The War of Resistance Against Japan: Special Operations Battalion Traverses Shanghai and Slaughters

Less than an hour later, Yamada Umeji led the 65th and 104th Regiments to the outskirts of Chuxian County.

After carefully observing the situation through his binoculars, Yamada Umeji couldn't help but mutter to himself.

"Is Chuzhou already a ghost town? Or is there an ambush by the Chinese army inside the city, which is why they deliberately left the city gates wide open?"

After some deliberation, Yamada Umeji decided to send a battalion from Tashiro Mototoshi's 104th Regiment into the city to investigate the situation.

Meanwhile, Yamada Umeji ordered the 65th Regiment to prepare for battle.

Soon, a battalion of Japanese soldiers dispatched by the 104th Regiment cautiously entered the south gate.

When the Japanese soldiers saw the bodies of Huang Xingnong and Gong Xikui hanging on the south gate, they still felt a chill run down their spines.

To the Japanese soldiers' surprise, they entered the city without being attacked at all.

After the Japanese battalion commander entered the city, he hurriedly climbed up the city wall and waved and shouted loudly to Yamada Umeji outside the city.

At this moment, Yamada Umeji finally breathed a sigh of relief. Just as he raised his hand, ready to order the entire army to enter the city...

Suddenly, with a loud "boom," the Japanese battalion commander standing on the city wall was blown to pieces along with the wall bricks.

Then, the Japanese soldiers who had just entered the city ran out of the city in great fear, as if they had seen a monster.

Yamada Umeji saw that the Japanese soldiers in this large battalion were falling in droves as they fled, with the sounds of machine guns and artillery fire constantly ringing out behind them.

When Yamada Umeji saw heavy tanks rushing out of the south gate, he was so frightened that he hurriedly ordered the artillery to fire on the tanks at the city gate.

The Type 94 37mm rapid-fire guns used by the Japanese did not produce capped armor-piercing shells, so their armor penetration depth was only 30mm at a distance of 100 meters, and their kinetic energy decayed significantly, reaching only 20mm at a distance of 500 meters.

Therefore, the Japanese infantry guns and rapid-fire guns were completely helpless against the Tiger tank, such a sturdy behemoth.

Although the Tiger tanks at the front were hit by several shells, they were unharmed.

Ten Tiger tanks rushed out from the south gate, while five more Tiger tanks rushed out from the east and west sides of the city at the same time.

This was equivalent to a tank group consisting of twenty Tiger tanks, which launched a surprise attack and encirclement against the two Japanese infantry regiments.

When the Japanese soldiers saw so many tanks swarming in, they were terrified and could only put up a futile resistance with their weapons.

Mortars, grenade launchers, pumpkin grenades—these weapons are utterly ineffective against the Tiger tank.

On the contrary, the two regiments of Japanese soldiers suffered heavy casualties under the attack of Tiger tanks' high-explosive shells and machine guns.

Seeing this, Yamada Umeji had no choice but to order everyone to retreat immediately.

The densely packed Japanese soldiers began to flee.

The special forces soldiers inside the tank were all in a state of high excitement. The faster Japanese soldiers were bombarded with high-explosive shells, while the slower ones were dealt with by machine guns.

As for those who were injured or whose legs went weak with fear, they were directly crushed into mincemeat by the tanks.

And so the Japanese troops continued their charge, with Tiger tanks in hot pursuit. After they had gone about two or three kilometers, Long Fei ordered a halt to the pursuit.

After receiving Long Fei's order, Xie Qiang seemed unsatisfied and couldn't help but ask questions upon returning.

"Commander, if you don't give the order, we can wipe out most of the Japanese soldiers in these two regiments."

Long Fei gave Xie Qiang a sharp rap on the head.

"You little brat, do you think we can wipe out the Japanese in a day? Have you forgotten the purpose of our operation?"

"The purpose of shelling the Japanese, encircling and annihilating the Japanese cavalry regiment, including your tank attacks, is to annihilate the Japanese 13th Division's manpower while provoking them, and then successfully lure them to Coffin Hole to await their water burial."

"Let me ask you, if you continue to pursue and inflict too much damage on the Japanese, causing them to cower and retreat, or if they amass a large force to attack our advance, then our plan will be ruined."

After being lectured by Long Fei, Xie Qiang realized he was wrong, so he lowered his head and dared not speak.

Long Fei thought he shouldn't be too harsh, so he patted Xie Qiang on the shoulder.

"Alright, bring all the tanks back. We're withdrawing from the county town. If the Japanese dare to spend the night in the county town, we'll bombard them with artillery again."

Yamada Umeji led his troops on a frantic run, finally discovering that the Tiger tanks were no longer pursuing them.

He then hurriedly ordered the troops to gather and count the casualties.

When the statistics came out, he was so angry he almost vomited blood.

The 65th and 104th regiments, with a total strength of nearly 8,000 men, lost more than 2,000 men to Tiger tanks in a short period of time.

Moreover, the commanders of the 65th Regiment, Ryokaku Gyosaku and the 104th Regiment, Tashiro Mototoshi, were both seriously injured.

Of the six battalion commanders below, three were killed in action and two were wounded.

This crushing defeat was an absolute disgrace for Yamada Umeji.

But he dared not advance rashly again; if he encountered the enemy's behemoth tank again, wouldn't that be suicide?

Just as Yamada Meiji was feeling dejected, Division Commander Di Zhoulibing, hearing of the fierce fighting ahead, hurriedly led the 26th Brigade and its subordinate units to catch up.

After hearing the report, Di Zhoulibing was so angry that he wanted to kill someone, but as a division commander, he still had his own extraordinary qualities.

Di Zhoulibing controlled his emotions, adjusted his mindset, and quickly came up with a solution.

"Yamada-kun, don't be discouraged. Since our infantry guns and rapid-fire guns can't destroy the enemy's tanks, let's focus on destroying the tank tracks."

"No matter how sturdy the enemy's tanks are, once their tracks break, they're just a pile of scrap metal, and we can slaughter them at will."

"Yes, Your Excellency the Division Commander is truly wise."

Yamada Umeji's words weren't meant to flatter him. He could have come up with the idea himself, but in his haste, his mind was in a daze, and he hadn't calmed down enough to think it through.

Di Zhouli immediately ordered: "Order all the artillery of the division to be concentrated in the 19th Mountain Artillery Regiment."

"The entire army shall continue to advance. Once enemy tanks are spotted, the 19th Mountain Artillery Regiment shall be responsible for destroying their tracks."

The method of establishing troops in Dizhou was actually feasible.

The tracks of the Tiger tank are prone to breakage during normal use due to various reasons, which is its most fatal flaw.

If the Japanese artillery were to target the tank tracks with all its firepower, it wouldn't be difficult to blow them off, and the success rate would be very high.

As a result, the Japanese troops were not attacked this time. When they reached the outskirts of Chuzhou, Di Zhouli was afraid that there was still an ambush in the city. He ordered the artillery regiment to aim at the city and fire to conduct a fire reconnaissance.

After firing over a hundred shells, nothing unusual happened in the county town.

Di Zhou then sent a large contingent into the city. Only after confirming that the city was absolutely safe did he feel at ease entering.

Along the way, Di Zhouli also instructed that all the bodies of the Japanese soldiers who died in battle along the route be collected and loaded onto trucks, and that they be cremated at a later time, with only their ashes being brought back.