With the cooperation of the underground party, the screening operation went relatively smoothly. In just three days, more than 130 recent graduates were screened. In addition to more than 700 or 80 Chinese graduates, In addition to almost all of them passing the screening, more than 40 people were screened from previous Chinese graduates.
This group of formal science and engineering graduates is a huge asset to Yang Zhen and the Anti-Japanese League, which lacks professional talents. Especially the urgently needed mechanical and electrical majors and chemistry graduates, although it cannot be said that Completely meets the needs, but solves the urgent need.
It was precisely because this time that a large number of young and promising male and female technical cadres that the army urgently needed were selected to work in the army. Regarding Ma Qichang's request for an engineering student, Guo Bingxun not only satisfied it, but also exceeded it.
Guo Bingxun immediately assigned six young students from Harbin Institute of Technology who had just joined the army, who had not yet worn warm uniforms and had just joined the army for three days, as well as a Chinese teacher. There were also train drivers. All of them were carefully selected from the old base area and transported by air.
As for this technical information that should be the most difficult to obtain, it is actually the simplest. When Guo Bingxun turned his mind to these captured Japanese heavy artillery, he asked the first officer of the Military Region Intelligence Department who followed the activities of the Four Columns to Department, seize the time to interrogate the Japanese vehicle-mounted artilleryman who was inadvertently captured in his sleep.
In order to obtain the required technical information as soon as possible, under the order of Guo Bingxun, the first department responsible for the work of the New District Intelligence Department, with the cooperation of the Ministry of Social Affairs, used all necessary means to target these Japanese train gunners. In particular, the officers and technical personnel among them were subject to rigorous interrogation.
Facts have proved that although the Japanese have always been proud of the spirit of Bushido, not all people are really not afraid of death. It does not mean that all Japanese can endure the torture invented by their compatriots to deal with those who resist the Chinese. Especially those who There is no comparison between technical personnel and military officers who have persisted for a while.
After requisitioning the execution chamber of the Japanese Harbin Military Police on the spot, within a few hours the Intelligence Department pried open the mouths of several technicians in the Japanese artillery on board the vehicle. These few could not endure the torture invented by their compatriots. Although the Japanese technical personnel clearly knew what their opponents needed the technical information for, they still happily handed over what the opponents needed. They even drew a structural diagram. After careful verification, Guo Bingxun sent someone to transfer these technologies to the enemy. The information was handed over to Ma Qichang.
With the full support of Guo Bingxun, Ma Qichang lived up to the high expectations of him and Yang Zhen. After Ma Qichang stayed awake all night and carefully debugged and fumbled with the personnel who were airlifted, the train gun was finally ready for use. Although it has not been tested yet, it is still clear how to use this train gun.
Twenty-six hours later, this huge train gun started slowly, carrying an engineer battalion and a temporary artillery battalion and slowly drove towards the Shuangcheng territory. At this time, the Shuangcheng passed through three In the fierce fighting for days, Ma Fengqi, who had suffered one third of his casualties, had abandoned most of his peripheral positions and entered into the most difficult street fighting with the Japanese army.
Just as Ma Qichang set off with the train gun and headed towards the Shuangcheng battlefield, the battle in Shuangcheng was entering a white-hot state. Under the desperate and crazy attack of the Japanese army, the strength of the Second Independent Brigade was being depleted little by little. Qian. After three days of hard fighting, Ma Fengqi's reserve team at hand was already less than two battalions.
Ma Fengqi, who had been standing at the observation port of the headquarters for half an hour, put down the telescope in his hand, shook his body slightly from the dust that had been blown up by the Japanese shells, turned his head and said to Huang Shengbin beside him: "Political Commissar, This is the first time the Japs have attacked today. ***, the Japs don’t even care about the loss of shells. It’s impossible to tell where the artillery hits.”
"***, this Higuchi Kiichiro is much more cunning than that Suzuki Teiichi. After these two days of artillery battle, the intensity of the Japs' artillery fire has not declined, but has an upward trend. And among them are large calibers of more than 100 mm. There are quite a lot of heavy artillery."
After hearing Ma Fengqi's words, Huang Shengbin, who was lying on the map watching the progress of the Japanese army, said: "Old Ma, judging from the battles in the past two days, the Japanese seem determined to retake Harbin this time. The Ninth Division is not only As soon as they came up, three regiments launched a full-scale attack in parallel. In each attack, more than ten tanks were used to cover the infantry."
"And the Japanese artillery does not count the artillery below the regiment. The direct artillery alone has at least two regiments. When we turned to street fighting, they actually brought the heavy artillery into the city and used it as infantry artillery. This intensity is not seen in other areas. I'm afraid it's still rare to see on the battlefield. This small building doesn't need many 150mm grenades, and it disappears after just one shot. They even resorted to the so-called mutual destruction tactics at all costs, fighting both the enemy and ourselves. When the army was in a melee, they carried out indiscriminate shelling."
"Old Ma, you have to think of a way. If we continue to fight like this, our casualties will be too great. The little devil has made up his mind to use artillery fire to blow up the entire Shuangcheng County bit by bit. And from the Japanese army on both wings Judging from the more powerful attack, they want to separate our troops inside the city from those outside the city."
"Our daily casualties are around two battalions, and it has only been three days since we lost a single regiment. If we continue to fight like this, we will have to shrink our troops, abandon our two-wing positions, and defend the county seat. Once this happens, the Japanese will If one force surrounds us and the rest bypasses the twin cities, then Harbin will be in danger."
Having said this, Huang Shengbin smashed his fist on the map and said: "This Kiichiro Higuchi is too cunning. The artillery not only adopts the tactics of dispersed deployment and concentrated firepower, but also deploys a large number of preset positions. It is just a trick to set up a base of firepower. Then they moved to cover their infantry attacks, mostly in the form of small artillery groups. The aviation forces worked very hard, but they were unable to inflict heavy damage on their artillery."
"Compared with the Japs, the basic skills of our artillery are still somewhat different. The number of large-caliber artillery is not as good as that of the Japs. The artillery battle in the past two days has suffered a lot. Lao Ma, if this situation continues, our artillery will It's all over. Without artillery fire support, it will be difficult for us to hold on. ***, so far, the Japanese have the advantage in firepower."
"Now we are losing our positions during the day and moving troops from outside the city to take them back at night. If we continue to fight like this, it will become a refueling tactic. With two battalions a day, how many people do we have on hand to add more troops? We don't have the enemy's strength. Duo. The Japs are obviously using a lose-lose strategy this time."
Huang Shengbin was right, and Ma Fengqi was also getting angry over this matter. The brigade artillery group suffered heavy losses in the artillery battle with the Japanese artillery, losing one-third of its mountain and field artillery. The political commissar of the artillery regiment was also commanding on the front line. At that time, he was hit by artillery and died. If Huang Shengbin hadn't stopped him, the brigade artillery regiment commander would have almost been dismissed by him.
Regarding the artillery regiment commander, Huang Shengbin had a very firm attitude. One is one, and two is two. If there is a gap, there is a gap, and we must face it. We must not anger his subordinates because of excessive losses. Removing an artillery regiment commander cannot change the facts. Don't hurt a comrade just because of impulse.
Thinking of the losses suffered by the artillery, Ma Fengqi grabbed his hat angrily and wanted to throw it away. He hesitated and put it on the table. After a long silence, Ma Fengqi smiled bitterly and said: "Old Huang, you are right. Under the current situation, we can fight It's just a tactic to add fuel to the fire. The Japs are pressing forward across the board, and we don't have enough strength at hand. The Shuangcheng area is not large, so if we put too many troops, all the Japs' artillery might be captured inside."
"Now that the Japanese troops are stronger than ours, they are playing a lose-lose tactic. If we use the tactics of adding fuel to the fire, we can still sustain it for a while. If we really fight hard with the Japanese, we can even cripple the Japanese 9th Division." .But who knows if there are reinforcements behind the Japanese."
"There is no other way to fight like this. Let's fight like this first. Our casualties are not light. I don't believe that the Ninth Division can recover. Now it depends on which of us can hold on first. The commander's attack on the 51st Division is like the autumn wind sweeping away the fallen leaves, and the fight on the Yizong's side is going smoothly."
"And judging from the increasing intensity of the Japs' attacks in the past two days, I guess the war situation is almost clear. Although the number of Japanese and puppet troops in Qiqihar is large, we do not have a numerical advantage, but in terms of equipment, the Japs are not Yes. Commander Tao is almost at the edge of Harbin now, and the little devil will probably lose his temper next time."
Ma Fengqi was right. Under the increasing pressure from the Kwantung Army, Higuchi Kiichiro was having a hard time now, and he was indeed losing his temper. After three days of fierce fighting, Ma Fengqi's Second Independent Brigade was completely destroyed. A regiment, but the casualties of the Ninth Division were not light. Despite the cover of heavy artillery and tanks, the Ninth Division suffered nearly two thousand casualties on the first day of battle.
It is not a good thing for Higuchi Kiichiro to use indiscriminate artillery attacks. It is a tactic that hurts others, but hurts himself even more. Even under this style of play, the blow to the 9th Division is even greater Big. After all, being wiped out by one's own artillery fire is a very demoralizing thing.
But for Higuchi Kiichiro and his Ninth Division, under the repeated urging of the Kwantung Army Headquarters and in the face of stubborn resistance from their opponents, almost every house had to go through repeated battles to determine its ownership. Under the circumstances of power, there is no other way.
For the Ninth Division, under the fierce firepower of the opponent and this two-harm tactics, the casualty ratio of the Ninth Division on the first day was much higher than that of its previous battles. The casualty ratio was huge. , enough to make every commander unforgettable.
The 7th Regiment that attacked the station alone suffered more than 270 casualties and 360 wounded on the first day of battle. Among them, the proportion of officers killed in the battle was as high as 13, including squad captains. And those who attacked Shuangcheng County The casualty rate of the 35th Infantry Regiment was similar.
Coupled with the battle casualties on the east and west fronts of the county, the three regiments deployed by the Ninth Division on the first day lost more than 700 people and injured more than 900 people. This means that the third regiment with three regiments The Ninth Division lost more than half of its regiment on the first day. These were the casualties on the first day of combat.