Songhu: Never Give Up

Chapter 310: Bloody Battle at Zhaojialing
Rows of artillery shells roared towards the Zhaojialing position, with the main position being the focus. This was also the conclusion they came to after the battle;

Only by destroying the heavy firepower in the main formation, the frontline positions will have no support, and they may be able to be taken with a single charge.

The Japanese used the same old tactics, using artillery fire before launching infantry charges. Harada concentrated more than 30 large and small artillery pieces and launched a crazy artillery attack on the Zhaojialing position defended by the 2nd Battalion;

The hot-tempered commander of the 2nd Battalion, Deng Zhuxiu, did not passively accept the bombing, and also ordered the artillery battalion deployed on the top of the mountain to fight back.

Most of these cannons were deployed on the reverse slope, which made it very difficult for the Japanese to hit them. However, they were very effective in attacking the Japanese artillery positions from a high position.

In just half an hour, they destroyed seven or eight of the enemy's artillery pieces, while they only lost two. Seeing this, Deng Zhuxiu praised:
"Okay, let's do it this way! The artillery brothers have made a great contribution this time. Are you the only ones with artillery? I have some too!"

Men are like this, they are strong when they have artillery. The artillery battalion of each battalion of the guerrilla column has 4 75mm mountain guns and 6 mortars.

In addition, the detachment strengthened their direct artillery battalion with 12 75mm mountain/field guns and 16 mortars. The firepower exceeded that of the Japanese mountain artillery battalion.

The Japanese were defeated in the artillery battle between the two sides, and Harada finally understood why Colonel Tanaka did not compete with him for the first credit;

This is not a military achievement at all, it's simply a place of purgatory.

Colonel Harada had already made his harsh words. He was not going to be scared to death by a few cannons. The ground attack was still launched as scheduled.
As soon as the artillery preparation was over, thousands of Japanese soldiers swarmed towards Zhaojialing. Colonel Harada was indeed a ruthless man and he launched a battalion-level attack right from the start.

The 147th Regiment's attack was also divided into three directions. The left and right wings were feint attacks to tie down the defenders' forces, while the main attack direction was still the center.
The troop deployment is one squadron on each left wing, two infantry squadrons plus a machine gun squadron and an infantry artillery squadron in the center, which is exactly the strength of a battalion.

The Japanese attacked the squadron in three waves. The first wave was two squadrons, and the second wave was the machine gun squadron, which was responsible for providing continuous fire suppression.
The third attack team consisted of two infantry guns and three mortars, responsible for attacking the defenders' firepower points.

Two infantry squadrons rushed towards the defensive position of the 1st Company in the middle, one on the left and one on the right. Captain Liao Lei immediately ordered several artillery guns of the artillery company to fire at the Japanese to carry out long-range blocking.
The battalion's artillery battalion was also on the top of the mountain to block the Japanese's firepower, leaving only the detachment's artillery battalion to guard the Japanese's artillery group. If they dared to show their heads, they would be met with a rain of shells.

Under the firepower of more than a dozen artillery pieces of the defenders, the Japanese soldiers who charged suffered heavy casualties. Before they even reached the 1st Company's position, they had already suffered hundreds of casualties. They were simply sending their heads for dead.
Colonel Harada finally couldn't bear it anymore, and ordered the artillery battalion to provide support again. However, after only a few rounds of fighting, they attracted retaliation from the artillery battalion of the defending detachment, and after losing several artillery pieces, they completely surrendered.

The Japanese in the middle finally rushed to the blind spot of the defenders' 75mm gun. They were only a few dozen meters away from the first company's position, and the defenders' artillery support stopped.

Next it was the turn of the 1st Company. Following Yue Wanli's order, two Type 9 heavy machine guns and nine Type light machine guns rained bullets at the Japanese.

Whole groups of Japanese infantry were mowed down, and the hillside was soon filled with them, which looked very relaxing.

The Japanese machine gun squadron immediately opened suppressive fire, and rows of heavy machine gun bullets rained down on the defenders. Soon the 1st Company suffered a lot of casualties.

Liao Tao would not let the enemy's heavy machine guns get away with it, so he immediately ordered all mortars to fire at the enemy's machine gun positions.
The Japanese in the machine gun squadron were fighting happily, and they seemed to have forgotten that on the Zhaojialing battlefield, the defenders had a large number of indirect fire cannons, which were the nemesis of the heavy machine guns.

When rows of mortars fell from the sky, the Japanese commander realized that he had made a fatal mistake and shouted in horror:
"Enemy attack, evacuate quickly!"

Unfortunately, it was too late. A heavy machine gun was not as easy to move as a light machine gun.

Before they could make any move, a rain of mortar shells fell, blowing heavy machine guns into pieces, causing heavy casualties to the Japanese machine gun crew, and the machine gun squadron suffered a devastating blow.

The firepower configuration of the guerrilla column has now become a system of its own. The company level has 2 flying thunder guns and 6 to 8 grenade launchers, 2 Type 1 heavy machine guns, and 1 light machine gun per squad. The firepower is enough to suppress a squadron of the Japanese.
At the battalion level, there was an artillery company equipped with 2 mortars, 2 infantry guns and 6 thunder guns, exactly 3 platoons. Its firepower was not inferior to that of a Japanese battalion, but its strength was only more than 500 people (with a shortage of more than 100 people). The battalion level was also equipped with 40 rocket launchers.

At the battalion level is the artillery battalion, which consists of 4 75mm guns, 6 mortars and several infantry guns.

At the column level, in addition to 24 anti-aircraft guns, there are also 12 12-barrel 107mm rocket launchers. This is the guerrilla column's powerful weapon, with firepower stronger than that of a Japanese division.

Considering the need for mountain warfare, the guerrilla columns were equipped with artillery suitable for transportation by mules and horses. The heaviest Type 75 536mm mountain gun weighed only 6 kilograms, and after being disassembled, it could be carried by six mules and horses.
Rocket launchers, mortars, and anti-aircraft guns can all be transported by mules and horses, and are very mobile.

The guerrilla column's firepower configuration was aimed at the Japanese. Without heavy firepower suppression in positional warfare, the Japanese infantry was not so powerful and was pinned down by the 1st Company's light and heavy machine guns.

Major Shibata Ryozo had never fought such a cowardly battle since landing. He had no use for his strength. The defenders only had a few hundred men, but his full-strength battalion could not attack them.
Seeing that the machine gun squadron was destroyed, they had no choice but to place their hopes on the infantry artillery.

In order to create opportunities for the infantry artillery team, he asked the signalman to use the bugle to urge the Japanese in the middle to continue charging. It would be too embarrassing for the Kumamoto Division to let them lie on the ground and be rubbed by the enemy.

The Kumamoto Division was known for its toughness and loved to crush the defenders' will to resist with mountains of blood and corpses. After receiving the order from the battalion, it continued to charge under the command of the squadron leader and the squad leader.

Private First Class Kato Seiji was frightened by the dense rain of bullets from the defenders. His squad had suffered five casualties and the results achieved were almost zero.

In the past, artillery fire would suppress the defenders, and their infantry would just rush forward and pick up the ready-made enemies;
No one knew what happened this time. Not only was the artillery fire suppressed, but the air warriors were also driven away. The defenders fired bullets at them like they were free, and they would die as long as they showed their heads.

He lay in a shell hole and fired randomly, hoping to wait until the troops were withdrawn, but the squad leader gave him a strict order to charge forward, otherwise he would be subject to military law.

The leader of Kato's squad had already pointed his pistol at him, so he had no choice but to rush out of the crater and charge with the other devils.

They were only a few dozen meters away from the defenders' trenches, and they could rush up in a few breaths with all their strength. The team leader told them that as long as they rushed into the trenches, the cowardly Chinese would be scared away by the bayonets.

Going forward means death, and retreating also means death. Kato could only charge forward. His companions around him were shot and fell one by one. Some of the unlucky ones were directly shot in half by heavy machine guns, and their internal organs burst out.

Kato seemed to have good luck, as even the squad leader's leg was broken, but he was unharmed;

Relying on the advantage of manpower, they finally rushed to the front of the defenders' position after paying the price of most casualties, just a dozen meters away! The heavy machine guns were no longer effective, and the next step was to fight with bayonets. Private Kato had received professional assassination training, and he was confident that he could defeat several Chinese people by himself when using a knife.

"Itaya!"

Kato shouted excitedly, which resulted in a dense array of grenades. They were all melon grenades produced in the Empire. He was very aware of their power and immediately turned pale with fright.

"Boom boom boom boom..."

Dozens of grenades exploded in the enemy group, and thousands of fragments caused heavy casualties among the enemy. It also made them thinner, and their formation became much thinner.

Taking advantage of the residual power of the grenade explosion, Yue Wanli roared, jumped out of the trench with a Type 38 rifle with a bayonet, and launched a counterattack against the Japanese.

Others followed suit, some using grenades while others using bayonets. The two sides soon collided with each other, leaving a pile of corpses on the ground. Some of them even died after fighting with each other.

Yue Wanli had experienced several hand-to-hand combats and had long been accustomed to the cruelty of hand-to-hand combat. Although he had a pale scholar's face, he was very fierce when he attacked. He stabbed the enemy's vital points with his knife. In the blink of an eye, he stabbed two enemy soldiers to death.
Then he met Private Kato. This little Karami was no match for Yue Wanli. He just stabbed him with a knife, thinking he had a sure win, but he missed and exposed his flaw.

Private First Class Kato grinned and stabbed Yue Wanli fiercely. Yue Wanli had already used up all his strength at this time. The more he tried to evade, the more miserable his death would be. In a moment of urgency, he simply threw himself towards the enemy. The bayonet pierced Yue Wanli's right rib with a "whoosh" sound and got stuck in his ribs.

Yue Wanli endured the pain, swung the butt of the gun in his left hand and smashed it on Kato's big head, instantly cutting his head open.

Private Kato's eyes were filled with fear. He did not expect Yue Qianli to fight him to the death. In the end, he lost and his head was hit. When he fell, he pulled out the bayonet.

Yue Wanli's blood spurted all over the ground. His head became foggy due to the momentary lack of blood. He staggered and almost fell to the ground.

Another Japanese soldier took the opportunity to attack him, but was discovered by the squad leader who shot him in the head and then protected him.

Yue Wanli's eyes went dark and he fell to the ground. The squad leader immediately called two people to carry him away. After participating in the war for half a year, Yue Wanli was finally injured. If the squad leader had not rescued him in time, he would probably have reported to the King of Hell.

Just when the company was about to collapse, dozens of reinforcements rushed down from behind. They charged into the enemy group like tigers descending from the mountains and unleashed a barrage of fire on the Japanese.
After killing a group of them, they started fighting with bayonets, and soon the Japanese were defeated.

Captain Liao Tao, who had been paying close attention to the battle situation at the 1st Company position, was worried that the 1st Company, which was at a disadvantage in terms of manpower, might suffer a loss, so he rushed down with the battalion headquarters.
These dozens of fresh troops became the last straw that broke the camel's back in their will to fight. The battlefield collapsed in an instant. Upon learning that reinforcements from the defending army had arrived, the remaining 100-odd Japanese soldiers were completely defeated and retreated tumbling.

After the Japanese troops in the center retreated, the two squadrons on the left and right wings also retreated like a tide. The 147th Regiment's first attack on Zhaojialing was repelled.

Since the two wings were only feint attacks, the casualties were not heavy, but the squadron was seriously injured. When Colonel Harada received the damage report of Shibata's battalion, he slapped Major Shibata twice on the spot and cursed:
"Bakayalu, how do you command a battle?
You lost half of your battalion in a tentative attack. Do you think the warriors of the empire are cannon fodder?"

Major Shibata was so upset that he kept crying. It was clearly the commander who ordered him to launch the attack regardless of the cost, and now he was being blamed.

Is there still justice?

Is there any royal law?
"Sir, I am ashamed of your trust and the warriors who died in the battle. Please allow me to apologize to the Emperor."

Major Shibata felt guilty and wanted to commit seppuku, but he was slapped twice by Colonel Harada, but the force was obviously much lighter. He pretended to curse:
"Bakayaro, seppuku is an act only for cowards. His Majesty needs you to contribute to the empire!"

Major Shibata was just pretending, he didn't really want to commit seppuku. Seeing that the regiment commander had given up the matter, he bowed deeply to Colonel Harada and said:
"Sir, the commander, please give me another chance. The Chinese defense has been weakened. We must take the position in the next attack.
We will not withdraw our troops until we break through the Chinese position!"

Colonel Harada nodded with satisfaction and said:

“Yoshi, Shibata-kun, only those who know shame and then stand up bravely are loyal and brave men to your majesty;

It was just a test attack, and the Imperial Army suffered heavy losses, and many Chinese people were also killed and wounded.

We cannot treat the guerrilla column as an ordinary national army. As long as we can capture Zhaojialing, even if we exchange two for one, it is fine."

Major Shibata's expression became serious. This was the first time he heard the commander of the regiment say such words that would boost others' morale and undermine his own prestige.

He had also heard something about the guerrilla column's combat effectiveness in private, but he didn't allow it to be spread around so as not to affect morale. Now it seems to be true!

Colonel Harada used the personnel of the regiment's baggage team to make up for the losses of the 1st Battalion. Now they are fully staffed again, but there is no "baggage team" at the back.

Although the 106th Division was only a special division, its organization was the same as some of the Class A divisions at the back;

It also has a four-unit system, in addition to a cavalry regiment, a mountain artillery regiment, an engineering regiment, a logistics regiment, and several thousand non-regular cannon fodder, with a total number of nearly 3.

After figuring out the firepower configuration of Zhaojialing, the Japanese concentrated their artillery fire and launched a covering bombardment on the Zhaojialing position. This time, the defending artillery did not retaliate.

This was not a sign of surrender, but many of the guerrilla column's artillery pieces were captured from the Japanese, and it was difficult to replenish the shells, so they had to be used where possible. It was not cost-effective to engage in an artillery battle with the Japanese.

As the 1st Company, which was responsible for defending the center, suffered heavy casualties and its company commander Yue Wanli was also injured, Liao Tao transferred two squads from the 2nd and 3rd companies to the 2st Company, and sent deputy captain Guan Xiaochao to replace Yue Wanli's command. He also replenished them with a batch of ammunition.

Both sides have completed their adjustments and are waiting for a new battle to begin.

(End of this chapter)