Chapter 28: Defeating Yamada Attack

  A distant roar of engines grew louder, approaching from afar, and a Japanese seaplane emerged from the dark grey clouds. Inukawa Jirō glanced at his watch; the minute hand and second hand were perfectly aligned on 10 o'clock. "Like clockwork!" he couldn't help but exclaim in genuine admiration.

  This is a seaplane transport converted from the Japanese Army Type 97 heavy bomber. The bomb bay was abolished and changed to a passenger cabin, retaining the nose and tail defensive machine guns, adding floats, mainly for use by senior Japanese military leaders.

  After the Battle of Wuhan, the Chinese Air Force was almost completely destroyed, and air superiority over all of China was firmly in the hands of the Japanese Army Air Service, so this seaplane did not have fighter escorts, flying back and forth along the Yangtze River with abandon.

  The plane was circling low in the air, seemingly searching for a suitable water surface to land on.

  Inokawa raised his hand, the military band began to play the Japanese national anthem "Kimigayo"; the plainclothes Japanese soldiers in the crowd also waved flags and cheered; the salute squad had already loaded the blank cartridges and was ready to fire. He wanted Yamada to feel his warm welcome as soon as he stepped off the plane.

  The plane is getting lower and lower in altitude, its speed also clearly decreasing, the floats are almost touching the water's surface.

  Suddenly!

  Four bright flames of fire shot out from the reeds and flew towards the plane that was landing.

  "Rat-a-tat-tat!" The crisp sound of machine guns echoed throughout Lao Long Tou.

  "Type 24 heavy machine gun! Death sickle!" As a "Bamboo Agency" operative, Inukawa Jirō naturally knew the main weapons of the Chinese army by heart.

  In 1934, the Jinling Arsenal obtained the design drawings of the German MG08 water-cooled heavy machine gun from Germany and immediately began to manufacture it according to the drawings. In 1935, the Jinling Arsenal successfully replicated the MG08 water-cooled heavy machine gun. As this was the "24th year of the Republic", the gun was also named the "Type 24 Heavy Machine Gun" and became a major heavy firepower weapon for the Chinese army during the War of Resistance.

  Due to its sustained fierce firepower and large bullet power, it not only caused great losses to the Japanese army, but also the four machine gun groups fired at the air, weaving a web of fire that was also the nemesis of Japanese planes, so it was called "Death Scythe" by the Japanese army.

  Inukawa Jirō's heart skipped a beat and he shouted "No good!"

  As the seaplane was about to land on the water, all the drag boards were open, flying very low and slow. Facing the four strings of bullets whizzing by, there was no time to maneuver and dodge, and all four strings of bullets hit the plane.

  The plane's metal skin instantly burst into sparks, emitting a crisp cracking sound, and then billowed thick smoke. The wing was the first to catch fire, apparently the fuel tank had been hit. The plane seemed to want to lift off, shaking and staggering in the low air, like a fly with its head pinched off, struggling desperately, finally helplessly scraping against the water surface, flipping over several times, and then violently crashing onto the riverbank, followed by a loud "boom" and a fierce explosion, igniting a raging fire!

  Everyone present was shocked by this sudden situation!

  The Japanese guards who were on duty were the first to realize what had happened and rushed to the crash site to rescue those on board.

  "Rat-a-tat-tat!" From within the reeds, several strings of bright flames shot out.

  The several devils in the front were immediately electrified, spattering polluted blood and convulsing in the rain of bullets.

  The devils behind immediately fell prone and desperately fired their "Type 38 Arisaka" at the reed marsh. Due to not bringing heavy weapons, facing the "Death Sickle", no one dared to approach recklessly.

  Inokawa Jirō stared at the plane, which was burning fiercely and emitting thick black smoke, in a state of panic, running around in circles like an ant on a hot skillet.

  Suddenly, he saw the four 92 infantry guns behind him, and as if he had met a savior, he drew his command sword and shouted at the reeds: "Fire! Open fire!"

  The Type 92 infantry cannon was an excellent weapon in the Japanese military's arsenal during their invasion of China, and was considered an "ideal" battalion-level infantry support weapon in the 1930s and 1940s. It was lightweight, simple in structure, capable of both direct and indirect fire, and could provide almost all types of firepower needed by infantry battalions, with a maximum range of 2,800 meters, making it the bane of Chinese army light machine guns and mortars.

  But the artillery did not respond.

  His eyes turned red, and he casually placed the hilt of his sword on the neck of the artillery squad leader: "Bastard! Why aren't you firing!"

  "Captain, we've only got blank rounds ready, no live ammunition!" the artillery squad leader shouted, his neck stretched out.

  Inukawa Jiro only then realized that these guns were used as salute cannons to welcome Yamada Kō, not for battle assault.

  "Go and get the shells at once! High-explosive shells! We must make those Chinese soldiers die, die, die, not a single one left!" Inukawa Jirō shouted hysterically.

  Because Leijiang does not have the facilities to refuel the plane, in order to ensure that the plane can fly back to Wuhan after stopping at Leijiang, the pilots filled up the fuel for the plane in Nanjing. At this time, the seaplane was like a huge crematorium, incinerating Shan Tian and his party, along with their ambitions and lustful dreams, turning them into thick smoke that was blown away by the river wind until nothing was left.

  Inokawa Jirō watched in horror as the plane burned fiercely, and he could only stand by helplessly as Yamada Kōichi's party was incinerated right before his eyes.

  Half an hour later, 100 rounds of 92 high-explosive shells were delivered. Because it was a flat area, the calculation of shooting elements was very simple.

  The lieutenant of the devils' artillery ordered to quickly set up all parameters, and soon, strings of scorching shells flew towards the reed marsh. The reed marsh was blown into the air with waves of mud, accompanied by human limbs, broken cloth strips, and flying gun parts.

  After 100 high-explosive shells were fired, only flames and black smoke remained in the reed marsh. There was no movement at all.

  "Alert squad, search the reeds! Others, put out the fire quickly! Save Commander!" Inukawa Jirō shouted wildly.

  When Inukai Toshiro and the others rushed to the front of the plane, the plane had basically burned into a skeleton, emitting a pungent smell of smoke. By the time they were busy putting out the fire, in the cockpit, two pilots and 7 senior military officers had all been incinerated, burnt into a heap of charred corpses huddled together, emitting a foul odor!

  Inukawa Jiro felt dizzy and disoriented.

  The search party returned, except for a pile of scattered machine gun parts and a piece of shredded meat stained with blood, nothing was left. 100 rounds of 3.8 kg high-explosive shells from the Type 92 were enough to destroy that patch of reeds several times over.

  According to the "Leijiang County Annals", it is recorded: "In the summer of 1939, the plane carrying Lieutenant General Yamada Kōsuke, Chief of Staff of the Japanese Central China Expeditionary Army, was shot down by the 11th Guerrilla Detachment of the National Revolutionary Army near Leijiang Old Dragon Head. Yamada and nine other Japanese officers were killed on the spot, and ten members of the detachment died heroically for their country."

  Later, experts on the history of the War of Resistance against Japan also highly praised the achievements of the battle to kill Yamada. This battle not only killed a high-ranking Japanese aggressor, a butcher with blood-stained hands, but also forced the Japanese army's carefully planned attack on Changsha and the elimination of the Dabie Mountains to be postponed.

  A group of Chinese soldiers who left nothing behind, with their loyalty and lives, exchanged for the brilliant results of killing the Japanese army's lieutenant general commander, won precious time for the defense of Changsha and the counter-attack against the "sweeping" in the Dabie Mountains. Their loyal souls will be eternal on the land of China!