Chapter 141 Retreat to Tashan Town

The Lunan Detachment's artillery bombardment never ceased. The Japanese soldiers of the Xuzhou Task Force, in order to survive, had to brave the shelling and break through.

Many Japanese soldiers rushed out of the bombardment, plunged into the darkness, and reached the safety zone.

Watching these Japanese soldiers rush out, Commander Yamaba Jiro felt a surge of relief: he had seen the opportunity early and commanded well, allowing them to break free from the battlefield filled with artillery fire.

Standing in the distance and watching the scenery, watching the camp being ravaged by artillery shells, he wondered why, after so long, the number of shells hadn't decreased.

Had the tank squadron and cavalry sent out not found the National Army's artillery positions yet?

While Commander Yamaba Jiro was pondering this.

Regimental Commander Inoue Munetake, who was in the midst of the battlefield, was finally taken care of. A pile of rockets exploded at his regiment's position.

Many of the Japanese soldiers in the Independent Mixed Infantry Regiment were immediately knocked down.

After the twelve rockets exploded, the flying fragments numbered tens of thousands. Regimental Commander Inoue Munetake alone endured a barrage of ten or so iron pellets.

He and his guards all fell in unison, never to rise again. The morale of the two infantry regiments that he had inspired was now like a hornet's nest that had been blown apart.

The Japanese soldiers were scurrying around, all wanting to find a safe place. Fortunately, the Third Brigade still had regimental commanders, battalion commanders, and company commanders to direct them.

These Japanese commanders finally led the troops to abandon the wounded, braving the artillery bombardment and desperately fleeing towards Tashan Town.

However, when Regimental Commander Inoue Munetake died, all his guards were buried with him. The surrounding ordinary Japanese soldiers had no intention of dragging a corpse with them as they fled.

These Japanese soldiers had been supply troops just a few days ago! Now, faced with such a blow, they had even thrown away their weapons.

Fearing that the equipment they carried would slow down their escape, they were unwilling to take Regimental Commander Inoue Munetake's body with them.

Company Commander Ishiki Ryosuke, after leading the tanks into the darkness, immediately ordered the tanks to turn and circle towards Tashan.

He firmly remembered Regimental Commander Inoue Munetake's order: preserve strength!

Especially since he had felt the ground shaking during the heavy artillery bombardment, continuing the charge under such circumstances would be suicide.

His company had a total of eighteen tanks, but only six tanks closely followed him towards Tashan.

The rest of the tanks were either destroyed or lost.

Company Commander Bumura Yuki's choice was different. He ordered all the tanks to turn off their lights after rushing out of the artillery bombardment area.

He still insisted on rushing towards the direction from which the shells were flying. Although he couldn't see how many tanks were following behind him, he could hear the sound of many tank engines.

This made Company Commander Bumura Yuki very gratified; he had finally brought the tank company out.

Sergeant Major Kuri Yuki was from the Third Independent Mixed Infantry Brigade. When the entire tank team was driving with their lights on, he was following the company commander.

When they encountered the artillery bombardment, Domu Soma, who was in front of him, was blown up by a shell.

By the time Sergeant Major Kuri Yuki bypassed that unlucky fellow, he could no longer find the company commander's tank.

Fortunately, there were still tanks moving not far away, so he followed another tank.

The Japanese soldiers behind him also joined Bumura Yuki's company along with Sergeant Major Kuri Yuki.

The Japanese tanks, using the faint moonlight, stubbornly advanced according to the trajectory of the artillery shells in the air.

The noise of the tank engines was deafening.

Regimental Commander Gu Xiuming heard these sounds from afar, "I didn't expect the Japanese tanks to insist on coming to their deaths."

He ordered, "The anti-aircraft machine gun company, immediately prepare and prepare to shoot in the direction of the Japanese tanks."

"All the rocket launcher shooters from each infantry company are to gather at the front and prepare to attack the tanks."

In the dark night, it was difficult to see anything a little further away. Fortunately, there had been a moment of light when the Japanese turned on their lights, and they knew the Japanese were coming from that direction.

Now, the soldiers of the First and Second Regiments only knew the general direction from which the Japanese tanks were coming.

Otherwise, the roar of the tank engines echoing across the plain would have come from all directions, and the human ear would not have been able to tell which direction they were charging from.

At first, Regimental Commander Gu and the soldiers could only hear the sounds, but they couldn't feel anything.

After about ten minutes, the ground began to vibrate faintly, indicating that the Japanese tanks were getting closer.

The vibrations of the ground became more and more obvious, indicating that the Japanese tanks were getting closer and closer.

When the roar of the tank engines was deafening, Regimental Commander Gu Xiuming finally ordered, "Flares!"

Dozens of flares rose into the sky at the same time, illuminating the area in front of the First and Second Regiments' pre-arranged positions from fifty meters to five hundred meters.

There was no other way; no one had any experience in fighting tanks at night. Gu Xiuming could only order the flares to be fired a little further away.

To give the soldiers a wider field of vision and facilitate their attack on the Japanese tanks.

As soon as the flares lit up in the air, many machine gun bullets were fired. This was the firing of the two anti-aircraft machine gun companies.

The two companies had a total of twenty-four anti-aircraft machine guns, which were now firing horizontally. The 12.7mm bullets tore through the frontal armor of the Japanese tanks and penetrated the tanks before they could react.

Company Commander Bumura Yuki really didn't expect that his fate would be so tortuous tonight. He had just been bombarded by artillery fire.

After sneaking in the darkness for more than ten minutes, he was now under the bright lights. At this time, his tank was in the light, undoubtedly announcing his death.

The anti-aircraft machine guns were the first to start attacking the Japanese tanks, followed by the rocket launchers.

According to the organization, each infantry company in the Special Operations Brigade had three rocket launchers, and the two regiments together had sixty-six rocket launcher operators.

At this time, sixty-six rocket launcher operators were all aiming at the tanks more than a hundred meters away.

When they set off, the Japanese had a total of thirty-six tanks. Some of them were destroyed by the artillery bombardment, and six tanks ran away with Company Commander Ishiki Ryosuke.

The First and Second Regiments were now facing only sixteen tanks. Sergeant Major Kuno Yuki's eyes had just gotten used to the darkness, and he was driving the tank, easily following the Japanese in front when.

A dazzling light suddenly shot into his eyes. Before he could do anything, he felt as if his body had been pierced by something, and he immediately lost consciousness.

He was hit in the chest by an anti-aircraft machine gun bullet after it penetrated the armor and died. After he died, the tank did not stop and continued to advance.

Soon, it was subjected to a new attack. Several rockets hit it, and the entire tank was blown with several large holes.

Company Commander Bumura Yuki's situation was not much better either. Although he was not hit by an anti-aircraft machine gun at first.

He was also punished in the subsequent bombing: when the outside lights flashed, Company Commander Bumura Yuki immediately ordered, "Speed up! Rush over!"

At this time, he did not order the Japanese to return fire at all. It was dark all around, and only their tanks were in the light of the flares, and it was obvious that they had been ambushed.

Rush out first, Company Commander Bumura Yuki believed that his tank was iron-clad, and maybe he could rush out.

His tank immediately broke away from the Japanese formation and tried to accelerate away. Such a tank was immediately given special attention by the rocket launcher operators not far away.

At least ten rockets flew towards this tank that was not moving in formation, and at least three anti-aircraft machine guns began to strafe it at the same time.

There was no way; the Lunan Detachment had prepared too many weapons, and the firepower was too fierce. The Japanese had too few tanks.

Almost in an instant, Company Commander Bumura Yuki was annihilated. However, his death had no impact on the entire tank company at all.

The fate of the remaining tanks in the surrounded tank company was the same. The only difference was that they died two minutes earlier or two minutes later.

The battle here lasted less than two minutes from beginning to end. Taking advantage of the afterglow of the flares, the rocket launcher operators who had just participated in the battle had received the order: return to your respective companies.

The anti-aircraft machine gun company fired for the first time on the battlefield tonight. At a distance of more than one hundred meters, the soldiers clearly saw the bullets flying out, and one bullet made a hole in the tank.

The power of the anti-aircraft machine gun was much stronger than that of the heavy machine gun.

Regimental Commander Gu Xiuming ordered, "The First and Second Regiments advance and observe closely!"

In this situation, the situation in the Japanese camp was not clear, and Gu Xiuming did not dare to issue the order to rush into the Japanese camp.

When they were only two hundred meters away from the location where the shells were falling, Gu Xiuming ordered the artillery to stop the bombardment.

Listening to the reports from the reconnaissance platoons sent out by each company, they knew that the main force of the Japanese had fled to Tashan Town overnight.

Gu Xiuming ordered Hua Dezhe's Second Regiment to send two companies to guard the direction of Tashan Town to prevent the Japanese from making a surprise attack.

Then he ordered the remaining companies to rush into the Japanese camp immediately.

The troops that rushed in then discovered that there was no resistance at all in the Japanese camp, and all the Japanese who could run had run away.

What was left in the camp were either corpses or wounded soldiers who could not move.

Regimental Commander Gu's latest order: "Thirty minutes to clean up the battlefield!"

The Special Operations Brigade has its own characteristics in cleaning up the battlefield. No matter what, they must first finish off the enemies, and then collect the weapons and ammunition.

It was the same tonight. The soldiers moved very quickly. There was no time to strip off the Japanese soldiers' clothes; they could do without that.

But the horses' legs must be cut off; this could be added to the meal.

The supplies carried by nearly ten thousand Japanese supply soldiers were too abundant, and Regimental Commander Gu had no choice but to order the Seventh and Eighth Regiments to enter the battlefield together. These supplies must be moved away.

War is about logistics. The Japanese have fewer of these supplies, and we have more. Slowly, we can weaken the Japanese's strength.

This was what Lin Fan had told them back then when Gu Xiuming was still a platoon leader.

The time for cleaning up the battlefield was extended from half an hour to one and a half hours. This batch of newly seized supplies was carried all the way and transferred to Xuzhou Airport.

Lin Fan received Gu Xiuming's battle report: thirty Japanese tanks were destroyed, seven thousand horses were killed, and eight thousand Japanese soldiers were killed.

These numbers were added up after the soldiers of each company counted separately, and the accuracy was quite high.

The rule of the Special Operations Brigade is that the number of Japanese soldiers killed can be reported less, but never more. The Special Operations Brigade has a very clear understanding of reality.

There is no need for the front line to use falsely reported battle results to boost morale, nor is it necessary to use falsely reported battle merits to ask the Fifth War Area for credit and rewards.

Hearing that the Japanese had been fleeing towards Tashan Town, Lin Fan ordered, "Send out a reconnaissance team to follow the Japanese and report their location at any time."

The First and Second Regiments fought well tonight, but it was not good to fight too well!

If the Japanese were directly driven into Tashan Town, the strafing of this Japanese force tomorrow morning would not be possible.

After all, there are still many ordinary people in Tashan Town. Therefore, Lin Fan ordered Gu Xiuming to send a reconnaissance team to find out the new location of the Japanese.

Commander Yamaba Jiro fled into Tashan Town in one breath. He didn't know how he was able to run here so quickly in a journey of thirty miles.

If he had known he had such speed, he wouldn't have camped halfway last night, and he wouldn't have been ambushed like this.

Commander Yamaba Jiro was really regretting it this time, regretting that he didn't travel enough yesterday. He should have rushed directly to Tashan Town to garrison like the Aso Isoji Regiment or the Nakajima Ayumi Regiment.

But he had already forgotten that Regimental Commander Inoue Munetake had raised objections when he was about to camp yesterday.

He believed that it was still early, and that marching on the road on an autumn night was not difficult for the soldiers. They should have marched to Tashan Town in one go.

When Commander Yamaba Jiro saw Regimental Commander Inoue Munetake, he thought of the two dead regimental commanders, and then he thought that the two regimental commanders had rushed to Tashan Town on the first day and then all died.

He was unwilling to touch such bad luck again, so he firmly refused to garrison in Tashan on the first night, and he also called this preserving the strength of the Japanese soldiers.

It was completely useless to think about these things now. Commander Yamaba Jiro now had only one wish: Inoue Munetake should die.

Otherwise, if he reported what happened last night to Commander Terauchi Hisaichi, he would definitely be reprimanded, or even be dismissed.

Although the losses of the Xuzhou Task Force had not yet been tallied, Commander Yamaba knew that at least two battalions of Japanese soldiers had died tonight.

He set up a reception station in Tashan Town to accommodate the Japanese soldiers who had escaped.

The initial situation was still very optimistic for him. Teams of Japanese soldiers ran over one after another.

Soon, they had gathered two thousand Japanese soldiers, and Company Commander Ishiki Ryosuke also returned with six tanks to report.

This made Brigade Commander Yamaba Jiro even happier, but Regimental Commander Nikko Takuya and Regimental Commander Kitakaze Fubuki of the Independent Mixed Third Brigade brought sad news: Regimental Commander Inoue Munetake had died in the artillery bombardment just now.

This was really sad news. Commander Yamaba Jiro did not expect that he would lose a brigade commander on the first night he led his troops out of the city.

This was a bit of a blow to him. All the Japanese soldiers saw the sad expression on Commander Yamaba Jiro's face.

No Japanese soldier knew that he was laughing wildly in his heart: It's really heaven-sent! Inoue is finally dead. No Japanese soldier will ever know about yesterday's mistake.

Misfortunes never come singly! Sad news began to arrive one after another.

After the Xuzhou Task Force gathered more than two thousand Japanese soldiers in Tashan Town, the growth rate slowed down.

Three hours had passed since the attack, and not a single member of the cavalry team that had been sent out had returned.

Also, thirty tanks had disappeared. Where did they all go?

This was the news that Commander Yamaba Jiro urgently wanted to know, but no Japanese soldier could tell him.

Tonight there was no moon and there was wind. It was a dark and windy night for killing people. For the Xuzhou Task Force, it was really a black night!

No matter what the situation, Commander Yamaba Jiro could only patiently wait here for dawn. His troops could only go back to clean up the battlefield after dawn.

The current situation made him afraid to send Japanese soldiers back to inquire about the news easily. The only news he could get was brought back by the Japanese soldiers who had just arrived in Tashan Town.

There wasn't much useful news either: the most useful news was that the artillery bombardment that had attacked them had stopped, and countless troops had rushed into the camp in the dark.

This news finally made Commander Yamaba Jiro a little proud: Fortunately, he made a decisive decision and led the troops away first for safety.

Otherwise, if they stayed in place, wouldn't they be attacked again by the troops that rushed out in the dark?

As for the idea of counterattacking if they encountered attacking troops while staying in the camp, he never had it.

While the Japanese soldiers of the Xuzhou Task Force were busy gathering their troops in Tashan Town, Gu Xiuming was leading four regiments, marching quickly.

According to Lin Fan's plan, this force of theirs was to reach Xuzhou Airport before dawn to cover the air force's attack on the Japanese task force:

To prevent the Japanese planes from taking off!

The march in this mission was not very difficult. Gu Xiuming and his four regiments had been stationed in the suburbs of Xuzhou for half a month.

According to the habits of the Special Operations Brigade: every time they arrive in a place, they must first reconnoiter and map the surrounding terrain and rivers.

In half a month, the four regiments had become somewhat familiar with the terrain and roads around Xuzhou.

Although the road to be taken tonight was long, it was not too difficult. However, the plan was still just a plan after all.

The change came from the fact that the Xuzhou Task Force carried too many supplies, and these supplies were seized by Gu Xiuming.

Burning them in a fire would actually be the easiest thing to do for the Lunan Detachment. This way, the Japanese would not be able to use these supplies either.

However, Gu Xiuming, as the actual leader of the Lunan Base Area, of course knew that it would be much more useful for him to keep this batch of supplies.

Therefore, the four regiments with more than eight thousand people brought all these supplies on their march, which greatly increased the difficulty of the march.

Although these supplies were only moved from the Japanese camp to a temporary storage location found by Gu Xiuming and the others.

This alone took the four regiments three more hours to complete. Now, the four regiments had begun to march at full speed.

Jiang Liming, the platoon leader of the reconnaissance platoon sent out by the First Company of the First Regiment to pursue the Japanese troops, had already reported back: "The main force of the Japanese has entered Tashan Town, and Japanese soldiers are constantly converging on Tashan Town from the roads."

This forced Lin Fan to temporarily cancel the air force's follow-up attack on the Xuzhou Task Force.

At the same time, he ordered Gu Xiuming, Hua Dezhe, and their four regiments to continue to hide and not launch an attack on the airport for the time being.

When the four regiments, who were already halfway there, received the order, they stopped urgently.

Through his conversation with Lin Fan, Gu Xiuming realized that he had fought too hard last night and had scared the Japanese.

They fled to Tashan Town all at once. With the main force of the Japanese garrisoned in Tashan Town, the air force was unable to carry out low-altitude strafing of the main force of the Japanese.

With the original combat mission canceled, the corresponding attack on the airport on their side could only be canceled as well.

However, Lin Fan still ordered Gu Xiuming to continue to have people monitor Xuzhou Airport and be prepared to attack Xuzhou Airport at any time.

The Xuzhou Task Force had tens of thousands of Japanese soldiers, and Lin Fan would not give up this good way of using ground attack aircraft to harvest the Japanese.

To use the Lunan Detachment's ground attack aircraft in the suburbs of Xuzhou, they must first seal off Xuzhou Airport to prevent a single Japanese fighter plane from taking off.

Gu Xiuming already understood the reasoning: the airport was not not to be attacked, but to be attacked at a good time.

Now what Gu Xiuming needed to do was to work with the various regiments to bring the soldiers back, but Lin Fan's plan that he had told him could not be revealed.

The four regiments of the Lunan Detachment in the suburbs, after lurking for half a month, only slightly bared their fangs, and killed eight thousand Japanese soldiers, killed more than six thousand large livestock, and blew up thirty Japanese tanks.

Such a battle result made all the soldiers very excited, and they did not care about the extra road they had run tonight.

They even thought that this was the regiment commander training them, training their ability to fight continuously.

Especially the soldiers of the Seventh and Eighth Regiments, although they did not directly participate in the battle at night.

But they did go up to clean up the battlefield, and they counted the number of Japanese soldiers and the number of large livestock one by one.

More than eight thousand Japanese soldiers were killed in one night. Such a battle result made the soldiers very excited.

In the past few days, the Third, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Regiments, plus the other newly formed regiments, had fought for so many days, and they had only killed fifteen thousand Japanese soldiers.

According to tonight's report card, another attack tomorrow night would allow them to kill as many Japanese soldiers as they had killed.

Such thoughts made the soldiers' suppressed fighting spirit burst out at once.

On the way back, although the ban on making noise had not been lifted, the soldiers who had slowed down their marching speed were talking in low voices.

They were discussing with each other where the next battle would be fought.

No matter how dark and long the night is, there will be a time when it dawns!

Now it was the time when it dawned! Gu Xiuming led the four regiments back to their temporary garrison.