Chapter 19 2. "Madman" is fighting

The rapid advance of the 116th Division forced the other two offensive armies to speed up their attack.In response to the attack of the 116th Division of the Japanese Army's 58th Brigade, the head of the brigade, Sekine Kyutaro, decided that the main force of the brigade would go to Wawutang and the other part to Wugang City, forming a pincer attack and forming an encirclement circle from the west and south. The captain of the 117th Brigade of the Independent Infantry, named Yongli Yanyan, was reckless, self-willed, and extremely brave in battle.He hasn't shaved for half a month, and his full beard looks like Li Kui, the black whirlwind on the water margin Liangshanpo.Soldiers in the Chinese army called him "Crazy Mao".

Yongli Yanyan was the general of the 58th Brigade, and he was never ambiguous in his mission. He was ordered to lead his troops to the southwest of Wugang.After entering the area to the north of Caijiatang, the leading soldiers sent back reported that the city wall of Wugang was strong, surrounded by bunkers, and the defending force had the strength of a division, and all of them were equipped with American equipment, which was said to be very effective. Yongli Yanyan put his left hand on the command saber, he was overjoyed when he heard the report from the vanguard.Yongli Yanyan is the most particular about the opponent in battle. If the opponent is soft, he will feel ashamed. Even if he wins, he will not dare to show it off, so he will inquire about the opponent's situation every time he fights.

The Chinese garrison army is the 58th Division of the 74th Army. The division commander is Cai Renjie. His former division commander is the current deputy commander Zhang Lingfu.Yongli Yanyan knew Zhang Lingfu, and he was only a regiment commander during the Songhu Battle, and was soon promoted to brigade commander.During the second Changsha battle, I heard that he was the commander of the 58th Division, and his army is doing well. Captain Yongli Yanyan became interested, and he said: "It's up to me now!" The Japanese 117th Battalion is good at tough battles, and the tougher the opponent, the more he dared to touch it.He ordered the squadrons to prepare the siege equipment and tie up the rope ladders. At the same time, he asked the head of Sekine Kutaro's brigade to send him tanks and chariots to assist in the siege.

Wugang City is located on the northwest bank of the upper reaches of Zishui. In the Western Han Dynasty, it was the capital of the Marquis of Liang, and it was changed to Wugang County in the Eastern Wu Dynasty of the Three Kingdoms. It was named after the Wugang Mountain in the north of the city.Before the start of the Battle of Xiangxi, Shi Zhongcheng, the commander of the 74th Army, told Cai Renjie, the commander of the 74th Army, that Wugang's city defenses are strong and the moat is deep and wide, but the Japanese army will inevitably fight for this. . After consideration, Master Cai assigned the task of defending Wugang to the 1st Battalion of the 172nd Regiment. This is a reinforced battalion with strong strength and experience in defense. The battalion commander Gao Chongren is calm and decisive, and he will definitely live up to expectations. .

After Battalion Commander Gao accepted the task, he built three lines of defense inside and outside Wugang City, all of which were made of a mixture of yellow mud, fine sand, and lime. The fortification is extremely strong.The captain of the Japanese army, Yongli Yanyan, raised his command knife and ordered the troops to attack the city in three directions. Guns and guns rang out at the east gate, west gate, and south gate at the same time. Seeing the fierce offensive of his own artillery and tanks, Yongli Yanyan laughed and said that he would shave after capturing Wugang City.He has the confidence to win.A round of shells landed on the city wall, causing bricks and stones all over the sky to collapse, and several city gates and buildings collapsed, but the machine gun fortifications built with sacks were still there.The machine gun sprayed out fire dragons, and fired at the besieging Japanese soldiers.

The Japanese tanks and armored combat vehicles broke through the outer defense line. Battalion Commander Gao ordered the soldiers to use gasoline bombs to hit the rear fuel tanks of the tanks, burning more than a dozen tanks under the city wall, and then concentrated fire with light and heavy machine guns to kill the infantry behind the tanks.Repeated dozens of times like this, the Japanese army failed. The siege continued for three days, and Yongli Yanyan asked the brigade for support again.The head of the brigade sent him more than a dozen tanks and added a squadron to him.This time the 117th Battalion was even more crazy. They concentrated their efforts on attacking the North Gate and bombarded it with cannons first.The gate of the city had been blocked with sandbags long ago, and the Japanese army bombarded the corner of the city wall, causing a hole to collapse, and continued to bombard it. With the help of the Wugang masses, the Chinese soldiers blocked it with sandbags. The city wall collapsed, and the sandbag wall was erected again.

The city defenders were so red-eyed that they tied their bodies with grenades or explosives and jumped from the city wall onto the Japanese tanks. Another 10 tanks were destroyed under the city.Both sides suffered heavy casualties.Yongli Yanyan was dumbfounded. He had never encountered such a Chinese army, nor had he encountered such a tragic and tough battle. The two sides really matched each other.In his mind, the Chinese army would fall to the ground as soon as it hit a hard bone. In the past, it was vulnerable. What's the matter today? Yongli Yanyan is crazy, you use body bombs to hit tanks, I will use body bombs to blow up city walls.

He organized his own special attack team, and each special attack team member was strapped with explosives, as much as possible. The special attack team members are glorious, with white strips of the sun flag wrapped around their heads, and the time has come to serve His Majesty the Emperor. Behind the special attack team were infantrymen with bayonets and guns, blasting the city wall to fight with the Chinese army.Tanks and artillery fired together, bombarding the Chinese defenders on the west gate wall, and then the special attackers sprinted to the root of the wall, blasting bundles of explosives on their bodies.

The explosive packs of the Japanese special attack team were so powerful that a city wall at the west gate collapsed. Several heavy machine guns inside roared and sealed the collapsed opening, and then hundreds of sacks of sandbags sealed the opening again. Captain Yongli yelled so loudly that even the Chinese soldiers in the city could hear him.If the special attack team's trump card doesn't work, then the second attack is still for the special attack team to use rope ladders to climb the city and let the human bomb work in the air.Battalion Commander Gao Chongren commanded calmly on the city wall, with a squad of troops, waiting for the Japanese army to climb halfway, and fired with submachine guns.

The Japanese devils were also desperadoes. When they were shot by the submachine guns on the city, they also blew the explosives on their bodies, and the blast wave knocked the Chinese soldiers on the city wall to the bottom of the city wall.In this way, he repeatedly charged more than a dozen times, and the moat outside the city wall was full of corpses, and the river was stained bright red with blood.More than half of the Japanese army suffered casualties, as did the First Battalion of the Chinese defenders.The battle lasted for 5 days, and more than a dozen city walls were blown down, but the flag of the Chinese army was still flying over the city walls.

Yongli Yanyan's 117th Battalion could not move forward. When the 58th Brigade of the Japanese Army attacked the Wugang area, the Kuomintang troops and commanders focused their attention on the battlefield where the fierce fighting was taking place. A Japanese regiment quietly came from Xinning County, which was the 11th Army stationed in Guilin, Guangxi. After they captured Hengyang and captured Guilin, Liuzhou, and Nanning, they have been here to supplement and rest.Seeing that the fighting on the front line of Wugang was in full swing, Commander Heng Shanyong ordered the 27th Regiment stationed in Xinning to quickly attack the rear of Wugang and hit the Hongjiang River. The Japanese army's tactics are very vicious, but no matter how cunning the wild beast is, it can't beat a good hunter.When the Japanese army marched quickly to Meikou, it was discovered by the 44th Division of Tang Enbo's 27th Army.The division commander Jiang Xiuren hurried to the front line, climbed high and looked far away, and he could clearly see in the binoculars that the Japanese army was approaching the river beach ferry densely. Captain Xiaolin Duogu of the vanguard thought that as long as he attacked the west bank of Wushui, he would be able to cut off the Chinese army in the middle, and then with the main force of the alliance, he would be able to annihilate all the Chinese defenders.This is the wishful thinking of Captain Kobayashi Taya.He didn't know that the 44th Division of the Chinese Army had already started operations. Without the slightest hesitation, Master Jiang Xiuren made a decisive decision and ordered the 131st regiment to attack Qingxi to contain the Japanese army. The 132nd regiment was trapped in the main front of Meikou and fought against it. The 130th regiment rushed to reinforce the front and cover the left wing.The frontal main position attracts the enemy, and the two wing troops conduct an anti-encirclement attack on the Japanese army. The battle was first started by the 132nd regiment. They let the vanguard of the Japanese army cross the river, and when the first large number of people marched to the rapids on the river bank, they violently attacked the enemy crossing the river.The bullets hit the Wushui River soaring into the sky, and the Japanese army threw away their helmets and armor in the river, turned their heads and ran towards the back bank. Kobayashi Duogu immediately organized a counterattack, suppressed the Chinese defenders' positions with small steel cannons and heavy machine guns, and launched a charge when night fell.The 132nd regiment fought very tenaciously, but suffered many casualties.A brigade of the Japanese army has no more than a thousand soldiers, and a regiment of the Chinese army is no match for it. Kobayashi Duogu saw clearly the situation in the frontal positions of the Chinese army, but he ignored his flanks.When he charged again at dawn, the 130th regiment of the Chinese army also launched a surprise attack on him on the left flank. Rong Yingkui, the deputy head of the 132 regiment, seized the opportunity, grabbed a machine gun, and cooperated with the 130 regiment in the surprise attack, to launch a counterattack against the Japanese army.The two sides attacked, and Xiaolin Duogu was beaten and fled in embarrassment. The 44th Division captured a lot in this battle, and blocked the way for Japan to attack Zhijiang. Seeing that the road was blocked, the captain of the regiment, Lin Qingci, led his troops to attack in the direction of Zhuyu Mountain.The 174th Regiment of the 58th Division defending at Zhuyu Mountain retreated during the successive charges of the Japanese 217th Regiment, and Zhuyushan fell.In the middle of the night, the 174th regiment suddenly counterattacked and took Zhuyushan back.Forced the Japanese army to turn to Wuyang. The most dangerous thing is that the 217th Wing of the Japanese Army joined the 58th Brigade of the Japanese Army.Although this Japanese army has less than 10,000 horses, its combat effectiveness is extremely strong, almost surpassing the combat effectiveness of the two divisions of the Chinese army. Upon learning of the situation of the Sekine Kyutaro Brigade, Ichiro Sakanishi immediately instructed the 58th Brigade: Our army decided to wipe out the main force of the enemy in the area north of the military road and east of the Yuanjiang River. Your detachment should immediately follow Wawutang to Shuikou, and then enter the Hongjiang area from Lianglukou, and cooperate with the 116th Division to attack the enemy's back while cutting off the enemy's main retreat. Wang Yaowu thinks that Sakanishi Ichiro's tricks are really old-fashioned.At the beginning of the Battle of Xiangxi, Wang Yaowu was worried about the front line of Wuyang. Once Wuyang fell, the Japanese army's offensive momentum could not be contained, which would inevitably pose a huge threat to the right wing of the Fourth Front Army.The development of the battle situation was as expected, something really happened in this place. Wang Yaowu personally ran to the front line. After on-the-spot inspection, he found that many fatal points were occupied by the Japanese army, and his sharp edge was directed at Hongjiang.The Hongjiang River is only a few dozen miles away from the Zhijiang River.The situation is grim. After consultation with Commander Tang Enbo who was stationed in Tianzhu, Guizhou, Commander Wang Yaowu drew up the Wuyang combat plan: the 5th Division will gather in the Suining area to search and attack the enemies of Meikou and Wuyang, and the 94th Army Command Post will advance to Jingxian County .Wang Yaowu was very cautious. He used 1 army and 3 divisions to participate in the battle. Sekine Kyutaro resolutely carried out Sakanishi's instructions. He immediately ordered the 117th Brigade of the Independent Infantry to stop attacking Wugang and advance to the northeast of Wuyang.Yongli Yanyan asked him if he couldn't shave his beard?Sekine Kyutaro knew what he meant, and he still wanted to defeat Takeoka's enemies. With the support of the 74th Army, it was impossible for Takeoka to capture it. You should keep your beard for the next battle.Now the brigade and the 27th Wing are going to carry out the special tasks of the 20th Army and are heading towards Hongjiang. The 5th Division of the 94th Army did not meet Sekine Kyutaro until the second day of search.The advancing troops of the Japanese army were blocked by the 5th Division and could not advance forward.In order to hurry up, Major General Sekine Kyutaro changed his plan, transferred to Baijiafang, then followed Baijiafang to Chashan, and detoured from Shuikou Avenue to the back of the 5th Division. Sekine Kyutaro's brigade commander's wishful thinking was wrong again, and his advance team was blocked by the 5th Division in Yanlong Mountain.This Japanese army was a brigade. The 115th Brigade led by Ogasawara lost contact with Yanhiko Yongli who had come to assist in the battle. That's why they went to the Yanlong Mountain Highland and wanted to stand here and wait for help. The terrain of Yanlong Mountain is dangerous, easy to defend and difficult to attack. The 5th Division fought fiercely for three days and nights and failed to attack.Division commander Li Zefen held an emergency combat meeting in Fujia'ao to discuss countermeasures.He asked Qiu Xingxiang, the deputy division commander, to discuss his opinions.Li Zefen knew that Qiu Xingxiang was a talented student at the Whampoa Military Academy and often encountered combat difficulties, so Commander Li wanted to invite him out. Qiu Xingxiang is tall and burly, brave and courageous in battle. There are two Qius in the Kuomintang army, one is Qiu Qingquan "Qiu Crazy" and the other is Qiu Xingxiang "Qiu Tiger". I'm used to people like Commander Mou Tingfang.So Mou Tingfang often trampled him, so that he, a student of the fifth class of Whampoa with great military exploits, is still in the position of deputy division commander, which makes him angry when he thinks about it. In the spring of 1928, Qiu Xingxiang followed Chen Cheng and successively served as company commander, major adjutant, special battalion commander, and entourage staff. In 1933, he served as the commander of the 3rd Battalion of the 5th Division.When the Anti-Japanese War broke out, he participated in the Songhu Anti-Japanese War and served as regimental commander and deputy brigade commander. It was not until 1941 that he served as the deputy commander of the 5th Division.This time I came to Xiangxi with the 94th Army. Wang Yaowu said, you, a great hero, fought with the Japanese army for seven days and seven nights in the battle to defend the Shipi Fortress. The whole division suffered 800 casualties and beat the Japanese army to the ground.Xiangxi is the place where you will have good luck this time, so do it well! Qiu Xingxiang was also thinking, is it really going to fulfill Mr. Bazi's fortune, will he be lucky in Hunan? Chen Cheng told him bluntly, to win the battle of Xiangxi, the position of the commander of the 5th Division must belong to you.He has a deep personal relationship with Chen Cheng, and he is a boss he respects very much. With Chen Cheng's recommendation, he is afraid that Mou Tingfang will not succeed. Teacher Li Zefen respected Qiu Xingxiang, and he pushed Qiu Xingxiang out, and Qiu Xingxiang was happy. Wang Yaowu and Tang Enbo both told Li Zefen that you should ask Qiu Huhu more about the war. He is not only brave, but also has some methods. Suzhou people are alert and smart. Qiu Xingxiang looked at the map. Time was running out. He didn't talk too much, but straight-forwardly expressed his views: "This battle can't be fought like this. We fight recklessly. Our 5th Division can't afford it! I think it's better to send troops to insert behind the Japanese army and catch it by surprise." Everyone agrees with Qiu Xingxiang's approach.So Commander Li asked Qiu Xingxiang to lead a regiment as an advancing team to attack the enemy at Zengjiawan and Wanfu Bridge in a roundabout way to assist the main force of the division in the battle.The frontal attack force remains unchanged and continues to contain the enemy.The 14th regiment surrounded from the left and attacked the enemy's back. More than a thousand soldiers in the advance team were ready to go, and Qiu Xingxiang mobilized. He said: "This operation requires secret, quick, and surprise attack behind the enemy. The 90-mile detour must be prevented from being discovered by the Japanese army on the commanding heights. Things that make noise like guns and kettles have to be wrapped up, the radio is turned off, and shiny objects are smeared with mud, and it must be invisible.” Taking advantage of the darkness, this advancing team set off, their direction was Wanfu Bridge and Yanlong Mountain. The soldiers' clothes were soaked with sweat and dew, but none complained. A team of more than 1,000 people actually detoured for 90 miles under the nose of the enemy, without the Japanese army noticing. The 115th Battalion of the Japanese Army guarding Yanlong Mountain was deployed on the high ground of Yanlong Mountain, and the brigade headquarters was located in a dilapidated mountain temple on the mountain.Ogasawara asked the communications soldiers to keep using the radio to contact the 117th Battalion, and they had to get in touch with Yongli Yanyan.Due to the high mountains and dense forests, it is difficult to contact each other. Yongli Yanyan of the 117th Brigade is a very individual person with poor discipline and time concept. On the way to meet the 115th Brigade, they accidentally discovered an arsenal of the Chinese army. They were reluctant to give up or destroy it. , So he went around to catch the civilians and took all these weapons and ammunition away.In this way, contact with the 115th Battalion was lost. After a day of rapid marching, the advancing team led by Qiu Xingxiang finally arrived at the foot of the mountain behind the mountain temple in the northeast of Yanlong Mountain.The sky before dawn was very dark, and the sky was covered by heavy fog, and nothing could be seen. From the military map, there should be a large temple on the commanding height here, but according to common sense, the Japanese army must be heavily guarded. In any case, it is necessary to climb up from the back of the main mountain before dawn.Qiu Xingxiang made up his mind that it should not be too late, otherwise all previous efforts will be in vain.In front of you, there are high mountains and dense forests, hideous strange rocks, and there is no way to go.Qiu Xingxiang took the lead, he didn't care about these anymore, let's climb.The thorns scratched their hands and faces, and many warriors' fingers were bleeding from the climbing stones.The advance team gritted their teeth and climbed up. Climbing to the top of the mountain, the sky is already bright, and the heavy fog has not cleared, which is still their protective color.Qiu Xingxiang led a dozen sharp soldiers and crawled forward on the wet grass.The outline of a temple appeared in front of it, and a beeping radio broadcast sounded from the dilapidated house of the temple. Based on his combat experience, Qiu Xingxiang concluded that it was the headquarters of the Japanese army. He took out his gun and put the bullets on it. Several big geese in front of the temple began to quack.Ogasawara is a very shrewd person. He knows that these geese are sometimes more sensitive than dogs, and they will bark loudly at the slightest disturbance. Ogasawara in the mountain temple was startled. He heard the alarm of geese outside the door, realized that there was a surprise attack, and immediately grabbed a machine gun in the temple.When Qiu Xingxiang heard the geese, he immediately understood what was going on. He raised his gun and shot at the broken window of the mountain temple.In a short time, there was loud gunfire on the top of the mountain, and on the small mountain, the sound of exploding grenades, the roar of machine guns, and the shouts of the advancing team rang out. As soon as Qiu Xingxiang's advancing team started, the main force of the 5th Division also opened fire on both wings, and rushed up the mountain shouting.Ogasawara did not expect such a large group of Chinese troops to come up from behind. He was only guarding against the sneak attack of a small group of troops.But now it's all in chaos, it's impossible to gather the troops, so they can only retreat while fighting, and walk in the direction of the large Japanese army positions. Ogasawara's 115th Battalion was driven out of the mountain temple, and the Japanese resisted as they walked.The sound of gunfire in the early morning was particularly deafening. The Japanese soldiers around the 115th Battalion judged that it was Ogasawara, so they rushed towards the place where the gunfire sounded.Yongli Yanhiko also heard the sound of gunfire, and now he found the Ogasawara Brigade, and he led the team to reinforce the fierce battle. The Yongli Yanyan brigade was blocked and suffered heavy casualties.But they fought desperately, relying on their own mountain artillery squadron, using cannons to clear the way, they rushed into the area of ​​Maochailing and Yanlong Mountain.This area is the pocket of the 5th Division, and there is only the 5th Division on the periphery of this pocket. It is difficult for them to eat the strength of the two brigades of the Japanese army. However, the encirclement situation of the 5th Division of the Chinese Army has formed and is currently in a confrontation stage.