Bright Sword: The Flowers of War

Chapter 194 The Rout of the 20th Division

Whether it was Ushijima Sanetsugu's bad luck or John's good luck, they originally planned to cut off the Japanese army when it was halfway across, but by sheer coincidence, they ended up blocking Ushijima Sanetsugu's command post.

Although John had no idea he had caught a big fish, looking at the convoy of dozens of trucks and cars led by the sedan, he knew without a doubt that it was a major target for the Japanese.

Without the slightest hesitation, the armored soldiers fired machine guns at the fleeing Japanese soldiers while driving their massive Sherman tanks in a rampage.

A speeding Sherman tank showed no intention of slowing down; its heavy steel tracks, with unparalleled force, rolled over the waist of a Japanese soldier who was trying to crawl away.

"Crack—Pfft!" A tooth-grinding sound of bones breaking mixed with the muffled thud of organs being squeezed and burst, clearly audible.

The soldier's body was instantly crushed in two. His upper body still had his eyes wide open in terror, and his mouth was opening and closing silently, as if he wanted to let out a final scream. However, blood mixed with broken internal organs had already gushed out of his mouth and nose, forming a pool of thick, foul-smelling, dark red blood.

His lower body was completely deformed, his pelvis shattered, and his legs twisted at a bizarre angle, mingling indistinguishably with the mud and blood. The tracks left only a deep, blood-soaked rut after he had been crushed.

In the distance, a group of Japanese soldiers, under the command of a second lieutenant, attempted to organize a makeshift defensive line. They set up Type 92 heavy machine guns and fired futilely at the tanks, but the 7.7mm bullets struck the Sherman's thick armor, only scattering weak sparks and failing to leave even a scratch.

"Target: the Japanese monkeys' machine gun position! Roll over it!"

John's Sherman was the first to charge forward, and the 12.7mm Browning heavy machine gun on the turret fired wildly, sending the Japanese troops on the position flying.

The soldiers of a heavy machine gun squad didn't even have a chance to react before they were torn to pieces by a hail of bullets.

Subsequently, a 75mm high-explosive shell accurately hit this small group of Japanese troops who were trying to assemble for a counterattack.

The orange-red fireball suddenly expanded, and the violent shockwave of the explosion tore them apart and flung them away like leaves in a storm.

A Japanese soldier was thrown into the air by the shockwave. His body tumbled and twisted unnaturally in the air. One of his arms was severed at the shoulder, the cut was a bloody mess, and the white bone fragments were clearly visible. Blood gushed out like a fountain.

He fell heavily onto the muddy ground more than ten meters away, twitched a few times and then stopped moving. Only his severed arm remained, lying forlornly near the center of the explosion, its fingers slightly curled, as if trying to grasp something.

The other soldier next to him was in an even worse state. He appeared to have had half his face ripped off by shrapnel from the explosion, his forehead and chin a bloody mess. One eyeball was missing, leaving a dark eye socket, while the other eye bulged out in terror, with a thick liquid mixed with blood and brain matter constantly seeping from the wound.

He frantically groped his face with both hands, letting out a wild, desperate howl that pierced through the roar of artillery fire, sending chills down one's spine.

Even his military uniform was ignited by the explosion, and the flames greedily devoured his body. Soon, he became a human torch, writhing in agony on the ground, and the stench of burning flesh filled the air.

The Japanese army was completely routed.

The soldiers abandoned their helmets and armor, running around like headless flies, wishing they had two more legs.

Some desperate soldiers even tried to attack the tanks with bamboo poles strapped with cluster grenades, but they were often riddled with bullets by the tanks' machine guns before they could get close, futilely setting off bursts of smoke and fire.

The entire battlefield turned into a chaotic slaughterhouse. John's tank battalion moved with impunity, ruthlessly cutting through and ravaging the marching column of the Japanese 20th Division, turning their retreat into a disastrous rout.

Thick smoke billowed, flames soared into the sky, and the air was filled with the pungent smell of gunpowder, blood, and diesel fuel.

John crawled out of the turret, revealing half his body, and raised his binoculars, the lenses reflecting slightly in the smoke-filled air.

In the field of vision, the land looked as if it had been turned over by a giant plow, with burning vehicle wreckage, scattered weapons, and Japanese soldiers' corpses in various poses everywhere.

Some of the corpses remained in the posture of struggling before death, some with their arms outstretched to the sky as if silently accusing others; others were curled up in a ball, trying to protect their vulnerable abdomens, but were still mercilessly torn apart.

In the distance, several infantrymen following the tank were using their Garand rifles and Thompson submachine guns to finish off the still slightly twitching "corpses." Short bursts of fire rose and fell, each shot signifying the complete end of a tormented soul.

"Second Company of Tank Battalion... Advance 300 yards eastward and clear out any remaining resistance. Infantry, quickly inspect the destroyed trucks to see if there is any intelligence or supplies worth salvaging."

The 3rd Company of the Tank Battalion, maintain vigilance, watch the flanks, and prevent any stragglers from launching a surprise attack from the side.

John's voice came through the communicator; even in the chaos of the battlefield, he tried his best to remain calm.

While John was coldly directing the tank battalion to clear the battlefield, the remnants of the Japanese 20th Division, who had survived the first wave of attacks and temporarily escaped death, were experiencing hellish despair and chaos.

Their once-proud command system is now shattered, like porcelain broken by a boulder.

Even Ushijima Sanetsune, the division commander, was in no better shape. His car had been abandoned, and his bodyguards had been separated from him.

His face was covered in black gunpowder smoke and bloodstains of unknown origin. One of his ears was ringing from the explosion, making him almost unable to hear anything.

He blankly supported Chief of Staff Kinemura Hisazo, whose left arm was broken and bleeding profusely, as they staggered and tried to evade the pursuit of those steel monsters.

Having lost too much blood, Kichimura Kyuzo was already becoming delirious, uttering weak groans and his face as pale as paper.

"Kimura-kun... hang in there... Kimura-kun!" Ushijima Minoru called out hoarsely, but Kimura Hisazo's eyes were already starting to glaze over.

"Military doctor... military doctor..."

He looked around, trying to find any officer or doctor who could give orders.

However, all he could see was chaos and death. He saw a second lieutenant, like a madman, waving his sword and shouting "Assault! His Majesty the Emperor!" in an empty direction, before being riddled with bullets and turned into mincemeat.

(End of this chapter)