Chapter 264: Counterattack
The loss of air superiority was catastrophic for the 6th Division.
They no longer had any air forces to cover them, which also left them completely exposed to the guns of the Shanxi militia’s aircraft.
“Woo woo woo…”
A shrill air raid siren sounded in the sky, an SBD2 Dauntless diving from three thousand meters altitude with a piercing scream, the gleaming heavy bomb under its belly shining blindingly in the sunlight.
“Boom…”
At over eight hundred meters from the ground, a 726-kilogram aerial bomb detached from the aircraft’s rack and fell toward the ground.
The instant the bomb fell, the sky seemed to be torn apart.
Pulled by gravity, the bomb began to accelerate downward.
At first just a small black dot, in the blink of an eye it turned into the shadow of the Grim Reaper enveloping the Japanese army’s position.
The soldiers of the Japanese army’s 13th Regiment, who were desperately firing at the Shanxi militia counterattacking on the position, looked up, their pupils reflecting that increasingly large black dot; some began screaming, some froze in place, and more ran madly toward cover.
But no matter what they did, it was already too late; the moment the warhead touched the ground, time seemed to freeze.
Immediately after, a blinding white fireball rose from ground zero, over thirty meters in diameter, engulfing everything around it in two thousand degrees of heat.
The nearest machine gun positions were torn apart like paper, sandbags, helmets, rifle parts, and human limbs hurled into the air a hundred meters high.
The shockwave spread in a ring, collapsing trenches and shattering bunkers wherever it passed, flinging a dozen Japanese soldiers who hadn’t hit the ground in time into the air like rag dolls.
The crater at the explosion center was five meters deep, the surrounding soil sintered by the heat into a glassy hard shell.
No living creatures within a fifty-meter radius survived—the three-man gun crew operating a Type 92 infantry gun vaporized instantly, leaving only three charred human outlines on the ground.
A battalion command post a hundred meters away was flattened as if stepped on by a giant, its log roof completely collapsed, the radio and maps inside turning to ash in the flames.
The shockwave continued outward, overturning an ammunition dump two hundred meters away and triggering chain explosions.
It was not until three minutes later that the smoke gradually dissipated.
The position was littered with burning wreckage and twisted corpses. A deafened Japanese sergeant major staggered out from the ruins, his uniform still smoking, his face covered in bloodstains.
In the distance from the explosion point, some surviving Japanese soldiers wandered the ruins like sleepwalkers; some dug for buried comrades with their bare hands, some clutched mutilated limbs and wept, and more knelt on the ground with dazed eyes, muttering to themselves at the position now reduced to scorched earth.
In a distant observation post, a Shanxi militia captain lowered his binoculars and satisfactorily drew a red circle on the operations map.
This bombing point codenamed “Hammer” would be permanently erased from the Japanese defensive system.
And in an even more distant underground bunker, 13th Regiment commander Nakano Hideaki looked at the vanished defensive node on the sand table, knowing this defensive line was now in name only.
“Baka yarou!”
He couldn’t help cursing loudly; Nakano Hideaki slammed his fist into the parapet in front of him, his bloodshot eyes filled with rage.
He had originally thought that with the strength of their 6th Division, taking a city garrisoned by a mere local militia would be a piece of cake, but after more than a week of fighting, not only had they failed to breach the enemy’s outer defenses, they were even being pushed back step by step in the counterattack.
He no longer hoped to capture the enemy’s positions and was instead worrying about how to preserve the 13th Regiment’s strength.
“Regiment commander, sir, a call from the brigade commander, sir.” A staff officer hurried in to report.
Nakano Hideaki strode to the telephone, picked up the receiver, “Brigade commander, sir…”
“Nakano, how’s the situation at the positions?” The voice of brigade commander Major General Nishiyama Yushiro came from the receiver.
“Brigade commander, sir, the situation is very bad.” Nakano Hideaki’s voice sounded very dejected.
“Since yesterday, the Chinese aircraft have been circling and bombing over our heads with impunity, but we haven’t seen a single one of our planes.
Just now, a Chinese dive bomber dropped a super heavy bomb, wiping out one of my companies in one go.
And the Chinese infantry is advancing step by step under the cover of tanks; if this continues, the 13th Regiment will be gone from the Imperial Army’s roster by tomorrow.”
“Baka…” Nishiyama Yushiro on the other end of the line flew into a rage: “Nakano, do you know what you’re saying?”
“Of course I know, but that’s the fact.” Nakano Hideaki raised his voice:
“The 13th Regiment has been in bitter fighting with the Chinese forces opposite for over a week; do you know how many of the original three thousand eight hundred men are left now?”
Without waiting for Nishiyama Yushiro to answer, he said word by word: “Less than two thousand… which means the troops we painstakingly reorganized and trained for a year back home have been beaten back to square one.
I don’t even know how to explain this to the division commander; brigade commander, you tell me, what should I do?”
Nishiyama Yushiro was silent for a moment, then sighed lightly: “Nakano, I already know your situation; actually, it’s not just your 13th Regiment, the 47th Regiment’s situation is also bad.
The Shanxi militia’s combat effectiveness was truly beyond our expectations. I will report to the division commander, sir.
In the meantime, your regiment must not withdraw without the division commander’s approval, understood?”
“I will do my best.” Nakano Hideaki replied in a somewhat heavy tone.
“Not do your best, but hold on no matter what.” Nishiyama Yushiro’s tone was quite stern, “If the division’s entire defensive line collapses because of the 13th Regiment, you know what the consequences will be.”
“Hai!” This time Nakano Hideaki’s tone was much more serious; he knew that when Nishiyama Yushiro said this, the situation was already very grave.
“Alright, that’s it.” With that, Nishiyama Yushiro hung up.
Nakano Hideaki held the receiver in thought for a moment, then called the staff officer, “Order all units except observation posts to enter anti-artillery caves and not come out until the Chinese planes leave.
Also, tell the artillery company to hide well; those four Type 92 infantry guns they have are now the regiment’s only heavy weapons and must be protected.”
“Hai.”
“Regiment commander, sir, the Chinese are attacking us again! 1st Battalion requests reinforcements!” Suddenly, a staff officer rushed into the command post and shouted.
“Order 3rd Battalion to send one company to reinforce and hold the positions at all costs!” Nakano Hideaki gritted his teeth and pulled one company from the scant reserves.
Watching the staff officer leave to carry out the order, Nakano Hideaki thought for a moment, went to the wall, took down a helmet and command saber, and strode out…
