Chapter 15 Chapter Fifteen A Laugh From the Sea (2)

valley of hell After the general offensive was launched, the encirclement became smaller and smaller. Wanjialing is not too big, and the entire battlefield area does not exceed ten square kilometers.Although every day's progress was as slow as silkworms eating mulberry leaves, in this area where stray bullets can hurt people, the loss of strength and morale of the 106th Division is self-evident. On October 8, the second day after the general offensive was launched.The 106th Division sent an urgent telegram to the headquarters of the 11th Army. The telegram was not sent in the name of the head of the Matsuura division, but the intelligence officer Sakurai.After all, this is not a successful telegram, it is better to let someone from the headquarters of the 11th Army do it for you.

This telegram is actually a call for help.But at this point, Sakurai still refused to tell the truth, hesitating and faltering in the telegram, making people look at the 106th Division as if it was still strong and safe. At the end of the telegram, it couldn't be covered, and only came the sentence "request for combat guidance for the division". The telegram poured a basin of cold water on Okamura's head. Before that, he had not extended a helping hand, but he still had a slight illusion about the independent breakthrough of the 106th Division. After reading the telegram, he realized that the situation was far more serious than he imagined.If no "guidance" is given, the entire division may be doomed.

I hurriedly checked the map. The closest to the Wanjialing battlefield was the 27th Division. It is important to let it go quickly to help the besieged army open a survival channel. The 27th Division was eager to advance westward to make meritorious service, and at the same time was entangled by Huang Wei's 18th Army. The main force could not be drawn out for a while, so they could only send "weak soldiers" seconded from the 101st Division. And he was quickly beaten back by Xue Yue's West Road troops. Although Okamura's first rescue attempt was stillborn, it still reminded Xue Yue: This support soldier is a weak brigade, which doesn't mean that the rear is all weak, so they acted quickly.

On October 9th, the third day of the general offensive.On this day, the drama suddenly intensified. Xue Yue attacked the mountain artillery unit of the 106th Division and destroyed the mountain artillery.These mountain cannons can be regarded as the last psychological support for the 106th Division to break through the encirclement. After receiving the report, Matsuura, the division commander, seemed to have fallen into an ice cellar. After that, Xue Yue began to concentrate on using his special weapon that he had tried and tested on Mount Lu: the mortar. Mortars are the treasure of mountain warfare

In plain or long-distance battles, mortars may not be as good as other artillery, but they can rule the roost in mountain warfare. The strengths and weaknesses are that it is suitable for close combat, and this gun is particularly fond of "jumping walls", even if you hide behind jungle or rocks, a series of mortar shells thrown past can still kill you. Mortar shells flew towards the Japanese positions with howling noises, and terrifying explosions could be heard everywhere in Wanjialing.After rounds of bombardment, the defensive system of the 106th Division became disorganized.The hastily built fortifications either collapsed or were completely destroyed, and the mountains and plains were filled with corpses of Japanese soldiers and groaning wounded soldiers.

They didn't even bother to bury the corpses at all.The skin of the Japanese soldiers who died in the ditch turned brown over time, and their bodies became swollen from being soaked. What fell out of their mouths and noses were all rice-like maggots! When starting from Mahuiling, the 106th Division was specially equipped with more than a thousand horses to carry mountain artillery and baggage, but after entering Wanjialing, starvation and casualties from bullets, there were not many left.In this way, the mortars of the Chinese army did not let go of these brutes, and shells fell one after another where the horses were tied, and the frightened posture of the horses could be clearly seen in the gunpowder smoke.

Thinking of the bloody battle in Nanyuan during the "July 7th Incident" a year ago, Japanese planes bombarded the cavalry division of the 29th Army indiscriminately. Most of the more than 1,000 horses in the Nanyuan barracks fell to death. Zheng Dazhang, the commander of the cavalry division, was frightened on the spot just run away. Now it's just time for tit for tat. Matsuura thought he was miserable enough, but he didn't know that this was just a prelude, and the big movement hadn't come yet. That night, that is, on the night of October 9th, Xue Yue served a big meal, which was considered the richest in the entire Wanjialing Battle, and could be called the ultimate feast.

The menu isn't really new, it's just a copy of the small dishes that Zhang Lingfu ordered in Zhang Gushan, but Xue Yue extended it, from exclusive specialties to home-cooked dishes that everyone is willing to try. All the offensive troops formed a commando team composed of elite soldiers. After night fell, they suddenly shouted and rushed to the defensive position of the 106th Division. After a hard blow, the 106th Division was finally driven into the final hunting ground. This is a village in the northwest of Wanjialing. The name is Leiming Guliu. It sounds strange, and the terrain is even more strange. It belongs to a small basin surrounded by mountains on all sides. The temporary headquarters of the 106th Division is located here.Being forced to this area shows that Matsuura and his division really have nowhere to go.

At the same time, the situation within the 106th Division was extremely bad. Counting, the ground has been out of food for eight days.Even the ears of rice picked up are extremely limited, and they are quickly eaten up. Everyone can only rely on the sky for food, and count on the plane to drop food to save lives. The grassroots units of the 106th Division, you occupy a territory, and I occupy a territory, all waiting with their necks up.Airdrops from airplanes are not so accurate, and the food may not be dropped exactly in the center of your site, and sometimes it will be thrown in the middle.It looked good now, the adjacent troops competed with each other, and even shot each other, and as a result, both sides were hurt, and no one could get the food, and they dared not get it again.

As a newly formed division, the physical fitness and ability to endure hardships of the officers and soldiers of the 106th Division are not comparable to those of professional soldiers who have been fighting in the field all year round.In such a situation, all of them were tortured until their faces became pale, and even their cheekbones became sharper. Some were even worse, some were swollen all over, some were insane, and some couldn't get up after bending over. Extreme hunger and extreme fatigue made the Japanese army's ability to counterattack dull, and even their parry movements had to be slowed down by several beats.

Seeing this scene, Xue Yue not only didn't stop, but his strikes became more and more serious, and the little thunder drum suddenly flashed and thundered. This is a night where people neigh, ghosts cry and wolves howl.The surrounding hills were all under the control of the Chinese army. Mortar shells poured down from all directions like rain, and more and more Japanese soldiers were killed or injured. There were dozens of war horses left in the supply troop, but by this time they were all killed, not even a single horse was left. Nasu Ryosuke, a private first-class soldier of the 106th Division, was staying in this terrifying hunting ground at that time. He and his companions had a premonition that their doomsday was coming, and their spirits were on the verge of collapse. They couldn't help crying while looking at the moon. This is usually the final scene of a large siege hunt.Yuan history experts' description of this is: "All kinds of beasts screamed in pain, rolling past like pines at the foot of the mountain." After the war, many graves of Japanese soldiers were found in Wanjialing, and horse bones and iron pack saddles on horseback were scattered everywhere.This shows that under the circumstances at that time, the 106th Division had no distinction between the front and the rear, and the field infantry was too busy to take care of themselves, so how could it protect the supply troops. However, this heavy soldier named Nasu Ryosuke was really lucky. He was one of the very few survivors in the battle of Wanjialing.That encounter deeply stimulated the poor baggage soldier. As soon as Japan announced its surrender, he couldn't wait to throw down his military uniform and become a cartoonist instead. In Nasu Liangsuke's pen, Thunder and Drum is the real "valley of hell".According to him, in the decades of his later years, the tragic scene in Wanjialing has never been truly erased from his memory. evening photo On the night of October 9th, Matsuura, the head of the 106th Division, could no longer effectively control his troops. Struggling on the field. The terrible thing is yet to come. In the early morning of October 10th, before dawn, and in the darkness, the Chinese army had attacked near the headquarters of the 106th Division several times. The head of the Matsuura Division seemed to be crying at the moon, and he summoned all the servants who brought tea and water from the headquarters and sent them out to resist. But the gunshots were still approaching slowly.In desperation, Matsuura ordered the flags of the regiment to be gathered at the headquarters, and all the wounded and sick were given a gun, and he himself held a gun in his hand, preparing to lead the wounded and sick to a duel at the last moment. If the suspicion of acting as a show is excluded, it must be said that the samurai spirit of the Japanese soldiers is quite remarkable in terms of battlefield performance. Later, according to the confession of the Japanese prisoners, as long as the 66th Army advanced another 100 meters, Matsuura would have to be captured—if he didn’t want to, he would have to choose seppuku. Since it was a night battle and a melee battle, the Chinese army did not know where the headquarters of the 106th Division was. Otherwise, Matsuura would set a new record for the Japanese division commander. The head of the 106th Division shivered and stayed up until dawn before someone came to rescue him. It was the aviation team who rescued him. Seeing the miserable situation below, the Japanese planes threw bombs down desperately, which forced the suspension of the Chinese army's deadly attack. In this battle, more than half of the 106th Division was lost.After receiving and reorganizing during the day, Matsuura discovered that the entire division had been paralyzed because the officers below the regimental commander had suffered too many deaths and injuries, and it was no longer sufficient. A new division cannot be supported without officers, otherwise, reserve recruits like Nasu Ryosuke will be even more anxious all day long. The fact that the 106th Division was deeply surrounded and suffered heavy losses in Wanjialing was broadcast on the radio. Even if Okamura wanted to cover up this family scandal, he couldn't cover it up. The Japanese government and the public were shocked by it. From the earliest "September 18th" to the "July 7th Incident", the common news of Japanese people is "Victory News". Occasionally, there is a Taierzhuang that feels ashamed. Now a division has been adjusted to such an extent. Everyone was shocked. The commander of the "Central China Dispatch Army" Toshiroku Hata was so anxious that he even ignored Okamura's face and began to directly intervene in the "rescue operation." Knowing that the 106th Division lacked officers, he immediately mobilized more than 200 officers below the regimental commander and directly airdropped Wanjialing.This move was like beating chicken blood, and finally made this hapless division regain a little vitality. Seeing that the paper could no longer contain the fire, Okamura had to do some more actions on the face at this time.But even to this extent, this greedy guy is still unwilling to affect his entire westward movement because of saving the "Weak Army Division". The chariot brigade went to reinforcements. Although the tank is majestic, it cannot climb the mountain.But this is another reminder to Xue Yue, "weak" will gradually become "strong", it seems that we still have to hurry up.He waved the flag and commanded the mortar troops to continue to press forward, and the various ministries launched another fierce attack at night. Originally, the 106th Division still occupied a small village called Serge Street to the north of Zhanggushan, but after a whole night of fierce fighting, Serge Street was also regained.After the war, the remains of the Japanese soldiers scattered here are the most. Among the returning villagers, those who have money have recovered more than 30 large gold teeth from the pile of skeletons.These gold teeth belonged to Japanese soldiers, because Chinese soldiers couldn't afford them. Since then, the head of the Matsuura division has completely given up on breaking through with his own ability.He finally understood that even if he really turned into a rabbit in this iron-drum-like encirclement, he would not be able to sneak out on a moonlit night. The only smart way was to stick to it and wait for help. On October 11, under the command of Matsuura, the remnants of the 106th Division shrank their defenses and curled up into a narrower area like a hedgehog.Due to the reduced defense area and the fact that so many people have died, food and ammunition can be distributed more easily. Instead of scrambling for each other, you can defend again. The 11th Army has only tanks and no people. Seeing that the 106th Division is likely to be wiped out by the opponent, Shunliu Hata had no choice but to organize the second "rescue operation" in person. The 17th Division of Suzhou was sent to Wanjialing. On October 16th, Xue Yue inspected the battlefield. At this time, his opponent was already "stuck in the valley with corpses, in the mountains, forests and streams, and the blood was sprinkled all over the place." Above Lushan Mountain, the sky smiles, the rivers and mountains laugh, the breeze laughs, and the pride of the strong man just leaves another evening photo for this world. In view of the imminent arrival of reinforcements from the Japanese invading army, and the attacking troops had reached their physical limits, Xue Yue ordered the end of the siege and assembled troops to retreat to the original line of defense. The Battle of Wanjialing lasted 22 days, and the 106th Division suffered more than 9,000 casualties. Although the formation was preserved, it suffered a near-destructive blow.This is unprecedented since Japan launched the war of aggression against China. As the war was still going on, neither side could completely clean up the battlefield.It was not until a year later that some members of the 106th Division returned to China to be demobilized, and the division sent 300 officers and soldiers into the mountain to mourn.After they left, a Chinese soldier named Tang Yongliang who stayed in Lushan to fight guerrillas also came to Wanjialing. At this time, Wanjialing has not completely shed the smoke and dust, and there is no charm of ancient battlefields, only the cruelty after the war that is hard to wash away.Tang Yongliang walked slowly, from short mountains to villages, from roads to streams, as far as he could see, there was no place without human and horse bones, which can be called "a corpse at five steps, and a horse at ten steps". According to Tang Yongliang's judgment, most of the uncollected wreckage were Japanese soldiers.The basis for his identification is to see if there are special rubber shoes on his feet.Because it is said that Japanese people wear forked clogs all year round, causing the big toe to be separated from the other toes, so the rubber shoes made must also adapt to this feature. Tang Yongliang was a division commander of Shang Zhen's 32nd Army. Although he himself did not participate in the Wanjialing Battle, he must have experienced many cruel war scenes.But in Wanjialing, he was still horrified by the sights in front of him. Some piles of bones have already decayed gradually, the maggots turned into pupae, and the pupae turned into flies and flew away, but the remaining pupae shells were as high as a foot on the skeleton. You don't need to see it yourself, just listening to these descriptions makes you feel even more frightened than being in the cave where the bone spirit lives. Of course, be sure to check out "The Valley of Hell". There are the most Japanese military graves here.The three hundred Japanese veterans lived in Wanjialing for three days, and they were also busy for three days. What they did was build graves and monuments.It's just that there are too many dead people and dead horses in the 106th Division, they can't pick them up at all, and they only have time to clean up the area of ​​Leiming Guliu in three days. When the night is desolate and the moonlight pours down on this mountain, the lonely souls in foreign countries also have a pitiful side.However, the instigator will be punished by the heavens. This is the path that all intruders who are blinded by greed must travel through the ages. After learning the news that the 106th Division was almost wiped out, Okamura, who was not very active in the rescue operation, couldn't help but get scared. After all, this crime is too great, and it might be pointed at the nose by the people of the island country and scolded.Up to now, Okamura has lost all the daring demeanor of a manly man, and he has pushed all the responsibilities to the hapless 106th Division. The reason why Wanjialing failed, in the final analysis, is that the 106th Division itself is poor, and its quality is too poor. If it is replaced by the Kumamoto Division or the Kanazawa Division, will it be like this? In a nutshell, what I came up with was still a conspiracy, but you made me feel strange! In Okamura's eyes, the original Genzheng Miaohong of the 106th Division has also changed at this time. They are all from Southern Kyushu. Why is there such a big difference in the ability of soldiers to fight.For this reason, he also wrote a letter to China specifically, requesting to tell the governors of the four counties of Southern Kyushu, including Kumamoto, saying: The Sixth Division has become the most powerful division in Japan, but the 106th Division has become the No. 1 division in Japan. One's weak division. Okamura's move is nothing more than sending out such a message to the outside world: What's the use of bringing the "First Weak Division" out to fight, even if I am the most powerful commander in the world? As a result of such publicity, the reputation of the 106th Division became worse and worse.The other poorly performing divisions were all relieved to have such a stepping stone, because with the worst, they would be at the bottom.