Zhu Tian: Beginning to Cross the Changjin Lake

Jiro Kono held up a telescope and observed the situation on Zhangjia Mountain.

The Japanese officer next to him said, "We have been keeping an eye on the situation on Zhangjia Mountain across the street. So far, we have not found anything unusual."

"The enemy will build fortifications whenever they have time."

Takano Jiro nodded slightly, raised his wrist to look at his watch, and said, "The time for the attack is about to come. How is the preparation of the attacking forces?"

A Japanese lieutenant colonel nearby said, "Reporting to the commander, the attacking locust warriors are having breakfast. After breakfast, the troops will move into the attack position, and the artillery preparation of the locust army should have begun by then."

"Yoshi~!"

Takano Jiro nodded with satisfaction and said, "This battle is of great importance. It is directly related to the honor of our 65th Regiment. There must be no mistakes. We must capture Zhangjiashan as soon as possible."

"Hayi~!"

The Japanese officers present responded in unison.

The Japanese still used their previous tactics. Before attacking, they would prepare with artillery fire, using powerful artillery fire to destroy the defenders' fortifications and deter their determination to resist. This was the simplest and most effective method, and it was in line with the rules.

Sure enough, not long after, rumbling sounds of artillery were heard from the Japanese artillery positions.

One shell after another flew quickly towards the Zhangjiashan position with a sharp whistling sound.

"Boom~! Boom~!"

Violent explosions rang out one after another, flames rose into the sky, and the entire Zhangjiashan position was once again covered by the Japanese artillery fire.

It was unknown how many times the Japanese had bombarded Zhangjiashan. After repeated bombings, the entire Zhangjiashan had been bombed beyond recognition, and the mountain was covered with craters of various sizes.

The originally lush vegetation had long since disappeared, leaving only patches of scorched earth.

In order to capture Zhangjiashan this time, the Japanese concentrated more powerful artillery fire and bombarded the Zhangjiashan position.

After a fierce bombing, Zhangjiashan was once again completely shrouded in gunfire and smoke.

At this time, the Japanese artillery began to extend their firing.

Takano Jiro, who had been observing the situation, immediately put down his telescope and shouted, "It's time to order the attacking troops to launch the attack immediately."

"We must strive to capture Zhangjiashan in one fell swoop."

"Hayi~!"

The order was quickly passed down, and the Japanese soldiers who had been prepared rushed out of their positions, holding their bayonets and screaming, and rushed towards Zhangjiashan.

The 65th Regiment had just arrived in Hengyang. It was a fresh force that had not yet seen the strengths and weaknesses of the defenders. Now was the moment when their morale was at its highest.

In fact, Yanyong Wang finally changed his mind and let the 65th Regiment attack Zhangjiashan in order to let the 65th Regiment see the strength of the defenders, so that they would not naively think that the current result was caused by the incompetence of the 116th Division and the 68th Division.

It is more effective to let them experience it themselves than to tell them a thousand times.

Although Takano Jiro and others did not reveal anything, Iwanaga Wang also saw that this guy was extremely arrogant and obviously looked down on them.

Therefore, we can take this opportunity to let them see how powerful the defenders are.

Of course, if Jiro Takano could really take over Zhangjiashan, Iwanaga Wang would be more than happy to do so.

Takano Jiro observed the situation on the battlefield and ordered: "According to the original plan, we must rush up the mountain as soon as possible. First, take down the two small hills in front of us, and then use them as a springboard to attack the main peak of Zhangjiashan."

"Hayi~!"

A Japanese lieutenant colonel next to him responded respectfully: "Please rest assured, Commander, we will definitely attack with all our strength according to the original plan and try to capture Zhangjiashan in the shortest possible time."

"Yoshi~!"

Takano Jiro nodded slightly and said, "I will watch here today. I also want to see how powerful these hateful enemies are."

As Jiro Kono spoke, he glanced intentionally or unintentionally at several officers of the 116th Division standing next to him.

However, several officers from the 116th Division who came to help had no expression on their faces at this moment. They were observing the situation on the battlefield. They were extremely unconvinced and thought: Why are you so arrogant? You will know how powerful we are soon.

The Japanese's progress was still very smooth, and a large number of them quickly rushed down the mountain.

At this time, the Japanese also moved their machine guns and mortars further forward, aimed them at the mountain and began to suppress the fire.

The charging Japanese infantrymen hardly stopped at all and continued to rush up the mountain screaming.

The defenders responded calmly and did not fight back at first because the distance was too far and a counterattack would only be a waste of ammunition.

The defenders need to hold Hengyang for a long time, and the ammunition is extremely precious, so it naturally needs to be used sparingly.

It was not until the Japanese reached the foot of the mountain and began to climb up that the soldiers of the 10th Army on the mountain began a full-scale counterattack.

All I saw was a sea of ​​grenades, emitting black smoke, flying down from the mountain, like a flock of sparrows, landing among the Japanese crowd.

"Boom~! Boom~!"

The Japanese soldiers who entered the outer trench had nowhere to hide when faced with a rain of grenades.

Most of the Japanese soldiers didn't even have time to dodge before the grenade exploded.

Now, all these defending brothers have gained experience. They have a delay of two or three seconds when throwing grenades, so the grenades basically explode as soon as they hit the ground. Some even explode in mid-air right above the heads of the Japanese soldiers.

The broken shrapnel and raging shock waves instantly knocked over a large number of Japanese soldiers.

However, this group of Japanese devils were also extremely ferocious. Despite such a heavy blow, they did not stop attacking.

The Japanese officers who were commanding the operations were also aware of this. Although hearing about it and experiencing it personally were two completely different things, they were still mentally prepared and therefore reacted quickly.

The Japanese officer waved his saber and screamed, "Continue the attack. Charge up the mountain at all costs."

When Jiro Takano saw that the attacking troops on the front line suffered heavy losses, his face finally turned gloomy.

The enemies on the mountain seemed to be more powerful than he had imagined.

It was originally thought that under such fierce artillery fire, they would have suffered heavy losses and would be unable to organize effective resistance.

But now that the battle had just begun, they still encountered setbacks, which made Jiro Kono alert.

But due to the sake of his face, the old Japanese soldier couldn't say anything and could only pretend to be calm and continue to watch the battle, praying silently in his heart, hoping that his troops could save his face and capture the opposite position as soon as possible.

However, things turned out to be far beyond Jiro Takano's expectations. The defenders on the mountain threw grenades at the Japanese without mercy. Violent explosions continued to ring out, blowing the Japanese to the ground and causing many casualties.

Although those Japanese soldiers tried their best to rush up the mountain, they could not get up at all, and the number of Japanese corpses on the battlefield increased.

Takano Jiro finally couldn't bear it anymore and shouted loudly: "Suppress their firepower, fire the machine guns and mortars at full speed, and cover the infantry to charge forward."

"Ha Yi~!"

A Japanese officer nearby responded respectfully and turned to convey the order.

At this time, a Japanese officer from the 116th Division spoke up: "Colonel, we have said before that the enemy's fortifications are very cleverly constructed. Our machine guns and mortars cannot effectively suppress them."

"They could hide in the safety of their trenches and continue to throw grenades at our attacking forces."

Takano Jiro was so angry that he didn't even care about the friendship between the brothers. He said coldly: "Baga, are you gloating over other people's misfortune?"

The Japanese officer quickly said respectfully: "I dare not, I am just stating a fact."

"We all sincerely hope that your 65th Regiment can capture Zhangjiashan and avenge us."

Jiro Takano suppressed the anger in his heart. He even felt that these guys were deliberately laughing at them. Maybe there was something crucial that they didn't tell them.

Takano Jiro suppressed his anger and asked, "Now is not the time to talk about this. We are facing a common enemy. We should find a way to solve the enemy in front of us as soon as possible."

"How did you get there before?"

The Japanese officer said helplessly: "We also relied on violent attack to finally get there."

"Before, the mountain was covered with a cliff of almost 90 degrees, which made it impossible for people to climb up. It was even more difficult for us to rush up the mountain, so a large number of locust warriors were sacrificed."

"Later, we used direct artillery fire to basically destroy the cliffs, which made it much easier for the Locust warriors to climb up."

"But even so, facing the enemy's grenade rain and machine gun fire suppression, the locust army paid a heavy price to capture the two high grounds in front." "As for the main peak of Zhangjiashan behind, we never had a chance to attack it. Several consecutive attacks eventually failed."

"We have already told His Excellency the Colonel about these situations."

Takano Jiro's expression became even more gloomy, and he asked, "Besides violent attack, is there no other way?"

The Japanese officer answered honestly: "We have tried every possible means, including bombing with aircraft and attacking with special bombs, but the effect is not obvious."

"In the end, we can only attack by force."

Takano Jiro couldn't help but curse: "Bagayashi, when did our enemies become so powerful?"

At this moment, the Japanese attacking forces suffered heavy casualties and were unable to advance and were forced to retreat.

Looking at the defeated Japanese soldiers, Jiro Takano's old face couldn't help but feel a burning pain. He originally thought that he could easily take Zhangjiashan this time.

The losses in the first attack alone were heavy, and they had not yet taken the two small hills in front.

"Bagaya Deer~!"

Takano Jiro angrily cursed: "These damn enemies, I will tear them all into pieces."

A Japanese officer said, "Colonel, calm down. The enemy's defense system is very suitable for defense in this terrain. It is still very difficult for the locust army to attack. It took us a lot of time and lost a lot of troops to capture these two small hills."

The more Takano Jiro thought about it, the angrier he became. He gritted his teeth and said, "Gather more powerful firepower and continue to bombard Zhangjiashan. I don't believe that we can't take these two insignificant hills."

"Hai!"

A Japanese officer nearby responded respectfully and turned to convey the order.

Although Yan Yongwang did not reach the front line, he had been paying attention to the battle in Zhangjiashan.

When he learned that the first attack had failed, Iwanaga Wang sighed slightly and said, "It seems that the 65th Regiment is just so-so. I thought that Takano Jiro was really that powerful."

A Japanese colonel nearby asked, "What should we do now? Takano Jiro requires that we continue the attack and request artillery support."

Yan Yongwang said with a serious face: "Notify the artillery unit and give them full support. Let them let go and concentrate all their efforts to hit me hard."

"If we are really defeated, he will say that we did not cooperate and put the blame on us."

The Japanese colonel was also a smart man. He understood immediately and responded respectfully: "Hi, I will convey the order right away."

Under the command of Iwanaga Wang, the Japanese artillery also fully assisted the 65th Regiment to continue its fierce offensive.

Amid the rumbling of artillery fire, the Zhangjiashan position was once again caught in a barrage of artillery fire.

And this time, the Japanese also mobilized planes to carry out bombing.

After a fierce artillery preparation, the Japanese, under the command of Jiro Takano, launched another fierce offensive on Zhangjiashan.

But the result was similar to the last time. When the Japanese rushed up the mountain, they were once again met with stubborn resistance from the defenders.

The Japanese were prepared this time and were unwilling to accept defeat, so they continued to attack fiercely with gritted teeth.

The battle was reaching a stalemate when the Flying Tigers' planes arrived.

This batch of planes was originally intended to deal with the Japanese planes, but after the bombing, the Japanese planes ran away in shame, and the Flying Tigers' planes were empty-handed.

Seeing the fierce fighting on the ground battlefield, the pilots certainly did not want to make a wasted trip, so they rushed towards the Japanese devils on the ground.

At this moment, the Japanese launched a fierce attack on all fronts. The battle was not only fought in Zhangjiashan, but Zhangjiashan was undoubtedly the place where the fighting was the most intense.

"Chirp chirp chirp~!"

A shrill whistling sound was heard, and planes swooped down from the sky.

They fired at the Japanese soldiers on the ground.

"Da da da~!"

Dense rain of bullets fell from the sky and landed on the Japanese positions. The Japanese heavy machine guns and mortars were directly destroyed. Many Japanese soldiers on the positions were also hit and exploded, with blood and flesh flying everywhere.

The attacking Japanese troops were also subjected to rounds of strafing by aircraft, suffering heavy casualties.

Seeing this, Jiro Takano could only consider himself unlucky and quickly ordered the attacking troops to retreat and temporarily stop the attack.

……

Li Guotao stood in an open space, looking at the situation in the distance, frowning and saying: "From what I heard, the fighting on the front line is very fierce!"

Yang Jihe said: "I have already consulted with my superiors to get a general idea of ​​the situation."

"Early this morning, the Japanese launched another all-out attack, and you guessed it right again."

Li Guotao smiled bitterly and said, "The Japanese have stopped for several days. They should have rested long ago. I am not surprised to guess this."

Yang Jihe nodded slightly and said, "The Japanese are determined to take Hengyang. I heard that the Japanese reinforcements are still heading to Hengyang continuously, but our reinforcements are still a long way off."

Li Guotao said: "It is best not to say such things, so as not to affect the morale of the army."

Yang Jihe said: "But the brothers are not fools. It has been so long and we haven't seen the so-called reinforcements."

"Before, they only said we needed to hold out for ten days, but now, we have been fighting for more than twenty days."

Li Guotao said helplessly: "Maybe we have to continue fighting for more than 20 days. We have no other choice. We must prepare for the worst and fight the Japanese to the end."

Yang Jihe nodded helplessly and said, "I am not afraid of death, but I am afraid of being defeated in the end. What we need is victory."

Li Guotao smiled and said, "You hit the nail on the head, but don't worry, victory is not far away, the Japanese can't hold out for much longer. As long as we work hard, we can all see the final victory."

"I hope so." Yang Jihe said with a smile.

Although Li Guotao knew the ending, he couldn't say anything more.

"Okay, let's not talk about this for now. If we continue like this, the war will become more and more intense."

"I guess the commander can't let us just sit back and watch the show all the time."

Yang Jihe said: "What do you mean?"

Li Guotao smiled and said, "Be prepared to fight the Japanese on the battlefield at any time, and you should also ask more about the news from the commander. If you get any news in advance, don't forget to inform us so that we can prepare in advance."

Yang Jihe nodded and said, "Don't worry, I will pay attention to any news from the military or the front line."

"If there is any news, I will not forget to inform you."

"Although I am the head of the regiment now, I only have your battalion, and it is not fully staffed."

"After all, I'm just a battalion commander."

Li Guotao smiled and said, "Then I will be the deputy battalion commander."

"But none of this matters. Killing the devils is the most important thing."

"That's true."

Yang Jihe nodded and said, "What I mean is that you are the only troop under my command. If anything happens, I will inform you immediately. Apart from you, I have no one else to use."

"Haha~!"

Li Guotao laughed and said, "Then I think your position as regiment commander is a bit redundant. You should just quit and save the country some military pay."

Yang Jihe laughed and scolded: "Damn it, you are trying to usurp the throne."

"What's more, it's been a long time since we received the military pay."

Li Guotao asked, "Isn't there a reward?"

Yang Jihe said helplessly: "That's two different things. You can only get rewards if you have made contributions. Normally, I can hardly even afford to eat, let alone military pay!" (End of this chapter)