Songhu: Never Give Up

Chapter 172 Lure the snake out of its hole
Outside Kunshan City, dozens of mule-drawn carts were pulling looted food toward the county town, with about a squadron of Japanese guards accompanying them.

Although most of the supplies have to be transported from the mainland to the ocean, a lot of food can be looted from the towns and villages around Kunshan, and these foods are not included in the statistics, so the Katagiri Regiment can deal with some of them privately.

Since being ordered to stay in Kunshan to rest, the 9th Regiment Commander Colonel Katagiri Morio has been restless and sent two grain collection teams out of the city to collect grain;

They broke into towns and villages one after another, killing anyone they saw and stealing food and livestock. They especially favored the wealthy families. Wherever they passed, rivers of blood flowed, and many villages were almost completely wiped out by them.

In another time and space, the Katagiri Regiment, which produced two "hundred-man-killer" murderers, Noda Takeo and Mukai Toshiaki, was a completely beastly regiment, and its brutality was no less than that of the Sixth Division.

This group of Japs had just looted several villages and towns, robbed dozens of carts of food and property, and were heading back triumphantly.

Second Lieutenant Noda Takeo of the Third Battalion walked at the front with a command knife slung over his shoulder. Coming from Kagoshima, he had been bloodthirsty since childhood and had been deeply poisoned by militarism. During this trip to the countryside to collect food and fodder, more than a dozen of his fellow villagers died at his hands.

Previously in Shanghai, Lieutenant General Nakajima Imago had some control over the troops. However, after leaving the city and starting to pursue the defeated soldiers, the 16th Division completely revealed its true colors and massacred countless Chinese civilians along the way.

Noda Takeo finally seized the opportunity and killed 12 people in one trip to the countryside, and his hands were stained with the blood of the Chinese.

At the ambush position of the Second Guerrilla Battalion of the Third Detachment, the sharpshooter Linghu Shuang kept the muzzle of his gun hanging over Noda Takeo's body, waiting for the captain's gunshot.

The predecessor of the Second Guerrilla Battalion of the Third Detachment was the Second Company of the Third Battalion. Before the capture of the defeated soldiers, the entire company had only more than 200 people, but now it has more than a thousand people;

It has 3 infantry companies, 1 machine gun company and 1 reconnaissance platoon, which is about the same number of people as a Japanese battalion.

This ambush on the Japanese was commanded by the captain of the second guerrilla battalion, Ou Xiaoquan, and cooperated by the third guerrilla battalion. Two battalions against one squadron of the Japanese were going to be a sure win.

Their ambush point was only 5 kilometers away from the county seat, in a depression. The official road leading to the county seat passed through the depression. The second and third battalions ambushed on one side respectively, using the "inverted eight-character" ambush formation, which became narrower as it went forward. As long as the tail was closed, it would be like closing the door to fight the dog.

The Japanese were very arrogant, as if they were in an empty place. The squadron leader, Oi Yukibei, sat on a Japanese horse and looked down on everyone.
The main forces of the Chinese were all driven to the vicinity of Jinling City, and the only ones left behind were some stragglers. Their field squadron was not afraid of them at all, and even if a regiment came, it would only be a gift to him for military merit.

He was very dissatisfied with the speed of the Dajing Squadron's march and kept urging them to return to the city quickly. He did not even send a search party. He was eager to go back and claim credit from the regiment commander.
This time they robbed more than a dozen boxes of gold and a large amount of silver dollars from a wealthy family and loaded them into a large cart. In order to cover up their crime, they massacred the entire family, leaving no one alive.

The Dajing Squadron had only 150-odd people, and the casualties had not yet been replaced. The Third Detachment gathered 2 people to ambush them, which was considered to be a face-saving move.
Seeing that the Japanese had all entered the ambush circle, Ou Xiaoquan decisively ordered to open fire. Noda Takeo heard the gunshots and quickly prepared to lie down, and then Linghu Shuang's gunshots rang out;

The bullet hit his left eye, and he rolled on the ground holding his head in pain. Linghu Shuang was going to hit him on the head, but he didn't expect Noda Takeo to react so quickly, so he only blinded his eye.

Linghu Shuang wanted to shoot him again, but was blocked by other Japanese soldiers who were fleeing in panic. He had to change his target and killed a sergeant.

After the command gun sounded, the guerrilla columns ambushed on both sides of the depression opened fire at full power, and countless bullets rolled towards the Japanese like a storm, killing more than half of them within a few minutes. Captain Oi, who had luckily escaped the disaster, was completely panicked. He shouted and ordered the surviving Japanese to fight back, but it was of little use as the firepower difference between the two sides was too great.

"Bagayalu, where do all these Chinese people come from?"

They are now about a few kilometers away from Kunshan City. Such fierce gunfire must have reached the city. Reinforcements will arrive in half an hour at most. The question is whether they can hold on until the reinforcements arrive.

After exchanging fire for a while, he found that the people who attacked them seemed to be a group of fleeing soldiers. They were very poor at shooting and very timid. They just hid in the distance and fired, and did not take the opportunity to rush down;

This gave him an opportunity. He commanded dozens of surviving Japanese soldiers to hide behind a cart and fight back. He barely managed to stabilize the situation and wait for reinforcements to arrive.

Ou Xiaoquan was also waiting for the Japanese reinforcements to leave the city. Several thousand people from the second detachment were waiting for them outside the city, otherwise they would have wiped out these bastards long ago.

In Kunshan City, the faint sound of gunfire outside the city has alarmed Colonel Katagiri. He doesn't know what happened, so he can only send a quick team to check.

This team consisted of three motorcycles and two military trucks. Since they were all motorized, they quickly arrived near the ambush point, but they were ambushed and lost two tricycles. There were also more than a dozen casualties on the trucks.

Blocking in front of them was a company of the Third Brigade. After being blocked, the Japanese jumped off the car and fought back.

The team leader even launched a counterattack, but was driven back by the blocking troops, and both sides suffered casualties.

This group of devils were just testing the waters. Colonel Katagiri was now certain that it was the Chinese who attacked their grain-collecting team.

Because before this he had sent out two squadrons to collect grain, and now there were gunshots outside, it was easy to think that the grain-collecting team was under attack.

The Japanese army's radio station was only equipped to the battalion level. Reinforcements were needed as soon as possible, so Colonel Katagiri immediately sent two battalions out of the city for reinforcements. Only two infantry companies, a machine gun company and a garrison battalion, about a thousand people, were left in the city.

"Damn it! The security in the occupied area is getting worse and worse. These stragglers should all be wiped out and killed!"

After sending out the main force, Colonel Katagiri no longer paid attention to this matter. Although his two battalions were not fully staffed, they had more than 1200 people together and he was confident that he could deal with tens of thousands of scattered soldiers.

Senior staff officer Major Nakata Tamon took over and said:
"Your Excellency, the scattered soldiers and guerrillas who fled from Shanghai number in the tens of thousands. They are scattered over an area of ​​dozens of kilometers in radius. This is indeed a big challenge to the security of the occupied areas.
Now that they have developed to the point where they dare to launch a surprise attack on the Imperial Army squadron, it is time to teach them a lesson."

Colonel Katagiri said murderously:
"I have already told Lord Ohara to kill all the Chinese within a ten-mile radius. No one should be spared. Anyone who dares to attack the Imperial Army will pay the price!"

(End of this chapter)