The Iron-Blooded Army of Beacon Fire

Chapter 200 Bloody Battle in Tangshan 1

December 5th, morning, six o'clock

The sun is rising, and the golden sunshine is shining on the city of Nanjing. The ancient capital of Jinling, which is backed by the main artery of the Yangtze River and is known as the dragon and the tiger, once again ushered in a brand new morning.

To the northeast of Nanjing City, there is Qixia Mountain, where the loud bells ring continuously. It is densely covered with locust trees and tens of thousands of hectares of reeds. In the nearby Longtan Town, the National Revolutionary Army during the Northern Expedition once wiped out the entire army across the river in three days of bloody battles. The main force of Sun Chuanfang's counterattack created the famous Longtan victory.

In the southeast of Nanjing City, there are Qinglong Mountain, Huanglong Mountain, and Dalian Mountain that stretch for twenty or thirty miles. There are both long and narrow valleys and flat fields. Every year, Huangpu students from the Nanjing Central Military Academy organize there Combat shooting exercises, from 79-caliber rifles and light machine guns, to 82-caliber mortars, to 75-caliber mountain field artillery and 150-caliber heavy howitzers, ring out in the valley every year. .

In the south of Nanjing City, there is Fangshan Mountain where Yue Fei once defeated the Jin soldiers. In the center of Nanjing City, there is the Purple Mountain Mountain standing against the Xiaoling Mausoleum of the Ming Dynasty. And in the east, there are Dahua Mountain, Jiuhua Mountain and Tangshan Mountain. , these mountains, facing the direction of the Japanese attack, spread out in an arc with Purple Mountain as the center, old forts, towering mountains, and hundreds of thousands of dilapidated troops, all protecting them together The ancient city of Nanjing.

Now, this ancient capital of the Six Dynasties has faced the most dangerous war test and foreign disaster in decades.

On the outskirts of Tangshan, as the sun shines on the land and occupies the hilly area, the positions of the 959th and 956th regiments spread out along both sides of the road are also exposed to the sun. Two infantry regiments from Guangdong and He Wei The special agent battalion is ready.

After a night of emergency operations, after adopting He Wei's suggestions, the two regiments' positions not only completed the transformation of the existing defense fortifications, but also recently added some civil structure bunker fortifications. Densely packed sandbags covered the hilly areas. Above the fortifications on the high ground, and further up are gray-black floating soil, green turf and camouflage nets, which completely integrate the field position with the earth, which is enough to accommodate two regiments.

In the regiment command post of the 956th Regiment, He Wei stayed in the slightly dark reinforced concrete structure command post, feasting on a bowl of Cantonese-style meat porridge. Tao Heiwa beside him was doing the same. Things happened. Cai Rubai, the leader of the 956th Regiment, and the lieutenant colonel of the 956th Regiment were sitting opposite He Wei. Although they were hosts, they were not as calm as He Wei. Although they were having a meal, they could not stop looking at each other. floating outward.

Cai Rubai is also a veteran in the army. He fought in the Songhu Anti-Japanese War in 1932. Naturally, his behavior was not panic, but worry and doubt. After all, this battle was completely different from the two Songhu Battles. It was about defending the capital. The meaning of the battle is different, and the mentality is naturally different.

"Brother He, you are very calm and have the air of a general. You have a decent academic qualification from Huangpu. I think you will go to the Army University in the future and you will definitely get the general star after working for a few more years."

Cai Rubai smiled and looked at He Wei who was eating a big meal and joked. However, He Wei did not take this sentence to heart. He was a student of the eleventh batch of Huangpu students. This batch of students graduated just before the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War. By the time the Anti-Japanese War broke out, By the end of the day, the fastest promotion was only to colonel and regiment commander, while the vast majority were in the rank of lieutenant colonel and major, and were stuck in the positions of deputy regiment commander and battalion commander in the field force.

Most of the eleven Huangpu students who were promoted to major generals started from the war that cannot be directly stated in the years after the end of the Anti-Japanese War. Even if He Wei had the bonus of a time traveler, he could not guarantee that he would be lucky enough to obtain it. After being promoted, he naturally didn't take Cai Rubai's words seriously.

He Wei chewed a few shredded pork and said nonchalantly: "We have prepared everything we should prepare. There is nothing to worry about. Brother, I should eat and drink. I can eat well now, and I will be strong again soon. beat."

As if being infected by He Wei's heroic spirit, Cai Rubai roared, and then started eating and drinking.

Indeed, after a night of preparation, everything that needs to be done has been done. All three battalions of the 956th Regiment have moved into position. Because the defense fortification position is quite large, the 956th Regiment's The three battalions were all deployed in a front-line manner. There was no reserve team at all and no reserve team could be set aside.

The three infantry battalions were completely spread out to deploy defense, and the three artillery platoons of the 956th Regiment's mortar company were also strengthened to three infantry battalions. The anti-aircraft artillery company that just arrived at the position early this morning passed by Instructor He Wei also selected the artillery positions and entered the permanent small artillery fortifications, which were also deployed according to the defense zones of the three infantry battalions. Each Sulotong 20mm machine gun platoon assisted in covering one infantryman. The camp's defense area.

Czech light machine guns for infantry squads, French-made Hotchkiss heavy machine guns for the battalion's machine gun company, Jinling-made 82mm mortars, and Sulotong 20mm caliber machine guns have all entered. Designated fortification battle positions.

Except for a few observation posts, almost all the defenders on the highlands have entered the bunker fortifications. It has truly been achieved that everyone has fully covered permanent fortifications for cover, and the 956th who occupy the highlands and hilly areas have The regiment's position has since formed a dense firepower network consisting of eighteen heavy machine guns, six 82mm mortars, six 20mm machine guns and a large number of rifle machine guns. The terrain formed a fire zone sufficient to control its vast front.

Although the 956th Regiment is too stretched in strength to set aside a reserve force, fortunately there is a special agent battalion, which fills the vacancy for the reserve force of the 956th Regiment. The main force of the special agent battalion is already hidden in the permanent slope on the back slope of the highland. The prepared concealment department is ready to attack at any time.

The commander of the Special Agent Battalion Artillery Company personally led a temporary mixed artillery team hidden in a permanent concealment at the foot of the mountain, ready to attack at any time. This temporary artillery group included two tank defense gun platoons of the Special Agent Battalion Artillery Company. Forty-seven millimeter tank defense guns, two 37-mm tank defense guns from the Army Armored Corps tank defense gun platoon, a temporary mountain gun platoon formed by improvising manpower and using two captured Japanese Type 41 mountain guns, and The mountain artillery company assigned to the Secret Service Battalion of the 66th Army has four 75mm mountain guns.

It formed a small artillery group with a total of four tank defense guns and six Qiwu mountain guns.

Hidden in the hidden part are the motorcycles of the artillery company of the Secret Service Battalion, He Wei's Mercedes-Benz SUV, and trucks and motorcycles borrowed from the Army Armored Corps' tank company. All the artillery of this temporary artillery group will be Trucks and motorcycles are used for motorized traction, and the concept of mobile attack and rapid support is implemented.

Zhao Huzhen's tank company entered the hidden fortifications of tanks in the wilderness behind the foot of the mountain. If necessary, they would break out of the hidden fortifications to launch a counterattack against the enemy.

At the same time, after a night of twists and turns, the Japanese Sixteenth Division also opened its terrifying fangs outside Tangshan. In order to avenge the loss of a brigade, the commander of the Sixteenth Division Nakajima Jinma I put all the troops in the division into battle at once. Major General Sasaki's 30th Infantry Brigade is responsible for attacking the right wing, which is the position of the 959th Regiment. Major General Tatsuki Kusaba's 19th Infantry Brigade is responsible for attacking the left wing position. Here, the 9th Infantry Brigade is responsible for attacking the left wing position. In the positions guarded by the 56th Regiment and the Special Agent Battalion, each infantry brigade has two infantry regiments. The 30th Brigade has the 30th Infantry Regiment and the 38th Infantry Regiment. The 19th Brigade The regiment consists of the 9th Infantry Regiment and the 20th Infantry Regiment.

Since the main battlefields of both sides are along both sides of the road, the combat deployments of both sides are unanimously based on the road in the center of the battle line as the dividing line of the battle situation, with one brigade and two infantry regiments attacking the Chinese army. The position of an infantry regiment.

After putting all four infantry regiments in his hands on the front line, Nakajima Konaga also divided the 22nd Field Artillery Regiment of the 16th Division into the battle. The 22nd Field Artillery Regiment The wing is equipped with three field artillery battalions equipped with twelve modified 38-type 75mm field guns and one howitzer battalion equipped with twelve 91-type 105mm howitzers.

Nakajima now divides it into two, with two field artillery battalions of twenty-four field guns to cover the 30th Infantry Brigade in attacking the 959th Regiment's position, and one field artillery battalion and one howitzer battalion of ten Two field guns and howitzers covered the 19th Infantry Brigade's attack on the positions guarded by the 956th Regiment and the Secret Service Battalion.

The 16th Engineer Regiment, the 16th Baggage Regiment, the 20th Cavalry Regiment, the division communications team and the field hospital directly under the 16th Division also performed their respective duties and began to enter a state of field combat readiness.

A field division of more than 20,000 people has been fully deployed. This is the Japanese Army's most well-equipped permanent field artillery division for flat ground operations. The entire division is equipped with a total of 300 heavy machine guns, 300 grenades, and heavy machine guns. Ninety-eight, including 24 infantry guns, 16 rapid-fire guns, 16 75 mountain guns, 36 75 field guns and 12 105 howitzers, they are currently the most elite in the Japanese army. land field division.

Just waiting for the general attack order from the division commander, a fierce attack will be launched on the Chinese army positions in the front. The terrain in the Tangshan area is mainly wilderness and hills, with many lakes and swamps mixed in between.

The garrison positions of the 959th, 956th Regiments and the Special Agent Battalion were not complicated or criss-crossing battle lines. Instead, they occupied the commanding heights of the hills and formed a roughly flat line of defense. The 16th Division's The same is true for the attack posture, with four infantry regiments lined up in a row, forming a simultaneous attack posture.

There are no complicated tactics, no fancy tactics, just a head-to-head collision between a heavily armed and heavy-fire attack group and a solid, permanent and semi-permanent fortification position.

It was not the Japanese army on land that took the lead in kicking off the brutal and bloody battle, but the Japanese air power.

Wuwuwu - The air defense buzzer in the urban area of ​​Nanjing sounded first. After another ten minutes, a formation of twenty-seven Japanese Navy Type 96 land attack aircraft and nine Type 95 land attack aircraft flew over. After passing the scaly clouds, they appeared in the sky above Tangshan.

This huge group of attack aircraft took off from the Omura Air Base in Japan and the military airport outside Songhu. Dozens of engines made a terrifying and sharp roar in the air. Above the attack group, there was a group of Type 96 fighter jets. It quickly crossed over and pounced on the Chinese army positions outside Tangshan. The dense and continuous roar seemed to make the earth tremble, as if the calm air was disturbed and turned into bursts of strong winds that rushed straight to the ground.

In the center of the position of the 956th Regiment, the sergeant observer of the 7th Company of the 42nd Anti-aircraft Artillery Regiment nervously operated the one-meter-high three-dimensional rangefinder, staring directly at the objects in the rangefinder. Triangular sign, shouting into the phone to report the movements of Japanese aircraft: "More than twenty enemy planes, altitude 7,500, descending."

The enemy's movements conveyed by the observer were transmitted along the telephone line to a dark and damp concrete artillery fortification. The seventh company commander received the order, but shook his head helplessly. Although He Wei had allowed them not to perform air defense tasks, A company of twenty-millimeter small machine guns is not sufficient in terms of performance or quantity to support the task of ground air defense for an infantry regiment.

But even so, Company Commander Chen was unwilling to see the enemy planes raging in. The bunker was filled with shiny 20mm armor-piercing bullets, armor-piercing tracer bullets, and explosive bombs. The gunners of the small artillery gnashing their teeth filled the empty warehouses with The firing pedal of Suluotong's small artillery gun rang loudly, and he looked fiercely at the Japanese aircraft groups attacking from the sky.

Company Commander Chen immediately reported the status of the enemy aircraft to Cai Rubai and He Wei by phone, and withdrew the observation team. In the regiment command post of the 956th Regiment, Cai Rubai immediately looked over after receiving the report from Company Commander Chen. He Wei.

He Wei nodded to Cai Rubai, and Cai Rubai turned his head and said to the Major: "Give an air defense order."

The major attached to the regiment immediately picked up the phone and issued an air defense order to all battalions of the regiment. Then, the air defense order was issued to each infantry company. After receiving the air defense order, the officers and soldiers in each bunker all carried out the soil-filled Sandbags and wooden boards blocked the shooting openings of the fortifications and hid them in the gun shelters inside the fortifications. He Weiye, Cai Rubai and the officers and soldiers in the regiment command post, walked into the underground gun shelters of the command post.

In the air, the vibration caused by the roar of Japanese aircraft became louder and louder. Dozens of attack planes and fighter jets lowered their altitude like a flock of crows, pressing down in darkness. Groups of three or three Type 96 land attack planes and The Type 95 land attack aircraft opened their bellies one after another and dropped 800 kilograms of aerial bombs.

Then, the field positions of the 959th Regiment and the 956th Regiment were shrouded in strong explosions. Black smoke rose one after another in the sky above the field positions. The raging fire caused by the explosion of incendiary bombs was The position burned up, and dark red flames rose straight into the sky, covering the sky and the sun.

(End of this chapter)