The Iron-Blooded Army of Beacon Fire

Chapter 418: Japanese version of pitting teammates and subordinates
The Japanese army's second and third line positions, deep positions and artillery positions were already engulfed in thick smoke and fire. Flashes of artillery shells appeared frequently in the thick smoke, and a yellow crowd of people surged backwards from the Japanese army's first line positions.

These more than one hundred Japanese soldiers who were defeated and routed by the assault corps and driven out of the front-line trenches fled madly towards the second and third-line positions of the Japanese army at an extremely fast speed.

In the assault operation just now launched by the Assault Corps on the Japanese front-line positions, most of the Japanese front-line defenders composed of the 8th Independent Engineer Regiment and a part of the logistics and supply troops were wiped out in the front-line trenches. More than 8 people of the th Independent Engineer Regiment, including the Lieutenant Colonel Regiment Commander, were wiped out in the front-line trenches. Only more than lucky engineers and dozens of logistics and supply troops escaped from the positions.

These defeated Japanese soldiers, who had lost their courage due to the attack of the assault corps, reacted immediately after escaping their positions and fled to the second and third line positions in the rear.

After the attacking force reached the front line under He Wei's pursuit order, the 1st and 2nd Battalions of the Assault Corps Infantry, which had just captured the Japanese army's front-line positions, quickly left the Japanese positions they had just captured and launched a fierce attack on the defeated Japanese army.

Six infantry companies charged in the front, and the officers and soldiers of the heavy machine gun companies of the two battalions followed closely behind carrying disassembled zb37 heavy machine guns. The officers and soldiers of the two battalion headquarters companies carried ammunition, supplies, stretchers, and portable communication equipment to support them. Under the cover of the fierce firepower of the artillery battalion of the assault corps, they advanced forward with all their might.

Due to the difficulty in maneuverability, the two battalion mortar companies of the attacking force did not continue to advance with the main force of the attacking force. Instead, they concentrated the 81mm mortars of the two artillery companies and launched a fire pursuit at more than Japanese soldiers who escaped from the front-line positions.

The artillery battalion of the assault corps had completed the transfer of artillery fire. Its two subordinate mountain artillery companies continuously bombarded the Japanese army's second and third-line positions. The mountain artillery shells that kept falling on the Japanese army's second and third-line positions made a rumbling sound. The 81mm mortar shells that were carrying out fire pursuit on the Japanese army's defeated troops also exploded one by one among the defeated crowd of the Japanese army. Every moment, Japanese soldiers who were hit by mortar shells were swept down, killed, or blown away with screams.

From the Japanese army's second and third line positions to the route of the Japanese army's fleeing soldiers, there was dust and fog everywhere. The officers and soldiers of the assault corps who were chasing behind with loud shouts of killing could not even see the Japanese army's second and third line positions clearly. They could only see the smoke, dust and flames after the artillery shells exploded.

Just as the attacking forces of the 1st Infantry Battalion and the 2nd Infantry Battalion of the Assault Corps were pursuing the Japanese troops and advancing triumphantly towards their second and third-line positions, the command posts of the second and third-line positions of the Japanese troops were filled with a gloomy atmosphere.

In the command post of the Japanese second-line position, which was surrounded by violent shaking and continuous dust, Colonel Aoki Haruichi, commander of the 1st Infantry Regiment of the Japanese Taiwan Island, and Colonel Yasuda Kazuki, commander of the 2nd Infantry Regiment of the Japanese Taiwan Island, sat awkwardly on camp chairs. There was nothing but despair in their eyes as they looked at each other.

In the recent offensive operations centered on the Big and Small Bear Mountain Heights, the combat power of the two infantry regiments had been almost completely depleted, and today, Hata Shigekazu's desperate charge had completely depleted the little remaining combat power of the two infantry regiments.

Not long ago, some remnants of the Japanese army led by Hata Shigeichi fled back to the second and third line positions of the Japanese army. After gathering and counting, it was found that of the two complete infantry battalions led by Hata Shigeichi in the early morning, with more than 2,000 troops, only more than 300 people escaped.

Among these more than 300 people, the highest-ranking one was only a major and a battalion commander, and there was no Hata Shigeichi, the supreme commander of the Hata Detachment.

There is no need to say more about what the loss of contact with a commander means on a bloody and chaotic battlefield.

At this point in the battle, the Hata Detachment not only lost its supreme commander, but also almost completely destroyed the combat effectiveness of its subordinate infantry units. The six organized field infantry battalions under the Taiwan Island Infantry 1st Regiment and the Taiwan Island Infantry 2nd Regiment were almost all lost.

In addition to their respective regiment headquarters, subordinate regiment artillery companies, rapid-fire artillery companies, communications teams and other small direct units, the two infantry regiments only had more than 300 defeated remnant infantrymen who had just been gathered.

That’s right, there are only these few people left in the two elite infantry regiments of the Japanese Army.

In order to hold out as long as possible under the attack of the Chinese army, the two infantry regiments had to take the initiative to shrink their defense areas, join forces, and concentrate on the second-line positions to keep each other warm.

Faced with the extremely dangerous battle situation, the two captains remained silent for a long time.

Suddenly, an officer rushed into the command post in a panic and reported loudly to the two commanders who were looking at each other in bewilderment: "Sir, the front-line position has been lost. Only more than a hundred people have withdrawn and are retreating to our position."

The commander of the 1st Infantry Regiment of Taiwan Island, Aoki Hariichi, stood up suddenly and asked, "Has the position been lost?"

"Yes, sir, the Chinese's firepower is too strong. It took only more than ten minutes to take down the front-line positions. Now they are chasing our officers and soldiers who have withdrawn from the front-line positions and attacking fiercely."

Aoki Shinichi was stunned and speechless for a moment. Although the troops guarding the front-line positions were insufficient, it was at least the entire independent engineering regiment that had been severely damaged, plus a part of the logistics troops with a strength of more than 500 people.

He thought that the front-line position could at least hold out for half a day, but he didn't expect that the front-line position would be taken down by the Chinese army in just over ten minutes.

"Aoki-kun, it's time to make a decision."

Colonel Kazuki Yasuda, commander of the 2nd Infantry Regiment of Taiwan Island, stood up suddenly, with a fierce light flashing in his eyes.

"Commander Hata Shigekazu has lost contact after leading his troops to a failed attack. He is likely dead. Our detachment is leaderless. We should quickly organize the detachment headquarters to retreat and send someone to escort the detachment flag to preserve the honor of our two units."

Aoki Shinichi said: "Then, what about the other friendly troops?"

The 1st Infantry Regiment of the Taiwan Island and the 2nd Infantry Regiment of the Taiwan Island were indeed in a miserable state, but even more miserable than them were the other parts of the Hata Detachment. Not only had the main force of the Hata Detachment been almost completely wiped out, even the highest commander had disappeared and lost contact. In addition to the two destroyed infantry regiments and the 8th Independent Engineer Regiment which was almost completely wiped out on the front line, the Hata Detachment also had the Taiwan Mountain Artillery Regiment, as well as a large number of baggage, vehicles, and logistics troops.

After the infantry units in the detachment were completely wiped out, the artillery, baggage, vehicles, and logistics units that had no infantry protection and no decent self-defense capabilities were all in a very dangerous situation.

Moreover, after Hata Shigeichi lost contact, the Hata Detachment had lost its command and was leaderless.

Faced with the swiftly attacking Chinese army, it is no exaggeration to say that these troops were like meat on the chopping board.

"At this point, we have no time to care about others. Our detachment has lost unified command. It is better to protect ourselves first. We can retreat on our own. There is no need to notify our friendly forces of our retreat."

Aoki Hariichi quickly realized that Yasuda Kazuki wanted the two infantry regiments to retreat quickly. Well, to be precise, Yasuda Kazuki meant to let the regiment headquarters and regiment flags of the two infantry regiments retreat quickly before the Chinese army attacked. In the eyes of the Japanese army, the military flag of each infantry regiment is equivalent to the emperor's clone, symbolizing the highest honor of the Japanese Army. It is only awarded to the infantry regiment and cavalry regiment of the Japanese Army and must not fall into the hands of the enemy. When the troops are surrounded by the enemy and face annihilation, they must burn the military flag to prevent it from falling into the hands of the enemy.

The destruction of a regiment's flag was often seen as a symbol of the annihilation of the unit, which was a major taboo and shame in the Japanese Army.

Once the battle situation became urgent and the troops were in danger of suffering a devastating blow, the first thing the Japanese infantry regiment commanders and cavalry regiment commanders had to consider was how to deal with the regiment flag of their headquarters.

The wing headquarters is the highest command body of a wing.

Yasuda Kazuki wanted the headquarters and flags of the two infantry regiments to retreat as soon as possible, obviously to prevent the two infantry regiments from being annihilated. However, Yasuda Kazuki did not want to inform the friendly forces of the retreat of the headquarters and flags of the two infantry regiments, obviously intending to use other troops of the Hata Detachment to take the blame and cover the retreat.

Even in Yasuda Kazuki's words, even the direct units of the two infantry regiments were not included in the scope of the retreating troops. Obviously, these troops were also regarded by Yasuda Kazuki as "abandoned pawns" to cover the retreat.

These troops that have not received notice of retreat or whose friendly forces have already retreated will inevitably continue to resist and hold their ground. Their resistance and persistence will undoubtedly provide great cover for the retreat of the headquarters and flags of the 1st and 2nd Infantry Regiments of Taiwan Island.

Faced with the current severe combat situation, the pre-war plan proposed by Yasuda Kazuki was quite cruel. To put it bluntly, it was to sell out the direct troops of the 1st Infantry Regiment of Taiwan Island and the 2nd Infantry Regiment of Taiwan Island and other troops of the Hata Detachment in exchange for the successful retreat of the two infantry regiment headquarters and the regiment flags.

In fact, it is impossible to completely wipe out the Hata Detachment with the strength of the Assault Corps. According to the general principles of annihilation warfare, in order to completely wipe out such a behemoth as the Hata Detachment, the Chinese army must at least deploy an elite army-level unit to do so.

However, the assault corps' attack momentum and artillery fire were so swift that they seriously interfered with the two Japanese infantry regiment commanders' judgment of the battle situation. They frightened the two men and gave them the illusion that the Chinese army was going to annihilate them.

Therefore, Yasuda Kazuki proposed such a combat plan that would obviously harm friendly forces and subordinates.

Faced with this cruel plan, although Aoki Hariichi was hesitant, he finally lowered his head helplessly and agreed to Yasuda Kazuki's retreat plan. In military terms, Yasuda Kazuki's retreat plan was a complete betrayal of teammates, betrayal of subordinates, and low command ethics.

But the situation was stronger than the people, and the two elite regiment commanders of the Japanese Army, Aoki Haruichi and Yasuda Kazuki, had no choice but to break their own command ethics bottom line and adopt the attitude of "I would rather die than let my friend die".

Immediately, amid the constant roar of artillery, the dense sound of gunfire and the increasingly approaching shouts of the assault corps, Kazuki Yasuda quickly took over the command and issued combat orders one after another. This retreat plan, which not only harmed his teammates but also abandoned some of his subordinates, was quickly put into practice.

The headquarters of the 1st Infantry Regiment of Taiwan Island and the 2nd Infantry Regiment of Taiwan Island quickly activated the communication silence for the Taiwan Island Mountain Artillery Regiment and other friendly forces such as baggage, vehicles, and logistics.

In a word, they would not inform the two friendly regiments of their retreat, and would ignore all possible telecommunication contacts from the friendly forces, thus isolating them from information.

The two infantry regiments' direct regimental artillery companies, direct rapid-fire artillery companies and part of the communications teams, as well as more than 300 remnants of the Japanese army who retreated after the failed attack of Hata Shigeichi, received orders to defend the second-line positions under the command of a major infantry battalion captain.

As for the retreat of the two infantry regiments' headquarters and flags, the defenders left behind in the positions were not notified at all.

This resistance force, composed of two regimental artillery companies, two rapid-fire artillery companies and more than 300 defeated infantrymen, was the only remaining infantry unit in the Japanese army's second-line positions with strong resistance capabilities. It was also the only remaining infantry unit in the entire Hata Detachment that could fight against the Assault Corps.

Although they were subordinate units of two infantry regiments, they could not escape the fate of being abandoned in the face of the danger of the regiment headquarters and the regiment flag being destroyed.

After completing this series of command operations, the two regiment commanders, Aoki Hariichi and Yasuda Kazuki, quickly commanded the regiment headquarters and regiment flags of the 1st and 2nd Infantry Regiments of the Taiwan Island, as well as the Japanese officers and soldiers serving as the flag guard troops to quickly begin the retreat operation, and they left quietly in a panic on the trucks and jeeps they had collected.

The retreat of the two Japanese infantry regiment headquarters was well concealed by the heavy artillery fire and the deafening shouts of the assault corps. While their retreat was underway, the assault corps' offensive forces pursued the defeated Japanese troops all the way and soon reached the Japanese second-line positions.

Under the pursuit of artillery fire from two mortar companies, and the machine gun and submachine gun fire from the assault corps officers and soldiers who were charging from behind, the defeated Japanese army howled miserably and desperately in the blood and fire of artillery shells and bullets, as their comrades fell one by one and were blown to pieces.

The 81mm mortar shells seemed to have eyes and kept chasing the defeated Japanese army. The assault corps' attacking troops' machine gun bullet rain composed of the fire stream also kept a close eye on the Japanese army, chasing the defeated Japanese army all the way and hitting them, strafing and running around in the defeated Japanese army.

More than one hundred retreating Japanese soldiers were eventually wiped out by the assault corps' pursuing firepower before they fled to the Japanese second-line position.

"Come on!"

"Go ahead!"

"Kill all the enemies!"

The officers and soldiers of the assault corps' attacking force, with high morale, saw the Japanese army's second-line positions and all gathered their strength to continue charging and pursuing the victory.

Thousands of officers and soldiers shouted, with an indomitable momentum, and marched forward in a rolling charge, stepping over the bodies of the defeated Japanese soldiers who were killed and rushed towards the Japanese army's second-line position.

Just as the attack formation of the six infantry companies of the assault corps approached the Japanese second line of defense to within less than 500 meters, there were sudden slight vibrations in the air, followed by muffled bangs and sharp whistling sounds in the air.

More than a dozen 75mm mountain artillery shells and 37mm rapid-fire artillery shells whizzed towards the attacking officers and soldiers of the assault corps. The last remaining infantry resistance of the Japanese Hata Detachment began its last lingering resistance with fierce artillery attacks.

(End of this chapter)