Bright Sword: The Flowers of War

Chapter 21 The Cautious Hasegawa
Colonel Hasegawa, deputy commander of the Kunisaki Detachment of the 9th Infantry Brigade of the 5th Division, sat in the passenger seat of a truck, watching the ruins flash by, his mind filled with thoughts.

The Japanese army just entered Nanjing yesterday, and there is still a lot of resistance in the city. Logically, what should be done now is to seize the time to clear out the remaining Chinese troops, but the high command has inexplicably decided to hold a celebration for the capture of Nanjing tomorrow.

Not only that, but the detachment commander, Kunisaki Noboru, actually ordered him to find a group of women in Nanjing to participate in the victory celebration performance in order to entertain the hardworking and meritorious Japanese soldiers.

Everyone knows that the performance is just official rhetoric; in reality, everyone knows that the only thing those women can do after entering the military camp is serve as military prostitutes.

Hasegawa was somewhat resistant to the order, but in the hierarchical army, he could not disobey his superiors and had no choice but to carry it out.

As it happened, he heard that there was a St. Paul's Church nearby with many young female students. He thought it would be convenient and easy to bring all these students to the military camp, so he led a company of Japanese soldiers over early in the morning.

Sitting in the truck, Colonel Hasegawa looked at St. Paul's Church in the distance, as if this church had witnessed the changes of time.

The once solemn and majestic church is now quite dilapidated due to the war. The cross on the church spire is faintly visible, but it is shrouded in thick fog.

The morning sunlight pierced through the thick white fog, casting a weak and pale glow that gave off an ominous feeling.

Suddenly, a violent explosion shattered the silence, tearing across the sky like a thunderbolt.

The Isuzu Type 94 truck at the front ran over an anti-tank mine. The 8.5-pound high explosive was detonated instantly, and the truck, weighing several tons, was blown into the air. The Japanese soldiers on the truck were scattered in all directions like petals falling from the sky.

The bodies of more than twenty Japanese soldiers arced through the air, their splattered blood falling along with their bodies, forming a shocking red raindrop under the sunlight.

The explosion was accompanied by the acrid smell of gunpowder and smoke, and limbs and corpses were scattered all over the ruins.

"Enemy attack!"

The 5th Division truly lived up to its reputation as one of the seventeen standing divisions of the Japanese Army, which was known as the "Steel Army." The individual soldier quality of its soldiers was definitely among the top echelon of the Japanese Army.

After the explosion, all the soldiers found the nearest cover within two or three seconds, lay down, and began searching for the enemy.

After searching for a long time, the surroundings remained silent, with only the cries and groans of the wounded soldiers.

As soon as the explosion occurred, Hasegawa immediately opened the car door and jumped out of the still-moving truck.

Because the car had not yet come to a complete stop, Hasegawa stumbled after landing and fell heavily onto the rubble-strewn street.

Ignoring the pain in his body, he rolled twice and hid behind a collapsed wall.

He then drew his command sword from his waist and shouted, "Take cover...be on guard..."

More than two hundred Japanese soldiers lay prone on the ground, awaiting the impending enemy attack.

But as time passed, the attack did not come as expected; instead, they were met with deathly silence.

Even Hasegawa was puzzled. "Could it be... that the attack just now was just an accident?"

He pulled over a lieutenant and instructed him, "You... personally lead a small squad to conduct reconnaissance."

"Hai!"

The lieutenant agreed, gave a few shouts, and then led a small squad of Japanese soldiers in a skirmish formation toward the church.

The small Japanese squad was advancing cautiously, in skirmish formation, taking each step with utmost care. Suddenly, a muffled explosion tore through the air, and one of the Japanese soldiers unfortunately stepped on an American-made M2A4 anti-personnel mine buried in the ground.

Immediately following a muffled thud, the landmine was propelled about half a meter into the air before exploding. Fragments rained down, tracing bright, deadly paths through the sky.

Thick smoke and flames instantly engulfed the street that had just returned to tranquility. Japanese soldiers who fell to the ground clutched their groins, screaming helplessly and painfully, their expressions extremely ferocious.

Everything around seemed to fall into a deathly silence, with only the swirling smoke and the crisp, cold sound of falling metal fragments remaining.

Seeing the soldier lying on the ground clutching his groin and groaning in pain, everyone understood that the anti-personnel mine from earlier was no accident, but rather something that had been deliberately planted there.

"Baka...it's a landmine again..."

Looking at the soldiers lying in pools of blood, Hasegawa was both shocked and furious. He looked up at St. Paul's Cathedral, which stood a mile away, and his heart sank to the bottom.

Since he only intended to take the female students from the church away and did not expect to encounter resistance, he only brought a company of soldiers. He didn't bring any heavy weapons or even engineers.

This puts them in a dilemma, unable to move forward or backward.

Keep moving forward, even if you know you're bound to keep stepping on landmines.

If they retreat, they will definitely be blamed or even reprimanded by Major General Kunisaki Noboru, the detachment commander, which is unacceptable to Hasegawa, who is always concerned about his reputation.

However, as a top student who graduated from the Imperial Army University, Hasegawa was certainly not incompetent, and he made a decision in just a few minutes.

Retreat is definitely not an option. If we were to slink back like this, not only would we be reprimanded by Kunisaki Noboru, but if word got out, we would become a laughing stock among the entire high command of the Japanese army.

It should be noted that at this time, Nanjing was filled with tens of thousands of Japanese troops, including the Kunisaki Detachment, the 6th, 9th, 16th, 18th and 114th Divisions.

At this time, the Japanese army had just occupied Nanjing and their morale was at its peak.

If word got out that he, a colonel leading a company of soldiers, couldn't even take down a church full of female students, the consequences would be unbearable for him.

At best, it would ruin his career; at worst, he could be dismissed or even brought before a military court.

So after thinking for just two minutes, he immediately sent someone back to the Kunisaki Detachment headquarters to request Major General Kunisaki Noboru to send reinforcements. He then ordered his troops to surround the church first, and to make further plans after the reinforcements arrived.

At a window on the top of the church, Su Yaoyang and Li Gaoyuan stood side by side, holding binoculars, observing the Japanese troops a mile away.

After a long silence, Li Gaoyuan put down his binoculars and sighed softly, "The Japanese commander on the other side is an extremely composed person."

"Oh... how so?" Su Yaoyang asked curiously, always asking questions when he didn't understand.

"look……"

Li Gaoyuan pointed ahead and said, "The Japanese commander opposite the Japanese army realized that he was short of troops, so he did not rush to attack, but instead surrounded us first."

I'm certain that Japanese reinforcements will arrive in less than an hour... at which point we'll inevitably be plunged into a fierce battle."

(End of this chapter)