Spy Wars: I am the Captain of the Military Police

At 7 a.m., the 20th Regiment of the Japanese Army launched the first wave of attack under the command of Regiment Commander Nobuaki Ohno.

Twelve Type 95 light tanks were deployed in a fan shape, followed by about two battalions of infantry.

The Japanese army obviously underestimated the resistance of the defenders and adopted a dense offensive formation, but soon fell into the fire trap set by the defenders.

When the Japanese vanguard approached the position about 500 meters away, the defenders' position was still silent.

Only the occasional flying water bird broke the morning tranquility, and this abnormal calm made the experienced captain Ohno feel uneasy.

"Stop advancing!" As soon as he gave the order, countless tongues of fire burst out from the opposite position.

The Maxim heavy machine gun hidden in the permanent fortifications opened fire first, and dense bullets swept through the Japanese attacking column like a sickle.

Immediately afterwards, the mortars deployed on the flanks began to fire, and the shells landed accurately in the middle of the Japanese follow-up troops.

What surprised the Japanese army the most was that the defenders were actually equipped with anti-tank guns, and the 37mm armor-piercing shells easily penetrated the thin armor of the Japanese tanks.

"Report! The captain of the 3rd Squadron has been killed!" The messenger reported to Ohno: "Our troops are pinned down on the riverbank, with no way forward or backward!"

Captain Ohno saw through the telescope that his troops were trapped in the open ground on the east bank of the Podu River.

This was originally a rice field, and the rice stubble left after the autumn harvest could not provide effective cover at all.

The soldiers were forced to lie on the muddy riverbank and allow the defenders to fire at them.

At 9 a.m., the Japanese army adjusted its tactics and concentrated all its artillery fire to suppress the defenders' positions.

第16师团属炮兵联队的36门75毫米山炮，12门105毫米榴弹炮同时开火，炮弹如同冰雹般砸向守军阵地。

"Be careful of the artillery fire! Everyone take cover!" The officers' shouts came from the defending positions.

The shelling lasted for a full forty minutes, and the outer positions of Dongting Town were almost completely turned over.

Many permanent fortifications were directly hit, but the German-standard reinforced concrete structure showed its superior protective performance, and most of the fortifications were only damaged on the surface.

After the artillery fire extended, the 2nd Battalion of the 20th Regiment of the Japanese Army launched a second round of attack under the leadership of Battalion Commander Major Yoshida.

This time the Japanese army changed its tactics, using alternating skirmish lines to cover its advance, while sending out engineering detachments to try to build a pontoon bridge across the Bodu River.

"Aim at the engineers! Shoot!" The defending commander keenly perceived the Japanese intentions. Machine gun bullets rained down on the river, knocking down Japanese engineers who were constructing the pontoon bridge one after another. Construction of the pontoon bridge was forced to be halted.

Upon seeing this, Major Yoshida personally led his troops to charge.

The officer, who graduated from the Japanese Army Academy, brandished his saber and was the first to wade through the waist-deep river.

Seeing this, the Japanese soldiers' morale was boosted and they jumped into the river and rushed to the other side.

On the defending position, Battalion Commander Zhang Zhenwu gripped his rifle tightly and waited calmly.

When the Japanese vanguard was about to land, he waved his hand and ordered to open fire. Suddenly, all the weapons on the position spewed out flames at the same time, and the Japanese soldiers who had just landed fell to the ground in large numbers.

Major Yoshida was hit by seven bullets and fell on the river bank, with the sword in his hand broken into two pieces.

At the same time as the frontal attack was thwarted, the flank maneuver carried out by the Japanese 38th Regiment also encountered stubborn resistance.

The regiment commander, Colonel Shizue Sukekawa, ordered his troops to detour towards Changda Town in an attempt to outflank the Dongting Town garrison from the flank and rear.

However, this action was already anticipated by the Chinese defenders.

The commander of the 105th Division, Wang Tiehan, deployed a reinforced battalion in Changda Town in advance, equipped with four anti-tank guns and an engineering platoon.

At 10:30 a.m., the vanguard of the 38th Regiment of the Japanese Army reached the outskirts of Changda Town and was immediately trapped in the defense system set up by the defenders.

A dense minefield has been laid out around the town, multiple roadblocks have been set up on the streets, and almost every house has been reinforced and renovated.

What gave the Japanese army the most headache was a three-story brick and stone clock tower in the center of the town. The defenders set up an observation post and machine gun positions on it, which allowed them to control the entire town and surrounding areas.

The Japanese army launched three consecutive charges, but each was repelled by fire from the bell tower.

"Call the infantry artillery!"

Two Type 92 infantry guns were pushed to the front and fired continuously at the bell tower.

The seventh shell finally hit the top of the bell tower, and the defending machine gunner was killed on the spot.

But just when the Japanese thought they had succeeded, new flames suddenly erupted from the middle level of the bell tower. . . . The defenders' reserve machine gunners quickly filled their positions.

At 1 p.m., the Japanese attack on Changda Town entered a white-hot stage.

The defenders took advantage of their familiarity with the terrain and fought house by house with the Japanese army.

At the same time, on the front line of Dongting Town, the Japanese 20th Regiment suffered heavy losses but continued to exert pressure.

The regiment commander Nobuaki Ohno made a desperate move and sent his last reserve, the 1st Battalion, into battle.

At 3 pm, the first crisis occurred on the Dongting Town defense line.

A 150mm howitzer shell from the Japanese army accidentally hit a key machine gun emplacement, completely overturning the roof of the emplacement and killing all the officers and soldiers inside.

The Japanese army took the opportunity to break through this gap and occupied a position about 50 meters long.

"Third Company, follow me!" Battalion Commander Li Guodong personally led the reserve team to launch a counterattack.

The battle that took place near the breakthrough point was extremely brutal. Soldiers from both sides fought in the narrow trenches, and bayonets and engineer shovels became weapons.

Battalion Commander Li Guodong was stabbed in the abdomen by a Japanese bayonet during the fight, but he still insisted on commanding and did not fall until the Japanese were driven out of the position. . . .

At the same time, in the direction of Changdasha Town, the 38th Regiment of the Japanese Army finally made a breakthrough.

At 4 p.m., after paying a heavy price, the Japanese army occupied most of the town, and the remaining defenders retreated to the last line of defense in the west of the town.

Colonel Sukekawa excitedly reported the victory to the division headquarters: "I have captured Changda Town and am pursuing the enemy westward."

At 7 p.m., night fell completely and the gunshots gradually became sparse.

The Dongting Town front temporarily returned to calm, with only sporadic exchanges of fire and the groans of the wounded being heard from time to time.

On that day, the Japanese army suffered more than 800 casualties in the Dongting Town direction, among which the 20th Regiment suffered particularly heavy losses, including several officers including Major Yoshida.

The Chinese defenders also paid the price of about 900 casualties and struggled to hold the main position. . . .

Division Commander Wang Tiehan adjusted the deployment overnight, filling the reserve troops into the severely damaged units, and ordered the engineers to speed up the repair of fortifications.

The commander of the 16th Division, Nakajima Imao, was extremely dissatisfied with the results of the battle that day.

"This is a disgrace to the Imperial Army!" he shouted to the 20th Regiment Commander, Ono Nobuaki, over the phone. "You must break through Dongting Town tomorrow, or you will commit seppuku!"

On this cold night, both sides are actively preparing for tomorrow's battle.

Medical soldiers carried lanterns and searched for wounded soldiers on the battlefield, the kitchen team brought hot meals, and the signalmen were busy repairing the lines.

Under the moonlight, the water of the Bodu River glowed with a strange red light, the color dyed by the blood of the fallen soldiers...