You were tasked with guarding the Sihang Warehouse, and you ended up with a German-equipped division

Chapter 14 The Insidious Japanese Army, Li Jianghe's Choice

The first obstacle facing the Japanese army was the minefield surrounding the warehouse.

If engineers are used to clear mines, they will have to face machine gun fire from above.

After thinking for a while, Fujita Tadayoshi seemed to have come up with an idea.

"Those prisoners of war captured a few days ago are being brought over."

Inside the Sihang Warehouse, Li Jianghe was on the second floor, using binoculars to observe the street ahead, which had been reduced to ruins.

On some of the still relatively intact buildings, Japanese soldiers could be seen moving back and forth behind the windows.

They are setting up machine gun positions, clearly a prelude to an attack.

Because the Sihang Warehouse was located north of the concession area, the Japanese army was worried that if shells landed in the concession area, they would be unable to suppress them with artillery, so they could only use machine guns to provide fire support for the infantry.

Suddenly, Long Wenzhang pointed ahead and said:

"Battalion Commander, look."

These words startled Li Jianghe. Looking ahead, he saw a group of Nationalist soldiers with their hands bound, lined up in the ruins opposite, being forced forward by Japanese soldiers with bayonets.

These prisoners of war included soldiers from the Guangxi Army, Sichuan Army, Guangdong Army, and Central Army, all of whom were covered in wounds.

They had all fought for Shanghai and for this land of China, but now they were being threatened by the Japanese army to clear landmines.

Some of the people inside had gray hair, some were in their prime, and many were still immature teenagers, around fourteen or fifteen years old.

Among them was a child soldier who was eleven or twelve years old, wearing a Sichuan Army uniform that was a size too big and straw sandals, crying as he walked.

Upon seeing this, Li Jianghe's eyes widened in fury.

"To fight or not to fight!, Battalion Commander?"

Soldiers from the 88th Division shouted.

He knew very well that if the Japanese soldiers were allowed to charge over with the prisoners of war, it would inevitably impact the defenses of the Sihang Warehouse.

"We can't fight them, they're all on our side!!!"

Yang Ruifu gritted his teeth, but ultimately could not give the order to fire.

Li Jianghe finally realized the cruelty of the battlefield.

Sometimes, you have to fire on your own comrades.

"Battalion Commander, what should we do?"

Long Wenzhang's eyes widened, and he clenched his fists.

Li Jianghe did not answer his question, but instead shouted at the prisoners of war.

"Brothers, sorry, we'll see you off for now, we'll be there soon!!!"

When these words reached the ears of the prisoners of war, they knew they were doomed.

They were either blown up while clearing landmines for the Japanese army, or killed by their own side.

At this moment, a Sichuan soldier took the lead and shouted:

"Brothers, shoot! I won't have any regrets dying at your hands!!"

A Northeast Army soldier said:

"Dude, just go for it! Aim straight for the head, I need to go back to my hometown in Northeast China to see my mom!"

Some Guangxi soldiers also shouted.

"Brothers upstairs, remember my name, Li Qingzhou, from Longtang Town, Qingyuan. Tell my mother that her son is unfilial!!"

"And me, I'm from Pidu District, Chengdu. My name is Xu Mingyu. I'm sending a message to my wife, telling her to find a good man to remarry!!"

,,,,

The crowd murmured amongst themselves in front of the Sihang Warehouse.

At this moment, the Japanese officers, though unable to hear what they were saying, vaguely sensed that something was amiss.

"Shut up!!! All of you shut up!!!"

The Japanese officer shouted and slashed down with his samurai sword, knocking a Guangxi soldier to the ground.

"Third Battalion, open fire!!!"

Seeing this, Li Jianghe finally roared in anger.

"yes!!!"

The soldiers of the Third Battalion answered in unison, clicking as they pulled back their bolts and aimed their guns forward.

They aimed at the prisoners of war, and also at the enemy behind them.

"beat!!!!"

Upon hearing Li Jianghe's roar, the soldiers of the Third Battalion stationed on the outer perimeter of the first floor opened fire.

"Da da da!!!"

A barrage of gunfire erupted, and prisoners of war fell to the ground in droves. Japanese soldiers behind them also fell one after another amidst the gunfire.

The Japanese army did not expect the enemy to open fire so decisively. Caught off guard, they also left behind more than 30 corpses and ran away.

The street fell silent again, and Li Jianghe heard someone sobbing softly.

He could understand that feeling; pulling the trigger on a comrade was a difficult decision for anyone.

Li Jianghe's merit points increased again, but he felt very heavy-hearted.

At that moment, a broad, kind hand was placed on his shoulder.

"Battalion Commander Li, you did the right thing."

The speaker was Xie Jinyuan.

He hadn't given the order to fire, but he knew that what Li Jianghe had done was the most appropriate.

Looking at the Japanese corpses and Nationalist prisoners lying on the ground, Fujita Tadayoshi coldly smiled and said:

"It seems that these Chinese soldiers also have the courage to face death without fear."

"Troops charge! First, clear the enemy's landmines, then release the poison gas!"

"yes!!!"

The battle resumed, but without artillery fire, the Japanese army could only rely on machine gun fire for cover, while engineers used demolition charges to blow up minefields and create a passage for the advance.

Inside the Sihang Warehouse, the firing positions opened fire again, a dense hail of bullets raining down. Japanese engineers lay prone on the ground, one after another being pinned to death by heavy pointed bullets.

"Da da da!!!"

After a barrage of light and heavy machine gun fire, leaving behind a trail of corpses, the Japanese finally managed to load the demolition charge.

"Boom!!!"

A loud explosion rang out, and a large number of infantry mines were detonated. The Japanese soldiers roared in anger.

The charge has begun!

More than ten heavy machine guns and dozens of light machine guns simultaneously opened fire on the Sihang Warehouse, suppressing the firing ports on the upper floors and also suppressing the outer perimeter positions.

Hundreds of Japanese soldiers, taking turns providing cover as they charged forward, quickly traversing the minefield and trampling over the corpses of their comrades.

But as soon as they emerged from the smoke left by the explosion, the soldiers of the Third Battalion decisively opened fire.

The MG34 machine guns roared on both flanks, creating a crossfire that resembled an incredibly dense spider web.

Those Japanese soldiers caught in the blast were either killed or maimed, leaving behind corpses and severed limbs.

At the same time, grenades were thrown out one after another.

M24 grenades were in ample supply; three were bundled together and thrown forward as a cluster grenade.

Several Japanese soldiers, suppressed by machine gun fire behind their bunkers, saw the cluster grenades land and, before they could even take cover, boarded the grenades.

In less than half an hour, the Japanese army had left more than a hundred corpses around the Sihang Warehouse.

It should be noted that during the previous battles in the Dachang and Dunwu Temple areas, they fought fiercely with the Chinese army for three days and nights, and only more than 130 people were killed in action.

In just half an hour, the Fujita Regiment had lost a company.

This forced him to order a temporary halt to the attack.

"Chief of Staff, do we have any more poison gas grenades? I need them!"

Upon hearing this, Hiroshi Nakagawa reminded him:

"If those poisonous gases drift into the foreign concessions, it could cause serious consequences."

"It's alright. If we only use small batches and try to get them into the Sihang Warehouse, it shouldn't be a problem."

Looking at the corpses ahead, Hiroya Nakagawa knew that if he charged forward like this, he would probably lose another company before he could take the warehouse ahead.

"Okay, I'll get a batch of poison gas bombs over right away."

Hiroshi Nakagawa made up his mind.