sjar Chapter 1171 Who's in Command?
Chapter 1171 Who's in Command?
Unfortunately, his cool pose lasted only three seconds. Bullets whizzed overhead, and he still had to stand out and strike a pose. If he didn't die, then all those bullets were wasted. Three bullets pierced his head and shoulder, and before he could even swing his katana, he fell backward.
The operations staff had observed the situation very accurately. After the brigade commander's death, they initially didn't want to reveal the news and hoped to keep it a secret so their troops could continue fighting. Unfortunately, the surrounding guard units had seen too much, and the news simply couldn't be contained.
After Brigade Commander Kurihara was killed in action, command should have immediately passed to the commander of the 19th Infantry Regiment, but unfortunately, that guy had already been killed five minutes earlier.
As for the 20th Infantry Regiment, they're still in the rear and haven't come over yet, so it's impossible to have their regimental commander take command. With no one to take over command, the tanks are already pressing in, and the heavy artillery extends hundreds of meters behind them. If we don't retreat now, we won't even have a chance to retreat; all three lines of defense will be destroyed within 40 minutes.
Including the staff officers at the brigade command, these men originally intended to hold out for a while longer. Without a brigade commander, if they could hold out, they could expect promotions and riches. Unfortunately, the situation on the battlefield wasn't what they expected. They were a group of weak, bookish men, only thinking about getting their men to fight for them. But they had to consider who these men were. Even if some were willing to fight, could they really break through?
When the commander of the 9th Division, Kamio, heard the news, he did not hesitate and immediately ordered all his troops to gather at the division headquarters.
"Takashima-kun, I order you to lead your 3000-plus men, and also to hand over the Yamamoto Battalion to you. All the weapons of this division will be assigned to you. Your mission is to charge north and recapture the Kurihara Brigade's position. If we fail to do so, our division will be finished, and the entire Third Army will be finished. We will lose the strategic initiative."
Kamio Jiro knew very well that they had to retake the northern positions. If they failed, Zhang Haiguang wouldn't just sit idly by; he would continue attacking the 9th Division headquarters. At that point, the 9th Division wouldn't be able to hold them off. They had gathered their nearly 5000 elite troops—the very cream of the 9th Division—and it remained to be seen whether they could break through.
In terms of artillery, in addition to all the artillery of the 9th Division, the 3rd Army also assembled more than 120 artillery pieces of various types, and various shells were being transported here regardless of losses. They were the army that received the most artillery support in the entire 3rd Army, and now they were going all out to suppress Zhang Haiguang's army.
Just as Zhang Haiguang took over the Kurihara Brigade, more than 20 transport planes appeared in the sky. These transport planes began to quickly drop various supplies, including food, drinks, clothing, and other necessities. Basically, anything you reported via radio, we had to deliver within 20 minutes.
The surrounding Japanese troops tried to peek out and grab a couple, but they were immediately mowed down by the machine guns on the armored vehicles. "Do you think we'll let you get away with this? These things were brought up to us by our brothers in the rear with tremendous effort. If you want to gain any advantage here, you'd better see if you have any teeth left. We've prepared plenty of machine gun ammunition for you."
The explosive power of a 30mm cannon shell isn't very high, at most equivalent to a few hand grenades. However, this thing can fire more than 20 rounds per minute. No matter how many soldiers you have, as long as two or three armored vehicles spot you and start firing, you probably won't have many men left. The shrapnel damage is just too great.
The ordnance department once conducted an experiment in the north using Japanese prisoners of war. About 100 Japanese prisoners of war charged along a front line that was hundreds of meters wide. Two armored vehicles using 30mm cannons were able to block them out and even pick off specific targets, resulting in a casualty rate of over 80%.
Therefore, when our troops are stationed in an open area, they are used to using armored vehicles for surrounding protection. These things have a fast reaction time and strong firepower. The Japanese don't have many defensive tools, so as long as they dare to show their faces, our small artillery can fire.
When the soldiers heard the sound of the small cannons, even if they were holding their rice bowls, they would immediately find a high place to watch the spectacle and see how the Japanese soldiers were torn apart by the cannons. Some new recruits were so surprised by this scene that they almost spat out their food, which was exactly what the veterans wanted to see.
Some veterans who survived the Great Wall resistance were deeply moved upon seeing this scene. Back then, they couldn't even gather enough bullets, how could they have imagined that we would have armored vehicles? When we fought the Japanese, we relied on the broadswords on our backs, and now we don't even know where those broadswords have gone.
Whenever we fight the Japanese, it starts with planes in the sky, followed by artillery on the ground. Now that we've captured their positions, we're killing prisoners while simultaneously clearing out their positions. Although we've wasted some resources, as the division commander said, we're currently in enemy territory, and it's difficult to continue fighting with prisoners. So, let's kill these guys first; there will be plenty of opportunities to capture prisoners later.
Moreover, according to these people, they killed thousands of our civilians during their northward march. Now we'll cut off their heads and show them to any passing troops. Sometimes it's not that we don't seek revenge, it's just that we haven't run into them yet. If you encounter the 72nd Army and kill one of our soldiers, I'll kill two of yours.
"Reporting to the commander, the Air Force reconnaissance has sent word that the 9th Division has assembled an army of about 5000 men and is now less than 10 kilometers to our south. In addition, the 6th Division has also sent more than 2000 men. It looks like they are going to wipe us out."
We just wiped out the Kurihara Brigade, and naturally, everyone's dissatisfied. Those guys were too easy to defeat; we never expected the 9th Division to deliver such easy prey. We're definitely going to break records today and make the entire army group shine.