The soldiers who were carrying the bodies and the seriously wounded returned carrying ammunition boxes.
Also coming together were the commander of the 644th regiment and his regimental guard company.
Seeing that more than 200 people under his command had returned lying down in just one evening and half of the night, even though Colonel Wang had a strong character, his eyes immediately turned red.
In his agitated mood, this man simply had a sudden change of heart and directly pulled out the security company directly under his regiment, and followed him to Cangcheng in the dark.
He wanted to come and see his battalion of officers and soldiers, and he also wanted to inspect the battlefield to see if Tang Dao, the commander, was competent for his job.
After all, more than 300 people were killed and seriously wounded in the first battle, but they were all his soldiers.
Those soldiers came to this bloody battlefield because of his initiative to fight.
It is the fate of a soldier to die in battle. There is nothing to say about this.
But if the battle losses were too large because of the commander Tang Dao's mistakes, the army colonel with sadness in his eyes would not be polite to Tang Dao, even if he was the famous commander of the Four Lines Battalion.
However, when he saw the Tang Dao for the first time, the army colonel was actually relieved.
The smoke and mud that have not faded from the face and body can be faked, but the holes burned by flying sparks on the Tang Dao military uniform cannot be faked. That is a feature that only soldiers who have been on the front line know.
Moreover, the infantry company commander responsible for transporting the remains also reported to him that Tang Dao, the supreme commander, personally controlled the Oerlikon machine gun of the fire support company to kill a Type 89 tank at the most critical moment of the battle.
A commander who can take the lead will not be any worse off no matter how poor his commanding ability is.
Accompanied by Tang Dao, the tall and burly army colonel who was as tall as Tang Dao visited every position around Cang City. There were countless ferocious craters left on the city walls and on the ground of Cang City and almost all types of artillery.
The ground was fried until it was soft, and you could touch shrapnel if you touched it casually, all of which showed the army colonel the cruelty of the previous two battles.
The terrible battle losses that were halved in World War I were not due to problems with Tang Dao's command, but because the density of Japanese artillery fire exceeded ordinary people's imagination.
The 127mm naval gun and the 105mm howitzer were so powerful that when a shell fell, almost everything in the area of 50 meters was destroyed.
There was even a bullet shelter two and a half meters deep underground. The falling 127mm naval gun shells exploded just above it and caused it to collapse. Seven or eight people from an infantry squad were inside. When the artillery fire was a little lighter,
Tang Dao immediately ordered people to dig, and among the people finally dug out, only one was still breathing.
This is because there are bomb shelters. If everyone is on the ground and encounters such a bombardment, it is estimated that not many of the Cangcheng defenders will survive.
And if Tang Dao had not taken the risk and only sent out observation posts, ordering the rest of the people to hide in bullet holes and wait, it is still unknown whether the hundreds of people in Cangcheng could have survived the second battle.
Observation posts have also become the unit with the highest mortality rate. Six observation posts are often sent out, and only one or two can survive.
But this almost cruel order preserved a lot of vitality.
Tang Dao's caution also greatly surprised the army colonel.
Even though it was already late at night and a brutal battle had just ended, the Japanese army retreated to the field trenches 800 meters away, and the defenders in Cangcheng did not relax.
At least one infantry platoon on each city wall served as a sentinel to prevent Japanese night attacks.
At this point, the Army Colonel’s doubts were gone.
Of course Tang Dao knew the purpose of the army colonel taking the huge risk to go out to inspect Cangcheng, but he also understood that after all, these officers and soldiers came to this Jedi under his order, so he must care.
At this time, the moon is full in the sky.
There was silence inside and outside Cangcheng.
As the Army Colonel waved his hand to dismiss the guard squad following behind him, the two of them found a random stone by the city wall and sat down.
An army colonel and an army lieutenant colonel each lit a cigarette and started smoking silently.
“Commander Tang, have you ever done anything in your life that you deeply regret?” the Army Colonel suddenly asked with some regret.
"Regret?" Tang Dao narrowed his eyes slightly. "If I have to say regret, it may be that I didn't convince Commander Xie to let him take more than two hundred brothers into the concession. At least so far, the Westerners are not as good as they appear.
He seems to keep his promise."
Xie Jinyuan has been in contact with the Sihang Camp for the past two days. Just like in the past, they were almost detained by the concession and could not step out of the dilapidated military camp.
"I have also heard about Commander Xie. He is a real soldier, but he is a little too square. But you don't need to worry too much. They are the Central Army. No matter what you say, that person will not let him be like this.
If the tiger generals and a group of elites fall into the hands of the Japanese, sooner or later they will be forced to leave the concession through some means." The army colonel comforted Tang Dao.
Tang Dao’s mouth showed bitterness.
In this world, he is the only one who knows the direction of history.
In the past time and space, that group of elites completely became a group of forgotten people. Finally, three years later, they were captured by the Japanese army that captured the concession and were transported to a small island in the Pacific to work as coolies. Only a hundred people could return alive.
Fortunately, he has left a hidden secret. In this time and space, he will never let the hero become a tragedy.
Seeing Tang Dao's silence, the Army Colonel did not say much on this issue, but asked: "Does Battalion Commander Tang know what I regret most?"
Tang Dao shook his head. He knew that he could just be a listener at this time.
“I regret what happened yesterday.” The Army Colonel stood up slowly, stared at the devastated Cangcheng City, and touched the mottled city walls.
"It's just that what I regret is not that I received the military order to station my battalion here, but that I, Wang Xirui, regretted not having a serious fight with you, Commander Tang, to be the commander of this Cangcheng position.
"Pain flashed in the army colonel's eyes.
“When I sent them away, there were more than 500 vigorous and vigorous men, and they only lived for one day and one night! I was left with half. How painful do you think I feel as the leader of the regiment?
If I could be here, although my heart still hurts, I would feel better if I stood with them."
Tang Dao looked at the colonel of the Northeast Army with tears glistening under the moonlight, and was deeply moved.
It is easy to say that you love your soldiers as your sons, but in this era, not many can do this. With such an officer, the officers and soldiers of the 67th Army who are still going to fight in a bloody battle will be somewhat relieved.
"Commander Wang, I don't know if you believe me or not. Before the Japanese take the lives of all the defenders of Cangcheng, I will make them pay three times the price of mine. It hurts you, I will make their division commander's heart
It hurts more." Tang Dao said directly.
The Army Colonel suddenly looked back and stared at Tang Dao, who stood up with determination in his eyes, for a long time.
"I believe you!"
"but"
“Three times is not enough. We have nearly 800 Chinese men in Cangcheng. If we want to conquer this place, how can we do it without killing them and causing them to bleed like rivers of blood? I’ll leave the guard company that came with me to you.”
Without waiting for Tang Dao to reply, the army colonel put away the sadness in his eyes and became resolute again, waving to the guards in the distance: "Go and notify the guard company to assemble, Battalion Commander Tang is going to give them a lecture."
It turned out that the guard company of the 644th regiment that accompanied the army colonel to Cangcheng was not to protect his safety, but to hand it over to Tang Dao.
The guard company of the 644th regiment has a total of 150 people, four platoons, each platoon has 36 people, a company headquarters of 6 people, one platoon and three infantry squads, each squad has 11 people, two machine gun shooters equipped with a Czech light machine gun, two
Each grenadier is equipped with a grenade, the squad leader is equipped with a shell gun, and the other six infantrymen are equipped with two Liao-made Type 13 rifles, two shell guns, and two submachine guns.
That means that this guard company alone has 12 light machine guns, 12 grenade launchers, 36 shell guns, and 24 submachine guns. Such a light firepower configuration is far inferior to even an infantry squadron of the Japanese army.
Those who can join the guard company must have at least 2 years of military service. This is a strict requirement.
Because the guard company is actually the last elite of the 644th regiment. It is the last card in the hand of this sad-faced army colonel, and it is usually not used lightly until the last moment.
Unexpectedly, before the real battle of Songjiang began, Colonel Wang played his last card and handed it to Tang Dao.
That also means that Songjiang deployed 1,000 troops in Cangcheng.
The Guoqi detachment, which is still repairing on the bank of the Huangpu River, will probably have a toothache when it fights Cangcheng again tomorrow morning.
