Chapter 9: The Bloody Battle of Nanjing 3

  The devils' 38-style cavalry artillery and 41-style field artillery were used to reinforce the infantry at close range, using accurate firing to extinguish the flames of several light machine guns one by one. The Japanese army's mortars and grenade launchers also fired shells and grenades into the first trench of the defenders, fortunately, the first trench dug by Zhang Mingyu was deep and shallow, making it difficult for shells to fall in, and the curved trenches could also avoid the maximum killing effect of shells and grenades. Even so, many soldiers were still hit by shells and grenades, and were killed by the devils' snipers and machine gunners in the trenches.

  As the outstanding shooter Zhang Haisheng led a group of sharpshooters, they would shoot and change locations, firing a bullet of revenge at the enemy soldier who was about to launch a hand grenade. The enemy soldier's head disappeared forever from his scope. He pulled the bolt again, extinguishing the flames of a machine gun that was spitting fire. The other sharpshooters fired one bullet after another at the enemy snipers hiding on the ground, turning them into cold corpses one by one. These sharpshooters would shoot and change locations, making it impossible for the enemy's mortars and grenade launchers to land accurate hits.

  However, the Japanese army's momentum was too strong, and the suppression of the sharpshooters was like holding down several beach balls in water - when one is pressed down, another pops up. The Chinese soldiers in the first trench were killed or wounded one after another, and the entire position no longer heard the crisp shooting sound of the Czech-style rifles that had been so clear before. Many movies portray the Japanese as extremely stupid, but this is an extreme error. If we were defeated by a group of people as stupid as pigs back then, what would we have become? To describe the enemy in such a way is simply to insult the heroes who sacrificed themselves during the War of Resistance. In fact, the Japanese army's tactical coordination was quite reasonable during their offensive. The Nationalist Army suffered a great defeat because they were inferior to the Japanese in terms of aircraft and heavy artillery - the latter's heavy weapons had hardly played a role before being completely suppressed. When the Japanese launched a charge, their infantry cannons and grenade launchers worked together, using the infantry cannons to pinpoint and destroy the Nationalist light and heavy machine guns, while using the grenade launchers to suppress the Nationalist counter-firepower. Only then did their infantry rush up, relying on their exquisite bayonet skills to defeat the Nationalist Army.

  As a later generation, Zhang Mingyu had heard about the tactics of modern people studying the war in various books and TV shows. He was particularly familiar with the tactics of the devils, so he wouldn't be foolish enough to let all the light and heavy machine guns fire at once, revealing their position and being picked off one by one by the devils' artillery. He reserved the strongest firepower for the rear trenches, combined with reasonable defensive fortifications, determined to make the little devils crash into the wall!

  The attacking devils heard the machine gun fire had completely stopped, and the devil officer shouted: "The Chinese machine guns have been knocked out! Imperial warriors, charge for me!"

  All the attacking devils accelerated their speed, rushing towards the first trench, but these enemies had not thought that suddenly a small ditch in front of the first trench, which was almost invisible, flew out countless hand grenades. The Japanese soldiers who were advancing rapidly were immediately blown down in large numbers. When the Japanese army rushed to the front of the ditch and found no Chinese soldiers in it, they realized that the cunning Chinese soldiers had retreated through the narrow chain ditch. Just as these devils cursed the Chinese army for being cunning, Zhang Mingyu's troops deployed on the flank, more than a dozen single-soldier bunkers and two solid dark bunkers, suddenly spewed out fierce flames from more than ten Czech-style light machine guns and two Maxim heavy machine guns. At this time, the devils were close by, exposed in the best shooting angle of intersecting fire, and the avenging bullets finally crushed them, with large numbers of devils falling down like ripe wheat.

  At this time, Zhang Mingyu's guerrilla artillery also took advantage of the situation to open fire. More than a dozen 82mm mortars and six 60mm mortars fired a round of shells. After completing the shooting, these artillerymen quickly picked up their mortars and withdrew from their original firing position to avoid being counterattacked by the enemy's firepower. The shells that fell among the enemy troops were undoubtedly adding insult to injury, giving those devils who had been swept away by machine guns a deadly blow!

  A loud "Boom" shook the air as a scarlet fireball erupted, sending the enemy's severed limbs and broken arms flying everywhere!

  "Baka!" Seeing his 28th Combined Brigade, which he had relied on to start the war, suddenly suffering a fierce attack, made General Hirata's seven orifices emit smoke.

  "Fire! Gunners, fire at will! Kill all those damned Chinese!"

  The infantry and cavalry guns, which had been firing at close range, belched forth balls of fire with accurate aimed shots at the newly exposed enemy pillboxes, shooting out shells that were as deadly as sin. The pillboxes that were hit flew into the air amidst flames, but those that had not yet been hit continued to stubbornly shoot out strings of lethal bullets at the devils until their own pillboxes were struck by shells.

  These brave warriors had long disregarded life and death, and were stirred up by Zhang Mingyu's high morale. They would rather fight to the last drop of blood than give up this good opportunity to kill the enemy!

  "Brothers, give me a good beating! Avenge our dead compatriots!" The second trench erupted in a deafening roar, as the avenging bullets shot towards the crawling and rolling devils, sending them one after another to "report to the great god of heaven". The soldiers of the Independent Regiment, who were fiercely counterattacking despite the enemy's artillery fire, disregarded their own heavy casualties and used their lives as a price to shoot out scorching and deadly bullets, giving those devils rushing towards the first trench a fatal blow. The attacking devils paid an extremely heavy price before barely charging into the first trench.

  "Great! We're about to capture the first line of defense of those Chinese!" Major Hirakawa put down his binoculars and had a communication soldier send a telegram to Tani Tsutomu to report their great achievement. Seeing his brave warriors jumping into the first trench one after another, Major Hirakawa's gloomy face revealed a long-awaited smile. However, those who jumped into the first trench at this time discovered that breaking through the first trench was not a lucky thing, but a disaster!

  This trench is very deep, two meters deep. No matter how hard these short-legged pigs jump, they can't stick their guns out to shoot. They want to climb out of the first trench, but find that the four walls are extremely smooth and cannot be climbed at all. Because it started snowing heavily in Nanjing early this morning, plus the Japanese army's artillery fire just now, the snow around the trench melted, the snow water flowed into the ditch and quickly froze, and the four walls were covered with a layer of smooth ice. How can these short-legged pigs climb up?

  Pick up the telescope to see the devils falling into the first trench, Zhang Mingyu excitedly raised his hand: "Grenade hands, give me a good beating! Beat those dog days to death!" The grenadier who received the order immediately threw out a large number of grenades from the second trench, accurately landing in the first trench 30 meters away, which was three meters wide. The devils trapped in this "giant trap" could not move forward or backward, and there was nowhere to hide. They could only watch the grenades fall into the trench and explode, a burst of explosions and the devils' mournful cries mixed together. Soon, the first trench became a bloody mess.

  "What the...?! What's going on?!" Just a moment ago, General Heita of Pinggu was excitedly watching the "Great Military Achievements" when he saw a fireball erupting from the first trench and thick smoke rolling up, but he didn't see any of the "brave warriors" who went in come out.

  But Pinggu also didn't know what was going on and couldn't see the situation ahead with just a telescope.

  The devils who jumped into the trenches were bombed and stunned, suffering extremely heavy losses. Suddenly, at this moment, someone among the surviving devils shouted loudly: "Traffic ditch! Come here quickly!"

  The remaining devils rushed towards the traffic ditch, but found it was a very narrow one. To save their lives, these devils still charged into the traffic ditch. The "Imperial Army" wearing yellow uniforms lined up in a straight line inside the traffic ditch and rushed to the second trench. At this moment, the Vickers machine gun placed between the second trench and the traffic ditch suddenly roared, spitting out a long flame at the incoming devils.

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