xymnovel Chapter 297 Annihilation of the 29th Brigade
Chapter 297 Annihilation of the 29th Brigade
Kawabe Torashiro nodded, but his expression didn't relax much; his brows remained furrowed.
"These enemies on the other side can't possibly wipe out our entire Third Division in just three days, can they?"
Okamura Neiji thought it was unlikely; it went beyond the normal logic of war and seemed like a fantasy.
However, the current predicament of the 29th Brigade has made this impossible situation somewhat possible.
His intuition told him that Li Jianghe, his opponent, never did anything he wasn't sure of.
In the northern part of Minshan Township, the outer defense line of the 29th Brigade has been completely torn apart, scattered like rags on the ground.
Many Japanese defensive positions were divided into small pieces, like a sliced cake, and could not be connected.
Each small group was surrounded by armored vehicles and infantry of the Third Column, isolated and helpless, fighting their own battles.
At that moment, the brigade commander, Kishimoto Shozo, was holding a telephone, his fingers trembling, his forehead covered in sweat, desperately shouting into the receiver.
"Division Commander! Our main positions are also surrounded by the enemy; a breakout is impossible!"
"The enemy's armored vehicles and artillery fire are everywhere. Our brothers are suffering heavy casualties and can't hold on much longer!"
"When will reinforcements arrive? If they don't come soon, my entire brigade will likely be wiped out!"
His voice was hoarse and rapid, like the howl of a wild beast trapped in a cage.
He called out for a long time, but found that no one answered the phone; only the crackling sound of electricity echoed in his ears.
The static was monotonous and piercing, like the breath of death, stabbing his nerves again and again.
He then realized that the telephone line had most likely been destroyed, and they could no longer contact the division command by phone.
"Damn it!!" Kishimoto Shozo slammed the phone receiver down on the base, making a sharp "smack" sound.
"Send a telegram! Send a telegram to the division headquarters! If no reinforcements arrive, we'll have no choice but to break out separately!"
As he spoke, his gaze passed through the window of the command post and looked out at the thick darkness of the night.
There are still more than two hours until dawn.
But Kishimoto Shozo had a vague feeling that they wouldn't last until dawn; perhaps in the next hour, perhaps in the next minute, everything would be over.
Just then, a barrage of artillery fire came, the shrill sound of shells slicing through the air deafening.
The shells landed right around the Japanese command post, and the explosions lit up half the sky, turning the night into day.
"Rumble!!!" The ground trembled, and dust and wood chips fell from the roof of the command post, landing on Kishimoto Shozo's epaulets.
"Reporting to the brigade commander!" A messenger, his face covered in soot, stumbled in, his voice distorted.
"Large numbers of enemy armored vehicles spotted, charging towards the command post! They're less than 500 meters away!"
Upon hearing this, Kishimoto Shozo's face froze, as if someone had poured a bucket of cold water over his head, and he stood there stiffly.
He tried to remain calm, but his voice trembled slightly uncontrollably: "Hold the line! Draw the flank forces back! Quickly!"
As soon as he finished speaking, a 105mm shell struck his command post precisely.
The shell seemed to have eyes; it pierced through the roof of the command post and landed right in the center of the room.
"Boom!!!!!"
An explosion occurred, and the high-explosive grenade detonated in the confined space, with shock waves and shrapnel spraying in all directions.
The entire command post was razed to the ground; rubble, wood chips, paper, and blood and flesh were mixed together, flying into the air and then falling back down.
Kishimoto Shozo and his staff were blown to pieces before they could even scream.
An hour later, a line of Type 251 armored vehicles and Puma armored vehicles rolled over the cratered battlefield.
The tracks of those steel behemoths crunched over the broken rubble and corpses, making a creaking sound, as if they were chewing something.
On the battlefield, Japanese corpses could be seen everywhere, lying haphazardly in various postures.
Some were killed by artillery shells, their limbs incomplete, their internal organs exposed, and their faces unrecognizable.
Some were crushed by armored vehicles, their bodies turned into flat patties, blood and mud mixed together, indistinguishable from one another.
Others had bullets piercing their bodies, blood still seeping from the bullet holes in their clothes, their faces frozen in the moment of death.
As dawn broke and the eastern horizon turned a pale white, the stench of blood on this battlefield grew stronger.
The main force of the entire 29th Brigade has been annihilated, and the vast majority of them, from the brigade commander to ordinary soldiers, were left behind on this scorched earth.
The remaining troops began to disperse and break through to the north, like a group of scattered ants, running around in a panic.
But there were no roads, no food, no medicine in those mountains; only death awaited them.
Inside the 3rd Division headquarters, Yu Chuanxiang completely lost contact with the 29th Brigade.
The radio station called again and again, but there was no response; it was like a stone sinking into the sea.
"It's now basically confirmed that the 29th Brigade headquarters has been destroyed," the chief of staff said in a low voice.
His lips trembled when he said "jade shattered," because it meant thousands of lives were lost overnight.
When Yu Chuan Xiangtai heard these words while facing the map in front of him, his body trembled slightly.
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, as if trying to process this cruel reality.
"The Third Column, Li Jianghe..." he murmured to himself, his voice as soft as a wisp of smoke.
Are they devils? Or demons crawling out of hell?
This was Yukawa Shota's question, and it was also the question of every officer and soldier in the Third Division.
It was fast, too fast, as fast as a swift knife cutting through tangled hemp, as fast as a hot knife slicing through butter.
Their defensive lines were easily breached and torn apart by the enemy's armored forces and concentrated artillery fire.
In the end, the entire Third Division was divided into small pieces, like shredded worms, still writhing.
"Have you received any news from headquarters?" Yu Chuanxiang asked, turning around with a last glimmer of hope in his voice.
"The Ninth Division has reached Huangkan Village and should launch its attack before noon," the chief of staff said in a low voice.
"Should we concentrate our forces to attack the southern part of Huangkan Village? A pincer attack from both sides would give us a better chance of capturing this place."
As he spoke, he drew a circle on the map around the location of Huangkan Village, which was their only way to survive.