Anti-Japanese War: Li Yunlong dared to attack Taiyuan

The gunner quickly stood up and shouted. Immediately afterwards, three ammunition handlers carried a shell to the gun chamber, stuffed it into the barrel, and installed the primer, ready to fire again.

At this time, the Japanese troops of the 223rd and 226th Divisions were slowly withdrawing from the battle. After the Japanese discovered a large number of Eighth Route Army troops on their flanks, Kamimura Toshimichi did not hesitate and immediately ordered his troops to retreat.

At this time, Toshimichi Kamimura also realized the problem and understood why Meijing Meijiro did not allow him to mobilize troops to support other places, but instead guarded the big city and waited for help.

Although Kamimura Toshimichi was reluctant to admit it, the fact was that Li Yunlong's troops were more powerful than his own troops. In the past, a single Japanese division could chase down a Nationalist army, or even a group army, and still achieve an exaggerated casualty ratio of 1 to 10, but now that was a thing of the past.

In the last few rounds of attacks, all four divisions suffered losses, with a total of 3,000 to 4,000 killed and more than 7,000 injured, totaling nearly 10,000 casualties. However, the defending forces estimated that the casualties would not exceed 5,000, or even only 3,000.

Therefore, when the crisis occurred on the flank, Kamimura Toshimichi immediately ordered a retreat back to Xinjing.

"Send a telegram to Harbin immediately and have the troops that have left the city withdraw!"

"Hai!"

"Leave a detachment behind to cover the rear when ordering the troops to retreat. Be careful of the Eighth Route Army's pursuit!"

"Hai!"

At this time, Kamimura Toshimichi was extremely calm. He knew very well that there must be no chaos during the retreat. Once the retreat fell into chaos, it might turn into a rout, just like the three Type C divisions that were ambushed near Baicheng before.

"Order the 71st Division to support the 223rd and 226th Divisions! Absolutely no rout is allowed. Order the troops to retreat in an orderly manner. If they encounter pursuit from the Eighth Route Army, immediately establish defensive positions and counterattack on the spot!"

"Hayi!"

Kamimura Toshimichi was still a little worried, thinking that if the Type C Division was left behind, there might still be problems, so he decided to let the 71st Division take over. After all, the 71st Division was the main force and would not be easily defeated. Even if it was caught, it could still effectively block the attack!

"Hai!"

The Japanese were not slow in their actions. After receiving the retreat order, the front-line attacking troops began to retreat slowly.

"Report, the Eighth Route Army behind us is not chasing us!"

"Very good, speed up and retreat. The 71st Division will take over and cover our rear!"

"Hai!"

The commander of the 223rd Division breathed a sigh of relief after receiving the order. He had just launched two forced attacks, losing half of his regiment. He had participated in other battles before, but had never encountered a Chinese army with such formidable firepower.

Just as the commander of the 223rd Division gave the order and was about to get in the car to set off, a shell landed not far behind him.

"boom!"

A huge explosion sounded, and instantly, a large area of ​​Japanese soldiers were killed. Then, the second and third shells fell.

Thirty-two shells landed in the ranks of the Japanese Type C Division. At this time, the Japanese were preparing to retreat, and most of them gathered together and retreated.

The Japanese hadn't anticipated the Fourth Division's heavy artillery. While the Fourth Division had artillery supporting the frontline positions during their earlier attack, they were all Type 92 infantry guns, with a very short range. Currently, the Japanese divisional headquarters was approximately five kilometers from the Eighth Route Army positions, far exceeding the range of the Type 92 infantry guns.

Moreover, even for the 107mm rockets, the Japanese had specially equipped observers, who would immediately warn the troops to disperse if they spotted a meteor in the sky. But at this moment, without any warning, a large-caliber shell fell.

"Heavy artillery, large-caliber heavy artillery!"

At this time, some Japanese soldiers finally reacted and shouted in despair.

After the first round of bombardment, the 223rd Division's ranks were littered with corpses. Dozens of heavy artillery shells landed on the bare ground, wiping out many of the Japanese soldiers instantly. Some, however, were left with only a few traces.

There were also some who were not killed directly by the explosion, but their bodies had become strange shapes due to the shock wave or other reasons.

Some Japanese soldiers who had managed to escape stared in amazement at everything around them: huge shell craters, scattered corpses, and pieces of meat falling from their heads from time to time.

The surviving Japanese soldiers looked around in confusion, trying to speak, but found that they couldn't open their mouths at all. Some Japanese soldiers' heads were buzzing at this time, and their minds were blank except for various chaotic sounds.

The commander of the Japanese 223rd Division was dug out of the ground. No shells had landed around him, but the huge amount of dust kicked up by the explosion had buried him directly.

"Division Commander!"

"Division Commander!"

"..."

A Japanese lieutenant colonel pushed the commander of the 223rd Division hard. At this moment, the commander's brain was filled with only sounds, similar to a sharp electric sound, so piercing that he could not hear any other sounds at all.

"Division Commander!"

"What did you say?"

He saw the major talking to him, his mouth moving, but he couldn't hear clearly, so he could only ask loudly.

"Division Commander..."

Before the Japanese major could finish his words, the second round of artillery fire fell.

"boom!"

Another massive explosion echoed. This time, the Japanese division commander wasn't so lucky. The shell landed less than thirty meters away. The blast sent him flying. He felt his body being torn apart uncontrollably, watching as parts of his body were missing before he finally hit the ground.

"boom!"

"boom!"

"..."

After two rounds of artillery bombardment, the buglers of the 16th and 17th Regiments on the Fourth Division's position picked up the charge bugle.

Chapter 601 The Charge Sounds

"Tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick..."

Two buglers blew the charge at the same time, and the penetrating sound of the trumpets echoed on the battlefield.

"Comrades, follow me and kill the devils!"

"kill!"

"Kill!"

"rush!"

"..."

Several battalion commanders took the lead in jumping out of the trenches and began to charge towards the fleeing Japanese soldiers in the distance.

Although the Japanese division headquarters was several kilometers away from the Eighth Route Army position, the Japanese responsible for covering the rear and the Japanese who had just attacked were only about two kilometers away from the Eighth Route Army position.

After suffering two rounds of artillery fire, the Japanese troops of the 223rd Division were thrown into chaos, and the surviving Japanese troops began to flee desperately for their lives.

At this time, the Japanese army heard the charge horn sound behind them. Some new recruits did not understand the meaning of the charge horn, but the veterans did. As the saying goes, new recruits are afraid of artillery, and veterans are afraid of the horn. When the veterans heard the charge horn sound, they all quickened their pace and retreated. (Note 1)

There were some veterans holding the line, so the new recruits had some confidence. But when they saw the veterans starting to flee, the new recruits also followed suit.

"Don't panic. The 405th Regiment will stay behind to stop the enemy's pursuit. The rest of the troops will continue to retreat!"

A Japanese regiment commander tried to reorganize his troops, but no one listened to him at this time. A group of Japanese soldiers were only concerned with running away desperately, completely ignoring everything else.

"Kill!"

"Kill!"

"..."

The shouts and cries of killing were getting closer and closer behind them, and shells kept falling overhead, killing more and more Japanese soldiers. Especially after running forward for a distance, these Japanese recruits saw the area that had just been covered by the howitzers. The scene was like purgatory, which directly broke their will.

Many timid Japanese recruits felt their legs go weak and just stood there in a daze.

"Run, what are you doing here?"

A Japanese recruit saw his companions standing there, not daring to move, and immediately shouted loudly.

But the recruit's legs were shaking, and he said, "I, I, I can't run anymore, my legs are weak!"

"Run! The Eighth Route Army is catching up!"

As soon as the Japanese soldier finished speaking, his head exploded like a watermelon.

The pursuing Fourth Division was now within two hundred meters of the enemy. The soldiers didn't use swords, but rifles. Once within range, they crouched, aimed, and fired, continuing their pursuit.

Some soldiers with good marksmanship fired continuously while holding their guns. The sound of gunfire from the Type 56 semi-automatic rifles continued. Even if some Japanese soldiers wanted to fight back, they would be hit by multiple bullets as soon as they turned to aim and fell to the ground dead.

"Kill!"

"kill!"

"..."

The Japanese 223rd and 226th Divisions' originally orderly retreat turned into a complete rout.

"Baga, scatter, scatter, don't get close to the position, don't get close to the position!"

The 71st Division, located behind these two divisions, immediately built defensive positions on the spot after receiving the order to provide rearguard support, preparing to support the 223rd and 226th Divisions and cover their retreat.

However, at this time, only a small part of the defensive position had been dug when a large number of defeated Japanese troops rushed towards their position.

"Your Excellency, Division Commander, this is bad! The defeated soldiers of the 226th and 223rd Divisions are attacking our frontline positions. What should we do?"

"Baga, these bastards, tell them to retreat to the flank immediately!"

The commander of the 71st Division barked orders. Even using a loudspeaker, his calls were futile. With the Songhua River to their left and the faint shadow of a small Eighth Route Army unit to their right, the Japanese soldiers were desperately trying to escape.

"Order the front lines: Anyone who dares to attack the positions will be killed without mercy!"

The commander of the 71st Division, Hayasaka Kota, gritted his teeth and gave the order. It wasn't that Hayasaka Kota was cruel, but he knew that if the defeated troops rushed into the front line, it would trigger a chain reaction. The Eighth Route Army might rush into the position, and by then, the defeat would be truly unstoppable!

But at this moment, a Japanese staff officer shouted in fear: "A large number of Eighth Route Army troops appeared on the flanks!"

"Nani?"

Hayasaka Kota turned his head and saw black dots appearing on the flank defense line, and he could faintly hear sounds coming from the distance.

"Kill!"

"Kill!"

"Kill!"

"..."

The Third Corps, which had come from the flank, also joined the battle and began to surround the four Japanese divisions from the flank.

"Order the puppet troops to immediately launch an attack on the Eighth Route Army troops on the flank!"

Hayasaka Kota was also a little panicked at this moment. A large number of enemy troops appeared on the flank and they were about to be surrounded.

"Your Excellency, Division Commander, what about us?"

"Order the troops to hold their positions and never retreat!"