Songhu: Never Give Up

Watanabe Hiroshi underestimated the firepower of the guerrilla column. He thought it was at most equivalent to a second-class division. It was not until he saw the "fireworks" flying all over the sky that he realized how wrong he was. He could only howl in horror:
"Ya meow die!"

A few kilometers away, He Qizheng, the commander of the artillery battalion directly under the column, gave the order with a proud look on his face:

"Bomb these sons of bitches to death!"

Li Boxi, the first captain of the rocket artillery battalion, said jokingly:
"Lao He, if we kill all the devils, our infantry brothers will start to clamor to be the corpse collection team."

As the machine gun company commander of Yue Qianli's second battalion, Li Boxi has been the worst developed over the years. The other three infantry company commanders, Liao Jianping, Ai Jian, and Sun Gang, have all become deputy detachment commanders and battalion commanders.

Restricted by the artillery's organization, he was only the chief of staff and battalion commander, but he was not discouraged at all, because artillery was the god of war.

The First Rocket Artillery Battalion has eight 8-tube 24mm heavy rocket launchers, which can fire 130 heavy rockets in one salvo, crushing the artillery regiment of a Class A division of the Japanese.

There are three rocket artillery battalions like the Artillery Battalion, and Li Boxi, as the chief of staff, holds the executive power of "open fire". He has had enough fun slaughtering the Japanese infantry clusters and would not change his position even if he was given the position of infantry battalion commander.

He Qizheng chuckled and said:

"We can't blame our artillery for this, because Old Yue has been suffering from a fear of insufficient firepower since the beginning.
In his words, if a problem can be solved with cannons, never use infantry!

My understanding is that if there are still Japanese soldiers standing after the artillery fire is ready, it means that our artillery fire is not fierce enough, and this fear has not been cured, so we need to continue to strengthen it. "

After listening to this, Li Boxi could only give a thumbs up, thinking that his vision was still too low. No wonder his senior was the battalion commander while he was only the chief of staff.

Li Boxi is from the seventh term of artillery, and He Qizhen is from the fourth term of artillery. It is clear that the senior has the final say, and Li Boxi just has to follow orders.

After receiving the order from the battalion commander, Li Boxi completely let himself go and fired twelve rounds of artillery fire in one breath. A total of 6912 130mm rockets made the Japanese understand what "hellfire" is.

The three infantry regiments of the 47th Division stationed on the periphery suffered a devastating blow, and more than half of the large and small bunkers that they had painstakingly built were destroyed by the previous air strikes;
Without the protection of their turtle shells, the Japanese infantry could only be pinned to the ground and rubbed against the cluster attacks of rocket launchers. They had no power to fight back and entire squadrons and battalions were destroyed.

The crisscross trenches were almost flattened, most of the infantry were killed or wounded, and those who survived had no morale and could collapse at any time;

Colonel Nobuichi Kikuchi, the commander of the 91st Infantry Regiment, even wanted to commit seppuku. He was almost blown into a chrysanthemum colonel by the Chinese artillery. He said angrily:
"Bagayalo, it's no use using cannons to clear the way! If you have the ability, fight the Imperial Army with bayonets..."

Senior staff officer Kento Ono standing nearby looked at him as if he were a fool, and thought to himself, the Chinese have planes and cannons, so why would they fight the Imperial Army with bayonets?

Of course, he didn't dare say this out loud, otherwise Colonel Kikuchi would hack him to death with one blow, and he wouldn't even be a bitch.

Just as he was worrying about how to comfort Colonel Kikuchi, he heard a rumbling sound of a machine in the distance, and he could also feel the ground shaking, so he shouted in fear:

"Tank swarms - the Chinese have tank swarms!"

Colonel Kikuchi was feeling depressed and had no place to vent. Seeing Ono Kento steal his lines, he raised his big hand and slapped him several times, then cursed:
"Bakayalu! You're yelling and shouting, do you still have the composure of an imperial soldier?
It's just a lump of iron, the warriors' willpower is harder than steel!

Kill the chicken for me!"

Wu Qifan, the driver of tank No. 10086, looked at the densely packed Japanese suicide squad with contempt. These annoying flies would be dealt with by the infantry brothers.
All he had to do was charge! charge! charge!

This is what the tank group should do. As one of the first batch of students in the teaching team, Wu Qifan, a returned overseas Chinese from Southeast Asia, never dreamed that one day he would drive a Chinese tank to destroy the devils.

In the past, the Chinese heroes would desperately rush towards the Japanese tanks with cluster bombs, but dozens of people could not blow up a single Japanese tank.

But now it was the Japs who were exchanging their lives for tanks. Seeing the Japs' suicide squad turned into a "death squad", Wu Qifan felt so happy. It felt so good to slaughter the Japs!
It is true that things change over time, and today it is my turn...

Wu Qifan stepped on the accelerator to the bottom, and rushed towards the enemy's position at high speed with other comrades. Wherever the torrent passed, the enemy was wiped out;

The 10086 tank was like an efficient killing machine. It bombarded the distant ones with artillery, swept the nearby ones with machine guns, and when it got too willful, it simply crushed the Japanese with its tracks, turning them into meat paste.

Wu Qifan specifically picked the corpses of the Japanese soldiers to crush, including many wounded soldiers and those pretending to be dead. Wherever the tracks passed, blood and flesh flew everywhere, and the soil turned dark red.

The armored group consisting of 120 Sherman tanks advanced like a torrent, and the infantry attack group consisting of two infantry battalions escorted them on the side. The infantry and tanks worked closely together, and the Japanese had no chance.
The infantry of these two battalions were equipped with a large number of semi-automatic rifles and carbines, and their firepower was so fierce that the Japanese death squads could not get close to the tank group at all.

As for those firepower points that survived by chance, as soon as they opened fire, they would be besieged by several tank guns and destroyed before they could even fire a single round. The infantry groups escorted by tanks were like a tiger with wings, and their attack speed was astonishingly fast, like a force to be reckoned with, and many of them penetrated deep into the Japanese defense.

Facing the oncoming armored torrent, Colonel Kikuchi could only desperately order the "Itaya" charge, launching a counterattack against the tank group, trying to use their bullshit Bushido to stop the guerrilla column's steel torrent;

The result is predictable. When the densely packed Japanese soldiers charged at the tanks with bayonets in hand, Wu Qifan and his comrades excitedly rushed forward...

The dense firepower network composed of tank guns, vehicle-mounted machine guns, submachine guns, and semi-automatic rifles turned the Japanese "Banzai" charge into a journey of death, and the shit-yellow corpses covered the entire position.

On the Jinan city wall, Lieutenant General Sakuragi, commander of the 43rd Army, was trembling all over. He had never seen such fierce firepower. This was not a battle but a one-sided massacre.

Chief of Staff Major General Takeda lost no time in persuading:
"Commander, the guerrilla column is no longer a powerful force, and the empire has long been in decline. Not to mention Jinan City, even the entire North China is difficult to defend.

The Empire has made too many strategic mistakes in recent years, especially the arrogant idiots in the Navy who provoked the giant Eagle Sauce.

They really think the empire does not have enough enemies, so they move south and north, and are thinking about provoking Russia and the United States before China is resolved. This is courting death!
"Huaxia's defeat is beyond human control. This is the trend of the times. Jinan can no longer be defended. Retreat!"

Lieutenant General Sakuragi rarely showed anger at Major General Takeda's discouraging words. The cruel reality was right in front of him.

The Chinese have a huge fleet of aircraft in the air, tanks and artillery on the ground, and infantry as fierce as wolves and tigers. They are fighting a modern air-ground integrated war. How can they be beggar-like guerrillas?

Compared with the arrogance of the guerrilla column, Lieutenant General Sakuragi painfully discovered that they were beggars and it was a pipe dream to want to defend the city of Jinan.

Thinking of this, he sighed and said:
"Although this is reasonable, I am loyal to my emperor and cannot betray his trust. I will defend Jinan and Shandong until my death."

Major General Takeda said with great disdain:
"Commander, please forgive me for being blunt, but the responsibility for not being able to defend Jinan does not lie with you and the warriors, but with the navy for provoking a powerful enemy that it should not have provoked.

This is a problem with the empire's grand strategy. Now the Eagle Sauce navy is almost at the empire's doorstep, and China's millions of troops have launched a full-scale counterattack. At this time, the most important thing is to preserve the manpower.

The millions of elite army troops in China are the empire's only reliance for launching a decisive battle on its homeland. If these elite veterans are wiped out, what will the empire use to defend its homeland?

Relying on farmers who have never touched a gun?"

Whether or not he could defend his homeland was not something Lieutenant General Sakuragi needed to consider. What he needed was an excuse to withdraw from Jinan City. It is said that there is a legitimate reason for the war, and the same goes for escaping. Major General Takeda just handed him a "ladder".

"Takeda-kun is still far-sighted. The headquarters is controlled by a group of short-sighted guys. Your Majesty was deceived by them and fell into the current crisis.

There is really no need to continue fighting in Jinan City. While the Chinese encirclement has not yet been completed, we should immediately break out to the north and preserve our manpower to the maximum extent possible in order to fight again in the future."

Lieutenant General Sakuragi's words made Major General Takeda breathe a sigh of relief. He finally didn't have to live and die with Jinan City, nor did he have to face the wolf-like guerrilla column.
As for what would happen after the breakout, that was not his concern. There would always be a way out when you reach the mountain. That was something that the commander of the North China Front Army and the commander of the China Expeditionary Army, General Okamura Yasuji, should consider. What he had to consider was how to return to his homeland alive in this failed war.

As for the commander of the 47th Division, Lieutenant General Watanabe Hiroshi, both of them selectively forgot about him. Someone had to cover the retreat and be the scapegoat, and Watanabe was the most suitable candidate.

After finding a reason to retreat, Lieutenant General Sakuragi immediately ordered his troops to break out to the north, with the 47th Division covering their retreat.

The commanders of the 9th Independent Mixed Brigade and the 1st Brigade naturally had no objections, and both guarded around the commander, fearing that the Chinese would hurt Lieutenant General Sakuragi;

Their breakout was very successful, and the guerrilla column did not cut off their retreat. If they wanted to take over the northern cities intact, they could not push the Japanese into a corner.

This was also the rule Yue Qianli set for the devils. As long as they did not destroy Chinese cities and massacre civilians, the guerrilla column would leave them a way to retreat.
It's not just Jinan, but also Pingjin, Nanjing, Shanghai, Wuhan and Guangzhou. These are the foundations of China's rise after the war. It would not be cost-effective to destroy them.

The retreat of the main force of the 43rd Army from Jinan completely crushed the psychological defenses of the remnants of the 47th Division. If you can run, so can I. No one is stupid!

Only the commander of the 47th Division, Watanabe Hiroshi, committed suicide by seppuku and became a burial companion of the doomed empire. Before committing suicide, he ordered all the Japanese soldiers to break out, no matter how many escaped.

Unfortunately, these remaining soldiers were not so lucky. They were all killed by the guerrilla column infantry.
In Ai Jian's words, infantry brothers cannot just collect the bodies of the Japanese. Deserters are also soldiers and should gain some military merit.

On the third day of the Jinan Campaign, Jinan City was liberated and the 47th Division was completely wiped out in just 52 hours. Once the news was announced, it shocked people at home and abroad! (End of this chapter)