Chapter 53: The Bloody Battle of Tong County! Seeking Recommendations!

  The 745th Regiment, led by Regimental Commander Niu Tianchi, set out from Teng County to the outer defensive position. After the 745th Regiment arrived at the position, Zhang Biao's regiment began to withdraw in an orderly manner. Initially a full-strength regiment of over 1,000 men, it was now reduced to just one battalion, with two-thirds of its personnel lost. Zhang Biao, enraged and unwilling to retreat, was knocked unconscious by Li Gang and several guards who dragged him away from the position.

  The company commander saluted deeply to the comrades lying outside the trenches, and his eyes involuntarily left tears. The brothers who were stirring the pot with him yesterday were now lying on the battlefield, but as their brother and company commander, he couldn't even collect their bodies. The remaining soldiers of the first company all shed tears quietly, reluctantly retreating to Tong County.

  When Niu Tianchi led the 745th Regiment to the front line, he saw the corpses piled up in front of the position and blood flowing like a river. He couldn't help but shed tears. This seven-foot-tall Sichuan man gave a standard military salute to the soldiers of the Independent Division who were withdrawing.

  Zhang Mingyu stood on the city wall, watching his troops enter Tong County one after another. His heart ached with no other choice. His independent division and 122nd Division had nearly ten thousand men, if they all retreated into Tong County to fight against the devils in close combat, the devils only needed one round of artillery fire to inflict unimaginable casualties on the independent division and 122nd Division.

  There were many soldiers and horses, but they only deployed outside the city of Tongxu, rather than retreating to defend it. Although the walls of Tongxu were very strong, the Japanese 160mm howitzer could still easily blast them down. To hold onto Tongxu, the troops had to be deployed outside the city and engage in a field battle with the enemy. At first, Zhang Mingyu thought that relying on his own solid fortifications outside the city would allow him to withstand two days of Japanese attacks, but he did not expect the Japanese army to adopt this tactic of trading lives for victory. The Japanese army was willing to pay any price in blood to capture Tongxu.

  Since you, little Japan, dare to play this kind of human-flesh tactic, what's there for me, Zhang, not to dare? At worst, we'll fight till the end. As long as Zhang Mingyu is still around, with just a shout from him, an entire division can be assembled in no time, or even an army! Besides, if Zhang Mingyu is willing to speak up, he can get an army, and the old man will probably agree too.

  "Those little Japanese are fewer than us Chinese, three of them aren't even a match!" Zhang Mingyu shouted loudly.

  At high noon when the sun was shining brightly, a reinforced Japanese army squad took off their khaki military uniforms one after another, exposing their bare backs and holding guns while shouting in a language that Chinese people couldn't understand. Additionally, several of the devils had explosives strapped to their bodies.

  Soon a squad leader, holding a bayonet-equipped Type 38 rifle, shouted "Kill!" and led the charge towards the 745th Regiment's position. Behind him, each soldier attached their shiny bayonets to their rifles and followed the squad leader in a charge forward.

  At this time, the Sichuan soldiers of the 745th Regiment were squatting in the trenches. Some soldiers had pulled open the rear cover of the hand grenades at their waists, revealing the pull strings. Others were wiping their machetes back and forth with their sleeves. A small number of soldiers were loading their Han Yang rifles.

  A company commander said: "Brothers, be careful, the little devils are coming from the east, prepare for battle." The soldiers who were still crouching in the trenches just now pounced on the trenches like sharks smelling blood. Their eyes stared intently at the little devils rushing up quickly. When the devils were about 200 meters away, the two reinforced artillery companies of the devils opened fire again, and the shells roared through the air. Hearing the sound of the devil's big guns, the Sichuan army company commander shouted: "Brothers, charge forward, kill the little Japanese! Kill!"

  Over a hundred warriors holding various weapons jumped out of the trenches and charged towards the enemy's dare-to-die squad. As soon as the warriors jumped out of the trenches, the enemy's shells came down and exploded behind them. This time, two grenade launchers followed the enemy's charge, and two enemies set up the grenade launchers 500 meters away from the front-line attacking troops. With a "sizzling" sound, two shells were fired, and two hand grenades landed directly among the group of Sichuan soldiers who had just rushed out of the trenches, instantly knocking down dozens of soldiers to the ground.

  Niú Tiān Chí saw his own charging troops being hit by the enemy's grenade launchers through binoculars, and he heavily pounded the first blow, cursing loudly: "Damn it! This little devil of a Japanese is getting more and more accurate with this small cannon!"

  Just as they were about to come into contact with the devils, several devils covered in explosives suddenly emerged from the crowd of devils and detonated their explosives, charging towards the Chongqing army company. "Boom! Boom!" Several loud explosions rang out, and more than a dozen soldiers fell down.

  At this time, the two troops with the same skin color on the battlefield had already collided fiercely. Except for the dozen or so soldiers who were blown up by the devils' grenade just now, another dozen or so were blown up by the devils. Now this Sichuan army company and the devils' forces are almost evenly matched, but the gap between the two sides soon became apparent. One devil soldier can at least take down three Sichuan soldiers, although these Sichuan soldiers are also very brave, but due to their long-term lack of training, they cannot form effective coordination during combat. In contrast, the devils' three-man team, back-to-back and cooperating with each other, knocked down one Sichuan soldier after another.

  The remaining Sichuan soldiers were soon knocked down by the devils, and at this time there were no less than 70 devils left. They shouted and rushed forward in a phalanx formation. At this time, the Japanese artillery fire had stopped, and the first trench was empty. The devils quickly jumped into the trench and charged towards the rear Sichuan soldiers from the communication ditch.

  Niutianchi saw through the telescope that the devils had already rushed into the first trench, and he cursed loudly: "Turtle son's little Dongyang, brothers follow me to rush out and drive away the little devils, the position must not be lost in my 745 regiment."

  Hegang Qi was watching the battle situation in front of him through binoculars, seeing his brave subordinates charging into the Japanese trench. He immediately drew out his command knife and shouted: "Kill! Charge!" Behind him, more than 2,000 elite Japanese troops rushed forward in a frenzy. At this time, Niu Tianchi led the 745th regiment to almost annihilate the small group of Japanese soldiers who had charged into the trench, when a large Japanese army came rushing up.

  Zhang Mingyu on the city wall saw the enemy's main force rushing over from the telescope and shouted loudly: "It's bad! The devils are going to rush into the position, they must not be allowed to rush into the position! Independent division charge! Guard squad follow me up!"

  After finishing, Zhang Mingyu held a submachine gun and led the guard team to charge out of the city first. The people behind Lai San Zhang Biao also followed with the second team. Wang Tien-han's cavalry regiment, due to the trenches in front, dismounted and shouted as they charged out.

  The enemy's main force rushed to the first trench of the position, and at this time Zhang Mingyu led the guard platoon to rush to the position. Zhang Mingyu fired first, and the submachine guns in the hands of the guards behind him also roared at the same time, sweeping away a large area of ??the enemy who were rushing forward, all falling into the trench.

  The devils behind also squatted down and opened fire, and soon the guard squad suffered casualties. At this time, the devil team that rushed into the trench had been annihilated by Niu Tianchi with the 745th Regiment. Soon, the soldiers of the 745th Regiment also rushed up and engaged in a fierce hand-to-hand combat with the devils. The guard squad put their rifles on their backs and took out the bayonet boxes provided by Zhang Mingyu, fiercely opening fire at the rushing devils.

  Large numbers of devils jumped over the trenches and rushed over, the entire line was overrun by devils. The 745th Regiment soon began to suffer heavy casualties, and the Guard Platoon gradually collapsed. At this time, a group of soldiers from the second team and the cavalry regiment rushed out from behind, launching a fierce attack on the devils. All the division's soldiers fought with desperation, engaging in the most brutal battle with the devils.

  After the war, General Li Zongren recalled: "The battle of Tengxian, can be said to be the most tragic one in the whole Xuzhou campaign. Both sides suffered heavy casualties. If there was no bloody battle of Zhang Mingyu in Tengxian, how could there be a brilliant victory at Taierzhuang?"

  PS: Brothers help vote click! Little brother needs support! Help rush down the list! Thank you! Endless gratitude!