Chapter 231: Republic of China: Starting from the First Class of Whampoa Chapter 231: Scouring Remnant Troops

·

·

·

Protagonist:

Lv Muzhi

The surprise attack failed completely. Why did this battle come to this? This was nothing but a carefully arranged slaughterhouse!

"Lieutenant Colonel Sato! The Second and Third Squadrons' formations have been scattered! The Fourth Squadron is still on the ships behind and can't reach us! We're pinned down here!" A lieutenant covered in blood crawled over to report.

"The Second Battalion has been wiped out! We can't contact the Third Battalion!"

Lieutenant Colonel Sato looked at the lake surface, where the following ships were still trying to rush the beach, but under the defending troops' artillery fire and the harassment of those ghost-like speedboats, ships were constantly hit and caught fire or sank. Soldiers who fell into the water struggled and cried for help in the cold lake water, then were torn apart by bullets or shells.

Fewer and fewer troops were able to rush ashore successfully. Command completely failed. Once ashore, they fell into a state of isolation with no aid, passively taking beatings.

Lieutenant Colonel Sato had no way to contact neighboring friendly forces and could only command the Japanese devils near him.

Only a fight to the death remained!

"Everyone listen! We are warriors of Emperor Chuo's Sixth Division! We cannot die here like cowards! For Emperor Tenghuang, for the honor of the Sixth Division, follow me and launch a final suicidal charge against the Xia army's position! Banzai!!!"

Under his incitement, over a hundred surviving Japanese soldiers were gathered, holding rifles with bayonets fixed, leaping from their crude cover and launching a suicidal charge toward the nearest Youth Army position without regard for anything.

"Banzai——!!!"

This kind of charge, lacking fire cover and relying entirely on brute courage, appeared powerless before the automatic fire and heavy weapons of the fully prepared enemy.

When the two MG34 General Purpose Machine Guns on the machine gun position ahead merely lowered their muzzles slightly, they delivered the harshest fatherly lesson to the little Japanese devils.

7.92mm bullets swept into the charging Japanese crowd like splashing water. Lieutenant Colonel Sato at the very front and dozens of soldiers hit an invisible wall, instantly turned into sieves, and fell to the ground without a sound.

The Japanese soldiers behind were also mowed down one after another. The momentum of the charge was completely crushed in less than a minute. A pile of twisted corpses was added to the beachhead. The Japanese devils behind were terrified by the machine guns, scattered in panic, and hid back behind their own cover.

But Lieutenant Colonel Sato died with his eyes unclosed, hit by fourteen bullets, falling stiffly on the beachhead, completely done for on the shore of Taihu.

This desperate charge became the final cry of the Forty-fifth Regiment on the Xia Guo Battlefield.

Until after dawn, the Forty-fifth Regiment could no longer organize a proper attack. Only scattered Japanese soldiers hid in the wreckage of landing craft, shell craters, or reef crevices, making a last-ditch resistance.

A small number of following ships saw the situation was bad and tried to turn around and escape, but most were sunk by the Youth Army's artillery fire or pursuing torpedo boats.

Some Japanese devils who were better swimmers swam around all over Taihu......

The lake beach and near-shore waters stretching for several kilometers were littered with the wreckage of Japanese ships. Some were still smoking, others half-sunk in the water.

The water surface floated with a large number of Japanese corpses, damaged equipment, and overturned small boats. The shore was even more littered with corpses, especially the area that launched the suicidal charge, where layer upon layer of Japanese corpses almost covered the entire beachhead.

The wreckage of several Japanese tanks stood crookedly in shallow water or by the shore, showing the tragic extent of last night's battle.

Chu Yunfei and Liao Yaoxiang, surrounded by guards, held binoculars and inspected the battlefield from a position slightly behind.

On the beachhead, soldiers under the command of officers at all levels were carefully searching for remaining enemies, striving to avoid the little Japanese devils' remnant troops landing and causing trouble for the common people.

"Report, sir!" A staff officer ran over and saluted. "Preliminary count: seventy-three ships of various types destroyed or captured at the beachhead and near shore;

among them, four Type 89 Medium Tanks and six Type 95 Light Tanks confirmed destroyed;

as for the number of little Japanese devils killed, it's currently hard to tally. Troops are salvaging floating corpses on Taihu, and a large number of corpses have been blown into fragments, making statistics very difficult. Preliminary estimate: over three thousand little Japanese devils killed!

Our army casualties... one hundred thirty-one killed in action, over three hundred wounded, mainly injured by Japanese grenade launchers and stray bullets."

Chu Yunfei said: "It seems the little Japanese devils used about a regiment's worth of forces for this attack."

The staff officer added: "The ones attacking us were the Forty-fifth Regiment of the little Japanese devils' Sixth Division!"

Liao Yaoxiang laughed: "They had bad luck, running straight into our two brigades!"

"Have they found the Japanese regimental commander?" Chu Yunfei asked.

"Identifying them. There are quite a few Japanese officer corpses in the water. It needs some time."

Liao Yaoxiang looked at the chaotic lake surface and snorted coldly: "Old Gu Shoufu of the Sixth Division really lost both wife and soldiers this time."

"A fully equipped regiment, plus so many tanks and artillery, just written off in Taihu like that."

Chu Yunfei nodded: "The little Japanese devils can't wait anymore. They wanted to directly open up the situation on the surface of Taihu. I think now the little Japanese devils will behave, and their operational focus will continue to be on the Yangtze River shore, coordinating with their navy to advance!"

Liao Yaoxiang ordered the staff officer beside him: "We here cannot relax vigilance. Pass on my order:

All units, immediately send out patrol teams to conduct a dragnet search along the lakeshore, and conscript old fellows familiar with swimming and fishing boats to cooperate! Any Japanese devils found who slipped through the net, whether armed or not, whether surrendering or not, once confirmed, execute them on the spot immediately!"

Nearly four thousand Japanese devils directly evaporated on Taihu. The Japanese devils of the Central China Expeditionary Army who had been clamoring to quickly open up the situation fell silent.

General Matsui Iwane sat in the main seat, with the battle situation briefing just delivered by the Communications Staff Officer spread before him. Matsui Iwane felt his world collapse.

Sixth Division Commander Gu Shoufu buried his head and wept bitterly. A regiment was annihilated under him at Jinshanwei, and another regiment was annihilated on Taihu. Half his forces were eaten by the Xia Guo's army, not even dregs left.

These two regiments, from officers to soldiers, not one survived. There was no possibility of reorganization whatsoever.

Prince Asaka-no-miya Yasuhiko, Lieutenant General Yanagawa Heisuke, and a host of division commanders and detachment commanders stood or sat, their expressions extremely grim. No one spoke.

"The Forty-fifth Regiment's communications are cut off. Aviation observers saw a large amount of ship wreckage and floating corpses on the north bank of Taihu. The flanking operation has actually failed!" The staff officer finished reading the battle report, lowered his head, and waited for General Matsui Iwane to speak.

Lieutenant General Yanagawa Heisuke's face was ashen. The destruction of the Forty-fifth Regiment was not just a simple loss of a few thousand troops and equipment; it was a devastating blow to the morale of his Tenth Army, and even the entire Central China Area Army.

Any words were pale and powerless before such losses. Finally, he just slammed his thigh hard, letting out a stifled groan.