Chapter 16 The Bitter End

Carrying unwillingness and regret, the Xingye Takumi Squad Captain died.

He died, but the devils of the Shirakawa Harubu squadron were still struggling.

Company Commander Wang Hua led his troops to continue fighting. The devils of the Shirakawa Harubu squadron became fewer and fewer, while the soldiers of the Fourth War Zone didn't fall as quickly.

This caused the number of devils and National Army soldiers on the battlefield to become increasingly disparate. As time passed, the Shirakawa Harubu squadron was finally wiped out.

This made Hao Xing, the brigade commander of the Fourth War Zone, who was watching the battle from the rear, extremely happy. The news quickly reached Yu Hanmou, the commander-in-chief of the Fourth War Zone.

So excited that he couldn't speak, Yu Hanmou immediately ordered: "Issue commendation orders to all the troops fighting on the front lines today. All officers and soldiers will be rewarded with twenty silver yuan, and those with military merits will receive additional rewards."

He also specifically requested that the commendation orders be issued to each company immediately, and that those companies that had been fighting continuously and suffered heavy casualties would defend in place.

Each regiment immediately sent reserve teams to reinforce them, and after the reinforcements arrived, the continuously fighting companies would be withdrawn.

Completely different from the excitement of the officers and soldiers of the Fourth War Zone was the reaction of the Fifth Division of the Japanese Army.

Lieutenant General Imamura, the division commander, was so angry when he received the report from Colonel Yamaguchi Ryunosuke, the commander of the 11th Regiment, that he slammed down the phone.

He loudly ordered Colonel Yamaguchi Ryunosuke to restore the defense line at all costs. At this time, Commander Kojō Kan'o was already in a state of desperation.

The Fourth War Zone launched an attack on Qingyuan, and the Special Operations Brigade also launched an attack from Huiyang towards Guangzhou.

Compared to the battle in Qingyuan, the battle in Huiyang was even more intense.

Six infantry regiments participated in the offensive operation of the Special Operations Brigade this time. They were all six infantry regiments transferred from Jurong.

Their weapons and equipment were much stronger than those of the old 15th Regiment and the old 2nd Regiment.

Moreover, they also had the assistance of the Special Operations Brigade's aviation battalion and the support of an artillery regiment.

From the beginning of the battle, the Special Operations Brigade's heavy artillery regiment began to bombard the devil's positions. Now, with reconnaissance planes observing and guiding in the air,

the accuracy of the artillery bombardment had increased significantly, which caused the devil's defense line to collapse even faster.

The Special Operations Brigade's heavy artillery regiment was different from the Fourth War Zone's heavy artillery regiment. According to Lin Fan's combat theory: when conditions permit, bombard with artillery fire without limit. Problems that can be solved with artillery shells should not require infantry charges.

Now that the air routes from Huiyang to Jurong and Guangde were open again, the supply of ammunition and materials was also smooth.

The smooth logistics ensured that the combat effectiveness of these troops was no less than that of the Second Regiment and the Fifteenth Regiment.

When the Special Operations Brigade launched its attack, the headquarters of the Japanese 21st Army was in an uproar: they simply couldn't figure out the Special Operations Brigade's next direction of attack.

At this time, the 21st Army first had to ensure that it blocked the Special Operations Brigade and prevented it from continuing to advance.

In order to achieve this goal, the entire reserve force of the Japanese 21st Army was being adjusted towards Huiyang, and the Fifth Fleet of the Navy was also entering a state of combat readiness under the command of Commander Koichi Shiozawa.

After losing the 10th Battle Group, the Fifth Fleet of the Navy, commanded by Shiozawa Koichi, no longer dared to send battle groups along the coast to show off their power alone, and had been very quiet these days.

If it wasn't necessary, he really didn't want to fight the Special Operations Brigade. Although a lot of planes and pilots had been replenished to the Fifth Fleet of the Navy during these days,

and the Navy's Air Force and Marine Corps had regained their combat capabilities, Commander Shiozawa Koichi no longer had the desire to take revenge.

It was precisely in order to cope with the Special Operations Brigade's offensive that the Japanese 21st Army was unable to support the Fourth War Zone's offensive on Qingyuan at all.

The defense in the direction of Qingyuan could only rely entirely on the strength of the 11th Regiment of the Fifth Division.

Captain Kita Kazuki couldn't believe his eyes: the National Army was actually able to break through their two lines of defense continuously.

If the first line of defense was lost due to the National Army's heavy artillery bombardment, he couldn't find any reason for the loss of the second line of defense.

However, the loss of the second line of defense was completely unacceptable to them. He had already ordered a joint force composed of two companies to launch a counterattack.

Captain Kita Kazuki ordered the two company commanders, Fujito Kamiyi and Tanaka Shunta: "You must, at all costs, retake the positions in front."

Upon receiving the order, the two companies didn't dare to delay for a moment and immediately began to take action.

While the devils were taking action, the troops of the Fourth War Zone were also taking action.

All the troops attacking Qingyuan had now broken through the devil's two outer lines of defense, and the attacking companies were now stationed inside the devil's second line of defense,

waiting for the follow-up troops to come up and relieve them.

The soldiers of the Fourth War Zone began to defend, and the devils began to attack proactively again.

They also began to bombard the defense lines occupied by the Fourth War Zone with artillery fire. Chu Xiuxian led the Second Company, which had suffered nearly half its casualties in the previous attack.

They received an order from Regiment Commander Zheng He to hold their ground and wait for follow-up troops to take over the defense line.

As soon as the order was conveyed, the devil's artillery bombardment began.

Company Commander Chu Xiuxian was helpless against the devil's artillery bombardment and could only order the soldiers to hide in the trenches and wait for the devil's artillery bombardment to end.

The devil's artillery bombardment lasted for a full twenty minutes. Company Commander Fujito Kamiyi, seeing that the artillery bombardment was beginning to thin out, began to order: "Charge!"

Artillery bombardment! Infantry charge! Artillery bombardment followed by infantry charge! This was the most classic combined arms combat tactic.

Company Commander Fujito Kamiyi wanted the troops to charge within a hundred meters of the enemy's defense line just as the artillery bombardment ended.

As soon as the artillery bombardment ended, the Sixth Company, which had been waiting in the rear to take over the defense, immediately rushed up.

Company Commander Chu Xiuxian also roared when the artillery bombardment ended: "Heavy machine guns! Push them up and fire! Fire immediately!"

His company was the same as the Special Operations Brigade, now having six heavy machine guns mounted on carts. Two of them had been destroyed in the previous artillery bombardment.

The remaining four heavy machine guns and three machine guns were now firing at the charging devils.

The firepower of the four heavy machine guns was fierce, and with the carts as shields in front, the charge organized by Company Commander Fujito Kamiyi was like a snake that had just raised its head, only to be struck down again.

Company Commander Fujito Kamiyi watched as the Ueno Kameinosuke squad, which was charging at the front, had already lost half of its devils in a short distance of ten meters.

He couldn't afford such losses no matter what. Seeing the fierce firepower of the defending National Army troops,

Company Commander Fujito Kamiyi could only order: "Crawl forward! Crawl forward! Shoot!"

After a pause, he continued to order: "Machine guns! Machine gun cover!"

Company Commander Fujito Kamiyi really couldn't bear such losses anymore, and urged his company's machine gunners to quickly suppress the National Army's machine gun firing points in front.

Upon receiving the order, Sergeant Nagao Taro quickly set up his machine gun and, after adjusting it, immediately fired at a machine gun firing point in front.

All the devils of the entire Fujito Kamiyi Company were lying on the ground, firing at the National Army soldiers on the positions in front.

Most of the firepower was directed at the four heavy machine guns, and the bullets hit the four carts, making a clanging sound that was as beautiful as music.

As a machine gunner, Wei Zijian was now used to this sound. At first, every time he heard the sound of a bullet hitting the steel plate, his hand would shake.

As more and more bullets were fired by the devils later on, the sound became more and more dense, and the speed of his hand shaking could no longer keep up with the density of the sound.

Gradually, he got used to this sound. Now, Wei Zijian could tell from the sound whether the devil's bullets were hitting the center or the edge of the steel plate on the cart.

The sound made when the bullet hit the center of the steel plate was muffled and thick.

The sound made when the bullet hit the edge was slightly brighter.

During a break in the fighting, Wei Zijian was still bragging that he was preparing to compose a battle song based on the sound of the bullets hitting the steel plate.

His idea was strongly supported by Company Commander Chu Xiuxian, who told him to write a company song for the company if he had the ability.

The machine gunner Nagao Taro had fired several rounds of bullets at the machine gun firing point in front of him. Even if the bullets hit the opponent, they only caused some sparks to splash on their shields.

The inability to break through the opponent's machine gunner's defense made Company Commander Fujito Kamiyi depressed, and Nagao Taro was also very helpless: such an attack was meaningless.

The only role their machine guns could play was to suppress the opponent's rifle firepower. However, the interlocking fire lines formed by the opponent's four heavy machine guns were really difficult to break through.

Company Commander Fujito Kamiyi even felt that: if they couldn't take out the opponent's heavy machine guns, the mortality rate for his company's devils to break through the defense line would probably exceed 50%.

But the battle had been going on for fifteen minutes now. How could they complete the task assigned by Captain Kita Kazuki if they couldn't advance?

Completely at a loss, Company Commander Fujito Kamiyi had no choice but to order: "Everyone! Crawl forward!"

Even if the enemy's firing points could not be taken out, even if his company could not charge upright, they had to crawl to the front of the position.

Company Commander Fujito Kamiyi was determined, his will was firm, and the orders he issued were resolute.

The situation encountered by the Tanaka Shunta Company was similar. The charging process of his company was met with fierce sniper fire from the National Army troops, which suppressed the entire company, making it impossible to stand up and charge.

Moreover, the opponent's firepower was weaker at first. But after a few minutes of fighting, the opponent's firepower became stronger and stronger.

This was because the defending teams had now welcomed the relieving companies.

Company Commander Chu Xiuxian watched as Company Commander Fan Xian led the Sixth Company into his trenches and happily punched Fan Xian a few times: "You sly kid, you arrived when the devils were shelling us just now.

You hid in the back all the time, and only rushed up when the shelling stopped. If it weren't for my troops being tough, fighting the devils, and being able to withstand hard battles, this defense line would have been lost."

Company Commander Fan quickly said: "When we came, the devil's shelling was fierce. If we had rushed up at that time, wouldn't we have been running into the shells ourselves?

As soon as the devil's shelling stopped, I led the entire company to rush up. I knew that I could rely on Company Commander Chu at any time.

If Company Commander Chu is not satisfied with us being late, how about we fight the devils who are charging together?"

Company Commander Chu laughed and said: "You kid are getting more and more cunning. Isn't this trying to use our company to death? But I like it!"

After saying that, he shouted at the soldiers in the trenches: "Brothers, all the brothers from the Sixth Company have arrived. Are we still going to retreat at this time?"

"No retreat!"

"Let's wipe out these devils in front of us and then hand over the defense line to the Sixth Company. Is that okay?"

"Okay!"

Although there were less than seventy soldiers left in the Second Company, their morale was still high.

With the arrival of the Sixth Company, a fresh force, there were as many as two hundred soldiers on this defense line, which was much more than the men in the Fujito Kamiyi Company who were attacking.

More importantly: The Fujito Kamiyi Company had already suffered a lot of casualties during the previous attack. They had also suffered losses in the previous exchange of fire.

Now, the entire Fujito Kamiyi Company was left with only two squads. The Ueno Kameinosuke squad, which was charging in the front, was now almost completely wiped out.

Despite the heavy casualties of the entire company, the devils of the Fujito Kamiyi Company were still persisting in crawling forward.

They were really going to carry out Company Commander Fujito Kamiyi's order: crawl to the top of the National Army's defense line.

Wei Zijian no longer kept shooting at the devil's heavy machine guns all the time. Instead, he first swept the devils who were crawling forward, and then suppressed the devil's heavy machine gun firing points.

Anyway, his heavy machine gun was now tough and durable, and he was not afraid of the devil's machine gun fire at all.

Company Commander Nagao Taro was also doing the same at this time. Seeing that there was no way to deal with the enemy's machine gun fire, he concentrated his main firepower on sweeping the soldiers holding rifles on the opposite side.

As a result, the heavy machine guns of the devils and the National Army on the entire battlefield were fighting each other. In this exchange, the attacking Fujito Kamiyi Company suffered even more.

After all, these devils were exposed to the outside. Although they were lying on the ground crawling forward, their bodies were always exposed.

Unlike the soldiers of the Second and Sixth Companies, they only needed to stick out half of their steel-helmeted heads to accurately shoot at the devils. The rest of the bodies of these soldiers were hidden in the trenches and would not be hit by the devil's bullets at all.

The Kawauchi Naoki Squad was a squad under the Tanaka Shunta Company. Squad leader Kawauchi Naoki had been crawling in front of the team.

Three devils crawling next to him had already died. Now, Sergeant Uehara Akihisa was crawling with him.

Sergeant Uehara Akihisa was closely following Squad Leader Kawauchi Naoki, and he was still very scared in his heart.

The main reason was that there were only four heavy machine guns on the opposite side at first, but now there were ten. Ten heavy machine guns that were not afraid of bullet hits were constantly sweeping their way forward.

These heavy machine gun bullets were hitting all around Squad Leader Kawauchi Naoki, and he had not been hit for so long, so it could only be said that he was lucky.

He was lucky not to be hit, but there were still many bullets flying over his head, and the "嗖嗖!" sound of the bullets passing by constantly reminded him: "Danger!"

No matter how dangerous it was ahead, Company Commander Tanaka Shunta could only order the entire company to continue to advance. The order he received was to attack at all costs and occupy the defense line in front.

All costs, of course, included the death of the entire company. His company had now suffered more than half of its casualties, but it had already crawled to a distance of about fifty meters from the front defense line.

Company Commander Tanaka Shunta loudly encouraged the devils of the entire company: "Advance another twenty meters and we can launch a charge!"

He wanted to launch a charge when he was thirty meters away, rush into the trenches in front, and fight the enemy with bayonets!

The opponent's firepower was too strong. Apart from fighting with bayonets, Company Commander Tanaka Shunta couldn't think of any other better tactics.

If they didn't rush up for a bayonet fight, relying on the firepower of the entire company to shoot from a distance, they were not an opponent of the team in front at all.

It was very difficult to admit this point, and even more difficult to admit that they were inferior to the weak team on the opposite side.

However, Company Commander Fujito Kamiyi had already admitted in his heart: the opponent's firepower was indeed stronger than his!

Therefore, he determined that the next mode of operation would be the same as Company Commander Tanaka Shunta's: a bayonet fight!

Company Commander Fujito Kamiyi believed in his company, as long as they rushed into the National Army's trenches and the two sides fought a bayonet fight, then victory must be theirs.

Company Commander Tanaka Shunta also thought so.

Company Commander Chu Xiuxian and Company Commander Fan Xian were also thinking at this time that the commanders of both sides were full of confidence in their own troops' ability to fight with bayonets.

The two sides had a consensus on this point, so the crawling speed of the two devil companies in the last twenty meters became much faster.

Seeing that they were not far from the trenches, Company Commander Fujito Kamiyi drew out his command knife and ordered loudly: "Charge!"

He himself also stood up, waving his command knife and rushing forward, shouting incessantly: "Charge!"

The company commander stood up on the bullet-strewn battlefield, personally waving his command knife and rushing forward.

This greatly encouraged the devils of the entire Fujito Company. They all ignored the machine guns that were still firing fiercely, and ignored the rain of bullets flying over their heads.

These devils stood up one after another, holding their rifles and charging forward.

The devils in front were so close to the position, and the devils had already launched a charge.

Company Commander Chu Xiuxian became excited: he had been waiting for the devils to launch a charge for a long time.

Company Commander Chu had calculated the accounts clearly: there were two hundred people on his side now, but only one hundred devils charged up. Fighting two-on-one with bayonets, he was sure to win!

This was also the reason why he had agreed without hesitation when Fan Xian, the company commander of the Sixth Company, had asked to fight the devils together just now.

This was a merit that was being delivered to his door, and he would be wrong not to take it!