The Courtyard House: The Little Red Devil Returning from the Peninsula

The morning mist followed the old riverbed, and the car at the front only had one headlight on, which covered half of the road.

About three thousand men went ahead, with trucks, mule carts, and infantry divided into several groups. As the wheels left the paved road and rolled over the damp earthen embankments, the sound immediately became muffled. The Japanese troops behind could not see the vehicles in front and could only follow the signal lights they received, heading southeast.

In early May 1945, the old river network east of Tongxian County.

This battlefield is approximately 40 kilometers deep and 25 kilometers wide.

The eastern section had approximately 5,200 men in the first battalion, the southern section had approximately 4,800 men in the third battalion, the northern section had approximately 7,600 men from neighboring units, and there were approximately 4,200 artillery, engineers, transport, and medical personnel, with approximately 6,000 men in reserve on the outer perimeter. Who would guard the dikes, who would guard the village bridges, and who would manage the stretchers and prisoners had already been assigned.

Old Zhou sat in the command post in the central part of the eastern section.

His right knee was wrapped in a hot cloth, and a pot of warm water was placed beside his feet. The medic forbade him to run far from the embankment, so he laid out three telephone lines, with the deputy battalion commander guarding the front and the two company commanders respectively watching the hard road and the reed beach.

The phone rang as the first truck crossed the second dike.

"The front team has crossed the line."

Old Zhou looked towards the front desk, but didn't pick up the receiver.

Fifteen minutes later, the second phone rang.

"Start boarding at the village bridge."

Only one white light illuminated the south entrance, signaling to the enemy that the road was still passable. Those in front continued forward, while those behind pushed their way in. Zhao Weiguo's order remained a mere two words.

Wait a little longer.

After the vehicle in front crossed the village bridge, the engineers pulled the ropes buried in the ditch. Suddenly, one side of the bridge deck collapsed, the second vehicle tilted at the bridgehead, and the third vehicle, unable to brake in time, bumped into it. The area in front of and behind the bridge was immediately filled with vehicles and people.

The mortars fired at the front and rear of the convoy first.

The mountain guns fired at the embankment and the hard road, avoiding the village houses and the bridge reserved for stretchers. Simultaneously, wooden stakes were felled at the south and north entrances, while machine guns on the eastern section opened fire from behind the reeds. After the first volley, the fog was filled with the neighing of horses and the idling of engines.

There is still a partially demolished thatched shed next to the village bridge.

Two sappers were pulling ropes behind the shed when the bridge plank collapsed, sending splinters of wood flying overhead. The younger one wiped his face; his hands were covered in blood, and he thought he'd been shot. The older soldier next to him glanced at him, said it was just splinters, and tore off half of his sleeve to wrap around his arm.

"Your hand can still move?"

The young sapper clenched his fist.

"able."

"Then let's pull the second one."

The second rope was connected to the wooden stake at the south entrance. If it was pulled too early, the carts behind would block the village houses; if it was pulled too late, the enemy could rush out from the dike. The two men lay in the mud waiting for the signal light, blood seeping from their cloth strips and mixing with the rainwater.

The Japanese army reacted quickly.

The infantry dismounted and entered the ditch, machine guns were mounted on the earthen embankment, and three trucks rushed toward a gap in the eastern section. Old Zhou ordered the two squads in front to retreat ten meters, and only after the trucks had driven in did the engineers pull up the wooden stakes that were lying across the mud.

The first car was knocked off course, and the next two were stuck together.

An old armored vehicle drove out from the side of the hard road, only targeting the wheels and machine gun positions, without venturing onto the wet ground. Engineers lay prone behind the vehicle, dismantling oil drums, removing weapons, and cutting electrical wires. Of the five captured trucks, only two were drivable on the spot.

The vehicle carrying the documents was also intercepted.

The box contained a map of the southeastern outskirts of Beiping and an official seal, but the car only carried ordinary government personnel and two staff officers. The three black sedans were heavily guarded, and similarly, no one inside could confirm Okamura's identity.

The monk kept the license plate, seal, and confession separate.

"The car looks similar, the things look similar too. But the person isn't right."

By noon of the first phase, the advance force had suffered approximately 300 deaths, 600 captured, and another 500 scattered into the reeds and villages. The eastern contingent did not pursue the fleeing soldiers into the courtyards; the takeover team first sealed off the empty houses left by the villagers, then sent search teams along the ditches to look for survivors.

The main team, numbering about 8,000, was still moving in from behind.

They only knew that there was fighting at the bridgehead ahead, assuming that the vanguard was trying to seize the road. The north entrance was deliberately closed a section late, and the lights were left on at the south entrance as well. By the time the main force crossed the first embankment and entered the area between the old riverbed and the village bridge, the number of enemy troops that had entered the ambush system reached approximately 11,000.

It started raining in the afternoon.

The reeds were bent low by the rain, exposing shoulders and guns where people could have previously hidden. The neighboring forces at the north entrance first sent a few vehicles into the mud, and once the wheels got stuck, they blocked the retreat route. Zhao Weiguo prepared to withdraw 2,400 men from the outer perimeter to reinforce the three weak points, while the rest continued to guard the radio station, the sanitation station, and the retreat route.

The two artillery pieces got stuck in the old riverbed during the transfer.

The engineers used planks to support the vehicle, but on the third attempt to start it, one plank broke, injuring three men with flying debris from beside the wheels. Upon hearing the news, Old Zhou slammed his right knee against the edge of a table, pausing for a moment in pain. Instead of running outside, he handed the phone to the deputy battalion commander.

"Follow the second procedure. Unload the shells first, then tow the truck."

The deputy battalion commander responded on the phone. Old Zhou straightened his legs again, looked down and saw that the heating cloth was covered in mud, but he hadn't changed it.

By evening, the approximately 11,000 people who had entered the old river network were divided into three combat zones based on their initial positions at the levee crossings. Those who had already died, been captured, or fled were still placed in their original sections of the camp and were no longer counted as separate units.

About two thousand people crossed the second dike but got stuck on the eastern section of the hard road.

In the middle section, about 6,000 people were trapped between the village bridge, reed beds, and the old riverbed.

The remaining 3,000 people approached the Beiping side, where a narrow path remained for retreat.

Zhao Gang looked at that road.

"Seal it off, the rest can still be eaten."

"There are still eight thousand men behind," Zhao Weiguo said. "If they all come in, there'll be nowhere to put the prisoners, nowhere to evacuate the wounded, and not enough ammunition."

The narrow path did not immediately close.

Afterwards, about 8,000 people saw the fire ahead and the retreating stragglers, stopping at the southeastern edge of Beiping. Okamura and his guards, numbering about 1,800, were likely among them, but no one knows exactly which vehicle or group they were in.

The sanitation department also counts this narrow road.

When the first batch of wounded soldiers arrived at the forward evacuation point, there were only forty-odd straw mats laid out in the yard, yet stretchers kept being brought in one after another. The medics ushered the lightly wounded to sit under the eaves, while the seriously wounded were brought inside, with those who could press their own wounds being put on their own first. A soldier with a leg wound gave up his spot to an engineer who had been shot in the abdomen, and only after moving to the wall did he realize that his trousers were already soaked with sweat.

The transport team asked if they wanted all the spare mule carts. The sanitation team leader refused, saying they only needed four.

"Bring everything in, but what about the shells and water?"

The wounded need a passage, ammunition needs a passage, and prisoners need a place. Zhao Weiguo left that narrow opening at the back; it was just a line not fully drawn on the map, but on the ground, it meant whether thousands of people could breathe.

At night, the three battles each fought their own separate battles.

The eastern section of the paved road was blocked by machine guns and armored vehicles. In the middle section, the old riverbed was breached by artillery according to coordinates, and infantry advanced along the ditch. The north and south entrances blocked any troops attempting to turn back, leaving a narrow path for retreat only, preventing convoys from pushing back in.

An armored vehicle's driveshaft malfunctioned while turning on a hard road, causing it to come to a stop across the road. The mechanic heard an unusual noise from under the axle and immediately instructed the driver to turn off the engine. Engineers towed the vehicle to a embankment, and another older vehicle was placed on top of it in its original firing position.

The mortar also malfunctioned.

One gun plate was deformed, and another was cracked. The gun crew stopped firing and moved to different positions, without stepping on the damaged parts to continue firing. After the rain, three boxes of ammunition were found to be damp; the ordnance officer immediately sealed them and sent them to the rear for inspection.

Over two days, a total of 106 rounds of mountain gun ammunition and over 600 rounds of mortar ammunition were used. The ammunition count was recalculated every time the dike was crossed, and no one dared to write down the remaining number of boxes in a flattering way.

The first group to hold up the white cloths were a group of wounded soldiers.

They placed their rifles in the mud and walked empty-handed to the bottom of the embankment. The man at the front held a piece of white cloth torn from his shirt, turning back every few steps, fearing that the men behind him might suddenly open fire. The guard first had the wounded sit on the edge of the ditch, then ordered the rest to go forward in groups of five.

Two hundred or so men followed, piling up their guns. Just as the firing line passed the first rank, a Japanese soldier pulled a pistol from his coat. A nearby prisoner lunged forward, and the sentries simultaneously raised their guns, throwing the ranks into chaos. Some retreated, some lay prone in the mud, and the wounded along the ditch cried out.

When Duan Peng arrived, he first dragged the man out of the line, then made those who had already passed sit down where they were. The surrender ceremony was paused for half an hour, during which everyone was searched again, even their shoes and wound cloths were checked. A white cloth fell into the mud and was picked up by a wounded soldier; it wasn't clean, but he still held it above his head.

During the night, about 800 more people broke through towards the south entrance.

Duan Peng didn't chase after them; he only guarded the village bridge and the entrances to the ditches on both sides. The vanguard ran into the wooden stakes, and the rearguard retreated into the ditch. The gunfire continued until dawn. The survivors laid down their weapons in batches, the wounded were carried away first, and officers and soldiers were registered separately.

The organized resistance in the old river network ceased on the afternoon of the second day.

Three zoned accounts were placed at the front desk.

On the eastern section of the hardened road, the enemy suffered 940 deaths and 1,700 prisoners; our side suffered 81 dead and 224 wounded.

In the middle section of the old riverbed, the enemy suffered 1,320 deaths and 3,400 prisoners; our side suffered 106 deaths and 311 wounded.

At the north and south embankments, the enemy suffered 600 dead and 1,050 captured; our side suffered 60 dead and 157 wounded.

The enemy suffered approximately 2,860 deaths, 6,150 prisoners, and 1,990 who fled. Our side suffered 247 killed and 692 wounded. An additional 8,000 men retreated to the southeastern outskirts of Beiping, but these were not included in this battle report.

The list of the dead was one hour later than the three battle results lists.

There were 81 people on the eastern section, 106 on the old riverbed, and 60 at the north and south embankments. When the registrar read out the name of the young engineer pulling the bridge ropes, an old soldier next to him said that one of the characters in his name was misspelled. He took a pencil, corrected it, and then placed the blood-stained half of his sleeve next to the nameplate.

"His mother can read," the old soldier said. "Don't let her see a mistake in the name."

The registrar rewrote it. Outside, guns were being collected, and over six thousand prisoners were lined up in several rows, their noise coming through the tarpaulin. Inside, no one announced victory; they simply wrote down the two hundred and forty-seven names line by line.

The 6,150 prisoners were divided into four groups for guarding.

Our wounded were transported along two routes: the eastern section took the paved road, and the southern section took the village road. A malfunctioning armored vehicle was short one transport vehicle, so the evacuation team temporarily brought in four mule carts. The seriously wounded were sent first, while the lightly wounded remained at the forward evacuation point for the next batch. Water barrels were placed outside the prisoner-of-war area, with designated shifts for who fetched water and who guarded them.

The bridges and roads were restored in sequence.

First, a stretcher passage was set up, then infantry planks were laid, and finally vehicles were allowed to pass. Each door panel and log lent by the villagers was registered, and the location of any damaged items was noted. Engineers sealed twenty-three unexploded ordnance, and the communications platoon removed the batteries from seven damaged radios. Sixteen usable trucks were cleared out, but none were allowed to enter the depot until the license plates, fuel, ammunition, and driver lists were all correct.

Old Zhou's right knee was more swollen than the day before.

After the medic examined him, he was told to stay at the command post for two days, walk as little as possible, and not carry heavy loads. Old Zhou glanced at the stretcher team outside, stopped arguing, and only asked if he could still command the First Battalion.

"Directing from a seated position," the medic said. "Running all over the river won't work."

"Then keep an eye on the phone line for me."

The prisoners' confessions were sent in one after another.

Okamura was not among the first batch of document vehicles. The second batch of guards stated that Okamura and the staff were in the subsequent convoy, numbering approximately 1,800, still on the southeastern outskirts of Beiping. The three black sedans were merely guard and staff vehicles; testimonies, license plates, and radio records did not yet match their exact locations.

The monk pressed several sheets of paper together.

"The people are still in the second batch."

Zhao Weiguo did not order the eastern section to pursue.

Obstacles were re-established at the south entrance, shifts were changed at the north entrance, artillerymen replenished ammunition, and medical personnel cleared the wounded first. The first round of encirclement and annihilation of the old river network was over; the second trap had to be set up again.

Zhao Gang looked at the pencil lines on the map.

"Twenty-three days ago, you drew a circle here."

"I drew a road," Zhao Weiguo said. "Today, people are walking in."

He touched the small bronze star on the inside of his collar insignia.

On the southeastern outskirts of Beiping, another string of car lights lit up.

Okamura has not yet been captured.

Zhao Weiguo marked the location of the car lights on the map, his pencil twitching slightly. Eleven thousand people were already in their pockets, but the most valuable catch was still in the convoy on the southeastern outskirts of Beiping.

He looked up and said something to the monk.

"Keep a close eye on the second batch. Don't let a single one get away."