Songhu: Never Give Up

Chapter 276: The Bloody Battle of Taierzhuang (2)

Taierzhuang is located at the junction of Jiangsu and Shandong, in the south of Zaozhuang, on the north bank of the Grand Canal, 30 kilometers northeast of Xuzhou, and on the railway branch line from Lincheng to Zhaodun;

It is connected to Jinpu Road in the north, Longhai Railway in the south, and the South Four Lakes in the west. It is the southern gate of Shandong and the gateway to Xuzhou, and the last barrier to Xuzhou going south.

The Grand Canal runs across the entire territory. It has been a hub for water transport between the north and the south since ancient times. Its strategic location is very important. It has been a battleground for military strategists in history and was the first place of contention when Xuzhou was attacked by the enemy.

In order to capture Taierzhuang, the North China Front Army mobilized two regular divisions with 5 troops, and marched towards Taierzhuang in two routes under the command of Lieutenant General Nishio Toshizo, commander of the North China Second Army.

One of the divisions was led by Itagaki Seishirō, which advanced westward along the Jiaoji Road and approached Linyi.
One group was led by Rensuke Isogai's 10th Division, which marched south along the Jinpu Road and headed straight for Taierzhuang.

Just before the Seya Detachment launched its attack on Taierzhuang, the Sakamoto Detachment of the 40th Division had already launched a fierce attack on Linyi. Pang Bingxun's th Army of the rd Corps defending Linyi City put up resistance, and both sides killed and slaughtered people everywhere.
Pang Bingxun's troops were also the Northwest Army. It sounded like a corps, which was intimidating enough, but in fact it was only the 40th Division of the 39th Army. Its weapons and equipment were backward, and it was somewhat out of balance in a one-on-one fight with the well-equipped and fierce Sakamoto Detachment.

Commander Li was worried that if Linyi was lost, Taierzhuang would be caught in a dilemma of being attacked from both sides, so he ordered Commander Zhang's 59th Army to rush to Linyi for assistance.

Commander Zhang and Pang Bingxun knew each other and even had a grudge against each other.
Both Zhang and Pang were former subordinates of Feng Yuxiang in the Northwest Army. During the Central Plains War, Pang Bingxun secretly surrendered to the Central Army and turned against Zhang in the battle, causing heavy losses to Zhang's troops and seriously injuring Zhang Zizhong.

During this crisis in Linyi, Commander Li had no troops to mobilize, so he sent Commander Zhang to the area;

In order to resolve the old grudges between them, Commander Li also sent Chief of Staff Xu to act as a peacemaker. The two of them put aside their past grudges and jointly resisted the foreign enemy. They blocked the Sakamoto Detachment in Linyi for several days, annihilated thousands of enemies, and made the Japanese plan of attacking Taierzhuang from two directions fail.

The Japanese were determined to capture Taierzhuang and would not give up the attack just because they lost a few tanks. After blasting a gap in the northeast corner, the infantry launched a charge. This was the Japanese's standard offensive tactic: "artillery bombardment followed by infantry charge."

Seeing that the Japanese were pouring in again, Captain Lu immediately ordered his men to open fire. Hundreds of machine guns and rifles on the city walls fired bullets at the Japanese. Rows of the charging Japanese were mowed down, and corpses and wounded soldiers covered the ground.

The Type 75 heavy machine guns, infantry guns, mortars, mm mountain and field guns deployed by the Japanese in the distance were all pouring down a hail of bullets on the top of the city.

The Japs' infantry and artillery coordinated very well, with a proper combination of long, medium and short range firepower. The defenders suffered heavy casualties, and soon more than half of Lu's camp suffered casualties, and their firepower also dropped a lot.

The Japanese infantry took the opportunity to rush in from the gap. Captain Lu roared, drew his sword and led his troops to meet them. The two sides once again broke out in a brutal street fight.
The Northwest Army's broadsword team once again demonstrated their prowess, killing so many Japanese that their heads kept falling. The gaps were filled with corpses, and some wounded soldiers even detonated cluster grenades and died together with the Japanese.

After killing several Japanese soldiers with swords, Captain Lu was also stabbed by several bayonets and died a heroic death. As the enemy was outnumbered, no one in the battalion survived.

When Division Commander Chi Chengfeng saw that the Japanese had broken through the north city, he immediately sent out reserve troops to block the gap. Before the Japanese could gain a foothold in the north city, reinforcements arrived and fierce street fighting broke out between the two sides.

The reinforcements were well-rested and in high spirits, and they killed and defeated the Japanese. However, as follow-up troops failed to catch up and lacked stamina, they were driven out by the defenders, leaving behind hundreds of corpses.

Liujia Lake, the Japanese artillery position
After the Japanese infantry suffered a loss, the artillery began to look for a place to fight. More than a dozen large and small artillery pieces fired wildly at the northern part of Taierzhuang, causing heavy casualties to the defenders.

The commander of the 91rd Regiment of the 183st Brigade roared:
"Captain Gao, judging from the direction the Japanese artillery shells are coming from, the artillery position should be near Liujiahu Village. Take the 3rd Battalion over there and blow them up!"

The commander of the third battalion, Major Gao Hongli, had been stationed in Liujiahu Village, 5 miles away, for training. He was very familiar with the terrain there and knew where to set up artillery positions. He immediately received the order excitedly. The soldiers of the third battalion were each armed with a Northwest Army-specific machete, 8 grenades, and a rifle. Under the leadership of Major Gao Hongli, they headed straight for Liujiahu.

It took them only a dozen minutes to reach the 5-mile area. Since the Japanese artillery was always bombarding, it was easy to find them.

The Japanese were very arrogant and only left a small team of guards near the artillery position. When Captain Gao heard this, he paused and cursed:
"The bastards really don't take me seriously. The first company is responsible for destroying the Japanese guards, and the second and third companies will follow me to blow up the Japanese cannons.
Don't be afraid of the dead, you must move quickly and never give the reinforcements time to react - kill!"

Following the order from Captain Gao, the Third Battalion was divided into two waves. The first company as the vanguard took the lead in attacking the Japanese escort team.

Rows of grenades fell from the sky, blowing the Japanese soldiers and horses to pieces, killing and wounding twenty or thirty of them on the spot.

Team leader Nakano Hirosuke exclaimed:
"Enemy attack—protect the artillery!"

Unfortunately, it was too late. A company of soldiers had already rushed up under the cover of grenade explosions, and a melee ensued between the two sides.
Lieutenant Nakano was still thinking about fighting with the company commander, but he was beheaded by the company commander before he could last three rounds.

The other Japanese soldiers were so scared that they wet their pants. They had never seen such fierce and brutal Chinese people. If their heads were chopped off, they would not be able to enter the Yasukuni Ghost Toilet. Thinking of this, the Japanese soldiers were terrified for no reason.

The second and third companies took the opportunity to attack and killed all the remaining Japanese devils.

Then they raised their swords high and rushed towards the stunned Japanese artillerymen with grim smiles. Only the captain of the artillery squadron reacted and shouted in fear:
"Enemy attack!"

As soon as the devil finished speaking, the sharp sword came over like thunder, killing people in an instant;
The third battalion had a clear division of labor. Some people were responsible for chopping off the heads of the Japanese, while others used grenades to blow up the cannons.

Since the enemy's artillery was in firing mode, and there were already a lot of shells with fuses piled up next to it, all we had to do was throw the grenade in;

The secondary detonation of the shell was enough to blow the cannon into a dough stick. As they underestimated the power of the secondary detonation, several of their own people were injured, and the Third Battalion also suffered casualties.

This amount of casualties was still within the tolerance of Captain Gao. The Japanese reinforcements were on the way after hearing the noise. They had little time left and could only resolve the issue in the simplest and most efficient way.

Soon, more than a dozen cannons were destroyed by the Third Battalion, and a squadron of artillerymen of the Japanese were almost slaughtered;

Since the howitzers weighed several hundred kilograms, they could not seize them and could only blow them up.

Not long after they blew up the Japanese artillery, the Japanese reinforcements arrived;

Seeing that his goal had been achieved, the third battalion commander did not engage in a fight with the Japanese and evacuated Liujia Lake Village before the reinforcements arrived.

They were familiar with the terrain and quickly shook off their pursuers, leaving only a pile of headless corpses and cannon wreckage for the Japanese. The Japanese were so angry that they screamed and committed seppuku on the spot.

(End of this chapter)