ATPnovel Chapter 35: The Japanese Division Commander's Blood Pressure Soars as He Supports the National
Chapter 35: The Japanese Division Commander's Blood Pressure Soars as He Supports the National
While 20,000 merit points may seem like a lot, Li Jianghe calculated that he had spent 5,000 merit points just to buy 10 field artillery squads.
The subsequent replenishment of artillery shells and other supplies will incur another considerable expense.
These merit points will certainly not be enough to cover the costs in the even more intense Battle of Nanjing.
The success of this raid was actually the result of a combination of factors.
On the one hand, the secondary explosions of the shells disrupted the Japanese army's entire defensive position, causing many Japanese troops to lose command.
On another note, a Japanese artillery regiment, a force of three thousand men, was often equipped with only five or six hundred rifles, which were quite scattered.
When it comes to close combat, it would be quite difficult to expect these few hundred scattered rifles and machine guns to withstand elite troops equipped with a large number of submachine guns and high-rate-of-fire machine guns.
Finally, the attack was sudden enough, and from the very beginning, it used dense machine gun fire to create absolute firepower suppression over the Japanese army, while also attacking from both sides.
This confused the Japanese army, who mistakenly believed they were the main force of the National Revolutionary Army, and naturally fled in panic.
Li Jianghe did not order his troops to clean up the battlefield, but instead directly ordered the soldiers to get into the vehicles and rush towards Xinzhuang.
They continued their advance at breakneck speed, traveling in trucks and motorcycles, towing field artillery.
Without artillery support from the rear, the Japanese troops advancing at the front naturally saw their offensive effectiveness greatly reduced.
The forward commanders gave firm orders, and even without the dense artillery fire from the rear, they resolutely chose to charge.
After the order was given, the Japanese army launched another fierce attack on the Xinzhuang bunker complex.
The Nationalist soldiers stationed there were also quite surprised.
I wondered why the Japanese were suddenly setting off fireworks behind them. And the noise was quite loud.
They soon learned that friendly forces must have launched a surprise attack on the Japanese artillery positions.
This greatly boosted the morale of the Nationalist soldiers in Xinzhuang, who then launched a fierce counterattack against the charging Japanese troops.
However, they were short of ammunition and had no logistical support. After a day of continuous fighting, each person had less than five bullets on average.
The fierce battle lasted less than twenty minutes before the Japanese troops had already reached the front.
The Japanese commander, listening to the sparse gunfire from the other side, could naturally guess that the enemy had run out of ammunition.
He decisively drew his command sword and pointed it forward.
"Reserves, engage in battle!!!"
Just then, he suddenly heard the roar of an engine coming from the darkness behind him.
Could it be that... the enemy attacking the artillery position is charging this way?
The Japanese forward commanders could only think of this possibility.
But this is too fast! The artillery position is still several kilometers away from here.
"Flare!!!"
He shouted and fired a flare into the darkness.
The burning magnesium strips flashed a blinding white light in the darkness, dispelling the heavy gloom around them.
He saw it; he saw soldiers in Nationalist army uniforms on those motorcycles, twisting the throttle and charging toward him.
They saw rows of general-purpose machine guns mounted on the sidecars of the motorcycles, their dark muzzles pointed at them.
They also saw machine guns mounted on trucks further behind them, some Maxim, some Czech, some Type 92, their dark muzzles all pointed at them.
"Enemy attack!!!!"
The Japanese forward commander shouted, but by then the reserve force had already rushed out, leaving him with only a limited number of soldiers.
As the flares flashed, the charging Nationalist troops roared into action and opened fire.
Motorcycles, trucks, machine guns, submachine guns, and rifles all fired simultaneously at the front.
Dozens of machine guns formed a dense crossfire network, quickly covering the area where the Japanese forward commander was located.
"Pfft pfft!!!!"
Amidst the whistling of bullets, the bullets easily tore through the bodies of these Japanese soldiers.
Motorcycles and trucks moved forward, and bullets from machine guns, like fiery whips, lashed the Japanese soldiers.
The Japanese soldiers who were charging forward naturally heard the gunfire behind them.
But as they turned their heads, machine gun bullets rained down on them.
Before the Japanese soldiers could dodge, many of them had already been torn to pieces.
Trucks and motorcycles kept running, crushing over the bodies of the Japanese soldiers or knocking away fleeing Japanese soldiers.
Screams and the sound of wheels crushing bones rose and fell, eventually drowned out by the gunfire that roared like a tidal wave.
The Japanese soldiers advancing at the front turned to look when they heard gunfire and explosions coming from behind.
Under the light of the flares, they saw a large number of trucks and motorcycles rushing towards them from behind, sweeping towards them like a torrent.
On the other side, the Nationalist soldiers in the Xinzhuang bunker complex also saw this scene.
"Reinforcements! Reinforcements have arrived!!!"
They roared, "Fire all the bullets! Shoot them hard!!!"
The officers on the position roared and fired their last bullets at the Japanese troops.
Caught between two attacks, the Japanese officers leading the offensive knew that if they didn't retreat, they would die.
"Retreat to the flank! Don't engage them head-on!"
They lacked anti-tank equipment, and the enemy's firepower density was far beyond their capabilities.
To confront them head-on at this point would be suicide.
Li Jianghe knew the principle of not pursuing a defeated enemy, especially since their main task now was to enter the Xinzhuang bunker complex and join up with the Nationalist troops inside.
If they linger in the battle, and the arriving Japanese reinforcements get bogged down, they won't be able to escape.
Large numbers of motorcycles and trucks ran over the corpses left behind by the Japanese soldiers and rushed through a gap in the defensive line.
The Nationalist troops on the position did not fire, as they knew these were friendly forces.
Of course, now that they've run out of bullets, they can't fire anymore.
At the 9th Division headquarters, Yoshizumi Ryosuke's fingers bulged with veins as he gripped the binoculars tightly.
The telescope's protective sheath even began to creak and groan.
"Damn it, absolutely damn it!!!"
Yoshizumi Ryosuke felt a burning rage in his chest, his heart was racing, and his blood pressure was soaring.
However, during the recent melee, he was unable to call in artillery to bombard the enemy convoy.
Meanwhile, Hiroshi Nakagawa had returned and said to Ryosuke Yoshizumi:
"The artillery positions were attacked by the enemy, resulting in heavy casualties. Almost all the artillery pieces were destroyed, and some shells were almost completely destroyed in the secondary explosions."
"Serikawa Hideyuki, make him commit seppuku!!!"
He roared, and everyone in the command center instinctively shuddered before continuing with their work, or rather, pretending they had work to do.
Hiroshi Nakagawa's mouth was agape for a long time before he finally spoke:
"Serikawa Hideo is dead."