activa-t Chapter 208 Surrender? Surrender or die! You'll pay for your crimes in blood!
Chapter 208 Surrender? Surrender or die! You'll pay for your crimes in blood!
The Japanese soldiers inside were buried under the rubble before they could even fire a few bullets.
At the same time, the infantrymen who rushed into the town also pulled the triggers of their submachine guns.
A hail of bullets swept across the street, raining down on the stubbornly resisting Japanese troops.
Some Japanese soldiers were killed instantly by artillery shells, while others were pierced by bullets.
Others were crushed into a bloody pulp by collapsing houses.
Throughout Yaoli Town, the screams and wails of the Japanese soldiers could be heard everywhere.
The battle didn't even last an hour.
The Japanese troops in the town were completely defeated, and the remnants fled in disarray towards Yeji, abandoning their armor and weapons.
But Wang Dayong had no intention of letting go of these beasts whose hands were stained with the blood of ordinary people.
He immediately ordered his troops to pursue the enemy across the entire front, ensuring that not a single one escaped.
The tank tracks rolled over the muddy ground, and also over the bodies of the fallen Japanese soldiers.
The vehicle-mounted machine gun roared incessantly, turning the fleeing Japanese troops scattered across the plains into moving targets.
Bullets followed the Japanese soldiers' footsteps, and people were constantly hit and fell to the ground, never to get up again.
These Japanese soldiers once used civilians weeding in the fields as live targets for shooting practice.
Now the tables have turned, and they have become the targets.
The bullets flying towards them were a hundred times denser than the ones they had fired back then.
At the same time as the pursuit began, the Japanese troops who were stubbornly resisting in Yaoli Town were also basically wiped out.
Only the southeast corner of the town remained, a large mansion belonging to a landlord, which was surrounded by troops.
This is a field hospital for two Japanese divisions on the southern front.
"Commander, this is the Japanese field hospital. What should we do?"
The battalion commander in charge of surrounding the area quickly ran up to Wang Dayong, saluted, and asked in a deep voice.
According to international conventions, one cannot attack wounded soldiers who are unable to resist, nor can one attack field hospitals.
This is the most basic humanitarian principle.
Wang Dayong stared at the tightly closed gate of the house, his fists clenched so tightly they cracked.
His instinct was to order the courtyard to be razed to the ground to avenge the dead people.
But before he could finish speaking, he paused and said:
"Call headquarters and ask the corps commander for instructions on how to handle this."
In the Third Column Command Post, the phone in front of Li Jianghe suddenly rang.
He picked up the receiver, and Wang Dayong's voice came through.
"Commander, we've taken Yaoli Town. There's a Japanese field hospital in the town."
"There are over a thousand wounded Japanese soldiers inside, and we've surrounded them. What should we do?"
After listening, Li Jianghe's lips curled slightly, and he asked in a calm tone:
"Dayong, what wounded soldiers? It sounds to me like thousands of Japanese soldiers occupying the hospital, trying to put up a last-ditch resistance?"
Wang Dayong instantly understood what Li Jianghe meant, and his eyes lit up immediately.
Just then, a soldier rushed over and urgently reported to the commander:
"Report! The Japanese soldiers in the courtyard have raised a white flag; they want to surrender!"
Upon hearing this, Wang Dayong was immediately put in a difficult position.
He was about to ask Li Jianghe's opinion again on the phone when a cold and resolute voice came from the receiver.
"What white flag? When our Nationalist brothers raised the white flag in Nanjing, did the Japanese devils accept it?"
Wang Dayong burst into laughter instantly, his voice booming:
"Captain, that's so true to you! I've been waiting for you to say that! I know what to do now!"
After saying that, he hung up the phone and turned to look at the soldier beside him, his eyes suddenly turning fierce.
"Brothers, launch a full-scale attack on the Japanese troops stubbornly resisting in the courtyard! Leave no one alive!!!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the surrounding soldiers erupted in a deafening cheer.
The anger that had been suppressed for so long finally found an outlet.
The cannons roared again, and countless shells instantly covered the entire courtyard.
The white flag that had just been raised was instantly shattered by the shell and fell to the ground.
The screams echoed through the courtyard, but were quickly drowned out by the continuous explosions.
After a ten-minute bombing, the entire landlord's mansion was completely razed to the ground.
A large number of armored vehicles roared forward, providing cover for the infantry as they rushed toward a courtyard covered in rubble.
Amidst the smoke and fire, the sounds of gunfire and artillery continued intermittently.
Most of the Japanese soldiers had already been killed in the bombing.
The few survivors were wiped out one by one by the tanks and infantry, leaving none alive.
The battle of Yaoli Town has finally come to an end.
Ogisu Rikihei and Iida Sadako were gathered in front of the battle map, planning a famous night attack on the flank of Fujinyama.
The two had just touched the winding route on the map with their fingertips, and before they could finish speaking, the communications soldier rushed in.
His face was deathly pale, and he was panting heavily as he reported loudly to his superior:
"Report! Urgent telegram from Yaoli Town: Our unit has been attacked by a large number of enemy armored forces and has suffered heavy losses!"
"What!??"
Ogisu Rippei and Iida Sadako suddenly looked up and exclaimed in unison.
Ogishu Rippei stood up too quickly, causing the chair behind him to overturn with a clatter.
The pencil in Iida Sadako's hand fell "plop" onto the map, landing right on the mark of Yao Li Town.
Their eyes instantly locked onto the map.
Yaoli Town is located in their rear, nestled between Lu'an and Yeji.
That was the storage site for their entire southern front forces' supplies, as well as the division's field hospital.
The two of them knew all too well what being attacked there meant.
"It's the enemy force that attacked Longtan Town last night!"
Ogizu Ritsuhei's brows furrowed deeply as he gritted his teeth and made his judgment.
Iida Sadamoto, standing to the side, looked utterly astonished and spoke with a hint of confusion:
"But news from the northern front clearly says that the enemy's armored forces have already withdrawn to the east bank of the Shi River!"
"No! Those idiots in the north have definitely been tricked!"
Ogishu Rippei slammed his fist on the table, making the teacups clang loudly.
"That force that crossed the river was simply a feint by the enemy, used specifically to mislead them!"
"Tani Hisao! Shinotsuka Yoshio! What on earth are those two doing?!"
He grew angrier and angrier as he spoke, but no amount of anger could change anything.
The most urgent task is to immediately dispatch troops back to Yaoli Town for reinforcement.
The order was issued quickly, and two Japanese infantry regiments assembled urgently, ready to go in just two hours.
But just as the troops completed their assembly, new bad news reached Ogisu Ritsuhei.
The defending troops in Yaoli Town have completely collapsed, leaving only thousands of wounded soldiers trapped in the field hospital.
As for the ultimate fate of these people, Ogishu Ritsuhei didn't even dare to think about it.
On the other side, after completing his offensive on Yaoli Town, Wang Dayong did not linger for a moment.
He led the main force of the Third Motorized Infantry Detachment to quickly relocate, heading straight into the Dabie Mountains in the southwest.
Under the cover of the mountains and forests, the group quickly disappeared without a trace.
By the time two Japanese regiments arrived at Yaoli Town, it was already noon.
Iida Sadako arrived with the troops and was stunned by the sight before him as soon as he entered the town.
The air was thick with the smells of gunpowder, blood, and the burnt smell of collapsed buildings.
Amidst the ruins, there were shredded supplies and the corpses of Japanese soldiers everywhere.
He walked to the ruins of the field hospital and looked up to see four bloody characters written on the broken wall.
In the courtyard, the bodies of wounded Japanese soldiers lay scattered among the rubble, a truly gruesome sight.
Iida Sadamoto's face instantly turned ashen, and he turned to ask the staff officer beside him:
"What do the words on the wall mean?"
The staff officer lowered his head and translated in a dry, low voice:
"It consists of four Chinese characters, forming a Chinese idiom."
"Idiom? What idiom?"
Iida Sadaharu suddenly turned his head and stared intently at him, pressing him for an answer.
"A blood debt must be a blood debtor."