Chapter 41: Chaotic Fists Strike Blindly at Master Fu
Zheng Fa-zi's company, like all Taiwanese Army companies, is equipped with 5 Taiwan-made Great Wall 130 trucks and one "Badger" armored vehicle. In addition, the entire company has 12 light machine guns and 5 60mm mortars as firepower support for the company.
Just as the Japanese transport ship departed and a torpedo explosion occurred, Zheng Fa's sentry discovered an unidentified vessel in the harbor channel and fired a warning shot. Zheng Fa quickly assembled his troops and controlled the highest building in the harbor and the only road leading to the inland area according to the content of the exercise in recent days. And in the built shelter, he sent a telegram to his superior, the contents of which were:
"A large number of unidentified ships were discovered in Duliang Port, attempting to enter the port under cover of night and triggering mines. Our unit was deployed according to the exercise plan, occupying high ground and embankments on both sides of the road, preparing to attack the ships approaching the dock."
This telegram was reported by Zheng Fa's superior, level by level, all the way to Liu Ye. At that time, Liu Ye was holding a naval ambush report and was very pleased with himself. The thrill of victory almost made him ask for wine from the heavens. Who is the opponent of my Taiwanese Navy?
When the secretary handed him this telegram, Liu Mou only read it once and almost fell to the ground, with an unbearable depression in his heart:
"After all the calculations, it seems that I have been outsmarted by the enemy. It appears that I am not cut out to be a general, and neither are my subordinates. This simple plan of luring the tiger away from its lair has actually confused me, and I'm still stuck here, indulging in fantasies. No matter how many naval vessels of the six nations we destroy, if their army lands on Taiwanese soil, this battle will be lost. Taiwan is not afraid of enemy attacks at sea; with these ships, even if they come twice as many, it's unlikely that they can reach Taiwanese land. However, what Taiwan fears most is being invaded by the enemy's army, because although Taiwan's army has been established for many years, it has never fought a battle. Not to mention fighting, even clearing out small tribes and bandits in mountainous areas isn't something every unit can do. Although Taiwan's army was semi-mechanized at that time, ranking among the world's top armies in terms of equipment, far surpassing those countries' armies that still used old rifles and charged in formation, when it comes to combat experience and troop quality, even if the Northern Expeditionary Army came, I estimate they wouldn't necessarily be worse than Taiwan's army. After all, an army that has never fought a battle can hardly be considered a regular army."
But, as feared, the enemy has already landed at Anping Harbor, and our defensive forces in Tainan are only one regiment strong. If a large number of foreign troops were to pour into the interior of Tainan, it would be uncertain whether our army could hold its ground.
Liu Yu hastily assembled the personnel of the Ministry of National Defense and the General Staff, urgently mobilizing several troops from both sides along the ring Taiwan railway to reinforce Du Liaogang Port. He also issued a bulletin warning all levels of naval commanders to strictly defend their defensive areas and ordered the troops in the Taiwan Strait war to immediately withdraw submarines and torpedo boats and return to major ports to strengthen patrols outside the ports. After doing these things, Liu Yu had no other good way but to wait for the telegram from Du Liaogang Port and secretly pray that the money he spent on the army over the years would not be wasted. Although he had not experienced actual combat, the annual multiple live-fire exercises should at least last a few hours.
Liu Ye was anxious in Taipei, but the Du Liao Gang had already made a mess. The Japanese transport fleet, braving mines, finally rushed in with more than half of its ships, and the three leading transport ships docked at the pier, unloading nearly 500 officers and soldiers from the Sixth Division. These officers and soldiers had not yet stabilized their footing, preparing to consolidate their position to allow the following ships to unload personnel and equipment, when they were met with a dense barrage of artillery fire.
Although the caliber of these shells was not large, they were very accurate and continuous, and no sound of gunfire could be heard. The Sixth Division, which had just landed on the dock, was heavily killed and wounded by this barrage of shells, leaving behind hundreds of bodies, and even the troop ships moored at the dock were set ablaze by the shelling.
However, the 6th Division was still Japan's regular main force division. Although they were a bit panicked when they first suffered artillery fire, they quickly stabilized under the command of mid-to-low-level officers. They formed several small teams of dozens of people, crouching and rushing across the open area of the dock, all hiding behind a row of houses behind the dock, searching for the source of the shells everywhere.
Due to the small size of the 60MM mortar shells and their low initial velocity, the sound of firing was very weak and almost inaudible. The Japanese army scattered outside the dock house group listened for half a day and could only hear that the shell was probably fired from the northeast direction of the dock, but the specific location still couldn't be judged.
Unable to locate the artillery positions, the Japanese troops had no choice but to charge towards the dock under heavy fire. However, due to the limited length of the dock, only two troop ships could berth at a time, resulting in significant casualties for the Japanese 6th Division from the dense barrage. The Taiwanese 60mm mortar shells used more powerful new explosives and steel balls, increasing their lethal radius to over 6 meters. Although these scattered steel balls were not easily fatal, they caused greater damage than shell fragments due to their sheer quantity.
The Japanese landing troops in front almost stepped on the bodies of their compatriots and rushed to the shore, gradually occupying all the buildings in the dock, and then began to search for the direction of the cannon fire. At this time, Zheng Fa's men were still in the original bunker, holding binoculars, observing the movement of the Japanese army inside the port, seeing that some Japanese troops were approaching their own position, and only then ordered their mortars to stop firing and withdraw to another artillery position behind their lines.
Due to the 60mm mortar's maximum range of only 800 meters, even after several years of improvement, it was only increased to around 1,000 meters. Therefore, once the mortars were withdrawn to the rear positions, they could no longer accurately hit the Japanese troops on the dock. The pressure greatly reduced for the Japanese 6th Division officers and men, who took advantage of the time without shelling, using every means possible, including crawling, to speed up their landing onto the dock at Duliang Harbor.
At the time when the Dagu Port wharf was being bombarded by Taiwanese troops, Major General ōkubo Haruno, commander of the 6th Division, who was on board a destroyer outside the port, ordered the destroyer to open fire quickly to cover the Japanese army's occupation of the wharf. However, since the artillery positions of the Taiwanese troops could not be found for a long time, the ship guns on the destroyer could only be anxious.
As the Japanese army gradually advanced into the land outside the port and encountered artillery fire from Taiwanese defenders, the destroyers' guns finally got a rough position coordinate and began to shell the positions of the Taiwanese troops.
After Zheng Fa sent the telegram to his superiors, he arranged his 5 60MM mortars according to the content of the exercise and had the gunner adjust the pre-calculated scale. Then, they launched a fierce attack on the Japanese army disembarking at the dock. Although these Taiwanese soldiers had not experienced real combat before, they conducted several full-scale exercises every year. The content of the exercises was all about how to defend against enemy landings, from laying mines to organizing ambushes, from avoiding enemy naval gunfire to utilizing their mechanized advantages to encircle and divide the landed enemy. Whatever the Ministry of National Defense and the General Staff could think of would be practiced several times. If they couldn't come up with anything new, they would practice the old ones again. Liu was not afraid to spend money on ammunition, so every actual combat exercise was a real one, with live shells, machine guns, mines, and armored vehicles. Every year, just from the exercises alone, they could organize an army of 30,000 people with the discarded vehicles and artillery.
They say that when the book is used, it's too late to regret not having studied more. During peacetime, sweat more, and during wartime, bleed less. This kind of training has already been deeply ingrained in the Taiwanese army. Zheng Fa-zi later recalled that at the time, he didn't feel scared. Since the distance was far and they couldn't see who the enemy was, they just treated it as a drill. Everything like artillery fire, landmines, blocking positions, and armored vehicle counterattacks were done according to the drill's content. It wasn't until the enemy's destroyer on the sea surface started firing that these Taiwanese soldiers realized this wasn't a drill, because during drills, they had never used such large-caliber naval guns to attack themselves. That's when they felt fear, and as a result, their guns were inaccurate, and their cannons couldn't aim properly. What was even more infuriating was that the deputy company commander took several soldiers and retreated on his own, riding the company's motorcycles.
