Quartermasters can also fight the devils

The battle of Hongcheng has been going on for four days. The Japanese 101st Division has been attacking the defensive positions of the New 100th Division in Hongcheng with all its might. However, in the face of the city's defensive fortifications, the Japanese army can only advance slowly, street by street.

"Your Excellency the division commander, the tank troops dispatched to us by Commander Okamura Neiji have arrived. In addition, the commander of the 9th Division, Lieutenant General Yoshizumi Ryosuke, is on his way south to Hongseong with the 18th Brigade. He sent a telegram saying that they are here to help us eliminate the Chinese troops in Hongseong as soon as possible." Chief of Staff Major General Fukutaro Nishiyama reported the latest news to the division commander, Lieutenant General Masayoshi Ito, with a somewhat unhappy expression.

"What? Yoshizumi Ryosuke actually brought the 101th Brigade to Hongseong without permission? He is disrespecting our st Division. Damn, Yoshizumi Ryosuke is a bastard. Do we need him to come and help?" When the division commander, Lieutenant General Ito Masaki, heard the news of the arrival of the tank troops, he was very happy in his heart, because this way he would have more means of attack. But when he heard that the commander of the th Division, Lieutenant General Yoshizumi Ryosuke, actually brought his troops to Hongseong without permission, he immediately became furious.

He felt that Yoshizumi Ryosuke did not take him and his 101st Division seriously at all. He was obviously disgusted with the slow progress of his 101st Division and was slapping himself and all the officers and soldiers of the 101st Division in the face.

"Tell that bastard Yoshizumi Ryosuke that we don't need his support here. The 101st Division will occupy Hongcheng soon. Tell him to go back to where he came from. This is simply going too far." After being angry for a while, Lieutenant General Masayoshi Ito decided to ask his Chief of Staff Fukutaro Nishiyama to send a telegram to that bastard Yoshizumi Ryosuke, asking him to return to his base immediately and not come to Hongcheng to cause trouble for himself and all the officers and soldiers of the 101st Division.

Major General Fukutaro Nishiyama had felt deeply humiliated after receiving a telegram from the commander of the 9th Division, Yoshizumi Ryosuke. After hearing the order from his division commander, he quickly said that he would send a telegram to the arrogant Yoshizumi Ryosuke to stop the 9th Division from coming.

If the troops of the 101th Division were allowed to join the attack on Hongcheng, even if the st Division captured Hongcheng in the end, it would be laughed at by the troops of other divisions.

After calming down his anger, Lieutenant General Ito Masaki said to Major General Nishiyama Fukutaro, "Nishiyama-kun, tell the commander of the tank unit that in tomorrow's battle, they need to send all the tanks to break through the defensive positions of the Chinese troops in the city. Our infantry will provide them with protection. Also, tell the officers and soldiers below that the 9th Division wants to come to help."

After hearing what the division commander said, Major General Fukutaro Nishiyama reacted immediately. This was a brilliant move. Using the news that the 101th Division was coming to help in the battle could greatly stimulate the currently low morale of the st Division. This was a really good idea. The division commander really knew how to take advantage of this matter.

Sure enough, with the deliberate spread of the news by Major General Fukutaro Nishiyama, all the officers and soldiers of the 101st Division knew that the 101th Division was preparing to come over to help without authorization. This really stimulated the officers and soldiers of the st Division, and their already fragile self-esteem was broken at once.

During the afternoon attack, many Japanese attacking units had "survival teams" with white cloth tied on their heads. These Japanese soldiers launched a fierce attack without hesitation, which made it difficult for the various positions of the New 100th Division to hold out. In just one afternoon, the Japanese army advanced nearly meters.

When Zhang Wenwu and Ouyang Heng saw that the Japanese army was getting angry, they kept sending their reserve troops to various positions for reinforcement. At night, Ouyang Heng also organized a small-scale night attack and recaptured some of the streets that had been lost during the day.

On the morning of the fifth day, the Japanese tank troops drove into the city. This time, Okamura Yasuji sent two tank battalions to Lieutenant General Ito Masayoshi. One battalion was equipped with Type 94 light tanks, and the other was equipped with the Japanese army's latest Type 97 medium tanks.

The Japanese tank troops marched forward in the streets of Hongcheng in a show of force, while the Japanese infantry followed behind the tanks, providing fire cover to prevent the Chinese soldiers from rushing over to destroy the tanks.

Faced with the attack of Japanese tanks, the defending officers and soldiers of the New 100th Division remained calm. They took the initiative to evacuate some positions on the streets and lured the Japanese tanks and attacking forces into the traps that had been prepared long ago.

When the Japanese tanks and attacking infantry saw that the Chinese troops on the opposite side had panickedly abandoned their fortifications and positions and ran in other directions after seeing their tanks attack, they hurriedly chased after the retreating Chinese troops.

After the officers and soldiers of the new 100th Division retreated to the street where traps had been set long ago, they stopped retreating and began shooting at the Japanese tanks and infantry from the fortifications at the end of the street.

When the Japanese tanks saw that the Chinese troops were no longer fleeing, they began to fire at the Chinese army fortifications in front of them with the machine guns and tank cannons on the tanks while slowly moving forward. They needed to coordinate with the speed of the infantry attack. After all, there were houses on both sides of the street. Who knew if there would be Chinese soldiers hidden in these houses who would rush over with explosive packs or bundles of grenades and die together with them?

The Japanese troops behind the tanks were also paying close attention to the situation on both sides of the street under the command of the leading officers. Their task was to protect the tanks from being destroyed by the Chinese army.

Suddenly, there was a loud "boom" and the Japanese officers and soldiers following the tank were surprised to find that the tank that was supposed to be in front of them had suddenly disappeared. This made some of the Japanese soldiers, who were focusing on the houses on both sides, unable to react. After a few seconds of stunned silence, everyone suddenly realized that a deep pit had appeared on the originally flat street at some point.

While the Japanese army was stunned, the officers and soldiers of the new 100th Division fired fiercely at the Japanese infantry who had no tanks to protect them, knocking down more than a dozen Japanese soldiers on the spot. The remaining Japanese soldiers then reacted and lay on the ground and quickly fought back.

These Japanese officers and soldiers are in a miserable situation now. They are right in the middle of the street. There were tanks in front of them that could block the bullets of the Chinese army. Now they have no cover from the tanks and can only lie on the ground and be shot without any cover.

But before they could fire a few bullets, many grenades were suddenly thrown out from the two or three-story buildings on both sides of the street, which had been very peaceful. This blew up the Japanese troops in the middle of the road, causing heavy casualties among them.

The Japanese infantrymen had originally wanted to get closer to the deep pit to see if they could rescue the Japanese soldiers in the tanks. But now they could no longer care about that. They could only fight and retreat. However, along the way, Chinese troops would often suddenly appear from the houses on both sides and open fire on them, causing them great casualties.

After the officers and soldiers of the new 100th Division eliminated the Japanese tanks that entered the city on various preset streets in the city, they also chased the retreating Japanese infantry and fought fiercely. They actually recaptured some streets that the Japanese army had previously captured with the cooperation of tanks, which greatly reduced the results of the Japanese army's previous attacks.

Lieutenant General Masayoshi Ito was stunned for a long time after receiving the report that the attack of the front troops was not going well. Two battalions of tank troops were destroyed by the Chinese army?

"Mr. Nishiyama, I originally thought that I had paid enough attention to the new 22nd Army of the Chinese government, but through the battles of the past few days, I can see that I still didn't pay enough attention to them. It seems that the previous failure of the 10th Division was not accidental." Lieutenant General Masayoshi Ito said to the Chief of Staff Fukutaro Nishiyama beside him with a little disappointment.

Nishiyama Fukutaro was somewhat impressed by the defensive ability of the commander of the Chinese army in Hongcheng, but he needed to cheer up his own division commander, who was the soul of the army. So he quickly changed the subject and said, "Your Excellency the division commander, I think it is not too late for us to pay more attention to the New 22nd Army of the Chinese government. We need to rescue the officers and soldiers in the tanks as soon as possible. After occupying Hongcheng, we can get the tanks out of the deep pits dug by the Chinese army. In this way, the tank unit will not suffer any losses."

Lieutenant General Ito Masaki perked up after hearing his chief of staff's reminder. Now was not the time to make a post-war summary, so he nodded and ordered, "Xishan-kun, thank you for going to the city to organize the troops tonight and launch an attack on the Chinese army tomorrow morning. Tomorrow's combat mission is to rescue all the tank officers and soldiers who have fallen into the trap of the Chinese army, and at the same time push the battle line forward by at least one kilometer. Do you understand?"

Seeing that the division commander had regained his fighting spirit, Nishiyama Fukutaro was relieved. He quickly bowed and said that he would organize the troops and complete the mission tomorrow. The tank troops were sent by Commander Okamura Yasuji, and there must not be too much loss, otherwise he would not be able to explain to Commander Okamura Yasuji.

At this time, in the headquarters of the new 100th Division, Zhang Wenwu and Ouyang Heng were listening to Li Zhengying's excited report.

"Captain Li, are you sure that the tunnel can lead out of the city?" Zhang Wenwu asked excitedly after listening to Li Zhengying's report.

Li Zhengying nodded and said to his two superiors, "Division Commander, Chief of Staff, I have sent people to check it out. This tunnel can indeed lead to the outside of the city. The exit of the tunnel is in a forest outside the north of the city. There are no Japanese troops guarding there. There are only some Japanese cavalry patrolling there occasionally."

Zhang Wenwu was excited now. It turned out that Li Zhengying had just rushed to the division headquarters to report that one of his recruits, who was originally from the Hongcheng gang, reported to the commander of his unit that their gang had dug a tunnel in the past and could enter and exit Hongcheng freely.

This tunnel was originally used by their gang to secretly transport some illegal smuggled goods into the city, and it was also a secret escape route. After Li Zhengying learned the news, he sent people to successfully reach the outside of the city through this tunnel. He felt that this was a very good opportunity, so he quickly ran to tell Zhang Wenwu and Ouyang Heng that he wanted to take the officers and soldiers of the death squad to the enemy's rear to carry out harassment operations.