Bright Sword: The Flowers of War

Chapter 114 Mutual Entrustment
Before dawn, a small Japanese detachment belonging to the 1st Company of the 3rd Battalion of the 39th Regiment was woken up by their sergeant. The eight men in the detachment quickly washed up and began to eat cold rice balls with cold water.

Some might ask, how come a small team only has eight people? Where are the others?
Hehe... because everyone else has already died in battle. Two people died yesterday alone, and the other three died in battle a couple of days ago. The new recruits haven't arrived yet, so we can only make do with what we have.

Although the rice balls were cold, the Japanese soldiers ate them with great relish.

Everyone was eating and conserving their energy, because the battles of the past two days had shown that the defending forces they were facing were completely different from the Chinese troops they had encountered before. They were better equipped, had more supplies, and their tactics were more ruthless and vicious.

Once the battle begins, no one knows if they will see the sun rise tomorrow; perhaps this will be their last breakfast on earth.

"Kishimoto-kun..."

Private First Class Shuzo Kishimoto had just swallowed the last bite of his rice ball when Seitaro Ichikawa, from the same village, pulled out a diary and handed it to him.

"This is my diary. If I don't come back today, please give it to Ayako." After saying that, Ichikawa Seitaro bowed to him.

“Alright.” Kishimoto Shuzo took the diary, then took an envelope from his pocket and handed it to the other person.

"If I don't come back, please give this letter to my mother... Thank you."

"Hai!"

The two bowed to each other, which could be considered as entrusting each other with their duties.

Meanwhile, other soldiers were also exchanging words of encouragement in small groups.

This was also a characteristic of the Japanese army: soldiers in a unit were recruited from the same area or even the same village, and they knew each other well.

Soon, their squad joined the main force in launching an attack on the Chinese army...

after an hour,

Just as the sun climbed over the charred, broken wall, Kishimoto Hidetoshi tugged at Ichikawa Seitaro's sleeve.

He opened his palm, revealing two chocolates stained with blood.

It was found in the pocket of a Chinese soldier who died in battle yesterday.

They huddled behind the rubble, sucking on candy amidst the smell of gunpowder, the sweetness bringing tears to their eyes.

This taste reminded Kishimoto Shuzono of the wagashi (Japanese sweets) his sister secretly gave him under the old cherry tree in his yard on the eve of his departure for war.

"Thirteen, is it possible for us to get back alive?" Ichikawa Seitaro asked pessimistically.

"Who knows?" Kishimoto Hidezono said with a wry smile. Just now, they had only attacked one street, and their squad had lost more than ten people.

The Chinese soldiers seemed to have an endless supply of grenades, throwing one after another, and no matter where they hid, the grenades could always catch up.

Those Chinese were also equipped with a large number of submachine guns, which became their nightmare in close combat.

"Sigh!" Kishimoto Hidetoshi sighed softly.

The two leaned against the wall, silently closing their eyes and lost in thought.

"Beep beep beep..." Not far away, the company commander blew his whistle, drew his command sword, and pointed forward... Another offensive began. As the shrill whistle of the grenade launcher tore through the morning mist, the company commander leaped out of the trench, sword in hand.

The entire street trembled amidst the explosions, and the earthen wall collapsed like a block of tofu under the bombardment of the Type 92 infantry gun.

The third squad, consisting of Ichikawa Seitaro and Kishimoto Shuzo, charged along the wall, with a cloth doll obtained from the shrine when they set off on the campaign still strapped to his bayonet.

"Xiu Shisan! Right Wing!"

Suddenly, Ichikawa Seitaro roared. Kishimoto Hidezono had just turned his head when he saw a dark gun barrel sticking out of the second-floor window... It was the gray uniform of the Nanjing Security Regiment. This Chinese force, which should have been wiped out in Nanjing, was now emerging from every crack in the wall like evil spirits.

A 7.62mm bullet from the opposite side pierced the earthen wall, kicking up a cloud of blood. Private First Class Tianbian, who was at the forefront, fell backward, and a spray of blood gushed from the bullet hole in his helmet.

"idiot……"

Shocked and furious, Kishimoto Hidetoshi put the sights of his Type 38 rifle over the firing port, but before he could fire, another round grenade fell from the roof, exploding with a deafening roar.

Disoriented from the explosion, Kishimoto Shuzo also lost his aim. After firing all five bullets in the chamber, he lay down behind a collapsed earthen wall to reload.

Under the gray sky, the burning thatched huts sent sparks flying into the air, like a reversed red rain.

Immediately afterwards, he heard Ichikawa Seitaro shouting loudly from his right.

"Grenade..."

The sound was only half-finished before it was drowned out by machine gun fire.

He turned his head and was horrified to find that Ichikawa Seitaro's upper body was soaked in blood, like a piece of cotton cloth soaked in red ink stuck to the scorched earth.

The moment the three bullets pierced the young man's body, his friend fell to the ground without a sound, his eyes wide open until his death.

"Taro!"

The mournful voice of Kishimoto Hidetoshi echoed across the battlefield...

The day's battle was over, and Kishimoto Hidetoshi didn't know how he got back to his own position. His friend's death had left him somewhat dazed.

In the past, he would have been loudly reprimanded by his squad leader for acting like this, but not now, because his squad leader had followed in his friend's footsteps... stepping on a landmine planted by the Chinese and had now been sent to the rear.

The thought of the squad leader who used to slap him at the drop of a hat and even beat him with the "mental injection rod," and how he screamed in agony after his manhood was blown off by a landmine, filled Kishimoto Shuzou with an indescribable sense of satisfaction. Even if that guy with the dark face survived, he would never be a man again.

He couldn't understand how those Chinese could invent such vicious weapons, specifically designed to blow up people's thighs and genitals. Was this still the poor, ignorant, and backward country he remembered?
Forget about it. Their squadron shouldn't have to go to the battlefield anymore for the next few days, right?
It's no wonder that Kishimoto Hidezono would think that way; the continuous brutal battles had left this veteran, who had served for two years, somewhat mentally disoriented.

In today's battle, his company suffered heavy casualties. The company, which was originally full of 200 men, was reduced to just over 50. His platoon fared even worse. Even the sergeant major was killed in action. The platoon, which was originally 13 men, was reduced to just him and a rookie who had been in the army for less than three months.

With such heavy casualties in their squadron, Kishimoto Hidezono didn't believe the other squadrons were in any better shape. If those officials had any sense at all, they would have immediately withdrawn them for rest and recuperation.

Of course, this is just the opinion of Kishimoto Hideyoshi and his 13th brother; who knows what those officials will think?

(End of this chapter)