Chapter 79: Fighting
"Yes, I'm Endo Shinichi, what! Asshole!"
At the headquarters of the Japanese 3rd Division in Xinyang, Colonel Shinichi Endo, the division chief of staff, who received the bad news, turned around with a dejected look on his face and reported to the division commander, Lieutenant General Masataka Yamawaki.
"Sir, we just received a report that Chinese saboteurs have been carrying out continuous blasting on the Pinghan Road in the mountainous areas on both sides of Pingjing Pass. Not only is the Pinghan Road traffic interrupted, but the 58th Regiment, which was sent by train to reinforce, has also suffered heavy losses."
" This means that the reinforcements on the southern front will not be able to arrive on time."
Reinforcements from the 11th Army could no longer be counted on, which made Lieutenant General Yamawaki's brows furrow even tighter.
"So where has the Guangtian detachment reached so far?"
"The Guangtian Detachment reported 20 minutes ago that its vanguard, the Yamauchi Integrated Battalion, has arrived at Qiudian, west of Luohe, and is exchanging fire with the Chinese Army Huang Xiansheng's unit that is delaying the operation."
Due to the repeated bombing of the Pinghan Railway by the Xingyang Independent Air Force of the Northwest Air Force, the Japanese reinforcements on the northern line could only advance through the roads along the railway, which were also severely damaged. Therefore, the speed was somewhat unsatisfactory. But no matter how unsatisfactory it was, the distance between Xuchang and Luohe was really limited, and the Guangtian Detachment finally successfully transferred to the battlefield in southern Henan.
"As for the main force of the unit, it will launch a full-scale offensive within six hours."
This is good news. According to the report from Colonel Eijiro Shimamura who was surrounded at the Quanzhai line, the number of Chinese troops surrounding the unit was not large. If the Hirota Detachment could quickly establish contact with the Shimamura Detachment, then the two units together would have enough power to break through the outer blockade and then cooperate with the Kawabata Detachment from inside and outside.
"Report!"
However, before Division Commander Yamawaki could completely let go, new blows came one after another.
"The Luoshan garrison urgently reports that about a thousand cavalrymen from Zheng Dazhang's army suddenly attacked Luoshan City. The Luoshan garrison has been forced to retreat to the military police and the Kawauchi Trading Company in the city. The garrison leader, Captain Shinbata, urgently requests guidance from the division headquarters."
"Luo Shan? Chinese cavalry?"
Colonel Endo was startled.
"The Chinese army's goal is not to attack Xinyang directly."
Colonel Endo's guess had not yet been confirmed when another telegraph staff officer hurried over to report the death: "The Zhengyang garrison sent an urgent telegram that a unit of the Chinese cavalry, Men Bingyue, is attacking Zhengyang and requests urgent guidance from the division headquarters."
"Against the cavalry ?"
Colonel Endo drew a heavy question mark on the map with a pencil.
"Sir, do you think the Chinese Army's actions are intended to mobilize the Guangtian Detachment or to clear obstacles before the general offensive?"
Although Chief of Staff Endo did not believe that the Chinese army could correctly recognize the problem of insufficient manpower in the 3rd Division, he did not dare to take the risk. Therefore, the ball was kicked to Lieutenant General Yamawaki who had the decision-making power.
"Should we transfer a battalion from Guangtian Detachment?"
"Lieutenant General Xiangyue was deceived by the Chinese army's bluffing in Datong."
Division Commander Yamawaki was also racking his brains to judge the current situation.
"And if the Chinese army led by Yang Hucheng launched a massive attack, would a mere battalion be able to defend Xinyang?"
Yamawaki finally decided to take a gamble.
"Immediately distribute weapons to the unarmed soldiers and expatriates in Xinyang City, and call back the lightly wounded from the field hospitals."
These are all expected, but the key lies in what follows.
"Once the reorganization is completed, immediately attack Luoshan and Zhengyang."
"Sir!"
Colonel Endo exclaimed.
"This is too risky," Lieutenant General Yamawaki Masataka said firmly, "There is a saying in China that goes 'one must be put to death before one can survive'. In the current situation, the northern garrison is related to the retreat of the Hirota detachment and cannot be easily mobilized, so we can only send troops to Xinyang."
It was unclear whether the division commander Yamawaki was confident or just trying to hold on, and he explained: "Although the two Chinese cavalry units are several times larger than our Zhengyang and Luoshan garrisons, they were unable to annihilate our army immediately. This shows that they are either bluffing or their combat effectiveness is extremely weak. In either case, they will not pose a threat to our attacking troops."
"What? The Japanese army attacked from Xinyang."
Listening to the scout's report, Hu Xianzhong, commander of the 1st Regiment of the 1st Reserve Cavalry Division, was very nervous. Although there was still some distance between Xinyang and Luoshan, and he did not expect the Japanese to run faster than his own scouts on horseback, the Japanese reaction was obviously different from the information Hu had received from Zheng Dazhang before.
"The Japanese army still has the strength to attack?"
Hu Xianzhong couldn't help but hesitate. In fact, the attack of the reserve cavalry corps was the result of direct intervention of the Lanzhou Supreme Command, and Yang Hucheng was not informed. This was why Men Bingyue and Zheng Dazhang could only dispatch one cavalry regiment each. However, accepting the cross-level command of the Lanzhou Supreme Command was one thing, and throwing the limited capital to the Japanese army was another thing. Hu Xianzhong, who did not dare to fight firmly, had to give the order in a dilemma.
"We should stop the attack in Luoshan City for now and keep a close eye on the Japanese actions in Xinyang. If the Japanese army is determined to cross Shierlipu, we can't fight this battle."
Hu Xianzhong's speculative mentality prevailed, but the Japanese army did not give him a chance. In addition to the Japanese army attacking from Xinyang and firmly pressing towards Luoshan, the remnants of the Japanese army hiding in the city also decisively launched a counterattack, but they entangled Hu's troops who broke into the city.
"Captain, we can't delay any longer."
The Japanese army that attacked Xinyang had a full battalion, and it seemed that their strength was almost the same as that of Hu's army. However, in terms of the firepower and combat effectiveness of the Japanese army, it was easy for them to deal with a ragtag group like Zheng Dazhang's army. Therefore, the company commanders of Hu's army who were unaware that the Japanese army was actually just trying to show off naturally had many concerns.
"Retreat immediately."
“What about the brothers in the city?”
Cavalry had no way of attacking a city, so the Hu troops who entered Luoshan City actually dismounted and fought on foot. All their horses were left outside the city. Therefore, if the main force escaped in advance, the brothers who were held back would have little chance of escaping the Japanese pursuit.
“We can’t abandon them.”
"If we leave now, we can still use the horsepower to get rid of the Japanese pursuit, but if we wait until they defeat the Japanese in the city, we might be surrounded by the Japanese who come later."
So the opponents insisted.
"If all else fails, let them surrender. Then we can come out and maybe make the Japanese lose more than they gain."
Hu Xianzhong's mind moved: "Then let's do this. Someone tell Captain Liang and his men what I mean. If they can't get rid of the Japanese in the city, they should surrender first. As for the other troops, retreat immediately."
"Report to the division commander."
Captain Shinbata, who had led a small team to successfully defend Luoshan, gave orders to the garrison signalman with great complacency.
"After our stubborn resistance, the Chinese army led by Zheng Dazhang has now retreated from Luoshan, and more than 200 Chinese soldiers who broke into the city have surrendered to our army."
A moment later, the Xinyang Third Division Headquarters replied: "The crisis at Luoshan has been resolved. Kishimoto's detachment will immediately move north to Zhengyang. Luoshan will handle all the aftermath. Also, keep a close eye on the movements of the Chinese Army and prevent Zheng's troops from attacking Luoshan again."
Hearing that the support troops had turned around, Captain Shinbata was a bit worried. After all, there were only about 30 intact Japanese troops in the city, but the number of prisoners was almost ten times that. In this case, how could he be at ease to guard against the return of Zheng Dazhang's cavalry? So Captain Shinbata, with evil in his heart, grinned.
Soon, Zheng's troops who surrendered to the enemy were gathered together, and then the Japanese army disarmed the surrendered troops on the pretext of identifying anti-Japanese elements. Thinking that the Japanese army would pick out one or two unlucky guys to make an example of, the remnants of Zheng's army thus met their doom.
"what happened?"
Looking at the sudden emergence of Japanese troops and the machine guns stationed high up, several veteran soldiers immediately realized that something was wrong.
"The Japs want to kill us. We've been tricked. Let's run away!"
But it was too late. Just as the unarmed Zheng army thought of resisting, Japanese machine gun bullets blasted at them. Those Chinese soldiers who did not die on the anti-Japanese battlefield fell tragically in a pool of blood.
A very small number of Zheng's troops barely escaped from the Japanese machine gun fire, but before they could run out of the Japanese blockade , they were met with Japanese bayonets.
"Little devil, if you don't let me live, I will fight you to death."
Using bricks, hands, and teeth, the surviving Chinese soldiers fought the Japanese army like wild beasts. However, facing the fully armed enemy, these officers and soldiers of the Zheng army who were abandoned by their superiors and lost their equipment could only die tragically on the spot with regret.
What made them even more unwilling was that they had to bear the stigma of being traitors before their death. When Hu Xianzhong's troops retreated, they forgot to inform Men Bingyue's troops in Zhengyang, which resulted in Zhang Chunfang's troops of the 21st Cavalry Regiment, which had finally wiped out more than 70 defenders after a hard battle, being surrounded by the Japanese attack force in Zhengyang City.
After a fierce battle, Zhang's troops escaped from the Japanese army which lacked heavy weapons, but suffered more than 60% casualties and were severely damaged.
This incident even led to an open conflict between Men Bingyue and Zheng Dazhang at a military meeting in the Hubei-Henan-Anhui war zone.
As the conflict between the two became increasingly intense, the Lanzhou Supreme Command subsequently ordered Zheng Dazhang's troops to transfer to the Hebei-Henan War Zone, and Men Bingyue's troops were also transferred to Jiangsu, Xuzhou, Shandong, Henan and Anhui.
However, Zheng Dazhang was very dissatisfied with the decision to give 80 lashes to each of the Northwest tribes. Finally, under the inducement of Japanese spies, he surrendered to the Japanese army and became a shameful traitor. Of course, this is a story for later.
Lieutenant General Masataka Yamawaki's gamble was successful again, but the small victory on the eastern front was not enough to change the overall situation.
On March 22, the Northwest Seventh Army first launched the final attack on the Sichuan Bao Detachment. The battle lasted until 5 pm the next day, and it successfully recovered more than a dozen towns and villages including Jiuxian, Zhangzhai, Xupu, Qiuzhuang, Peicun, and Yetian, wiped out more than 2,200 Japanese troops, and divided the remnants of the Sichuan Bao Detachment into four unconnected sections.
Although the Hirota Detachment, which was reinforced by the 38th Division, successfully broke the Chinese encirclement of the Shimamura Detachment at noon on March 23 and rescued more than 1,800 Japanese troops trapped on the northern front, it was no longer able to stop the Chinese army from completely annihilating the Kawabata Detachment.
On March 24, the Chinese army continued its efforts and wiped out more than 1,100 Japanese troops, recovered villages such as Dushu, Xialou, and Huangdian, killed Colonel Kawabata Taketo, and seized a part of the artillery that the Japanese army had no time to destroy.
At this time, the command of the Sichuan Bao Detachment was interrupted, its organization was in chaos, and its destruction was imminent.
