An aerial bomb fell on the busy and crowded beach, splashing sand all over the sky. Three Japanese soldiers waiting to board the ship nearby fell into a pool of blood. The surrounding soldiers seemed to be numb to such a scene.
The formation did not change much. Only two medical soldiers came out to check the injuries of the three Japanese soldiers and then continued to line up silently waiting to board the ship. Not far away from them, a troop transport ship was docked.
There, the troop carriers were packed with countless soldiers, densely packed like worker ants about to move. This was the beach of Busan, the last place where the Japanese army relied on for survival in Korea.
Outside the beach, a dozen destroyers are forming an anti-aircraft formation. The anti-aircraft weapons on the ships are fully activated, and the anti-aircraft guns with calibers ranging from 20 mm to 75 mm are all pouring tongues of flame into the sky. They are docked further away.
With two aircraft carriers, there are more than 20 Zero fighters active in the sky. They are fighting to the death with a similar number of Me109 fighters. This is the sky of Busan, and it is the place that the Japanese army must fight for.
Today is July 15, 1940. This is already the sixth day of the withdrawal of Japanese troops from Korea. During these six days, Umezu Yoshijiro felt as if he had spent six centuries. Although the Chinese
The army did not launch a violent attack, but their air force was like a piece of candy that couldn't be shaken off. Every day, hundreds of planes flew to the beaches of Busan to drop bombs. They rarely bombed ships, but specialized in bombing them.
Those soldiers who boarded the ships. The few only hospital ships were already overcrowded, and the troop carriers were also filled with wounded people. Howls and groans of pain were endless. Some wounded people could not bear the pain and begged their companions around them.
Give yourself a break, just like that, dull gunshots rang out from time to time on the beach and on the boat.
Private First Class Mingye and his former Senior Private from the countryside were lying together in a secluded corner, with horror in their eyes, looking at the death vultures that swooped down from the sky with strange screams from time to time. Whenever there was a sound on the beach,
After the explosion, their hearts couldn't help but twitch. This feeling made them feel very scared and desperate.
"Mr. Murakami, why do those Chinese people only drop these small bombs? If they drop a few large high-explosive bombs regardless of the anti-aircraft artillery, wouldn't our troop transport be doomed?" The weather in July was very hot, but Ming Ming
Ye's teeth were still chattering.
"Idiot" Murakami gritted his teeth and cursed: "The reason why the Chinese didn't drop those heavy bombs is because they want to torture us. They don't want to kill us all at once, but they want to tease us like a cat playing with a mouse. Wait until that day.
When they get tired of playing, they will swallow us whole. For example, they will wait for us to get on the troop ship before sinking the ship and letting us all go to the bottom of the sea to feed the fish."
"Kick, knock," Mingye's teeth were still clashing with each other, making a clear sound, "Then do we still have to get on the ship? I feel that it is too dangerous to get on the ship now. Murakami-kun, why don't we find a place to hide?"
With a crisp sound of "pop", Murakami gave Mingye a slap in the face and cursed in a low voice: "Baga, you idiot, if we get on the troop ship, we still have a three-point chance of survival. If we hide and are caught by the Chinese,
Our only fate is to dig mines or build railways for the rest of our lives. Our Japanese corpses are buried under almost every tie on the newly built railways built by the Chinese."
Although Mingye received a slap from Murakami, he was not angry. Although Murakami's attitude towards him seemed rough, the Murakami family took good care of him since he was a child and introduced his sister Yoko to him.
In the three years since he came to serve in Manchuria, if Murakami hadn't been taking care of him, he might have been killed long ago.
Murakami said softly in Mingye's ear: "You have to remember that under such circumstances, you must not crowd into crowded places, otherwise you will only become a living target for China planes. We only need to hide alone, and the China people
There's no way that ammunition would be wasted bombing a single target like ours."
Ming Ye, who was holding the rifle tightly in his arms, nodded nervously and looked at the sky with some fear. Suddenly he found a plane swooping down from the sky toward the beach on their side, and there was a "click-click" sound of machine gunfire.
Sweeping by, not far away from them, the captain, who was constantly yelling at the soldiers and urging them to board the ship quickly, fell in a pool of blood.
"Quick, let's go over quickly and carry the captain onto the hospital ship. That way we will be safe." Murakami grabbed Mingye's hand and ran out of the hiding place. The two of them fell to the ground in a hurry and couldn't help but groan.
The captain carried him to a nearby hospital ship, which was recognized as the safest place, because the hull and top of the hospital ship were spray-painted with a large and conspicuous red cross.
In the sea not far away, Rear Admiral Matoi Ugaki, the fleet commander who served as the commander-in-chief of the retreat, frowned and paced back and forth in the war room of the Akagi aircraft carrier. He had been organizing the Japanese army's retreat here for six months on orders from the base camp.
Oh my god, in these six days, 130,000 of the 150,000 Japanese troops have retreated, and the remaining 20,000 are either serving as blocking missions on the defense line or have become lonely ghosts in a foreign country.
Although the retreat has progressed so far, his mission has been basically completed, but the blocking Japanese troops are still struggling to resist the Chinese attack, and there is no way to withdraw. For this reason, Umezu Yoshijiro asked Ugaki Matoi to hold on for three more days.
, so that he could withdraw all the remaining troops, but Matoi Ugaki, who was worried about excessive losses, did not agree to do so, and a fierce quarrel broke out between the two.
"Commander, we have lost more than half of our Zero fighters. If we continue to hold on, we may not be able to protect ourselves." In the war room, a fleet staff officer reminded anxiously.
"Yes, Commander, our two aircraft carriers have less than 170 aircraft in total, and there are less than 110 Zero fighters. In these six days, we have lost nearly 50 aircraft. If
If the Chinese launch another large-scale attack, I'm afraid we won't even be able to defend the aircraft carrier." The staff officers nearby, who had been heartbroken over the loss of fighter planes, offered words of advice.
"Yes, our navy has already stepped into its own responsibilities. There is no need to sacrifice our own wealth for the army."
Just as the staff members were complaining in the war room, the voice of the duty officer sounded at the door: "General Umezu has arrived."
Following the voice of the duty officer, Umezu Yoshijiro walked into the combat command room with several division commanders who had already boarded the ship.
Umezu Yoshijiro, who had been busy for six consecutive days, looked exhausted. His sunken eyes and livid face showed that his energy was so exhausted that he would collapse at any time.
Umezu Yoshijiro walked to the conference room and without saying a word, he bowed deeply at 90 degrees to Ugaki Matoi and the staff in the war room. Ugaki Matoi quickly returned the bow with his men, regardless of the army and navy cooperation.
No, since I am a general, it would be a great honor for you, major generals and other officers to be the first to salute.
"Gentlemen," Umezu Yoshijiro spoke, with a hint of deep exhaustion: "In the past six days, through your efforts, 130,000 imperial warriors have been successfully evacuated. Now we are still near Busan."
Nearly 10,000 imperial soldiers are fighting desperately to buy us time to resist the Chinese attack. I know that you have fought bravely with the Chinese Air Force in these six days and suffered heavy losses, so I have ordered the blocking troops to
I gave an order to them to retreat to the beach before ten o'clock tomorrow morning. I promised the warriors of the empire to bring them back to the country. Please help me. Please." After saying that, Umezu Yoshijiro and the few people behind him
The division commanders all bowed to the naval officers and officers in unison.
These navy officers looked at each other several times, and everyone talked about this, which made them unable to say any words of rejection.
Finally, Ugaki let out a long sigh, "Okay, General Umezu, we will wait until ten o'clock tomorrow morning. If those soldiers have not arrived yet, we can't wait any longer. You must know that we have already lost money in these six days."
Fifty fighter planes, three destroyers and two troop transports, can you promise me?"
"Hai, thank you Ugaki-kun for your understanding. I would like to thank you on behalf of the brave soldiers who were responsible for blocking the attack." Umezu Yoshijiro, a dignified army general, also put aside his dignity and bowed to Ugaki-kun again. Behind him, Yuki Togami bowed.
Lieutenant General Sonobe and Lieutenant General Ichiro also bowed in unison. On this day, these army generals threw their faces into the toilet, facing the navy officers and soldiers who originally disliked each other.
They lowered their proud heads
At this time, in the peripheral blocking position three kilometers away from the beach, the soldiers of the 15th Chinese Army were firing violently at the Japanese position opposite with their weapons. They had received instructions not to launch an unauthorized charge and could only use
This is a way to vent your inner anger.
The battalion commanders and regimental commanders did not understand the true intentions of their superiors, so they could only direct their anger towards the Japanese army's position opposite. The regiment's artillerymen desperately tilted their shells towards the Japanese army, blowing up the originally well-constructed Japanese army's position.
It was beyond recognition.
The generals above the division commander level have somewhat understood the intentions of their superiors. It seems that they intend to spare the Japanese, or else the Japanese sniper positions have been broken through countless times.
Late at night on July 15th, the blocking Japanese army retreated in full after receiving the order, leaving only all the seriously wounded soldiers responsible for blocking the enemy. When the Chinese soldiers launched a feint attack again as usual on the morning of the 16th, what they saw was
There were only broken corpses and some seriously injured people who could not move. The Japanese army finally retreated.