Chapter 82 Chapter 82 Chimney Heights

The offensive and defensive battles in Hengyang became more and more fierce.Lieutenant General Jianxiong of the 34th Division of the Japanese Army, who was blocking the national army in the northwest of Hengyang, received an order from Isamu Yokoyama at this time: urgently ordered the 218th Regiment of the 218th Regiment to approach the western suburbs of Hengyang, and assigned the 116th Division to attack Hengyang. , under the command of Lieutenant General Yan Yongwang, the head of the division, and is mainly responsible for the position west of Yanwuping from Shendu to Xiaoximen. The 218th Wing consists of three brigades. It is also called the "Needle Detachment" because of the captain Ichiro Needle.

Needle Valley set up the regiment headquarters on a hillside called Wangchengao on the north bank of Zhengshui, in a white building in the Catholic Church.Order the headquarters to move in the direction of Yangjiachong, the western village of the Catholic Church. After the 1st Brigade and the 3rd Brigade took over the defense, they were only responsible for the task of reconnaissance of the enemy's situation, and provided uninterrupted daily reports on the enemy's situation.When Jinggu combined the report, compared the map, and checked the topography of Hengyang through the telescope, he couldn't help but gasped.

However, it can be seen that Hengyang City is adjacent to Xiangjiang River in the east, Zhengshui in the north, and the open area of ​​Yanwuping in the northwest.It is said that this Yanwuping was built by Zeng Guofan when he was practicing the Hunan Army in Hengyang.Due to the continuous rivers and ditches and dense fish ponds and paddy fields, the original idea of ​​the imperial army using mechanized troops to advance quickly came to naught.The south of the city is connected to the lotus pond of West Lake, Tianma Mountain and Xichan Temple.From Tianma Mountain and Xichan Temple to the east, there are Yueping Mountain, Jielong Mountain, Yanfeng Mountain, Wugui Mountain and a series of continuous hills on the west bank of Xiangjiang River, spreading out in a wave shape.To the south of Hengyang is an open area between hills and ponds.No wonder the imperial army did not attack from north to south, but from south to north along the rolling hills.

The Chinese army is fully equipped with tank defense artillery, field artillery, mountain artillery, infantry artillery and 130 large-caliber artillery in this open area, and it is full of landmines.Such an array is inherently bombardable, and the fortifications are built in hidden places that are difficult to find.In this situation, if the two armies want to fight it out, the battlefield can only be chosen in the hilly area south of the city.The imperial army wants to occupy the hills; while the Chinese army intends to lure the imperial army into the urn and defeat them with one blow. What a powerful formation.I saw that the Chinese army deployed defenses from hill to hill, equipped with mortars as the main firepower, and used them flexibly; light and heavy machine guns were used to shoot obliquely and sideways to form a tight fire net on the terrain and features with many hills and swamps; the fortifications made full use of the terrain The structure of the ground features is concealed and ingenious.What should be particularly boasted is that the grenade throwing team formed by the Chinese army is extremely ingenious in its tactics and has exerted its overall power.No wonder, the early casualties of the imperial army were so heavy.

Facts have proved that in order to lure the imperial army to fight for hills, the Chinese army paid a huge price of bloodshed and sacrificed everywhere, bought time with space, gradually consumed the strength of the imperial army, caused anxiety, lured the imperial army to gather in Hengyang, and then cut off the rear supply line, And then turned from defense to offense, encircling and annihilating the imperial army attacking Hengyang. Fortunately, Jun Hengshan, the commander of the army, saw through this plan and remained unmoved. The general's main force focused on dealing with the main force of Xue Yue's ninth theater outside Hengyang City, causing them to be defeated and lose their combat power.So, is the siege still worrying about breaking?

Just as Nabuya and Lieutenant Izaki were sighing, bad news kept coming: Lieutenant Yabaiyaya of the 3rd Brigade, a classmate of Izaki Military Academy, was shot several times when he was scouting the enemy near Xiaoximen, and was sent to the regiment headquarters. Too many people were killed in battle; Captain Yintu, the staff officer of the regiment headquarters, was on the hill to the west of the Catholic Church. When he was observing the position with the lieutenant of the regiment, he was directly hit by a shell fired by the Chinese army's tank defensive artillery when he unfolded the map; soon, It was also reported that Lieutenant Tanaka, the second-level lieutenant of the regiment headquarters, Lieutenant Ueda of the regiment artillery team, and many other officers were killed on the front line one after another.If the officer is like this, what can he say about soldiers?

The Zhangjiashan Highland and the Warship Highland have not been attacked for a long time, and the 116th Division is in a bitter battle.In the distance, the dense explosion of grenades sounded like drums and thunder.After paying heavy losses, the two highlands of Zhangjiashan and the warship finally fell.Then when they attacked Chimney Heights, about 300 meters away from the municipal hospital, there were piles of corpses and rivers of blood, and the battle was unprecedentedly tragic.For a while, it was reported that the imperial army had captured the Xiaojiashan highland again, but the location of Xiaojiashan could not be found on the military map.But I can finally breathe a sigh of relief.Soon after, it was reported that the Xiaojiashan position was taken away by the Chinese army again, which was really short of breath.

In this way, Lieutenant Izaki was happy at the moment and worried at the moment; every day he said that he would go to battle to fight, but he didn't actually go to battle every day; , greet dusk and dawn.No one even knows what height Chimney Heights refers to. In this way, in the waiting day after day, amidst the contradictory news, Izaki was about to go crazy.Finally came the news that Chimney Heights had been captured.However, only 250 of the heroic 133rd Regiment, the 3,000-man Hei Lai Regiment, were able to leave the position alive in the end. Finally came the order to go into battle, and Izaki led his 10th Squadron along with the 3rd Battalion where he belonged, and transferred it to the command of Mr. Kurai Lai.Although Chimney Heights had been captured, it was only one of many strongholds in the entire battlefield.

According to the order, the 3rd Brigade detoured to the west of Hengyang City, then turned to the south, and set up camp at a place about 700 meters southwest of the two intersections in the south of the city.At this time, the 3rd Battalion had three squadrons, the 9th, 10th, and 12th, plus the 3rd Machine Gun Squadron, with a total strength of about 600 people.The 11th Squadron is responsible for the guard duty of the Field Heavy Artillery Squadron, and is not in the brigade's battle sequence for the time being. After Major Kajiya, the captain of the 3rd Battalion, was killed in the Battle of Yingtian, Captain Watanabe, the captain of the 9th Squadron, took over the command of the brigade; the captain of the 9th Squadron was promoted by a senior officer, Lieutenant Ishii.During the march, I only heard the acting captain Watanabe talking to himself: "Our mission seems to be an extended battle at Chimney Heights, and sacrifices are inevitable!"

The soldiers of the 3rd Battalion hurriedly walked under the green hills in the southwestern outskirts of Hengyang, their trouser legs were soaked by the night dew.While ushering in the brilliant morning glow, it also ushered in the attack of the P-41 fighter jets of the Sino-US joint air force.The Japanese soldiers panicked and scattered in all directions to avoid the strafing and bombing of the planes. Soon, the troops of the 3rd Battalion of the Japanese Army were ordered to go south along the railway and turn to the northeast.After arriving at the platform of Hengyang West Railway Station, Watanabe ordered the troops to disperse and stand by. He led the squadron leaders to board the black highland northwest of the West Railway Station, that is, the Zhangjiashan Highland.Because it was won by the Hei Lai United Team in a bloody battle, it was named Hei Heights.

Zhangjiashan was originally a red earth hill with dense forests.After the baptism of fierce battles, it has become a bare mountain, with only the flag of the 133rd Regiment flying up and down alone on the top of the mountain.A black crow was showing off a piece of carrion to its companions, but the meat was snatched away by another crow without paying attention. After saluting the flag of the 133rd Regiment on the Black Heights, a group of officers led by Captain Watanabe accepted a brief welcome ceremony held by the Hei Lai Regiment.But seeing the huge position on the high ground, it can fully accommodate more than 260 soldiers from two squadrons.In order to capture this position, Lieutenant General Yan Yongwang successively mobilized the forces of three regiments, stepping on the soft red soil, which shows the difficulty of the capture battle.The Japanese officers then entered the bunker to discuss the attack plan and actual combat steps. When the meeting was over, the mortars of the Chinese army had successively attacked.It may be that Watanabe and the others went up the mountain and were discovered by the defenders on the opposite side.At this time, Lieutenant Izaki was surprised to find that the soldiers and soldiers of the headquarters of the 133rd regiment were actually waiting to be beaten as if they were acting in a movie during the shooting of the national army. No one quickly entered the bunker to take shelter.Probably waiting for an order. The Zhangjiashan position was carefully constructed by the Chinese army. Wide horizontal pits were dug in the bunker, which is enough to withstand air raids and shelling.It was hard to hear someone shouting in Japanese: "Quick! Enter the trench! Enter the horizontal pit!" But the action is not as quick as the shout, it is too late!All I could hear was wailing, and then blood and flesh flew everywhere. After moving the wounded soldiers to the edge of the cliff in the southeast of Zhangjiashan Mountain, they breathed a sigh of relief.Under this cliff is the Xianggui Highway leading to Lingling and Guilin.The cliff is 15 meters high, with a steep slope of about 70 degrees. The Japanese ambulance team slid down the slope with the wounded head down, feet up, or prone or supine.Unexpectedly, the place under the cliff was extremely dirty.It turned out that more than 50 Japanese troops were stationed here, and there were strong bushes growing on the edge of the cliff. Because the opposing defenders could not see it, the Japanese soldiers could hold on to the tree trunk even in broad daylight, with their buttocks facing down for convenience.It is really an ideal open-air toilet.After more than a month of fierce fighting, and it was midsummer, many Japanese soldiers suffered from diarrhea, and there was also a lot of excrement, which was piled up under the cliff. The wounded Japanese soldiers were slid down one by one. Some were struggling in the excrement; some were half-dead, unable to move;Every time a fly is put down, flies as big as gadflies, red heads, and blue heads make a loud buzzing noise, and swarms of flies rise into the air like black smoke.Its embarrassing situation is not difficult to imagine. Although a stretcher team of more than 20 people came to pick up the stretcher under the cliff, each of them was lazy and listless.To what extent is the lack of nutrition in the entire team. 400 years ago, when the famous Japanese siege general Toyotomi Hideyoshi was besieging the city, he strictly controlled the excrement. Only then did the Japanese officers really realize the importance of it. However, it is unbelievable that neither the feces of the Chinese army nor the remains of the Chinese army can be seen.The scale of Zhangjiashan's position is huge, and it can be seen at a glance how much the Heilai United team paid to capture it.The opponent must have suffered considerable casualties.But not a single body was to be seen, and none surrendered.Why?Maybe it was because the opponent had no choice but to withdraw from Zhangjiashan in an organized and orderly manner.General Fang Xianjue's high fighting spirit and strict discipline made Watanabe and other Japanese officers secretly admire and sigh.