Songhu: Never Give Up

Chapter 247: Defense of Bengbu (2)

On the southern front, the Japanese southern front group troops were divided into several routes and moved northward along the Jinpu Road. The 21st Army Group blocked them along the way. The battle was very brutal and both sides suffered heavy casualties.
The Nationalist army fought bravely, but the difference in strength between the two sides was too great, and it was difficult to stop the attack of three divisions by field battle alone;

In order to buy time for the troops on the Huaihe River defense line, the 21st Army relied on huge sacrifices to delay the Japanese for more than ten days, while also consuming the Japanese's manpower and morale.

The three Japanese divisions still reached the city of Bengbu, which was more than ten days later than in another time and space. Of course, this did not affect the overall situation.

Because the Japanese headquarters was still debating whether to expand the war, but the Japanese troops on the southern front had already acted without prior approval, the headquarters could not strategically restrain these division commanders at all.

After the Battle of Songhu, the "non-expansion faction" demanded that the war be confined to Shanghai, but the division commanders under them went straight to Nanjing in the name of pursuing the remnants of the army, and the war expanded to Nanjing.

Now the Japs are repeating their old tricks and bringing the war to Xuzhou. You fight for yours and they fight for theirs.

The first to arrive at Bengbu City were the Vanguard Battalion of the 2rd Division. Without even waiting for the follow-up troops to arrive, they launched an attack on the outer positions defended by the 524nd Battalion (formerly the th Regiment). The Battle of Bengbu officially began.

Tuofeng Ridge, the position of the 2nd Battalion of the nd Battalion of the st Detachment
Hundreds of Japanese soldiers launched a charge towards the 2nd Battalion's position. Their battle formation was very strict. After suffering a small loss at the beginning, the Hirose Battalion prepared to launch an attack.
Tuofeng Ridge is composed of several large and small peaks. From a distance, it looks like an undulating camel humps lying across the entrance to the city.

The railway passes through the valley between the main peak and Peak No. 2. The main peak and Peak No. 2 block the Japanese invaders. This is the most defensive position on the periphery. The 1st and 2nd Battalions of the nd Battalion built solid fortifications here.

The Japanese battalion commander, Major Hirose Noyuki, focused his attack on the main peak on the right wing, and immediately launched his main force, not taking the defenders seriously at all.
It's not that Major Hirose is arrogant, but that everyone in the 3rd Division is extremely arrogant. They have not suffered any major losses since the landing and they look down on everyone.

The 3rd Division is a veteran division of the Japanese Army, formed in Nagoya, also known as the Nagoya Division. It participated in the Sino-Japanese War, the Russo-Japanese War, the Siberian Expedition, the Shandong Expedition, etc.

In another time and space, it was the only Class A division that fought the entire battle in China. From the beginning of the war to the surrender, it never left the Chinese battlefield.

If the Sixth Division gained its notoriety through killing, then the Third Division gained it through fighting;
Other divisions were assigned field/mountain artillery regiments, but only the 1rd Division was assigned the st Heavy Artillery Brigade. This represented their status in the Japanese army, and their arrogance was justified.

This time they encountered the 2nd Battalion of the 524st Detachment, which was famous for its ability to fight fierce battles, at Tuofeng Ridge. The nd Battalion Commander, Major Huang Qi, was the former battalion commander of the th Regiment.
He also fought in the Battle of Songhu and the Battle of Nanjing. Having crawled out of a pile of dead bodies, he was never afraid of any elite troops.

Ridge No. 2 was the main peak, and not only were there battalions, but the battalion's artillery battalion was also used to reinforce them, all of whom were deployed by Huang Qi on the reverse slope of the peak;

It can not only avoid the enemy's artillery fire, but also control the entire battlefield. It is the killer weapon of the Tuofengling position. Hundreds of enemy soldiers will naturally not use it.

More than 5 villagers were mobilized to build the fortifications of Tuofengling. Under the leadership of the Second Battalion, they spent a week to build to bunkers of various sizes.

They are all built against the mountains and rocks. The tunnels for hiding soldiers are more than ten meters long. There are caves inside, which store a large amount of drinking water, dry food and ammunition.

It is no exaggeration to say that the defenders' heavy machine gun fire points have become fortresses and they are not afraid of the Japanese mortars and grenade launchers at all.

The Japanese didn't realize this at all. They approached the halfway point of the mountain carelessly. Just when they thought the defenders were no match for them, the Maxim heavy machine guns and Czech light machine guns in several secondary bunkers suddenly opened fire.
The crossfire formed by more than a dozen tongues of fire knocked down dozens of Japanese soldiers in an instant, and the other Japanese soldiers were frightened and lay down on the hillside and began to fight back.

Although the slope of Tuofeng Ridge is not steep, the front is not wide and the firing range is good. The killing effect of the machine gun is very good. The Japanese soldiers of Hirose Battalion were suppressed and could not raise their heads. Seeing his troops being suppressed, Major Hirose cursed angrily:
"Bagayalu, send the infantry artillery squad up to blow them up!"

The most powerful weapons of the Japanese battalion level were two Type 2 infantry guns, also known as "battalion guns", which were known as the nemesis of machine guns.

The Type 70 infantry gun has a caliber of 212 mm and a total weight of 2830 kg. It is a light flat-fire artillery that is easy to maneuver with infantry. It can be used to destroy bunkers and firing points and attack armored targets. Its effective range is up to meters.
With the protective shield, the total height is only 62 cm, which is very conducive to hiding. It can be used as a "dwarf" and uses 3.8 kg high-explosive bombs. It can be fired flexibly between -10 degrees and 75 degrees, and can be used as a mortar by shooting at a high elevation angle.

Although there were only two doors, they posed a great threat to the defenders. When Major Hirose saw that the defenders had a large number of bunkers, he sent out the "Shorty".

In order to create opportunities for the infantry artillery, the Japanese machine gun squadron fired several Type 92 heavy machine guns crazily to suppress the firepower of the defenders.
Then a rifle gun fired the first shot at the No. 5 secondary bunker. The shell exploded just over 3 meters away from the firing position, causing rocks to fly everywhere. The power was very strong and the accuracy was very high.

This was the first shot, and it was fired from above, which shows the high quality of the Japanese artillery;
Machine gunner Leng Baoguo was so frightened that he reflexively shrank his neck, and suddenly realized that he was hiding in the bunker;
So they turned their guns and fired in the direction of the infantry gun. The effective range of the Maxim heavy machine gun was 2 kilometers, and the infantry gun was only about 1 meters away. If it was too far away, they would not be able to hit accurately.

Leng Baoguo also couldn't see the Japs clearly, so he had to fight based on his feelings. The heavy machine gun was originally used to suppress the enemy, and the lethality of stray bullets was also amazing.

Leng Baoguo's sweeping fire also frightened the Japanese. At least three stray bullets hit the front baffle of the infantry gun and killed a member of the gun crew.
The infantry gunner was not easily frightened. He adjusted his firing mechanism and continued firing at Fort No. 5. The second shot hit Fort No. 2, but unfortunately it was a little off and did not cause any damage to Fort No. 5.

Huang Qi saw that the Japs had deployed their most threatening infantry artillery and shouted:

"Where's the mortar? Blow the hell out of it!"

It’s no wonder that Huang Qi was anxious. These infantry guns posed a great threat to the bunkers and they had to be destroyed.

The Japanese infantry artillery was still wreaking havoc, but Leng Baoguo no longer cared about it. He turned his gun around and fired at the Japanese infantry, killing them with blood and flesh flying everywhere.

"boom!"

An infantry shell finally hit Fort No. 5, and the shrapnel from the high-explosive shell explosion hit Leng Baoguo's head;

Leng Baoguo fell in a pool of blood instantly, his machine gun was blown away, and the dwarf's attack was brutal.

The deputy shooter climbed up from the pool of blood and shook Leng Baoguo. Seeing that he was no longer moving, he had to have him moved to the cave for rescue.
After checking that the gun was not damaged, he straightened it and fired a long burst of shots at the group of Japanese soldiers rushing towards him.

More than twenty bullets were fired, knocking down several Japanese soldiers on the spot, which was considered revenge for his good brother.

I checked the information for this chapter and found some errors. The main reason is that the 31st Army of the Guangxi Clique was confused with the 31st Division of the Northwest Army. The 31st Army led by Liu Shiyi that fought on the southern periphery belonged to the 21st Group Army of the Guangxi Clique, so they are no longer listed separately. I would like to explain them here.

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(End of this chapter)