Chapter 111 A Crazy Half Day

Sure enough, as the fire suppression of the machine gun firepower points of the defenders in the warehouse weakened, the Japanese infantry moved more resolutely towards the warehouse.

Especially the Japanese troops from both wings, the closest ones had even reached the area 50 meters in front of the warehouse. If the machine guns had not resumed firing to suppress them, the Japanese blasting team hidden in the infantry would have rushed up.

After three or four consecutive attempts, the Japanese army also tested the bottom line of the Chinese defenders. Most of the infantry rifles were used to fight back outside the first 100 meters. Only when they reached within 100 meters, the machine guns that consumed a lot of ammunition would resume firing.

What made Jiro Wakiita very painful was that although the warehouse defenders were saving ammunition, which showed that their ammunition reserves were not very abundant, once they opened fire, they were extremely determined. The rain of bullets fired by more than 20 light machine guns and five or six heavy machine guns formed a wall of death, making it difficult for people to cross the line.

Even though the imperial infantry under his command were only testing and did not launch a desperate attack, at least dozens of bodies were still left in front of the wall of death.

Throughout the morning, the two sides of the war were consuming each other in such a back-and-forth probing.

The only difference was that the warehouse defenders consumed ammunition, while the Japanese consumed human lives.

Even the people watching the battle in the concession knew that this level of fighting was just a scene before the storm, not even an appetizer, and the real decisive battle had not yet arrived.

Sure enough, at noon, when the autumn sun was just right, the Japanese attack began to become more determined.

First, the warehouse was washed with mountain artillery and infantry artillery in routine operations, and then the Japanese infantry, who had pushed the temporary field trench to less than 300 meters away from the warehouse, began to attack.

This wave of attack by the Japanese army was obviously much more tenacious than in the morning. The Japanese infantry artillery located in the semi-permanent fortifications 500 meters away was still firing when the infantry arrived at a position of 100 meters.

Infantry-artillery coordination sounds simple, but it is definitely a technical job, and it is not that you can improve your skill points just by being brave.

The quality of individual Japanese soldiers can be ranked in the top three in the world, but this kind of technical work is not as good as that of the Western world equipped with a large number of artillery.

Although the infantry artillery raised the elevation angle to kill the second and third floors of the Sihang Warehouse while trying to avoid harming the infantry who were still on the front battlefield, there were still unlucky people who were unfortunately hit by the trajectory of the shells.

What is it like to be hit by a shell that is running at a speed of nearly a thousand meters per second?

The battlefield of the Sihang Warehouse attack and defense at noon on October 28th clearly showed this scene to everyone.

A Japanese soldier was bending over in a pile of rubble and resolutely advancing towards the warehouse under the bullets, and suddenly it broke apart without any warning.

The whole person was torn into pieces, just like a watermelon being hit by a heavy hammer weighing hundreds of pounds. The blood and flesh fragments flew out and knocked down two Japanese infantrymen who were also unaware more than ten meters away. No one got up for a long time.

I think it wouldn't be very pleasant to be hit by a piece of meat that was accelerated by the kinetic energy of a shell!

Sure enough, the most difficult bullet to defend against is from behind! No, to be more precise, it is a shell.

No matter who fired the cannon, they should lie down and hide their butts. Many people who witnessed this scene understood this truth very deeply.

Of course, such a tragic scene is just the tip of the iceberg of the battlefield. The Japanese infantry who were fully committed to the attack, let alone not seeing it, would probably find it difficult to stop their firm steps even if they saw it.

Because their commander was determined and almost cruel.

At the edge of the trench behind them, a light machine gun was set up again. It was the Japanese army's own supervision team. The muzzle was not aimed at the warehouse, but at all the Japanese infantry who dared to retreat without receiving the retreat order.

Going forward means death, and retreating is also death. Both are options that are sure to die, but they are easy to choose.

The Japanese attack was unprecedentedly resolute. Even after entering a distance of 100 meters, the machine guns, submachine guns, Mauser pistols, and rifles of the warehouse defenders were like hedgehogs with their hair blown up. Even the golden sunlight could hardly cover the blazing trajectory of the metal torrent that burst out instantly. They still charged towards the warehouse from the shooting blind spots they selected.

The nearest one even rushed into the trenches of the first line of defense of the warehouse.

However, that was the final position of their advance.

Although the firepower output of the firepower points on the second and third floors was suppressed to the lowest by the Japanese infantry guns that did not treat their own infantry as human beings, once the Japanese army was too close, they would be greeted by more than just bullets.

The trenches were the best place to drop bombs. The Chinese defenders did not need guns at all, and they did not even need to look at them. They only needed to throw down the smoking grenades from the second and third floors.

The trenches on the front line that were flooded with waist-deep water at some point were definitely a nightmare for the infantry. The water could not stop the violent shrapnel from entering, but it could slow down people's movements.

Some of them were similar to frying fish, and the slow-moving Japanese soldiers were killed by the dancing shrapnel in the water.

Many Japanese soldiers' bodies sank to the bottom of the water, making it difficult to tell how many Japanese soldiers died in this trench, but just look at the color of the water in the trench. The water, which was originally a little dim due to the air waves, turned into a heart-pounding dark red.

Especially when the grenade was thrown into the water and a group of water splashed up to the sky, the water splashes under the sun were bright red.

I don't know how many Japanese soldiers' blood dyed it.

But even so, the Japanese army still did not retreat. From noon to dusk, the Japanese army's attacks came one after another.

Some people on the south bank of Suzhou River carefully recorded that throughout the afternoon, the defenders of Sihang Warehouse actually repelled the Japanese attack twelve times in a row!

The streets and open spaces on the east and west sides of Sihang Warehouse and the front of the building, including the ruins, were already littered with corpses. Looking around, you could see the yellow feces lying on the ground everywhere.

The 36th Infantry Regiment, which had almost used all its infantry squadrons twice to attack, was almost crippled.

The Japanese colonel, whose eyes were already bloodshot, wanted to take off his uniform and go to the front line to supervise the battle in person at least twice, but was pulled back by Makino Shun with great effort.

Perhaps, the Japanese lieutenant colonel who was stunned by his boss's cold and stupid behavior was actually willing to let his boss, who was almost crazy, go to the front line, and then be shot dead by the terrible Chinese cold gunman.

What the hell is he doing to consume the Chinese ammunition? Now he is stupid! In one day, the entire regiment suffered more than 700 casualties, and the Chinese, who had learned to save ammunition, did not reduce much. Machine guns and submachine guns were like heavy rain when their own infantry approached.

Especially the grenades thrown from the upper floors, which seemed to never run out, made the Japanese soldiers from top to bottom doubt their lives.

Damn, this building could not be the Chinese arsenal in the past! The Japanese lieutenant colonel could almost conclude his guess.

But no matter whether it was or not, after paying the terrible casualties of more than 700 imperial warriors, one of the battle plans formulated by the idiot Jiro Wakiita was completely bankrupt.

Makino Shun, who almost hugged the Japanese colonel's thigh and begged him not to be impulsive, was actually very rational. Saving him was also saving himself.

First, someone needs to take the blame for the defeat. If the regiment commander died, it would be him, the lieutenant colonel, who would bear the responsibility;

Second, the regiment commander went to the front line, so could he, the deputy regiment commander, not accompany him? Accompany him to be shot by the Chinese cold gunman?

That must not be possible! I would rather take the blame than get shot.

Of course, who wouldn't pretend to do this?

Judging from the strength of the struggle of the regiment commander, Makino Shun knew that he was just giving the ashamed commander a way out of having to apologize to the emperor without having to open his stomach.

After all, there is still hope, right?

The engineering regiment sent by the division to support is the last hope.

Whether they can successfully dig out the blasting tunnel is the last straw to save the remaining more than 1,000 people of the 36th Infantry Regiment.

For senior officers, it is inevitable to be dismissed and punished for failing to capture the fortress after paying such terrible casualties. For low-level officers and soldiers, it is naturally just a cumulative number of casualties.