Songhu: Never Give Up

Chapter 155 Bloodstained Jinshan Guard
Jinshanwei, the fog was thick and the tide was high. Between the sea and the sky, densely packed transport ships were coming in from the morning mist, carrying the devils of the 10th Army;

Following an order from Heisuke Yanagawa, 3 people from three divisions and one detachment of the 1th Army boarded 11 large transport ships, formed into three landing transport teams, and launched a surprise landing on the coast of Jinshanwei, which was about 155 miles long from east to west.

The first landing site was Xianque, with the 18th Division as the main force;
The second landing site was Qijiatun, with the Sixth Division as the main force;

The third landing site was Baisha Bay, with the 114th Division as the main force.

The 11th Army was composed of the th, th, and th Divisions, the nd Independent Mountain Artillery Regiment, the th Field Heavy Artillery Brigade, the st and nd Reserve Infantry Regiments, and the Kunizaki Detachment. Its commander was Heisuke Yanagawa, and its chief of staff was Major General Moritake Tadomichi. Its total strength was approximately men.

Jinshanwei has been a battleground for military strategists since the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. During the Ming Dynasty, when Qi Jiguang fought against the Japanese pirates, Jinshanwei was one of the four famous anti-Japanese garrisons.

After the Battle of Songhu started, Zhang Xianghua led the Eighth Army to enter Pudong and Punan. The army headquarters was located in Nanqiao, Fengxian, and the 62nd Division was deployed along the 23-kilometer-long coastline of Jinshanwei.
From late August to September, the 8nd Division mobilized thousands of civilians along the coast to dig trenches and build fortifications. Later, they were discovered by Japanese reconnaissance planes, which continuously sent fleets of aircraft to harass them, and the construction of the coastal defense fortifications came to an abrupt end.

As the battle of Songhu intensified, troops from the 62nd Division were constantly being drawn to reinforce the front. By the time the th Army appeared in Jinshanwei, the defenders were left with only two battalions and one company.

Of the ten coastal defense batteries, six had no shells, two were unable to fire shells, and only the two batteries at Snake King Hall were usable.

At 5 a.m., at the Qingque Fort, Major Wang Zilong, the commander of the garrison battalion of the 62nd Division, was on his usual night patrol. He accidentally discovered a large number of small boats approaching the coast, which frightened him into a cold sweat.
He was alert and immediately blew the whistle. The soldiers who were sleeping in the fortifications got up from the ground one after another. Before they could figure out what was going on, rows of artillery shells flew over the sea. Now even a fool would know that the enemy is coming!
Unfortunately, knowing is one thing, and being able to stop it is another. The dozen or so cannons on the fort are antiques from the Qing Dynasty, and there are no shells for them.
Although the defenders claimed to be a battalion, they were seriously short of personnel, with only more than 300 people and one mortar. The gap in strength between the enemy and us was too great.

The Eighth Army is the Guangdong Army, formerly the famous Northern Expedition "Iron Fourth Army". Although its equipment is backward, its combat effectiveness and fighting will are not inferior to any other troops, and many old traditions are still there;

Major Wang Zilong knew that the two sides had a huge disparity in strength and that holding on would be like hitting a rock with an egg, but he showed no fear and shouted:
"Brothers, the damn Japanese want to land at Hengque, but they have to step over the corpses of our Guangdong Army. As long as they are alive, they will be at the battlefield!"

"Captain, just do it!"

Everyone agreed and morale was boosted.

The army that landed at the Qingque Fort was the 18th Army Division, also known as the Kurume Division, code-named "Kiryu". It was known as the "King of Jungle Warfare" and the "Ever-Victorious Division". It had very strong combat effectiveness and was known as the Gemini Stars together with the 9th Division, second only to the 6th and 3rd Divisions.

Due to the influence of the mudflats, the Japanese large landing ships could not reach the shore, so they could only send small landing craft to the beach. The pioneers were the Ize Battalion of the 55th Infantry Regiment. They took more than 30 small landing craft and rushed towards the beach in three waves.

Squadron leader Yuto Okura rushed to the front. The 4th Division was disbanded due to insufficient military funds more than ten years ago. After the Battle of Shanghai, it was rebuilt together with the th Division and other four divisions. Therefore, these devils wanted to prove themselves in order to avoid being disbanded next time.

As soon as the landing craft successfully hit the beach, Okura Yuto couldn't wait to jump into the knee-deep mudflats, screaming and rushing towards the shore, not taking the defenders into consideration at all;
Their intelligence department has figured out the deployment of the defenders along the Jinshanwei line. Qingque only has an understaffed battalion, while they have a fully staffed battalion and can also get support from naval guns. No wonder Okura Yuto is so arrogant.

Captain Wang was not one to tolerate their bad habits. Seeing that the Japs were stuck in the mud and unable to move, he decisively gave the order to open fire. A dense rain of bullets sprayed towards the Japs, and the first to be hit was the Okura Squadron, because they were the most showy.

Twenty or thirty Japanese soldiers were mowed down in an instant, and Okura Yuto was so angry that his nose was crooked. He did not take the rain of bullets from the defenders seriously at all, and continued to drive the soldiers to rush to the beach;
In their view, as long as they rushed to the shore, the defenders would be defeated, and Captain Okura would surely take the credit.

As the Japanese got closer and closer, the defenders' hit rate increased greatly, and casualties gradually increased. The beach was filled with shit-yellow corpses.
The Japanese naval guns did not stop either, firing rows of shells at the defenders' positions. Each shot caused a lot of casualties to Wang Zilon's camp.

The soldiers of Wang Zilon's camp fought tenaciously under the heavy caliber guns of the Japanese. They knew it was impossible but still did it. They had already put their own lives at risk. As long as they were still alive, they would shoot at the Japanese, killing one and profiting one!
Half of the Japanese soldiers in the first echelon were already dead or wounded. Okura Yuto was charging fearlessly. His command knife caught the attention of machine gunner Lin Zhiyuan.

Such an arrogant Japanese soldier must not be allowed to live any longer, so he immediately pointed his gun at Yuto Okura. At this time, the distance between them was less than 100 meters, which was the optimal killing range of the machine gun.

Lin Zhiyuan glanced at Okura Yuto again, and when he raised his command knife again, Lin Zhiyuan decisively pulled the trigger and fired a short burst of shots, which could increase the hit rate;

Several bullets flew straight towards Yuto Okura, two of them hit him, and the most fatal one hit his big head. Yuto Okura became the first squadron leader of the 18th Division to die in battle.

"Damn your mother, I'll let you show off!"

Seeing the Japanese officer fall, Lin Zhiyuan uttered a classic Cantonese curse and continued to fire at the Japanese;
His machine gun fired accurately and fiercely, and the number of Japanese soldiers who died at the hands of his gun almost made up half a squad.

"boom!"

A 140mm naval gun main shell landed next to Lin Zhiyuan, creating a huge deep pit. Lin Zhiyuan's machine gun was thrown into the sky, and his body disappeared in the air and merged into the sea...

Although the Guangdong Army fought bravely, they were outnumbered and outgunned. Although they killed a large number of Japanese soldiers, they also suffered heavy casualties.

After half an hour of fierce fighting, the Japanese rushed to the defenders' positions. Seeing that only a few dozen of his brothers were left, Major Wang Zilong roared:

"Brothers, let's fight the devils, damn it - kill them!"

Major Wang Zilong rushed forward with his gun in hand, while the others jumped out of the trenches and collided with the Japanese.
While the bayonets pierced the bodies of the Japanese, they were stabbed by them too. Soon they were overwhelmed by the enemy, which outnumbered them ten times. Major Wang Zilon was stabbed several times and died for his country. No officer or soldier in the entire battalion survived, and the entire battalion was wiped out.

(End of this chapter)