Chapter 55 meet by chance

One of the biggest differences between the Chinese and Japanese staff systems is that the Japanese staff have greater authority and influence. Division commanders or army commanders often act in accordance with the combat plans formulated by the staff, and sometimes the staff even directly issue orders on behalf of the chief officer. , while the role played by the Chinese staff officer is to actually make suggestions. The chief officer can listen to you or not. Xue Yue insisted on using the Seventy-Fourth Army to protect Changsha, but Zhao Zili had no choice.After that, he received a call from Wang Yaowu. Wang Yaowu had followed his orders to lead his troops to Huanghua Town, but he felt a little worried on the way, so he called Zhao Zili to confirm.

Zhao Zili said frankly: "Putting your troops to the east of Changsha, I absolutely disagree. You advance from east to west, and the enemy advances from north to south. I guess the enemy will appear on your right. A serious encounter battle is about to take place against an enemy with absolute superiority!" Speaking of this, this insightful think tank couldn't suppress his depression: "It's terrible that they (referring to Xue Yue and others) insist on doing this!" Zhao Zili's words were hard not to cast a shadow in Wang Yaowu's heart, but the military order was like a mountain, and Xue Yue had already informed in the order that the 26th Army would be sent to cover.Calculated from the time of receiving Xue Yue's order, the 74th Army is only a day's journey away from Huanghua Town. In theory, at least it will not be too dangerous before reaching the defense zone, so Wang Yaowu didn't really pay attention to it. The 74th Army Continue to march towards Huanghua Town in a long snake formation.

The previous experience of air raids at Jiaoxi Ridge made the Seventy-Fourth Army be extra vigilant against Japanese aircraft and speed up their night marches, but they ignored the warning on the ground.Relying on the cover of the 26th Army and wanting to arrive at the designated location as soon as possible in order to gain time to occupy positions and build fortifications, Wang Yaowu neither directly communicated with the front-line friendly forces, nor sent search troops or flank troops to provide cover for the main force . At noon on September 25, the first part of the 57th Division seized Chunhua Mountain, about nine kilometers away from Huanghua Town, at a rapid march, and the rest of the division arrived at dawn the next day.

Wang Yaowu didn't know that the 26th Army had already been defeated by the Japanese army, and he was too busy to take care of himself, so he couldn't cover the 74th Army at all, let alone that Xue Yue's telegram ordering the 74th Army to go to Huanghua Town fell again In the hands of the Japanese army, Anan has ordered the Sixth Division of the Japanese Army to prepare to attack the Seventy-Fourth Army. The first encounter with the Seventy-Fourth Army was not the Sixth Division of the Japanese Army, but the Third Division.The 3rd Division of the Japanese Army is also a veteran elite division. It was the most popular in this battle in northern Hunan. It has hardly encountered any strong opponents along the way. Anan praised the division as a unit that has made first-class contributions.

The 3rd Division of the Japanese Army had never been tasked with fighting the 74th Army. It was originally going to go straight to Changsha through Chunhua Mountain. At 9 a.m. on September 26, when the Ikebe Brigade of the Hanagu advance team (organized by the brigade) of the Japanese Third Division arrived near Chunhua Mountain, it was suddenly shot by bullets from an unknown direction ahead.Due to the hilly land covered by the small pine forest in front, the observation field of vision is not clear, the captain of the battalion, Lieutenant Ikebe Shi, deduced that they might have encountered some of the defeated Chinese remnants, so he immediately ordered the vanguard squadron to attack.

It was only when they fought that something was wrong. The Chinese army on the hill was not only unexpectedly tenacious, but also fierce in firepower. They could even use heavy machine guns for continuous shooting, and the vanguard squadron could not advance at all. It was the 57th Division that met and exchanged fire with the Chibian Brigade unexpectedly. At that time, they had just entered Chunhua Mountain. The reason why they fired all at once when they saw the enemy was not a rash act, but to give the opponent a blow. Let the Japanese army know that there are large troops ambushing on the mountain, so they dare not go up the mountain to search.

Only then did Chi Bian wake up like a dream, knowing that he had encountered the main force of the Chinese army, he really didn't dare to fight, and took advantage of the fact that the defenders had not yet fully deployed, he detoured west. Naturally, the main force of the Huagu advance team that came later would not retreat so easily. On the east side of Chunhua Mountain, the two armies launched a fierce offensive and defensive battle.The 57th Division was condescending, with light and heavy machine guns gradually increasing in density, and concentrated firepower to sweep across the attacking Japanese army.

If the quantitative comparison is ignored, the Czech-style light machine guns and the 24-type heavy machine guns originally equipped by the Seventy-Fourth Army surpassed the same type of weapons of the Japanese Army in terms of performance.The Soviet-style light machine guns that were added later, from the Maxim-Tokarev light machine gun imitating Maxim, to the turntable machine gun familiar to the Chinese (the official name is the Jeggarev light machine gun), have also been proved to be more powerful in actual combat. Overshadowed the "crooked handle" light machine gun used by the Japanese army.Such a combination of light and heavy machine gun firepower is still very effective in suppressing the frontal enemy. The Zhongchuan Battalion used artillery as a cover to organize several squadrons to attack side by side, and it was difficult to attack for a while.

The only chance is to wait for the machine gun to reload.Taking advantage of this gap, the Wannian Squadron hurled grenades, and Fang charged up and occupied the 153.3 highland at 3:25 p.m. After the fall of the 153.3 highland, the 57th Division concentrated fire on the highland with side firepower. At the same time, the death squads also held Czech light machine guns, and launched a counterattack against the Japanese army on the highland. The Zhongchuan Brigade hurriedly used the machine gun squadron to stop it.The overall appearance of the Japanese Type 92 heavy machine gun resembles a cockfighting cock, and the sound of the gun sounds like a chicken crowing, so the Chinese call this machine gun "chicken neck". The "chicken neck" uses 30 rounds of ammunition to feed the ammunition, the rate of fire is relatively low, and the continuous shooting ability is far inferior to the Type 24 heavy machine guns that use the belt to feed the ammunition.If you are singled out, the "chicken neck" heavy machine gun cannot gain the upper hand. Its advantage is mainly due to its large number. Each brigade (equivalent to a reinforced battalion) of the Japanese army will be equipped with a machine gun squadron with twelve heavy machine guns. In China's most elite first-class troops like the Fourth Army, there are only six heavy machine guns in each battalion's machine gun company, which is less than half.

The Type 92 heavy machine gun screamed "clack-cluck" for a long time, repelling more than ten charges initiated by the Chinese side, but in just half a day, the machine gun bullets were actually gone.In desperation, the Japanese army had no choice but to use the best hand-to-hand charge to hold the high ground.