Sword: Heart of Iron

Chapter 170 Nakajima Imao: You are abusing prisoners of war!
16th Division Command Post.

Nakajima Imao was furious when he heard the artillery fire outside. He turned to look at the staff officer beside him and said, "Baka!"

"Where is our field artillery regiment?"

"Why don't you fight back?!"

The reprimanded staff officer shrank his neck, speechless, not knowing what to say.

The family knows their own affairs.

Even if the field artillery regiment could lock onto the target, it would not gain any advantage in the artillery battle.

As a Type A standing division, the 75th Division's field artillery regiment was mainly equipped with Type 75 mm mountain guns and Type mm field guns.

And a small number of Type 105 mm field cannons.

The 16th Division originally fought in Nanjing and was affiliated with the Central China Front Army.

But I don’t know what the local staff was thinking. After the Battle of Xuzhou began, it ordered the 16th Division to arrive in Dalian by sea.

It was forcibly given to the North China Front Army.

In order to shorten the transfer time and engage in battle as soon as possible, the several Type 92 cannons assigned to them were all left in Nanjing.

The current field artillery regiment only has some 75mm mountain guns to support it.

In terms of strategic suppression power, it is far weaker than the heavy artillery cluster of the garrison.

Nakajima Imao: "Order! All regiments in the city step up their defenses, move the tank squadrons forward to the main streets, and quickly establish a mobile defense line!"

"All infantry battalions outside the city should immediately withdraw their defense lines toward the county town and encircle the Chinese army!"

At this point, the war did not develop as expected, so he had no choice but to take a gamble and forcibly weave an encirclement.

The staff officer bowed: "Hai!"

Nakajima Imao clenched his fists until his fingertips turned white, and a deep feeling of powerlessness surged in his heart.

The enemy was far superior to us in both artillery and number of troops.

He is also extremely good at night combat.

Completely different from other Chinese armies!
In Nanjing, an infantry regiment was able to defeat a division within ten hours.

But in Dangshan, a regiment sent out could not even make a wave. It took at least two regiments working together to consolidate one line of defense.

It looks pretty impressive too.

It is considered normal for two regiments of 8,000 people to be able to withstand the attack of more than 10,000 people.

But the 16th Division only has four regiments!

If he could handle it, he would not have retreated the defense line and led the enemy to the city of Dangshan.

He could still tell the difference between defending the county town and not fighting in the county town.

------

Inside Dangshan City.

"Rush across the street! Rush across the street!" Hua Dechang yelled at the top of his voice.

A grenade exploded at the base of the wall, the house shook violently, and sand fell from the ceiling, choking people's throats.

"Cough, cough, cough!"

Hua Dechang coughed twice and looked at the city defense layout map spread on the ground.

In front of the Sixth Battalion was a river that meandered into the city. It was only thirty meters wide, but due to the construction of a dam, the riverbed was at a large drop from the ground level.

The Japanese army blew up the stone bridge above, so if you want to reach the other side, you can only wade across.

"How deep is the river?"

“More than three meters!”

Hua Dechang couldn't help but swear: "Fuck it!"

"Why would you repair the river in the city if you have nothing better to do?"

"Battalion Commander, how do we fight now?" the deputy battalion commander asked with his head tilted.

Hua Dechang thought for a moment and said, "Contact the 4th Column to see if they can find a weak point in the defense line and build a bridgehead on the other side of the river. We can then provide support from here!"

The deputy battalion commander scratched his head and said, "I don't think it's that troublesome. Just call for support from the artillery battalion, slowly advance the barrage, and then the infantry and artillery will cooperate and push forward."

Hua Dechang raised his eyebrows: "Well, we should prepare for both situations. We still need to notify the brother troops."

When he entered the military academy, the Battle of Chihe had just ended.

The troops were still very poor. With a force of 75 to 105 people, they had only a dozen mm mountain cannons, and even fewer mm cannons.

If you want to call for support, you have to wait in line.

In contrast, now each column has two artillery battalions and twenty-four 75mm guns.

The artillery troops were even richer.

The infantry artillery was even decentralized to the battalion level and became the front-line support firepower.

Outside the building.

The soldiers assembled the infantry gun and slowly withdrew from the transfer port:
"Distance 500 yards, shooting angle 15 degrees!"

"One high-explosive round! Ready!"

"put!"

"boom--!"

The gunner pulled the fuse, a grenade flew out of the barrel, and the infantry gun was knocked back.

"Damn, that's powerful!"

"Hurry, keep hitting me!"

The lieutenant covered his ears and looked up at the target. A ball of fire rose in the darkness.

I don’t know how many Japanese were killed in the explosion, but it’s okay as long as we hit them!
"Correct all parameters, fire a high-explosive bomb!"

"preparation--!"

"put!"

The artillery team continued to fire, providing fire support for the infantry crossing the river.

"Sir, the ammunition is gone!" The loader kicked the empty wooden box and turned to look at the second lieutenant behind the bunker.

"Why hasn't the artillery moved yet?"

"do not know!"

"Now how to do?"

"Why are you in such a hurry? The enemy's machine guns can't reach here. Get behind the bunker first!"

"Go to the battalion headquarters and ask for another batch of shells."

The lieutenant lit a cigarette and gave orders quickly.

"I should have brought more shells with me!" The loader scratched his head and muttered softly.

Second Lieutenant: "With our limited number of people, we can only carry two boxes at most."

The loader smiled and came over: "Brother, I want to go to the artillery platoon, do you think it's possible?"

The second lieutenant raised his eyebrows: "Go to the artillery column? The first column can't keep you?"

The loader scratched his head and said, "The artillery column is full of towed heavy artillery. I dream of touching one."

The lieutenant handed over a Victory brand cigarette: "Then you have to apply to a military academy!"

"Go to Changzhi Military Academy and take the artillery exam!"

The loader nodded, thinking.

While the two were talking, several 150mm grenades streaked across the night sky and landed behind the Japanese positions on the other side of the river.

In an instant, the earth shook, houses trembled, and the smoke and dust raised by the explosion swept across the entire defense line.

The explosive power of a 150mm grenade far exceeds that of a 105mm grenade. With the point where the shell landed as the center, the internal organs of all the Japanese soldiers within a radius of thirty meters had ruptured, and they did not even have time to struggle.

There is still a risk of internal organ damage within a hundred meters, and the coverage range of the splashing shrapnel reaches two hundred meters. The powerful shock wave can cause temporary deafness to soldiers within five hundred meters.

In order not to affect friendly forces, the artillery crew deliberately moved the landing point of the artillery backwards to avoid accidental injuries as much as possible.

Listening to the rumbling thunder coming from afar, the second lieutenant stuck his head out and said, "Now that you mention it, I want to transfer to the artillery corps, too."

The loader was stunned.

"kill!"

"Charge forward! Support our brother troops!"

"quick!"

A group of soldiers crouched down, holding rifles in one hand, and passed by quickly.

The second lieutenant glanced at the armband—it was a soldier from the 4th Column!

"Brother, which unit are you from?" A lieutenant ran over and asked.

Second Lieutenant: "From the Sixth Battalion of the First Column!"

"You guys want to go across the river?"

The lieutenant nodded and said, "Our superiors asked our company to come and support you. What's the situation at the front?"

The second lieutenant took a puff of his cigarette and said, "The artillery's fire support has arrived, and our battalion is crossing the river!"

The lieutenant responded and quickly caught up with the team.

Soon, several soldiers brought two boxes of shells.

The second lieutenant clapped his hands: "Hurry up and continue to fight the Japs!"

"boom--!"

The infantry artillery, which had been silent for a long time, opened fire again, filling the gap in artillery support.

"kill!"

"Charge! Charge!"

"Kill the devils! Don't let them get away!"

The officer in charge of commanding the attack shouted, and launched another attack on the Japanese position with the help of fierce artillery suppression.

The river water was dyed red with blood, and floating corpses could be seen everywhere, drifting downstream with the current.

"This is the fourth attack. Do we need to continue fighting?" a captain shouted.

The officer's reply was decisive: "Fight!"

"An order has come from above. If we fight one kilometer after crossing the river, we will find the Japanese divisional command post!"

"Even if the whole battalion is wiped out, we must fight to the other side of the river!"

The captain reloaded his ammunition while shouting, "Okay! I'll lead my brothers to charge again!"

After filling the magazine, he stepped forward and kicked half a beam into the river - this was the "river crossing tool" that the engineering platoon found after searching all the nearby houses. Half a piece of bloody military uniform cloth was still stuck on the jagged wood stump.

The other soldiers followed suit and kicked the remaining five or six beams into the river.

Then he dived down, grabbed the driftwood, and splashed in the icy cold water.

"Cover! Cover!" the officer on the shore shouted, his eyes red with anxiety.

There is really no other way but to cross the river in this way.

The Japanese army not only blew up the only stone bridge, but also implemented the tactic of clearing the countryside, leaving nothing behind except bricks, stones and rubble.

Dozens of soldiers began to cross the river. The Japanese troops on the other side also reacted and used several Type 92 heavy machine guns to weave a crossfire. The bullets hit the water surface and splashed a continuous white line.

"Da da da--!"

The captain of the company spat out a mouthful of river water mixed with mud and sand, and looked up at the Japanese position.

As soon as several heavy machine guns opened fire, they were hit by grenade launchers and infantry artillery and could not raise their heads. They could only rely on sporadic return fire with rifles.

"Hurry! We're already halfway there!" he shouted, trying to encourage the soldiers around him.

Originally, there were at least seven or eight soldiers on a piece of driftwood, but now, just after half of it was on the log, there were only five left.

Nearly half of them were killed directly!
Fortunately, the cover from the rear was very strong. The Changzhi Type 1938 heavy machine gun, with its excellent firepower sustainability, completely crushed the Type heavy machine gun in medium and short-range confrontations.

The skilled artillerymen behind him took advantage of the gaps in firepower and used high-explosive bombs to blow up the sandbag fortifications on the opposite bank.

After successfully reaching the other side of the river, the captain looked at the remaining twenty or so soldiers around him and said, "Build defenses and cover the brothers crossing the river!"

Reaching the other side of the river is only the first step.

The embankments along the river directly raised the Japanese positions, and there was a drop of at least several dozen meters from the bottom of the valley.

The captain was about to raise his gun to fire back when a bullet hit his left lung. Feeling the pain of the wound, the "damn little devil" fell to the ground and tried to cover the bloody eye with his hand, but found that it was all in vain.

As he lay dying, the captain muttered:

"My mother and I are unfilial for not killing two more devils"

"Grenade!"

The remaining soldiers relied on the bomb craters to build a squad-level defense circle to stabilize the temporary bridgehead.

Our own troops were too close, so the artillery column stopped bombing. Six Type 75 mm field guns were pushed out and began to extend the barrage to support the infantry attack.

--------

The telegraph machine in the command post was beeping, and Nakajima Imao was completely distracted. He made phone calls one after another, but either the phone lines were broken and there was no response, or people said they could not hold on any longer and requested support.

"idiot!"

Nakajima Imao clenched the microphone tightly until his fingertips turned white. The angry curses on his lips were drowned out by the sound of the explosion. The staff officer had to get very close to him to hear clearly what he said.

"Sir, Lieutenant Noda is reporting in!"

Nakajima Imago immediately walked to the door.

A burly young officer stood outside the door: "General!"

“Yo! You are worthy of being a fifth-degree kendo master!” Nakajima’s eyes swept across the sword on the other’s waist—the hilt of the sword was wrapped with a scarlet ribbon symbolizing “killing a hundred men”.

"Why hasn't Mr. Mukai come yet?" Nakajima Imao glanced outside and found that only Noda Takeshi was there.

The staff officer explained: "Lieutenant Mukai was killed by a shell!"

Nakajima Imao felt a little regretful: "Baga! Damn Chinese!"

“A waste of imperial talent”

"Noda-kun, where is your unit?"

The reason for calling these two people over is very simple. Anyone with a discerning eye can see that this battle cannot be fought any longer.

The battle situation completely collapsed.

The Chinese used grenade after grenade to completely shatter his dream of stubbornly stopping the enemy and gaining honor, and he had to start planning a breakout.

Noda Takeshi and Mukai Toshiaki were the young officers he admired the most. With the rank of squad leader and a small team under their command, they were just right for breaking out of the encirclement under the cover of night.

"There is no time to lose, let's act as soon as possible!" Nakajima Imao couldn't wait and urged again and again.

Noda Yi bowed: "Hai!"

Nakajima Imao: "Give orders to all the regiments in the city to organize their own breakouts!"

The staff officer ran away quickly.

Breaking out and evacuating now is indeed the wisest choice.

------

Wang Feng blinked and switched his consciousness to the real world.

Zhao Fangyuan: "Sir, the First Column is advancing too fast and has lost touch with the troops behind us!"

Wang Feng: "The sooner the better. This is the effect we want. It's like a sharp knife stabbing directly into the enemy's heart, leaving them leaderless!"

In fact, he had already discovered the headquarters of the 16th Division, but did not adopt the usual tactics of precision artillery bombing.

Ultimately, street fighting was too difficult.

It seemed that the breakthrough was very fast and they were about to reach the Japanese division commander, but this was only an isolated phenomenon.

In addition to the 1st Column, the 4th and 6th Columns were still fighting the Japanese on the edge of the county town.

The Sixth Column concentrated its main forces to attack the school and fought an extremely stalemate with the enemy. The Fourth Column was stuck in a stalemate at the train station. The 75mm field artillery battalions directly under each column were all nailed to the main attack direction. The two sides fought back and forth.

Although we won more than we lost and the battle line was advancing bit by bit, at this rate the street fighting would last at least ten days or half a month.

Besides, destroying the Japanese command post would be of no avail.

The 16th Division fought stubbornly and was like a trapped beast under heavy encirclement. Even without the headquarters, it would not collapse in a short time.

The resistance will become more intense.

What Wang Feng wanted was not to completely annihilate the 16th Division, but to control Dangshan County and restore railway traffic.

The cost of confronting the Type A Division head-on is too high.

Besides, the 16th Division had a large number of reinforcements behind it, and he couldn't put all his forces into Dangshan.

Zhao Fangyuan: "The 60th Army has arrived at Yongcheng and is currently attacking the Japanese outer defenses."

Wang Feng: "That's right! Tell Yu Xuezhong that now that we have reinforcements, we can hold out for at least another half a month!"

Zhao Fangyuan frowned: "With the strength of the Seventh and Eighth Columns, I'm afraid they can't hold on."

Wang Feng slammed his fist on the table: "You have to fight!"

"After taking Dangshan, the troops will rest for a day. The Sixth Column will stay where it is, while the First and Fourth Columns will advance to the northwest to quickly recapture Heze!"

Zhao Fangyuan saluted: "Yes!"

After saying this, Wang Feng switched his consciousness to a bird's-eye view.

Under the cover of the division guards and Noda's squad, Nakajima Imago advanced stealthily towards the north gate.

"The Chinese soldiers are catching up!"

Noda Takeshi clenched the family heirloom sword and said in a deep voice.

Nakajima Imao hid in a corner and took out his Type 13 Nambu pistol: "There are Chinese ahead too, we are surrounded!"

Noda Takeshi comforted him: "General, I will stop the pursuers from behind, and the guard team will cover you to break out from the front!"

Nakajima Imao responded, “Yoshi!”

"boom--!"

A grenade landed beside him, and the violent shock wave carried shrapnel and vibrated in all directions.

Nakajima Imao was unable to dodge and was knocked to the ground.

Noda Takeshi was shocked and immediately stepped forward to support him: "General! General!"

The staff officer was extremely anxious: "Help Mr. Nakajima up first, and be quick!"

Nakajima Imago bared his teeth and said, "My legs! My legs!"

The staff officer glanced sideways and immediately felt disappointed.

I saw that Nakajima Imao's left leg had been blown into a bloody mess, with shrapnel piercing into the flesh. This level of injury could only be treated in a professional field hospital, as battlefield first aid alone could not be used to treat it.

Fortunately, what exploded just now was a grenade from a grenade launcher. If it was a 75mm artillery shell, he would have been dead by now.

"Da da da--!"

The gunshots from the front and back were getting closer. The staff officer could understand Chinese and knew what the soldiers were shouting.

"The devil officer is right there!"

"We caught a big fish, hurry up brothers!"

"Don't let the devils get away!"

The staff officer couldn't wait any longer: "Noda-kun, please organize a breakout quickly!"

At this critical moment of life and death, he didn't care about his military rank. As a non-commissioned officer, he used honorifics directly to Noda Takeshi, who was still a second lieutenant.

"Grenade!"

Hua Dechang personally went to the front line and took command of the battle.

"Rush over!"

The makeshift defense line was simply unable to withstand the Sixth Battalion.

The indirect fire from the grenade launcher just tore through the Japanese defense line, and the infantry maintained their formation and rushed up quickly.

Several guards had just lifted up Nakajima Imao, but before he could walk out of the alley, Hua Dechang led his troops to attack him.

"Go on the bayonet!"

When enemies meet, they are extremely jealous of each other.

In a fight in an alley, it is not appropriate to use a gun, hand-to-hand combat is the best choice.

Noda Tsuyoshi became interested and drew out the family heirloom sword from his waist. A cold light flashed and the scarlet ribbon fluttered left and right.

"Onboard!"

"kill!"

The two sides met in a narrow alley.

Although Noda Takeshi was short in stature, he was very strong and he took down a soldier in just a few moves.

Blood splattered everywhere and blood dripped from the tip of the knife.

"kill!"

Noda Takeshi was indeed very brave, but the soldiers of the 1st Column were not to be trifled with either. They stepped over the corpses of their brothers and moved forward with no fear on their faces.

Two fists are no match for four hands. More and more soldiers poured into the alley, and the Japanese soldiers who resisted stubbornly fell one after another.

The staff officer was curled up in the corner, with several holes on his back, and he was already dead.

Noda Takeshi cursed: "Baka!"

In a flash, a bayonet was extended. He quickly dodged it and immediately fought back.

Blood spurted onto the brick wall along the grooves of the sword guard, and the wounded soldier blocked his blade with his ribs.

"Fuck! Hurry up and kill that son of a bitch!"

The soldier next to him was quick-witted and took the opportunity to stab Noda Takeshi's left kidney with a bayonet.

"what!"

Noda Takeshi's spine hit the bluestone slab, and he let out a series of painful wail.

The family heirloom sword fell to the ground, and the soldiers rushed forward and stabbed his bayonets into his body.

At this point, the Japanese officer who made a living by slaughtering civilians and killing people for fun was nailed to the brick wall in a strange posture.

Nakajima Imao fell to the ground and struggled, trying to pull out his gun to commit suicide, but a soldier acted quickly and inserted a bayonet into his shoulder blade.

"I'm a prisoner of war!"

"I'm a prisoner of war!"

Nakajima Imago endured the pain and screamed in panic.

Hua Dechang walked up to him and hit him on the back of the head with the butt of his rifle: "What the hell is this old devil saying? Why don't you just stop it?"

Nakajima Imao covered his head and said, "You are abusing the prisoners!"

Seeing that the other party was still not honest, Hua Dechang became a little impatient: "Come two soldiers, cover his mouth and carry him to the headquarters."

"Don't kill me!"

"I'm coming! I'm coming!"

The soldier next to him couldn't wait any longer, so he stepped forward quickly and pulled out a piece of yellowed rag.

Hua Dechang understood what he meant, took a step back, turned around and started playing with the pistol.

This piece was soaked with sweat and urine - a folk remedy for protecting against gas bombs during street fighting.

The soldier roughly stuffed the diaper into Nakajima Imao's mouth. After smelling the fishy smell, he tried desperately to spit it out.

"be honest!"

"do not move!"

The soldier frowned, widened his eyes, and slapped him.

The crisp sound echoed in the alley, and the soldiers watching wished they could do it themselves.

Another soldier stepped on Nakajima Imao's left leg and rolled it hard twice.

"Humph"

Nakajima Imao said nothing, but just stared at the two soldiers with his eyes wide open.

"Where are you looking at your mother?"

"If you look again, I'll pluck out your eyes!"

The soldiers cursed loudly. In their opinion, it would not be an exaggeration to shoot such a Japanese officer on the spot.

Hua Dechang coughed twice and turned around: "Hurry up! Carry him out quickly!"

The two soldiers responded in unison: "Yes!"

(End of this chapter)