Chapter Sixty-Seven Turning Point

  The troops of the 81st Regiment, who had finally broken through the first line of defense at great cost, were suddenly bombed back by the second line of defense. In a fit of rage, they ordered indiscriminate shelling, and the 81st Mortar Battalion and the 90th Infantry Gun Company immediately opened fire on the top of the second line of defense, regardless of their own infantry being only 15 meters or even 10 meters away. The small-caliber shells rained down on the grenadiers like raindrops, while the Japanese soldiers just a few meters away were also knocked down by shrapnel. The follow-up grenadiers charged up to the top of the dike and threw grenades, but were again blown away by the Japanese artillery's indiscriminate fire. More Japanese troops took advantage of this gap to use hand grenades and explosive packs to destroy the dikes one by one. As the machine gun firepower points under the dike gradually lost, more and more Japanese soldiers rushed up to the top of the second line of defense and engaged in fierce fighting with the Chinese soldiers who emerged from the reverse slope; a group of Japanese soldiers charged up to the top of the dike, only to be beaten back by a barrage of artillery fire. The follow-up Japanese troops again charged up to the top of the dike under the cover of artillery fire, and the bodies of the dead on both sides rolled down the two sides of the dike. In the end, no more soldiers climbed up to the top of the dike. Just as a large number of Japanese soldiers were about to celebrate their victory, over a dozen points within 1,000 meters of the second line of defense exploded simultaneously, and several tons of explosives blew up a massive smoke screen that enveloped everything.

  "Tell the war zone that the 17th Division's 98th and 99th Regiments will live or die with their positions."

  On the afternoon of August 7, the weather was hot and sunny. After breaking through the Dasaha River and occupying several thousand meters of defensive lines, the Japanese army did not immediately launch a deep penetration, but instead stabilized its front line and expanded its wings. Yang Huicheng's 38th and 96th armies relied on the fortifications inside the two large dikes and the hastily constructed low dikes between them to resist the attack step by step. The Japanese army thought that the Chinese army's strange fortifications were difficult to destroy head-on, but the side attacks were not a problem. However, they encountered severe setbacks again. The connected underground fortifications built in front of and behind the two large dikes made every step forward by the Japanese troops encounter bullets and hand grenades from all directions, as well as landmines. As the Japanese army advanced, they had to worry about bullets flying overhead and hand grenades coming from below; when they turned to face one side, they were attacked from the other side. Moreover, due to the sideways attack, the numerical superiority of the light artillery could not be brought into play, and only a few infantry guns and flat-angle guns could directly bombard the enemy's strongpoints.

  Although the advance was made, but the cost of thousands of casualties for less than a thousand meters of advance made Nishio Hisao feel hollow! Heavy artillery groups? Bomber groups? How many more shells and bombs? How many more kilometers of this kind of fortification can be destroyed?

  "Mr. Okabe, please organize the situation here in writing and show it to General Terauchi. Please ask him to adopt the second set of battle plans." After finishing speaking, Nishio Toshizō sighed, "If the Chinese army is all like this, I have to doubt whether attacking the mainland is correct!"

  "Your Excellency, the Chinese army has just begun to transform. Most of our troops are still in the state of the First World War or even earlier. We have a great advantage if we take action now. It will be a crisis if we attack five or ten years later."

  "Mr. Okabe is right! Let's go ask the Temple's General for instructions! We'll temporarily cease fire! Order our troops to consolidate the occupied areas."

  Shimen First War Zone Headquarters

  "What's wrong with General Yang?" I asked Zhang Xueliang as I saw Yang Hucheng storm out.

  "It's not that I'm worried about his abilities; warlord, still a warlord; humph! Actually, so am I." Zhang Xueliang raised his wine cup and drained it in one gulp.

  "Actually, General Yang doesn't need to worry for the time being. I think Nishio's attack should be stopped now. Let's look at the battle situation in the east next, and it's even possible..."

  "What's possible?"

  "I still can't figure it out, but intuitively I think the Japanese army may temporarily give up its attack on our army and instead find a breakthrough in another area, ultimately forcing our isolated vanguard to withdraw voluntarily?"

  "From where? The Yangtze River mouth? Chahar? The former has the main force of Zhongyiang stationed, the latter is weak but even if it is lost, our army has Shanxi and there will be no great harm."

  "Shanxi!" I suddenly woke up and rushed to the map, "Han Ying brother, look, now the Kwantung Army is making its second southern advance, on an unprecedented scale, forcing Yisheng brother to retreat westward; if the Kwantung Army doesn't care about Fu's troops and heads directly south, Tang Enbo and other garrison troops at the Great Wall can only retreat southwest into Shanxi; then the Kwantung Army will attack Shanxi from the north, while the Huabei army attacks from the east! The scale will exceed what the Second War Zone can bear!" I looked up at Zhang Xueliang, "And there's also the enemy on the eastern route. We originally thought that the enemy on the eastern route would not dare to advance deeply because of their own supply lines, and would only directly attack our eastern flank positions. But if the Japanese army abandons its rear and advances straight into Shandong, occupies Qingdao, and relies on sea supplies..."

  "Ha Fujiang!" Zhang Xueliang suddenly realized.

  August 8th, a good day. But for Tang Enbo, it was not good at all. Three divisions of the Kwantung Army led by Chief of Staff Tojo Hideki marched southward, and the northern part of the Great Wall fell into enemy hands. The 84th Division fled in panic, putting the rear guard in a precarious situation; Tang had to hastily abandon the solid defensive line at Badaling and retreat southwestward, leaving behind some strong small units to block the pursuit by Itagaki's division. For Han Fuqu it was not a good day either. As soon as he returned to Jinan, he received news that Qingdao had fallen, followed by even worse news: the Second Army of Dezhou had launched an attack! The entire army mobilized and rushed towards Jinan. Han Fuqu burst into loud curses.

  "Yan Nong, De Lin and Jian Sheng, what exactly did they instruct?"

  Liao Yue did not answer directly, "Mr. Ji Kuan said 'Zi'an considers national affairs to be important.' The Duke deeply agrees with this."

  "Thank you all!" Seeing the new Gui system say this, I won't waste words either. "Now there is a long-term task that has great danger but also may bring great benefits to your system. I think only the Gui army can do it, please consider it and give me an answer within 2-3 days so I can make arrangements. If your army doesn't agree, there won't be any unfavorable factors, at least Han Ying and my Song family can guarantee that."

  "May I hear more about it?"

  "Now the Japanese army is attacking Shandong from two places, Dezhou and Qingdao. Han Fuju is isolated and has no support. Song Zheyuan, who was originally an ally, has also defected. I think Han can only retreat without a fight. Losing Shandong is regrettable. I think it would be best to have a troop that excels at mountain warfare and guerrilla warfare stationed in the central mountains of Lu to tie up the Japanese army. Among all troops, none are more skilled in this aspect than the Guangxi Army!"

  Song Canzuo did not take advantage of the new defeat of the Gui army...

  "The failure of the Texas campaign was not due to a lack of military strength, but rather an unfamiliarity with new battlefields and tactics; I have observed that in recent days, your army has been diligently learning from the strengths of other armies, and I am confident that you will achieve great things!"

  "Since you said so, I immediately went to consult with De Gong and Jian Gong... As for myself, I am very happy to undertake this task!"

  "Thank you!"

  "Thanks for reminding me! Are these new tricks from Zuo Ci?"

  "Hahaha!"

  Facing the northern army of 400,000 troops standing still like a mountain range, Zhang Xueliang and I could only sit there and continue drinking... He drank liquor, I drank soda water.

  "What about another night raid?"

  "Does the old brother really think that the devils are dead? After Xīwěi came, both the defense line and the defense force were expanded by more than one fold. However, it's still possible for cavalry to harass in the enemy's rear, let the 10th Cavalry Division come back to rest and switch with the 3rd or 6th Cavalry Division!"

  "Why don't we take advantage of our current military strength and give it a try?"

  "It's impossible, most of our troops are irregular forces, each in charge of their own territory and can only fight in a scattered way; ambushes are just one-time affairs. A strong attack? Who would dare to take the lead? It must be a case of 'all talk but no action', ending in failure. Don't believe me? Try sending the Northeast Army to lead the charge, how about that? Besides, the Japanese army is not just 1-2 divisions of small forces."

  "This won't work and that won't work, are we going to wait until the Japanese bandits have occupied Shandong Province and then taken Shanxi Province before we escape?"

  "It's inevitable that we'll have to run eventually." I said with a bitter smile, "Even if Han Fuju is willing to fight to the death and the Gui army can hold its ground in the Yimeng Mountains, it won't be enough to pose an immediate threat to the Japanese army's main force. The majority of Shandong Province is already lost! Our army will just wait for the Japanese army to come from the east and clean us up! As for Shanxi, although the Jin army is good at defense, Yan Xishan is a man you've dealt with before, his command ability is limited. If the Japanese army attacks with 5 or 6 divisions on two fronts, it would be lucky if they can hold out for half a month; by then, one road will collapse and more than half of Shanxi will also be lost."

  Jian Zhang was about to open another bottle of wine with a dejected look on his face, I quickly stopped him, "Actually, Han Ying really wants to make an effort, it's not impossible."

  "What can be done?"

  I hesitated for a moment and said: "Now the Japanese army has tied down our main force in the First War Zone with four divisions, while two large armies are attacking Shanxi and Shandong from the north and east respectively. Our only way to change the situation is to use one unit to counter-attack the strong Japanese First Army, and have our main force enter the battlefield in Shanxi or Shandong to strike at the enemy army on the move! But what if the front line collapses first..."

  "I don't care! Shanxi is not under our jurisdiction, if we have to fight, we can only fight the Second Army of Shandong!"

  "Right! I think Jinan will fall soon, Qingdao is still too far away, we'll start preparing now and withdraw some troops to the east tonight; let's see how the Japanese army acts after occupying Jinan and find an opportunity then!"

  "Which troops are you preparing to mobilize?"

  "Of course, the original Second Army defending the east was Zhang Zizhong and Sun Lianzhong, plus two central armies and your two armies. How about adding the Guangxi Army? Eight armies attacking three divisions, even if we can't swallow them whole, we can still take a big bite!"

  "Good!"

  August 9th, Pingyuan lost! The 12th Army retreated southward.

  August 10th, Zhangjiakou fell! The 68th Army retreated westward.

  August 11th, Yucheng fell! The 55th Army retreated southward.

  On August 12, the vanguard of the Kwantung Army approached Tianzhen, the gateway to Shanxi.

  August 13th, Qihe fell!

  On August 14 and 15, Isao Iijima and Keigo Nishida arrived one after another on the north bank of the Yellow River to gaze out at Jinan from afar!

  Tongrui, Li Fu'en led the 61st Army to launch a defensive battle in Tianzhen.

  Tong Rih, Han Fuju led the 3rd Army Group to leave Jinan and flee south.

  On the same day, the 21st Group Army led by Liao Cheng recaptured Dezhou and marched into Shandong along the road that the Japanese army had just passed through.