Spy Wars: I am the Captain of the Military Police

"Company Commander! The order to retreat has come!" The messenger crouched down and ran through the trenches: "Retreat to the big field!"

Li Changming gritted his teeth and looked at the piles of corpses in front of the position, including Japanese soldiers and his brothers, but he knew he had to follow orders.

"Take the wounded and retreat!"

The defensive fortifications at Dachang were stronger than those at Zhuozaobang, but they also faced the dilemma of insufficient artillery firepower and weak manpower.

The 18th Division and a regiment of the 87th Division were deployed here, with Division Commander Zhu Yaohua personally in command.

When Li Changming led the remaining troops to retreat into Dachang, he saw a busy and tense scene. Soldiers were reinforcing fortifications, medical soldiers were shuttling between temporary first aid stations, and the painful groans of the wounded were everywhere.

Division Commander Zhu Yaohua was inspecting the front line. This middle-aged general in his forties was dressed in a neat military uniform, but his eye sockets were sunken, and he obviously had not slept for many days. When he saw Li Changming and others, he walked over and patted the young company commander on the shoulder.

"Did you retreat from Zhuozaobang?" Commander Zhu asked in a hoarse but gentle voice.

"Reporting to the division commander, yes." Li Changming stood at attention and saluted. "We have been holding on for three days, and the casualties... are huge. These brothers are the only ones left standing."

Commander Zhu nodded, his eyes sweeping over the blood-stained soldiers: "The big field is the last barrier. Behind us is the Suzhou River. There is no way to retreat."

As he spoke, the sound of artillery in the distance was getting closer and closer, and the Japanese army was surrounding the large area.

On October 26, the Japanese army concentrated its strong forces and launched a general attack one kilometer west of Dachang, led by forty tanks.

Li Changming was assigned to the defensive position in the east of the town.

There were several half-ruined houses here. The soldiers used the broken walls to build firing points. They blocked the intersections with sandbags and set up machine guns at the windows, ready to meet the Japanese attack.

At 2 p.m., Japanese tanks appeared in sight. These steel behemoths were spewing black smoke, their gun muzzles flashing constantly, and the Japanese infantry following behind them were pouring in like a tide.

"Fight close!" Li Changming ordered, "Aim at the infantry!"

The battle became intense from the beginning. The Japanese artillery bombarded the Kuomintang positions fiercely, and many fortifications were directly hit.

A two-story building was hit by a tank gun, and the collapsed bricks and stones buried a squad of soldiers inside.

Li Changming commanded the soldiers to use cluster grenades to deal with tanks. Several suicide squad members crawled forward holding explosive packs. Most of them were shot down by machine guns before they got close. Only one person succeeded in blowing up a tank, and he was also blown to pieces.

As night fell, the Japanese offensive slowed down slightly.

Li Changming counted the number of people and found that more than ten brothers had been lost. There was little ammunition left, food was in short supply, and the wounded continued to die due to lack of medical care and medicine.

"Company commander, look." A soldier pointed towards the town center.

Li Changming looked in the direction he pointed and saw flames shooting into the sky and continuous explosions at the location of the division headquarters. The Japanese army concentrated artillery fire on the command center, and communications were likely to have been interrupted.

Late at night, a messenger brought bad news. The Japanese army broke through the western defense line. Hujiazhai and Tahe Bridge were lost one after another, and Dachang was surrounded on three sides.

"The division commander ordered us to hold on to the end." The messenger said breathlessly, his face covered in dust and sweat.

Li Changming nodded silently, he knew what this meant.

In the early morning of the 27th, the Japanese army launched the final general offensive. Artillery shells fell like raindrops, and the entire field became a sea of ​​fire. The Kuomintang positions were destroyed section by section, and the soldiers fell down in rows.

Li Changming was hit in the left shoulder by shrapnel during the battle. After a simple bandage, he continued to command. His rifle had long been out of bullets, and he was now using a Type 38 rifle picked up from the corpses of Japanese soldiers.

At dawn, Japanese tanks finally broke through the last line of defense and rushed into the town, and street fighting began.

Li Changming and the remaining soldiers relied on the ruins to resist step by step. They had to fight for every intersection and every house. The Japanese army used flamethrowers to wipe out the resistance, and many wounded were burned to death.

By noon, the fall of Dachang was a foregone conclusion. The remaining defenders fought on their own and were gradually eliminated by the Japanese army.

Li Changming led the last five brothers to retreat to a half-destroyed primary school. There were still several soldiers shooting on the second floor of the teaching building. They decided to make a final resistance here.

"There's not much ammunition left." An old soldier counted the last bullets, an average of less than five per person.

Li Changming looked out the window and saw the Japanese army searching and advancing on the streets, shooting at suspicious places from time to time. Tanks rumbled past, crushing the bodies of the dead.

"We might not be able to leave." Li Changming said calmly: "Do you regret it?"

The soldiers shook their heads. Xiao Shandong was dead, and now he was followed by several experienced veterans.

"Kill one and we'll break even, kill two and we'll make a profit." The old soldier grinned, revealing his yellow teeth.

Suddenly, there were explosions and Japanese shouts from downstairs. The Japanese army had discovered them.

"Prepare to meet the enemy!" Li Changming ordered.

There was a sound of dense footsteps at the stairs. The Japanese threw grenades upwards. The explosion shook the floor, and then the enemy swarmed up.

The final hand-to-hand combat began. Li Changming stabbed down the first Japanese soldier who rushed up with his bayonet. The second enemy's bayonet cut his arm. The veteran smashed a Japanese soldier's head with the butt of his rifle and was stabbed in the abdomen.

The sounds of gunfire, shouting, and screaming filled the small space.

Li Changming charged left and right like a tiger, his bayonet drawing blood. The wound on his shoulder burst open, and blood soaked through the bandage, but he was still fighting.

In the end, he and a Japanese officer were the only ones left on the battlefield, both of them covered in blood and gasping for breath.

The Japanese officer raised his knife and chopped at him, but Li Changming dodged it and pierced the officer's chest with his bayonet. When the officer fell to the ground, his fingers were still twitching.

Li Changming leaned on his rifle and looked around. All his brothers were killed in the battle. The bodies of Japanese soldiers were scattered all over the corridor, and more shouts of Japanese soldiers came from downstairs.

He looked out the window and saw that Obara had been completely occupied by the Japanese army, the Rising Sun Flag was raised in the center of the town, and Japanese troops were clearing out the remaining resistance.

Li Changming knew that his mission had been accomplished. He collected the last few grenades, tied them together, and waited quietly for approaching footsteps.

At the same time, in the headquarters of the 18th Division, Division Commander Zhu Yaohua was silent in front of the map. The signalman had just reported the fall of the last few positions, and Dachang had completely fallen into the hands of the Japanese army.

"Commander, it's time to go," the chief of staff urged, "If we're any later, it will be too late to break out."

Zhu Yaohua shook his head. "Now that Dachang has fallen to me, how can I face the commander-in-chief? How can I face my compatriots across the Suzhou River?"

"This isn't your fault! We're short on manpower and artillery, but we've done our best!"

Zhu Yaohua smiled bitterly and waved his hand to let his men leave: "You can go, take the wounded and documents you can take away."

The chief of staff tried to persuade him but was stopped by Zhu Yaohua's stern look.

After his subordinates left, Zhu Yaohua tidied up his military uniform and put on his military cap.

He pulled his service pistol from his holster; it was an American-made Colt pistol. . . .

The news of the fall of Oba spread quickly, triggering a chain reaction.

The Chinese army's troops on the south bank of Zhuozaobang lost their support and had to retreat to Suzhou River.

The left wing of the Zhabei Huaxia Army was directly threatened.

In order to avoid the danger of the Chinese army being surrounded and annihilated, the Nanjing Command ordered Zhu Shaoliang to lead the Central Army Group to retreat westward and retreat to the south bank of the Suzhou River.