Songhu: Never Give Up

Chapter 250 Heartbroken Ridge (3)

The Hirose Battalion, thinking of collecting the bodies of the Chinese, left a pile of bodies behind and retreated in disgrace.

The Japanese could only treat this as an exploratory attack, although the losses were somewhat greater. After the Japanese infantry withdrew, heavy artillery shells hit them on the head. The defenders hid in the tunnels one after another and were still ravaged by the Japanese.

Since the main force of the Japanese arrived, the 2nd Battalion gave up the idea of ​​engaging in an artillery battle with the Japanese and just huddled down and endured the bombing.

This time, the Japanese artillery preparation time was very long and more targeted. All the previously exposed firing points were covered by artillery fire, and the No. 1 secondary fort was hit by a heavy artillery shell;

The bunker collapsed due to the earthquake, but fortunately the soldiers in the bunker retreated into the cave in the tunnel. With the support of the thick mountain, there were no casualties.

The defenders' tunnels penetrated more than ten meters into the mountain. To cause any harm to them, the entire mountain had to be leveled.
This kind of tunnel warfare is useless even to the American firepower. A few heavy artillery regiments are of no use. They can only rely on direct firepower and infantry to deal with them one by one.

The Japanese heavy artillery regiment bombed the No. 1 main peak from top to bottom, and even cut off a section of the top of the mountain. Colonel Kawanami did not believe that the Chinese could survive such a fierce artillery fire, so he sent the Hirose Battalion to continue the attack;

This time they got smarter. In order to deal with the Chinese bunkers, Colonel Kawanami reinforced the Hirose Battalion with two more infantry guns. He also realized that they had to rely on short and powerful infantry guns to deal with bunkers.

In order to reduce the pressure on the Hirose Battalion, Colonel Kawanami also sent a squadron to attack No. 2 on the right wing. If they could capture Hill No. 2, they could go around to the back of Ridge No. 1. Unfortunately, they also encountered strong resistance, where the 3rd Battalion was waiting for them.

After being beaten twice, Hirose's team lowered their profile a lot, and they fought a serious offensive and defensive battle with the defenders.
The 2nd Battalion can only fight against the enemy with its own force and block the water with its own earth.

The Japanese attacked with the same old tactics: infantry charged, artillery bombarded, and infantry and artillery accompanied the attack. Under the repeated attacks of the Japanese, the four secondary forts on the front line of the No. 1 mountain were destroyed, leaving only one main fort still holding on;
The company defending the front-line position suffered heavy casualties, but they also eliminated several times more Japanese troops. The Hirose Battalion had suffered more than half of its casualties.

Colonel Kawanami had lost his patience. It was unforgivable that a small mountain had blocked the attack of the 6th Regiment.

So he slapped Major Hirose a few more times and replaced them with the Yoneyama Battalion.

There were only two hours left before dark, and he didn't want to be slapped in the face by Division Commander Fujita.

Colonel Kawanami decided to launch a battalion-scale attack, with one battalion on each wing attacking simultaneously, striving to break through the Chinese defense line before dark.

"Kill the chickens--fire!"

The 36 heavy artillery pieces of the heavy artillery regiment roared once again, and shells rained down on the main peak. Each shell would create a huge crater. Colonel Kawanami really couldn't understand how the Chinese managed to survive under such fierce firepower.

Senior staff officer Ryuichi Dobashi was unable to give him an answer and simply said:
"Sir, I have carefully observed that the Chinese seem to have dug a large number of tunnels in the mountains, deep inside the mountain. Indirect fire cannons have no effect on them. We can only rely on direct fire cannons to dig out the rat holes one by one."

Colonel Kawanami's face turned very ugly. This was the first time he had seen such a fighting style, but he believed that there was no fortress that could not be conquered, so he said in a firm tone:

“Tsuchiya-kun, even if the Chinese are all groundhogs, the Sixth Regiment will dig them out and kill them one by one.

Have you figured out which unit the defenders belong to?"

Major Dobashi quickly replied:
"According to the intelligence just reported by the division headquarters, the defending troops are the Shanghai-Nanjing Guerrilla Column, commanded by Yue Qianli, who previously belonged to the 88th Division and is now directly under the Military Commission, at the regiment level." Colonel Kawanami took a deep breath and said:
"Yoshi, Sodesnai, it turns out that they are from the German-equipped 88th Division, no wonder they are so difficult to deal with;

The Sixth Regiment can give enough respect to Yue Qianli's troops, but in front of the Nagoya Regiment, the Chinese have no elite troops! "

Major Dobashi agreed. Since the landing, they had defeated and annihilated many elite Chinese troops. They would not be short of a guerrilla column.
Major Dobashi also revealed a piece of explosive information that even Colonel Kawanami didn't know about. He heard it from a classmate from the Army University who worked at the headquarters, so he said as if he was presenting a treasure:
"Your Excellency, the news from the headquarters is that His Majesty has issued a kill order to the guerrilla column. Anyone who can annihilate Yue Qianli's troops will have his military merit doubled.
Soldiers who capture Yue Qianli alive will be promoted to officers, officers will be promoted three levels, and officers above lieutenant colonel will be promoted directly to generals! "

Colonel Kawanami's eyes flashed with greed, and he exclaimed:

"What? Double military merit! An officer is promoted three levels in a row?"

Although this bounty order has not been made public, it must be true that it came from the headquarters. Major Dobashi is a member of the Army's Sabre Group, and the power of their circle in the military is unmatched by him.

Major Tsuchihashi bowed heavily, and Colonel Kawanami's blood began to boil. As long as they eliminated the defenders on Tuofeng Ridge, it would be double military merit.
If he could capture Bengbu again, his military merit would be enough for him to be promoted to general. The promotion from colonel to general is a big hurdle.

"Tsuchihashi-kun, the artillery preparation is over. Let us watch the brave warriors of the Yoneyama Battalion create another glory!"

Colonel Kawanami had high hopes for this attack and was full of infinite expectations. The Sixth Regiment was not afraid of any strong enemy.

Mishan Battalion was attacking almost on the artillery point. When the artillery fire just extended, their skirmish line advanced to the front of the defenders' position.

The defenders' light and heavy firepower once again launched a dense rain of bullets, knocking the Japanese to the ground one by one.

The Japanese concentrated several infantry guns and 37mm anti-tank guns to bombard the main fort at the same time. After holding out for half an hour, the main fort was finally destroyed, and nearly half of the officers and soldiers of a platoon defending it were killed or wounded.

The remaining troops retreated into the tunnels and continued fighting, and the Japanese paid the price of two infantry guns and dozens of deaths.

Finally the main fort was blown up, and the Japanese soldiers of Mishan Battalion shouted with excitement and rushed to the front line of the defenders like a tidal wave;
Just when the Japanese thought they had occupied the Chinese position, a group of artillery shells flew in from the main peak. Among them were explosive packs thrown from the Flying Thunder Cannon, which made the Japanese scream in pain.

The 2nd Battalion's artillery company opened fire at full capacity, knocking down rows of Japanese soldiers, and chaos broke out in the Mishan Battalion;
The main force of the 2nd Battalion took the opportunity to launch a counterattack. Teams of soldiers emerged from the tunnels, rows of grenades fell from the sky, and hundreds of machine guns and rifles rained bullets on the Japs, killing them dizzy and leaving corpses all over the ground.

The remaining troops in the front-line positions also took the opportunity to launch a counterattack, cooperating with the main force to drive the Mishan Battalion down the mountain, leaving behind at least 300 bodies.

The defenders on the front line took the opportunity to withdraw to the main position, where there were still five bunkers waiting for the Japanese. The fortifications were more solid and the firing range was wider.

"Bakayaluo, you are a bunch of rubbish! Fire!"

The sudden defeat of the Yoneyama Battalion made Colonel Kawanami somewhat embarrassed, and he issued an order for indiscriminate bombardment in a frenzy;

Unfortunately, by the time their artillery reacted, the defenders had all hidden in the tunnels of the main position. Apart from wasting some artillery shells, the Japanese did not achieve any results.

(End of this chapter)