The Iron-Blooded Army of Beacon Fire

Chapter 369 Elegy

This firepower melee centered on submachine guns soon ended with the Japanese army's complete defeat.

The submachine gunners of the first battalion launched a counterattack, firing their submachine guns while throwing a large number of Gong-made long-handled grenades at the Japanese army. The grenades exploded and the submachine guns swept. Such a fierce and fierce close combat firepower offensive was completely unstoppable for the Japanese army.

Except for more than 30 Japanese soldiers who managed to escape from the submachine gun fire of the First Battalion of the Assault Corps and retreated after a complete rout, the rest all became victims of the fierce submachine gun fire of the First Battalion.

In front of the First Battalion's position, there were corpses of Japanese Marines wearing navy blue uniforms with numerous blood holes all over their bodies, and bloody limbs blown up by grenades.

The corpses were piled up in all directions, forming a blue and red wall of corpses in front of the first battalion's position. The Swiss SIG1920 submachine guns and Type rifles with bayonets equipped by the fallen Japanese Marines were scattered everywhere. The scene was extremely tragic.

Fate had arranged a merciful end for Mu Zhener, captain of the 4th Special Marine Corps of the Wu Naval Base of the Japanese Marine Corps who personally led the attack. Before the Japanese troops that rushed forward were completely defeated, he was shot into a sieve by dense bullets from the submachine gunners of the 1st Battalion. Like many of his subordinates, he fell in the pile of scattered corpses in front of the 1st Battalion's position.

Mu Zhen'er's tactical choice of using submachine gun firepower and close-range hand-to-hand combat could not be considered a mistake. If their opponent was the 18th Division or other Chinese troops, Mu Zhen'er might have already attacked the position in front of him, and it is even possible that he would have defeated the Chinese defenders in the position.

But what they encountered today was the Assault Corps. Before Mu Zhener's troops rushed over, the submachine gunners of the three infantry companies of the First Battalion of the Assault Corps who were guarding the position had already gathered together under the order of Battalion Commander Fu Chen and were ready for a counterattack.

Each infantry squad of the assault corps is equipped with four machine guns. Counting only the combat infantry squads under the infantry company, a platoon of three infantry squads has twelve machine guns, a company of three platoons has thirty-six, and a battalion of three infantry companies has one hundred and eight submachine guns. It is self-evident what the effect of using the submachine guns of three companies together for concentrated attack and concentrated strafing is.

Compared with the submachine gun firepower of the First Battalion, the dozens of submachine gunners under Mu Zhener were really not enough.

This round of close combat assault by the Japanese army was completely defeated and suppressed by the absolute firepower advantage of the First Battalion. Except for a dozen Japanese soldiers who rushed to the front and whose bodies fell into the trenches of the First Battalion, no living Japanese soldier successfully attacked the First Battalion's position.

After this round of assault, there were less than a hundred Japanese troops left who had successfully landed on the east bank of the Fuchi River.

In the command post of the first battalion of the assault corps, Battalion Commander Fu Chen looked at the piles of corpses left by the Japanese army in front of the position and the embarrassed state of the retreating Japanese army, and shouted loudly, with an unstoppable smile on his lips. Then he decisively ordered: "Well done, order the front-line infantry company to prepare to launch a counterattack charge, rush up to eliminate the remaining enemies, the 60 mortars of each company and the 81 mortars of the battalion mortar company to provide fire cover, bombard the remaining enemies in front of the position, the mountain artillery company suppress the Japanese artillery on the opposite bank, and the 45mm tank defense guns should stop attacking the Japanese infantry, let them think that the firepower is alerting the river surface, once the devils on the beach want to take the rubber boat to run back along the river, open fire and sink them! All units adjust as soon as possible, and report back to the battalion command post quickly after preparing for the counterattack. The green signal flares of the battalion headquarters are used as the signal for the counterattack!"

"Yes!"

The command platoon leader of the headquarters company of the first battalion agreed and was about to pass on the order. Before he had taken a few steps, a sergeant from the command platoon rushed into the command post and excitedly reported to Fu Chen: "Battalion commander, the commander called from the command post of the 18th Division. He will soon bring the special forces company to support our battalion. The baggage company of the commander is also escorting a large amount of ammunition to reinforce our battalion's position."

Fu Chen was delighted when he heard this and said, "Okay, but we don't need to bother the captain to lead the team to reinforce these Japanese. Tell the front-line companies to adjust and attack as soon as possible. The captain is here in person, and no one is allowed to embarrass our battalion in front of the captain!"

The order for a full-scale counterattack and the news that He Wei was leading a special forces company to reinforce were quickly spread to all units of the First Battalion. After the submachine gun fire counterattack against the Japanese troops like chopping melons and vegetables, and learning that He Wei was leading a special forces company to reinforce, the morale of the First Battalion's officers and soldiers, which was already extremely high, rose to a higher level.

After receiving the counterattack order, the three infantry companies of the first battalion immediately prepared for the counterattack with extremely high efficiency. The officers and soldiers of each company were like a group of tigers coming down the mountain, ready to rush out of their positions and counterattack.

As soon as the order to charge and counterattack is given, the officers and soldiers will rush out of their positions and devour alive the remaining less than a hundred enemies in front of the formation!

After a round of fire pursuit by the First Battalion, the Japanese troops that survived the submachine gun fire of the First Battalion finally withdrew to the attack starting position about 100 meters in front of the First Battalion's position.

Having witnessed the fierce firepower and fierce combat effectiveness of the First Battalion, the Japanese troops who failed to break into the First Battalion's position were afraid of being hit by the First Battalion's fierce firepower again after joining up with the Japanese light machine gun and grenade launcher groups that did not participate in the assault. Without staying for long, they immediately retreated in panic towards the river beach away from the First Battalion's position.

This remaining Japanese force of less than a hundred people finally stopped near the river beach where they landed and hastily set up defenses with their backs to the Fuchi River.

These remaining Japanese troops were all they could do. Their strength was less than a hundred, and even their highest commander had died at the hands of the First Battalion's submachine guns. With such a small force, continuing to organize attacks would be tantamount to giving the officers and soldiers of the First Battalion a chance to win battles for nothing. Even a fool knew what the result would be if they used their flesh and blood to crash into the First Battalion's firepower network.

As for retreating and leaving the battlefield, although it is feasible in theory, it is also very unrealistic to implement. If these remaining Japanese troops want to retreat, the only way is to return to the original route by the rubber boats and steel boats used when landing and withdraw to the west bank of the Fuchi River. Although the rubber boats and steel boats they used when landing can be used, they are all parked on the river beach.

However, if they want to use these rubber boats and steel boats to return and retreat along the original route, then they must board these rubber boats and steel boats, adjust their courses, and start and maneuver the boats, and these processes also take considerable time.

Obviously, the officers and soldiers of the First Battalion, who possessed absolutely overwhelming firepower, would never watch the Japanese army go through all these procedures and then leave in the rubber boats and steel boats on the river beach. The remaining Japanese troops on the river beach were well aware of this.

Attacking means death, but retreating in a boat under the nose of the Chinese army is also seeking death, and will only lead to death faster. If you really do this, I am afraid that the Chinese army's artillery shells will hit those rubber boats and steel boats before they can adjust their course and start.

Unable to advance or retreat, the Japanese troops trapped on the river beach could only try to find terrain features for cover near the beach, hastily build simple foxholes and prone fortifications, set up light machine guns and grenade launchers, and barely establish a weak line of defense. After doing all this, the less than 100 Japanese marines left on the river beach could only linger on in an extremely embarrassed manner, waiting for the arrival of the final attack of the Chinese army in the position not far away, and also waiting for the final decision of fate.

The remaining Japanese troops retreated to the river beach, and after they had barely established a line of defense on the beach, the officers and soldiers of the First Battalion of the Assault Corps also stopped shooting, and the originally incessant sonic explosions from machine guns and submachine guns gradually became sparse.

After the 1st Battalion's machine guns stopped firing, the 1st Battalion's mortars and the 1st Mountain Artillery Company of the Assault Corps' Artillery Battalion, which was suppressing the Japanese artillery on the west bank of the Fuchi River, also stopped firing, and a very strange silence suddenly appeared on the battlefield.

The First Battalion of the Assault Corps suddenly stopped firing machine guns and even the mortars and mountain artillery ceased firing. It was certainly not that they had a sudden burst of kindness and wanted to let the Japanese troops on the beach go, but that they were preparing for a counterattack.

In the melee just now, although the three infantry companies of the First Battalion successfully repelled the Japanese attack and wiped out most of the Japanese troops that rushed up, the three infantry companies of the First Battalion also suffered some casualties.

Therefore, before launching a counterattack to completely annihilate the remnants of the Japanese troops on the beach, the three infantry companies of the 1st Battalion, which would play a main role in the upcoming counterattack, also needed some time to adjust.

The 60mm mortars, 81mm mortars of the st Battalion and the st Mountain Artillery Company of the Artillery Battalion of the Assault Corps also need time to readjust the firing parameters of the artillery, change the aiming targets, and prepare for the subsequent artillery bombardment in the counterattack.

Therefore, there was a sudden stop in the first battalion’s artillery fire.

However, this calm before the storm was soon broken by Japanese artillery on the west bank of the Fuchi River.

In the battle just now, the two squadrons of Japanese artillery deployed on the west bank of the Fuchi River had been doing their best to provide fire support for the Japanese infantry units that landed on the east bank of the Fuchi River. However, due to the difference in artillery performance, the Japanese artillery units on the west bank of the Fuchi River using old Type 41 mountain guns suffered a dimensionality reduction attack from the First Mountain Artillery Company of the Assault Corps Artillery Battalion that used new Type 94 mountain guns. The two squadrons of Japanese artillery were suppressed by a platoon of the First Mountain Artillery Company of the Assault Corps Artillery Battalion.

The eight guns of the Japanese artillery were constantly interfered with and suppressed by the two guns of the assault corps. They were unable to exert their firepower to the maximum extent, and naturally could not provide cover for the Japanese Marine Corps infantry crossing the river.

Now the Chinese troops on the other side suddenly stopped their machine gun shooting and artillery bombardment, which finally gave the Japanese artillery, which had been under pressure, an opportunity.

Moreover, these Japanese artillerymen had just witnessed the tragic failure of the Japanese infantry's attack, and they were all filled with anger that they had nowhere to vent. Now that they had found an opportunity, they would of course get back at them. The assault corps had just stopped suppressing their mountain artillery fire for less than a minute when the Japanese artillery on the other side of the river began to fire.

Boom
Boom
The battlefield instantly became a one-man show of the Japanese artillery. Without the suppression of the assault corps' mountain artillery, the Japanese mountain artillery on the west bank of the Fuchi River finally found an opportunity to unleash their firepower. Eight Type 41 mountain artillery pieces completely ignored the risk of exposing their firing positions and fired rapidly at the positions of the First Battalion.

The 75mm mountain artillery shells whizzed across the Fuchi River, passed the remaining Japanese troops on the beach, and then landed one after another on the position of the First Battalion of the Assault Corps. Amid the loud and violent explosions, the continuous falling shells created dots of dust on the position of the First Battalion of the Assault Corps.

The First Battalion was very "considerate" and did not retaliate against the Japanese artillery's bombardment, giving the Japanese artillery ample time to vent their anger. The officers and soldiers of the First Battalion remained silent, without firing a single shot or shell, allowing the Japanese artillery on the other side to bombard the First Battalion's position for more than three minutes.

Three minutes later, with the launch of a green flare, the silence of the First Battalion came to an abrupt end.

Before the flare was launched, all units of the First Battalion of the Assault Corps had already prepared to break out of their positions and launch a counterattack. After receiving reports from all units that they had completed their preparations for a counterattack, Battalion Commander Fu Chen decisively ordered the firing of the green flare, which represented the start of the counterattack.

As soon as the signal flare was raised, the First Mountain Artillery Company of the Artillery Battalion of the Assault Corps, located behind the First Battalion's position, took the lead and fired a fierce salvo with six Type 94 75mm mountain cannons. The target of this round of salvos was the Japanese artillery located on the west bank of the Fuchi River, which was fiercely bombarding the First Battalion's position.

While the Japanese artillery was continuously bombarding the positions of the First Battalion, the positions of their guns were also exposed to the artillery scope of the observation officer of the First Mountain Artillery Company of the Artillery Battalion of the Assault Corps. While the Japanese artillery was bombarding indiscriminately, the observation officer of the First Mountain Artillery Company had used observation equipment to completely determine the positions of the Japanese artillery positions on the opposite bank and completed the calculation of various firing parameters.

Therefore, the sudden bombardment by the mountain artillery of the Assault Corps was very accurate, and the shells fired accurately landed near the Japanese artillery positions. The Japanese artillery, caught off guard, was also directly silenced by the sudden and accurate counter-artillery volley from the mountain artillery company of the Assault Corps!
Immediately afterwards, the four 81mm mortars of the mortar company of the first battalion and the eighteen 60mm mortars of the three infantry companies also opened fire at the remnants of the Japanese troops on the beach. Groups of 60mm mortar shells and 81mm mortar shells whizzed and accurately hit the heads of the remnants of the Japanese troops on the beach.

The thick smoke produced by the continuous and intensive falling bombs soon completely submerged the Japanese troops on the beach, followed by flying limbs, mud, flesh and blood, and screams.

After the mortars opened fire, the first battalion's position was immediately followed by a high-spirited charge.

Immediately, the three infantry companies of the first battalion, which were arranged in a line in the position, used their positions as the attack line and quickly jumped out of the trenches. More than 24 officers and soldiers of the three infantry companies, holding machine guns and Czech-made vz rifles with bayonets, let out heart-shaking roars and shouts of killing. With the overwhelming momentum brought by high morale and absolute advantage in manpower, they rushed towards the Japanese troops on the beach in extremely skilled tactical formations with scattered groups of soldiers.

"Kill!"

"Come on!"

The deafening shouts of the soldiers from the three infantry companies and the explosions of the mortar shells that whistled at the Japanese troops on the beach mixed together, playing a death song for the Japanese troops on the beach. Soon, more than 600 fierce soldiers from the first battalion rushed to the beach, engulfing and drowning the remaining Japanese troops.
(End of this chapter)