Chapter 69: Setback

  At 0:15 on August 19, the ** offensive stopped. Yamagata and Honjo were left to clean up the aftermath and deploy defenses in all directions, and they hurried to meet Prince Asaka Yasuhiko.

  "Your Highness, the Chinese army's attack on the old city has been repelled by our troops. We're now in a safe position and just need to wait for dawn when our main force arrives to wipe out these despicable Chinese soldiers."

  "General Shan, what if the enemy launches another attack tonight? What should we do?"

  "Your Highness, don't worry. Although the Chinese army is numerous, they have avoided our air reconnaissance and bombing, and have come a long way without bringing heavy artillery, relying solely on surprise attacks to gain an advantage. Now our army is waiting in ambush behind the solid city walls of Jinan, and the Chinese army cannot break through with only light weapons. After dawn, when our bomber squadrons arrive, coordinating with Lieutenant General Isogai and Lieutenant General Nakajima's attack, we will surely defeat the Chinese army beneath the city of Jinan!"

  Dongfang Jun heard Shan Gong's words and felt a bit relieved, so he pretended to be calm and said: "This is good! I don't want to lose the first battle when commanding the army for the first time!"

  "Your Highness commands with certainty and will surely achieve success; now please rest while I go make arrangements for defense."

  At this time, I and Zhang Xueliang also arrived at the temporary command post set up by Sun Lianzhong near Jinan Airport.

  "Our army's attack on the old city district was unsuccessful."

  "No need to rush, let's wait for our artillery to arrive before attacking. And what about the Northeast Army Artillery Instruction Team going to receive that field artillery regiment from the 109th Division? Most of the big guns should still be intact, right?" I wasn't paying attention, flipping through the reports from various departments, "According to the comprehensive statistics from each department, our army killed over 11,000 Japanese soldiers... wait, and captured over 1,000? How can there be so many prisoners?" I found it strange, this was only '37, Japanese soldiers wouldn't have that many cowards, would they?

  Sure, here is the translation:

  "Sure enough, as expected, 'the vast majority of prisoners seem to be North Koreans...'"

  "Report to the commander, artillery instruction team report, most of the Japanese artillery battalion's cannons were not damaged, but the Japanese had blown up the ammunition depot, and the instruction team only found more than 200 rounds of artillery shells at the artillery position."

  "What? This is terrible!" I bitterly smiled, no big guns to break through Jinan's strong city walls.

  "How's it going? Is there any hope of breaking through the city?" Zhang Xueliang anxiously asked.

  "It's going to be tough tonight," I sighed. "The walls of Jinan are over eight meters high and ten meters thick; even if our artillery is in good order, it may not necessarily break through, let alone the fact that our troops have been marching for a long time and can't carry many shells for the recoilless guns. I had thought of taking a gamble to capture the Japanese artillery battalion to use, but unfortunately the ammunition depot was bombed; besides, the ladders we prepared for climbing the wall are basically damaged, and now it's impossible to prepare properly in a short period of time."

  "What's to be done?"

  "You're the commander, you decide? There are still about 13 to 15 thousand devils in the city, including Kutsuzawa. Either we launch a strong attack tonight at all costs and may be able to take it down with 20,000 casualties, or maybe we'll suffer heavy losses but still can't take it down; or we retreat tonight. The loss will also include the loss of the Guangxi Army's containment of the enemy army and our defense of the Yellow River; when I came from upstream, I had arranged for all ships on the Yellow River to be either detained on the south bank or destroyed directly... I sighed again, "Downstream, I have arranged for one unit each from the 1st and 2nd Group Armies to do the same; any that don't stop on the south bank will be completely eliminated, no matter who they are. Han Ying, there's no need to say more, I'll sign my name and take responsibility, after all, my backing is solid! Hehe!"

  "What's the percentage of taking it down tonight?" Zhang Xueliang asked.

  "Considering it's Tsubame, how about half?"

  Zhang Xueliang was still thinking when a telegram from Nanjing arrived: "Hope to continue the fight in the Shandong war zone, recapture Jinan and capture Wang Yuping alive; spare no cost."

  Following Chiang's order, we don't need to consider it anymore. "Battle zone command, all departments execute the second set of plans, except for the river defense department, the main force will retreat to the outskirts of Jinan and prepare to attack the city tonight."

  At the same time, Kijūrō Ishizuka and Heitaro Kimura on the north bank of the Yellow River also received a telegram from Tokyo: "Rescue the besieged troops in Jinan at all costs; ensure the safety of the Imperial Palace at all costs... Otherwise, please do as you wish!"

  "What should I do?"

  "Only forced crossing attack."

  "What are we going to rely on? The materials for building bridges have been used up, and only a few ships are left; can't cross the Yellow River by rubber dinghy?"

  "The troops are coming down from upstream, and all the boats upstream will definitely be taken away; but we can go downstream to find boats."

  "I think we can go upstream instead, the Chinese army will be off guard after collecting all the ships, and the narrower river surface upstream is conducive to our army's stealthy crossing."

  "Alright, I'll give you most of the rafts to go upstream, and keep the boats for me to go downstream."

  "No way, we only have two divisions, and if we split up, we'll be powerless to lift the siege."

  "Otherwise, we'll separately search and prepare for the upper and lower reaches. Whichever direction allows the army to cross the Yellow River will be the route taken. In any case, there's still half a division by your side, General. The White Army won't be able to break into the city during the day."

  At 5:30 in the morning, at the same time as the sun rose from the eastern horizon, various bomber groups of the Japanese Army and Navy Air Forces also arrived, what a coincidence!

  Almost two hundred bombers of various types surrounded the old city of Jinan, raining down like a storm. The east and north sides were still intact, but the west and south sides of the new city district instantly turned into an ocean of smoke and fire.

  "Fortunately, our troops have already withdrawn from the city walls."

  "Stop flattering! How was the effect of mobilizing residents to evacuate a few hours ago?"

  "There will always be some who refuse to leave."

  "They are just foolish commoners and potential Han traitors, tell each unit not to expose the target for rescue, only allow relief for civilians who actively escape into our army's hiding places!" Anyway, 'killing civilians' has already been done, what's there to fear? I simply ignore it. "Order each unit to prepare seriously, especially the 8-meter-long ladder, both quantity and quality need to be guaranteed!"

  Just as I was talking about the traitors, the effect of 'traitor' appeared around me for the first time. After dawn, the first batch of troops from the 10th Division who went upstream to find boats had a great harvest in the Yellow River Bay west of Qihe (now the area between Panzhuang Village and Huaimiao Village on the south bank of the Yellow River west of Jinan, where the Yellow River was divided into two routes at that time, with an island in between; not the current Qihe). A batch of civilian ships hiding and temporarily avoiding being detained were captured by the Japanese army along with their crew. Matsumoto and Nakajima were greatly encouraged when they heard the news and immediately concentrated their troops to prepare for this place.

  After the large group of Japanese bombers returned, the sky was still dominated by small groups of Japanese fighters and light bombers, with planes constantly diving down to bomb and strafe suspected targets; it seems that for the safety of the Crown Prince, the devils were desperate!

  At 8:40, a loud cannon sound was heard from the direction of Qihe River (old Qihe River, most of which is now under the Yellow River, located in the southeast of Xinan Street Village), and the Japanese army launched an attack?

  I and Zhang Xueliang in the command center were just suspicious, but on the front line, Feng Anbang was already stunned! Only to see a large number of ships mixed with rubber rafts, taking advantage of the rolling eastward flow of the Yellow River, rapidly rushing out from the opposite river channel, heading straight for the southern shore. The 27th Division deployed on the southern shore had only one squad every hundred meters, and even these squads had only dug their own individual anti-tank trenches. The Yellow River is not the Yangtze River, even in flood season, plus the backward communication, when I received Feng Anbang's report from across the mountain, the first batch of Japanese troops had already successfully landed with light casualties.

  Zhang Xueliang hesitated, "Launch a full counterattack!?"

  "No way! The Japanese army must have deployed a field artillery regiment on the other side of the river, and we only have some mortars. Once our troops are exposed by the river, they will be slaughtered." I said while checking the map. "What troops are there in Xipan Village (now Panzhuang Village) to the west?"

  "Is 42nd Army Zhang Huatang **44th Division."

  I adjusted my attire, pulled Zhang Xueliang into the adjacent 2nd Army Group's front command which was in the process of relocating. "General Sun, the situation is now critical, the war zone hopes your army can block the Japanese military's attack for just one day."

  Zhang Xueliang felt very embarrassed, "Your army's losses, I and Zi'an will think of a way to make up for them as much as possible, no need to say more."

  Sun Lianzhong sighed, "When fighting an external war, we don't discuss prices. Whatever the two officers command is how we'll fight!"

  I exchanged a glance with Zhang, seeing him push and pull, I had to say, "The 44th Division will immediately disperse from the west and launch a counterattack, trying to delay and pin down the Japanese army as much as possible; The 31st Division will deploy north of Longwang Temple, leaving one regiment to guard Longwang Temple, throwing in as many troops as needed to delay the Japanese army's crossing speed at all costs; The 27th and 30th Divisions will build main fortifications on the mountain behind us, one in Zhouguantun and Zhongdianpu, this two divisions will be the main defensive force. The 51st Army will dispatch troops to join the counterattack, under your command, trying to cover your main force completing defensive fortifications."

  I finished speaking and Zhang Xueliang also let out a sigh, "Brother Fang Lu, I'm counting on you!"

  Sun Lianzhong silently paid his respects and then turned around and walked out; Zhang Xueliang and I let out a long sigh together.

  At 9:25, the 42nd Army launched a counterattack on both the eastern and western fronts simultaneously. The old soldiers of the Northwestern Army were scattered, slowly advancing towards the Japanese army, attracting their attention, and covering the howitzer troops hiding near the Japanese landing point.

  Here is the translation:

  As expected, facing the scattered Chinese troops, the Japanese army, which had cut off its supply lines, did not call in artillery support and only fired with their light weapons. As soon as they came under fire, the soldiers of the 44th Brigade and the 31st Division immediately took cover, either returning fire with accurate shooting or slowly advancing while crawling. Just as the Japanese were mocking them, a hidden mortar unit nearby opened fire, and several rounds of 81mm mortar shells accurately hit the wooden boats on the banks of the Yellow River. With a loud explosion, one lucky shell detonated a pile of infantry artillery shells, causing the artillerymen who were unloading the ships to panic and shout in disarray. At that moment, the Japanese artillery officer had already calculated the data, and two newly deployed infantry artillery companies immediately opened fire, with the first batch of shells blowing up an exposed mortar unit; but the remaining mortars continued firing without regard for their own safety, launching dozens of rounds into the beachhead before being destroyed. Seeing the beachhead and the only ships being threatened and damaged, Nagase Takeo (Commander of the 8th Brigade of the 10th Division) gave a signal with his command sword, and a group of Japanese soldiers jumped up to charge forward. The Northwestern Army troops who were lying on the ground immediately opened fire, and as the Japanese approached, long-handled grenades flew through the air, with both sides suffering continuous casualties; as more and more Japanese soldiers arrived, the Northwestern Army's counterattacking units were completely annihilated.