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

Around 10 a.m., the Japanese sent a supply convoy of 18 trucks from Liaoyang Town to Licheng.

Led by a Type 97 military three-wheeled motorcycle, they entered the ambush zone without being noticed.

The Japanese soldiers also called this motorcycle "Lu Wang" motorcycle. The Japanese soldiers in the sidecar also had a Type 96 machine gun mounted on the sidecar.

The snipers Xie Qiang had arranged fired first at his command.

"Bang bang bang..."

After dozens of gunshots, the drivers and machine gunners in the truck beds of the three Japanese motorcycles leading the way were killed on the spot.

The motorcycle lost control and veered to the side before overturning on the roadside.

The drivers of the eighteen Japanese trucks were also hit by snipers. The trucks immediately went off in all directions and crashed into trees and mounds before finally coming to a stop.

The Japanese soldiers escorting the shipment hurriedly jumped off the vehicle, lay down on the ground, and immediately opened fire.

The soldiers of the First Battalion showed no mercy, unleashing a barrage of fire from Thompson submachine guns, MP40 submachine guns, and MG42 machine guns at the Japanese.

Due to a shortage of ammunition, the Eighth Route Army guerrillas would aim carefully before pulling the trigger.

The Japanese soldiers responsible for escorting the shipment numbered less than two hundred men in one company.

Faced with the overwhelming firepower of the battalion, the Japanese casualties continued to mount. The Japanese company commander in charge knew that if things continued like this, his entire army would be wiped out soon.

Suddenly, he thought of the dozen or so women on the bus, whom they had dragged from all directions and were preparing to send to the comfort station in Chestnut City.

So they immediately ordered a Japanese soldier who could speak Chinese to go forward and make a message.

“You, go and shout right now to tell the Chinese army to stop firing, or I’ll kill these dozen or so Chinese women in the car.”

The Japanese soldier immediately crawled forward, found cover, and hurriedly shouted at the top of his lungs.

"Chinese, don't shoot! Listen to me! There are over a dozen Chinese women on our vehicle. Our company commander has ordered you to cease fire immediately, or we'll kill them..."

The company commander of the first battalion, who was relatively close to the Japanese soldier, heard the soldier shouting loudly and hurriedly told everyone not to fire.

After the gunfire stopped, the company commander and many soldiers finally heard what the other side was saying.

So they hurriedly sent a soldier to report to Long Fei and Xie Qiang.

Fearing he might have misheard, Xie Qiang immediately confirmed it again.

"You heard me right, didn't you? The Japanese really said there were Chinese women on the train? And they said they'd kill them if they didn't stop firing?"

The soldier nodded firmly and said, "Commander, the Japanese soldiers shouted in Chinese more than once, and many of us heard it clearly."

Xie Qiang was a little confused and quickly turned to look at Long Fei.

"Commander, what do we do now?"

Long Fei did not answer, but instead asked Commander Qin for an answer.

"Commander Qin, what do you think we should do now?"

Commander Qin immediately bowed his head and discussed with Political Commissar Lai for a while, then looked up and answered.

"Commander Long, why don't we withdraw from the battle? We can't risk the safety of our compatriots just for supplies."

Long Fei did not immediately agree, but instead asked a question in return.

“Commander Qin, we certainly cannot ignore the safety of our compatriots, but even if we withdraw our troops now, these women will be sent to Kuri City by the Japanese and suffer inhuman torture.”

Commander Qin was also very conflicted after hearing this, but he was at a loss for a good solution.

"Commander Dragon Legion, so what you mean is..."

To be honest, Long Fei didn't have any good ideas at the moment. He was afraid of hurting the innocent, and the Japanese were extremely brutal and inhumane. If they were really pushed to the limit, they might actually do something like this, risking everything.

Long Fei thought for a moment and decided to handle the situation on the spot, so he said.

"Let's first confirm whether what the Japanese are saying is true, and then we'll adapt to the situation."

"Commander Xie, order the troops to cease fire temporarily. We're going to the First Company's position."

Seeing Long Fei and Xie Qiang go to handle the situation, Commander Qin nodded to Political Commissar Lai, and the two followed closely behind.

The battlefield, which had been raging fiercely just moments before, has now fallen silent, with both sides ceasing fire and the scene becoming eerily quiet.

After arriving at the company commander's side, Long Fei observed him for a moment and then asked the company commander to call out in response.

The company commander shouted at the Japanese soldiers, "We can stop firing, but we need to make sure you're telling the truth."

After hearing this, the Japanese soldier still didn't dare to get up and continued to crawl back to his company commander.

"Company commander, the Chinese army says they can stop the fire, but they need to confirm that what we say is true first."

The Japanese company commander grinned slyly.

"Hehehe, those Chinese soldiers are incredibly stupid. They actually gave up the attack for these women. It seems my plan was very effective."

"You, go to the truck right now, take these women off the truck, and use them as shields to show the Chinese army what's going on."

Soon, the Japanese soldiers dragged sixteen Chinese women off the truck and lined them up in a row.

Then the Japanese soldier who had been shouting earlier came up behind the women and started yelling again at the top of his lungs.

“Chinese people, look carefully, there are sixteen of them. If you don’t retreat, we’ll kill them all.”

In fact, even without the Japanese soldiers shouting, Long Fei, Xie Qiang, and Commander Qin could see it very clearly.

The so-called women captured by the Japanese should actually be called girls, because they all looked to be under twenty years old.

In the prime of their lives, they were reduced to such a tragic state due to foreign invasion.

Xie Qiang lay there, so angry that he slammed his fist into the ground.

"Commander, I'll have the snipers quietly fire and take out the Japanese soldiers behind these girls. Then the troops will immediately launch an attack and try to rescue them. Otherwise, they'll suffer a fate worse than death if they're sent to Kurijo."

Long Fei had considered Xie Qiang's plan, but if the Japanese soldiers couldn't be wiped out quickly, these girls would most likely be killed, so the success rate wasn't high.

"Company Commander, go and tell them we need to consider it."

"Xie Qiang, immediately inquire whether the Japanese reinforcements from Licheng have been dispatched."

"Yes Yes……"

The company commander and Xie Qiang hurriedly agreed, and then each went their own way.

When the Japanese company commander heard that he needed to think about it, he became even more smug and actually said that he would only have ten minutes.

Xie Qiang then contacted the troops ordered to surround and ambush Kurehachi via walkie-talkie. He learned that the Japanese troops in Kurehachi had heard the commotion and sent a company to meet the supply convoy, which would soon enter the ambush area.

After receiving the intelligence, Long Fei immediately devised a rescue plan.

"Xie Qiang, order the Second Regiment to try to leave as many survivors as possible when ambushing this Japanese company."

Xie Qiang immediately understood Long Fei's meaning: "Commander, you want to exchange Japanese prisoners of war, right?"

"Enough with the nonsense, execute the order."

"Yes……"