PFC Chapter 54 The Three Flowers Tactic: Slaughtering the Japanese Like Pigs
Chapter 54 The Three Flowers Tactic: Slaughtering the Japanese Like Pigs
More than a dozen Japanese engineers crawled forward, trying to clear the mines, but just as they crawled over, another explosion occurred.
Those sappers who tried to approach the minefield were instantly blown to pieces by the buried bombs.
Upon seeing this, the Japanese commander was instantly enraged and recklessly drew his sword, pointing it forward.
"Sappers, keep going!!! Use Type 96 demolition charges to clear a passage!!!"
Another wave of infantry charged forward, but this time they didn't use mine detectors. Instead, they used demolition charges to forcefully blast open an attack path.
The pre-planted explosives were detonated again, resulting in another round of casualties among Japanese engineers.
However, by using this method, the Japanese army still managed to clear several paths for their assault, allowing their infantry to advance.
This greatly pleased the Japanese commander, who thought that without the protection of landmines, he wanted to see how many tricks the enemy still had up their sleeve.
The commander's sword slashed down again, and the charge began.
On the outer perimeter of Yuhuatai, all firing positions remained silent, showing no intention of opening fire.
They were waiting, waiting for closer engagement distance so that they could inflict the most effective casualties on the Japanese army.
Finally, just as the Japanese troops crossed the minefield, a red signal flare was launched into the sky.
The moment the signal flare rose, four pre-prepared mortars simultaneously fired mortar shells at the four corners of the Japanese assault group.
The mortar shells raining down on the four corners caused the originally scattered Japanese assault groups to instinctively converge on the center.
Since all four corners are within the mortar firing range, the central area is safer and will not be bombarded by mortars.
But this was exactly the kind of moment Li Jianghe had been waiting for.
Just then, a second signal flare was launched.
Li Jianghe's machine gun positions on both flanks and in the center of the position immediately opened fire.
The MG34 and MG42 machine guns, along with the Maxim heavy machine gun and the Type 92 heavy machine gun, roared at the same time.
The firepower flying from three directions formed a dense, intersecting network, instantly covering the Japanese troops gathered in the center.
The Japanese troops were originally relatively dispersed, but after being forced into the central area by mortars, their formation became dense, and the heavy machine guns were extremely effective.
The flying bullets, like skewers of candied hawthorns, instantly pierced through the bodies and blew the heads off many Japanese soldiers.
Seeing this, Xu Dingguo couldn't help but shout his approval. "This tactic is excellent! It brings the Japanese soldiers together, which greatly increases their lethality."
In fact, this tactic was later known as the "Three Flowers" tactic among the Chinese People's Volunteer Army.
Now, Li Jianghe is only using the first two steps.
The "plum blossom" tactic involved bombarding the four corners with mortars to force the Japanese troops to converge towards the center.
Using machine gun positions on both flanks and in front, they formed crossfire to effectively kill Japanese troops.
Company Commander Guo, who created this tactic, managed to kill more than 800 American soldiers with only 16 casualties. He was simply a god of war among gods of war.
Seeing the infantrymen at the front suffering casualties, the Japanese rear firing positions also began to roar.
Grenade launchers, infantry guns, machine gun emplacements, and skilled Japanese snipers all began firing on the exposed firing positions on the flanks and front.
These Japanese soldiers' grenade launchers and infantry guns were extremely accurate, and even the Japanese infantrymen using iron sights were incredibly precise with their guns.
Under heavy fire, these firing positions had to be relocated. If the relocation was too slow, Japanese grenade launchers would rain down on them.
Seeing that many firing positions had been suppressed, the Japanese commander gained confidence and ordered the troops at the front to charge again.
Japanese soldiers roared forward, small squads charging forward in alternating cover.
They needed to get within about thirty meters, which is a suitable distance for throwing grenades.
As long as a volley of grenades is thrown, the explosions can be used to rush to the enemy's position and engage in hand-to-hand combat.
This form of warfare was what the Japanese army was most confident in.
These Japanese veterans in the early stages of the War of Resistance Against Japan were physically strong, experienced in bayonet fighting, and highly skilled. One Japanese veteran could even take down three Nationalist soldiers.
Just as the Japanese troops closed to within fifty meters, the 3rd Provisional Regiment's trenches ahead began firing 100mm oversized high-explosive shells from Panzerfaust 60mm guns.
"Whoosh whoosh!!!"
With a whooshing sound, these over-caliber high-explosive shells began to inflict casualties on the Japanese troops at a distance of fifty meters.
The charging Japanese soldiers were blown up in the blink of an eye, screaming in agony.
Some had their lower legs blown off and crawled on the ground, leaving a dark red trail of blood; others had their arms blown off and desperately searched for their severed limbs on the battlefield.
They screamed and wailed, but more Japanese soldiers continued to trample them and advance despite the dense explosions.
"Onboard!!!!"
As they charged, they roared and shouted "Long live!"
But at that very moment, the submachine gun roared.
"Da da da!!!"
Both the MP38 and MP40 provided absolute firepower suppression against the Japanese forces.
At close to medium range, the powerful firepower of the submachine gun, coupled with its extremely strong firepower continuity, meant that the shouting Japanese soldiers were gone in an instant.
Seeing a large number of Japanese soldiers being killed on a large scale, Li Jianghe knew that the time had come.
Now comes the final step of the "Three Flowers" strategy—the lotus!
Then the third signal flare was launched, and the Nationalist soldiers on both flanks suddenly rushed out, firing at the Japanese troops gathered in the center while throwing grenades.
"Boom!!!! Rat-a-tat-tat!!!"
Gunfire and explosions mingled together as Nationalist soldiers attacked from both flanks, causing the already heavily wounded Japanese troops to completely collapse their psychological defenses and hastily retreat.
During the retreat, many more corpses were left behind along the way.
At this point, the Japanese troops behind them dared not open fire indiscriminately, because the pursuing Nationalist troops and the fleeing Japanese troops were entangled together, and opening fire at this time would only add fuel to the fire.
Behind them, watching the retreating Japanese army, both Shigeharu Suematsu, who had been full of confidence, and his chief of staff Saburo Isoda, both had their mouths drooping.
"It seems that the enemy's firepower is more formidable than we imagined."
Saburo Isoda cleared his throat, breaking the awkward silence between the two.
Suematsu Shigeharu said coldly:
"That's right. We need to make them withdraw temporarily and carefully plan our attack tactics."
After saying this, he inquired about the effectiveness of the attacking group on the right.
The result was not good either. The 262nd Brigade stationed in this direction were all from German-equipped divisions, and each of them was a veteran with rich experience.
In addition, the new weapons and ammunition that Li Jianghe provided later also caused considerable casualties to the Japanese army.
This made Suematsu Shigeharu realize that the enemy was indeed formidable; no wonder they had been able to inflict such a heavy loss on Tani Hisao during the night raid.