Chapter Seventy-One: Medicine Mountain
At 3:20 pm on the 19th, the field artillery and howitzers of the 22nd Field Artillery Regiment on the north shore bombarded 'Yaoshan' and its vicinity for 15 minutes. A large number of Japanese planes were still circling in the air. The four battalions of the 30th Brigade launched a charge against the National Army together, immediately encountering the Northeastern Army's excellent rapid-fire weapons counter-attack. Hundreds of light and heavy machine guns poured out bullets at a torrential speed, with the front row of Japanese soldiers falling down, indicating targets for the rear row of light artillery and machine guns; Japanese grenade launchers fired one after another, smashing Nationalist machine gun nests, covering the advancing Japanese troops; The National Army's mortars also immediately counterattacked, drawing return fire from Japanese light artillery. Bullets and shells from both sides wove a dense network of fire between the two armies, devouring the Japanese who attempted to cross over.
As the front row of Japanese troops was blocked by the National Army's firepower, and the subsequent Japanese troops continued to press on, more and more Japanese troops gathered on the ground, attracting the attention of Zhang Guanglie, the commander of the "Yao" Mountain peak. Yu Xuezhang, who was also at the 113th Division's front command post, steeled himself and shouted, "Fire!" The artillerymen, who had already calculated the parameters, immediately fired, and the 12 120mm heavy howitzers hidden behind the "Yao" Mountain peak poured hundreds of rounds of heavy shells into the crowded Japanese charging troops within a minute! The iron shell fragments flew around, harvesting lives at several times the number of steel fragments.
Just as the National Army had just pulled back the heavy artillery to the bunker, the Japanese army's heavy artillery coverage arrived again on "Medicine" Mountain, and the huge explosive power of the field artillery and howitzer even caused the bunker to collapse. The Japanese army took advantage of the momentum to launch a charge, and the front-line National Army used the remaining half of the light machine guns and most of the intact heavy machine guns to weave out a bullet net again, sweeping away rows of Japanese soldiers; but the numerical superiority formed by the four Japanese battalions' grenade launchers and mortar battalions eventually overwhelmed the Northeastern Army's several mortar companies. As the mortars were all "silenced", the light machine guns without cover were one by one "picked off" by the Japanese, and even the heavy machine guns with earthwork covers were hit by the infantry cannons and flat-shooting cannons that had been pushed to the front line; as the National Army's firepower continued to weaken, the heavily wounded Japanese army finally launched another charge. A row of long-handled hand grenades flew out of the trenches, blowing up the first batch of devils into pieces, and then more than a dozen infantry companies jumped up and launched a counter-charge. Thousands of people from both sides immediately clashed fiercely together, with rifles against rifles, bayonets against bayonets, and hand grenades flying around. Soon, hundreds of people fell down; but both sides still threw in new troops without regard for anything, allowing this large-scale "flesh" battle to continue.
When Sasaki Doichi put the remaining two battalions of the 8th Brigade into battle, he realized that this time the "flesh" fight was a premeditated move by the National Army! Only in this way could the powerful heavy artillery and bombing of the Japanese army not be effective! But it was too late! When the newly crossed 9th Regiment joined the battle, they finally occupied the National Army's position at the foot of "Yaoshan" Mountain, but the Japanese army had already paid a price of more than 2,000 casualties, and the time was approaching 4:30! The redeployed 10th Field Artillery Regiment on Quanyang Mountain began to bombard again, followed by the 22nd Field Artillery Regiment, with over 70 "doors" of 75mm field guns and 105mm howitzers firing in unison, occasionally pausing for aerial bombing raids. During this period, the 10th Division's 10th Regiment also crossed the Yellow River, deploying alongside the 16th Division's 20th Regiment, while the 30th Brigade was reorganized into three battalions along the riverbank.
"Nakajima-kun, are you suggesting that we ask His Highness to implement an emergency plan?"
"Doesn't Mr. Kiyotaka have confidence in this 'wave' of attack?"
"Does Nakajima-san have confidence in defending Yamagata for another night?"
"Does General Ji have confidence in safely escorting the Emperor across the Yellow River with government troops on both flanks of the mountain pass?"
The two exchanged a glance and couldn't help but let out a long sigh together. "Please decide for yourself, Your Highness!"
At 5:05, the sun was still high in the western mountains and refused to set. The Japanese artillery fired their last salvo of rapid shots, and before the smoke had cleared, tens of thousands of infantrymen launched a charge towards Yao Mountain from three directions - west, north, and south. What a magnificent sight! This thought had just flashed through Sasamoto Doichi's mind when the thunderous sound of Japanese heavy artillery boomed again. Was it coming from the south? Every officer and soldier on both sides who were present thought they must have misheard! But they hadn't made a mistake - over 20 field guns and howitzers from the original Japanese 109th Field Artillery Regiment had launched a surprise attack on the completely exposed Japanese 10th Field Artillery Regiment deployed on the north bank of the Yellow River! Rapid fire! The artillery battalion of the Northeastern Army's training unit, along with some scattered artillery units that had been hastily organized, fired ten rounds in just over two minutes, hitting the unprepared 10th Field Artillery Regiment on the north bank with their limited ammunition of over 200 shells. The regiment was thrown into chaos, and the continuous explosions of stacked shells enveloped the entire 10th Field Artillery Regiment in smoke. It wasn't until then that the Japanese planes in the sky and the Japanese troops on the opposite shore suddenly came to their senses, realizing that shells and bombs were pouring down on the exposed artillery positions, blowing the already ammunition-less batteries to pieces. Fortunately, most of the artillerymen had already taken cover in the pre-prepared anti-artillery bunkers.
Regardless of the sudden attack by the National Army, the tens of thousands of Japanese troops under the command of General Sasaoka's brigade launched a charge that only paused for an instant. Like locusts, the Japanese army rushed towards "Medicine" Mountain, 350 meters, 250 meters, until they were 150 meters away from the National Army's front-line position, where the dense machine guns finally began to fire. On the mountain over 100 meters high, hundreds of light and heavy machine guns wove a web of death in front of the tens of thousands of Japanese troops, reaping the lives of Japanese soldiers.
The Japanese army, like waves, crashed against "Medicine" Mountain, but were swept away by the National Army's hundreds of lines of fire snakes. Then another even bigger wave came crashing down. At the same time, the Japanese artillery and planes in the sky also harvested the lives of the National Army on "Medicine" Mountain with various shells and bombs.
The light machine gun squadrons, as well as the heavy machine gun squadrons with stronger cover, continued to suffer casualties but were immediately replaced by new soldiers emerging from the defensive tunnels. Finally, as the machine guns were largely destroyed, more and more Japanese troops rushed to the foot of the mountain and began to charge up the slope; the National Army continuously emerged from the defensive tunnels, throwing hand grenades down at them, and also firing rifles; but ultimately could not stop the Japanese army's advance.
Just then, the National Army artillery group that had moved to a prepared position behind "Medicine" Mountain opened fire again. The 9 remaining 120mm howitzers (the rest having been destroyed) fired rapidly without regard for their own safety, pounding heavy shells into the foot of the mountain on the other side of "Medicine" Mountain, exploding among the crowded Japanese troops; but unfortunately, the North Shore's 22nd Field Artillery Regiment quickly calculated the parameters and followed up with a barrage from dozens of field and howitzers, covering everything on the position.
The main force of the 113th Division and part of the 114th Division on Mount 'Yao' fought to the death, although the number of light and heavy machine guns that could be fired was decreasing, but still continuously throwing large numbers of hand grenades and hand-held bombs into the Japanese troops rushing up. Zhou Guanglie was wounded and carried into the shelter, Mu Zhongheng immediately led the 114th Division to join the battle; although the 10th Field Artillery Regiment had ceased fire, the field artillery and howitzers of the 22nd Field Artillery Regiment were still firing wildly, continuously firing heavy shells at the south and west sides of Mount 'Yao', the intense bombardment caused the 114th Division to lose nearly half of its troops before joining the battle, but the remaining half still fought to the death against the Japanese army's fierce attack!
It's almost 6 o'clock, the Japanese 9th Brigade quickly crossed the Yellow River and immediately joined the battle on the north side of Yao Mountain, suddenly breaking through the position of the 338th Regiment of the 113th Division which was fighting with a temporary battalion of the 8th Brigade; at the same time, Yu Xuezong also threw the last 340th Regiment of the 114th Division into the battle on Yao Mountain, and again defeated the 20th Brigade that had almost reached the top of the mountain. The reorganized 10th Field Artillery Brigade reopened fire at this moment, once again shrouding the already non-existent Liankou in smoke and fire with a rapid shot; the 9th Brigade also rushed into Liankou without worrying about being attacked by the National Army on its flank.
The sun had set near the mountain top, and the light began to decline. Just as the Japanese infantry was charging from the east to the north of "Yao" Mountain, the Japanese artillery was fiercely bombarding the south face of "Yao" Mountain. At this moment, Feng Zhanhai led two regiments of the 91st Division in a concealed counterattack from the southeast direction of the mountain ridge. The Japanese troops, who were responsible for covering the flank, had most of their attention drawn to the front line and did not notice that the Chinese army was approaching within 200 meters.
Although the Japanese troops covering the flank had been stretched to the limit, two heavy machine gun companies remained deployed in this area. Facing the surging tide of Northeastern Army soldiers, more than a dozen heavy machine guns immediately fired long bursts of fire snakes, but only for a moment! Because the artillery company of the two regiments had already prepared, before the Japanese heavy machine guns could fire their second round, more than 400 meters away, 12 81mm mortars fired accurately at the hastily constructed machine gun positions. "Boom!" Several heavy machine guns were blown into the air in the first wave of explosions; the rest were quickly destroyed in the subsequent rapid-fire.
The thousands of officers and soldiers of the 91st Division crossed over their fallen comrades, broke through the thin Japanese flank cover, and charged towards the main force's flank. In the fading light of dusk, the Jilin Righteous and Brave Army burst into a battalion of the 10th Division's 10th Regiment, which was serving as a reserve unit, and several hundred wounded soldiers who had retreated. Thousands of big knives were waving in the midst of bayonets, mixed with the sound of automatic pistols firing; although the elite officers and soldiers of the 10th Regiment were caught off guard, their high quality allowed them to still form a simple formation to resist the Chinese army, but this resistance was quickly blown away by wave after wave of hand grenades.
In the end, it was the wounded soldiers lying on the ground who blocked the advance of the 91st Division. The continuous explosions of hand grenades mixed with the sound of officers' pistols firing finally allowed the main force of the Japanese army to turn around and face the attack.
