Rise from eight hundred.

Chapter 1520: Sunset over the Lonely City (Part )

"Who said we can't go back to Taihang Mountain? The regiment commander told us all at a military meeting some time ago that after this battle, our entire regiment will return to Taihang Mountain to rest and recuperate. Those who live in North China can take a month's leave to visit their families.

One month! Last time when I left, my little girl cried so hard. Three or four years have passed in a flash. My little girl almost can't recognize me as her father. "Boss Cao hugged his soldier, with sadness and hope flashing in his one eye.

After nearly a month of fierce fighting in the city, his infantry platoon, which originally had only more than 30 people left, now has only half of its men left.

But this is still a good thing. The 7th Company where he is is said to no longer be able to form a complete platoon. And after more than 7 days of repeated battles, 20 positions in the urban area that their 16th Company is responsible for defending are still firmly in their hands.

Including the 5 building where the five of them are now, although the building has long lost its value, if the Japanese army cannot kill all five of them in the ruins, they will not be able to enter another block with peace of mind.

Because they couldn't guarantee that a gun wouldn't be sticking out of the ruins and shooting at them. This had been happening all the time over the past 20 days.

The Japanese were forced to clear out their opponents house by house and then send troops to garrison them, which was exactly what the Hengyang Command wanted to see most.

The Japanese could only disperse their forces and enter the streets in small groups. Their strongest weapons were only infantry artillery or the few Type 97 tanks.

The 70mm infantry gun and the 97mm rapid-fire gun of the Type 47 tank are both small-caliber artillery. They can destroy a residential building, but they are of little use against the various fortifications that the Chinese side began to build three months ago.

The Hengyang Command even deliberately opened up some blocks, only for the Japanese infantry to enter them. The two sides were intertwined, making the Japanese 105 and 150 howitzers useless.

As a result, this urban street fighting turned into a complete mess over a period of nearly 30 days. Both sides no longer bothered about organization, but just numbly threw their soldiers into the ruins of only 2.8 kilometers in radius to kill each other.

The Japanese army had the advantage of sufficient manpower, while the Chinese army had the advantage of an infantry communication system that was ahead of its time and familiarity with the geographical environment.

Of course, the reason why the Chinese side was able to fight nearly 5 Japanese troops who entered the ruins for a month without any supplies was that they had extensive tunnels and more than 4 reservists.

During the two months when the regular army was fighting the Japanese army outside Hengyang City, the reserve forces in the city not only had the task of constantly replenishing the troops outside the city, but also had to dig underground tunnels day and night.

They were like a group of industrious ants. In just 60 days, they dug a spider-web-like passage underground in Hengyang City. Although it did not lead to every house, one block had at least six exits, and it was entirely possible to have underground soldier caves and storage for food, clean water, ammunition, etc.

According to post-war statistics, the total length of the underground tunnels reached an astonishing 80 kilometers, and the amount of earth excavated reached tens of thousands of tons, which can be called a miracle in the history of human warfare.

It can be seen what kind of potential humans can unleash when their lives are threatened.

It was this miracle created by the young and strong men who stayed behind in Hengyang City that has kept Hengyang City in the hands of China until now. Even though a month has passed and hundreds of Chinese regular troops are being sacrificed every day, the sound of gunfire in Hengyang City has never stopped for almost 24 hours.

For example, the 5102 position where Boss Cao was located had been fought over for more than 10 times. The Japanese army conquered it with infantry artillery and Type 97 tanks during the day. Boss Cao and the people of Class 4 hid in the underground tunnel, and then took it back at night and fought against the Japanese army again during the day.

In this repeated tug-of-war, the number of squad 4 has been reduced from 9 to 4, not including the 26 new reserve soldiers who were not as lucky as Luo Dahu. They were all killed within this month.

In this position alone, 31 Chinese soldiers were killed.

There were no serious injuries, because in such street fighting, serious injuries meant death, and no one had the ability to cross the line of fire and drag their comrades to a safe area dozens of meters away in the fierce fighting.

They either stopped breathing silently behind their fighting comrades, or, at the last moment of their lives, pulled the fuse of a grenade to take away the enemy.

To a certain extent, the wounded soldiers themselves did not want to continue living.

Because at this time Hengyang had already run out of ammunition and food. Bullets and food were still available, thanks to some previous reserves, at least the soldiers and civilians in the city could have something to eat. Moreover, as long as the Japanese soldiers were killed, the guns, ammunition and biscuits they carried with them could be replenished at any time. This was a typical case of fighting to support the war.

But the medicines had already run out. Tang Dao had already made preparations. Hundreds of medical staff arrived, carrying more than ten tons of medicines and medical supplies. But even he did not expect the battle to be so fierce or to last so long.

Since late July, the city had run out of medicines, especially disinfectant and cotton wool. The little medicine supplies dropped by transport planes every day were just a drop in the bucket for the 7 seriously injured people in Hengyang.

Later on, the medical staff could only scald the cotton wool in boiling water to disinfect it. There were no medical bandages. Led by the director of the field hospital, Tan Tai Mingyue, hundreds of medical staff contributed their shirts and sheets, which were directly torn into strips to bandage the wounds.

方显绝做为全城最高指挥官，知道自己的嫡系部队预10师在城南几乎拼光，4个团长战死2人伤2人，主力营长战死7人没有落泪，但他在8月20日视察野战医院3号坑道时却落泪了。

That day, the scorching sun had just set and the sound of gunfire in Hengyang city was still resounding through the sky. Fang Xianjue decided to visit the wounded soldiers in the field hospital. He also brought all the canned meat that had been saved by the officers in the command center during the past few days of supply, as well as some milk candies that had just been airdropped, to encourage the wounded soldiers for their contributions on the front line.

As soon as people walked into the tunnel, they heard deep and painful groans, as if coming from the depths of hell, accompanied by a rotten and smelly smell. What caught the eyes of the lieutenant general was that all the wounded soldiers were leaning or lying weakly on both sides of the tunnel. Each of them was skinny, with sunken eyes that were empty and powerless. The seriously injured soldiers who were missing limbs barely had a door panel as a stretcher to lie on.

However, what was shocking was that swarms of flies kept flying towards their wounds, and the wounded seemed to be used to it and were too lazy to even drive them away.

"General!" Suddenly, Fang Xianjue, who was feeling heartbroken, heard someone calling him in a low voice. He turned around and saw a man leaning against the wall of the tunnel. He had an unshaven beard, thin cheeks, sunken eyes, and was muttering to himself.

Fang Xianjue hurriedly walked over and bent down to look at the wounded soldier. His wound was wrapped with a bandage, but it had not been cleaned with medicine for a long time. The bandage gave off a foul smell and flies were on it. Fang Xianjue hurriedly waved his hand to drive them away, but the lieutenant general soon found that it was futile. There were too many flies in there and they could not be driven away.

However, this is still less than the ground.

The city of Hengyang today is not hell, but it is very similar to hell! Whether you are standing inside or outside the city, as long as you look around, the first creature you see is definitely a fat fly.

Because their food is really too abundant.

There were corpses everywhere! The Japanese army continued to gather near the Xiangjiang River to burn the bodies day and night, but they could not keep up with the speed of the corpses.

Before capturing the city of Hengyang, the Japanese army suffered 3.5 casualties and 2 injuries, which is equivalent to the destruction of two Class A divisions.

In the words of Zhao Junmai, who came from a wealthy family: There was really nothing to eat that day, and the flies flying all over the sky were probably enough to feed the entire military and civilians in Hengyang for two days.

Although it is a bit disgusting, it is enough to show that flies are the largest biological group in Hengyang at that time.

Human beings are nothing more than food and carriers for their reproduction.

But at this time, Fang Xianjue also saw this person clearly. It turned out that this was the captain of the 10th Company of the 28th Regiment of the 9th Division, who was saved by his sergeant squad leader despite the serious crime of military law. When Fang Xianjue was the regiment commander, this army captain was a squad leader under him. He followed Fang Xianjue to train in Jinhua. Fang Xianjue knew him and knew that his last name was Dai.

At that time, the captain surnamed Dai was hit by four bullets. The most fatal bullet was in his right chest. Fortunately, it was some distance away from his heart. He survived after surgery in the field hospital. However, he did not expect that 4 days later, his wounds still had not healed.

It turned out that the army captain survived the wound infection, but he encountered a shortage of medicine at the critical moment of wound healing. The army captain, who had regained consciousness, resolutely moved out of the basement of the Central Bank, which was specially for seriously wounded soldiers, and came to Tunnel No. 3, which lacked medicine, causing the wound that had not yet healed to become infected and rotted again.

In August, Hengyang was plunged into street fighting, and the airdropped medicines that reached the Chinese side were extremely precious. The nurses had to use only saline solution to clean the wounds, and the medical effect was obviously just better than nothing.

Captain Dai looked at his commander with empty eyes and said with a weak breath: "Commander, please believe me, I can still move. Send someone to carry me to the position. As long as there is a machine gun, I will never let the Japanese rush up before I die. I will continue to kill the Japanese with my brothers in the 9th Company!"

Fang Xianjue burst into tears at that moment. If he remembered correctly, the 28th Regiment had reported that it was this 9th Company that fought to the death in hand-to-hand combat with the Japanese army with the last 7 men remaining in the battlefield of the counterattack on the main position of Zhangjiashan on July 20. Only 50 seriously wounded soldiers were found in the whole company, and 8 more died before they could be treated after being transported to the rear.

He then notified the entire army in the name of the Hengyang Command, naming the company the "Zhangjiashan Company" to commemorate the company's achievements in that battle.

But what's the point of giving more rewards and commendations? Maybe this is the only one left in Zhangjiashan Company.

"Okay, if all my Chinese soldiers can be like you, we can defend not only one Hengyang, but even hundreds or thousands of Hengyangs. Here I assure you in my own name that Hengyang can be lost, but before that, my Fang Xianjue's head must be hung at the door of the Central Bank! You should rest and recuperate for the time being. After you recover, you will not only be a company commander, but also a battalion commander and a regiment commander, and lead more brothers to kill the Japanese." After all, Fang Xianjue did not tell the army captain about the bad news of his infantry company. Instead, he bent down, carried the veteran who had followed him for nearly 10 years on his back, and walked out of Tunnel No. 3.

Whether out of years of friendship or for the sake of the 'Zhangjiashan Company' which no longer has any soldiers, the army captain has to survive.

Fang Xianjue, who respected Tan Tai Mingyue very much, rarely lost his temper at the No. 1 Station of the Field Hospital, and immediately returned to the headquarters to send a telegram to the Military Commission: "I can lead my entire army to die in Hengyang, but I will never sit idly by and watch more than of my soldiers die of pain after fulfilling their military duties. I am willing to exchange all my wealth and rewards for medicine to treat the wounded!"

This was also the first time that Fang Xianjue did not show enough respect to that person in the telegram, even though that person had said "reinforcements will arrive tomorrow" for almost 40 days.

But for the sake of 1.3 wounded soldiers, this famous general gave it his all.

It had some effect. Starting from August 8, the number of transport planes dropping medicines to Hengyang city increased to 21 every night, and the dropped medicines and medical equipment amounted to several tons. Although less than half of them were picked up by the Japanese army, it was still a relief to the people in Hengyang city.

Otherwise, the infection of wounds caused by the high temperature in this scorching summer would kill half of the wounded soldiers in Hengyang City.

3 people from the 4th squad of the 31rd platoon died in the fighting in the city. How many Japanese soldiers died?

According to the battle report of the Shima Detachment of the 68th Division, which was responsible for the main attack on this area, the detachment lost 178 Imperial officers and soldiers, 97 were injured, and one and a half infantry squadrons were wiped out just to capture this building. In addition, their detachment commander, Major General Shima Genkichi, also died in a battle that he personally arrived at the front line to supervise three days ago.

Speaking of which, Major General Shima Genkichi deserved to die. He should have died in the battle on the outskirts of the city in the past, but he was lucky enough not to die. However, the wheel of history rolls on, and the future little butterfly of the Tang sword cannot change its direction no matter how hard it tries. How can a small Japanese Army major general reverse it?

After several positions including the 5102 position changed hands several times, this guy was very angry. He came to the front line in person and supervised the battle personally less than 200 meters away from the front-line soldiers.

Unfortunately, Adong was lying in ambush on the third floor of the building which was about to collapse. Although Adong, who had lost his left arm, could no longer hit a target 3 meters away like he used to, he could still hit a target at 400 meters.

Although Major General Shima was wearing a helmet and a military uniform, no doubt the same as the other Japanese officers around him, the gold thread inlaid on the scabbard of the command sword he was carrying shone brightly under the reflection of the sunlight, which was immediately caught by Adong.

He didn't know how high of a rank this Japanese officer was, but the scabbard was inlaid with gold, which was very impressive.

  You've shown off all your awesomeness, isn't that just for people to shoot at you?

The assault rifle controlled by one arm was adjusted to single-shot mode, and it hit the target with one shot!

However, at a distance of more than 200 meters, the Japanese helmet was easily penetrated by the 7.92 caliber bullet, and the Japanese Army Major General's brain tissue flowed out under the protection of nearly ten Japanese soldiers. He became the first Japanese general to be killed by Chinese infantry at a long distance on the Hengyang battlefield, raising the level of Japanese generals and officers killed by snipers by another level.

This also forced Yokoyama Isamu to personally order that all those with the rank of major general and above were not allowed to go to the front line in person, so as to avoid adding another Japanese army general's name to the Chinese military merit list.

Yes, in Hengyang, Shima Genkichi was not the first Japanese army general to be killed in the battle. His superior, the male soldier whose little chick was blown away by the explosion, also died in the rear hospital due to wound infection.

Lieutenant General Jinjiro Ochiai, commander of the 27th Division, was also present at the front line when the Chinese launched an all-out attack on Huangchaling in early August. As a result, China's long-lost rocket launchers were once again used, but this time they were not aimed at the infantry, but at the heavy machine gun positions and infantry artillery positions in the rear.

A rocket hit the trench where the 700th Division's front-line command post was located 27 meters away from the front line. Even more unfortunately, it was a phosphorus-aluminum incendiary bomb. By the time the 27th Division sent people to put out the fire and rescue their division commander, the poor Japanese Army Lieutenant General was already half-cooked. It was only through the sword he carried with him that it was confirmed that the black piece of meat with a meaty aroma was Lieutenant General Jinkuro Ochiai.

The Chinese boot that had not landed for a long time now revealed its hideousness nakedly!

If two lieutenant generals of the army plus one major general of the army are not enough to make Yokoyama Isamu lose his composure, what about adding six colonels and 2 majors?

The 11th Army's headquarters, located 8 kilometers away from Hengyang City, was actually far from what the outside world saw. The people were looking at the nearby Hengyang City with great enthusiasm, dreaming of annihilating all the enemies in Hengyang and winning military merits.

  On the contrary, there was a lot of wailing!

Even a fool would understand, after entering Hengyang City for half a month, that Hengyang City is now a hot potato that cannot be eaten nor held.

Regardless of victory or defeat in this battle, just looking at the losses, the commander of the 11th Army, Lieutenant General Isamu Yokoyama, has already resigned.

The only uncertainty is whether he will be transferred back to his home country and retire from active service in a relatively decent manner, or whether he will be held accountable and brought to a military court.

The 11th Army was not exhausted and unable to fight anymore, but was badly injured and completely crippled.

Yes, it was not just one division that was crippled, but the entire 11th Army.

This field army, which was known as the most powerful since the establishment of the Japanese Army, has completely lost the qualifications to fight a decisive battle with the main force of the Chinese side.

. . . . . . . . . . . .

PS: Fengyue will send her daughter on a train to Chengdu tomorrow. Because she didn't buy a high-speed rail ticket, she can only take a sleeper, which takes 16 hours. She will arrive in Chengdu the day after tomorrow morning, and then accompany her to register at school to arrange dormitory and other chores. On the 3rd, she will meet classmates and friends she hasn't seen for a long time in Chengdu, and then take a sleeper car back to Xiangyang on the evening of the 3rd. She will not arrive home until the afternoon of the 4th. If I have time during this period, I will make time to update. If I am really too busy, I can only wait until Fengyue returns home. I would like to explain this to all the book friends.

In addition, after the novel is completed, there will be about 6 chapters of extra stories, including Gu Xishui and Yao Meir, Tang Shanhe, etc.

(End of this chapter)