Chapter 32 Chapter 32 Fist of Anger (2)

who beheaded whom Uchiyama is a long-time fighter, and he can know what level and level his opponent is in as soon as he reaches out. Since the beginning of the Battle of Northern Hubei, the defenders have been very methodical in every move and every move. Even when they attacked Laohekou, they did not panic. Obviously, the Chinese military has a very effective command center. On March 29, Uchiyama sent a telegram to the 4th Cavalry Brigade, ordering the execution of the "beheading operation": bypassing Laohekou, surprise attack and annihilate the Fifth Theater Commander's Department located in the northwest of Laohekou.

The head of the cavalry brigade, Major General Shigeru Fujita, graduated from the Army Cavalry Division and was good at cavalry concealed assault tactics. Before the war, he specially trained a very mysterious squad. The soldiers of this squad all carried green dragon swords, horse rifles and grenades, and the officers used pistols, binoculars and maps. At first glance, they looked like a real Chinese cavalry. If you think so, Shigeru Fujita will be so happy that he can't even sleep well, because he wants to make others feel that way. Official name: Special Ting Enters the Slash Team.

Japan's "into the cut squad" disguised as the Chinese army Entering the cut team, disguised as the Chinese retreating army, set off in the dark, getting closer and closer to the commander's department of the fifth theater. It seems that Liu Zhi can't keep his head anymore, but it's a pity that Shigeru Fujita has just arrived and forgot where he is. Western Henan, northern Hubei, and southern Shaanxi are a triangular area with extremely strong folk customs, which is the so-called "poor mountains and bad waters come out of troublesome people".The locals are all martial and combative, and every village has guns and self-defense regiments. In the past, when warlords fought in melee, they had to say hello to each other when they passed by, otherwise they would kill you without asking.

For the Japanese, there is no need to say hello, because there is no need to discuss. It is said that when we were in western Henan, a self-defense regiment in a stockade came forward to entertain the Japanese military officers stationed there to eat watermelon. While eating, they suddenly turned their faces and rushed eight Japanese from the captain to the translator. All chopped up. It should be pointed out that the stockade is only 500 meters away from the headquarters of the Japanese army. It is self-evident how brave these ordinary people are. Like their brigade commanders, the Jinzhan team didn't know how to do it. When they reached a river, they were about to choose a crossing point, so they went to ask the locals for directions.

This question, any pretense is useless. There were two puppet soldiers who acted as guides and interpreters for the Jinzhan team, but they were not local puppet troops, they were temporarily transferred from eastern Henan. When they spoke, they found that the accent was wrong. The captain of the Slashing Team claimed to be someone from the Laohekou defense force, but he couldn't even speak Chinese well, and even made Lao Di shake his head. After discovering that these people turned out to be Japanese soldiers in disguise, the common people were not shocked, but overjoyed. Eight devils were chopped off by inviting them to eat watermelon, and they barely handed over a few guns. There were at least thirty devils in front of them, not only with guns but also with horses. This must be a huge harvest.

So, one village after another rushed over, their interest was to kill the devils, and then take away the guns and horses. No one felt fear or fear, but they were afraid of falling behind, as if what they were facing was not the Japanese soldiers with live ammunition, but the fish and meat prepared to be distributed to everyone in the production team. The members of the army are all elite soldiers selected from the cavalry brigade, and they have extremely strong combat capabilities, but there are more and more people around them, and there are more and more people around them. There are also earth guns and earth cannons.

Even if you are thirty heavenly gods descending to earth, you are no match for a thousand desperate ordinary people. By the time the Squadron retreated back to the original starting point, half of the casualties had already been lost. With the failure of the beheading operation, it became Fujita's helpless choice to attack Laohekou from the front, and this was the biggest weakness of the cavalry brigade. Most of the cavalry had never experienced large-scale battles. As long as the opponent's firepower was strong, they would hide quickly and shoot randomly with their eyes closed. Liu Zhi's garrison troops were recruited from three theaters, and they were not considered the main force at all, so they were nervous at first, but when they saw that their opponents were better, they immediately became energetic.

A horse walker dares to call us, it will be too bad if you don't beat him to death. During the siege, the cavalry brigade was completely passive and beaten. Some of the Japanese soldiers who dared to climb the city wall were blown up by mortar shells, and some were hit by dense machine gun bullets. None of the squadron leaders in command at the forefront Can come back alive. On April 1, Fujita ordered the termination of the offensive, and retreated after switching defenses. Because too many comrades were killed, many people cried while walking. This cavalry brigade, which had defeated the Tang Group together with the "Tiger Division" in the Battle of Central Henan, had suffered a devastating blow so far. Downsized into a squadron, it is no longer able to fight.

Six days later, Uchiyama finally occupied Laohekou City with the cooperation of the infantry division and the chariot division. There was only one ordinary infantry division (125th Division) defending Laohekou from beginning to end, but this division remained calm until it withdrew from the city. In the last two days, they only killed more than 200 people in battle and captured five people, but the Japanese army suffered nearly 400 casualties. This does not bode well for Uchiyama, Okamura and the entire "China Expeditionary Force". out of print youth Okamura Neiji never gave up his westward strategy. He attacked Laohekou and Zhijiang so hard, in addition to destroying the airfields of the Chinese and American air forces, he also used the local area as a springboard for future occupation of China's rear.

Compared with the battle in northern Hubei, Okamura was more concerned about the battle of Zhijiang in western Hunan.Because compared with Laohekou, Zhijiang is directly closer to the rear of China. On this steelyard, Japan's national fortune and his own destiny can be finally tested. Before the war, he took a flight to Hankou and Hengyang to check the preparations for the battle, but he didn't want to look at it, and he was shocked when he saw it. Priceless Wuhan is attacked by air almost every day. The bombs seem to have eyes, and they only bomb important military installations or transport troops, and do not touch other buildings. This shows that the Chinese and American air forces have complete control over the air, and they can bomb wherever they want. Degree.

Okamura is sensitively aware that the war situation has reached a critical moment. It is really sad to think about it. Seven years ago, when he invaded Wuhan as the commander of the 11th Army, what a happy scene the whole country of Japan, from the army to the people, was. At that time, Tokyo, Japan, etc. Celebrations have been held in big cities, and many people firmly believe that they will eventually be able to invade and occupy the whole of China. Unexpectedly, seven years have passed, and not only is this all about to come to naught, even Japan itself is being bombed every day. hysteria before death Although Okamura continues to issue instructions on "spiritual omnipotence", and keeps saying that "as long as Japan dares to fight, Japan can still win the final victory", but as a high-level commander, he knows many inside stories that ordinary people do not know. Actually not confused. Those who are really confused are those frontline officers and soldiers who are kept in the dark and are still fighting hard until they lose their lives in a foreign country for nothing. Okamura's mood became very heavy and lost. The trip to Hengyang dealt another blow to his fragile heart. The troops that invaded and occupied Zhijiang were mainly attacked by the 116th Division. This division has recruited a large number of recruits since the First World War in Hengyang, but there are still shortages. small distance. Due to the interruption of transportation and supplies, the 116th Division had to "sweep" around every now and then. In fact, it was to grab the necessities of life, food and drink from the common people. This makes their military training basically at a semi-standstill. In the era when Okamura was the commander of the 11th Army, each division was equipped with uniform mountain artillery, but now the 116th Division has only mountain artillery and no field artillery, and some brigades are still using the Russo-Japanese War The old mountain cannon left over from the time. After the 116th Division and other main forces went to Zhijiang, those who stayed in Hengyang became the weakest troops. This "weakest" is no longer the concept of "weakest division" during the Wuhan battle. This weakness is not that weakness, it is real weakness, without any "strong" factor. The two temporary independent mixed brigades had neither Type 38 nor crooked handles. The soldiers were all armed with Type 79 rifles—weapons seized from the Chinese army at the end of the Battle of Henan, Hunan and Guangxi. The soldiers were even worse. Except for some of the divisions selected from the various divisions, which were considered to be eye-catching, many of the others were 17-year-old young soldiers who had just been recruited from the country. Security and defense are reluctant. When he set off from Nanjing, Okamura still had some ambitions in his chest. After this round, even he himself lost some confidence in the current situation. After returning to Nanjing, this "mason" favored by the Japanese High Command had been at a loss for what to do since he had been fishing or playing Go since the afternoon, in addition to doing office work in the morning. In the past, Okamura was the most disdainful of secretly negotiating, thinking it was worthless, but since then, he has established radio and word-of-mouth contact with the Chongqing government, and with the authorization of the Japanese government, he has clarified the terms of peace: the Japanese army is willing to make peace within one year. All were withdrawn to the east of Shanhaiguan. But this condition was flatly rejected by Chiang Kai-shek, who demanded that the Japanese army must first withdraw from North Korea. Okamura became angry when he heard it, arrogant, arrogant, North Korea was annexed by Japan many years ago, and it has long been our territory. Could it be that I have withdrawn my troops, and I have to cede the land to you? Okamura didn't know that in fact, as early as more than a year ago, the leaders of China, Britain, and the United States met in Cairo and decided to use joint forces to force Japan to surrender unconditionally. The overall situation has been decided early, and Chiang Kai-shek is just giving the opponent a chance to voluntarily surrender. After the war, Okamura only found out about this inside story, so he regretted it very much. However, he was really irritated at the time, thinking that the Chinese were so rude, and he had to teach him a lesson in the Battle of Xiangxi. in the name of youth All the Japanese troops who invaded Zhijiang belonged to the Banxi 20th Army, code-named "Sakura Corps", and the commander was Lieutenant General Bannishi Ichiyoshi, the commander of the 20th Army. Sakanishi Kazuyoshi graduated from the 30th batch of Lu University. He came out of the same nest as Anan Yuji and Ishihara Waner. This gentleman’s qualifications are not as good as Yokoyama Isamu’s, but his problem is similar, that is, they all like to “offend” and take it for fun . When he was in Japan, there was a tea party in Tokyo held by General Lu Prime Minister Hayashi Mijuro to entertain reservists (that is, soldiers in the countryside).This kind of tea party is mostly of an occasional nature, just to show the leader's care and consideration for you. Everyone fell asleep. This guy was Banxi, who was the investigation squad leader of the Army Ministry at the time, but when he saw him on the podium, he spit and criticized the "old guys in power", "Thinking of the gold and iron horses back then, seeing the flowers before the moon and the moon, this Helping old immortal corpses eat vegetarian food, I can't do anything myself, but instead block my way of making contributions, it's really abominable, how can they be worthy of those 'founding fathers and heroic martyrs'"? What he said aroused the excitement of the reserve soldiers, and there was crackling applause. When Hayashi Mijuro returned, they all rose up and attacked him. This Hayashi Mijuro was not a fuel-efficient lamp in the first place. During the "September 18th", he dispatched troops from North Korea to the Northeast without an order, so he was called "General Crossing the Border". Now he has finally tasted his subordinates. The taste of flipping the table. In front of the menacing crowd, Hayashi Mijuro had no choice but to apologize, and the more he thought about it, the more angry he was, he put on small shoes for Sakanishi without hesitation, and suspended him from his post. Banxi originally wanted to show off some limelight, but unexpectedly, he was fired after the play. If he hadn't become Doihara's son-in-law later, he might not be able to get ahead in his life. People say that Sakanishi is crazy, but some neuropathy can be pretended. For example, Sakanishi is usually arrogant, likes to find fault with his superiors, and sometimes even swears without any scruples, but he has always been respectful and obedient to Doihara, because he is his backer , and for example, Sakanishi has to deal with everything personally, to some extent it is also for the needs of climbing up-it can give people the impression of diligence. Without Anan's face and Ishihara's brains, Banxi, who is known as a "crazy man", has also changed from the commander of the Kwantung Army Front Army to the commander of the Sakura Corps. It seems to be luck, but in fact, everyone has their own tricks. In the later period of the Battle of Henan, Hunan and Guangxi, Heng Shanyong pursued to Dushan, almost pushing the Chongqing government into a desperate situation. Banxi never thought that he was inferior to Yokoyama Yuu. What a lunatic can do, a mental patient can do as well, not to mention that the Sakura Corps is not a small stock, but a large stock. The truth is good, but the scene has changed. As early as the autumn of 1944, when the Hunan-Guangxi battlefield was facing a serious crisis, the Chongqing government called on the educated youth to temporarily put down their books and join the army. At that time, even Chiang Kai-shek sent his sons to join the army. Brothers Jiang Jingguo and Jiang Weiguo were specially ordered to serve. Some high-ranking government officials also sent their children to enroll. An unprecedented upsurge of educated youths joining the army appeared in Chinese history. One inch of mountains and rivers, one inch of blood, 100,000 young people and 100,000 troops. It was originally planned to recruit 100,000 educated youths from all over the country, but by January 1945, 120,000 had been officially registered and organized into nine divisions, dubbed the "Youth Expeditionary Army." (referred to as the "Youth Army"). One Hundred Thousand Youth One Hundred Thousand Army This is a voluntary army, not a young man, and an educated youth is also different from an illiterate white man. Every additional educated youth in the army is equivalent to an increase of ten ordinary soldiers. National model army. As the Anti-Japanese War was coming to an end, most of the youth army did not take part in the war against Japan except for some of them participated in the counter-offensive in northern Myanmar. After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, they were all demobilized. The morale of the people brought vitality, especially the initial reversal of the domestic trend of evading military service, so that the main force that was seriously understaffed was quickly replenished. However, US aid at this time has become a problem again. Some people thought it was because of the removal of Stilwell, which angered Roosevelt and Marshall, but the essence of the matter is not here. The essence of the incident is that with the victory of World War II in sight, China has lost its original weight in the strategic balance of the allies. At the previous Tehran conference jointly held by the United States, Britain, and the Soviet Union, Stalin had clearly promised Roosevelt that after defeating Germany, the Soviet Union would go to war against Japan within six months. It is precisely because of this promise that the Chinese theater has been reduced from a main base for counterattacking Japan to an auxiliary base. The Americans did not want to spend any more effort to provide military aid to China, and finally the US weapons they provided stopped at ten armies, that is, the expeditionary force that had been armed before. Three American Armies. The other troops were all watching helplessly. Chiang Kai-shek had no choice but to take out the reserve equipment of the thirteen American armed forces and build several semi-American armed forces. , nor starve to death. Fortunately, the problem of people has been solved, and the rest is not difficult to deal with. Specific Tactics Zhijiang is just a small mountain city in western Hunan, but its military location is so important that it is even called "the gateway of Yunnan and Guizhou, the throat of the whole Chu". To occupy Zhijiang, Xuefeng Mountain in the east must be nodded, and on this mountain, there are already heavy troops gathered. Chiang Kai-shek's high command could not allow another defeat in Henan, Hunan and Guangxi, so it went all out for the Xiangxi battle, and assembled a total of eight armies with a total of 120,000 people, most of which were equipped with American or semi-American weapons. Central Army elite. He Yingqin, who had just assumed the post of commander-in-chief of the Chinese Army, personally took charge of the Xiangxi battle.Back then, when he commanded the Great Wall to fight against Japan, many people criticized the tactics as rigid and would only stick to it. After more than ten years, he finally had a chance to prove himself. Everyone is equally optimistic. From the perspective of Okamura and Sakanishi, it was impossible to find the main force of the Chinese army in the past. Okamura knew very well that the troops had no combat effectiveness, and no matter how clever the commander was, they were useless. So he specially transferred the 47th Division from Japan, but this division was unable to reach the battlefield for a long time. The reason is that no matter by sea or by land, after being bombed by the Chinese and American air forces, normal transportation is no longer possible. The 47th Division can only walk at night most of the time, which of course is not fast. Banxi was eager to see through, and only waited for the 1st 31st Regiment of Chongguang Sanma to arrive, while other troops were still on the move. Waiting for the fighter plane to disappear, why not fight while waiting, Banxi pressed the battle start button. On April 9, 1945, the 116th Division was ordered to make a frontal assault on Xuefeng Mountain. The head of the 116th Division was originally Iwanagao, but he was transferred back to China a month ago, and his successor was Lieutenant General Hishita Genshiro. Lingtian and Banxi are classmates of Lu Shi. Before the expedition, Banxi specially came to see him off: The so-called family does not stay in the same house, but our brothers are in the fields, and the relationship between the front and back of the house. Hishida understood the other party's subtext, and lifted his small shoulders up. The 116th Division is the main offensive force, success or failure is crucial, and the younger brother is new here, how can he not work hard. To the joy of the two brothers, the battle in the first two days was smooth sailing, and the troops did not encounter much resistance in their advance. That's great, let's continue to insert into the depths of Xuefeng Mountain. Inserting again, they found that the battlefield was no longer the one they were familiar with. The opponent manipulated not only the common rifle machine gun, but also the submachine gun that could be fired in bursts, and the shells were different. It was a special shell that exploded with an unusually sharp sound--the bazooka. Chinese officers and soldiers equipped with American equipment on the front line in western Hunan The battlefield in northern Myanmar has been moved to the country, and hidden in the depths of Xuefeng Mountain is the Chinese army equipped with American weapons. Not every army equipped with American equipment is strong, but this army is strong enough, because they are the trump card of the trump card: the 74th Army of the "Tiger Force". The Seventy-Fourth Army also suffered losses in the War of Resistance. The Second Battle of Changsha and the Battle of Changde were examples, but even if they were defeated, they were not shabby. The Japanese army often had to pay an equal or even greater price. One of the main reasons why the "Tiger Army" made opponents fearful and even hated. In the 74th Army, the 57th Division of "Hu Ben" was good at defending, and one division could fight against the Japanese army with a city, while the 51st Division of "Wenchang" was good at attacking. It was "Master Wenchang" who arrived. Zhou Zhidao, the commander of the "Wenchang Division", graduated from the fourth phase of Whampoa. This fourth phase produced many generals. In the Kuomintang, there were Zhang Lingfu, Hu Lian, Que Hanqian, and Ge Xiancai according to their reputations. There was also Lin Biao in the Communist Party. Zhou Zhidao is not well-known, but he is also very good at using soldiers. The Seventy-fourth Army was still in a state of semi-American weapons, and the American weapons were not fully equipped. A company had only three submachine guns, and only two rocket launchers in the battalion. However, the weapons of the entire division were concentrated, and the firepower was not weak. When defending, we attach great importance to the traditional unique skills of the 74th Army, that is, concentrated shooting from multiple angles: frontal shooting, oblique shooting, and side shooting, so that you have nowhere to hide. The traditional ones are what everyone knows, "Wenchang Master" knows it, "Hu Ben Master" and "Yulin Master" also know it, this is not a special feature. Only when the position was lost and the "Wenchang Division" had to attack, Zhou Zhidao would show the division's housekeeping skills. He first fired mortars to suppress and destroy the Japanese positions, and then used infantry to attack in waves.Generally, when the infantry attacked, the artillery had to pause or extend, but in order to ensure the intensity of the attack, the "Wenchang Division" kept the mortars non-stop, even the direction and angle did not change. This way of fighting, sometimes it is inevitable to accidentally hurt one's own people, but even so, it is not hesitating. The Japanese army, known for its crazy offensive, had never seen this style of play before, and called it "special tactics." In the face of "special tactics", the casualties of the 116th Division gradually increased, and the speed of advancement became slower and slower. Not only did it fail to break through the defense line of the defenders, but its 109th Regiment was also defeated by the "Wenchang Division" and other three A teacher was caught. Enemy meet The development of the battle situation was far beyond the expectations of Sakanishi and Hishida, making them realize that they encountered difficulties ahead. Astonished as he was, the head of Hishida Division seemed to have not completely reversed the jet lag. He drew an infantry brigade from another regiment, not to relieve the 109th regiment, but to let the latter continue to attack. If this was on the Henan-Xianggui battlefield a year ago, perhaps Lingtian would have used this trick, but it is far from enough now. With the assistance of the air force, the Chinese commander seemed to have more clairvoyance and ears, and immediately discovered Lingtian's reinforcement attempt, and sent reinforcements to block the infantry brigade halfway. The siege of the 109th Regiment continued. Among the three divisions participating in the siege, the 51st "Wenchang" Division, which was in charge of frontal blocking, was still the most ruthless. Zhou Zhidao organized a grenade throwing squad, and three The people formed a group, and as soon as the charge horn sounded, grenades were thrown at the Japanese army in a concentrated manner. Each unit is equipped with a U.S. liaison team. In addition to providing operational advice, U.S. liaison officers are mainly responsible for commanding ground-air coordinated operations with wireless walkie-talkies. For a time, the tomahawks and the wild horses flew together, and the sky was as beautiful as the autumn water. Under the three-dimensional siege, the 109th regiment suffered heavy casualties. By April 25, there were only more than 500 people left in the regiment. The 109th Regiment was unable to advance, but Hishita refused to let them retreat, saying that they would continue to wait for reinforcements in order to flank the "Wenchang Division". It wasn't that Hishida was particularly incompetent, but that after the complete loss of air supremacy, the Japanese army on the ground lost their special reconnaissance and liaison means accordingly, making the commanders also dull and clumsy, completely different from the agility and agility of the past. After the first batch of reinforcements were blocked, the second batch of reinforcements that Lingtian hoped for was the remaining two regiments.As long as these two regiments can break through its front, not only can the siege of the 109th regiment be resolved, but also the main force of the Chinese army can be contained, which can be said to kill two birds with one stone. However, they were not luckier than their companions, because their front was the best defending unit of the 74th Army, the rebuilt 57th Division of "Hu Ben". In the battle of Changde two years ago, the "Hu Ben Division" was almost wiped out, and since then, it has united with the 116th Division to have a blood feud.They met again two years later, and immediately sparks hit the earth. The officers and soldiers were like wolves and tigers, and repeatedly staged face-to-face hand-to-hand combat with the Japanese army. The 116th Division was also relentless, attacking wave after wave, but after paying the price of more than 1,000 casualties, they still could not achieve a breakthrough. In this battle, the "Hu Ben Division" gave birth to a hero named Zhou Beichen. Hero Zhou led a company to fight twice as many enemies for a week without moving. After the war, He Yingqin went to inspect in person, and saw more than 300 Japanese soldiers killed in front of this position, and enemy corpses everywhere in the skirmishers, he couldn't help being amazed. In a lifetime of fighting, I have never seen an infantry company achieve such great achievements. The Americans moved upon hearing the news, and Wedemeyer, on behalf of the Allies, awarded the extraordinary Chinese company commander the Silver Medal of Freedom, which was the first Allied Medal received by an officer on the Chinese domestic battlefield.