Chapter 51 The Western Front Has A Problem

  Looking at the increasingly bold devils, Lin Jia Dong gave Zhang Da Mao a strange look, his eyes meaning 'why not open fire and kill a few more', Zhang Da Mao of course knew what he meant, but he didn't ask, so Zhang Da Mao couldn't say anything, he just smiled at him.

  The Japanese soldiers have started digging, convinced that they are facing the most benevolent Chinese officer. They no longer hide and have even taken off their shirts to work enthusiastically under the scorching sun.

  They soon saw the first corpse of the Japanese army, and like a skilled woodcutter, they threw the severed palms into the pocket on the edge of the pit with one knife. They even laughed while working. But they couldn't laugh anymore soon after.

  BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! The Japanese troops were not in a hurry to cut off more than a dozen hands, and the twenty or so Japanese hand grenades that Wu Fayun had tied together exploded one after another. The explosion was deafening, and the more than ten Japanese soldiers who were sitting around were blown into pieces, not a single one left intact.

  "Great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, fantastic!!!" Lin Jiadong and Guo Jinan almost simultaneously shouted out loud as they looked at Zhang Daman's masterpiece. They had been wondering what kind of trick Zhang Daman was playing all along, but now the mystery had finally been solved.

  The explosion also shocked the commander of the Japanese army, Naotsugu Murakami, who was furious when he saw that more than 20 Japanese soldiers he had just sent out had disappeared from view through his binoculars. He pointed at the bespectacled and chubby interpreter beside him and shouted: "Baka ya rou, baka ya rou! Chinese soldiers are so cunning!"

  "Zhang Lianchang, you're really something... I'll definitely speak up for you in front of the instructor when we get back... someone like that shouldn't be a company commander, it's such a waste of talent!" Lin Jiadong said excitedly, patting Zhang Damao on the shoulder after watching the performance.

  "Thank you for your participation and cultivation..."

  "Alright, Mazzi, we should also leave... There's him here, you can return to your troop and sleep soundly!" Lin Jiadong said with a military salute towards Zhang Daman, then looked at Guo Jinan with a smile.

  "Have a good trip..."

  "Zhang Damao, you son of a bitch, save some for me, I don't have much left either." Guo Jinan pushed Lin Jiadong into the trench and pulled out two packs of cigarettes from his guard's pocket, tossing them to him. After cursing with a smile, he also crawled out of the trench.

  "Ah, right! Zhang Lianchang, you can take good care of Zhao Zhibang now. Who knows, maybe one day he'll be lucky and run into that old scoundrel Wang from the neighboring village... Hehe..." Lin Jiadong said as he turned back to face Zhang Damao after taking a few steps away.

  It is, yes, this, that, these, those.

  "They left... They left... They left..." Before long, Lin Jiatong and his group were out of Zhang Daman's sight.

  Lin Jia-dong did not know that Zhang Da-mang was originally the regimental commander before, after the 'Xi'an Incident', the Northeast Army was reduced by Chiang Kai-shek in the name of reorganization, from the original first-class army of one army and three divisions to a second-class army of one army and two divisions, so many frontline officers were left over, because Zhang Da-mang and Li Lian-sheng, Zhang Quan had been following Guo Jizhang since they joined the army, when the officers were downsized, in order not to let people say that he was biased towards his confidants, so Zhang Da-mang was demoted to company commander, and Li Lian-sheng also slid from company commander to platoon leader.

  If this were before the September 18th Incident, these three would not have been pushovers either. At least they would have gone to Guo Jizhang's place and made a ruckus for three to five days. But that time they didn't utter any grievances because after going through the September 18th Incident, they had transformed from old-time soldiers who fought for food into true soldiers who fought for honor and country.

  To ensure the safety of the left wing of the 48th and 31st Armies in the west, Lin Jia Dong's order to Zhang Da Mao was no longer to hold out for a few days, but to hold out at all costs, at least until the 135th Brigade of the 114th Division had built fortifications behind them.

  Lin Jia-dong only considered the flanks of the 48th and 31st Armies to their west, but overlooked a problem - that is, relatively speaking, the security of the 51st Army's troops on the south bank of the Huai River was also in the hands of those two armies. If the defensive lines of the 48th and 31st Armies were to collapse, with the mobility of the Japanese Central China Expeditionary Army, it would be a huge question mark whether the 113th Division, 114th Division, and 135th Brigade could safely withdraw north of the Huai River. Perhaps in the minds of senior officers of the 51st Army, two Chinese armies plus one brigade against a Japanese brigade group and two regiments should have been more than enough.

  But contrary to their wishes, the impossible happened after all, and it happened at a speed that was beyond their expectations. In just five days, the entire southern front had fallen into enemy hands.

  The battle started with the 48th Army, which was attacked by a direct division of the Japanese Central China Expeditionary Army, led by Lieutenant General Sanmu Mizusawa. With the strength of one regiment, Sanmu Mizusawa launched a fierce attack on the position of the 125th Division of the 48th Army, but was met with a fierce counterattack from the Chinese army. Many soldiers who were wearing single-layer clothing at that time hugged bundles of hand grenades and perished together with the Japanese troops who had charged up to the position. The battle had just started for more than half an hour when three regimental commanders of the 125th Division were killed in action, and many company and platoon commanders also died. The commander of the 103rd Regiment of the 125th Division, Ye Zhenhuan, was also hit by Japanese artillery fire and his right leg was blown off.

  However, the Japanese army, which had been attacking for more than two hours, still failed to break through the Chinese army's first line of defense. At the same time, the 118th Brigade of the 7th Army, as a reserve force, took advantage of the opportunity when the Japanese army was fiercely fighting with the 48th Army and sent out a regiment to attack the Japanese army from its flank and rear, catching them off guard. One special operations battalion of the 118th Brigade even quietly infiltrated into the gap between the Japanese forces and attacked their rear, destroying one 75mm mountain artillery company and one 105mm howitzer company. The Japanese army was caught off guard and suffered hundreds of casualties before finally retreating.

  Two days later, the Japanese army launched two more attacks, and the division commander, Sanji Mitsuzo, personally directed the battle on the front line, but both were stubbornly resisted by the 48th Army.

  While the 31st Army on the left wing of the 48th Army faced two Japanese regiments, they originally had an advantage in terms of terrain and troop strength. The two Japanese regiments were only sent to hold back the 31st Army, and all heavy weapons were transferred to the Sanshui Brigade. However, due to the carelessness of the commander of the 161st Regiment of the 180th Division, Hao Zhiyun, a Japanese company infiltrated their position from the side, catching them off guard. The sudden appearance of the Japanese troops caused Hao Zhiyun to panic and flee with his bodyguards without organizing his soldiers to counterattack. As a result, an entire Chinese regiment was routed by a single Japanese company, and the retreat of Hao's regiment directly affected other officers and soldiers in the 180th Division. Soon, the defensive line of the 180th Division fell into enemy hands. Although Hao Zhiyun and another fleeing brigade commander were executed, the defeat had already caused the entire 31st Army's defense line to begin collapsing. Despite organizing several counterattacks, they were all repelled by the Japanese troops who had gained a solid foothold.

  The 31st Army's retreat exposed the flank of the 48th Army to the Japanese army, and in this situation, the 48th Army also had to abandon its position and hastily retreat towards Bengbu and Linhuaiguan. The 108th Regiment of the 130th Division of the 31st Army, which was left behind to carry out a blocking mission, was completely annihilated with no survivors.

  At this time, in Yu Xuezhong's command post, the telephones and wireless telegraph machines were ringing continuously, with reports from various places on the Huai River defense line being sent to Yu Xuezhong, who was in charge of the front-line command. The loss of positions on the right flank of the south bank of the Huai River was too rapid, completely disrupting his deployment.

  At this time, the 126th Division of the 48th Army had already infiltrated through the Japanese army's defense line. The 48th and 31st Armies were back to the Huai River, if the situation was really irretrievable, they still had time to cross the Huai River and block the Japanese army on the north bank. However, the 113th Division, 114th Division of the 51st Army, and the 135th Brigade, as well as an independent brigade of the Sichuan Army, were too far away from the Huai River.

  At this time, Yu Xuezhong ordered the 48th and 31st Armies to construct fortifications in place to block the Japanese army, giving the 113th Division some time to retreat. At the same time, he ordered the 113th, 114th Divisions and the Sichuan Army Independent Brigade to speed up their withdrawal while intensifying the construction of fortifications on the north bank of the Huai River.

  After the Japanese army broke through the right-wing defense line of the Chinese army, one brigade was left to guard the position, and the remaining two brigades and the Sanmu Brigade followed the 48th Army and the 31st Army in pursuit. In order to prevent the Japanese army from surrounding the troops that had not yet retreated, on February 2nd, the 48th Army and the 31st Army temporarily constructed fortifications to block the Japanese army at Kao Mountain and Cao Shop. However, due to hasty preparations and low morale, they only held out for half a day before retreating across the Huai River.

  The 114th Division's 135th Brigade and the Sichuan Army Independent Brigade received orders to retreat and safely crossed the Huai River an hour before the Japanese army broke through the temporary defense line of the 48th Army and the 31st Army. The 113th Division's 211th and 231st Regiments retreated to Damao, where they were surrounded by a Japanese vanguard battalion, but managed to break out after losing over 300 men and retreat across the river via Erpu and Banqiao.

  Only the 232nd Regiment of the 113th Division was unable to retreat due to its distance from the river and being scattered in different locations. Except for one company that retreated with the 211th Regiment, all the others were cut off by the Japanese army. The regiment commander, Guo Jinan, died a heroic death while attempting to break through the encirclement.

  On February 3, 1938, the Japanese army occupied Bengbu and Linhuai Pass, completely cutting off the retreat route of the 232nd Regiment.

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