"One night in 1938, I climbed a mountain cliff to attack the Japanese army at night, killing three enemies in one go. —Xiong Zhizhou
In March 1938, I joined the anti-Japanese army in my hometown of Luzhou, Sichuan, and became a soldier in the 2nd Battalion and 4th Company of the 883rd Regiment of the 148th Division of the 23rd Army of the 23rd Group Army. After three months of intensive training for the recruits, the group army set out from Luzhou and headed for the front. Halfway through the march, he was ordered to move to Anqing, Jiujiang, Poyang Lake, and Jingdezhen to guard the river defense.
Kawa 军出川反日
In mid-August of this year, the Japanese army invaded and occupied the bottom pole iron mountain on the south bank of the Yangtze River opposite Anqing City, and the Japanese army relied on the mountain to build artillery positions, arrange artillery and heavy machine guns, and threaten our army from a high position. The General Headquarters of the Group Army ordered our 883rd Regiment to seize the Japanese artillery position at Tieshan at the bottom bar and annihilate all the enemy on the top of the mountain.
The soldiers of the Sichuan Army of the whole regiment were full of enthusiasm, and they were secretly determined to fight a beautiful battle and make their hometown proud of us. The regiment commander Rao Zhengjun formulated the tactic of "touching the night snail", so that he could avoid the enemy's surveillance and give full play to the advantages of the Sichuan army's tactics, because the Japanese army was not used to night fighting, and night attacks had an advantage.
Map of the Sichuan army out of Sichuan to resist Japan
At that time, the deployment was: the 1st Battalion was an assault assault and demolition battalion, each equipped with 8 grenades, and after reaching the Japanese position, it used grenades to bomb and destroy the Japanese fortifications.
The 2nd Battalion was a shooting battalion, each armed with a quick gun or machine gun, carrying 350 rounds of ammunition (raised by the army), followed by the 1st Battalion to pounce on the Japanese positions and strafe the Japanese troops with intensive fire.
The 3rd and 4th Battalions, armed with light and heavy machine guns, followed the 2nd Battalion forward, and after the 1st and 2nd Battalions seized the position, they served as the main force to hold the position, and replaced the 1st and 2nd Battalions with readjustment forces.
Climb cliffs
The Japanese army was strictly guarded at the bottom of the iron mountain, and if you want to attack, you can't take the mountain road directly, otherwise the Japanese guns on the top of the mountain will be fired, and no matter how many people come, it will be useless. After reconnaissance, it was learned that there was a cliff dozens of meters high on the left side of the bottom bar iron mountain, which was the weakest place for the Japanese army's defense.
The night raid was a surprise, and the elite soldiers were selected to climb from the cliff to the position and launch a surprise attack from the back of the Japanese army, which would definitely catch the Japanese army by surprise. In view of this raid plan, the original plan was not changed, and then 50 elite forces were drawn out to form a death squad, risking their lives to climb the cliff and make a detour to raid.
After some selection, I, who are good at climbing trees and walking mountain roads, and dozens of cattle herders from rural areas were selected. We carried short guns and grenades, and with a short knife around our waists, we pulled the branches below the cliff and climbed up. At that time, there were no ropes, and they relied on two hands to crawl on the cliff wall dozens of meters high.
Japanese artillery position on the top of the hill
Under the reflection of the moonlight, Zhang Jian, the deputy battalion commander, was the first to climb up. His arms were very strong, and he grabbed the pit on the cliff wall and quickly climbed halfway up the cliff. There was a locust tree with a thick bowl mouth on the half cliff, and he sat on the locust tree to untie the leggings and use the leggings to pull the people below up.
After leaving the locust tree, we continued to climb up, and the people behind followed one after another. The higher you climb the cliff, the more slippery it becomes, and if you don't pay attention to the mossy and weed-covered cliff, your hands and feet will slip. In order to prevent slipping, everyone wrapped their clothes around their hands, increasing the friction of the palms of their hands.
When I was approaching the top of the mountain, I vaguely heard the voice of the Japanese soldiers on the top of the mountain, although the voice was not loud, but it was clear that it was a devil talking. Near the top of the cliff, the Japanese also pulled a clump of barbed wire, which was covered with thistles. It seems that the Japanese army was also worried about someone climbing the mountain to raid, so they set up this barrier.
barbed wire
For the Sichuan army, this kind of barbed wire is trivial. Deputy battalion commander Zhang took out a small steel tong from his arms, and it didn't take much effort to cut a big hole. At this time, the sound of gunfire came from the bottom of the mountain, and when we looked down, it turned out that the artillery and machine guns of our army were sounding, and the brothers of the 1st and 2nd battalions were attracting Japanese fire.
Since we were attacking the Japanese position, although our side outnumbered the Japanese army, we suffered heavy casualties. The brothers who charged up the hill attracted firepower, which provided us with ample time to climb the mountain. Soon we quickly climbed through the barbed wire, climbed to the top of the hill and went around behind the Japanese troops.
After more than 20 minutes of climbing, the hands had worn out the flesh and skin, and the blood had not yet dried out. The two arms were so sore that they seemed to have been beaten, but without a moment's hesitation, everyone drew their pistols and shot them at the back of the Japanese soldiers, and pulled out the grenades and threw them at the Japanese artillery.
Grenade kills
The sound of explosions and gunshots rang out, and the Japanese soldiers who were caught off guard were hit at both ends, killing and wounding many on the spot. The Japanese reacted quickly, immediately turning their guns and firing behind them. A dense barrage of bullets flew towards us, knocking down several of the brothers in front of us. I quickly threw myself to the ground to dodge, but I rolled down the cliff next to me with one foot in the air.
The momentary weightlessness caused me to tumble down, and I thought to myself that this was the end of it, but the barbed wire fence on the edge of the cliff saved my life. I fell heavily on the barbed wire, and the sharp thistles of the barbed wire hooked me, pierced my palms, and pierced my face and pants.
Holding back the pain, I got up from the barbed wire, tore at my hooked pants, and climbed to the top of the hill again, despite the bleeding from my hands and face. I struggled to get up, and by this time the two sides were already fighting hand-to-hand on the top of the mountain. A Japanese soldier raised his gun to aim at me, and I quickly pulled the trigger and killed him with a single shot.
Japanese troops on top of the mountain
After firing a shot, the short gun in his hand was suddenly knocked off by the butt of a gun, and his fingers were painful, and his bones seemed to be broken. Before he could react, a Japanese soldier armed with a rifle rushed to him. The Japanese soldier raised his sword and stabbed him, but I flashed to the side and threw himself to the ground with my arms around his waist, causing his knife to stab in the air.
The Japanese soldiers dropped their guns and grabbed me by the neck with both hands, trying to strangle me. I pressed him hard with my legs, felt the short knife at my waist, and stabbed him in the lower abdomen, and the Japanese soldier died before he could scream. I pulled out the knife and was just about to stand up when I was stabbed in the back.
I vaguely felt a large gash in my back, and blood was pouring out of it. At another look, there was a Japanese soldier holding a bloody bayonet, and the bayonet was already in the chest. He couldn't stab the knife accurately, and stabbed the iron buckle on the belt. The Japanese soldier pushed the butt of the rifle and pushed me to the ground.
肉搏厮杀
When the devil saw me fall to the ground, he howled and raised his bayonet to stab me, when I touched the short spear that had just been knocked to the ground. I raised my short gun and fired three shots at him, and the Japanese soldier was fatally shot in the face and fell to the ground on the spot, dying, and the steel helmet fell from his head and rolled on the ground before stopping.
At this time, dawn had arrived, and the sky was white, and the Japanese corpses on the top of the mountain were all over the field, except for a few who surrendered, the rest were wiped out. I touched the Japanese soldier who was dead next to me, and found that he was wearing a tweed coat, and I thought he was a petty officer, so I took off his coat and put it on my body.
After killing three Japanese soldiers in one breath, he felt severe pain in his hands, feet, and back at this time, but he didn't feel so much pain in the battle just now. In situations of high tension and focus on killing, it really doesn't hurt that much.
Japanese artillery was eliminated
Looking at the achievements of our regiment, we annihilated more than 200 Japanese troops and eliminated the artillery positions of the Japanese army, but the casualties of our regiment were also very large. My company had 160 men before the attack began, and after the battle was over, only about 50 remained, with two-thirds of the casualties.
The sacrificed brothers He Jun (unknown origin), He Shihai (Yibin), Zheng Kun (Yibin), Zhang Xiaoping, He Qingchen (from Jiechuan) and so on. It took more than 400 casualties for the whole regiment to take down this position, which was more than twice as many as the casualties of the Japanese army, and the victory of this battle paid a lot of sacrifices.
Such a sacrifice is conceivable, we are attacking the Japanese position on the back, the Japanese army is condescending, and the firepower is sufficient, if it is not for the surprise attack from behind, it is estimated that the casualties will be even greater, and it may not be successful. The gap between friend and foe is huge, and this is a fact that has to be admitted......
The hero and his slain daggers
This battle is the personal experience of Xiong Zhizhou, a veteran of the Sichuan army, who wrote down this experience in his later years, telling future generations that the victory was not easy to come by, and the heroism and sacrifice of the Sichuan army in the war of resistance. The heroic deeds of the soldiers of the Sichuan Army are worthy of being remembered by future generations, and their spirit of sacrifice is worth learning from future generations.
Fumishi Ichika
April 24, 2024
Written in Guilin