chinese battle report shows that the 55th Division's three infantry regiments on the front line of more than 6,000 people had already lost more than 1,500 people before 4 p.m., with a battle loss rate of 25%!

The 102nd Regiment of the 17th Division, which was originally used as a reserve force, had to rush to the Zhangjiashan battlefield under orders from the military headquarters in the evening of that day.

On the first day of the official war, the 38th Army mobilized one of its most important reserves.

The white-haired general's face was as frosty as last year's battle at Niangziguan. The fierce fighting was only one aspect, and what pained the veteran the most was that the Japanese army had not really shown its full strength. For example, the Japanese fighter fleet had not yet fully deployed. appeared, the infantry only used an infantry regiment, but the Thirty-eighth Army was forced to show a trump card early.

How to fight the next battle?

The name of the Fifth Division’s ‘Steel Army’ is indeed well-deserved!

However, today’s battlefield is not all bad news!

For example, the 4,000 Sichuan Army recruits led by Tang Dao, who had always worried him, plus his 1,200 heavy troops, totaled more than 5,000 troops stationed in Sizhou Mountain, but what they faced was an old Japanese Army Type A division composed of more than 10,000 troops. The detachment, whether it is combat experience or strength, Tang Dao belongs to is at an absolute disadvantage.

No matter how much he trusts Tang Dao, he can't help but be careless at this moment. The 17th Division's Independent 46th Brigade is considered the last trump card in General Baifa's hand, and its station is only 2,500 meters away from Sizhou Mountain. Reinforcements can be sent within 30 minutes. arrival.

But the miraculous thing is that the nearly ten thousand troops of the 55th Division fought extremely hard, but the Sizhoushan position was as stable as Mount Tai. He could hear the roar of guns and artillery, but Tang Dao's reply to his message was always, "The position is okay." ! 'Four words.

The white-haired general was really not at ease. He also asked the 46th Independent Brigade, which was closest to him, to send a regiment commander to go to the defense line to take a look in person. As a result, the message he replied was roughly the same as what Tang Dao said, but with the addition One sentence: "Although the Japanese invaders' artillery fire was sharp, the Sichuan army's return artillery fire was not weak!"

Yes, on January 7th, the West Tuo Detachment of the 4th Division did not lose its chain as rumored. The fierceness of their artillery fire and the high combat literacy displayed by the artillery made Tang Dao also look at him with admiration.

First, the 4th Division used 16 75mm mountain guns and 4 105mm howitzers to bombard the six hills and the 3,000-meter mountain range that blocked their advance. The bombardment lasted from early morning to dusk.

This was very different from the Japanese army's habitual "cannons bombarded the soldiers and rushed in, and if they couldn't rush in, they bombarded them!" pattern encountered by the 4th Division. For a whole day, the Japanese, who had always "added fingers to their eyes", turned into super prodigals and fired at least 2,000 shells at the positions.

This does not include the output of small-caliber guns such as infantry guns and 90-type mortars.

Just this statistical data, not to mention Tang Dao's expectations, even Nakamura Masao's pupils shrank when he heard it.

This time, Itagaki Shiro gave him enough support. Not only did he give him two artillery battalions, he even used most of the baggage regiment to help him transport the various military supplies he needed. He used trains and cars to transport 6,000 shells of various types!

The amount of shells stored was almost three times that of the detachment that attacked the Battle of Xuzhou last May. It can be seen how much Itagaki Shiro valued this battle.

Nakamura Masao certainly didn't know that Itagaki Shiro valued the Kunisaki detachment that was ordered to deal with the main force of the Four-Line Regiment more. The artillery it carried not only included 75 mountain artillery, but also two artillery squadrons with 8 105 howitzers on standby in a small town 6 kilometers outside Shunwangping.

For this battle, Itagaki Shiro almost emptied the family of the Westward Corps, and invested in the storage of 10,000 artillery shells. In addition, 5,000 artillery shells of various types were urgently transferred from Pingbei City. The total of 50,000 artillery shells were only used by the various units of the Westward Corps. The heavy firepower was no less than that of the Xinkou Battle in the past.

But compared with the local tyrant 4th Division, it was really nothing.

In just one day, the 4th Division, a detachment of more than 10,000 people, fired nearly 3,000 artillery shells of various types. According to this consumption rate, after five days, the various artillery of the 4th Division can be announced to withdraw from the battlefield.

Regardless of the durability, just talking about the strength of the rush and collision, the 5th Division is a soft one compared to the 4th Division!

Secondly, the 4th Division even pushed its infantry artillery to 1,200 meters from the front of the Tang Dao position, and did not conduct any firepower test, but approached and bombarded all suspicious targets!

After arriving at the position, more than a dozen heavy firepower points built under Tang Dao's command were destroyed in this way. Fortunately, both the baggage soldiers and the Sichuan Army had fought with Tang Dao and were familiar with Tang Dao's style. When the Japanese artillery fire came, except for some observation posts hiding in the trenches, most officers and soldiers hid behind the mountain or in the caves in Zhongtiao Mountain itself.

Here we have to mention the geomorphic features of Zhongtiao Mountain. Zhongtiao Mountain Range is located between Huashan Mountain Range and Taihang Mountain Range. The mountain body goes northeast with an altitude of 1,200 meters to 2,300 meters. It is a steep north slope and a gentle south slope. This terrain is undoubtedly more advantageous to the defender;

The exposed rock layers on the mountain include gneiss, quartzite, dolomite and volcanic rock systems, which are very different from the hard Zhangshiyan and iron-containing siliceous rock of Taihang Mountain. In addition, there are a large number of loess layers covering the Zhongtiao Mountain Range, which has the most luxuriant vegetation in Shanxi Province. Even after the Great Leap Forward, there will still be a large area of ​​virgin forest.

Such geological structure makes Zhongtiao Mountain have many natural caves, which saves the defenders a lot of effort, at least reducing the large-scale excavation of anti-artillery holes.

Of course, there are pros and cons. The thick loess layer allows the trenches to be deeper and longer, but the fragile rock layer cannot withstand the fierce artillery fire and is much more likely to collapse than the trenches built in the Taihang Mountains.

But no matter what, in terms of this terrain and geology, Zhongtiao Mountain is actually more suitable for defensive operations than Taihang Mountain, but that is only tactically. From a strategic perspective, the mountain range is not wide enough and lacks sufficient depth. Once a key defensive position is broken and the space for mobile operations is gradually lost, it will be a disaster.

However, for now, no matter how fierce the artillery fire of the 4th Division is, it is impossible to blast open the caves and kill the Chinese officers and soldiers hiding in them.

Whenever the 4th Division uses infantry to attack, the more than 80 heavy machine guns deployed by Tang Dao on the entire defense line will definitely let these vendors know what it means to be so red - it is all stained red with blood.

But Tang Dao waited for a long time, and the 4th Division had no intention of sending out infantry, just spending money again and again.

Tang Dao lost his patience, so he simply didn't hide it, and pushed the infantry artillery to the front line! Then let you see the power of our mortars.

Have you seen the grand scene of more than 30 mortars firing together? In ordinary Chinese troops, that is the heavy firepower that only five infantry regiments can have, but in the Sichuan Army's new recruits, that is only half of it.

The army colonel who rushed to the Sizhou Mountain position to take a look for the white-haired general happened to witness this grand scene, and finally understood why Tang Dao was so confident to use 5000VS10000.

However, at the beginning of the Sichuan Army's new recruits' counterattack, he didn't think so.

The greenhorn mortar gunners didn't know where their shells went after several rounds of shelling. Even he could tell the approximate location of the Japanese infantry artillery positions through the thick smoke rising above the woods, but the rookie gunners without military ranks just couldn't hit them accurately.

But firing more than a hundred shells in a row was enough to scare people. Half of the Japanese infantry artillery was muted, and they were obviously scared and quickly moved their positions.

The poor performance of the new recruits did not discourage them. Since the superiors said that they had to hit a certain number, they had to finish the number, which was 25 rounds for each cannon.

Cannons! In fact, it is similar to playing mahjong. It requires both skills and luck!

Now, after several rounds of artillery fire failed to hit the target, the luck of the green hands who had fired many shells came.

The loud explosion in the dense forest a thousand meters away resounded through the sky, and the fireworks were more than 30 meters high. The brilliant flames hurt the eyes of the army colonel who was hiding in the observation post a thousand meters away with a telescope.

Obviously, this was a hit, and it was very likely that it was the Japanese artillery storage point. Once it exploded, there would be no living people within a radius of hundreds of meters.

"Hit it! Hit it!"

The red flag waved by Xia Dayu, who turned into an artillery observer on the top of the mountain, was simply the best stimulant for the new recruits.

Even luck can't be stopped, or maybe the more they fight, the smoother they are. More than 700 shells were fired, and the dense forest a kilometer away was also blown into a sea of ​​fire. Some were blown up by mortar shells, and some were caused by the Japanese army's own shells.

"Baga! Check the Chinese 4th Army on the opposite side. Why do they have so many mortars? Stupid intelligence department, can't they even handle such a small matter?" Okuma Yukinosuke angrily scolded his friendly army in his field command post 4,000 meters away from the front line.

How can he not be angry? In order to show the bravery of the 4th Division, Major General Okuma Yukinosuke spared no expense and emptied one-third of the ammunition carried by the detachment in one day. Many of them were stocks that the 4th Division had secretly saved by falsely reporting consumption over the years.

Those were all small amounts of money. Originally, if they were taken out to find a suitable buyer, they would be enough for all the generals and officers of the division to build a small villa, but now they have all turned into gorgeous fireworks in the mountains and forests of the Chinese.

This has made Major General Okuma Konosuke feel so painful.

But for the glory of "no injury to the Imperial Army", Okuma Konosuke can only sacrifice the small and save the big!

Besides, if he doesn't do this, he will have to order the infantry to charge. If there are a lot of casualties, he, a major general of the Imperial Army, will not be able to face the elders and folks in Osaka.

Osaka people have always attached importance to fellow townspeople. From privates to him, a major general brigade commander, everyone lives in the same city, even if they are a little far away, just a small place like Osaka, isn't it just a few dozen miles away!

As a result, he paid such a great "sacrifice", and the Chinese actually gave him a "violence against violence".

He didn't even know the effect of his artillery bombardment, but the losses caused by the Chinese were clearly reported to him first.

Two artillery storage points exploded, 4 infantry guns were blown up, more than 80 imperial soldiers died, and more than 40 were injured. The result of shame and loss of money can be called the biggest loss of the 4th Division in the past two years since entering China, nothing else!

All this was the fault of the intelligence department of the front army. The Japanese Army Major General found the target of blame almost as soon as he saw the list of war damage.

And Okuma Konosuke didn't just talk about it. He did it as soon as he thought of it. He sent a telegram directly to the division headquarters far away in Pingbei City, denouncing the inaction of the intelligence department of the front army. The words were so fierce that it was as if the colonel-level intelligence chief slept with his wife while he was out fighting.

Even the lieutenant general of the 4th Division had to patiently appease his good brother and clearly stated that this had nothing to do with the tactical arrangement of Okuma Jun. The fault was that the intelligence department of the front army had not yet provided a complete sequence of Chinese troops, which made it impossible for the imperial warriors to know themselves and the enemy, and suffered this unexpected loss.

Masao Nakamura: Are you serious? Less than a hundred people died, just like a wronged child, looking for adults everywhere to complain and support. Who should I go to for the loss of more than 300 people in the 5th Division on the first day?

Okuma Konosuke: Whoever you want to find, I love my soldiers like my sons! This is the most important potential to become a famous general!

This conversation may not have been recorded, but it was definitely exchanged across the air on the cold night of January 7.

Of course, this lieutenant general was not as ‘brainless’ as his good brother. He pushed all the responsibility to the front army headquarters after losing the battle. He also hoped to rely on the big legs of General Shimamoto to turn the 4th Division into a security force stationed in various occupied areas!

The 4th Division is united, and it has never been an empty talk.

But the Japanese lieutenant general finally called General Shimamoto in person and asked him to help find out the general situation of the enemy faced by the 4th Division.

No one knows what Shimamoto was thinking at the time, but according to internal personnel of the Japanese North China Front Army Command, General Shimamoto reprimanded Lieutenant Colonel Fujiwara Zhanxiong, who was then the deputy chief of the intelligence department and the captain of the front army special attack team, with a cold face.

Poor Lieutenant Colonel Fujiwara Sen'o was still lame at the time, and spent most of his time recovering from his injuries. He just barely took over the work of the Intelligence Department after the Intelligence Department Chief went out on a field mission.

In times of war, the status of aristocracy is not so useful nowadays. That may be the conclusion drawn by the internal staff of the North China Front Army from this incident.

In fact, they didn't know that this was also an opportunity for Shanshan Yuan to express his attitude after the Fujiwara family did not completely stand on his side in the establishment of the Westward Corps.

Politics, there are compromises and disputes!

Fujiwara Sen'o, who looked decadent and confused, could only endure Shanshan Yuan's saliva and rushed back to the office to work overtime until late at night.

But it was useless. After working all night, they still couldn't find out which unit belonged to the Chinese 4th Army.

Lieutenant Colonel Fujiwara Sen's efforts were in vain.

And Okuma Konosuke was very single and gave an order the next day: "The enemy's situation is unclear. Order the front-line infantry to launch an attack 800 meters away. No crossing the line without a military order!"

Could it be that all the soldiers of the 4th Division are heavy machine gunners?

Tang Tuanzuo on the mountain was also shocked by the cute little guys' tricks, but this did not prevent Tang Tuanzuo from waving his hand: "Eat, drink water, get enough rest, and watch the devil's performance!"()