Chapter 1 The Morning of September 2, 1938

At six o'clock in the morning on September 2, 1938, the Second Regiment of the Special Operations Brigade launched a fierce bombardment of the Meishuling position defended by the Third Battalion of the Thirty-ninth Regiment of the Eighth Brigade of the Japanese Tenth Division.

The bombardment lasted a full half hour. During this half hour, Company Commander Shi Junxia of the First Company of the Second Regiment of the Special Operations Brigade led his entire company to a position 300 meters in front of the Japanese position.

They waited for the end of the bombing to launch an attack on the Japanese position in cooperation with the Second Air Brigade.

Inside the Meishuling command post, Fujita Yoshio, the battalion commander of the Japanese Third Battalion, watched as the entire defensive line trembled under the bombardment of the Nationalist army's artillery fire. He felt the ground beneath his feet shaking.

An inexplicable fear arose in his heart, but Fujita immediately dispelled the gloom: I cannot be afraid!

The Koasa Asahi squad under the Fujita Battalion was trembling under the rocket artillery fire of the Special Operations Brigade.

Company Commander Koasa Asahi huddled in the trench, listening to the constant "rumbling! rumbling!" explosions around him.

His vision was blurred, and the entire position was filled with the smoke and dust from the artillery explosions.

Occasionally, there were some moans and cries for help from those Japanese soldiers who were wounded but not dead:

"Help! Help!"

"Save me!"

…

Despite the constant falling of artillery shells on the position, Company Commander Koasa Asahi had no choice but to order the Japanese soldiers to treat the wounded.

The entire Meishuling defensive line was not the only position of his squadron being bombarded by the Special Operations Brigade.

The entire defensive line was under the rocket artillery fire of the Special Operations Brigade. Fujie Keisuke, the commander of the Sixteenth Division, who was still in Huoshan, was issuing orders to the only artillery regiment under his command that had not been harmed: "Immediately suppress the Nationalist army's artillery!"

In recent days, with the arrival of the Eighth Infantry Brigade, they had sent out a large number of scouts and traitors to inquire about the heavy artillery positions of the Special Operations Brigade, but there had been no news.

Today, these heavy artillery suddenly appeared and fiercely bombarded the Meishuling defensive line defended by the Japanese.

Division Commander Fujie Keisuke immediately became excited: Let the field artillery regiment counterattack immediately.

This made Miharuya Naofuku, the commander of the Twenty-second Field Artillery Regiment, feel embarrassed: his field artillery regiment simply did not know where the opponent's artillery position was.

Counterattack? Now they could only know the approximate direction of the opposite artillery deployment, but they had no idea of the distance, proximity, or specific location.

How to counterattack?

However, Division Commander Fujie Keisuke obviously did not buy it. He ordered the field artillery regiment to immediately counterattack the Nationalist army's heavy artillery positions.

In his embarrassment, Regiment Commander Miharuya Naofuku suddenly had an idea. He immediately fabricated a target location and ordered the field artillery regiment to carry out an artillery barrage on this location.

What if that location happened to be the Nationalist army's artillery position?

Regiment Commander Miharuya Naofuku thought to himself, even if it wasn't, it didn't matter.

At least let the division commander and the infantry know: the field artillery regiment is counterattacking, we have done our best.

If they still cannot defend the defensive line, it is the incompetence of your infantry, and it has nothing to do with our field artillery regiment.

The Japanese soldiers guarding the Meishuling defensive line indeed saw lines of fire flying from their rear towards the front.

The sound of artillery explosions also came from a distance. This sound gave the Japanese soldiers of the Third Battalion, who had been bombarded by the Special Operations Brigade's artillery fire to the point where they could not lift their heads, a glimmer of psychological comfort.

They finally felt some pleasure of revenge, even though the bombardment against them had not weakened at all.

Regiment Commander Liu Laopao of the Second Regiment and Regiment Commander Ye Dadan of the Sixth Regiment had also been sending people to search for the Japanese artillery positions these days, but they had not found them either.

Mao Wenxing had scouted in the air several times, but also had not found the Japanese artillery positions.

Liu Laopao and Ye Dadan both believed that there were no artillery battalions or artillery regiments in this Japanese force.

As a result, now, the Japanese artillery was firing. Although they did not know what targets they were bombarding, Liu Laopao still inquired about Ye Dadan with concern:

"Regiment Commander Ye! The Japanese have artillery firing. Looking at the traces of the artillery shells in the air, they have a lot of artillery! Did they hit you?"

"No! The Sixth Regiment has not been bombarded by Japanese artillery fire. On the contrary, we are bombarding the Japanese positions!" Ye Dadan's voice was loud and clear. From his voice, it could be heard that he was in a very happy mood at this time.

Ye Dadan's attack time was the same as that of the Second Regiment. The Sixth Regiment was attacking Zhujia Chong, which was less than ten kilometers away from Meishuling.

This was defended by the Fourth Battalion of the Japanese Thirty-ninth Regiment. The Sixth Regiment's method of attack was nothing new.

It was also the same artillery bombardment! Artillery bombardment! Still artillery bombardment!

The infantry of the Sixth Regiment had not yet begun to charge. They were waiting for the opportunity. The Jiangbei Second Air Brigade's ground attack aircraft had already taken off. When they arrived, they would carry out a joint air-ground attack on the Japanese positions. This was the entire combat plan of the Second and Sixth Regiments today!

Liu Laopao was relieved to know that the Japanese artillery shells had not hit the Sixth Regiment, but he was even more puzzled: "What trick are the Japanese playing? So many artillery shells fired, but they are actually exploding in the air, or is their target the earth?"

He was very clear: not a single company of his Second Regiment had been bombarded by the Japanese.

For the companies of the Special Operations Brigade, they were now equipped with wireless communication devices, and they could report any situation at any time.

He could grasp the real-time situation of all the companies. The situation of the Sixth Regiment was the same. Ye Dadan could grasp the situation of each company in his regiment in real-time.

Were the Japanese firing artillery to embolden themselves?

Division Commander Fujie Keisuke was relieved after the artillery shells were fired. He did not yet know that the bombardment target of the Twenty-second Field Artillery Regiment was the air.

The Second Regiment's half-hour bombardment of the Japanese had not yet ended. The "buzzing" sound came from far to near in the air.

Soon, the soldiers of the Second Regiment recognized it: it was their own aircraft coming to help.

Zhu Qingmao, the captain of the Jiangbei Second Air Brigade, led the entire brigade's aircraft to Huoshan and saw the artillery shells of both sides bombarding each other below.

He immediately contacted the Second Regiment, which was bombarding the enemy, and learned that the Japanese artillery would have an impact on the next attack.

He immediately ordered: "Xu Zhiye! You lead three ground attack aircraft to find the Japanese artillery positions and suppress them."

"Yes!" Xu Zhiye immediately agreed. Last time, they cooperated with the Nationalist army's Thirty-sixth Division in the attack in front of Fujin Mountain, defeating the Japanese soldiers and capturing thirty artillery pieces from a Japanese artillery battalion.

After returning, Lin Fan specially sent a telegram back to praise their Second Brigade.

For Zhu Qingmao and his air brigade, the brigade commander's praise was much more practical than Chiang Kai-shek's commendation.

Today, when they encountered the same situation again, they would of course make the same arrangements.

Xu Zhiye and his men had already flown out a distance, and Brigade Commander Zhu Qingmao specially reminded them: "Protect the artillery, don't let the Japanese destroy it!"

"Yes! Guarantee to complete the mission!" Xu Zhiye replied. He knew that the brigade commander wanted to keep the artillery so that the Second Regiment could capture those artillery pieces back.

Last time, the Nationalist army's troops were able to counterattack five kilometers to capture the artillery. This time, the Second Regiment would definitely be able to do it too.

He led three aircraft along the direction from which the Japanese artillery shells were flying, and after advancing for three minutes, he discovered that the Japanese artillery positions were hidden in a forest.

Miharuya Naofuku, the commander of the Japanese Twenty-second Field Artillery Regiment, carefully camouflaged and arranged his regiment's artillery positions after learning that the Nationalist army had heavy artillery.

He deployed his artillery pieces in a scattered manner on a hillside with dense trees.

He spent a lot of effort to cut down fewer trees and placed the artillery pieces down.

The trees on the hillside became the best camouflage for the artillery, which was why Mao Wenxing had not discovered them several times.

Now, the artillery of the entire Twenty-second Field Artillery Regiment was firing, and they were discovered by Xu Chengye and his men in the air.

Three ground attack aircraft immediately swept across the hillside horizontally. The three ground attack aircraft were lined up side by side from the bottom of the hillside to the top of the hillside, sweeping across the entire way.

Before the aircraft arrived, the bullets and artillery shells arrived first. Strings of bullets and artillery shells flew wildly among the branches and leaves of the trees on the hillside.

The bullets hit the hidden artillery pieces, splashing out sparks.

Soon, some of the branches that had been cut down by the Japanese soldiers and abandoned in the trees were ignited.

After these trees were cut down by the Japanese soldiers, the thick branches were taken by the Japanese soldiers to make command posts, trenches, and isolation zones. Da Feng Novel Network

The remaining small branches and leaves were scattered under the trees. Originally, there was no big problem.

It was just that today they encountered a fierce sweep by ground attack aircraft. These leaves piled together had long been dried by the sun at a high temperature of forty degrees and wanted to burn.

All they needed was a spark, and the bullets and artillery shells fired by the ground attack aircraft provided enough sparks.

A single spark can start a prairie fire. The flames from the burning branches and leaves soon became a prairie fire.

Xu Chengye and his men had just swept past the Japanese artillery positions once.

When they turned back to try again, they found that all the Japanese artillery on the entire hillside had gone silent.

The entire hillside was shrouded in smoke, and the flames in some places were higher than the trees.

The turbulence caused by the fire made Xu Chengye's aircraft difficult to control. It was no longer possible to continue the attack here.

In fact, they did not need to continue to bombard this artillery position.

Even though the hillside was filled with smoke and mist, Xu Chengye and his men could see many Japanese soldiers running and struggling in the fire.

A few Japanese soldiers rushed down the mountain and out of the forest. Seeing the dozen or so Japanese soldiers who rushed out of the forest, Xu Chengye and his men were completely helpless.

The rapid changes in air turbulence caused by the fire made it impossible for these aircraft to fly steadily.

They could only let these Japanese soldiers escape. "Boom! Boom!" Suddenly, explosions came from the hillside.

This was because the fire detonated the artillery shells placed by the Japanese soldiers on the position. Xu Chengye took another look at the Japanese artillery position, and some things were blown into the sky and then fell heavily.

He sighed: "We cannot complete the mission, let's go to the front!"

Xu Chengye, who had returned to the attack aircraft group, reported to Brigade Commander Zhu Qingmao: "After our sweep, a raging fire suddenly broke out in the Japanese artillery positions. The aircraft cannot stabilize the aircraft. The Japanese artillery positions are all burning in the fire. There are already artillery shells detonating, and those artillery pieces have been scorched by the fire. It is estimated that they cannot be used. We did not complete the mission well, I will review!"

After Zhu Qingmao listened to his report, he looked into the distance: "That is not something that can be controlled by manpower. Go to the Sixth Regiment's position and join the attack on the Japanese Zhujia Chong defensive line."

"Yes!" Xu Chengye immediately accepted the mission.

Mitsuaki Shunsuke was an ordinary soldier in the Japanese Twenty-second Field Artillery Regiment. This time, the Japanese set up the artillery positions in the trees, and he and his companions were very happy.

In these days, in this area, the highest temperature exceeded forty degrees. If the artillery positions were set up in an open place, the sun alone would cause these Japanese soldiers to suffer from heatstroke and faint.

Not to mention fighting, it was not easy for them to persist on the positions. The regimental commander allowed them to set up the positions in the forest, which not only effectively hid the entire artillery position, but also made the Japanese soldiers in the forest feel slightly better.

For the regimental commander's decision, the Japanese soldiers of the entire regiment praised the regiment's decision.

They were full of gratitude to the regimental commander. These feelings of gratitude began to change after the aircraft's sweep just now.

When the first small flame in the forest started to burn, Sergeant Mitsuaki Shunsuke and his companions did not pay attention to it.

No Japanese soldier ran over to put out the fire. At this time, they were nervously lying on the artillery positions, trying to curl up their bodies and avoid the strafing from the air.

Although the aircraft in the air might not be able to see them, they could always see the hideous appearance of those aircraft through the gaps in the leaves: four fiery red bullet chains extended from under the wings to the ground.

They were very much like the flexible tongues of poisonous snakes, making the Japanese soldiers of the entire field artillery regiment on the ground dare not move.

After the aircraft's sweep was over, there were small flames everywhere, which did not attract the attention of the artillery regiment.

All their attention was focused on their injured companions. Now that the bombardment in front had stopped and the commander had not ordered to continue firing, all the lucky Japanese soldiers ran to care for those unlucky ones.

For the artillerymen, getting injured was not an easy thing, they rarely suffered attacks from the Nationalist army.

Attacks from the air were even rarer. This time, some Japanese soldiers were injured, which was a rare thing.

What these Japanese soldiers did not expect was that less than two minutes after they cared for those unlucky ones, they felt the surrounding air become scorching hot.

The wind in the forest was strong, the smoke was thick, and the fog was heavy!

The small flames that were inconspicuous just now had now grown into roaring pillars of fire. They wrapped around those big trees and grew upwards into the sky.

At the same time, these flames spread unceremoniously towards the hillside, and their speed was as fast as a galloping horse.

In just the blink of an eye, the entire position was full of flames!