With the lieutenant general's promise, the superior soldier's mental state also improved a lot.
The injuries on his body looked miserable, but in fact most of them were scratches caused by crawling hard on the ground. The most serious injuries were on his feet.
Tantai Mingyue brought him medicine to wrap up his wound, and then put on the Japanese-style big-toe military boots that Tang Dao brought him. The thin Hunan Army soldier regained some vitality.
Tang Dao and Tantai Mingyue also learned the general situation of the battle in Jinshan County from him.
The 367th Regiment received an order to stop the enemy on the morning of the 5th, and sent support to the Jinshan Guards' tidal flat position from Tinglin, 20 kilometers away from Jinshan County. By the time the entire regiment rushed to Jinshan County, an infantry platoon in charge of reconnaissance at the front had already reported back the battle situation at the tidal flat position.
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After more than three hours of fierce fighting, two artillery companies and a security battalion stationed on the beach position had basically suffered all their casualties under the bombardment of Japanese large-caliber naval guns and aerial aircraft.
Observation from a distance revealed that the number of Japanese troops landing on the tidal flats had reached thousands, close to the size of an infantry brigade. If the 367th Regiment went to the tidal flat positions that were no longer safe to defend, it would only be a moth in vain.
The colonel commander of the 367th Regiment made a decisive decision and abandoned the tidal flat position to defend Jinshan County.
Compared with Songjiang, Jinshan County was a must-pass for the Japanese army. Because Jinshan County was too small, the main road in the city was actually the highway leading out of Jinshan.
To put it bluntly, if Jinshan County is not captured, the Japanese army will have to march in the mountains and fields. Men and horses can move, but trucks and artillery cannot.
How could the 367th Regiment that arrived in Jinshan County know this? How could the Japanese army, which had been conducting reconnaissance of the terrain in this area since August and September, not know this?
After thoroughly clearing the tidal flat positions, about two infantry regiments of Japanese troops rushed towards Jinshan County.
Tantai Mingyue didn't understand that two infantry regiments were equal to 7,000 people, but the two lieutenant generals on the side had stern eyes.
The 67th Army had fought against the 6th Division in Tianjin, and the 43rd Army had also fought against the 9th Division in Dachang Town, Songhu. Naturally, they knew how powerful the Japanese army was.
A Japanese regiment, even without the additional artillery troops of its division, had 4 mountain cannons, 10 infantry cannons, 4 rapid-fire cannons, and 36 heavy machine guns. In terms of heavy firepower, it was stronger than a Chinese infantry division.
The 26th Division of the 43rd Army persisted for a week in Dachang Town and almost wiped out the entire army. There is no need to say that they were brave. However, the real reason that allowed them to persist for a week was that their opponent was just an infantry regiment of the Japanese army.
Exchanging three for one is already an extremely rare battle loss ratio on the Songhu battlefield.
For example, in the battle of Sihang Warehouse, the 36th Infantry Regiment was beaten into a dog by a reinforced battalion relying on hard warehouses and concessions. It was the result of many factors such as timing, location, people, etc., and it is almost impossible to replicate it again.
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The 367th Regiment, a mere ordinary infantry regiment, faced a Japanese army that could easily eat up an infantry division of theirs, but still chose to defend. This in itself requires great courage.
If they gave up before that and abandoned the city, they would actually have a glimmer of hope.
The Japanese Tenth Army needs to go straight down Songjiang as quickly as possible, and then direct its troops to the west of Shanghai. Their target is the hundreds of thousands of elite Chinese troops. Will they take a mere thousand Chinese defeated troops into consideration?
"How many people are there in your 367th regiment?" Tantai Mingyue asked.
"Originally there were 1,800, but after three months of fighting, there were still 800." Sadness flashed through the eyes of the superior soldier.
1800, now he is the only one left.
"You can leave. If you don't want to disobey the order, you can retreat to Songjiang City and form a second line of defense." Wang Gongyu, who had finished handling matters from outside and entered the headquarters, couldn't help but sigh slightly when he heard this.
"The leader said, we can retreat from Jinshan, then we can also retreat from Songjiang, and we can retreat from Jinling. Then where can we retreat in the future? Even though this place is by the sea, as long as we retreat, the Japanese will eventually hit them.
We are going to our hometown." The superior soldier repeated the exact words of his regiment leader loudly and forcefully. "So, we cannot retreat."
"This is your leader." Tang Dao gave a heartfelt thumbs up.
It is said that the people of southern Hunan are barbaric, but such Hunan barbarian soldiers are really admirable, they are so "unable to retreat".
Talking about the battle of Jinshan County that broke out in the afternoon, the superior soldier once again fell into a trance because it was so tragic. Every time he recalled the scene in his mind, it stabbed his heart.
Perhaps, the "Chinese Battlefield Experience" published in the European Times three days later by German war correspondent Fred, who followed the landing of the Japanese Tenth Army, can more truly recreate the attack and defense that broke out on the afternoon of November 5.
war.
In other words, it cannot be called an offensive and defensive battle, but should be called an artillery battle.
You may not think that the small town in front of you can be an obstacle to your progress. Although the Japanese army has up to 7,000 infantry, very few are involved in the attack because they have a large number of artillery and naval gun support from various cruisers on the sea.
Reporter Fred’s original text is this: From the first day of the war, I followed the Japanese North China Front Army. I have seen both the Chinese Northern Army fleeing without fighting and also seeing them fighting to the death, but without exception.
, their final outcome is failure again and again.
It took the Japanese North China Front Army less than three months to occupy China's vast North China Plain, a fertile land.
This time I followed Japan's newly formed Tenth Army south to southeast China. I thought it was just a repeat of the war in North China. The Chinese army of 700,000 was already shaky when it came to blocking the Japanese army of 200,000. With the addition of these 100,000 new troops,
Is there any need to say the ending?
Unexpectedly, I may have guessed only the ending and not the beginning.
In the battle on the tidal flats, the Chinese numbered no more than a thousand, but they detained thousands of Japanese troops supported by naval guns for more than four hours.
Even though fighter planes from aircraft carriers dozens of kilometers away came to help, the crazy aerial bombs even set fire to all the woods near the beach, and there was still the sound of gunfire from inside.
From this moment on, I realized that this was a different group of Chinese soldiers.
But I was wrong again.
The Chinese soldiers I met on the morning of November 5 were just a group of them.
The Japanese commanders knew the importance of speed and speed. Facing the dilapidated town that the Chinese were trying to defend, in Chinese terms, it was a "lion fighting a rabbit" from the very beginning. They used more than 30 light artillery pieces and ten pieces of light artillery.
Several large-caliber naval guns located more than ten kilometers away bombarded the small town.
Although these Japanese commanders had no humanitarian spirit and ignored the existence of civilians, from a purely military perspective, they were undoubtedly correct. Only by quickly wiping out the Chinese defenders in the small city could they complete their previous strategic deployment of moving troops south.
In one fell swoop, the main Chinese force in western Shanghai, which was already in panic, was cut and surrounded, thereby winning the attack.
It only takes a few months to defeat a behemoth with an area of nearly 10 million square kilometers. Looking at the entire history of mankind, it may be a jaw-dropping feat.
The shelling lasted for half an hour.
The area of a small Chinese city will never exceed 0.7 square kilometers. Under such a level of bombardment, no matter whether it is people or objects, it can only be turned into powder.
But a jaw-dropping miracle happened. When the Japanese infantry planned to reap the fruits of victory without paying any casualties, Chinese figures appeared in the ruins.
God knows how they survived and had the courage to shoot at thousands of Japanese infantrymen after encountering such a high-intensity bombardment.
But they did get out, when the Japanese advanced to a distance of one hundred meters from the city.
The Japanese infantry is not only large in strength, but also extremely good. Although their equipment is much worse than that of the Empire, it is more than enough to deal with the Chinese. Machine guns and grenade launchers suppress the Chinese, and the infantry either crawls on the ground to attack or outflanks the two flanks for tactical outflanking.
However, they were still repelled.
The Chinese are like crazy. Even if you have invaded their position, the Japanese will be greeted by horrific self-destructions, and the Japanese have no way of knowing which of the corpses everywhere are alive and which are dead.
But once the Japanese retreat from their position due to wounded soldiers who may appear at any time, the new Chinese will reoccupy it, and then the nightmare repeats itself.
How to describe it! Just like grass, they wither in winter, but when spring comes, they will pop up again, one after another, seemingly never disappearing.
That was an extremely terrifying experience.
Especially for me who has personally experienced the battlefield, I have never seen soldiers who are so indifferent to their own lives, as if the purpose of everyone fighting is not to live, but to die.
Moreover, it was not just one person or dozens of people, it could be hundreds or even thousands of people.
The Japanese were actually used by the Chinese in this way of fighting, and it took them five hours until dusk, when the sky was filled with sunset.
The Japanese finally cleared out all the resisters in the ruins and closed in on a corner of the ruins, where the remains of at least fifty Chinese soldiers lay. This was also the area where the Chinese resistance was most intense.
Everyone knows that that should be their headquarters.
I also saw that tenacious commander for the first time, but perhaps, it was also the last time I saw him.
However, I know that I will never forget this Chinese soldier whose face I cannot see in my lifetime.
He was sitting on a broken wooden box, surrounded by seven or eight seriously injured Chinese soldiers. He was smiling as he looked at the Japanese who were slowly approaching with bayonets in hand.
Yes, although the smoke and blood made his face blurry, I saw that he was smiling.
Grinning, showing blood-red teeth.
Like a beast that has feasted on flesh and blood.
Yes, he can be proud. Despite being completely disadvantaged, he has achieved excellence that humans can imagine.
Major Ikeda of the 2nd Infantry Battalion of the Japanese Army had ordered that he be captured alive. He needed a high-ranking Chinese officer captured to appease the anger of the major general brigade commander who was stationed one kilometer away.
Not only did the Japanese lose more than 130 people here, but they also lost up to five hours of precious time here. They even had to slow down the pace of the entire army because of the coming of night.
Facts have proved that his decision was a mistake. How could a commander with nearly a thousand subordinates who ignored death be afraid of death?
As the cigarette in his hand fell gently, the fire suddenly appeared, and the air wave of the explosion sent him and the wounded soldiers to heaven. It also sent a small group of Japanese infantry to meet their Amaterasu.
In Chinese terms, this wave of exchanges will not result in loss.
Major Ikeda's roar was desperate, but I was shocked again when I was knocked down by the air wave and fell to dust dozens of meters away.
If the Chinese fight like this, let alone the Japanese, even if the empire comes here, can they win the final victory?
This is also the first time since I came to China that I associate the Chinese people's failures and victories together. The loser may win the final victory. It is really a weird feeling.
I do not know the name of the Chinese commander who was shattered to pieces, but there is no doubt that he and his men commanded my respect.
I suddenly wanted to use poetry to commemorate them, and use what their ancestors left behind. Perhaps it can better express my respect, the respect of a Germanic people from the far west.
After I asked my teacher at the Consulate in Pingjing for advice, he taught me an ancient Chinese poem. Let me end this article with this poem, whose meaning I still don’t quite understand!
The bright moon was there at that time, and it illuminated the colorful clouds!
That was also when Qiang Sanwa, who was hiding in the woods three miles outside the small town and looking at his own position with tearful eyes, heard the last loud boom.
At that time, under the blue sky, colorful clouds were still there, and the sky was filled with red clouds!
On the ground, the blood of the Hunan Army was shed!...
PS: I would like to recommend the books of two friends, both of whom are military masters! "My Spy Years" by Zhutou Qi, who came from sports competition, has very good results, and Feng Yue is envious. The fifth-level author Ming Zhi's
"Da Wei Chun" is a historical novel written on the military channel. The results are pretty good. What else can I say, I can only give it an awesome review.
