Battle on the isolated island

Volume 3, Chapter 3 of "Blood Stained a Thousand Miles"

Communication was completely cut off.

The Japanese army's "iron wall" was no empty name; they not only pressed forward relentlessly on the ground but also employed radio jamming technology. Gu Tieshan's communications soldiers switched frequencies repeatedly, but all they could hear in their headsets was harsh static; they could no longer receive any familiar call signs. Their detachment, responsible for covering the rear and attempting to establish contact with the flank units, had now become an "isolated island" completely cut off from artillery fire and enemy forces.

Behind them came the booming artillery fire of the main Japanese force advancing relentlessly, while search parties kept appearing in front and on the flanks. Gu Tieshan made a decisive decision, abandoning the original rendezvous route and leading the remaining eighty-odd men to retreat to a strategic high ground called "Eagle Beak Rock".

Eagle Beak Rock lives up to its name. One side is a near-vertical cliff overlooking a deep ravine, making it easy to defend and difficult to attack. Only a narrow, zigzagging path leads to the summit, making it a formidable stronghold. However, it is also a dead end—once surrounded, there is no way to retreat.

"Hurry up and build fortifications! Collect stones! The Japanese will be up here soon!" Gu Tieshan's voice was calm and composed, as if the desperate situation he was facing was already within his expectations. He personally surveyed the terrain, directed his soldiers to reinforce their bunkers with rocks and trees, set up crossfire points on both sides of the only path leading up the mountain, and allocated the last two boxes of grenades to the most critical positions.

Geng Dashan, along with several physically fit soldiers, busied themselves moving the heavy radio and remaining ammunition boxes to a relatively safe crevice at the foot of the rock face. Xiao Chen and Zhao Xiaoshuan, like two nimble monkeys, climbed up the rock face to take up lookout duty.

Shen Lanjun didn't sit idle. She gathered the limited medicines and, together with Xiu Niang, prepared bandages and boiled water. She knew that wounded soldiers would arrive soon.

Sure enough, less than an hour later, the Japanese advance reconnaissance team appeared at the foot of the mountain. They were clearly aware of the terrain advantage of Eagle's Beak Rock and did not rush into an attack, but instead quickly called for artillery support.

"Take cover!" Gu Tieshan shouted sternly.

Before the words were even finished, the shrill whistle pierced the air once more! This time, the shell struck the summit of Eagle's Beak Rock and the only path with even greater precision. Debris flew everywhere, smoke billowed, and the entire mountain trembled. A soldier, unable to take cover in time, was struck by shrapnel and died instantly.

After the shelling, a squad of about thirty Japanese soldiers, under the cover of machine gun fire, began their ascent up a zigzag path. They were tactically skilled, taking turns providing cover and advancing step by step.

"Get closer! Listen to my command!" Gu Tieshan lay prone behind the main bunker, squinting as he estimated the distance.

Fifty meters... thirty meters... the ferocious faces of the Japanese soldiers under their helmets were already clearly visible.

"beat!"

Gu Tieshan's rifle fired first, accurately taking down the Japanese sergeant charging at the front. In an instant, gunfire erupted on Eagle's Beak Rock! The soldiers poured down bullets and grenades in revenge! The narrow path was instantly littered with blood and flesh, and the Japanese soldiers, leaving behind seven or eight corpses, retreated in disarray.

The first attack was repelled. But everyone knew that this was just the beginning.

The Japanese army quickly adjusted its tactics, no longer launching a direct assault on the narrow path, but instead deploying more grenade launchers and mortars to provide continuous artillery fire on Eagle's Beak Rock, while sending out small groups of troops to try to find climbing points on the cliffs on the flanks.

The battle entered a brutal phase of attrition. Shells plowed across Eagle's Beak Rock like a shovel. Fortifications were destroyed time and again, only to be repaired again and again by the soldiers with their own flesh and blood. Casualties continued to rise, medical supplies quickly ran out, the seriously wounded groaned in pain, while the lightly wounded bandaged themselves and continued fighting.

While repairing a machine gun emplacement, Geng Dashan was lacerated in the thigh by flying shrapnel, and blood instantly stained his trouser leg. He gritted his teeth, tightly bound the wound with a rag, and continued to limp as he carried stones.

"Uncle Dashan! Go down and rest!" Xiao Chen's eyes were red with anxiety.

"Bullshit! I can still move!" Geng Dashan roared, his forehead covered in cold sweat.

At dusk, the Japanese launched their fiercest attack yet. This time, they committed at least two squads, charging simultaneously from the front and flanks under the cover of heavy artillery fire and smoke bombs. Bullets pelted the rocks like water, sending up a flurry of sparks.

The battle intensified. Soldiers fell one after another, riddled with bullets. Xiao Chen's rifle barrel glowed red-hot, and Zhao Xiaoshuan threw a grenade until his arm gave way.

Suddenly, the soldier on guard on the flank sounded the alarm: "The Japanese are coming up the cliff on the right! Three or four of them!"

Gu Tieshan's heart skipped a beat! Although the flank cliffs were steep, they were not entirely impossible to climb. Once the enemy occupied the high ground, the entire position would be exposed to their firepower!

"Xiao Chen! Take two men and come with me to the right!" Gu Tieshan grabbed his broadsword and was about to rush out of the cover.

"Brother Gu! I'll go!" Geng Dashan suddenly stood up and grabbed Gu Tieshan. "You're the commander, you can't be hurt! We can't do without you here!" Without waiting for a reply, he snatched a grenade from a nearby soldier and yelled at Xiao Chen, "Kid! Follow me!"

After saying that, he dragged his injured leg and, like an enraged brown bear, charged ahead towards the side cliff. Xiao Chen was stunned for a moment, then immediately followed, his eyes reddening.

The battle on the flank was exceptionally brief and brutal. Relying on his experience as a veteran hunter and a reckless, ruthless spirit, Geng Dashan engaged in close-quarters combat with Japanese soldiers attempting to climb up, using grenades and short axes. He felled one and smashed another's head with a grenade, but he himself was also stabbed several times.

When Xiao Chen finished off the last Japanese soldier and rushed to Geng Dashan's side, the rugged hunter was covered in blood, leaning against a rock, panting heavily, his life rapidly slipping away with his blood.

"Uncle Dashan!" Xiao Chen's voice was choked with tears as he tried to bandage him.

Geng Dashan shook his head with difficulty, his blood-stained hands gripping Xiao Chen's arm tightly, but his gaze went past him and looked towards the main position, as if he could see Gu Tieshan's figure.

“Tell…tell Tieshan…I…I didn’t disgrace him…” His voice weakened, his eyes began to glaze over, but he still clung to his last breath, “…My hometown…Shandong…Heze…Gengjiaji…tell my mother…her son…wasn’t a coward…”

His hand tightened suddenly, almost digging into Xiao Chen's flesh. With his last ounce of strength, he hoarsely uttered a few words: "...Take...good care of...the brothers..."

His arms hung limply at his sides, and Geng Dashan stared wide-eyed at the forest he had guarded until the very end, his breath fading away.

"Uncle Dashan—!" Xiao Chen let out a grief-stricken roar, tears mingling with the blood on his face, streaming down his cheeks.

On the main position, Gu Tieshan commanded his soldiers to repel the frontal attack once again. As the gunfire subsided, he heard Xiao Chen's heart-wrenching cry, and his heart sank, as if pierced by something. He didn't need to look to know what had happened.

Geng Dashan, who led them to settle in the mountains, taught them how to set traps, and always had a kind smile, and who pushed him away at the last moment and resolutely went to his death... is gone.

A surge of immense grief and rage welled up in Gu Tieshan's chest like magma, threatening to engulf him. He gripped the scalding rifle tightly, his knuckles turning white from the force. In his mind, fragments of memories—of Xifengkou, of the Northwest Army, of countless fallen comrades—were at this moment forged and woven together by Geng Dashan's burning blood!

Clear images, familiar shouts, and long-buried emotions, like a flood bursting its banks, swept away the last barrier of memory!

He remembered everything!

He was Gu Tieshan! The deputy battalion commander of the vanguard battalion of the 37th Division of the 29th Army! Gu Tieshan, who used his broadsword to hack and slash until the blade was chipped, watching his brothers fall in rows at Xifengkou! Gu Tieshan, who carried the hopes of countless heroic souls and miraculously crawled out of a pile of corpses!

"Ah—!" He looked up to the sky and let out a long howl like a wounded lone wolf, the howl filled with endless sorrow, deep-seated hatred, and a kind of... resolute determination to return to the world!

The surrounding soldiers were all stunned by his long roar and looked over.

Gu Tieshan abruptly lowered his head, the confusion and repression in his eyes completely vanishing, replaced by a light that was both cold as iron and fiery as fire, a light tempered by blood and fire. He glanced in the direction where Geng Dashan had sacrificed himself, and took a deep breath of the air thick with the smell of gunpowder and blood.

"Dashan, brother... farewell." He murmured to himself, then his gaze swept across every face on the battlefield, stained with gunpowder, filled with grief and anticipation.

"Check the ammunition! Reinforce the fortifications! The Japanese will come back up!" His voice was hoarse, yet it carried an unprecedented, convincing authority and power. "We'll send them down to join Uncle Dashan!"

His memories were fully restored, and his soul was reborn from the ashes. On this blood-soaked island, a complete Gu Tieshan, carrying his full understanding of the enemy, his profound knowledge of war, and his solemn promise to his fallen comrades, has truly... returned!