The Flames of Resistance Against Japan in Jiangnan

As a battle-hardened and experienced commander, Chen Hong lay on the ground, enduring the fierce bombardment of enemy artillery fire firsthand, and only then did he realize how ridiculous his and Ding Fugui's arrogance and underestimation of the enemy had been.

As soon as the artillery fire stopped, Chen Hong ordered the Second Battalion to quickly move into position. Lao Dao, the company commander of the Fifth Company, shouted loudly, ordering his men to dig open the buried exits of the bunkers and leading his soldiers into the forward fortifications.

By this time, the enemy had approached, and like ants moving house, a large, dark swarm crawled up the hillside, blindly firing their guns. After advancing a distance, seeing no reaction from the 19th Division's position, the officer leading the charge assumed that the Red Army had been killed by planes and artillery. Emboldened, he straightened up, picked up his machine gun, and ran forward shouting. Immediately afterward, the Zhejiang soldiers also stopped firing, straightened up, and followed the officer openly up the mountain.

The soldiers of the 2nd Battalion of the 57th Regiment lay quietly in the trenches, waiting for the Zhejiang troops to come within firing range. They carefully aimed at these arrogant enemies, preparing to fire vengeful bullets that would kill the Zhejiang troops.

Xu Wenqing also entered the position of the 5th Company, 2nd Battalion, 57th Regiment. Old Dao came over and softly advised him to leave:

"Commander, it's dangerous here. Please return to the command post immediately."

"You've got some nerve. I'm a division commander, you can't control me."

Xu Wenqing stared at the enemy below the mountain, then glanced at Lao Dao out of the corner of his eye and gave the order:

“I will command today’s battle. Organize a few soldiers with good marksmanship. It’s the same old method. You take a group of men and are specifically responsible for taking out the Zhejiang army officers and machine gunners.”

“Great, just what I’m looking for.”

Old Dao went along the trenches to recruit soldiers and horses.

"Listen to my gunshot! If my gun doesn't fire, no one is allowed to shoot!"

Xu Wenqing shouted loudly, took over a machine gun next to him. Seeing that his weapon had been taken away by the division commander, the machine gunner who had been usurped dared not speak out in anger. He muttered to himself, took the division commander's pistol, looked at it and tucked it into his waistband, took out a grenade and held it in his hand, and helplessly lay down next to him.

Xu Wenqing's eyes revealed the excitement before the bloody battle. He stared intently at the approaching enemy. He had been waiting for a long time for the opportunity to fight the enemy directly. His heart was pounding. The enemy had entered firing range.

"Da da da!"

Suddenly, a gunshot rang out. Xu Wenqing fired the first shot of the battle. Immediately afterwards, rifles and machine guns roared in unison. The dull "rat-a-tat-tat" of the heavy machine gun and the crisp sound of the light machine gun formed a stark contrast, yet they also harmoniously blended into a magnificent and intense chorus. The soldiers without weapons were not to be outdone. They swung their arms and threw grenades, which flew through the air like celestial maidens scattering flowers.

Before the shots were fired, Ling Hexi, the regimental commander of the Zhejiang Army who was personally overseeing the battle, was very excited. He wanted to show those cowards the indomitable spirit of his Security Regiment. Seeing his Security Regiment's attacking troops getting closer and closer to the enemy's position, and the Red Army still not firing, he said to his chief of staff with a disdainful expression:

"With such intense bombing, it seems the Red Army has been completely wiped out, and the positions are just waiting for us to take them over."

His words were not empty talk. Based on his experience of participating in the civil wars of warlords for more than ten years, if there was no gunfire from the position at this distance, the defending troops would generally have already fled.

"This was entirely due to the commander's foresight!"

The chief of staff was also generous with his flattery.

Before he could finish speaking, gunfire erupted on the Red Army's position. Countless fire dragons, like countless scythes of death, mercilessly reaped the lives of his men. The lucky survivors rushed back in a swarm.

Seeing the attack so quickly defeated, Ling Hexi realized something. He had heard that the Red Army was strong-willed and difficult to fight, but he never expected them to be so tenacious.

Commander Ling's bitter guess:

"Could it be that we are really facing the main force of the Red Army?"

The chief of staff behind him lowered his voice and said:

“A staff officer from the headquarters of the Zhejiang East Garrison Division secretly told me that the enemy was likely the main force of the 19th Division of the 10th Army Corps of the Red Army, and the division commander was Xu Wenqing.”

"Xu Wenqing?"

Ling Hexi felt the name was unfamiliar, but everyone had heard that the 19th Red Army Division had performed well in Tanjiaqiao and had suffered misfortune in many places from southern Anhui to western Jiangxi and then to eastern Zhejiang.

"It seems we have indeed encountered the main force of the Red Army."

Ling Hexi's competitive spirit was immediately ignited, and his expression turned fierce:

"Then let's eat him up and show the Red Army what's what!"

"The order is issued, and the old rules apply: organize a supervisory team. Those who advance will be rewarded, and those who retreat will die. The officers of the first unit to charge onto the Boyu Mountain position will be promoted two ranks, and the first soldier to break in will be rewarded with three hundred silver dollars!"

Ling Hexi loudly instructed his chief of staff that he would spare no expense to achieve fame in a single battle.

The promise of a hefty reward always attracts brave men. The soldiers of the 1st Security Regiment, as if possessed, charged up the mountain with ferocious speed. They were quickly overwhelmed, like wildflowers in a storm, by the Red Army's light and heavy weapons, falling one after another to their deaths. But as one wave was repelled, another surged forward; another wave was repelled, yet another surged forward. From long-range firing to close-quarters combat, from ranged attacks to bayonet charges, billowing dust, flashing blades, and the earth-shaking shouts of battle filled the air. Although the 2nd Battalion of the 57th Regiment possessed fierce close-combat firepower, it could not completely overwhelm the overwhelmingly numerically superior enemy.

The attacking force of the 1st Regiment of the Zhejiang Army Security Division charged relentlessly, attempting to defeat the Independent Regiment with their superior strength. In the fierce fighting, casualties in the 57th Regiment were mounting, with wounded soldiers being carried away from near Xu Wenqing.

The Zhejiang Army's charge was continuous. Under the cover of multiple mortars and light and heavy machine guns, the Zhejiang Army was divided into small groups. Each group followed behind an officer carrying a light machine gun, shouting as they charged toward the 57th Regiment's position. The soldiers of the 2nd Battalion of the 57th Regiment returned fire fiercely.

Suddenly, a machine gun on the position malfunctioned and went silent. Taking advantage of this, a group of Zhejiang soldiers rushed forward and were not far from the Red Army. The soldiers of the Fifth Company grabbed grenades and were about to pull the pin when enemy artillery shells covering the charge flew straight over and landed in the middle of the advancing enemy. Then, one more shell, two more, all landed around them. More than a dozen enemy soldiers fell, and the remaining troops had no choice but to retreat to settle scores with their blind artillery comrades.

The enemy's abandoned machine guns and rifles lay scattered beside the corpses, only a few feet away from the trenches. Xu Wenqing became interested when he saw this. He tied a thin rope to a tree branch, threw it out, and then pulled it back. After several attempts, he finally succeeded. Although he didn't get the machine guns, he did manage to pull over two rifles.

Chen Hong, the acting commander of the 57th Regiment, crawled over to the division commander, reported the casualties, and urged Xu Wenqing to lead the 5th Company to retreat. Immediately afterward, the 6th Company of the 2nd Battalion jumped into their battle positions to relieve their comrades in the 5th Company who had been fighting for six or seven hours. Xu Wenqing instructed the soldiers taking over the defense to remain calm and wait for the enemy to get closer before engaging.