Chapter 51: The Sharp Blade

...On the evening of the 13th, after occupying the Dunwu Temple position to resist the National Army's overnight counterattacks, our 1st Battalion immediately constructed temporary fortifications.
The brave soldiers were in high spirits, equipped with a reasonable distribution of light and heavy machine guns, infantry rifles, and grenade launchers, backed by two Type 92 infantry guns for fire support.
In theory, this was more than enough to repel a counterattack from an entire division of local warlord trash like the Sichuan Army.
However, the soil in the Dunwu Temple area was soft and heavily waterlogged, making trench-digging difficult and causing the 1st Battalion to suffer heavy losses under the National Army's artillery fire.
More crucially, an unidentified commander of the Sichuan Army's 804th Regiment employed a crazed tactic...
...Excerpts from the "Detailed Report on the Battle of Dunwu Temple by the 19th Infantry Regiment, October 13, 12th Year of Showa"...

"Relay this order to the Regiment Commander: The 3rd Company is to depart immediately for Yunzaobang. They must complete the river crossing before 8:00 PM, reach the outskirts of Dunwu Temple, and prepare for the assault.
At precisely 8:00 PM, an artillery regiment of ours will provide five minutes of fire support for you.
Once the bombardment ceases, the 3rd Company, acting as the vanguard for the entire regiment, will immediately launch an attack on the Japanese devils at Dunwu Temple. You must tear a gap in the devils' defense line for the 804th Regiment!
If you don't have the guts! That's fine too.
Hand over all the light machine guns and Thompson submachine guns, and the Regiment Commander himself will lead the 1st Company as the vanguard, leaving the 3rd Company safely bringing up the rear."

Ten minutes later, a liaison runner from regimental headquarters delivered the above order directly to Hu Biao.
Upon hearing this, Hu Biao smacked his forehead and whispered a complaint to Chaozi beside him:
"Damn it! For all our plotting and scheming, we never expected that frantically beefing up the 3rd Company would make us stand out too much, landing us the job of the regiment's vanguard."

Yet, he harbored no real objections to Regiment Commander Xiang's decision to select the 3rd Company as the vanguard.
It was simple logic: from the commander's perspective, he had to consider which company was best suited to accomplish the mission. If Hu Biao were in Commander Xiang's shoes, he would have chosen the 3rd Company to lead the charge as well.
Now that matters had reached this point and he knew refusal was futile, the stubborn, fierce spirit deeply rooted in the bones of any native son of Hunan was successfully ignited within Hu Biao.
Weren't they just supposed to act as the vanguard, charge forward, and rip open the devils' defense line?
Fine, no problem at all. As a son of China, when it came to fighting the Japanese devils, Hu Biao would never back down.

With a swift yank, he tore off the M35 helmet from his head, roared at the top of his lungs toward the headquarters runner, spitting flying everywhere:
"Go back and tell Regiment Commander Xiang that Hu Biao and the 3rd Company will smash through with our skulls and bite through with our teeth if we have to, but we will carve a gap into the Dunwu Temple defense line!
As for Company Commander Zhou 'Big Shoulders' of the 1st Company—that grandson—if he's eyeing my machine guns and Thompsons, he can go dream his mother's dreams!"

With that, ignoring whatever reaction the regimental runner might have, he already bolted out of the temporary company headquarters and bellowed at the top of his lungs, "3rd Company, assemble!"

The emergency training the 3rd Company had undergone over the past few days now showed commendable results.
In a short while, the entire company had formed up, carrying their weapons, equipment, and reserve supplies, and began a steady trot into the dimming twilight.

At the very rear of the formation, AT was staggering along with a large oil drum hoisted on his shoulder.
Carrying this contraption was genuinely exhausting. After running just a few steps, he took a heavy tumble, sprawling flat on his face. Yet, scrambling back up, AT cursed under his breath, picked up the oil drum once more, and bolted forward on his scrawny legs.
There was no help for it! A "flaming barrel" launcher had a simple structure, and manufacturing it posed zero difficulty for him.
However, hauling this thing during a march was an absolute pain in the neck. Had Hu Biao not held such high expectations for the terrifying destructive power this piece of junk could unleash, AT would have thrown it as far away as humanly possible...

Thus, Hu Biao, AT, and the other five novices were about to welcome their very first battle since transmigrating.
As they rushed into the nighttime battleground, there were two things they had anticipated not at all.

First, after running with the main force for a short while, Hu Biao felt a heavy bloating in his lower abdomen and immediately shouted out:
"Black Star, take the brothers and keep moving forward. I'm going to step to the side of the road to relieve myself—just a quick one."

Without waiting for Black Star's reply, he sprinted toward a small drainage ditch beside the road. The ditch held a shallow layer of stagnant water, and under the illumination of tonight's crescent moon, a line of text flashed across the water's surface:
*You must successfully recapture the Dunwu Temple defense line before midnight on the 14th, and hold it until 12:00 midnight on the 18th.*

Had Hu Biao finally caught sight of such text and thus discovered the mysterious entity, along with deeper motives and purposes behind their transmigration?
Sadly, no.
Because Hu Biao had barely taken two steps and hadn't even had time to loosen his belt when a voice called out from behind him: "Old Hu, assign someone to help me carry this thing. Carrying it alone makes it impossible to see the road."

Halting his steps and turning around, he saw the thoroughly battered white-collar worker, AT.
Realizing that marching while carrying this contraption alone was indeed an excruciating task, Hu Biao shouted out, "Flat-Head, go help Squad Leader AT carry our 3rd Company's heavy artillery!"

Consequently, because of this brief delay, by the time he resumed his sprint to the edge of the ditch, that line of text had completely vanished.

Hearing Hu Biao's order, Flat-Head immediately ran over to AT's side, and together they hoisted the large oil drum.
Once the posture changed, AT instantly felt an immense sense of relief.
Alas, the very next second, Flat-Head piped up: "Squad Leader AT, does your old man (father) have some kind of grudge against you?
Out of all the names in the world, why'd he give you one that sounds like someone's about to kick you?"

"Damn it! I wasn't paying attention when picking the code name; I let my guard down," AT thought, feeling quite bitter and amused.

Second, the Japanese troop currently reinforcing the fortifications at the Dunwu Temple battlefield to prevent a National Army counterattack—in other words, the opponents Hu Biao and his men were about to face—was the Imperial Japanese 9th Division.
This division was a Class-A division, one of the 17 standing divisions of the Japanese devils.
Its personnel were primarily recruited from the Hokuriku regions of Toyama, Ishikawa, and Fukui.
These 17 divisions were considered the elite among the Japanese forces, possessing extremely sophisticated equipment with overall combat effectiveness second only to the 2nd and 6th Divisions.
Having frequently fought brutal and hard-fought battles throughout World War II, they were regarded within the Japanese Army as the Twin Jewels of the Empire.
During the subsequent Nanjing Massacre, the 9th Division participated from beginning to end, their hands stained with the blood of our soldiers and civilians. Therefore, tonight's battle was destined to be an incomparably bloody and desperate clash...

******

At 7:51 PM, in a cotton field five hundred meters away from the Dunwu Temple position:
Hu Biao, Uncle Bo, Black Star, and the other seven men lay flat among the cotton plants, which were just tall enough to conceal their bodies. Utilizing the moonlight from the crescent moon overhead, they peered at the situation on the Dunwu Temple position.

Spread out across the vast cotton field behind him were over a hundred brothers of the 3rd Company, all lying prone and concealed on the ground.
The men of the 3rd Company had secretly slipped into this position under the cover of night a dozen minutes prior and gone to ground, preparing to launch an immediate assault following the round of artillery preparation at precisely 8:00 PM.

Meanwhile, Regiment Commander Xiang and the main force of the 804th Regiment were still on their way up from the rear.
Fortunately, they were not far off. If the operational plan—wherein the artillery bombardment ceased at 8:05 PM followed immediately by the charge—was followed, the main force would easily arrive in time to support the 3rd Company's vanguard assault.

However, after Hu Biao handed over the company's only pair of Carl Zeiss 6x30 binoculars (acquired through a trade with Section Chief Sun) to Black Star for use,
and after meticulously observing the devils' position just moments prior, Hu Biao's expression turned grim.

It was no wonder! Although he still didn't know his opponents were the elite Japanese 9th Division, he could already tell they were going to be a tough nut to crack.
From his observations, the number of Japanese devils scattered across Dunwu Temple was substantial, amounting to at least eight to nine hundred men—the strength of an entire battalion.
In the mere two or three hours since Dunwu Temple had fallen, they had already constructed a formidable defensive line facing the National Army using sandbags and earth.
The fortifications bristled with numerous fire points composed of light and heavy machine guns, grenade launchers, and rifles, while further back, two Type 92 infantry guns loomed faintly.

More crucially, the path Hu Biao and his men would have to cross when rushing out of the cotton field to launch their attack was completely open and devoid of cover.
Even if their own artillery preparation managed to neutralize some of the Japanese fire points, by the time they initiated their charge, they would still be facing a dense, interlocking web of fire.
Charging straight into a barrage like that meant the 3rd Company would likely suffer catastrophic casualties before even reaching Dunwu Temple, let alone ripping open the devils' defense line...