The War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression Begins in Songhu

Chapter 363 is only half-finished (bonus chapter 2950 for the emergence of the Color Master)

When a gunshot rang out in the distance, Colonel Watanabe, the regimental commander beside him, fell straight to the ground like a wooden stake.

Then, while dragging the poor regimental commander away in a hasty retreat, he touched the tip of the nose and discovered that the guy was completely dead.

Captain Isao Iguchi felt as if the sky had fallen.

In fact, Iguchi Isao was not the only Japanese soldier who felt like the sky was falling.

More accurately, every single Japanese officer from the Watanabe Regiment's First Battalion present looked as if his father had died as he crouched and retreated.

Because of the strict hierarchy in the Japanese army, the death of a regimental commander was often considered a serious incident; all the officers present would be suspected and distrusted by their superiors in the future.

The reputation of the entire team will be greatly affected as a result.

Even the officers and soldiers of their entire regiment suffer from discrimination and exclusion in the island nation's society, to the point that their lives are severely affected.

So after retreating 30 or 40 meters in a sorry state, they hid behind a small mound of earth; the officers, thinking of the serious consequences of this matter, were filled with anger and despair.

Finally, Major Hisashi, the commander of the First Battalion, roared out an order in a fit of rage:
"The First Battalion will immediately launch a full-scale attack, slaughter all these defenders, and avenge the regimental commander."

Upon hearing this order, the other Japanese officers perked up as if they had grasped a lifeline.

Because as long as the murderers are eliminated with swift and decisive action, they will still be unable to escape punishment.

But in the end, it's still much better than doing nothing at all.

In the meantime, the First Battalion launched an attack on Gaofeng Pass without waiting for Watanabe's reinforcements to arrive.

Two Type 92 infantry guns and more than a dozen Type 92 heavy machine guns fired wildly, as if they had no shortage of ammunition, providing long-range fire support for the attacking troops.

In addition to deploying half a company of troops to each of the two hilltop positions on the left and right flanks to contain them.

The remaining three infantry companies, totaling more than 500 Japanese soldiers, led by their battalion commander Major Hisashi, fiercely charged toward the main position at Gaofeng Pass.

It's a strategy of taking the position in a single attack at all costs.

Shortly after the battle began, Major Hisaishi couldn't help but feel a sense of relief and excitement.

The main problem was that during their attack, there was absolutely no reaction on the position; it was only when the troops crossed the open ground and rushed up the hillside that there was a reaction on the main position.

Instead of firing at them, more than a hundred people suddenly appeared on the position, holding up large stones or logs and throwing them down.

Even though the main position is located on a hilltop, at an altitude of over 400 meters.

These large rocks, after being thrown down, continued to roll along the mountainside at increasing speed; the force they carried was astonishing, and anyone who was hit by them would at least suffer broken bones, so their destructive power was actually quite considerable.

But frankly, this thing is just logs and rolling stones, a ridiculous and ancient tactic used only in the era of cold weapons when defending a city.

Such a move suggests that the defending troops on the position are probably running out of bullets; therefore, this battle should be easier than they imagined.

As his warriors continued to advance, Major Hisaishi became increasingly certain of the above speculations.

Because it wasn't until the warriors at the forefront had reached within two hundred meters of the first line of defense that sporadic gunfire began to ring out from the position.

Their advance was so easy until they reached the first trench on the position, and only then, upon seeing the trenches ahead, did they realize something was amiss…

*****…

The reason why the Japanese soldiers were dumbfounded and stood at the edge of the trench.

Specifically, we need to rewind time by one minute because of an order from Old Ma.

At that moment, Old Ma glanced at the Japanese soldiers who had rushed within 30 meters and were about to charge at him, and immediately shouted, "Grenade!"

As he spoke, he pulled the pin on a wooden-handled grenade, swung his arm in a wide arc, and smashed it out with force.

At the same time, under his command, more than thirty wooden-handled grenades were thrown out one after another, exploding in bursts of fire in front of the position.

This slowed the Japanese soldiers' advance, and their formation became noticeably chaotic.

However, under these circumstances, Old Ma did not lead his company of men on the position to seize the opportunity to open fire and inflict greater casualties on the Japanese. Instead, he raised his voice again and continued shouting:

"Retreat, retreat immediately, retreat to the second line of defense, and remember to take the wounded brothers and stools with you."

After shouting, this guy with the look and demeanor of a mountain bandit jumped down from a simple bench, carrying a Hotchkiss M1922 light machine gun in one hand and a bench in the other.

Taking the lead, they charged into a trench leading to the second-line positions.

The others followed suit, and soon all the people on the front line were withdrawn.

When Major Hisaishi and his group of Japanese soldiers rushed to the front and back of the trench, they discovered that the trench in front of them was an astonishing two meters deep.

At 1.7 meters tall, which is considered very tall, even if they jumped, they couldn't fire at the defenders on the second line of defense, which was dozens of meters away.

Another point is that this trench is not only deep, but also quite wide, reaching seven or eight meters in width.

Given the terrain, which prevented them from taking a running start, the Japanese soldiers were unable to jump across the trenches and pursue the retreating defenders.

In short, upon seeing such a trench, they instinctively sensed that something was wrong.

However, the consequences of the killing of Regiment Commander Watanabe were far too severe.

Seeing that the defending troops were about to retreat along the trenches to the second line of defense to reorganize their defenses, Major Kuki gritted his teeth and shouted:
"Jump in, chase them down along the trenches, and kill them all."

And so, under Major Hisaishi's orders, the Japanese soldiers jumped into the trenches like dumplings being dropped into boiling water, intending to advance along the communication trenches to the second line of defense...

A few minutes later, he poked his body out from the other end of the trench and quickly emptied his pistol magazine.

After estimating that there should be quite a few Japanese soldiers crammed into each trench, Hu Biao shouted at the top of his lungs:
"Silent one, blind man, lead everyone to take action."

At such an order, Lao Yu, Xiao Henan, and many others either pressed an old-fashioned detonator or pulled a rope attached to the fuse of a wooden-handled grenade.

Immediately, violent explosions occurred in every communication trench leading to the second-line trenches.

The Japanese soldiers, who were crammed into a narrow area and launching a fierce attack on the second-line positions, immediately suffered a terrible blow; at least a company, two hundred Japanese soldiers, were wiped out in such a violent explosion.

He was brandishing a Mauser pistol and loudly urging his soldiers to rush forward and stab these Nationalist Army Major Hisaishi to death.

A bundle of grenades was buried right next to him, and the grenades were covered with stones; when the violent explosion occurred, his whole body was smashed to pieces by the dense stones.

None of the wounds were fatal, but the sheer number of wounds piled up together caused this guy to die from the excruciating pain.

Besides him, several other Japanese squad leaders and company commanders also died in this wave of attacks.

Who told them to try to lessen the responsibility for Watanabe's death by setting an example and leading their men in a charge?

As a result, this action naturally led them straight into the trap set by Hu Biao and his men.

That's right! These are the tactics that Hu Biao and his team prepared.

First, they eliminated the Japanese commander, forcing the remaining Japanese troops to launch a fierce attack immediately.

The unique depth and structure of the trenches, besides preventing the Japanese from utilizing them, also allowed them to be concentrated in narrow communication trenches, giving them the opportunity to launch a fierce attack.

The previous tactics of throwing stones, reducing the density of defensive firepower, and hastily withdrawing were all just bluffing tactics.

The Japanese soldiers, eager for revenge, fell into the trap and lost so many men in one fell swoop, not to mention those who were killed by falling objects or being shot while feinting an attack along the hillside.

Of the more than 500 Japanese soldiers who launched the attack on the main position, more than half have now been lost.

With the deaths of many officers, including Major Hisaishi, the remaining Japanese soldiers, realizing they had fallen into a trap, could not withstand the onslaught, no matter how ferocious they were.

His eyes were filled with fear, and he clearly had a desire to retreat.

What they didn't know was that Hu Biao and his men had only completed half of their tactics for this battle; an even greater disaster was yet to come...

(End of this chapter)