The Iron-Blooded Army of Beacon Fire

Chapter 384: Beyond Shooting, Taking No Prisoners

In front of the Japanese position, more than 600 Nationalist officers and soldiers, sighing and with their hands tied up with ropes and barbed wire, relied on each other, staggered, and crawled out of the communication trench of the Japanese second position in a scattered formation, and slowly walked towards the first line of defense of the Japanese army that had been captured by the troops of the first battalion of the assault corps.

These national army officers and soldiers were all in tattered clothes and covered in blood. They were mentally exhausted, depressed, sallow and thin, with despair written all over their sickly faces.

These National Army officers and soldiers who suddenly appeared from the Japanese positions were all captured officers and soldiers of the 18th Brigade of the 54th Division of the National Army, who were defeated and crushed by the Japanese landing troops overnight. There were more than 54 of them, and most of them were ordinary soldiers of the th Brigade, with a small number of sergeants and officers.

The 18th Brigade of the 54th Division was attacked at night and the entire brigade was defeated overnight. In addition to a large number of casualties, more than officers and soldiers were captured by the Japanese army. After these officers and soldiers were captured, the highest commander of the Japanese army, Kitaro Tsuchi, did not kill these prisoners in order to increase manpower and speed up the construction of fortifications. Instead, he used them as coolies and ordered them to help the Japanese army carry ammunition and supplies and build fortifications.

Therefore, these officers and soldiers were captured for only two days, and although they were not killed, the suffering they encountered was extremely miserable. They were thirsty but could not drink, hungry but could not eat, and tired but could not sleep. They were completely treated as consumables and disposable labor by the Japanese army.

Most of these captured officers and soldiers of the 18th Division were new recruits, most of whom were able-bodied men recently conscripted from various places to join the 18th Division before the war. They had only been in the army for a few months and had not received any decent military training. They had neither military consciousness nor combat skills. In essence, they were a group of farmers who had just put on military uniforms.

Faced with the bayonets and oppression of the Japanese army, these peasant recruits who could not be called soldiers at all and came from the fields had almost no courage or desire to resist. They could only hope to find a way to survive by obeying the Japanese army.

Therefore, even if a small number of veteran soldiers and officers among the prisoners wanted to organize a resistance, they were simply unable to do so. And now, after being forced out of the trenches by the Japanese army and becoming cannon fodder and human shields to block bullets, the prisoners' slight hope of survival was completely shattered.

It was not until then that the prisoners realized that the brutal Japanese army had no intention of leaving them any chance of survival! The prisoners' formation, which was slowly moving forward, was filled with the atmosphere of sorrow, death, and despair.

"Baga, go!"

"idiot!"

Behind the advancing formation of the 18th Division prisoners, shouts and scoldings from the Japanese army continued to be heard. It was not only the 18th Division prisoners who jumped out of the second Japanese trench and advanced. All the Japanese troops in the position followed suit and rushed out.

More than 600 Japanese Marines followed closely behind the prisoners, vigilantly advancing with the prisoner team. These temporary combat forces, which were assembled from the Japanese baggage soldiers and service soldiers, were holding Hanyang rifles and Czech light machine guns captured from the Chinese army, and they shouted at the prisoners to move forward in a domineering manner.

If the advancing prisoners moved a little slower, they would be beaten and kicked severely by the Japanese soldiers following behind. Gunshots and screams could be heard from time to time. Those were the Japanese soldiers shooting, stabbing, and chopping Chinese prisoners who moved too slowly or showed any signs of resistance.

The Japanese soldiers, who had just been frightened by the fierce offensive of the Chinese army in front of them, regained some face in front of the unarmed prisoners.

However, when they saw the bodies and broken limbs of the Marines who had died in the artillery fire of the Chinese army along the way, these Japanese soldiers who had shown off their power in front of the prisoners could not help but feel frightened and desperate.

The Chinese prisoners who were forced to stand in the front with bayonets were full of despair, and the Japanese baggage soldiers and service soldiers who were following behind the prisoners and were about to launch a counterattack against the Chinese army with powerful combat power and firepower in the front were not much better. They knew that the road they were heading towards was destined to be a road of death.

"All troops, advance!"

"Let the prisoners go quickly, and those who disobey will be killed immediately!"

In the center of the Japanese army's advancing formation, the highest commander of the Japanese army, Kitaro Tsuchi, was waving his command knife, carrying a SIG1920 submachine gun on his slung across his body, with red eyes, constantly roaring and shouting orders to the troops to advance.

This outstanding officer of the Japanese Navy had completely lost all his elite demeanor at this moment. He waved his command knife and shouted like a mad donkey.

After the first line of defense was captured by the Chinese army and the main force of the elite infantry was lost, Tsuchi Kitaro was helpless in the face of the aggressive Chinese army that was about to continue attacking. His artillery had been completely lost, and it was impossible for him to use artillery to launch a fire counterattack. The only infantry combat force he had available was three weak temporary squadrons and a bunch of miscellaneous soldiers. Using these weak soldiers to organize an infantry counterattack against He Wei's troops was tantamount to seeking death.

The reinforcements from the Hata Detachment of the Army that Kitaro Tsuchiji was expecting would only arrive tomorrow at the earliest. For Kitaro Tsuchiji who was already in a desperate situation, these reinforcements were nothing but flowers in the mirror and the moon in the water.

Just as He Wei judged, Tsuchi Kitaro had no other options left, let alone organize any effective counterattack.

But He Wei was not aware of the enemy situation after all, and did not know that the Japanese still had more than 600 Chinese prisoners in their hands. Secondly, he underestimated the brutality of the Japanese commander. He did not expect that the helpless Japanese commander Kitaro Tsuchi, after being pushed to the limit, would not shrink in his position and wait to be annihilated, but instead burst into extreme brutality, extreme cruelty and extreme madness. He was determined to use the Chinese prisoners as the vanguard, and all his available troops, including lightly wounded soldiers with basic mobility, would follow closely behind the prisoners, preparing to use the prisoners as meat shields and shields to reduce casualties and losses, and launch a desperate counterattack against the first line of defense that had just been captured by the Chinese army!

As for the firm words he had said to his men before, such as "killing prisoners to vent anger is not what soldiers do", and the so-called Bushido spirit of the Imperial Army, Tsuchi Kitaro had long forgotten them.

Even more than 20 seriously wounded Japanese soldiers who were unable to participate in the battle were forced to commit suicide by the nearly insane Tsuchi Kitaro, and took the initiative to "die with honor."

Soon, the Japanese counterattack troops, led by prisoners, advanced more than 500 meters, and the distance between the Japanese first and second positions was only 1.5 kilometers.

After gradually approaching the first line of defense that had been captured by the Chinese army, Tsuchi Kitaro immediately shouted to the surrounding Japanese troops: "Deploy the skirmisher group battle formation, prepare to attack, and keep close to the prisoners!"

"Deploy immediately, deploy quickly!"

"Deploy in battle formation!"

Subsequently, the chattering commands and shouts of Japanese officers and non-commissioned officers at all levels rang out one after another, and more than 600 Japanese soldiers began to deploy tactical formations for infantry attack. However, the tactical qualities of these former Japanese baggage soldiers and service soldiers were too poor. Compared with the elite infantry of the Japanese Marine Corps who were killed by He Wei not long ago, their quality was completely a puddle of mud. They were simply unable to deploy in the standard tactical formations in the Japanese Infantry Drill Manual.

Amid the commotion, the Japanese troops who received the order either dispersed, or gathered together, or ran around with their guns, making the attack formation extremely chaotic. Most of the commanding Japanese officers were temporary baggage train officers who were not familiar with infantry attack tactics and could not organize the troops well, so they made a mess of executing Tsuchi Kitaro's orders.

Seeing the sparse and messy battle formation, Tsuchi Kitaro was both angry and helpless. When he gave the order just now, he only thought about fighting the Chinese army to the death, but completely forgot that the troops under his command were no longer the elite Marines who participated in the Battle of Shanghai, but a group of miscellaneous baggage soldiers.

However, given the training level and combat qualities of these small and medium-sized baggage soldiers, it is simply impossible for them to launch an attack using the more difficult skirmisher tactical formation.

Looking at the extremely poor formation around him, Tsuchi Kitaro could only roar angrily at his adjutant: "Baka, tell them to change to a skirmish line formation!" "Yes!"

The adjutant immediately took several messengers and scattered throughout the Japanese army's chaotic formation to deliver orders. After a while, the Japanese army's formation changed again. The originally messy group of skirmishers formation gradually turned into multiple horizontal skirmish lines. Compared with the complicated skirmish group tactics, this skirmish line tactics that had been eliminated in World War I was much simpler and easier to execute.

Under the supervision and urging of officers and non-commissioned officers, more than 600 Japanese troops quickly gathered together, and after a slight reorganization, moved forward in a skirmish line with a spacing of about three meters. As they moved, they spread out to the left and right and slowly advanced close to the Kuomintang prisoners of war who were driven in front.

Amidst a cacophony of confusion, scolding, crying, begging, and cursing, the attacking team consisting of more than 600 Chinese prisoners and more than 600 Japanese soldiers slowly approached the Chinese army positions ahead.

In the front-line position lost by the Japanese army, He Wei and his officers and soldiers who were ready to attack were dumbfounded. They had planned everything, but they never expected that the enemy would be so shameless as to use prisoners as shields and launch a counterattack. Faced with such a situation, He Wei had no choice but to order the attack to stop immediately.

"Captain, what should we do? This bastard is too vicious."

"Damn it, these 18th Division idiots are such a loser. Not only can they not hold their ground, but they can't even run away. Isn't this causing us so much trouble?"

"Oh my, this could have been solved with just a charge, but these bastards are so fucking despicable."

"If we shoot, we may injure others by mistake. Why don't we just rush up and fight the devils with bayonets?"

Inside the trench, all the officers of the main attack force gathered around He Wei, looking at the chaotic columns and the crowds of people gradually approaching the front of the position. Some officers cursed the Japanese for being shameless, some said that the troops of the 18th Division were not up to the mark, and some suggested simply rushing out to fight the Japs with bayonets, but no one dared to say that they should ignore the prisoners and just open fire!
Now the Japanese put more than 600 prisoners in front, clearly intending to use these prisoners to make He Wei's troops cautious, and try to use this caution to get as close as possible to He Wei's position to launch a counterattack.

But even though they knew about the Japanese "conspiracy," He Wei and his officers had no way to deal with them immediately. After all, the Japanese army was shameless enough to use prisoners as shields, but He Wei and his officers could not bear to attack and fire at their fellow brothers without caring about accidentally injuring them.

Fu Chen put down the telescope and said to He Wei: "Captain, the enemy's attack formation is only about 600 to 700 meters away from our position. Come up with a plan quickly, otherwise they will get close to us soon."

He Wei hesitated for a moment, then turned to look at the officers and soldiers waiting in the trenches for an attack, and then said, "Let's use machine guns first!"

Fu Chen quickly understood and said, "Captain, do you mean to use heavy machine guns to attack the Japanese?"

"That's right. Look, these bastards put the prisoners in front and formed themselves into several skirmish lines behind. We have no way to deal with them. The submachine guns don't have enough range, the rifles have little firepower and can't do anything. The light machine guns can hardly cause effective damage. Although the 81mm and 60mm mortars are indirect fire, and the 45mm tank defense guns can also fire indirect grenades, the Japanese are advancing in a skirmish line formation, very close to the prisoners. Once the shells explode, a large area will definitely be affected. We can only use heavy machine guns to attack the Japanese army!"

The so-called over-the-top shooting tactics means that when the heavy machine gun's shooting target is obstructed, the machine gunner adjusts the scale and elevation angle of the heavy machine gun according to the observed shooting parameters, so that the fired bullet can go beyond the obstruction with a curved high-throw trajectory and hit the obstructed target or the target that cannot be observed visually.

He Wei and Fu Chen were very familiar with the heavy machine gun overshooting tactics. This tactic was a compulsory course for every infantry student in a military academy, and it was also a key subject in the current heavy machine gun shooting teaching materials of the National Army. Similarly, the heavy machine gun overshooting tactics was also a must-learn tactic for the machine gunners of the assault corps.

Fu Chen said: "The heavy machine gun company of my battalion currently has six heavy machine guns. The MG34 general-purpose machine guns under the three infantry companies and nine infantry platoons can also be converted into heavy machine gun shooting state and use the super shooting tactics. They can form a fierce firepower barrage. However, I am afraid that these machine gun firepower alone cannot stop these devils!"

He Wei raised his hand and pointed to the flank of the position. His eyes flashed fiercely and his face was extremely gloomy as he said, "The Japanese army built two narrow communication trenches on the left and right wings between our first-line position and the second-line position in the rear. Now we can't charge directly from the front. It's better to use these two communication trenches and move forward along the communication trenches on both wings. We can outflank and go around the flanks of the Japanese attack formation, so that we can avoid those prisoners. In short, the machine guns will fire first, and the infantry will maneuver and detour when the machine guns are firing. This method should be able to trap the Japanese army without killing or injuring prisoners as much as possible."

Fu Chen nodded, sighed, and said, "This is really insidious, this is the only way."

In the end, faced with the sudden change in the enemy situation, He Wei's temporarily modified attack tactics were quickly implemented. Under the command of Fu Chen, the six Czech-made ZB37 heavy machine guns of the heavy machine gun company of the first battalion and the nine MG34 general-purpose machine guns of the three infantry companies of the first battalion quickly began to prepare for shooting.

The heavy machine gun company of the 37st Battalion immediately calculated the distance between the captured officers and soldiers and the Japanese troops following behind them and their positions, and quickly adjusted the machine gun scale based on the measured distance and the elevation digital firing table of the zb heavy machine gun, completing the preparations for overtaking shooting.

After the nine MG34 general-purpose machine guns of the three infantry companies of the first battalion were gathered together, put on tripods and changed to heavy machine gun firing mode, they also calculated the firing range and firing parameters in a unified manner like the heavy machine gun company of the first battalion, completing the preparations for overtaking firing.

As for the infantry mobile and flanking attack, the 1st Infantry Company of the 1st Battalion advanced along the communication trench on the right wing of the position and launched an outflanking attack on the Japanese troops hiding behind the prisoners. As for the task of advancing forward along the left wing communication trench to outflanking the Japanese troops, it was undertaken by He Wei who personally led the Special Service Company and the 2nd Infantry Company of the 1st Battalion.

Although Fu Chen tried his best to dissuade He Wei from taking risks and leading the troops in person, He Wei insisted on leading the troops himself. It was not because He Wei wanted to go back to his days as a company commander or platoon leader and satisfy his desire to kill the enemy personally, but because He Wei was angered by the shamelessness of the Japanese commander in front of him.

He Wei swore that in the next battle, not only would he leave no prisoners, but he would also personally kill the Japanese commander in front of him!

Time passed by minute by minute, and the troops that were going to carry out flanking assaults along the trenches on both wings were already in position and deployed in the main position. The shooters of the fifteen heavy machine guns that were ready for concentrated and overwhelming fire had also loaded their ammunition, pulled the triggers of their machine guns, and quietly waited for the order to fire.

Just as this mixed attack column composed of Chinese prisoners and Japanese troops advanced to 500 meters away from the first captured position, the first battalion commander Fu Chen took a deep breath and shouted: "Fire!"

Following Fu Chen's order to fire, six zb37 heavy machine guns and nine mg34 general-purpose machine guns roared at the same time, and deadly streams of fire shot out from the muzzles of fifteen machine guns, forming fifteen high-throwing machine gun fire trajectories.

In an instant, hundreds of 7.92mm heavy pointed bullets were fired amid continuous and intensive gunfire explosions, flying towards the mixed formation of Japanese troops and prisoners.

The sudden concentrated fire from the heavy machine guns did not give the Japanese any time to react. Fifteen deadly machine gun fire streams followed the carefully calculated firing parameters and, with the sound of bullets whizzing through the air, successfully crossed over the prisoners of the 18th Division who were driven in front by the Japanese, and rained down on the Japanese army.

The Japanese army that was driving the prisoners forward was unaware of the sudden opening fire of the machine guns, and did not take too much precautions. Even the Japanese officers and soldiers who realized that the Chinese army's machine guns had started firing mostly thought that the Chinese army's machine gun fire would definitely first target the Chinese prisoners who were standing in the front acting as human shields.

However, it was not until dense bullets came down like a rainstorm, knocking dozens of Japanese soldiers to the ground and making the Japanese scattered lines of soldiers bloody, that the Japanese soldiers who were suddenly hit came to their senses.

(End of this chapter)