Chapter 16 4. The brave 51st Division

We looked through the historical materials of the war and found a very interesting phenomenon.Almost every heroic army in the world has a very fine tradition, whether it is the Soviet Union, the United States, Germany, Japan, or China, the heroic army has a fine tradition, which is a universal law.The 51st Division of the Kuomintang Army is such a unit. The 51st Division belongs to the main division under the command of Yu Jishi, commander of the 74th Army of the Kuomintang, and Wang Yaowu, the first division commander.As mentioned earlier, when the 51st Division led by Wang Yaowu fought against the Jiangxi Red Army, it was Chiang Kai-shek's most proud unit in the campaign to encircle and suppress the CCP Red Army.

After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, Wang Yaowu led the 51st Division to follow the 74th Army to the Songhu battlefield. At that time, Zhou Zhidao and Zhang Lingfu were the heads of the main regiment of the 51st Division. During the Battle of Songhu, the 51st Division was expanded into two brigades. Zhou Zhidao served as the commander of the 151st brigade, and Zhang Lingfu served as the commander of the 152nd brigade. In 1942, due to Zhou Zhidao's meritorious service against Japan, he was promoted to the commander of the 51st Division.Wang Yaowu was promoted to commander of the 74th Army, and Zhang Lingfu was promoted to commander of the 58th Division.

The 51st Division fought in more than a dozen battles including the Battle of Songhu, the Battle of Nanjing, the Battle of Lanfeng, the Battle of Nanchang, the Battle of Changsha, the Battle of Shanggao, the Battle of Zhejiang and Jiangxi, the Battle of Western Hubei, the Battle of Changde, and the Battle of Changheng. There were heavy casualties, and at the same time they all inflicted heavy losses on the Japanese army.Zhou Zhidao, who graduated from the fourth phase of the Whampoa Military Academy, was Chiang Kai-shek's favorite general. After Japan surrendered, the 100th Army was reorganized into the 83rd Division. Su Yu, a general of the People's Liberation Army, was annihilated.

Li Yunlong, the protagonist in the TV series, is right. The heroism and style of an army are cultivated by the founder of the army. One soldier, one general.This is indeed the truth, almost any army in the world is like this. In the Battle of Xiangxi, it was Zhou Zhidao's 51st Division that first launched the attack on the Japanese army. The right-hand army of the 116th Division of the Japanese Army consists of three regiments, the 109th Regiment, the 120th Regiment and the 133rd Regiment, plus the strength of a puppet regiment, the total number is more than 8,000.They advanced rapidly under the cover of aircraft in the sky, tank armor on the ground and heavy artillery.The Chinese army uses companies and battalions as combat units, blocking them layer by layer.The advance team of the 109th Regiment of the Japanese Army was the 1st Battalion led by Major Iijima. They fought fiercely with the defenders of a company of the Chinese army for a morning, and then seized the position. All the soldiers of the company guarding the position were killed, and then repelled the second A battalion of the Chinese army on the second line of defense.

The battle report sent back from the front line made Yan Yongwang very happy.From this point of view, the fighting will of the frontal Chinese army is not high, and the overall progress is smoother than expected.He concluded that this battle in Zhijiang would be effortless.So Yan Yongwang ordered the advance team, Major Iijima, to quickly expand the results of the battle without any worries, cooperate with the adjacent detachment, adopt a roundabout encirclement from the north, and wipe out the resistance army on the front of China in Gaosha City, Dongkou, Huayuan City, and Wugang. Northwest line.

The line mentioned by the head of the division, Yan Yongwang, is exactly the line of defense of the 74th Army.In order to curb the momentum of the Japanese attack, Zhou Zhidao ordered the main force of the 51st Division to dispatch the current Japanese army.The whole division entered the temporary position and started a fierce battle with the 109th Wing of the Japanese Army. Yasuzaburo Takidera, the commander of the Japanese Army Alliance, was the main force of the 116th Division.The Japanese Independent Mountain Artillery Brigade blasted the position of the 51st Division of the Defenders upside down, and the surrounding area was turned into a piece of scorched earth, and the trees and bushes were burning.

In order to avoid the enemy's artillery bombardment, Zhou Zhidao ordered the officers and soldiers of the whole division to meet with the Japanese army hand in hand, so that the Japanese artillery fire could not play its role.So the close combat started, and the sound of gunshots, explosions, and shouts of killing rang out.The Japanese 109th Regiment was suppressed, but they retreated to Mount Eagle on the east side of the main road. Wang Menggeng, head of the 153rd regiment, received an order from his teacher Zhou Zhidao to recapture the Yingxing Mountain Highland at any cost.Wang Menggeng immediately organized death squads and started a battle under the cover of artillery fire.

Company Commander Wen Chenghai led 120 soldiers in the company. Under the fierce bombardment of cannons and the cover of more than a dozen light and heavy machine guns on the flanks, they charged bravely and broke into the enemy's position for a while.Relying on their large numbers, the Japanese army was very arrogant. They fought hand-to-hand with the Chinese army that broke into the position, and pushed Wen Chenghai and the others back. After the Death Squad retreated from the Japanese positions, they organized grenades and dropped them on the Japanese positions like raindrops.With the sound of an explosion, Wen Chenghai jumped out with a submachine gun in his hand, and the soldiers of the whole company followed the company commander to charge again.The Yingxing Mountain Highland changed hands several times and was repeatedly fought over and over again, before it was finally occupied by Wen Chenghai and the others.

Captain Yasuzaburo Takidera saw that the loss of Mount Takata was very dangerous for the 109th Regiment.This highland directly controls the main road of attack. Without this highland, the follow-up troops would have difficulty getting through, even the alliance would be inconvenient to move. So he ordered a squadron to counterattack, and ordered artillery to support it.Wen Chenghai, who was standing on the high ground of Yingxing Mountain, was repeatedly in a hurry and asked for reinforcements. Commander Wang Menggeng was in a hurry. He asked Wen Chenghai to hold on for the last five minutes, and at the same time ordered Commander Jiang Qiyong to rush for reinforcements.

There are only thirty or forty people left by Company Commander Wen standing on Yingxing Mountain, but they did not give up their position.Under the Japanese artillery fire, they jumped from east to west, and then ran from west to east, blocking the enemy while dodging the enemy's artillery bombardment.When the sun was at its peak at noon, Battalion Commander Jiang and the others came up.There were only 7 wounded officers and soldiers left on the ground. The Japanese 109th Regiment changed its offensive route. They saw that the frontal defense team had already occupied the high ground on both sides of the road, and they would suffer losses if they fought hard.So, they took advantage of the dusk to secretly divert and move forward.Major Iijima led the advancing team to the front, and the main force of the alliance was behind. They detoured across the small river, occupied a commanding height on the west bank of the small river, and took a rest here.

Early the next morning, before dawn, Iijima and the others headed towards Longtan Ancient Town.Zhou Zhidao's 151st Regiment defended the position in this area.That day, the sentry on the defensive position saw a team approaching in front of them and asked them, "Who is it?" Iijima and the others didn't stop. "What are you asking, my own people." As soon as the words fell, the sentry was killed with a single shot.Iijima's advance team flocked to the front of the position. This is a tragic battle.The distance was too close, and the soldiers on both sides were right in front of them. They didn't even have time to pull the bolts, so they had to fight hand-to-hand with the Japanese army.Some even wrestled with Japanese soldiers before they had time to raise their guns.There were people rolling around and huddled together everywhere on the battlefield. Some soldiers were crushed by the Japanese army and had to use the grenades on their bodies. The left side of the Chinese garrison sent a battalion for reinforcements. Iijima's advance team had fierce firepower. He divided the troops into two parts, one team for reinforcements, and the other team for the battle. The battle scene was extremely fierce.The 151st Regiment suffered heavy casualties, but they held their positions and drove Iijima back. Just as the Iijima Advance Brigade attacked the defensive positions of the 151st Regiment, the third brigade of the Japanese 109th Army Regiment also took advantage of the cover of night to attack the positions of the 152nd Regiment.More than 1,000 Japanese soldiers suddenly surged up from the Songshan Highland of the 152nd Regiment. Before the regiment leader Xie Kaichang had time to organize resistance, some of the highlands fell. Master Zhou Zhidao came to the battlefield in person and organized troops to counterattack.The Pine Mountain Highland cannot be lost. It corresponds to the Eagle Mountain Highland. It is also a deadly strategic location on both sides of the road.The 152nd regiment repeatedly attacked and launched a battle for the Songshan Highland. However, the terrain on the top of Songshan was complicated. The Japanese army used this natural barrier to contend with the Chinese army. What made Zhou Zhidao even more anxious was the follow-up troops of the Japanese army. In order to occupy this high ground, several Japanese regiments in the vicinity had turned around here, trying to encircle the 152nd regiment.Zhou Zhidao became ruthless. With the support of powerful artillery fire, the whole regiment rushed up from three directions, throwing grenades from both sides on the top of the mountain. It can be said that both the offensive and defensive sides were very tenacious. The Chinese soldiers who rushed forward fought bayonets with the Japanese army, and only in this way could they approach the Japanese army's rubble pile.Thanks to the large number of people, Commander Xie drove the Japanese brigade out.They left a squadron of dead bodies and retreated down the hill.Xie Kai often glanced at the battlefield, the corpses were strewn all over the mountain ridge, the misery was chilling.The 152nd Regiment paid a heavy price to regain the Songshan Highlands. The three regiments of the Left Route Army of the 116th Division of the Japanese Army were unified under the command and coordination of the 109th Regiment Commander Yasuzaburo Takidera.When a brigade of the 120th regiment captured the strategic point of the Qingshanjie, the captain of the Longsi regiment attached great importance to it. This fortress was Fulonghui in the front and Longtan in the back, which was a key point to go straight to Zhijiang. The Qingshan boundary is a high mountain, and it is the junction of the 74th Army and the 100th Army. The left wing is the 19th Division of the 100th Army, and the right wing is the 51st Division of the 74th Army.The 19th Division was repeatedly attacked, and the division commander Yang Yin was like a choke in his throat. With the support of Zhou Zhidao, division commander Yang organized 200 death squads and divided them into 5 teams to attack the Japanese positions with grenades and blasting tubes in turn.Relying on the occupied bunker fortifications, the Japanese army put up several light and heavy machine guns to form a powerful firepower network, and desperately defended. Most of the death squads suffered casualties, and they still couldn't step aside.The support troops of the 51st Division, which cooperated with the attack, selected 10 warriors. They used the rocky pit as a cover, and under the cover of night, they crawled forward, crawled and stopped, and piled up explosives and grenades next to the Japanese bunker. Destroy 3 heavy machine gun firepower points of the Japanese army.The heavy machine guns of the Japanese army became dumb, and they panicked for a while. Some Japanese soldiers got out of the bunker and ran to other bunkers screaming.It was dark and it was difficult to distinguish between the enemy and us. The death squads took the opportunity to rush up and fight hand-to-hand with the Japanese army.A brigade of the Japanese army killed more than 300 people and retreated. The Japanese left army was blocked by Zhou Zhidao's 51st Division east of Guidong, and could not move half a step towards Longtan. While Zhou Zhidao blocked the Japanese army head-on, the 19th Division and 63rd Division of the 100th Army captured the Qingshanjie, thus completing the encirclement of the three regiments of the Japanese Left Army. The besieged Japanese army not only had problems with ammunition, but even food. Their planes did not dare to go to the airdrop, because Chennault's Flying Tigers were too powerful, and the Chinese Air Force had complete control over the air.After attacking for more than ten days, the left army suffered nearly 2,000 casualties.The 109th Wing reached six or seven hundred people.More importantly, they still have a large number of wounded who cannot be accommodated. Yan Yongwang, the commander of the 116th Division of the Japanese Army, commanded from the rear, and continued to dream of capturing Longtan.When the left army was completely surrounded by the Chinese army, he still ordered the commander of the Longsi regiment to secure the occupied positions and prepare for the division's main attack on Longtan. The United approached. However, the development of the war situation was becoming more and more unfavorable to the Japanese army. Just when the commander of the Iwa Yongwang Division ordered to set off, the Chinese and American air forces found the target with the cooperation of the ground forces.43 sorties of fighter jets were dispatched to bomb the Takiji United Unit in turn, and dropped napalm bombs, burning down the forests where the Japanese army was hiding, and causing heavy casualties to the Japanese army. Yasuzaburo Takidera, who had never conceded defeat, failed this time, so he kept calling for help.The head of the division, Iwan Yongwang, knew the character of his subordinates, and the captain of the Takiji Temple would not complain until the most critical moment.So he ordered the 116th Regiment to march towards the 109th Regiment to help Captain Takidera open his retreat.In order to reduce the loss of the Japanese army, he ordered the 58th Brigade to quickly respond to the 109th Wing from the direction of the cave entrance. This deployment of the Japanese army made He Yingqin happy. He realized his strategic concept, lured the enemy into deep, divided and encircled.This was a wonderful move. He just took advantage of the arrogance of the Japanese army to draw the Japanese army into the pockets that had been laid in ambush.In the depths of the mountains, the Japanese army was like headless flies, bumping into walls everywhere, and now they can come to another point to fight for help.Whoever dares to rescue the besieged Japanese army will never return. He Yingqin and the generals, officers and soldiers on the front line are full of confidence.Zhou Zhidao of the 51st Division should be awarded the medal. He won the first victory and surrounded the enemy attacking from the left in the canyon.