The Iron-Blooded Army of Beacon Fire

Chapter 405: A desperate fight, deploying troops
In the field command post of the Hata Detachment, Hata Shigeichi sat alone at the observation port of the command post, his eyes passing over the open area in front of the command post and the densely packed field positions, looking towards the direction of the Big and Small Bear Mountain plateau shrouded in the morning mist a few kilometers away, his face full of confusion and fear.

Although five days had passed since the horrific attack, the scenes on the battlefield seemed as if they had just happened and kept replaying in Hata Shigekazu's mind. That battle was like a terrible nightmare that kept lingering in Hata Shigekazu's mind.

The entire process of the battle was very simple. It was nothing more than the heavy group attack operation that the Japanese army was always good at. The Hata Detachment concentrated all its strength and launched a fierce attack on the Chinese army's defense line centered on the high ground. The Japanese troops fighting on the Chinese battlefield were already accustomed to similar attack operations.

In previous similar battles, even though most Chinese troops had solid positions to rely on, they could only hold out for a day or two at most in the face of the heavy troops and firepower of the Japanese army.

But in the battle five days ago, not only did the Hata Detachment fail in its attack, it also suffered a bloody defeat in front of the Chinese army's positions, and suffered extremely heavy losses. Among the two infantry regiments that participated in the battle, the two infantry battalions of the 1st Infantry Regiment of the Taiwan Island that directly launched an attack on the Big and Small Bear Mountain Heights, including the two majors and more than battalion commanders, were basically wiped out.

If we take into account the loss of a battalion by the 1st Infantry Regiment of Taiwan Island in the exploratory attack on the Big and Small Bear Mountains, the 1st Infantry Regiment of Taiwan Island was completely finished.

Apart from the regiment headquarters and its subordinate troops, the remaining troops of the three subordinate field infantry battalions could only barely form two infantry squadrons.

The situation of the 2nd Regiment on the Taiwan Island was slightly better, but not much better. Its two infantry battalions were subjected to covering fire from the Chinese army's artillery group during the battle to attack the open positions on the right wing of the Big and Small Bear Mountain Heights. The troops that broke into the positions lost more than a thousand people, almost a battalion of troops. A major infantry battalion commander was also killed in the Chinese army's position.

After the war, the 2nd Infantry Regiment of Taiwan Island could only barely retain two infantry battalions.

Other auxiliary support units also suffered heavy casualties. The 150mm heavy artillery battalion was completely wiped out, and the Taiwan Island Mountain Artillery Regiment had five Type 94 75mm mountain guns destroyed, with many casualties.

The same was true for the 8th Independent Engineer Regiment. Adding up all the casualties, the Hata Detachment suffered more than casualties in the attack that day, of which more than were killed in action alone. This was equivalent to wiping out an entire infantry regiment in one day. It is not an exaggeration to describe the unit's casualty rate and loss efficiency as a meat grinder.

Thinking back to the events of the battle, Hata Shigeichi couldn't help but tremble slightly. Nightmare? No! Even hell is not as scary as the battle that day!
While Hata Shigeichi was hesitating alone, Hata Shigeichi's adjutant suddenly appeared and whispered, "Report to the commander, the 11th Army Headquarters has received the detailed battle report of our detachment. The Army Headquarters is stepping up its efforts to analyze and summarize the course of this battle and the situation of the defending enemy, and to collect and organize all kinds of intelligence on the enemy's defending forces."

"At present, the army headquarters has organized 500 reinforcements and a light armored vehicle squadron to support our detachment. The light armored vehicle squadron is on the way and is expected to arrive the day after tomorrow. The 500 reinforcements have not yet set out and are expected to leave Jiujiang the day after tomorrow. In addition, the army headquarters requires our detachment to suspend the attack and hold on to the spot and wait for orders."

Hata Shigeichi looked at his adjutant, tried to calm himself down, and said, "Call the 11th Army Headquarters back. My detachment will obey the order."

The adjutant nodded, paused, and added: "Sir, according to the report from the army headquarters, the officer who led 500 reinforcements to support our detachment is a major general. It is said that this major general is coming to take over your command."

As soon as the adjutant finished speaking, Hata Shigekazu's eyes dimmed for a moment, then a sharp light flashed across them. He said in a deep voice, "Take over the command? What's going on?"

The adjutant pondered for a moment and said, "Sir, the army headquarters also sent a telegram to my detachment. The main force of our army attacking the outer defense line of Tianjia Town has broken through the Chinese army's position. It is expected to launch an attack on the Chinese army's Tianjia Town fortress in a few days. The army headquarters means that before launching the attack near Tianjia Town, my detachment needs to rest temporarily and not take any active offensive actions. After the major general officer who will take over your command arrives with 500 reinforcements, we will launch an attack in conjunction with our army in the direction of Tianjia Town."

Take over command?

Hata Shigeichi immediately understood the intention of the 11th Army Command.

The failure of the attack a few days ago not only brought unprecedented heavy losses to the Hata Detachment, but also had a huge impact on the overall strategy of the Japanese 11th Army that organized the Wuhan offensive.

In the plan of the Japanese 11th Army, as long as they could remove the two nails of Tianjiazhen-Banbishan, the last pass of Wuhan's water defense line, it would only be a matter of time to capture Wuhan.

As a result, before the offensive operation to besiege the core fortress of Tianjia Town began, the Hata Detachment suffered a major defeat on the outskirts of Banbi Mountain, and it was a defeat with extremely heavy losses. In addition, the Hata Detachment had previously suffered a defeat in which a vanguard battalion was annihilated on the way from Jiujiang to Banbi Mountain. Such a defeat and loss was obviously intolerable to the Japanese 11th Army Command.

The order from the 11th Army Headquarters meant that Shigekazu Hata would soon be stripped of his position as commander.

To put it bluntly, according to the order of the 11th Army Command, in the near future, the Japanese officer who will take over the command position of Hata Shigeichi will rush to the front line with supplementary support troops to replace Hata Shigeichi who has been defeated repeatedly. Before the arrival of the officer who will take over the command, neither Hata Shigeichi nor the Hata Detachment can take any offensive actions, but must hide in the fortifications like defeated dogs, hold on to the spot, and lick their wounds.

Only after the replacement officer and reinforcements arrive will the Hata Detachment put the offensive plan on the agenda again. At that time, with the arrival of the new commander, the Hata Detachment, a temporary number named after the commander, will no longer exist.

Hata Shigeichi was also very clear about what was waiting for him after being relieved of his command. Relying on his previous military exploits, even though the recent defeat was extremely devastating, he would not be tried in a military court. However, his promotion path in the Japanese Army was cut short. He would be relegated to the second line as a reserve officer and work in a non-military department, or even directly retire and go home to eat rice.

I am unwilling, I am unwilling!

Hata Shigeichi thought so.

He glanced at his adjutant, his eyes becoming more and more crazy. He thought for a moment with a stern face, and then said, "Just now you said that the army headquarters sent us a light armored vehicle squadron and reinforcements as support. When can these two troops arrive?"

The adjutant was stunned for a moment, and then said, "The light armored vehicle squadron is on the way and is expected to arrive the day after tomorrow. The commander who will replace you and 500 reinforcements are on the ship. They are expected to land near Jiujiang the day after tomorrow. It will take at least three or four days to join up with our detachment." Hata Shigeichi pondered for a moment, suddenly stood up, slammed his fist on the table, and suddenly a very crazy idea came to his mind.

Even though his military career had come to an end after this battle, he was unwilling to just stay in the position all day waiting for an order to return home. He returned home in disgrace and regret, and he was even more unwilling to watch the Chinese army showing off their might by bombarding and harassing him in front of him all day long.

Since the end of the battle that day, the Hata Detachment, which had suffered heavy damage, had not made any major moves since then. Instead, it had been staying quietly in the trenches and attack starting positions, resting all day and confronting the Chinese army in front of it all day.

However, while the Japanese army had ceased its operations, the Chinese troops guarding the Big and Small Bear Mountain Heights became active. Under He Wei's instructions, Hu Rizheng's 150mm heavy artillery battalion launched harassing fire at the Japanese positions at irregular intervals every day. The duration of the bombardment was not fixed, the number of artillery participating in the bombardment was not fixed, and even the amount of ammunition fired and the shooting targets were uncertain.

This completely irregular shelling made the Hata Detachment, which was stationed in the position, suffer terribly. They couldn't even rest properly, and each round of shelling would cause more or less casualties to the Hata Detachment.

Faced with the Chinese army's harassing artillery bombardment, the Hata Detachment had no means of counterattack except to be careful to defend against the artillery. After the 150mm heavy howitzer battalion under the Hata Detachment was destroyed, the only artillery firepower left for the Hata Detachment was the mountain artillery.

However, facing the well-concealed German-made SFH13 18mm howitzer with a range of up to 150 kilometers, the mountain artillery of the Hata Detachment could not launch any decent anti-artillery fire at all, and had no way to deal with the 150mm heavy artillery battalion under He Wei.

Therefore, the Japanese officers and soldiers of the Hata Detachment could only rely on reinforced fortifications and hide in anti-artillery holes all day long, running around like rats to avoid the harassing artillery fire of the Chinese army. The Japanese army, which has always been known for its fierce firepower in front of the Chinese army and has the advantage of advanced equipment, was so embarrassed in front of the Chinese army's artillery fire. It was really ridiculous!

In addition, in order to train the 3rd Infantry Battalion of Hu Zhaowu's Assault Corps, which had not participated in large-scale battles so far, He Wei would occasionally send small squads and platoons of the 3rd Battalion to take the initiative to attack and harass the Hatan Detachment, and sometimes even launch night raids, which also caused a lot of headaches for the Hatan Detachment.

Whether it was artillery bombardment or small-scale harassment, He Wei was trying to undermine the combat effectiveness of the troops while causing trouble for the Hata Detachment. In the eyes of Hata Shigeichi, these harassment attacks were naturally provocative and humiliating acts of the Chinese army showing off their power, which made everyone in the Hata Detachment very angry.

After thinking for a while, Shigekazu Hata finally decided that he must do something before being relieved of his post. He must give it a try. At the very least, he must not just sit in the trenches and do nothing, even if it meant disobeying the army headquarters' order to stop the attack and hold his ground!

Suddenly, with mixed feelings, Shigekazu Hata raised his voice to the maximum and said to his adjutant: "Withhold the order from the General Headquarters. After the independent light armored vehicle squadron arrives to reinforce our unit, the entire detachment will continue to prepare for the attack. The light armored vehicle squadron will arrive the day after tomorrow, so give them a day to rest and set the detachment's attack time for two days later."

As soon as Hata Shigeichi finished speaking, the adjutant was dumbfounded by this blatant act of disobedience. Before the adjutant could say anything, a high and loud voice suddenly came from the sky.

Immediately, the faces of the adjutant and Shigekazu Hata changed. After the continuous shelling by the Chinese army, the two were very familiar with this sound. This was the unique sound of the Chinese army's large-caliber howitzer shells flying through the air at high altitude.

"Captain, take cover!"

The two men hurriedly stood up and rushed into the anti-artillery cave in the command post before the sound of the shells breaking through the air became rapid and low.

Boom
Boom
Bang Bang
Dozens of 150mm heavy grenades fell on the position of the Hata Detachment in no particular order. The rumbling sound of the explosion rolled repeatedly on the position of the Hata Detachment like thunder. While countless dust and flames flashed, dozens of extremely tall yellow mud pillars rose into the air.

The position of the Hata Detachment was once again shrouded in dust and smoke amid the noise.

In the command post on the reverse slope of the Big and Small Bear Mountains, listening to the routine harassing artillery fire of the 150mm heavy artillery battalion, He Wei looked at a freshly-made offensive combat plan and nodded slightly, obviously very satisfied with the combat plan in his hand.

After the battle that day, He Wei realized that the strong and reinforced Hata Detachment in front of him seemed not difficult to defeat, so he immediately took the initiative to attack, further damaging it, and even completely defeating the tactical goal of the Hata Detachment.

Of course, He Wei did not tell this bold tactical goal to friendly officers such as Ma Ji, commander of the 385th Brigade, Luo Guangwen, commander of the 18th Division, and other friendly officers. He only informed Wang Yuanling, chief of the staff department of the assault corps, of the idea and instructed the staff department to formulate a corresponding attack plan.

In the days after the battle, there were no large-scale battles between the two sides. The only exchanges of fire every day were small-scale harassment by the assault corps and unilateral harassment and shelling of the Japanese army by the 150mm heavy artillery battalion.

Therefore, the General Staff Office worked out this attack plan with extremely high efficiency, which made He Wei quite satisfied and at the same time seemed extremely crazy at the tactical level.

Putting down the battle plan, He Wei smiled and said to Zhao Zhanhai, the chief of the combat training section of the assault corps' staff office, who was standing beside him: "This plan is well done. I agree, but I still have to add one thing. This time we are attacking in the field, and we must pay attention to air defense. Although the Japanese have not used aircraft in their attacks during this period, we have to guard against it. I will give an order later to transfer the 75mm anti-aircraft artillery company deployed on Banbi Mountain. It can also play a role in air defense cover during the attack."

Zhao Zhanhai nodded and said, "Yes! Captain, I will coordinate immediately. When is the time for our attack?"

He Wei thought about it, hummed, and said, "Then let's set it for two days later."

(End of this chapter)