The War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression Begins in Songhu

Chapter 299 The Second Battalion Commander's Italian Cannon (Bonus Chapter for Stropez's 10,000 Yuan Reward)
Time: September 27th, a little after 9 a.m.

Location: On the side of a dirt road near Zhangzhuang in the southern part of Pingding County.

Then a voice came from beside him: "Second Battalion Commander, the Japanese troops have already passed Nandu Village, and they will be here in half an hour at most."

Old Yu, who had been lazily lying on a hillside away from the road, basking in the sun with a blade of grass in his mouth, suddenly perked up.

Since he was assigned to this area, he has maintained good relations with the local people.

An hour ago, I received a message rushed by a fellow villager:
This morning, he saw a small Japanese unit depart from Pingding County, escorting a batch of supplies, seemingly heading to the neighboring Xiyang County.

Presumably, it was transported to Taiyuan City via the Xiyang County train station.

At that time, Lao Yu had an idea and hurriedly led his Second Battalion to this place to see the situation before making a decision.

If circumstances allow, we should take a chance. After all, after splitting up the troops for half a month, the Second Battalion, which originally had only 69 men, now has 179 men, which is the size of a reinforced company.

Everything else is fine, except for the severe lack of weapons.

They still only had forty-odd rifles, the strongest of which was an MG34 general-purpose machine gun. The rest were swords, spears, and homemade guns. It was a time when they urgently needed to replenish their weapons with proper equipment.

If the Japanese are too strong, then so be it. At worst, we can just do nothing and let them pass.

With this in mind, Lao Yu shouted at the top of his lungs: "Listen up, everyone! From now on, according to the battle plan, hide properly in the bushes!"

No one is allowed to fire without my order.

Do not make any noise. Even if you are wounded when the Japanese open fire on the bushes, bite your lip and do not make a sound.

That was the Japanese reconnaissance fire; they didn't actually discover you.

At Lao Yu's shout, the recruits, who had only trained for a maximum of half a month, all nodded in agreement.

Then, according to the battle plan, they either hid in the roadside where the grass and bushes were completely withered and yellow, but at least still waist-high.

Alternatively, one could lie prone on the mounds on either side of the road, holding a rifle.

Seeing this, Lao Yu nodded in satisfaction.

Indeed! These newly recruited farm boys in the Second Battalion, although mostly illiterate, were also generally quite thin and weak due to long-term malnutrition.

However, they are all hardworking and have excellent obedience; as long as they are fed well for a period of time and properly trained, they will all be outstanding.

Then, he still looked at his deputy, the warehouse manager, with some unease.

He asked with concern, "Warehouse manager, are you up to the task?"

Although the opponent was a veteran of the PLA and had experienced a real battle in Fanjiazhang Village before, that battle was too short and ended before it even began.

Compared to today's ambush, this was truly a fierce battle.

"What are you saying? A man can't say he can't."

Upon hearing this, the warehouse manager responded in this way, looking slightly nervous, but overall he seemed alright.

Seeing this, Lao Yu had no choice but to put aside his worries.

Following the pre-arranged ambush tactics, we moved closer to the roadside and lay in ambush with the other recruits...

Twenty-six minutes later, the Japanese transport convoy appeared before everyone. After seeing the full picture of the Japanese transport convoy, Lao Yu hesitated, unsure whether to take action.

Should we get started? I'm a little unsure.

Because this Japanese transport team was quite strong, with thirty or forty regular Japanese soldiers and another sixty or seventy puppet troops, totaling about a hundred men.

In comparison, the Second Battalion had a greater advantage in troop strength.

But apart from him, the warehouse manager, a veteran of our party, and two surrendered puppet soldiers, everyone else was just an ordinary civilian more than half a month ago.

Even if a real fight broke out, Lao Yu himself wasn't sure how he would perform.

But if he didn't fight, he was quite unwilling.

They were escorting about twenty large trucks, all loaded with large sacks of what looked like newly harvested wheat. There was also a car leading the way, towing what appeared to be a 75mm field gun.

Putting aside the wheat, which the dead-end area desperately needs, the weapons these people have, especially that field gun, are something he's really envious of.

You should know that apart from the anti-tank gun at Taierzhuang, the Northern Jiangsu Independent Regiment has never had any proper artillery.

Another reason is that these Japanese soldiers and their collaborators are currently quite careless.

While waiting, Lao Yu had some strong worries. He was concerned that if the Japanese soldiers sent out scouts to conduct thorough searches along the roadside, or even opened fire to reconnoiter the area, his new recruits might run into trouble.

So what happened? They walked right through without any warning, showing none of the legendary qualities they were supposed to have.

If Lao Yu doesn't give them a taste of their own medicine, he'll feel like he's missing out.

With this in mind, Lao Yu made a decision: Let's do it.

He reached into his waist with his right hand, pulled out that strange Leica camera, carefully turned off the flash, and took a group photo of the Japanese soldiers from a distance.

To be honest, he wasn't sure if this approach would bring bad luck to the Japanese.

But it's just something I did on the side anyway, what if it comes in handy?
******
The subsequent battle revealed that this Leica camera was truly cursed; Colonel Yaezo Akashiba, the commander of the 10th Infantry Regiment of the Japanese army at Taierzhuang, might very well have been cursed to death by this very camera.

After the Japanese troops had deployed a long transport convoy and fully entered the ambush zone.

As Lao Yu pulled hard on one of the ropes in his hand, he shouted, "Do it!"

At one end of the rope were three anti-personnel mines that the Second Battalion had just received from the Zhangjiayu Arsenal last week, and this time they were using them all without sparing any cost.

As Lao Yu pulled, the three anti-personnel mines, spaced ten meters apart, exploded almost simultaneously.

A large number of rusty iron pieces, nails, stones, and other debris were thrown at the transport team.

The unsuspecting Japanese soldiers and their collaborators were immediately in trouble.

The flying debris, while not fatal, left them completely stunned, and this was just the beginning.

Because at the moment Lao Yu shouted "Make a move!", apart from the high ground on both sides of the road.

The warehouse manager and his men fired desperately with over forty long guns.

The key was the 130 or so new recruits lying in ambush by the roadside, each of them holding a 'Zhangjiayu-made wooden-handled grenade' that they always carried in their hands, which was also the only one they had.

He pulled the fuse and threw it at the transport team.

As soon as the continuous explosions stopped, they followed their second battalion commander, brandishing broadswords, spears, and other cold weapons, and charged straight up.

This was also the tactic Lao Yu and his men devised for this ambush: after throwing the grenades, they would rush up and start hand-to-hand combat while the Japanese soldiers were stunned by the explosions. It was quite simple.

This tactic may be simple, but it is extremely effective.

Under the force of the explosions of three anti-personnel mines and more than a hundred wooden-handled grenades, half of the Japanese soldiers in the column immediately fell down, and the remaining half were almost all wounded, their faces filled with indescribable panic.

The driver of the lead car was immediately killed by an MG34 general-purpose machine gun, blocking the narrow dirt road.

Seeing that the road was blocked, the accompanying puppet troops became even more outrageous. Seeing so many people rushing towards them, they immediately threw down their rifles and raised their hands high.

Suddenly, on this dirt road, a scene unfolded where seven or eight, or even more, new recruits surrounded and attacked a Japanese soldier.

In their panic, the Japanese soldiers would often have just taken down one soldier when, as they were loading their rifles, another soldier would rush up and slash him to the ground.

Or perhaps it was a Japanese soldier who had unloaded his bullets and fiercely charged forward with his bayonet.

He then discovered that several longer spears were thrusting at him repeatedly, and his bayonet could not reach his opponents at all; before long, he was stabbed to the ground.

The battle was so easy that it took Old Yu, who led the charge, to kill a Japanese lieutenant with his "Eight-Strike Breaking Blade".

After looking around, he realized that he couldn't find another opponent on the entire battlefield.

Of course, completing the ambush so easily was a great thing, and just as he was about to shout, "Leave one Japanese soldier alive so I can get some intelligence from him,"

Suddenly, a chill ran down my spine, and I felt a tremendous sense of crisis.

He turned his head quickly and was horrified to see that, about twenty meters away, one of the Japanese soldiers who had been blown up earlier was struggling to sit up and was holding a gun, about to pull the trigger on him.

Then, a shot rang out.

The warehouse manager, who was only a little over 200 meters away, fired a shot from his Mauser G98 rifle and killed the Japanese soldier first.

"Thanks, warehouse manager! Good marksmanship." After shouting a thank you to the warehouse manager in the distance, Old Yu walked up to the cannon.

Upon seeing the string of Italian words on the gun barrel, Lao Yu couldn't help but shout, "Hey! It's an Italian gun! From now on, our Second Battalion will all have Italian guns!"

After I finished shouting, I didn't know what I did wrong; something just felt off...

(End of this chapter)