Songhu: Never Give Up

The street fighting in Lu'an lasted for two days. The crackling sound of gunfire never stopped. Colonel Numata finally lost his patience.

He really wanted to withdraw the troops from the city, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. He looked as if he wanted to say something but couldn't, and he looked as if he had eaten shit and was in pain.

Aso Tadamichi understood immediately, but he had his own ideas, so he said:
"Sir, the two sides are now completely entangled in a war. The arrow is on the string and has to be shot. If we withdraw by force, it may cause a total rout, and the consequences will be disastrous!"

Colonel Numata was also a veteran in the army, so he naturally understood this truth. They were now in a situation where they could not back down, and they could only continue fighting until the outcome was determined.

Thinking of this, he snorted coldly:

"Tell me what you suggest!"

Aso Tadamichi could only bite the bullet and say:
“Now we can only fight to the death and withdraw all the warriors on guard on both wings to reinforce the city;

When both sides are evenly matched, two squadrons of reinforcements are enough to break the balance, and the regiment headquarters can retreat to Shisun Mountain first. One infantry squadron plus two artillery squadrons can fully ensure the safety of the regiment headquarters. "

Colonel Numata was tempted. Shisun Mountain was in a strategic location, easy to defend but difficult to attack. It was only a dozen kilometers away from Yejiaji. If attacked, it would not be a problem to hold out until reinforcements arrived.
This would allow two infantry squadrons to be squeezed out to reinforce the fighting in the city.

Thinking of this, he immediately made up his mind. Just as he was about to send someone to inform them, he heard dense gunfire from both wings. Aso Tadamichi's face changed drastically. The thing he was most worried about had happened.

Colonel Numata's expression became even uglier. He guessed what was going on, but still held out hope. He said in a trembling voice:

"This may be a harassment battle by the fleeing soldiers before—"

Major Aso interrupted him rudely and said:
"Sir, the commander of the corps, please retreat to Shisun Mountain immediately. If I am not mistaken, this should be a counterattack by the Chinese. Their strength is far greater than the two squadrons of the Imperial Army.

They can't hold out for much longer. As long as the regiment retreats to Shisun Mountain and asks for tactical guidance, the Imperial Army still has a chance to counterattack."

Colonel Numata was already confused. After listening to Major Aso's suggestion, he made a hasty decision and ordered the regiment to retreat to Shisun Mountain.
As soon as they left, the fleeing soldiers on both wings were driven towards the main road. One company of the Nationalist troops quickly penetrated behind them, blocking their escape route to Shisun Mountain.

The defeated Japanese soldiers were immediately surrounded in a small area, and the result that awaited them was annihilation;

Colonel Numata was glad that he ran fast and escaped being surrounded by the Chinese. He and Major Aso were both scared out of their wits, as the Chinese ambushes were far more numerous than they had imagined.

Colonel Numata said with lingering fear:
"Damn it! The guerrilla column is really cunning and sly. They definitely pretended to be defeated before, in order to lure the imperial army to attack Lu'an City.
Use Lu'an City to hold back the main force of the imperial army, and when the time is right, send a part of them to cut off our retreat, and then gather together to annihilate them;
So cunning! "

After that, he said to Major Aso in horror:
"Quickly ask the brigade commander for tactical guidance - quickly!

Without reinforcements, the warriors in the city will be in danger."

Major Aso also thought of this, and he even thought about going to the fault to survive, but he was just a staff officer, and the commander of the regiment was the one who had the final say in the Numata regiment, so he was only responsible for giving advice.

While the Japanese were calling for reinforcements, the 2nd and 3rd Battalions wiped out the besieged remnants with great speed. Then the 3rd Battalion reinforced Lu'an City from two directions and assisted the 1st Battalion in annihilating the enemy in the city.
The 2nd Battalion's troops were heading straight for Shisun Mountain, while the artillery battalion was still lurking in the mountainous area on the southern front, waiting for action.

After Liao Jianping led his troops to the foot of Shisun Mountain, he did not launch an attack, but surrounded them on three sides, leaving one side open, and surrounded them without attacking.
This made Colonel Numata very confused, and he didn't know what the Chinese were up to.

Colonel Numata's call for help completely dumbfounded Major General Setake. It was clearly a must-win game, but with this result, he could only curse Colonel Numata with all the national insults he could think of.

Unfortunately, scolding alone cannot solve the problem. The 39th Infantry Regiment cannot be annihilated by the Chinese, otherwise his future will be ruined.

Although Sewu Ping knew that this was Yue Qianli's strategy of besieging Wei to save Zhao, he had no choice but to accept it. He gave up the attack on Fujin Mountain and gathered his main force to turn around and rescue the 39th Infantry Regiment.

The Sebu Brigade rushed towards Shisun Mountain with murderous intent, and the defensive pressure on Fujin Mountain was instantly reduced;

Song Xilian took the opportunity to organize a large counterattack, which defeated the 13th Division. The morale of the 71st Army was greatly boosted, and the counterattack was unstoppable. They quickly recovered their original positions and wiped out thousands of enemies. Tanaka Shizuka was hurt and cursed:

"Bakayarro, how did the 8th Brigade fight?

I reminded them not to pay attention to the enemy in Lu'an, but they refused to believe me. Now, one move has affected the entire Fujinshan Campaign. I want to complain to the Commander about their incompetence!"

Colonel Nakata gritted his teeth and said:

"Your Excellency, the division commander, at this point we have no choice but to suspend the attack and wait for the Seya Detachment and the 16th Division to arrive before joining forces to attack Fujin Mountain.

Yue Qianli is making a big fuss in the rear, let's make sure we are not defeated first." Tanaka Jing thought about it and could only do this. He had experienced the ferocity of the guerrilla column. Now they were caught in a pincer attack from both the 71st Army and the guerrilla column. It was too risky to continue the attack, so he said to Colonel Nakata very straightforwardly:
"Mr. Nakata, order the attacking troops to retreat another 500 meters, switch to defense on the spot, and wait for reinforcements to arrive."

The Japanese took the initiative to retreat several hundred meters in the direction of Fujinshan, and the 71st Army was unable to launch a large-scale counterattack, so the battle came to a temporary end;

Song Xilian seized this rare opportunity of ceasefire, quickly adjusted the deployment of troops, repaired fortifications, replenished ammunition for the front-line troops, evacuated the wounded, and prepared for a larger attack.

In the direction of Shisun Mountain, with the arrival of the main force of the Sebu Brigade, the Japanese regained their offensive capability, but Sebuhei did not hastily launch a counterattack, but patiently learned about the situation from Colonel Numata;

Colonel Numata also reported everything in detail, and appropriate polishing was inevitable. To sum it up in one sentence - it's not that Numata is incompetent, but that Yue Qianli is too cunning!

"Baka, Yue Qianli is so cunning!"

Se Wuping's words determined the disastrous defeat of the Numata Brigade, because he knew that now was not the time to assign blame;
The 39th Regiment did not fight well, and he, as the brigade commander, was also responsible. Solving the problem was the top priority now, so he called the two regiment commanders together to discuss countermeasures.

"Numata-kun, Nagano-kun, the warriors in Lu'an must be rescued. Do you have any suggestions?"

Seya Taira habitually asked about the others. Numata and Nagano looked at each other, and then Colonel Nagano said:
“Your Excellency, the division commander, reinforcements are like putting out a fire, we should immediately launch an attack on Lu’an City;
Considering the guerrilla column's strength, I suggest asking the division commander for tactical guidance."

Colonel Numata also took over and said:
“I agree with Mr. Nagano’s suggestion. The guerrilla column has nearly 1.5 troops to block reinforcements. There are thousands of people in the city, which only adds up to people. They still have spare strength, at least tens of thousands more.
If we rashly head to Lu'an, we might fall into Yue Qianli's trap again, so we must be cautious and take every step carefully."

Se Wuping asked without comment:

"Numata-kun, it will take at least a day for the Seya detachment to turn around and reach Liu'an County. Can the warriors in the city hold out until the reinforcements arrive?"

Colonel Numata was unsure, so he said:
"The gap between the strength of the enemy and us in the city is too great. It will be difficult to hold out for another day. We must exert enough pressure on them from the outside."

Major General Setake bowed his head heavily and said:
"Gentlemen, I will now ask the division commander for tactical guidance and order the 33rd Infantry Brigade to reinforce Lu'an City first;
The reinforcements are like putting out a fire. Immediately attack Lu'an City. You must grasp the rhythm and must not underestimate the enemy and rush forward, so as not to give the guerrilla column an ​​opportunity to take advantage of you."

The two old Japanese soldiers, Numata and Nagano, stood up and shouted slogans with great momentum.

After unifying their thoughts, the Seta Brigade continued to attack along the main road towards Liu'an, but at a slower speed.

The 39nd Battalion, which had previously besieged the 2th Regiment Headquarters, took the initiative to withdraw to the main road after the arrival of the Japanese reinforcements. They deployed defenses in stages and blocked the main force of the Sebu Detachment layer by layer, preventing them from advancing directly.

On the main road, a group of Japanese soldiers were searching and advancing. They were the search squadron of the 40th Infantry Regiment, responsible for clearing the way.
The squadron leader, Captain Jiro Watanabe, divided the troops into three parts, with an infantry squad on each side. He led the third squad and the squadron headquarters in the middle, forming an inverted triangle.

Behind them was a tank squadron, and further back was the main force. They were all in attack formation and were extremely cautious.

The search teams on both sides searched carefully, especially the gullies and bushes where ambushes might be hidden, and they swept through them with machine guns;

The area they searched was controlled within about 150 meters. If it was too wide, the marching speed would be no different from a turtle's crawl.

Captain Watanabe was leading the third squad with a knife. There was a machine gun group on each side of him, ready to help him search for suspicious areas at any time.

"Kill the chicken and give it to me!"

Captain Watanabe drew his command knife and fired several bursts of bullets from the left wing's machine gun at the bushes in the distance.
The rifleman lying behind the bushes was about to fight back, but was held back by the team leader next to him. They had to hold back until the company commander gave the order to fire.

Suddenly, a gunshot rang out, and the bullet almost grazed Watanabe's head. He was so scared that he squatted on the ground and yelled:
"Enemy attack!"

The company commander Ye Junchun shook his head in annoyance. Because he was too focused on hitting the enemy's head, the Japanese officer escaped.

His gunshots were orders, and the nine light machine guns hidden by the Third Company opened fire on the Japanese search squadron, knocking down twenty or thirty of them in an instant.

The other Japanese soldiers lay on the ground and started to fight back. The two sides fought fiercely and suffered casualties on both sides, but most of them were Japanese soldiers.

The battle in the search squadron's direction was soon heard by the tank squadron, and more than a dozen tanks rushed over to reinforce. The artillery shells arrived before the tanks;

When Captain Ye saw the Japanese reinforcements arriving, he immediately ordered a retreat and led the Japanese towards the direction of the main ambush.

(End of this chapter)