The Milky Way is Also a Grain of Sand
Chapter 541 Fighting Alongside Allied Forces
The artillery regiment's twenty-four 150mm howitzers initially had only one gun firing test rounds. After two test rounds, all twenty-four guns fired simultaneously.
Twenty-four large-caliber shells landed on the road, an impact that the Japanese 104th Field Artillery Regiment simply couldn't withstand.
As soon as the first test shell landed in the distance, Regiment Commander Tomiya Hanji ordered the entire artillery regiment to stop advancing and immediately retreat!
He knew clearly that continuing to charge forward would be like sheep entering a tiger's den; there would be no hope of escape.
Now, his only hope was that the entire artillery regiment could immediately retreat back to Conghua County, or at least beyond the range of the enemy's artillery.
However, the road conditions here were poor, making it impossible for his artillery to turn around. Moreover, the heavy artillery brigade sent by the 20th Army Group was behind his artillery regiment. At this moment, Brigade Commander Tang Ze Daichi of the heavy artillery brigade was anxiously urging the last few Type 96 150mm howitzers to turn around.
But the road was already narrow. Although the last howitzer had chosen a slightly wider spot, the road was still constricted, and the sound of exploding shells added to the difficulty.
Sergeant Nagasawa Ryota, the driver, accidentally backed the howitzer into a ditch. This blocked the entire artillery brigade, preventing it from retreating any further.
What could Brigade Commander Tang Ze Daichi do at this point? He cursed Sergeant Nagasawa Ryota as an idiot and a pig, while ordering the other Japanese soldiers to quickly get the gun out of the ditch.
If the road had been wide enough, he could have ignored the gun, disconnected the tractor from the gun, and driven the truck away.
That would have cleared the road. But this location was a carefully chosen spot for reversing, so they had to retrieve the gun first.
While they were still in a state of confusion, an overwhelming barrage arrived!
One shell after another, carrying a sharp whistle, sliced through the air and landed accurately on the road.
Now, Brigade Commander Tang Ze Daichi didn't need to direct the heavy artillery brigade to retreat. Less than 300 meters behind them, the road was severed by a shell.
He knew without getting closer that with a crater two meters deep and four meters in diameter, their artillery would be unable to pass without the help of combat engineers.
In the middle of Tang Ze Daichi's heavy artillery brigade, two guns had already been blown off the hillside. The explosion had sent the gun and its vehicle flying together, along with the vehicles in front and behind.
Seeing this situation, Brigade Commander Tang Ze Daichi had no choice but to order, "The artillery brigade will abandon the artillery and retreat!"
He wanted to return after the shelling ended, and he ordered a signalman to immediately notify the 104th Combat Engineer Regiment to come and repair the road.
His artillery brigade needed to retreat as soon as the bombardment ended, at least to a safe place.
Regiment Commander Tomiya Hanji saw shells exploding among his artillery regiment and heard the dense sound of explosions in the distance.
Traces of the Nationalist infantry had been discovered ahead. He immediately ordered, "Major Fujiwara Takumi's battalion will immediately take the Type 92 infantry guns forward and support the infantry in front.
The remaining battalions will deploy in place and prepare to bombard the Special Operations Brigade in the distance."
This was a desperate measure. The entire field artillery regiment could only advance; it couldn't retreat.
Moreover, several shells had already landed on the road, severing it, making it impossible for his field artillery regiment to move.
Unless he did as Brigade Commander Tang Ze Daichi had done, abandoning the artillery and taking his men to hide, returning after the shelling stopped.
Platoon Leader Jing Liquan was thrilled to see the Japanese artillery abandon their guns during the first concentrated bombardment.
Battalion Commander Liu Laopao of the Second Regiment was leading his troops in this direction. Lin Fan's order was for them to cut off the Japanese, but he hadn't specified a precise location. So, he decided to cut off the Japanese artillery.
The Special Operations Brigade, from top to bottom, had an obsession with artillery: if they saw it, they had to have it.
They felt like they were losing money if they didn't take artillery that the Japanese delivered to their doorstep.
The cavalry following the motorcade was in the most difficult situation. Regiment Commander Takahashi Yasuwa rode a tall, handsome white horse, looking very dashing.
His eyes were fixed on the shattered vehicles ahead. He stroked the mane of the restless horse beneath him, his brow furrowed: the mountains here were too steep for cavalry warfare.
His cavalry couldn't charge up the hills to fight the Nationalist troops. More importantly, the attack from the hills had already begun.
If his men didn't want to fight, they would have to retreat quickly. For cavalry, retreating was much easier than it was for the tank and artillery regiments.
To fight or to flee? That was the question!
After all, there were two infantry battalions ahead of his cavalry regiment, and they were already yelling as they attacked the hills.
Behind his cavalry regiment were large numbers of Japanese infantry, also attacking the hills.
The Japanese troops in front and behind were charging forward. He didn't have the courage to run away!
Thinking of this, Regiment Commander Takahashi Yasuwa shouted loudly, "Dismount! Charge!" The cavalry regiment had sabers, but they also had light machine guns and infantry guns.
At his command, the previously uneasy Japanese soldiers immediately sprang into action. Those with light machine guns quickly took cover and opened fire on the hillside, providing suppressing fire.
The horses carrying the infantry guns were led to the side of the road, and several Japanese soldiers worked together to remove the wheels of the Type 92 infantry guns.
They mounted the carriages and attached the gun barrels. Soon, the infantry guns were in place and began shelling the hillside.
While the Japanese cavalrymen could seek cover, their horses weren't so lucky.
Company Commander Jing Chengxuan of the 15th Regiment said to Wang Hua, the company commander from the Fourth War Area cooperating with them, "The Japanese are too small to hit easily. Let's shoot down their horses first, so they can't run away."
Company Commander Wang watched the soldiers under Jing Chengxuan rake the horses on the road with heavy machine-gun fire, and he also ordered his soldiers to target the horses first.
He was somewhat puzzled that the company commander hadn't ordered them to fire on the Japanese first, but when the Japanese infantry guns opened fire from below the hill, Jing Chengxuan immediately ordered, "Take out those Japanese guns first!"
His company's two infantry guns and five mortars all opened fire on the Japanese infantry guns.
The intense fire quickly suppressed the two Japanese infantry guns.
Regiment Commander Takahashi Yasuwa never expected that his guns would be suppressed by fire from the hillside after only firing two shots.
He also realized that the troops on the hilltop were focusing their firepower on the horses and weren't hitting the charging Japanese soldiers hard enough.
Although he was pained by the large number of horses being killed, he watched as the charging Japanese soldiers neared the top of the hill.
Regiment Commander Takahashi Yasuwa felt a surge of excitement. He hoped his troops could be the first to capture a hilltop. If they could seize this hilltop,
they would have created a breach in the ambushing force's lines, making the subsequent attacks much easier.
Company Commander Tsugawa Tatsuya, who was personally leading the Japanese charge, wasn't the only one with this idea.
Although Company Commander Tsugawa Tatsuya was a cavalry company commander, he was leading the charge as infantry today, maintaining his cavalry style, and leading the way in the front.
Cavalry units relied on speed to win, and even though they had lost their four legs, they were still sticking to their cavalry style of charging.
Company Commander Tsugawa Tatsuya charged ahead, followed closely by Squad Leader Jinnai Naoki, Sergeant Uchiyama Yuki, and Sergeant Miyamoto Sanjuroku.
Sergeant Uchiyama Yuki, carrying a light machine gun, ran beside Company Commander Tsugawa Tatsuya, the gun spitting long tongues of fire, suppressing the fire from the hilltop.
Company Commander Wang Hua was starting to get anxious. His company also had nine light machine guns. Although their firepower couldn't compare to the Special Operations Brigade's, they were a match for the Japanese.
In previous battles, Wang Hua and his soldiers from the Fourth War Area had only lacked the will to fight.
Today, in this place, the Special Operations Brigade soldiers around them were fighting the Japanese with complete ease.
It was as if these Japanese soldiers were insignificant, and annihilating them was no problem at all. Even though these Japanese had advanced to within 100 meters of the position,
Company Commander Jing Chengxuan and his men continued to fire on the Japanese and their horses on the road with unwavering faces.
It was as if they had come specifically to kill horses.
Company Commander Wang Hua grew anxious and shouted, "Company Commander Jing! The Japanese are getting close!"
Company Commander Jing said confidently, "Old Wang! Don't worry! Let the men kill the Japanese horses first, so they can't jump on them and run away; we won't be able to catch them!"
"But! The Japanese aren't running away now; they're right under our noses!" Company Commander Wang was growing concerned.
Yes! These Japanese were so close that if it weren't for the soldiers under Company Commander Jing, some of his own men might have already run away.
Company Commander Jing also saw that many of Wang Company Commander's men were looking around, clearly sizing up escape routes.
Even though their side clearly had the advantage, they were losing their nerve?
Company Commander Jing shouted, "Pass it on, focus on killing the Japanese! Anyone caught looking around will be subject to battlefield discipline!"
The soldiers of the First Company shouted and relayed Company Commander Jing's orders. These orders reached the ears of Wang Company Commander's men, who saw that the soldiers around them were just shouting orders and concentrating on firing at the Japanese.
Now, these Japanese soldiers had the same idea, drawing their sabers and trying to accelerate their charge toward the Special Operations Brigade soldiers.
Company Commander Jing Chengxuan, leading the way, met Company Commander Tsugawa Tatsuya, who was charging ahead. Both shouted, "Kill!"
Company Commander Jing, high above, aimed his bayonet at the Japanese commander and thrust forward. At this moment, Company Commander Tsugawa Tatsuya realized that bayonet fighting without a horse felt different.
He wasn't fast enough, or high enough. In the past, when he was on horseback, the soldiers on the ground couldn't reach him.
Now, the enemy was thrusting directly at his chest, and he could only parry in haste. As the swords and spears clashed, Company Commander Tsugawa Tatsuya felt a tremendous force.
He couldn't hold his sword. He couldn't parry the thrust, and his chest took the blow.
The bayonet entered from the front, and the blade protruded from his back, frightening Uchiyama Yuki, who was behind Company Commander Tsugawa Tatsuya, causing him to tremble.
This meant the company commander was doomed! He still wanted to protect the company commander.
Company Commander Jing twisted his rifle, and the heart of Company Commander Tsugawa Tatsuya, who was barely holding on, suddenly experienced a stabbing pain.
He had no strength left. His hand loosened, and his sword clattered to the ground. His body slumped, relying on Company Commander Jing's rifle to barely stay standing.
When Company Commander Jing withdrew his rifle, his body fell backward. Sergeant Uchiyama Yuki quickly grabbed him.
He immediately tried to drag Company Commander Tsugawa Tatsuya back down the hill, but Company Commander Jing gave him no such opportunity.
Company Commander Wang, who had followed with the entire company, saw Company Commander Jing suddenly leap up and stab the throat of the panicked Japanese soldier like lightning.
Sergeant Uchiyama Yuki no longer cared about Company Commander Tsugawa Tatsuya. He released him, clutched his throat, and tried desperately to breathe, but couldn't.
His body was also crushed by the corpse of Company Commander Tsugawa Tatsuya, and the two Japanese soldiers tumbled down the hillside together.
The soldiers following Company Commander Wang cheered when they saw Company Commander Jing's bravery.
They all shouted, "Good!" as if they were watching a play.
Their pace quickened, and the blood in their bodies surged. They also wanted to stab and kill the Japanese with their own hands.
There were nearly two hundred soldiers in the Tsugawa cavalry company. Some had been killed by the directional mines, leaving seventy or eighty soldiers.
With no horses, their bayonet skills were reduced by seventy percent. They were no match for the First Company, which practiced bayonet drills every day.
These cavalrymen were even worse at bayonet fighting than Japanese infantry. They were butchered by the men of the two First Companies.
Soon, they were completely wiped out. Company Commander Jing didn't charge at the cavalry regiment down the hill, but led his men back to the trenches.
Returning to the trenches this time, the soldiers under Company Commander Wang were very excited. Some of them had picked up Japanese sabers, and they were overjoyed.
Looking at them now, Company Commander Jing was reminded of when he had first joined the Special Operations Company, and he had picked up a Japanese officer's sword and couldn't sleep for days.
Later, after killing more Japanese soldiers, he lost interest in Japanese officer's swords, and he didn't even know where he had put the first one he had captured.