Songhu: Never Give Up

Chapter 52: A Bloody Day (Seeking Follow-up Reading)
The attack of the 524th Regiment was repelled again, and all the suicide squad members were killed. A thousand of them rushed forward, but only more than 600 were left when they retreated. The tragic sacrifice made Han Xianyuan's voice hoarse. If such a charge were to happen a few more times, the 524th Regiment would be wiped out.

Because it was not anticipated that the Japanese would use tank troops to counterattack, the division's anti-tank artillery company was not pulled up, allowing the Japanese to take advantage.

The anti-tank artillery company was reinforced to the 524th Regiment. Previously, they were worried that they would be destroyed by the Japanese naval guns, so they had been hiding them like a treasure. Now they can no longer hide them. Han Xianyuan decided to launch another attack to lure out the Japanese tanks and destroy them.

The German-equipped divisions were organized into two main categories: the Central Military Academy Training Corps, which was an elite division with the most complete equipment and the most formal training;
The other is the new Central Army, which includes the 87th, 88th and 36th Divisions. The basic organization includes:

师属炮兵营，辖3个榴弹炮连（12门75毫米山炮）、1个战防炮连（4门37毫米战防炮）、1个高射炮连（4门20毫米高射炮），战防炮连使用的是德式PAK35-36型37毫米反战防炮；

The division includes an engineering battalion, a communications battalion (two wired communications companies, one wireless communications platoon), a supply battalion, a special services battalion, and a medical team (usually serving as a division hospital).

The division has two brigades under its jurisdiction, and the brigade has two infantry regiments under its jurisdiction. The regiment's direct subordinate units include the mortar company (6 82mm mortars), the small artillery company (6 20mm machine guns), the communications company, the special forces company, etc.

In addition, the division has two supplementary regiments, which use old equipment that was eliminated when replacing German equipment. Sometimes it is directly delegated to the brigade level. The entire division has 2 people.

Since the 524th Regiment was responsible for the main attack mission, the anti-tank artillery company was assigned to them. It only had 4 very valuable guns, which were specially used to attack the Japanese tanks.

After Han Xianyuan had ambushed four anti-tank guns, he ordered the first battalion to launch an attack. In order to lure out the enemy's tanks, this offensive was equally fierce.

The Japanese first used light and heavy machine guns to block the attack, but when they failed, they used the same trick again and sent out 8 tanks to fight back, followed by hundreds of Japanese infantrymen.
The Japanese commanders knew the importance of defending a city. If they just defended it blindly, even the strongest fortress would be breached. They had to organize an elite assault force and launch counterattacks continuously. They were very confident in their tanks.

"Yoshi, the Imperial Army's chariot unit is so powerful that it scared the Chinese into fleeing in panic. They are vulnerable to attack!"

The first battalion commander, Major Miyamoto, said proudly. The second battalion commander, Major Shimizu, agreed with him and continued:
"Miyamoto-kun, it is said that the Chinese are good at defense but not at attack. Now it seems to be true. Their tactics are too rigid.
You've suffered a great loss once and you're still challenging the Imperial Army. If it were me, I would definitely arrange for anti-tank troops to ambush the tank group, lure them out, and eliminate the infantry accompanying the attack first..."

Major Shimizu was very much like Cao in the Three Kingdoms, pretending to be awesome in all kinds of ways. Major Miyamoto was also an expert on the Three Kingdoms. He suddenly realized that Cao seemed to get slapped in the face every time he pretended to be awesome, so he said worriedly:
"Shimizu-kun, will the Chinese also use anti-tank weapons to ambush the Imperial Army's tanks?"

"Miyamoto-kun, you worry too much. The Chinese people can't think of this yet—"

"boom!"

"Boom! Boom!"

Major Shimizu's pretentious words came to an abrupt end as the two arrogant tanks were destroyed right under his nose. This slap in the face came too quickly.

"Bagayalo! Anti-tank guns! The Chinese have anti-tank guns. Order the artillery to blow them up."

Major Miyamoto was the first to react and immediately ordered the artillery to pull out the hidden Type 92 infantry gun. This "dwarf" could even fire from indoor windows and only required simple modifications.

The infantry gun can not only fire directly, but also fire indirectly. Its combat weight is only 212 kg, it has small recoil and wide applicability. It is a support artillery with excellent performance.

The Japanese tanks were not agile enough and were suppressed in the exchange of fire with four anti-tank guns. Five of them were destroyed in just a few minutes. The 4mm German anti-tank gun was the nemesis of the Japanese tanks.

"Boom boom boom..."

The Japanese used four infantry guns to fire at the 4th Regiment's anti-tank artillery company at once. The first round of shelling destroyed one anti-tank gun, but the brothers of the artillery company were not intimidated. Instead, they continued to fire at the remaining tanks of the Japanese. They had only one idea: even if they died, they would drag the Japanese tanks with them. The Japanese sent out all armored vehicles this time, and they were not equipped with artillery. They kept firing at the anti-tank artillery company with heavy machine guns, and officers and soldiers of the artillery company were constantly shot and fell down;

"boom!"

Another Japanese tank was destroyed, and the remaining three tanks were frightened and turned around and ran back, while the attacking infantry rushed towards the anti-tank artillery company screaming, but were all repelled by the infantry covering the artillery company. The Japanese left behind a lot of corpses, at least fifty or sixty people.

"Boom boom boom..."

Another row of shells fell, and the artillery company lost another anti-tank gun. The two sides fought back and forth and it turned into a war of attrition. In the end, all eight of the Japanese tanks were destroyed, and the anti-tank gun company was left with only one gun. The 8th Division could not afford such a war of attrition, but it had to fight.

Yue Qianli, who had been watching the battle from a distance, suddenly had an idea and shouted:
"I know how to deal with them!"

Yue Qianli found the brigade commander Gao Zhisong and told him his idea. Gao Zhisong took him straight to the division headquarters. Yue Qianli also met the division commander Sun Yuanliang for the first time.

After listening to Yue Qianli's thoughts, Sun Yuanliang asked half-doubtfully:

"Are you sure you can? This is an anti-aircraft gun, used to shoot down planes."

In order to convince Sun Yuanliang, Yue Qianli had to play the tiger's skin and said directly:
"Commander, I learned and experimented when I was at West Point. It's much more effective to lay the anti-aircraft gun horizontally to attack tanks than anti-tank guns. It can hit the enemy accurately and suppress the enemy's heavy firepower, while the enemy's infantry guns can't reach it."

Sun Yuanliang decided to give it a try and immediately said to Yue Qianli:

"Since this idea was yours, then let's not bother two people. I've decided to use the 264th Brigade to replace the 262nd Brigade, which suffered heavy casualties, and give you the anti-aircraft artillery company. You will cooperate with Brigade Commander Gao to take down the headquarters building for me."

When Gao Zhisong heard that he had taken over the main attack mission, he immediately stated to Sun Yuanliang that the 264th Brigade would definitely capture the enemy headquarters building.

After leaving the division headquarters, Gao Zhisong went to the 262nd Brigade and took over the command with Zhu Chi.

Although Zhu Chi was somewhat unwilling, he had already received a phone call from the division headquarters informing him that a soldier's duty is to obey orders, so he had to hand over the main attack mission to the 264th Brigade and take his injured brothers to the second line for rest.

Gao Zhisong immediately handed the main attack mission to the 527th Regiment, and asked Liao Lingqi to take the lead in the Second Battalion, and their entire brigade provided support for the Second Battalion.

"Yue Qianli, this time I have signed a military order in front of the division commander. Whether we can capture the devil's turtle shell depends on you!"

"Commander, don't worry, I will complete the mission."

In order to prevent the National Army from fighting on two fronts in the urban area, Yue Qianli rarely made a high-profile move.

Today is the third chapter, with 11000 words. Please read, collect, vote, and recommend.

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(End of this chapter)