Chapter Thirty-Six: Life and Death Clash

  The Japanese reconnaissance was very efficient, and in just over ten minutes they already knew the approximate strength and firepower of the enemy on the high ground. As for the Imperial Army's ability to capture strongholds, ōshima Hideki still had a lot of confidence, or rather, the merits of the Imperial Army were built on constantly capturing the positions of Chinese defenders.

  The height is not too steep, and the maximum height does not exceed 150 meters. Although the other side has built a large number of fortifications, how can a hundred or two people stop their own 500+ elite charge?

  "The brave warriors of the Empire, the time has come to establish meritorious service for His Imperial Majesty! Charge up the high ground in front of you and annihilate those detestable Chinese devils, offering their blood as a sacrifice to the heroic spirits of the Empire who have died in battle! Advance!"

  Oshima used a small squad for the reconnaissance-in-force. According to convention, an artillery bombardment should have preceded the attack, but Oshima had no guns, not even a single infantry gun; all the division's artillery had been sent to the Huai River front to fight against government forces.

  Oshima lined up all 12 mortars and began bombarding the "Divine Eagle" defensive position. Under the cover of artillery fire, a small squad of infantrymen quickly approached the front line of the position.

  "Everyone take cover!" Song Guantao yelled as he saw the enemy setting up their "little steel cannons". Soon, shells shot out from the Japanese position with a sharp whistling sound, and in an instant, explosions erupted all over the position, sending mud, rocks and debris flying everywhere.

  The warriors clutched their heads tightly and crouched in their respective shelters, allowing dust and debris to cover their backs.

  Erlian Chang Hu Yunfeng was hit by the enemy's grenade launcher for the first time, and personally experienced the explosion of the grenade launcher beside him, which made his understanding of this thing even deeper. "It is indeed true that hearing a hundred times is not as good as seeing once."

  In fact, the Japanese army's 89-style grenade launcher had a very limited lethal effect at long distances, far less than infantry guns and even mortars. However, the simultaneous launch of 12 grenade launchers could barely provide cover. After the artillery fire, the attacking Japanese troops charged with bayonets.

  "Everyone get into position! The devils are coming!" Song Guantou yelled, shaking off the dust on his body. He was very dissatisfied with the performance of the new recruits just now. With just a few broken grenades, what's there to be nervous about? These new recruits, if they encounter the enemy's grenade launchers, won't they wet their pants?

  The attacking Japanese troops quickly formed a scattered formation and approached the position 100 meters ahead, the devil's squad leader raised his military knife, "Kill!" Just saw the devils rushing up desperately.

  Many of the soldiers in the first and second lines of defense were new recruits, who were very nervous when facing the enemy's charge like a swarm of locusts. The bright light reflected from the enemy's steel helmet made these new recruits feel pressure, and some even had sweaty palms.

  "Take aim and fire at whatever moves!" Song Guantao shouted loudly.

  The devils rushed to 70 meters, and Song Guantou shouted: "Fire!"

  The machine gun squad fired first. The four light machine guns formed a web of fire that instantly sealed off the enemy's charging route. Squad leader Wang Dazhu was a seasoned veteran, and with one glance he saw that this was an exploratory attack by the enemy, so he didn't reveal his full hand, especially the two Type 92 heavy machine guns. Exposing them prematurely would only bring enemy grenade launchers and nothing else.

  "Rat-a-tat-tat," "rat-a-tat-tat", the six or seven devils in front were unable to dodge and were hit by a hail of bullets, but the rest of the devils were not affected at all, continuing to charge forward. Some devils fired their guns as they charged, and individual "God Eagle" warriors who exposed themselves were unfortunately hit, falling on the cover.

  The new recruits' shooting effect was quite poor, except for the devils being hit by machine guns one after another, the rest of the devils actually advanced 15 meters under such dense firepower. Hu Yunfeng saw that things were going to go wrong, and with his 03-style assault rifle, he made several precise shots in a row, immediately knocking down the devil at the front, the soldiers saw the company commander hit, and their morale was greatly boosted, they continued to load and shoot, putting aside the tense factor, the shooting effect was much better, the devils' charging momentum was instantly suppressed.

  Hu Yunfeng's accurate shooting posed a great threat to the enemy, and the commander, who was observing from a distance with binoculars, immediately noticed the abnormality on the opponent's position. He ordered the heavy machine gun to suppress several points in the area. As a special forces soldier, Hu Yunfeng would not stay in one place for long. He changed magazines, rolled away from his original location, and just as he left, he saw his previous position being shot at, raising dust everywhere.

  The devils are getting closer and closer, but the firepower density they face is getting bigger and bigger. As long as there are devils who raise their heads to shoot or charge, they will be hit quickly. Of course, the devils' accurate marksmanship still caused more than a dozen casualties on the defending side.

  The trial attack by ōshima's troops had achieved its desired effect, and he ordered a signal flag to be waved to stop the attacking Japanese troops.

  The first batch of attacking devils left behind twenty or so corpses before quickly retreating and disengaging.

  The results of the probing attack were very satisfactory to Da Dao, with an estimated 200 enemy troops, consistent with his own judgment. What he didn't expect was that these people were clearly not good at defending their positions, and it's no wonder that the "Divine Eagles" had been able to successfully raid the Imperial Army time and again. On one hand, it was because the Imperial Army was too confident, and on the other hand, it was because these people used despicable tactics such as sneak attacks and harassment. Once they faced off against the Imperial Army head-on, their untrained weaknesses were exposed without a doubt. In a positional battle, they were simply no match.

  It's not just the big island, other devils who saw the attack earlier also gained a lot of confidence. These people have fought against the Chinese government army before, and the troops facing them are only slightly stronger than those warlord troops, far inferior to the Central Army.

  With that, the pressure in Oshima's mind suddenly eased, and he planned to start a formal attack ten minutes later, with Lieutenant Commander Arai leading his squadron as the main force, while Ando's squadron stood guard on the spot.

  Chen Jifan watched the battle clearly through his high-powered binoculars, and he was very dissatisfied. In the face of real combat, these new recruits who had just picked up their guns did not show a reassuring level of combat quality. However, he remained calm and believed in the on-site command abilities of the two battalion commanders on the battlefield.

  "Notify Li Pai-chang, once the devils launch an attack, have him use artillery fire to strike the area two hundred meters in front of our position."

  The fire on the position of Song Guantou is getting bigger, damn it! The opponent's infantry squad rushed to within 50 meters of their own defensive position with over 200 people, if there were a few more devils, they would have to fight the devils with bayonets. Bayonet? These peasants who just picked up guns are not even worthy opponents.

  "What the f***, how did you guys get taught normally? Are you afraid of him? He's a dead man either way. If you don't kill him, he'll kill you. Those who don't want to die, come at me with all your might! Take aim and shoot to kill! If we lose this position, the regiment commander will chop off my head, I'll be the first to blow up the heads of you bunch of idiots!"

  Hu Yunfeng was not as rough as Song Guantao, but the fire in his heart was no smaller. However, he didn't scold people like Yilian Chang did, instead, he tried to suppress the anger in his heart and encouraged these new recruits. After all, Rome wasn't built in a day, and these men had only been holding guns for more than two months or just over ten days.

  Oshima did not give the two regimental commanders much time to raise morale, and the first wave of formal assault unfolded fiercely under the cover of heavy machine guns and grenade launchers.

  The new recruits were either scolded until they were furious or educated until they were ashamed. Seeing the devils again, they charged forward, having long forgotten what it was like to be afraid. Their eyes seemed to be spitting fire as they advanced. The devils had just reached a distance of 100 meters from the position when a sharp whistling sound cut through the air and struck the devil's cluster directly. Shells exploded mercilessly among the charging devils, sending those who left their cover flying into the sky, with limbs scattered everywhere. Li An's artillery fire lasted for five minutes, which was like hell on earth for the exposed Japanese troops. Thirty devils lay motionless on the ground, with many more moaning beside them.

  Oshima was furious and wanted to draw his sword, but he never thought that the enemy would launch a barrage. Seeing a battalion lose a quarter of its combat effectiveness without even building an inch of fortifications, Oshima's mood can be imagined. It was too late to withdraw the troops, fortunately, the enemy had few shells. Five minutes later, as soon as the shelling stopped, the devils jumped up and launched an even more frantic attack. This time, the two defending battalions were not polite, and all weapons opened fire at once.

  Suddenly, the sound of gunfire erupted on the battlefield, and Wang Dazhu brought out all his family's wealth. Three 92-style heavy machine guns and 18 light machine guns crazily poured hateful bullets at the devils from various directions. The devils who charged forward under the dense firepower suffered heavy casualties. The remaining soldiers saw their machine guns triumph, and their morale was greatly boosted. They took aim at the Japanese army and fired. After the previous battle, the new recruits eliminated their tension and fear on the battlefield for the first time, replacing them with hatred for the devils and a sense of pleasure in shooting. The devils' tactical coordination was quite sophisticated, with those in front charging forward and those behind firing their guns. Several light machine guns also began to counterattack the "Divine Eagle" position under the command of an officer. The devils' marksmanship was very accurate, and more than a dozen defending soldiers were ruthlessly hit by the devils' bullets because they exposed their bodies.

  The sacrifice of comrades further stirred up the hatred of the soldiers, no one was timid or nervous anymore, everyone's mind was focused on how to kill the devils in front of them who were climbing up like locusts.

  Song Guanhu picked up a machine gun from beside a fallen soldier and swept it at the devils, shouting "Ammunition hand!" while firing.

  Wang Dazhu heard a long burst of fire, picked up several magazines from the ground and quickly moved towards Song Guantao. Song Guantao tightly held onto the trigger and swept the devils with a burst of crazy shooting, but soon ran out of ammo. Just as he was about to shout loudly, a magazine appeared in front of him. The company commander, whose eyes were red from excitement, didn't even care who it was, snatched the magazine and loaded it into the machine gun, pulled the bolt back and started firing again.

  There were too many devils, and although the first and second strings fought to the death, more than a hundred devils rushed to within 50 meters of the position. Hu Yunfeng shouted: "Hand grenades! Quick!" Some soldiers pulled the strings, some removed the insurance and threw them at the devil's group with force. Some soldiers were hit just as they were about to throw their hands up, and the smoking hand grenades exploded on their bodies.

  Forty or fifty hand grenades exploded one after another among the enemy group, and the devils who had just rushed to the front were blown back.

  Behind the big island, the commander of the heavy machine gun fired desperately at the "Shenying" position. Three light machine guns were knocked down by the devils along with their crew. The bullets from the Japanese position's heavy machine gun shot up clouds of dust in front of the bunker. Song Guantao cursed again: "Rocket launcher! Where the hell is the rocket launcher?"

  The warriors responsible for operating the grenade launcher were all new, and at first they fired a few shots, but due to tension and fear, their aim was very poor, and their tactical movements were almost out of shape.

  A long string of words pulled them back from the brink of confusion, re-correcting their deviation and starting to fire. At least until now, the infantry company's grenade launcher operators were far from reaching the level of the devils in terms of grenade usage, and the grenades did not hit the enemy's heavy machine gun position. Instead, it triggered even more frenzied retaliation from the devil's grenade launchers, which accurately landed on the "Divine Eagle" position, causing some soldiers to sacrifice themselves.

  The battle grew more intense, the enemy's attack never stopped for a moment, because they felt that the opposing troops were not strong, as long as they kept attacking, the Chinese would definitely collapse. Lieutenant Arai Akio stood beside a machine gun and shouted loudly "Kill them!", he didn't want to let Lieutenant Ando's squad look down on him, he wanted to use victory to maintain the dignity of the Sendai warriors.

  Captain Ando Ryōichi held his military sword with both hands wearing white gloves, looking down on the Newai Corps attacking on the high ground. The attack power of the Newai Corps was really a shame to the dignity of the Great Japanese Imperial Army. It was unbelievable that they were having such a hard time dealing with a small civilian army, and it was even more unbelievable how the Newai Corps could stand in the 13th Division.

  Ammunition was being continuously transported to the front lines, while the wounded were being carried down from the front lines. The field hospital was already overcrowded with wounded soldiers, and Wu Qing, wearing a mask, performed surgery while instructing nurses to arrange for new arrivals.

  The fierce battle was a test for the "Divine Eagle" from top to bottom. Only Chen Jifan remained unmoved. The blood and fire on the battlefield were all within his view through the telescope. The soldiers who had been killed or wounded made his eyes gradually moisten, but he still remained unmoved. This is the price that must be paid for the growth of the troops! Without going through the baptism of wind and rain, the "Divine Eagle" would forever only flutter at the edge of its nest, unable to soar in the sky. This was also the most important part of making a battle plan. Originally, with the current strength of the troops, if they were all brought up, the little devils would absolutely not be able to withstand it. But this way, even if they won, it would be a miserable victory, at best defeating the invading devils, and the troops would gain nothing. He wanted annihilation! Since the little devils dared to come looking for trouble with just a few hundred men, he must make sure they had no return. He was still waiting.

  Song Guanhu didn't know the battalion commander's plan, he only knew that the battalion commander handed over the position to him, and the position couldn't be lost in his hands, he didn't want to be killed by the battalion commander, it was too embarrassing.

  Hu Yunfeng's eyes were also red with excitement, this was his first time engaging in a positional warfare with the devils, and he was very excited. He continuously directed the people behind him to fill up the gaps, and holding onto his 03-style assault rifle, he shot at the devils mercilessly without any quarter. In the positional warfare, the accuracy of one's marksmanship quickly became apparent, and under Hu Yunfeng's gun, almost no devils survived, not a single devil was able to get within 50 meters. The pressure on this side began to alleviate somewhat.

  It was on that side that the devils made their main attack, and continuously devils broke through the dense firepower net, charging towards the first company's position.

  "Brothers! The devils are approaching, use hand grenades!" a squad leader shouted.

  The devils charged to within 50 meters again, and this time they threw hand grenades at the position. Because it was a high angle, the devils' hand grenades were not very threatening. Song Guantao shouted loudly and stood up, holding his machine gun and sweeping towards the devils fiercely. Wang Dazhu saw that things were urgent, the regiment commander had strictly forbidden machine gunners from standing up during red eyes, saying this was making unnecessary sacrifices. Seeing the company commander in extreme danger, Wang Dazhu rushed over and knocked Song Guantao down with a crash. Just as Song Guantao was about to curse, a dense barrage of bullets came flying over, whizzing past the two men's heads.

  "Thanks a lot, Big Brother Da Zhu." Song Guanhu said, flipping over and wiping his face.

  "Your job as a company commander is to lead the troops in defending their position, not to play hero! If you die, that's the end of it, but what about the position? What about these soldiers?" Wang Dazhu was furious.

  Song Guanhu slapped his forehead, "Dazhu brothers, you scolded me right, I almost made a mistake! Give the machine gun to you, I'll go take a look over there."

  Song Guanhu did not call up the reserve troops, and although the enemy was attacking fiercely, the troops were not yet at the end of their tether. Besides, this Japanese company was already exhausted from the attack, as long as the soldiers could hold on tightly, the little devils would definitely not have a good time.

  The battle was going as Song Guanhu had expected, and the New First Squadron was increasingly feeling overwhelmed. The closer they got to the enemy's position, the stronger the counterattack became, especially with the hail of hand grenades pouring down from above, repeatedly frustrating their vanguard. ōshima Hidetree saw that the attack was not going well, while the enemy seemed to show no signs of collapse, and immediately sent a signal for Andō Squadron to launch an attack.

  Ando received orders to begin organizing the squadron's departure.

  At this time, the troops left on the island by Taisho, except for a machine gun squad, were less than a platoon of guards, and he had bet everything he had.

  All the heavy machine guns of the machine gun squad began to suppress the "Divine Eagle" position with the most violent fire. Twelve heavy machine guns flashed flames and poured dense bullets into the distant position without any restraint.

  Under the suppression of the Japanese army's heavy machine guns, the first and second companies could not lift their heads to counterattack, and more than 100 people from Arai's unit rushed up again.

  At this time, the two companies on the position actually lost 30 or 40 people and had 20 to 30 lightly wounded soldiers. The ammunition was not a problem, but there were many gaps in the position, and there was a risk of being overrun at any time.

  Chen Jifang saw the devils launch two battalions at once through his telescope, feeling unbelievable. The arrogant devils, once frustrated, forgot even the most basic military common sense.

  "Order! The artillery battalion strikes at the second wave of devils; Order Wen Chuanhao, no matter what, take out the devil's heavy machine gun for me."

  The morale of the Ando unit was high, and all the officers and soldiers saw that the Arai unit could not take down this small hill defended by these untrained Chinese troops, and they were extremely disdainful in their hearts. So when it was their turn, one by one, they shouted and rushed up recklessly.

  Song Guanhu didn't have the luxury of being as idle as the battalion commander, and upon seeing the devils, he immediately dispatched two companies, took a deep breath, "Damn it, these little devils are crazy, Battalion Commander, what are you doing?"

  Grumbling aside, Song Guantou ordered the two squads of the reserve team to be called up at once. The arrival of the reserve team greatly boosted the morale on the battlefield.

  "Wang Dazhu, what's wrong with you? At a critical moment, you can't let me down!"

  Wang Dazhu ignored him, he was re-adjusting the machine gun position.

  Hundreds of steel helmets reflected dazzling light under the early spring sun, and Hu Yunfeng also felt a chill, "Good guy, it's really magnificent."

  He leaned against the bunker, made a final check of his magazine, still seven left, 200 rounds of ammunition, enough.

  At this time, the warriors on the battlefield could no longer be called new recruits, for their eyes had long since lost their fear and tension, each tightly gripping the guns in their hands, aiming at the devils who were rushing up.

  Hit!

  Bullets shot out densely from both sides of the position, bullets harvested the lives of the devils like harvesting wheat, and the new team in front suffered the heaviest blow since the attack. All light and heavy weapons on the position fired at the new team, and more than 40 bodies fell down quickly at the forefront of the position. However, the devil's counterattack was not weak either, and the advancing devils shot while charging forward, and nearly 20 people were hit on the position again.

  Ando had no place to go, because the "Divine Eagle" artillery formation had already aimed at him. First, six mortars fired three rounds of rapid fire, and the shells exploded one after another in the queue of Ando's squadron, which was blown to pieces.

  "The Divine Eagle" warriors have greatly improved their shooting accuracy due to mental maturity, and many warriors have already killed more than three devils under their guns.

  "Take out the enemy's machine gun!" someone shouted.

  It turned out that a machine gun of the devils was firing wildly upwards, and many soldiers were hit.

  As soon as the words were spoken, a crisp gunshot was heard amidst the chaotic gunfire, and a hole was drilled into the steel helmet of the enemy machine gunner, with blood splashing everywhere.

  Song Guanhu excitedly asked: "Great, who did it?"

  The one who made a meritorious deed was a new warrior named Yu Yue, and the person next to him affectionately patted his head.

  "Fight well, if you don't die, I'll personally recommend you to Officer Wen." Song Guantao shouted with a grin.

  The devils were still recklessly charging forward, while on the position, half of the machine guns in the machine gun squad had lost their effectiveness, and the machine gunners were dying one after another.

  The most lethal thing now is the 03 assault rifle in Hu Yunfeng's hand. Due to Hu Yunfeng's accurate marksmanship, he sometimes fired single shots and sometimes burst fire, almost every bullet hitting the devils. So Hu Yunfeng became the devil's firepower focus of attention, and he had to keep changing positions.

  Dozens of devils suddenly rushed to the front of the position! The warriors on the front line had no time to fire, holding bayonets and rushing out of the trenches to fight with the devils.

  Song Guanhu was greatly shocked, and his spear skills were not his strong suit, at least not now.

  "Rifle! Get the rifle and shoot!"

  Several squad leaders understood, and hastily fired a few shots at the devils. Some soldiers simply hugged grenades and charged into the enemy crowd...

  Just as both sides were engaged in a fierce battle on the battlefield, Chen Jifang's counterattack plan began.