noffsinger Chapter 172 Special Bullet
Chapter 172 Special Bullet
Zhang Wenwu took the temporary train for transporting the wounded at night back to Xuzhou City. As soon as he arrived at the temporary resettlement camp, Zhang Wenwu called Ouyang Heng and told him that the troops had now been officially reorganized into the 102nd Division Supplementary Brigade. The appointments of officers at all levels that they had previously drafted had been approved by the army and division headquarters, and he had brought back the new rank badges for everyone.
When Ouyang Heng heard that the identity problem of the troops had been solved, he immediately gathered all the officers of the army together. He told everyone the good news and distributed new military rank badges to everyone.
"Everyone, now everyone is a member of the Central Army. There is no distinction between different places here. We all come to join the army to fight the Japanese. You are all veterans. I will not emphasize the importance of enforcing orders in the army. Now, the division headquarters has given us one to two days of rest. Everyone go back and sort out the situation of your respective troops. When the time comes to fight the Japanese in Taierzhuang, I don't want anyone to fail. Let me say this first. Anyone who dares to disobey military orders and retreat without authorization and lose the position will be punished by military law." Ouyang Heng took advantage of the presence of all the officers to explain what the troops needed to do in the next two days, and at the same time emphasized the issue of military orders.
All the officers were very happy about having been assigned to the Central Army. Since arriving at the Central Army, they not only received a large sum of money for settling in, but also had large portions of fat meat for every meal. They were also equipped with new uniforms and complete weapons and equipment. It could be said that this was much better than the ragtag unit they had been in before. To be in such a unit, one must perform well.
As a result, all officers expressed that they would follow the orders of their superiors and conscientiously carry out every task.
Zhang Wenwu was very satisfied with the current morale of the troops. He also told everyone to organize their troops as soon as possible, as the division headquarters might ask them for reinforcements at any time, so everyone must seize the time.
After the officers dispersed, Zhang Wenwu took Ouyang Heng to the playground. He handed Ouyang Heng a cigarette and asked slowly, "Senior Ouyang, I learned about the latest situation in Taierzhuang at the division headquarters today. It can be said that the current situation is very grim. The two brigades guarding the village withdrew and only have more than 211 people in total. Now the th Brigade is holding on in the village, but this unit has already suffered almost half of its casualties on the flank. I estimate that we will be reinforced in one or two days at most. Do you have any thoughts on this battle?"
Ouyang Heng smoked a cigarette while lowering his head in deep thought. After a while, he raised his head and said, "Brigade Commander, we don't have any good solution at the moment. We can only defend Taierzhuang. We can only make adjustments based on the actual situation at that time. But we can select a group of officers and soldiers to continuously launch counterattacks in the village while guarding. This can disrupt the Japanese army's offensive rhythm and buy more time for defense."
Ouyang Heng had no good solution when facing the desperate battle of Taierzhuang. Now the core point of the war zone was in Taierzhuang, and the troops could only concentrate their forces on defense to achieve the purpose of delaying time.
After hearing Ouyang Heng's words, Zhang Wenwu smoked a cigarette in a depressed mood. He also knew that it was impossible for him to launch an attack on the Japanese army in the wild with his 3,000 officers and soldiers who lacked heavy firepower support. You know, the firepower of the Japanese army was no joke. If his brigade deployed its forces and launched a charge towards the Japanese positions in this plain area, it would take less than half a day for the brigade to be wiped out. They could only rely on the houses and courtyards in the manor to deal with the Japanese army.
The next morning, the entire temporary resettlement camp was filled with soldiers conducting simple drills, with slogans rising and falling one after another. Zhang Wenwu called Cao Huaguo over and asked him to continue recruiting people from various hospitals. He had thought about it for half the night and felt that the kidnapping should not stop. If his troops needed reinforcements at the front, they could always get reinforcements from the back.
"Brigade Commander, how many people should we recruit this time?" Cao Huaguo was very happy that he did not have to go to the battlefield, but he had no idea about how many people to recruit. After all, they stopped recruiting after recruiting more than 3,000 people before. He had to ask more clearly.
Zhang Wenwu took a puff of his cigarette and looked at Cao Huaguo and said, "Recruit as many as you can. There is no limit on the number of people this time. I will tell Deputy Director Liang about weapons and other supplies. You can go to him to buy them. I will ask Chief of Staff Ouyang to leave two staff officers for you to assist you in the reorganization of the newly recruited officers and soldiers. In addition, buy more fat pigs and prepare all kinds of other meat for me. Make sure all the officers and soldiers who come here are well fed. Do you understand?"
When Cao Huaguo heard that Zhang Wenwu was so cruel this time and was kidnapping people without any restrictions, he quickly reminded him: "Brigade Commander, we can recruit this person from the hospital, but if we do this, other troops will definitely cause trouble for us. Don't let that cause big trouble." He had to remind his newly appointed brigade commander that your behavior is very bad as you are blatantly kidnapping officers and soldiers from other troops in the hospital. At that time, all the troops in the war zone may come to trouble the 102nd Division. Just thinking about it makes people's scalp numb.
Hearing Cao Huaguo's reminder, Zhang Wenwu threw away the cigarette butt in his hand and said viciously: "I can't care about so much. If we can't defend Taierzhuang, everyone will die. If they want to complain, go ahead. You have only one principle. As long as people are willing to come, you must keep them under guard. No one needs to give face to them. I will handle anything after this battle is over."
After hearing Zhang Wenwu's order, Cao Huaguo immediately promised to recruit more people for the army to reassure Zhang Wenwu.
At noon on the seventh day after the Battle of Taierzhuang began, Colonel Fukuei Shinpei, commander of the 63rd Regiment of the Japanese Army, personally entered Taierzhuang with a battalion reinforced by the brigade commander and a battalion of officers and soldiers from his own regiment, replacing the attacking forces of the two battalions originally in the village.
Colonel Fukuei Shinpei felt mixed emotions as he watched the two battalions of soldiers who were responsible for the previous offensive operations withdrawing from in front of him. After six days of street fighting, the two battalions that were originally fully equipped and manned had lost more than 1,600 brave warriors of the Empire of Japan in this village, and now only more than 800 soldiers could withdraw.
Even the captain of the 1st battalion was seriously injured in a night attack by the Chinese army. Colonel Fukuei Shinpei had to reorganize all the evacuated people and have the captain of the 2nd battalion, Hirata Maogoro, take charge of the command. He asked Hirata Maogoro to take the troops outside the village to have a good rest.
When Colonel Fukuei Shinpei saw the exhausted expressions and dirty and torn uniforms of the officers and soldiers who were replaced, he had a very bad feeling in his heart. You know, he still had so many artillery units in the village assisting in the attack. In the face of absolute superior firepower, he thought it would be an easy attack, but up to now, he had only occupied half of the village, and his regiment had lost more than half of its soldiers.
Colonel Fukuei Shinpei stood in the yard of the temporary command post inside the village, looking at the gray sky in a daze. The order given to him by Brigade Commander Kei Seya was to occupy Taierzhuang within three days. He was now a little unsure whether his regiment could complete the order within the specified time.
Every time we finally captured the Chinese army's positions during the day, the Chinese army would organize troops to take back the positions during the day under the cover of darkness at night. With this back and forth, not only were the troops tired, but they could not afford to waste time.
It seems that special bullets have to be used. The only way to do this is to eliminate the Chinese army in the village as soon as possible. After Colonel Fukuei Shinpei made up his mind, he called the two captains in front and authorized them to use special bullets during the attack.
The so-called special bullets of the Japanese army were the notorious poison gas bombs. At that time, each regiment of the Japanese army always had some special bullets for use when the attack was unfavorable, and the regiment commander had the power to approve when this highly lethal weapon was used.
That afternoon, when the Japanese artillery fired at the courtyards and houses defended by the officers and soldiers of the 211th Brigade, some of the artillery fired not the usual high-explosive bombs, but special shells that had been prepared long ago.
This kind of special bullet was mixed in with the explosion of ordinary artillery shells, making it difficult for officers and soldiers of the 211th Brigade to detect it in time. When the smoke of the special bullet began to spread, the officers and soldiers discovered from some officers and soldiers who had been poisoned and had reactions that the Japanese army had used poison gas bombs.
The Chinese army was seriously lacking in anti-gas equipment at that time, let alone the local troops, even the central army did not have many troops fully equipped with gas masks. Only the Central Teaching Corps had distributed gas masks to all officers and soldiers. Under the loud scolding of the officers, the soldiers of the 211th Brigade hurriedly poured the drinking water in the kettle onto towels and covered their mouths and noses with towels for simple anti-gas treatment. However, the fumes of the poisonous gas had a strong burning effect on the eyes, which made the garrison officers and soldiers unable to effectively shoot at the Japanese troops rushing over with gas masks.
This vicious move by the Japanese army caused heavy losses to the defenders of the 211th Brigade in the village, and they had to withdraw from their original defensive positions. At the same time, Brigade Commander Han Fucheng of the 211th Brigade also knew the urgency of the situation and quickly called the division headquarters for help.
"Commander, the Japanese actually used poison gas bombs. It seems they are really angry." Chief of Staff Zhao Dong said to Commander Huang with an anxious look on his face.
After looking at the latest map of forces in Zhuangzi, Division Commander Huang said angrily, "Fuck the Japanese. Let's fight them. Chief of Staff Zhao, go gather the people who have withdrawn to rest and the people in the division who can hold guns. Under the command of Brigade Commander Cai of the 210th Brigade, reinforce Zhuangzi. We must stabilize the front line. No one can cross the canal without orders. Those who disobey orders will be shot directly."
Commander Huang was also very angry. He knew that he had to send reinforcements immediately to stabilize the front line in the village. If the Japanese occupied the village completely, his small force would have no way to recapture the village without the cover of the houses in the village.