Chapter 20 early morning attack

During the interview in Changde, I always wanted to admire the style of Mercury Building.It not only has the charm of ancient buildings, but also has long-lasting loyalty.But people told me that the Mercury Building was demolished early in the liberation for unknown reasons.I don't know if the person who told me is willing to explain it, or if it is really impossible to understand. I can't see the building, so I just want to see the original site of the building.But there were still troubles: According to the location of the map, there were four buildings in the original site of Mercury Building, which were the civil aviation ticket office, the first spring of Muslim, Changde Department Store, and Hunan Airlines Passenger Terminal.

My question is only one sentence, is this place originally called Mercury Building? Miss Civil Aviation smiled coquettishly at me and shook her head.I don't know whether to say no, or don't know. The waiter of "First Spring" couldn't see the slightest breath of spring on his face, and he told me to go to the side.I thought he was asking me to ask the person next to me, but there was no one else, so I understood what he meant and told me to go away. The master of the department store was very warm to me, and he diverted my question and said, "What do you call it a building, just come in." He was asking me to come in and buy his products.

The scenery of the dance hall on the second floor of Xianghang Passenger Terminal is particularly charming. Outside the large floor-to-ceiling glass windows is the Yuanjiang River under the night. The cool river breeze blows and blows on the male and female couples hugging and dancing, which is very refreshing.But the expression of the manager of the ballroom is the most unforgettable for me. He heard that I inquired about the original address of the Mercury Building, and he hurriedly asked what he meant?In the momentary excitement, he revealed his secrets a little, and he almost asked me nakedly, is there any treasure in the soil under this building?

So I stopped asking about Mercury House. I think that if the book I am writing about the Battle of Changde finally comes out, then in my writing, the Mercury Tower and its style, as well as the unforgettable battle that took place in the building, can be reproduced. Is it in front of people?Facing the Mercury Building mentioned in my book, it is up to each reader how they feel about it.But at least some people should never be indifferent to this disappearing building, that is, the Chinese who experienced the war in Changde in 1943 and the Japanese in the East, as long as they are alive.And even if they die, they shouldn't take their memories with them to the grave.

The Battle of Mercury Building is a symbol.Like the knock at the door in Beethoven.at the same time: ——At the national army stronghold at the intersection of Daximen Wailuo, the Japanese army concentrated 6 mountain cannons together with light and heavy machine guns, and violently bombarded and fired at the garrison fortifications of the 170th regiment. .In view of this situation, head Sun Jinxian had no choice but to abandon Luolukou and retreat to Yufu Middle School not far from Daximen.Surrounded by water on three sides, Yufu Middle School is located on the back side of the T-shaped crossing outside the Xicheng Gate, with Jiangdi Avenue in the south and Changtao and Changli Roads in the north. It is the last line of defense outside Daximen.The Japanese army then sent more than 20 planes to bomb Yufu Middle School with mountain artillery, and launched a round of charges against the school buildings in a dense formation.The national army used the ruined walls as cover to resist desperately. The Japanese army rushed up one after another, and the national army fired again and again.In the end, the defenders fought hand-to-hand with the enemy with light weapons, and many soldiers fell in a pool of blood under the enemy's volley.In the crisis of running out of ammunition and destroying the positions, the remaining national army had to retreat into Daximen.

——The north gate tower was demolished before the war, and the defenders could only rely on deep trenches with a width of about 20 meters and the complex terrain outside the city.The 116th Division of the Japanese Army first used more than 10 aircraft to bombard the bunkers, bunkers, trenches, and bunkers outside the city gate, and then organized infantry to pounce like a tide.In order to secure the north gate, Chen Xiaoyun, the deputy commander of the division, came to supervise the battle in person. ——Shahe Street and Sipu Street are a few bustling streets close to the East Gate Tower. The 169th Regiment of the Defenders had opened up the houses in this area before the war and connected them into one. hole, so as to stick to it room by room.In addition to bombing by planes in turn, the Japanese army also dropped a large number of incendiary bombs. Rows of houses were burned, flames rose into the air, and smoke filled the air. The soldiers had to put out the fire and fight at the same time. The situation was very bad.Under such circumstances, Chai Yixin, the head of the regiment, ordered his troops to jump out of the position and fight the enemy hand-to-hand. For a while, the sound of killing was loud, and the streets and alleys were littered with corpses, and blood flowed like rivers.As the successor troops of the Japanese army followed one after another, the soldiers of the national army were unable to fight for a long time, so they were forced to retreat to the east gate tower.

The battle of the west, north, and east gates, like the famous "Killing the Four Gates" in Peking Opera, plus the most intense battle of the Mercury Building at the South Gate, marked that the battle of Changde had entered the battle of the city outline. A few stars appeared in the night sky.The northwestern wind whistled and whizzed past in the low altitude. The dense clouds scattered and gathered with the wind, the moonlight was like water when they dispersed, and the sky was dark when they gathered. The mountains and plains outside the city were full of Japanese soldiers. The scene of them eating and sleeping in the open air seemed like a gathering of Arab believers waiting for the Hajj outside Mecca.However, the two are really irrelevant. The believers are going to seek salvation, while the Japanese army came to kill and set fire outside the city of Changde.

Yan Yongwang, who had a murderous expression on his face, took off his small yellow wool cap, and hooped the white cloth strip printed with the sun flag on his forehead, the emblem worn during night raids, then knelt on the ground, facing the east, and read from afar In the holy name of His Majesty the Emperor, pray silently. He prayed that the siege battle commanded by him would be successful under the protection of the Emperor Kamui. After the ruthless devastation of the war, the rock bridge outside the east gate miraculously preserved a few houses. Although the exterior of the house was full of bullet holes, the inside was intact.

It was the night of November 25th. Taking advantage of the darkness, Isamu Yokoyama, commander of the Japanese 11th Army, arrived at the forefront.He summoned all the officers who participated in the siege of Changde and above the regiment commander to these private houses to hold a joint combat meeting. Before the official meeting, Isamu Yokoyama happily joked with his subordinates.Because it was right under the noses of the Chinese defenders, the Japanese army was afraid that the light would be too bright to cause shelling and bombing by Chinese and American air force planes, so they only lit a small lantern in the house. The light was extremely dim and weak. In the light and shadow, several division heads and regiment leaders were exaggeratedly recognized one by one.

"Hey, this is Saku-kun, right?" Yokoyama smiled and looked at the fat face of Sakuma, the commander of the 68th Division, and said, "You're not skinny, you came ashore from Niubitan in Dongting Lake, how about it?" , tasted a lot of delicious lake fish, right?" Lieutenant General Saku grinned, but did not speak. "Yamamoto-kun!" Yokoyama patted the thin shoulder of Lieutenant General Yamamoto Sano, the head of the 3rd Division, "Have you already walked around the city?" Lieutenant General Yamamoto followed him with a "snap" and stood at attention: "The battle of Mercury Tower failed, and I take full responsibility!"

Yokoyama waved his hand: "There is no failure, you just went to visit first. The Chinese are not welcome, so well, we still have to go." The captain of Yamamoto's 6th Regiment, Nakahata Mamoru, blushed, and took the lead in defending the division commander: "Your Excellency, Commander, let us cross again, and we will definitely be able to win the Mercury Tower, and our division must be the first to go from the Troops entering the city from the south gate!" Yokoyama glanced at the somewhat reckless captain of the Nakahata Alliance behind Yama himself, and said nothing.Nakahata's premature seriousness and determination ruined his moment of humor.He turned to the side and saw Lieutenant General Yan Yongwang: "Haha! Yan Yongjun, you look very good!" The two laughed knowingly, a little lewdly. "Yan Yongjun must have obtained the secrets of the Chinese imperial palace and knew the art of the house. So many Chinese flower girls failed to defeat you, but you are getting more and more energetic!" Yokoyama's joke reached its peak. Hearing Isamu Yokoyama's praise, Yan Yongwang was not a bit ashamed, but proudly raised his neck "haha" and laughed wildly. "Okay, let's start the meeting!" Yokoyama waved his hand and restored his rigid and gloomy face.He walked to the head seat of the improvised long conference table and sat down.The rest of the officers sat in two rows on his left and right. "Everyone, since the beginning of the war, the troops have achieved brilliant results. His Majesty the Emperor listens to the reports of the military headquarters every day and pays attention to the progress of our battle. The six generals of the dispatched army Toshiro Hata have issued a commendation order, affirming our achievements in the peripheral battle of Changde, and hope Let's make another effort to completely capture Changde City." After Yokoyama finished his opening remarks, he picked up a printed copy: "Now it's a matter of time. Our battle is already too long, so we must hurry up and end the battle as soon as possible." Yokohama glanced majestically at the Circle the officers around and enter the theme of the meeting: "Now I announce the general attack order: From 24:00 on November 25, the 6th Infantry Regiment will attack from the south, the 133rd Infantry Regiment from the north, the 120th Infantry Regiment from the west, The 65th Brigade of the Independent Infantry and the 2nd Brigade of the Toda Army launched a comprehensive attack from the east to the southeast and northwest of Changde City. The attacking troops were all under the unified command of Iwan Yongwang.” Yan Yongwang stood up proudly, bowed to salute, said "Hey", and sat down again. Mamoru Nakahata sat at the end, his eyes seemed to be bleeding.He was not convinced that Yan Yongwang was the commander-in-chief. Although it was confirmed before the battle that Yan Yongwang was the commander of the main offensive force in the Changde Annihilation War, the actual results after the war did not mean that Yan Yongwang was better than the others. Where is the head of the division, Gao Chao?In terms of speed, he can't compare with the 68th Division. The commander of the Saku Division was the first to land and fire at Tujia Lake; Lou, more than loss, his 109 regiment captain's photo on the cloth opened the scoring first, and died on the battlefield.Therefore, Iwa Aeon is actually incomparable with anyone else.And from the perspective of inner feelings, Nakahata also dislikes Iwa Yongwang even more. The key is that his classmate Bugei died under Iwa Yongwang's command.He believes that any military officer should take full responsibility for the sacrifice of his subordinates.To put it bluntly, if Iwanaga's command ability was not faulty, how could Fusue be hit by the Chinese army's shells?Who made Bu Shang run to the forefront of the Chinese defenders to take risks?Nakahata focused all his resentment on Iwa Yongwang. He did not believe that Iwan Yongwang would command all the siege troops, including commanding the 3rd Division to which he belonged and himself.But the determination of Japanese soldiers to obey orders is world-renowned. He could not, and did not dare to say no to Iwan Yongwang, but only vented in his heart.But the way he vented, ultimately led to the biggest mistake of his life. At the end of the meeting, the Japanese troops entered the designated attack positions, aligned the clocks, and nervously waited for the 24 o'clock general attack time to come. Although Yongwang Yan is arrogant, he also knows that he has a heavy responsibility on his shoulders at this moment. In order to relieve the tension in his heart, he prays to the east to the gods of the emperor.Just as he was immersed in the bath of the emperor's grace, he felt his blood boil and his confidence doubled. Suddenly, there was a strange gunfire from the south of the city. He quickly stood up and asked his followers: "What's going on?" A staff officer rushed to contact and investigate. After a while, the staff officer ran back and reported: "Your Excellency, Division Commander, Mamoru Nakahata, the commander of the 6th Regiment of the 3rd Division, was shot by a Chinese machine gun while preparing to cross the river by the riverside. It is an honor to serve the Emperor!" "Ah!" Yan Yongwang couldn't help being taken aback. He couldn't accept it. This was the first news he received after taking office as the commander-in-chief of the siege. "What's the matter? It's not time for the general attack. Why is the captain of the Nakahata Alliance going to cross the river?" When the time for the general attack was up, the artillery fire would have to prepare for the bombardment for tens of minutes. The attacking troops would not be able to cross the river until the river fortifications of the Chinese defenders were almost destroyed. Didn’t Nakahata understand these tactical principles?Not really. It turned out that after the meeting, Nakahata, who was full of dissatisfaction, wanted to vent to the head of the division, Lieutenant General Yamamoto Sano, on the way back, but Yamamoto was not interested at all.From Yamamoto's point of view, this commander-in-chief is not a good job. It is still Isamu Yokoyama who can't escape the credit if he does a good job. If he doesn't do it well, he might lose his life here.So he was happy to show Yongwang Iwa, and at the same time he advised Nakahata not to be delusional, and soldiers take it as their bounden duty to complete combat missions. Unable to find a common language, Mamoru Nakahata was so angry that his stomach was about to burst.When he returned to the regiment, he said to the two captains and the combat staff officer, "Come on, let's go to the riverside and see where we cross the river." The combat staff went to and from the river several times, knowing that it was dangerous, because the Battle of Mercury Tower had just ended, and the Chinese defenders were very sensitive to any disturbance on the south bank, and would shoot here as soon as they noticed any movement.So he advised Nakahata to wait for the Japanese artillery to suppress it before going too late. This advice hit Nakahata's head of fire. He slapped the staff officer twice with his hands, and shouted: "It will be too late when we suppress the artillery fire! We have to catch up with the attacks of all the alliances. As soon as 24 o'clock rings, we will do it!" Get everything ready! Do you understand?" After being slapped twice by Nakahata, no one dared to say anything, and they all followed him to the river.Although they were all vigilant, no one would have expected that they were approaching death. The soldiers of the 170th Regiment were guarding the city wall of the South Gate. They stared at the other side of the river and the "squeaky" flowing river with their eyes wide open without daring to blink.Although there are still a few rounds of artillery shells in the artillery regiment, they want to fire them at the most critical moment. They are mainly used to deal with the firearms used by the Japanese army crossing the river. They are light and heavy machine guns with slightly bent tubes. Hold on to the trigger, and pull it down as soon as you spot your target. At about 10 o'clock, the wind suddenly became stronger and stronger, and all the dark clouds and mist in the sky were scattered and disappeared without a trace.As soon as the clouds dispersed, a crescent moon and a sky full of stars were revealed. Immediately, the surface of the river and the earth were shrouded in a dreamlike brilliance. At this moment, an observer of the national army's heavy machine gun shooting team saw through binoculars that several Japanese officers were pointing and drawing on the other side of the river. Decisively decided to strike first, he said to the shooter: "See? There are some devils over there, let's beat him up!" The shooter nodded, without saying a word, he clasped his fingers, "Tap, tap, tap!" Tap..." A fire dragon flew towards the south bank of the river in an arc. Hearing the gunshots, Nakahata hurriedly led the two captains and the combat staff to run to the battle bunker behind. While running, the combat staff also shouted for cover from the artillery fire in the Japanese position.But it was too late, the gun chased towards Nakahata as if it had eyes, and passed through the back of his head and chest. Seeing him fall, the two captains and the combat staff rushed to rescue him desperately. Bullets hit them like raindrops, and they fell to the ground one by one like puppets with broken strings. "Boom!" The cannons of the Japanese army began to fire. This was the sound of the cannons that alarmed Iwa Yongo who was praying, but in the ears of the dying Nakahata Goichi, there was only the slightest sound like the squawking of mosquitoes.When he was on the verge of dying, he saw Bu Shangzhao approaching him, his whole body was red like a piece of steel that just came out of the oven, he called out, Mr. Bu Shang, I haven’t seen you for many days, where are you going? gone?Bu Shang replied, I'm home, I'm already home.go home?Nakahata asked in confusion, he just wanted to ask Funoue why he went home?There was a mountain of darkness in front of him, and he left this world like a puff of smoke... Mamoru Nakahata was awarded a third-class medal of the Golden Owl during his lifetime, and was promoted to major general after his death. Because the death of Nakahata and the death of Funoue were too short, not only the commander of the dispatched army, the commander of the Sixth General Hata Toshi, was alarmed, but also several marshals of the military headquarters and the Ministry of War in Tokyo, Japan.A telegram of admonishment was passed down immediately, and Nakahata's death came after Iwan Yongwang became the commander-in-chief, so the object of the admonition was naturally Iwa Yongwang.Perhaps Nakahata's goal has been achieved, and his death has given him a mouthful of evil that he originally thought of but could not.But what's not perfect is, how did Aeon Iwa know about Nakahata Koichi's inner grievances?So he immediately asked, why did the captain of the Zhonghata Alliance go to cross the Yuan River before the time for the general attack?No one answered. It's 24 o'clock. A Japanese fighter jet flew over Changde.It made a circle around the city wall, and then continuously dropped a dozen flares in the city center.The chemical liquid of the flares burned in the air, looking from a distance like gasoline lamps, dazzling and whitishly bright, illuminating the whole city as if it were daytime.For the flare, soldiers of the national army once gave it a nickname, called "artificial little moon".It is conceivable how bright it will be if the brightness of more than a dozen "artificial small moons" is aggregated together.Usually, before the Japanese attack, they would throw one or two flares as a signal, but today the number has increased by more than ten times.These flares are undoubtedly like exclamation marks one by one, arousing the Japanese soldiers' high-spirited passion and courage to attack. Immediately, the Japanese troops on all sides of Changde, mountain artillery, mortars, light and heavy machine guns, and rifles aimed at the positions of the national army facing them, and fired together, throwing their gunpowder and steel indefinitely. , stretching across the ground into tens of thousands of rays of light, sparkling red flames of fire mist, countless explosion sounds, it is not enough to describe all the explosive eruptions in the universe, this explosive sound wave has gradually separated from it. The original appearance has turned into a figurative roaring wild beast. These tumbling wild beasts are rushing, biting, and rushing towards the national army's position without any cover or hindrance! In contrast, the positions of the national army were silent.It's not that all the Chinese soldiers were stunned by the stern scene, but that the ammunition of each unit of the 57th Division is already short of money.They know that when the Japanese artillery is preparing, it is useless for you to fight back. You can only wait for the enemy to charge up, and then use precious bullets to retaliate. It was Dongmen who was first in danger.The Toda detachment of the Japanese army transferred from the 40th Division code-named "Whale" is a particularly fierce force. Since the early morning, they have concentrated more than 40 cannons and 6,000 to 7,000 troops to attack the base of the city. rush.The head of the 169th regiment, Chai Yixin, led a company to the city base to resist under heavy artillery fire.The Japanese army charged with a dense team, and from dawn to dawn, they charged more than a dozen times. Finally, under the gnawing of artillery shells, a gap was opened at the east gate.The base of the city wall in the gap was shoveled away, like a big road, and there was no moat outside the gap. The original pile of deer villages had already been burned down by artillery fire, and the barbed wire fence was also smashed to pieces by shells.The Japanese army wanted to rush in from here, it can be said to be unimpeded. Chai Yixin's eyes were red with anxiety, and the veins were throbbing rapidly on his forehead and neck. He waved his hands and shouted, ordering two heavy machine guns to guard the fatal gap, preventing an enemy from rushing over. But at this time, a commando of about 300 Japanese soldiers had rushed to a place only 100 meters away from the gap.Enemies waiting for an opportunity to pounce are hidden in the corners of the houses and in several foxholes, and if there is a bombardment wave from the Japanese artillery, they can rush in immediately. Lai Ruqian, the company commander of the machine gun, ran up the city wall and reported to Chai Yixin: "Commander, you can't stand it with a machine gun inside!" In desperation, the company commander Lai used a vulgar metaphor: " The cunt of the east gate, the Japanese devils want to come in, can you resist it?" Chai Yixin guessed that he had an idea, so he asked, "What do you think should be done?" "Rush out and fight! Only then can we change from passive to active." "Okay! I'll give you a platoon and fight the enemy 500 meters away!" Chai Yixin ordered. Company Commander Lai Ruqian had a bright smile on his face, he hung grenades all over his body, led a row of people, climbed out of the trench, and rushed to the gap in the east gate, where he was almost about to meet the Japanese army , one by one opened the grenade safety cover.The soldiers thought that the Japanese army would run away when they saw this kind of suicide tactics, but they didn't. The Japanese soldiers not only didn't flee, but also armed with crooked machine guns, shooting "suddenly" while facing the smoking grenades Forced over. "Boom! Boom!" Almost every grenade exploded just as the soldiers of the two countries were about to be torn together.The Chinese soldiers thought that the Japanese devils would be afraid, so they wanted to throw them out while they were running, which not only saved themselves, but also repelled the enemy's attack, and the Japanese soldiers thought the same way, if they were not scared away, the Chinese would Frightened into a mess by the bomb in their own hands, if the Chinese blow themselves up, wouldn't they be able to rush into the city on the dead bodies of Chinese soldiers!This is a psychological contest, and both sides underestimated the other's courage, so the ending can only be tragic and tragic. More than half of the commando team of more than 300 Japanese troops were killed, and the rest retreated seeing that they could not gain any advantage. The gap in the east gate, which Lai Ruqian called "the cunt hole", was blocked by the flesh and blood of Chinese soldiers.But the casualties were also heavy: almost none of the platoon survived, and Company Commander Lai Ruqian was blown to pieces and died heroically for his country. Since the Japanese army launched the general attack, more than 20 Japanese planes flew low in turn to bombard Changde City indiscriminately, and dropped a large number of incendiary bombs. The lane became a sea of ​​flames. The headquarters of the 57th Division of the Central Bank also dropped several heavy bombs. Fortunately, the basement is relatively strong and can still withstand it.Watching the dust pouring down, Master Yu Chengwan was still able to maintain a calm expression, but he also felt more and more that the crisis was approaching.He was just about to summon the radio operator to send an emergency message to the theater and the military headquarters, but the radio operator rushed in first and handed him a telegram, which was sent by Sun Lianzhong, acting commander.The telegram said: "My 10th Army will be able to reach Deshan or Changde on the 26th." 26th?That is, today when the telegram was received?Fang Xianjue's 10th Army is about to arrive!Yu Chengwan couldn't help being a little surprised. He immediately conveyed the telegram to the officers at all levels of the division, making them happy and encouraging their morale.At the same time, in order to stand firm and wait for help, he ordered all ministries to adjust their combat deployment before 2 pm on the 26th: "1. The 169th Regiment (owing to the 3rd Battalion) is the East Gate City Wall Defense Team; 2. The 171st Regiment is the City Wall Defense Team between the North Gate and the Great West Gate; 3. The 170th Regiment is the Upper and Lower South Gate City Wall Defense Team. The south bank is closely guarded to prevent the enemy from crossing by force; 4. The artillery regiment (owed to Sun Battalion) serves the original defense and assists the defense teams on the city wall; Occupation, under the unified command of the mortar battalion commander Kong Yiyu; 6. The 3rd Battalion of the 169th Regiment (less than two companies) is the division reserve team, controlled near Xingjiekou and Wenchang Temple, and the communication company is still based on the Central Bank Base point, complete the communication between the various units." But not long after the order was issued, Sun Lianzhong, the acting commander, sent another telegram, saying: "In the past few days, more than 1,000 enemy bandits near Deshan have driven to the Prince Temple, and more than 700 have opened Taoyuan. Please pay close attention to them. " "What do you mean? Does it mean that the Japanese army went to intercept my reinforcements, and my reinforcements won't be able to come today?" Chen Xiaoyun, the deputy commander of the division with a confused face, asked while looking at the telegram. Yu Chengwan decisively tore up the telegram several times. He didn't understand the meaning of the telegram, but at the moment when the fighting on all sides was getting fiercer, he could only convey good news to the troops and not leak bad news.He called Long Izumo over and ordered: "Hurry up and send war supervisors to each regiment and battalion to convey my instructions to the whole division. I hope that the officers and soldiers of our 57th Division Huben will persevere, support hard, and make persistent efforts to annihilate the enemy, carry forward the spirit of revolutionary soldiers, and carry forward the brilliant achievements of our army. Those who fail to fight will be severely punished!" "Yes!" Long Chuyun ordered and left.