The decisive battle against the Third Reich - Chapter 917

c914 trap

The 1st Infantry sneaked into the position of the 823rd Infantry Regiment.

The 823rd Infantry Regiment has two battalions stationed here. They used trenches, barbed wire and mines to repel the attacks of the Japanese troops on the opposite side several times… As mentioned before, the most troublesome thing to deal with the Japanese troops is not the tanks, but the infantry.

In fact, those who drive the tanks are the real American soldiers… The Japanese soldiers only received three months of training before going to the battlefield, and they are not yet able to drive tanks. They are more likely to cooperate with the US tanks in battle.

But it is really hard to say who cooperates with whom.

For example, now, tanks are more likely to cooperate with the infantry’s attack in the rear or provide fire cover rather than the main attack.

This is also the reason why the bodies of Japanese soldiers wearing US military uniforms and German soldiers wounded by bayonets can be seen everywhere in the German trenches. Several wounded soldiers who did not have time to be transported were still covering their wounds with horror and help. Look at Qin Chuan and his party.

When Qin Chuan and others could not help at all, because they did not come to rescue the wounded but to participate in the battle.

The German army was still able to hold on here in such a battle, which was enough to prove that they were a well-trained force.

But even so, the German army was still scared.

This can be seen from the astonishment on their faces and the surprise when they saw Qin Chuan and others entering the trenches.

The battalion commander was a captain named Leohard. When he saw Qin Chuan and others, he was glad: “It’s great that you can come. We can’t hold on any longer. They (referring to Japanese American soldiers) are like crazy!”

“Tell me!” Colonel Slain said: “I want to know more!”

“I don’t know how to say it!” Captain Leohard replied: “These don’t seem to be strange on the battlefield, bayonets, grenades, explosive packs…but they will rush into our trenches with explosive packs, and their bayonet fighting skills are unexpectedly good. Major Affleck died under their bayonets!”

Major Affleck was the battalion commander of the first battalion. After his death, Leohard replaced the position of battalion commander.

Colonel Slaine glanced at Qin Chuan and said, “He’s a tough opponent!”

“Of course!” Qin Chuan replied.

“That’s the defense line of the second battalion!” Leohard raised his head to the east.

Qin Chuan leaned out a little and looked, and saw a slope at the end of the trench… The slope was obviously the dividing line between the defense lines of the first and second battalions, which also gave the first battalion a little geographical advantage.

As he was talking, several shells came from the opposite side with a whistling sound.

“They are coming!” Captain Leohard said, “This is their fifth attack!”

“Don’t worry, Captain!” Colonel Slaine said, “This will be their last attack!”

“When will you come up?” Captain Leohard asked nervously.

“We are right behind you!” Colonel Slain said, “When the time is right, we will launch a counterattack, and you just need to stay where you are and defend, understand?”

“Understood, Colonel!”

“Also!” Colonel Slain said, “Tell your men not to point their guns at us!”

“Yes, sir!”

After that, Colonel Slain and Qin Chuan returned to the second line of defense along the communication trench, and then said to the soldiers lurking in the trench, “Take a good look at your enemies, they will be our opponents soon!”

Qin Chuan poked his head out of the trench and observed the Japanese soldiers charging across the trench through the sniper scope.

As they said, this Japanese soldier rushed to charge the enemy in front of the tank instead of hiding behind the tank like other American soldiers.

In particular, these Japanese soldiers like to decorate their helmets with branches and weeds, which can also be said to be a kind of camouflage.

Perhaps they were trained by American instructors, and they would not rush towards the enemy with bayonets like the Japanese army. They advanced forward in groups of several people, using firepower to cover each other, and then used tracer bullets to indicate targets for the tanks behind them. When they had a chance, they jumped out of their hiding places and rushed into the enemy’s trenches to fight desperately with their opponents.

Explosions, mixed with dense gunshots like popping beans, plus various shouts and screams, a cruel battlefield was presented before everyone’s eyes.

If it weren’t for the fact that a considerable number of German soldiers were equipped with STG44 at this time, the German defense line would have been broken by this Japanese-American unit long ago. (Note: At this time, the production of STG44 could not be equipped by the entire army, so many troops were still equipped with a mixture of K98K and STG44)

Qin Chuan and others did not move. All of them lay low in the trenches or lurked in the bushes behind them, even if a few shells occasionally hit nearby.

They were waiting for orders, waiting for the moment when they could attack.

Not long after, the situation on the battlefield changed… Just as planned, the second battalion pretended to be unable to resist this attack and began to fight and retreat.

Although the Japanese-American soldiers fought bravely, they were inexperienced in the battlefield and did not realize that this was a trap… so they plunged into the gap without hesitation.

In fact, what Qin Chuan did not know was that there was another reason why the Japanese-American soldiers were so easy to fall into the trap: they were eager to save people.

This was something that not only Qin Chuan could not have thought of, but even the US military could not have thought of it.

Because this Japanese-American unit is usually discriminated against and guarded against in the US military… Because Japanese-American soldiers are generally short, the US military calls them the “Groundhog Unit”. The US military also placed American officers in this Japanese-American unit to prevent this unit from doing anything unfavorable to the United States.

Even sending this unit to fight in France has a special meaning, because in this way, this Japanese-American unit cannot contact the Japanese army, let alone surrender to the Japanese army.

Therefore, the US military naturally thought that these “groundhogs” would just launch an attack symbolically, and then return to report that the mission failed, so not many people had much hope for this.

But the Japanese-American unit didn’t think so… They thought this was an opportunity to show their loyalty to their superiors, commanders, and even the entire United States, so they had to rescue the people.

This is exactly the case. In history, they successfully rescued the besieged US troops in this battle.

In the words of Colonel Takada, the commander of the Japanese-American army, they almost saved one American with three lives.

Because most of the besieged American soldiers were from Texas, the Japanese 442nd Regiment was called the “Saviors of Texas”.

After the war, Texas also announced that every Japanese soldier in the 442nd Regiment was an honorary citizen of Texas.

Of course, their relatives in the concentration camps were also released one after another.

It can be said that the Japanese soldiers of the 442nd Regiment successfully won the dignity and freedom of themselves and their relatives in the United States.