Chapter 172 Desperate Situation

Fujieda Yosuke, the Great Captain, squatted in a depression on the hillside, watching his Japanese soldiers being strafed by the planes in the air.

He could only huddle in the bushes, lying on the ground and looking up at the planes marked with a fat tiger in the sky with resentment.

He was furious: When did the sky here change? In the past, the sky was always filled with the Empire's planes. Every time he watched the National Army's troops scurrying around and collapsing under the bombing of the Empire's planes, he felt that their army's combat effectiveness was not good.

Today, it was his team's turn to be bombed and strafed by the Special Forces Brigade's planes. The performance of the entire battalion was no different.

Fujieda Yosuke, the Great Captain, watched as those Japanese soldiers who had not found a good hiding place and were discovered by the planes in the air were shot out of their hiding places one by one by machine gun bullets.

They ran wildly in the fields, then fell one after another. One Japanese soldier ran particularly fast in the field, his movements agile like a frightened rabbit being targeted by a falcon, fleeing in panic in the field.

Fujieda Yosuke, the Great Captain, recognized this fleeing Japanese soldier: Sergeant Honda Niro, who won first place in the division's sports meet.

This was a guy who ran especially fast. If it weren't for the war, he should be running on the track.

Now, he was not running on the track, but running for his life on the battlefield. Sergeant Honda Niro was being chased by the plane, running with all his might, but he was still caught up.

Not only Fujieda Yosuke, the Great Captain, was watching him flee, but many Japanese soldiers hidden in the bushes, who did not have to worry about being discovered by the planes for the time being, were watching Honda Niro, the fastest runner in the entire division, running in the field.

When he ran about a hundred meters, he suddenly staggered, and all the Japanese soldiers' hearts were in their throats.

They saw Sergeant Honda Niro stagger and run two more steps, then fall headlong and never get up again.

Fujieda Yosuke, the Great Captain, moved his gaze away in disappointment. Honda Niro was just one of his more than a thousand subordinates, but his fast running had caught his attention.

At this time, other Japanese soldiers in the fields and on the hillsides were being driven out by the diving planes and were also fleeing in panic.

Fujieda Yosuke, the Great Captain, discovered that none of the Japanese soldiers who were driven out by the planes survived.

Having discovered this rule, Fujieda Yosuke, the Great Captain, ordered: "Tell all the Japanese soldiers not to run out of their hiding places no matter what."

The five companies of the 15th Regiment of the Special Forces Brigade, after receiving the order to attack, all began to rush towards the Japanese assembly area two kilometers away.

The soldiers covered the two-kilometer distance in just seven minutes. They saw the planes circling in the air from a distance, occasionally diving down and firing at the Japanese soldiers running on the ground.

From the soldiers' perspective, there were quite a few Japanese soldiers lying scattered in the fields, but only a few could still stand up and run away, not many.

Regimental Commander Ren ordered: "The Second Company will send a platoon to occupy the nearby hill on the left, and the Fourth Company will send a platoon to occupy the nearby hill on the right.

The Sixth and Eighth Companies will directly insert through the road, and each will send a platoon to occupy the opposite hill.

Everyone, set up the net first, and the rest of the team will search for the Japanese soldiers, not letting a single one escape."

After the regimental commander's order was issued, each company immediately began to act.

Xu Qizhi, the Second Company Commander, immediately ordered Platoon Leader Ye Han to take his team to seize the hill immediately, while he led the entire company to rush towards the hill on the left.

The First Platoon went directly up the hill to occupy the position, and he would lead the rest of the Second Company's soldiers to search for the hidden Japanese soldiers along the fields and hillsides.

The current Japanese soldiers were like hidden wild rabbits, which could be found as long as they were searched carefully. In fact, there were still quite a few Japanese soldiers in these places.

The entire Fujieda Yosuke Battalion had more than a thousand Japanese soldiers. Although one squadron had been wiped out, the remaining Japanese soldiers had been killed in the plane attack.

Most of the Japanese soldiers had scattered and fled, hiding in the bushes on the hillside, hiding under the field ridges in the fields.

Fujieda Yosuke, the Great Captain, saw the soldiers of the 15th Regiment rushing in along the road, these soldiers interspersed and charged without hesitation.

Regimental Commander Ren was in contact with the fighter planes in the air, asking them to assist several platoons in occupying the hilltop highlands.

Since being bombed by the planes, Fujieda Yosuke, the Great Captain, had been thinking about dispersing the team and patiently waiting for the planes to leave after a period of strafing.

He had never thought that the Special Forces Brigade would have such an operation: the planes in the air were suppressing them, and they called in the infantry to encircle and suppress them!

Obviously, this was to wipe out the entire Fujieda Battalion! The current Fujieda Great Captain could no longer hide.

He lay prostrate on the ground and had to loudly issue orders: "Seize the hills! Snipe them! We must not let them occupy these hills."

Not only did he see Regimental Commander Ren's idea, but several of his squadron leaders also understood that the current situation was grim.

Although the planes' strafing and bombing in the air had caused them a lot of casualties, it was absolutely impossible to wipe out the entire battalion of Japanese soldiers.

However, if the infantry occupied these hills and then searched over, not a single Japanese soldier from the entire Fujieda Battalion would be able to escape.

This was closing the door to beat the dog! Squadron Leader Taira Kenji shouted loudly: "The Matsumiya Squad will block, and the Fuma Squad will seize the hill."

Squad Leader Matsumiya Takuya immediately ordered his Japanese soldiers to fire. Their firing suppressed the Second Company, which was charging towards the hillside.

Company Commander Xu ordered: "Heavy machine guns in the front, suppress the Japanese soldiers and cover the First Platoon!"

The Japanese soldiers, who had been pretending to be dead and hiding, were now alive again. They no longer pretended to be dead, but all fired at the soldiers of the 15th Regiment.

The pilots in the air had just been unable to find the traces of the Japanese soldiers, but now that the infantry had arrived, those Japanese soldiers suddenly appeared again.

There was no need for guidance at all, and six ground attack aircraft immediately strafed the positions where the Japanese soldiers were firing.

This made the entire Fujieda Battalion of Japanese soldiers very uncomfortable: they had to be attacked by both the air and the ground at the same time. If they took care of the ground, they would suddenly be exposed to the air attack.

If they defended against the air attack, they would be completely targeted by the 15th Regiment on the ground.

The Taira Kenji Squadron, which was being attacked from both sides, had already lost most of its strength in the previous air attack.

Now, in order not to let the Second Company rush up the hillside to occupy the hill, it was attacked from both sides again. The Matsumiya Takuya Squad, which was blocking on the spot, suffered less casualties.

The Fuma Tomoya Squad was also going to seize the hilltop position. They had to charge towards the hilltop in full exposure, braving the strafing of the planes.

This made the Japanese soldiers of the Fuma Tomoya Squad very embarrassed: they initially hid in these places in order not to be discovered by the planes.

As long as they hid in the bushes and did not move, the planes that swept over from the air would most likely not discover them, and that was exactly the case.

Now that they had to move towards the hilltop, Sergeant Tenpei Rintaro had just asked the way out of his hiding place when he was targeted by a ground attack aircraft.

The tongues of fire spewed out by the four machine guns directly swept over from its hiding place. Sergeant Tenpei Rintaro was hit and fell after running only a dozen meters.

Not only was he knocked down, but the entire squad hidden around him suffered a catastrophe. The machine guns swept all the way, causing the branches of the bushes to shake wildly, and the branches and soil to splash.

Those Japanese soldiers who were hidden in the bushes and had not been exposed were also hit by bullets, and some Japanese soldiers who had not been hit were also frightened and stood up to escape.

When they stood up, they were completely exposed, and the Second Company soldiers below the hillside did not intend to let them go. Heavy machine guns, machine guns, submachine guns, and rifles all fired at these Japanese soldiers.

Before the Matsumiya Takuya Squad, which was blocking, had been completely wiped out, the Fuma Tomoya Squad, which was seizing the hill, had been completely annihilated.

This was something that Squadron Leader Taira Kenji had not expected to happen. His squadron originally had few remaining Japanese soldiers, and now there were even fewer.

The Matsumiya Takuya Squad could not hold on any longer. They exposed their target when they opened fire, and after being hit hard, the entire squadron was rapidly reduced in number.

Seeing that they could no longer hold on here, Squadron Leader Taira Kenji had to order a retreat. He was thinking of consolidating his forces and gathering around Great Captain Fujieda Yosuke.

More than one Japanese soldier had the same idea as him. Squadron Leader Sano Yuto also thought the same way.

The Japanese soldiers retreated while fighting. The planes in the air still did not give up their idea of letting them go, and the various companies on the ground did not give up their idea of letting them go either.

The Second Company Commander ordered the Second and Third Platoons to chase the Japanese soldiers and not let them run away.

The First Platoon was still seizing the hill, establishing a position, and the remaining platoons were cleaning up the battlefield, searching the hillside and fields, and making sure to dig out the Japanese soldiers hidden in the corners.

When the Second Platoon Leader Yan Yuanbo led the soldiers along the hillside, Nie Leshan and Zong Hongbo searched a hillside as a group.

Zong Hongbo made a gesture to Nie Leshan to pay attention to a small cliff on the right. This was a small cliff no more than two meters high, with dense bushes growing on it.

The color of a certain area under these bushes was different from the surroundings. If no one had reminded him, Nie Leshan might have ignored it.

Now, with Zong Hongbo's reminder, Nie Leshan immediately saw that it was a Japanese uniform, it was a Japanese soldier's butt.