Chapter 52: The Brigade Commander Is Stunned—An Entire Japanese Regiment Annihilated

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When Zhang Yun led his men to the ruins of the Japanese regiment headquarters, Chief of Staff Zhou, his trusted partner at brigade headquarters, was directing soldiers in the slow excavation of the ruined weapons depot behind the Japanese command post.

The man on the left is Chief of Staff Zhou.

Earlier, after entering the county town, the soldiers had discovered a large number of deliberately damaged rifles while clearing away the Japanese bodies killed by the artillery barrage.

Chief of Staff Zhou, who had accompanied the troops and directed the operation, concluded that the Japanese had destroyed their weapons and ammunition in advance. Though disappointed, he considered it perfectly normal. After all, the Japanese had broken out in an orderly and prepared retreat. How could they possibly leave their weapons and ammunition for the enemy?

But when they reached the Japanese headquarters, they encountered a soldier who claimed to be a scout from the New Recruit Company. He reported that the Japanese weapons depot had collapsed under the artillery fire, but that the ammunition had not yet been destroyed.

Chief of Staff Zhou immediately grew excited. That was a regimental weapons depot!

Since the counteroffensive against the Ninth Encirclement Campaign, the main forces of the Eighth Route Army, including the 386th Brigade, had remained constantly engaged in combat. Although they had achieved brilliant victories and annihilated large numbers of the enemy, their own losses had also been considerable. Weapons and ammunition in particular had been consumed at an astonishing rate. The Japanese were elite troops, and they had a habit of destroying their weapons and ammunition before defeat. The army was using up more ammunition than it captured, leaving the Eighth Route Army’s logistics departments with a serious headache.

By April 20, 1938, the Eighth Route Army’s ammunition reserves were already nearing the danger line. At that time, no armaments factories had yet been established in most areas. The army could obtain weapons and ammunition only through three channels: allocations from the National Government, battlefield captures, and ammunition confiscated from or purchased from civilians.

So far, the Eighth Route Army had received more than 1.7 million rounds from the National Government, Yan Xishan, and others—1.52 million rounds in 1937 and another 200,000 rounds allocated on April 5, 1938. It had also captured considerable ammunition from local bandits and tyrants, while recovering additional supplies by collecting ammunition abandoned by the Central Army and the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army.

But after the battles of Xinkou and Pingxingguan, as well as the campaigns against the Eighth Encirclement and Ninth Encirclement operations, the Eighth Route Army had consumed enormous quantities of ammunition.

During the Battle of Pingxingguan, the army still had nearly fifty rounds per soldier. By this point, that figure had fallen to fifteen. And that was the average ammunition reserve for the army as a whole. In reality, the Eighth Route Army headquarters had ordered every division and brigade to set aside a certain amount of ammunition in preparation for the worsening situation ahead. During actual combat, the soldiers carried fewer than five rounds per man.

If they could capture the regimental reserve supplies, it would greatly replenish the Eighth Route Army’s ammunition stockpile and dramatically improve the soldiers’ ability to sustain prolonged combat.

Thus, when Zhang Yun arrived at the Japanese headquarters, he saw Chief of Staff Zhou personally directing the excavation. Using crude levers and other tools, the soldiers pried away timbers, bricks, and other debris from the ruins of the depot, which had once been the main hall of a wealthy household.

Fortunately, Zhang Yun had fired only six shells at the Japanese depot. The bombardment had brought down the roof, causing the entire structure to collapse inward. Once some of the bricks and beams had been cleared away, they discovered rows of ammunition boxes and artillery-shell crates beneath the rubble. One of the soldiers in charge of the excavation pried open a box and saw neatly arranged 6.5mm Arisaka rifle rounds inside.

“Excellent, excellent, excellent! Slowly, slowly. Don’t rush to move the boxes. Clear away all the bricks and roof tiles around them first. I can see that there are many more boxes nearby.”

Chief of Staff Zhou was beside himself with excitement. He assigned several other staff officers to calm the civilians, then personally took charge of the excavation, recording and counting the captured weapons and ammunition piece by piece.

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Zhang Yun was dragged into the labor as well, assigned to oversee the inventory and security.

What was there to count? Most of it had been put there by me!

Zhang Yun grumbled inwardly. Still, he had Da Bao deploy men to establish a security perimeter, then worked with Wang Dachuan to count the captured supplies as they were carried out, one box at a time.

…

At the border between Heshun and Liaoxian, Brigade Commander Chen held up his beloved high-powered Zeiss binoculars and observed the remnants of the Japanese 105th Regiment, trapped between forces attacking from both front and rear.

After two ambushes along the road, fewer than seven hundred Japanese remained. The main force of the 386th Brigade had caught up with them and surrounded them on a stretch of hillside near the county town.

The Japanese were making a desperate last stand. Using the surrounding terrain, they resisted stubbornly against the Eighth Route Army’s encirclement. The two sides clashed with extraordinary ferocity, neither yielding an inch.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The brigade’s 82mm mortar units kept pounding the Japanese temporary positions. The battalions of the 772nd Regiment had blocked the enemy to the front and rear, taking on the most arduous tasks of containment and countering any breakout attempt. Under the command of their two regimental commanders, First Battalion of the Independent Regiment and the New First Regiment were advancing toward the high ground on the eastern and western flanks. Once there, they would establish heavy-machine-gun positions and suppress the enemy with concentrated fire.

“Tell the troops to move quickly and hit hard. Their primary objective is to inflict as many casualties on the Japanese as possible.”

Brigade Commander Chen glanced at the sky. At least three hours remained before dusk, and he was worried that Japanese aircraft might return. He had no choice but to urge the troops to accelerate their movements. If the Japanese air force came to the rescue repeatedly, the troops might not only fail to annihilate the enemy—they might not even be able to withdraw from the battlefield in one piece.

“Yes.”

The staff officer beside him nodded and immediately sent a messenger to relay the order.

Just then, a courier from Chief of Staff Zhou hurried over from the rear and reported to the brigade commander.

“Report, Commander! An urgent message from Chief of Staff Zhou!”

“Oh? Has something happened in Liaoxian?”

Brigade Commander Chen was puzzled. Chief of Staff Zhou was a steady and measured man. They had been separated for only half a day—why would he send an urgent message?

“It concerns captured supplies. Liaoxian has seized a large quantity of ammunition. Chief of Staff Zhou specifically instructed me to inform you as quickly as possible.”

The delighted courier handed the report to the brigade commander.

Commander Chen opened it and was instantly stunned.

“Captured: forty-five rifles, three Wang box pistols, twenty Mauser automatic pistols, twenty Czech light machine guns, and five Type 92 heavy machine guns!”

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“Captured: 270,000 rounds of 6.5mm Arisaka rifle ammunition, 200,000 rounds of 7.92mm round-nosed ammunition, 200,000 rounds of 7.92mm pointed ammunition, 10,000 rounds of 7.62mm pistol ammunition, 50,000 rounds of 7.7mm heavy-machine-gun ammunition, 725 infantry-gun shells, 602 mountain-gun shells, 6,000 82mm mortar shells, and one ton of TNT!”

“Captured: assorted canned food and medicines!”

“Captured: 320 gold bars!”

The hand holding the report trembled. This was an astonishing haul—surely the largest ammunition capture the Eighth Route Army had made since beginning its war of resistance against Japan.

To be sure, the Eighth Route Army’s victory at Pingxingguan had yielded abundant spoils, but most of those had consisted of grain, canned food, greatcoats, and other military supplies. Very few firearms or rounds had been captured. In other battles, they had seized a fair number of weapons, even infantry guns on occasion, but in terms of ammunition and artillery shells, they had consistently operated at a loss. They used more than they captured.

Brigade Commander Chen stared fixedly at the line reading, “6,000 82mm mortar shells.” After calculating mentally, he added that to the shells Zhang Yun and the others had captured earlier in Heshun. They now possessed nearly 7,000 mortar shells.

Damn it, with supplies like this, why should we conserve ammunition? We must wipe out the 105th Regiment while we have the chance, before Japanese aircraft come and rescue these little devils!

“Order the Independent Regiment and the New First Regiment to halt their advance. Have the militia, guerrillas, and every other available unit move up into position!”

“Three minutes from now, have the mortar company concentrate its fire on the Japanese forward positions. Fire every shell the guns are carrying. The moment the bombardment stops, all units will charge and close with the enemy. Tell the troops not to conserve ammunition. Use machine guns whenever possible, pistols whenever possible—end the battle as quickly as you can!”

A few minutes later, cannon fire shook the heavens and smoke filled the air. Flames engulfed the Japanese forward positions, which had been hastily constructed, leaving the enemy dazed and disoriented.

As the stirring charge sounded, nearly three thousand soldiers surged up the hillside from all directions under the cover of dozens of machine guns, swiftly overwhelming the Japanese positions.

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