I fought guerrilla warfare in the Yimeng Mountains during the Anti-Japanese War

Really worried, at two o'clock in the morning, Chen Feng took Lin Chuan to check the front line again. Fortunately, the team members acted quickly and got some pine wood from the hillside behind the trench. They lit a bonfire deep in the trench and in the nearby caves. No one dared to sleep in such weather, so they boiled hot water and poured it on the snow in front of the trench. The water froze into thick ice after a short while.

"Captain, commander."

"Brothers, when you suffer, do not stand up, sit down."

"Captain, when are we going to fight back? We can't stand just passively taking the beating!"

Chen Feng knew the person who was talking. He was a veteran of the Guards Regiment, Xu Song, who came with Lin Chuan. He was now the company commander of the machine gun company and was about twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old.

"Lao Xu, you're using an anti-aircraft machine gun to shoot at the Japanese assault troops. Aren't you satisfied with this job?"

"Satisfied, but I'm tired of fighting after a few days. The Japanese are so stupid. They charge every day even though they know they can't. At the beginning I used to be excited when I saw the bullets hit the Japanese's cotton-padded clothes and splatter blood, but now I just feel disgusted."

Chen Feng stretched out his hand and pointed down the hillside.

"If they hear you saying this, aren't you afraid that they will come back to fight you to the death?"

The team members who were roasting by the fire all laughed.

"Don't worry, we will have a chance when the wind stops. We still need to be alert and take more rotations. In this kind of horrible weather, people can be frozen to death in an hour."

"Don't worry, Captain! The can box will turn into ice when water is poured into it. There is someone watching at all times. The Japanese will be dead if they come up to us."

"Okay, you guys continue to warm yourself by the fire, I'll walk around for a while."

Chen Feng continued to walk to the next fire, and Lin Chuan followed behind him. When passing by where Xu Song was squatting, he slapped his hat and made it tilted. He was so disrespectful and deserved a beating. Xu Song didn't care. He straightened his hat and continued to roast by the fire with a grin.

The Guards Regiment was suffering, and the Japanese on the opposite side were not having a good time either. More than 100,000 people and their supplies were destroyed by the artillery bombardment of the Yimeng guerrillas. The priority was to transfer artillery and weapons and ammunition. The Jinpu Line was interrupted, and it would take two or three days to replenish the supplies. The heavy snow blocked the road, and it was unknown how many days they would have to wait.

The cotton-padded clothes and quilts were not enough. It was okay when there was no wind and snow, and they could barely bear it at night. But with such strong wind and snow, the tents could not stand up at all. No matter how firmly they were built, they would be overturned. The soldiers could only huddle under the field ridges on the south side of the mountain and shiver.

Fujita Susumu had no time to feel sad about the loss of nearly 10,000 soldiers in one day. The snowstorm came too suddenly. He thought it would only last two or three hours, but it had not stopped after five or six hours. It seemed that the wind was getting stronger. Fujita Susumu was a little worried, but Nakayama Sadake was a little scared.

"General, please let the soldiers withdraw! Otherwise there will be big problems."

"It takes more than an hour to walk back from the front line of the attack. If the artillery position is attacked, will it be too late to provide support? Mr. Zhongshan, 90% of our artillery are on the hillside. If we lose these artillery fire, will we still have a chance to attack the position of the Guards Regiment?"

"Sir, there are more than 20,000 brave warriors! If they were all frozen to death, the loss would be no less than the loss of artillery!"

"Generate electricity and allow them to make fires, but keep them away from artillery positions."

"Hi"!

The 20,000 Japanese soldiers on the mountain felt like they were freezing to death. They could not stay in the tents. Two soldiers could only share one quilt. They huddled together under the ridges of the fields and shivered.

"The general's latest order is to start a fire."

The little Japanese soldier cursed and said, "To make a fire, you need firewood. There are bare hills. What should you light? Should you light the quilt or the tent?"

Despite the curses, the fires were still lit up in groups of three or four. Dry grass, branches, gasoline and wooden boards, everything that could be lit was lit. The fires were surrounded by three layers of walls. Some of the Japanese soldiers wanted to throw themselves into the fires and burn for a while. Their bodies were already numb!

"Captain, commander, look over there."

Chen Feng had just wandered to the westernmost mountain defense area when a team member pointed to the south and warned him.

There was suddenly some more light on the opposite position. The light source could not be seen directly opposite, but piles of flames could still be found when looking from the side to the east, and dense shadows could be vaguely seen next to the fire.

"Notify the artillery to place the guns in front of the hillside and aim from the side. Don't worry about the artillery positions and military camps, just fire at these fires. Fire ten rounds at a rapid pace and then retreat to the trenches. We must act quickly."

Lin Chuan arranged for the signalman to send a message. The artillery were all behind the hillside, and it would be troublesome to turn over. However, there were not many such opportunities. The artillery positions on the reverse slope could not be hit, and most of the fires could be seen and hit. No matter what conditions and level you are at, you want to make a fire to keep warm. If you don’t dare to make a fire at the artillery position, then you must have a trench too!

More than half an hour later, at the front line of their position, the artillery set up a large-caliber mortar and took aim. The target was too obvious, so there was no need for a test fire. The artillery was confident that they could hit the area around the fire.

The fire became more and more concentrated. Feeling the warmth of the flames, some soldiers threw their tents into it. They felt like they were about to freeze to death just now, but now they felt full of energy again. The soldiers surrounding the front took the initiative to look for firewood. With the addition of gasoline pumped from the trucks at the foot of the mountain, they could burn both dry, fresh and wet firewood.

All in! All in!

The mortars opened fire, two or three mortars aimed at a large pile of fire, firing ten rounds at a rapid pace.

boom! Boom boom boom!

There were continuous explosions around the fire. Not only were the infantrymen warming themselves by the fire, but the artillerymen had also come down from their positions. In such horrible weather, they didn't believe that the enemy would launch a sneak attack.

After firing ten rapid shots, the artillerymen hid in the trench with their guns, threw away the guns and ran to warm themselves by the fire. It was so cold that they felt like they were about to freeze to death in just a short while.

The team members who were roasting by the fire voluntarily gave up their seats.

"You've worked hard. Please sit down and have a bowl of ginger soup."

The expected counterattack did not come, and I don’t know whether the artillerymen on the opposite side fell asleep or froze to death.

The Japanese soldiers were going crazy. They were just trying to keep warm by building a fire, but they were bombarded with artillery? The fires were basically blown away, and the soldiers suffered heavy losses. In such weather, the seriously injured had no hope of survival, and the minor injuries were also very serious. If the arms and legs were injured, they would be frozen before dawn and would probably need amputation.

Fujita Susumu was speechless after receiving the telegram. He had never expected to be bombarded in such weather. Nakayama Sadake also had a look of despair on his face and didn't dare to start a fire. Was it too late for the team to retreat now?

In the end, Fujita Susumu did not order a retreat. He organized the forces of two infantry regiments, used mules and horses to transport coal to the mountain, and ordered the soldiers to build fires near the artillery positions. He also ordered the artillery shells not to surround the artillery but to concentrate them in the center of the position to avoid chain reaction explosions.

Two hours later, the support team climbed up the hillside and the fires started burning again. The wounded in the explosion were almost all dead. No one knew how many people died, but every Japanese soldier was almost given a quilt, and it was rare for two people to share a quilt.