A Journey Through the Flames of War in the Republican Era

After the Japanese army's fierce artillery preparation, the Nomura Company on the left flank and the Sakamoto Company on the right flank launched another attack under the cover of mountain guns and infantry guns, and charged into our army's forward outpost in one fell swoop!

Koji Nomura almost scoffed, believing the Chinese army's fighting strength to be mediocre. However, his smug expression quickly froze; he had clearly occupied a position that was already deserted, with not a single Chinese soldier's body left behind.

Koji Nomura observed his surroundings. What puzzled him was that the Chinese army's position was not large; it was clearly newly constructed, with rudimentary fortifications that could not withstand heavy artillery fire. Judging from its size, it couldn't possibly accommodate a company. The actual defensive position of the Chinese army was located about 300 meters in front of this position.

"Is the Chinese army trying to expand its defensive depth with this?" Koji Nomura fell into deep thought, seemingly sensing that something was amiss.

Just as Nomura was still in surprise, our two artillery groups on the left and right launched a rapid artillery barrage on the pre-marked outposts on both flanks!

The outpost had been destroyed by several rounds of heavy artillery bombardment by the Japanese army. The Japanese soldiers tried to take cover everywhere, but they were desperate to find that they could not find a single shelter to avoid the shelling.

Our 75mm mountain guns and 82mm mortars fired a rapid volley, raining down shells in a dense, muffled explosion that was almost indistinguishable from one another. Accompanied by the desperate screams of Japanese soldiers, torn clothes, limbs, and dirt flew into the air before falling back down.

Koji Nomura lay prone in a shell crater, staring at the horrific scene that had befallen his squadron, his eyes bloodshot with rage!

Captain Ito Hiroshi, standing at the rear, was ashen-faced and his expression was ferocious. He roared furiously, demanding that the artillery immediately annihilate the Chinese Nationalist army's artillery!

The well-trained Japanese artillery counterattack was swift and accurate, with dense heavy artillery and naval gun shells quickly landing on the artillery positions our troops had just moved to! The smoke and fire immediately filled the air on our artillery positions on the flanks of the rear lines.

Company Commander Liu, the commander of the 75mm mountain artillery group on the right flank of our army, who had already moved to another firing position, watched with lingering fear, thinking to himself, "That was close! Luckily, we moved in time!"

The Japanese army had to allocate a portion of its long-range artillery to suppress our artillery fire, which reduced the amount of artillery fire on our infantry positions and naturally eased the defensive pressure.

Similarly, in order to prevent the Japanese army from counterattacking, our mountain guns had to be moved after firing one round, and we could only use the well-concealed 82mm mortars to carry out fire strikes, which greatly reduced the effectiveness of our artillery fire.

Koji Nomura drew his command sword and slashed it fiercely at the Nationalist army's position, roaring, "Advance!"

Led by several squad leaders and sergeants, Nomura Company deployed into an attack formation. The Japanese soldiers, their faces contorted with rage, quickly dispersed into skirmish lines and launched an attack on our main position.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

As Nomura's company moved toward our main position, it repeatedly struck landmines. The vanguard, Yamamoto Koichi's platoon, unfortunately stumbled into a hidden minefield, causing explosions everywhere. Under the bombardment of our mortars, panicked Japanese soldiers scattered in all directions, detonating even more mines. Blood and flesh flew everywhere, and screams filled the air. Nearly half of Yamamoto's platoon was killed or wounded!

Looking at the wounded soldiers clutching their broken legs and groaning in pain, Koji Nomura was so angry he felt like he was going to vomit blood.

After paying a heavy price in blood and flesh, Nomura's squadron and Sakamoto's squadron finally marked out a safe path for attack.

To Nomura and Sakamoto’s dismay, the Chinese army’s outposts and main positions were clearly carefully laid out with various obstacles and landmines, making the roads for the Japanese attacking troops very narrow. Even when the Japanese soldiers were spread out in skirmish lines, their formations still appeared very dense.

What was most infuriating was that the four Type 92 heavy machine guns that were reinforced to accompany the attack by their own squadron could not find suitable firing positions at all. All the places suitable for setting up heavy machine guns were either minefields or heavily marked by the Chinese army's mortars.

The heavy machine gun squad leader, Chi Bian, was extremely frustrated. Despite his efforts, he was still unable to follow the attacking squadron to set up a heavy machine gun. He had no choice but to deploy it on the already occupied outpost using the craters created by the bombs. At the same time, he was worried that this place had probably already been marked by the Chinese Nationalist Army's artillery.

As the Japanese heavy artillery advanced deeper into the enemy lines and their infantry began their attack, our soldiers had already moved forward from the rear anti-artillery fortifications into the main position. Luo Jincheng, the 6th Company Commander in the forward defensive fortifications, observed the Japanese attack formation with sharp eyes, waiting for them to enter the optimal firing range.

Nearby, three heavy machine gun nests had been reinforced and concealed so that their outlines would be obscured even if they were to fire. The three Type 24 heavy machine guns, forming a crossfire, were poised to fire, waiting for his order to fire.

As a newly promoted second lieutenant squad leader, Koichi Yamamoto was only interested in making a name for himself and performing well. From the very beginning of the attack, he kept urging his squad to advance bravely. Even when they rushed into the minefield and suffered heavy casualties, they did not back down and continued to charge ahead.

However, the unusual tranquility of the Nationalist army's main position made Yamamoto Koichi uneasy. This old Japanese soldier had rich battlefield experience, and at this moment he could even smell the faint smell of blood in the wind!

This battle also made Koji Nomura, who was commanding the three squads to deploy in an attack formation, feel that something was very unusual. Before the two sides had even met, his squad had already suffered considerable losses, which had never happened before. He was certain that the Chinese army in front of him was not simple.

When the Japanese troops advanced to within about a hundred meters of the front line of the main position, the Japanese sergeant at the forefront of the continuous leaps and bounds burst out with a sharp shout, and the Japanese attack formation immediately quickened its pace and began to launch an assault.

Faced with the swarming attack formation of the Japanese troops, Luo Jincheng, the company commander of the 6th Company, roared angrily and ordered: "Heavy machine guns, begin firing!"

Three heavy machine gun emplacements began to fiercely spew forth jets of fire, followed by light machine gun emplacements at the front, their rapid-fire echoing across the entire field like popping beans.

Under the immense impact of the dense machine gun fire, dozens of Japanese soldiers at the forefront of the charge fell to the ground as if they had run into an iron plate.

"Damn it! How can the Chinese army still have such fierce heavy machine gun firepower?! How can so many heavy machine guns have survived the heavy artillery and air strikes of our army?!"

Japanese attack echelon commanders Nomura and Sakamoto were dumbfounded, unable to comprehend this crucial problem.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!" Battalion Commander Lin Xiaoxiang personally directed the battalion's 82mm mortars to bombard the Japanese attack route and disrupt their attack formation.

The heavy machine guns, with their firing arcs already marked, licked down the Japanese soldiers who had nowhere to hide, one by one. The semi-automatic riflemen, who had been aiming for a long time, were busy picking off the remaining escapees.

The Japanese troops, which were hit by heavy fire from the National Revolutionary Army, quickly reacted. The following Japanese troops immediately took cover and tried to launch a counterattack.

However, when the Japanese soldiers lay down and tried to find a favorable position for cover, they discovered that the terrain in front of the Chinese army's position seemed to have been reorganized. The only place they could hide was the shell craters created by heavy artillery, but they were suppressed by the intense firepower and could not even raise their heads, let alone fight back.

What's even more infuriating is that even lying down couldn't effectively evade the bullets coming from below! Scenes of heavy machine gun fire rained down on the Japanese soldiers lying on the ground, tearing them to pieces. Many of the soldiers were shot in the back and killed before they even had time to react!

"Heavy machine gun overdrive firing!"

Koji Nomura felt as if he had fallen into an ice cave, and cold sweat poured down his back.

Then Koji Nomura saw another scene: a terrifying hail of heavy machine gun bullets mixed with tracer rounds swept past his own company and directly hit Nakata Company, which was the follow-up attack echelon!

The Nakata Company had just advanced to the outpost and hadn't even seen the enemy when they were caught off guard and hit by a hail of machine gun fire in an open area, suffering considerable damage.

"Baka!" Company Commander Nakata Nobunaga cursed angrily, then gave a vicious order: "Set up the grenade launchers! Take out the Chinese army's heavy machine guns!"

The Japanese heavy machine guns and grenade launchers on the outpost quickly launched a counterattack, and the battlefield was filled with gunfire and various bullets flying through the air.

The Japanese grenade launchers were clearly no match for our 82mm mortars and mobile 75mm mountain guns. Our fierce artillery fire rained down on the already marked outposts, and the Japanese grenade launchers and heavy machine guns were gradually silenced.

Koji Nomura was filled with grief and despair. He couldn't fight this battle. The intense firepower was almost a one-sided attack. His squadron was unable to continue the charge or counterattack!

After suffering over a hundred casualties on each side, the two Japanese company attack echelons began a tidal wave of retreat back to their starting positions.

Cheers of victory erupted from our positions! The soldiers chuckled triumphantly, bidding farewell to the fleeing Japanese troops with a fierce barrage of machine gun fire!

As if they had just experienced a nightmare, Nomura and Sakamoto fled back to their starting position in a panic. They were grabbed by the collar by Captain Ito Hiroshi, who rushed over in a rage, and slapped hard across the face several times. Nomura and Sakamoto were so stunned that their heads were buzzing and they were in a daze for a long time.

Ito Hiroshi was known for his bravery and brutality in battle, but due to his humble family background and his volatile and harsh temperament, he was disliked by both superiors and subordinates, and thus remained in the rank of lieutenant colonel and battalion commander for many years. Over time, this caused a certain psychological distortion in Ito Hiroshi, and he often took pleasure in abusing his subordinates.

Ito Hiroshi drew his command sword and slashed wildly, sacrificing an innocent bush in front of him, which was cut down with a single blow.

Faced with the furious Ito Hiroshi, Nomura and Sakamoto could only shrink back in shame and fear, snort, and stand at attention, secretly hoping that Captain Ito wouldn't lose his temper and chop their heads off like bushes.

After counting the casualties, Ito Hiroshi almost fainted. More than a hundred Japanese soldiers had died in this attack, and with the casualties from the previous probing attacks, his battalion had been reduced by a quarter.

What Ito Hiroshi found most unacceptable was that after suffering such heavy casualties, they hadn't even seen a single enemy? This was an utter disgrace!