Chapter 159 Our mission is to fight! (Fourth update!)
Upon hearing that the Sichuan Army had launched a general attack, Watanabe Masao seemed very calm, as if he had guessed it long ago, and was not at all fluctuating.

"Division commander, what does the military say? When will reinforcements be sent?" The chief of staff looked at the other party with hopeful eyes.

Unfortunately, he was greeted with the cold tone of Watanabe Masao.

"There is no reinforcement, the military asked us to retreat to Taunggyi."

"That's great." Hearing that they could retreat, the chief of staff naturally breathed a sigh of relief. After all, no one wants to die in vain.

In particular, the horrific artillery fire from the Sichuan Army made him realize that holding on would only lead to death.

"But I don't want to retreat. I want to hold on a little longer." Watanabe Masao shook his head, obviously rejecting the proposal.

Hearing this, the chief of staff opened his mouth, not knowing what to say.

"Moreover, even if we want to retreat now, it won't be that easy. The Sichuan Army must have set up a tight net for us." At this time, Watanabe Masao was unusually sober.

If he were the commander of the Sichuan Army, he would definitely set up an ambush on the retreat route and catch the enemy in the trap.

"But..." The chief of staff wanted to say something.

"Let each regiment destroy its regiment flag and make sure it does not fall into the hands of the Sichuan Army. This way, the 56th Division still has hope." Watanabe Masao said.

"Hay."

"Also, please request the military to send fighter jets for support. We need fighter jets to escort our retreat."

This completely confused the chief of staff. Didn’t he say he would not withdraw?
Why are we sending fighter jets for escort again?

"We have to leave a troop in the city to absorb the firepower of the Sichuan Army, otherwise none of us can leave. The Sichuan Army has chariots, and two legs can't outrun four wheels." Watanabe Masao knew clearly that he had to stay.

Even if he retreated to Taunggyi, what would happen?

What awaits him is definitely dismissal and being sent to the reserve.

As for when will the restoration begin?
It all depends on fate.

He was unwilling to accept this arrangement.

He still cannot accept that he was defeated by a ragtag army.

Therefore, he wanted to wash away his shame with blood.

"Hay." The chief of staff stopped trying to persuade him after seeing this. He knew that Watanabe Masao was determined to die, so it was useless to persuade him anymore. The most important thing was to find a way to bring the remaining defeated troops back to Taunggyi.

Outside the city, the third line of defense was already in tatters. The only remaining Japanese lieutenant looked at the position blankly and muttered.

"Where are the reinforcements? Why aren't there any reinforcements?"

After two hours of bombing, the ground had been plowed several times. There was basically no living thing to be seen, and broken limbs were everywhere.

It is not an exaggeration to say that there were corpses everywhere.

It can be said that this was the first time that the Japanese army was completely suppressed. They had no chance to fight back and could only watch their fortifications being destroyed.

Now, he could only watch helplessly as his defense line was breached.

As for the reinforcements he mentioned?

There won’t be any more.

Because the remaining Japanese troops were preparing to retreat.

In terms of combat proficiency, the Japanese troops of the 56th Division were definitely elite.

After all, they swept across Southeast Asia.

However, faced with the Sichuan Army's unethical fighting style, they could only swallow their bitterness and could not say a word.

"Sir Lieutenant, you are our highest commander now. What should we do?" The Japanese soldier who survived by chance asked in fear when the artillery fire stopped.

"We can't hold on any longer. How about we retreat?"

"No retreat allowed, you must hold your ground."

"But, there are only a few of us left. How can we hold our ground?"

"Where are the reinforcements? Why aren't there any reinforcements?"

Several Japanese soldiers looked terrified and argued with each other. Some wanted to retreat, but their superiors disagreed.

"The enemy is too numerous and their firepower is too strong. We are no match for them. Let's retreat, Lieutenant."

"Baga, the order I received was to hold the position to the death."

"If we don't withdraw now, we really won't be able to leave."

"Baga, whoever dares to talk about retreat again, enforce battlefield discipline."

As a result, they didn't even notice the tanks rushing towards them.

boom!
A 75mm high-explosive bomb flew over and completely blew up the dilapidated fortifications.

The few people who were arguing just now fell in a pool of blood in an instant.

"Goal accomplished, keep moving forward."

The same principle as the infantry's supplementary shooting, the tank battalion, which had suffered losses, came to a conclusion after two days of summarization.

That is, when you encounter a suspected target, fire first without thinking twice.

No matter whether there are enemies or not, blow them up first.

Nip the danger in the bud.

It has to be said that Zhao He is indeed an excellent armored soldier.

It is indeed useful to draw lessons from one’s own losses.

"Hey, there seems to be an enemy in there. I seemed to see an arm being blown off." The driver said in confusion as he looked at the arm flying out in the distance through the periscope.

"They must be corpses. How could it be such a coincidence that a random shot would hit the Japanese?" The gunner didn't believe it at all. How could he just take away a few Japanese soldiers so casually?

"That makes sense." The driver thought about it and realized it was true.

At this time, the commander spoke.

"Okay, keep moving forward. Pay attention to your surroundings and be careful of the Japanese counterattack. If you see something wrong, stop and fire immediately. Don't make the same mistake again."

"Yes, Captain."

In fact, there are not many Japanese left on the third line of defense, but it is better to be cautious.

Many veterans have lost their lives because of pride.

Therefore, every time there was a battle, Cun Yunsheng would earnestly advise people not to be complacent on the battlefield and to be careful so as to save their lives.

Maybe he had traveled through time. Every time he looked at the casualty report, those strings of names made his heart ache and he felt extremely heavy.

They were comrades-in-arms and brothers who spent every day together, but in the blink of an eye they were gone.

That feeling is very uncomfortable!
In particular, the original body once led a battalion of soldiers in a bloody battle with the Japanese army. In the end, only he and a few of his followers escaped from the battlefield, and all the others were killed.

Every time I think of this, I feel extremely heartbroken.

Since entering Burma, there have been several battles of varying sizes, and more than a thousand soldiers of the Sichuan Army have been killed.

No one knew that Cun Yunsheng was holding a roster of sacrificed soldiers in his hand, which clearly recorded their names, ages, places of origin, the number of people in their families, etc.

He prepared a generous pension for these sacrificed soldiers.

Part of the pension has been sent to their families through various channels.

The other part could not be delivered temporarily because of the Japanese-occupied areas.

But he was determined that when the war was over, he would personally deliver the pensions to the families of the fallen soldiers.

At the same time, he doesn't want the roster to continue to grow.

That's why he kept nagging like Tang Seng. For Meng Fanle and his men, there would always be casualties in war.

But for Cun Yunsheng, this makes sense, but he still hopes to reduce the damage to the young king.

If a problem can be solved with artillery shells, we will never resort to risking human lives.

"Captain, there shouldn't be any Japanese soldiers on the third line of defense, right? The bombing has been going on for two hours. Even ants would be killed by the shock." The driver asked puzzledly while operating the tank.

"Stop talking nonsense. It's better to be careful. This is what the regiment commander told me." The driver said unhappily.

"Yes!"

Da da da!
Just after moving forward for a distance, a machine gun position appeared from nowhere and fired at the tank.

The bullets hit the M4 tank and all of them bounced off, leaving only bullet marks.

"Found it..." The driver just found the firing machine gun position.

boom!
The turret was hit by a shell, but the explosion did not leave any mark on it.

The shock made the crew inside dizzy, nauseous and want to vomit.

"Damn it, what a crow's mouth." The driver hit his head hard, forced himself to calm down, and then cursed.

"There are tanks. Find them immediately."

"Weren't the Japanese tanks destroyed?"

"It should be a Type 37 light tank with a mm tank gun. It's not very powerful, otherwise we would have been knocked unconscious by the explosion just now." The tank commander was obviously a veteran and could tell the model of the tank by the sound.

"Hurry up and find him. He is very small. Don't miss any suspicious spots."

"Yes." The driver perked up and began to search carefully.

"Damn it, we can't even penetrate the enemy at a distance of 500 meters?" The commander of the Type 95 light tank shouted in surprise when he saw this scene.

"Captain, we have to keep firing at close range. Otherwise, at this distance our tank guns can only tickle the enemy," said the driver bitterly.

"No, our mission is to hold the line and delay time. We must not rush out." The commander hesitated for a while, but still rejected his subordinates' suggestion.

At this time, the M4 tank commander gritted his teeth, opened the hatch directly, picked up the telescope and began to observe.

In fact, this action is very dangerous, but there is no other way. Relying solely on the periscope to search is too slow.

If the enemy hits your flank, you're doomed.

"Found it. Inside a collapsed house, there's a particularly small gun barrel. See it? It's at the six o'clock position. Prepare the high-explosive bombs." Following the commander's words, the driver began to adjust the tank.

The gunner stuffed the high-explosive shells into the barrel.

The reason why armor-piercing bullets are not used is that, on the one hand, armor-piercing bullets are relatively precious, and on the other hand, it is too luxurious to use armor-piercing bullets to attack such a small tank.

Rather than poking tofu with chopsticks, it would be better to just blow it into a pile of scrap metal.

"fire!"

With a roar from the tank commander, the shells spun at high speed and hit the Japanese tanks.

boom!
A huge explosion sounded, directly blowing away the Japanese tank turret.

Then it fell down heavily again.

"It's solved, let's keep moving forward." After seeing the Japanese tanks being destroyed, the commander observed again and found that there were no remaining tanks. After he breathed a sigh of relief, he ordered to keep moving forward.

On the other right wing position, Zhang Lixian looked at He Shuguang who was fully armed in front of him and said worriedly.

"How about you just stay here? Street fighting is still very dangerous. If you're not careful."

Who knows, He Shuguang said with a disdainful look.

"I've already told you that whoever is a coward is a son of a bitch. You don't want me to admit that I'm a son of a bitch, do you? Or do you want to see me make a fool of myself?"

"Okay, stop with that."

"Okay, let's stop talking nonsense. The mission of the suicide squad is to charge and fight fiercely, go straight to the Japanese division headquarters, and find a way to capture Watanabe Masao alive. The division commander has offered a huge reward." Zhang Lixian said meaningfully.

"Okay, I understand. If I die, I'll leave my mother at home to you." After saying that, He Shuguang didn't wait for him to speak, and followed the suicide squad to rush towards the urban area.

boom!
As soon as they entered the city, they were attacked and a member of the suicide squad was shot down.

Fortunately, the Type 38 rifle has strong penetrating power but weak lethality, so the injuries were not very serious.

Just give him a simple bandage and let him stay where he is and wait for the stretcher to be taken to the field hospital in the rear for treatment.

Who knew that the other party would directly refuse, move his shoulders, and find that it was not a big problem.

"It's just a bullet hole. I have six or seven more on my body."

Hearing this, He Shuguang looked at the other party in surprise, not understanding why the other party did not withdraw.

"It is natural to be a soldier and fight in wars. In the past, I served in the army just to make a living. The feelings of family and country have nothing to do with me, and I don't understand them."

"But when I arrived at the Sichuan Army, I knew what it meant to fight for my country."

"As our regimental commander said, our generation's mission is to fight. Once we're done fighting, the next generation can build the country."

"What's more, people with minor injuries will not leave the front line, so this injury is nothing." The old soldier's words moved He Shuguang.

"The Japanese are so damn cunning, hiding in the ruins."

"Flamethrower."

"Yes!"

A soldier carrying a flamethrower crawled over and pulled the trigger at the ruins in the distance.

boom!
A fire dragon rushed towards the distance.

Ahhhhh!
Suddenly, a terrible wail was heard from inside.

"Go!" He Shuguang looked at the flamethrower with envy.

I should have memorized this thing earlier.

This is the weapon a real man should use.

Da da da!
Quickly eliminate the Japanese troops in the ruins, and then advance again in a search formation.

There's no way, street fighting can't be fast.

We can only fight for it slowly, street by street.

Fortunately, heavy artillery had been used to blow up most of the buildings in the city.

Otherwise, they will find it even more difficult.

Even so, half an hour later, the suicide squad of the Sixth Battalion suffered seven or eight casualties.

"How about you stay here and take care of these wounded soldiers? You've lost a lot of blood." He Shuguang was a little worried about the old soldier who had spoken earlier.

In just a moment, the gauze used for bandaging was stained red, and the other person's face was pale, obviously he had lost too much blood.

If this continues, there will definitely be danger to one's life.

"Lao Wang, you stay and take care of these wounded soldiers. Don't try to hold on. The battle is still going on." The team leader was Ma Yuan, originally a veteran of the 200th Division. Later, when the Sichuan Army Corps expanded, he became a platoon leader of the th Battalion.

He was the first to sign up for the death squad formed by Zhang Lixian this time, and served as the captain.

"Okay." Seeing that the captain said so, Lao Wang no longer insisted and a trace of fatigue suddenly appeared on his face.

"We should be not far from the Japanese division headquarters here. We need to speed up. There are many troops watching here. We must not give up the meat that is in our mouths." Ma Yuan stared at the building in the distance and said to the people behind him.

"Yes."

　The fourth update is over! It’s pretty early today! Thank you all for your support!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)