Songhu: Never Give Up

Linyi City, the shadow of war once again looms over the city

The Japanese troops stationed in Jinan first dispatched the main force of the 114th Division to deploy troops along the southern line of the Jinpu Road and the Jiaoji Road. Armored vehicles patrolled the railway day and night, blocking the Jinpu Road and the Jiaoji Road, isolating southeastern Shandong from other areas.

Then the 5th Independent Brigade rushed straight to Linyi along the Jinan-Linyi highway, full of murderous intent.

The main forces of the two military regions of Southeast Shandong and Central Shandong did not adopt the strategy of keeping the enemy out of the base area, but instead opened the way and let the enemy enter;

As long as they did not enter the rural and mountainous areas, the guerrilla columns would not fight with them and show their weakness.

The Japanese didn't seem to have much interest in the mountains and rural areas along the way. They marched southward and headed straight for Linyi.

The Ludongnan Military Region decided to voluntarily abandon Linyi. Liao Jianping withdrew from Linyi County before the main force of the Japanese invaders arrived, and issued a telegram;

The Chinese people also knew that Linyi could not be defended, so public opinion did not criticize it too much. Instead, Chongqing demanded that the guerrilla column must defend Linyi to the death, otherwise it would be held responsible for the loss of Linyi city. The guerrilla column did not pay much attention.

After learning that the guerrillas had abandoned Linyi City, the Japanese army accelerated their advance and occupied Linyi City without a single drop of blood.

After the Fifth Independent Brigade occupied Linyi City, it could not wait to issue a battle report, which was nothing more than defeating the Linyi defenders with a crushing force, annihilating 2 enemies, and retaking Linyi City, thus completing the first phase of the security war's combat mission.

Then came the second phase of operations, sweeping away the guerrillas in the southeastern Shandong region. The 5th Independent Mixed Brigade was full of confidence in achieving this goal, and the bloodless capture of Linyi accelerated their inner expansion;

Major Yoshino Ryoji of the 16th Infantry Battalion was the first to jump out and shout:
"General, the guerrillas in southeastern Shandong are just a mob and are vulnerable. We only need several battalions to march together and sweep them from south to north.
Drive all the guerrillas to the Jiaoji Road, and together with the defenders of the Jiaoji Road, encircle and annihilate the enemies in the encirclement. By sweeping back and forth, it will take less than half a month to wipe out the guerrillas south of the Jiaoji Road and east of the Jinpu Road. "

The other devils expressed their agreement, as if this was not a war but a hunt.

The reason why they were so arrogant was that they had never suffered a loss since their formation. In order to prepare for the Battle of Wuhan, the Fifth Division transferred the defense mission of Jiaoji Railway to the Fifth Independent Mixed Brigade.
They deployed some troops in the counties and stations along the route. In some small counties, only one detachment was deployed, and no one dared to resist.

The 5th Brigade is also known as the Tong Unit. The headquarters code-named Tong 4270 Unit, the direct unit was Tong 4271 Unit, and the codes of the various battalions were Tong 4272-4276 Units respectively.

辖第16、17、18、19、20共5个独立步兵大队以及炮兵队、工兵队、通信队3个兵种直属队；

每个大队850人，炮兵队596人、工兵队176人、通信队175人，旅团司令部27人，全旅团约5200余人。

In terms of weapons, each squadron was equipped with two Type 1 heavy machine guns, one mortar, nine light machine guns, nine grenade launchers, two trucks and 9 pack horses.
The brigade commander is Lieutenant General Qin Yashang, a high-ranking general. These early garrison brigades are composed of veterans with strong combat effectiveness. Their biggest advantage is their strong mobility and they can be deployed in security battles at any time.

Lieutenant General Qin Yashang saw that the morale was good, so he nodded with satisfaction and said:

"Yoshi, you are indeed the elite of the empire, your courage is commendable!
Linyi City was just the beginning. The imperial army would not stop attacking until all the guerrillas were wiped out.

I have decided to divide the troops into five groups to sweep the guerrillas from south to north. All Chinese who dare to resist or help the guerrillas will be killed!"

The chief of staff then read out the second phase combat plan, and the 5th Independent Mixed Brigade was ready to launch a massive attack on the base.

The Third Detachment was also holding a battle deployment meeting. The Japanese were coming aggressively, and the bases of the two military regions in Central Shandong and Southeast Shandong were facing severe challenges. The detachment commander Duan Yulin said loudly:
“Brothers, the 5th Independent Brigade was not satisfied after occupying Linyi City, but prepared to launch a large-scale attack on our bases in southeastern Shandong and central Shandong;
At the same time, the main force of the 114th Division also blocked the Jinpu Road and Jiaoji Road, and together with the Longhai Line in the south and the sea in the east, formed a huge encirclement.

In the encirclement, there were not only the entire Ludongnan Military Division, part of the Luzhong Military Division, but also part of the Subei Military Division. The main force consisted of about 7 infantry battalions and 2 artillery battalions, totaling about 8 people.
In addition, there are 8 garrison battalions of more than 5 local troops cooperating in the battle, under my unified command.

In order to contain the Japanese on the railway line, the Binhai, Southwest Shandong, and Central Shandong Military Regions would launch anti-traffic and anti-raid operations along the railway with their detachment-affiliated troops, making it impossible for the Japanese in the 114th Division to support the operations of the Independent th Brigade.

The Japanese's combat strategy was very simple. In addition to leaving one battalion to defend Linyi City, the other four infantry battalions were divided into five routes and pushed forward from south to north.

Each route has one battalion more, or half a battalion less, and they work closely together, like a giant net sweeping across. My response strategy is to use the five infantry battalions and two artillery battalions north of Linyi City, with two infantry battalions split up to block the enemy with the cooperation of local forces, and the remaining main forces hide and wait for the opportunity to encircle and annihilate the enemy!
No matter how many routes the enemy comes from, I will only go one way and destroy their living forces. If necessary, I will send two battalions behind Linyi City to besiege Linyi City and attack the reinforcements..."

The general battle plan had been decided. Under the unified deployment of the column headquarters, two battalions of the Subei Military Region also secretly moved towards Linyi, on the one hand to assist in the defense of the southeastern Shandong base, and on the other hand to be ready to encircle Linyi City at any time.
The food supply was the responsibility of the Central and Southern Shandong Base Area, which was why the villages in the base area were working hard to make fried noodles.

In response to the Japanese winter sweep, the guerrilla column made a tit-for-tat combat deployment, which also confused the chief of staff of the column. It was very different from the response strategy formulated before. Facing the doubts of others, Yue Qianli explained:
“It is said that changing strategy on the battlefield is a taboo in the military, but this is a different time. The enemy is changing, and so am I.
The previous strategy was based on giving up Linyi City and letting the Japanese stop while they are ahead. Now the Japanese appetite has grown, and they want to swallow up the southeastern Shandong base in one gulp. This is something we cannot accept.

Although it is not appropriate to fight with the Japanese at this time, since they have drawn their knives, we can only draw our swords!
Since we have to fight, we have to hit the devil hard, with a big punch to avoid a hundred punches. This battle should give the base some time to develop. "

Chen Zhongyuan nodded in agreement and said:
"In that case, let's make our guerrilla column famous and force the Second Army's devils to bypass our base when they see it!"

Chen Zhongyuan had confidence in what he said. Although the 12th Army had three divisions and one brigade, the territory they needed to defend was also large.

Qingdao alone was home to the 5th and 21st divisions, as well as a large number of naval forces. Jinan also had some troops, but they were very empty.

Around Jinan, the main force of the Fourth Detachment, the Southwest Shandong Military Region and the troops directly under the column were located, ready to surround the city of Jinan at any time. At the same time, they cut off the Jiaoji Road, causing panic among the 12th Army Command.

Both sides were deploying their troops and showing off their abilities. The 5th Independent Brigade's troops were advancing at full speed, as if they were in an empty space.

At first they moved forward in unison and cooperated with each other, like a giant net advancing towards the Jiaoji Road. The Japanese's "net-pulling" tactics were very smooth at first and encountered no significant resistance.

The longitudinal distance from Linyi City to Jiaoji Road is about 230 kilometers. According to the enemy's advance speed of 30 kilometers a day, it would take at least a week to drive the guerrillas south of Linyi to the narrow space south of Jiaoji Line and encircle and annihilate them.

As the battle line lengthened, affected by roads, terrain and other conditions, the five Japanese armies began to become disconnected, and the distance between the fastest and the slowest had opened up to more than ten kilometers.

Then they began to encounter resistance from the guerrillas, and the two sides exchanged fire;

The guerrillas did not engage in a head-on confrontation. Instead, they deployed their troops in stages along the highway and blocked the enemy layer by layer. As long as the enemy did not leave the highway, the guerrillas would not fight them.

If they dare to go deep into the heart of the base, they will concentrate their forces to destroy the Japanese. A squadron is not too few, and a company is not too many. As long as they dare to divide their forces, they will be defeated one by one.

The Japanese were also very smart. They always stayed together and cut the base area vertically according to their established combat premonitions.

As long as the Japanese achieve their goal, the base within the encirclement will be cut into six parts, with no room for movement. If the Japanese attack horizontally again, they will be driven into the sea. The Fifth Brigade still has some tricks up its sleeve.

As the Japanese continued to advance, the resistance encountered by each unit increased, casualties soared, and the Japanese commanders gradually became angry, especially the Yoshino Battalion (16th Battalion) in the squadron;
The Yoshino Battalion advancing along the center route was the main force of the 5th Army. It not only had a battalion of infantry, but also a squadron of field artillery (4 infantry guns), and was very powerful.

After leaving Linyi City, they took the lead and advanced rapidly along the road from Linyi to Weifang. They shot and killed any Chinese people they met wherever they passed.

During the advance, they were harassed by guerrillas many times, suffering more than 80 casualties, but the results achieved were so meager that he was even ashamed to talk about it.

When a guerrilla group blocked their way, Major Yoshino became completely furious and yelled:

“Bakayalu, the Chinese are not warriors, they can only sneakily attack the Imperial Army. We must not let them go this time;
Kill the chicken for me!"

Yoshino personally led the main force of the brigade to reinforce, and the cannons were also set up. The Chinese who were blocking them also fought very tenaciously this time. Relying on the favorable terrain, they held off the Japs tightly. Both sides fought fiercely and suffered heavy casualties.

"Yoshi, this group of guerrillas finally had some military dignity and stopped running;
Order the artillery squadron to fire at the Chinese and kill them all! "

(End of this chapter)