Songhu: Never Give Up

Chapter 234: Practicing Offensive Tactics with the Japs

When talking about Yue Qianli, the sixth-term student, both of them were full of admiration. More than a dozen divisions in Jinling City were almost wiped out, and dozens of officers above the level of regimental commander were sacrificed;

If Yue Qianli had not led his men to gather tens of thousands of defeated soldiers in the city, these people would have been massacred by the Japanese, and their 262nd Brigade would not have been spared.

Therefore, Zhu and Hua had no grudge against Yue Qianli, their junior, becoming their superior.

Now is a time of chaos, and following a capable leader is more important than anything else. Other divisions have been wiped out in Jinling City, and the guerrilla columns are growing in number. Who wouldn't like such a leader?

"Senior, I heard that the commander has set his sights on the 13th Division Headquarters again this time. He has quite an appetite. It's a pity that we missed the event."

There are some things that people at Zhu Chi's level know. He nodded and said:
"No matter who the commander has his eyes on, we just need to keep a close eye on the 65th Regiment and make sure we don't let it slip away!

Tell the brothers to be patient, it is only a matter of time before we annihilate the 65th Regiment. This piece of fat meat is enough for us to eat, so don’t be greedy.”

Hua Pinzhang thought about it and it made sense. What they were surrounding now was a regiment of the Japanese devils. If it were any other national army unit, they wouldn't even dare to think about it. Normally, it would take more than two armies to encircle and annihilate a regiment!
At this moment, a shrill anti-aircraft whistle sounded outside the command post, and a team of soldiers hid in the anti-artillery caves. Zhu Chi rushed out instead, raised his telescope to search for the Japanese aircraft group.

Not long after, he found a group of black spots in the sky, heading straight for them. Hua Pinzhang was so scared that he dragged Zhu Chi into the tunnel, but he stopped them. Then he heard Zhu Chi say:

“No, the Japs have been hovering over the Japs positions this time, and the aircraft types are different;
Look, there are three pillars of thick smoke coming out of the Japanese position - they are going to drop an airdrop!"

"Hurry up, let's order a few more and give the Japs a taste of their own medicine!"

The enemy and our own positions were only a few hundred meters apart, and seemed far away on the ground, but to the aircraft groups in the sky, they could not be distinguished at all;
The Japanese aircraft group airdropped supplies according to the signal instructions. Seeing several places with thick smoke coming out of the First Team's position, they thought these were also receiving points, so they also sent planes to drop supplies to the First Team's position, making the Japanese below scream in anger.

The Japanese in the sky naturally couldn't hear it, they just airdropped all the supplies as agreed;
Because the position at the foot of the mountain was wider, they received more supplies, which made the Japanese so angry that they kept shooting down the mountain.

When the Japanese pilots in the air heard gunshots below the mountain, they thought that the Chinese were shooting at them, so they immediately used their onboard machine guns to fire at the Japanese on the mountain, killing many of them.

"Bakayaluo, what a bunch of bastards! I'm going to complain about them to the division commander!"

Colonel Liangjiao cursed angrily, but there was nothing he could do. He could only watch them leave arrogantly after they ran out of bullets.

The death of dozens of Japanese soldiers was no big deal, but the loss of most of the airdropped supplies was the real pain. It was a good deal for the Chinese.

Thanks to Zhu Chi's inspiration, a team tricked the devil into giving them a lot of supplies. The happy commander of the 2nd Battalion (former 524th Regiment) came over to offer his treasures:
"Commander, we've made a fortune! We got bags of bullets, grenades, canned beef, and medicine. The Japanese really showed their filial piety this time!"

Zhu Chi and Hua Pinzhang were also very happy after hearing this. These were all good things. Although they could not use the Japanese bullets now, they could give them to their brother troops. They happily accepted the grenades, canned beef and medicines.

Zhu Chi smiled and said to Han Xianyuan:

"Old Han, take out some of the canned beef and send it to Captain Li of Feiyingling. Even though we have made a fortune, we can't forget our brother troops. Everyone who sees it should get a share."

After hearing this, Han Xianyuan excitedly took the order and left. They were all brothers in the army, so they naturally had to eat meat together.

Under Yue Qianli's deliberate guidance, the atmosphere within the guerrilla column was very good. Although there was competition among the various detachments, they were all one family.

The division was not so clear, and mutual support was common. Even Han Xianyuan and Hua Pinzhang thought that it should be divided into three teams and one battalion. "Lao Hua, the Japanese are so polite and gave us so many supplies. It's impolite not to reciprocate. Let's return the gift to the Japanese with artillery shells!"

After hearing this, Hua Pinzhang said excitedly:
"Senior, are you ready to fight the devils?"

Zhu Chi said domineeringly:
"The Japanese have just received reinforcements, and their morale has improved. Let's bring down their morale!
This time, your 3rd Battalion will launch the attack, so you must control the rhythm. You can use the Japanese as a training ground, but you cannot incur too many casualties."

Hua Pinzhang excitedly took the order and left. He had been itching to get started for a long time, and this time it was finally the turn of their 3rd Battalion.

Before launching the infantry attack, dozens of large and small artillery pieces from the detachment's artillery battalion and the 3rd Battalion's artillery battalion launched a fierce artillery attack on the 65th Regiment's position, making the Japanese scream.
In the past, they were the ones who bombed the Chinese, but now the situation is reversed.

65联队本来有4门75毫米野炮、8门步兵炮、12门90毫米迫击炮，但是经过之前的消耗，现在只剩下十几门，火力上已经比不上一支队。

一支队炮营拥有8门75毫米山炮和16门迫击炮，加上2营、3营的20多门火炮，总共有40多门火炮，碾压65联队；

So while one team was preparing their artillery fire, the Japanese artillerymen did not dare to fight back.

As soon as the artillery fire extended, the two battalions of the 3rd Battalion rushed to the Japanese positions along the artillery points. The Japanese light and heavy firepower that had just been replenished began to return fire, and both sides suffered casualties.

The attack of the 3rd Battalion was very methodical. The two battalions attacked the Japanese defense line from the left and right. The companies and platoons were in strict formation, the teams cooperated well, and the long, medium and short firepower were properly matched, which put great pressure on the Japanese.

The skirmish line advanced to an area several dozen meters away from the enemy's defense line, forcing the enemy to open fire at almost full force;

The dozen mortars and infantry guns of the battalion's artillery battalion were dispersed and continuously attacked the firepower points. One after another, light and heavy machine guns were destroyed. The Japanese firepower became weaker and weaker, and casualties increased significantly.

"Bakayaluo, are the Chinese going to launch a general attack?

We must hold on and never let them rush to the position!"

Colonel Liangjiao was forced into a panic and sent out the last of his reserve troops, which was how he stopped the attack of the 3rd Battalion.

Zhu Chi saw that the time was right and the goal of undermining the Japanese morale had been achieved, so he notified the 3rd Battalion to withdraw.

Hua Pinzhang seemed to be a little reluctant, but he still resolutely carried out the order of the detachment headquarters and ordered the attacking troops to withdraw in turns to cover each other;

When they retreated, they not only took away the seriously wounded, but also the fallen comrades. Seeing this scene, Colonel Liangjiao frowned. He was now sure that the Chinese still had enough spare strength.

There are two reasons why we didn't take the opportunity to attack the top of the mountain:
One is that they think that a strong attack would cause too many casualties, so they want to slowly wear them down;

The second possibility is that there is a hidden secret. He believes the second one more, but he will not tell it. Once he tells it, the last hope of the 65th Regiment will be cut off.

In this round of attack, the 3rd Battalion suffered more than 200 casualties, and the casualties of the 65th Regiment were roughly the same, basically a 1:1 loss ratio. The 65th Regiment could not afford such a war of attrition, and they only had more than 1200 people left.

(End of this chapter)