Songhu: Never Give Up

Chapter 297 Encirclement and Annihilation (2)

Wang Jianfei quickly saw through the Japanese conspiracy and ordered the encirclement and annihilation troops to speed up;

On the other hand, he ordered the artillery battalion's 75mm mountain artillery to fire at the Japanese artillery positions, attracting the Japanese firepower and exchanging artillery for infantry.

The 13th Division was not equipped with heavy artillery, only 75mm mountain/field guns. The artillery performance of both sides was the same, so the Japanese artillery positions were also at risk of being destroyed.

Since the defenders' twenty or so 75mm guns opened fire on the 13th Mountain Artillery Regiment, the Japanese were no longer so rampant;

Instead, they turned their guns around and engaged the defenders in an artillery battle, resulting in casualties on both sides.

The infantry took the opportunity to intensify the offensive. There were fewer and fewer devils in the encirclement, and their doomsday was approaching.

In the process of encircling and annihilating the remaining Japanese troops, the two detachments suffered heavy casualties. Liao Jianping once asked him whether they could encircle three of them and leave one behind to drive the Japanese troops down the river, which would greatly reduce their own casualties.
But this proposal was rejected by Wang Jianfei. His answer was that it was better to cut off one finger than to hurt ten fingers. Even if it cost huge casualties, the 65th and 58th Regiments must be completely wiped out, without leaving a single one alive!
Seeing that Wang Jianfei was also a hateful person, Liao Jianping said no more and commanded the Third Detachment to encircle and annihilate the remaining enemies with all their strength.

Middle Road, North City of Bengbu

Compared to the bloodbath on the right wing, here it was a one-sided massacre. Yue Qianli used 3 rockets to blast the assembly areas of the 6th and 34th Regiments, severely damaging them and causing their defeat.

Then the two battalions of the independent detachment chased the Japanese and drove the fleeing soldiers towards the defense zone of the 18th Regiment, breaking up their formation.

The reason why the second detachment, which was the reserve force, was not sent up was because they were worried that Fujita would be desperate and use the heavy artillery to launch an indiscriminate bombardment, which would result in heavy casualties.
The two battalions of the independent detachment were more than enough to hunt down and annihilate more than 1 remaining enemy troops of the Japanese. The remaining enemy troops of the 6th and 34th Regiments had no will to fight at all and just kept fleeing towards the Huai River, where there were ferries and railway bridges, and the 18th Regiment could pick them up.

At this time, the 18th Regiment had been divided into two large groups. The two battalions had already engaged in street fighting with the 1st Battalion of the rd Detachment in the city. They were scattered everywhere, making it difficult to gather them together.
The other part is deployed in the urban area near the railway bridge, firmly controlling the railway bridge and being able to attack or defend.

The sudden counterattack by the guerrilla column shocked the regiment commander Ishii Yoshie. He did not know how many people were in the guerrilla column that launched the counterattack.
But one thing he was sure of was that the two regiments in the front had been defeated and suffered heavy casualties, and the defeated soldiers were pouring towards their defense zone.

The first to run over were Colonel Kawanami and his regiment. Although he had a pair of short bow legs, he ran faster than anyone else.
Next came the 34th Regiment Captain Taue Hachiro, who was ranked eighth but had not committed seppuku. Ishii Yoshie looked at them with disdain and then let them pass through the bridge.

There is no other choice but to keep the regimental flag. The 3rd Division cannot afford to lose two regimental flags at once.

After sending away the two troublemakers, Ishii Jiahui's face turned cold and he shouted coldly:
"From now on, no one is allowed to approach the railway bridge, or they will die!"

The experienced Ishii Yoshie knew that it would not be long before the Chinese would drive the fleeing soldiers to attack him. He had to stop these fleeing soldiers in order to stop the Chinese counterattack.

In order to preserve the two regiments, he could let the regiment headquarters cross the river, but the other devils could forget about it;
Either they die in battle or are killed by their machine guns. There is no third way for them.

Just in case, he also withdrew the regiment headquarters across the river. Now he could go and fight the Chinese with all his strength.

As he expected, not long after, thousands of defeated soldiers were driven over. These people had long lost their military dignity, so Ishii Yoshie would no longer regard them as imperial soldiers.

"A bunch of cowards!" "Kill the chicken!"

Seeing that the fleeing soldiers were about to charge, which Ishii Yoshie would not allow, he immediately ordered to open fire and mow down the fleeing soldiers who were already in a state of madness. There was no value in keeping these trash.

Now it was the fleeing soldiers' turn to be dumbfounded. The men of the 18th Regiment actually dared to shoot at them. Only after hundreds of people died did they realize the situation.

So these defeated soldiers gave up on taking the railway bridge and turned to the river on both wings to grab the ferry. Whoever grabbed it first would save his life.

The remaining Japanese fleeing soldiers pushed each other and ran to the river banks on both sides, and sure enough, there was a ferry waiting for them;

So they swarmed up, trampling on each other, and it was normal for them to stab each other in order to grab the ferry.

Soon the boat was packed with people, but people were still trying to squeeze in. As the boat became more and more crowded, it was about to capsize, and the boat driver was so frightened that he immediately ran to the riverbank.
The Japanese have many types of ferries, both motorized and manual. The motorized ones are better, as they can leave after starting the motor.

The manual boats did not have enough poles, and few people knew how to row. Due to the serious overloading, they capsized not long after being rowed out, and the Japanese fell into the icy river like dumplings.

After struggling for a few times, they were swallowed by the river. In the end, less than 3 people successfully escaped to the other side, and the rest all died.

Gu Wanliang led his squad and ran in the front. They were chasing thousands of Japanese soldiers, just like the scene after the defeat in Shanghai. The pursuers were only a squad and no one dared to stop to stop them. They just wanted to run faster than others.

"These sons of bitches run so fast, you got lucky!"

After Gu Wanliang finished speaking, he led the entire class to attack the position of the 18th Regiment, and then a fierce battle broke out between the two sides.

More and more troops caught up and joined the battle, but unfortunately they had no heavy weapons and could not defeat the devils at all;

In order to reduce casualties, the highest-ranking captain took over the command and ordered everyone to retreat more than 200 meters and break contact.

Before they could catch their breath, the Japanese heavy artillery shells came raining down on them, and the pursuers could only hide in the rubble and waste nearby.

After receiving the news of the defeat, Fujita Susumu was furious and immediately ordered the heavy artillery brigade to launch indiscriminate bombardment on the area north of the railway bridge;

He believed Colonel Kawanami's lies that the 2 people chasing them were densely packed, and suggested using artillery to bombard them, which would definitely inflict heavy losses on the Chinese.

When Fujita heard that there were 2 pursuers, he knew that Colonel Kawanami was lying, but he believed that there were several thousand or even tens of thousands of them, so he immediately ordered the artillery to open fire;
Rows of heavy artillery shells smashed into the north city. Some fell into the crowd of guerrilla columns, blowing them up piece by piece; some also fell on top of the 18th Regiment.

Indiscriminate shelling was unfriendly to both sides. Fortunately, Yue Qianli did not let the second detachment pursue and kill them. Only some vanguard troops of the independent detachment suffered more than 100 casualties, which was a not-so-small loss.

(End of this chapter)