Songhu: Never Give Up

Chapter 22: All the efforts have ended in failure (please read later)
Just when the main force of the 261st Brigade was about to collapse, the brigade commander Song Xilian led more than 300 people from the brigade to reinforce. Song Xilian rushed to the front with an MP28 machine gun. Surrounding him was the brigade guard company, each holding a machine gun or a C96 Mauser pistol. This was the last reserve of the 261st Brigade.

The guard company rushed in the front, followed by the brigade's staff and logistics personnel. Even the cooks went to the battlefield with kitchen knives in hand. The entire brigade, from the brigade commander down, went into battle and fought with the Japanese troops who rushed onto the battlefield.

The latest MP28 submachine gun in Song Xilian's hand is a close combat weapon with a fast firing rate and great power. He can kill several Japanese soldiers with one sweep, and he hardly needs to aim.
The guard company lined up dozens of submachine guns in a row, killing the Japanese soldiers all over the ground. Unfortunately, the firing rate was too fast and there was no speed selector, so the bullets in the magazine were used up in just two or three bursts.

When the Japanese rushed forward, Song Xilian had no time to change the magazine, so he swung the butt of his submachine gun and smashed a Japanese soldier's head;

His two guards had already changed the magazines and fired four Mauser pistols left and right, killing several Japanese soldiers who wanted to attack him.

A guard ran out of bullets and was stabbed by a Japanese bayonet. Song Xilian picked up his submachine gun, which had been replaced with a magazine, and turned the Japanese who killed the guard into a hornet's nest.

The arrival of reinforcements boosted the morale of the soldiers who were fighting hard. They saw the brigade commander and deputy brigade commander fighting the Japanese in person. After some of them were injured and fell to the ground, they pulled the grenades on their bodies and died together with the Japanese.

Some of them pulled the pin of a grenade and rushed to places where there were many Japanese soldiers, risking their lives.

Under the desperate fight of the 261st Brigade, the two battalions of Japanese troops that attacked their position finally retreated like a tide, leaving behind thousands of corpses;

The 261st Brigade was no longer able to pursue the enemy. Two regiments and a brigade headquarters were almost wiped out, leaving only more than 800 people, and all of them were injured.

A brigade of more than 5 people fought to the death, and only two out of ten survived. The tragedy was as tragic as a flesh-grinding machine.

The remaining several hundred Japanese soldiers in the two battalions of the 66th Regiment had been so frightened by the killing that they dared not launch any new attacks before dark.
At the same time, the Japanese on the left wing were also repelled by the 527th Regiment, leaving hundreds of corpses.

After half a day of bloody fighting, more than half of the 527th Regiment suffered casualties, but the situation on the left wing was much better than that on the right wing.

Yue Qianli's Third Company was indeed a star unit. They killed the most enemies but suffered the fewest casualties. There were 87 people in the entire company including the wounded, all of them were combatants. In a national war, there was no such thing as leaving the front line with minor injuries.

As the sun sets, a ray of the setting sun dyes the entire battlefield red. Everywhere you look, there are densely packed corpses stacked on top of each other, creating a desolate scene.

Even Song Xilian, who had a heart of steel, could not help but feel a lump in his throat in this situation. Almost all of the thousands of soldiers from his 261st Brigade were lying here. These were his comrades and brothers!
"Brother Yin Guo, the commander of the 522nd Regiment died for his country. Three of the seven battalion commanders died, four were injured, and almost all the company and platoon leaders were killed or wounded—"

Song Xilian raised his hand to stop him from continuing, and his expression instantly regained its firmness, because the battle was not over yet, and now was not the time to be sad. He asked with concern:

"How's the situation at the 527th Regiment?"

"They are better than us. There are still more than 1600 people left. Commander Zhu, please tell me whether we should shrink the defense line and combine the two forces?"

Song Xilian shook his head and said:
"Tell Captain Zhu to hold the left wing position. Once the right wing position falls, their artillery company will fire at our position. We must not let the Japanese occupy the position alive!"

"Yin Country——"

Song Xilian shouted coldly: "Execute the order!"

Seeing that Song Yinguo was determined to die, Liu Baoding said nothing more and just fought to the death!
The defenders were licking their wounds, and the 2th Division was not in much better shape. The 50nd, 60th, and 3th Regiments had suffered more than half of their casualties, plus the loss of artillery. The casualties also exceeded , and they did not gain much advantage;

With the absolute advantage in manpower and firepower, the casualty ratio between the two sides did not exceed 1:2. Lieutenant General Matsugi Naoaki could not help but sigh:

“Yamashita-kun, I take back what I said before that China has no elite troops. The 87st Brigade of the 261th Division is a worthy opponent;
If the two sides exchanged positions, the 14th Division would not do better than them! "

Yamashiro Jiro took over and said:
"The gap between China and the Empire is comprehensive. The Empire has 17 permanent divisions, thousands of aircraft, hundreds of main naval ships, and the daily production of artillery shells can match their annual production.

The output value of steel and industry is even less than a fraction of that of the Empire. Wars are fought over steel and industry. What can China use to fight the Empire?"

The old devil Songmu was just pretending to be cool. After Colonel Yamashita finished speaking, he proudly touched his toilet and said nonsense:
"Yoshi, the Chinese government has put all its national strength into equipping three German-equipped divisions. If we kill one of them, we will lose one, while the loss of a few thousand warriors by the empire is nothing.
The warriors are tired after two days of hard fighting. Let them have a good rest tonight. Give each of them an extra can of beef. Let them get enough rest and wait until dawn to launch the final general attack. We must completely wipe out this elite 261st Brigade."

Colonel Yamashita took the order and left. He knew his own business. Even though the division commander said something nice, it was not true that he would not fight. He was really unable to fight. There was only one regiment left with full equipment and personnel.
The war has just begun. If all the troops are lost in Liuhe Town, the landing and flanking operation will lose its meaning.

Both sides were licking their wounds, and the 527th Regiment and the 261st Brigade were determined to fight to the last man;

Song Xilian has always had good luck. At around nine o'clock in the evening, a vanguard regiment of the 61st Division of the 61th Route Army arrived first, followed by a whole division. Commander-in-Chief Chiang, who always put the overall situation first, sent all the reserve 261st Division over, and they took over the defense of Liuhe Town from the st Brigade.

Only then did Song Xilian lead the remaining troops to evacuate Liuhe Town, and the 88th Regiment of the 527th Division also withdrew from their positions and returned to Miaohang.

In order to avoid being discovered by the Japanese, the 527th Regiment hurried back to Miaohang overnight. In the battle of Liuhe Town, more than 527 people from the 400th Regiment died and were all buried in Liuhe Town.
Loyal bones are buried everywhere in the green mountains, so why should we return home wrapped in our horse's hide? Compared with the 261st Brigade whose main forces were almost wiped out, the 527th Regiment suffered relatively few casualties. This is a national war!

The 527th Regiment also had more than 500 seriously wounded soldiers, all of whom were taken back to Miaohang Town. They did not even have time to grieve.

As the Japanese added two divisions, the defenders were under increased pressure. Even if they rushed back to Miaohang, they would not be able to adjust for a few days as a new battle would be waiting for them.

In the direction of Liuhe Town, the Japanese launched another attack after daybreak, but were repelled by the 61st Division. The commander of the th Division found that the number of defenders had increased several times overnight, and knew that the Chinese reinforcements had arrived, so he continued to launch feint attacks to tie down the defenders;
Then they telegraphed the headquarters for tactical guidance. The Japanese immediately withdrew the main force of the 11th Division from Zhabei and secretly transported them to Qiyakou, Yanglinkou, Liubinkou and other places to forcibly land and threaten the 61st Division's defense line from the flank.

After a day of fierce fighting, the 61st Division failed to withstand the enemy's two-sided attack and voluntarily withdrew from its position after losing nearly half of its troops. The two enemy divisions took advantage of the situation to capture Liuhe Town. The flanks of the th Route Army and the th Army were exposed, facing the danger of being attacked from both sides.

The National Government sent a telegram to the 19th Route Army:

"Now that the army has moved to the Nanxiang, Jiading, and Taicang areas, in order to facilitate long-term resistance, we should urgently build reserve positions to prepare for it."

The Chinese defenders immediately abandoned their main position and retreated to the second line of defense. Due to insufficient preparation, the first phase of the battle ended in failure, and the situation was very unfavorable to the national army.

(End of this chapter)