Chapter Sixteen: The Longest Afternoon (Part 1)

  "Wen Fu" grabbed Wen Congyuan, who was about to lead the troops in a large-scale counterattack. Now, only he could hold back Wen Congyuan, this desperate and reckless man.

  Yu Juncai didn't think that the independent 100th regiment, with its current troop quality excelling at assassination, would gain any advantage over the Japanese army. At this time, in the Zhuangzi's independent 100th regiment, there were very few old soldiers, and the new recruits who made up the majority of the troops could barely hold on during positional warfare under the leadership of their officers and older comrades. If they really engaged in close combat with the Japanese army, the new recruits who had never experienced this kind of battle would likely suffer a psychological collapse, leading to a complete collapse of the troops. It was precisely because he feared such a situation that Yu Juncai stopped Wen Songyuan's impulsive behavior of charging forward with the 200th regiment to engage in close combat with the Japanese army.

  What Yu Juncai was most worried about was not the Japanese infantry's extremely high accuracy of shooting while advancing, nor the accurate and ruthless artillery fire of the Japanese artillery against the position of the Independent 100th Brigade, but the four Japanese Type 94 light armored cars that were attacking the position defended by the 31st Division.

  The Japanese army, while attacking the position defended by the 100th Division of the Independent Army, also launched a fierce attack on the position of the 31st Division on the left wing of the 100th Division. Under the great pressure of the Japanese army, the position of the 31st Division was already very precarious. The four Type 94 light tanks posed the greatest threat to the position of the 31st Division and had already rushed to within less than 70 meters of the central position of the 31st Division. These "bean tanks" of the Japanese army, with their relatively strong firepower compared to the Chinese army, suppressed the troops of the 31st Division within a range of 200 meters, making it impossible for them to even lift their heads.

  This lightweight tank, weighing only 3.5 tons and with a crew of two, had mediocre firepower and mobility performance, and was far inferior to European tanks in terms of performance, but at that time it was indeed the trump card for the Japanese army to deal with the Chinese military.

  Ordinary light and heavy machine guns have no effect on it, only the 37mm anti-tank gun can penetrate the 94 tank's armor, which is only 12mm thick.

  In 1938, the Type 37 anti-aircraft gun was one of the most luxurious weapons in the Chinese army. Except for a small number of Central Army units that were equipped with a few, other troops had never even seen them. At that time, there were not even over a hundred anti-aircraft guns throughout China.

  Yu Juncai's greatest concern was that when the independent 100th Brigade launched a counterattack, the Japanese army on the left wing broke through the position of the 31st Division with the support of the Type 94 tank and enveloped the right flank. The attacking troops of the Independent 100th Brigade were all surrounded by the Japanese.

  To prevent his own troops from being surrounded by the Japanese, Yu Juncai hastily dispatched a regiment to reinforce the 31st Division which was already fighting desperately.

  In the next half hour, under the command of Yu Juncai, all the forces and firepower of the Independent Hundred Regiments blocked the Japanese army's frontal attack and drove out several small groups of Japanese troops that had broken through the defense line.

  Yu Juncai's cautious command temporarily stabilized the situation, not only forcing the Japanese army in front of the 100th Independent Brigade to slow down its offensive momentum, but also allowing the 31st Division's defensive line to withstand the impact of the Japanese tanks after receiving support from the 100th Independent Brigade.

  However, in Juncai's heart, all of this is only a temporary phenomenon. Not to mention the 31st Division, which cannot withstand steel with flesh and blood. Even if the situation on the battlefield looks better than that of the 31st Division, the independent 100th Brigade will not be able to hold out for long in this close-range shooting match where both sides are evenly matched in terms of single-soldier combat capabilities. At the end of the day, the biggest problem is still that there are too many new recruits. When there are many people, charging forward is okay, but it's simply a pipe dream to defeat the Japanese army, which has roughly the same number of troops as us, in this kind of positional warfare. In Juncai's opinion, the fact that the troops can hold out for now is already a rare and precious thing.

  According to Juncai's estimation, if there were no reinforcements, the Chinese troops in Zhuangzi would collapse within an hour. He had already made a call for help and now it was up to Cheng Jiaqi at the brigade headquarters to make a decision.

  The situation in Taierzhuang at this moment can be said to be related to the overall situation. The officials of the war zone also knew about the intense battle in Zhuangzi after receiving the report from the Second Group Army, and they were anxious. Xu, the chief of staff, personally called Cheng Jiaqi to understand the real situation on the battlefield.

  "Director Cheng, how many people are still in the village of Zhuangzi?" Because of the last time's big king Zhuang's matter, Xu Shenglong had always been grateful to Cheng Jiaji. However, this war zone chief of staff had always believed in the creed of "gentlemen do not form cliques" and had never had any private dealings with the various battalion commanders under his jurisdiction. So although he was very grateful to Cheng Jiaji for the matter of Da Wang Zhuang, he also took good care of Independent Battalion 100 in all aspects. But on the surface, Xu and Cheng still addressed each other with official titles.

  "Report to the commander, our troops in Zhuangzi have a total of five infantry regiments and two close-range artillery companies, with approximately 2,600-2,700 men when we entered. However, after half a day of fierce battle, casualties are extremely heavy, and it is estimated that there are no more than 1,800 men left now." Seeing the majestic war zone commander-in-chief asking about his own troop situation, Cheng Jiaji dared not to be careless.

  "So there should be about 2,000 people left outside the Zhuangzi." As the chief of staff in charge of the war zone's directly affiliated troops, Xu knew more about the troop strength of Independent Division 100. When he said this, Cheng Jiaji naturally understood the implicit meaning and knew that the chief of staff was tactfully urging him to send troops to support those inside Zhuangzi.

  "Report, the troops stationed outside the village under my command total 2,200 people, including two infantry regiments and one cavalry regiment, plus the direct units of two brigades and one division headquarters. About 1,500 have full combat capability, while the others are non-combat personnel who can also be deployed to fight if necessary. However, more than 300 men from the cavalry regiment have already been deployed to the defensive line on the 27th and cannot return for the time being." General Cheng Jiaji hastily replied.

  "Is there any objection if the entire troops enter the village to fight?" Xu Canzhi's intention has been exposed. As judged by Cheng Jiaji, it was indeed General Sun who received a distress call from the 31st Division and wanted Cheng Jiaji to put all his troops into the village, but since the Independent 100th Brigade was directly under the war zone command, he couldn't give orders. That's why Xu Canzhi was brought here, perhaps it was also the intention of the war zone commander. At this time, the victory or defeat of Taierzhuang hangs in the balance. Although Cheng Jiaji understood that the superiors had their reasons, he still decided to express his opinions clearly to the superiors and fight for them.

  "General, at present the 20th Corps is still entangled with Sakamoto's detachment and the battle situation is not yet clear. At this time, let me use up the last reserve force of my unit. What if this battle has to be fought for three or five more days? What can I use to support the situation then? Moreover, it is now daytime, just past one o'clock, even if our unit launches a full-scale attack and suffers heavy casualties after defeating the Nagano Allied Forces, under the air cover of the Japanese army, our military cannot expand its gains. I still insist on the battle plan reported to the Group Army Headquarters and the War Zone Command two hours ago. Please deliberate, commanders."

  "Your operational plan for the large-scale night raid tonight has been approved by the commander of the war zone. However, the situation has changed now. Since you insist on that plan so much, let's execute it as originally planned. But the battle in the village must be stabilized before 3 pm this afternoon; otherwise, the commander will order your troops to put all their forces into the battle for the village!"

  Xu Canzuo agreed to Cheng Jiaji's request after a while. Cheng Jiaji guessed that the commander-in-chief of the war zone must be by Xu Canzuo's side at this time, and Xu Canzuo had already consulted with the commander-in-chief just now. Otherwise, such a big thing, Xu Canzuo wouldn't dare to decide on his own.

  "Yes, it's an order! You must stabilize the situation in the village before 3 pm this afternoon!"

  Cheng Jiaji hung up the phone and felt a sense of relief, as he had been most afraid that his superiors would order him to immediately lead all the mobile forces of the 100th Division into the Zhuangzi to fight to the death with the Japanese army.

  If he followed orders, he couldn't get past his own conscience. If he didn't follow the orders of his superiors, that would be disobedience on the battlefield. This kind of disobedience is no small matter, especially at such a critical moment, and it's possible that one's own life might not be spared. Dying by military law is a small thing, but who will clean up this mess now? Perhaps in the bloodbath of Dawang Village, Cheng Jiaji had achieved spiritual sublimation, for these days he felt his mental state was steadily improving step by step.

  Cheng Jiaji, who had put down the big stone in his heart, immediately said to Gao Shiying, "Brother Ze Min, you are in charge of the troops here, I'll take the Travel Department's Guard Company to Zhuangzi to see if these devils have three heads and six arms!"

  After finishing this sentence, Cheng Jiaji took Ma Sanbao, who had already been promoted to the rank of battalion commander of the independent first hundred brigade's temporary brigade headquarters, and walked out quickly.

  The Type 94 Te-Ke was a light tank of the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) in the Second Sino-Japanese War, designed and built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. The Type 94 was originally not considered a "light" tank by the Japanese but a "small mobile armored vehicle".