Chapter 13 The 118th Regiment escaped

In the division headquarters of the Central Bank of Changde City, officers from the staff office and the telecommunications group were busy going back and forth without saying a word. Although it was late at night, there was no concept of late night here.Commander Zhou Yizhong spoke a Henan dialect and was on the phone in the basement, shouting so that the entire division could be heard.The kerosene shade lamp on the small table, which is lit day and night, has a particularly large lamp head.Teacher Yu Chengwan sat on the small bed. He usually didn't smoke, but now he kept burning one after another.The deputy division commander Chen Xiaoyun sat next to him, and said as if to himself: "Our first-line positions on the east, west, and north sides have been broken by the enemy. Fortunately, there is still the Deshan Highland in the south. Stand still..."

"But Commander Zhou called for hours, why didn't anyone answer it?" Yu Chengwan asked suspiciously while worrying. "Report!" It was the staff officer sent by the staff office to supervise the battle of the 169th regiment, who came back and stood at the door in a dusty manner. "Come in!" Yu Chengwan ordered, "Is there any news from Deshan?" He asked urgently. The staff officer was a young man in his early 20s. Before he could say anything, his face was flushed with suffocation, and a string of tears rolled down first. "What's going on?" Yu Chengwan asked.

"Division, Commander, Deshan is occupied by the enemy!" The staff officer said with tears in his heart, "It's not the defeat, it's the 118th regiment who ran away..." "Ah?" Everyone present gasped. It turned out that the 118th Regiment believed itself to be a unit of the 100th Army and did not obey the dispatch of any commander except Chairman Jiang and Army Commander Shi Zhongcheng.When Wang Yaowu ordered Deng Xianfeng to temporarily reorganize into the 57th Division, the regiment wanted to withdraw southward. After being severely reprimanded by Yu Chengwan, it restrained itself and returned to Deshan to build some positions and make some preparations. .However, as soon as the peripheral battle started, Deng Xianfeng saw the menacing Japanese army. The more he thought about it, the more he felt that the 118th regiment would be buried on the edge of the Yuan River sooner or later. Without even saying hello, he quietly led his troops to evacuate their positions from Deshan Gufengling, and fled in the direction of Huangtudian.In order to prevent being discovered and chased by the Japanese army, Deng Xianfeng simply broke up the whole regiment and dispersed without a trace.It doesn't matter if the 118th regiment runs away. Deshan, a natural barrier in Changde, easily fell into the hands of the Japanese army.The 234th Regiment of the 68th Division of the Japanese Army with high morale, after crossing Tokuyama, immediately swarmed to the front of the 1st Battalion of the 169th Regiment of the National Army at Huangmu Pass.

"Bastard!" Yu Chengwan couldn't help yelling angrily. Deshan is not only a barrier for Changde, but also a retreat for the 57th Division. If it falls, it means that the 57th Division will be completely strangled to death, which will seriously affect the morale of the army. At the critical moment, the military spirit must not be shaken in the slightest!Although he had already expected that Deng Xianfeng would be unreliable, he never expected that this dignified head of the regiment would do such despicable things, "He, Deng Xianfeng, is a scum of the party-state!" Yu Chengwan pointed to the door and said, as if that The little man just stood there.

"Give me the 1st Battalion that I want to pass through Huangmu Pass, and I want to talk to Battalion Commander Yang Weijun in person!" Yu Chengwan felt that since the matter had reached this point, he had to ask his subordinates to guard the existing positions. However, when Master Yu was about to call the 1st Battalion of Huangmuguan, Huangmuguan had actually been lost. Huangmuguan was facing a river, and the defenders relied on the embankment to defend it. Under the cover of low-altitude aircraft, the Japanese army used the remaining small fishing boats in the river and rafts tied with wooden boards to rush across. Due to the disparity in numbers, the 1st Battalion had to retreat rock.There were more than 3,000 enemies who crossed the river, armed with light and heavy weapons, divided into north and south routes, and rushed towards the rock in full force.

Battalion Commander Yang Weijun placed two companies in a figure-eight shape at Wulishan and Yangjiachong. On the one hand, he had to support the defense line in the northern suburbs, and on the other hand, he had to guard against the enemy troops rushing from Deshan along the Yuan River, which was quite difficult.At two o'clock in the afternoon on the 22nd, the four cannons of the Japanese army moved to Tanjiagang, north of Huangmu Pass, and bombarded the rock. The front and rear exploded.Looking out from the command post, the smoke was rising up all over the ground, and a mountain of fog had piled up.In addition to the flames sparking in the mist one after another, it is no longer possible to see further away.Yejiagang, which came from Wuli Mountain, was blocking the enemy's advance route to Yanlai. There was a line of people guarding it, and the Japanese army's fleet kept circling and dropping bombs in the sky.Sitting there was Hu Dexiu, the commander of the 1st company, a Cantonese, thin and small, and sometimes he couldn't hear clearly. Commander Yang was afraid that he would not be able to stand up, so he kept calling him.

On the phone, with the sound of shells, Hu Dexiu said: "Battle Commander, the Cantonese have never been ashamed in the 57th Division, have they? I am here to repay the motherland. I am a fellow of the Prime Minister. Long live the Chinese nation!" Battalion Commander Yang replied: "Okay! How is the enemy's situation?" "The enemy fired fifty or sixty artillery pieces here, and dropped another 70 large and small bombs. Now I am guarding in the trenches with my brothers. It doesn't matter. The machine gun was brought out from the destroyed bunker. It is not damaged at all and can still be used. , I will stick to it here!" After Hu Dexiu finished speaking, he shouted again, "Long live the Chinese nation!"

Dong Qingxia, the deputy battalion commander, was a well-known stone man. He sat on the ground without saying a word, with a calm yellow face, and just put on his leggings tightly.Battalion Commander Yang asked him: "The artillery fire at Yejiagang is even fiercer than this side. Hu Dexiu leads a row of people, and there is only one squad left. How about transferring them back?" Dong Qingxia said dully: "Put on a little longer, and the enemy will attack at dusk immediately. With Yejiagang in our hands, Yantan will be much more stable." Battalion Commander Yang thought so too.But Hu Dexiu's troops were too weak, and he was worried about whether he could last for an hour.At this moment, Hu Dexiu called again:

"Report to the battalion commander, the enemy's main force is attacking Yejiagang, using a wave formation..." The tone was rather hasty.Battalion Commander Yang said, "I'll come if you support me!" Then he put down the phone, grabbed his gun, and got up to leave. Meng Qingxia stood up abruptly and said, "Battalion Commander, this place is more important, Yejiagang let me go!" After speaking, she rushed forward with a squadron of the reserve team who had been waiting outside when the shell exploded. After Deputy Battalion Commander Dong left, Battalion Commander Yang immediately realized that the situation was wrong. The Japanese army's attack angle had changed. They ignored Yejiagang's blocking force and prepared to destroy it with artillery fire. Launching a frontal attack, the Japanese army looked impatient. It could be seen that they did not want to entangle too much here, and wanted to cross the rock and attack Changde Dadongmen as soon as possible.Battalion Commander Yang reported the situation to the regiment head Chai Yixin, and at the same time ordered Deputy Battalion Commander Dong to take Yejiagang's Hu Dexiu troops to quickly withdraw to Yan and concentrate their forces to defend.

At this time, the Japanese planes and artillery aimed at the flames of the rock bombardment, covering thousands of square meters in the front, rear and surrounding area in smoke.All I could hear were explosions, and the outside of the fortification seemed to be covered in foggy days.Yang Weijun lay down on the battalion command post and looked out, only to see a burst of sparks rising from the surrounding flat ground every few seconds, and the frequency was getting higher and higher, and the distance from his command post was getting closer and closer. Come here, so he decisively ordered to move the command post to the nearby Huangjing Pavilion, which can also receive the troops withdrawn by Deputy Battalion Commander Dong.Fortunately, he moved, because as soon as he and the battalion staff left, a mountain shell hit the command post bunker.

The troops led by Dong Qingxia and Hu Dexiu climbed back to Yan from Yejiagang.The flying sulfur smoke, the dust splashed on the ground, and the mud from the rice fields smeared their bodies like clay figurines.Before I could speak, my eyes were filled with tears, not from sadness and pain, but from the hot smoke. "Quick, enter the position!" Battalion Commander Yang shouted loudly. The Japanese infantry rushed towards the rock in three ways.The light and heavy machine guns covering the impact rattled like a levee had burst, and it was impossible to tell how many of them there were, nor where they rose and fell.On the other hand, our side has only 3 machine guns, which are aimed at the three enemies respectively. In comparison, they sound like mosquitoes. Deputy Battalion Commander Dong led the two companies to resist for about half an hour. At the northern head of Huangjing Pavilion, dense machine guns were heard again, and several mortar shells fell near the battalion's temporary command post.The north head is Yan's back. If the Japanese army attacked from the front and back, then Yan would definitely not be able to defend.Battalion Commander Yang nervously gathered all the personnel in the battalion headquarters, and he was going to make a suicide attack if necessary. Fortunately, Deputy Battalion Commander Dong knew the danger at this time, brought a company back from the front, and set up a temporary position on a small embankment to the north to intercept the enemy. "Battalion Commander, look over there!" A soldier in the battalion headquarters called Yang Weijun, pointing to a small road behind the Huangjing Pavilion. A Japanese army, divided into three waves, quickly advanced towards the battalion command post. Battalion Commander Yang opened his mouth wide, his heart was beating rapidly, and his breathing became more and more rapid, as if there was a life-threatening rope around his neck, which became tighter and tighter.He expected that he would arrive at the last minute, touched the two grenades hanging on his body, and mechanically pushed the bolt of the rifle in his hand. Without waiting for him, Dong Qingxia, Hu Dexiu and other officers and soldiers of the 1st Battalion to think about it, some people said that in the fierce battle, the sacrificed person left the world without any thought at all. The soldier told me that when he was holding a gun that spewed out flames, all the life scenes he had experienced or dreamed of flashed in his mind. Not only was the contrast extremely high, but the capacity was also extremely rich. Their thinking at that moment must have been valid, but they just didn't think too much. The Japanese army's artillery attack on the rocks poured down like a tsunami.I saw a long lingering smoke rising, and after the smoke slowly drifted away, I couldn't see anything clearly except the powdery soil. After the battle, the General Headquarters of the Japanese Army Dispatch Army concluded that the infantry of the 116th Division had the best attack, while the artillery of the 68th Division was the most powerful.Because the 116th Division was the main force of the attack, the 68th Division was equipped with the most advanced "Royal Cannon" in Japan at that time. In fact, before the Yan 1st Battalion was wiped out, the head of the 169th regiment, Chai Yixin, led a company of troops, equipped with sufficient ammunition, and rushed up to reinforce, but he only saw the smoke. No words came out. The 118th regiment fled the battle, and none of the Yan defenders survived. This was the most gloomy scene of the National Army in the Changde Battle. After "Eight Thousand Men's Blood" was published, one day in March 1994, a middle-aged woman suddenly visited my apartment in Guangzhou.She is dressed in ordinary clothes, but reveals capable and mature.She shook hands with me, and asked excitedly, "Are you the writer Zhang Xiaoran?" I nodded and searched quickly in my mind. The person in front of me was very unfamiliar. Have we met?do you know it? "Are you Zhang Xiaoran who wrote "Eight Thousand Men's Blood"?" She became more excited. "Yeah!" I know, maybe the readers have come to "seek relatives". really. "Thank you, thank you so much!" With tears in her eyes, "I am the battalion commander Yang Weijun written in your book, Yang Weijun's daughter! "Eight Thousand Men's Blood" made me find my father!" I hurriedly welcomed Battalion Commander Yang's daughter into the house. Her name is Zhang Yajie.Because she lost her father since childhood and her mother remarried, she did not take her father's last name.But she has always had doubts since she was a child, who is her father?Where?Mom told her that Dad was an officer of the Kuomintang and died.Because of this status, although she missed her own father very much, she dared not ask any more questions.Now she is the deputy manager of the Guangdong Engineering Company of the Gezhouba Dam Engineering Bureau of Sinohydro, but this doubt is like a stone, which has been weighed on her heart for decades, heavy and painful.Until she saw "Eight Thousand Men's Blood", she was very concerned about all the anti-Japanese war books before, and she had a premonition that her father would appear in it, so she bought a copy.what!Dad finally showed up! With tears streaming down her face, she bought dozens of copies at once and distributed them everywhere. "My father has been found! My father is not a reactionary officer, he is an anti-Japanese hero! You see, it is written in the book that he died a heroic sacrifice against the Japanese devils!" Manager Zhang brought her son and daughter to see me again, and I felt her back stiffen suddenly.