Songhu: Never Give Up

Chapter 413 Lijiagu Blocking Battle
The enemy's artillery preparations caused many casualties to the blocking troops, but the Third Detachment and the Standing Division had fought hard, and a field artillery squadron was not enough to break through their defenses;

Major Suzuki had no way to retreat, so before the artillery preparation was completed, they stepped on the artillery points and launched an attack on the defenders' positions. Dense groups of Japanese soldiers swarmed towards the defenders' positions.

Zhao Kun commanded the main force of the Third Battalion to fight back and swept down the Japanese one by one. The Japanese also fired while charging. The defenders were shot and fell from time to time. The brutal position attack and defense battle started again.
There were about 400 Japanese infantrymen attacking, and the two sides had equal strength. The Japanese artillery fired indiscriminately, causing many casualties to the defenders.

Zhao Kun roared:
"Hurry up and notify the artillery company to fire at the enemy's artillery positions. Bomb them to pieces."

Although the artillery company of the Third Battalion only had two mortars and two infantry guns, and its firepower was not as good as that of the Japanese field artillery squadron, it was not completely powerless.

After the signalman conveyed Zhao Kun's order to the artillery company by flag signal, the artillery company immediately opened fire on the Japanese artillery positions, catching the Japanese off guard and destroying two artillery pieces.

Now the Japanese artillery had no time to care about the infantry. They immediately turned their guns around and fired at the defenders' artillery. The two sides fought back and forth, and the battle was very lively.

It was just that the infantry of Suzuki Battalion suffered. Without the suppression of artillery fire, their disadvantages were quickly revealed. They were pinned to the slope by the dense rain of bullets from the defenders, and casualties increased sharply.

Seeing that the Japanese infantry were not moving forward, Major Suzuki used machine guns to drive them to continue charging. He himself had no way to retreat, and the other Japanese soldiers had no chance of escape either.

Driven by Suzuki and the squadron and team leaders, the Japs could only charge forward fearlessly. As many groups rushed forward, they fell down. The battlefield was littered with Japs' corpses and wounded soldiers struggling in pain.

Corporal Mitsuji Yamaguchi knew that he was in great danger this time, but he didn't care. The corpses and blood all over the ground didn't scare him, but excited him instead.

He is a reservist who has been influenced by Bushido for many years. His biggest dream after retirement is to serve the empire again. He is not afraid of death at all.

He and two other devils formed a combat team. Before setting off, they agreed to meet at the Yasukuni ghost toilet. Now one of them has got what he wanted, leaving only him and Private First Class Ono.
This kid shouted slogans loudly, but he was as timid as a mouse when he got to the battlefield, and he was as slow as a snail. This made the boy so angry that he kicked Ono on the butt, causing him to fall flat on his face and knocking out two of his front teeth.

"Bakayalu, hurry up - or you'll die!"

Sergeant Yamaguchi cursed fiercely, and Ono could only swallow his fallen front teeth with blood and continue to rush forward;

Yamaguchi had a black heart. If he continued to hesitate, Yamaguchi's bayonet would really pierce his body, and he would die with the stigma of a coward.

He could only pray that the Chinese bullets would send Yamaguchi to the Yasukuni hell toilet first, so that he would be worthy of the two front teeth he lost. They were too dark-hearted.

The firepower of the defenders was too intense, and the bodies of his companions were scattered all over the ground, which frightened him so much that he tripped over the bodies and fell to the ground without paying attention;
Ono's luck came. As soon as he fell to the ground, a long string of bullets flew from the front, passed over his head and hit Sergeant Yamaguchi in the thigh.

Yamaguchi suddenly felt a chill down there, and he fell to the ground, rolling around in pain, calling out to Ono loudly:
"Ono-kun, save me! Quickly!"

Ono didn't want to pay attention to him, but suddenly an idea came to him, and he rolled to Yamaguchi's side, finally finding an excuse not to charge;

At this time, Corporal Yamaguchi had lost too much blood and his strength was constantly disappearing. He felt that he was about to die, so he placed all his hopes on Ono.

Ono took out a first aid kit from his pocket and pretended to treat Sergeant Yamaguchi's wound. At this time, other Japanese soldiers had already rushed in front of them, and no one had the time to care about the wounded on the ground.
Ono was clumsy and failed to tear open the first aid kit, which made Yamaguchi so anxious that he slapped him hard, which completely pissed him off.

Ono pretended to look for help and looked around. Seeing that no one was paying attention to them, he crushed Yamaguchi's balls while checking his wound and shouted loudly:
"Yamaguchi-kun, you can't die!"

Yamaguchi didn't expect that Ono would kill him. If he had known this, he would have killed Ono first. There is no medicine for regret in this world.

After Ono killed Yamaguchi, he wiped the blood on his hands on his face and then lay on top of Yamaguchi. Two more bodies appeared quietly on the battlefield.

Major Suzuki did not expect the defenders' defense to be so tenacious. Despite their wave after wave of attacks, they were unable to break the Chinese people's flesh-and-blood defense line, resulting in only increased casualties.

"Sir, Commander, tell the Suzuki Battalion to withdraw. If they continue charging forward, the entire army will be wiped out."

As a staff officer, Major Watanabe was still very rational. The commander could not raise troops in anger, so he could only bite the bullet and persuade them.

Colonel Ishii also had a clear view of what was happening on the battlefield. His hands were shaking as he held up the telescope. Just as Major Watanabe said, if the battle continued, the Suzuki Battalion would be wiped out.

Although he wanted to chop Major Suzuki with a knife, he still said with a cold face:
"Then let the warriors withdraw, and let Shinohara's team take over later. The Chinese are already at the end of their strength, and we will surely defeat them with another charge."

Major Watanabe breathed a sigh of relief, it seemed that the regiment commander had not lost his mind, so he bowed deeply to him and turned to leave. The Japanese retreated like a tide, taking away some stranded "fish" by the way. Ono was rescued as a wounded soldier, and the defenders did not pursue him.

Finally, the Japanese retreated. Zhao Kun knew that the next attack from the Japanese would be even more fierce, but unfortunately, he had given them no chance.
While the Japanese took turns covering their retreat, he also issued an order to retreat. By this time, the garrison battalion should have been ready in Lijiagou, as the terrain there was more suitable for blocking, and it would not be a problem to hold out for a few more hours.

The retreat of the defenders did not go unnoticed by the Japanese, and was reported to Major Watanabe step by step. He excitedly asked Colonel Ishii:
"The Chinese can't bear the huge casualties and have retreated. Should we continue to pursue them?"

Colonel Ishii was already furious, and he saw that the defenders only had 300 to 400 men, and they still had thousands of soldiers capable of fighting, so he ordered Shinohara's battalion to pursue without hesitation;

The Suzuki Battalion, which suffered heavy casualties, acted as a reserve force with the regiment headquarters. He also knew that Major Suzuki had done his best, so he did not pursue the responsibility.

In Lijiagou, deputy battalion commander Wan Xinchun was leading the garrison battalion to repair the fortifications. They dug a series of linear trenches based on the natural trenches on the mountains on both sides.

Due to time constraints, they only built simple fortifications, machine gun bunkers, artillery positions, etc., and also buried a large number of mines deep in the valley.

Some of these mines were anti-infantry and anti-tank mines that Yue Qianli had purchased from Custer before, but the quantity was small;

The others are land mines made by themselves using clay pots and iron cans. They all use black gunpowder with some white sugar mixed in. They are very powerful and come in both pressure-activated and pull-activated types.

This is the last line of defense leading to Tianjia Town. If possible, they still don't want to let the Japanese into Tianjia Town. According to the Japanese's nature, they will definitely burn it down, and the economic losses will be too great.

Just as everyone was digging trenches, gunshots were heard from the front. Wan Xinchun knew that the Japanese were coming, so he immediately ordered to stop working and take positions to prepare for battle.

Just as they hid themselves, Zhao Kun came quickly with the main force. Their three infantry companies took turns to provide cover, while the artillery company and the battalion headquarters ran in the front.

Behind them, they could faintly hear gunshots and shouts, only a few hundred meters away. The Japs were indeed chasing them.
Wan Xinchun sent someone to send them a signal with a signal flag, and the main force immediately split into two groups and ran towards the preset position. They took over the position dug by the garrison battalion.

After completing the handover with Zhao Kun, Wan Xinchun led the garrison battalion to bypass the minefield from the mountains on both sides, and built defensive positions in the depth of the minefield to block the Japanese who managed to break through the main force's blockade.

The main brigade occupied the mountains on both sides, and the artillery company was deployed on the reverse slope of the left mountain to support the infantry in combat at any time;
Zhao Kun had just adjusted his deployment when the Japanese Shinohara Battalion arrived. They had suffered almost no losses in the previous fierce battle and were fresh troops. They were also chasing the National Army, so their morale was high.

They launched the attack without even stopping, and the soldiers of the Third Battalion did not tolerate them and rained bullets at the group of Japanese devils, causing them a lot of casualties in just a short while.

Lieutenant Colonel Shinohara was not a brute. He had originally intended to use his victory to break through the defenders' defenses, but he hit a wall and suffered dozens of casualties.

Seeing that the defenders were prepared, Shinohara suspended the attack, withdrew with the corpses and wounded, and waited for the arrival of the artillery squadron.

He also felt that this was the last line of defense leading to Tianjia Town. The map showed that there was no place to defend further.

Since it is a decisive battle between the two sides, they naturally have to prepare for the attack. The surrounded Takahashi Squadron is likely to be annihilated. Major Shinohara's expression became extremely serious.

Half an hour later, the remnants of the Japanese regiment headquarters and Suzuki's battalion also arrived one after another, and Colonel Ishii took over the command;

The situation was already clear, and the Japanese were not in a hurry to launch an attack. Ishii first called the two battalion captains to a meeting, with Major Watanabe accompanying them and being responsible for recording orders.

"Shinohara-kun, you've already had contact with the Chinese, so let's start with you!"

Colonel Ishii first pointed to Major Shinohara's general. Major Shinohara bowed to Colonel Ishii and said:

"Sir, the defenders have a complete firepower configuration. They have built fortifications relying on the trenches on the mountain. The combination of light and heavy firepower is very reasonable. It is obvious that they are experts in defense.

In addition, they used rare Soviet weapons, including Mosin-Nagant rifles, and artillery was not ruled out. The total number of people should be between 500 and 800, and it is possible that some troops were hidden.

Because the trenches were newly dug, it took a lot of people to dig out such a complete fortification in such a short time."

(End of this chapter)