Chapter 31 Cast Iron Simon

With the death of all the Ma Baozhen Company, the front line of the North Gate has no fortifications and no people.The head of the regiment, Du Ding, wanted to lead his troops to block it in person. The head of the regiment had to report to the commander when he left the regiment headquarters. After Yu Chengwan knew about it, he disagreed. Turning back a few hundred meters to the south, it is stationed at the cross street at the north entrance of Court Street. There is also a relatively intact blockhouse and a stone corridor. This corridor goes down Court Street and connects with several important urban streets. Moreover, engineers and soldiers have made use of decayed walls and piles of rubble to make temporary fortifications of the civilian houses there, enough to form a relatively strong resistance barrier.

After receiving the order from the division commander, regimental commander Du Ding moved the regimental command post to the center of Agate Lane near Court Street. He also ordered battalion commander Wu Hongbin to set up defenses in the bunker at the intersection of the cross street. Inspect the fortification of the stone corridor. The military term for this kind of corridor is a covered corridor. On both sides are stone walls built with stone slabs on the street. It is as tall as a person and about three feet wide in the middle, allowing two people to walk side by side.It extends along the street but is not straight. During the construction, the engineers deliberately made a bend in a section of four or five zhang roads. In each bend, a few soldiers were used as garrison points. In this way, even in a bend in front All the people and fortifications have been damaged, and the previous or the next bend can still be kept and defended. Even if both ends are damaged and isolated, they can continue to be defended.On both sides of this kind of corridor suitable for street fighting, at intervals of four or five feet, the national army also used bricks, stones, tables, chairs, wood, sand, and made obstacles that crossed the road surface, trying to connect with the walls of houses on both sides of the street or piles of bricks and tiles in ruins. rise up and make it stronger.Du Ding walked sideways in the corridor. He looked at it and thought, although the Japanese army has a strong artillery advantage, with such fortifications, it is no problem to persist for a few more days. Doesn't it mean that the reinforcements have reached the edge of the city for two days?Don't you rush over today?In any case, this fortification can be guaranteed until tonight.

It was a gap, a pause, at the north gate. Immediately, all the mountain guns, mortars, and flat-firing guns that the Japanese army had moved into the city would pour shells down on Du Ding overwhelmingly. Simon. The national army troops in Daximen have been under the fierce attack of the Japanese army for more than 10 hours. The Japanese army attacking Daximen was allied with the Japanese army attacking Xiaoximen.They divided the bombardment points into two places, one in front of Xiaoximen, and the other in the south corner of Daximen. Each place had sixteen or seven cannons. As usual, after half an hour of continuous bombardment, they launched waves of troops. Swoop attack.

Song Weijun, the acting battalion commander of the 3rd Battalion of the 171st Regiment of the National Army, was one of the most capable grassroots commanders in the defense of Changde. He personally commanded the resistance on the front line and never flinched for a moment.After more than ten days of fighting, the artillery of the Army Artillery Regiment has suffered more than half of the casualties. The remaining officers and soldiers have been reorganized into infantry because they have no guns and shells to use. kill. The city foundation in the Ximen Inner area is relatively solid. After the bombardment by the Japanese artillery fire day and night, although most of the fortifications under the city wall were destroyed, the city foundation still stands.With the foundation of the city, Song Weijun felt that the defense was more secure in his heart. Whenever the Japanese artillery shells blasted a gap in the foundation of the city, he would use machine gun grenades to fight against the advancing Japanese troops, and at the same time sent soldiers to quickly attack the city. The base is blocked.

On the 29th, dozens of artillery pieces from the Japanese army bombarded the base of the city. Amidst the fireworks, stone fragments flew everywhere. Next to the fortifications destroyed by the artillery shells, brothers from the National Army of Chengren were lying everywhere, with angry and nervous expressions on their faces. It was too late for these corpses to be transported to the rear for burial.Song Weijun stood on the ground made of sandbags, and was directing the soldiers to pick up baskets full of soil and stones from the city to block a two-foot-square gap in the city foundation.The gap was blocked when the Japanese artillery fire ceased, but the cessation of artillery fire meant that the enemy's infantry would attack. "Fight!" Song Weijun yelled an order, and the machine guns of the national army on both sides of the gap "clacked" at the wave-like troops of the Japanese army that rushed forward. Grenades were thrown one after another at the Japanese soldiers running under the base of the city, and puffs of black smoke rose into the sky with "boom boom boom".Seeing that the firepower of the national army was still fierce, the Japanese army could not stand still and retreated.As soon as the Japanese army retreated, the mountain guns and mortars behind them fired at each other. A mortar shell landed on the oblique side of the gap, and the dust and black smoke rose two feet high, blinding the eyes of the machine gun shooters of the national army. .When the gap was stared at by the Japanese artillery fire and the smoke was misty, the soldiers of the national army still carried sand, earth and rocks there as usual, just like the usual repair work, running up and down all the way, one fell in the artillery fire , without blinking the last eye, and then followed up, like an unbreakable iron chain.

With a sound of "boom-boom", a heavy Japanese artillery shell exploded in the gap. Song Weijun was only six or seven meters away from the explosion point.When he fell to the ground, his heart suddenly tightened, thinking that those brothers who were ordered by him to mend the city must all be ruined. When the smoke and dust cleared, Song Weijun opened his eyes and saw that only three brothers were lying on the pile of rubble in the gap, and the rest were still alive.He was moved, and two hot tears rolled down his face. He ran onto the battlefield, showing half of his body, directing outside. When the bullet hit his side, he squatted down a little. There was no roar of bullets, and he waved his arms towards the bullet. The brothers in the fortification shouted: "The right side is on the right side, and three sandbags are piled side by side on the left side, yes! Then lift up the long stone slab in front, slow down, use your strength, go up, up..."

Bullets poured out like rain, gunpowder smoke filled the air, soldiers running to and fro, roaring with all kinds of emotions, there was a tense and busy atmosphere of fighting against the god of death. In this atmosphere, Ximen's position was stabilized. At 5 o'clock in the afternoon, the Japanese army took up the twilight offensive again.Because of the dark sky, the national army's fortification repairs and defensive activities at the base of the city made it difficult for the Japanese army to distinguish reality from reality, so their charge became a little more blind, which naturally weakened many threats in the attack.After 10 o'clock at night, the Japanese army had to give up.

In the thick night, Song Weijun, who knows how to be sympathetic to the soldiers, seized the time to condolence to his subordinates who had fought hard for a day. He didn't even have a cigarette, a glass of wine, or a sip of water at hand. What could he use to condolences?He was also amazing, he groped in the dark to shake hands with every soldier.He shook the hands of all the living soldiers in the battalion, and even a few soldiers who had died, he clenched their hands tightly without realizing it, and shook them vigorously.Don't underestimate this handshake, the last effort of a soldier may be mobilized because of this handshake.

After shaking hands, Song Weijun climbed on the base of the city and looked into the city.I saw the inside and outside of the city circle, surrounded by Japanese troops attacking the city on three sides, burning the city under the order of the commander of Yan Yongwang's division.He couldn't count exactly how many fires there were, as if all the flames had connected into a big fire circle, completely enclosing the headquarters of the 57th Division in the depths of the flames.Where the fire is on, the purple-red flame is particularly thick, and the smoke on the flame head is particularly black.Where there is no fire, the sky is always filled with a strange and coquettish red light.The Japanese army’s mountain artillery shells, mortar shells, light and heavy machine gun shells, and various sparks and fireballs with long tails and short rays of light penetrated through the red light layer and burned towards the center of the city. The center of the city is full of light and fire everywhere. The telegraph poles trembled in the blaze of fire.Loud bang bang, middle bang bang, soft crackling, sharp cries, soft whimpers, plus the sounds of charging and killing one after another, almost made Song Weijun unbelievable that he was in the universe of human life.He walked down the base of the city with a heavy heart and a calm heart. The heavy heart was that Changde City was in danger in such a harsh war environment, and the heavy heart was that the Daximen he guarded had not been breached by the Japanese army so far, and it was truly impregnable.

Mr. Zhou Xun, a member of the Political Consultative Conference of Dingcheng District, Changde City, Hunan Province, who published the monograph "Changde Battle in the Anti-Japanese Period", told the author that Daximen was not breached by the Japanese army.His words undoubtedly confirmed to me the monumental and epic nature of the foundation of the city where Song Weijun's acting battalion commander set foot. When I went to Changde for an interview, I stayed in the Municipal Guest House. This guest house sounds like a city-level hotel, but it is actually a big hotel compared with several modern hotels, such as Zhiyuan, Taolin, and Dehui Hotels.When I got there, I looked for Mr. Zhou Xun, but Mr. Zhou Xun was hard to find because he had already retired.After I learned the location of the CPPCC in Dingcheng District, I had no choice but to go to his original unit to look for it. I think there will always be his whereabouts.

Although this is my first visit to Changde, I can definitely estimate that the city has undergone tremendous changes compared with decades ago.Dingcheng District is on the south bank of the Yuan River. In the past, there was only a ferry from the south bank to the north bank, but now a magnificent Yuanshui Bridge has been erected. This bridge led me to the intersection of Wuling Road, and about three stops along Wuling Road, I arrived at the CPPCC in Dingcheng District. Before I entered the gate, the old man at the concierge gave me directions, "Where can you find Zhou Xun? Zhou Xun has opened a painting and calligraphy shop on Dingcheng Road next door. Go there and find him." Mr. Zhou Xun and I met in his painting and calligraphy shop.If you want to write about the Battle of Changde, you can't find Mr. Zhou, he is simply a living dictionary of the Battle of Changde.Mr. Zhou said that in 1943, when he was just 12 years old, he was studying at Tianmengang High School in the back township of Changde, about 60 miles away from the city. The wind came into the ears, which was a sign that the battle in Changde City was very fierce at that time.In the spring of the following year, Mr. Zhou was admitted to Hunan Private Junxin Middle School. The school was located in Baihe Mountain, 15 miles north of the city. He talked about the story of the bloody battle between the 57th Division and the Japanese army, which made him very excited after hearing it.This may have planted a seed, which led Mr. Zhou Xun to collect a large amount of materials about the loyalty and bravery of the national army soldiers in the Changde Battle in the future, and became an influential expert in this field of historical materials. While talking, Mr. Zhou invited me to his house for a drink, and was going to talk about it all night. I readily agreed and went with him. When we got on the ferry, I realized that I just took a big detour from the Yuanshui Bridge to Dingcheng District. The ferry is the shortest straight line. It sails to the opposite dock, which is the former official dock of Daximen. Hearing what Mr. Zhou Xun said, I felt a little excited. I knew that Daximen was the sacred gate of Changde, and I also knew that Daximen was still an important place name affecting the lives of the people of Changde after so many years, but I didn’t know Among the six old city gates in Changde, Daximen is the only one that still has ruins and real objects. That is to say, Daximen can still see the traces of the bloody battle that year, which completely broke my regretful imagination that Daximen survived in name only. , can I not be excited? In fact this is the only war mark on a building that I have seen in Changde. The setting sun of the setting sun is reflected in the Yuanjiang water, which is blue in green and blue in green, like a pool of blood that shakes people's hearts. I think that the blood of the soldiers guarding the city of the national army in 1943 is probably the same. Same color, right? I stood on the balcony of the ballroom of the passenger terminal and observed the Yuanjiang River. Although the water is very clear and quiet, it is not wide enough, so I don’t think it has much to fascinate the Japanese generals Yokoyama Isamu and Iwan Yongwang.But now I am driving in the center of the river by boat, and I feel that it is not only wide, but also deep. This can be deduced from the height of the crest of its waves. Its elusiveness and mystery may be its The charm.It suddenly occurred to me that no matter whether Yu Chengwan's national army defended the city or Yokoyama Yuki's Japanese army attacked the city, in this fierce battle between the armies of the two countries, no one could subdue it-Yuanjiang. This is just my final thought about the natural barrier of Yuanjiang River. Of course, I am more concerned about the artificial barrier that the soldiers of the national army have defended with their flesh and blood - the city gate. Only the artificial barrier can show the might and indomitability of our Chinese army. Everything was in slow motion: the boats approached at the official pier, and Mr. Zhou Xun and I disembarked along with the passengers.We climbed up the steps on the stone slope, and the pedestrians around us were in a hurry, but we were looking forward to it step by step.Mr. Zhou's hand pointed forward, and my eyes stared at the past very solemnly.The devastated old city wall of Daximen pushed the camera over and over again to me, zooming in, zooming in, zooming in, and freezing. The surrounding crowd paid no attention to my outpouring of emotion. They flowed past me and Mr. Zhou Xun like a tide. Maybe some of them were "stuck" in their hearts. What is man looking for here? Yes, what are we looking for?