The First Part of National Humiliation: The Lonely City's Bloody Battle Chapter 25: The Lonely City's Calamity

  The bad news finally arrived, on the day when the headquarters of the 200th Division was attacked, Chief of Staff Zhou Zhi was seriously injured again, and Commander Dai Anlan was hit by two bullets. After being transferred to the military department for medical treatment, he died heroically.

  This news was a bolt from the blue for Song Yuanghai, he clearly remembered that Dai Anlan in history was ambushed and injured by the Japanese army on his way back to China, and died of infection on May 18th! What does General Dai Anlan's premature sacrifice mean? Has there been an unpredictable change in the familiar history? Song Yuanghai didn't know, nor did he dare to think.

  At this time, the ancient city has been occupied by the Japanese army for two-thirds, and more than 30,000 Japanese troops have entered the city. The gunfire at the main position of the 131 high ground has not stopped all night, and it is estimated that it will not last long.

  The remaining effective strength of the 200th Division, plus the garrison troops and the mechanized cavalry regiment, was only over two thousand people. In the Reserve Bank building, there were more than a thousand wounded soldiers who could not move.

  Yesterday, a team leader who had discussed the way out with himself was executed. The current Song Yuanhang is surrounded by a deep sense of loneliness! Where should this team go?

  Song Yuanhang clearly remembered that the only one in the history of anti-Japanese war that could be compared with the "Tonggu Preservation" at this moment was the Changde Defense War that took place at the end of 1943! Yu Chengwan's 57th Division Tiger...

  "Surrender?" The words did not exist in Song Yuanhang's dictionary. Even if he wanted to surrender, the soldiers under him would not agree. What kind of people were the Japanese? These old soldiers who had been fighting against Japan for years knew best. Which of their hands did not have the blood of several little devils on them? Now their best choice was to die gloriously in battle.

  The solitary city was besieged for 15 days, which is three more than in history. The Japanese army reinforced its troops three times, with a total force of two divisions and three brigades. From a purely tactical point of view, Song Yuanhang believed that the so-called "perfection" had already been achieved!

  At 16:25, the artillery fire supporting Hill 131 finally stopped. Even at the most critical moment of the central core fortifications, Song Yuanhang had not called for artillery support, even though he was prepared to mobilize one-fifth of the total reserve force, because he knew that the heavy artillery battalion's ammunition was running low, and leaving some for Hill 131 could alleviate some pressure on Zheng Tingji.

  The sun sets in the west, and the scorching temperature drops slightly. Hidetoshi Sanada sits alone in the command center, silently wiping his samurai sword. The current Togu is no longer a fruit that can be obtained with a flick of the wrist. Swallowing it feels like putting an iron into one's mouth, unable to swallow or spit it out. Even if forced down, the deepest wound would still be to oneself!

  A telegram with the words "Top Secret" lay quietly on the desk, and Toshio Inoue knew its contents without looking. The 15th Army's casualties had exceeded 12,000! Had the Chinese army's strength increased or had the Imperial Army's strength decreased?

  What annoyed Ina Sahashi the most was that it wasn't until now that they found out the Second Hundred Division of Chongqing troops inside the city were not over ten thousand people, but nearly twenty thousand after reinforcement.

  "Hah!" The confused and enraged Hidetoshi Hanada suddenly sprang up, using both hands to twist his waist and flash his body, splitting the table in front of him in two! Hearing the commotion, the guard officer opened the door a crack, knowing that his superior was venting his anger. Afraid of getting involved, the guard officer hastily bowed and quickly pushed the door shut.

  Hanaya Shoji, who had calmed down, spread out the intelligence dossier and read it for a while. He used a red pen to put an emphasis mark under Song Yuanhang's name! After hesitating for a moment, he also wrote a question mark! A spoiled young master who relied on his family background actually made him suffer losses three times? It was really shameful, and if he couldn't even take down Tong Gu, he would probably not be able to pass the test himself.

  Because this morning, at the Tokyo Imperial Headquarters, Emperor Hirohito summoned Chief of Staff Sugiyama Hajime and Minister of War Itagaki Seishiro. He was furious that after more than two divisions had attacked for a long time, they still couldn't take down Songkou, which was only guarded by one Chinese division. He ordered them to capture Songkou within two days, otherwise he would execute those useless generals.

  The global battlefield was relatively calm in March 1942, and the 'fierce' had reached its peak. Even the Japanese exclaimed that the Battle of Sangkumit was unprecedentedly fierce, naturally attracting the attention of the whole world.

  On April 4, under the Emperor's order to capture Songkhla within two days, the Japanese army's attack had no distinction between primary and secondary targets, entering a state of frenzy. At the same time, Song Far-hang also announced the law of collective punishment, issuing the "Final Order" to all contactable troops, requiring each unit to "defend one house with one house, defend one trench with one trench, and fight to the death with one person and one bullet!"

  War itself is extremely cruel, according to the Japanese army's past experience, city defenses have also been broken through, and Chinese troops should have either dispersed or broken out of encirclement long ago. Shanghai, Nanjing, Wuhan and other cities were no exception, but unfortunately Songhu was an unexpected exception.

  At this moment, inside Tonggu City, except for the Chinese army defending the Reserve Bank, the scattered Chinese troops in Tonggu City had no formation and were temporary gatherings of three to five people. They fought on their own, taking advantage of the gaps in the Japanese army's deployment to repeatedly infiltrate and attack from behind, with some lucky ones making it through to the Reserve Bank position, while others who were discovered put up a desperate resistance.

  The defenders of Tonggu were withstanding the enemy's artillery fire, bombing, gunfire, poison gas and flames in the ruins, resisting and persevering every minute and second, as long as the sound of guns from the direction of the main position of the reserve bank did not stop, there was still a glimmer of hope.

  On the main position of the reserve bank, the defending army no longer had what was called a complete formation, and the scattered personnel were directly reorganized with the miscellaneous personnel on the spot. All lightly wounded soldiers who could move were mobilized to the front line, and seriously wounded soldiers in the hospital were also organized to load bullets for heavy machine guns. In addition, Song Yuanghai gave each nurse, including female soldiers, a precious gift - a hand grenade.

  The radio next door is still beeping non-stop, Du Yuming's, Chongqing Military and Political Department's, Chairman of the Committee's inquiry, Allied Command Headquarters', New 22nd Division's, 96th Division's! And there are also nationwide consolation telegrams like snowflakes.

  All of this seems to have no practical use in Song Yuanhang's view, the Japanese army captured the water tower on the north side today, cutting off the water source of the defending troops. In the hot summer, losing the water source is equivalent to losing the vitality of life. Food is only enough for 3 days now, and today there have been wounded soldiers refusing to eat, asking to leave food for brothers who can fight.

  The ammunition is still sufficient, and Song Yuanhang comforted himself reluctantly!

  The outskirts of the position were densely packed with the bodies of Japanese soldiers. In the sweltering summer, under the scorching sun, within just two days, the corpses began to emit a foul odor. Flies buzzed around the piles of bodies, while crows took advantage of the lull in fighting to jump back and forth on the corpses, pecking out the eyeballs of the dead.

  Among the piles of yellow-clad bodies, several dozen corpses in green uniforms stood out. Two days ago, a joint US-UK airdrop of supplies had been made, but because the area controlled by the defenders was so small, the only airdropped box that landed within the bank's courtyard contained English-language magazines and newspapers.

  Most of the supplies fell within range of Japanese firepower, but Song Yuanhao, who had already realized that food was in short supply, organized thirty-seven seasoned veterans to drag back airdropped boxes that had fallen into no man's land under cover of night.

  The result is naturally self-evident. Song Yuanghai clearly remembers the last old soldier holding an airdrop box and running quickly, with several grenades launched by the Type 89 grenade launcher exploding beside him!

  With the light of the explosion, Song Yuanhang saw hundreds of British-style coolie hats with sparks floating in the night sky...

  Song Yuanhang lost control of himself and scolded the British military liaison officer in the radio station: "What the hell do you mean by sending me a coolie hat?"

  The British and American air forces faced an absolute advantage of the Zero fighter group, which was also a bitter situation. The transport plane itself was not fast, and if it was fully loaded with supplies, once discovered by the Japanese army, there was almost no chance of survival.

  However, the "Battle of Songhu" has already attracted worldwide attention, and it is unreasonable not to provide support. Only some light goods can be transported, and Song Yunhou, who is fighting in the besieged city, cannot accept this kind of superficial aid from Britain and the US. In a series of telegrams, he scolded the British until they were left with no dignity, and also hinted that the British army was stealing American aid materials for China. The British First Division retreated without a fight, exposing the Chinese army's flank, etc. Song Yunhou poured a large basin of dirty water on the British, and if Songhu falls, the British will be the culprits.

  Stilwell and Chiang Kai-shek were both restless, how could a small middle-ranking officer bypass several levels to reach the top? This was an extremely unthinkable thing in Stilwell's eyes! When he learned from Du Yuming that Song Yunhou, the actual commander of the 38th Division, was a relative of Soong Mei-ling, Stilwell finally showed an expression of "so that's how it is".

  It seems that the Chinese army's practice of appointing people based on personal relationships has reached a dangerous point, but this time it seems to be an exception. Song Yuanhang appears to be quite capable? It looks like even 'Peanut' (Chiang Kai-shek's nickname) in Chongqing can make mistakes sometimes!

  While Stilwell was secretly despising Chiang Kai-shek, Song Yuanhang, covered in dust and smoke, crawled to the shooting mouth of a destroyed bunker with a Mauser sniper rifle.

  The intense stench of rot in the dark fort made Song Yuanhang have to use a handkerchief to cover his mouth and nose, but it didn't work very well. The dark fort he was in had been hit by Japanese direct fire three times, collapsing more than half of it, and over thirty Chinese soldiers had shed their blood here.

  After picking up a severed hand that had begun to rot and stink, Song Yuanhang used the gap in the rubble to firmly lock onto the steel helmet of a Japanese army lieutenant who was hiding in the ruins observing, waiting for an opportunity.

  Finally, the Japanese lieutenant decided to leave. Song Yuanhang determined from the large multiple telescope and the large leather bag slung over his left shoulder that he was an artillery observer.

  As the Japanese lieutenant swiftly passed through the only five-meter-wide street mouth between the two ruined buildings, Song Yuanhang decisively fired from 300 meters away, and the bullet hit the Japanese lieutenant's hip.

  Song Yuanhang was not wrong at all, in the moment when the middle army lieutenant colonel was shot, three Japanese soldiers almost simultaneously rushed out, after three gunshots with an interval of two seconds, three Japanese soldiers who refused to give up rescuing the target were shot and fell near the lieutenant colonel one after another.

  After shooting down three Japanese soldiers, Song Yuanhang pulled out the last bullet with a clatter, quickly reloaded a full clip of five rounds and immediately relocated his position.

  The Japanese army, aware of the sniper's presence, did not rashly attack, but instead found a stick and stretched it out along the ground, as the Japanese lieutenant, with a painful expression, strained to grab the stick.

  The Japanese trick made Song Yuanhang look very ridiculous, and now he is more and more admiring the creative thinking ability of the Japanese. Maybe because the stick was not long enough, a Japanese sergeant could only half his body out of the ruins.

  A dull gunshot rang out, and the Japanese sergeant fell to the ground! The rescued Japanese lieutenant seemed anxious, covering his wound with one hand, shouting desperately and waving his other hand.

  Song Yuanhang knew the Japanese were going to jump over the wall, so he placed two fully loaded Zhongzheng rifles by his side in preparation! Sure enough, dozens of Japanese soldiers rushed out, and dozens of light and heavy machine guns, as well as armored vehicle defense cannons, fired randomly at the same time. Even two hidden Japanese firepower points 100 meters away opened fire!

  Bullets rained down, and the hidden bunker where Song Yuanghai had just taken cover was hit, sending dirt and rocks flying everywhere! The deafening explosion of grenades shook Song Yuanghai's eardrums.

  However, this did not affect Song Yuanhang's hunting and killing. After firing the four bullets in the chamber, without having time to reload, Song Yuanhang picked up the nearby Zhongzheng rifle, quickly adjusted the sight, and fired rapidly! Under the premise of not using any auxiliary equipment, five shots achieved a hit rate of 80%.

  A successful ambush lifted Song Yuanhang's mood, and as he passed through the trenches, he saw some soldiers under the organization of military officers, arranging the bodies of their comrades into shooting poses. At the main gate, the remains of some sacrificed soldiers were used as materials to reinforce the fortifications, forming a true "flesh-and-blood Great Wall".

  Song Yuanhang did not stop this behavior, and he even hoped that after his own death, he could be added to the fortifications as well, which seemed to him a kind of lofty honor.

  Song Yuanhang did not know that his acquiescence had become a legendary echo of China's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression!

  The Japanese army's offensive, after a 12-hour pause, resumed again under the roar of heavy artillery. Six fully-equipped Japanese infantry battalions were on standby at the launch site, and two mountain artillery battalions received orders to transport their guns to within 200 meters of the Chinese troops at all costs, using direct fire to destroy the Chinese army's hidden firepower points.

  Two hundred meters was a nightmare distance for the Japanese military's war defense artillery, as they were directly exposed to the Chinese garrison's heavy machine gun fire range. At this distance, the Type 24 heavy machine gun could easily penetrate the shields of all models of Japanese war defense artillery.

  The Japanese army's Mokoya Brigade was the first to launch an attack, with the brutal and bloodthirsty Mokoya leading the charge, wielding a commander's sword and leading more than 500 infantrymen who had been divided into four waves, advancing forward while trampling on the bodies of their comrades to cover the artillery.

  At the same time as Kimi's large unit launched an attack, Hattori's unit successively entered the position as the next wave of attacks! This unusual situation caught Song Yuanhang's attention. The Japanese were going to fight to the death! So he ordered the last reserve team that had been hiding in the underground room all along, two heavy machine gun companies belonging to the mechanized cavalry regiment, to be put into battle. He wanted to inflict the greatest casualties on the Japanese army with every possible means.