Chapter 13 9. Protecting Homeland in the Scorched Earth War

The defenders of Teng County summed up the experience of defending the city for more than a day, and believed that avoiding the artillery fire of Japanese aircraft was the key to preserving their strength.So all officers and soldiers dug bunkers and air-raid shelters under the city wall.Furthermore, the city wall of Teng County is high and steep, and there is only one road to the city wall next to each city gate.When enemy planes and artillery bombed, except for a few people to observe, the rest of the soldiers had to go down to the air-raid shelter under the corner to hide, and climbed up to the city when the enemy charged. This must be done in a very short time.what to do?It is necessary to tie more ladders, at least one for each shift.Another thing is to open all the grenade boxes and uncover the lids of the grenades.

As soon as the officers and soldiers who had been busy all night drank a bowl of porridge, some of them hadn't even eaten buns, the artillerymen of the Japanese army opened fire on Teng County.Wang Mingzhang took several brigade commanders, regiment commanders and a group of chiefs of staff to observe and watch outside Teng County in the observation post.The enemy has increased their troops, Commander Zhang Xuanwu said. Yes, the Japanese army doubled the number of troops attacking Teng County.Isotani Rensuke was a bit desperate. He not only mobilized the main force of the 10th Division, but also transferred a brigade from the 106th Division. There were more than 30,000 Japanese soldiers and horses, and they were lined up around Teng County. Team, as if waiting for someone to review.

With the cooperation of more than 70 cannons, 50 tanks and more than 20 aircraft, the Japanese army attacked the east gate, south gate and north gate of Teng County.The enemy's bombing was extremely violent.When Zhang Xuanwu, who was in a meeting at the division headquarters, braved artillery fire and returned to the regiment command post, he couldn't find Dongxi Street in the city for a while.Walls collapsed and houses collapsed, the wreckage of buildings all over the street piled up like hills, stone roads were blown into deep pits, and the whole city was engulfed in flames. The smoke was so thick that even the eyes could not be opened.

Everywhere is scorched earth.Zhang Xuanwu suddenly remembered that Li Zongren had written an article "Scorched Earth War of Resistance". Until this time, the head of the regiment Zhang did not understand the meaning of the Scorched Earth War of Resistance.Under the intensive artillery fire of the Japanese army, Zhang Xuanwu was unable to move, so he had to jump from one crater to another, walking in circles. The signal soldier beside him was killed, and a guard also fell down.For a short distance, head Zhang Xuanwu probably walked for about half an hour, jumping around like a toad.

The Japanese army was very good at fighting. When the infantry charged, the artillery fired extended, and they were equipped with planes flying like crows over Teng County, frantically firing at low altitudes to cut off the connection and mobilization of the defenders in the city, so that the defenders could not Mutual support.In this way, the defenders at each city gate had to fight on their own, unable to help each other from left to right, and unable to look at each other from head to tail, and were divided into isolated positions by planes and artillery. The place where the fighting is most intense is still Dongguan.Under the cover of a dozen tanks, hundreds of Japanese soldiers charged in groups.The 740th Regiment of the 124th Division is defending Dongguan, which is the main regiment of the 730th Brigade.After paying a heavy price, they blew up two Japanese tanks. The destroyed tanks blocked the following tanks, and then the whole regiment concentrated their firepower on the infantry behind the tanks.Both sides were red-eyed and fought hand-to-hand repeatedly.The whole regiment suffered heavy casualties, and the Japanese army was also full of corpses, and they were defeated and fled.

The Dongguan position is still in the hands of the Tengxian defenders. When the two sides were fighting inextricably, the Japanese army bombarded the southeast corner with heavy artillery.After ten minutes of shelling, a gap was opened in the southeast corner of the city, and seven or eight tanks rumbled into the gap.The 2nd company of regiment leader Zhang Xuanwu defended here. They used dense grenades to blow up two enemy tanks and killed 60 or 70 enemy infantry until the last soldier fell. There was a defensive gap in the southeast corner.Fifty or sixty Japanese soldiers took the opportunity to sneak in, rushed up the wall at the corner of the city, and took a favorable position.Under the cover of two machine guns, the 1st Company of Commander Zhang slammed grenades at the enemy for a while, and then slashed at the enemy with a big knife. Some rolled down the wall with Japanese soldiers in their arms, and some pulled the grenades away The enemy soldiers were held, and the Japanese soldiers who rushed to the city wall were wiped out by the 1st company.

In the heroic 1st Company, there were only 14 soldiers left, and the 150 people below the company commander and deputy company commander all died for the country. This happened at 20:00 on March 16, 1938. From 6:00 in the morning, the enemy attacked the east, south, and north of Teng County with planes, tanks, and infantry. After fierce fighting, the Japanese army entered the city many times, and was annihilated and repelled by the Kuomintang defenders many times.The battle continued until 12 noon, when the enemy's attack was frustrated, they stopped the attack, readjusted, and prepared for a new offensive.Taking advantage of this break, the defenders in the city also adjusted their defensive deployment, treated the wounded, and replenished ammunition and food to prepare for more intense battles.

The defense of Teng County has reached its most critical moment. Master Wang Mingzhang used the radio to call for help urgently, and asked Commander-in-Chief Sun Zhen to send reinforcements quickly, otherwise Teng County would not be safe. Commander-in-Chief Sun Zhen replied that the 4th Division of the 85th Army of the Tang Army was approaching Teng County, and he told Wang Mingzhang to insist that reinforcements would arrive immediately. In fact, Commander-in-Chief Sun Zhen knew that no one in the fifth war zone could move Tang Enbo.Even Chief Li Zongren had to go around in circles and transfer his opinions to Chiang Kai-shek.Just as the defense of Teng County started, Li Zongren also called Chiang Kai-shek to ask the Military Committee to send the 4th Division of the 85th Army of Tang Enbo's 20th Army, which directly controlled eastern Henan, to reinforce Jinpu Road.After Chiang Kai-shek's consent, Li Zongren sent a telegram to Tang Enbo, saying that the Japanese army was attacking on a large scale. The 22nd Group Army had few soldiers and poor weapons, its front was weak, and its wings were empty. It might be difficult to resist the enemy. Go to the vicinity of Teng County and serve as the general reserve of the 22nd Army.On the one hand, Tang Enbo called Chiang Kai-shek, please clarify the jurisdiction system of the army, so as to clarify the responsibilities; on the other hand, he called Li Zongren, saying that the entire army should be transferred to avoid fragmentation and use for free consumption.Tang Enbo clearly knew that it was impossible to transfer the entire army, so he deliberately said this, but in fact he refused to transfer the entire army to other people's command.That night, Chiang Kai-shek sent an order to Tang Enbo, ordering his 85th Army to prepare to drive to Lincheng immediately, and to arrive at Lincheng before dawn on the 17th to complete the assembly.

The vanguard of the 4th Division of the 85th Army of the 20th Army encountered the Japanese 63rd Regiment that was detouring towards Lincheng when it reached the Nansha River south of Teng County.Tang Enbo immediately sent a telegram to order the main force to transfer, but did not send troops to reinforce Teng County.Although Tang Enbo didn't have much ability, he was better at trying to figure out Chiang Kai-shek's mentality. He could tell at a glance that all the troops sent to the fifth theater were motley crews.why?I knew in my heart that Tang Enbo had done a good job on the surface during the Anti-Japanese War. When the friendly troops fought against the Japanese army, you couldn't let him go out when the battle reached a certain level.But not now, the Sichuan army guarding Teng County has no strength, and there is no force to counterattack at the critical moment.He, Tang Enbo, was afraid that he would get stuck and would not be able to pull it out.

Tang Enbo is such a character.And this role, Chiang Kai-shek liked it very much. In Chiang Kai-shek's words, you should be at ease if you are stupid, so Tang Enbo has always been in the hands of the heavy army. Li Zongren's fifth war zone also made mistakes, at least because he didn't know enough about the situation on the front line. On March 16, when the positions of the 45th Army to the north of Teng County were lost one after another, the 122nd Division of the 41st Army was besieged in Teng County, and the outer defense line was about to collapse. North, and issued unrealistic combat orders.When the combat order was issued, there were no troops on the front line to accept the order, which can be said to be a big joke.

The children of the Sichuan Army were eagerly looking forward to Tang Enbo's reinforcements, but Master Wang Mingzhang didn't know that Tang Enbo had not sent troops to reinforce Teng County. It was not until 2 pm on March 17 that Commander Wang Mingzhang's hope of waiting for reinforcements was finally shattered.He sent the last message to the commander-in-chief, resolutely smashed the radio station, led the guards to the intersection, and personally directed and supervised the battle. It was around 2 pm that the Japanese army broke through the defenses of Teng County.At that time, Commander Wang Mingzhang was exchanging telegrams with the commander-in-chief.When Commander-in-Chief Sun Zhen asked Teng County to make the last stand, the front of the south city wall of Teng County was bombarded by the Japanese army with 150ml grenade heavy artillery, and 12 cannons razed the south city wall to the ground.The hundred or ten soldiers guarding the city wall collapsed together with the stones and bricks before they could get down the city wall.The soldiers' flesh and blood were intertwined with bricks, which was too horrible to look at. The collapsed city wall can be climbed everywhere, and five or six hundred Japanese infantry swarmed under the cover of more than 10 tanks. Lu Kang, the brigade commander of the 730th Brigade of the 124th Division, and Wang Chaolian, the deputy brigade commander, went to the base of the city wall to command the battle. While the Japanese army captured the south of the city, the east of Teng County was in crisis again.The walls of Dongguanzhai were blown up like jagged teeth by the enemy, the gullies and ravines were no longer formed, and all the fortifications of the defenders' positions were destroyed.18 tanks of the Japanese army rushed forward, and more than 500 Japanese soldiers showed their teeth and claws. Commander Wang Lin of the 740th Regiment of the 124th Division led his soldiers in a hand-to-hand fight with the mighty Japanese soldiers in the artillery of enemy tanks. The Japanese army rapidly expanded its victories.They oppressed from the east and south of the city toward the west.Not long after, the west of the city was also occupied by the Japanese army.As a result, the enemies on the southeast, west and east concentrated their firepower to attack the temporary command post of Commander Wang at the intersection in the center of the city.Commander Wang Mingzhang led the staff and the guard platoon around to climb the city wall from the northwest corner, and ordered the guard platoon to use the wall as a cover to attack the gate tower of the west city occupied by the Japanese army.When approaching the gate tower of the west city, the guard platoon was violently shot by six or seven heavy machine guns of the Japanese army, and the entire platoon survived. Commander Wang Mingzhang was very anxious. He planned to lead his staff to detour back to Tengxian Railway Station to join the 372nd Brigade of the 124th Division who persisted in fighting there.But they couldn't get through, light and heavy machine guns fired at them intensively in three directions.Wang Mingzhang, Chief of Staff Zhao Weibin, Adjutant Luo Jiaxin, Major Staff Officer Xie Daxun, Chief of Staff Zou Mutao of the 124th Division, and more than ten entourages died for the country at the same time. At this time, only the troops under the command of regimental commander Zhang Xuanwu remained in Teng County.He originally stood firm at the east gate of Teng County. When the Japanese army occupied other parts of the city, many sporadic troops and stragglers approached him.So he organized a line of defense at the northeast corner of the city, using the east and north walls to stop the Japanese army.After the Japanese army captured most of the towns in Teng County, they began to wipe out the remaining resistance forces everywhere.First of all, they bombarded the east city gate wall with armor-piercing shells from flat-fire guns, cleared the bunker of the east city wall on which the defenders relied, and then launched an attack on Zhang Xuanwu's position. Commander Zhang Xuanwu has a lot of combat experience. He is good at defense and can fight bad battles.For the group charge of the Japanese army, he arranged the firepower of 4 heavy machine guns, focusing on killing the enemy's infantry phalanx.At the same time, he asked all the soldiers to throw grenades to prevent the Japanese army from approaching them and avoid the consumption and casualties of hand-to-hand combat. When the defenders heard the news that Master Wang Mingzhang had died for the country, they were all in great grief. They were crying and gritted their teeth as they fought hard against the Japanese army.From time to time in Tengxian County, the sound of grenade explosions was heard. Later, the soldiers who ran over said that more than 300 seriously injured people, following the example of Master Wang Mingzhang, would rather die than be captured or slaves, so they blew themselves up with grenades. All heroic sacrifices. Before dark, the Japanese army launched the last attack on Zhang Xuanwu's position. In this battle, regimental commander Zhang and brigade commander Wang Zhiyuan were shot and wounded.The warriors were brave and fearless, and once again repelled the enemy's charge. The Japanese army occupying Teng County did not launch a new attack.They may think that Teng County has been occupied, and the few remaining troops can't organize a counterattack, and they don't have the energy.Maybe it was because they were too tired. It was impossible for the Japanese soldiers not to be tired after attacking for several days and nights.When it got dark, although there were constant gunshots in the city, there was no major battle. Judging from the gunshots, there were only sporadic troops in small groups or a dozen people continuing to fight. In the middle of the night, there were still more than 300 defenders at the northern corner of the city.Under the command of Deputy Battalion Commander Hou Ping and Company Commander Hu Shaozhang, they opened the closed north city gate, and began to break out of the siege one by one in an organized way.Later they learned that there was another breakout force and wounded. On the way to break out, they were intercepted by enemy artillery fire and many people were killed and injured. More than 200 wounded and troops fell asleep due to exhaustion while waiting for the boat at the ferry on the east bank of Weishan Lake. At dawn on the 18th, they were suddenly chased by Japanese cavalry and chariots, and all died heroically. Commander Zhang was shot in his right leg and both feet, and was carried out by his officers and soldiers.Soldiers value friendship, they carry regimental commanders and brigade commanders, and they will not let go no matter how hard or tired they are.A scouting platoon opened the way in front, followed by 300 soldiers and wounded.They kept running south and finally reached the rear safely. The sporadic personnel and small combat troops who did not break out from Teng County kept wandering around in the city. They fought on their own, and the gunshots continued all night, making the Japanese troops in the city restless.Until noon on March 18, there was no sound of gunfire in Teng County. The defense of Teng County began on the morning of March 14, 1938, and ended at noon on the 18th, a total of 4 and a half days.The 122nd Division of the 41st Army that stood firm in Teng County suffered more than 5,000 casualties from the division commander Wang Mingzhang, and the entire Teng County was reduced to ashes. The 10th Division of the Japanese Army was also hit hard, with more than 2,000 casualties.