Songhu: Never Give Up

A few months later, the guerrilla column headquarters
The outbreak of the European war improved the atmosphere in the headquarters. Finally, it was not just the Chinese who were facing the attack of the evil alliance alone.

Stimulated by their allies in the European war, the Chinese devils also began to stir, especially the 12th Army stationed in Shandong.

The Japanese army's movements soon attracted the attention of the guerrilla column, and Yue Qianli called together several detachment leaders to discuss countermeasures;
After everyone arrived, Yue Qianli said directly:
"Comrades, a few days ago Germany launched a blitzkrieg against Poland, and then Poland's allies Britain and France declared war on Germany, while Germany, Japan and Italy also declared war on Britain and France. A new world war has officially begun.

On September 9, Lieutenant General Sadatsugu Iida replaced Lieutenant General Kamezo Odaka as commander of the 12th Army, and Major General Asazaburo Kobayashi served as chief of staff.

The troops were also adjusted, and it was composed of Matsudaira Sagi's 5st Division (stationed in Xuzhou), Heitaro Kimura's 6nd Division (stationed in Yanzhou), and the 10th Independent Mixed Brigade (stationed in Qingdao), the th Independent Mixed Brigade (stationed in Juxian), and the th Independent Mixed Brigade (stationed in Zouxian).

It is said that a new official starts with three things. Previously, Kamezo Odaka had been working hard to build a cage to trap our troops, and after taking over the 12th Army, the old devil Iida was preparing to launch an autumn sweep against the guerrillas in Shandong.

According to our latest intelligence, the Japanese plan to mobilize part of the 32nd Division, the 6th Independent Mixed Brigade, the entire 10th Brigade, and a large number of technical arms, with a total force of about 2 people. "

After hearing this, everyone was not worried, but extremely excited. Duan Yulin even said loudly:

"Brothers, we haven't fought a big battle with the Japanese for several months. Every day we are either training or fighting small battles. We are already exhausted. Just tell us how to fight!"

Wang Jianfei, Zhu Chi, Wu Qiujian and others echoed this. It seemed that they had been feeling very depressed in the past few months and they all started to cry out.

Seeing that the morale was high, Yue Qianli continued:
“We haven’t received the enemy’s attack plan yet, so we don’t know whether they will launch a focused attack or a full-scale attack.
Twenty thousand devils is not a small number. This time, we must beat them hard and use this battle to gain a few years of peaceful development."

Then Yue Qianli asked Chief of Staff Chen Zhongyuan to convey the autumn anti-mopping-up operation plan. The general guiding ideology was to use internal operations to delay the Japanese, and the main force jumped to the outside to attack Jinan, Gunzhou, Juxian and other key points;

Disrupt the enemy's offensive rhythm, then surround and attack their reinforcements, and concentrate forces to annihilate one or several of their units.

If we want to jump to the outer line of battle, we must first break the enemy's cage, so the first phase of the battle will focus on disrupting the trade.

After the combat mission was issued, each military sub-district began to operate at full capacity, the base area also entered a wartime state, the main force was secretly assembled, and the militia and garrison battalions were also assisting the main force in raising combat supplies and mobilizing the masses to welcome the arrival of the large-scale mop-up.

Southwest Shandong, Changling Town, Shitang Village
The gong for gathering the troops has been sounded. All the militiamen in the village put down their work, took up their weapons, and ran quickly to the wheat field, which is also the training ground and assembly area for the militia company.

After everyone arrived, the new militia company commander Xue Liang (platoon leader of the main force) said directly after seeing everyone was present:

"Brothers, we have received a notice from our superiors that the Japanese are going to launch a large-scale sweep against our base. The focus of the attack is Changling Town, and they may come to Shitang Village at any time.
The main force's task for us was to protect Shitang Village and never let the Japanese invaders harm our fellow villagers.

After the meeting, they split up and notified the villagers to move the food and important supplies and hide them in the tunnels;
Every household had to prepare half a month's worth of dry food. Once the Japanese invaded the village, all the villagers had to move to the back mountain.

All the mines must be buried, and the sentry posts must be placed more than ten miles away. The Women's Rescue Association must assist the militia company in preparing the rations needed for half a month of combat..."

In preparation for anti-mopping-up operations, the Shitang Village Militia Company has conducted many drills. As the first pilot militia in southwest Shandong, their training and related systems are at the forefront of the military sub-district.

In the previous winter mop-up, southwestern Shandong was not attacked by the Japanese, but this time it was different. The focus of the Japanese attack was Changling Town, with the aim of destroying the guerrilla column's military factory.

The militia naturally didn't know this. As long as the devils launched a raid, they had to be prepared and not be careless.
After the group was dismissed, the third squad leader Tie Niu leaned over to the first squad leader Sha Zhu and asked:
"Silly Zhu, will it be another thunderstorm without rain?"

Chen Shazhu said seriously:
"Tie Niu, we are squad leaders, we can't have such thoughts. We would rather the Japanese didn't come every time than be careless.

If the Japanese invaders sneak into the village, our parents will be harmed by them, and we cannot afford such consequences."

Tieniu said slowly:
"Don't worry, we won't be careless. I'm just asking. We've been practicing for so long, everyone wants to practice with the devils."

"Tie Niu, the Japanese are more powerful than we thought, so we can't be careless."

After several months of education, Sha Zhu's ideological awareness improved rapidly, and Captain Xue even thought of promoting him to be platoon leader.

Tie Niu is more suitable to be a sniper, and is far behind Sha Zhu in terms of ideological awareness. At this time, Wang Hehua, carrying a box gun, came over hurriedly, which made Tie Niu and Sha Zhu a little stunned.

"Brother Shazhu, Brother Tieniu, the sisters of our Women's Rescue Association are all ready. We would like to ask you to come over and teach them how to shoot. I have a feeling that the Japanese will definitely come this time.
When the time comes, our Women's Association will also fight the devils!"

Wang Hehua knew how to shoot, but the Women's Association only had two box guns, so she set her sights on Tie Niu and Sha Zhu. The two brothers led two squads of militiamen and went over happily. Sure enough, the women from the Women's Association were waiting for them.
Before this, they had never touched a gun. Now that the Japanese were coming, Wang Hehua discussed with the other women and decided that they should learn how to shoot a gun in case it might be needed.

There were no female militiamen in Shitang Village, and Yue Wanli had to take the blame. Previously, Wang Hehua wanted to be a female militiaman, but he rejected it. This guy was a male chauvinist and thought that the men were still there, so it was not yet the turn of women to go to the battlefield.
Therefore, Shitang Village did not have its own female militia platoon, but they also wanted to fight the Japanese. When the Japanese came to raid this time, they thought about learning how to shoot first.

Tie Niu and Sha Zhu did not have many principles in front of Wang Hehua, so they taught the women of the Women's Rescue Association how to shoot behind the company commander's back;
The young girls and wives in Shitang Village were also very sweet-talkers. They kept calling Brother Shazhu and Brother Tieniu, and the two brothers were dizzy from the calls. They showed off in various ways. The women in Shitang Village finally got to play with the rifles they had been dreaming of.

This scene was caught by Xue Liang who was far away, but he just smiled and shook his head, then turned and left, fearing that he would disturb them.

12th Army Headquarters, old devils gathered

Lieutenant General Sadatsugu Iida, who was sitting cross-legged in the middle of the conference table, looked dignified, while the Japanese soldiers on both sides also sat upright, looking like monkeys in human form.

When Vice Admiral Iida saw that everyone was present, he nodded to Chief of Staff Kobayashi Asazaburo, signaling that they could begin;

Major General Kobayashi stood up, bowed to Lieutenant General Iida and said:

"Your Excellency the Commander, Gentlemen:
Our allies launched a blitzkrieg against Poland with more than a million elite troops. They were like a whirlwind, making significant progress in just over ten days and annihilating hundreds of thousands of enemies.
The Germans have launched a new wave of division of the world, and the Empire cannot fall behind.

However, the security problems in the rear have seriously hindered the Imperial Army's pace towards the world, so the security problems in Shandong can no longer be delayed.

His Excellency the Commander has decided to launch a large-scale security war to wipe out the guerrilla bases throughout Shandong in one fell swoop and completely restore public security in the occupied areas.

The specific combat deployment is..."

As Major General Kobayashi finished reading out the combat deployment, the Japanese devils' blood boiled with excitement. By declaring war on the Chinese guerrillas, they could not only easily gain military merit, but also rob them of money, food, and women.

Lieutenant General Iida saw that the atmosphere was almost set, so he glanced around in a pretentious manner. The previously chaotic meeting room soon returned to silence, and Iida then said:
“Gentlemen, this security war is to completely eradicate the soil on which the guerrillas depend for survival. As long as we enter the guerrilla base, we don’t have to consider military discipline;

Kill them all, burn them all, loot them all!"

Old devil Iida's mobilization speech was very simple, but very effective, because the beast knows the beast best.

According to Major General Kobayashi's deployment, the Japanese adopted a tactic of attacking on all fronts this time, with battalions as the basic combat units. The first wave of the offensive deployed 13 infantry battalions, which was called the -way encirclement and suppression.

In addition, there was a reserve infantry regiment, and with the cooperation of a large number of artillery, cavalry, tanks, and aircraft, they came with great force and attempted to wipe out the guerrillas in Shandong in one fell swoop.

At the Luxi South Military Sub-district Command, Commander Deng Zhuxiu said to the map:

"The Japanese seemed to have smelled something fishy. Although they were attacking on all fronts, the troops deployed in the southwestern Shandong region included as many as four infantry battalions and one artillery battalion. They were heading straight for Changling Town, and were clearly heading for the military factory!
The regular army that our military division can use for combat is only one main battalion of more than 1 people, and there is also a guard battalion of the column headquarters, but this battalion is to protect the military factory and will not be easily used.

Compared with the mountainous southeastern Shandong region, our military sub-district’s jurisdiction is mainly plains and hills, with a large number of rivers and lakes, which puts great pressure on defense.

The most suitable area for defensive operations is the hilly area in the north, and the main force of the Japanese invaders happened to be coming from the north.

Compared with other military divisions, our division did not have the capital to lure the enemy deep into our territory. We could only fight positional warfare with the Japanese in the northern mountains and hills, blocking them layer by layer and consuming their manpower.

The detachment requires us to fight with all our might and confront the Japanese head-on. We must not let them destroy the military factory!"

Then Deng Zhuxiu deployed the troops. The 10th Independent Mixed Brigade of the Japanese was stationed in Zou County. They left one battalion to defend Zou County, and the other four battalions formed an attack group and headed straight for Heze.

The Japanese learned their lesson this time and did not split up their forces to attack again, so the military sub-district's response plan was to fight head-on, concentrating the main force in the middle and fighting a positional offensive and defensive battle with the Japanese.

Two of the main battalions were stationed at Dongxi Ridge, blocking the only way for the Japanese to enter Heze, while the first battalion served as a reserve force.

As the 10th Independent Mixed Brigade arrives at Dongxi Ridge, the first large-scale battle against the autumn mopping-up operation is about to begin.

(End of this chapter)