Bright Sword: The Flowers of War

Chapter 227 Attack
As the spring breeze sweeps across the land, Shanxi in February has begun to emerge from the cold winter, and spring has arrived once again.

A muffled roar echoed in the sky, and a strangely shaped, grass-green airplane emerged from the clouds.

At first glance, the plane looked as if it had two fuselages and three heads, with an extremely strange appearance. It looked like a demon with two bodies.

This aircraft is the F-4 long-range reconnaissance aircraft, a modified P-38 fighter jet, which is used by the Shanxi militia.

At this moment, the plane was flying over a place dozens of miles east of Guoxian County, which was also the place where the Japanese army and the Shanxi militia had been fighting for more than a year, with both sides deploying a large number of troops here.

More than a year of standoff and "peace" has not brought this land back to life.

On the contrary, it was transformed by the Japanese army into a ferocious, ugly defensive position resembling a centipede lurking on the earth.

Zhu Jin piloted the somewhat bulky and menacing-looking reconnaissance aircraft at a speed of over 200 kilometers per hour at a low altitude of 500 meters, surveying the land beneath his feet as he flew.

Although this was not the first time he had seen the land beneath his feet ravaged by the Japanese army, seeing it again still stirred up his anger.

He opened the internal channel and said, "What a beautiful land, yet it has been ruined like this by the Japanese devils."

Xie Bingchun, the photographer and telegraph operator sitting in the back, also said, "There's nothing we can do. Just like the commander said, what can we do when China is a weak country?"
Weakness is the original sin; the weak will be bullied. What we can do now is to wipe out all the Japanese invaders who have invaded our territory, and then let those little devils taste the bitterness of being invaded.

"The commander-in-chief is indeed the commander-in-chief; his words are so pleasing to the ear... Haha... We are going to fight our way to Tokyo and let those little devils taste the flavor of our Chinese-made bombs."

Okay... I'm going to descend now, be careful while filming.

As he spoke, he pushed the control stick, and the massive aircraft descended from 500 meters, practically flying close to the mountains.

At this moment, on the ground, a defense line stretching for tens of kilometers from Xinxian County eastward to east of Guoxian County is deeply etched on the Loess Plateau.

From a high altitude, this defensive line looks like a deformed, giant centipede with countless legs.

Its main body consists of a network of communication and firing trenches, several meters deep.

These trenches, as dense as a spider web, extended forward in a complex zigzag structure, effectively preventing damage from shell fragments and longitudinal fire.

The inner walls of the trenches were reinforced with thick logs and layers of sandbags, and simple wooden planks were laid in many places to prevent them from becoming muddy in the rain.

Between the trenches and bunkers were more defensive structures.

Layer upon layer of rusty, snake-belly-shaped barbed wire, like steel thorns, wrapped around the earth, covered with sharp barbs.

Between the barbed wire fences lies a meticulously calculated minefield, with countless anti-personnel and anti-tank mines, like the fangs of a viper, silently buried beneath the loose soil, awaiting any life that sets foot here.

The entire defensive line is not a single line. It possesses considerable defensive depth, consisting of forward warning positions, main defensive positions, and reserve positions in the rear, forming a three-in-one, complete defensive system.

The soldiers stationed on this steel defense line were more than 10,000 soldiers from the Japanese 24th Division.

However, more than a year of calm had already rusted away at the soldiers' vigilance.

As a Class B division, the 24th Division's training and defense were not as strict as those of Class A divisions, and the same was true for military discipline. Some things that were strictly prohibited in Class A divisions were often overlooked by the officers here.

Inside an observation post located in the middle of the defensive line, Corporal Tanaka stretched and yawned, squeezing out a few physiological tears from the corner of his eye.

He listlessly scraped the dirt from under his fingernails with his bayonet, his eyes unfocused as he stared at the unchanging, barren yellow earth across the way.

In the trench behind him, several Japanese soldiers were sitting together, engrossed in gambling with a few tattered Hanafuda cards, occasionally letting out suppressed arguments and laughter.

Not far away, a pungent-smelling porridge of mixed grains was cooking over a fire pit. A cook was stirring it idly with a wooden spoon, humming a folk tune from his hometown.

Complacency and apathy spread like a plague along this seemingly impregnable defense line.

In the eyes of the vast majority of Japanese soldiers, the Shanxi militia on the other side had neither the ability nor the courage to attack this defensive line that the Imperial Army had painstakingly built over a year.

Life here may be monotonous, but at least it's safe.

Yes, you heard right, that's what the soldiers of the 24th Division thought.

The reason they were able to have this illusion was because since they moved in here, they had never fought against the Shanxi militia. Even if they had, it was only some sporadic small-scale battles, which led to a distorted understanding of the Shanxi militia.

Of course, not everyone is so lax.

Sergeant Itō, a short but fierce-looking veteran, was patrolling back and forth in the trenches, his heavy military boots treading the ground.

He would occasionally kick the dozing sentries or sternly reprimand the soldiers who were gambling, forcing them to clean their weapons and reinforce their fortifications.

But his efforts seemed utterly inadequate in the face of the pervasive lethargy that defined the entire defensive line.

Behind this defensive line lies its true significance—the Tongpu Railway.

Two cold railway tracks, like two parallel silver threads, run from south to north through the heart of Shanxi.

It was not merely a railway; it was the economic lifeline and military lifeline of the Japanese army in North China. Countless resources plundered from the rear were transported to eastern ports via this railway.

Countless soldiers and military supplies were also continuously transported to various strongholds within Shanxi Province via this railway.

Once the Tongpu Railway is cut off, it will be tantamount to strangling Yoshio Shinotsuka's First Army. The Japanese forces in Shanxi will be completely divided into two parts, east and west, and trapped in a desperate situation of fighting on their own.

This is why the Japanese army spared no expense and invested heavily in building the seemingly impregnable Xinxian-Guoxian defense line.

"Vroom vroom vroom..." Just as Ito was kicking the Japanese soldiers' buttocks hard, a deep engine sound came from the sky.

The Japanese soldiers were no strangers to the sound of airplanes; for more than a year, they had seen Chinese planes reconnoitering them almost every few days. However, Ito was keenly aware that today's planes seemed somewhat different.

"Baka... Why is this Chinese plane flying so low today?"

Ito muttered something.

As they were talking, he noticed that the Chinese plane was flying lower and lower, practically skimming the treetops, clearly conducting reconnaissance.

Enraged, he grabbed a Type 38 rifle from a nearby trench and pulled the trigger at the plane in the sky.

"Bang..."

The clear sound of gunfire echoed through the valley, reverberating continuously.

This shot, of course, wouldn't harm the plane in the sky in the slightest, but it did wake up He Jin and his colleague who were still circling and filming.

The moment the gunshot rang out, he reflexively pulled the control stick, and the massive aircraft tilted nimbly to the right and flew into the sky.

Seeing that he had scared away the plane in the sky with his shot, Ito laughed triumphantly, "Hahaha... Cowardly Chinese, even their planes are so timid."

At that moment, Ito felt as if he were possessed by Amaterasu, the goddess of the sea, and that he could drive away the Chinese plane with just one bullet. No one expected that this would be the last time many people saw a Chinese reconnaissance plane.

Two hours later

In a secret command post five kilometers away from the Japanese positions, Su Yaoyang and Pi Ruoyu were looking through photos that had just been delivered by the reconnaissance squadron.

Pi Ruoyu held up the photos and looked at them for a while before saying, "Sir, look, these are photos we took three months ago, and these are photos we just took today."

The photos show that the positions built by the Japanese army have not changed much in the past six months, indicating that the Japanese have become very complacent.

This shows that our judgment was correct.

Su Yaoyang nodded: "The 24th Division is, after all, a Class B division. You can't compare it to a regular division."

But these good days are likely to end soon. We must severely damage or even wipe out the 24th Division within ten days. Otherwise, once the 20th Division arrives in Shanxi and takes over this defensive line, the situation will not be as easy as it is now.

“Yes.” Pi Ruoyu nodded. “This is also why we are launching this offensive. Now all the troops have begun to assemble. The first and second armored regiments have entered the forward positions. The two artillery regiments, as well as the four infantry regiments and the air force are all ready. As long as we give the order, we can launch a full-scale attack on the Japanese army.”

"it is good!"

Su Yaoyang glanced at the photo in his hand and said, "Then it's settled. The general offensive will be launched at 5 a.m. tomorrow."

"Yes!"

…………

The darkness on the eve of the final offensive was thick and deathly still.

Along the long defensive line of the Japanese 24th Division, all was silent except for a few sporadic murmurs in their sleep and the howling of the cold wind whistling through the barbed wire. They were immersed in the false sense of security woven from complacency and arrogance over the past year, completely unaware that just a few kilometers away in the darkness, more than 20,000 pairs of eyes filled with murderous intent were staring intently at them.

As the clock struck five in the morning, the early sun struggled to peek over the horizon, casting its first faint, cool rays of sunlight onto the defense line stretching all the way to Guoxian County, located east of Xinxian County.

The silence was ripped apart in an instant!

The Shanxi militia artillery positions, which had been silent for more than a year, suddenly erupted with a deafening roar!

There was no warning, no test firing!
Hundreds of large-caliber howitzers, cannons, and heavy mortars roared at the same time! On the artillery positions, clusters and plumes of thick black and white smoke immediately appeared, along with orange-red muzzle flames that were particularly dazzling in the morning light!
"Boom... Boom boom boom boom..."

The dense sound of cannons, like a thunderstorm crashing down from the heavens, instantly enveloped the world!

It was no longer a single cannon shot that could be distinguished, but a continuous, massive roar that was impenetrable!

Countless shells, with their piercing whistles that tore through the air or their muffled roars like passing trains, ripped through the sky, forming a vast net woven from steel and death, and rained down on the Japanese positions!

In just a few seconds!
The main defensive line that the Japanese army was so proud of outside Xinxian City was immediately and completely submerged! Brilliant flashes of light from the explosions, like evil flowers blooming in hell, burst forth wildly on the Japanese positions!

The billowing black and red smoke and the blasted dirt instantly formed a filthy curtain, tens of meters high, that kept rolling and writhing, completely obscuring the rising sun!
Unlike the harassing shelling of the past, today's artillery fire is precise and concentrated, with an intensity and density that is outrageous!

Within the smoke, countless red lights flashed continuously—fireballs generated by exploding shells. The deafening explosions, enough to shatter eardrums, echoed endlessly, like tens of thousands of giant firecrackers simultaneously raging through the Japanese trenches!
The Japanese troops in the trenches were caught off guard by the sudden and intense artillery fire, which felt like a doomsday judgment!

Corporal Tanaka, who was still asleep just a moment ago, didn't even have time to scream before a 155mm howitzer shell exploded on top of the bunker he was in! The terrifying shockwave and high-temperature airflow instantly rushed in, turning him and the other three soldiers in the bunker, along with their bones, flesh, and internal organs, into a shapeless, viscous mess of blood and flesh, which covered the inner walls of the bunker.

In an instant, the already devastated position was further blasted apart, with trenches and ravines cracked! The sturdy concrete bunkers, under the direct hit of heavy artillery, shattered like biscuits struck by a hammer, and the machine gunners and ammunition inside were detonated, turning into a towering ball of flame.

The crisscrossing trenches collapsed continuously amidst the violent explosions, and countless Japanese soldiers who were running or taking cover were buried alive in the loose, scalding mud mixed with shrapnel, dying desperately in darkness and suffocation.

Many more Japanese soldiers truly experienced what it meant to be in hell on earth.

Their eardrums were throbbing painfully from the thunderous roar, and soon, warm blood began to flow from their ear and nose canals. The ground beneath their feet no longer felt solid, but rather like a small boat tossed about on the sea, shaking violently and rapidly, making it impossible for them to stand.

In a relatively intact trench, Sergeant Itō was shouting at the top of his lungs, trying to organize an effective defense, but his voice was instantly swallowed up by the huge explosion, and he couldn't even hear himself anymore.

Right next to him, a young soldier was hit by an 82mm mortar shell that had landed in the trench!

"Pfft!"

Accompanied by a muffled sound.

The soldier's body exploded like a balloon filled with red paint! Blood and flesh flew everywhere, and a leg still wearing a military boot was blown into the air, spinning as it fell and slammed into Ito's helmet.

Broken, still-warm internal organs and intestines, mixed with foul-smelling, bloody mud, poured over Ito like rain!
The visible shockwaves generated by the explosion, like an invisible flood, repeatedly washed over every Japanese soldier in the position!
In the trenches, the surviving Japanese soldiers were all stunned by the bombing.

They huddled in every corner of the trench, crouching low, pressing their bodies tightly against the cold trench walls, and clutching their heads with their arms. No one dared to raise their head, and no one dared to move.

Fear, like the deepest chill, seeped into their very bones.

This extravagant and devastating bombardment lasted for more than an hour.

For people in peacetime, an hour might just be the time it takes to watch an episode of a TV series or have lunch.

But for the Japanese 24th Division on the front lines in Xinxian, that one hour was the longest, most terrifying, and most desperate journey through hell in their lives.

Su Yaoyang's emphasis on artillery demonstrated its unparalleled and overwhelming power at this moment.

Over the past year, he has not only worked hard to develop the air force, but also deeply imprinted the belief of "firepower first" into the construction of the militia.

The militia's two main artillery regiments, equipped with more than 160 American-made M2 ​​105mm howitzers and the M1 155mm cannon known as "Long-Legged Tom," were no pushovers.

These heavy artillery pieces, considered top-of-the-line for their time, possessed astonishing range and destructive power.

In addition, there are numerous 107mm heavy rocket launchers and 82mm mortars directly under the command of each infantry regiment, totaling hundreds of artillery pieces!

In the past hour, these hundreds of artillery pieces, in a frenzied manner regardless of cost, have unleashed nearly 20,000 shells of various types at the Japanese army's defensive line that stretches for tens of kilometers!
On average, more than eight shells, with the whistling of death, crashed onto the Japanese positions every second!

When this terrifying storm of steel finally subsided, everything the 24th Division had been so proud of was gone.

The complex trenches that once gave them a sense of security are now just sections of collapsed and crumbling ditch.

Those sturdy reinforced concrete bunkers had long since been blasted into rubble and twisted steel bars by heavy artillery fire.

Those barbed wire fences and minefields were completely wiped out in this devastating carpet bombing.

The entire defensive line was riddled with craters from artillery shells, its surface as rugged as the moon's, completely losing its original shape. The Japanese-built "Zhendi" outpost was even half-erased from the map.

The moment the cannon fire stopped, the whole world fell into an eerie, deafening silence.

On the battlefield, the Japanese soldiers who had survived by sheer luck, like frightened birds, shakily crawled out from the collapsed trenches, shell craters, and piles of corpses.

Their minds were already in a daze; many were still immersed in the enormous roar and vibration they had just experienced, unable to extricate themselves.

"Quick! Get up! The Chinese are coming up! Machine gun! Where's the machine gunner!"

The surviving Japanese officers roared at the top of their lungs, kicking and hitting the soldiers with their rifle butts, trying to reorganize the terrified soldiers.

Some soldiers mechanically began setting up the still-usable Type 92 heavy machine guns, while others dug with their bare hands through the mounds of earth buried around them, trying to pull out their comrades who still had a breath left.

However, at that moment, a series of deep and unique metallic grinding sounds and the roar of engines came from the distant smoke.

The sound grew clearer and louder as it approached, carrying an unstoppable and heart-pounding sense of oppression.

All the surviving Japanese soldiers instinctively stopped what they were doing and looked in the direction of the sound.

They witnessed a scene they would never forget.

In the dim light of dawn and amidst the lingering smoke of battle, massive steel behemoths painted in khaki camouflage were arrayed in neat attack formations, slowly but resolutely advancing towards their positions, crushing the earth ravaged by artillery fire!
M4 Sherman medium tank!
These tanks have rounded turrets and tall bodies, with their dark 75mm main gun muzzles like the eyes of death, coldly staring ahead.

Their tracks rolled over the mud and gravel, making a heavy "crunching" sound, as if they were chewing on this dead land.

Surrounding each tank were dozens of Shanxi militia infantrymen dressed in khaki uniforms, armed with Thompson submachine guns and Garand rifles. They crouched low, using the tanks as mobile cover, following closely behind, advancing at the same pace as the tanks.

This isn't just one or two vehicles, but dozens! Hundreds!
The steel torrents of the First and Second Panzer Regiments, like ferocious beasts released from their cages, converged into an unstoppable iron torrent, launching a final judgment against the Japanese army's already riddled defenses!

"It's...it's a tank...a Chinese tank!"

A Japanese soldier let out a desperate scream, his voice filled with unbelievable fear.

"Fire! Fire now! Stop them!" Sergeant Itō roared with all his might, grabbing a Type 11 machine gun and futilely pulling the trigger at the approaching tanks.

"Da da da da..."

The light machine gun bullets struck the frontal armor of the Sherman tank, producing only a series of weak, clanging sparks, without even leaving a white mark.

"boom!"

A lead Sherman tank, seemingly provoked by Ito's provocation, slowly rotated its turret, locking onto Ito's machine gun position. The cannon suddenly jerked, and a high-explosive shell roared out!

The shell landed precisely next to the machine gun position, and the violent explosion instantly sent Ito and his machine gun, along with several soldiers around him, flying into the air and turning them into a mass of mangled flesh.

This is like a signal.

All the Sherman tanks began to use their main guns and machine guns to precisely and efficiently eliminate any remaining Japanese strongpoints on the position that were still putting up resistance.

"boom!"

"boom!"

"boom!"

The explosions of 75mm high-explosive shells echoed one after another, easily destroying the remaining firing positions.

The vehicle-mounted 12.7mm Browning heavy machine gun continuously spewed deadly flames, mowing down swarms of Japanese soldiers who tried to approach.

(End of this chapter)