Chapter 69 Captain's death

Li Chao was serving in the 171st Regiment at that time, and his 7th company was ordered to enter the North Gate position to strengthen its defense.After the long-distance bombardment by the field artillery, the Japanese army launched an air strike by planes. Bombs rained down, and the North Gate position was blown up with fireworks. Air strikes are terrible if troops are poorly trained or prepared, but if trained and properly prevented, damage can be minimized.According to the principle of air defense, at this time, except for the observers who stayed in the position to observe the enemy's situation, the rest of the personnel entered the bunker or shelter.

After the air raid was over, the troops quickly returned to their shooting positions, when the clothed troops rushed forward.The officers and soldiers quickly pushed the bullets into the chamber and unscrewed the safety cover of the grenade at the same time. When the Japanese army was only more than 200 meters away, Li Chao found that there were a lot of opponents, and there were more than 200 people densely distributed in front of their company alone.To shoot more with less, everyone was very nervous, everyone held their breath, and their fingers clasped the trigger tightly, but no one fired first without an order.

When the Japanese army approached more than 100 meters, the company commander gave the order to "fight". The whole company concentrated their firepower and swept them row by row. More than half of the Japanese troops in the front were killed or injured, while the Japanese troops in the rear retreated while fighting.Except for Li Chao's squad who stayed at the bunker, the rest of the squad and platoon all participated in the pursuit, and they did not withdraw their troops back to the camp until they were more than 500 meters away. The clothed troops organized several charges that day, but without exception, they were all blocked by the tight firepower net of the defenders, and the troops could not advance.At dusk, the commander of the regiment, Bu Shangzhao, decided to call the infantry captains to a meeting in the hidden place behind, preparing to launch a night attack.

Bu Shang ran to the meeting place on horseback, but unexpectedly he was within the range of the defenders' mortar fire.A mortar shell flew over, and the horse was hit directly, and Lieutenant Hiroo Tahara, the combat staff officer of the nearby division and regiment, was killed on the spot. Yokoyama was shocked by the death of the captain.According to the original plan, the attack on Changde was commanded by Lieutenant General Yan Yongwang, head of the 116th Division of the Japanese Army, but the tenacious blocking ability of Changde City forced Yokoyama to change his mind.He returned the command to the headquarters of the Eleventh Army and decided to launch a general offensive every other day.

On November 24, the divisions of the Japanese army began preparations for the general offensive.Unlike the previous attack, the attack on the south gate is also added to the general attack operation. In order to prevent the Japanese army from attacking from the southern waterway, the engineering battalion of the 57th Division had already taken the measure of sinking the ship in the river in advance, that is, using the river as a blockade point, the wooden boat was tied with an anchor and sank into the water.Another way is to inject oil into the river and ignite it, which can also serve the purpose of hindering Japanese ships.

Despite this, the Japanese Third Division still managed to form a commando with motorboats and wooden boats, planning to forcefully cross the Yuanjiang River.After arranging crossing points and ferry boats one by one, the captain of the Sixth Regiment, Mamoru Nakahata, rushed to the riverside to conduct reconnaissance on the river defense facilities of the 57th Division.Looking across the river, the deer village and barbed wire fence on the north bank are vividly visible.A gray city wall made of bricks and stones, seven to ten meters high, stood majestically. A series of positions were built on the city wall, all of which were equipped with machine guns.Near the south gate and watchtower, there is also a mountain cannon, which is obviously a very strong defense system.

Nakahata and the others were lamenting how difficult it would be to cross over by force, but the other side had seen their whereabouts in full view.The 57th Division started shooting immediately, and the third captain, Captain Yoba Ichirozaemon, who accompanied Nakahata in the reconnaissance, was the first to be unlucky, and his wrist was hit by a bullet. Seeing that the situation is not good, Nakahata hurriedly let go of his feet and led everyone to escape to the headquarters of the alliance.At this time, the 57th Division had notified the Sino-US joint air force of the situation by wireless phone.The group of fighter jets circling in the sky tracked and pursued them, and two of the P-40 Tomahawk fighter jets fired violently at Nakahata, who was an obvious target, and included the commander in the death list.

Nakahata's command style is known for being decisive and sharp. He also participated in the invasion of Southeast Asia and enjoyed a certain reputation and prestige among the troops.After he was shot dead, in order not to shake the morale of the army, the relevant information did not dare to be released immediately. In just two days, two regiment captains were killed one after another, which was extremely rare in the Japanese invasion of China.As a measure of retaliation and fire reconnaissance, at noon, the Japanese army bombarded Changde's outlying strongholds and even the positions in the city with powerful artillery fire. Many positions were destroyed as a result.

At midnight on November 25, the Japanese army began its general offensive.The 3rd Division first let the empty boat drift down the Yuan River. There were straw figures on the side of the boat, and there were faint lights in the cabin, in order to lure the defenders to shoot and see the reality of the defensive position. Through this "straw boat borrowing arrows" gimmick, the Japanese army was able to further grasp the basic firepower configuration inside the South Gate, and then covered the exposed firepower points with wild artillery.Under the cover of artillery fire, the soldiers of the Sixth Wing of the Japanese Army boarded the self-made bamboo rafts and the stolen civilian boats, and quickly rowed to the opposite bank.

The field artillery support lasted for a minute, and the defenders seemed to be completely suppressed by the Japanese artillery fire. At first, no bullets were fired.Just when the Japanese ships reached the middle of the Yuanjiang River, the mortar battalion located in the reconnaissance position in the city suddenly opened fire, and the mortar shells exploded one by one in the Japanese fleet.The Japanese army was blown upside down, and the corpses, military flags, and personal equipment of the soldiers floated up and down on the Yuanjiang River, drifting with the waves, and the ships returning to the south bank also brought back many dead and injured.

Half an hour later, the vanguard of the Japanese army just landed and fired blue signal flares into the sky.It should be said that for this forced crossing operation, the Sixth Wing has worked hard from top to bottom. The troops are all lightly dressed, and all officers from non-commissioned officers to officers wear rubber shoes. The squad leader hangs a white cloth belt obliquely, and the squadron leader hangs two white cloth belts diagonally. But expectations and reality are often not the same thing.When reconnaissance across the shore during the day, it seems that everything can be seen clearly, but at night, it is difficult to even distinguish the direction of action, let alone assemble an attack.After one night, the Japanese attack on the south gate not only made no progress, but also suffered a lot of casualties. A group of officers and soldiers, including Masahiro Muto, the squadron leader of the Tenth Squadron, were killed under the city.