Rise From Eight Hundred

The main forces of the 108th Division were the 1st Battalion and the 2nd Battalion led by Lei Xiong and part of the artillery battalion led by Cheng Tieshou.

Although there has never been any ranking of the strength of the four infantry battalions of the 4th Battalion, the 1st Battalion is actually recognized as the strongest infantry battalion within the 4th Battalion.

Even Li Jiujin, the old soldier, once said in private that if someone dared to brag that the infantry company was stronger than him, he would be the first to jump out and not accept it, but he would definitely accept it if Zhao Daqiang and Wei Dong said this.

The two infantry companies that could convince the great Li Dalian can be concentrated in the 1st Battalion, from which we can imagine how strong the combat effectiveness of the 1st Battalion is.

The 2nd Battalion is a low-profile existence in the 4th Battalion, but whether it is Leng Feng's 3rd Battalion or Shangguan Yun's 4th Battalion, even though they each played their own prestige in the battle of Jindong, they never felt that their battalions were stronger than the 2nd Battalion.

There are also powerful teams in the second battalion. Whether it is Qian Dazhu's infantry company or Cai Yongguan's infantry company, they have caused the Japanese army to bleed.

Lieutenant General Sakai, who was a "newborn calf", encountered such a group of people. You can tell whether he was uncomfortable or not.

Lei Xiong's personality has always been "the generals will stop the enemy and the earth will cover the water". However, he is a very good person. The two infantry battalions did not play any empty games with the Japanese army. Under the fire support of the artillery led by Cheng Tieshou, more than 3,000 infantrymen set up blocking positions in Zhongyang Mountain and fought.

Of course, although Lei Xiong and Ye Chenghuan are both fierce generals, they are not lacking in wisdom. In addition to the two infantry battalions fighting the Japanese army, the two reconnaissance platoons of the reconnaissance company and the mountain company that has already taken shape, as well as a cavalry company of the cavalry battalion, all spread out to the periphery.

This battle lasted for seven days and nights, which should also be the seven most painful days and nights in Lieutenant General Sakai's life.

Every step forward has an unknown price to pay, but that's fine, at least you can see some results.

But the rear was also unstable. The Chinese took advantage of their familiarity with the terrain and constantly had small groups of troops harassing the logistics, artillery and other units. The losses caused were actually more than the front line for two days.

At the most exaggerated time, three baggage teams were attacked in one day, 40 trucks and more than 300 pack horses were burned and killed, and more than 400 baggage soldiers were killed.

One night, a small group of Chinese troops even touched the vicinity of his division headquarters. If he had not been cautious enough, there was an infantry battalion guarding the division headquarters. Maybe his head, the head of the lieutenant general division commander, would have become a trophy of the Chinese.

Lieutenant General Sakai had to not continue to send troops to the front line on the third day of the war, and even withdrew two infantry battalions to the rear to ensure the safety of the baggage team. Although Lieutenant General Sakai never admitted it, everyone believed that this change in tactics was not without the intention of guarding his own retreat.

It can only be said that the rookie in the Japanese army who can jump two levels in one year still has some brains, and he will gain experience after being beaten.

It was later proved that if it were not for these two infantry battalions to guard the way back, the infantry brigade that disappeared in northwest Shanxi would have probably blocked the remaining troops of the 108th Division in the Taihang Mountains. When the 80th Army was free, the 108th Division could be completely cancelled from the sequence of the Japanese North China Front Army.

Lieutenant General Sakai, the flower of the Imperial Army, also fell just after it bloomed!

But the result of doing so was that the troops fighting against Lei Xiong's troops were no longer so sufficient. On the fourth day of the Battle of Zhongyang Mountain, Lei Xiong's troops noticed that the Japanese troops were insufficient and even began to counterattack the Japanese troops at night.

Several peaks and highlands that the 108th Division had spent countless lives to conquer changed hands almost overnight!

Lieutenant General Sakai may have realized from that moment that the third fire of his "three fires for a new official" could not be lit, at least not on this battlefield.

His only hope could only be placed on the infantry regiment that raided Dakouzidong Town!

According to the strength currently displayed by the Four-line Regiment, if the main force is not fully deployed, he will change his surname to "Jing". If an infantry regiment cannot even enter the base of the Four-line Regiment without the main force, he will cut people.

The 132nd Regiment of the 25th Brigade of the 108th Division was responsible for attacking Dakouzidong Town. This infantry regiment was the only infantry regiment that was not beaten by the Four-line Regiment, which was also the main reason why Sakai chose them.

In the first three days, the progress of the 132nd Infantry Regiment was not satisfactory. Under the blockade of the small forces of the Four-line Regiment based on the mountain fortifications, it only advanced less than 4 kilometers in 3 days and nights.

This was all within Sakai's expectations. With the ability of the Four-line Regiment, if the imperial army was allowed to march straight in, it would be hell!

On the 4th day, perhaps because the militia and new recruits left by the Four-line Regiment had been exhausted, the 132nd Infantry Regiment made great progress in one day, marching 4 kilometers, which was equivalent to the total of the previous three days, and was less than 6 kilometers away from Dakouzidong Town.

Standing on the top of the peak, the colonel regiment commander could even see the faint scenery in Dakouzidong Town through a telescope.

Lieutenant General Sakai, who received the telegram from his subordinates, was in a very good mood at that moment, and actually slept well for half the night for the first time.

No matter how strong the Four-line Regiment is, I can't swallow your main force in one bite, but I can steal your home, burn, rob and kill, so that you can't celebrate this New Year.

In the dream, Lieutenant General Sakai saw a mountain town full of Chinese heads, and saw the desperate faces of the Chinese who were fighting bravely on the opposite side.

Until the early morning, the sleepy Sakai received bad news.

The 132nd Infantry Regiment encountered the obstruction of the permanent fortifications built by the Chinese on the mountain!

At this time, Lieutenant General Sakai obviously did not realize the seriousness of the problem. He thought that it was the last stubborn resistance of the Chinese, just like that layer of membrane. As long as he passed through it, there would be a smooth road ahead.

But at noon, the telegram sent by the 132nd Infantry Regiment made Lieutenant General Sakai's head have a tendency to grow bigger.

For a whole morning, only three permanent fortifications of the Chinese were removed, but the 132nd Infantry Regiment suffered nearly 300 casualties, which had never happened in the past few days.

A vague bad idea emerged in Lieutenant General Sakai's mind, but was suppressed by Sakai.

After all, the 132nd Infantry Regiment was his last hope. If the 132nd Infantry Regiment could not make any achievements, then he, the new commander of the 108th Division, would be surpassed by the commander of the 109th Division who was demoted.

Although Anami Yuji is much older than Sakai Naotsugu and has a strong backing, Sakai Naotsugu is also a person who has been supported by the prince, so he naturally wants to compete with him.

However, Lieutenant General Sakai at this moment could not have imagined that his imagined competitor would be scared away by the "empty city plan" of a famous Chinese general, which became a long-lasting joke in the Japanese army. Otherwise, he would definitely choose the safer approach of not seeking success but not making mistakes, and would never do such a radical thing.

With Lieutenant General Sakai's order to continue advancing, the 132nd Infantry Regiment fought hard for another half a day, and it was during this half a day that the last ray of life of the 132nd Infantry Regiment was completely cut off.

You know, although the Security Battalion of the Four-Line Regiment is mostly composed of disabled retired veterans and recruits, its strength is as high as 3,000 people, which is the second largest in the entire Four-Line Regiment after the baggage battalion.

With strong fortifications, how could a mere Japanese infantry regiment advance 8 kilometers in three days?

That was the strategy led by Ye Chenghuan. Most of the bunkers hidden in the mountains were not actually used. The security battalion led by Lao Hei only used less than 300 regular troops in the early stage, just to paralyze the Japanese army and lure the enemy deep into the area!

It was not until the area less than 6 kilometers away from the Dakouzi Cave that Lao Hei activated all the bunkers and fortifications built in the mountains, completely blocking the Japanese army's way forward.

If the 132nd Infantry Regiment knew how to advance and retreat during the day, they would have a chance to escape from this mountain full of bunkers and fortifications.

Unfortunately, they did not. In the mountains they could not see, I don’t know how many Chinese soldiers were waiting silently in the caves, waiting to use the night to enter the bunkers that the Japanese army did not find along the way.

At that time, whether the Japanese army advanced or retreated, they would be hit by fire from the permanent fortifications that the Four-Line Regiment spent more than half a year digging between cliffs and cliffs.

In each fortification, there was at least one light machine gun, rifle, and submachine gun to form a long-range and short-range firepower.

By then, the Japanese army would have to pay the price of blood if they didn't move or didn't take a step.

Moreover, this was not reinforced concrete, but a naturally formed stone mountain. The engineers of the Four-Line Regiment completely hollowed out the mountain wall to form a bunker. The granite with unique geology in Dakouzidong Town could not be penetrated by grenade launchers and infantry guns, and even a 100mm cannon was enough.

The 132nd Infantry Regiment's journey home was destined to be bloody. Even at the request of Naotsugu Sakai, the Japanese North China Army Aviation sent 6 Type 96 fighters to provide air fire support for it. They even descended to low altitude and used machine guns to clear the way for the infantry after finding out that the Chinese in that area did not have perfect anti-aircraft firepower.

However, it was useless.

The 132nd Infantry Regiment walked for 4 days to cover the 8 kilometers when they came in, but they wanted to go out until the main force of the 108th Division withdrew. The 132nd Infantry Regiment was still 3 kilometers away from the mountain pass when they came in.

At that time, of the 3,862 men of the 132nd Infantry Regiment who entered the mountain, only 1,537 remained, and more than 2,300 died in this long journey.

The wounded were as rare as rare animals, and the medicines had been used up long ago. What made the Japanese army most desperate was that they had no rations.

The 132nd Infantry Regiment, which had originally fought for a quick victory and was as light as possible, only carried five days of rations. As long as they conquered the Sihang Regiment’s base, what would they not have to eat? But they never dreamed that this battle would last ten days.

Seeing that they could not get out, and the reinforcements promised by the division commander had not arrived for a long time, the imperial eagles had no use for bombs or machine guns, and the Chinese hiding in the cave fortifications had no use, and the remaining Japanese troops were completely desperate.

In a few days, even if they were not killed by the Chinese, they would starve to death and die of thirst in this stone mountain.

Hungry is not a big deal, there are packhorses that can be killed for meat, and the Japanese infantrymen are all fat and strong, so they won't starve to death even if they don't eat for two days.

The key is thirst! There is spring water in this mountain, but the Chinese seem to have expected this long ago. Not only are there sharpshooters guarding the springs, but there are also gunners. Whenever there is a gunshot, there must be a shell whistling.

I don't know how many infantrymen died to get water!

If you say that blood is exchanged for life, then it is exchanged, but even this water exchanged for human life is not necessarily safe.

I don't know what the Chinese did to the spring water. Even if the water was boiled, many people and horses got dysentery, which is the most undesirable disease in this cold winter.

The Japanese soldiers who were seriously ill were so diarrhea that they didn't plan to take off their pants later.

Anyway, there will always be a time to poop in the pants, so why bother freezing their butts?

It only took two days, and the smelly excrement-making machine was nothing new in the Japanese army.

If the Japanese had the opportunity to go to the upper reaches of these mountain springs, they would see many rotten pig and sheep carcasses soaked in the water. This was artificially created by Tang Tuanzuo from Dakouzidong Town before the New Year's Day offensive. 'Biological weapons'.

Although it is winter and animal carcasses are not easy to rot, as long as you think about it, there are more solutions than difficulties. Anyway, what Tang Tuanzuo wants is whether the Japanese soldiers can eat well or not, and make them feel worse than being shot.

However, the security battalion's current record was far beyond Tang Dao's expectations, and it also allowed him to worry less about the Sizhou Mountain defense line.

Zhongtiao Mountain is important, and Taihang Mountain is even more important. It is one of the starting points for the millions of troops that will sweep across China in the future.

Of course Naoji Sakai did not want to give up this infantry regiment, and he also tried to make an effort, but before he could send reinforcements, he received bad news.

The Chinese deployed a large number of troops in Shecheng and Licheng areas!

That almost scared the shit out of the Japanese Army Lieutenant General, who was famous for his brutality. It didn’t matter if the two county towns were lost, even if Changzhi was lost. Since the main force of the division had all entered the Taihang Mountains, only a few people were left in the three cities. With hundreds of troops stationed in Changzhi, the number at most is only 800.

But the division's retreat cannot be blocked. The 16th Division and the 109th Division over there are still fighting hard. If you want to count on them, it is better to hope that your legs and feet will be more flexible.

Fortunately, he had saved a trick before. Two infantry brigades had deployed defense lines on two important traffic roads. The Chinese's violent attack failed to achieve the purpose of cutting off traffic.

Let’s protect the main force first! Lieutenant General Sakai didn't hesitate for more than three seconds before he abandoned one of his main infantry regiments.

Leaving an infantry regiment on the front line against the Four Troops, Sakai Naoji led nearly 8,000 troops to return to support his rear flank overnight to prevent his rear route from being cut off.

Sakai Naoji's decisive decision should be the only highlight of the Japanese army's "New Year's Day Offensive" in the battle of Taihang Mountain.

The Chinese army that penetrated directly into the rear flank of the 108th Division was the independent regiment of the 511th Division and the main division of the 80th Group Army.

The teaching brigade, consisting of nearly 6,000 people, was personally led by the No. 2 figure in the division. They marched at night and in daylight for 12 days, marching nearly 700 miles to reinforce the Taihang Mountains.

That was the foundation for the future development of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei base area. Thirty percent of the soldiers participated in that great movement of thousands of miles, and their combat effectiveness was not much inferior to that of the 683rd Brigade.

If it weren't for the fact that they had to travel lightly, the unit only brought heavy machine guns and didn't have much attack capability. The two infantry brigades of the 108th Division were really not impressive enough.

They did not directly reinforce the 80th Army, but targeted the 108th Division. That was a wise decision by the boss of the 80th Army.

It would be better to cut off one of his ten fingers than to cut off one of them. He and the Four Lines Regiment should cooperate with each other to repel the weakest 108th Division, and then the whole army can fight back against the strongest 16th Division and 109th Division.

The commander of the Eightyth Army with a distinctive personality wanted to fight not just a defensive battle, but to teach the Japanese a lesson.

In other places, the Japanese army may have an advantage, but in the Taihang Mountains, the dragon is coiled or the tiger is lying down. Who are they following?

Perhaps even the famous generals of the Eightyth Army did not know that their mentality had been quietly changing since 1938.

Facing the increasingly large-scale raids by the Japanese army, their strategy was no longer just about movement and defense, but also about head-on attack.

Not only did they have the confidence brought by continuous victory, but also because they had a strong comrade who was trustworthy.

Thanks to Naoji Sakai's decisiveness, the main force of the 108th Division was able to escape, but the 'wrist' that was severed by them was completely thrown into the vast mountains.

The 132nd Infantry Regiment, which had been fighting hard all the way, finally realized that the firepower points hidden on the cliffs also had shooting ranges, and most of them blocked the mountain roads. So let's not take the mountain roads and go to the wild road headquarter!

Heavy weapons can't cross mountains and ridges, so I'll pack lightly! The mountains that the Chinese can climb, we can also climb!

In order to survive, the 'smart' Japanese soldiers abandoned almost all their heavy weapons, and their pack horses were slaughtered as alternative food. They crawled into the rugged mountains and never took those mountain roads filled with death again.

Heavy weapons that were regarded as life were abandoned, not to mention those seriously injured soldiers who needed to be carried on stretchers? All seriously wounded soldiers, after the infantry commander made that difficult decision, all seriously wounded soldiers were required to be loyal to His Majesty the Emperor.

In the desperate and pleading eyes of the seriously wounded Japanese soldiers, the Japanese infantrymen who were already in desperate situation opened a dark page in their lives with the rifles in their hands.

But the Japanese army never expected that this was just the beginning of the darkest days of their lives, and it was by no means the end.

The danger of Taihang Mountain is far beyond their imagination!

Even the most experienced hunters are not willing to set foot in this stone mountain for a long time.

Not because there are any leopards, jackals and other ferocious beasts inside, but because there are so many cliffs and cliffs that even monkeys are intimidated and can accidentally fall into a hundred-meter abyss.

Because the terrain is so complicated and dangerous, even the security camp did not send anyone to set foot in it.

The 132nd Infantry Regiment, who was forced to panic, chose to enter. Lao Hei, who used his binoculars to watch the Japanese troops disappear behind the cliff, could only say "Awesome" to them!

After this battle, only 2,600 soldiers of the 3,000 security battalion officers and soldiers remained. Lao Hei left a few people to continue to garrison in the bunker to prevent the Japanese army from making a comeback. 1,000 of the remaining 2,000 people returned to defend the area around Dakouzi Cave, and the other 1,000 were distributed in the mountains near the mountain road, closely monitoring the Japanese troops entering the mountains to prevent them from wandering around the garrison, which would be a disgrace.

Lei Xiong, who returned victoriously, gave an order, "Lock them up! Let them spend the New Year chewing stones in the stone mountain!"

Until the end of the Zhongtiao Mountain Battle on the 24th, this miserable remnant of the Japanese army was still firmly locked in the stone mountain with a radius of 20 miles.

The Japanese Army Aviation also made efforts to airdrop food and medicine for it, but Lei Xiong deployed all the anti-aircraft machine guns and anti-aircraft guns that could be pulled out of the Four-Line Regiment in the area.

Japanese fighter planes did not dare to fly too low and could only leave it to fate. The airdropped supplies were most likely picked up by the officers and soldiers of the Four-Line Regiment and the militia who were wandering in groups outside the area.

The canned beef tasted very good and replenished a lot of energy for the Chinese soldiers in the cold wind.

The Japanese troops trapped in the mountains were miserable. The 1,500 people who entered the mountains were reduced to less than a thousand after half a month, and hundreds of them died of cold, disease, and hunger.

But the Four-Line Regiment used nearly a thousand people to blockade it until the end of the New Year. That was March 19, 1939. It had been nearly 80 days since the remnants of the Japanese army entered the mountains.

How did they survive more than 370 people without supplies? I'm afraid only God knows.

Perhaps, the surviving Japanese soldiers are all the best hunters!