Devil's Army

More than 1 Japanese troops were held back for two days and one night at the Yaoling Mountain position by a part of the Second Battalion and nearly 1000 men from the Third Battalion, and were unable to advance.

Hundreds of Japanese and North Korean soldiers' corpses were scattered in front of the Yaoling Mountain position and along the riverside road.

The Japanese commander was furious with the soldiers of the Third Regiment stationed at Yaoling Mountain, but there was nothing he could do about it.

Although the 3rd Battalion severely damaged the 1st Battalion of the Korean 4th Army Corps, almost rendering it incapable of fighting, it also suffered considerable casualties.

The combined strength of the Third Battalion and the Second Battalion, which had retreated, was still less than that of a single battalion.

The Japanese division commander withdrew the heavily damaged 1st Battalion of the 4th Division of Korea and replaced it with the 1st Battalion of the 21st Division.

The sound of artillery and gunfire rang out again from the Yaoling Mountain position.

The company commander at the front reported to the battalion commander that his company had suffered two-thirds casualties and was struggling to withstand the desperate attack of the Japanese army. He asked if they could request reinforcements from the regimental commander.

At this point, the battalion commander only had the last reserve unit, the fourth company, left.

After two days of fierce fighting, the Second Battalion, which had withdrawn, now only had a little over one company of soldiers left.

The battalion commander had no choice but to send the fourth company to reinforce them and explained the current predicament to the third regimental commander, asking if reinforcements could be sent.

Upon receiving the call from the battalion commander, the regimental commander paused for a moment before telling him that another Japanese force was blocked at the Shierdaogou Pass defense line, but the third Japanese force had already broken through the Shisidaogou Kanshao defense line and was advancing towards Changbai County.

He sent the only remaining regimental logistics troops he had to reinforce the troops, but the troops were about to withdraw into Changbai County for defense, and they had to be prepared to be attacked from both sides and fight alone.

The battalion commander hung up the phone and remained silent for a long time.

The second battalion commander knew something was wrong as soon as he saw the situation.

The third battalion commander glanced at it, and the second battalion commander slowly said:

"After the first Japanese army broke through the Yalu River defense line, it was blocked by our defense line at the Twelve Gully Pass. However, the third Japanese army broke through our Fourteen Gully Outposts and is now advancing towards Changbai County. We may be attacked from both sides. The regimental commander told us to prepare to fight alone."

"30,000 Japanese troops attacked our 3rd Regiment of just over 2000 men. It would be a miracle if we could hold out. The battle has gone this far; we've already suffered enough. What's wrong with fighting alone?"

The third battalion commander nodded. He decided that he and the second battalion commander would take as many Japanese soldiers as possible down with them, even if the entire army was wiped out.

At this time, another main force of the Japanese army had broken through the Yalu River defense line and was attacking the Shierdaogou Pass.

The ancient Goguryeo pass in Shierdaogou Town possessed multiple natural advantages in its terrain for resisting the Japanese army:

The pass was built in a low-lying area between two rocky cliffs on a saddle-shaped hill. The riverbank was full of steep cliffs that were impassable. The Japanese army could only take the narrow path that crossed the hill, which formed a bottleneck that could be held by one man and prevented them from deploying their forces.

Soldiers from the 4th Battalion of the 3rd Regiment constructed multiple machine gun positions here, intersecting to intercept the Japanese advance.

Moreover, the east and west slopes of the hill are extremely steep, making climbing difficult.

The fourth battalion commander assigned a platoon of soldiers to defend the area.

Moreover, the 4th Battalion's garrison at the high point of Shila and the pass could overlook the entire passage, making it almost impossible for the Japanese army to sneak up the cliff.

When the main force of the Japanese 21st Division arrived here, it was met with fierce resistance from the Fourth Battalion.

The soldiers of the Fourth Battalion used rolling stones, grenades, and rifle fire to block the Japanese advance layer by layer, resulting in heavy casualties and slow progress for the Japanese troops attacking uphill.