Sword: Heart of Iron

Chapter 122 Is there really a ghost?
Time flies.

At this time, the offensive and defensive situations on the front line had changed, and the Japanese army had entered an irreversible decline.

It would have been fine if the fighter planes were unable to carry out their missions at night and there was no air support, but in order to stabilize the situation, the senior officers repeatedly requested that heavy artillery support arrive soon.

Coming Soon Coming Soon
These four words strongly supported the resistance beliefs of the remaining Japanese soldiers.

I imagined the Chinese soldiers fleeing in a panic after the heavy artillery support arrived.

But the reality was that after struggling on the front line for more than two hours, there was still no sign of the promised heavy artillery support.

Looking around, all I could see were Chinese soldiers.

Countless. The entire river bank is covered with
Without air and artillery support, no matter how elite the Japanese soldiers were, it would be difficult for them to resist the attack of nearly 30,000 people with less than 8,000 troops.

Ten minutes ago, the front-line troops called the rear command for the eighth time, urging fire support.

The result was surprising. The telegram sent out went unanswered.
The ninth urging.
The tenth urging.
The eleventh urging.
The repeated message was sent four times in a row, and the signalman could recite the content by heart.

But still didn't get any response.

At this moment, the Japanese soldiers in the trenches on the front line were completely panicked.

The 59th Army built a solid bridgehead on the south bank of the Xihe River. Relying on its superior strength and the method of flooding, it surrounded its own positions step by step along the gaps between each position.

Looking around, there were countless enemy soldiers, and the sounds in their ears were chaotic. Under the huge sound of gunfire, the Japanese soldiers could only barely hear three bytes.

"kill!"

"Kill the devil!"

Local battlefield.

Subordinate to the 4th Infantry Battalion.

The logistics troops had not delivered any supplies for over an hour, and there was very little ammunition left in the trenches, so they could not hold out for much longer.

Logically speaking, even if the front-line positions could not get logistical supplies, it would still be easy to hold out for two days with the remaining reserves after a replenishment.

But the problem is that the intensity of the war is too high.

It was an endless plain with not even a small mound to be seen, and there was no strategic location to defend.

Without artillery support, facing the 59th Army's overwhelming and intensive charge, the Japanese army could only resort to fire suppression.

Use a large number of bullets to drive it back.

The problem was that the 59th Army, relying on its numerical advantage, launched attacks in rotation. Whenever one troop retreated, another troop would immediately take its place.

The Japanese soldiers in the position rarely had time to rest, not even enough time to cool down the machine gun barrels.

Private Omura Shoya was frightened and wanted to take advantage of the chaos to escape from the battlefield. He glanced behind him and saw the muzzle of the supervising soldier's gun gleaming coldly.

When he saw the supervisor's eyes scanning his direction, his heart skipped a beat.

Take a few deep breaths, calm down, and pretend to be calm.
When the Chinese were in a dilemma, they launched a new round of attacks.

"kill!"

"Damn it, take up the position! Kill the devils!"

Inside the position.

"idiot!"

"Dead dead! Come on!"

The rest of the Japanese soldiers shouted "Ula Ula" and lay back in the trenches, ready for battle.

Shono Omura was also among them.

Due to the lack of logistical supplies, the light and heavy machine guns had long been silenced, and sporadic resistance gunfire was heard on the battlefield.

Shono Omura fired a bullet and without taking time to check whether he hit the target, he immediately pulled the bolt.

Bang!

After taking rough aim, Omura Shouno pulled the trigger.

Ding!
Out of bullets!

A hollow sound was heard, and Omura Shouno was startled. He subconsciously retreated into the trench. When not shooting, he would never expose his body outside the shelter.

Shono Omura reached out to touch the bullet bag on his body, but after searching it was empty. Then he realized that it had already completely dried up.

He raised his head and looked around.

A dark green ammunition box appeared within sight.

Omura Shouno rushed over as if he had seen a savior and opened the wooden box in a panic.

empty!

Omura Shouno cursed inwardly: "Baka!"

"Damn those logistics soldiers! A bunch of idiots!"

Due to the interruption of communication with the battalion command post and the encirclement, his squadron now has no idea what is happening in the rear.

While searching for bullets, the shouting of killing was getting closer and closer.

"Charge! Kill the devils!"

Omura Shouno immediately realized that something was wrong, and before waiting for the squadron leader's order, he took out his bayonet and attached it to the front of his rifle.

The bayonet's blade was bent, and the bend was clearly visible to the naked eye, with dried crimson blood on it.

During the fighting that lasted for several hours, the Chinese army rushed into the trenches several times in succession, and fierce hand-to-hand combat broke out between the two sides.

The logistical supply was interrupted, and not only were there no bullets, but even the number of bayonets was seriously insufficient.

As long as it's not completely bent, it should be fine.

In fact, this bayonet did not belong to Shono Omura, but was pulled out from the body of a comrade-in-arms.

The appearance is already very good
Even when he was drawing the bayonet, a few people wanted to fight with him.

"kill!"

In a panic, just as Shono Omura installed his bayonet, the enemy rushed into the trench.

The Northwest Army is good at using broadswords.

The 59th Army was the elite of the Northwest Army, and its soldiers wielded swords with great vigor, with the usage rate being even higher than that of bayonets.

"Kill!"

"Kill!"

Hearing the sounds of killing, Omura Shono just reacted and found that two Chinese soldiers with swords were staring at him.

Alarm bells suddenly rang in my heart!

The enemy was numerous and most of the hand-to-hand combat was one-on-many.

Shoyeo Omura also experienced this situation when he was in Shanghai and Nanjing.

The most powerful one was when he fought hand-to-hand with three Chinese soldiers alone, and at the last moment, with the help of a comrade, he successfully killed them all. But things are different now.

Omura Shouno looked down at the bent and curled bayonet, and couldn't help swallowing, feeling a little scared.

Can such a bayonet really kill people?
"Kill!"

The blade emitted a sharp cold light, and the blood dripping down was chilling at first glance.

Two soldiers from the 59th Army swung their swords and rushed forward.

Omura Shouno leaned over to avoid it, but was immediately kicked to the ground by another man.

"Son of a bitch!"

The big knife fell and blood splattered.

With ammunition and food running out, the Japanese army's resistance was not even as thin as paper and collapsed in an instant.

Seeing their defense line breached, the remaining Japanese soldiers desperately retreated to the rear.

With the superiors and subordinates losing contact, no one knew that there was a more elite force waiting in the same place, just waiting for them to take the bait!
18th Division Command Post.

Ushijima Sadao was anxious and paced back and forth in the tent like an ant on hot pan.

The communication between the division headquarters and its two infantry regiments was suddenly interrupted without any warning.

No matter what combat orders were issued, no effective response was received, and the brigade command post did not routinely report on the battle situation.

It was as if it disappeared out of thin air.

The current divisional command post cannot receive reports from subordinate units, and it is impossible to have an overall view of the entire battlefield just by standing in front of the observation hole and observing with a telescope.

No different from a blind person.

Chief of Staff Iwata Takahiko rushed in, even forgetting to salute, and after taking a few deep breaths, he said, "Sir, the investigation has found out!"

Ushijima Sadao took two steps forward and asked hurriedly, "How is it?"

"What exactly is going on!"

Takahiko Iwata: "The 46th and 48th Regiment Command Posts were completely destroyed by heavy artillery!"

"Not only that, several battalion command posts were also destroyed in the artillery fire!"

Ushijima Sadao was horrified: "This is impossible!"

"This is absolutely impossible!"

"How could the Chinese army know?"

Halfway through his words, he suddenly remembered what happened to the 13th Division before.

After the 26th Brigade was defeated, Ogisu Ritsuhei launched a massive search for traitors and spies within the division.

The matter was even reported to the Special High Technology Department.

When he first heard the news, he couldn't help but laugh in his heart.

Losing is losing, but instead of daring to admit it, they sent out a non-existent traitor to take the blame.

It is simply a joke and a disgrace to the imperial soldiers.

Now, he couldn't laugh at all.

But Ushijima Sadao kept denying it: "This is absolutely impossible! Was the telegram intercepted?"

Seeing that Iwata Takahiko didn't react, he said something very stupid for the first time.

“Or maybe the survey was wrong?”

The more combat experience one has, the more difficult it is to accept this fact.

Sadao Ushijima served as a soldier for half his life. He studied at the Army University, taught, and served as a principal. He also served as a member of the local staff and a section chief, and worked his way up from a regiment commander to a division commander.

I think I've seen a lot of storms.

But no matter how hard one thinks, one cannot imagine that the command posts of various units would be collectively bombarded.

The shelling of a command post could be interpreted as an intelligence leak.

This is not without precedent on the battlefield.

Still acceptable
But if they were collectively bombarded, that could only mean there really was a ghost!

Even when conducting sand table simulations and researching new tactics, one would not dare to make such bold guesses.

Iwata Takahiko remained silent. The facts were before him, and even if he didn't believe them, he couldn't change anything.

At first he also found it incredible.

He thought it was the soldier's mistake and became furious.

For this purpose, he even made a trip there in person.

Until I saw the fragments of the regiment flag and a shoulder strap that was blown in half among the wreckage.

I had to admit that this was indeed the case.

Ushijima Sadao: "Where is the field artillery regiment?"

"Any news?"

Iwata Takahiko shook his head: "The last telegram said that the regiment encountered a sudden attack by the Chinese army, and then we lost contact."

Ushijima Sadao's face suddenly changed. At this point, he couldn't figure it out no matter what.

What went wrong!
He used the same style of fighting during the Beijing-Shanghai campaign.

In order to quickly attack and seize military merit, command posts at all levels were even set up further forward.

But still safe and sound.

But tonight, the field artillery regiment in the wilderness and the subordinate command posts seemed to have all their movements clearly seen by the enemy.

In the past few days, the Aviation Brigade reported the reconnaissance situation every day and found no signs of large-scale movement of Chinese troops.

Even if they hide during the day and come out at night, they will always be exposed.

The speed of an airplane is much faster than that of a person. Once something is found to be wrong, it can immediately catch up and check.

You can't run away.

Unless there is early warning.
Thinking of this, Ushijima Sadao's heart was alarmed: "Quick! Move the command post!"

"We may have been exposed!"

"Once it is safe, thoroughly investigate all personnel in the division headquarters! Don't leave anyone behind!"

Like Ogisu Rippei, he couldn't think of any other reason except that there were spies or traitors within the organization.

"Also, try to contact the troops as much as possible and order them to retreat on both wings immediately!"

Iwata Takahiko immediately responded: "Yi!"

(End of this chapter)