LRAB Chapter 68 My home is on the Songhua River in Northeast China, where soybeans and sorghum grow all o
Chapter 68 My home is on the Songhua River in Northeast China, where soybeans and sorghum grow all o
As long as the National Revolutionary Army achieves a "good start"!
That would be a huge boost to our own morale and a huge blow to the morale of the Japanese pirates!
Thinking of this, Han Zhenhua couldn't help but smile confidently.
He could almost see the news of victory arriving and the whole country rejoicing.
Behind all of this lies the immense contribution of this "unsung hero."
Thinking of this, he glanced at his watch and realized it was already 9:50 p.m. Ten minutes later, the first battle of the second phase of the war would begin. With that in mind, he immediately asked his Filipino maid to open a bottle of Fenyanghe Daqu liquor, excitedly preparing to celebrate in advance.
At 10 p.m., filled with a strong sense of pride and control, he raised his glass precisely on time, smiling as he offered a toast:
"The National Revolutionary Army won a great victory."
Annihilate the Japanese invaders.
Dreams have a door.
"Open the door and enjoy good fortune!!!"
Then drink it all in one gulp!
What he didn't know was that, without experiencing it firsthand, he couldn't imagine that the real battlefield was far from the "poetic and picturesque" scene he envisioned while drinking his liquor!
It was truly a case of "every inch of our land was bought with blood!"
Although the Japanese army in Central China had deviated from the original plan by giving command to each division with "only a general outline and full authority", the Japanese army in North China still launched its attack almost on time according to the original "script"!
At 10:00 PM on the 18th day of the third month of the 27th year of the Republic of China.
Linhuai Pass, north bank of the Huai River.
The night was as dark as ink, and the spring chill was biting.
The Huai River flowed silently in the darkness, like a lurking giant python.
The mountains on both sides of the pass were only vague outlines under the night sky, like silent giants.
The unit stationed here is the 269th Regiment of the 114th Division of the 51st Army of the Dongbei Army. The regimental commander, Zhao Zhenfan, a tall and resolute man from Northeast China, is currently patrolling along the makeshift trenches with two guards.
Most of the soldiers huddled in their bunkers, clutching their guns, trying to ward off the night's chill.
Many people strain to keep their eyes open in the dark, but they appear somewhat lost and listless... This is due to night blindness (nyctalopia) caused by a long-term lack of meat nutrition (actually, a lack of vitamin A).
In this era, this was a common phenomenon for troops that were not elite or core units.
"Brothers, stay alert! The great battle is about to begin, we absolutely cannot be careless!" Zhao Zhenfan lowered his voice and patted a young soldier on the shoulder. The soldier shuddered and tried to straighten his back.
"Commander, don't worry! If those damned Japanese devils dare to come, we'll definitely avenge them!" The soldier's voice carried a heavy Dongbei accent. Although he tried to appear brave, his slightly trembling fingers betrayed his inner tension and discomfort with the darkness.
They were all "cowardly" Dongbei soldiers, burdened with the stigma of "non-resistance," who had retreated into the Northeast with tears in their eyes, their hearts filled with boundless anger and a desire to wash away their shame.
Zhao Zhenfan nodded, but a vague unease lingered in his heart. This silence was highly unusual.
However, on the south bank, out of his sight, the fangs of the Japanese army were already showing.
The 34th Brigade of the Akitsu Central Auxiliary Regiment, under the command of Zhou Libing of the 13th Division of the Japanese Central China Expeditionary Army, with more than 3,200 elite soldiers, had completed their attack preparations like ghosts in the dark.
The engines of ten Type 89 medium tanks roared low, drowned out by the sound of the Huai River flowing.
Twenty Type 92 infantry guns and heavy mortars, their gun covers removed, their dark muzzles aimed at the blurry outline of the Nationalist army positions on the north bank. An engineering platoon, carrying rubber boats and pontoon bridge components, silently slid into the icy river.
Colonel Akitsu Nakafumi stood before the command post, glancing at his watch in the dim starlight, a cruel yet confident smirk playing on his lips. He drew his sword and swung it forward with a sudden, sharp blow!
"Attack begins! For His Majesty the Emperor, Banzai!"
"Banzai!" A suppressed roar instantly shattered the silence!
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
The Japanese artillery launched the first attack! Dense shells rained down on the 269th Regiment's positions on the north bank like hail! In an instant, the ground shook and flames shot into the sky! The huge explosions ripped through the silence of the night, and mud, gravel, and wood chips mixed with gunpowder smoke rose into the air!
Many Dongbei Army soldiers who were dozing in the trenches or whose vision was limited by night blindness had no time to react and were torn to pieces in the first round of artillery fire!
"Enemy attack! All units to battle positions! Machine guns! Aim at the river!" Regiment Commander Zhao Zhenfan roared at the top of his lungs, but his voice was swallowed up by the deafening explosion.
He suddenly tackled the young soldier who had just been talking to him to the ground in the trench. A shell exploded not far away, and the scorching blast wave and shrapnel swept past.
The artillery barrage lasted for a full fifteen minutes, and the north bank positions were completely razed, with communication lines severed in many places.
After the artillery fire began to spread, the Japanese rubber boats and bridging equipment were quickly put into the water, and the well-trained Japanese soldiers began to cross the Huai River like a tide!
Tanks also began to swim using pontoons, their machine guns spitting fire to suppress any potential firing positions on the north bank.
"Fire! Fire for me! We can't let the Japanese devils cross the river!" Zhao Zhenfan pushed the dust off his body, picked up a Czech light machine gun, and fired fiercely at the direction where dark figures were moving on the river!
After being shelled, the soldiers of the Dongbei Army, enduring the blurred vision caused by night blindness and the fear in their hearts, relied on the brief light and sound reflected from the artillery fire to judge the situation and desperately fired at the river. Rifle and machine gun bullets fell into the river like raindrops, and hand grenades were also thrown at the Japanese soldiers crossing the river.
The fierce battle to cross and counter-cross the river quickly intensified!
Japanese rubber boats were constantly being hit and capsized, with soldiers screaming as they fell into the water. But more Japanese soldiers braved the hail of bullets and rushed ashore. As soon as they reached the shore, they immediately spread out with skillful tactical maneuvers, crawled forward, and used precise shooting to suppress the defenders' firing positions.
Although the soldiers of Dongbei Army were brave, night blindness greatly weakened their fighting ability.
Many soldiers could only fire in the general direction, greatly reducing their accuracy. Meanwhile, the Japanese soldiers' individual skill and firepower coordination were far superior.
Even more deadly was that Japanese tanks were landing one after another! These steel behemoths roared, crushing trenches with their tracks and reaping lives with their 37mm tank guns and machine guns.
Since the Chang'an Incident, the Dongbei Army has completely "fallen into the hands of its stepmother"... Originally possessing four independent arsenals and equipped with the nation's best troops, it has now fallen to the point of lacking food and clothing, not to mention effective anti-tank weapons. The few anti-tank guns it had were mostly destroyed in the previous shelling.
"Commander! The Japanese tanks have breached the 3rd Battalion's position!"
"The phone lines to Erlian are down! It's probably all over!"
Bad news kept coming in.
Zhao Zhenfan's eyes were bloodshot, and his face was covered in gunpowder and blood. "Brothers! We are Dongbei men!"
Today, let us wash away the shame of those who surrendered and became cowards with our own blood! Kill!
"Wash away the shame, avenge our humiliation! Kill!" The surviving soldiers of the Dongbei Army burst forth with astonishing courage. They jumped out of the trenches, grabbed cluster grenades, and shouted, "You little Japanese, I'll fuck your grandma!" They charged at the Japanese tanks, willing to die with their own flesh and blood! The battle instantly descended into the most brutal close-quarters combat!
Bayonets clashed, fists clenched, teeth chattered, and roars and screams mingled together.
The Japanese army clearly did not expect this unit, which was considered "cowardly" just a few years ago, to resist so fiercely, and their offensive stalled.
Akitsu Nakasuke was furious and ordered, "Use 'special cigarettes'!"
Several poison gas shells emitting yellow-green smoke were fired into the last core position of the Northeast Army.
The soldier, who had no gas mask, coughed violently, his eyes stung, he suffocated and collapsed to the ground, writhing in agony.
Zhao Zhenfan was also choked by the poisonous gas, tears and snot streaming down his face, his vision becoming even more blurred. He knew the final moment had arrived.
On the position, fewer than a hundred Dongbei Army soldiers remained standing, all wounded, huddled together in the last remaining section of the broken trench. All around them were the bayonets of the advancing Japanese troops and the muzzles of their tanks.
Zhao Zhenfan struggled to his feet, tore open his blood-stained uniform to reveal his muscular chest, and said to a bugler beside him who could still move, "Bugler, blow the bugle..."
"Play our...our Dongbei's grand tune..."
The young bugler's face was covered in blood, his lips trembling, yet he struggled to bring the bugle to his lips.
There was no bugle call to charge, nor a rallying call to assemble.
A low, mournful melody, yet imbued with endless homesickness and an indomitable spirit, began to play intermittently, accompanied by the roar of Japanese tanks... "On the Songhua River"!
My home...is on the Songhua River in Dongbei...
One by one, the heavily wounded soldiers leaned against the trench walls and, with their last ounce of strength, began to sing in hoarse voices.
"There are... forests and coal mines there..."
And then there's... covering the entire mountainside...
Soybeans and sorghum............
My home is on the Songhua River in Dongbei...
........................
...And then there's...my elderly father...and...mother!
father!..............
mother! .............
"My son is home!"