Should we rescue them, or not?

This was a difficult question!

Fujie Keifu, the division commander, was tormented by this question.

Rescue them! The distance was seventy kilometers.

By the time the Fujita Toshimatsu Cavalry Regiment arrived,

The daylilies would probably be cold (it would be too late).

Not rescue them?

The last seeds of the Nineteenth Brigade,

Although there were only a little over a thousand devils (Japanese soldiers),

Compared to the eight thousand devils already dead in the Nineteenth Brigade,

It wasn't much!

Since they had already sacrificed the cow, why care about a cow's tail?

But singling out these thousand-odd devils,

They were also a large detachment,

A force capable of resisting a division of the National Revolutionary Army,

Or even the main force of an entire army!

Thinking of this,

Division Commander Fujie Keifu finally made a difficult decision.

He ordered, "The Twentieth Cavalry Regiment will set off immediately,

And move to support the Nineteenth Brigade."

Regimental Commander Fujita Toshimatsu responded with a salute,

"Hai!" (Yes, sir!)

Division Commander Fujie Keifu gave a somewhat uneasy reminder,

"Your route is at least seventy kilometers long,

Be careful along the way!

Rescue the Kusaba Akito Brigade,

Don't linger,

Go directly to Liu'an."

He had already ordered the devils under his command to pack up,

And was preparing to go to Liu'an as well.

Yanjing Nanyuan Airport:

A squadron of devils' (Japanese) aviation troops was preparing to depart.

Squadron Leader Yamashita Ryosuke was giving a pep talk to the devils under his command:

"Gentlemen! The Second Army Corps has been temporarily placed under the jurisdiction of the Central China Expeditionary Force.

Now, the weak Central China Expeditionary Force

Is unable to provide air guidance to the Second Army Corps.

Commander-in-Chief Terauchi Hisaichi has ordered us to cross regional boundaries to support the Second Army Corps.

After all, they are troops of the North China Area Army.

Our visit represents the strength and level of the entire North China Area Army Air Force.

Gentlemen, be sure to pay attention,

Show the strength and level of the North China Area Army.

Let the Central China Expeditionary Force know:

When it comes to fighting,

They are just little brothers!"

When his pep talk reached this point,

Nearly a hundred devils below all laughed.

Seeing the high morale of these devils under his command,

Squadron Leader Yamashita Ryosuke pointed towards the tarmac:

"Set off!"

His squadron had twelve bombers and six fighter planes.

Each bomber had seven crew members, including the pilot,

So a total of ninety devils boarded the planes for this mission.

Squadron Leader Yamashita Ryosuke was the first to soar into the sky.

He led the six fighter planes into the air first,

And circled over the airport.

Waiting for the twelve clumsy bombers to take off one by one,

These bombers that had taken off first,

Also circled over the airport, just like the fighter planes.

For a time, the sky over Nanyuan Airport

Was filled with a constant "buzzing" sound,

A deep and powerful noise,

Plus a large group of dark, heavy planes circling in the sky,

Startled the birds,

And they all flew away far away.

As the last bomber took to the sky,

They adjusted their formation,

Flying in the front was a fighter plane piloted by Miki Sadao,

He served as the vanguard of the entire Yamashita Flying Squadron,

And was also the eyes of the entire air fleet.

Pilot Miki Sadao clearly enjoyed this task of leading the entire squadron,

He felt that he was very important.

Miki Sadao, who was flying in the lead, reported loudly,

"No clouds ahead, clear skies for ten thousand miles,

It's a great time to fly!

Gentlemen!

This weather predicts that our trip will be smooth in every way."

Tanaka Yuchi's voice came through the headset,

"Yamashita Squadron, invincible in every battle,

Always successful in every mission.

This inter-regional bombing raid

Will definitely be recorded in the war history."

This flattery made Squadron Leader Yamashita Ryosuke burst with joy,

The squadron leader's voice, filled with smiles, rang out,

"This is the brotherhood between the armies of the Army,

It will definitely be reported to the headquarters.

When we return after completing the mission,

I will ask the commander to

Give you gentlemen three more opportunities to visit the comfort women stations."

As soon as his words fell,

All the devils in the entire squadron cheered.

On the bomber,

Some crew members did not have a walkie-talkie,

So the captain specifically repeated the squadron leader's promise three times on the plane via broadcast.

All the devils in the entire Yamashita Ryosuke squadron began to look forward to the program after their successful return.

The devils' flying squadron had already set off,

The devils' cavalry regiment had already set off.

Brigade Commander Kusaba Akito was very clear about these things,

But his heart was sinking into an endless abyss.

The last remaining hundreds of devils in the Twentieth Regiment of the Nineteenth Brigade,

Although they had already shrunk their ranks,

Established a defensive perimeter,

And were holding on for reinforcements.

But...

Those high-flying planes that had been wreaking havoc for two hours,

Actually dove down again at this moment,

And began strafing the defensive positions that the Nineteenth Brigade had just established.

They were too unchivalrous (lacked martial virtue).

Wasn't the strafing they did for the past two hours enough?

The problem now facing the Nineteenth Brigade was:

Facing the attacks from the air,

They were unable to fight back,

And they couldn't evacuate!

This was the biggest problem.

Many infantrymen in the distance were staring at them covetously.

As long as they dared to step out of the defensive perimeter,

They would immediately be met with a storm of attacks from those infantrymen.

Brigade Commander Kusaba Akito simply did not know:

That the infantrymen surrounding them were increasing in number.

The Twentieth Regiment of the Nineteenth Brigade had shrunk back into its shell,

Trying to build a solid tortoise shell to protect itself,

And was holding on for reinforcements!

Regimental Commander Kobayashi Nobuaki had clearly failed to complete this task well.

The positions it had established were constantly being ravaged by strafing from the air.

The other regiment of the Nineteenth Brigade

Was also encountering difficulties now.

Regimental Commander Katagiri Taro had to admit:

That he was still too naive!

He thought that Brigade Commander Kusaba Akito was leading the Twentieth Regiment against the National Revolutionary Army.

His Ninth Regiment would have an opportunity,

And be able to escape from this place.

The plan was perfect, but reality was cruel.

The devils of Katagiri Taro's regiment advanced five hundred meters in the direction of Liu'an,

And also encountered snipers.

This sniping attack was too fierce:

First, it was like setting off a landmine,

The remaining devils of the entire regiment,

All fell into a cloud of smoke.

After this explosion,

Regimental Commander Katagiri Taro had lost count of how many devils were still alive.

All he could see was that of the devils who had been around him,

Six out of ten had fallen.

His eyes were blurred and he couldn't see clearly.

He could only hear the earth-shattering shouts of killing coming from the front,

And the aftershocks of the ground shaking from the explosion,

Came again now.

Battalion Commander Hoshino Hyuga's voice giving orders gave Regimental Commander Katagiri Taro some comfort.

"Assemble! Charge!

Charge!"

His voice was very urgent:

"Company Commander Fujikawa Mitsuo, you must charge up immediately.

Charge over there!"

"Kill!"

"Kill!"

"Kill!"

From the front, which Regimental Commander Katagiri Taro couldn't see clearly,

Came an organized roar.

This sound was like rolling thunder,

Making these devils, who had just suffered a psychological trauma from the directional mine, no longer dared to move forward.

Company Commander Fujikawa Mitsuo's voice rang out,

"Assemble! Assemble!"

His voice was filled with anxiety, anger, and despair.

Company Commander Fujikawa Mitsuo looked at those devils who were still dawdling,

Angry at their lack of ambition and hating them for not charging.

No matter how stern his voice was,

Few devils could rally themselves.

He had to use military law,

To give these devils under his command a little stimulation.

His method of stimulation was no different from the method used by the Twentieth Regiment:

Both were equally crude.

With a single slash, he chopped off the head of,

Hirano Juzaburo who was standing blankly.

The head was lifted up by the fountain of blood rushing up from the neck,

Rolling all the way,

On the smoke-filled battlefield,

A human head was being held up by bright red blood,

Not falling down for a long time,

Appearing extremely strange.

The commander's sword in Company Commander Fujikawa Mitsuo's hand was still dripping downwards,

His voice rang out again:

"Charge!"

His commander's sword pointed towards the direction of Liu'an.

This time,

Those numb devils

Became flustered again.

They nervously held their guns,

And charged in the direction that the company commander was pointing.

The task of sniping the devils was accepted by the Third Company and Fourth Company of the Third Regiment.

After they saw the devils charging into the ambush,

And detonating the directional mines,

Without delaying for even a second,

The Third Company and Fourth Company rushed out of the trenches,

And began a bayonet charge with the devils.

These devils, who had just been blasted into a daze,

Had no organization and no resistance.

Among them, only a few devils parried meaninglessly a few times,

And were quickly suppressed.

When Company Commander Huo Yiyi of the Third Company led his troops to continue charging,

He heard devils yelling in front of him:

"Assemble! Charge! Charge!"

He looked ahead:

Just thirty meters away in front of him,

Was a team of forty or fifty devils,

They had already formed their ranks,

And were charging towards them under the command of a devil.

Company Commander Huo waved his hand:

"Charge over there!"

The soldiers in the front row behind him

Immediately charged up.

Company Commander Fujikawa Mitsuo had just assembled dozens of devils,

And couldn't wait any longer,

So he commanded these devils to charge forward.

Behind him, Regimental Commander Katagiri Taro was still continuing to organize those scattered devils.

The result of the charge greatly disappointed Company Commander Fujikawa Mitsuo:

This team that he had organized by killing to establish his authority,

Was actually scattered by the charging National Revolutionary Army in one fell swoop.

The forty or fifty devils,

Not only did they not charge out,

But they all fell to the ground.

Company Commander Fujikawa Mitsuo also fell,

He was stabbed to death by Company Commander Huo with a single shot.

As early as thirty meters away,

Company Commander Huo had paid attention to this devil commander.

When they charged up to him and the two sides clashed,

He realized that he was just a pretty boy,

He couldn't even withstand a single move,

And was stabbed right through.

Battalion Commander Hoshino Hyuga, Regimental Commander Katagiri Taro, and the devils who were following behind them,

Saw that the team they had painstakingly organized had been wiped out in one wave.

They no longer dared to seek survival by charging forward,

And began to flee in all directions.

It wasn't just the Third Company that had charged up,

But also the Fourth Company,

They had already surrounded this battlefield,

Battalion Commander Katagiri Taro, who had just run a few steps, was overtaken,

And with two consecutive slashes,

He fell to the ground and could no longer breathe.

The actions of the other companies in the First Battalion were similar.

Now, only the Fifth Company and Sixth Company, who had stopped the Twentieth Regiment of the devils,

Were still engaged in fierce firefights with them.

At this time, the aerial strafing stopped again,

But Brigade Commander Kusaba Akito looked at the remaining devils,

And there were less than a hundred left.

The positions they were defending,

Had also shrunk again and again,

Leaving only a small mound.

With one charge from the Fifth Company and Sixth Company,

The last few devils of the Nineteenth Brigade were completely annihilated.

The Third Regiment began to clean up the battlefield.

Jia Shusheng loudly ordered,

"Move quickly, clean up the battlefield, replenish ammunition.

Continue to advance!"

At this time, the First Regiment was also taking action in Hefei!

After Chen Sichuan received Lin Fan's new plan,

He immediately decided to capture Hefei Airport.

He sent the First Company, Second Company, and Third Company, in coordination with the Tenth Company and the Rocket Artillery Company,

A total of five companies rushed towards Hefei Airport.

The devils' garrison at Hefei Airport was only one company,

And also a puppet army battalion.

They already knew that Hefei had fallen.

Looking at the devastated airport, Company Commander Fuyuno Yusuke,

With less than a hundred remaining devils under his command, and more than three hundred puppet soldiers,

With this amount of strength,

Should he defend the airport?

Or not?

Retreating before the battle was a major crime.

He, a small company commander, couldn't bear this responsibility,

So Company Commander Fuyuno Yusuke gave an order to Puppet Army Battalion Commander Kong Jiaze:

"You will lead the troops to defend the airport.

I will go outside to search for the enemy."

He had already decided

To lead the devils all the way to Liu'an to search for them.

Only by arriving in Liu'an and bringing back the Sixteenth Division,

Could he truly defend it and recapture Hefei.

The five companies sent by the First Regiment

Had not yet arrived at Hefei Airport,

When the entire airport was left with only more than three hundred puppet soldiers bustling about.

There were so many devil (Japanese) corpses on the airport,

That needed to be cleaned up as well.

Of course, these tasks were to be done by the puppet soldiers.

Puppet Army Battalion Commander Kong Jiaze, who was directing the puppet soldiers to collect the devil corpses,

Suddenly heard a puppet soldier report:

"A team is rushing towards the airport."

This was a team driving cars.

This made Captain Kong Jiaze feel a little more at ease:

He believed that in this era,

Those who could use cars to transport troops,

Were most likely devils.

It should be the devils in the surrounding county towns running over to provide reinforcements.

In less than ten minutes, a convoy had rushed onto the runway.

Machine guns were mounted on the roofs of the cars,

And the dark muzzles were aimed at these puppet soldiers.

Kong Jiaze looked at the uniforms of those soldiers,

And then he understood:

The National Revolutionary Army had arrived!

However, he did not resort to desperate measures,

But calmly ordered:

"Lay down your weapons and don't resist!"

In fact, the puppet soldiers under his command had already laid down their weapons.

He shouted loudly, "Brothers!

We surrender! We surrender!"

The Special Operations Brigade was allowed to accept the surrender of puppet soldiers.

Gui Wen, the company commander of the First Company, looked at what these puppet soldiers were doing,

And loudly ordered, "Continue to drag these devils out and bury them.

Clean the airport runway."

He looked at the still-burning airport oil depot,

"What a pity! What a pity.

If I had known that we were going to occupy this place,

We shouldn't have blown up this oil depot."

Company Commander Si Binwei looked silently at the situation at the airport,

Although this was bombed by his company,

It was also the first time he had seen it.

Company Commander He Feiyu smiled:

"At the time, I was just afraid that the bombing wouldn't be effective enough,

And would leave the devils with a chance.

Now, in this state,

I can only blame myself for commanding too well in the first place."

Several company commanders laughed together.

Between Shucheng and Liu'an,

The battle of the Third Regiment pursuing the Nineteenth Brigade of devils had ended.

The devils in this direction,

Except for some doctors and nurses from the Third and Fourth Field Hospitals who were left behind,

All the other devils had been killed,

Including Kusaba Akito, the brigade commander of the Nineteenth Brigade, and the two regimental commanders under his command.

Fujie Keifu didn't know all of this.

He was still immersed in the telegram he had just received,

The Nineteenth Brigade, along with thousands of devils,

Was holding on at the front line,

Waiting for the reinforcements he had sent out.

The Yamashita Ryosuke Flying Squadron, which had taken off from Yanjing Nanyuan Airport,

Was now approaching its destination.

Their journey had been safe and smooth!

They had not encountered any interference at all.

The planes had crossed the Yellow River,

And were flying towards Hefei.

After passing Liu'an, they began to head south.

Thirty Sadao, the pilot leading the way in front,

Carefully and meticulously flew along the highway between Liu'an and Shucheng.

Along the way, he was diligently searching,

And he did see several sections on the ground that showed traces of fighting,

There were still corpses on the battlefield,

But there were no soldiers.

Only some laborers were cleaning up the battlefield.

The planes could not stop to observe,

After flying over these few places,

They had reached Shucheng in front,

But they still had not seen the Nineteenth Brigade in battle.

The primary task of the Yamashita Ryosuke Squadron this time was to rescue the Nineteenth Brigade,

Not to bomb cities.

Since this was already Shucheng,

It meant that they must have missed something along the way.

Squadron Leader Yamashita Ryosuke ordered the entire squadron to turn around,

And search again in the direction of Liu'an.

As the devils' planes flew overhead,

Jia Shusheng ordered the anti-aircraft machine gun company to prepare for air defense,

But it turned out to be a false alarm.

The devils didn't do anything,

And flew away in the direction of Shucheng.

The devils' planes didn't do anything,

But Jia Shusheng didn't hesitate at all and sent a telegram to Lin Fan.

Notifying him:

"Brigade Commander! A squadron of devils' planes has gone to Shucheng."

Lin Fan was not in Shucheng at this time either,

He was marching towards Hefei with the Fourth Regiment.

Lin Fan didn't hesitate and ordered:

"Xiao Jianying! Take off immediately and intercept the devils' flying squadron."

The people of Shucheng,

Watched as a large group of planes circled overhead,

And the air raid sirens in the city kept sounding.

All the merchants, students, and citizens ran towards the air raid shelters.

As a result, these devils' planes only circled over Shucheng once,

And flew along the highway towards Liu'an again.

This time, Squadron Leader Yamashita Ryosuke tried to slow down the flying speed as much as possible,

And they carefully searched along the road.

The current situation was something they had not expected at all when they set out:

From the orders they had received,

The Nineteenth Brigade should be on this highway.

Zhanglaozhuang!

Although the name of this place was in the order,

They were in the air,

And they simply could not determine which place below was Zhanglaozhuang.

On planes without positioning systems,

They could only rely on their naked eyes to determine the place to be bombed.

Originally, Squadron Leader Yamashita Ryosuke thought that Zhanglaozhuang was on the highway between Shucheng and Liu'an,

As long as they flew along the highway as a reference,

They should be able to find the target very easily.

The plan was perfect, but reality was a bit off!

They had already flown on this road once,

And they had not found any battlefields on the road,

Not to mention a battlefield where thousands of devils were fighting.

The largest group of people on the highway,

Was no more than four or five hundred.

They didn't even have any weapons in their hands,

So this was not the target of the Yamashita Ryosuke Squadron for the time being.

The Third Regiment, which was originally marching on the highway,

Had already hidden on both sides of the highway when they saw the planes,

And had not been discovered by the devils.

Now that the devils were flying along the highway again,

Yi Jingguo, the company commander of the anti-aircraft machine gun company, which had prepared for a counterattack,

Was clenching a handful of sweat in his palms:

If so many enemy planes

Really came down,

Would they be able to shoot them down?

According to Regiment Commander Jia's instructions:

Don't provoke trouble, but don't be afraid of trouble!

The anti-aircraft machine gun company,

Should not actively fire at the devils' planes.

If the devils' planes actively attacked,

Don't be afraid either,

Just fight them.

The soldiers of the Third Regiment watched as eighteen planes flew overhead.

This time, the Yamashita Ryosuke Flying Squadron finally discovered on the highway:

That among the battle traces they had just seen,

There were a large number of bomb craters,

And the battle had been quite fierce.

But now only laborers were collecting corpses,

Where were the two sides of the battle?

Squadron Leader Yamashita Ryosuke's thoughts wandered,

And he thought that the two sides of the battle had gone somewhere else.

He ordered the six fighter planes to disperse a bit,

And spread out to the left and right to search again.

Na Wenxuan, the company commander of the First Company, stared hatefully at the enemy planes in the air:

"Damn it! Don't go!"

Chen Chao, a soldier from the first platoon, asked, "Company Commander!

There are also fat and thin devils' planes, right?"

Na Wenxuan pointed at the fighter planes that had flown away into the distance and said:

"They are not fat or thin,

The planes are shaped like this,

Just because their uses are different,

The thinner planes are mainly used to fight other planes,

The fatter planes,

Are called bombers, which are loaded with many bombs,

And are mainly used to bomb infantry or city fortifications."

"These fat planes have been flying along the highway,

They are probably afraid of us!"

"Definitely!" Na Wenxuan said proudly.

"So many devils have been killed by us,

They must have come to seek revenge,

The devils are blind,

And can only fly around in the sky like headless flies.

They can't find us at all."

Chen Chao said with a smile,

"If our fighter planes or the brigade commander were here, that would be great."

Platoon Leader Qi Gaoge said,

"There is only one brigade commander,

And he can't handle everything.

There are so many fighter planes,

They can come."

As soon as he finished speaking,

Chen Chao pointed to the east:

"The thin planes that just flew away are back.

Why are there so many more?"

The Yamashita Ryosuke Squadron only had six fighter planes,

But at this time, eighteen fighter planes flew over from the east.

When Jia Shusheng reported,

He accurately reported the number of devils' planes.

Xiao Jianying was a cautious man,

No matter how many devils came,

He only had eighteen fighter planes.

He personally led eighteen fighter planes over,

And from afar, he saw the bombers flying low and slow along the highway.

Twelve fat planes,

Were flying slowly in the air like silly geese.

Xiao Jianying ordered:

"Yang Yuda! Lead the first squadron of six fighter planes to patrol in the air,

All other planes,

Attack the devils' bombers in order of their numbers.

Be sure to achieve results with one strike.

The devils also have six fighter planes,

And I don't know where they are hiding,

So everyone, pay attention and observe carefully."

"Yes, sir!"

The pilots on the eighteen fighter planes responded in unison.

Yang Yuda led the first squadron in two rows,

And patrolled at high altitude.

Xiao Jianying's plane was number one,

And he accelerated and swooped down towards the devils' bomber flying in the front.

On the ground, Na Wenxuan smiled:

"Speak of fighter planes! And the fighter planes have arrived.

Those are our planes!

The devils only have six fighter planes,

And eighteen flew over from the east,

It's Captain Xiao and his men attacking.

Look:

Six fighter planes are protecting in the air,

And twelve fighter planes are swooping down on the devils' bombers.

The bomber flying in the rear was the first to be hit."

Fujito Shichiro was piloting the bomber,

And was the rearguard of the entire flying squadron.

He had been carefully following behind the fleet,

And carefully searching.

Fujito Shichiro saw traces of fighting on the ground,

And also saw the corpses of those devils.

But their mission was to rescue a team of thousands of devils,

And they had not yet found that team,

So the bombs on their plane could not be dropped yet.

"Could it be that they have already met with misfortune?"

Such a thought flashed through Fujito Shichiro's mind.

He immediately shook his head:

"Impossible! A team of more than a thousand devils

Cannot be annihilated by the National Revolutionary Army in just one hour.

If the National Revolutionary Army were really that powerful,

The Army would not dare to fight on this land."

As he shook his head,

He felt the plane shake along with him.

Then the whole sky seemed to collapse,

His plane had been hit.

Fujito Shichiro's bomber

Had a seven-man crew.

The plane began to shake.

The devils of the entire crew panicked,

And they did not have control of the plane,

They were completely passively accepting all the judgments in the air.

Matsuda Taro watched as a series of lights suddenly appeared on the cabin.

Machine gun bullets made a row of holes in the cabin,

And sunlight shone in through those holes.

Uekawa Yuto, the bombardier in front of him,

Had already been hit by machine gun bullets at this time,

And blood splattered everywhere.

Uekawa Yuto shouted:

"Save me! Save me!"

Fujito Shichiro realized at this time:

"He had been attacked."

His movements suddenly became much faster,

Adding fuel to the plane, giving it strength,

Climbing.

No matter how fast his movements were,

Fujito Shichiro knew clearly in his heart:

That the fully loaded bomber

Had already been bitten by the fighter plane.

And it was bitten at low altitude,

In this situation, the chance of escaping

Was even lower than the chance of him flying his plane back to his hometown.

Soon, his despair was confirmed.

The strafing that followed his bomber had not stopped.

It was as if there was a machine gun right above their heads,

Constantly strafing.

In the cabin, Matsuda Taro was also hit.

Five of their seven crew members had already been hit.

A fire broke out in the cabin.

Fujito Shichiro manipulated the plane,

And it no longer reacted,

His plane flew straight down to the ground.

The speed had just been very slow,

And they were flying very low,

Even if they had just added fuel,

The engine had not reacted yet,

And the plane crashed to the ground.

Fujito Shichiro tried to stabilize it,

And he wanted to make an emergency landing.

The plane skimmed over the ground,

Leaving a shocking trace in the fields.

Just at this moment,

The bombs in the cabin exploded.

After the plane was hit, Fujito Shichiro

Had constantly heard the terrified screams of many pilots in the headset.

All the bombers in the entire Yamashita Ryosuke Squadron

Were being attacked.

Xiao Jianying flew to the front,

And fired at the devils' bomber.

His plane was like a thread tied to the plane in front.

Following this plane in synchronized flight.

Two machine guns fired non-stop.

Two red tongues of fire,

Were like the Grim Reaper wielding a red-hot chain,

Tightly locking onto the behemoth in front,

Dragging it,

Letting it crash to the ground.

This attack lasted for a full three minutes,

The tail of the bomber in front was broken off,<