Chapter 153

Under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Yoshino Eiji, the Japanese troops attacking the northern side of Sihang Warehouse had two battalions, at least five hundred men, who had rushed to the base of the north wall.

Now, their remaining three tanks were also firing at Sihang Warehouse.

Shells continuously struck the solid walls, and chunks of concrete fell off.

The tank crew seemed to see hope, and they continued to fire at the wall.

On the upper floor, the second squad defending the north wall, led by Squad Leader Liu Laopao, divided the twenty soldiers into two groups.

One group was responsible for long-range attacks. These soldiers mainly coordinated with the machine gunners to suppress the Japanese firepower.

The other group of ten soldiers each carried a modified explosive package.

It was time to show the Japanese some real power!

Liu Laopao ordered, "Demolition squad, first group, prepare!"

Five soldiers carrying explosive packages immediately walked to the designated positions along the north wall.

"Throw!"

The five explosive packages were thrown simultaneously, the rings of the igniters still looped around the soldiers' fingers.

The explosive packages left their hands, and the fuses immediately began to burn.

Before the five explosive packages had detonated, Liu Laopao issued another order: "Second group, prepare for long throws."

The first group threw them directly down, while for the second group, Liu Laopao chose the strongest and most burly men in the squad.

He wanted them to throw the explosive packages as far as they could.

The loud explosion from downstairs was the signal: "Throw!"

The five strong men used every ounce of strength they had, throwing the explosive packages with all their might.

In less than five seconds, another loud explosion came from outside.

The enormous sound was accompanied by a cloud of dust that shot into the air, engulfing the second squad's vision.

Now, they couldn't see anything clearly.

Not only could they not see the Japanese in the distance, but even their close comrades looked blurry.

Lieutenant Colonel Yoshino Eiji watched as the sudden cloud of dust enveloped the entire area in front of him.

He had no choice but to halt the main force.

When the first series of continuous explosions sounded, it resembled firecrackers during a festive celebration.

Only the sound was louder, and the duration was shorter.

After these loud explosions, along with the rising dust, came the screams of the Japanese soldiers.

Then there was another series of such loud explosions.

This time, the Japanese soldiers who had been standing at the edge of the dust cloud were also affected.

This time, the screams were much closer. Lieutenant Colonel Yoshino Eiji heard these sounds, which pierced his ears like demonic voices.

He remained unmoved!

He calmly dispatched a team of soldiers to rescue the wounded.

He also sent out two demolition squads to enter the smoke and carry out demolition missions.

He had a premonition that the situation that had just occurred was definitely not good for them.

Regardless of the situation, Lieutenant Colonel Yoshino Eiji would continue the attack!

No matter what the cost, he must lead his troops to completely occupy Sihang Warehouse within three hours.

This matter concerned the face of the Empire.

Lives could be lost, but face could not!

The gunners inside the three tanks had only been startled by the sudden explosion.

Having not suffered any substantial damage, they stubbornly continued to fire.

The muzzle flashes emitted a faint red glow in the dense dust.

Like a light attracting insects, it drew the machine gun fire from the defenders on the roof.

Seeing that the outer defenses of Sihang Warehouse had completely collapsed, Lin Fan stood up and ordered loudly, "Special Company! Follow me!"

From now on, all the tasks on the roof were handed over to Deng Ying's Second Company.

The Special Company was originally the reserve force for today. Now, Lin Fan felt that it was time for his company to move out.

Led by Lin Fan, the Special Company rushed to the fourth floor.

Lin Fan requested permission to fight from Regiment Commander Xie Jinyuan: "Regiment Commander, let our company go up!

We'll engage in bayonet combat and drive the Japanese down."

Xie Jinyuan said sternly, "Alright! I'll have the First Company cut off the Japanese's rear."

Lin Fan understood: what the Regiment Commander meant was that the Japanese who were already entangled with the Third Company and the Machine Gun Company would be left to them to deal with.

The First Company on the roof would use firepower to suppress the Japanese reinforcements from behind, preventing them from continuing to rush up.

Salute! Accept the mission!

Turn around!

Lin Fan led the one hundred and fifty men of the Special Company down. When they rushed to the roof, he said to Li Xian:

"Deputy Company Commander! You haven't fought in a war before, stay behind with Wu Xiaobao and Zhao Long!"

Li Xian shouted loudly, "Joining the army is for fighting! How can a soldier escape from the battlefield a second before the battle?

No matter the reason, a deserter is a deserter!

I won't be a deserter."

Wu Xiaobao and Zhao Long also shouted together, "We won't be deserters either!"

The soldiers of the entire Special Company laughed, "We won't be deserters either!"

They didn't look serious at all, as if they weren't going to the battlefield.

It was more like they were going to a banquet.

Soldiers from the Third Company had already retreated into Sihang Warehouse, with the Japanese following closely behind them.

Lin Fan stopped hesitating and ordered loudly, "Fix bayonets! Charge!"

He took the lead and rushed out.

Lu Youde was a machine gunner in the First Company. Today's battle had been lost somewhat unjustly!

The start was so difficult, so many Japanese soldiers were blocked outside by them.

Even when the Japanese gradually blew up the foremost bunkers one by one,

The soldiers of the First Company did not retreat.

When the company commander ordered everyone to retreat to the second line of defense, things were still going well at first.

But somehow, a bunch of Japanese soldiers rushed up from the side, and the entire defense line immediately collapsed.

They had been entangled by the Japanese ever since, and even when they retreated into Sihang Warehouse, they couldn't shake off the Japanese.

Especially for machine gunners like him, whose machine guns didn't even have bayonets, how could they fight the Japanese in this state?

Holding his machine gun, he couldn't fire at the Japanese soldiers chasing after him.

Not only were Japanese soldiers chasing behind him, but also his comrades were mixed in.

If he fired, he would be unable to distinguish between friend and foe!

In this situation, his machine gun was completely useless.

Lu Youde watched as a Japanese bayonet stabbed towards his chest, and he closed his eyes in despair: *This is it for me today.*

Then he felt a warm liquid pouring onto his chest and face.

He stubbornly and unwillingly kept his eyes closed, refusing to fall.

A voice came from beside him, "How long are you going to stay there?"

Only then did he want to open his eyes to see what was happening.

But when he barely opened them, he saw a blurry figure covered in blood red.

Suddenly, a neat, explosive sound came from beside him: "Kill!" Lu Youde quickly used his left sleeve to wipe his face.

Only then could he open his eyes.

He finally saw the backs of a group of soldiers joining the Third Company that had just rushed in. They moved in groups of three, always stomping their feet forcefully and shouting, "Kill!"

This was standard equipment for the Special Company soldiers: they had woken everyone up countless times in the past few days.

At that time, he had also cursed these soldiers loudly.

He hated that their morning training had disturbed his beautiful dream, making it impossible for soldiers like them to even get a good night's sleep.

Today, hearing the uniform battle cry again, "Kill!"

The sound was as comforting as eating a popsicle in June.

Lin Fan led the Special Company soldiers and charged towards the Japanese soldiers who had already rushed into Sihang Warehouse.

Upstairs, the Special Company soldiers were afraid to open fire because their marksmanship wasn't good, and they were afraid of accidentally injuring friendly forces.

Now that they were engaging in bayonet combat, they no longer had any such worries.

Let the comrades pass, stop the Japanese!

The one hundred and fifty men of the First Company acted as they had during training this morning:

"Kill!"

Second Lieutenant Tanaka Shiro was dispatched as a backbone member when the Shanghai Marine Corps was established.

He had been in Shanghai all along, and had always been in the Marine Corps.

He had participated in the battle in 1931.

He had participated in every battle this year.

He had a squad of men under his command.

After the tanks they were following were destroyed by the defenders, Second Lieutenant Tanaka Shiro acted independently.

He immediately led his squad of more than fifty Japanese soldiers to charge towards the defenders' fortifications.

Under his leadership, the Japanese soldiers who had been following behind the first five tanks that were destroyed all began to charge.

Their charging force numbered at least three hundred.

When they approached the fortifications and bunkers defended by the defenders, Second Lieutenant Tanaka Shiro directed his soldiers to methodically begin their assault.

This force had done much more difficult defenses than this.

They knew what was most effective in this situation.

No matter how reasonably the fortifications and bunkers were built by the defenders,

These bunkers ultimately needed soldiers to defend them.

Although each time they blew up a bunker, it would cost the lives of one or even several soldiers,

The defenders would also have to pay with the lives of their soldiers.

Today, he had the support of an eight thousand-man force behind him. Even if it was five for one, they could still wipe out the eight hundred defenders.

Second Lieutenant Tanaka Shiro didn't even blink as he watched the soldiers he was commanding detonate explosive packages on their bodies.

He calmly directed the soldiers to continue their attack.

More and more Japanese soldiers continued to arrive, and the speed of blowing up the defenders' bunkers also became faster and faster.

Second Lieutenant Tanaka Shiro finally saw that the defenders on the opposite side were beginning to abandon their positions.

Some of the defenders abandoned the forward positions, while others were still holding on.

This gave Second Lieutenant Tanaka Shiro an opportunity.

He immediately led his soldiers to charge up, clinging tightly to the lagging force.

He kept clinging to them, following them into the defenders' second and third lines of defense.

The loss of the outer defenses in the east also meant that the outer defenses in the west could no longer be held.

The Japanese had already occupied all the fortifications and bunkers in the east, and were completely firing at the fortifications and bunkers in the west from behind.

In this situation, the defenders simply couldn't hold on.

These soldiers quickly retreated!

Li Xian held a rifle and stabbed it at the Japanese soldier in front of him.

He clearly wanted to stab him in the chest, but the Japanese soldier deflected his bayonet.

Li Xian actively lunged towards the Japanese soldier's shining bayonet.

He was using his chest to meet the Japanese soldier's blade.

*It's over!* Li Xian didn't expect that the pen was completely different from the gun.

When he used his pen to fight, even if he was temporarily rendered speechless by the other party's article,

He could still find the other party's flaws from another direction and make a comeback.

On the battlefield, once you were dead, you were dead, and there was no chance to make a comeback.

Just then, he felt someone suddenly pull him from behind, and his whole body flew backwards as if he were riding on the clouds.

He fell heavily to the ground, and even the rifle in his hand fell somewhere he didn't know.

When Li Xian got up, he saw that the Japanese soldier who had been grinning and waiting for him to lunge at his bayonet was already lying on the ground.

Company Commander Lin was stepping on him, not even looking at him.

The gun in his hand was stabbing at the Japanese soldiers in front.

While stabbing, Lin Fan shouted, "Deputy Company Commander Li, organize the retreating soldiers and establish a defense line on the spot."

Although Li Xian didn't understand how this defense line needed to be established, he still understood what "on the spot" meant.

At this time, he also saw the rifle he had just lost, lying quietly five or six meters away.

He quickly ran over to pick it up.

Then he shouted at the retreating soldiers from the Third Company and the Machine Gun Company, "Don't retreat anymore, defend on the spot!

Defend on the spot!"

Those soldiers who had been chased by the Japanese in a panic finally reacted.

Hearing Li Xian's shouts, they finally came to their senses and immediately followed Li Xian's instructions.

They fell to the ground in place, pointing their guns outwards, quietly waiting for an opportunity.

With the first retreating soldier doing this, there was a second one who copied him.

In this way, the distraught soldiers saw rows of soldiers lying prone on the ground in front of them.

They were orderly, solemn, and silent.

They were waiting silently!

Lin Fan ordered, "Everyone shout with me: The Third Company and the Machine Gun Company are retreating!"

The entrance of Sihang Warehouse was already a complete mess.

Soldiers from three companies of the National Revolutionary Army were entangled with hundreds of Japanese soldiers here.

If these Japanese soldiers weren't annihilated as soon as possible, more and more Japanese soldiers would keep charging up.

Three hours?

The 524th Regiment inside Sihang Warehouse definitely wouldn't be able to hold out.

In such close combat, fighting spirit was the most important thing.

But these Japanese soldiers had maxed out their skill points in this aspect.

If the Japanese soldiers who were constantly charging up from the outside weren't stopped, there was no way to drive them back in the current situation.

Lin Fan had already discovered that the more Japanese soldiers they killed, the more there were.

It wasn't that the soldiers from the three companies of the National Revolutionary Army weren't fighting desperately, it was just that even fighting desperately couldn't stop so many Japanese soldiers!

Lin Fan finally made a decision and whispered an order to Wu Xiaobao, who refused to retreat.

Wu Xiaobao was stunned for a moment. After carefully confirming it again, he quickly retreated.

Wu Xiaobao ran all the way to the fourth floor and told Regiment Commander Xie Jinyuan about Lin Fan's request.

After considering it for only a moment, Regiment Commander Xie immediately ordered, "Execute it immediately!"

Second Company Commander Deng Ying was directing the soldiers, constantly firing at the Japanese soldiers.

These Japanese soldiers were even more excited when they saw that they had broken through the outer defenses of Sihang Warehouse.

They rushed towards Sihang Warehouse like moths to a flame.

The Second Company had already used all its firepower to intercept them from the south.

But they still couldn't stop the torrent of Japanese soldiers charging over.

Hearing Regiment Commander Xie's order, they were also somewhat unsure.

After confirming it again, Deng Ying immediately ordered, "Demolition team, prepare!"

At this moment, a loud explosion came from the north wall, and the entire building shook.

Deng Ying couldn't worry about the north wall for the time being.

He ordered, "Five explosive packages, according to the planned positions, throw!"

The five explosive packages were thrown according to the previous planned positions.

Just as these five explosive packages were thrown, Deng Ying's order was issued again: "Demolition second group, distance twenty meters, five explosive packages, prepare!

Throw!"

At this time, the smoke and dust raised by the first five explosive packages had already swept up.

Immediately afterwards, the second wave of smoke and dust collided with the first wave of smoke and dust, and they became entangled together, rising even higher.

Those who had been watching the battle from the south bank of the Suzhou River had seen the defenders' artillery accurately destroy the Japanese tanks.

They were cheering and celebrating when they discovered that the Japanese infantry had rushed to the outer defenses of Sihang Warehouse.

Explosive smoke kept rising, and soon these bystanders discovered that the defenders had begun to retreat.

Then came the rout.

Looking at the time, it was 9:23!

Only twenty-three minutes had passed from the first round of shelling by the Japanese until now.

The three hours that the Japanese had spoken of had just begun, and the National Revolutionary Army had already lost all of its outer positions.

These observers from the multinational military observation group were standing on the third floor of a building on the bank of the Suzhou River.

Watching the fierce battle on the opposite bank, they said, "The defenders are finished!"

The defenders on the opposite side only had eight hundred men, but the Japanese had eight thousand men.

The loss of all the outer positions at the very beginning of the battle had already allowed the Japanese to break into the gate of Sihang Warehouse.

The Japanese soldiers charging in front were still a minority. Behind these Japanese soldiers, there were even more Japanese soldiers charging up continuously.

Colonel Tsuchiya Takuma watched as his troops charged into Sihang Warehouse.

Looking at the time, only twenty-five minutes had passed from the start of the battle until now.

Now, the Army buffoons would have nothing to say, right!

The Imperial Japanese Navy was the most powerful and strongest force.

A satisfied smile appeared on the face of the commander of the Japanese Shanghai Marine Corps.

Victory was at hand!

The world was his!

Colonel Tsuchiya Takuma had already seen the golden road under his feet, slowly unfolding.

Today's battle had a negligible impact on the overall situation of the Shanghai campaign.

But by attracting worldwide attention by publishing a statement in the newspapers,

Today's battle was even more glorious than the entire Shanghai campaign in terms of public opinion!

Most importantly, compared to the clumsy performance of those Army buffoons a few days ago, the Navy's image was incomparably tall.

Without comparison, there would be no harm!

Three hours compared to three days, the difference was as different as clouds and mud!

Commander Tsuchiya Takuma had already thought of it: he would become the Navy's calling card!

He would become the Navy's trump card to strike at the Army.

Just then, he suddenly heard a loud explosion, and then saw a huge cloud of dust rising again from the north side of Sihang Warehouse.

This was the second time a cloud of dust had risen from the north side of Sihang Warehouse.

Then Tsuchiya Takuma saw several black dots being thrown from the roof of Sihang Warehouse.

These black dots fell rapidly. Although Tsuchiya Takuma didn't know what they were,

His intuition told him that they were definitely not good things.

Those few black dots fell from mid-air, and many people on the opposite bank of the Suzhou River saw them.

"What are those?"