Chapter 21 7. Three days and three nights of fierce fighting

The mission of the 59th Army's combat unit is clear. The 38th Division is the left column. The division has two brigades as the attack team and one brigade as the reserve team, and is concentrated near Liujia Lake on standby.The target of the attack is the line from Tangfangya, Baita to Shalingzi.At 4 o'clock in the morning on the 14th, he forcibly crossed the Yihe River and launched a fierce attack on the Japanese army. The 108th Division is the right column. The division takes a brigade as the attacking team, connects Shalingzi on the left, and goes to the Liuhangtou line on the right. The attack targets are the Japanese strongholds in Tingzitou, Guotaiping, and Xutaiping villages.

After the two divisions were ordered, all the officers and soldiers crossed the Yi River more than 100 meters wide on time. In the early morning of March 14, the battle of the 59th Army's full-line offensive against the Japanese army started. The main attacking team of the 26th Brigade of the 108th Division suddenly appeared in Tingzitou, and entered the middle of the village from the west and north of Tingzitou, and started a hand-to-hand fight with the Japanese army.The officers and soldiers of the whole regiment desperately attacked Tingzitou Village, fighting with the Japanese troops stationed room by room.The whole village was in flames, and the sound of gunfire and bombs was earth-shattering.The attacking troops gave full play to their close-combat expertise and fought against the enemy until 4 pm. More than half of the Japanese soldiers were killed or injured, leaving more than 400 corpses and fleeing towards Guo Taiping and Xu Taiping.The attacking troops took advantage of the victory to pursue. After the Japanese fled to Guo Taiping and Xu Taiping, they used private houses to resist.Japanese reinforcements continued to come here, and brigade commander Zhang Zongheng hurriedly transferred another regiment to reinforce.After repelling and aiding the enemy, the two regiments fought side by side to expand the results of the battle.By March 15, the 26th Brigade defeated the Japanese army, regained six or seven villages in the Tingzitou area, and built fortifications on the spot to fight the enemy.

The main attacking force of the 38th Division on the left, after fierce fighting day and night, occupied the villages on the front line of Tangfangya.The Japanese army was defeated and retreated to Tangtou Town, where they retreated and waited for reinforcements. However, the attack of the 112th Brigade of the 38th Division was not smooth. When they attacked Shalingzi Village, they encountered greater difficulties.The village is very large, the houses are scattered, and the Japanese army built many strongholds along the river.The most unfavorable thing is that after they cross the river, there is a sandy beach in front of them, which is unobstructed.After several rounds of contests with the enemy, the troops suffered five or six hundred casualties.So the 112th brigade was forced to retreat to Yihe.General Zhang Zizhong was furious. At this juncture, he dared to retreat without authorization. Li Jinzhen, the brigade commander of the 112th brigade who was about to take charge of the attack, was dismissed, and Li Jiusi, the head of the new regiment, was appointed as brigade commander and ordered him to prepare to cross the river again.

Later, a brigade transferred by the enemy sneaked across the Yihe River in the middle of the night through a gap in the junction of Shaziling North, occupied the Hexi Ferry, and stormed the line of Yatou, Liujiahu, and Miaojiazhuang. Cooperate with more than ten aircraft. The Japanese army brigade who smuggled across the river had a fierce battle with the reserve team of the 114th brigade.After receiving the information, Commander Zhang Zizhong immediately readjusted the strength of the whole army: the 38th Division sent a regiment to defend the Tea Mountain, and use the highland of the Tea Mountain to block the invading enemies from the east of the river. They must stick to the position of the Tea Mountain at all costs , This is the support point of our 59th Army; the cavalry battalion of the army, coordinated with the infantry, attacked Hedong from Xinhe Village, and harassed the Japanese army's side; the 38th Division except the 114th Brigade fought fiercely in Liujiahu, all the Hedong troops withdrew to strengthen the tea mountain. Defense of the river positions.The rest of the troops were assembled in Yuliang Village and the area south of Xiao'anzi to strictly prevent the Japanese army from continuing to flee westward.

The 59th Army's sudden attack on the Japanese army on March 14 was very effective. The enemy was completely stunned. I don't know where to drill such a huge army. Fight back.On the second day, after the Japanese army realized it, they also adjusted their forces, gave up the attack on Linyi, and turned around to deal with Zhang Zizhong's 59th Army. Pang Bingxun's 3rd Army, who stood firm in Linyi, saw that the enemy had given up their forward positions and turned around to deal with the 59th Army, so they jumped out of their positions, rushed out of Linyi City, and cooperated with brother troops to encircle and wipe out the Japanese army.The first counterattack was the supplementary regiment of the 40th Army. Under the leadership of regimental commander Li Zhenqing, the whole regiment held up a big knife and repelled the enemies guarding the village with lightning speed.They found that this was a small military depot of the Japanese army, so they obtained countless food, ammunition and supplies.

The battlefield situation is changing rapidly, and both the enemy and the enemy are redeploying according to the changes in the situation.The purpose of the Japanese army was very clear. They wanted to use the enemy brigade who smuggled across the river as an internal response, flanking the 59th Army back and forth, and regaining the lost positions.Then reorganize the forces and attack Linyi City.Commander Zhang Zizhong adjusted the deployment of troops in place, and at the same time issued a death order to all troops not to take a step back.For this reason, the two sides launched the most intense battle since the beginning of the campaign.

First of all, the Japanese brigade that attacked the Liujiahu area launched an attack on the 114th Brigade of the 38th Division, and they fought a battle in Liujiahu Village.The 228th Regiment of the 114th Brigade fought the Japanese army for a day, and the Japanese army did not break into the village until dusk.There is a pond of several mu in the village, the Japanese army is in the east of the pond, and the 228th regiment is in the west of the pond.You attack on both sides, I fight over, and the positions have changed hands several times.Hundreds of corpses were piled as high as hills by the water's edge. The 228th regiment originally had more than 2,000 people, but now it has lost more than half.

On the main position of Tea Mountain held by the 59th Army, the battle was also fierce.The Japanese army went crazy and attacked desperately. There were planes and cannons again. Amidst the rumbling motors of the tanks, the infantry rushed towards them in black.For a small village, dozens of battles were repeated, and both sides paid a heavy price. Seishiro Itagaki got red eyes, and General Zhang Zizhong also got red eyes.This is the last minute of the war, and whoever can hold on will win the final victory.Zhang Zizhong is very clear about this.The heroic 59th Army suffered huge casualties. As of March 16, the 38th Division suffered nearly 4,000 casualties, and the 108th Division also suffered more than 2,000 casualties.Among the combat units of the entire army, half of the battalion commanders suffered casualties, and all company and platoon commanders were replaced.However, the fighting spirit of the whole army is still strong, and the determination to fight the bloody Japanese army to the end is more firm.

On the outskirts of the battlefield, on the road from Linyi to Xin'an Town, Shandong people spontaneously organized a stretcher team and a front team. They braved the bombing and strafing of planes, day and night. The heroic 59th Army and the 3rd Army really admired the Shandong people, and the bravery and fearlessness of the Shandong people also moved the soldiers of the two armies. Someone relented, and that was Xu Zuyi, chief of staff of the theater.He couldn't bear to let the soldiers of the 59th Army go so hard anymore.The casualties were too great, so we should retreat for a rest.He telegraphed Chief Li Zongren to order the army to withdraw from the battle and continue to fight after making up for it.

Zhang Zizhong resolutely disagreed. He asked Xu Zuyi, chief of staff, to tell him to tell Li Zongren, commander-in-chief of the fifth theater.Please allow the 59th Army to fight the last battle for one day and one night. If the enemy cannot be repelled, it will retreat according to the order.After asking for the permission of Chief Li Zongren, he agreed to Zhang Junchang's last fight. As the saying goes: A raging soldier, a raging nest.The 59th Army of the Kuomintang led by Zhang Zizhong is an army with the same character as the army commander. When the nation is in peril, they dare to work hard and sacrifice. They are worthy of being an excellent army and the backbone of the Chinese nation.Those 6,000 heroic spirits who just fell were proud and proud of this army.