Quartermasters can also fight the devils

During the Battle of Western Hubei, the 15th Division was attacked by a division of the Japanese 11th Army while fighting on the front line. After a week of hard fighting, more than three-quarters of the division's officers and soldiers were killed or wounded, and there were only a few veterans left in the unit after the war.

The new recruits who came in later had no combat experience at all. Although, any excellent soldier started out as a recruit and no one is born with combat experience, if the new recruits encountered weak enemies, perhaps they would be trained and mature after one or two battles.

But this time, these new recruits of the 15th Division encountered the most powerful Type A division of the Japanese Army, the 13th Division, in their first battle.

You should know that since the 13th Division of the Japanese Army landed in Shanghai in October 1937, it has experienced the Battle of Shanghai, the Battle of Nanjing, the Battle of Xuzhou, the Battle of Three Towns, the Battle of Sui-Zao, the Winter Offensive, the First and Second Battles of Changsha, the Battle of Zaoyi, and the Battle of Western Hubei.

It can be said that the 13th Division of the Japanese Army participated in almost all large-scale battles organized by the Japanese Army in China without any surprise.

Moreover, the 13th Division of the Japanese Army was the last division in the entire Japanese Army to change its organization from two brigades and four regiments to three regiments. However, even though the 13th Division of the Japanese Army was reorganized, it still had a strength of 21,000 people, which was far stronger than an ordinary Chinese army, and its combat effectiveness far exceeded that of the Chinese troops.

As for heavy weapons, let alone the 73rd Army, even the entire 29th Army did not have many heavy weapons, which was completely incomparable with the Japanese 13th Army.

Lieutenant General Akashi Osamu, commander of the 13th Division of the Japanese Army, commanded his troops in the attack and utilized the advantages of artillery to the extreme. Artillery shells rained down on the defensive positions of the 15th Division of the 73rd Army. With just one bombardment, most of the 15th Division of the 73rd Army's first-line fortifications were destroyed, and many trenches were razed to the ground by the artillery fire of the 13th Division of the Japanese Army.

The fierce bombardment of the Japanese 13th Division during the attack made even the few veterans of the 73rd Army quite nervous, and the new recruits who came to replenish the army were even more frightened by the fierce bombardment of the Japanese 13th Division.

In just one round of artillery bombardment by the Japanese 13th Division, many new recruits from the 15th Division were killed by Japanese artillery fire.

When the artillery bombardment of the Japanese 13th Division stopped, the infantry attack force of the Japanese 13th Division launched a charge. However, in the first charge launched by the Japanese 13th Division, a large number of new recruits of the 15th Division suffered casualties.

In actual combat, the new recruits of the 15th Division of the 73rd Army had no combat experience at all, and many soldiers had never even fired a gun a few times. Due to the weak firepower of the Chinese army, they usually had to wait until the Japanese attacking forces rushed to within 200 meters in front of the defensive position before they could start shooting.

Because experienced veterans know that if they shoot too early, not only will the shooting accuracy be low and bullets be wasted, but the target will be exposed and the Japanese will counterattack. You must know that the Japanese soldiers' shooting is accurate. When the Japanese soldiers complete basic training in the country, at least 70% of the soldiers can achieve excellent shooting results. The shooting accuracy of the experienced veterans of the Japanese army is even higher.

However, the new recruits of the 15th Division of the 73rd Army were too nervous because it was their first time participating in such a fierce battle. They began shooting when the attacking force of the 13th Division of the Japanese Army was still 600 meters away from the defensive position. The new recruits of the 15th Division had poor shooting skills to begin with, and now at such a long distance, the bullets they fired were almost all flying into the sky, and seldom hit the Japanese soldiers who were charging and attacking.

As soon as the attacking force of the 13th Division of the Japanese Army saw the Chinese Army's defensive positions, they began shooting. The commander of the 13th Division of the Japanese Army immediately realized that the Chinese Army opposite them had very insufficient combat experience as they had exposed their shooting positions so early. Therefore, the attacking force of the 13th Division of the Japanese Army immediately retaliated against the Chinese Army's defensive positions that had exposed their targets.

The dense bullets fired by the attacking forces of the Japanese 13th Division hit the trenches and fortifications of the 15th Division like water. The new recruits of the 15th Division did not know how to use the terrain to hide themselves, and they were shot and fell one after another under the precise shooting of the Japanese Army.

When the attacking force of the 13th Division of the Japanese Army rushed to a very close distance of the defensive position of the 15th Division, under normal circumstances, the defending Chinese army would throw grenades and then put on bayonets to prepare for hand-to-hand combat with the attacking force of the Japanese Army.

However, the new recruits of the 15th Division had never thrown a few grenades during training. When it came to actual combat, they were too nervous and some of them threw grenades without even pulling the string. Some of them pulled the string but due to shaking hands, they could only throw it a few meters away. As a result, they failed to hit the Japanese army and blew themselves up instead. More new recruits simply handed the grenades to the experienced veteran squad leaders and let them throw the grenades.

As for the hand-to-hand charge, the new recruits of the 15th Division were no match for the Japanese officers and soldiers in the attacking force of the 13th Division. You know, all the new recruits of the Japanese Army would have received at least one year of military training and bayonet training in the country.

You know, bayonet fighting is a test of hard skills and cannot be learned quickly by taking shortcuts. Even if you are a bayonet fighting genius, you still need to practice for several months before you can fight. The new recruits of the 15th Division have only been in the army for two or three months and have only learned the basics of bayonet fighting.

It was recorded that an old soldier in the attack force of the Japanese 13th Division could deal with three to four new recruits of the 15th Division at a time by stabbing back and forth. Some new recruits of the 15th Division were so frightened that they did not dare to jump out of the trenches to fight the Japanese after putting on bayonets.

Due to the huge disparity in combat effectiveness between the 15th Division and the 13th Division of the Japanese Army, the entire battle was completely one-sided. After a short and fierce battle, the officers and soldiers of the 65th Regiment of the 13th Division of the Japanese Army successfully broke through the defense line of the 15th Division.

In this battle, not only did the 15th Division fail to hold its own line of defense, but the troops also suffered heavy casualties. A few hours after the attack was launched, the troops of the 13th Division of the Japanese Army successfully crossed the Lishui River. By the evening of the next day, the troops of the 13th Division of the Japanese Army had broken through to the Shuiling and Maojiashan line.