Songhu: Never Give Up

Chapter 205: Retreat into the City
At the main peak of Purple Mountain, the Japanese were launching a continuous and fierce attack, while the defenders were still fighting desperately. The 16th Division had to pay a heavy price for every step forward.

The Tiger Cave position guarded by the 5th Regiment had been lost, with nearly half of the troops killed or wounded, and the remaining troops retreated to the main peak to continue fighting;
The attacking 33rd Regiment did not gain any advantage and almost lost its entire force. In order to capture the Tiger Cave position, the Japanese army dispatched aircraft to assist many times and dropped hundreds of heavy bombs, almost flattening the top of the Tiger Cave hill by more than ten centimeters.

All the defenders of Zijin Mountain retreated to the main peak, which was also the last position of the 5th and 6th Regiments of the Training Corps. They had no place to retreat.

The 33rd Regiment was fully revived after replenishment, and continued to attack the main peak with the assistance of planes and artillery. The two sides once again fought each other with blood flowing and corpses everywhere.

The commander of Yue Wanli's company had also died, and the new commander who replaced him only lasted half a day before being seriously injured. Now he is acting as the company commander. There are only 92 people left in the company, including the wounded, which is almost the same as a platoon.
The company of the Teaching Corps had 200 soldiers, but now only 92 are left. The death rate is over half, which shows how tragic the battle was. Both sides were fighting with their lives.

The continuous fierce battles made Yue Wanli grow up quickly. It was indeed true that actual combat trained people. This was a cruel elimination match, and those who survived became elite veterans.

Now his hand holding the gun no longer shook. Facing the Japanese charge, he dared to let the Japanese get closer before shooting. Even when he was close enough to see the Japanese commander's red beard, his body remained as steady as a rock. Then he fired a hot bullet and knocked the Japanese to the ground.

His gunshot was an order, and all the officers and soldiers in the company followed him and fired at the Japanese. When the Japanese approached, this passionate college student three years ago would also pick up his gun, roar and rush into the Japanese to fight with bayonets;

When his bayonet pierced the Japanese' chest and his head and face were covered with blood, he even stuck out his tongue to lick the Japanese's blood. "Jokingly talking about thirst for drinking the blood of the Huns" was written by Lao Yuejia, he just wanted to taste it.

"Bah! It stinks and is inedible. Brothers, kill the devils!"

Yue Wanli was already in a state of madness. He only wanted to kill all the Japanese soldiers who stood in his way, and he didn't care at all that he was covered in wounds.

Just when they were about to collapse, the battalion commander came with the battalion headquarters and the last reserve troops to reinforce them. They joined the battle like a tiger pouncing on its prey, killing the Japanese and forcing them to retreat step by step.

The morale of the defending army was greatly boosted. Yue Wanli even picked up a submachine gun and fired wildly at the Japanese, knocking down several of them in an instant. This made the evil anger that had been pent up in his heart burst out. Every hair on his body felt refreshed. It was so cool to kill the Japanese!
The Japanese offensive was repelled once again, leaving behind a dense mass of corpses, and the defenders also suffered many casualties;
Before they could even catch their breath, the enemy's artillery shells whizzed towards them again. Yue Wanli could only squat in the trench and take the blame, praying that the shells would not fall on his head.

In Lingyuan New Village, fierce gunfire echoed through the valley, and a brutal street battle was going on;

The 16nd Battalion of the 20rd Infantry Regiment of the nd Brigade of the Teaching Corps was guarding the Lingyuan New Village position, while the attacking side was part of the th Infantry Regiment of the th Division. Both sides occupied advantageous building positions and fired at each other. The enemy and our own battle lines were intertwined and the fighting situation was extremely brutal.

Lingyuan New Village is a concentration of villas for important military and political officials of the National Government. It is located southeast of the Prime Minister's Tomb and covers an area of ​​1,000 acres.
In addition to roads, streams, gardens and recreational areas, there are more than 200 residential areas, each covering an area of ​​three acres. All areas have small paths and are equipped with running water, electric lights and telephones.

In addition, there are post offices, primary schools, gardens and cooperatives in Lingyuan New Village. Sun Ke, Wang Zhaoming, Lin Sen, Zhang Xiaoliu, He Jingzhi, Chen Guofu, Chen Lifu, Feng Huanzhang and others have successively built mansions and villas here. Some villas have pavilions, swimming pools, tennis courts, etc.
These buildings are made of brick or concrete. There are many houses, and each building is a solid bunker. When they are connected together, they form a bunker group, which is easy to defend but difficult to attack. The soldiers of the Second Battalion fought with the Japanese for each house, and the battle was very fierce. In order to capture these fortresses, the Japanese mobilized a large number of planes and tanks to assist in the battle, and artillery shells were thrown into them without cost;
Buildings were destroyed one after another, and the officers and soldiers of the Second Battalion who remained in the buildings were either killed or injured. As the Japanese army bombarded with heavy artillery, the defenders fought and retreated. The Japanese army gradually advanced, and the positions were lost piece by piece.

Because the villa area lacked depth and space to move, and the defenders lacked experience in street fighting, they were gradually squeezed out of the villa area under the repeated attacks of Japanese planes, tanks, and artillery. The Second Battalion suffered almost all casualties, and the Japanese also suffered hundreds of casualties.

In the direction of Yuhuatai, part of the Japanese army captured Jiangxinzhou, threatening the flank of the 74th Army. The 74th Army immediately abandoned its position and retreated to Shuixi Gate, exposing the left wing of Yuhuatai.
The next day, the Japanese army successively captured the Ande Gate and Fengtai Gate positions on the right wing of Yuhuatai. Zhonghua Gate was also bombed by planes, and a section of the city wall collapsed. The right wing of the Yuhuatai defenders was also exposed to the Japanese army.

The thing Yue Qianli was most worried about happened. They were about to be attacked from three sides, and the opportunity for the general attack that Gu Shoufu had been waiting for appeared.

In order to strengthen mutual coordination, Tani Hisao also negotiated with the 114th Division and decided that each division would send a regiment to flank the Yuhuatai position.

The time for the general attack was set on the morning of the 12th. The two old Japanese soldiers agreed to go into the city to have breakfast together, and they no longer took Yue Qianli seriously.

"Chief of Staff Chen, there is no need to defend Yuhuatai any longer. The Japanese are mobilizing troops to attack Yuhuatai from three directions.
We can't give them this opportunity. I decided to leave a battalion behind to provide cover, and the main force will withdraw to Zhonghua Gate overnight, and fight street battles with the devils in Zhonghua Gate and South City for a while. "

Chen Zhongyuan nodded and said:
"I agree to voluntarily give up Yuhuatai. Once the left and right wings are exposed, Yuhuatai will be at risk of being cut off by the Japanese at any time. Retreating into the city in advance can seize the initiative. This is also our previous plan."

The two men quickly reached a consensus on the retreat, and a retreat plan was ready, which Chen Zhongyuan immediately notified to each regiment.
The order of retreat was the Third Detachment, the headquarters, the First Detachment, and the Second Detachment. The Second Detachment left behind a battalion to cover the retreat. After they were done, they hid in the tunnels. The Japanese's minds were all in the urban area, so they would not spend much energy digging tunnels.

Soon it was getting dark. The 6th and 114th Divisions were gathering their strength and gathering supplies for the general offensive, hoping to break through the Yuhuatai position in one battle.
They showed enough respect to the 88th Division. If it were any other unit, they would have launched an attack overnight.

At midnight, the guerrilla column began to retreat in an orderly manner. Yue Qianli had informed the two brigade commanders, Zhu Chi and Gao Zhisong, in advance that they would cooperate in combat after the guerrilla column withdrew into the city.
The unreliable commander Sun Yuanliang cannot be relied upon at all, and now they can only rely on themselves.

Brigadier Commanders Zhu and Gao were very impressed with Yue Qianli's abilities, so they agreed to form a joint command center of three people to jointly deal with the next stage of operations and discuss everything together.

Due to the cover of night, the guerrilla column's retreat was very smooth. Even if the Japanese knew about it, they would not stop them. The Japanese's goal was to drive all the defenders into the city and then catch them all in one fell swoop.

(End of this chapter)