Songhu: Never Give Up

Chapter 198 Yue Wanli's First Actual Combat

A fierce battle is going on in Tiger Cave, Purple Mountain

At the foot of the mountain, the devils of the 16th Division of the Japanese Army were launching a tentative attack on the defenders' positions. The Tiger Cave position was guarded by the th Regiment of the rd Brigade of the Central Military Academy Teaching Corps. This was also the first actual combat that Yue Wanli, the trainee platoon leader of the st Platoon of the rd Battalion, participated in. He was so nervous that his hands were shaking as he held the gun.

The training corps was stationed in Xiaolingwei, Jinling City for a long time. The officers and soldiers were very familiar with the surrounding geographical conditions. Purple Mountain was the commanding height of Jinling City and the first gateway. When Prince of Yan Zhu Di and Zhu Yuanzhang visited Purple Mountain together, they once said:
"Cannons are mounted on Purple Mountain, and fire every time at the gate at noon."

This is enough to illustrate the strategic importance of Purple Mountain. It has always been a battleground for military strategists. When the Japanese army wanted to occupy Nanjing City, Purple Mountain was the first target.

Zijin Mountain is equally important to the National Army, so the most elite teaching corps was deployed here to ensure that the commanding heights of Zijin Mountain would not fall into the hands of the Japanese army.

The Central Military Academy Training Corps was established in January 31 as a model unit for the modernization of the National Army. It was organized, equipped and trained in the German style and was guided by German advisers.
This is a force similar to the "Blue Army" of later generations. Many officers have studied abroad and it gathers a large number of military kings and outstanding students from the Army Officer School. It is no exaggeration to say that anyone can be a platoon leader in other troops.

After visiting China, German General von Seeckt submitted a "Proposal for Army Reform" to the president;
He believed that the biggest drawback of the National Army was its diversity and variety. His focus was on reforming the officer training system, improving the professional training of infantry, artillery, engineers, logistics and communications troops, and promoting the development of China's armored forces.

He suggested that the national army be organized into 60 divisions and a training corps be established to train officers in office so that they would have considerable military skills and experience in commanding modern wars, in order to improve the overall combat capability of the army.

The principal adopted his suggestion and expanded the teaching corps established in early 31 according to the organization of the German infantry regiment. Lieutenant General Gui Yongqing, a student of the first class of Whampoa Military Academy, was appointed as the corps commander. At the same time, 15 German consultants in infantry, cavalry, artillery, engineering, and logistics were appointed to serve as instructors of academic departments, and training was carried out in full accordance with German model orders.

After the outbreak of the Battle of Shanghai, the Training Corps was expanded to a Type A division with three brigades and three special forces regiments, with about 43000 officers and soldiers.
Among them, nearly 3 participated in the Battle of Shanghai, fought fiercely with the Japanese army for three months, suffered heavy losses, and the remaining troops retreated to Nanjing and defended Purple Mountain together with the remaining troops, with a total strength of about 1.8.

The Japanese Army's 16th Division attacked Purple Mountain. The vanguard 33rd Regiment took the lead in attacking the Tiger Cave defended by the 5th Regiment.

Tiger Cave is located at the eastern foot of Zijin Mountain. If Zijin Mountain is the gateway to Jinling, then Tiger Cave is the gateway to Zijin Mountain. A large number of permanent fortifications were built relying on the dangerous mountain pass. The 5rd Battalion of the 3th Regiment defended here.
The commander of the 3rd Battalion, Major Luo Yufeng, deployed the st company on the front line, which was a protruding hillside that was right at the throat leading to the main position of Tiger Cave.

Colonel Kengo Noda, the commander of the 33rd Infantry Regiment, did not take the defenders seriously at all. He sent a squadron to attack the position of the first company without even launching artillery preparations.

Seeing that a squadron of the Japanese dared to be so arrogant and did not take the teaching corps seriously, the company commander decided to let the Japanese get closer before fighting.

Due to the butterfly effect after Yue Qianli's time travel, the head of the 5th Regiment was replaced by Colonel Wang Jianfei, a West Point graduate;
Influenced by Yue Qianli, Wang Jianfei's defensive attainments improved significantly. During the West Point graduation examination, he was in charge of defense while Yue Qianli was in charge of offense. He and Yue Qianli were inseparable, and their wonderful duel was even written into textbooks.

After taking over the defense of Zijin Mountain, Wang Jianfei remodeled his own defense zone, upgraded and camouflaged the previously overly exposed bunker positions, and dug new anti-artillery holes and tunnels on the reverse slope, no longer placing all his hopes on the bunkers, which were too obvious targets. The position defended by Yue Wanli also had trenches and tunnels dug by Wang Jianfei, which could save his life when the Japanese bombarded.

As the Third Battalion showed weakness, the Japanese from Sakaguchi Squadron of the 33rd Regiment had already reached the front of Yue Wanli's position. Those with sharp eyes could even see the red beard on the tip of the Japanese's nose.

Yue Wanli's palms were sweaty from nervousness, but as a trainee platoon leader, he couldn't show his weakness, otherwise he wouldn't be able to lead the troops.
After leaving Yuejia Village, he came to Jinling City and successfully passed the entrance examination to the Infantry Department of the Central Army Officers School. Before graduation, he was assigned to the teaching squadron for internship as a trainee platoon leader, and he caught up with this great battle.

It has to be said that Lao Yue's family has good genes. He got straight A's in school and even ranked first in the shooting test.
When the group leader Wang Jianfei saw his name, the first person he thought of was his eldest brother. After meeting this group of students calmly, he was sure that this kid was his eldest brother's brother.

So they planned to keep him in the regiment as a staff officer, but this guy didn't think much of office work and insisted on leading the troops at the grassroots level. Wang Jianfei had no choice but to follow his lead.
Although he is Yue Qianli's brother, Wang Jianfei has no intention of giving him any special treatment. In the face of the brutal national war, everyone is equal.

Yue Wanli chose a short-barreled Mauser rifle, which he was used to using in school. During training, he could hit the moving target within a hundred meters with every shot, but he was not sure about actual combat.

He tried his best to calm himself down, and repeatedly reminded himself that these were a group of beasts, and killing beasts did not count as killing people...

A crisp gunshot rang out, and a Japanese soldier with a plaster flag on the tip of his gun fell down. The company commander's gunshot was an order;
The Japanese soldier in Yue Wanli's crosshairs had a flash of fear in his eyes when he heard the gunshot, and he was ready to lie down reflexively. Yue Wanli decisively pulled the trigger, and the bullet accurately hit the Japanese soldier's chest, and he fell down very unwillingly.

This was the first time Yue Wanli killed a Japanese soldier with his own hands. His mind went blank, his stomach churned, and he vomited on the spot.
Corporal Sun Sanjiu looked at his new platoon leader with a mocking look, but was glared back by the second squad leader, Sergeant Qin Mingsong.

Yue Wanli seemed to have noticed Sun Sanjiu's unusual gaze, and his face immediately turned red, wishing he could find a crack in the ground to crawl into;

Qin Mingsong yelled at Sun Sanjiu:
"Hurry up and fight the Japs, they are rushing over!"

This shout was ostensibly for Sun Sanjiu to hear, but in reality it was a reminder to Yue Wanli that now was not the time to be embarrassed;
Yue Wanli then realized that he was the platoon leader. He wanted to shout out some heroic words, but in the end he only shouted "kill the Japanese". The very inspiring "Fuck you" did not come out of his throat, so he could only shout it next time.

In order to hide his embarrassment and to save some face, he could only vent all his anger on the devils, raising his hand and shooting another one dead;

Yue Wanli may be a greenhorn, but his marksmanship is pretty good!
Qin Mingsong gave him a thumbs up. He killed two Japanese soldiers with two shots. Although he vomited, Yue Wanli still won the respect of the veteran.

(End of this chapter)