Chapter 63 River Embankment

  The First Army directly controls the 1st and 2nd Field Heavy Artillery Brigades; the 8th Field Heavy Artillery Regiment, the 1st and 3rd Mountain Artillery Regiments; the 1st and 2nd Tank Regiments.

  The 6th Division governs the 11th Brigade (13th and 47th Regiments), the 36th Brigade (23rd and 45th Regiments) and the 6th Field Artillery Regiment.

  The 14th Division governs the 27th Brigade (2nd and 59th Regiments), the 28th Brigade (15th and 50th Regiments) and the 20th Field Artillery Regiment.

  The 20th Division includes the 39th Brigade (77th and 78th Regiments), the 40th Brigade (79th and 80th Infantry Regiments) and the 26th Field Artillery Regiment. (During the invasion of China, a detachment mainly composed of the 80th Regiment was left in Korea.)

  On the morning of July 31, the busy soldiers returned to the rear shelter of the "Great Dyke" after another half-night of activity, and the front-line troops continued to wait in a tight array.

  In the green tent north of Dashah River, Xiang Yueqing (Commander of the 1st Army) and Gū Shòufū (Commander of the 6th Division) put down their high-power binoculars. "Gang Bù Jun (Gang Bu Zhi Sanlang, Chief of Staff of the 1st Army), what is the Operations Department's estimate?"

  "According to aerial reconnaissance, analysis of bombing and artillery effects show that the Chinese army has built two parallel riverbank-style defensive positions behind each major river, with a distance of 250-300 meters between them. The main position is supported by a 6-7 meter high 'riverbank' construction, with multiple zigzag trenches and numerous scattered bunkers in front of, on top of, and behind the bank; and strangely, they are arranged in a nearly flat circular shape at the regimental level. Yesterday's exploratory bombing and artillery fire were not very effective. It has been confirmed that the Chinese army facing us is 1 corps from the Northeast Army, with unknown local troops on both flanks, each consisting of 1 corps; relying on the two 'riverbanks', both lines have deployed 4 regiments; there are also reserve forces of a certain scale in the rear."

  "It seems the Chinese army has set up a strange formation? I should ask Tōyama Kikan (Tōyama Kenji, commander of the 14th Division), when did Zhang Xueliang learn this trick? Haha!"

  Kokuryūkō said with a smile, "Commander, although I don't understand the strange formation of the Chinese army, as the saying goes 'the landscape can be changed but one's nature is hard to change', the old problem of the Chinese army being defeated and collapsing in an instant will definitely still exist; I suggest we launch an immediate attack, break through at one point and then expand to both wings."

  "Commander, I suggest the 6th Division attacks from the front, the 14th Division makes a detour from the east, one part of the 20th Division holds down the west side, and the rest are kept in reserve."

  Kō Gensei thought for a moment, "The Chinese army's line is very long, our troops are far away from the Pinghan Line, and supplies will be a problem, which will also delay time; except that the western mountainous area is not suitable for the main force to attack, I think the 6th and 14th Divisions can launch a simultaneous frontal attack at the same time; break through one point, and disperse the rest... The Isogai Division had already won a great victory yesterday..."

  "Alright! Break through one point and scatter the rest!"

  At 7:20, the 150 heavy howitzers of the 1st and 2nd Field Heavy Artillery Groups launched a fierce artillery bombardment on the central and eastern parts of the Dashagou defense line. Four heavy artillery battalions took turns firing continuously for an hour before stopping, with nearly 6,000 rounds of heavy shells sweeping across the "river embankment" defensive positions held by the 49th Army's 118th Division's 703rd and 705th Regiments and the 3rd Army's 7th Division's 38th and 41st Regiments. After the smoke cleared, at 8:30, Kaji Suketami and Tsuchihashi Yoshiji simultaneously issued attack orders; large groups of Japanese troops from the 47th and 15th Regiments carried rubber boats towards the riverbank, while the field artillery and howitzers of the 6th and 20th Field Artillery Battalions continued to provide direct fire support. At 8:45, the first batch of Japanese rubber boats approached the south bank of the river, and the Japanese field artillery battalions began to extend their firing range; the defensive positions still did not return a single shot.

  At 8:48, the first batch of Japanese troops from the 47th Brigade began to land on the central route. Suddenly, a row of shooting holes appeared at the bottom of the broken "river embankment" 50 meters away, and hundreds of light and heavy machine guns started firing simultaneously. At the same time, the Japanese field artillery and infantry guns, rapid-fire guns, etc. on the distant shore accurately hit or flew over the top of the slope; As a result, the unobstructed Japanese troops on the shore were tragically slaughtered, with more than 500 people in three companies being killed under intense firepower. Most of the bodies and a small number of Japanese soldiers who pretended to be dead in the pile of bodies were later blown up by shells from the Japanese field artillery brigade due to incorrect adjustment of shooting parameters.

  At 8:50, the 15th Brigade of the Eastern Route re-enacted a tragedy.

  The next 40 minutes were the time for the Japanese army to retaliate. The 150 howitzers and 100 cannons of the 1st and 2nd Heavy Artillery Regiments, and the 75 field guns and 105 howitzers of the 6th and 20th Field Artillery Regiments poured tens of thousands of shells onto the "River Bank", causing more than a meter of the "River Bank" to be blown away, with some areas exceeding two meters. Tanaka Tsunefu and Doihara Kenji were still not at ease, so they sent a telegram directly to Tokugawa Yoshitomi (Commander of the North China Temporary Air Unit), and a large number of light and heavy bombers flew over again to clean up the position; At 10:00, the 47th and 15th Regiments launched another river-crossing attack.

  At 10:15, the Japanese 47th Regiment landed again with great momentum. Within 50 meters, most of the strongholds on the lower edge of the dam were revived, and hundreds of machine guns swept through the unobstructed Japanese vanguard once more, resulting in over 300 casualties.

  At the same time, the 15th Brigade also continued its tragic performance.

  "Your Excellency, the fortifications of the Chinese army are extremely solid, and unless they are directly hit by heavy artillery, it is impossible to destroy them!"

  "Your Excellency, the fortifications of the Chinese army are extremely strong and our heavy artillery can hardly hit them directly."

  "Commander, I suggest using special ammunition!" Kaju Toshio spoke up.

  "Are the artillery and air force out of options?"

  Okabe Nizo bowed his head, "Unless a long time of heavy artillery bombardment and continuous bombing, perhaps it can be replaced, but..."

  "Then use it!"

  At 11:05, the Japanese artillery battalion fired at 'River Bank' again. The explosion was small but a low-hanging white smoke rose and lingered for a long time.

  At 11:20, the 47th and 15th Regiments, wearing gas masks, crossed the river for the third time. Meanwhile, Japanese light bombers continuously bombed and strafed the **rear zigzag trenches**, hindering the **reserve troops from advancing to reinforce**; they also countered with professional and 'amateur' anti-aircraft machine guns.

  At 11:35, the Japanese army, with bated breath, finally set foot on the south bank of the Dasaha River again without encountering gunfire. Seeing the Japanese troops advancing towards the "river embankment" tens of meters away with cheers and jubilation, Tani Hisao burst out laughing, "The rear echelon is advancing quickly!"

  The Japanese army advanced to within 10 meters of the "river embankment", where there was originally a trench several meters deep (half of the soil for the "river embankment" came from here), but now many had collapsed. The front Japanese troops tried to cross, while the rear troops crowded up, and hundreds of meters away on the other side of the river, the follow-up Japanese troops were paddling rubber rafts with all their might. At this moment, **the firepower point was revived again, and hundreds of light and heavy machine guns fired again**, sweeping down hundreds of Japanese troops who had landed, and only a few managed to escape by jumping into the trench in front of them; while **machine guns swept over their heads and shot at the Japanese on the river**, sending the second batch of Japanese troops, along with their rafts, into the river bottom (although not deep); and then a group of **grenade soldiers wearing Japanese-style gas masks climbed to the top of the embankment** and threw hand grenades into the trench before the Japanese counterattack artillery fire arrived, blowing the Japanese in the trench to pieces.

  "Didn't anyone think that the Northeastern Army also had gas masks? And they were even sold to them by the Empire?"

  Facing the commander who was furious, Okabe Nizo and others' heads were already lowered as low as they could go.

  "Order the heavy artillery regiment to move forward, and use direct fire to blast a section of the Chinese army's 'river embankment'!" Commander Kiyoshi said viciously, "Also, please ask Lord Tokugawa to dispatch heavy bombers to assist."

  At 13:50, the cumbersome heavy artillery regiment finally completed its relocation. The 100mm howitzer and 75mm field gun aimed at the "river embankment" less than 1,000 meters away and continued to fire; behind them, the 105mm and 150mm howitzers laid down a blanket of covering fire; afterwards, the 6th Flying Squadron's large formation of 'heavy' bombers appeared in the sky, with heavy bombs continuously falling on the "river embankment", stirring up a large amount of floating earth.

  At 15:30, many "river embankments" had been destroyed and could not be found, the rest were also badly damaged; Xiang Yueqing waved his hand, and the four battalions of the newly replaced 13th Regiment of the 6th Division and the 50th Regiment of the 14th Division, with nearly 4,000 officers and soldiers, launched the fourth river crossing operation. The field artillery regiments began to extend their firing range; a large number of light bombers from the 5th Flying Brigade dived down to attack the ** that were advancing forward along the communication trenches.

  At 15:50, the first batch of Japanese troops landed on the south bank. This time was different from before, with only a dozen machine guns and a small number of rifles still firing, apparently many sections had already been lost; The Japanese machine gun squad immediately lay down and fired back, covering the infantry's advance, and at the cost of hundreds of casualties, they finally crawled into the basically collapsed trenches. Another batch climbed up to the top of the dike and threw grenades, killing and wounding them, while the Japanese troops behind used accurate rifles and grenade launchers to counterattack, also knocking down many grenadiers; Both sides opened fire on each other.

  As more and more Japanese troops poured onto the south bank, hundreds of Japanese soldiers crawled out of the trenches and approached the broken "river dike". At this time, a whistle sounded, and hundreds of ** emerged from the defensive artillery caves behind the "river dike", ignoring the enemy planes and cannons' bombardment, quickly rushing up to the "river dike" and throwing hand grenades at the crowded Japanese troops below. The continuous explosions blew away batches of Japanese soldiers; The Japanese also counterattacked with shells, but due to their own infantry being too close, they hit very few targets, relying on the first line of Japanese infantry to continue fighting.

  At this time, 200-300 meters behind the second "river dike" on the reverse slope, a sudden cannon sound boomed, and a row of mortars accurately flew over the Japanese troops' heads. Just as it exploded on the shore and riverbank, hundreds of rubber boats that were crowded on the shore and had just set off were damaged or sunk; As the Japanese planes turned to attack ** mortar positions, hundreds of ** emerged from the trenches in front of the second "river dike", quickly rushing up to the first "river dike" and throwing another round of hand grenades, mixed with light machine gun fire, killing and wounding large numbers of panicked Japanese soldiers. The Japanese troops behind saw that the situation was not good, and they jumped into the Dasaha River to escape; But unexpectedly, although the Dasaha River was wide (at the end of July in the rainy season), it was very shallow along the shore; Although the Japanese artillery desperately blocked the shooting, they could not save these four battalions from almost complete annihilation.

  The only difference was that Kaji Yashio beheaded the commander of the 6th Heavy Weapons Battalion with one stroke, while Tofei Genji smiled and patted the commander of the 14th Heavy Weapons Battalion on the shoulder because the rubber boat had been completely consumed.