Chapter 101 Collective Jade Broken

When the defeat of the Japanese army was set, Lieutenant General Kobayashi Asaburo, the new chief of staff of the "China Dispatch Army", listened to the battle report ahead in Hengyang.After returning to Nanjing, he put forward the view that the operation in western Hunan should be suspended, because "the offensive of the 20th Army was finally frustrated in the Xuefeng Mountains." Okamura is a pragmatic person and immediately agreed. On May 9, the Nanjing headquarters issued an order to the Japanese Sixth Front Army to suspend the Zhijiang operation and withdraw the troops to their original station in due course.On the same day, the Sixth Front Army communicated to Banxi. After receiving the order, Banxi hurriedly discussed with his staff the plan to withdraw the troops to Shaoyang.

These orders and plans seem to have nothing to do with the 109th Wing. What they have to consider now is not to withdraw to Shaoyang, but how to avoid the doom of being surrounded and wiped out. The Chinese 51st Division on the opposite side of the 109th Regiment launched a fierce pursuit, biting the retreating Japanese army on the Mu'aodong line, dividing and squeezing them between the local mountains and mountains.There were about a hundred people in the Second Brigade of the Wing, and they were besieged by the 151st Regiment in a bamboo forest.The 151st Regiment's position was only a hundred meters away from the bamboo forest, and the bamboo forest was surrounded by unobstructed farmland, making the entire bamboo forest like an isolated island. As soon as the Japanese army stepped out, they would immediately become living targets.

The Japanese had no choice but to hide in the bamboo forest. Seeing this, Wang Kuichang, the head of the 151st Regiment, ordered concentrated artillery fire to bombard the forest. At the same time, Liu Defa, a sergeant who could speak some Japanese, shouted in front of the battle. Two days later, the remnants of the Japanese army lost their fighting spirit under the torment of hunger and death. They sent military envoys to contact Wang Kuichang to surrender.Wang Kuichang allowed them to lay down their weapons and promised to protect their lives in accordance with public international law. Liu Defa went back with the army envoy to return to his command, and the two sides agreed to surrender before 8 o'clock in the morning.Unexpectedly, a Japanese officer committed seppuku on the spot, and the others wept and remained silent after seeing him.Seeing that the atmosphere was not right, Liu Defa hurried back to the group and reported what he had witnessed to the group leader.

Knowing that the Japanese army repented halfway, Wang Kuichang ordered to resume the offensive. The troops attacked the forest while shelling.At twelve noon, the battle was over, and except for the dead, the remaining fifteen wounded and sick in the forest were all captured. At this time, the main force of the 109th Regiment, trapped in the encirclement and unable to escape, had fled towards the mountain gate under the cover of darkness. Shanmen Town is now not only the rear supply point of the Japanese army, but also one of the traffic passes that the 116th Division of the Japanese army must pass through to retreat.According to Qiu Weida's plan, after the 11th Division of the 18th Army passed through Xupu County, it rushed forward from the right flank of the Japanese army and went straight to the mountain gate.When the 109th Regiment of the Japanese Army approached the mountain gate, it happened that the 11th Division also rushed to the northwest area of ​​the mountain gate and launched a flank attack on the enemy.

The 11th Division is a unit equipped with all American weapons. It has been trained for a period of time before the battle, and it has just participated in the battle.The 109th Regiment of the Japanese Army, which had been damaged for a long time, was no match. Even if they saw the mountain gate, they couldn't enter it. On May 10, the 11th Division conquered the mountain gate and opened a big hole in the Japanese right flank.Seeing that the situation was taking a turn for the worse, the 109th Regiment of the Japanese Army had no choice but to risk their lives to break out of the siege, trying to escape before being completely surrounded.

As the core of the Eighteenth Army, the Eleventh Division is an old unit with great combat experience.The commander quickly adjusted the deployment and occupied the side positions on the high ground north of the mountain gate to control the east and west passes. When the 109th Regiment of the Japanese Army broke through the siege, they couldn't figure out where the main position of the defenders was. After blindly bombarding the mountain gate with artillery for a while, they rushed into the mountain gate.Seeing that the Japanese army stretched its feet, guns fired from all positions, and the Japanese army had no power to fight back, and its vanguard troops were almost wiped out.The 11th Division paid only a few casualties and won a complete victory.

There were interceptions in the front and pursuers in the back. Surrounded by barren mountains and wild mountains, the 109th Regiment of the Japanese Army had almost nowhere to go, and the situation was extremely embarrassing.In desperation, they were forced to bypass the front and retreat towards the southeast of the mountain gate. On May 11, the 109th Wing withdrew into the Huanglian River and joined the rescue team that responded to them.As the saying goes, generals don’t dismount and go their own way, not to mention the time when they are facing such a catastrophe, but the unity and cooperation between the various units of the Japanese army and the unique bushido spirit are indeed worth mentioning-Huanglianjiang is a small mountain village. During the stationing, the unit was bombed and strafed by the Chinese and American air forces, but it has been refusing to leave, in order to wait for the 109th Wing.

The 51st Division quickly followed up and occupied positions on the north, west, and south sides of the Huanglian River, forming a net-like attack on the Japanese army.Fortunately, the 109th Regiment of the Japanese Army was supported and covered by a rescue brigade, so it retained an ancient stone road in the southeast for escape. Even so, it is very difficult to escape quickly.For the 109th Regiment, the biggest burden is the sick and wounded.In order to reduce the burden during the retreat, the captain of the Takiji Temple took emergency measures according to the instructions of the division, and gathered more than 500 seriously injured and sick people in the village for burning.

Such "broken jade" made the seriously injured and sick suffer. Many screamed and moaned while struggling to climb out of the raging flames, and then died on the road or in the paddy field.Two years later, when people cleaned up the ruins at the fire site, dozens of loads of bones were picked out. The 109th Regiment and the Rescue Brigade together still have 3,000 people. On May 12, the two remnants fled to Taolin, which was only three miles away from Huanglianjiang. Taolin is a narrow valley about three kilometers long, with dangerous and unclimbable walls on both sides, and the ancient road in the middle is only one meter wide.The Japanese army did not walk along the ancient road for a while, and the passes at both ends of the canyon were cut off by the 51st Division, who was chasing after them.

When the 109th Regiment broke through the siege, they dumped their burdens all the way. In addition to the seriously wounded and sick who were burned to death in Huanglianjiang, some horses and heavy weapons were also abandoned.The body is lighter, but the soldiers still feel weak in limbs. Needless to say, of course I was hungry.During their stay in Huanglianjiang, apart from hiding from planes, the Japanese rescue team rummaged through people's homes to find food. However, according to the orders of the local government, the residents in the mountainous areas in this area have already cleared the walls and cleared the fields, and all the food has been hidden in the mountains. Only a few catties of raw soybeans were found.When the 109th Regiment entered the village, there were no more soybeans.

One side is besieged in the canyon, and the other side is completely out of food.The hungry soldiers ate whatever they caught. If they were lucky, they could catch frogs, snakes, and toads to satisfy their hunger. If they were unlucky, they could only live on grass and drinking water. Worst of all are the wounded.Because there were no bandages, many people tore their clothes into strips and bandaged them. The slightly injured could continue to join the team after bandaging, while the seriously injured and seriously ill had to let them die.