Chapter 364: Republic of China: Starting from the First Class of Whampoa Chapter 374 Flames Rising, Chief Lu Has Arrived!

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Protagonist:

Lv Muzhi

"The gap must be opened immediately! Otherwise, once Lv Muzhi's main force attacks, we'll all be trapped here!"

At the northern foot of the Dabie Mountains, inside the Imperial Japanese Army Second Army's frontline command post, Tōgū Toshihiko grew increasingly anxious.

His own garrison was at Baiqueyuan Town, at the foot of the Dabei Mountains, but Du Yuming's troops were defending the town's outskirts to the death.

Du Yuming's 200th Division was like a nail driven into his retreat route, holding it for over sixteen hours!

The critical point was that Baiqueyuan Town was only fifty kilometers from Huangchuan.

Lv Muzhi's delay was nothing more than waiting to completely capture Huangchuan.

Once Huangchuan fell to Lv Muzhi, the Youth Army would arrive at any time to reinforce Du Yuming.

Tōgū Toshihiko dared not think too long about how long Huangchuan could hold out; he only wanted to break through Du Yuming's defensive line as quickly as possible, turn the entire army eastward, and return to the safety of Hefei.

"Order the Sixteenth and One Hundred Eighth Divisions to organize a thousand-man suicide assault squad!

Concentrate all artillery to cover the Chinese Army's frontline positions! The suicide squad will press forward entirely, officers leading the charge, regardless of casualties, and must break through in one go!

May Amaterasu bless us, open a path to survival!"

The order was given, and the artillery of two Japanese divisions fired madly, shells like hail smashing into the already devastated positions of the 200th Division.

Then, thousands of Japanese soldiers, urged on by the shouts of officers and veterans, with "Certain Victory" white cloth strips tied to their heads and bayonets fixed, launched a desperate mass charge toward Du Yuming's defensive line.

Du Yuming's firepower line constructed with T26 tanks, meanwhile, opened fire without hesitation to block them.

The devils were making a racket in front, unaware that behind them, another dangerous enemy had arrived.

A Japanese messenger covered in mud rushed into Tōgū Toshihiko's command post: "Your... Your Highness Prince! The rear has been attacked by the Chinese Army!"

"What?!" Tōgū Toshihiko grabbed the messenger's collar by the lapels, "Is it Huang Wei? How many people?!"

"About a regiment, coming out from Xiaojieling, currently harassing our army's rear;

Most despicably, they used poison gas shells! They attacked our rearguard troops and supply convoy!"

"Eight Gua! Huang Wei!" Tōgū Toshihiko Prince let go of him and stepped back.

He was now being pincer-attacked front and back: Du Yuming's T26 tanks pressing from the front, and Huang Wei's poison gas choking him from behind.

This taste, needless to say, was extremely unpleasant.

"Your Highness! The rearguard troops report suffering a poison gas attack, with disastrous casualties; many soldiers, panicked, have begun crowding forward!" The staff officer's emergency report arrived in quick succession.

A copper wall and iron wall in front, poison gas chasing lives from behind, the Japanese army's attack rhythm instantly fell into chaos.

Just then, a massive column was quickly advancing from the north.

Song Xilian's Seventy-First Army had arrived to reinforce Du Yuming.

"Report to the Division Commander! General Song Xilian leads the Seventy-First Army and has arrived! They are taking over our division's left wing positions and attacking the Japanese Army's garrison at Baiqueyuan Town!" The communications soldier reported excitedly.

Du Yuming let out a long sigh of relief; reinforcements had finally arrived!

If they hadn't come any later, his defensive line would probably have been broken.

The main force of Song Xilian's army joining the battlefield chose to directly attack Tōgū Toshihiko's positions, forming an effective flank threat against the Japanese Army.

The Japanese suicide squad originally sent out had its flank exposed and began shrinking back to its positions to defend.

Tōgū Toshihiko saw the sudden appearance of Xia Guo reinforcements through his binoculars, and at the same time saw his own suicide squad actually starting to retreat; he knew time was running out.

If he didn't desperately charge out now, there would truly be no chance left.

He drew his military sword, shouting hoarsely: "No retreating! The enemy's reinforcements have fought bitterly for days and their combat power is weak! Go back and charge! The whole army charges!"

"Carve a bloody path!"

While speaking, Tōgū Toshihiko immediately hacked down a retreating Japanese devil suicide squad member.

"Either die under the enemy's guns, or die under this Prince's sword! Go back, keep charging!

Pass the order down, the whole army charges! The whole army charges!!!"

Under his strict order's coercion, the Japanese suicide squad once again roused its remaining ferocity, like maddened trapped beasts, launching a final charge toward Du Yuming and Song Xilian.

Behind the suicide squad were the main forces of Tōgū Toshihiko's two divisions, choosing to directly launch a charge and attack toward Du Yuming's positions.

Machine gun cover, artillery coordination—none of it mattered anymore; Tōgū Toshihiko directly deployed an extremely dense human wave charge tactic.

Such a high-density human wave charge had seriously violated the infantry regulations.

With Du Yuming's firepower, it would cause severe casualties to the Japanese charging columns.

But Tōgū Toshihiko and his two division commanders no longer cared at all; as long as they could break through Du Yuming's defensive line, whoever could escape would escape.

Staying here meant absolutely no one would survive.

Deploying a human wave charge, although it might kill ten thousand people, at least they could get out.

The dense Japanese charging columns seemed as if they would submerge Du Yuming's frontline positions.

Song Xilian's troops covering the flank also seemed unable to do anything.

The Japanese were like mad dogs that had lost their reason, madly biting toward Du Yuming's direction, determined to cross over Du Yuming's positions.

Du Yuming, in the command post, saw a vast sea of devils and his heart pounded.

The Japanese Army had committed its entire force; whether they would succeed depended on this one time!

Such a scene, probably only in the era of cold weapons, when both sides hacked at each other, would appear.

Tens of thousands of devils, bayonets fixed, surged out from under the Dabie Mountains.

Du Yuming gritted his teeth and ordered to defend the positions to the death.

At the same time, he himself climbed into a T26 tank and became the tank commander.

"If the devils want to fight to the death, then we'll go all out with them!"

"Twelve o'clock direction~! Fire!!!"

Boom boom boom boom boom!

Among the Japanese Army's charging columns, large patches of orange-red waves bloomed—that was the damage inflicted by large-caliber artillery.

Du Yuming was very puzzled inside the tank; the T26 tank he was riding had a main gun caliber of only 37 millimeters—how could it possibly have such power?!

Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh~

The howling sound of rocket shells flying through the air came from the sky, the sound continuous and unending.

Du Yuming and Song Xilian looked up at the same time, only to see, deep in the rear position, over a hundred rocket shells trailing orange-red tail flames, slicing through the long sky and forming a magnificent and deadly waterfall of fire.

Then, with the force of Mount Tai pressing down on the top, they covered down upon the Japanese Army's dense charging area!

Not only the rocket artillery, but the 155-millimeter caliber heavy artillery was also deployed, bombing toward the Japanese Army's charging columns.

The commotion Du Yuming had just seen was the firepower of the Youth Army 1st Army Heavy Artillery Regiment's 24 155-millimeter howitzers!

In the sky, fighters howled.

Nearly a hundred fighters strafed the Japanese Army densely charging below.

There were both the Youth Army's BF109s and fighters from the Soviet Air Volunteer Group.

The fighters' machine guns and cannons fired from the air, like an iron broom, fiercely sweeping away the Japanese Army on the ground.

Fighters danced chaotically in the sky, while flames rose fiercely on the ground.

Du Yuming said excitedly: "Lu Commander is here!!!"