Chapter 73 every day is hard

After the telegram was sent, Yu Chengwan and the former chief of staff Chen Huoyun, who served as acting deputy division commander, and others inspected several street fighting strongholds, and gave lectures to more than 100 soldiers who were rushing to repair fortifications nearby.Yu Chengwan hadn't slept well for several days and nights, his eyes were red, and his whole body was covered with plaster, but the teacher wearing white gloves still looked energetic.He said impassionedly to the officers and soldiers: "Although we have a lot of casualties now, the casualties of the Japanese devils are even greater. I hope that all officers and soldiers will continue to fight and fight to the end to defend Changde with the Japanese devils. If you fail, you will be benevolent. You should not be a subjugated slave!"

The short speech inspired everyone's fighting spirit.Yu Chengwan ordered to set up a bunker at the entrance of each street, and at the same time open up the houses in the urban area. In an emergency, all kinds of bags from nearby stores were taken out, filled with soil and piled up as bunkers. Even a large chopping board from a nearby pastry factory was carried over to build a machine gun bunker. During the whole morning, the officers and soldiers opened up houses in various streets, including the division command post of the 57th Division in the Central Bank of Xingjiekou. Holes, windows, and doors were all covered with sandbags, and the contents of houses, even the corpses of Japanese soldiers, were used as shelters in street fighting.

The Kurose troops received an order: "burn down the streets of Changde, and quickly achieve results." The Japanese army began to set fire to the houses, but almost all the houses in the city were built with solid brick walls or earthen walls. The fire could not spread, and the two sides could only go house by house. scramble. The Fifty-seventh Division chanted the slogan of "one wall guards one wall, one trench guards another trench, and one pit guards another pit", turning every house, every street, and every pile of ruins into a battleground for killing the enemy. battlefield.Every step forward, the Japanese army has to pay the price of blood.

On the afternoon of the 29th, Kurose troops entered Baijiekou.Li Chaoban of the 171st Regiment fought hand-to-hand with five or six enemies. They first stabbed each other in the street, and then they fought all the way to the nearby dyeing and weaving factory.The white-blade stabbing requires high body, eye and footwork. Li Chao's left eye was injured and it was inconvenient to observe. As a result, he was stabbed in the thigh by a devil rushing from the left.Fortunately, his comrade-in-arms had sharp eyesight and quick hands, and quickly shot and killed the devil. Li Chaoban completely wiped out the enemy.At this time, the messenger sent Yu Chengwan's order: "The commander ordered all officers and soldiers not to run away in battle, and vowed to die not to be a subjugated slave. If you fail, you will be benevolent."

Because Li Chao was bleeding profusely from his legs, he was taken to a private house in Baijiekou to be bandaged.After dark, together with more than 30 other wounded, they were transferred by stretchers to a safe place outside the city.This shows that under the situation of Heng Shanyong's "encirclement of three queries and one", the fifty-seventh division can retreat, so Yu Chengwan specially issued another order "no escape". During the day, the cloth troops broke into the city along the gap in the city wall that was blasted at the east gate, and advanced in a dense fan formation.After the Japanese army entered the effective range of the machine gun, the defenders fired a gust of wind and rain, knocking down a large area of ​​the enemy rushing in front, and the rest of the enemy quickly lay down and scattered.

The most effective method used by the Japanese army to deal with machine gun bunkers is undoubtedly the infantry flat-firing gun.Under the fierce bombardment of flat-fired artillery, the defenders' machine gun bunkers were severely damaged, and the firepower of the machine guns was also suppressed.The Japanese soldiers who had been scattered and lying down took advantage of the situation and jumped up, rushing towards the defenders. In addition to carrying out a frontal attack on the main position of the defenders, the enemy also sent out some troops to detour from the flanks. As the distance between the two sides continued to narrow, bullets fell like raindrops into the communication trenches and foxholes.

In close combat, what the Chinese army really relies on to destroy the enemy are mortar shells and grenades. Especially in street fighting, if you can grasp the timing of throwing grenades, you can maximize their power.Seeing that the Japanese army was getting closer and closer, the commander gave an order to "drop bombs", and the grenades were thrown at the enemy group one by one, blowing up the enemy's flesh and blood. Taking advantage of the smoke and dust from the explosion of the grenade and the instant panic of the enemy, the soldiers quickly jumped out of the fortifications and transferred to the second-line reserve position.The second-line position is a few two-story houses not far from the main position that have not been completely destroyed. After the defenders occupied the second floor, they shot down at the enemy from a high position, blocking the traffic arteries leading to the city center.

In addition to the east gate being invaded by the Japanese army, Heer troops also broke into Xiaoximen at night (the defensive position of the west gate is divided into Xiaoximen and Daximen), but the 57th Division still defended calmly, causing heavy casualties to the Japanese army. On the outskirts of Changde, the 51st Division and the 58th Division launched a fierce attack on the enemy, and fought fiercely until dawn on the 30th, completely occupying the two key points of Huangshi City and Qijiahe.On the same day, the Third Division of the Tenth Army attacked the headquarters of the 68th Division of the Japanese Army and its rear hospital, and took Tokuyama in the evening.

Deshan and Changde City were separated by a river, only a few miles away, and the 57th Division in the city refused to abandon Changde to break through, which made the Japanese Eleventh Army Headquarters very disturbed.On the one hand, Heng Shanyong strictly ordered the 13th Division, the 3rd Division, and the 68th Division to stick to the key areas and prevent the surrounding reinforcements from forming a siege or direct reinforcements. On the other hand, he urged the 116th Division to step up the siege and occupy Changde as soon as possible. . On the evening of November 30th, Yan Yongwang, head of the 116th Division of the Japanese Army, moved the combat command office to Changde City. Give me more strength and push forward, maybe the defenders will withdraw.

Due to fewer and fewer combat-ready soldiers, the 57th Division also began to tighten its positions to save troops.The officers and soldiers took advantage of the complex terrain composed of ruined walls and piles of rubble, shot here and there, and threw a grenade from time to time, using this way of hitting east and west to make the enemy dizzy. For all those who choose to persevere, every day spent in the city is difficult, but at the same time, it also breeds the hope of breaking out and being rescued.They ate fried rice when they were hungry, and drank cold water when they were thirsty. Occasionally, someone found a pack of pastries from the pastry shop, which would make each other laugh with joy.