Chapter 3: The Wind Rises in Guangdong Section 35: Battle of Dongguan (I)

  Speed and quality are indeed a contradiction, recently the speed has increased, but it was discovered that many scars were left behind, such as the sprout of Sun Yat-senism Academy was not handed over, some handovers in military deployment were unclear, all these need to be supplemented later.

  The Dongjiang area has crisscrossing rivers and undulating hills, which is conducive to defense. There are two routes from Guangzhou to conquer Dongjiang: one is the northern route via Boluo - Heyuan - Wuhua; the other is the southern route via Jiulong - Danshui - Pingshan - Haifeng - Swatow; these two roads are the best way to attack Dongjiang.

  The three-line battle plan of the Northern, Central and Southern lines formulated by the Military Commission of the General Headquarters is actually two lines. The reason is that the central line and the southern line are divided in Dongguan. The central line, led by the Guangdong Army, passes through Dongguan to attack Huizhou; the southern line, led by the Guangdong Army and the School Army, passes through Dongguan, along the Kowloon-Canton Railway, attacks all the way to Shenzhen, then turns east to advance to Danshui (now renamed Huizhou), threatening Huizhou from the south on the one hand, and advancing to Pingshan (now renamed Huidong) , Haifeng, and Lufeng on the other. The starting points of both the central line and the southern line are in Dongguan. Capturing Dongguan is the first battle of the Eastern Expedition.

  Chiang Kai-shek's deployment for the attack on Dongguan was to start with Zhang Mingda's Guangdong Army at Shilongshitandaxian, attracting reinforcements from Chen Jitang's army in southern Dongguan, and then utilizing our military's superiority on water, the school army would launch a landing operation in the Humenwei area, carrying out a pincer movement against Dongguan from the south.

  As expected, the main force of the Dongguan garrison was attracted to the front line of Zhang Damin's division. The 2nd Battalion took advantage of this and landed near Baisha on the 30th, followed by the 1st Battalion landing at Beizhai. Zhuang Jihua's company, as the first landing force of the school army, quickly occupied Baisha and built a defensive position outside Baisha town at Niutou Ridge without firing a single shot. Subsequently, various units of the 2nd Battalion successively entered Baisha and its surroundings.

  On the 31st, Wang Boling held a combat meeting in Baisha attended by officers above the company level. After the officers met, they were all excited, and this landing operation was unexpectedly smooth, which suddenly boosted everyone's confidence and admiration for Chiang Kai-shek overflowed.

  Zhuang Jihua, although also like everyone else, was a young man. Except for Li Anding from the 2nd Battalion and 5th Company, all the others were former regimental commanders in the military school, so they two habitually gathered together. Li Anding constantly praised the principal's wisdom, while Zhuang Jihua casually "praised" him. However, when he first heard about this deployment, Zhuang Jihua thought of a famous movie he watched as a child, which was also about pincer movement from both north and south. He had his own views on this deployment. According to the enemy situation report, there were not many enemies in Dongguan, at most one regiment. After the school army landed, it would be better to directly insert into Liao Bu and Changping, cutting off the retreat route of the Dongguan garrison. This deployment was clever but too cautious, failing to achieve the goal of annihilating the Dongguan garrison.

  Of course, he wouldn't say it out loud. Now in his view, this deployment is beneficial to him because he has already felt threatened by Wang Boling. Since the departure, the 7th company has always been the vanguard of the 2nd battalion, the first unit to board the ship, the first unit to arrive at the assembly point Baisha, and very likely also the first unit to launch an attack on Dongguan.

  Indeed, Wang Boling announced that the attack route of the Second Battalion would be via Baishui, Wubiao, Chiwangpu and Fanzi Tang. The order of battle was for the Third Regiment to take the lead, with the Second Regiment covering the right flank, the battalion headquarters and First Regiment following behind, and the Seventh Company serving as the vanguard for the entire battalion. After finishing his speech, Wang Boling emphasized that the training of the Seventh Company was the best in the entire battalion, putting the strongest company at the forefront, hoping that they would set an example for the entire battalion. Zhuang Jihua naturally had to express his determination not to disappoint the battalion commander's expectations, resolutely fighting well in the first battle, not only annihilating the enemy but also demonstrating the school's prestige and taking down Dongguan. In fact, he judged in his heart that this route was not a difficult battle at all, and it might even be a zero-casualty victory - Wang Boling didn't understand strategy and couldn't even intimidate people.

  Battalion Commander Wang Junsen was afraid that Zhuang Jihua had an emotional reaction, so on the way back he kept comforting Zhuang Jihua with Zheng Dongguo. However, Zhuang Jihua seemed to be in high spirits and told Wang Junsen: "I'm very happy to fight at the forefront, please don't worry, I guarantee that I will bring you a string of victories." After returning to the regiment, Zhuang Jihua arranged the attack sequence as follows: Hu Zongnan's unit would go first, followed by Song Xilian's unit, and Du Yuming's unit would be last. The battalion headquarters advanced with Song Xilian's unit.

  Sure, here is the translation:

  As expected, still one shot was not fired, my troops occupied Baituo; no enemy forces were found; an hour later, my troops occupied Wubridge, and no enemy forces were found. The successive reports of victory from Zhuang Jihua's company were transmitted to the battalion headquarters, and then to the regimental headquarters. Only then did Battalion Commander Wang Jun understand why Zhuang Jihua had said that he would guarantee a string of victories - it turned out that there were no enemy forces on this route at all! However, Zhuang Jihua's speed was too fast, and Wang Jun couldn't help but urge the 8th company following behind to quicken their pace.

  Outside Longwangbu, the 7th Regiment encountered Chen Jun's ambush for the first time. After hearing Hu Zongnan's report, Zhuang Jihua quickly ran to the front from behind, and Hu Zongnan's troops had dispersed and were hiding behind a small mound. Zhuang Jihua lay on the mound looking towards the opposite side, where there were 60 or 70 people on the hillside, indicating that the enemy had already discovered them. After observing for a while, Zhuang Jihua called over the three platoon leaders to explain his plan: Hu Zongnan's troops would launch a frontal attack, Song Xilian's troops would attack from the left flank, and Du Yuming's troops would wait for orders, with the machine gun following Hu Zongnan's actions. Du Yuming was not very happy in his heart, but he was a man of great self-control, and did not show it on his face.

  Here is the translation:

  (Here I must supplement the equipment of each company in the instructional team. The instructional team has a machine gun company with four light and heavy machine guns, as well as an artillery company with three mortars. Each company has one machine gun, which is a treasure, under the command of the company commander. The company commander and officers below him are equipped with revolvers, also known as twenty-shots, to make up for the lack of firepower. In addition, each company is also equipped with several "flower machines" produced by the Ishii Arsenal, which in Zhuang Jihua's view is equivalent to a later submachine gun or its prototype, although he was not a military enthusiast and did not recognize it. However, this "flower machine" has a very short range of only 300-400 meters, far less than the 1000 meters of a rifle, but it is a good thing in close combat.)

  After the troops arrived, Zhuang Jihua fired a shot into the air, Du Xiaoshan blew the charge horn, Cao Yuan stood up, waved his rifle and shouted: "Comrades, charge!" Then he rushed out. Hu Zongnan also shouted loudly: "Brothers, follow me."

  Under the leadership of the two, the soldiers rushed forward in a charge, but Zhuang Jihua did not move, standing still to observe the situation of the troops charging. At this time, there was also a shout from the left, and Song Xilian led the charge.

  "Guang Ting, take a look and see if there's any problem?" Zhuang Jihua asked Du Yiming beside him.

  Du Yiming looked carefully and said: "It seems different from the attacking formation during training, it's a bit messy."

  "Damn, it's not just a bit messy, it's a complete mess. Can you see the formation of the attacking team?" Zhuang Jihua said somewhat annoyed: "And Hu Zongnan is brave, but where are the machine guns assigned to him? Used in which place? That Song Xilian is the same, no firepower organization, just know how to rush up."

  "Also, our attacking starting point is too far away, it should be closer."

  "Or I'll take someone up there." Du Yuming suggested immediately.

  "Got an itch?" Zhuang Jihua gave him a slanted glance: "I'm not familiar with your way of thinking, let's take a look first. What mistakes did they make? You'd better summarize them well. When I send you up next time, if you still rush up like this, you might as well be a soldier."

  A burst of gunfire erupted from the opposite side, and Zhuang Jihua's heart tightened as he watched Cao Yuan and Hu Zongnan rush forward and immediately drop down. Then a burst of intense gunfire rang out. Song Xilian's side was no exception, and their attack was also blocked.

  Zhuang Jihua took a look, pulled Du Yuming and said: "I'll go up, you listen, organize the firepower well, from the rice field on the right side. Their troops have been attracted to the front and left sides. You remember that they are two decoys, you are the killer."

  After finishing speaking, Zhuang Jihua ran forward with a cat waist, and after a few rolls, he arrived at the machine gunner's side, shouting: "Follow me."

  The machine gunner picked up his gun and followed Zhu Jihua to a mound on the right side of the position, then set it up and fired. Zhu Jihua directed from the side. This shooting position was one he had aimed at from behind, the key being that he could cover Du Yuming's actions. The machine gun sounded again, and the enemy's firepower was suppressed.

  At this time, Du Yuming led the troops to launch an attack from the right side. The enemy's position was attacked on three sides and became chaotic. Cao Yuan saw it clearly in front of him and shouted: "Throw hand grenades."

  Then a row of grenades were thrown out, taking advantage of the smoke and dust from the explosion, Cao Yuan jumped up again, shouting: "Charge!"

  There were over a dozen soldiers following him, charging forward. Zhuang Jihua saw that the others were still lying there and couldn't help but get anxious, so he kicked one of them and shouted: "Lazy bums, get up and charge!", then yelled at the soldiers who were still lying down: "Brothers, follow me, charge!" Du Xiaoshan also blew the charge bugle.

  Seeing the long strip of men advancing, more soldiers got up from the ground and charged forward. Then all the soldiers began to charge forward. The confusion on the enemy's position became even greater. A few people started running back, followed by more enemies running back.

  Zhuang Jihu rushed onto the enemy's position, and Du Yuming also killed from the side. The retreating enemy was hit by his flank, and the collapse was faster. After rushing onto the enemy's position, Zhuang Jihu stopped in his tracks, while Cao Yuan and Hu Zongnan continued to pursue the enemy with their men, and Song Xilian on the left did not stop either.

  Zhuang Jihua observed for a while, seeing the enemy retreating into the village. When the defeated soldiers were about to enter the village, more than a dozen enemies came out of the village and blocked them. One of the officers directed the retreating enemy to defend at the entrance of the village.

  Zhuang Jihua was a bit puzzled in his heart, why did he come out to command at this time, wasn't it too late? Then he looked around again and didn't see the enemy ambush, so he ordered Du Xiaoshan to blow the horn and commanded the troops to continue attacking.

  The enemy officers' efforts collapsed quickly under the continuous attack of Zhuang Jihua's troops, and Song Xilian killed his way forward, chasing after the fleeing enemy for four or five miles before bringing back seven or eight exhausted prisoners.

  After checking the results of the battle, there were 7 or 8 enemy corpses on the battlefield, 4 or 5 along the way, and 5 or 6 in the village. In total, they had killed 18 enemies and captured 21. Zhuang Jihua calculated that they had annihilated half of the enemy forces. The results weren't bad. However, he was very disappointed with the enemy's fighting spirit. With only 7 or 8 people dead on the battlefield, it had already collapsed. This was too weak. It wasn't until then that he realized he hadn't been afraid at all. After calming down and seeing the corpses and bloodstains on the ground, he felt a bit queasy. He quickly left the scene.

  After tallying up the spoils of war, he inspected his own troops' casualties. The first platoon had one death and one injury, the second platoon had three injuries but no deaths, and the third platoon had no casualties at all. Zhuang Jihua went to visit the wounded soldiers and found that among the four injured, three were lightly wounded. Wu Ziniu told him that these wounds would heal in a few days, but the one serious injury needed to be sent back to the rear for treatment.

  Zhuang Jihua was somewhat perplexed, wasn't Chen Jiongming's Guangdong Army supposed to be quite formidable? Why did they seem less impressive in person than their reputation suggested.

  With doubts, Zhuang Jihua interrogated several captives. It turned out that the troops here were originally going to withdraw, but due to Zhuang Jihua's rapid advance, they didn't have time. The village official was their regimental commander, who was a local and took the opportunity to send some things home before retreating. Zhuang Jihua was furious, "Damn it! If you wanted to withdraw, why not do it earlier? Why wait until I arrived?" In a fit of anger, he stormed off, leaving Cao Yuan alone to carry out the prisoner education work.

  When the follow-up troops arrived, Zhuang Jihua had already led his company to rest in the village. The company was placed at the battalion commander's house, and he and several platoon leaders were summarizing here. The results didn't matter, mainly summarizing the shortcomings. Several platoon leaders began to recall their arrangements when the attack started. Du Yiming could still say something, but Hu Zongnan and Song Xilian found that they had done nothing except advancing forward. Zhuang Jihua did not blame them, only asking them to draw lessons, of course, he himself was also drawing lessons. In the future, leading the charge would be better avoided, as it was too dangerous.

  At this time, Cao Yuan returned and told him a situation, which ultimately changed the course of the Eastern Expedition.