Chapter 26: Artillery Bombardment and the Regimental Flag

This chapter is just for flogging the corpse, hahaha.

"The enemy's mortars? The enemy actually has shells! Transmit my orders, retreat quickly!"

Protected by his own subordinates, Ban Tian Xin Zhe issued the command to relocate the headquarters while, incredulously, looking toward the direction of the Eighth Route Army's advance.

The opposing commander repeatedly reshaped his perception; he had never seen such a patient soldier.

In fact, the staff had warned him when establishing the command post. Logically, Ban Tian Xin Zhe should not have made such a basic mistake by placing the post on the forward line and so close to the enemy's defenses; even a newly enlisted youngster would not do that.

But because the opposite side was the Eighth Route Army, within their locust army the Eighth Route Army was notoriously miserable. A force of armed peasants, lacking clothes, food, and with poor weapons, was their hallmark. At the regiment level, their so‑called heavy weapons were almost only small‑caliber mortars. The 60 mm mortar's range was only slightly farther than the enemy's grenade launchers, and mortar shells were still in short supply.

To boost the morale of the Great Japanese Locust Army and to better observe the battle, Ban Tian Xin Zhe overruled objections and illegally set the command post here. He now regrets it deeply; even as a battle‑hardened old Japanese, he still respects death, and the shell that just exploded was right above him!

Just as they hurried to leave the command post, Ban Tian Xin Zhe sensed a flash of fire appear beside him; he could still hear the whistling of mortars and the crowd's terrified cries. He felt darkness gnawing at him piece by piece, his senses being stripped away, and his backside seemed to fly off.

"It hurts..."

"The advantage was clearly on my side, how did I lose like this?"

"Did the headquarters get hit by a shell? What an unexpected enemy."

Seeing the Japanese command post collapsed by mortar fire in the distance, Wang Chengzhu jumped up in joy.

"Hit it, I hit it!"

At that moment, the quick‑eyed ammunition handler hurriedly pulled the leaping Wang Chengzhu back, while several shells skimmed just above his scalp.

Next to him, Li Yunlong saw Ban Tian Xin Zhe's headquarters knocked down by a pillar, grinned so broadly his teeth showed. He said to Wang Chengzhu, "You damn good fellow, if you killed that old Japanese with one shell, even the Brigade Commander would have to buy you a drink."

Tick‑tick‑tick‑tack‑tick‑tick‑tack…

With Li Yunlong's approval, the bugler sounded the charge; everyone in the New 1st Regiment saw the Japanese headquarters destroyed, and the regiment's soldiers were inspired, their fighting spirit surged and they fought with renewed vigor.

Li Yunlong led from the front, with his guard platoon behind him.

The excited Brigade Commander Li, clutching a light machine gun, sprayed the Japanese, killing many under his fire.

He handed his light machine gun to the nearby guard, and Li Yunlong, one hand gripping a broad blade and the other a shell‑casing gun, charged toward the distant Sakata command post.

First they endured artillery bombardment, then faced the New 1st Regiment's concentrated fire in a counter‑offensive, and finally Li watched his own regimental commander fall on the spot; a few Japanese began to rout. They were beaten by the well‑organized New 1st Regiment into a head‑tucking, scatter‑like retreat, and no junior officer could halt the collapse nor mount an effective counterattack.

Whether or not Sakata was killed, his headquarters being destroyed was a fact, meaning the Japanese assault units lost higher command in a short time and became headless flies.

Without command, the Japanese infantry battalions could only fight independently, in chaos, unable to exploit any fire‑power advantage.

They could only watch helplessly as the New 1st Regiment, momentum like a rainbow, continuously tore through their lines.

Zhang Dabiao, the Japanese‑ancestral white‑blade master of the former Great Sword Brigade, wielded his knife to make the little Japanese recall the Tang Dynasty; his assault team and a battalion's soldiers almost wiped out five hundred Japanese.

Their casualties were also heavy; the assault team was reduced to a dozen men, and only a third of the battalion's soldiers could keep fighting. Yet they did not intend to halt; after a brief rest they resumed the attack, like sharp drill bits crushing the Sakata Regiment's defenses.

Later he and Li Yunlong met at the Sakata Regiment's command post. Seeing the blood‑stained Zhang Dabiao, Li Yunlong let out a sigh of relief. He didn't like his beloved subordinate to suffer any trouble.

The two exchanged a smile; joy could not be hidden. Zhang Dabiao pointed toward the ruined road ahead.

"Commander, we've struck it rich this time! Sakata's headquarters was taken in one go! One colonel, two lieutenant colonels, one major!"

"Hahaha, look at you making progress. One Japanese colonel already throws you off course; if you took down a brigadier general, you'd be soaring to heaven."

After a search, they pried open wood and netting and found the completely dead Ban Tian Xin Zhe inside the ruined command post.

The old Japanese was hit head‑on by a shell; his death was gruesome, the torso split from the lower half. Yet his head and command sword remained intact, and because the incident was sudden and Ban Tian Xin Zhe believed he wouldn't lose, his regimental flag was also left behind. Though the flag was damaged by the artillery, it is currently the only Japanese regimental flag captured on the Chinese battlefield.

"Historically, up to the end of World II we never captured a Japanese regimental flag. The Imperial Japanese combat regulations dictate that when total defeat is imminent, the flag must be burned."

"With this corpse, the Brigade Commander probably won't pursue the insubordination; my head should be safe. Take it away, take it away, pack it in a sack."

The guard platoon's soldiers used the sack originally for shell casings to pack Sakata's body, tied the mouth shut, and slung it over their shoulders.

"Command sword! Don't forget my command sword; it's an officer's blade, later it can be exchanged for many goodies. And that tattered flag, even the division commander comes to beg me for it."

The offensive still continues.

The New 1st Regiment, not lacking ammunition for its firearms, has high morale. Though the 60 mm mortars are out of shells, the Stokes mortars still have sufficient ammo. When encountering a hard‑to‑crack Japanese fire point, a single barrage finishes the job.

The soldiers advanced singing loudly, unstoppable as a bamboo stalk. The combination of light machine guns and grenades easily scattered enemy infantry that had not massed.

Half an hour later, the last contingent of rear‑guard troops also withdrew from the front battlefield.

The New 1st Regiment tore through the Japanese defenses at the Cangyun Ridge battlefield, achieving a successful frontal breakthrough.