Quartermasters can also fight the devils

After Deputy Chief Liu discovered the dangerous situation of the 73rd Army, he was very anxious for a moment. Then Deputy Chief Liu actually skipped the Sixth War Zone Command without authorization and directly issued an order for the entire army to retreat to Commander Wang of the 73rd Army.

Commander Wang of the 73rd Army was originally unwilling to defend Shimen to the death. After receiving a telegram from Commander Sun, acting commander of the Sixth War Zone of the Chinese Government, and Chief of Staff Guo of the War Zone, ordering him to hold Shimen with a part of his troops and the main force could only gradually retreat to the south bank of the Lishui River when necessary, Commander Wang of the 73rd Army had no choice but to carry out the orders of Commander Sun, acting commander of the Sixth War Zone of the Chinese Government, and Chief of Staff Guo of the War Zone.

However, when Deputy Minister Liu of the Military Commission issued a retreat order to Commander Wang of the 73rd Army, Commander Wang was overjoyed. He immediately organized his troops to begin a comprehensive retreat overnight in accordance with the order of Deputy Minister Liu of the Military Commission.

Since the 73rd Army Headquarters had lost telephone and telegraph contact with its three subordinate divisions, Commander Wang of the 73rd Army could only send messengers to order his three divisions to immediately retreat south of the Lishui River. At the same time, Commander Wang ordered Commander Peng of the Provisional 5th Division, which still had a certain combat effectiveness, to lead his troops to be responsible for the rearguard mission of the entire army's retreat and continue to defend Shimen for one day.

However, during the retreat of the 73rd Army, due to the large number of new recruits and heavy casualties, the 15th Division and the 77th Division were completely thrown into chaos, just as the acting commander of the Sixth War Zone of the Chinese government, Commander Sun, and Chief of Staff Guo of the War Zone had expected. In addition, the 15th Division and the 77th Division were successively overtaken by the Japanese attacking forces. After a melee, the 15th Division and the 77th Division barely escaped from the pursuit and encirclement of the Japanese army, but the troops of the 15th Division and the 77th Division had all been dispersed by the Japanese attacking forces.

Since the 15th and 77th Divisions had completely collapsed, the main target of the Japanese 11th Army's attacking forces now became the Provisional 5th Division that was defending Shimen County. The Japanese 3rd Division and its attached troops also launched a more fierce attack on Shimen County.

At this time, the Provisional Fifth Division had suffered heavy casualties in the fierce attacks of the Japanese Third Division for several days. The entire division had been reduced from more than 7,000 people before the war to only 2,000 officers and soldiers including the lightly wounded. Moreover, Shimen County had been partially breached by the offensive forces of the Japanese Third Division, and it was impossible to hold on to Shimen County.

However, even in the face of such a dilemma, Commander Peng of the Provisional Fifth Division did not give up the task of covering the rear of the entire army without authorization, because Commander Peng knew very well that if his Provisional Fifth Division gave up Shimen without authorization, and the attacking forces of the Japanese Third Division also pursued other troops of the retreating 73rd Army, the 15th Division and the 77th Division might not even be able to cross the Lishui River and would soon be wiped out under the siege of the Japanese army.

Commander Peng knew that the war had developed to such a dangerous point that he had no choice but to fight to the death. So, he led the 2,000 officers and soldiers of the Provisional Fifth Division who were still able to fight, and under the siege of the Japanese Third Division's attacking force, which had several times the strength of the troops, they defended Shimen to the death on the 15th, and held out for twelve hours.

Seeing that Shimen was about to be occupied by his own troops, Lieutenant General Yamamoto San'ao, commander of the Japanese 3rd Division, ordered all heavy artillery to cover the attacking forces, and then used a large number of infantry to repeatedly attack the defensive positions of the Provisional 5th Division in the city.

The entire Provisional Fifth Division was only equipped with a few mortars, and its firepower was completely suppressed by the Japanese Third Division. However, these officers and soldiers of the Provisional Fifth Division, despite their inferior firepower, placed the offensive forces of the Japanese Third Division within fifty meters in front of the defensive position, and then used hand-to-hand combat with bayonets and machetes to repel the Japanese attacks again and again.

Commander Peng of the Provisional Fifth Division also ordered that every line of defense must be defended to the death, and these officers and soldiers of the Provisional Fifth Division also completely followed the order to hold on to their own defense line without retreating a single step. Some wounded soldiers also knew that this battle would be the end of their lives, so they tied grenades to their bodies and rushed into the attacking forces of the Japanese Third Division, and died together with the charging Japanese officers and soldiers.

Only after all the officers and soldiers of the Provisional Fifth Division were completely killed in every defensive position, could the attacking forces of the Japanese Third Division advance a little. It was by holding on layer by layer in this way that the officers and soldiers of the Provisional Fifth Division managed to hold out until the evening.

When Commander Sun, Acting Commander of the Sixth War Zone of the Chinese Government, and Chief of Staff Guo of the War Zone learned that Deputy Minister Liu of the Military Commission had issued a retreat order to the 73rd Army without authorization, they were very angry. However, Commander Sun, Acting Commander of the Sixth War Zone of the Chinese Government, and Chief of Staff Guo of the War Zone knew that losing their temper now would be of no use.

Now that the 15th and 77th Divisions of the 73rd Army have already retreated, if the Provisional 5th Division stays in Shimen to hold its ground, it will be annihilated.

Therefore, Commander Sun, acting commander of the Sixth War Zone of the Chinese government, and Chief of Staff Guo of the War Zone immediately ordered the temporary Fifth Division to retreat quickly.

However, at this time, the Japanese 3rd Division had surrounded Shimen from three sides. Even the troops sent by the Japanese 3rd Division had crossed the Lishui River and tried to outflank the Provisional 5th Division and block the south bank of the Lishui River. Under such circumstances, the retreat of the Provisional 5th Division was extremely difficult, and it could even be said to be almost impossible.

Commander Peng of the Provisional Fifth Division knew that the situation was critical, so he personally led the 13th Regiment, which had only one battalion of troops left, to cover the rear and protect the remaining officers and soldiers of the Provisional Fifth Division as they crossed the Lishui River.

When the troops of the Provisional Fifth Division began to cross the river, the Japanese Third Division also discovered the retreat of the Provisional Fifth Division. Therefore, the offensive forces of the Japanese Third Division also dispatched heavy troops to repeatedly attack the defensive positions of the 13th Regiment of the Provisional Fifth Division, which was responsible for the rear guard.

Under the fierce attack of the offensive forces of the Japanese 3rd Division, Division Commander Peng also led the only remaining battalion of officers and soldiers of the 13th Regiment to fight desperately. After several fierce hand-to-hand combats, there were only a few officers and soldiers left of the 13th Regiment. Even the 13th Regiment Commander Zhu had already gone to the defensive position and personally operated a light machine gun, firing at the charging troops of the Japanese 3rd Division.

Under the repeated fierce attacks of the offensive forces of the Japanese Third Division, the commander of the Provisional Fifth Division, Peng Shiliang, was mowed down by the heavy machine guns of the Japanese offensive forces. After seeing Commander Peng fall to the ground, several officers and soldiers of the Thirteenth Regiment took great risks to drag Commander Peng to the rear of the position for emergency bandaging.