Chapter 13: Abandoning the Troops to Retreat!

Hu Hao led the charge by lobbing grenades while the soldiers behind him hugged the trench walls. It was impossible to charge straight ahead just yet; although Hu Hao’s accuracy had thinned the enemy ranks, the Allied soldiers were still surging up from below the ridge in massive numbers. To reclaim the breach, they first had to suppress the flow of reinforcements from the beach.

“Aim at the units coming up from below! Pin them down!” Hu Hao shouted, his arm a blur as he continued to hurl explosives.

“Understood! On the line!” Huan Xingtao roared. The soldiers peeked over the parapet and began pouring fire into the Allied flank below.

“More grenades! They’re here!” The Platoon Leader from the breached sector arrived with several soldiers carrying crates. They set them down and pried them open with bayonets. One soldier stood beside Hu Hao, acting as his loader, passing him grenades one by one. Hu Hao took them and sent them hurtling toward the horizon.

“Is he for real? A human mortar?” the nearby soldiers muttered, their jaws dropping.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Many of the grenades exploded in the air—airbursts that showered the charging Allies with lethal shrapnel. The Allied soldiers below were pinned, unable to figure out exactly where the barrage was coming from. From their perspective, the explosives were raining down from a man who never even showed his head above the trench line.

“Mortars! Target that sector! Someone is lobbing grenades from there!” an Allied Company Commander screamed, but his men were too suppressed to even look up.

“Boys, get ready to move!” Hu Hao sensed the momentum shifting. He shifted his aim, tossing grenades directly into the occupied segment of their own trench.

CRASH! CRASH! The explosions forced the occupiers to duck into the bunkers or hug the mud.

“CHARGE!” Hu Hao yelled after throwing about twenty in rapid succession.

“GO!” Huan Xingtao echoed. The soldiers retracted their rifles and began sprinting down the winding trench.

“You guys with the grenade crates, stay on me!” Hu Hao ordered, unslinging his rifle as he joined the dash.

Bang! Bang! Hu Hao fired at every Allied silhouette he saw on the move. Within moments, they were in close-quarters combat.

“I’m taking the lead!” Hu Hao shouted, surging to the front of the file. “When we hit the communication trenches, fan out! Machine gunners, I want continuous fire on the beach! Don’t let another boat unload! Keep the pressure on!”

“Got it!” the men yelled back.

Hu Hao cleared the path with his rifle, the squad hot on his heels.

“Grenade in that hole! Move!” Hu Hao pointed to a side bunker while he kept his rifle trained on the trench ahead.

BOOM! White smoke billowed out of the bunker.

“Keep moving!” Hu Hao led them past the smoking entrance, pushing deeper into the breach.

In the rear, Li Jingsong was watching the scene through his binoculars. He had seen the incredible range and frequency of the grenade tosses that had single-handedly suppressed the breakthrough. Now, he saw that same soldier leading a counter-charge to seal the gap.

“Find out who that soldier is. I want his name,” Li Jingsong told his aide.

“The one throwing the grenades like a mortar, sir?”

“Yes, him!” Li Jingsong nodded, his eyes fixed on the display of raw tactical skill. “How long until our reinforcements reach that sector?”

“Ten minutes, sir. They’ve already deployed. I gave them strict orders to retake the position at all costs.”

“Tell them to double their pace. The group that just went in is small. I’m afraid they won’t hold if the Allies push back hard. If we don’t seal that gap now, the whole line is forfeit, and we’ll all be answering to a court-martial,” Li Jingsong said grimly.

Bang! Bang! “Kill—!” An Allied soldier’s shout was cut short as Hu Hao’s bullet found his head. More tried to rush the corner, but Hu Hao dropped them as fast as they appeared.

“Hao-ge, there’s too many of them! We’re losing the HMGs!” a machine gun loader screamed. They had started with three heavy guns; now only one was barking. The other crews had been picked off by Allied sharpshooters who knew the guns were the biggest threat.

“Grenades!” Hu Hao roared. Soldiers scrambled forward with the crates. Hu Hao resumed the barrage, his throws finding targets marked by his squadmates.

BOOM-BOOM-BOOM! The slope below the breach turned into a killing field of fire and dirt.

“Keep pushing! Drive through until you link up with our units on the other side!” Hu Hao commanded.

“Move out!” Huan Xingtao led the push. They had learned from Hu Hao: every bunker they passed got a grenade first. They cleared several rooms, leaving a trail of Allied dead behind them.

Hu Hao continued to rain explosives on the beach below. The Allied infantry were pressed into the sand, terrified to move—but staying still was no defense against airbursting grenades.

“Hao-ge, that’s enough! They’re pinned!” the loader yelled. Hu Hao grabbed his rifle and sprinted to catch up with his squad. He found them at the edge of the breach, firing into the distance.

“Hao-ge, we’ve linked up! We cleared the trench, but there aren’t many of us left. Do we hold here?” Huan Xingtao asked.

“We have to. Command will send reinforcements; they won’t leave us to hold 100 meters of trench alone,” Hu Hao replied, nodding. “Everyone, keep firing! If you run low on ammo, scavenge it from the floor! Help is coming!”

The soldiers, both from his own squad and the neighboring company, obeyed without question. Hu Hao had become their de facto commander.

“They did it? They actually retook it? Excellent!” Li Jingsong felt a massive weight lift as he saw the Imperial flag back over the breach.

But as he scanned the rest of his sector, his face paled. The Allies were closing in everywhere. In some places, they were within 50 meters of the wire—close enough to toss their own grenades into the trenches. Allied mortars were now raining shells onto the Imperial positions with terrifying accuracy.

“Dammit! Get the 5th Regiment up there! Now!” Li Jingsong shouted. If they lost more ground, they wouldn’t have the strength left to retake it. He stood at the observation post, feeling helpless as the tactical situation spiraled out of control.

Ring-ring!

“Commander, it’s the General!” an aide called out. Li Jingsong rushed to the phone.

“General Li!”

“Jingsong, retreat immediately! The 86th and 85th Divisions’ lines have been overrun. You’re in the center; if you stay, you’ll be encircled within the hour. Pull back now!” Li Tianyuan’s voice was frantic.

“What? Retreat? Now? Sir, I can’t! My men are in a pitched battle! If I pull out now, the retreat will turn into a massacre. They’ll be slaughtered!”

“Then you retreat! Leave the troops! Get the command staff out now!” Li Tianyuan shouted.

“I… what about my men? What about the division?” Li Jingsong was stunned. The thought of abandoning his troops to save himself hadn’t even crossed his mind.

“There’s no time! The other two divisions are collapsing as we speak. If you don’t leave now, the Allies will close the trap and everyone—including you—is dead!” Li Tianyuan was desperate to save his son.

“I can’t… how can I face them? How can I just leave?” Li Jingsong stammered, his mind reeling at the dishonor.

“I am giving you a direct order! RETREAT! Leave the troops!”

“Yes… understood.” Li Jingsong hung up slowly. The command staff was staring at him.

“We’re retreating,” he said, his voice hollow.

“Commander, what about the men on the line?” a staff officer asked, horrified. “There are thousands of them out there! What about the wounded? We’re just… leaving them?”

“What choice do we have? The flanks are gone. We’re about to be surrounded. If we don’t leave now, we all die!” Li Jingsong looked at the officer, his eyes vacant.

“But the boys… they’re still fighting. They’re still holding the beach!” another officer protested.