The Iron-Blooded Army of Beacon Fire

Chapter 402 Bloody Battle 7
The more than 800 Japanese soldiers who had just retreated from the high ground were originally rejoicing that they could escape from this purgatory-like battlefield. However, before they retreated far enough to get a moment's respite, the Chinese army's artillery fire came first.

As a result, the tragedy when the Japanese army launched an attack on the heights was staged again. The artillery shells fired from the artillery groups behind the Big and Small Bear Mountain heights were like waves, one wave after another, one after another, endlessly.

150mm heavy grenades, 75mm and 76mm grenades, 81mm mortar grenades, 82mm mortar grenades and yellow phosphorus bombs, one by one, were fired at the retreating Japanese troops. White, yellow and red sparks burst out in the Japanese ranks. The flying shrapnel was like a sharp sickle cutting down rice ears, constantly knocking down and tearing the Japanese infantry into pieces.

The barrage of bullets cast by the artillery group behind the Big and Small Bear Mountain Heights was like a relentless ghost, chasing the retreating Japanese troops and bombarding them fiercely. However, the artillery blows that the retreating Japanese troops had to endure were far more than that.

At the foot of the mountain in front of the Big and Small Bear Mountains, Fang Jing, the commander of the Second Infantry Battalion of the Assault Corps, stepped on the body of a Japanese gunner who had been blown up, looked at two Type 92 infantry guns, and shouted to the officers and soldiers around him: "Come on, who the hell knows how to use this thing? Chase the Japanese and shoot them!"

"Captain, we know how to use it!"

"I come!"

Fang Jing's order was quickly responded to. More than 92 veteran gunners and veteran sergeants from the mortar squads of the infantry platoons of the three infantry companies volunteered to rush out and rushed to the gun positions of the two Type infantry guns.

Although the gunners of these mortar squads used 60mm mortars, most of them were veteran artillerymen, and many of them were veterans of the Fengtian Army of Zhang Zongchang who were supplemented to He Wei in Nanjing. The Fengtian troops were equipped with a large number of Japanese or imitation Japanese weapons, so although these gunners were not proficient in the operation of the Japanese 92 infantry gun, they were familiar with the most basic operations.

More than twenty gunners rushed forward and immediately began to prop up the artillery and prepare for firing. Since it was a close-range bombardment, there was no need for precise ranging and aiming. The gunners completed the loading, turning the gun, leveling the elevation and low angles and other shooting preparations at an extremely fast speed.

Boom
As the gunners pulled the gun ropes, sparks came out of the muzzles of the two Type 92 infantry guns. The 70mm infantry gun shrapnel and 70mm infantry gun grenades, which had been fitted with air-burst fuses by Japanese gunners, chased the retreating Japanese troops and exploded one after another over their heads.

Densely packed steel balls and marbles flew everywhere like flowers scattered from heaven, turning a large number of Japanese infantrymen into bloody sieves.

The six Type 92 heavy machine guns captured by the Second Battalion were also not idle. They were all used by the officers and soldiers of the Second Battalion, who turned their guns around and fired at the retreating Japanese troops.

Rows of 7.7mm heavy machine gun bullet shields produced by the Osaka Arsenal in Japan were constantly loaded into the heavy machine guns by the officers and soldiers of the Second Battalion, and were constantly shot out, forming a series of chaotic but lethal machine gun fire streams, chasing the retreating Japanese troops and flying around indiscriminately in the Japanese army's retreat column.

These support firearms that once belonged to the Japanese army have now all become advantageous weapons for attacking the retreating Japanese army. The officers and soldiers of the Second Battalion who used the 92 infantry guns and 92 heavy machine guns to carry out fire pursuit on the defeated Japanese army were also particularly happy. It was still killing the enemy, but using the weapons left behind by the enemy to kill the enemy was a special kind of pleasure.

Inspired by the successful counterattack of the Second Battalion, the officers and soldiers of the 1125th Regiment on the top of the Big and Small Bear Mountains, after stabilizing their position, also began to strike back at the Japanese who were down. They restored their firepower and concentrated all kinds of firearms from a high position to attack the retreating Japanese troops.

The six 1125th-type 6mm mortars of the mortar company of the 20th Regiment were the first to resume firepower and attack the Japanese army, firing dozens of mortar shells into the enemy group.

Immediately afterwards, dozens of light and heavy machine guns of the 1125th Regiment on the high ground opened fire one after another, shooting dozens of intersecting streams of fire at the retreating Japanese troops. The fire was a little chaotic but very fierce.

The fighting spirit and tenacity of the hundreds of Japanese soldiers who were retreating were very strong. During the attack, they rushed to the heights despite the fierce artillery fire from the Big and Small Bear Mountain Heights. Then they carried the heights and attacked the heights against the fierce firepower of the 1125th Regiment, and maintained a good battle order all the time.

However, no matter how strong the Japanese army's fighting will was, it was inevitably shaken after a series of failures and tragic casualties.

The Second Battalion pursued the retreating Japanese troops with firepower captured from the Japanese infantry artillery and heavy machine guns. The firepower projected again by the 1125th Regiment, which was almost defeated, became the last straw that broke the camel's back.

Faced with the fierce firepower from the enemy's artillery and their own captured weapons, the retreating Japanese soldiers of more than 800 finally began to collapse after more than half of them suffered casualties. The battle formation that had been maintained very well even during the retreat collapsed one after another, and the uninjured or lightly injured Japanese soldiers began to flee desperately in all directions, rushing towards their starting positions for the attack regardless of anything.

The Japanese officers and non-commissioned officers were attacked randomly by the collapsed soldiers. They watched the crowds of people running away while being knocked down and blown away by the hissing shrapnel and shock waves. They all felt powerless to save the situation.

Even though the Japanese officers and non-commissioned officers fought with their throats cut, waved their shining swords to threaten, and even shot and killed some fleeing Japanese soldiers, all their attempts to stop them were unable to control the Japanese soldiers who had suffered severe blows both physically and mentally, and the complete collapse of the hundreds of retreating Japanese soldiers was inevitable.

Less than an hour had passed since the two fully equipped infantry battalions of the Japanese Army's 1st Regiment on Taiwan Island launched their attack on the Big and Small Bear Mountain Heights. More than Japanese soldiers had been reduced to only a few hundred defeated soldiers who were either huddled together or fleeing in all directions under the fierce artillery fire, with casualties increasing every minute and every second.

After two bloody battles and repeated defeats, the two complete infantry battalions were inevitably destroyed in the fierce firepower attack and extremely heavy casualties. In the command post of the Hata Detachment, Hata Shigeichi held up a telescope and pointed at the remnants of the Japanese army that were engulfed by artillery fire and rain of bullets in front of the Big and Small Bear Mountain Heights. It seemed that all his strength was drained away in an instant. Hata Shigeichi felt that all the muscles in his body were inexplicably sore and weak, and his mind gradually became chaotic.

Shigeichi Hata looked at the bloody corpses that were blown away by the shells and spinning in the air in front of the Big and Small Bear Mountains, and listened to the extremely miserable wails. All the senses in his body were stimulated and he felt all kinds of indescribable feelings.

In yesterday's exploratory attack, the Nakata Detachment lost an infantry battalion in one go. Not long ago, an entire 150mm heavy artillery battalion was also wiped out. Now, once again, the Japanese officers in the command post were terrified as they witnessed the two infantry battalions of the Taiwan Island 1st Infantry Regiment that suffered a devastating disaster after the attack failed on the Big and Small Bear Mountain Heights.

Two entire infantry battalions, just like that!
The sky-high artillery fire in front of the Big and Small Bear Mountains, the fierce explosions, and the screams of Japanese officers and soldiers continued to shock the hearts of the Japanese officers.

A Japanese staff officer ran behind Hata Shigeichi and said anxiously, "Sir, the 1st Infantry Regiment of Taiwan Island has been frustrated in its attack on the enemy's high ground. The enemy's firepower is too strong. What should we do now? The Taiwan Mountain Artillery Regiment has just completed the forward movement of its positions and is currently about five kilometers away from the enemy's positions. Should we let them fire at the enemy's high ground to cover the officers and soldiers of the 1st Regiment attacking the high ground?"

The advice given by the staff officer instantly pulled Hata Shigeichi out of his thoughts of another disastrous defeat. However, Hata Shigeichi did not accept the advice of the staff officer. Instead, he said in a rather cold tone: "Don't attack the enemy's high ground. Order the mountain artillery regiment to launch an artillery attack on the open ground on the right wing of the Chinese army's high ground to help them break through as soon as possible!"

"Sir, the soldiers of the 1st Regiment who are attacking the high ground are now retreating under the fire of the Chinese army. Should we also use artillery fire to cover them?"

"We can't worry about that now. Concentrate all the firepower of the Taidaoshan Artillery Regiment and fire fiercely at the right wing position! At all costs, we must achieve a breakthrough on the right wing position!"

The Japanese staff officer was stunned for a moment, then felt a chill down his spine, and immediately understood what Hata Shigeichi meant. After the failure of the attack on the high ground, Hata Shigeichi no longer held out hope of directly capturing the high ground, but instead turned to seeking a breakthrough in the open position of the Chinese army on the right wing of the high ground.

As for the hundreds of officers and soldiers of the 1st Infantry Regiment of Taiwan Island who were fleeing and struggling under the artillery fire and rain of bullets of the Chinese army, they have become Hata Shigekazu's abandoned pawns!
At present, the two infantry battalions of the 1st Infantry Regiment of Taiwan Island under the Hata Detachment failed in their attack on the Big and Small Bear Mountain Heights and were destroyed, while their attacks on the open positions on both sides of the Big and Small Bear Mountain Heights were also underway at the same time.

Attacking the left wing position of the Big and Small Bear Mountain Heights (the "left wing" from the perspective of the Hata Detachment's attack direction) were a battalion of the Taiwan Island 2nd Infantry Regiment and the 8th Independent Engineer Regiment, while facing them was the 385th Infantry Regiment of the 1126th Brigade.

The Japanese Army's independent engineering regiment, infantry regiment, and artillery regiment adopted a three-level organizational system of "regiment-battalion-squadron". There was no battalion system in its organizational system, and there were only several squadrons under the regiment.

Therefore, the 8th Independent Engineer Regiment only has a few professional engineering squadrons divided according to different engineering arms, with a strength of less than a thousand people. In addition, the 8th Independent Engineer Regiment had already lost a complete squadron in yesterday's exploratory attack.

Therefore, the actual manpower is very limited. Although the professional engineers of the 8th Independent Engineer Regiment were forced to serve as infantry, they could not reach the offensive level of real infantry units at all. The only infantry battalion under the 2nd Infantry Regiment of Taiwan Island that could really play a role in the attack on the left wing position of the Big and Small Bear Mountain Heights was the only one.

Therefore, the Japanese army responsible for the left-wing attack obviously did not gain any advantage and failed to break through the solid positions that the 1126th Regiment had carefully built and managed over a long period of time. Instead, they suffered a lot of casualties in the face of the cross-fire network formed by the dense bunkers and machine gun nests of the 1126th Regiment, as well as the various traps designed and deployed by the commander of the 385th Brigade, Ma Ji.

Of course, due to the poor quality of the officers and soldiers of the 385th Brigade, the officers and soldiers of the 1126th Regiment suffered more casualties than the Japanese troops who attacked their garrison positions. However, the positions were ultimately firmly in the hands of the 1126th Regiment. The Japanese troops who attacked the left wing positions of the Big and Small Bear Mountains failed to break through even half of the 1126th Regiment's defense line!

Only the two infantry battalions of the 2nd Infantry Regiment of Taiwan Island, which were responsible for attacking the right wing positions of the Big and Small Bear Mountain Heights (the "right wing" from the perspective of the Hata Detachment's attack direction), achieved certain results.

The number of troops in the attacking forces of the two battalions was no less than that of the 385th Regiment of the 1124th Brigade guarding the right wing position. With the same number of troops, the Japanese army's combat quality and tactical qualities were higher than those of the 1124th Regiment. Therefore, when the number of troops and combat power comparison were both in favor of the Japanese army, the Japanese army's attack on the right wing position of the Big and Small Bear Mountain Heights was relatively smooth. The Japanese army attacking the right wing position successfully opened multiple passages in the obstacle area in front of the 1124th Regiment's position and attacked all the way to the front of the 1124th Regiment's position.

Even a small group of its vanguard troops had broken into the front-line position of the 385th Regiment of the 1124th Brigade, and engaged in a fierce hand-to-hand combat with the officers and soldiers of the 1124th Regiment with bayonets.

Compared with the tragic failure of the Japanese army in attacking the Big and Small Bear Mountain Heights, which almost wiped out them, and the lack of progress in attacking the left wing of the Big and Small Bear Mountain, the right wing of the Big and Small Bear Mountain Heights was the only position attacked by the Hata Detachment where there was a breakthrough and progress, and it was also the only hope for Hata Shigeichi!
Following Hata Shigekazu's firing order, the Taiwan Island Mountain Artillery Regiment's salvo fire quickly fell on the position of the 1124th Regiment. The 75mm mountain artillery shells fell like raindrops, and the dense falling shells and explosion points instantly covered the position of the 1124th Regiment.

After completing the transfer and forward movement of the deployment position, as the Taiwan Island Mountain Artillery Regiment's deployment position approached the 385th Brigade's defense line and the entire regiment's firing range was reduced, the accuracy of its artillery fire also increased sharply.

Amidst loud "boom boom boom" sounds, countless billowing gray-black smoke columns rose from the front line to the depth of the 1124th Regiment's positions, and sparks flashed frequently in the positions of the 1124th Regiment. Under Hata Shigekazu's order to spare no effort, the Taiwan Island Mountain Artillery Regiment, regardless of the risk of accidentally injuring their own infantry, fired a considerable number of incendiary bombs at the right wing position guarded by the 1124th Regiment.

Amid the billowing smoke from the blasting grenades, golden flame dragons suddenly rose up. Incendiary bombs filled with aluminum powder ignited the arson points and fire dragons in the positions of the 1124th Regiment, which quickly spread under the repeated impact of the blast waves of the artillery shells.

(End of this chapter)