Bright Sword: The Flowers of War

Chapter 70 The Concerns of Japanese Generals

Colonel Hidezo Hitomi, commander of the 19th Regiment, stared expressionlessly at the destroyed Type 92 heavy machine gun in front of him while patrolling the trenches. There were three bullet holes on the machine gun barrel cooling tube and the fuselage, but the most fatal one was a bullet hole on the receiver.

"Colonel, this machine gun is destroyed! The bullets destroyed several important and delicate parts. This is the sixth heavy machine gun to be destroyed in three days. It was hit by large-caliber Chinese bullets!"

Major Nishino Meisuke, the first battalion commander, carefully inspected the destroyed Type 92 heavy machine gun and shook his head helplessly. At the same time, he used pliers to take a deformed steel bullet, about the thickness of a finger, out of the receiver.

Nishino Akio was no stranger to this type of bullet core. In recent days, many of their heavy machine guns had been destroyed by these bullets. Sometimes, the Chinese soldiers would even use these bullets to shoot people, causing panic among the soldiers.

"It's those large-caliber bullets again!"

Taking the deformed and cracked bullet core, as thick as a thumb, from Nishino Akio, Hitomi Hidezo knew that this weapon was the "Devil's Gun" that had been circulating among the soldiers of the 19th Regiment these past few days.

The reason is that several Japanese soldiers were shot in two by this kind of bullet, and their deaths were extremely cruel. Moreover, it was only from one shot. This must be the bullet of the devil's gun!
As a veteran who had served in the military for more than ten years, Hitomi Hidezo had extensive knowledge and had studied various tactics from different countries around the world. However, he had never seen a tactic like using large-caliber rifles to fight infantry before.

Theoretically speaking, whether it is a 6.5 caliber, 7.62 caliber, or 7.92 caliber bullet, it is enough to kill a person after hitting the human body.

From a cost perspective, using 14.5 caliber steel-core bullets to shoot people is undoubtedly a huge waste. However, he couldn't understand why these Chinese soldiers, who were already surrounded by them, would use bullets designed to target tanks to shoot people.

"Move all the remaining Type 92 heavy machine guns into the fortifications. Do not set up the machine guns when there is no fighting between the two sides."

Hitoshi Hidezo wrapped the bullet in a handkerchief and put it in his pocket. He then spoke to Major Nishino Meisuke, the First Battalion Commander beside him, explaining that the 19th Regiment now only had thirteen Type 92 heavy machine guns left.

This also resulted in a severe shortage of support firepower for the 19th Regiment Commander. Until the replenishment supplies arrived, the remaining heavy machine guns had to be protected.

If anyone is familiar with Nanjing, this ancient capital, they will be shocked by its current state of devastation. The once beautiful St. Paul's Church has collapsed more than half of its original state, with only a few pillars still bearing its former appearance. Buildings reduced to rubble can be seen everywhere in the city.

Several days of fighting and bombing had turned the area into ruins, with both Chinese and Japanese soldiers suffering heavy casualties.

Even the Ninth Division, known for its tenacious fighting spirit and fearlessness, felt exhausted and fearful.

Those Chinese soldiers were like cockroaches that could never be killed; they were everywhere. Once the Japanese launched an attack, they would emerge from all directions to launch a counterattack.

They were everywhere—in sewers, wells, cellars, and ruins; they were practically omnipresent.

In an effort to capture St. Paul's Church, Prince Asaka Yasuhiko dispatched the 9th Division to completely surround it, and launched repeated attacks with the 7th and 19th Infantry Regiments and a field artillery company, even turning the entire area into ruins. However, three days later, the land remained firmly in the hands of the Chinese.

That's not all. In just three days, the casualties of the two infantry regiments reached an astonishing two thousand.

Such casualties not only silenced the entire 9th Division, but also shocked the foreign embassies in Nanjing and the foreign military attachés and journalists stationed there. For a time, this small place attracted the attention of both China and Japan, as well as the West.

"Crack!" Prince Asaka Yasuhiko's sword cleaved the oak conference table of the Purple Gold Mountain Hall, the blade only half an inch away from Lieutenant General Yoshizumi Ryosuke, commander of the 9th Division.

In the conference room, the breaths of twenty officers condensed into white mist in the office, and the Nanjing map on the wall was riddled with holes by red and blue arrows.

"The casualties of 2,600 people cannot be exchanged for a mere four or five square kilometers of ruins?"

The prince's voice was like a steel wire dipped in ice water, "Yoshizumi-kun, the 9th Division's Kikusui crest should be changed to a cherry blossom—so delicate it can't even break some broken bricks and tiles!"

Yoshizumi Ryosuke's pupils reflected deep shame.

The scenes of the attacks by the 7th and 19th Regiments over the past three days flashed through my mind.

The Japanese offensive was undeniably fierce, employing a variety of tactics, including coordinated tank and artillery fire, and even bombers. Yet, the Chinese soldiers survived as tenaciously as cockroaches.

Although from the planes and reconnaissance balloons, the area around St. Paul's Church had long been reduced to ruins, as soon as the Japanese soldiers approached, the Chinese soldiers would appear from all directions like ghosts, wielding various weapons and raining down on the Japanese soldiers.

The sheer firepower of the individual weapons used by the Chinese soldiers was particularly terrifying to all the Japanese soldiers.

Whether it was the rapidly firing semi-automatic rifles, submachine guns, or various light and heavy machine guns, they all inflicted heavy casualties and suffering immense pain on the Japanese army.

The average daily casualties of a thousand men were terrifying to everyone. If the fighting continued at this rate, the Ninth Division would be out of troops in less than half a month.

“Perhaps we should consider special types of ammunition.” Sixth Division Commander Hisao Tani suddenly spoke, his fingertips tracing the cracks in the ice on the table. “The Harbin Epidemic Prevention Institute recently sent twenty tons of modified mustard gas…”

"No!" Chief of Staff Mamoru Iinuma stood up abruptly, slapping his white glove onto the front page of the North China Daily News.

The headline "St. Paul's Church Becomes Verdun Meat Grinder" is clearly visible, and the photo above is a picture taken by an Associated Press reporter of Japanese soldiers burning corpses.

Iinuma Mori shouted, "The international observer mission has already gathered in Jiangbei. The use of chemical weapons will not escape their notice, and this will cause us to lose all our European allies!"

The North China Daily News, also known as the North China Herald, was once the most influential English-language newspaper published in China.

The fact that the battle at St. Paul's Church made the front page of this newspaper is enough to prove that the battle has attracted international attention.

Faced with Iinuma's concerns, the senior Japanese military officers present all showed thoughtful expressions. At present, Japan did not have the strength to take on the Western world alone.

(End of this chapter)