Songhu: Never Give Up

Chapter 267: Bloody Battle in Teng County (The author said to read this chapter)
Mid-March, Northern Line, Teng County

The dark mass of aircraft blocked out the sun over Teng County, and a string of heavy bombs dropped from the sky, engulfing the entire city.
Thousands of houses were destroyed and the military and civilians in Teng County suffered heavy casualties, but none of the Sichuan troops guarding Teng County surrendered and silently endured the ravages of the bombs.

After finally waiting for the enemy's aircraft to leave, the artillery fire preparations began again;
More than 70 large and small artillery pieces dropped tons of bombs into the city. The ancient city walls were blown down in sections, and many Sichuan Army soldiers who were defending the city walls were buried in the ruins.

At the city defense headquarters, Lieutenant General Wang Mingzhang, commander of the 22st Army of the 41nd Army and commander of the 112th Division, was staring at the map with a frown on his face. The Japanese were already at the gates of the city, but he didn't have many cards to play.
Chief of Staff Major General Zhao Weibin said anxiously:

"General, a Japanese army of more than 10,000 people has encircled Teng County from the east of Longshan and has entered the Fengjia River area, cutting off the connection between the front-line positions and Teng County. Now Teng County has become an isolated city.
截止今日，城中守军只有1个团部、3个营部、10个步兵连、1个迫击炮连，另有师、旅部的4个特务连、临时来城领运粮弹的第124师372旅743团的一个步兵连，以及滕县县长周同所辖的保安团和武装警察，统共约有3千人，真正的作战部队也有2千。

There were 3 Japanese soldiers surrounding Teng County. The disparity in strength between the enemy and us was too great, so we could not fight this battle.
While the enemy has not yet surrounded us, you lead the division to break out, and I will lead the brothers to hold on and ensure that everyone is at the position!"

Wang Mingzhang waved his hand and said:
"Bullshit, the Japanese are pressing on the border with a large force, and it really needs everyone to work together. How could a corps commander and division commander like me run away first?
Although there is a huge disparity in strength between the enemy and us in the city, we are still not without the ability to fight!
The main forces of the 122nd and 124th Divisions are on the way to reinforce, and the main force of the 45th Army is also returning to provide support. The Japanese have surrounded Teng County, but aren't our four main outer divisions also surrounding the Japanese?
As long as we hold on for three days, the main force will arrive and we can wrap the Japanese up in dumplings."

Chief of Staff Zhao wanted to argue, but was stopped by Commander Wang. What he was thinking about now was not his own safety, but Teng County. It was related to the success or failure of the Battle of Taierzhuang, and he had to defend it even if he couldn't!
After the 22nd Army arrived in Teng County in mid-January, it implemented pre-war defense deployment:

The Sichuan Army Headquarters was located in Lincheng, with the 127st Army commanded by Chen Li, the commander of the 41th Division, as the front-line troops. They took the boundary river line as the frontier position, built fortifications, and blocked the invasion of the Japanese army.

The 41st Army was the second-line force, divided into two parts. One part entered Teng County and was responsible for the city defense, and the other part entered the Shenjing area northwest of Teng County to cover the first-line troops and conduct guerrilla warfare between Shiqiang and Jining.

As the plan of the Second Army of the North China Front Army to attack southward along the Jinpu Line was approved by the General Staff, it was decided to send the Second Army's 10th Division, 106th Division and part of the 108th Division with more than people to attack Teng County;
It was commanded by the commander of the 10th Division, Lianjie Isogai, and was equipped with more than 70 cannons, 50 tanks, more than 50 aircraft, and two armored trains.

3月14日晨，第10师团濑谷启第33旅团等部（濑谷支队）派出步、骑兵1万多人、大炮20多门、坦克20多辆、飞机二三十架，由邹县向界河及两翼猛攻，滕县保卫战正式打响。

The soldiers of the 45th and 125th Divisions of the 127th Army deployed on the front line fought back. The boundary river positions changed hands several times. Both sides suffered heavy casualties after a day of fierce fighting. The main positions were still in the hands of the defenders, but the situation was already very serious.

In view of the tense situation and the weak strength of the defending troops, Commander Wang urgently dispatched a brigade of the 122nd Division stationed in Pingyi to rush to Teng County overnight.

At the same time, General Li ordered Tang Keqin's 20th Corps to send troops to reinforce Tengxian. After much deliberation, Commander Tang decided to move his troops to the vicinity of Lincheng.
However, due to the poor operation of the Longhai Railway, the 20th Army Headquarters was delayed in arriving, and only Chen Daqing's 85th Division of the 4th Army was dispatched to Lincheng at noon the next day, and no further movement was made.

A day later, due to the Japanese's flanking tactics, the pressure on the front-line positions increased sharply. In order to prevent the Japanese's flanking troops from cutting off the 45th Army's retreat, Commander Wang had to send the 124nd Brigade of the 372th Division, which was responsible for the defense of Teng County, to Chitouji on the front line to plug the hole.

As the 372nd Brigade was transferred from Teng County, when the Japanese invaders approached with heavy troops, the city was left with a shortage of troops, and second-line troops such as the security corps and the police only had 3 people - Teng County was in crisis!
As soon as the artillery preparation was over, thousands of Japanese launched a fierce attack on multiple directions of Teng County. The defenders fought desperately, and the bodies of the Japanese were scattered inside and outside the city walls. In the southeast corner of the Dongguan village wall, the Japanese blasted a gap with artillery, and dozens of light and heavy machine guns poured bullets into the gap, suppressing the firepower of the defenders and covering the hundreds of Japanese from the Qingye Squadron to attack the gap.

The company commander of the first battalion of the 731st Regiment guarding the southeast corner responded calmly and led the entire company of officers and soldiers to ambush on both sides of the gap;
Captain Dai Yuming decided to use grenades to deal with the Japanese. Each of them prepared four grenades, with the safety covers already unscrewed, and waited for the Japanese to approach.

Captain Kiyono saw that there were no defenders at the gap, so he excitedly ordered the Japanese to rush to the gap. Since the gap was not large, they were divided into several waves.
The first squad was at the forefront. Led by their squad leader, they were the first to rush to the gap. Captain Dai shouted:

"bomb!"

More than a hundred Sichuan-made grenades with light smoke were thrown into the group of Japanese soldiers from top to bottom. As a series of explosions sounded, dozens of Japanese soldiers were engulfed by the explosions;

In the end, only a dozen people escaped alive, and this was because the Sichuan-made grenades were too weak. If they were replaced with German-made long-handled grenades, no one from the Japanese 1st Squad would have been able to escape alive.

The first offensive of the Qingye Squadron ended in a whimper, but the Japanese did not give up, but called for artillery support;
A few minutes later, the Japanese brought in an infantry gun and three mortars, and fired rows of shells into the gap, causing the company's casualties to increase sharply.

The Qingye Squadron immediately launched a second attack. This time, the Japanese were very cunning and only sent 20 to 30 people to charge, luring the first company to fire at them. However, the Japanese artillery continued to fire at the first company, causing heavy casualties to the company.
In order to stop the Japanese attack, the first company had to fight the enemy fiercely under artillery fire, using guns from a distance and grenades from close, and they managed to keep the Japanese outside the city.

The second attack of the Japanese was repelled again, and before the defenders could catch their breath, the third attack was launched;

This time Captain Kiyono led the team personally. Hundreds of Japs swarmed towards the gap. The soldiers of a company could only fight to the death with the Japs under the artillery fire.

A wounded soldier no longer had the strength to throw a grenade, so he took out his only three grenades and tied them together. After the grenades started to smoke, they rolled down the city wall and died together with several Japanese soldiers.

When the Japanese invaders poured into the gap, the suicide squad members fought a life-and-death battle with the Japanese invaders armed with swords and grenades, risking their lives to finally repel the Japanese invaders' attack.

After three bloody battles, the Japanese soldiers of the Qingye Squadron were almost completely killed or wounded, and the first company suffered nearly a hundred casualties, and the entire organization was almost wiped out.

The Japanese were shocked by the desperate fighting style of the Sichuan Army and suspended their attack on the southeast corner. During the interval between battles, the defenders took the time to repair their fortifications.
As sandbags and soil could not be found at the moment and time was tight, they had to transport about 2 bags of salt and grain from Dongguan and the city to the position to fill the defense gap.

(End of this chapter)