The number of Japanese troops who put down landing ships and established positions on the beach alone exceeded 5,000, and there were even more giant transport ships staying at sea in the distance.
However, due to poor transmission of military orders, the troops ordered to garrison Jinshanwei on the seaside that day only had two pitiful artillery batteries and one security regiment soldier.
Not to mention the generals, even a random orderly in the headquarters would know that the Jinshan Guards could not hold on.
The army generals who hurriedly walked into the headquarters had frost on their faces.
The Japanese army once again increased its troops and landed at Jinshanwei, which not only meant the complete defeat of the Songhu Battle, but the Japanese troops on the flanks and rear flanks had not yet revealed their ferocity, but they had already made them feel a chill.
The Japanese wanted to attack from both front and rear and make dumplings for the hundreds of thousands of soldiers on the Shanghai-West front. They really had a huge appetite.
However, they also had to admit that the more than 200,000 Japanese troops in front of them were already overwhelming them. If two or three more divisions suddenly came from the flanks, the current balance of power that they had worked so hard to maintain would be completely broken.
The oath of China's top figure who flew to the front a few days ago to inspire the soldiers to resist the enemy is still in my ears, but in the face of the current reality of the Japanese troops landing at Jinshanwei, it seems extremely ridiculous.
The entire army retreated immediately, before the Japanese army still needed time to deploy its troops from the sea to the left wing in the west of Shanghai. The Chinese army generals who walked into the theater headquarters were extremely rare and did not quarrel. They made this suggestion almost unanimously.
Even before entering the conference room, some people had already ordered their adjutants to bring their warrants with them to notify their subordinates, collect supplies, and prepare to retreat.
There is only one road from the west of Shanghai to Jinling, and all five to six million troops are crowded on it, and there will be Japanese bombings overhead. These generals know better than anyone how miserable it will be.
But no one wants to be the last one, this is also human nature.
The headquarters in Jinling was also brightly lit, but it was surprisingly quiet.
Several big shots who could dazzle half of China by stomping their feet stood dumbly in front of a large map of the Songhu War Zone.
Compared to the panic of the generals on the front line, these people who are deeper into the city are obviously more calm.
However, their mood is far worse than the seemingly calm appearance.
Defeat on the front line meant losing a life for the soldiers, but for them, at least half of their wealth, which they had spent half their lives in, was lost.
For this Songhu Battle, the Guangdong Army, the Yunnan Army, the Hunan Army, the Sichuan Army, the Gui Army, the Central Army... Except for northern China, which started the war early, almost all provinces in eastern and southern China came out with their best troops.
When the public opinion is boiling, doesn't the big boss grit his teeth and show his trump card?
It's not that they are all heroes. The key is that they dare to hide it at this juncture. The big brother who takes the lead will give you a big hat of "incompetent in the war of resistance and fear of fighting" because of your displeasure, which arouses public indignation.
No matter how big it is, I can't bear it!
But if these trump cards that they gritted their teeth to reveal are gone in one battle, how can they be the boss in their own territory?
If it weren't for the fact that the leading brother had also thrown into this battle the most elite members of the Central Army under his command, from the teaching corps to the three divisions of the Royal Forest Army to more than a dozen reorganized divisions, they would probably have jumped to their feet and cursed.
Even so, the atmosphere in the conference room was almost frozen, and the school official who was responsible for recording the meeting did not even dare to breathe.
The leading brother also had a solemn expression and stared at the map for a long time without speaking.
At this time, he could no longer care about his heartache, but finally realized that he was wrong and had made a huge mistake.
The Japanese have not paid any attention to the International Joint Conference on which they have placed all their hopes. The show of weakness at the Joint Conference in the past few days is just to delay time and is a typical strategic deception.
Yes, exactly the opposite of the thunderous reaction of the Chinese military, the headquarters of the Japanese Songhu Expeditionary Army in downtown Songhu was filled with joy after receiving the news that the Tenth Army had begun landing.
Not only were the Chinese strategically deceived by the base camp's diplomatic weakness, they were also outright deceived tactically.
Landing at Jinshanwei is actually an adventure at the base camp.
The wide tidal flats of Jinshanwei are not suitable for large-scale landing battles, and the coast with insufficient water depth makes it impossible for large ships to approach the shore. A 2,000-ton destroyer can only park on the water three kilometers away from the seaside.
If troops cannot be deployed quickly and a position on the tidal flats can be built to put pressure on the defenders, it is very likely that a large-scale landing battle will turn into a suicide battle. The defenders with fortifications can easily use machine guns to attack the troops on the tidal flats.
Shooting the infantrymen walking with heavy steps.
Therefore, starting from October, the Songhu dispatched troops deliberately ignored the Songjiang area, directed all attacks to the west of Songhu, and suppressed the main Chinese force that had gradually withdrawn from the urban area in the western area of Shanghai.
In fact, no reconnaissance planes were sent to investigate the Jinshanwei area, but some intelligence personnel who had lived in China for a long time were sent to investigate.
Now it seems that they succeeded.
The Chinese ignored this coastline, which was originally unsuitable for large-scale landings, and the number of troops stationed there would never exceed one battalion.
Perhaps, due to the terrain, they could only use the refueling tactic to invest troops, which would cost a lot of casualties, but it is almost certain that this landing battle will be successful.
For General Matsui Iwane, the commander of the Songhu Expeditionary Force, the number of casualties is not important. What is important is that the success of the Jinshanwei landing battle can wipe out hundreds of thousands of China's most elite troops in one battle.
That was no longer a battle-level victory, but almost a strategic victory that determined the national war between the two countries.
Does China, a giant that has been weakened to the extreme, still have the opportunity to train such an elite army of hundreds of thousands? Obviously, the Imperial Japanese Army, which has invested 500,000 troops from the northern and southeastern fronts, will not give them any more
this opportunity.
The opportunity to expand territory and make achievements is right in front of us. Why can't this Japanese army general smile?
This morning was undoubtedly a torment for China and Japan, who have very different mentality.
One party has to make a decision whether to fight or retreat, and the other party hopes that his quietly thrown left hook will knock his opponent out in one blow, and then slaughter him wantonly.
Only Tang Dao, a little butterfly, knew that China finally decided to retreat, and Japan almost succeeded.
In fact, no matter whether they succeeded or not, their goal was achieved in the end.
Although the hundreds of thousands of Chinese elites who participated in this battle were not exhausted in Songhu, under the foolish control of some upper-level figures, they were finally squeezed out of their last drop of blood in the Battle of Jinling a month later.
However, Matsui Iwane's ambition has still not been realized. If there are no elites, then the second-line soldiers will be sent. If the second-line soldiers are gone, then the strong men will be sent.
China has been defeated and defeated repeatedly. A China that does not surrender is invincible.
Of course, that is still a matter of the future. What Tang Dao has to face now is the choice of whether to follow the 26th Division south to Songjiang.
‘Songhu Theater Command orders that the 26th Division of the 43rd Army immediately enter Songjiang County and defend for three days and nights! Anyone who refuses will be killed!’ The military order from the Theater Command was on the extremely simple desk in front of Lieutenant General Guo, the commander of the 43rd Army.
The joy of learning that the commander of the Si Xing Battalion, who was famous throughout the army, turned out to be his subordinate, and that Tang Dao presented him with a cart of canned beef, was gone.
General Guo moved away from the telegraph order and turned his gaze to Tang Dao standing in front of him, his brows furrowed.
He was not waiting for Tang Dao to lead the Sixings Battalion, which only had a hundred people, to follow him south to Songjiang. Instead, he was trying to persuade Tang Dao to leave.
"Commander Tang, you and the Sixing Battalion go! From here, go to Baihe Port and leave through the bridge. I leave the more than 200 wounded soldiers of our 43rd Army to you." Lieutenant General Guo sighed.
The Japanese army was about to attack more than 50,000 people, but he only had 700. He could calculate the outcome with his toes.
The 26th Division is already destined to die, so why put this hundred iron-blooded army to death again? Thinking about it, this should be the simplest idea of the Army Lieutenant General at the moment.
