Age of Rebirth

Raindrops of shells whizzed endlessly, bursting into clusters of flames. The sound of violent explosions reverberated between the sky and the earth, and the earth was trembling. In the middle, there were screams of steel fragments everywhere, cutting the bodies of armed Japanese civilians, and flying human body fragments were scattered everywhere.

This morning, Lieutenant General Kase was awakened from his sleep by bursts of earth-shattering gunfire. He got up straight, not even wearing a military uniform, and ran out of the bedroom barefoot, looking towards the north of Sapporo. A cloud layer that was dyed red by the flames was brighter than the morning glow, and its face became as ugly as dead ashes.

Major General Yamano, the chief of staff of the Hokkaido Defense Area Headquarters, came to the commander's mansion in a panic, and broke in without a notification, and said hurriedly: "Commander, after receiving the report, the Chinese Independent Division The artillery launched a heavy shelling on our army's positions on the line from Nagawa to Otaru, and they asked the commander for approval before withdrawing to the second line of defense, the Chinese artillery fire was too fierce!"

"I see!" Lieutenant General Kase turned around, sighed and said, "Listen to the density of the cannon sound, it was nearly ten thousand cannons firing in salvo. To no avail."

"Then give the order to retreat immediately!" Chief of Staff Yamano said eagerly: "The armed civilian troops on the first line of defense are paying a huge price of casualties every moment!"

"No!" Lieutenant General Kase said coldly: "The role of the armed civilian army is to consume, even if it is to consume the shells of the independent division of China. They cannot retreat half a step. That is their fate. It is also the value! If Armed civilian troops retreat without authorization, shoot to kill. In addition, Yamano-kun, order to go down, and prepare to fight a street battle in Sapporo!"

"Old buddy, is it almost there?" Sun Zhenbang put down the binoculars, looked at the first line of defense of the Japanese army that was blown up in flames, and turned to Yuan Jinghao.

Yuan Jinghao glanced at him and said: "It's almost time, three 10,000+ Japanese, don't kill more than half of them first. When the troops attack, they will definitely encounter obstacles. I don't have time to waste too much time on the line from Yingchuan to Otaru time!"

"Why don't we let the fire support fleet add the last fire?" Sun Zhenbang suggested.

Yuan Jinghao was happy, and replied: "We don't need to dispatch bombers to deal with the Japanese armed civilians. They are reserved for the little devils in the urban area of ​​Sapporo. More than 7000 cannons are enough!"

Three and ten minutes later, there was a storm of shelling.Suddenly stopped, Yuan Jinghao picked up a steel helmet, put it on his head, and said to Sun Zhenbang: "Commander, I will wait for you in Sapporo city!" After speaking, he turned around and left, and a dozen guards quickly followed .

Sun Zhenbang rushed forward a few steps.Pulling Yuan Jinghao, he said: "Old man, be careful. There are stray bullets everywhere, don't get off the armored command vehicle!"

The six mechanized infantry brigades of the North China Field Corps.Under the cover of tanks, they began to attack the Japanese army's line from Nagawa to Otaru from several different directions. At the beginning, the soldiers were cautious and deployed in an offensive formation, but until they stepped on the Japanese army's position, the sound The sound of gunfire was surprisingly rare.

Yuan Jinghao's armored command vehicle was closely following the attacking troops of the first brigade. He saw that after the large-scale bombardment, the Japanese army's positions were miserable. There were huge overlapping bomb craters everywhere with lingering smoke. It was very powerful, the wheels of the wheels sank deep into the empty soil, fragmented corpses could be seen everywhere, pieces of minced meat, guns that had been blown up into several pieces, from time to time some seemed to be stupid, their faces were dark, and they sat in ragged clothes. Japanese on the ground.

These Japanese, who were dumbfounded by the shells, turned a blind eye to the soldiers who passed by, and kept muttering nervously. The walkie-talkie in the car kept sending reports from several other brigades, " Commander, our brigade has already entered the Japanese positions, encountered extremely slight resistance, but found a large number of prisoners!" "Commander, our brigade is progressing smoothly, what should we do with the Japanese we encountered?"

Yuan Jinghao picked up the walkie-talkie and gave an order: "Leave them alone, and hand them over to the follow-up troops. If you encounter resistance, annihilate them on the spot, and quickly pass the Japanese army's Nagawa to Otaru frontline positions to attack Sapporo!"

Then, he began to call: "Commander Sun, the offensive troops have broken through the first line of defense of the Japanese army, and it went very smoothly. The follow-up troops can follow up. There are many Japanese who were frightened and stupid, and I will leave them to you. , I don't have time to deal with these bastards!"

In more than five hours, Yuan Jinghao blasted the first line of defense of the Japanese army with hundreds of thousands of shells and approached the northern suburbs of Sapporo. According to post-war statistics, more than 20 Japanese armed civilians on the first line of defense, A total of [-] people died under the unprecedented fierce artillery fire, and the rest, who didn't even have the energy and strength to stand up, sat on the hellish battlefield, waiting to be captured.

After the troops approached the northern suburbs of Sapporo, Yuan Jinghao did not order an immediate attack in order to wait for the next four brigades to come up. He did not want to fight an exhausting street battle with the Japanese in downtown Sapporo. The tactics he adopted were still the old ones. The massive bombardment, however, this time was supplemented by aerial fire from hundreds of bombers and fighters.

Since hundreds of thousands of shells could be used to blow up the first line of defense of the Japanese army, Yuan Jinghao believed that the Japanese line of defense in Sapporo could also be blown up. All the artillery units were transferred to the front line again, and thousands of artillery pieces roared again. The unprecedented violent shelling immediately enveloped the northern part of Sapporo in a sea of ​​flames!

Lieutenant General Kase stood in the courtyard of the headquarters of the Hokkaido Defense Zone, watching the soaring flames ignited in the north of Sapporo, his face was so pale that there was no trace of blood, and the chief of staff, Major General Yamano, was silently by his side.

"Yamano-kun, none of us thought that the commander of the China Independent Division would attack Sapporo in such a way. The urban street fighting we planned would probably be useless!" Lieutenant General Kase said in a hollow voice.

Chief of Staff Yamano’s mouth was as bitter as if he had eaten a few mouthfuls of coptis, and he said tragically: “Commander, such fierce artillery fire is unprecedented. The tactics of the China Independent Division are obviously and very effective. Destroy our city defense line, and then run through several passages in the urban area, with heavy defenses on both wings to block the counterattack of the imperial army and form an unimpeded passage."

"Such tactics can only be used when there are enough troops and firepower. You are right. We dispatched division-level troops and organized several large-scale counterattacks, but failed to stop the Chinese troops. In the final analysis, the imperial army’s strength and heavy equipment are insufficient, and once the passage from Sapporo to Hakodate is opened, the fall of Hokkaido is imminent!”

Lieutenant General Kase and Chief of Staff Major General Yamano had a very thorough analysis of the offensive tactics used by Yuan Jinghao, but they could not change the result. Yuan Jinghao had enough troops in his hands, and while blasting away the Japanese blocking forces with shells, he cleared the passage. Then follow-up troops were sent to establish defense lines on both sides of the channel to block the counterattacking Japanese troops, and gradually expand the channel to the two wings. The main force did not get entangled and quickly passed along the channel.

Although the progress of this style of play was slow, it was very effective in destroying the Japanese army's plan to fight street fighting in the urban area of ​​Sapporo. Street fighting in the urban scramble has always been the most troublesome part of the attacking side and the most casualty link. Yuan Jinghao But it created a new style of play. However, the prerequisite is that there are enough troops and strong firepower, and there is no specific time limit.

The sound of gunfire has already sounded behind the flanks of the Hokkaido Defense Zone headquarters. In the courtyard of the headquarters, there is already a strong smell of gunpowder smoke. Chief of Staff Yamano said to Lieutenant General Kase restlessly: "The independent division of China has advanced to Sapporo. We are in a very dangerous situation in the middle of the city, Commander, please evacuate Sapporo immediately and transfer to Hakodate to command troops to fight! I will stay in Sapporo to command!"

Lieutenant General Kase shook his head slowly, and said, "Yamano-kun, what can I do if I move to Hakodate? Can I still retreat to Honshu Island? Before I took office, I made a promise to Prince Zain that once Hokkaido Occupied by the China Independent Division, I will never go back alive!"

"Convey my order. Immediately transfer the third line of defense troops to the Sapporo battlefield. Be sure to block the advance passage of the China Independent Division troops. All 15 people will be thrown in. If Sapporo falls, the third line of defense will be in vain. !"

"Commander, you should move to Hakodate, I will stay and command the troops to fight! Your existence is the hope of hundreds of thousands of imperial soldiers in Hokkaido!" Chief of Staff Yamano shouted angrily.

"No! I'm not leaving!" Lieutenant General Kase roared stubbornly: "I stay in Sapporo, which is a kind of spiritual encouragement for the soldiers of the Empire. The generals of the Great Japanese Empire have no habit of fleeing in the face of battle!"

The sound of the cannons became more and more intense. Just as the two were arguing, a dozen bombers and fighter jets from the Independent Division suddenly appeared in the sky. Aware that their lives have entered the countdown.

In front of the headquarters building of the Hokkaido Defense Zone, the plaster flag fluttering in the smoke on the flagpole is the most obvious target, and it is also one of the most direct ways for the fighter and bomber pilots of the Northern Flying Group to find the location of the Japanese military command organization and important targets. one.

More than a dozen heavy aerial bombs roared down from the sky, "Boom! Boom!——Boom!" Thick pillars of smoke rose up, the flames flickered, and the smoke filled the air. In the courtyard of the headquarters, several huge craters appeared.

Lieutenant General Kase, Lieutenant General Yamano, the chief of staff, and dozens of guards in the yard were all turned into mutilated corpses. The plaster flag fell like autumn leaves in the cold wind, covering Kase The lieutenant general lost half of his head on his face.

(to be continued) (to be continued...)