Speaking of linyi, the ancient city of Langya, the hometown of Zhuge Liang and Wang Xizhi, is also the seat of the first family of the Six Dynasties of Wei and Jin, although it is a cultural holy place, it has not escaped the smoke of 1938.
After Pang Bingxun came to Linyi, he set up his command post at the Nanguan Provincial Rural Normal School, and built a forward position and main position as the center, sending a Zhuge City and a brigade to garrison Dongxiang Gongzhuang, and the city was a supplementary regiment, artillery and direct subordinate troops, stationed near the military headquarters in the south of the city.
Soon after arriving in Linyi, Pang Bingxun received a call from Li Zongyun that the troops withdrawn from Qingdao were fighting the Japanese army in Juxian County, asking them to immediately send reinforcements, so Pang Bingxun sent two regiments.
On the way, China and Japan encountered a big battle, and there was a little accident. According to the information obtained before, Pang Bingxun knew that the enemy encountered was a puppet army. But it didn't feel right to fight, and such a fierce firepower was simply not something that the puppet army could show.
After this investigation, it was learned that they encountered the Sakamoto detachment of the Japanese 5th Division. This detachment was based on the 11th Infantry Regiment and the 21st Company, plus two brigades of field artillery and a squadron of mountain artillery, with a total strength of more than 5,000 people
After a bitter battle, Pang Bingxun's two regiments finally broke through the Interception of the Japanese Army and rushed to JuXian County. One regiment entered the city, one regiment was in the suburbs, and they wanted to take care of each other end-to-end. But this old method of warfare did not work at all, and as a result, it was successfully divided by the Japanese army, the two sides lost contact, and the regiment in the city had to break out again.
As a result, it was clear that Pang Bingxun's two regiments suffered heavy losses and retreated all the way from Juxian County, while the Japanese army followed all the way to chase until March 5, 1938, when the Japanese army took advantage of the situation to occupy the town of Tangtou on the outskirts of Linyi.
In this way, Linyi suddenly had an enemy situation.
After the Sino-Japanese war, the Japanese 5th Division, except for a small part of the attack at Hirashi pass, almost did not lose a battle on other battlefields, and for a time became the best performing unit of the Japanese army, and later Itagaki Seishiro was also directly promoted from the position of division commander to minister of war, which had a lot to do with their achievements.
Itagaki Seishiro believes that in the face of a small Linyi, a miscellaneous army, the Japanese 5th Division regiment, in two days to take Linyi, it is already very face-giving. So they directly pulled more than 20 tanks and more than 30 field heavy artillery pieces and launched a fierce attack on the Zhuge position north of Linyi City.
It is said that Pang Bingxun, who is not a vegetarian, immediately launched a close-range artillery battle with the Japanese army on the front line of Zhuge positions.
The mountain artillery on the Chinese side, if arranged according to the usual gun position, is easily suppressed and destroyed by the heavy artillery of the Japanese army, so many times, the Chinese side uses the mountain artillery as a mortar, and when the Japanese army approaches, it is firing, and for a time the Zhuge position is under fire.
After several days of fierce fighting, the supplementary regiments in the city were also pulled to the front line, and the platoon leader Li Zongdai was ordered to block the Japanese army at Gegou.
The platoon was equipped with 6 machine guns, each with a machete on his back.
On March 9, Japanese troops also reached Gegou. According to observation, the Japanese soldiers who came were cavalry units. Li Dong pressed his ear to the ground, judging the distance and proximity through the sound of the Japanese horse's hooves, and instructed the soldiers around him not to rush to shoot even if the Japanese cavalry entered the firing range, and must wait for his orders.
In fact, every division in the Japanese army would have a cavalry company, although the use of cavalry by the Japanese army at that time was very small, usually only for transportation, but it did not mean that the cavalry charge was completely eliminated.
As you can imagine, blocking cavalry on the position is definitely a technical job.
Far away, because the cavalry is in rapid motion, the hit rate will be very low. The hit rate increased at close range, but the position was very easy to be overwhelmed in an instant.
But the platoon commander Li Zongdai, still very experienced, when the Japanese cavalry, about 300 meters away from the position, he was still motionless, the Japanese cavalry advanced tens of meters, he only waved a big hand: the target, the enemy cavalry in front, aim at the horse's head, fight!
Just a few words, but it contains a lot of information.
For a time, machine guns and rifles opened fire at the same time, the horse head running in the front was the first to be shot, the Japanese troops on horseback were also thrown out of the air, and the companions behind them were shot, it can be said that this distance was just right.
After the defeat of the cavalry, the Japanese infantry followed, but there were not many personnel, that is, the strength of a squadron, and the charge was twice beaten down, so the battle fortifications were built on the opposite side.
That night, Li Zongdai decided to launch a surprise attack, he selected 20 soldiers, rifles with good bayonets, 8 grenades each waist, and a machete in the back. After entering the Japanese position, a burst of random slashing, the Japanese army did not understand from beginning to end, how many Chinese troops came, for a time did not have the heart to fight, withdrew from the position.
At Gegou, the Japanese attacked as many as eight times, but in the end they all returned without success.
Li Zongdai was also promoted to captain and company commander, and received two blood-stained medals, but the price paid was also very painful, and his company was only 29 soldiers left.