Songhu: Never Give Up

At the 33rd Regiment Headquarters, Colonel Kazo Yamada, the commander of the regiment, was shouting:
"Bakayalo, the harassment of dozens of Chinese people delayed you for half an hour. When did the imperial army's combat effectiveness become so weak?

The Kameda Battalion is being attacked by the Chinese. It is very dangerous. If you cannot break through the Chinese blockade, you should apologize to His Majesty the Emperor!"

Colonel Yamada was really forced into a corner, because the gunfire from the direction of Aokoutang was becoming increasingly sparse, which meant that the Kameda Battalion might have been annihilated.

Major Keiji Misawa had already sensed the wrath of Colonel Yamada, which was tantamount to giving him a death order;

If there was no progress, even if he was not allowed to commit seppuku, he would not be able to escape the blame. In order to protect himself, he immediately bowed to Yamada, then left with a murderous look on his face, carrying his command knife.

Major Misawa was only concerned about the casualties before, so he did not put in his full effort. Now he can't do anything about it. I would rather die than let my friends die.

Colonel Yamada was not worried at all that the Misawa Battalion could not break through the Chinese blockade. What he was worried about was that the Kameda Battalion had been annihilated, which would make his flanking operation unsuccessful. He even considered whether to abandon the combat mission.
Senior staff officer Major Kubota seemed to see through Colonel Yamada's thoughts and came over and said:
“Sir, it has been less than an hour since the gunfire broke out, and the Chinese are not yet capable of annihilating a battalion of the Imperial Army in such a short period of time;
The reason why the gunfire became sparse may be that the breakout was successful. Even if there was an accident, it can only mean that Kameda-kun was ambushed by the Chinese. If both sides deployed their chariots and horses to fight an offensive and defensive battle, the Chinese would not be able to stop the Yamada Corps. "

Colonel Yamada's face was very grim. If Kameda's battalion suffered heavy losses, he would be held responsible.
He had just taken over as the captain of the 33rd Regiment and lost a battalion in his first battle. His future would become very bleak.

Thinking of this, he snorted coldly and said:
"Kubota-kun, the most important thing about a roundabout operation is the surprise. Now that our intentions have been exposed, it would be meaningless to continue fighting. The wisest choice would be to give up the operation and look for another opportunity."

"Sir, the purpose of this flanking operation is to tie down the forces of the Fujin Mountain defenders to the greatest extent possible. In fact, this intention has been achieved.

Aokoutang Town is not suitable for the Chinese to fight positional warfare. If the 33rd Regiment continues to intensify its offensive, it will be able to attract more Chinese to the flank battlefield, and the regiment's combat mission will be accomplished.

We can account for the heavy casualties, and if we are lucky enough to defeat the Chinese who are blocking our way, our military exploits will be enough to report to the division commander."

A smile finally appeared on Colonel Yamada's face. He had understood what Sabada meant, and he immediately said loudly:

"Yoshi, attack towards Aokoutang immediately. We must break through the Aokoutang defense line!"

Colonel Yamada finally made up his mind. Although the flanking operation encountered some setbacks, he had to continue fighting. He now needed to save himself through fighting.

The battlefield of the Aokoutang ambush position had been cleared. The 523rd Regiment adhered to the consistent style of the guerrilla column, cleaning the battlefield to give the devils a finishing blow, and then taking away everything that could be taken away;
The first priority is weapons and equipment and combat supplies, followed by mules and horses, and finally the Japs' individual combat tactics.

The Central Army generally looked down upon the Japanese's individual equipment and uniforms, but Wei Mingzhang was not so particular. He took away anything valuable from the Japanese, even the uniforms could be sold as fabric.

Just after cleaning up the battlefield, a battalion commander came over excitedly and reported:
"Commander, we've made a fortune. The Japs not only brought two infantry guns, but also two small steel cannons, six Type 2 heavy machine guns, and more than 6 long and short guns. We can't count the bullets and supplies for now."

After listening to this, Wei Mingzhang nodded and said:
"The commander's order to us is to stop the enemy's flanking forces and never let them affect the main battlefield.

The 2nd Battalion and the Artillery Battalion stayed behind on the left wing mountain, fully utilizing the advantage of flanking firepower to contain the Japanese;
The 1st Battalion was responsible for blocking the front and right wing, and the 3rd Battalion was the reserve. All the captured artillery and Type 1 heavy machine guns were reinforced to the st Battalion on the front.

Wei Mingzhang quickly made adjustments to the troops and firepower, preparing to fight a blocking battle with the Japanese outside Aokoutang Town and keep the Japanese outside Aokoutang Town.

After suffering dozens of casualties, the Misawa Battalion successfully escaped the harassment of the reconnaissance platoon. When they arrived at the ambush site, the gunfire had stopped.
There was no living devil in the valley. Lieutenant Colonel Misawa put down his binoculars, took a deep breath, suppressed the anger in his chest and said to the communications staff:
"Hurry up and report to the commander of the regiment, saying that all the Kameda Battalion have served His Majesty loyally, and there are Chinese blocking positions in Aokoutang."

The communications staff officer took the order and left. Major Misawa immediately ordered the troops to switch to defense on the spot and did not rush into the valley.

The Chinese have the ability to annihilate the Kameda Battalion, so Major Misawa naturally learned to be low-key. He is not so arrogant as to think that the Misawa Battalion is much stronger than the Kameda Battalion, so he can only wait for the main force of the regiment to arrive.

An hour later, the main forces of the 33rd Regiment arrived at the battlefield one after another, and Colonel Yamada naturally took over the command of the battlefield. He first asked Major Misawa about the situation on the battlefield;

Major Misawa was also confused. He had not yet launched a tentative attack, so he had no choice but to bite the bullet and say:

"Sir, the commander of the corps, we can now confirm that the Chinese have set up a blocking position in the front. The Luohan Temple on the left wing is a commanding height nearby. There are traces of fighting on it, so there should be ambushes. We are not sure whether there are ambushes on the right wing—"

"Bakayalu, what do you want me to do if I'm not sure about anything?
Immediately launch a tentative attack on both wings to find out the enemy's situation! "Colonel Yamada wanted to slap Major Misawa away. He was a complete loser. The enemy situation he reported to him was all vague words like "maybe" and "probably". They were all fooling him.
If he wasn't counting on them to fight, he really wanted to kill that bastard with one blow. He had no dignity like a samurai.

With the strength of the main force of the regiment, Major Misawa sent a squadron to the mountains on both sides, and another squadron to attack along the valley road;

The right wing and the center both progressed smoothly and soon penetrated deep into the valley. Fierce gunfire broke out on the left wing.

The valley runs north-south. When the first squadron on the west (left wing) climbed along the ridge toward Luohan Temple, they were blocked by about a company of troops at the Eagle's Beak Cliff.

This is the only way to the Luohan Temple on the north side. The mountain road is rugged and rocky, making it easy to defend but difficult to attack.

In order to prevent the Japanese from attacking Luohan Temple along the ridge, the second battalion commander deployed a company at Yingzui Cliff to block the Japanese's circuitous route;
The Matsugi Squadron launched two powerful attacks but were easily driven back by the defenders each time, leaving behind more than 30 corpses and achieving little success. They had no choice but to retreat and report to Major Misawa.

After the left wing was repelled, the Japanese in the center also stopped because they were afraid of being attacked from the flank in the direction of Luohan Temple;
Only the right wing made smooth progress and advanced all the way to the entrance of Aokoutang Town at the bottom of the valley, where it was blocked by the defenders. The mountain road was also easy to defend but difficult to attack, so the troops could not be deployed at all and retreated after just a brief contact.

After Major Misawa had figured out the defense deployment in three directions, he hurried to report to Colonel Yamada;

After hearing this, Yamada had a clear idea in his mind. He called the two captains together and said:
"Gentlemen, the enemy situation is very clear. Aokoutang is the only way to the south. The road conditions on both sides of the mountain ridge are very poor, which is not convenient for deploying troops.

The Chinese sent troops to guard the strategic locations, which were difficult to break through.

If we launch the attack via the flat valley road, we will certainly be flanked by the Luohan Temple on the left wing, so we must first capture the commanding height of the Luohan Temple.
I decided to send a squadron to launch a feint attack from the Eagle's Beak direction to tie down part of the defenders' forces, while the main force launched an attack from the east to west from the front of the valley.

Although it was somewhat steep, the attack front was wide enough to be taken;
Also send a unit to guard the Chinese in the direction of Aokoutang to prevent them from attacking our troops along the valley road."

The Japanese soldiers all expressed their agreement that if they wanted to break through Aokoutang from the front, they had to first remove the thorn of Luohan Temple on the flank.

After the Japanese decided on the battle plan, they immediately launched a fierce artillery attack on the Luohan Temple position. More than a dozen mountain/field artillery of the 33rd Regiment fired rows of shells at the Luohan Temple. For a time, the bombardment caused rocks to fly everywhere, and from time to time, the defenders were engulfed by artillery fire;

The six Type 6 20mm mortars of the defending artillery battalion also fired back from a high position, and soon destroyed two infantry guns and one mortar. Only then did the Japanese restrain themselves a little.

Due to the huge difference in the number of artillery pieces on both sides, the defenders could only adopt a guerrilla warfare mode of changing positions after firing a few shots to launch a surprise attack on the Japanese, which also put some pressure on the Japanese artillery group so that they did not dare to act recklessly.

33联队拥有一个装备了4门75毫米山炮的山炮中队和6门步兵炮的野炮中队，另外还有4至6门90毫米迫击炮，4门反坦克炮，火力要远强于88师的一个团。

After a period of artillery battle between the two sides, the artillery battalion was completely suppressed by the Japanese and lost one mortar;

Under the cover of artillery fire, the Japanese infantry launched an attack on the Luohan Temple position from the north and east.

There was only one squadron in the north and three squadrons in the east. Hundreds of Japanese soldiers rushed along the hillside towards the main front of Luohan Temple.
The defenders' light and heavy machine guns fired crazily at the Japs, knocking them down row by row, and the hillside was littered with their corpses.

Captain Wei naturally could not let the Japanese attack the Luohan Temple, so he immediately ordered the heavy machine guns and mortars in the main position to open fire on the Japanese.
At this time they became the side firepower, and the heavy firepower such as the Type 92 heavy machine guns, infantry guns, and mortars that had been seized before came into play again.

The effective range of the Type 2.8 infantry gun is up to 800 kilometers, and the effective range of the Type heavy machine gun is up to meters, so they can provide fire support to the Luohan Temple, and it is also flank fire;

The three squadrons attacking from east to west suffered heavy casualties, so the Japanese had to order the regiment's artillery to suppress the heavy firepower in the direction of Aokoutang, resulting in losses on both sides.

The vertical distance between the two positions of the 523rd Regiment was only more than 500 meters, so they could support each other. Wei Mingzhang took this into consideration when deploying the blocking positions.
No matter which point the Japanese attacked, they would be killed by fire from another point. This forced the Japanese heavy firepower to disperse and greatly reduced the defensive pressure.

Colonel Yamada also discovered this, so he sent two squadrons to attack the Aokoutang position from the front, and one squadron to attack from the right wing, and soon it became a mess. (End of this chapter)