Songhu: Never Give Up

Central Route, the main position of the 36th Division at Fujin Mountain
The fierce battle had lasted for nine days. Under the repeated attacks of the 13th Division, the 36th Division had suffered most casualties.

At this point in time in another time and space, the situation of the 36th Division was even worse, with only more than 1 people left including the wounded.

In this time and space, thanks to Yue Qianli and the guerrilla column, the butterfly flapped its wings and not only crippled the Sebu Brigade that attacked the northern front, but also severely damaged the two main regiments of the 13th Division;
Afterwards, the Japanese right wing was blocked at Heishifa on the southern front, which bought the 71st Army two days of rest and reorganization. As a result, the 36th Division now has more than 4 people including the wounded, and the 13th and 16th Divisions also suffered much heavier casualties.

When Song Xilian saw the 36th Division Commander Chen Ruihe, whose face was covered in gunpowder, he held his hand tightly and said:
"Brother Rongguang (nickname Rongguang), the 36th Division must always stand up and never lie down. We must fight hard so that our brothers can die without regrets."

Chen Ruihe, who graduated from the second artillery department of Huangpu Military Academy, has always been the best general under Song Xilian and a tough guy. Whenever there is a hard battle, the first person Song Xilian thinks of is him.

Chen Ruihe bowed his head heavily and said:
"Don't worry, senior. We are here. The enemy will have to step over the dead bodies of our brothers before they can get to Fu Jinshan."

The two knew each other well, so there was no need to waste time talking. Song Xilian asked directly:
"If you have any difficulties, please feel free to ask. As long as I can do my best to meet your needs, I will do my best to meet your needs."

Chen Ruihe smiled and said:

"Can you give me soldiers? The war has come to this point, you don't have many reserve troops left."

Song Xilian smiled awkwardly. What he lacked most now was soldiers. He needed reinforcements everywhere, but he only had the 523rd Regiment. He dared not use it easily unless it was absolutely necessary. He had to change the subject and said:
"Rongguang, the lady will come over to express her condolences in a while. I am here to serve as a front line. You should ask the brothers to cheer up and ensure her safety."

When Chen Ruihe heard that his wife wanted to come to the front line to express condolences, he immediately stopped her and said:

"My senior, don't you know how dangerous this place is?
Shells are flying all over the sky!
"Madam, why are you here? Isn't this just causing trouble? If something goes wrong, who will be responsible?"

Song Xilian smiled bitterly and said:
“Don’t stare at me, I can’t persuade her, so get ready;
Make sure everything goes well, this is an order!"

Chen Ruihe suddenly felt overwhelmed. The soldiers on the front line were fighting in a dangerous situation. Who could guarantee that everything would be safe?
But he knew that the matter could not be changed and there was no point in saying more. He could only do his best to take security measures and ensure the absolute safety of his wife and the visiting team.

This matter cannot be done in a high-profile manner. No one can guarantee that there are no Japanese spies in the army. Once the news leaks out, a large number of aircraft will definitely come over. This matter is more troublesome than fighting the Japanese.

After Song Xilian explained the task, he left and handed the rest to Chen Ruihe. He trusted Chen's work because the military still had a lot of things waiting for him.

In the following time, Chen Ruihe did a lot of preparatory work and even launched an operation to drive the Japanese soldiers away from the front line and put the cordon one kilometer away because of the fear of Japanese snipers.

That afternoon, a group of soldiers came to the military headquarters. Chen Ruihe thought it was Old Song who came again because he was worried. After he went to greet them, he found that one of the short men dressed as an officer was his wife.

Chen Ruihe was stunned at first, then his expression returned to normal. The more at this time, the calmer he had to be and the more alert he had to be.

The lady smiled and nodded slightly to him, then went to the trench to comfort the soldiers. Chen Ruihe immediately called the guard battalion commander to give him instructions. At this time, no abnormality must be revealed.

After entering the trench, the lady greeted the soldiers one by one to boost morale, and Song Xilian accompanied her throughout.

Many soldiers knew the lady. They were surprised at first, and then quietly told other brothers. Everyone was very excited and morale was unprecedentedly high.

Madam is very experienced in this aspect. The Song sisters have their own aura and they control the atmosphere very well, making every soldier feel like they are in the spring breeze.

She insisted on walking through all the trenches, greeting all the soldiers, and occasionally speaking a few words to them, until the sound of artillery fire sounded, and then she left the front line at the urging of Song Xilian.

Chen Ruihe breathed a sigh of relief. Only he and Song Xilian knew that the gunfire just now was arranged by them in order to get his wife to leave.
This is the front line, and the Japanese artillery shells may hit us at any time. It's too dangerous.

Sure enough, not long after, the Japanese aircraft group came over, and more than a dozen planes launched a heavy bombing on the positions of the 36th Division;
Then came row after row of artillery shells, hitting both the air and the ground, which blew the defenders' trenches into pieces. Hundreds of soldiers were buried in the loose soil, and blood dyed every inch of the land red.

In the evening, the Japanese, who had been quiet for a while, launched another attack with great force.

Before the artillery fire stopped, thousands of Japanese soldiers rushed up in a black crowd, with the momentum of a decisive battle.

Because of his wife's visit, the morale of the soldiers of the 36th Division was unprecedentedly high, and they fought a desperate battle with the Japanese under the rain of shells.

The fierce battle lasted from dusk till dawn. Both sides tried their best, but in the end the Japanese were defeated.

As soon as the Japanese infantry retreated, the artillery shells came again, not allowing them to rest for a moment;
The soldiers of the 36th Division fought back, refusing to give in. The blood flowed like a river, and the bodies of the soldiers on both sides were piled up on the battlefield, which was unbearable to look at. The Japanese soldiers of the 13th Division were like crazy, attacking in groups, wave after wave, and the casualties of the 36th Division soared.

By the afternoon of the 10th, the remaining 4 men had been halved, leaving only more than a thousand men able to fight.

Just when the Japanese attacked again, Song Xilian finally sent the last reserve 523rd Regiment to reinforce.

The soldiers, who had been gathering their strength for several days, under the leadership of Regiment Commander Wei Mingzhang, rushed towards the Japanese like a tidal wave with high morale.

The situation was reversed in just one encounter. The enemy's offensive was already at its end, and the arrival of the reinforcements instantly broke their psychological defenses.

The counterattack of the 523rd Regiment was very sharp and methodical. They used mortars and infantry guns to bomb the rear of the Japanese, causing chaos to them.

The infantry group focused their efforts on hitting the enemy's heads, assisting the 36th Division in defeating the Japanese and driving them out of the position in one fell swoop, leaving behind many corpses.

"Bakayaloo, what a bunch of rubbish!"

Shizuka Tanaka suppressed the urge to order the guns to shoot them and could only accept the cruel reality of returning empty-handed once again.

No wonder he was angry. It was fine that he couldn't defeat the guerrilla column, because no one could defeat them. But he didn't expect that he couldn't even defeat the 36th Division. This was unacceptable. When did the Empire's first-class division become so rubbish!
The Chief of Staff, Colonel Hikoshiro Nakata, seemed to be able to see through his thoughts and came over and said:
"Your Excellency, strictly speaking, the 36th Division was also derived from the German-equipped 88th Division. It was formed by drawing on the supplementary regiments of the 87th and 88th Divisions. Like the 87th and 88th Divisions, it is a German-equipped adjustment division, and its combat effectiveness is not inferior to that of the 87th and 88th Divisions.
71军兼88师师长宋希濂中将毕业于黄埔一期，是华夏有名的悍将，下辖88师、36师、预8师。

Yue Qianli's troops were also born out of the 88th Division. They are all elite troops equipped with German weapons and should not be underestimated."

Nakata Hikoshiro is indeed a top student who graduated from the Army University. He knows the structure of the Chinese army like the back of his hand. Hearing this, the old devil Tanaka took a deep breath and said:
“Sodsner, didn’t you say there would be no more German-equipped divisions after Jinling?

We didn't expect that we would meet the 88th Division and the 36th Division in Fujin Mountain, as well as Yue Qianli's guerrilla column!
No wonder it is so difficult to deal with, but my 13th Division is no pushover. Only by defeating the 36st Army, which has the 88th Division and the 71th Division head-on, can my 13th Division make a comeback and become a first-class division in the empire.

The 16th Division had already launched an attack on Yejiaji, and the 71st Army's 8th Division and part of the 88th Division were drawn in;

The 36th Division has at most 65 or men left. We should take advantage of their weakness to kill them. Continue the attack and replace them with the th Regiment!"

Seeing that the division commander had regained his fighting spirit, Colonel Nakata bowed to him excitedly, then turned and left with his sword slung over his shoulder.

A confident smile appeared on Tanaka Shizuka's face, thinking that the 36th and 88th Divisions would be much easier for the guerrilla column to defeat.

He had been traumatized by the beating Yue Qianli had caused him, and he urgently needed to take revenge on Chen Ruihe.

After the 36rd Regiment came to reinforce the 523th Division, Chen Ruihe consulted with Wei Mingzhang and decided to divide the position into left and right wings.
The 523rd Regiment guarded the left wing and the remaining troops of the 36th Division guarded the right wing. Wei Mingzhang naturally had no objection and quickly adjusted the deployment before the Japanese launched a new attack.

At this time, the Fujin Mountain position was deployed with the 71st Army headquarters at Myokoji, the 36th Division guarding Hill 800 on the right, and the 523rd Regiment guarding Qixing Peak and two small hills on the left.
Lihuang County, the key point on the left wing of Fujin Mountain, was in the hands of the guerrilla column, which was blocking the 10th Division that was advancing westward with all its strength in echelons;

右翼要点叶家集方向是预8师和88师264旅，北面是51军，77军已经退守商场。

Fujin Mountain is the front gate of the mall. Once Fujin is lost, the mall will directly face the enemy's front.
It can be said that the battlefield on the northern foot of Dabie Mountains is the northern gate of Wuhan. Commander Li placed Sun Lianzhong's 2nd Army, which was best at defense, on the northern foot of Dabie Mountains with Shangcheng as the center, in order to use mountain warfare to continuously consume the Japanese. This was one of the major strategies of the Battle of Wuhan.

The 523rd Regiment had just restored part of the fortifications on Qixing Peak when the Japanese launched another attack, still using the old trick - artillery bombardment!

But when the shells fell, Wei Mingzhang realized something was wrong. He remembered what he had learned during the training in the guerrilla column training camp, and his face suddenly changed, and he blew a quick "anti-gas" whistle;
Since Wei Mingzhang took over as the regiment commander, he has organized many training sessions to prevent gas bombs, and the German-equipped divisions are all equipped with gas masks.

When the soldiers heard the "anti-gas" whistle, they took out their gas masks from their bags, turned around and put them on quickly, but many of them were poisoned because they could not keep up with the speed, and dozens of people were injured or killed;

Although the 36th Division also had gas masks, their casualties were much greater. The cruel 13th Division used poison gas bombs, causing many casualties to the defenders.

The poisonous gas had not yet dissipated, and the Japanese soldiers wearing gas masks slowly walked out of the poisonous fog, ready to collect the bodies of the Chinese...

(End of this chapter)