The War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression Begins in Songhu

Chapter 52 Sharp Knife
...On the evening of the 13th, after occupying the Dunwu Temple position, our 1st Battalion immediately built temporary defensive fortifications to resist the Kuomintang army's overnight counterattack.

The warriors were in high spirits, and their firepower was reasonably equipped with light and heavy machine guns, infantry guns, and grenade launchers, and there were two Type 92 infantry guns as fire support.

Theoretically, it is enough to resist the counterattack of a division of local ragtag troops like the Sichuan Army.

However, the soil in the Dunwu Temple area was soft and water seepage was severe, which was not conducive to trench digging, resulting in the 1st Battalion suffering heavy losses from the Kuomintang's artillery fire.

More importantly, an unknown commander of the Sichuan Army's 804th Regiment used a crazy tactic...

…Excerpt from "Detailed Report of the 10th Infantry Regiment's Battle of Tono-ji Temple, October 13, 19"…

"Order the regimental commander that the third company immediately depart for Yunzaobang. They must cross the river before 8 p.m. and arrive at the outskirts of Dunwu Temple to prepare for the attack.

At 8 o'clock sharp, our army will have an artillery regiment to provide you with 5 minutes of artillery support.

After the artillery fire ends, the third company will immediately launch an attack on the Japanese in Dunwu Temple as the spearhead of the entire regiment, and must tear a hole in the Japanese defense line for the 804th Regiment.

If you don’t dare, that’s fine too.

"Let all the light machine guns and mortar guns be deployed, and let the regimental commander personally lead the first company as the vanguard, while the third company can follow in the rear."

Ten minutes later, a messenger from the regiment headquarters conveyed the above order to Hu Biao.

After hearing this, Hu Biao slapped his head and complained to Chaozi beside him:
"Damn it! We calculated everything, but we never expected that our desperate efforts to strengthen the Third Company would make it stand out a bit too much, and end up with the whole regiment being tasked with spearheading the attack."

However, they had no objection to the regimental commander's decision to select the third company as the spearhead of the entire regiment.

It's very simple. Given the other party's identity and position, what he needs to consider is which company under his command can better complete the task; if he were the regimental commander, he would also let the third company serve as the vanguard.

So at this point, Hu Biao, who knew there was no way to refuse, successfully aroused the domineering nature in his bones as a Hunan native.

Isn't it just to act as the spearhead of the entire regiment to launch an attack and tear open the Japanese positions?

Okay, no problem. As a Chinese, Hu Biao will definitely not be vague about fighting the Japanese.

He took off his M35 helmet and yelled at the orderly in front of him, his voice spitting with saliva:

"Go back and tell Commander Xiang that I, Hu Biao, and the Third Company will use our heads and teeth to gnaw a hole in the defense line of the Dunwu Temple.

Is he the company commander of the first company? Zhou Dabangzi, you are dreaming about my machine guns and fancy machine guns.

After saying this, regardless of the regimental messenger's reaction, he rushed out of the temporary company headquarters and shouted, "Third Company, everyone assemble."

The emergency training conducted by the third company a few days ago showed good results at this moment.

It wasn't long before everyone assembled. The entire company, carrying weapons, equipment, and spare supplies, began to jog in the darkening sky.

At the end of the team, AT was stumbling and running while carrying a large oil barrel.

It was really hard to carry this thing, and he fell flat on his face after running a few steps. But after getting up, AT picked up the oil barrel while cursing, and ran away again.

There was no other way! The conscienceless cannon was simple in structure, and processing and making it was not difficult for him at all.

But carrying this thing on the march was really too much trouble. If Hu Biao hadn't had such high expectations for the terrifying power of this thing, he would have wanted to throw it as far as possible...

In this way, Hu Biao and six other novices including AT are about to face the first battle of this time travel.

As they rushed towards the battlefield in the dark, there were two things they had not anticipated at all.

First, after running with the army for a while, Hu Biao felt his lower abdomen was bloated and he immediately shouted:
"Black Star, you take the brothers and continue on. I'm going to the side of the road to relieve myself. A small one."

Without waiting for Black Star's reply, he ran towards a small ditch beside the road. There was a shallow layer of water in the ditch. Under the shining crescent moon tonight, a line of words flashed on the water surface:
We must successfully recapture the front-line position of Dunwu Temple before midnight on the 14th and hold it until 18:12 on the evening of the th.

So Hu Biao finally saw this line of handwriting and found the mysterious existence, giving them more motives and purposes for traveling through time?
Sadly, no. Hu Biao had just taken two steps and hadn't even had time to unbuckle his belt when a voice came from behind him: "Old Hu, get someone to help carry this thing. You can't even see the road if you're carrying it alone."

I stopped and looked back, and found that it was the disheveled white-collar worker AT.

After realizing that it was indeed quite strenuous for one person to carry this thing while marching, Hu Biao shouted, "Flat Head, go help the AT squad leader carry down our third company's cannon."

As a result of this short delay, by the time he continued to run to the ditch, the line of words had completely disappeared.

After hearing Hu Biao's order, Flathead immediately ran to AT and worked with him to lift the big oil barrel.

After changing the posture, AT immediately felt a huge sense of relief.

Unfortunately, the next second, the flat-headed man said hello: "Team Leader, does your old man (father) have any opinions about you?

There are so many names to choose from, but you chose a name that will get you kicked?"

"Damn it! I didn't pay attention when I was using the replacement number. I was careless." After hearing this, AT thought with a bit of a laugh and tears in his eyes.

Secondly, the Japanese troops who are currently urgently strengthening fortifications on the battlefield of Dunwu Temple to prevent the National Army from counterattacking, that is, the opponent that Hu Biao and his men are about to face, is the 9th Division of the island country.

This division is a Type A division and one of the Japanese 17 regular divisions.

The troops mainly came from Fukuyama, Shiden and Fukui areas in the Hokuriku region.

These 17 divisions are considered the elite among the Japanese. They are well-equipped and their overall combat effectiveness is second only to the nd and th Divisions.

They often fought tough and fierce battles in World War II and were considered the twin pillars of the empire within the Japanese army.

The 9th Division participated fully in the subsequent Nanjing Massacre, its hands stained with the blood of our soldiers and civilians. Therefore, this battle tonight is destined to be an extremely bloody and vicious one...

******
At 7:51 p.m., in a cotton field meters away from the Dunwu Temple position.

Hu Biao, Uncle Bo, Hei Xing and a group of seven people lay down in the cotton plants that were enough to cover their bodies. With the help of the crescent moon above their heads, they looked at the situation on the Dunwu Temple position.

In a large cotton field behind him, about a hundred brothers from the third company were hiding on the ground.

The third company's members sneaked to this location under the cover of darkness about ten minutes ago and then lay in ambush; they were ready to launch an attack immediately after waiting for a round of artillery fire at 8 o'clock.

Commander Xiang and other main forces of the 804th Regiment are still on their way from the rear.

Fortunately, the distance is not far. If we follow the combat plan of stopping the artillery fire at 8:05 and then launching an attack immediately, we will be able to reach here and follow the attack plan of the third company as the spearhead.

He simply handed the company's only Zeiss 6*30 telescope, which he had traded from Director Sun, to Black Star who was beside him for use.

Hu Biao, who had just observed the Japanese position in detail, looked very unhappy.

Even though he still didn't know his opponent was the Japanese's elite 9th Division, he was certain it would be a tough nut to crack.

Because in his observation, there were quite a lot of Japanese devils in the Dunwu Temple, at least eight or nine hundred of them, which was the size of a battalion.

Less than two or three hours after the fall of Dunwu Temple, they had already built a defensive fortification facing the Kuomintang army with sandbags and mud.

There are a large number of firing points in the fortifications, consisting of light and heavy machine guns, grenade launchers, and rifles. At a point in the rear, there are also two Type 92 infantry guns.

What’s more crucial is that the way Hu Biao and his men rushed out of the cotton field and launched the attack was all open space.

Even if our artillery preparation can cause some damage to the Japanese's firepower points, when they launch the charge, they will still face a dense firepower network.

If we charge forward under such firepower, most of the Third Company will be dead before we reach Dunwu Temple, and how can we break through the Japanese position...

(End of this chapter)