Chapter 108: Fierce Battle (Part 1)

  The 2nd Regiment of the 6th Division, which has always been used as a fist unit, was the first to arrive in the suburbs of Ningde. After lunch, the convoy of the Second Regiment appeared one after another on the dirt road several kilometers away from Ningde City.

  The road ahead has been completely destroyed, the vanguard search team arrived at the chaotic scene, with logs and stones scattered all over the road.

  Several soldiers from the search team got off and observed around, after confirming that the road ahead was impassable, the soldiers set up a forward checkpoint.

  The troops of the Second Regiment arrived one after another in trucks, and many cars broke down halfway. The quality of cars in this era is really bad, and many cars have broken down on the way from Shanghai.

  After the establishment of the outpost, several food trucks arrived at the front line to deliver lunch for the officers and soldiers. After lunch, the troops that had arrived in the second group formed a long column and marched towards Ningde on foot. As for the vehicle fleet, they were all waiting for the arrival of the engineering troops.

  The vanguard advanced several hundred meters and discovered the Fujian Army's blocking position after crossing a hill.

  A small hillside, no more than 100 meters high, had already been built with several simple fortifications by the Fujian army. From time to time, vague figures could be seen running around on the hillside.

  In the temporary division headquarters of the Second Division, several staff officers were formulating a battle plan. Commander Lu Ji walked up to Zhang Zhonglin and said in a low voice, "Zhonglin, now only three battalions have arrived. I plan to let them take the lead. However, the artillery is still on the way, and only some mortars can provide fire support. Do you think we should launch an attack now or wait for the artillery?"

  "Commander, you are the commanding officer, and the final decision should be made by you. We can only offer suggestions. The news that just came from behind is that all the artillerymen are currently blocked on the road and will not arrive within at least two hours."

  "Commander, after two hours the artillery will arrive and still need to find a position, deploy, and prepare for firing. That's at least another hour. By the time we finish the several dozen minutes of firepower preparation and take down the front line positions, it'll already be evening."

  "What do you mean..." asked Lu Tuanzhang in a deep voice.

  Zhang Xinghai and Zhang Zhonglin exchanged a glance, then Zhang Zhonglin nodded and said, "Captain, the staff's opinion is to launch an attack immediately! Even if we only have partial cover from the mortars for now. The enemy should also be newly arrived. I went to observe the front line outpost carefully earlier. The position on the hillside is quite simple, and there aren't many heavy firepower weapons. With our second battalion's strength, taking down the position shouldn't be a problem!"

  "Good!"

  The withered wood and weeds on the hillside were burning fiercely, and the Fujian army's position was pockmarked with shell craters from mortar fire. A gust of mountain wind blew by, sending thick black smoke swirling in all directions.

  More than 100 officers and men of the Second Regiment lay scattered in front of the Fujian Army's position! Zhang Zhonglin, who was lying on the starting position of the Second Regiment, gritted his teeth and stared at the brothers lying on the ground with bloodshot eyes!

  Zhang Xinghai lit a cigarette and stuffed it into Zhang Zhonglin's mouth, then lit one for himself and said faintly, "Take a rest, the first battalion has arrived. Let them go up later!"

  In the past nearly an hour, under the cover of more than a dozen mortars, the 3rd Battalion of the 2nd Regiment launched two consecutive attacks on the Fujian Army's positions on the hillside.

  The result was two failures! The two attacking regiments suffered heavy casualties. In addition to the sacrificed officers and soldiers, there were more wounded!

  The three battalions were exhausted and unable to fight again! At this time, the first battalion finally arrived in a hurry and took over the attack task.

  "Report, the temporary road behind has been built. The truck carrying ammunition has come up!" A messenger came to report beside the two people.

  "Too good!" Zhang Xinghai excitedly patted his thigh. The mortar shells carried by the soldiers of the fire support company were all used up in the first wave of attack! At that time, the vanguard of the First Regiment had even charged into the Fujian Army's trenches!

  Unfortunately, the Fujian army's reinforcements rushed up quickly, and the second battalion, which lacked firepower to block them, could only watch as the attacking troops were driven back!

  The second attack afterwards was a completely meaningless action, which only increased the number of casualties and did not even approach the Fujian army's position!

  Zhang Xinghai stopped Zhang Zhonglin's order to continue attacking the Red Eyes. "Calm down! Have you forgotten everything you learned at the academy? What we need now is to wait for support, not to let our brothers rush into the heavy machine guns!"

  The road in the rear has finally been repaired, and a large number of shells have been sent to the front line. "Fire them all!" Zhang Zhonglin said with a cold face.

  "Boom! Boom! Boom!" With the addition of a battalion's firepower support, more than a dozen 82mm mortars joined in, and nearly thirty mortars began to wildly pour their fury onto the Fujian Army's positions!

  The Fujian troops stationed on this hillside were the first to arrive, the second division of the first regiment, which had already been severely wounded after relying on bravery and hard work to withstand two waves of attacks by the Sixth Division.

  What's worse than the Sixth Division is that the Second Division is marching on foot! They only have some ammunition with them. As for artillery and such, they're still wandering around tens of kilometers away on the road!

  The firepower of the Second Regiment this time lasted for nearly ten minutes! Thousands of shells turned this small position into a place that had been baptized by a dense meteor shower, and the law that no two shells would fall in the same crater was invalid here!

  Ten minutes later, the artillery fire weakened and began to blockade the Fujian Army's position from behind. Zhang Zhonglin raised his binoculars and looked at the Fujian Army's position on the hillside.

  The fierce fire was raging, and the thick smoke was rolling. The entire position had been covered by black smoke. From Zhang Zhonglin's telescope, it seemed as if there were no living people left at all.

  However, Zhang Zhonglin did not dare to be careless, as the previous ones had already rushed into the trenches and started a cruel hand-to-hand combat, but were still driven out. Zhang Zhonglin had a deep feeling about the strength of the Fujian Army.

  A loud bugle call sounded, and two companies of the First Battalion formed a skirmish line, shouting as they charged forward. Zhang Zhonglin tightly grasped his binoculars, watching as the officers and soldiers of the First Battalion rapidly approached the Fujian army's trenches.

  "Rat-a-tat-tat!" The sound of the Maxim gun suddenly rang out on the Fujian army's position! Zhang Zhonglin saw that the first row of soldiers rushing forward fell to the ground with a thud!

  "Damn it!" Zhang Zhonglin slammed his fist to the ground! Even the earth was blasted, and yet the Second Division still resisted!

  When the machine gun fired, all the officers and soldiers in the attacking camp lay on the ground. Both sides began to fire fiercely at each other. The dozens of Maxim guns that were providing cover for the second battalion also started firing wildly.

  Very soon, the only two Maxim guns left on the Fujian army's position were destroyed by hand grenades by the officers and soldiers of the First Regiment! With a loud shout, hundreds of officers and soldiers of the First Regiment stood up in unison and charged wildly into the trenches!

  The fierce hand-to-hand combat started again. Bayonets, rifle butts, and grenades. Blood was splashing, lives were ebbing away, and within a few minutes, more than two companies of the Second Division stationed on the hillside and part of the reserve troops who broke through the artillery blockade to reinforce were almost all killed!

  In the melee, the NCOs of the 6th Division using MP18s played an unusually important role! At least one whole platoon of Fujian Army reinforcement troops was completely knocked out by a few MP18s! The hand-to-hand combat was so fierce that many soldiers' bayonets were bent.

  In the post-war summary, most officers and soldiers stated that the best weapon to use after charging into the trenches was the MP 18. Next were the engineer's spade and hand grenades. Rifles and bayonets were not very useful in the narrow trenches.

  After a burst of cheers, the officers and men of the Second Regiment continued to advance. Soon the smiles on their faces froze, and after crossing the hills, there was another hill! On the slope were newly constructed positions!

  Zhang Xinghai patted Zhang Zhonglin's shoulder and said with a helpless expression, "Let's take a break first, we'll talk about it when the artillery arrives."

  Zhang Zhonglin looked at the Fujian army in front of him, still desperately wielding their hoes and shovels on the mountain slope, and sighed weakly, saying "No way, it can only be like this. The Second Division is really good at fighting!"

  The just-ended fierce battle only captured a dozen or so wounded prisoners of war for the Second Regiment. The strong combat will of the opponent made the officers and men of the Second Regiment feel a sense of oppression!

  Zhang Xinghai lit two cigarettes, handed one to Zhang Zhonglin and said in a low voice "I heard it when I was still at Baoding Military Academy. Yu Shi once said that among all the troops in Beiyang, only the Second Division can rival the Third Division! 'Beiyang's military is only second to the third'".

  "This time I've really met a match!" Zhang Zhonglin said in a low voice after taking a deep drag on his cigarette.

  "Hehe, don't be in a hurry. The Second Division is indeed very strong compared to other troops, but it's still far inferior to our Sixth Division! Just watch and see, we will definitely win!" Zhang Xinghai's words were filled with strong confidence!

  Vicks stood in front of the map for a moment after receiving the frontline report, turned his head and asked Blunt beside him "Where are the artillery?"

  "We're still on our way! The road conditions are terrible and it's very congested right now."

  "Notify the garrison, all troops are to withdraw immediately! Let the artillery go first! I want to receive news that the artillery units have completed their deployment before dinner!" Weiks said with a serious face.

  "Yes!"

  On the front line, the officers and soldiers of the Second Regiment were all gathered in groups of three or five to smoke and chat. The wounded had been sent to a field hospital. The bodies of the dead officers and soldiers had also been collected into body bags and transported to the rear by truck.

  The afternoon sun was bright and hot, the weather was so hot that people felt drowsy. The officials and soldiers who got up early in the morning soon had many people enter the land of dreams, and the annoying snores rose and fell.

  Zhang Xinghai had not a single hint of sleepiness, he was lying in the forward observation post holding binoculars carefully observing the Fujian army's position. At the same time, he kept writing and drawing on his notebook that he carried with him.

  The recent capture of Huang Laoban and the brain fever in the Second Battalion of the Second Division made him grow rapidly.

  His wife and children are all there, and Zhang Xinghai, who is almost thirty years old, has finally begun to behave like a real officer. He left the Beiyang Army before also because of his own immaturity.

  Zhang Xinghai's position was only a few hundred meters away from the Fujian Army's camp, and the Zeiss binoculars in his hand allowed him to see the opposite camp clearly.