Chapter 81 bullying

In response to the relief troops, the 2nd, 34th and 4th Wings of the Japanese Army occupied a series of positions facing the southwest, among which the Jiwo Mountain position was the most dangerous. Jiwo Mountain is only ten kilometers away from Hengyang, and Hengyang can be seen from the top of the mountain. It is also the highest mountain in the Mediterranean Sea in the western suburbs of Hengyang.At the foot of Jiwo Mountain is the road leading to Hengyang. The side of the road facing the Chinese army is an open land, which is easy to defend but difficult to attack. In the Battle of Changde, Wang Muxian of the 58th Division took Qijiahe to guard against the enemy and led a company to encircle and wipe out a squadron of Japanese troops resting in the house. " title.This time, the company was used as a vanguard company and served as the sharp knife unit to attack Jiwo Mountain. The company commander Wang Muxian immediately issued a military order and explained that once he died in battle, the first platoon leader would act as his company commander.

Using artillery fire as a cover, the 58th Division launched an attack on the main peak of Jiwo Mountain from dusk.Holding the national flag in his hand, Wang Muxian was about to charge, but was shot and died.The acting company commander continued to command the charge. After successive attacks, the Japanese army was forced to retreat to the reverse slope. On the second day of the battle, a main attack battalion invested by the 58th Division suffered nearly half of the casualties, and two company commanders were killed and one injured.At dawn on the third day, a Japanese plane circling at a low altitude fired at the Chinese position. Then, fearing the counterattack of the Allied planes, it was eager to return. As a result, the two bombs dropped in a panic fell on the Japanese position.The 58th Division took the opportunity to charge with all their strength and threw a large number of grenades at the enemy's position.

In the later period of the Anti-Japanese War, there was a serious crisis of replenishment of soldiers in the Chinese army.Most of the soldiers recruited and allocated by the troops come from the strong men in the divisions and regiments.At that time, it was called the conscription system plus the recruitment system, but in fact it was the system of arresting soldiers, which is commonly known as "grabbing strong men".Most of the strong men captured did not meet the requirements for enlistment. Their bodies were often not strong enough, and they could not endure hardships and were unwilling to endure hardships.At the same time, because the frontlines are frequently in a hurry and time is tight, they have to drive to the frontlines after a little training.The result of this is that most recruits do not know how to use guns, and even some officers do not know how to shoot or stab, and of course they cannot teach their own soldiers.

After the Seventy-Fourth Army was designated as an attacking army, there were specially assigned division management areas and regiment management areas in Guizhou in the rear, which were responsible for recruiting and training recruits for the Seventy-Fourth Army.In a horizontal comparison, the quality of recruits in the Seventy-Fourth Army may be better than other troops, but many problems inevitably exist.An effective way to make recruits useful at this time is to teach them to throw grenades. When an officer gave a spiritual speech to the recruits, he cheered up the recruits who had no military foundation and combat experience: "We need you very much. Although you have never fought in war and can't throw grenades, it doesn't matter. We will I will teach you immediately."

Compared with shooting and stabbing, throwing grenades is indeed the easiest.Only a few veterans can explain how to throw a grenade in a short time.As for the actual level of throwing, it doesn’t matter. It’s better if you can throw it farther, and it’s forgiven if you throw it closer. In short, when fighting hand-to-hand, “As long as the thrown grenade explodes, the enemy will definitely die!” The stormy grenades were thrown over, and in an instant, the Japanese army's position was ablaze, and the enemy soldiers were killed and injured, and they had to flee backwards. On August 2, the 58th Division regained the main peak of Jiwo Mountain.

On the other highlands, the Chinese and Japanese armies also fought fiercely. On the morning of August 4, the 51st Division arrived at the front line along with the army headquarters.Twelve mountain cannons of the Artillery Battalion of the army quickly set up their positions and violently bombarded the 1066 highland east of Jiwo Mountain. The 51st Division and the 58th Division immediately seized the opportunity and charged towards the mountain like a tiger. The Japanese army left the mountain and retreated.When cleaning the battlefield, it was found that many Japanese soldiers who were killed were also very young, and they should all be recruits from the mainland.Because it was too late to transport the corpses away, each corpse had a hand chopped off-the Japanese army would write the names of the dead next to this hand, and then send them back to Japan and hand them over to their families as evidence of their death.

Encouraged by the 74th Army, the 100th Army also successively captured Yayingling and other highlands.The passive situation on the front line of Jiwoshan made the commander of the 2nd, 34th and 4th Regiment of the Japanese Army Toda Yoshinao feel like he was sitting on pins and needles. The deeper the battle, the more it can highlight the value of the ace unit.Most of the Japanese soldiers who entered the Hengyang battlefield were veterans left over from the battle of Changde last year and the battle of Changheng since the beginning of the battle, and they had considerable combat experience.

However, the 74th Army is also an old army with rich combat experience, especially the 51st and 58th Divisions are different from the 57th Division that was repaired after the Changde War. There are many veterans in the army, and most of the grassroots officers are from Huangpu Military school graduates.Through repeated contests on the battlefield, the officers and soldiers of these troops have a certain understanding of the Japanese army's organization, equipment, tactics, command and customary style of play. The Seventy-Fourth Army also felt a basic characteristic of the Japanese army in combat, that is, "bullying the weak and fearing the strong." To put it bluntly, the Japanese army was very afraid of fighting against troops like the Seventy-fourth Army that often fought tough battles.For them, it would be the most comfortable and relaxing if they could often fight against miscellaneous troops or general "central army" with weak combat effectiveness.

The current situation is not so good. The Seventy-Fourth Army is at the door, and you can't even hang up the battle card if you want to.In desperation, Captain Toda simply raised the flag of the regiment himself, and led the rear troops into the position to defend. Lieutenant General Aoki Chengichi, the head of the 40th Division of the Japanese Army, deeply felt that the situation of his division, especially the 234th Regiment, was serious, so he made a request for reinforcements to the 11th Army Headquarters, but failed to obtain Isamu Yokoyama's consent.Lieutenant General Chilu Lieutenant, the commander of the 13th Division of the Japanese Army who was adjacent to the 40th Division, saw it and knew that the 40th Division was in a critical state, so he expressed his willingness to draw his sword to help and sent troops to rescue. The answer was only one sentence: "Attack Hengyang with all your strength!"

It's not that Isamu Yokoyama doesn't know how miserable Toda is.It is said that during those days, the commander of the army went to the high ground near the headquarters every morning and afternoon to observe the battle situation in Jiwoshan. Quite an intense battle!" Yokoyama Isamu was not only concerned about Toda's situation, he was also afraid that Toda would not be able to withstand it and let the Seventy-Fourth Army break through.However, in order to be able to concentrate his forces and completely conquer Hengyang, he still chose to abandon his pawns to save the chariot, and he was still unwilling to divide his troops to reinforce Toda.