126: Chapter 126 Poison Gas Melee

"Where?" Hearing the soldier, Zhang Decai immediately walked over.

He then followed the direction of the soldier's finger and saw the blurry, shifting shadows within the fog.

"It really is them. Everyone, get ready. Once the Japanese soldiers come up, ambush them and engage in hand-to-hand combat." Zhang Decai immediately issued the order.

"Battalion Commander, are we not using our guns?" the soldier nearby asked, puzzled.

"The poison gas is this thick; can you even see anyone?" Zhang Decai glared at him.

However, because he was wearing a gas mask, the soldier nearby couldn't see it.

"I can. Why wouldn't I be able to see?"

"Then can you distinguish who is the enemy and who is a comrade?" Zhang Decai said, again sounding annoyed.

Hearing the Battalion Commander say this, the soldier realized what he meant.

The fog was so thick.

If they opened fire, it would be impossible to tell friend from foe.

Moreover, if the Japanese soldiers down below didn't come up, it would be very difficult for them on the heights to hit anyone below.

This poison gas severely obstructed visibility.

If they alerted the Japanese soldiers and the enemy refused to advance, they wouldn't be able to stay here for long.

"Everyone, get ready. We will hide, disguise ourselves as corpses on the ground, and ambush the Japanese soldiers once they get close," Zhang Decai explained his plan.

"Yes, sir."

Upon hearing this, the Chinese Soldiers immediately began to prepare.

Down below, the advancing Japanese soldiers were chatting while marching.

They believed that in such poison gas, no Chinese could endure the fumes and come out.

"This red fog is really thick; even with my gas mask on, I can barely stand it."

"Haha, isn't that great? Those Chinese definitely can't hold us off!"

"Matsutake-kun, what you say makes sense."

These Japanese soldiers had very low vigilance; most of them thought the defenders on the mountain had all been poisoned to death.

Along the way, they hadn't encountered a single attack.

The surroundings were as quiet as if there was no one there.

If it were yesterday, every wave they launched would have been repelled.

Leaving corpses all over the ground.

Now, they had once again arrived at the hillside where countless corpses had been left behind.

The corpses of the Japanese soldiers who died yesterday were still left there.

Seeing the corpses littering the ground, the first Japanese soldiers to arrive all gasped in shock.

These were once their comrades, but now they were all lying on this hillside.

Because they were wearing gas masks, they couldn't smell anything at all.

In reality, this hillside was already faintly starting to reek.

After a day of piling up and decomposing, the stench of the rotting corpses had already begun to permeate the air.

It was just that winter was beginning.

The temperature had dropped, but it was still around ten-something degrees.

If it were summer, these corpses wouldn't even need a day; they would reek overnight.

They stepped over the corpses in front of them and continued to walk upward.

After passing this hillside, they still hadn't been attacked by the defenders.

This immediately put them at ease.

The defenders' first defensive position ahead was now within reach.

Ten-something minutes later, they finally arrived at the first defensive position.

Upon climbing onto the position, they immediately became happy.

After attacking for a whole day, they had finally taken this first position.

But before they could rejoice for long, gleaming bayonets pierced into their bodies.

"Enemy attack." the Japanese soldier who was stabbed shouted.

He watched helplessly as a figure suddenly sprang out from the side and plunged a bayonet into him.

But after shouting, he realized that the other Japanese soldiers around him had also been stabbed by bayonets.

The Japanese soldiers who were lucky enough not to be stabbed heard the shout and immediately became alert.

But before they could react, the next moment, a bayonet pierced them as well.

These figures, like ghosts, constantly wove through the red fog.

Every time they encountered these figures, a Japanese soldier would fall.

For a moment, the Japanese soldiers, who had not yet secured their footing, fell into chaos.

However, this chaos did not last long.

The Japanese soldiers who arrived subsequently quickly organized a counterattack.

They fixed their bayonets, charged onto the position again, and engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the Chinese Soldiers.

But as soon as they engaged with the defenders, the expressions of these Japanese soldiers changed again.

Because the combat proficiency of these defenders was actually no worse than theirs.

They were more than capable in one-on-one combat.

On the contrary, the Japanese soldiers found it somewhat difficult to cope.

The combat effectiveness of this defending force was completely different from the Chinese troops they had encountered before; it was not a bit inferior to theirs.

The hand-to-hand combat between the two sides became intense for a time.

In the fog, there were figures fighting with cold steel everywhere.

Zhang Decai and his men didn't dare to fire their guns, and likewise, the Japanese soldiers didn't dare to fire either.

The enemy was right in their faces fighting with bayonets; even if they wanted to fire, it was too late.

Furthermore, the Japanese soldiers prided themselves on having the Bushido spirit.

For them, this kind of one-on-one fighting was the embodiment of the Bushido spirit.

The intense hand-to-hand combat lasted for nearly an hour.

After leaving corpses all over the ground, the Japanese soldiers retreated temporarily.

However, the casualties on Zhang Decai's side were also significant.

Seeing the Japanese soldiers retreat, Zhang Decai immediately had someone count the casualties.

After ten-something minutes of counting, Zhang Decai received some rather bad news.

The casualties from the recent hand-to-hand combat were heavy.

Out of the five hundred men who came out, nearly half were casualties.

Only about three hundred men still had combat capability.

And over 100 had sacrificed their lives.

But the Japanese casualties were only higher than theirs.

Their initial ambush caused a large number of casualties for the Japanese.

Those Japanese soldiers who had just climbed onto the position were taken by surprise.

They were killed before they even had time to fix their bayonets.

There were at least over 100 of these Japanese soldiers.

The subsequent hand-to-hand fighting also caused many casualties for the Japanese.

Seeing the excessive casualties, the Japanese Officer had no choice but to retreat temporarily.

He then immediately requested support from the main force of Japanese soldiers down the mountain.

And reported the situation on the mountain.

"A unit of Chinese defenders wearing gas masks suddenly charged out; their combat effectiveness far exceeds the Chinese troops we encountered before. Our unit has suffered heavy casualties, and we request reinforcements."

...

Meanwhile, on the artillery position, they were also suffering from the poison gas attack.

The poison gas was permeating the position.

The Chinese Soldiers used gauze soaked in lime water and tied it over their mouths and noses to cope with the poison gas.

Although the effect was not very good, it was better than nothing.

The Artillerymen operated the cannons and fired at the designated locations.

Just now, they received orders that the West Mountain position had been lost and the Japanese had occupied it.

Now they needed to shell the West Mountain position to suppress the Japanese and prevent them from advancing further.

On the other side, at the Command Post of the Observatory, a force of 400 men was organized again, equipped with gas masks, and rushed toward the West Mountain position.

Their mission was to retake the West Mountain position.

After being equipped with gas masks, this force immediately rushed toward the direction of the West Mountain position.

They moved very fast, without a moment's pause.

In just over ten minutes, they arrived at a position less than two hundred meters from the West Mountain position.

Subsequently, the commander of this force issued the order to charge.