Chapter 159: Encounter
“Quick… everyone get down… get down quick…”
Wang Fuguai was the first to jump down from the truck, then he opened the tailgate and shouted at the soldiers.
After the soldiers had all gotten off the vehicle, the surrounding soldiers also began to assemble, and soon their company had assembled completely.
Their company commander was a man in his thirties, dark-skinned. He gathered all the officers from squad leader and above in the company and began to brief everyone on the mission.
“Our mission is to launch an attack on Xiangding County town. It’s best if we can take it, but it doesn’t matter if we can’t. The most important thing is to make a big commotion, so that the Japs have no energy to deal with other things. Does everyone understand?”
“Understood!” everyone replied in unison.
“Our company’s mission is to attack from the right side. Once the fighting starts, you must pay attention to maintaining formation and not bunch up too much. Squad and platoon leaders must control the formation.
Alright… attack in ten minutes. Everyone go down and prepare.”
Wang Fuguai returned to his squad and beckoned to everyone, “All come over!”
After the whole squad gathered, he glanced at the group of rookie recruits and said: “Let me emphasize battlefield discipline once more. Once the fighting starts and your position is exposed, you must move within 3 seconds, otherwise the Japs won’t show mercy.
Second, take reasonable risks. Don’t try to rescue unless necessary; pointless bravery will only get you killed（. Many recruits die from blindly trying to save others）.
Third, quickly learn from the veterans around you and imitate their actions. This will increase your chances of survival.”
The recruits nodded solemnly; this was a matter of life and death, and no one dared to be careless about it.
“Alright, start checking weapons and ammo.”
At Wang Fuguai’s order, the soldiers began checking their weapons, ammo, and gear—not even Wang Fuguai was an exception.
After he finished checking his own weapon, he turned around just in time to see a recruit mounting a bayonet on a Garand rifle.
He quickly stopped him.
“Kid… take off the bayonet. Trust me, you’ll regret putting that thing on.
The most important point is, by the time you try to use it for hand-to-hand combat with a Jap, you’ll probably already be dead.”
Wang Fuguai was like a nagging old woman; after patrolling around once, he began nagging nonstop, even cursing.
“Boom…”
Suddenly, a deafening explosion came from the distance, followed by more explosions. Then shells continuously slammed into the outer city walls, and several Japanese firing positions were instantly blasted to kingdom come by M101 107mm howitzers.
Huge explosions sent shattered stones flying skyward, and the firelight rising from the breach in the wall illuminated the soldiers’ tense faces.
Wang Fuguai and his squad’s soldiers huddled in cover without moving. Suddenly a shell exploded nearby, making his eardrums buzz, and clods of dirt pelted his helmet with banging sounds.
The artillery preparation lasted more than ten minutes before stopping.
“Toot toot toot…” The charge horn sounded.
“Brothers… charge…”
With the sounding of the charge horn, the company commander also issued the charge order.
Wang Fuguai was the first to leap up. As soon as he stood, a bullet whistled past his ear. A soldier ahead suddenly toppled like a sandbag, and the blood mist he sprayed took on a eerie orange-red hue in the sunlight.
He unhesitatingly stepped over the body and charged fiercely toward the wall.
He covered the more than two hundred meters in just tens of seconds.
The wall breach was close at hand, with wisps of smoke still rising from some gaps in the bricks and stones.
Suddenly, his gaze sharpened. A Japanese soldier poked half his body out from a pile of rubble. Without thinking, he swung his gun barrel and pulled the trigger.
“Da da da…”
The Thompson submachine gun’s astonishing rate of fire was impressively demonstrated. In just a few seconds, the 50-round magazine was emptied. That Japanese soldier was instantly turned into a beehive.
Wang Fuguai suddenly roared: “Grenades!”
With his shout, several soldiers right behind him pulled out MKII grenades and threw them onto the wall.
“Boom boom boom…”
Accompanied by several screams, the gunfire from the wall instantly stopped.
“Nice job!” A hoarse roar came from behind—the platoon leader’s voice, sounding like it came from far away: “Keep charging! Don’t stop!”
………..
“Da da da…”
Amid the gunfire, a Japanese soldier who had just tried to turn and retreat was hit in the back by over a dozen Colt pistol rounds. Empty casings bounced like popping soybeans at his feet. That Japanese soldier wearing round-framed glasses toppled from behind the merlon, his head smacking into the wall bricks with a dull thud.
“Quick… everyone follow up!” The platoon leader’s voice came from the right.
Wang Fuguai was just about to call the recruits behind him to follow when a bright arc streaked across the sky, followed by a muffled thunderclap overhead.
“Rumble…”
“Damn… it’s going to rain.” A flash of irritation crossed Wang Fuguai’s mind; after all, no one liked fighting in mud.
Before he could speak, bean-sized raindrops came pouring down, the sky instantly darkening, and visibility dropping sharply.
The heavy rain poured nonstop, diluting the bloodstains on the wall’s rampart into dark red streams snaking along.
“Everyone follow up, don’t fall behind!” Wang Fuguai turned and yelled loudly to everyone behind him. After shouting, he turned back and realized the platoon leader and the others were gone.
“Fuck…”
Wang Fuguai cursed under his breath, leading his whole squad along to the right. He vaguely remembered that was the way the platoon leader had chased.
But after chasing for a distance, he still didn’t see anyone. Just as he grew anxious, a sharp-eyed soldier suddenly pointed ahead and shouted: “Squad leader… people ahead!”
Wang Fuguai looked along his line of sight and saw several figures rounding a bend toward a tower ahead.
He didn’t think too much, waved his hand, and quickly chased after them.
Only when the group closed in did they realize these three figures seemed much smaller than their own, and the helmets they wore were somewhat different.
Before Wang Fuguai could react, the three suddenly chattered gibberish. The shortest one at the rear abruptly turned, thrusting his gun at him; the long bayonet sliced a pale arc through the rain curtain.
Rich battlefield experience and his automatic weapon saved Wang Fuguai. Without thinking, he pulled the trigger.
“Da da da da…”
In a burst of crisp gunfire, due to the close range, that Japanese soldier was flung backward by the bullets.
With such close distance between both sides, the other two Japanese soldiers didn’t escape either. After emptying a 50-round drum, all three had long been turned into beehives. Only when the click of the firing pin on empty came from his submachine gun did Wang Fuguai plop down onto the ground…
