Iron Wall Begins to Appear
Volume 3, Chapter 2
Before the debate inside the tree hollow had subsided, the Japanese army's long-awaited iron fist crashed down.
In the darkest hour before dawn, a sharp whistling sound pierced the silent night sky, growing louder as it approached, eventually turning into a deafening roar that shook the heavens and the earth! Shells rained down like hail on the defensive positions set up by the Anti-Japanese Allied Forces, the dense forests where they might be hiding, and even some remote villages!
"Boom—! Rumble—!"
A massive fireball soared into the sky, instantly igniting the forest and turning half the sky crimson. The earth trembled violently from the explosion, the shockwave carrying debris, broken wood, and frozen soil, sweeping everything in its path.
The "iron wall encirclement" has begun!
Onizuka Ichiro stood on the high ground of the Heihe front-line command post, holding up his binoculars, his eyes behind the lenses gleaming with a cold yet excited light. His meticulously planned "Iron Wall" tactic aimed to use overwhelming firepower and manpower to squeeze, divide, and ultimately crush the main force of the Anti-Japanese Allied Army in a very short time.
The three Japanese armies, like three red-hot irons, plunged deep into the mountains and forests of northern Manchuria along their predetermined routes. The Heihe route, as the main attack force, had the strongest troops, equipped with a limited number of armored vehicles and mountain artillery units, and advanced at an extremely rapid pace. The Huma and Qike routes were responsible for flanking maneuvers and sweeping operations to prevent the Anti-Japanese Allied Forces from escaping to the east or west.
The various units of the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army suffered considerable losses in the initial barrage of artillery fire. Some outer outposts and temporary camps were wiped out. Communication antennas shook violently in the explosions, and message transmissions were intermittent, severing communication between units almost instantly and plunging them into the perilous situation of fighting independently.
Gu Tieshan's detachment, having received advance intelligence from Shen Lanjun and adopted his suggestion of dispersed deployment and a strategy of lighter forces in the front and heavier forces in the rear, had its main force quietly retreat into the denser forest and the pre-established second line of defense before the artillery barrage. Even so, the platoon responsible for forward reconnaissance and delaying operations lost nearly a third of its members in the first wave of fierce Japanese artillery fire and the ensuing infantry assault.
As the artillery fire subsided, Japanese infantry, under the supervision of their officers, advanced cautiously yet relentlessly in skirmish lines, rifles with bayonets fixed. Their helmets gleamed coldly in the dim morning light, and their leather boots rustled on the scorched earth.
"Hold on! Let them get close and fire!" The second company commander, covered in mud and gunpowder, lay prone in the half-collapsed trench and roared hoarsely.
The surviving soldiers on the position gripped their rifles, shotguns, and even broadswords tightly, their eyes fixed on the approaching yellow figure. The air seemed to freeze, leaving only heavy breathing and the pounding of their hearts.
One hundred meters... eighty meters... fifty meters...
"beat!"
At the second company commander's order, the remaining firepower on the position erupted instantly! Rifles and machine guns spat out tongues of fire in revenge, and grenades flew towards the enemy ranks, billowing white smoke!
The Japanese soldiers at the front fell like felled wheat. But those behind immediately dropped to the ground, using the terrain to their advantage, and returned fire with more accurate shooting and grenade launchers. Bullets hissed against the edges of the trenches, kicking up clouds of dirt. Small grenades fired from the grenade launchers exploded intermittently on the position, causing further casualties.
The Japanese army's tactical prowess and firepower superiority were now clearly evident. Instead of rushing forward, they used their numerical advantage to continuously apply pressure, depleting the defenders' already limited ammunition and manpower.
"Company commander! The Japanese are coming around from the right!" a soldier with a blood-covered face exclaimed, pointing to the flank.
The second company commander's heart sank; he knew that this defensive line could not be held.
"One platoon to cover the rear! The rest of you, retreat along the predetermined route!" he ordered, his eyes red.
The retreat was equally brutal. The rearguard platoon of soldiers almost all perished under the intense Japanese fire. The main force of the detachment fought and retreated through the dense forest, pursued relentlessly by the Japanese like leeches. Occasionally, reconnaissance planes would fly overhead, guiding the artillery on the ground.
The command post of the detachment where Gu Tieshan and Shen Lanjun were located also lost contact with the main force for a time. Listening to the continuous gunfire in the distance and watching the signal flares and black smoke rising from the sky from time to time, everyone's heart was in their throat.
"We must rendezvous with Political Commissar Yang as soon as possible!" Gu Tieshan looked at the map, where the arrows representing the Japanese advance were constantly extending inward, while the markers representing our troops appeared scattered and passive. "If we fight like this, we'll be eaten up piece by piece by the Japanese!"
He turned to a communications soldier and yelled, "Try again! Use the backup frequency, you must get in touch with the main force!"
Shen Lanjun stood to the side, quickly organizing her codebook and important documents. Her face was pale, but her eyes remained calm. She knew the real test had only just begun. The iron wall had closed in, and in this cage of blood and iron, every step would be a test of life and death. She and Gu Tieshan had to lead their people to fight their way out of this desperate situation.
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