Songhu: Never Give Up

Huoshan, 13th Division Headquarters

Division Commander Tanaka Shizukazu was completely dumbfounded. Two more regiments were surrounded by the guerrilla column and faced the risk of being annihilated.
He felt that he and Yue Qianli had completely incompatible fates, and nothing good would happen if they met the guerrilla column.

In the second battle north of the Huai River, the 13th and 65th Regiments of the 58th Division were annihilated. This time, it became the 58th and 104th Regiments, the Artillery Regiment, and the Cavalry Regiment. Just thinking about it made his head hurt. He could no longer sit still and said to the Chief of Staff Nakata Hikoshiro:
"Mr. Nakata, we must not let Yue Qianli succeed again. Quickly request tactical guidance from the 10th Division.

Immediately order the 116th Regiment to return and provide assistance!

Ask His Royal Highness for tactical guidance..."

Tanaka Shizuka had reached the point of being desperate and trying all kinds of methods. The main force of the Second Army deployed to the northern foot of the Dabie Mountains consisted of only one 13th Division and the 10th Brigade of the 8th Division. The other troops were of little use.

If we send too few troops, we will just give the guerrillas heads. Colonel Nakata could only bite the bullet and persuade them:
“Your Excellency, the 8th Brigade will take at least two days to reach the Horseshoe Valley, and the 116th Regiment will need one day.
If only the 116th Wing is sent, it might become a refueling tactic, and the 116th Wing might even be killed.

The guerrilla column had the strength to encircle and annihilate an entire regiment. According to the information fed back from the front, Feng Zhian's troops of the 77th Army, which had been defeated previously, also participated in the battle.
The two armies together have tens of thousands of people, and the manpower is sufficient, so we have to defend ourselves."

Tanaka Seiichi fell silent. He had experienced the brutality of Yue Qianli's troops. Now with the addition of the 77th Army, one regiment was indeed no match for them.

It is indeed a taboo in military strategy to send more troops one after another. If you fail to rescue and lose another regiment, that would be troublesome.
Thinking of this, he forced himself to calm down and not lose his composure. Then he said to Colonel Nakata:
"Mr. Nakata is absolutely right. We must be cautious with Yue Qianli's troops. Send a telegram to Mr. Yamamura, ordering them to hold out and wait for help. They must hold out for three days.

During this period, I will coordinate the fire support of the air warriors, continuously bombing the Chinese who are surrounding them, and at the same time airdrop some combat supplies.

Wait until the 8th Brigade and the 116th Regiment are united before reinforcing Horseshoe Valley."

This is undoubtedly the safest way, but Colonel Yamamura was not happy at all after receiving it. He smiled bitterly and said to Colonel Ueda, the commander of the 58th Regiment:
"Mr. Ueda, reinforcements will arrive in three days. Yue Qianli will not give the Imperial Army three days. The artillery regiment and the cavalry regiment have been annihilated by the Chinese. Now there are only more than 3 of us left."

Colonel Ueda's face was not very good either. He was originally here to rescue the 104th Regiment, but ended up getting himself involved. He had no chance to reason with them, so he could only snort coldly and say:
"Three days - what can we use to defend for three days?

The Chinese annihilated the cavalry regiment and artillery regiment outside the valley in just half a day. Now our two divisions together are less than 4 people, and we have been compressed by the Chinese into a small area less than 500 meters from north to south and only 3 kilometers from east to west;

There are at least 3 Chinese people around, including the most elite guerrilla columns. They are equipped with a large number of artillery and are fully capable of annihilating our troops within three days. "

Colonel Yamamura knew that Colonel Ueda had complaints against him. He blamed the 104th Regiment for being too eager for success and being ambushed by the guerrilla column. Now the 58th Regiment was trapped in it. Everyone would feel uncomfortable.
But now was not the time to cause a conflict, so he bowed sincerely to Colonel Ueda and said guiltily:
"Ueda-kun, I'm sorry to bother you!"

Colonel Ueda's face looked better. He knew that the matter was done and what was needed now was unity. So he returned the salute to Colonel Yamamura and continued:
"Mr. Yamamura, there are only two options before us. One is to break through, and the other is to hold on and wait for help.
Yue Qianli’s main purpose before was to attack the reinforcements, so he did not launch a general attack on the 104th Regiment.

Now the imperial army outside the valley has been annihilated. Unless Yue Qianli wants to use our troops to lure more imperial troops here, they will launch a general attack tomorrow at the latest.

Break through or hold on, we have to come up with the rules! "At the temporary headquarters of the guerrilla column, Yue Qianli was thinking about the same question. In fact, he hoped that the devils would break through, so that it would be easier to destroy them;
It was difficult to defeat the Japanese who hid in the circular fortifications and kept defending themselves. There were two battle examples in another time and space: Guanjiazhai of the Eighth Route Army and Wanjialing of the National Army.

As long as the Japanese are determined to hold on, with the support of air force, there will be a lot of casualties in annihilating more than 3 Japanese.

Just when Yue Qianli was thinking about how to kill these thousands of devils, Division Commander Ji, who had just finished his work, walked in with a smile on his face and said to Yue Qianli:
"Brother Yue, I finally lived up to your trust and together with Captain Duan, I wiped out all the devils outside the valley.

We killed more than 3 Japanese soldiers and seized dozens of artillery pieces. The barrel of the heavy artillery piece was thicker than my thigh. "

Everyone laughed after hearing this. Annihilating a cavalry regiment, an artillery regiment, and more than 1 infantrymen of the enemy could definitely be called a great victory.

Then Master Ji said as if he was presenting a treasure:

“We really made a fortune this time. We seized more than 800 war horses, more than 500 mules and horses, tens of thousands of shells of various types, and guns and ammunition that cannot be counted for the time being;
When are you going to send the remaining several thousand devils back to their hometowns?"

As expected, he was a famous anti-Japanese general renowned both at home and abroad. All he thought about was fighting the Japanese invaders. The battle at Ma Ti Gu was undoubtedly the most exciting one he had ever fought.

Yue Qianli saw Master Ji coming back and hurriedly went to greet him and said:
"Brother Ji, thank you for your hard work. When you, the commander of the big knife, make a move, the heads of the Japanese will fall down one after another. I admire you!"

"Brother Yue, family members know their own business. This time I took advantage of the guerrilla column and had a good time killing devils.

To be honest, I was a little unconvinced when I heard about the guerrilla column's achievements before, but this time I have learned a lot.
Not to mention Brother Yue and Brother Duan, even your reconnaissance battalion commander, Brother Zhang, has taught me a lot.

Brother, I heard that he learned guerrilla warfare and mobile warfare from you. Brother Duan and others are experts, but I don’t count on you as a great god. When can I ask Brother Duan to give guidance to the brothers? "

Yue Qianli laughed and said:

"That's easy. We are going to annihilate the Japanese together during this period. I'll let Lao Duan stay in the 179th Division for a few days. We can fight and explain at the same time. Is that okay?"

Ji Xingwen naturally had no objection, but Yue Qianli remembered that He Jifeng later took over as the commander of the 77th Army, and later it was Zhang Youxia who led them to revolt on the battlefield and return to the people's camp;
Not to mention during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, they were the most powerful force on the front line, fighting almost the entire time, from the first shot of the full-scale war of resistance to the battle in western Henan and northern Hubei before the surrender of the Japanese.

Therefore, there is no problem in teaching them some practical tactics, all for the purpose of fighting the Japanese.

"Brother Yue, there is only one group of devils left. What are your plans?"

Ji Xingwen asked about the real matter again. This was what everyone was concerned about. They would not feel at ease until they were completely eliminated. (End of this chapter)