Songhu: Never Give Up

Chapter 264: North City Street Fight (1)

Under the heavy bombardment of Japanese planes and heavy artillery, the southern end of the railway bridge was lost, and all 500 soldiers defending the bridge died for their country, but they also left thousands of bodies behind for the Japanese.

Then the Japanese army launched an attack to the north end under the cover of aircraft and heavy artillery. The 6th Regiment and the 34th Regiment launched a river crossing operation from both sides of the bridge. The two sides fought fiercely for a day and suffered heavy casualties.

Fighting against the enemy's aircraft and heavy artillery, the casualties were too great, so Yue Qianli immediately ordered all troops to withdraw to the north city;

Tens of thousands of Japanese soldiers poured into the North City like a tide. The two sides launched fierce street fighting in the city, neither side gave in, and the battle soon turned into a mess.

At this time, the guerrilla column was deployed with the second detachment defending the Huai River on the eastern front, and the first detachment holding the 583 high ground on the west side of the southern city.

The 3rd Detachment and the Supplementary Detachment fought street battles with the main force of the 3rd Division in the north city, while the independent detachment and the division's direct troops served as reserve forces.

The troop deployment of the 6rd Division was that the th Regiment crossed the Huai River from the right wing and carried out a roundabout operation in the northeast direction, trying to go around the back of the northern city of Bengbu and cut off the retreat of the defenders in the city;
The 6th Regiment's flanking maneuver hit a snag on the nd Detachment, and a fierce battle broke out between the two sides, resulting in casualties on both sides.

The 18th and 34th Regiments crossed the Huai River from the front railway bridge and the left wing and attacked the northern city. They engaged in street fighting with two detachments of the defending army and also suffered heavy casualties.

A part of the 68th Regiment went west to guard Hill 583, while the main force assisted the Cavalry Brigade in guarding the division headquarters.

The 1st Heavy Artillery Brigade was deployed on the right wing of the division headquarters to provide fire support for the troops in the north city, but the two sides were already entangled in a fierce battle and the heavy artillery had lost its effect.

The other two divisions of the southern group were still attacking the Huaihe River defense line, but they could not go all out. Liu Shiyi's 31st Army, which had been repelled before, had been harassing them from the flank.

The main force of the 21st Army Group has crossed the Huai River and is being used as the reserve force of the Fifth War Zone Headquarters, ready to support the 51st Army in combat at any time.

The two sides fought on both sides of the Huai River, and neither could do anything to the other for the time being. The Japanese army placed their hopes of breaking through the southern line on Bengbu City. As long as they controlled the northern city, the railway bridge would be opened;

The main force of the 51rd Division can flank the st Army's defense line and assist the th Division in crossing the Huai River. At that time, the entire southern line will collapse.

Fujita Susumu did not understand Hata Shunroku's deep meaning, or he might be pretending to be confused. There was only one reason: the 3rd Division would not play a supporting role to other divisions. It was agreed that the North and South would advance together, and the North China Front Army could not be the leading role alone.

“Tajiri-kun, the Third Division cannot be outdone by the Fifth Division, let alone the Tenth Division;
Since the beginning of the war, the Fifth Division has relied on the advantage of the North China Plain being more conducive to mechanized operations, and has earned a reputation as the Steel Army in North China and Hedong. It has a tendency to overshadow our Third Division in terms of momentum. This is unacceptable!"

Fujita Susumu finally spoke his true feelings and was also urging Colonel Tajiri. The commander has his own ideas, and the 3rd Division also has its own pursuits.

Colonel Tajiri followed Fujita Susumu's words and said:
"Your Excellency, Commander, you are right!
Your Majesty has high hopes for the war on the southern front. Yue Qianli and the guerrilla column have been put on your Majesty's blacklist, and your Majesty still cannot let go of the prince's matter;

"When the lord is worried, the minister is humiliated; when the lord is humiliated, the minister dies. It is our duty to share the worries of Your Majesty. Even if there are more casualties, we must annihilate Yue Qianli's troops."

Fujita Susumu nodded with satisfaction and said:
“Tajiri-kun, you have a promising future if you can understand this, tell the others that His Majesty needs their loyalty;
Kill all the Chinese people in the North City, leaving no one alive!"

It really fits the saying that one general's success is the result of the sacrifice of many soldiers. The glory of Fujita Susumu and the 3rd Division required countless Japanese soldiers to fight desperately.

Second Lieutenant Yasushi Yoshimoto had no intention of being cannon fodder. His 18th Regiment had previously served as a reserve force, so it had not been severely beaten. He was anxious to find the Chinese to share the burden.

The Japanese soldiers of Yoshimoto's squad were arranged in a standard battle formation and were searching and advancing along a longitudinal street; they had a squad on each wing, only a few dozen meters apart, ready to support each other at any time.

The attack formation of the 18th Regiment was an inverted triangle, with the two battalions in front lined up in a row, almost filling up the one-kilometer area on both wings of the railway;
The 3rd Battalion and the artillery followed, and the regiment headquarters stayed in the northern section of the railway bridge, able to attack or defend.

The 34th Regiment was conducting a roundabout operation. The Japanese were very methodical in their operation. The 18th Regiment was to break through the middle of the iron line until they penetrated the northern city, thus dividing the northern city into two.
The 34th Regiment detoured to the middle area and then flanked the North City defense zone, attacking from west to east, attempting to divide the North City into four large sections and finally carry out a net-like sweep to defeat them one by one.

The Yoshimoto team was right in the front. The streets were empty and eerily quiet. The doors of the houses on both sides were also tightly closed. They didn't have time to search the residential areas yet, as that was the second stage of the mission.

The first stage was to advance along the main road. Since the street was not wide, they formed two attack formations.

Their battle formation was also very sophisticated, with two infantry squads in the front, a grenade launcher squad in the middle, and another infantry squad at the end. He, the squad leader, followed the second squad;
Each team is more than ten meters apart, and the entire team is separated by several dozen meters. The houses on both wings are their focus of defense.

The first team was responsible for searching in the front. They had gone deep into the city for hundreds of meters without encountering any Chinese. Ji Ben even suspected that the defenders in the city had fled, but he did not realize that they had entered the ambush area of ​​the defenders.

The one who ambushed them was a platoon from the 527rd Brigade. This was Yue Qianli's old platoon from the th Regiment. They were all veterans who had survived the street fighting in Shanghai and Nanjing City.

They first sent out a squad to lure the Japanese, and the other three infantry squads set up an inverted triangle ambush formation on the street behind.

There was a barricade made of sandbags in front. The squad defending the barricade was equipped with a certain number of "big plate chicken" rifles, while the other squads were equipped with Czech or Type 99 rifles. One machine gun per platoon was not enough, so they were even equipped with grenade launchers.

When the Japanese search team appeared, the squad responsible for attracting the Japanese suddenly leaned out of the alley and opened fire at them, killing three Japanese instantly;

The other Japanese soldiers squatted down and fired back, but the Japanese search team was in a hurry to fight and was no match for the Chinese. They soon suffered 7 casualties.

Lieutenant Yoshimoto, who was lagging behind by 20 to 30 meters, saw the search team being attacked and immediately led other devils to reinforce them;
When the third squad leader Zhou Guanghui saw the large group of Japanese reinforcements coming up, he pretended to be exhausted and fought while retreating.

Lieutenant Yoshimoto would naturally not let them go and angrily shouted:
"Bagayalu, you want to run?"

"Kill the chicken and give it to me!"

The two sides chased each other and soon appeared at the location of the barricade. Zhou Guanghui and others ran over from the flank;
Lieutenant Yoshimoto had sharp eyes. When he saw a barricade in front of him, he broke out in a cold sweat and immediately ordered his men to dodge to the side.

Unfortunately, they were still too slow, and the machine gunner fired at them with a "big plate chicken", instantly knocking down several Japanese soldiers;

Other riflemen also opened fire at the Japs, forcing them to flee into the alleys on both sides, where they ended up running into the guns of the other two squads.

The streets were filled with gunfire and ambushes. They formed groups of three and continuously dealt with the Japanese who entered their ambush circle.

In just a short while, most of the Japanese soldiers in Yoshimoto's squad were killed or wounded, and the results achieved were minimal.

(End of this chapter)