Chapter 11 10. Lieutenant General Itagaki reprimanded his subordinates

After the bloody battle in Shilichanggou, the Japanese soldiers turned their backs on their backs and their corpses were in a mess.Burning cars, abandoned weapons, scattered documents, combat maps, Japanese military flags with "long-lasting martial arts" and various canned foods are all over the ground. On September 28, the last batch of the 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army withdrew from Pingxing Pass, and Itagaki personally led 7,000 troops to march west from Lingqiu.The leading 3rd Battalion of the 21st Wing first witnessed the remnants of the fierce battle 3 days ago.In this regard, the captain of the 3rd Battalion wrote in his diary:

On September 28, Longze Squadron received the support of friendly forces and continued to advance with courage. At this time, they encountered an unexpected situation and were frightened for a moment and stopped.When I calmed down and looked at it, it seemed that the marching car convoy had been raided and wiped out. More than 100 cars were burned, and every 20 meters, there was a car wreck.On the road, there were countless dead such as Lieutenant Assistant Xinzhuang, and the charred corpses lying in the driver's cab. I thought that the Pingyan Brigade came to rescue according to the order of the detachment on the 25th, but was surrounded by enemies more than ten times more than ours on the way, and finally failed to reach the destination.For this reason, such a tragic scene has been caused, and the pain is beyond words.

It took as long as three hours to drag the charred cars to the side of the road and deal with the bodies of the dead, and the road was barely passable.Longze Squadron started to advance and reached the ridge.Looking from the ridge to the canyon, the convoy of transport vehicles was also completely destroyed!Isn't the road blocked by heavy vehicles and layers of corpses of people and horses? This is the tragic scene of the destruction of the large and small baggage contingents of Hideo Awaihara's army and the large and small baggage contingents of the Yamaguchi and Nakajima brigades, like a picture of hell.

Remember that the original task has not been completed, that is, you can't waste time here.However, this disregard should never be passed straight through.Squadron leader Longze encouraged the hungry and shock-depressed soldiers, collecting nails and identification marks from the fallen, moving vehicles to the open field behind, and picking up corpses and horses.After completing these tasks in about two hours, the road was barely passable.At this time, a half-dead wounded man was found and rescued on the mountainside, and the troops continued to advance. Fortunately, no enemy resistance was encountered on the road...

Itagaki Seishiro arrived at Pingxingguan at dusk, and the bloody sunset shone on his distraught face, looking like a gambler who lost his eyes.Along the bumpy mountain road, a large group of Japanese military officers anxiously boarded the beacon tower of the Great Wall, sweating profusely and panting heavily.Itagaki raised his binoculars and searched around. He was eager to find his opponent for a decisive battle, but there were only large and small bomb craters on the Great Wall Ancient Road. This was a masterpiece of the Japanese Air Force, and there was no one.Looking at the mountains on both sides, there are towering peaks, towering and majestic, and the yellow autumn forest is swaying in the wind. It seems that there are thousands of ambushes, but it is so quiet that even the singing of birds can be heard.

Where is the Chinese army? Itagaki turned around, glared at his subordinates, and prepared to hold the two brigade leaders responsible for the failure of rescue, which caused the car team and the baggage team to be wiped out. Major General Miura, the head of the 21st Brigade, was still in shock, as if he hadn't woken up from the fierce battle 3 days ago, his overtired and bloodshot eyes were covered with yellow pus.Itagaki looked up and down his subordinate known as "Tiger General", and shook his head in disappointment, did he meet a lion? Itagaki shifted his gaze to Major General Kunisaki's face, Kunisaki lowered his head and sighed: "The 9th Brigade did its best, alas—"

"The honor of the 5th Division has been lost by you!" Itagaki roared loudly, "The strength of the two regiments is strong enough. Facing the vulnerable Chinese army, they are unable to take an inch, and just sit back and watch all the friendly troops be wiped out! Kunisaki-kun, you What a glorious stroke has been written for the history of the 5th Division!" "Lieutenant General, we have encountered a new enemy!" Major General Kunisaki argued, "My brigade suffered more than 300 casualties in order to rescue the supply team. This is a new record in the history of brigade warfare. Express……"

Itagaki interrupted him and asked: "Has the enemy dispatched planes? Where are the tanks? How many modern firearms are there? Tell me!" "On the contrary, they didn't even have grenadiers. They blew shrill brass horns, brandished swords and spears, and flocked to our machine gun position one after another." "So you have achieved a lot of battles, and you have made great contributions! How many soldiers from the ancient tombs have been shot and killed by your machine guns!" Kunisaki was at a loss for words for a while, immersed in the memories of the battle, he suddenly remembered something.

"Lieutenant General, the enemy's tactics are flexible, good at piercing and turning around. They suddenly appeared in front of us and made our cannons useless. Their commanders are experienced, and our firepower points are always attacked first, especially the machine gun shooters. Casualties were heavy. They were elusive and erratic...I'm sure they were not the army of the Shanxi Monroe Doctrine, nor the Central Army of Chiang's line." "China hand" Itagaki Seishiro suddenly realized, and said sharply: "They are the Chinese Communist Party! The Communist Party, do you understand? There are Soviet Russians as advisors, and the tactics are very clever."

Itagaki raised his binoculars to search again, and the mountains and forests in the twilight were looming through a layer of gauze curtains, making them more mysterious.Close combat and night combat are the specialty of the communist army. He worried that the coming night would be full of dangers.