Chapter 193: The Tank Battalion That Suddenly Appeared
The large corps retreated, naturally not like street punks scrapping in a chaotic retreat. Under Ushijima Mitsu’s command, the 20th Division’s two brigades began alternating their withdrawal.
Several times, Su Yaoyang led his men in active pursuit and attacks, only to be beaten back, even suffering some casualties.
“Commander, let me lead the charge once more. This time, I can definitely break through the devils’ defensive line.” Huang Guantao once again requested to join the battle with Su Yaoyang, but was rejected by Su Yaoyang.
“No… Now it’s the devils defending and us attacking. The devils hold the advantage of terrain; you can’t act recklessly. We have no right to waste our brothers’ lives in vain. If we want to launch an attack, we must wait for the artillery regiment behind to come up.”
After speaking, Su Yaoyang said to the communications officer behind him: “Immediately send a telegram to John, ask where he is, and order him to immediately attack the flank and rear of the 20th Division to disrupt the Japanese army’s retreat.”
“Yes!”
………..
The overcast sky was exceptionally gloomy, with fine drizzle floating in the air. A long column was retreating toward the northwest; they were precisely the Japanese 20th Division that had just withdrawn from Wild Wolf Valley.
Unlike when they came, the 20th Division’s marching column now appeared somewhat disorganized, especially since there had been a brief shower the day before yesterday, making the roads somewhat muddy.
Ushijima Mitsu sat in the sedan, his face sullen with eyes closed, unclear whether he was asleep or meditating.
Ushijima Mitsu naturally paid no attention to the fine drizzle outside; after all, sitting in the sedan, he couldn’t feel the rain at all. As for the soldiers outside… a little drizzle couldn’t harm the brave imperial warriors, could it?
What he was now considering was how to explain to Mizutsu Yoshijiro.
As a veteran division commander, he knew well that for someone without a powerful backer, after suffering such a major defeat, being forced to retire was almost a certainty, and he might even face a military tribunal.
Now he didn’t hope to escape this disaster; he only sought to safely return to the homeland. Even if kicked into the reserves, that was fine—as long as he was alive.
But he racked his brains over everyone he knew, yet couldn’t find a single influential person willing to help him.
“Sigh…” Only when you need them do you realize how few friends you have.
Ushijima Mitsu let out a long sigh, leaning his body heavily against the back of the seat.
“Boom…”
A massive explosion jolted Ushijima Mitsu awake; he, who had been drowsy, was instantly startled alert.
He practically jumped up from his seat. “What’s going on… Where’s the artillery fire?”
“Division Commander… It’s the Shanxi militia… We’ve been ambushed by the Shanxi militia?” Soon, his staff officer ran over in panic to report.
“Idiot… How is that possible? The Chinese are still behind us; how did they get in front to ambush us?” Ushijima Mitsu simply didn’t believe his staff officer’s words.
“It’s true… Don’t believe me, look!” The staff officer pointed into the distance and shouted loudly.
“Hm…” Ushijima Mitsu looked in the direction his staff officer pointed, and his heart instantly went cold.
The distant hills and smoke blurred the horizon. Dozens of tanks, accompanied by countless soldiers in light gray uniforms, were charging toward them.
The tracks crushed through mud and scorched earth, emitting deafening roars like the bellows of steel behemoths.
That force was none other than the assault group led by John; the backup that Su Yaoyang had deliberately left behind before the battle was finally in action.
John poked half his body out from the commander’s cupola of the lead Sherman tank. The cold morning wind filled his uniform, blowing the few strands of golden-brown hair on his forehead.
The binoculars in his hands were tightly locked on the front… That was the routed column of the Japanese 20th Division, like a startled long snake, hastily retreating along the muddy road.
“Now! All units, wedge formation—charge in! Stir them to pieces for me!”
John’s voice, clear and laced with bloodthirsty excitement, transmitted through the intercom to every tank’s communication channel.
The drivers of the twenty-seven Sherman tanks instantly floored the accelerators. Amid the engine roars, the exhaust pipes spewed thick black smoke. The thirty-three-ton tanks shot out like arrows from the string, bursting from an inconspicuous side road beside the Japanese marching route in an unexpected direction!
Their towering figures crested a dirt slope. The 75mm main guns on the turrets gleamed with cold metallic sheen. The coaxial machine guns and the turret-mounted M2HB 12.7mm heavy machine guns had already begun spewing furious tongues of fire.
“Boom boom…” The 75mm main guns on the Sherman tanks fired!
The shells whistled through the air, slicing precisely like the Grim Reaper’s scythe into the crowded Japanese retreat column. A Japanese truck struggling up a slope was instantly hit.
An orange-red fireball erupted violently. The massive shockwave hurled a dozen or so Japanese soldiers into the air like rag dolls. Severed limbs and twisted metal parts mingled together in a gory mess—the scene was utterly horrifying!
The explosion’s flames illuminated John’s grinning face, a cruel smile splitting his lips.
“Enemy attack! Tanks! Right rear, tanks! Texas!”（ Enemy attack! Tanks! Right rear, tanks! Fire!） In the Japanese column, an experienced sergeant major screamed hoarsely, his voice distorted by fear.
However, it was all too late.
John’s tank battalion sliced in like a red-hot blade through butter.
The Japanese retreat column was instantly cut in half at the waist, the formerly somewhat orderly formation exploding into chaos in an instant.
“It’s the Chinese!”
“Fire… Fire now!”
“Blow up the Chinese tanks!”
Terrified screams, officers’ futile shouts, wounded soldiers’ wails, and the “creak creak” of tank tracks crushing everything intertwined, matched with the chaotic scene, forming an utterly explosive spectacle.
With a “screech,” the sedan carrying Ushijima Mitsu came to a stop. Looking at the tank group rampaging on the highway not far away, he rolled down the window and shouted loudly to the surrounding soldiers.
“Stop right there… Organize the troops for a counterattack!”
But though his voice was loud, the Japanese soldiers were already in total disarray; no one stopped to heed his command.
Ushijima Mitsu glared in fury, about to push open the car door, but was stopped by the adjutant in the passenger seat.
“Division Commander, it’s not safe here right now—far too chaotic. Shouldn’t we hurry and leave this place first?”
“Leave this place…”
Ushijima Mitsu gave a bitter laugh, pointing at the chaotic scene around them: “Do you think that once I leave here, I’ll still have a chance to clean up the mess?”
The adjutant fell silent. A commander abandoning the battlefield on his own, deserting his troops and causing defeat—this was a grave crime in any nation’s army. If Ushijima Mitsu really dared to do that, the military police waiting for him tomorrow would probably force him to commit seppuku.
