Chapter 33 Gao Zi said the battle against the Dancing Flower Cave

Gao Zi, the deputy head of the 169th Regiment, said that he had been commanding operations in the bunker at the south entrance of the west wall for three days and nights without a single minute of rest.His voice was hoarse on the phone, his eyes were bloodshot from insomnia, and his beard, which had not been trimmed for many days, grew like hedgehog hairs on his cheeks, standing straight up. At this time, the sky was already bright, and the streets were completely covered by thick smoke. After the Japanese army entered the city through the gap in the east city, the south was restricted by the city wall and could not develop. , Sitting in Louhou Street, to Beiqiandao Street, drawing an arc formation.Facing this arc formation is the line of bunkers arranged by Gao Ziyue. There are 7 bunkers blocking the entrances of the streets and alleys. When the National Army originally built the bunkers, they were surrounded by civilian houses. Now the houses are being bombarded by the Japanese army. The fire destroyed it, leaving only piles of rubble and a few fragments of dilapidated houses. The vision of the bunker was much wider. Not only could you see the activities of the Japanese army around, but it also enhanced the control ability of the firepower point.Gao Zi said to form a group of two blockhouses, and then set up machine guns between the two blockhouses as cross-fire points. After visiting the east gate for a day and a night, there was still not much progress.

At dawn, the Japanese army set up a group of small flat-fire guns and mortars in front of each bunker, and blasted them fiercely at the bunkers.While bombing the bunker, the Japanese army also loaded incendiary bombs and hit the National Army's covered corridor position in the center of the street. Within a few minutes, some empty houses and shelves of residents beside the position burst into flames, and suddenly a corner of the southeast city was destroyed. It became smoky, and no one could be seen a few feet away. Gao Ziyue still maintained a vigorous fighting spirit, took two brothers and a machine gun with him, and lay down in a central bunker, with his blood-red eyes wide open, staring at the movement of the enemy in front.

After less than an hour of stalemate, 3 flat-fire shells fell on the bunker.Gao Zi said, withdraw!He learned a lesson, and before the bunker collapsed, he quickly moved the machine gun and telephone to the covered corridor behind the bunker to defend.Sure enough, the bunker was hit by another mortar shell immediately, and the vault immediately fell down with a "boom". This section of covered corridor is a straight line, and most of the flat-fired artillery shells of the Japanese army passed by from both sides.Seeing that the bombardment had little effect, the Japanese army rushed over with dense assault troops.Gritting his teeth, Gao Ziyue personally held a machine gun and set it on the stone frame covering the corridor to shoot at the enemy.The Japanese soldiers fell down with their arms outstretched and bowed in the smoke.Unable to rush up, the Japanese army switched to mortar bombardment. The mortar array was set up at the Yongan Chamber of Commerce, at the east end of the same street as the National Army.The mortar shells of the Japanese army were like machine guns, one after another, hitting the covered corridor with a loud bang.At around 10 o'clock in the morning, the seven or eight national army obstacles on both sides of the street were burned and destroyed, and even the two curved fortifications behind the covered corridor guarded by Gao Ziyue were also flattened.Gao Zi said that he was afraid that without the protection of the fortifications, the communication would be cut off, so he moved the machine gun to the first curved fortification of the complete covered corridor in the back and continued to hold on.The national army retreated a section, and the Japanese army advanced a section. The enemy was so pressing every step of the way that the situation was extremely critical.

There are about two platoons following the deputy commander Gao Ziyue to fight on this front.Half of them are the old base of the 1st Battalion, and the other half are newly formed miscellaneous soldiers. They have distributed many strongholds on the ruins on both sides of the street, using bricks to pile up wall foundations and deep craters made by shells.Since the afternoon of the 28th, they have become a situation where people fight for themselves.Although there are only two or three brothers in each stronghold, they have all displayed the most noble martial virtues. If there is no order for them to move, they will never move half a step, and they all live and die with the position.Moreover, it can be seen from this that the officers and soldiers of the 57th Division are well-trained. Several strongholds are commanded by a squad leader, and they can advance and retreat freely without panic.

Attached to these two platoons, there are also 3 communication soldiers, led by squad leader Wang Zhaohe.Because the position changes from time to time, the telephone wires have to be reinstalled from time to time. When Gao Ziri reached the westward section of the west wall, the telephones of the 1st Battalion and the 3rd Battalion were cut off, and the remnants of the 3rd Battalion were guarding at this time. Sitting in the back street of the building in the northeast corner of the city, to get there, you have to pass through several streets and alleys. Gao Zi said that he ordered Wang Zhaohe and the squad leader to quickly set up a line in the direction of the 3rd Battalion in order to cope with the battle here.

Squad leader Wang led three messenger brothers and went there immediately.The streets and alleys they had to pass through had nothing to hide from, and they had to erect wires and climb up and down, so it was impossible to find any shelter at all. There were 3 signal soldiers, one with a coil of wires on his back, two with axes and forks, and Squad Leader Wang led the way with a rifle. They walked forward in parallel with Gao Ziyue's infantry defense line, and every foot of the road was within the enemy's shooting range, but Squad Leader Wang had no fear at all, and quietly walked next to the houses that had not yet completely collapsed. Walking, the three brothers also boldly followed. When they encountered the ruins of a collapsed house, the four of them lined up and crawled on the ground.

The first brother held the thread, and the two brothers in the back crawled along the side of the mound of soil on the foundation of the wall while pulling it along.But when they encountered a crossroad, they encountered difficulties, because the enemy blocked the intersection to the east with machine guns.At this time, Squad Leader Wang kept silent, and quickly approached the enemy's firepower point from under the low wall of a collapsed residential building. After getting close, he threw several grenades one after another, which exploded with a "boom", and the three brothers ran across the road quickly. Afterwards, Squad Leader Wang cleverly jumped from the houses on the side of the alley to the houses on the other side of the alley.

In this way they passed two gates.But then they came across a row of houses that hadn't fallen down. A group of Japanese troops was hiding in the high walls of the houses. They looked down at the ruins in front of them and fired from time to time with their rifles.Squad leader Wang plucked up his courage and crawled to lead the way.Although there are high mounds and low bomb craters on the ruins that can be concealed, the Japanese soldiers riding on the high wall and looking down can observe all the subtle activities very carefully, and they can't hide them from their eyes.Squad leader Wang was about to take action with the three brothers when several rows of machine gun bullets from the Japanese army came over, and all three brothers were killed in battle.

Fortunately, the brother carrying the electric coil was wounded and crawled over the ruins before he died. Squad leader Wang took over and continued to move forward alone, pulling strings and reconnaissance of the enemy, all done by himself.When he arrived at the entrance of the Martyrs' Temple, it was only half an alley away from the bunker stronghold of the 3rd Battalion. He finally found the broken ends of the communication lines, and he immediately connected them. Leaning to the side, he let out a long breath. Squad Leader Wang's leg was scratched by a bullet, but he ignored it. Now he took the time to hide under a brick wall, exposed the wound on his leg, tore off a section of the leg wrap, and wiped the wound. tie up.After finishing the piercing, he was about to get up and walk towards the command post of the 3rd Battalion when suddenly there was a sound of rifle fire, and the bullets hit the masonry and broken walls and splashed.He quickly lay on the ground vigilantly and observed that there were two alleys from east to north, both of which were obliquely facing the brick wall. Hearing the sound of the gunshots, it seemed that two alleys came from at the same time, and the two roads were impassable. However, the road back was also covered by unobstructed ruins, and the enemies occupying the roofs of the houses were watching them unrelentingly. He thought that he was probably surrounded by Japanese infiltration troops.

Wang Zhaohe thought about it calmly. Whether there were enemies behind Xiangxi was unknown, but there were piles of collapsed houses scattered all over the place. The road must be very difficult to walk. To meet the enemy's shooting on the high building, he was already familiar with the road he came from just now, and the enemy was still relatively far away. After thinking about it, he still made up his mind to go back by the same road. He heard the gunshots for a while, and there were still few enemies at the entrance of the north alley, so he turned around, lay down under the corner facing the east wall, and fired back at the enemies to the east twice. At the north corner, throw a grenade towards the entrance of the north alley.The wall was only three or four feet high. When he stretched his head out, he saw seven or eight enemies hiding behind him. He then threw a grenade at the enemy in pursuit.Fortunately, the corner of the wall blocked the entrance of the east alley. When the enemies on both sides could not pinch him, Wang Zhaohe jumped out of the wall. The alley in front of him was a blind spot for the enemy to shoot. Walking south, walking 60 to 70 meters, there are many collapsed houses and broken walls on both sides. He hid in the alley, hid in the east bullet hole and fired a shot, then climbed to the corner of the west wall to shoot, and fired back and forth. Stretch backward.

The Japanese army didn't know how many people Squad Leader Wang had along the way, and they didn't dare to chase too closely, so he killed six or seven people instead.Squad leader Wang retreated in front of a pile of dilapidated private houses, and there were a few connected houses in this pile of private houses, all of which were to the west of the ruins. Drilled, drilled straight to the back of the first-line blockhouse guarded by the deputy head Gao Ziyue, he ran towards the national army's position in a 100-meter dash, and waved his arms excitedly as he ran, indicating that he had returned victorious .The national army brothers on the other side of the position were also ready to welcome him. Gao Ziyue, the deputy head of the regiment, leaned out to look at him happily, and made a gesture of embracing him warmly.But suddenly there were several gunshots of "bababa", and the running squad leader Wang Zhaohe raised his arms and stopped. He opened his mouth wide to shout something, but he didn't shout. He turned around and stared at him with resentment and regret. The enemy who shot at him coldly, slowly, slowly, his body spun around and fell down. "Squad Leader Wang!" Gao Ziyue roared sadly. But Wang Zhaohe would never agree again. Wang Fenghua, the platoon leader of the 1st platoon of the engineering company, brought two squads of engineers and was ordered to come to the east gate for support. Gao Ziyue arranged for them to serve as a reserve team in a covered corridor between the west wall of Dagaoshan Lane.Because of Wang Zhaohe's contribution, the telephone line was connected. Gao Ziyue received a call from the command post of the 3rd Battalion, saying that about 50 or 60 people from the enemy had occupied a brick-walled house in the back street of Zuolou as a forward base. The left wing of our army was under great threat, and the enemy's position was quite favorable. The machine guns and rifles in the 3rd Battalion's position could not hit them, so they were very passive.Gao Zi said that after hearing this, the deputy head of the regiment immediately decided to send platoon leader Wang Fenghua to take his two squads up to get rid of the enemy. Wang Fenghua accepted the order and led his brothers to rush north from Gaoshan Lane.These two squads were actually only 19 men, with 11 rifles and the rest were all knives and spears.Although their weapons were at a disadvantage, their advantage was that they were familiar with the terrain, because Wang Fenghua was still building fortifications in this area last night, and he knew the layout of the enemy after they entered the city wall.He stayed in the streets and alleys, and took the lead with 18 capable brothers to walk through the collapsed houses.Sometimes he turned to the north, and sometimes turned to the south, always walking under the roof frame or under the broken wall, without showing any sign. When we arrived at Zuolou Back Street, there was a row of dilapidated houses on fire. Taking advantage of the small fire, Wang platoon leader rushed northward through the gap in the flames, passed through a row of roof trusses, and came to Baizixiang.This alley is based on the city wall at the northeast corner, and it happens to go around behind the enemy brick building.Wang Fenghua asked the brothers to stay under the pile of bricks and tiles, and climbed up to the roof of a house to spy on the enemy. He saw that the roof of the brick and tile house had collapsed a hundred meters to the southwest, and the surrounding Some of the walls are two feet high, while others are seven or eight feet short, shaped like a small city.He looked at it for a while, and saw that the house faced west and east, occupying two alleys, and it was estimated that there would be a back door facing west. Thinking of this, he made a plan, and quickly slipped out of the house.He divided the two groups, seven people took seven guns to attack the back door, and the rest took four guns to strangle the front door, and he himself was divided into the more dangerous front door attack point. He asked the brothers attacking the back door to lie down and hide 30 to 40 meters away from the back door. They divided the guards on two sides and blocked them with crossed firepower. They only tried to attract the enemy to shoot. Blast him with a grenade.After finishing the order, he told a squad leader surnamed Liu to crawl southwest along the stone road in front of him, and wait there when he saw a brick wall that didn't fall down.He himself took 10 brothers, along a row of dilapidated houses, detoured from the southeast direction, behind the burnt-out foundation of a house, they filed in, and after entering, they saw a house with a brick wall on the opposite side. There are two black painted doors closed.Hearing the "crack" of the rifles, the enemy was already fighting at the back door. Wang Fenghua commanded 4 brothers with rifles to hide in the northeast corners of the wall. He brought 6 brothers with him, and each took a grenade. Relying on the low wall, he threw it in forcefully. "Boom, boom, boom!" They made an appointment in advance, and when a grenade was thrown, everyone shouted to kill in unison.More than a dozen grenades were thrown into the room at the same time, and the power was naturally not small. The enemies in the room, after the sudden bombing, heard the orderly shouts of killing, and suddenly panicked.Some of them were killed and injured by the bombing, and some were crushed under the bricks, tiles and wooden beams by the broken house. A few of them were not killed or injured, and they rushed out in two ways. As soon as the Japanese army went out, Wang Fenghua ordered the brothers in the two corners to shoot, and one of them did not let him escape.There was also a burst of intense gunfire from the direction of the back door, and then fell silent. Wang Fenghua was still afraid that there were enemies hiding inside, so he took his rifle first and led his brothers into the gate to search.When I got to the door, I saw that from front to back, the two dilapidated houses had collapsed. Most of the enemies in the house were killed, and a few were crushed, lying on the ground moaning.The soldiers of the national army ran forward one after another. Without any orders, they stabbed the chest, abdomen and genitals of the wounded Japanese soldiers with bayonets, causing a strong smell of blood to fill the room, and the blood spurted out. When it came out, the soldiers of the national army were splashed all over their faces. "Ah, ah, ah!" The Japanese wounded soldiers screamed in pain a few times, and then they all died. In this battle, Wang Fenghua's platoon killed 5 people and injured 4 people, while dozens of Japanese soldiers were all wiped out, setting the best record for the national army since the street fighting in Changde. Gao Zi said he was overjoyed, and asked Master Yu Chengwan for his approval, rewarding Wang Fenghua Pai Guangyang with 2,000 yuan. Under the resistance of the national army, who did not fight and fought bravely, the Japanese army had to pay the price of blood for every street they walked and every house they occupied.In the end, the Japanese had to change tactics.It turned out that Yan Yongwang ordered the houses in Changde City to be burned first, but some Japanese soldiers were afraid that they would burn the city and delay the speed of the attack, so they stopped setting fire. Now they think it is more beneficial to attack with fire, so they use mountain cannons Incendiary bombs were fired alternately at the streets and alleys occupied by the national army. At the same time as the bombing, gasoline was poured on the remaining houses and set on fire everywhere. The soldiers of the national army who deployed defenses around the civilian houses were attacked by the fire and could not stand up, so they retreated one after another. The soldiers in the blockhouses or covered corridors in the middle of the street were also smoked by the fire, making it difficult to breathe and blurred vision, which greatly affected fought.Gao Zi said that he was flanked by enemies from the north and the east and west. The Japanese army in the north had the upper hand. They set fire to the wind, burned a section, attacked a section, and took advantage of it. The enemy attacking from the east, although at a disadvantage, set fire They would burn themselves, but instead of burning in front of the national army positions, they fired the burning bombs behind the national army positions, and still put the defenders on the downwind of the fire head. Gao Ziyue commanded the troops to fight and put out the fire at the same time. When they were tense, the Japanese army called in more than 20 bombers to fly low and bombard the national army positions in the urban area, so that the troops had no chance to fight the fire. The main force of the Japanese attack was still on the arc from the southeast corner to the northwest, that is, the streets and alleys with Wuhua Cave as the focus, so the fire here was also the largest.It doesn't matter the fire at all, the big fire hugs the small fire, the old fire adds new fire, the defenders are surrounded by flames, the Japanese guns and shells took the opportunity to fire at the national army's position, and the purple-black smoke added blue and white. Miserable. Gao Zi said that the deputy head of the regiment was guarding the corridor at the front line, and none of the officers below him were willing to retreat.They chose a place with cover at the front and back to hide. The front leaned against the wall or bricks to block the enemy's guns, and the back also leaned on some sundries to block the fire. Every officer and soldier was surrounded by fire, artillery, and air strikes. struggle. The Japanese army rushed over from the place where the flames were thin, and Gao Ziyue jumped out with the soldiers to fight them hand-to-hand with bayonets and spears.The Japanese really couldn't imagine that under such harsh environmental conditions, the officers and soldiers of the national army would still be so stubborn.They got rid of the entanglement of hand-to-hand combat, retreated to the back, under the cover, stretched out their hands, and even extended their thumbs to the Chinese soldiers. After boasting, they shook their heads again, which meant that you were very brave, but it was nothing. Hope, don't fight! The soldiers of the national army ignored this trick, and those who had grenades responded with grenades, and those who did not have grenades, they responded with a big rock. In the face of the Chinese army, which vowed not to bow its head, the Japanese army could only rely on powerful artillery to exert pressure.They placed at least two flat-firing cannons in front of every bunker and stronghold of the national army to bombard them. When the 29th and the 30th were approaching, the remaining houses in Dongcheng were completely bombed and burned. The positions of the national army were also shattered and out of shape by the flat-fire bombardment.But even so, the brothers of the 169th regiment still did not retreat, preferring to perish together with the fortifications in the fire and explosion.Seeing that the last few bunkers and covered corridors were finally flattened by the Japanese flat-firing artillery, and the horizontal positions no longer existed, Gao Ziyue had to move back a small distance and set up his place at the entrance of Qiao's alley. command post. "How is it, deputy head Gao?" Yu Chengwan called to ask him. Gao Zi said hoarsely by the microphone: "Report to the teacher, the position is still sticking to it, and it has not collapsed!" "Okay!" Yu Chengwan praised, "You stand alone and have outstanding military exploits. This division commander will report to Commander Sun and Commander Wang in the theater, please reward!" Yu Chengwan never said it casually, because he tried his best to plead for Gao Ziyue after the war, and repeatedly praised his talents and achievements in front of Wang Yaowu, Zhang Lingfu and other generals, so Gao Ziyue has been regarded by Wang Yaowu as a The old man of the 74th Army took him by his side and became an important backbone of the Kuomintang's second appeasement zone.