Sword: Heart of Iron

Chapter 125 The Final Offensive

July 2th night.

Along the Fei River.

Large-scale war broke out again.

Wang Feng suddenly became wealthy and became a local rich man.

34 Type mountain cannons were lined up in a row, frantically pouring ammunition towards the south bank of the Fei River.

Fortunately, artillery training has never been neglected, otherwise with so many additional artillery pieces suddenly appearing, it would be difficult to operate them all.

The 59th Army volunteered to serve as the vanguard.

Wang Feng simply fulfilled their wish.

The 59th Army was placed in the front to undertake the main attack mission, and the 51st Army feinted an attack on the right wing to attract the firepower of the Japanese army.

The two corps under his command raided the left wing of the Japanese army.

The order in which you launch your attacks is very important.

The Japanese army was attacked from both sides.

Although there was only the 31st Army on the south bank of Wohe River.

But it has three divisions under its jurisdiction.

In terms of scale and combat effectiveness, it is not inferior to the 59th and 51st Armies combined.

In order to tire out the Japanese troops in the encirclement, Wang Feng ordered the 31st Army to launch the attack half an hour in advance.

The remaining troops waited until the main force of the Japanese army was attracted before launching a general attack.

Little did they know that this would completely disrupt the Japanese army's breakout plan.

Ogisu Rippei was pacing back and forth anxiously in the command post.

"Tell me the truth, Nakano-kun. How many soldiers are still able to continue fighting?"

Nakano Takusuke looked embarrassed: "Sir, the pre-war statistics just now showed less than 6,000."

Less than six thousand people!
Ogisu Ritsuhei's heart skipped a beat; this number far exceeded his expectations.

Being able to continue fighting is different from being a wounded soldier.

This statistical range is already quite loose.

In order to mobilize as many combat forces as possible, even soldiers with bullets through their thighs, who walked with a limp, or soldiers with injured shoulder blades, who could not hold their rifles straight, were counted.'

Even if it can play a small role, it is a good thing.

It's better than lying in a trench and waiting to die.

In the past, these wounded soldiers would be removed from combat and transferred to field hospitals in the rear for treatment.

But the situation is very bad now.

All four field hospitals of the 18th Division were destroyed by the enemy.

The three field hospitals under his own division also suffered unknown artillery attacks.

There was simply no place to accommodate all these wounded soldiers, let alone doctors, and even a few bundles of hemostatic bandages were scarce.

The seriously injured soldiers were directly sentenced to death.

The condition of the lightly wounded soldiers is also critical. Without effective treatment, their injuries gradually worsen, and they are at great risk of blood loss, shock, infection and inflammation.

Ogisu Rippei had a blank expression on his face, pretending to be calm: "Organize to meet the enemy immediately and fill the gap in the front line!"

"No matter what, we must survive tonight!"

The enemy took the initiative and is now in a passive position. The situation is stronger than the enemy, and he has no right to decide whether to attack or defend.

Takusuke Nakano walked out of the command post and passed on the order reluctantly.

The 13th Division's supply military district is in Sendai.

Each wing has its own sub-military region.

For example, the 65th Regiment recruited soldiers in Aizuwakamatsu, and the 116th Regiment recruited soldiers in Shibata.

Most of the soldiers in a squadron are from the same hometown, and they are closely related by geography and blood.

Abandonment of companions rarely occurs.

After the order is issued.

The soldiers who still had intact limbs immediately carried their injured companions and rushed to the battlefield.

It doesn’t matter if your leg is injured, you can still shoot if you are thrown in the trench.

It doesn’t matter if my arm is injured, my legs are still fine and I can act as a messenger.

Those soldiers whose limbs were all injured and who could not even stand up took grenades in advance and lay in the trenches, waiting to die together with the enemy soldiers.

After being trapped, the Japanese soldiers who were brainwashed by the spirit of Bushido had their brutality completely aroused.

Since you're going to die anyway, you might as well die heroically.

North bank of the Fei River.

Wang Feng narrowed his eyes and smiled disdainfully.

Through the three-dimensional combat map, he has a clear understanding of the movements of the Japanese army.

A strong will is valuable, but it is insignificant in the face of steel and gunpowder.

These dirty tricks used by the Japanese soldiers would indeed cause considerable trouble to our own army if we were caught off guard.

But now that we have seen it, how can we give the Japanese army this opportunity?

"Zhao Fangyuan!"

"To!"

Wang Feng: "Tell all troops to throw a round of grenades before attacking the Japanese positions. After ensuring that there is no risk of error, advance forward!"

Zhao Fangyuan saluted: "Yes!"

Then he turned around and quickly left the command post.

Wang Feng felt that just doing this was still a little unreliable.

After thinking for a while, he walked to the table and picked up the phone: "Hello! Mountain Artillery Battalion!"

Beep!
After a short busy tone, Zheng Zhenzhong's voice came from the other end of the phone, mixed with bursts of gunfire: "Sir! I'm Zheng Zhenzhong! Please give me your instructions!"

Wang Feng shouted into the microphone: "Xu Jin Danmu! Xu Jin Danmu!"

"Concentrate all the artillery shells and fire them all at the Japanese frontline positions! Assist the infantry in advancing!"

"Don't save the shells. They're all gone. I'll replenish them for you!"

Other domestic armies, especially local armies, seized several artillery pieces and treated them as if they were their ancestors. They would never use them unless it was absolutely necessary.

The reason is also very simple.

No matter how big the caliber of the artillery is, it is a rare item and it depends purely on luck to seize it.

Artillery shells are consumables, one less shell is left after each fire.

So this operation is understandable.

Put yourself in Wang Feng's shoes. When he was playing games in his previous life, he would rather hold the skill to death than release it casually when he encountered a skill with a long CD.

But now that he has an arsenal under his command, he can speak with confidence.

If they are all used up, we can just rebuild them. Artillery is difficult to produce, but it is not a big problem to make a few tons of shells first.

On the other end of the phone, Zheng Zhenzhong nodded: "Understood!"

"I'll notify them right away!"

Five minutes after hanging up the phone.

The situation on the battlefield changed instantly.

Inside the Japanese frontline position, brilliant flames engulfed everything around. As the smoke dissipated, broken limbs and arms slowly fell from the air.

The samurai spirit of fighting to the death and refusing to retreat was completely shattered in the moment of the gunpowder explosion.

After a series of bonuses, the quality of artillery has been rising rapidly.

The most intuitive thing is that the proficiency in loading shells has been improved and the firing rate has been greatly increased.

In combat, a higher rate of fire can ensure that more shells are poured into the target area in a short period of time, forming powerful fire suppression.

Another point is that technical soldiers have a higher accuracy rate when measuring coordinates.

This is particularly important.

Without a calculator, all coordinate calculations had to be done manually by technical soldiers on scrap paper.

As long as we are human, we will make mistakes sometimes.

A small error on paper will result in the impact point of the shell being off by at least a hundred meters after it is fired.

Towards the direction of the First Red Flag Corps.

On the river beach.

Waves surged up, the wooden boats docked at the shore, the soldiers quickly jumped off and fired at the Japanese positions not far away.

Behind him, engineers carried sandbags on their shoulders and built temporary shelters.

"Quick! Shoot!"

"Don't wait any longer, move forward!"

Under the powerful artillery suppression, only sporadic gunfire was heard from the Japanese positions.

Flares dispelled the darkness, and the soldiers who successfully crossed the river fired as they walked, rushing towards the Japanese positions.

(Flare effects in Modern Warfare.)
The First Red Flag Corps was equipped with a small number of domestically produced Type 24 rifles.

This rifle is very well designed and gives it an advantage when engaging in medium-range shooting with the Japanese soldiers.

The magazine has a capacity of ten rounds, which is exactly twice as much as the five-round magazine of the Type 38 rifle.

It is detachable, and the advantages are more obvious.

After the Japanese soldiers emptied the magazine, they had to push the bullets in one by one. But our soldiers didn't have to worry about that. They just unloaded the magazine and took out a ready-made one from their pockets to put it in.

The firepower sustainability is greatly enhanced.

The rotary bolt has a shorter stroke and a faster rate of fire. It is no exaggeration to say that five soldiers armed with Type 24 rifles can suppress a Japanese Type 99 light machine gun at medium and close distances.

"assault!"

"Grenades! Throw them all in!"

"Be careful, the Japs are sneaking around!"

Wang Feng sat alone in the command post, seemingly resting with his eyes closed, but in fact he was overlooking the entire battlefield through a three-dimensional combat map.

The various troops were progressing very smoothly. If I had to describe it in one word, it would be overwhelming.

Just a few thousand Japanese soldiers were completely unable to struggle when surrounded by tens of thousands of troops.

At first glance, the defense line was full of holes.

The Japanese army had no reserve troops left and could not hold out at all. They could only retreat, trying to fill the gaps in their defense line by shortening the width of the battlefield.

But as soon as this trend emerged, Wang Feng keenly noticed it.

He picked up the phone and called Zhang Hu's headquarters.

After a short busy tone.

Zhang Hu's hearty laughter came from the other end of the phone: "Sir! My troops are unstoppable. The enemy's defense is more fragile than window paper. We don't even need to poke it. We can just blow it and it will break!"

Wang Feng said angrily, "Stop showing off!"

"I'm telling you, the Japanese army is going to shrink their defenses now, do you understand? Immediately mobilize elite troops to penetrate and disrupt the formation, don't give the devils this opportunity!"

Hearing that it was a serious matter, Zhang Hu immediately became serious: "If I understand, I will go right away!"

Wang Feng hung up the phone and the perspective switched to the bird's-eye view again.

Don’t blame Zhang Hu for bragging, the First Red Flag Corps did fight well.

The original mission was to launch a secondary attack and support the 59th Army on the flank.

But as the fight went on, things gradually changed.

Xu Jin's barrage requires very high coordination between infantry and artillery.

General Zheng Zhenzhong fired most of his artillery shells at his own two corps.

This is not partiality.

Although the 59th Army was powerful, it was still a little lacking. The infantry under it had never carried out this kind of tactics and could not adapt to it for a while.

As for the 51st Army, it was also difficult for it to cooperate with such a difficult tactic.

The Northeast Army was once glorious, and had all kinds of heavy weapons such as artillery.

However, the nature of the organization is still that big warlords are trapping small warlords, and the quality of the soldiers is uneven.

In the end, the 1st Red Flag Corps and the 1st Reserve Corps were forced to go from secondary attack to main attack.

Push the front line to the front of the 59th Army.

13th Division Command Post.

Ogisu Rippei sat on a chair, looking dejected: "Mr. Nakano, it's time to prepare to sacrifice yourself for the Emperor."

He took the official sword from the sword holder and put it on his waist neatly.

There were several medals hanging on his chest, all of which were polished to a shine, reflecting a dazzling light under the bright lights from the ceiling.

Generally, medals are kept in boxes and are rarely taken out and worn except on formal occasions.

Nakano Takusuke's face froze, as if he understood something, and hesitantly said, "Sir, as long as we can successfully shrink the front line, we still have hope of resisting."

Ogisu Rippei smiled miserably: "Pull back the defense line. What's the situation now?"

Nakano Takusuke lowered his head and remained silent.

The situation is far worse than imagined.

Less than five minutes after the General Staff issued the order to retreat across the board, a Chinese army of a thousand men passed through the gap and circled behind their own side.

Divide and surround!

The other enemy troops followed suit as if they had received orders collectively.

The battlefield now is no longer connected.

Our own troops were divided and surrounded, like a chain of islands in the ocean.

bits and pieces
Seeing Nakano Takusuke's appearance, Ogisu Rippei sighed.

When the battle situation no longer develops according to the commander's will, there is no need to continue resisting.

Swish!
Ogisu Rippei drew out his general's sword, and his sudden action startled Nakano Takusuke.

"Your Mightiness."

"Stop insisting"

Ogisu Rippei was furious and yelled, "Baka!"

"Look at your timid appearance. You are really bringing shame to the imperial soldiers!"

Takusuke Nakano wanted to speak up to explain, but he had no idea what to say.

In order not to affect Ogisu Rikihei's command of the operation, some of the news sent to the General Staff were suppressed by him.

A mood of despair spread among the army, and the hope of survival was completely extinguished.

The unstoppable record on the battlefields of Beijing and Shanghai is in stark contrast to the current situation.

Some of the lower-level officers, unable to bear such a huge psychological gap, have committed suicide on a large scale.

In the most serious case, hundreds of soldiers from the entire squadron, at the call of their officers, sat together and shot themselves at the same time.
Ogisu Rippei stood up, took out a piece of cotton cloth and slowly wiped the blade.

The intention of this action was very obvious. Takusuke Nakano wanted to step forward to stop it, but was scared away by Ogisu Rikuhei's eyes.

"Nakano-kun, I hope you and I won't become a disgrace to the Imperial Army!"

As soon as he finished speaking, a hint of cruelty flashed in Ogisu Ribei's eyes. He threw away the knife in his hand, turned around to face the east, sat cross-legged on the ground, and pointed the tip of the knife at himself.

puff!
He took a deep breath, exerted force with his arms, and a muffled sound was heard.

The veins on Ogisu Rippei's neck bulged. He endured the pain, gripped the handle of the knife tightly, and stirred it back and forth in his stomach.

Blood flowed slowly down the thigh, and a strong smell of blood filled the air.

Committing suicide by disembowelment was a tradition among Japanese soldiers, but it did not mean just killing oneself casually like this.

There are many taboos and many rules to follow.

But this is a battlefield, so keep it simple.

Ogisu Rikuhei's eyes widened as he fell to the ground. In his last moments, he had only one thought in his mind: "Why did I lose?"

Seeing the division commander commit suicide by disembowelment in front of him, Nakano Takusuke's head buzzed.

For a moment, he didn't know whether to continue commanding the battle or to be loyal to the Emperor together with Ogisu Tachibe.

After three or four seconds, Takusuke Nakano recovered, turned around and quickly left the command post, and issued the last order to the troops that could still be contacted.

【Break with honor! 】

He then called the entire staff of officers to a meeting in a temporary conference room.

Takusuke Nakano sat in the first seat, with a portrait of Emperor Hirohito hanging behind him.

"Imperial soldiers must not die at the hands of the Chinese!"

At his call, all the staff officers, like crazy, committed suicide by shooting themselves in front of the emperor's portrait.

Takusuke Nakano watched everything in front of him with a cold face.

Then he took out the Type 14 Nambu pistol from his waist, cocked the bolt, closed his eyes and put the pistol in his mouth.

Snapped!
A gunshot rang out, and blood and flesh flew upward, crashing onto the portrait of the Emperor.

at the same time.

After receiving the "die with honor" order, the troops under his command immediately switched to offensive mode and launched a counterattack against the oncoming Chinese army.

18th Division, Tank Regiment.

The tank soldiers got out of their vehicles one after another and set up racks on the spot to dry their wet clothes, just like camping in the wild.

After waiting for a long time, news finally came from the Central China Expeditionary Force.

A soldier wearing a tank cap came running over: "Sir, a telegram from the Nanjing Headquarters!"

The wing commander sat on the tank turret, with a glimmer of anticipation in his eyes: "Show me now!"

The tank soldier stepped on the track with one foot and held the handle with the other to pass the telegram up.

The captain took it immediately, and after just one look, his heart sank to the bottom of the valley.

Abandoned?

The message of the telegram was simple.

Just one sentence.

[Immediately launch an attack on the Chinese troops on the north bank of the Fei River to rescue the besieged troops.]

The wing commander was dejected.

Are you kidding me?
Although they had many tanks, they were extremely lacking in infantry support and fuel was in short supply.

Still fighting in a quagmire, we are at a complete disadvantage.

But the military order was given and he had to obey.

"Assemble! Prepare for battle!"

After the platoon leader yelled, he got into his command vehicle.

hum!
The engines of dozens of tanks restarted, and the roar even startled the birds on the other side of the river.

The platoon leader was in the commander's cabin, looking at the fuel gauge which was almost reaching the bottom.

Can we really defeat the enemy with just this little bit of fuel?
(End of this chapter)