Previously, Hu Hao had gone out to warn the fresh reinforcements to get into the bunkers, but they had brushed him off. The Captain of that unit had even intended to cause trouble for him, but once the shelling intensified, he lost his nerve and didn’t dare step back out.
“Into the bunkers! Move!” the runner outside screamed. Hu Hao relaxed slightly, hearing that.
“Sit like we are!” Huan Xingtao barked at the Captain. During the previous lull, while they were treating the wounded and moving corpses, they had found many soldiers who had been killed by the sheer concussive force of the explosions. “Otherwise, the vibration alone will kill you!”
“Understood!” The Captain nodded frantically.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
He had just scrambled into position when the thunder of the main bombardment began. The enemy’s prep fire had officially started.
Suddenly, a figure dove into Hu Hao’s bunker. It was the runner from before. Hu Hao grabbed him by the webbing and forced him into a seated brace position.
“Sit down and hold on!” Hu Hao growled.
The explosions outside were violent. Even deep in the bunker, they could feel the earth bucking. Hu Hao and his squad sat in silence, heads tucked, hands locked over their ears. The Captain and the runner followed their lead.
The bombardment lasted ten grueling minutes before the silence returned.
“Out!” Hu Hao commanded, grabbing his rifle. His squad followed him like a shadow. The Captain and the runner exchanged a look of hesitation before scrambling after them.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Hu Hao had barely cleared the parapet when he began firing.
“Get out here! Everyone, up on the line!” Hu Hao roared. He could see that the enemy had committed even more troops this time.
“Dammit, get out here!” Huan Xingtao yelled. The beach was crawling with enemies, yet many bunkers remained silent. Only the veterans from their original company were manning the wall.
“Call your men out!” Hu Hao shouted at the dazed Captain.
“A-ah! Right!” The Captain was still in shock. He had known a war was starting, but the sheer scale of the violence was beyond anything he had imagined.
“Machine guns, cycle up! Suppressive fire! Rocket teams, use armor-piercing! Eyes on the tanks!” Hu Hao’s voice was the only thing holding the sector together. The machine gunners and rocket teams instinctively obeyed, but the new reinforcements just stood in the trench, paralyzed.
“What are you standing there for? Get up and shoot! You want to wait until they’re in the trench with you?” Hu Hao shouted while reloading. He popped back up and resumed his rhythm.
“Hurry! Return fire!” the Captain added, finally finding his voice. Hu Hao ignored him. He was focused on the Allied wave, which had closed to within 200 meters. It was a critical distance—if they weren’t stopped now, the line was forfeit.
“Shoot! Everyone shoot!” the Captain screamed, but none of the new recruits dared to peek over. Bullets were snapping over the trench lip in a continuous stream of lead.
“Get your heads down and lean into the dirt! Move it!” Hu Hao barked. He had emptied another magazine and was furious that the reinforcements weren’t helping. If they didn’t establish a base of fire, the Allied wave would simply wash over them.
Bang! Bang! Bang! “HELP!” “I’M HIT! ARGH!”
The new recruits were taking hits and wailing. In contrast, Hu Hao’s original squad remained calm and focused, moving only when he gave the word.
“Keep them suppressed! Full auto! If you’re wounded but can move, load magazines! Faster!” Hu Hao saw the enemy closing in. The Allies had committed two full infantry divisions, backed by a wall of tanks and armored vehicles. If the 27th Army couldn’t pin them down, the position would fall in ten minutes. Though the retaining wall was tall, the naval guns had collapsed sections of it, creating ramps for the tanks to roll up.
By the time Hu Hao finished his third magazine, a few of the recruits had finally started firing back.
“Hao-ge, there’s too many! We can’t hold them!” the machine gunner yelled as his loader swapped belts.
“We have to! If they crest that wall, we’re all dead!” Hu Hao didn’t know how many he had killed, but the beach was still thick with targets. He prioritized the heavy weapons teams and tank-mounted gunners.
“Fire! Machine guns, switch to three-round bursts to conserve heat! Move it!” Hu Hao ordered.
“Three-round bursts!” the other officers echoed.
“Kill! Kill them all!” BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!
Suddenly, massive explosions erupted from their right flank. Hu Hao looked over and his heart sank. The line had been breached. Allied soldiers were in the trench.
“Crap! They’re in the trench?” Hu Hao stared for a split second. A trench fight was a nightmare.
“Quick! I need fifty men! Counter-attack the right flank and push them out!” The Battalion Commander came running down the line.
The soldiers didn’t move; they were too busy trying to keep the enemies in front of them at bay.
“3rd Squad, 1st Platoon, 2nd Company!” the Battalion Commander barked.
“Present!” Huan Xingtao replied, lowering his rifle.
“Take your whole squad and go!”
“What? Sir…!” Huan Xingtao hesitated. Charging into a breach was a suicide mission.
“Go! It’s an order from Division! They’re barely holding on! Captain, give me forty men from your unit and send them with them!” the Battalion Commander shouted at the reinforcement officer.
“Let’s go!” Hu Hao didn’t wait. He grabbed a handful of loose rounds, stuffed them into his pocket, and began sprinting down the trench toward the smoke. He Jizhong and the others followed instantly.
“Commander, we’ve fought hard to stay alive! You’re…” Huan Xingtao looked at the officer with visible anger.
“Go! Or we all die! If you push them back, I’ll put you in for a medal!”
“Screw your medals! I just want to live!” Huan Xingtao spat, turning to follow Hu Hao.
“Commander, you’re sending them to their deaths!” the remaining Platoon Leader from Hu Hao’s company said, glaring at the Battalion Commander.
“What do you want me to do? We need men there!”
“Without Hu Hao, how are we supposed to hold this sector? If it wasn’t for him, half our company would be dead already. You’re taking away our core!” the Platoon Leader shouted.
“Hu Hao? Who is Hu Hao?” the Commander asked, confused.
“Never mind. Boys, it’s on us now. Hu Hao is heading into a worse hell—stay alive for him!” the Platoon Leader yelled to his remaining men.
Hu Hao led the way, racing through several company sectors. After three minutes of sprinting, they saw it: a swarm of Allied soldiers had crested the wall and were pouring into the trench, attacking the defenders from the side.
“Keep up! Faster!” Hu Hao fired on the move, clearing a path.
Another hundred meters and they reached the improvised blocking position.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Hu Hao dropped three Allied soldiers as soon as he arrived.
He saw a massive cluster of enemies and reached for his grenades. He pulled the pin and hurled it. The grenade sailed over a hundred meters—an impossible throw—and exploded in the center of the enemy pack. Before the first one even landed, a second was in the air.
“Grenades! Give me your grenades!” Hu Hao roared.
“Here! Take ’em!” He Jizhong passed his over while shouting for the men behind them to do the same.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The breach area became a wall of fire. Hu Hao’s incredible throwing arm was devastating the Allied bridgehead from fifty meters away. The explosions tore through the soldiers who had just climbed the wall.
But Hu Hao didn’t order the charge yet. The beach below was still feeding troops into the gap.
“Get me more grenades! Pile them up!” Hu Hao yelled.
“You heard him! Move it!” the Platoon Leader of the breached sector shouted. He had seen Hu Hao’s accuracy and speed. The only hope of pushing the Allies back was to cut off the flow of reinforcements from below.