Chapter 15: The Blood Flag Dances in the Sky (Part 2)

  At around 12:00 on April 5, the commander of the 40th Regiment of the Japanese 10th Division, Colonel Nagano Yoshio, was enjoying his sumptuous battlefield lunch.

  Ryō Yoshino, the commander of the Allied Forces from a prestigious family, was very particular about his food, clothing, and living quarters. Even on the bloody battlefield, he would not compromise in the slightest.

  On the table, there was a fresh fugu rice bowl that even in Japan it's not something ordinary people can eat, and a bottle of high-quality Daiginjo sake (a special grade of Japanese sake).

  Compared to the coarse food of ordinary Japanese soldiers, Major Nagano's lunch was too rich. However, Major Nagano's mood today was not high, and he just kept drinking sake and eating fish. Normally, he liked to imitate Oda Nobunaga's style while eating and singing waka poems. It is worth knowing that Major Nagano was a fan of the Sixth Devil King.

  It's no wonder that in this morning's battle, the 40th Brigade suffered heavy losses and setbacks. More than three regiments of troops were defeated by the Chinese army, not to mention those Chinese troops who had been surrounded by the Japanese army but managed to escape from the encirclement. What's more, a well-equipped Chinese troop almost annihilated the headquarters of the 40th Brigade, which is a great shame for the brigade. All these have seriously affected the appetite of General Nagano.

  Just as Nagano Yoshio was indulging in the fantasy of commanding his troops to annihilate the Chinese army that had humiliated him and his troops in the afternoon.

  Suddenly a fierce gust of air burst into the Japanese army's headquarters, which had just finished moving, and knocked down Lieutenant General Nagano, who was swallowing a piece of rice ball. The shockwave generated by the gust also forced Nagano to swallow the rice ball forcibly, which got stuck in his throat, causing him to choke and turn pale. Then there was a huge explosion that made all the Japanese soldiers in the command center lose their hearing and reaction ability for an instant. Two minutes later, some people gradually recovered from their stunned state, but unfortunately, Nagano had already foamed at the mouth and fallen into a coma. Fortunately, Lieutenant General Kinoshita, Nagano's deputy officer, reacted quickly and kicked Nagano's neck, forcing him to swallow the rice ball, which saved his life just in time.

  Captain Kinoshita's foot also saved the collective honor of the 10th Division, if Lieutenant General Nagano had become the first active-duty army lieutenant general in Japanese military history to be choked to death by a rice ball on the battlefield, it would have been a real shame for the 10th Division in the Japanese Army (in fact, the invading Japanese army's honor is not even worthy of being swept away!)

  When Lieutenant General Nagano woke up, he learned that the explosion was caused by a small group of Chinese troops infiltrating and blowing up the 40th Combined Brigade's battlefield ammunition depot. He almost fainted again, but managed to pull out his war sword and cursed out the classic Japanese insult "Baka".

  At this time, the small team led by Wen Songyuan himself had already walked out of the explosion's impact area and was taking advantage of the Japanese army's confusion to head towards the Chinese army's position.

  This small team was able to retreat safely, and first of all, thanks should go to Tian Jiafu's full cooperation. The fact proved that Wen Songyuan's original worries were unnecessary. Tian Jiafu performed very actively in this operation. If he hadn't been familiar with everything about the Japanese army and had a military school classmate who was a staff officer at the 10th Division Headquarters, who knew the situation of the 10th Division like the back of his hand, it would have been impossible to carry out this originally doomed-to-fail military operation so smoothly. Under Tian Jiafu's leadership, the small team of over ten people easily found the Japanese army's battlefield arsenal, which was also due to the fact that the location of the Japanese ammunition depot was set too rigidly, always on the left side of the rear of the front line.

  It turns out that the atmosphere of Nagano's distant gas is still quite good. Originally, this action had two goals, one was a battlefield ammunition depot, and the other was the headquarters of the Japanese 40th Army Corps. Compared to the former, Wen Songyuan was much more interested in the latter. It's just that the Japanese army, having suffered once before, greatly strengthened its vigilance against the corps command. After searching for half a day at the entrance of the Japanese army corps without finding any opportunity to take advantage of, Wen Songyuan decided to blow up the ammunition depot with clear targets and few Japanese guards first.

  And the reason why the small team was able to leave quietly several minutes before the explosion is thanks to Tū Sān, who was rescued by Wén Sòng Yuǎn from a dead prisoner's cell in Xúzhōu Police Station. It's unknown what method he used, but he managed to delay the explosion of a bundle of hand grenades for several minutes. This gave the small team enough time to slip away unnoticed; otherwise, they would have had to fight their way out, and it's uncertain whether they could have made it back alive.

  The Japanese were really angry this time, and Wen Songyuan and others had just returned to their home base, but the Japanese 40th Brigade concentrated all its forces and launched a comprehensive attack on the Chinese army's position in Zhuangzi.

  All Chinese military officers were baffled by the Japanese army's obviously suicidal and foolish behavior, relying on a battered brigade to defeat several times their own Chinese troops in a counterattack. Outside this village, the main force of the 100th Independent Brigade had not yet been put into battle, what did the Japanese want to do?

  Not only were the people in Zhuangzi confused by the Japanese kamikaze attack, but also Cheng Jiaji outside Zhuangzi was weighing in his heart what the Japanese had planned after receiving the news.

  Everyone was worried for nothing, this time the 40th Regiment's action has two reasons. One aspect is that the regimental commander, Nagano, is eager to make a name for himself. Today's battle is really too unfavorable for the 40th Regiment, the main force of the 10th Division. First, let Wen Songyuan ambush, several companies were defeated by the Chinese army, and the regimental commander also encountered danger. Then, it was even more absurd that the ammunition depot was blown up by the Chinese army. Having suffered such a big blow, if the Japanese army couldn't immediately return with honor on the battlefield, not to mention the face of the Japanese people, but also the strict military law would not forgive Nagano and other officers.

  The desperate 40th Division can only regain the dignity of the soldiers by launching a full-scale attack and defeating the Chinese army in front of them. Even if they cannot be defeated, occupying several positions can also save some face, and it will be more dignified to report the battle situation to their superiors.

  The second is that the commander of the 40th Brigade, Nagano Yoshio, made an incorrect judgment about the strength of the Chinese army in a hurry. After confirming with the intelligence department of the division again that there was only one brigade of Chinese reinforcements today, Major General Nagano determined based on his experience of fighting against the Chinese army that the new Chinese troops arriving today had at most more than 2,000 people and had already deployed most of them, with less than a battalion left in reserve.

  This is also to blame on the Japanese military's intelligence agency, which only figured out the number and origin of the 100th Independent Brigade, perhaps because it was a new unit, the Japanese spies did not figure out the actual strength of the 100th Independent Brigade. This led to General Nagano underestimating the Chinese army's strength by almost half when judging their numbers, and on the battlefield, they underestimated the enemy's strength by nearly half, which is the biggest miscalculation, it's hard to win without losing!

  The 10th Division's argument after the war that the Imperial Army suffered huge losses due to inaccurate intelligence from the intelligence agency was also based on this.

  No matter what doubts Cheng Jiaji had in his heart about the Japanese army's inferior forces, this reinforcement still had to be sent. Just to prevent becoming one, he still left a hand, only letting Yu Juncai lead two camps (one of which was temporarily formed with new recruits from the war zone as the main force, and a small number of old soldiers acted as officers) to rush to Zhuang Nei for reinforcements. The two main forces with combat effectiveness as the crown of the whole brigade, with more than 40% of the old soldiers' composition, were still waiting outside Zhuang Wai. These two camps belonged to the 199th Regiment and the 200th Regiment, one was a German-armed camp, and the other was a Japanese-armed camp, but they were the essence of the entire 100th Brigade. Until the last moment, Cheng Jiaji would never give up using them, no matter how favorable the situation was to their side. After all, this was the first day that the independent 100th Brigade participated in the Battle of Tai'erzhuang. Cheng Jiaji also had to leave some reserve troops on hand.

  The Japanese army had the upper hand from the start of the battle in the afternoon.

  The 40th Japanese Army has been suffering losses for many days, and today's morning was no exception. However, they still have around 2,000 troops left. Although their ammunition is running low, it's enough to withstand one more attack, and this time they're going all out with no reserves held back. The Japanese army took the initiative from the start.

  The Chinese army in the Zhuangzi area had only about 1,300 to 1,400 soldiers, with a smaller force than the Japanese. They did not expect the Japanese to launch such a swift and concentrated attack, and when faced with the Japanese army's three-wave human bullet attack, they were momentarily unable to cope.

  Fortunately, at this time, Yu Juncai led the reinforcements to arrive in time, and the Chinese army stabilized its already somewhat shaken formation. However, this was only temporary.

  It must be said that in terms of tactical coordination, individual soldier quality, and infantry-artillery cooperation, the Japanese army was far superior to the Chinese army at this time. The biggest difference between the two sides lay in the tactical skills of their artillery. Although the number of Japanese artillery pieces was not significantly greater than that of the Chinese army, the quality of the Japanese artillerymen was much higher. The accuracy of the Japanese artillery fire had reached a very high level after rigorous training and combat experience in a series of battles since the start of the war. Since the afternoon battle began, the Japanese artillery not only completely suppressed the Chinese army's artillery but also inflicted heavy casualties on them.

  It's just that the Japanese army's attack method today also has some chapter law. Although Nagano Taisha is no longer a rational solitary gambler, he still has his own set of tactics. The Japanese army was divided into three waves and alternately covered and advanced in a wave-like manner under the support of artillery fire, gradually approaching the Chinese army's position.

  The remnants of the 31st Division were already exhausted. The troops of the Independent Brigade, although numerous and mostly composed of fresh soldiers, suffered from having too many new recruits, which not only failed to fully exploit their advantageous position but were also pinned down by the Japanese army's firepower during their charge.

  By 1:20 pm, the Japanese army had approached within less than 100 meters of the Chinese defense line. In some sections, the Japanese and Chinese troops had already begun hand-to-hand combat with bayonets.

  The Chinese army's defense line within Taierzhuang is already on the verge of collapse!

  Note: Method for making hand grenades explode with a delay.

  First, remove the safety cap from the hand grenade and tie the fuse to a string. Then, twist several strands of hemp together to secure the grenade to an object, and light an incense stick next to the hemp. When the incense burns out, it will burn through the hemp, releasing the grenade which will then fall freely under gravity, pulling the fuse tight and detonating the grenade as it falls.