At dawn, the Japanese troops of the 31st Division, who had been tortured by the heavy rain almost all night, began to pack up their tents under the orders of their officers. Then they ate a rice ball each with the few cold water left in the kettle before setting off.
, the order they received was to arrive at Guojialing before this evening and join the 37th Division there.
Lieutenant General Shigesaburo Miyazaki drank the last mouthful of flavored soup under the service of the orderlies, then stood up and stretched, and asked the Chief of Staff Akihisa Sakagami who had just arrived: "Are the troops ready?
? Nothing happened last night?"
"Your Excellency, Division Commander, the troops are ready and ready to go at any time. However, many soldiers drank unclean water last night. This morning, at least two hundred soldiers began to have diarrhea, and dozens more developed fevers.
"
Shigesaburo Miyazaki snorted softly, "Are the conditions of those soldiers serious? Can they keep up with the troops?"
"It's okay so far, and I can barely keep up, but I'm worried that their condition will get worse and worse, resulting in non-combat attrition."
Shigesaburo Miyazaki said displeasedly: "Didn't I give an order not to allow soldiers to drink raw water? Why are there so many people disobeying the order?"
Akihisa Sakagami said helplessly: "The order was indeed issued, but many soldiers couldn't help it and secretly ran to nearby streams or puddles on the roadside to get water. The officers could not stop them and could only open their eyes.
One eye is closed and the other is closed, so these problems arise."
"Baga, you bastard!" Shigesaburo Miyazaki couldn't help but burst out with a national curse.
Since ancient times, marching and fighting has been a great science.
Some people may ask, it's already the 20th century, hasn't the Japanese army even solved the problem of drinking water?
The answer is of course solved. To solve this problem, the Japanese army also set up a "water supply unit". Their mission was to provide clean drinking water to the Japanese army.
As early as the Russo-Japanese War, the Japanese army established its first water supply unit. At that time, it used water supply trucks imported from Germany and used thermal distillation to produce drinkable fresh water. It was also equipped with some water filters for convenience.
Soldiers drank water on the battlefield. Later, the Okamoto-type water filter, the 97-type water filter and the Ryomoto-type water filter were invented.
By 1940, the Japanese water supply troops were equipped with a hot water truck installed on a truck. In fact, a 2.5-ton water tank was installed on the truck, and there was a stove, so that hot water could be available for drinking at any time. Moreover, the water supply troops
Not only is there a hot water truck, there is even a refreshing drink making machine.
But unfortunately, due to the rapid march of the troops these days and the rugged roads in Zhongtiao Mountain, dozens of large water purification trucks and hot water boiling trucks accompanying the troops were stuck behind and could not follow up in time, and those small ones
Due to the insufficient number of filters, it was simply a drop in the bucket for a division that easily cost 10,000 to 20,000 people, so an embarrassing situation arose.
If it were normal, this situation could still be solved. As long as you set up a large iron pot and boil the water for ten minutes, all kinds of bacteria can be wiped out. But the terrible thing is that yesterday's heavy rain almost turned the surrounding area into a
In the swamp, you can't even find any dry firewood, let alone boiling water.
Although he was very angry, Shigesaburo Miyazaki also knew that the officers below him could not be blamed for this, so he could only order the troops to start setting off angrily.
Just when the 31st Division was in a hurry, they didn't know that a group of reapers carrying deadly bombs were flying towards them.
When the marching soldiers of the 31st Division heard a buzzing sound in the sky, they all looked into the air. Soon, a dull sound of gunfire rang out.
Some Japanese soldiers pointed at a few black spots in the sky in horror and shouted: "Plane... the Chinese plane is coming!" The screams broke through the roar of the machine guns, and they rushed closer and closer.
In view of the lessons learned from yesterday's investigation, the 31st Division also made some improvements. For example, they installed their only dozens of Type 93 anti-aircraft machine guns on trucks to deal with sudden air attacks.
Many people are familiar with the Japanese Type 92 heavy machine gun, but many people may be unfamiliar with the Type 93 anti-aircraft machine gun.
The Type 93 machine gun uses 13.2 mm caliber bullets. After installing a tripod, it is usually used as an anti-aircraft anti-aircraft machine gun. It uses a 30-round magazine for ammunition, but it is rarely known because of its scarcity.
"Air strike!"
"It's the Chinese black crow!"
The Japanese soldiers on the ground began to disperse towards the road twice. The officers directed the soldiers to evacuate while directing the troops to conduct air defense. Several Type 93 anti-aircraft machine guns nearby poured bullets into the air, with the sound of motors and sharp whistling sounds, as well as machine guns.
The sound of shooting made people's ears hurt.
After seeing the arrival of the Chinese plane, Miyazaki Shimsaburo immediately jumped out of the car he was riding in, jumped to a mound on a slope, and threw himself next to a person.
At this moment, a bomb exploded nearby, and a wave of air hit the back of his head like a whirlwind. He raised his head with difficulty and saw three dive bombers diving down in the direction of him.
The aluminum wings and the glass on the canopy shone golden in the sun. The bullets from the anti-aircraft machine guns streaked past the plane like a silver line. The fierce shooting from the machine guns and rapid-fire cannons made the plane look like a small boat in the huge waves.
Black Crow is the Japanese name for Stuka dive bombers, because in the eyes of the Japanese, those planes, which look as ugly as seagulls and are painted black, are like crows. Once they appear, they will only bring them endless misfortune.
and death.
"Woooooooo..."
Accompanied by the sharp sirens, three Stuka dive bombers lined up in an arrow shape and dived down towards the ground at almost a vertical angle. The sirens placed under the wings were automatically activated. The shrill and sharp sound further increased the Japanese army's fear.
panic.
"Boom boom boom..."
The air waves rolled, orange flames rose, and the muddy ground rose into the sky like a whirlwind. After the bombing, the three Stukas immediately rose rapidly, turned towards the sun, and then turned left to face the ground.
The Japanese troops attacked again.
They dropped bombs again at a height of 100 meters above the ground, and fired downwards with large-caliber machine guns. The bullets were like fire whips, picking up the bodies of the Japanese soldiers lying on both sides of the road, and making them roll in the muddy water. Seeing this, they lay prone
The Japanese soldiers on the ground jumped up and ran in all directions.
Shigesaburo Miyazaki, who was lying on the ground, saw a soldier being knocked to the ground. He waved his hands wildly and then stopped moving.
Another soldier panicked, running this way and that way, panicking and looking left and right, but the machine gun bullet knocked him down from the side, like a red-hot wire coming down from the top.
The general was beaten into two pieces, and the two body parts were separated by several meters.
But even after being beaten into two pieces, the stumps on the ground were still moving around like earthworms, and it took a while to stop crawling.