Finally, after the Japanese plane left, the Japanese heavy artillery started again. The 68 heavy artillery pieces of 150 mm or more from the fifth heavy artillery brigade were in full fire. The effect of the bombardment was terrifying, especially the 240 mm cannon. One shell would kill the enemy. It can blast out a huge crater, leaving no survivors within a hundred meters.
Twenty 240mm heavy cannons create twenty big craters at once. Even if the hit rate is not low, every salvo is in hell mode, and there is no place to run.
The 69th Army placed a regiment on the forward position. By the time the bombardment was over, the regiment could no longer form a battalion. Almost all the trenches had been bulldozed. In addition to the losses in the deep positions, there were already casualties before the Japanese were seen. a half group;
As the main defensive force, the 55th Division suffered nearly half of its casualties. Division Commander Li Songsan's hand holding the telescope was shaking. He had never seen such fierce artillery fire. It is not an exaggeration to describe it as devastating.
Although his hands were trembling, his eyes were still determined. Fear did not mean giving up the fight. The national crisis was facing them, and they had no way out!
When the Japs' artillery fire began to extend, more than 3,000 Japs from the 7th Infantry Regiment of the Ninth Division divided into three attack groups and launched an attack on the positions defended by the 55th Division from three directions: left, center and right.
In the middle, Major Aiba Takeru, the captain of the first battalion, personally went into battle and led more than 900 Japs to rush toward the position of the 55th Division Regiment. In Major Aiba's opinion, if the heavy artillery fire hit, almost no Japanese would be left. For the next few survivors, they rushed up just to follow the procedure and casually replenished the injured soldiers;
Since the first Songhu War, they have never taken prisoners. They have treated the Chinese people to death with a bayonet. They have always taken pleasure in killing the Chinese people.
The Ninth Division, also known as the Kanazawa Division, is one of the six new divisions added during the Sino-Japanese War of 1884-1894. It is the second batch of veteran divisions organized by the Japanese. It is well-equipped, good at fighting hard and hard battles, and its combat effectiveness is second to none. in the Second and Sixth Divisions;
It has jurisdiction over the 6th Infantry Brigade (7th and 35th Regiments), the 18th Infantry Brigade (19th Regiment, 36th Regiment), the 9th Cavalry Regiment, the 9th Mountain Artillery Regiment, and the Engineer Regiment. The 9th Regiment, the 9th Regiment of Heavy Troops, Communications Team, Health Team, and Hospitals No. 1 to 4, with a total strength of more than 24,000.
As for the large position, the 9th Division was bound to win, so they invested a regiment at once, trying to use their firepower advantage to resolve the battle with a single charge. They did not pay attention to the 69th Army at all. Division Commander Yoshitaka Ryosuke A death order was given to Colonel Isa Kazuo, the captain of the 7th Regiment. Before dark, he would have dinner sitting on the Chinese corpses in the Chinese position in Dachang.
The division commander gave him a day as captain, and Isa Kazuo gave Ken Aiba and the three captains half a day. He arrogantly said to Ken Aiba and others:
"Gentlemen, before three o'clock in the morning, I want to have lunch at the Chinese position!"
Major Aiba Ken felt that the commander of the regiment thought too highly of the Chinese people. After such fierce preparations for artillery fire, let alone three poles at sunrise, they could end the battle with a single charge. The reputation of the Ninth Division was achieved by its seniors.
In the middle position, the surviving officers and soldiers of the first regiment have been dug out of the floating soil. They are waiting for the regiment commander's order to fire;
First Battalion Commander Liu Haibo asked the regiment leader Zhang Keming for instructions:
"Commander, the stupid Japanese are here, do you want to fight?"
Zhang Keming, who graduated from the fourth class, was a classmate of Lin Yurong in the same district team when he was in school, and he was also good at fighting. He considered that the second regiment did not have many heavy weapons, and the Japanese seemed to underestimate the enemy after the bombing, so he decided Put the enemy closer before attacking, because only when you get close and get involved with the enemy, the enemy's heavy firepower will not be of much use.
Thinking of this, he shook his head and said:
"Don't be impatient. Wait a moment. Tell the brothers not to rush to shoot. Use the sound of my gun as a signal to move the Japanese closer and start shooting!"
Liu Haibo took the order and left, while Zhang Keming continued to estimate the distance of the Japanese skirmishers in his mind;
This is not the first time that we have dealt with the Japs of the Ninth Division. Before, they were attacking and the Japs were defending. Since the Japs were assisted by a large number of naval guns, the 55th Division did not fight well and suffered more than a thousand casualties and were wiped out. The Japs are limited, so this time he wants to regain his position and let the Japs experience the power of their group.
Although Major Aiba Ken was brave, he was not stupid. He was far away in front, so he could pretend to be brave. When their skirmisher line gradually approached the Chinese position, he consciously fell behind and followed the second The echelon's machine gun crews walked together;
Although he didn't quite believe how many Chinese people could survive on the position, one thing he was sure of was that there must be people up there, and they couldn't all be eliminated by artillery fire. Some people would be in danger, and he wouldn't put himself in danger. below.
Zhang Keming estimated that the Japs had already entered within 100 meters. If they got closer, many soldiers would not be able to withstand the pressure, so he decisively shot at the Japs and knocked down the Japs who rushed in front and picked up plasters. , when he was in the military academy, he was excellent in the small arms shooting assessment.
Almost all the students in the first four periods grew up in the war, and almost all the students in the fourth period participated in the Northern Expedition. If they came through the hail of bullets, the ones who survived were the ones with two brushes in their hands.
The sound of his gunshot was an order. A group of more than 1,200 surviving people opened fire on the Japanese with the weapons in their hands. The group's position was like a boiling pot, and countless bullets rained towards the Japanese of Aiba's brigade. He mopped down hundreds of Japanese soldiers who were rushing in front, and finally avenged some of the thousands of dead comrades. Of course, this was far from enough.
After Major Aiba heard the gunfire, his first reaction was to lie down. A stray bullet almost grazed his head and flew over. God was not blind, so he escaped and watched his soldiers being killed by the Chinese. The man swept down a large area and suddenly said angrily:
"Bagh Ya Road, why are there so many Chinese people on the battlefield? Are they all rats?
Kill the chicken and give it to me! "
Without him giving orders, the well-trained Japs were already fighting back spontaneously. Numerous squad leaders and squad leaders were organizing fire counterattacks. The number of casualties on both sides increased sharply.
The Ninth Division is indeed the Japanese field division with the highest combat effectiveness. The soldiers have excellent combat literacy, accurate marksmanship, tacit team cooperation, and almost perfect use of weapons and equipment, especially the use of machine gun firepower and grenade launchers.
In less than a quarter of an hour of fighting between the two sides, one regiment lost five machine guns, and its firepower dropped a lot. The Japanese from Aiba's brigade took the opportunity to attack, and they were quickly rushed to the front;
Zhang Keming could only order grenades to be thrown at the Japanese and use grenades to stop the Japanese attack.
At a distance of tens of meters, the defenders also exposed their bodies to the Japs when throwing grenades. The Japs' marksmanship was very accurate, so many soldiers were hit by the Japs as soon as they threw the grenades, including members of the regiment. Visibly reduced, of course the Japanese also fell a lot, and both sides paid a lot of price.
At the same time, fierce fighting also broke out on the two wings as a feint attack. The Second Regiment and the Third Regiment stubbornly resisted the Japanese attack on both wings, and the positions were filled with soldiers from both sides.
After paying the price of more than 300 people, the Japanese First Brigade finally rushed to the group's position. When Zhang Keming saw the Japanese charging forward, he rushed forward with a rifle with a bayonet, followed by 500 soldiers. Many officers and soldiers who can still hold guns;
The two torrents of yellow-green and shit-yellow collided together, and there was the sound of bayonets stabbing bodies everywhere...
Hand-to-hand combat is often the most cruel. In just a few minutes, the winner cannot be determined. Most people are stabbed down, and those who remain are assassin masters;
Since the Japanese infantry training subjects attach great importance to assassination training, the Japanese assassination skills are much better than those of the Kuomintang army. The reason why the two sides were tied was because the 55th Division had suffered from the Japanese bayonet array before, so they adopted The strategy of dying together is to fire a grenade and rush into the group of Japanese.
The Japanese like to work in groups of three when fighting with bayonets. When the three of them form a triangular formation back to back, no squad of Kuomintang troops can be their opponent. They are forced to do nothing but risk their lives. This is also a very helpless way of playing. After all, not everyone can face death calmly.
Seeing that the 55th Division was about to be unable to withstand it, Commander Han could only reinforce the position with another regiment. After the 1st Regiment of the 57th Division joined the battle group, the 7th Regiment gradually became exhausted and began to alternately cover the retreat. Down, thousands of corpses were left behind.
Now the Japs retreated like a tide. Zhang Keming, the leader of the regiment, sat down on the position. He suddenly felt a cold feeling under his buttocks. When he touched it with his hand, it was full of blood. The position was almost soaked in blood.
After this battle, there were only more than 300 people left in his regiment...
Zhang Keming's iron-like man suddenly felt his nose sore, and a line of hot tears could not help but fall down. The commander of the 57th Division's First Regiment turned around gently. He did not want to embarrass his old classmate;
A man who is not even afraid of death, who will shed tears unless he is sad?
