Anti-Japanese War: I have unlimited assistance

Chapter 345 Hirata’s Death!

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At the moment the gunshots were heard, some Japanese soldiers reacted instantly and immediately rushed to both sides of the road.

There were even many gun muzzles pointed at Wang Xikui.

But when the first shot was fired, the Japanese soldiers were all running and marching, and had no idea where Wang Xikui was.

At this moment, a whooshing sound was heard in the sky, and the Japanese soldiers looked up.

Suddenly, I noticed grenades emitting black smoke and falling above my head like dumplings.

"Grenade!"

An old Japanese soldier shouted loudly, and the rest of the Japanese soldiers also rolled over quickly to avoid the bullets according to their impact points.

But these grenades exploded in the air before they even hit the ground!
"Boom boom boom..."

The short and continuous explosions were deafening, and the flying shrapnel whistled down with the breath of death. The panicked Japanese soldiers could not find a safe corner, and some of them were blown to pieces by the shock wave of the grenade explosion.

No gunfire could be heard, but some Japanese soldiers were horrified to find that their comrades were being shot and killed.

The enemy's shooting was extremely accurate, and many soldiers were shot in the chest and head.

"Fire!"

Some Japanese officers shouted in horror.

"Bang bang bang..."

"Da da da…"

The Japs fired continuously on both sides with their rifles, and the light machine guns roared wildly, as if the sound of the gunfire could give them courage.

But the sound of the Japanese's gunfire increasingly drowned out the sound of the Eighth Route Army's assault rifles, and the Japanese were increasingly unable to determine the position of the Eighth Route Army soldiers through the sound of the gunfire.

Wei Heshang and the soldiers fired quickly and accurately from their concealed positions with their assault rifles, and the Japanese soldiers fell one after another in a pool of blood.

A minute later, the Japanese reacted and set up heavy machine guns and grenade launchers.

Under fire from light and heavy machine guns, the infantry launched a charge on both sides of the canyon.

At this time, Monk Wei and his team members had already retreated along the predetermined route.

As soon as the Japanese soldiers stepped into the ambush position of the Blade Commando, 60mm mortar shells fell down continuously. The Japanese soldiers had no time to set up their guns and shoot, and could only dodge the shells in a panic.

By the time the shelling ended, more and more Japanese soldiers crowded onto the top of the hill, and the Blade Commandos had already run several hundred meters away.

"Chase!"

A squadron leader gave the order with a grim expression.

The Japanese soldiers quickly chased after them with rifles in hand.

However, after chasing for several hundred meters, the Japanese squadron leader heard a rumbling sound and immediately ran to the top of a hill and looked through a telescope.

The Eighth Route Army had already mounted their horses and was about to disappear around the corner of the hill.

How can two legs possibly outpace four legs?

A soldier at the rear of the Eighth Route Cavalry team turned around and grinned, raised his middle finger at him with his right hand, turned around and disappeared around the corner on his horse.

"idiot!"

Seeing this scene, the Japanese squadron leader was immediately furious. He snatched a Type 99 light rifle from the machine gunner nearby and fired in the direction where the Eighth Route Army was leaving.

"Da da da…"

No one knew where the bullet landed.

The Japanese squadron leader led his troops back to the Wild Wolf Valley quickly, only to see the corpses of Japanese soldiers everywhere in the Wild Wolf Valley.

"Where are the brigade commander and battalion commander?"

Under the guidance of the soldiers, the squadron leader quickly found Kenkichi Hirata and Yuo Morimoto.

Yuo Morimoto was shot twice in the head and four or five times in the body, including two in the chest, and his military cap was blown off.

Kenkichi Hirata was even more miserable. He was shot in the chest, half of his body was blown apart, his intestines and other internal organs were scattered everywhere, and it was unclear whether his heart was broken or blown away.

With just one look, the squadron leader knew that his brigade commander was beyond saving, the kind that even Amaterasu couldn't save him.

"idiot."

Seeing this scene, all the Japanese soldiers, including the squadron leader, looked sad and angry, as if their loved ones had died.

The Japanese knew that they were ambushed by the Eighth Route Army Special Forces, so they did not dare to pursue them any further. They returned to Yangquan crying all the way, taking the brigade commander, the major, the Japanese corpses and the wounded.

……

evening.

Taiyuan.

inner city.

First Army Headquarters.

Yoshio Shinozuka and Ikki Yamamoto are playing chess.

When the two old Japanese learned that they were about to be fired, they both became hands-off bosses.

The new commander of the First Army, Lieutenant General Yamawaki Masataka, had already arrived in Shimen City. In two days, he would fly to Taiyuan. After completing the handover, Shinozuka Yoshio and Yamamoto Ikki would fly to Peking and then return to the mainland to be assigned to the reserve, a dishonorable discharge.

Yamamoto still felt a little unwilling, but Yoshio Shinozuka had already laid down.

At his position and age, after suffering so many defeats, even if he was not dismissed from the headquarters, he would not have much chance of being promoted to general.

"General."

Communications Staff Officer Kasai Toshimatsu hurried in with a telegram in his hand:

"I just received a telegram from Lieutenant General Ushijima, commander of the 20th Division, that Major General Hirata, commander of the 39th Brigade... has died in battle."

The 20th Division Headquarters was stationed in Shou County, about 30 kilometers from Yangquan.

"Nani!"

Yamamoto Ikki's hand, which was about to make a move, stopped in the air, and his voice suddenly became higher, full of disbelief.

Although he and Kenkichi Hirata had some conflicts, they were also classmates. Yamamoto found it hard to accept that the other party had died.

To be fair, Kenkichi Hirata's tactical command ability is still good, much better than Yoshito Takagi.

During the period when Yoshito Takagi served as the commander of the 39th Brigade, he was basically suppressed by the Eighth Route Army. Kenkichi Hirata fought back and forth with the Eighth Route Army, with both sides attacking and defending. Unexpectedly, he was killed.

Shinozuka Yoshio's mouth twitched, but his expression quickly returned to normal. He didn't even offer a moment of silence, and his tone remained steady: "What's going on?"

The death of Kenkichi Hirata was another wave of shame for the Japanese First Army and Yoshio Shinozuka.

But Yoshio Shinozuka was already numb.

Kenkichi Hirata's death was nothing compared to the complete annihilation of the 108th Division, in which two lieutenant generals and three major generals were killed.

Anyway, too many lice won’t make you itch, and too much debt won’t make you worry.

Kasai Toshimatsu immediately reported.

"The 20th Division Headquarters reports that after the Eighth Route Army Special Forces attacked Lieutenant General Yamawaki in Shimen City, Major General Hirata took the initiative to lead a reinforced infantry battalion to Laoyukou to ambush the Eighth Route Army Special Forces."

"On the way back to Yangquan, they were ambushed by the Eighth Route Army Special Forces in Wild Wolf Valley. Major General Hirata and Major Morimoto, commander of the 39st Infantry Battalion of the 1th Brigade, were killed on the spot."

Yoshio Shinozuka stood up expressionlessly and bowed his head in silence.

Yamamoto and Kasai Toshimatsu also bowed their heads in silence.

Three minutes later, Shinozuka Yoshio sat back down and asked, "Yamamoto-kun, what do you think?"

“There are both unexpected and expected aspects.”

Yamamoto Ikki regained his expression and said, "Major General Hirata, like other arrogant Imperial officers, paid the price for his arrogance."

"If Major General Hirata and the soldiers of the 39th Brigade understood special operations, or had received counter-special operations training, they would not have been ambushed by the Eighth Route Army Special Forces. It's a pity that Major General Hirata has always looked down on the special forces."

"Except for being a little arrogant, Major General Hirata has no obvious shortcomings. He has excellent tactical command capabilities and will surely be promoted to lieutenant general and serve as a division commander in the future. I didn't expect him to be so loyal to His Majesty Tianhuang in Yangquan." Shinozuka Yoshio's mouth twitched. This Yamamoto Ikki was about to retire in disgrace, but he still didn't forget to promote a wave of special operations.

Yamamoto Ikki looked disappointed. The Eighth Route Special Forces failed to kill Yamawaki Masataka, but instead killed Hirata Kenkichi.

If Yamawaki Masataka was killed, perhaps the commander-in-chief could continue to serve as the commander of the First Army, and if the commander made some arrangements, he would not retire.

……

Shimen City.

Headquarters of the 110th Division of the Japanese Army.

After the attack, Sangmu Chongming strengthened the defense of the division headquarters and deployed two battalions of troops around the division headquarters, so that not even a fly could fly in.

Sangmu Chongming hurried into Yamawaki Masataka's room with a telegram.

Yamawaki Masataka was reading the battle report of the 110th Division and the Chinese army.

The first step to defeating an opponent is to understand the opponent. When Yamawaki Masataka was at the North China Front Army Headquarters, he had read the battle report about the battle between the First Army and the Eighth Route Army. He still didn't quite understand why the First Army, despite its powerful strength, could not defeat the Chinese army in Shanxi.

You know, the locust army was invincible. In just over a year, it occupied most of the territory of North China, Central China and South China. Why did the troops of the North China Front Army stop advancing when they reached Shanxi?

"Yamawaki-kun," Kuwagi Chongming said solemnly, "something happened."

Yamawaki Masataka put down the battle report and hurriedly asked, "Kuangmu-kun, what happened?"

"The First Army Headquarters just sent a telegram that Major General Hirata, commander of the 20th Brigade of the 39th Division, died in action." Sangmu Chongming recounted to Yamawaki Masataka how Major General Hirata led his troops to ambush the Eighth Route Special Forces, but was ambushed and killed by the Eighth Route Special Forces.

"Damn, the Eighth Route Army is really hard to deal with!" Yamawaki Masataka's face suddenly darkened. Before he even took up his post at the First Army, he had already lost a great general.

After a pause, Yamawaki Masataka blamed himself and said, "If I had flown directly to Taiyuan Airport instead of coming to Shimen City to meet you, the Eighth Route Army Special Forces would not have attacked me, and Major General Hirata would not have died in battle."

"Yamawaki-kun, this isn't your fault," Sangmu Chongming consoled him. "You can only blame the Eighth Route Army for being too cunning. When you arrive in Taiyuan and take up your position as commander of the First Army, you must be extremely careful. The Eighth Route Army Special Forces failed to kill you this time, and they'll definitely attack you again."

"Hmph!" Yamawaki Masataka snorted coldly, "I'm worried that the Eighth Route Army Special Forces won't show up. Then I'll deliberately expose my flaws and set a trap to catch them all in one fell swoop."

"The most difficult opponent is not the Eighth Route Army Special Forces, but Li Yunlong, the commander of the Jinzhong Eighth Route Army. He will definitely be a formidable enemy for the Locust Army in the future."

"When I fly to Taiyuan tomorrow, I plan to visit the Eighth Route Army's so-called Jinzhong base to get to know the enemy."

Sangmu Chongming was suddenly startled: "Yamawaki-kun, the Eighth Route Army in Jinzhong is equipped with a lot of anti-aircraft guns. You'd better not go to the Eighth Route Army's base in Jinzhong."

Yamawaki Masataka smiled slightly. "I've already done some research. The caliber of the Eighth Route Army's anti-aircraft guns is all 20mm. This type of anti-aircraft gun has average power and a normal altitude. If you're careful, you'll be fine."

"Mr. Sangmu, after we arrive at the First Army, I will ask General Sugiyama to transfer you and the 110th Division to the First Army's battle sequence."

"Then..." Sangmu Chongming said with joy, "Thank you, Yamaki-kun."

(End of this chapter)