Songhu: Never Give Up

Chapter 262 Fatal Counterattack

川并大佐看到的自然不是“烟花”，而是游击纵队属炮营的火力齐射，其中包括12门107毫米12管火箭炮、24门75毫米山炮、24门迫击炮；

Nearly 200 artillery shells of various calibers flew across the sky above their heads and headed straight for the Japanese artillery positions.

Before Colonel Kawanami could react, shells rained down on the artillery group, turning each cannon into scrap metal...

"Yamedie!"

Ying Xiaosen also screamed, his eyes filled with fear and despair. This was the most painful thing in life!
Just when he thought he was about to defeat Yue Qianli and the guerrilla column, this round of artillery rain completely shattered his fantasy;
He probably, possibly, seemed to have been fooled again!
"Boom boom boom..."

"Boom boom boom..."

Three consecutive rounds of artillery fire pushed him into the abyss of pain. The artillery group on which he had placed high hopes was destroyed.

Next was the infantry assembly area. He had already thought of this result. It was impossible for the Chinese to attack only the artillery group.

The reason why they chose to destroy the artillery first was simply to leave them without the ability to fight back. Now the Chinese artillery could ravage their warriors unscrupulously;
He could only watch as hundreds of soldiers were engulfed by Chinese artillery fire, disappearing in large numbers, like a group of lambs to be slaughtered!
"Damn it, Yue Qianli is too cunning!"

Life's ups and downs are just like this...

Under the combined fire of the Chinese artillery, the Japanese soldiers of the 6th and 68th Regiments suffered heavy casualties, with corpses strewn all over the ground;
The Japanese soldiers who managed to survive were also forced to flee in a panic by the explosion. At this moment, the loud sound of a military bugle pierced the sky, frightening the Japanese soldiers and accelerating their defeat.

As soon as the shelling ended, the main force of the guerrilla column launched a counterattack from multiple directions. More than 2 soldiers from the Supplementary Detachment, the Independent Detachment, and the Third Detachment, like soul-catchers rushing out of hell, rushed towards the dispirited Japanese like a tidal wave.

The defeat was like a landslide. If they were just bombarded by artillery, the defeated Japanese soldiers might have been able to gather together.
Now the 2 infantrymen of the guerrilla column have completely sounded the death knell for the Japanese. In the face of absolute strength, no Japanese is willing to stay and block the attack. They just want to run faster than others. This is the highest level of escape.

"Ting Xiaojun, why are you still standing there? Run quickly - go and cross the river!"

Colonel Kawanami was smart. The defeated soldiers were already rushing towards them and it would be too late if they didn't run away.

At this time, Takamori was completely desperate and didn't want to live anymore, so Colonel Kawanami had to let someone carry him to escape;

Now he only wants to keep the regiment headquarters and the military flag. The Sixth Regiment does not want to follow in the footsteps of the Seventh Regiment.

The regiment headquarters was not far from the river bank, so a group of the fleeing soldiers first seized the ferry, and then they fled to the other side in a panic without caring about the other fleeing soldiers.
It's not that Colonel Kawanami didn't want to rescue more defeated soldiers, but once the defeated soldiers came, no one could control the situation, which might lead to a mutiny, and even they wouldn't be able to escape.

Colonel Kawanami only wanted to save the 6th and 68th Regiments, and the loss of some soldiers was not a consideration for him.
Even if my friend dies, I will live. Saving my own life is more important than anything else.

When thousands of defeated soldiers were driven to the river bank, there was no sign of a ferry on the river, and they were abandoned by the officials;
At this point, the pursuers had already attacked from multiple directions, and breaking out was no longer possible.

There were three options before them: surrender, fight the Chinese, or jump into the icy river.

The early Japanese were deeply poisoned by the Bushido spirit, so surrender was impossible for them. Even if they jumped into the icy river, they would probably not be able to swim to the other side.
Then the young officers among them stood up, brandished their sabers and shouted loudly:
"Warriors, rather than jumping into the icy river and freezing to death in humiliation, it is better to fight the Chinese. Long live the Emperor, kill the chicken for us!"

After the Japanese officer finished shouting the slogan, he rushed out first with his saber raised high, and other Japanese soldiers followed suit, raising their rifles to fight desperately with the soldiers of the guerrilla column;
The soldiers of the guerrilla column naturally would not give them any chance. They set up their machine guns and fired at the Japs. The bullets rained down on the Japs, sweeping them down row by row.

In front of hundreds of machine guns, the Japanese soldiers were so fearless that they were courting death. Just when the guerrilla column machine gunners were almost numb from killing, the remaining Japanese soldiers finally got scared.

They turned their guns around again, ran towards the river bank regardless of anything, then jumped into the icy water and swam hard to the other side of the river. At least there was still a little hope.

They still underestimated the power of nature. Although the Huai River did not freeze, the water close to zero degrees was not something that ordinary people could withstand, unless they wore their underwear outside.

Kawamura Yukiji grew up by the sea and was very confident in his swimming ability. He could even swim in the ocean, so a small Huai River could not scare him. What mattered was saving his life.

There were many people around him who had the same idea as him, and they were all desperately swimming towards the other side, but they disappeared into the river as they swam...

Kawamura also felt his body heat gradually disappearing, his whole body became numb, and his military jacket, soaked with river water, became like a heavy armor, pressing him so hard that he couldn't breathe.
He didn't know how long it had been before the river bank finally appeared before his eyes, and it was covered with cherry blossoms that stretched as far as the eye could see.

His mother was waving at him under the most beautiful cherry tree, and he raised his hands high, wanting to grab his mother;
As a result, he failed to catch it and fell into the abyss. He screamed in despair - Mom!
At this moment he regretted coming to China. It turned out that the Japanese also had mothers. When they stabbed other people's mothers with bayonets, they would lose their own mothers one day.

Kawamura sank to the bottom of the river just a dozen meters from the river bank, feeding the fish and turtles of China;

There is reincarnation of cause and effect. It’s not that there is no retribution, it’s just that the time has not come yet.

As the last Japanese soldier disappeared into the river, the counterattack came to an end. The guerrilla column won the victory again. Tens of thousands of soldiers cheered as they stepped on the shit-yellow corpses on the ground. Victory belonged to them!

Of the thousands of Japanese soldiers from the 6th and 68th Infantry Regiments and the 1rd Field Artillery Regiment of the rd Division that crossed the river, only about of them escaped, including two infantry regiment headquarters and part of the artillery.

At the 3rd Division Headquarters, when Fujita Susumu received the bad news, he could hardly believe his ears;

Before this, he was still planning the follow-up operations after capturing Bengbu City. This slap in the face came too quickly.

The two regiments were driven across the river, suffered heavy casualties, and were nearly annihilated. This was a huge reversal, and the arrogant Fujita Susumu could not accept it. He stared at the Chief of Staff Colonel Tajiri and asked:
"Nani?"

Colonel Tajiri was unable to give him a satisfactory answer, so he had no choice but to bite the bullet and say:
"It's not that the Imperial Army is incompetent, but Yue Qianli is too cunning. They deliberately showed weakness to lure the Imperial Army into taking the bait. Ying Xiaojun and the others were fooled—"

"Bakayalu, are you pigs? Why are you always the ones who get fooled?"

Fujita Susumu's roar made Colonel Tajiri tremble. He didn't need to take the blame for others anymore, so he blurted out:
"It's all Eagle Xiaosen's fault!"

(End of this chapter)