Chapter Seventy Persistence

  August 19th, mostly cloudy turning overcast.

  At 10:00, the Righteous Army's beachhead was gradually expanding. As more troops from the 31st Division arrived, the Northwestern Army launched its second counterattack from the east. Hundreds of soldiers from the 185th and 186th Regiments advanced scattered, while the Righteous Army, in order to conserve ammunition, did not dare to respond with a hail of bullets. Both sides exchanged rifle fire, interspersed with the Righteous Army's grenade launchers' precision kills. Seeing the obvious containment of the enemy's advance, the Righteous Army, which urgently needed time, finally gathered its forces and launched a counterattack. The North Shore Field Artillery Regiment fired a round of rapid-fire shells at the 31st Division's counterattacking troops, after which Nagase Takashi ordered thousands of Righteous Army soldiers to charge eastward, disregarding the remaining counterattacking troops in front of them. The residual 31st Division troops lay on the ground and resisted with rifles and hand grenades, causing the Righteous Army's unprotected charge to suffer heavy casualties. Many Righteous Army soldiers were blown up by hand grenades after approaching the enemy lines.

  Very soon, after annihilating the remnants on Chung Feng Road, the Japanese army continued to charge eastward under the cover of another round of rapid fire from the artillery regiment on the north shore. The opposing forces were two machine gun companies and a small number of straggling riflemen from the 185th and 186th regiments, who were the remnants of the previous charge's two battalions; but the fortifications had only been slightly reinforced with individual defensive positions. Shortly afterwards, the Japanese army quickly approached the northern flank, and the three remaining heavy machine guns of the 2nd battalion of the 186th regiment opened fire together, sweeping over the charging Japanese soldiers with three continuous streams of bullets. However, before they could finish half a belt of ammunition, dozens of grenades flew in from all directions, blowing up the machine gun crews along with their guns. Seeing that the machine guns had been destroyed, the Japanese soldiers who had just taken cover immediately jumped up and continued to charge, now facing only one remaining light machine gun and several dozen rifles; the light machine gun was lucky enough to finish off a single clip of ammunition before being destroyed by a grenade while reloading. The Japanese soldiers charged within 50 meters before encountering a row of hand grenades, and in the midst of the smoke, they charged right up to the enemy's face, engaging in a brief bayonet fight before continuing to advance.

  After reviewing the intelligence from all sides, I fell into contemplation. 'The Japanese army crossed the Yellow River by surprise attack but did not set up a pontoon bridge relying on ships under the protection of absolute air and ground firepower advantages, and the ships returned to the north bank to transport follow-up troops. The main force landed in three directions and attacked eastward along the south bank of the Yellow River.' My finger slid to the right on the map: Zhouguantun, Yaoshan, Longkou. "I understand!"

  "What's going on?"

  "Look, Han Ying, the Japanese army is getting some ships in the river bend west of Qihe River. With two divisions of the Gui army holding them back from behind, it's impossible for the main force, especially the artillery, to cross the river within a day and night and fight all the way to the old city of Jinan to rescue Yu Yan. They can only rely on raiding part of the troops that crossed the river in the south, relying on the cover of the artillery group and aircraft group on the north bank, advancing east along the river, with infantry covering the ships on the Yellow River downstream to the area around Xunkou to Xinchen, where there are still some remaining bridging materials. Then, they can directly attack from north to south to rescue the enemy besieged in Jinan. This way, the heaviest artillery doesn't need to cross the river, which reduces the burden of covering the flanks and artillery, and saves crucial time."

  "Zi An is right! The Japanese army has two artillery groups that can take turns covering and moving, plus air support, which is enough to suppress our army without artillery; as long as they can occupy the mouth of the river, the artillery group deployed on Quaye Mountain can cover the infantry all the way to the city of Jinan."

  Adjust the deployment! Sun Lianzhong, under the artillery fire and bombing of the Japanese army, personally commanded the 27th Division to dig fortifications in the Zhouguantun area. At the same time, Yu Xuezhang also led the 51st Army's 113rd Division and the only direct artillery force under the war zone to dig fortifications on Yaoshan Mountain. The 114th Division was deployed south of Yaoshan Mountain as a reserve team. To the east, part of the 59th Army also moved up to occupy Xincheng, Weizhuang, and Huangtaishan areas to cover the northern flank. On the front line, Chi Fengcheng left only one regiment on the southern side for defense, while leading the main force of the 31st Division to continuously launch counterattacks, using their lives to delay the Japanese army's advance.

  It wasn't even 1 pm yet, and as the remnants of the 31st Division's defeated soldiers fled past the unfinished defensive positions, a large group of Japanese troops suddenly appeared in front of the officers and men of the 27th Division. This was immediately followed by a rapid bombardment from the 10th Field Artillery Regiment on the north bank, with nearly 400 shells raining down. Before the smoke had even cleared, a large group of Japanese troops charged forward, but were met with continuous and uninterrupted fire from the dozens of heavily fortified machine gun emplacements that had been constructed in advance. The Japanese troops' grenade launchers fired back, but even when they accurately hit the tops of the machine gun emplacements directly above them, they were unable to destroy the earthen structures' roofs. Faced with a hail of machine gun fire, the Japanese troops' charge was finally suppressed for the first time, and they retreated like a receding tide.

  The Japanese ground troops had just retreated, and the Japanese bomber formation immediately descended, conducting a mid-to-high altitude horizontal bombing raid! A string of small bombs basically accurately fell into the 27th Division's position, kicking up clouds of smoke, occasionally even sending **flying into the air together. After the aircraft finished dropping their payload and climbed away, the crossfire from the Western 10th Artillery Regiment's howitzers and the Eastern 22nd Artillery Regiment's mortars began simultaneously, this time with sustained fire, slowly firing heavy artillery shells in rows, 10 minutes, 30 howitzers fired; before the smoke had even cleared, the Japanese launched another attack, again with large groups of infantry at the front, but this time towing infantry guns and flat-trajectory cannons.

  "Fire?" asked Zhang Xueliang, who was lying on the mountain with me, observing the battle through binoculars.

  "What are you going to fight with? Haven't the heavy artillery already been moved up Mount Yao by Yu Xuezong?"

  "There are still over 200 rounds of ammunition from last night's capture, aren't there? I've already ordered them to be moved to the south side of Yao Mountain for concealment. The instructors said it can be fired."

  "Just 200 rounds of artillery shells, it's just enough to scare the enemy, let's use them during critical moments!"

  The Japanese army, rushing towards the Zhouguantun line, encountered again the 27th Division's dozens of heavy machine guns weaving a bullet net. This time, however, the Japanese army immediately dropped down, with minimal losses, and the various light artillery they carried began firing at the front line; almost simultaneously, the mortars behind the 27th Division also started firing. The shells from the dozens of small cannons on both sides crossed over in mid-air, with most accurately hitting their targets under the skilled hands of the gunners. This was followed by intense and rapid fire from both artillery forces. By the time the Japanese army realized what was happening, half of its heavy machine gun squads and most of its light artillery squads had been wiped out. However, the Japanese still had reinforcements, and a batch of mortars immediately filled in the gaps left by the destroyed infantry guns and flat-trajectory cannons; the mortars began firing at the enemy positions. The Japanese infantry also took advantage of the weakened machine gun fire to launch a charge. As they approached, numerous light machine guns on the defensive line opened fire, with dozens or even hundreds of rounds of gunfire cutting down wave after wave of charging Japanese soldiers. The Japanese grenade launchers were also accurate in their firing, destroying one enemy light machine gun squad after another. The charging Japanese troops entered within 50 meters, and both sides began exchanging long-handled grenades and "sweet melons" (a type of grenade). As they approached to within 30 meters, the peak was reached, with hundreds of hand grenades blowing up the enemy positions into a mess. The Japanese soldiers then charged into the first trench line, engaging in fierce close combat with bayonets against big knives. The subsequent waves of Japanese troops and the defenders clashed again at a distance of several dozen meters, exchanging another round of grenade throws and single-shot rifle fire before colliding fiercely together. The Japanese relied on the length of their Type 38 rifles and excellent small-unit combat coordination to continuously infiltrate the enemy lines; many defenders dropped their guns and swung big knives in a desperate bid for survival, covering their comrades as they threw grenades and fired at the enemy.

  Bloodshed, everywhere was a bloody killing spree. Two regiments of the Japanese army were annihilated on the battlefield in front of Zhouguantun like meat grinders; when the third regiment and the 27th Division's 159th Regiment, which had rushed up to the battlefield, fell into a state of mutual destruction, Isogai Rensuke could no longer bear it, ordering the artillery battalion to cover everything indiscriminately. Eight rounds of rapid-fire shells swept over, blowing thousands of people still in close combat on the battlefield to pieces. However, the battle still did not end. When Nagase Takeo led his troops to charge up and swallow the position that had taken half of his troops, he was still met with scattered resistance from the remaining officers and men hiding in the artillery trenches; one bullet even hit Nagase's left shoulder. In the end, more than three regiments of the 8th Brigade and nearly three regiments of the 27th Division fell together on the battlefield west of Zhouguantun.

  This was still the result of Zhang Xueliang, who had entered the 30th Army's front command, suppressing Sun Lianzhong's hand as he prepared to put in the last regiment of the 27th Division. "General Sun, it's our turn for the Northeastern Army." At this time, after inspecting the fortifications that the Northeastern Army was still rushing to repair, I climbed down from Yao Mountain and happened to see the captured artillery of the 109th Brigade, and had a very meaningful discussion with the Northeastern Army's artillery officers.

  At the same time, the Japanese army also replaced Sasaki Dōichi, and Nagase Takehira was lucky enough to sit on a boat back north of the Yellow River. As the 16th Division's infantry took over the main attacking position, the 10th Field Artillery Regiment in Hebei also moved its artillery position eastward, with the 22nd Field Artillery Regiment taking over the fire support mission. The remaining remnants of the 8th Brigade were reorganized into three battalions to cover the flanks and rear of the 30th Brigade and serve as a reserve force.

  At 2:15 pm, the 22nd Field Artillery Regiment fired hundreds of shells at Zhouguantun and its eastern areas, which had just been bombed by bombers. Shortly after, the 33rd and 38th Regiments launched a simultaneous attack on the east and southeast sides. A small number of scattered soldiers with accurate marksmanship and landmines made the Japanese army pay a heavy price of over a hundred casualties and wasted nearly half an hour before crawling to the front line. After four hours of fierce fighting, they had established a preliminary defensive position, and the widespread use of individual foxholes made the Japanese artillery and bombing ineffective except for direct hits. Seeing that it was almost 3 pm, Sasaki Doichi did not dare to waste any more time, so he launched a feint attack on the south side with one battalion, while another battalion advanced east along the river, concentrating his main force to blast a path through artillery and bombing directly towards Yao Mountain position.