Chapter Ten: The Bloody Battle at Rain Flower Pavilion

  "Comrades, charge for me, take back the Rain Flower Terrace position! Implement a policy of killing all, burning all, and looting all against the enemy soldiers. Don't be polite to them, let these devils know that our capital is not so easy to occupy." Liu Zhenfeng held his pistol in one hand while rallying the soldiers with the other, urging them to advance bravely and fight to the death.

  At this time, the Japanese army on the Rain Flower Platform was a large team of the Sixth Division of the enemy, led by Toshiyuki Tanaka. Facing the 77th Army's officers and men who were as fierce as wolves and tigers, some soldiers in this regiment were afraid, and the regimental commander, Tarō Inoue, commanded his troops to fight stubbornly.

  "Colonel Okamoto, Colonel Okamoto! The Rain Flower Platform position is under fierce attack by a regiment of Chinese troops. Requesting support, requesting support!" Lieutenant-Colonel Inoue desperately called out to his superior officer, Colonel Okamoto Yasuyuki, commander of the 13th Regiment of the 6th Division.

  "Hachigata, Inoue-kun, you must hold on, absolutely cannot lose the position! I'll request air support immediately. Remember, if Rain Flower Platform falls, you will also directly take your own life to show loyalty to the Emperor!" Okamoto Yasuyuki shouted in a state of extreme anxiety.

  The Tanaka Corps participated in the Battle of Shanghai, and this time they launched a main attack on the South Gate of Nanjing - Zhonghua Gate. After much difficulty, they broke through the Zhonghua Gate at dawn on the 13th and entered the city of Nanjing. Unexpectedly, they encountered fierce resistance from Chinese troops in the southern part of the city. Just as they had finished dealing with these stubborn Nationalist forces, they were finally able to massacre Chinese civilians freely. However, a strong Chinese army suddenly appeared out of nowhere and engaged them in a brutal hand-to-hand combat on the streets of Nanjing. The battle was extremely fierce and bloody. Major General Okamoto's mood was already gloomy, as his troops had been under attack everywhere since entering the city, and they couldn't even kill people freely. At this time, that annoying Inoue Tarō came to bother him again. Although he disliked Inoue Tarō, the strategic location of Yuhuatai was relatively important and could not be lost, so he still called the air force for support.

  "The enemy is putting up a fierce resistance, we can't rush forward." The regiment commander crawled to Liu Zhenfeng's side and said.

  "Damn it! I didn't expect these devils to be so fierce, do you know which division they belong to?" Liu Zhenfeng turned his head and asked the commander of the 3rd Regiment.

  "This is the 13th Regiment of the 6th Division," replied the commander of the Third Brigade.

  "What! The 6th Division of the Japanese Army? That's the elite of the devils! Gather 'round, Regimental Commander, I order you to annihilate this group of little devils at the Rain Flower Platform position at all costs. If possible, I want to make the number of the 6th Division disappear forever from the Japanese Army." Liu Zhenfeng said fiercely, biting his teeth.

  "Yes. But Commander, if we keep charging like this, our casualties will be too great." The Third Brigade commander said awkwardly.

  "Damn it, who made you so impulsive, looking for death? You don't care about me, but I do." Liu Zhenfeng glared at the regimental commander and cursed as he saw another group of soldiers shouting and charging forward.

  "Jun Zu, aren't you the one who was shouting: Comrades, charge for me, take back the Rain Flower Terrace position, and implement a policy of killing, burning, and looting the enemy! Now it's all gone wrong, and I'm being blamed. Being the regiment commander is really not easy!" The Third Regiment Commander said with a belly full of grievances.

  "What's wrong? San Lu Zhang, you're not convinced, are you? Did I ever say that?" I shouted at San Lu Zhang again. After a while, Liu Zhenfeng smiled and said to San Lu Zhang: "Alright, alright, San Lu Zhang, don't be angry. Old Liu's memory has been bad lately, it seems like I did say something like that. Now I remember. You order the brothers not to charge anymore, take up earthwork, dig trenches while approaching the enemy, and when the howitzer can play its greatest role, give me a good beating! Go!"

  "Yes! Military seat!" The three brigade commanders led the way to arrange their tasks.

  The fierce battle for Rain Flower Terrace continued, and after receiving the order, our soldiers picked up their shovels and started digging.

  "Enemy planes are coming! Look!" shouted the chief of staff of the 3rd Brigade of the 101st Division.

  "Attention all, take cover, resume work after enemy planes have passed." The regiment commander loudly ordered his subordinates.

  Soon, dozens of Japanese Nakajima Ki-43 fighter planes flew over the 3rd Brigade's position, firing a barrage at the brigade's position. The soldiers of the 3rd Brigade, who were unable to lift their heads due to the Japanese aircraft, helplessly pounded the sand in their trenches. Who let our air force withdraw completely? Ground troops without air superiority often suffer heavy losses on the battlefield. Only in close combat can they avoid being passively bombed.

  Captain Inoue was also very anxious at this time. Since the full-scale war against China, wherever the Imperial Army went, those Chinese troops would flee without exception. Although during the Battle of Shanghai, the Chinese army resisted quite stubbornly and admirably, but in the end, they were still chased by the Imperial Japanese Army from Shanghai to Nanjing, with almost no strong resistance encountered along the way. In the previous Rain Flower Terrace battle, although it was a tough fight, the 88th Division of the Chinese army guarding the Rain Flower Terrace was eliminated, and even so, there were not many casualties in the troops. But now this Chinese troop in front of him has given rise to an inexplicable fear, and this fear is spreading throughout the army. If things go on like this, the entire regiment will collapse before this Chinese troop attacks.

  "Heavens! What kind of troops have I run into?" Captain Inoue cried out in dismay.

  "Report to Commander Ito, the enemy has stopped attacking, but it's strange, they're frantically digging trenches and digging very deep, don't know what they want to do." A staff officer reported the frontline situation to Ito.

  "Eight o'clock! No matter what they're doing, use mortars, use machine guns and attack!" Captain Inoue shouted in a fluster.

  As soon as the order was given, the Japanese heavy machine gun position went "rat-a-tat" and their mortar position also fired bomb after bomb at our military fortifications.

  Three travelers withstood the strong offensive of the large army led by Inoue and continued their earthwork.

  "Monkey, hurry up, don't stick your head out, be careful to get a hole punched by the little Japanese!" The class leader Yu Bin yelled at a small soldier who wanted to take a look outside.

  "Monitor, the enemy's gunfire is so dense! And those shells keep flying over our heads, I'm a bit scared!" Monkey stammered.

  "You little scamp, aren't you afraid to stick your head out? Stop wasting words and get to work! Is there a war where no one dies? If you want to stay alive, move your hands more and dig the trenches under the enemy's feet. Then give them some sweet melons to eat." The squad leader said with a smile to this little warrior.

  The trenches are getting closer and closer to the position of Commander Jie's troops, and their artillery positions and heavy machine gun positions have almost reached the range of our mortars. So Liu Zhenfeng ordered that the artillery should rush into the target range immediately, and at all costs, blow up the enemy's artillery positions and heavy machine gun positions for me.

  "Boom, boom, boom." With several cannon shots, the artillery positions and heavy machine gun positions of Inoue's detachment were all blown up to the sky. Then, the bugler of the 3rd Brigade blew the charge, and the entire brigade rushed out of the trenches, madly holding up their bayonet-equipped rifles, charging towards the enemy position...

  "Colonel Okamoto, Colonel Okamoto, our battalion can't hold on any longer. The enemy's attack is too fierce. We request that a battalion be sent to support us, otherwise the Rain Flower Platform position will not last till dawn." Inoue urgently appealed to Colonel Okamoto for help.

  "What the...! You idiot! Ikeda, what have you been eating? A whole battalion can't even hold onto a small position like Rain Flower Platform. Are you still worthy of being an Imperial soldier?! I don't have any troops to spare for you right now, I'm busy dealing with my own situation here. How am I supposed to send reinforcements?! Alright, I'll report this to the Division Commander and see if we can mobilize neighboring units to provide support."

  After hanging up the phone, Okamoto immediately dialed the division headquarters: "Hello? Hello? Is this the division headquarters? Please have the Division Commander take the call! General Tani, it's me, Lieutenant Colonel Okamoto Kiyoshi. My 13th Regiment is under fierce attack by the Chinese army and Rain Flower Platform is on the verge of collapse. I hope you can intervene and coordinate with neighboring units to provide support."

  "Hakka! Ogawa, can't your brigade even hold onto a single position like Rain Flower Platform?!" Tanaka Tsunefu shouted in exasperation. Since the Japanese General Staff issued the order to capture Nanjing on December 1st, the 6th Division had been tasked with the main assault mission. From the formal launch of the general attack on Nanjing on December 10th, after four days, the troops' casualties were heavy. Tanaka Tsunefu was already in a bad mood and when he heard Ogawa's poor battle report, how could he not be angry?

  "General, my regiment is being held up by the Chinese army in Nanjing city and the Rain Flower Terrace position. The defenders at the Rain Flower Terrace position only have one battalion, while the Chinese army attacking us has an entire division, and it's their elite troops! My single battalion has already held out for eight hours, if we don't get reinforcements soon, it will be too late!" Okamoto Yasuyuki urgently pleaded.

  "What! Impossible! The elite of the Chinese? Haven't we defeated their elite troops already? Didn't we defeat the enemy's 87th Division, 88th Division, 36th Division and the Instructional Corps? Where did this elite division come from?" Kusunose shouted with a pale face.

  "General, the Chinese army attacking our position at Yu Fa Tai is very fierce. I, Okamoto, am willing to accept punishment from the division headquarters after the battle, but for now, please dispatch reinforcements immediately!" Okamoto continued to plead urgently.

  "Alright. I'll call General Yoshizou Katō, hoping he can dispatch troops to support us!" said Tani Tsutomu, suppressing the anger in his heart and speaking as calmly as possible.

  "That's great! The 9th Division is the pride of our empire!" Okamoto Yasuyuki exclaimed excitedly, only to be met with a scolding from Tani Tsutomu.

  After receiving a call from Tanaka Jūichirō, Yoshizumi Ryosuke didn't say a word and quickly assembled an entire battalion of the 36th Regiment to head to Yuhuatai. Over the phone, Yoshizumi Ryosuke gave a death order to Colonel Suketsune Jiro of the 36th Regiment, stating that his entire battalion must arrive at Yuhuatai before it fell and annihilate the Chinese army attacking Yuhuatai.

  At this time, on the Rain Flower Platform, our army was engaged in a fierce battle with the Ikegai detachment defending the platform. A brutal hand-to-hand combat had unfolded between the two armies. Japanese soldiers were not afraid of close combat; for Japanese military men with a strong samurai spirit, close combat was the true battlefield they yearned for. These arrogant Japanese soldiers, on the Songhu Battlefields and in subsequent battles, every time they engaged in close combat with Chinese defenders, saw their opponents' faces filled with panic and confusion. Although these Japanese soldiers sometimes acknowledged the bravery of Chinese soldiers, when it came to close combat, they were at a disadvantage. Now, seeing this batch of Chinese soldiers approaching them with rifles for close combat, they sneered, ejected the bullets from their Type 38 rifles, and charged forward, yelling, to fight the officers and men of the 77th Army. Unfortunately, they made a big mistake this time; the Chinese army they encountered was the original 29th Army, which was famous for its Big Sword Squad. Coupled with the 77th Army, known as the "Devil's Brigade" and "Bloodthirsty Brigade" by the North China Japanese Army, their combat effectiveness was not comparable to that of ordinary troops. Think about it; a team determined to become a wolf pack, its ferocity (towards its enemies) can be imagined.

  The scene unfolding before Inoue Tarō's eyes left him almost breathless, he couldn't believe that there were still such "brutal" troops in the world. His soldiers clashed with these Chinese military forces and were quickly knocked to the ground after just a few exchanges of blows, soon becoming riddled with stab wounds like a beehive; of course, this was a normal scene and not particularly "brutal", but Inoue Tarō considered it "brutal" because when their weapons were knocked out of their hands, these Chinese troops pounced on the Japanese soldiers, biting them with their teeth, clawing at them with their hands, and even managed to bite off chunks of flesh from the Japanese soldiers. Some Chinese soldiers then proceeded to chew on the flesh they had bitten off, their mouths filled with shredded meat and fresh blood, looking like a group of bloodthirsty demons. These 77th Army soldiers truly embodied the words of their commander Liu Zhenfeng: "With great ambition we feast on barbarian meat, laughing as we drink the blood of the Xiongnu".

  "Devils! Devils!" The soldiers of Inoue's battalion could no longer endure the frenzied attack of the enemy in front of them, and they threw away their weapons and started a disorderly retreat. Although Inoue Tarō swung his katana to cut down one after another of the panicked fleeing soldiers, he was still unable to stop the collapse of the entire battalion. This physical and mental torment had completely destroyed the will of these proud imperial soldiers.

  Gradually, our army had surrounded Inoue Tarō, and the isolated Inoue Tarō held up his command knife, shouting incoherently. The three brigade commanders couldn't bear to watch anymore, so they directly raised their pistols and shot Inoue Tarō to meet his Amaterasu ōmikami.

  "Report to the commander, except for twenty or thirty people who escaped from the Japanese army led by Inoue, the rest were either killed by us or wounded on the ground. Please ask, how should these wounded soldiers be handled?" An officer in charge of counting the casualties on both sides asked the division commander what to do with the Japanese wounded.

  "Need you ask? Same old rules, according to battlefield discipline." The commander of the Third Brigade said with a wave of his hand. So-called battlefield discipline means - no prisoners are left, all are killed.

  When the officers and men of the 3rd Brigade of the 101st Division and the Military Guard Regiment were clearing the battlefield, a part of the Japanese 9th Division's 36th Regiment killed over. The officers and men of the entire brigade (Guard Regiment) immediately entered the position to fight back, stubbornly resisting the first three waves of attacks by the Ishihara detachment of the 36th Regiment, and then both sides entered a protracted positional warfare.

  Liu Zhenfeng then ordered the three brigade commanders to hold the Yuhuatai position for two weeks, and then led the 2nd Battalion of the Guard Regiment from Zhonghuamen into the city to fight a street battle against the Japanese army.