The Anti-Japanese War Begins with the Northeast Army

The anti-aircraft guns had no time to form a dense firepower network, the Japanese planes were too fast——

In order to pursue speed and climb rate, the Japanese chose to make all types of fighter planes lightweight when developing them; these planes were nicknamed "air lighters" in later generations, but in this era, such speeds were quite a test for the anti-aircraft guns' firepower network.

Whenever a hole was opened on the shore by a fierce attack, these Japanese planes, which were constantly cooperating with the fleet, could quickly inflict huge casualties on the defenders, the degree of tragedy of which was unimaginable.

"Sir, we can't hold on any longer. Order the brothers to retreat!"

There were already fires everywhere in the fortress, and the commander of the garrison was surrounded by wounded officers.

In addition to the unpleasant smell of gunpowder, the air was filled with crying and the strange smell of burning human flesh.

"No! The people of Qingdao are behind us. If we run away, the Japanese will surely start a massacre after landing!"

Li Maozhi, the commander of the garrison, yelled loudly, "Notify everyone, Lord Hai has been supporting us all these years, now is the time when the higher-ups and the common people need us——"

"We have to let the world see that the Northeast Army is not just a bunch of cowards!"

After shouting this, he braved the artillery fire and used the radio to notify the entire army to hold the fortress and not to retreat a single step.

He also notified the local garrison in Qingdao to prepare for war, and suggested that they open the city gates to allow the people to evacuate first.

Li Maozhi knew very well that this group of devils had probably suffered a great loss in the Northeast, so he turned his attention to Qingdao, hoping to open up the war here...

But he knew very well the nature of the Japs. Once they poured into Qingdao, they would certainly start a massacre. By then, Qingdao would inevitably become the second Lushun, and the entire city would be cleansed in blood.

At the same time as the artillery fire, 500 Japanese Marines from the 3rd Regiment boarded armored motorboats to rush to the beach. After the tide receded, the mudflats were exposed with iron stakes from the Ming and Qing dynasties' coastal defenses.

When the first batch of landing troops jumped off the side of the ship, the mud instantly swallowed up their knees, and the wooden buttstock of the Type 38 rifle swelled and jammed in the salty sea breeze.

The remnants of the defenders who had huddled in the fortress to avoid the artillery fire had been distributed in company units throughout the fortifications along the entire beach in accordance with orders from their superiors.

"Fuck the Japs! They're coming, brothers, beat them hard!"

As the defenders watched the little Japanese soldiers hunched over and rushing forward like water rats, the heavy machine guns in each fortification suddenly opened fire. The 7.92mm bullets penetrated the mist and pinned dozens of Japanese soldiers in the cracks of the bluestone of the century-old breakwater. Blood seeped into the Yellow Sea along the inscription "Peaceful and Calm Seas and Clear Rivers" on the monument.

I don’t know who among these devils shouted “Amaterasu protect you!”, but the entire group of “water rats” burst into slogans such as “The Emperor is above” and “For the Empire” and landed on the beach more intensively.

At this time, the second echelon was already swimming across the river wearing helmets, but they triggered the mixed minefield laid by the defenders - the curved mines produced by the Heilongjiang Arsenal and the homemade pottery mines made by fishermen exploded at the same time!

The entire beach was instantly ablaze, and shrapnel and broken porcelain in the surging waves quickly intertwined into a death storm.

The captain of the landing team called for naval artillery support via radio, but the observation balloon was shaken violently by the counterattack of the defenders' only two remaining Mongolian heavy artillery, and the calibrated coordinates deviated by 100 meters, and a motorboat was mistakenly blown into a burning wreckage.

The two waves of beach landings were defeated by the defenders, and the brothers' spirits were greatly boosted.

Cheers and mutual encouragement continued inside the fortifications. Every young face suddenly lit up and their eyes were filled with desire for victory.

However, even Li Zhimao underestimated the strong determination of the Japanese army to land: these devils, as he thought, had suffered a great loss in the Northeast and were eager to gain so-called military merits in the interior to make up for their mistakes. At midnight, the raging waves gradually calmed down, but the dense dark clouds quickly began to rain, and a large number of devils began to land on the beach.

The number this time was far greater than the previous two times combined. Even though the defenders kept firing, there were still Japanese soldiers rushing ashore and quickly fighting with the brothers in the fortress.

At this moment, Qingdao's reinforcements also advanced rapidly along the coastline, engaging in a hand-to-hand tug-of-war with the Japanese army on the hills along the pier.

Under the rising flares, sparks from the collision between bayonets and military knives fell into the salt pans, and strange bubbles appeared on the wounds soaked in brine.

"The Emperor bless you!"

Someone shouted loudly, and some of the Japanese landing troops actually came ashore with flamethrowers!

The whitened brass tank glowed coldly in the moonlight, and the metal nozzle was dripping with a viscous liquid of napalm.

The sudden spurt of fire was like some ferocious beast from the underworld, and the orange-red flames licked the brothers in the crowd who had no time to escape.

A shadow wearing the uniform of the Northeast Army and an unlucky Japanese soldier were caught in the disaster. Even if they immediately plunged into the sea water, it was impossible to extinguish the extremely high-temperature flame - they could only watch their bodies turn into charred black.

The jet gun carried by each soldier made a hissing sound like a venomous snake spitting out its tongue.

The smell of blood and rotting flesh burned by high temperatures quickly filled the entire beach, and the defenders let out sharp screams.

Some people were dodging, while others shouted to hit those bastards first, but soon more people were hit.

More and more pale bodies were floating in the waves. The Japanese soldiers carrying flamethrowers actually burst into laughter. The laughter mixed with the mechanical hum of the fuel pump made people shudder.

The temperature in the heavy rain rose rapidly due to the continuous flames, and many soldiers' exposed wrists were covered with blisters.

Li Maocheng roared angrily and picked up a submachine gun. He rushed into the crowd of killers as if he was risking his life and started shooting at the gas tanks.

One Japanese soldier was unable to dodge, and the flames suddenly expanded as the gas tank exploded, engulfing dozens of Japanese soldiers around him.

But the defending commander's attack in such a life-threatening manner instantly aroused the hatred of all the Fire Soldiers, and several pillars of fire swept towards him!

This brave warrior who had fought in China for nearly twenty years ended his life in a dazzling flame.

Under his encouragement, both the remaining defenders and the reinforcements coming from Qingdao rushed towards the Japanese landing team like crazy.

The successive explosions soon set the entire beach on fire, and as more and more Japanese troops rushed up, the beach could no longer be defended.

The Qingdao coastline fortress was completely wiped out, the entire pier beach was dyed red with blood, and the beach was littered with soldiers in Northeast Army uniforms, many of whom were already missing without a complete body.

This landing operation, which Tokyo called the "Silver Beach Assault," eventually tore open the first crack in Shandong's defense line at the cost of consuming tens of thousands of Japanese troops and destroying four warships.

With the victory of this battle, the Japanese army's offensive shifted from the northeast to the interior of the country, and the situation took a sharp turn for the worse in an instant... (End of this chapter)