Chapter 71 The Sorrowful Old Black

At this point.

The battle on the first floor was basically over.

All the Japanese soldiers who dared to rush forward were swept to the ground by the dense rain of bullets, and the Japanese soldiers closest to the building fortifications also fell five meters away.

In the smoke, the unique gunshots of the Type 38 rifle were gradually inaudible.

More than 200 Japanese soldiers were fleeing into the ruins along the blind spots on both wings of the warehouse. The firepower points on the upper floors were chasing their butts and shooting them, hoping to leave more people on the battlefield before they escaped.

But it didn't matter. In addition to those who stayed in the building, the Japanese army lost half of their troops in this round of attack.

The Japanese infantry suffered heavy casualties, but the defenders were not without losses.

Even with the protection of thick walls and sandbag fortifications, the company responsible for defending the front position had more than ten soldiers injured by shrapnel and ricochets.

General Matsui Iwane, commander of the Japanese Songhu Expeditionary Force, should perhaps be grateful that they met a low-key Chinese commander.

Otherwise, if the losses of both sides were compared, perhaps the military merit book of the Sihang Warehouse would record a feat that angered a Japanese general to death.

But there would always be sacrifices.

In a peaceful world, you don't know when an accident will happen, let alone on the battlefield.

"Tiedan, don't talk, it will be fine!" Lao Hei tried to help his soldier up, but found that his soldier's mouth and nose were bleeding a lot. He wanted to speak, but he couldn't say a word.

"Medic, medic, come and see what happened to Tiedan." Lao Hei hurriedly unbuttoned his soldier's shirt, but did not find any wounds, so he could only shout for the medic.

The company medic rushed over, and after a brief inspection, he could only shake his head silently.

"You lied to me, you lied to me!" Lao Hei opened his eyes angrily and refused to accept this result. "There are no bullet holes in Tiedan's body, how could he die?"

The medic looked at the emotional old soldier, his lips moved, but he didn't give a reason after all.

The soldier had no bullet holes on his body, and the heavy machine gun bullet was also deflected by the arc of the helmet. The helmet prevented him from being shot in the head, but it still took his life.

The terrible force generated by the huge kinetic energy of the machine gun bullet directly broke his neck through the fixing strap of the steel helmet, including the cervical vertebrae, which was more fatal than a gunshot wound.

"Lao Hei, Tiedan has died." Tang Dao, who rushed over, sighed slightly, but could only tell Lao Hei, who was so sad that he could not control himself, the news.

"Tiedan! You dog, talk, talk! What do you want to say, tell me!" Lao Hei's eyes flowed with two lines of hot tears, and he tightly hugged the soft body of the corporal who had quietly swallowed his last breath.

"I promised my aunt that I would take you back. How can I explain this to my aunt!"

"That's Lao Hei's younger brother!" The old soldier whispered in Tang Dao's ear.

Tang Dao knew it then.

The dead corporal was Lao Hei's cousin. Lao Hei lost both his parents when he was young, and was raised by his uncle and aunt. His cousin was almost the same as his brother.

After serving in the army, Lao Hei returned to his hometown to visit his uncle and aunt. In order to repay his uncle and aunt for raising him, he brought his cousin to the army. The monthly salary of six dollars really made his uncle and aunt proud in the countryside.

Unexpectedly, only two years later, the Battle of Songhu broke out.

Now, the cousin he pulled into the army died in the war. How can Lao Hei not be heartbroken? How can he have the face to go back to see his uncle and aunt?

There was a moment of silence. Tang Dao did not persuade Lao Hei, who was immersed in grief and self-blame, but said: "Lao Hei, the dead cannot be resurrected, crying is useless, do you want to see how the Japanese cry?"

"Sir!" Lao Hei looked at Tang Dao with tears on his black face.

He should not understand what Tang Dao meant, and the other soldiers who gathered around him should not understand it either.

"Believe me, I will make the Japanese cry even more miserably!" Tang Dao patted Lao Hei's shoulder, his eyes fixed on the battlefield.

The battle was not over yet.

While the infantrymen were fighting, the machine guns and several Japanese tanks were also fighting fiercely.

However, because they were on the roof of a high building and backed by the concession, and the Japanese army's infantrymen were still downstairs, the mountain artillery could not fire, and the Japanese tanks without firing range were basically in a state of being beaten by machine guns.

The Type 89 tank that was the farthest away was protected by the alley and some damaged houses, and finally escaped the disaster.

But the two Type 89 tanks closest to the warehouse were not as lucky as their colleagues. Even if they turned their heads and fled to the two wings very wisely, the cross-section of the tank flanks exposed in front of the warehouse was too large.

The 12mm steel plate is an insurmountable wall for heavy machine guns, but in front of the 20mm machine gun, it is not much stronger than a piece of white paper in terms of defense, and it will be a big hole if it is touched.

A Type 89 tank escaped only 100 meters before being penetrated by three machine gun shells. The exact situation of the tank crew inside was unknown, but the out-of-control tank crashed into a ruin and could no longer move.

The tank, which had completely lost power, was then hit by at least five or six shells, and the two machine guns chased another Type 89 tank that had already escaped 300 meters away and fired wildly.

This time, the Type 89 tank, which had escaped to a dead angle without exposing its flanks, could almost escape, but the last shell in Lei Xiong's empty magazine hit the diesel engine at the rear.

Thick black smoke came out of the rear of the tank, and then flames began to emerge. The Japanese tankers should have made their last effort. They did not leave the tank for a full minute and tried to drive the burning tank back to their own position.

Obviously, they failed.

Bravery is undoubtedly excellent, but it may not change the outcome.

The fire was getting bigger and bigger. When they pushed open the roof cover and tried to escape, it was too late.

The high temperature generated by the metal's excellent heat conduction ignited their clothes. The driver who escaped from the tank first was already on fire. Even if the Japanese infantry quickly put out the flames on his body, according to the burning situation at that time, it was estimated that if he didn't die, he would be burnt on the outside and tender on the inside.

As for the others, they should have died with the 89 tanks burning into a bonfire.

And those little beanies, relying on their small size and fast speed, fled quickly the moment they found the two machine guns of the Chinese defenders, and they ran away so fast that when Lei Xiong wanted to trouble them again, he couldn't even see the shadow of the tank.

But it doesn't matter. For the Sihang Warehouse, the biggest threat is the Type 89 tank. The 57mm tank gun has accurate shooting and strong penetration. The sandbags piled on the windows of the front of the building are almost a live target.

In the first battle, three tanks were destroyed, which was enough to make the Japanese, who were not rich themselves, feel heartbroken.

Of course, Lei Xiong, Tang Dao and others didn't know that there was a major squadron leader on the first tank destroyed, and his surname was Tokugawa.

Seven hundred meters away, Jiro Wakita looked at the remains of the body of Major Tokugawa, who was almost smashed into a pool of meat paste and finally determined that it was the "second generation of nobility" who came to the army to gild himself by the major's military uniform. He almost turned into a big-headed doll immediately.

The questioning from the bigwigs on the main island in the future will be even worse than the big defeat that just happened.

But at this moment, he didn't care to think so far ahead. If he didn't conquer the fortress in front of him, he would have no future at all.

As the Japanese troops retreated from the front and hid in the ruins, the warehouse defenders stopped wasting ammunition, and the Japanese troops on both wings also retreated to their field trenches.

The sound of gunfire gradually stopped, the wind from the east sea blew, and the smoke covering the battlefield also became lighter.

The battlefield where the two sides had just fought hard appeared in front of everyone.