Bright Sword: The Flowers of War

Chapter 228 Encirclement and reinforcements
Faced with the unstoppable, surging tide of steel, the remaining Japanese troops were plunged into both physical and psychological despair.

"Bagaya Road..."

Sergeant Itō, the short, stocky veteran who had been covered in his comrades' entrails and blood during the shelling, had gone completely insane.

His eyes were bloodshot and his face was covered in dried blood, dirt, and tears. His expression was so ferocious that he looked like a demon crawling out of hell.

He watched as his soldiers, those who had gambled and complained about their food with him just yesterday, fell one by one.

A soldier attempting to throw a grenade had barely straightened up when he was instantly torn in two by the flames from the M2 Browning heavy machine gun atop the Sherman tank turret. His upper body flew off like a tattered sack, blood and entrails splattering everywhere.

Another group of soldiers who were hiding in a shell crater and trying to fire were hit directly by a 75mm high-explosive shell. The shock wave of the explosion threw their limbs and severed arms high into the air, and then they fell like blood rain.

"Are you all idiots? Go find weapons!"

Ito was heartbroken and his eyes were bloodshot. He shouted at the top of his lungs, ordering his men to quickly find anti-tank weapons, making a last, futile struggle.

"Anti-tank gun! Quick! Bring the anti-tank gun over here!"

Soon, with the combined efforts of several soldiers, a surviving Type 97 20mm anti-tank rifle (or cannon) was pulled out of a pile of rubble and set up on the edge of a relatively flat shell crater.

The gunner, drenched in sweat, frantically loaded and aimed. He fixed his gaze on a Sherman tank slowly approaching them, then yanked the trigger!
"boom!"

A crisp cannon shot rang out. A 20mm armor-piercing shell, trailing a faint tracer, accurately struck the upper frontal armor of the Sherman tank.

"when……"

A crisp sound, like metal being struck by a small hammer, rang out. The armor-piercing shell, on which the Japanese army had placed high hopes, only produced a small, feeble spark when it made contact with the Sherman's thick, angled armor plate. It was then deflected, rolled a few times on the ground, and lost all kinetic energy.

The Sherman tank, however, only swayed slightly, as if bitten by a mosquito, and the blue sky and white sun insignia on the turret remained clearly visible in the smoke.

It didn't even pause for a moment; the tracks kept turning, the engine roared, and it continued moving forward steadfastly.

"What?! How could this be?"

The Japanese soldiers who witnessed this scene were all stunned, their eyes filled with disbelief and despair.

"Switch to Type 91! Quick! Use Type 91!" Sergeant Ito roared, unwilling to give up his last hope.

Several more soldiers, with great effort, dragged out an even larger and heavier Type 91 47mm anti-tank gun from another almost completely buried fortification. This was the most powerful anti-tank weapon they possessed.

The gunners frantically began operating their guns again, their movements stiffened by fear, but they still opened fire.

"boom!"

Another cannon shot rang out, this time much more muffled. The 47mm shell struck the front of the Sherman tank's turret with pinpoint accuracy once again.

This time, the Sherman tank reacted noticeably. Its massive body jolted violently, and its tracks paused for a moment.

"It worked! The attack was successful!" a Japanese soldier shouted excitedly.

However, their excitement lasted for less than three seconds.

After a slight tremor, the turret of the Sherman tank began to slowly rotate, and the dark muzzle of the 75mm main gun, like the deadly eye of death, precisely locked onto the 47mm anti-tank gun that had just exposed itself.

"boom……"

Before the Japanese gunners could load a second shell, the Sherman tank opened fire. A high-explosive shell, with a piercing whistle, slammed into the gun shield of the Type 91 anti-tank gun with an almost straight trajectory!
The violent explosion instantly turned the anti-tank gun, along with the five or six gunners around it, into a pile of twisted, burning steel and charred, mangled flesh.

Last hope was dashed.

Utter despair, like an icy tide, engulfed Ito and all the surviving Japanese soldiers. Their prized weapons seemed as laughable as children's toys before the enemy's mighty steel behemoth.

"Commandos! Organize a human bomb attack! For His Majesty the Emperor! Die for His Majesty..."

In utter despair, Itō issued his final and most insane order.

Several thoroughly brainwashed, most fanatical militarists, their eyes gleaming with a morbid light, took explosive charges and bundled cluster grenades from ammunition boxes, strapped them tightly to their bodies, lit the fuses, and, uttering incomprehensible howls, leaped from the trenches, launching a suicidal charge towards the nearest tank.

However, they were facing a well-trained and tactically rigorous combined arms force.

Before these "human bombs" could even get within 30 meters of the tank, they were shot one by one by the infantrymen who were closely following behind the tank and maintaining a high level of vigilance, using precise bursts of semi-automatic rifles and submachine guns.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

"Da da da……"

The Japanese soldiers strapped with explosives fell to the ground halfway through their charge, like burst blood bags. The explosives on their bodies were detonated, blowing them to pieces without posing any threat to the tanks.

Ito stared blankly at everything, constantly turning his body, trying to command his soldiers to continue fighting, but soon he sadly discovered that there was not a single soldier left around him who could stand up.

The trenches and shell craters were littered with the mutilated bodies of their comrades. The entire position had become a slaughterhouse.

The Sherman tank that they attacked first had already crushed the last obstacle and rushed in front of him.

A huge shadow completely enveloped Ito. He could clearly see the mud and blood on the tank tracks and smell the hot, oily engine exhaust.

He raised his Type 38 rifle and fired his last bullet in vain at the steel behemoth. The bullet ricocheted off the armor with a barely audible crack.

The next second, the tank driver didn't even notice his tiny presence. The heavy tracks, carrying immense force, mercilessly crushed him.

"Crunch... Pfft..."

A sickening sound of bones cracking and flesh being squeezed came from behind.

Sergeant Ito, this stubborn and fanatical veteran, didn't even get to utter a complete scream before the tank tracks, along with his rifle and his soldier's dignity, crushed him into a pool of indistinct, muddy mincemeat.

While the front lines in Xinxian were being completely engulfed by steel and fire, and countless Japanese soldiers were being crushed into pieces in despair, the shockwaves of this battle were being transmitted at the speed of light along fragile telephone lines to Taiyuan, hundreds of kilometers away—the headquarters of the First Army of the Japanese North China Area Army.

Lieutenant General Yoshikatsu Kuroiwa's division headquarters was in complete disarray.

The violent explosion shattered all the windows, and dust and debris fell from the ceiling like rain.

Several staff officers ran around shouting orders beside the crumbling map sand table, but all their commands seemed so pale and powerless.

Yoshikatsu Kuroiwa himself, the division commander who had been so confident in his defenses not long ago, was now gripping the telephone receiver tightly, his hand trembling violently from excessive force and fear.

His voice was hoarse and urgent, with a hint of crying, as he desperately screamed into the microphone, as if it were his only lifeline.

"Moshi moshi! Commander Shinotsuka! I am Yoshikatsu Kuroiwa, commander of the 24th Division! Our army is under unprecedented attack from the Shanxi militia! They... they have launched a fierce attack simultaneously along our entire defensive line, which stretches for tens of kilometers!"

Even though they were hundreds of kilometers apart, the urgent voice coming from the phone receiver, mixed with the muffled sound of an explosion in the distance, still clearly reached Yoshio Shinotsuka's ears.

"Our fortifications...our permanent fortifications have been mostly destroyed by their heavy artillery! The Chinese tanks...countless tanks have breached the main defensive line! Requesting urgent tactical guidance! Requesting urgent reinforcements! Requesting urgent tactical guidance..."

Taiyuan, First Army Headquarters.

Unlike the chaos and devastation at the front lines, this place remained clean and dignified. But at this moment, the air was so cold it seemed as if frost could freeze over it.

Lieutenant General Yoshio Shinotsuka, the supreme commander of the First Army, stood straight before his desk like an angry lion.

He held the receiver, listening to Yoshikatsu Kuroiwa's incoherent and desperate report. His usually composed face was now clouded with rage.

"Bagaya Road..."

A thunderous roar erupted from Yoshio Shinotsuka's throat, lashing against Yoshikatsu Kuroiwa's eardrums through the telephone line.

"King Black Rock! You command a fully-equipped standing division of the Empire! You also possess formidable fortifications that our army has built for you at the cost of countless resources! Less than two hours into the battle, you're already asking me for tactical guidance?"

Yoshio Shinotsuka's voice became sharp and shrill due to extreme anger, filled with contempt and humiliation.

"If you can't even do this, then immediately commit seppuku in your command post! I don't mind personally going to Xinxian to be your second!"

These vicious curses sent a shiver down the spine of Yoshikatsu Kuroiwa on the other end of the phone, his face turning ashen. But his survival instinct and his final sense of responsibility as commander made him disregard all dignity and shame.

"Commander! It's not that we're incompetent! It's just that the Shanxi militia's firepower is too overwhelming... Their artillery... and their tanks... there's just... just too much of them! Our defenses simply can't withstand their attack..."

Despite being thoroughly berated by Yoshio Shinotsuka, Yoshikatsu Kuroiwa persisted in his pleading tone, insisting, "I beg you again... to send reinforcements immediately! Otherwise... otherwise the 24th Division... will be utterly annihilated!"

The word "shattered jade" finally brought a sliver of calm back to Yoshio Shinotsuka's mind, which had been clouded by rage.

The 24th Division was only established in Manchuria at the beginning of last year, and its core members and officers were transferred from other units.

The unit was transferred to Shanxi shortly after its formation. It can be said that the original purpose of this unit was not to fight tough battles, but to hunt down and eliminate the anti-Japanese armed forces and local bandits hiding in the deep mountains and forests.

Such troops are fine for fighting counter-insurgency operations, but if they were to actually fight a bloody battle against the heavily armed Chinese army, which had fought its way out of meat grinders like Nanjing and Xuzhou, it would be like porcelain colliding with stone, and the outcome would be predictable.

Although he was disappointed in the poor performance of the troops, he was even more aware that if a division were to be completely defeated in just a few hours, it would be an unbearable disgrace and strategic disaster for the entire First Army and even the entire North China Area Army.

He took a deep breath, suppressing his anger, and said in a cold, emotionless tone, "I order you to gather your troops at all costs and hold them off! Reinforcements... will be here soon!"

After saying that, he slammed the phone down.

After hanging up the phone, Yoshio Shinotsuka turned around and gave a series of urgent and clear orders to the chief of staff who was already standing by and waiting.

"Immediately order the Independent Mixed Brigade 3 stationed in Yangqu to advance at full speed towards Xinxian! Reinforce the 24th Division as quickly as possible!"

"Simultaneously! Order Iori Tetsuji to immediately lead all available Zero fighters, various other aircraft, and bombers of the 60th Squadron into action! Target: the eastern battlefield of Xinxian! I want you to turn that place into a sea of ​​fire! Blow the Chinese tank units to pieces!"

With his order issued, the entire First Army headquarters, this massive war machine, began to operate at high speed. The sounds of telegrams, telephones, officers running, and commands filled the air.

At an airport near Taiyuan, the piercing sound of battle alarms echoed through the sky. One Japanese warplane after another was dragged out of the hangar, ground crew frantically loaded bombs and refueled the planes, while the pilots, while putting on their flight suits, rushed to their aircraft.

Soon, planes took off from the runway and soared into the sky.

Just as Japanese warplanes were urgently flying to the Xinxian battlefield, a formation of more than 100 warplanes was quietly hiding in the clouds over Xinxian and Guoxian.

The reason why the squadron led by Doolittle and Cheng Rufeng did not assist the ground troops in launching an attack was because they wanted to conserve their energy and ammunition to deliver a fatal blow to the Japanese Army Air Force that came to their aid.

In army terms, it's called besieging the enemy stronghold and attacking reinforcements...

(End of this chapter)