Songhu: Never Give Up

Chapter 5: Bloody Battle at Damai's House (1)

Yue Qianli clearly remembered that the focus of the Ninth Division's attack in the Miaohang Battle was the Da and Xiaomai houses;
The Second Battalion was defending Xiaomai's house, and there was only the First Battalion heading towards Damai's house. The Third Company was right in the front, so you can imagine how great the pressure was.

Fortunately, the current Ninth Division is not the behemoth of nearly 1.3 people that it will be in a few years. Since Japan has not yet entered the wartime mechanism, the main force of the Ninth Division is only more than people;
The Seventh Regiment had less than 3 troops, and only had one infantry battalion and artillery squadron deployed in the direction of Damai Zhai. The battle could barely be fought.

He had just taken over the Third Company and was about to face a major battle. When Gao Zhisong asked about his defensive ideas, he thought for a moment and said:
"More than half of the Third Company had been killed or wounded in the previous battle. After being reinforced, the total number of personnel was only about 150 (reinforced by a mortar squad), and many of them were lightly wounded.
Due to the constraints of the terrain, the Japanese could only send a hundred or so people to charge at a time. Any more would just be giving us heads.

The Third Company was at an absolute disadvantage in terms of manpower, and could only make up for it with firepower and fortifications;

The previous fortifications were built too sloppily, and the simple linear trenches could not withstand the Japanese artillery fire.

So I decided to strengthen the fortifications while fighting, building simple anti-artillery holes and longitudinal communication trenches;

Firepower and manpower must also be readjusted. The principle is to have more firepower at the front and less manpower at the back, and to have enough reserves so that we can withstand long-term consumption."

Gao Zhisong was also a man who knew military affairs. After listening to this, he nodded repeatedly and said:

"Your idea is very good, I have no objection, let's do it without further ado!

Hurry up and adjust your deployment, the Japanese may launch a new attack at any time;

Isn't the Ninth Division known as an elite division? Let's show the devils who is the real elite! "

The military situation was urgent, and the two men quickly agreed on a defense plan and made clear the division of labor;

All the reinforcements were assigned to each platoon, and the dozen or so extra soldiers were left in the company headquarters. Yue Qianli led the second and third platoons to hold the position, while Gao Zhisong led the first platoon and the company headquarters as the reserve.

The platoon leader was taken over by Song Yunhan, a graduate of the seventh term who was transferred from the battalion headquarters. Starting from the seventh term, the curriculum of Huangpu was changed to three years. What the graduates learned was more systematic than that of the previous six terms, and they looked like professional officers. The first six terms were more like short-term training courses.

After the third company completed the adjustment of its forces, the Japanese had not yet launched a new round of attack. Yue Qianli seized this rare opportunity and led the second and third platoons to act as groundhogs.
It is said that there is strength in numbers. With more than 100 people working together, they quickly dug a large number of cat-ear holes along the reverse slope of the trench. Two longitudinal communication trenches were also dug to connect the first and second trenches together.

In order to reduce casualties from artillery fire, Yue Qianli deployed only two squads on the first line of defense, but equipped them with four Czech light machine guns, commanded by the second platoon leader;

He led others to continue digging fortifications in the second trench. He wanted to transform the second trench into a composite defense line with two horizontal and three vertical lines. He also personally controlled the only mortar.

The Japanese have not yet equipped mortars, and the supporting firepower at the battalion level is two Type 2 infantry guns;

This is infantry support firepower that was just put into service more than a year ago. It has a caliber of 70 mm, a combat weight of 212 kg, and a maximum range of 2830 meters.

This is a light flat-fire artillery that is easy to accompany infantry maneuvers. It is used to destroy bunkers and firing points, and attack enemy armored targets. It poses a great threat to machine gun fire. It is the support firepower at the battalion level of the Japanese Army, also known as the "battalion artillery."

This kind of supporting firepower is often deployed 800 meters away. Apart from the mortar supported by the regiment, the other weapons of the third company could not reach them at all, so Yue Qianli kept a hand and prepared to use the infantry artillery to ambush the devils. Just as the third company was working hard to expand the fortifications, the seventh regiment once again launched a full-line attack on the position of the 527th regiment. The first battalion was still used to attack the Damaizhai defense line, which was the focus of the devil's attack.

It was the same old routine, the infantry rushed forward and the artillery fired, the 12 large and small caliber artillery pieces of the th Regiment pounded rows of shells at the position of the rd Company;
The explosion immediately caused the third company's position to become filled with flying dust and billowing smoke, and the trenches that the soldiers had dug with great effort were destroyed piece by piece by artillery fire.

Fortunately, the Japanese's firepower was not sufficient, and they stopped after a few rounds. About a squadron of infantry rushed towards the third company's position.

Since the 3rd Company only deployed two squads on the first line of defense and dug a number of cat-ear holes, the casualties in the previous shelling were not great;
Leading the charge was Captain Inoue. More than half of his squadron had suffered casualties in the previous battle, and after replenishment there were only more than 150 people left. After spreading out in a skirmish line, they were just enough to fill the entire attack front.

He also divided the attacking force into three waves. The first wave was riflemen, followed by light machine guns and grenade launchers, and the final wave was two Type 92 heavy machine guns and a Type 92 infantry gun.

These were heavy firepower reinforced by the battalion headquarters, deployed on a small earthen slope 600 meters away, mainly to suppress the heavy firepower of the defenders.

It has to be said that the Japs' combination of long-range, medium-range and short-range firepower is reasonable, and their offensive tactics are very mature. However, this time they encountered Yue Qianli, who understood their tactical characteristics. Whether it is effective or not can only be known after the battle.

Captain Inoue followed the second wave with several communications and guards, and their communication with the third wave mainly relied on flag signals.

When the second wave reached a distance of two to three hundred meters, Captain Inoue ordered them to stop;
All the machine guns were mounted on high earth slopes, and the grenade launcher group was used as "Rangers", and they could decide when to attack.

The first wave of riflemen had already advanced to an area about 100 meters from the defenders’ defense line. This distance made it very easy for them to be intercepted by the defenders’ machine guns, so they all bent down;

The Japanese soldiers advanced cautiously with their rifles in hand, keeping a distance of three to five meters between each soldier. Even if they used machine guns to sweep them, they could only kill one or two at most.

Those scenes of charging forward with their heads held high and their chests puffed out only appear in movies. The Japanese on the battlefield are as slippery as loaches.

Yue Qianli had already told the second platoon leader that the machine guns could only open fire after the Japanese skirmishers entered the 80-meter range of the defense line;
The machine gun can only fire three bursts at most before changing the firing position to avoid being targeted by the Japanese small artillery.

Second Platoon Leader Duan Yulin followed Yue Qianli's orders very well, and only ordered to open fire after the enemy was within several dozen meters.
Following his order, the four light machine guns and a dozen rifles deployed in the first trench opened fire instantly, firing dense bullets at the Japanese.
There was almost no need for aiming at a distance of dozens of meters, and even though the Japanese's skirmish line was spread out, more than a dozen people were still knocked down.

The other Japanese soldiers lay on the ground to avoid the dense rain of bullets and wait for the delayed heavy firepower counterattack.

"Kill the chicken and give it to me!"

Captain Inoue immediately ordered the machine gun crew to return fire. Nine Type 9 light machine guns opened fire on the defenders' positions from 200 meters away. The bullets were as dense as a heavy rain.
The second platoon of officers and soldiers also suffered casualties. The Japanese firepower was too fierce. Although it was suppressive shooting, casualties were inevitable. Battles are never one-sided.

Because the Japanese used 9 light machine guns at one time, the machine guns in the second row soon fell silent, as if they had been suppressed by them. The Japanese infantrymen got up from the ground one after another and continued to advance while firing.

Duan Yulin saw that the Japanese infantry had charged again, so he ordered the machine gun group to fire at the Japanese again. The four rains of bullets were like four sickles of the god of death, constantly reaping the lives of the Japanese. Captain Inoue was so angry that he cursed:
"Bagayalu, notify the infantry artillery squad to destroy the Chinese machine guns!"

(End of this chapter)