Songhu: Never Give Up

Yue Qianli saw that everyone was very concerned about this issue, so he stopped keeping everyone in suspense and said directly:
“To be honest, I couldn’t make up my mind before, because I was worried that a strong attack would cause too many casualties. Later, I remembered a battle example, which made me make up my mind;

Just one word - fight!"

Ji Xingwen also echoed:
"I agree with fighting. There will always be casualties in a war. If the Japanese hide together and we don't dare to fight, then they will dare to run rampant in China without fear. Anyway, we will have no way to stop them if they hide together. We can't let this happen!"

Yue Qianli's eyes lit up after hearing this. This was indeed the truth. He thought that he could not give the Japanese the idea of ​​holding on and waiting for help.

If they dare to advance alone, we will surround them, and then we will destroy them. This way, the devils will learn their lesson. Thinking of this, he continued:
"Since we have decided to fight, the only question left is how to fight. My idea is to have the Third Brigade take charge of blocking reinforcements on the eastern front.

The main force of the 77th Army blocked the enemy's escape route to the west on the western front, and the rest was left to the 179st and nd Detachments and the th Division.

Didn't we capture an artillery regiment of the Japanese? Let's set up the artillery and bombard them first, concentrating our firepower on bombing the middle part of the Japanese.

Then the troops on the southern and northern lines will each send out an assault brigade to attack the enemy from the waist, advancing from the north and south to cut off the enemy from the waist..."

After listening to this, Ji Xingwen said:

"Brother Yue, there is nothing wrong with your tactics, except that the 179th Division has become a mere bystander.

In this way, the task of cutting through the enemy's waist on the southern line is given to us. I will send a regiment to complete this task, so that we can have some meat at least."

Seeing that Ji Xingwen had said so much, Yue Qianli had no choice but to agree to his plan and assigned the task of cutting off the Japanese defense line to the Second Detachment on the northern line and the 179th Division on the southern line.

In order to avoid the enemy's aerial bombing, all other troops hid in fortifications. The time for launching the general attack was set at 4 a.m. the next day, and the battle was to be over before 8 a.m.

As long as the Japanese are defeated, all the others will rush forward to annihilate them. With an 8 to 1 advantage in force, the first attack will be the general attack.

After the battle plan was finalized, each unit began to make preparations before the war. At this time, there were only more than two hours left until dark, and neither side had any intention of continuing the fight, so the battlefield returned to tranquility.

Just when everyone thought that the evening would pass peacefully, a shrill anti-aircraft whistle sounded;

Then more than 30 bombers came over aggressively and carried out indiscriminate bombing on the area around Horseshoe Valley, dropping more than ten tons of bombs, causing many casualties to the guerrilla column and the 77th Army.

The soldiers all huddled in the trenches and endured the attack silently. After the bombing, they dropped a large amount of combat supplies to the besieged enemy positions.
Because the positions of both sides were very close, a lot of supplies drifted to our position, which made Colonel Yamamura so angry that he scolded him as a prodigal son.

"Yamamura-kun, have you sensed the smell of something different?"

Colonel Yamamura looked at Ueda in confusion, and Ueda continued to speak in a mysterious voice:
"It's too quiet. It looks like a storm is brewing. It looks like the Chinese are about to launch a general attack!"

Colonel Yamamura was stunned at first, then said with relief:
"Then let them attack. It is said that the Chinese are good at defense but not at attack. This is a good opportunity to let them see what a steel defense is.
If Yue Qianli wants to annihilate the imperial army, he will pay with human lives!"

Colonel Ueda nodded and said:
“Yamamura-kun, I judge that the Chinese will launch a general attack before dawn at the latest, because this will avoid the Imperial Army’s aerial warriors;
It's time to send a farewell message and destroy the military flag!"

Colonel Yamamura was stunned for a moment, then said sadly:
"Has it really come to this? What if they——"

"Mr. Shancun, nothing will happen. Don't forget that our opponent is Yue Qianli!
He is like a cunning wolf. No prey he sets his sights on can escape. The 58th and 104th Regiments can be annihilated, but the military flag cannot be lost. You and I cannot bear this responsibility. "

Colonel Yamamura fell into deep thought. This decision was not easy to make, but he had to make a decision. Once the Chinese launched a general attack, there would be too many variables. It was unknown how long it took before Colonel Yamamura sighed, bowed heavily to Colonel Ueda, and then sent a farewell telegram to the 13th Division in the name of both of them...

At three o'clock in the morning, Tanaka Shizuka slumped down in a chair, holding a thin telegram in his hand, which seemed to weigh a thousand pounds.

"Bakayaloo, what a bunch of rubbish!"

"Yue Qianli, I will not be a human being until I have avenged this vengeance!"

"Boom boom boom boom..."

"Boom boom boom boom..."

This was Yue Qianli's answer. At four o'clock in the morning, three red flares broke the silence of the night, followed by the sound of hundreds of cannons, and the night sky was instantly lit up;

Rows of artillery shells hit the Japanese positions. The Japanese had never suffered such fierce artillery fire, but there was no expression on the faces of Colonel Yamamura and Colonel Ueda.

From the moment they destroyed the military flag, they regarded themselves as dead, and the Chinese general offensive was a relief for them.

"Come on, let's see how many lives you have to fill!

The Imperial Army will not be intimidated by artillery fire, kill the chickens!"

Colonel Yamamura has gone mad...

The Chinese army's artillery preparation lasted for a full hour, using more than 60 captured light and heavy artillery pieces, as well as more than 50 artillery pieces from the first and second detachments' artillery battalions. The column's direct artillery battalion did not move, as they had to conserve some strength.

More than 100 artillery pieces of varying sizes were enough to blow the Japanese's circular fortifications to pieces, causing heavy casualties among the Japanese.
Because the Japanese positions were too small, each round of volleys would bring a devastating blow to them, and those Japanese who attempted to drag the Chinese down with them were blown to pieces.

After repeatedly plowing the enemy's position twice, they focused on hitting the waist area, almost flattening all the fortifications that the enemy had worked so hard to dig out;
Those Japanese soldiers who managed to survive could only hide in the trenches and tremble, waiting for the Chinese to rush up and fight to the death.

Before the Japanese artillery fire extended, the 1st Battalion of the 179nd Detachment and the 1st Regiment of the th Division took the lead in launching an attack from both wings. Their attack direction was exactly the waist of the Japanese defense line, which was also the most deadly place of the Japanese defense line.

"Yoshi, Yue Qianli is really good at killing people with one strike, and he specifically hits the vital parts. Kill the chicken!"

Yue Qianli did not disappoint Colonel Yamamura. Although the Japanese light and heavy machine guns were constantly blocking and causing a lot of casualties to the assault troops, they still failed to stop the National Army's north-south advance.
In order to support the operations of the two commandos, the guerrilla column mobilized more than 60 mortars and infantry guns to cooperate with them in the battle.

As soon as the enemy's machine guns showed up, they could not fire a few bursts before a row of artillery shells came to cover them, and they could not escape even if they wanted to.

The Japanese's firepower was gradually weakening, and the commandos took the opportunity to rush into the Japanese's position. The crazy Japanese screamed and rushed towards the commandos, and close combat and melee broke out.

The Northwest men of the 179st Regiment of the 1th Division liked this kind of fighting style the most. They pulled out their swords from their backs and hacked at the Japanese soldiers, killing many of them.

The Japanese were not to be outdone and stabbed their bayonets into the chests of the Northwest men. The battle between the two sides instantly became fierce, and the corpses of both sides soon covered the battlefield.

(End of this chapter)