The War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression Begins in Songhu

Chapter 398 Bloody Battle at Kunlun Pass (Two Chapters Combined)

When the sound of gunfire finally subsided, Colonel Sakata Genichi, the highest-ranking Japanese commander at Kunlun Pass, disregarded his own disheveled and utterly humiliated state.

He emerged from an anti-artillery hole on the main position, spitting out mouthfuls of mud and sand.

After the shelling had made my ears ring, I could faintly hear some tin whistles being blown with all my might.

He immediately picked up the binoculars hanging around his neck and, using the faint starlight in the night sky, looked towards the direction of the enemy's starting position in front of his own position.

So what happened? Not a single thread was seen.

A few seconds later, Colonel Sakata Genichi realized something: Oh no! The telescope lenses were now covered in dirt; it would be a miracle if he could even see anything.

He lifted his sleeve and quickly wiped the lenses.

Colonel Sakata Genichi looked across the other side through his binoculars again, and this time he not only saw something, but he saw it quite clearly.

At that moment, he didn't know which side fired a flare into the sky. Under the pale light, he saw that the starting position on the opposite side was densely packed with people.

A rough estimate suggests there could be two to three thousand people.

The steel helmets they wore and the bayonets on their rifles or large knives they held reflected the cold gleam of steel under the light of the flares, exuding an indescribable aura of death.

Colonel Sakata Genichi witnessed all of this and was immediately filled with immense fear.

After a great jolt, he shouted at the top of his lungs, "Come out! Everyone come out and prepare for battle! The Northern Jiangsu Independent Regiment is about to attack!"

Under such an order, the Japanese soldiers, looking as if they had been pulled out of the ground, staggered towards the firing points on the trenches with blank and fearful expressions.

The scenes above seem somewhat familiar at first glance, don't they?

Of course it looked familiar, because in the past, the Japanese would rely on their overwhelming artillery firepower and bombard the positions guarded by Hu Biao and his men before each attack.

After each shelling, Hu Biao and his men would shout and urge their brothers to quickly set up defenses.

In this situation, the two sides have simply switched positions, so it naturally looks quite familiar.

However, this familiar situation is not yet completely over.

Just as the Japanese soldiers had set up their weapons at their trench firing positions, pointing them outwards, the sky began to whistle with the dense blast of artillery shells streaking across the heavens.

Therefore, Hu Biao and his men had no intention of attacking at all; it was just a feint to lure the Japanese soldiers out of their bunkers before bombing them again.

This can be considered as using a little trick that the Japanese often used in their past battles against them.

Unfortunately, this was one of their usual tricks, and Sakata Genichi and his men were completely unprepared, immediately suffering a great loss.

At this moment, in addition to the 12 150mm heavy guns of the Fifth Army resuming fire on the position, other 75mm mountain guns and 76.2mm howitzers also joined the bombardment.

The firepower that erupted instantly was much stronger than before.

Under such exceptionally fierce and unexpected artillery fire, the Japanese soldiers on the position immediately suffered heavy losses.

One Japanese soldier after another was knocked down like wooden stakes by the shrapnel from the explosion, or blown away like toy dolls by the blast wave.

However, what pained Sakata Genichi the most and was the most heartbreaking thing was the loss of the Type 92 heavy machine gun on the position, a core defensive firepower.

Faced with the sudden artillery barrage, these heavy objects were simply not able to be moved quickly.

When he saw the already limited number of Type 92 heavy machine guns being blown to pieces by artillery fire, Sakata Genichi felt as if his heart was being torn apart.

I have a clear understanding of Hu Biao and other Nationalist troops during defensive battles.

Faced with their superior artillery fire, how frustrating it was to resist and hold one's ground.

All of the above can only be described as the cycle of karma and the inevitable retribution! After being suppressed for so long, Hu Biao and his gang can finally have their moment of satisfaction.

Finally, after the second round of shelling lasted for another five minutes, it finally came to a complete halt.

Instead, several flares were fired into the sky by mortars, illuminating most of the battlefield as if it were daytime.

The raising of these flares is also a signal of a formal attack.

Under such a signal, the Fourth and Fifth Battalions of the Northern Jiangsu Independent Regiment, along with a regiment from the 200th Division, were added, bringing the total to more than 2,300 men.

They launched an assault on the main position from multiple directions, organized into company-sized units.

There were no feints or tentative attacks; it was a full-scale offensive from the very beginning...

After jumping into a trench with seven or eight brothers, Mo Shuiyan first used his submachine gun to knock down a Japanese soldier who was charging at him with a bayonet.

Then, facing a corner a dozen meters away, he used Japanese language—a language that was difficult to pronounce but quite sincere—to identify the Japanese soldiers hiding by their movements.

He shouted: "Hand in hand and don't kill."

So, could it be that during this operation, a large number of friendly forces from the Fifth Army were present, and even a large number of people from the press were also involved?

Hu Biao and his cronies have finally learned to rein themselves in?

They abandoned their previous practice of not taking any Japanese prisoners in battle, believing that only the dead were good Japanese soldiers.

So as not to be criticized in the newspapers by some old-fashioned, feudal Confucian scholars for killing prisoners of war, which they considered an ominous act.

Of course not. Hu Biao and his gang are like tough nut to crack; they wouldn't care about such insults.

The real reason Mo Shuiyan shouted that was, frankly speaking, that he still had the idea of ​​taking a chance and seeing if he could lure out the Japanese soldiers hiding around the corner.

Then, naturally, a burst of bullets was fired, turning them into sieves.

As for whether such an action would make the dignified Northern Jiangsu Independent Regiment seem like it doesn't keep its word, that's a really bad question.

Just kidding! Those Japanese devils aren't even human, so there's no need to talk to them about rules.

Even if these Japanese soldiers don't fall for it, it doesn't really matter.

As Mo Shuiyan shouted "Surrender and you will not be killed" in Japanese, one of the more quick-witted brothers was already reaching for a wooden-handled grenade hanging from his waist.

This was a plan to pull the pin on a grenade if the enemy didn't come out, using the recoil from the trench wall to kill the Japanese soldiers.
To Mo Shuiyan and his companions' surprise, the surrender appeal had only been out for a second or two.

A Japanese soldier appeared from around the corner and rushed towards them at lightning speed.

That alone wouldn't be a big deal, but the key point is that this guy is holding several small melon grenades that have already been pulled open and are smoking.

It was as if he was using himself as a human bomb, wanting to die together with them.

Fortunately, Mo Shuiyan, a seasoned transmigrator, not only had rich combat experience, but also underwent two comprehensive physical enhancements.

Although the evaluation he received from that mysterious being wasn't very high, it was still far superior to that of ordinary people.

He reacted immediately, firing at the Japanese soldier while shouting the word "Down!"

In a very short time, he fired five or six bullets in quick succession, all of which hit the Japanese soldier in the chest, killing him and causing him to fall to the ground about seven or eight meters away.

As the Japanese soldiers pounced on him, Mo Shuiyan also lay down on the ground and used his hands to protect his head; then everything else was up to luck.

As it turns out, Mo Shuiyan was quite lucky today.

Because of the way the Japanese soldier fell to the ground, all the melon grenades he was holding were pressed under his body.

When the grenade exploded, his body was blown to pieces, but he also successfully absorbed most of the shockwave and flying fragments.

So even though Mo Shuiyan and the others were only seven or eight meters away, apart from being a little dizzy from the shock, they weren't hit by any shrapnel.

However, after getting up from the ground, Mo Shuiyan had a fairly good understanding of the Japanese soldiers.

Shaking his dizzy head, he couldn't help but mutter, "Human bombs? How can these Japanese soldiers from the 5th Division be so fearless..."

As the battle progressed, the same feeling arose in the hearts of the other transmigrators as Mo Shuiyan felt.

At the command to "grenade," two of AT's six men, along with him, continued firing, using their submachine guns to suppress the enemy's firepower.

The remaining four men, armed with rifles, each pulled out a wooden-handled grenade, cocked it, and threw it towards a trench about twenty meters away. Unfortunately, their aim was questionable; only two grenades successfully landed in the trench.

Fortunately, the explosive force of the two grenades caused serious casualties to the Japanese soldiers who were firing in the trench, especially destroying a key Type 96 light machine gun.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, AT and his men rushed forward and jumped into this section of the trench.

AT's face was filled with indescribable excitement as he jumped into the trench.

Once the remaining Japanese soldiers in the trenches are cleared out, the trench will be considered captured; and although the Japanese have built numerous trenches and fortifications at the main position of Kunlun Pass, at this rate, it won't be long before they capture it.

Therefore, they don't need to take Kunlun Pass before dawn; they might be able to finish it by midnight and then have a midnight snack.

Even though he knew that given the current battlefield conditions, there wouldn't be any proper late-night snacks to eat.

But what you eat isn't important; what matters is the sense of accomplishment. Just thinking about it gets me excited.

But after jumping into the trench, the AT fired a habitual shot at the Japanese soldier who had just been blown to the ground but wasn't quite dead yet.

Suddenly, amidst a chorus of pig-like screams, twenty or thirty Japanese soldiers burst out from the corners on either side of this trench.

More than half of them had bandages haphazardly wrapped around their bodies, and the bandages were still seeping blood; they were clearly wounded.

Apart from the dozen or so men at the very front, who were carrying Type 38 rifles with bayonets, the rest of the men only had some sharpened bamboo sticks in their hands.

Even if the Japanese call this thing a bamboo spear, it still means that it is just a bamboo stick. They don't even have a proper weapon right now.

It seems that the airdrop that messed up for the Japanese has really screwed them over.

However, the madness in the eyes of these Japanese soldiers immediately put AT on high alert, making him realize the seriousness of the situation.

He and his six brothers immediately opened fire on the Japanese soldiers. After quickly running out of submachine gun ammunition, they drew their pistols and fired, emptying their magazines in a very short time.

However, among the seven of them, there were only three submachine guns, which were not fully loaded at the moment.

In addition, the Japanese troops were in very dense formations, so it often took several bullets to take down one of them.

After the AT pistol magazines were emptied, there were still 7 Japanese soldiers on the left and 8 Japanese soldiers on the right, for a total of 15 Japanese soldiers who survived.

One of the Japanese soldiers, leading the charge, was about to pierce them with his long bamboo spear.

What to do? Hand-to-hand combat!

However, AT quickly made a division of labor: "You on the right, I'll take the left," preparing to hold off seven Japanese soldiers each, in order to minimize casualties among his brothers.

Of course! He dared to divide the work in this way because he had some confidence in it.

As a seasoned transmigrator, the "Eight Blades of Breaking Edge" technique has long been mastered through practice and combat.

As he spoke, AT threw the pistol he had emptied its magazine at the ground.

Seeing the Japanese soldier about to stab him with a bamboo spear, he instinctively slowed his pace and tilted his head to the left, making a subconscious dodge.

By the time the Japanese soldiers realized what was happening, the AT had already advanced instead of retreating to meet them.

During the process, he grabbed the large sword on his back with his right hand, drew it out, and slashed out like lightning; amidst the splattering blood, a deep wound was cleaved open on the face of the Japanese soldier in front of him, who immediately screamed and fell down.

AT continued charging forward without stopping.

With a flick of his wrist, he swung the knife again, easily severing the tip of another bamboo spear that was thrusting at him, as easily as cutting sugarcane.

The hand-to-hand combat above was completely resolved within a minute.

The main reason was that after about twenty or thirty seconds of fighting, a squad of brothers rushed into the trenches, and with their help, they completely wiped out the Japanese soldiers.

Of the six brothers who originally fought alongside AT, two are now dead, one is seriously injured, and even AT himself was stabbed twice in the chest with a bamboo spear and swung at the head.

The initial blow to the head was alright; thanks to the protection of my M35 helmet, I was only dizzy for a moment before feeling fine again.

The key was those two blows to the chest; the Japanese soldier must have used every ounce of strength he had at that moment.

Even with the protection of the DIY bulletproof plate, AT still felt a sharp pain in his chest and started coughing like a tractor.

I should say it! I haven't coughed like this in a long time, and he actually felt quite comfortable with it.

After he finished coughing, a huge question arose in his mind: "Could it be that the Japanese soldiers of the 5th Division really have such a strong fighting spirit? That doesn't make sense."

His doubts were dispelled when he saw a Japanese corporal who had been stabbed and was lying on the ground, not quite dead yet; he had signs of rapid breathing, high body temperature, and dilated pupils. Suddenly, he understood why.

These weren't the Japanese soldiers from the 5th Division; their fighting spirit was even stronger.

It was only because he took that "Marching Pill" stuff, maybe even a double dose, that he had such a fearless drug reaction.

Damn it! Eating so much at once, aren't they afraid of killing themselves?

So here's the question: facing these Japanese soldiers who are now fearless after taking double doses of drugs, will Hu Biao and his men be able to achieve their goal of capturing Kunlun Pass tonight?

Of course! Perhaps they suffered a small loss at the beginning of the war due to a momentary lapse in attention.

However, after realizing that something was wrong with these Japanese soldiers, the time travelers leading the group immediately changed their original tactics without prior agreement.

After switching from a relentless, aggressive approach to a more methodical and steady one, the Japanese army's final frenzy became a joke...

"P0, P0, this is P1, coordinates YE320, 175, altitude 239 meters, requesting a round of fire coverage, over."

Hu Biao shouted at the top of his lungs at a portable radio that he had captured during the battle with the Japanese at Gaofeng Pass.

About a hundred meters ahead of them was a cleverly constructed small position of the Japanese, in which two light machine guns formed a crossfire, blocking the limited lines of attack.

In addition, there were Japanese soldiers carrying explosive packs or grenades who would occasionally rush out and detonate themselves.

If Hu Biao were to lead his men in a fierce charge, it's not impossible to capture such a position, but the casualties might be heavy, and it would also waste a considerable amount of time.

Thus, the scene described above, which is quite common in later films, appears as a call for artillery support.

The numbers P0 and P1 were simply the code names of the artillery positions on Jieshou Mountain, and also the names of Hu Biao and his fellow transmigrator commanders.

It allows them to communicate quickly and easily.

The coordinate YE32, 175 is a value calculated by Hu Biao using a compass and methods such as 'intersection and convergence'.

The old-fashioned artillery observer techniques like 'rendezvous and positioning' were also learned by Hu Biao through watching videos and studying materials in the modern dimension.

In addition, he also followed Lao Tai, a veteran reconnaissance soldier from the PLA 14th Army, and studied with him for a while.

Therefore, the coordinates that Hu Biao has calculated may not be very accurate, but they should not be too far off.

The key is that if the shot misses, we can simply use the radio to contact the artillery unit, adjust the coordinates, and then fire another round.

The ten 75mm mountain guns that were hastily pulled up were equipped with two basic loads of ammunition, which was more than enough.

In response to Hu Biao's call, a confirmation voice quickly came through the radio: "P1, this is P0, coordinates YE320, 175, altitude 239 meters, requesting a round of fire coverage, end."

After a pause of about ten seconds, and without hearing any feedback from Hu Biao pointing out the error, the artillery positions on Jieshou Mountain got busy.

Five of the mountain guns, based on the coordinates provided by Hu Biao, quickly adjusted their muzzle angles and fired simultaneously, each firing three rapid-fire shots.

Surprisingly, Hu Biao's coordinate calculations this time were actually quite accurate.

Most of the 15 75mm shells landed on the position a hundred meters or so ahead.

The Japanese soldiers, who were engaged in a firefight with Hu Biao and his men, had no time to react and suffered horrific casualties under the barrage of artillery fire.

In the end, Hu Biao and his men captured the position easily without much effort.

On this dilapidated position, after reloading the empty magazines, Hu Biao called out in a relaxed tone:
"Brothers, keep up with me..."

(End of this chapter)