The War of Resistance Against Japan: Starting with a Calm View of Life and Death

Yoshino Yuto said with a bitter face, "Commander, it's too dark outside. Sending men out is just suicide!"

"So we're just going to let them fight like this all night?" Chida grabbed Yoshino by the collar and slammed him against the wall. "Our soldiers are already exhausted. If they're stuck like this all night, how will they fight tomorrow? How will they defend?"

Just then, the mortar company of the 717th Regiment outside the town began another round of rapid firing.

Pass! Pass! Pass! Pass!

Four shells slammed into the center of the town almost in quick succession.

One of the bullets landed right on the roof of the Japanese makeshift dressing station, collapsing the beams and burying more than a dozen wounded soldiers underneath.

The screams could be heard even two streets away.

Hearing the wailing and howling inside, Zhou Jindong sneered and said to Zhao Laosi beside him, "Did you hear that? The Japanese are desperate. Let's add fuel to the fire."

"Fourth brother, come with me and sneak over there to take that high ground."

Zhou Jindong refers to a small watchtower in the southeast corner of the town.

A heavy machine gun was mounted there, blocking the way for the attacking troops to approach.

Using the shadows of the house, the two quickly approached the pillbox.

There were two sentries standing guard at the foot of the watchtower, their guns pointed and their eyes fixed on the outside.

Zhou Jindong made a hand gesture, and the two men simultaneously flanked him from both sides.

Zhou Jindong moved with lightning speed, pouncing on the sentry on the left like a cheetah. He covered the sentry's mouth with one hand and cleanly slit his throat with the dagger in his other hand.

Just as the sentry on the right realized something was wrong, Zhao Laosi slammed down the butt of his rifle, hitting him squarely on the head. The sentry collapsed to the ground without uttering a sound.

After dealing with the sentry, Zhou Jindong didn't rush into the pillbox. He took two grenades from his waist, tied them together with a rope, pulled the pin, tapped them twice, and threw them into the firing port on the first floor of the pillbox.

"What's that sound?" The Japanese soldiers in the pillbox had just heard the noise and hadn't had time to react.

"Boom! Boom!"

The series of explosions generated a huge shockwave inside the narrow pillbox.

The Japanese soldiers inside were so shocked that they bled from all seven orifices, and the heavy machine guns were blown askew and their barrels deformed.

"Charge!" Zhou Jindong kicked open the wooden door of the pillbox and fired a burst of bullets from his 20-round Mauser pistol.

The Japanese soldiers, who were not quite dead yet, were riddled with bullets as they tried to raise their guns.

Having captured the pillbox, Zhou Jindong immediately set up the still-usable Type 96 machine gun and opened fire on the streets of the town.

"Da da da da—"

Bullets swept the streets like brooms.

Several Japanese soldiers who had just run out of the house to prepare for a counterattack were instantly beaten to a pulp.

"Oh no! The pillbox has fallen! The Eighth Route Army has entered the town!"

The shouts carried especially far in the night, and the morale of the Japanese troops was completely thrown into chaos.

The soldiers ran around like headless flies, some even looting civilians in preparation for their escape.

When Chida heard the news of the fall of the pillbox at the town hall, he felt as if all his energy had been drained away.

He stood there blankly, the command sword in his hand clattering to the ground.

"It's over..." he muttered to himself, "It's all over..."

"Commander! Let's retreat! It'll be too late if we don't leave now!" Yoshino Yuto rushed in, holding a cotton-padded coat he'd stolen from a civilian's house. "Let's go through the west gate! There are fewer Eighth Route Army soldiers there!"

Chida snapped back to reality, his eyes hardening again: "We can't leave! If we abandon the city and break out now, we'll be caught by the Eighth Route Army cavalry in the open. We have to stay in the town, use street fighting to hold them off, and wait for reinforcements to arrive tomorrow!"

"But the pillbox has already been lost..."

"Take it back!" Chida roared. "Send the guards up! Take back the pillbox at all costs! Tell the soldiers that whoever takes back the pillbox will be rewarded with one hundred silver dollars and promoted three ranks!"

Under the reward, there must be a brave man.

The Japanese guards—Chida's last few dozen personal bodyguards—led by a second lieutenant, charged toward the southeast corner pillbox with shouts.

At this moment, Zhou Jindong and Wang Quan were setting up firepower in the blockhouse.

"Dongzi, the Japanese have counterattacked!" Wang Quan mounted his Type 96 machine gun on the firing port and looked down at the dark figures below.

"Good!" Zhou Jindong checked the Mauser pistol in his hand; the magazine was full of bullets. "Let them get close and shoot. Zhao Laosi, go and seal off the stairwell with grenades. Don't let them sneak up."

Zhao Laosi responded and ran downstairs with two hand grenades in his arms.

A Japanese lieutenant led his men to within 30 meters of the pillbox. Using the cover on both sides of the street, they advanced while firing.

"Attack!" Zhou Jindong gave the order.

The light machine gun and several rifles on the pillbox opened fire simultaneously.

The first few Japanese soldiers were instantly killed.

But the Japanese soldiers behind them continued to charge forward, stepping over the corpses of their comrades; some even rolled forward while holding cluster grenades.

"Damn it! These Japanese devils are crazy!" Wang Quan cursed, the barrel of his machine gun glowing red from firing, forcing him to stop and change the barrel.

In that brief moment, a Japanese soldier rolled to the foot of the pillbox and detonated a cluster grenade.

"boom!"

With a loud bang, a large hole was blasted in the base of the pillbox, and bricks and stones flew everywhere.

Seeing the opportunity, the Japanese lieutenant led the remaining men to rush in.

"Want to come in? Dream on!" Zhou Jindong roared, firing a burst of shots at the cave entrance with his pistol.

Two Japanese soldiers who had just crawled in were shot dead at the entrance. But the Japanese soldiers surged in like a tide.

"Grenade!" Zhou Jindong shouted.

Zhao Laosi and two other soldiers threw down the grenades they had prepared beforehand.

The explosion was deafening in the confined space.

The Japanese soldiers who rushed in were blown to pieces, their limbs and severed arms hanging on the walls, and the stench of blood instantly filled the air.

But this attack also cost the guerrillas dearly.

Wang Quan's arm was lacerated by shrapnel, leaving a large gash that bled profusely.

"Dongzi, there are too many Japanese soldiers, we can't hold them off!" Wang Quan shouted, clutching his arm.

"We have to hold on, even if we can't! Commander Zhang's main force is outside. As long as we hold this place, we'll be a thorn in the Japanese devils' throats!" Zhou Jindong's eyes were red, and his gun kept spitting fire.

Just as the two sides were locked in a fierce battle in the pillbox, the 717th Regiment outside the town launched a general offensive.

When Commander Zhang heard the intense gunfire in the town, he knew that Zhou Jindong had succeeded, and immediately ordered the First and Second Battalions to launch a strong attack from the north and south.

The bugler of the Independent Regiment sounded the charge.

"Tick-tock—tick-tock—"

The resounding bugle call echoed through the night sky.

The soldiers of the 717th Regiment, like tigers descending the mountain, climbed the wall using ladders.

The Japanese troops in the town were already exhausted by Zhou Jindong's sniping and artillery fire, and now they were under fierce attack from the front, so they were caught off guard.

The defense at the south gate was breached first.

Several soldiers braved a hail of bullets to climb over the wall, killed the machine gunner with broadswords, and planted the red flag on the city tower.

"The south gate has fallen! The Eighth Route Army has entered!"