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

Kenji Doihara's 14th Division, with a marching column of more than 20,000 Japanese soldiers, stretched for five or six kilometers.

Although Kenji Doihara was also quite cautious, he promptly dispatched reconnaissance teams to scout ahead and explore the area.

But before the Japanese reconnaissance squad could discover the artillery positions set up by Long Fei, they were already there.

Their trail was discovered by the Dragon Flame Army's reconnaissance unit, and they were immediately eliminated.

Kenji Doihara saw that the troops had already traveled halfway and was preparing to order a short rest on the spot before continuing the march.

Just then, Long Fei's side began shelling.

The Japanese soldiers could only hear dense, piercing howls coming from the sky.

"Swish swish... swish swish..."

The Japanese soldiers knew that artillery shells were coming, and they had no air defenses to hide in while they were on the march.

Moreover, the surrounding area was very open, and there was nowhere to hide from the artillery fire.

Left with no other choice, the Japanese soldiers could only lie down with their hands covering their heads, silently praying that they wouldn't be hit by artillery shells.

In an instant, countless shells crashed into the middle of the Japanese troops, and the ear-piercing whistling stopped abruptly, all turning into earth-shattering explosions.

“Boom boom boom… boom boom boom…”

Along a stretch of road five or six kilometers long, after the shells exploded, bursts of flame and billowing smoke filled the air.

Moreover, the dust kicked up by the exploding shells completely blocked out the sunlight.

Looking at the more than 20,000 Japanese soldiers, they were blown to pieces by the shells, with countless Japanese soldiers even disappearing on the spot and turning into bloody dust.

Kenji Doihara was originally sitting in a Type 95 four-wheel drive military jeep.

Upon hearing the whistling sound of shells, the driver immediately stopped the car, and the guards quickly pulled him out of the vehicle and shoved him under the jeep.

Kenji Doihara's security detail reacted quickly; given the circumstances, using a jeep as cover was the only correct choice.

Unfortunately, the Japanese didn't know that the smallest of the incoming shells was 105mm caliber.

This jeep is utterly insignificant compared to a large-caliber howitzer.

Therefore, the jeep was quickly blown to pieces by the shell, and the vehicle fragments flew everywhere, hitting many Japanese soldiers instead.

Kenji Doihara was also killed instantly by the shell, and his body was blown into countless pieces, scattered within a radius of hundreds of meters.

Because there were enough shells and no need to conserve them, the shelling continued for half an hour.

During this time, the reconnaissance personnel continuously used walkie-talkies to relay messages, allowing the artillery to correct the coordinates in a timely manner.

When the shelling stopped, not a single member of Kenji Doihara's 14th Division survived, and not even a single intact body could be found.

After the smoke cleared and the dust settled, Long Fei ordered the encirclement to be tightened and the remaining enemy forces to be eliminated and the battlefield cleaned up.

The first to rush forward were all the tanks and armored vehicles, followed closely by soldiers from several armies.

The soldiers discovered that the land was riddled with craters of all sizes.

The soft soil surface had turned a large area dark red, and the soil contained not only fragments of artillery shells, but also pieces of clothing, as well as internal organs and flesh fragments.

In particular, the air was filled not only with the smell of gunpowder but also with a nauseating stench of blood. Many soldiers were so agitated by the scene and the temperature that they vomited violently on the spot.

But many more soldiers were extremely excited at this moment.

They had never seen such a dense artillery barrage, and an entire Japanese division was completely annihilated after the shelling.

They had never fought a battle like this before, especially the Sichuan and Yunnan armies who had only recently joined the Dragon Flame Legion.

They were not only deeply shocked, but also felt that joining the Dragon Flame Legion was such a wise decision, which further strengthened their determination and confidence to follow the Dragon Flame Legion.

Long Fei had always emphasized winning over the hearts and minds of his men. This time, by using a massive amount of artillery shells, he not only annihilated the Doihara Division but also completely won over the hearts and minds of his subordinates.

"Damn it, those damned Japanese devils have all been blown to smithereens."

"That's right, I didn't expect the Dragon Flame Legion's artillery fire to be so domineering."

"It was exhilarating, but it's funny that it seems like we had nothing to do with this battle. I was originally planning to kill five or six Japanese devils this time, but I didn't get anything."

"You silly thing, it would be better to kill the Japanese with cannons, but you insist on fighting them face to face with real swords and guns. Bullets don't have eyes, and the Japanese aren't so easy to kill."

"That's how it was; not a single Japanese soldier from an entire division was left."

"You said it would be like that, this time the Japanese devils finally got to experience what it's like to be bombarded by artillery."

"Yes, yes, I always thought that our Yunnan Army was very powerful because we were equipped with French weapons. But when we fought the Japanese, we found that our artillery was far inferior to theirs."

"I didn't expect the Dragon Flame Legion to have so many cannons. Their strength is too great."

"Commander Lu and Division Commander Fan told us that joining the Dragon Flame Legion was to protect us, to prevent us from becoming cannon fodder, and even more so to let us kill the Japanese devils to our hearts' content."

"Do you feel better now? Do you think what the officer said is right?"

"Yes, yes, but I don't know if they pay military salaries here?"

"Of course they will pay. I was chatting with the Sichuan Army brothers, and they said that after joining, they would receive ten silver dollars a month in military pay, twenty for the wounded and one hundred for the dead."

"Really? Wow, that's a lot! I'd rather die than leave the Dragon Flame Legion. 120 a year? My god, I can kill Japanese devils and make a fortune at the same time. It's unbelievable that such a good thing exists."

The soldiers were discussing it amongst themselves, and Xu Peng, standing beside Long Fei, also spoke with a tone of regret.

"Commander, the Japanese were indeed blown to bits, but unfortunately most of their weapons and equipment were also reduced to rubble."

Long Fei immediately denied it, saying, "What's the pity? At worst, we can't exchange the Japanese weapons and equipment with the system, but as long as our brothers are safe from casualties, I think it's worth it."

Liu Wei chimed in, "Yes, the corps commander is right. We have no shortage of weapons and equipment, and we'll have plenty of opportunities to capture them in the future, but our soldiers only have one life."

The force stationed in Kaifeng was the Independent 46th Brigade, which was part of the 32nd Army under the 20th Army Group of the National Revolutionary Army.

The brigade commander was named Bao Gang. He had already received orders from the army group commander to retreat to Zhengzhou immediately if he could not hold off the Japanese.

But Bao Gang had the spirit of a soldier, and didn't learn from Gui Paopao and Huang Paopao.

When he received intelligence that the Japanese had launched a full-scale attack on Kaifeng early in the morning.

He then urgently ordered all troops to enter the city's fortifications to prepare for the Japanese attack.

Just as the entire brigade was anxiously awaiting the arrival of the Japanese invaders to engage in a bloody battle with them.

Suddenly, an unusually loud explosion was heard from the direction of Lanfeng.

Bao Gang wondered who was fighting the Japanese when there were no other Nationalist troops ahead.

So Baogang sent out scouts to investigate while simultaneously reporting to Commander Shang by phone.

"What did you say? Fighting has broken out in the Lanfeng area? And the artillery fire is unusually intense?"

When Commander Shang received the call, he could hardly believe it, because apart from Kaifeng and Zhengzhou, there were no more Nationalist troops at the front.

"Commander Bao, investigate this immediately and find out what's going on?"

"Yes, Commander. I have already sent out scouts. We should have news soon."

"Okay, I'll wait for your call."

After hanging up the phone, Commander Shang began to ponder.

Yesterday, the leaders of the Nationalist government personally called him, demanding that he quickly breach the Yellow River dike and use the Yellow River water to stop the advance of the Doihara Division and other Japanese troops.