Chapter 30—The Longest Day (6)

At noon on December 12, 1937, the Saigong Bridge position outside the Shuixi Gate, the 74th Brigade of the 51st Division of the 151st Army

The smoke from the burning houses rose to the sky, and the winter sun shone on the bloody water beneath his feet, giving off a heart-palpitating light. Zhou Zhidao, the commander of the 151st Brigade, hung an arm and looked at Cheng Zhi, the commander of the 302nd Regiment lying on the ground, he died, and after hand-to-hand combat, he took people back to the Saigong Bridge, and was hit by a stray bullet at the last moment and never came back. Next to Cheng Zhi was the body of the battalion commander Cao Shuchu. On the Saigong Bridge, in front of the Shuixi Gate, there are nearly a thousand corpses of soldiers, and they can't even leave their names.

"Carry it away, settle it properly, and carry the wounded soldiers down," Zhou Zhidao said with a sigh.

In the fierce battle from dawn to noon, he could not remember how many attacks he had repulsed, the Saigong Bridge was lost and lost, lost and regained, and the chariots burning in the mud ditch in the distance were interpreting the fierceness of the battle, and there were more than 1,300 casualties in the fierce battle, and nearly 1,000 people could no longer see the sun tomorrow.

Zhou Zhidao can't do anything, fight once, defend once. The division commander even called the men from the division headquarters, and when they were all dead, it was over. Look at the corpses everywhere and listen to the moans of the wounded soldiers. Zhou Zhidao was sad for a while.

The 153rd Brigade was also not having a good time, and the brigade commander Li Tianxia personally led a surprise attack and drove out the Japanese who came in. The casualties were equally high. Li Tianxia herself was injured.

Boom - the sound of several shells bursting through the air came, and here it was again, and the soldiers picked up the guys as fast as they could. Cheng Zhi's battalion commanders Wan Qiong and Hu Hao were the first to prepare and led their men into the position, Saigong Bridge, which was destined to be a battleground.

The officers and men of the 153rd Brigade on the city wall also took up arms, and on the wall battlements, Shanghai-made 30-section heavy machine guns pulled out the bolts. There are also grenades and machetes next to the machine gunner, you know, thirty knots are not as good as twenty-four, and they will jam at every turn.

The dull sound of artillery came, it was a routine artillery bombardment by devils, and the infantry would come up immediately. The battalion commander Wan Qiong on the position stared at the looming Japanese army in front of him, the light machine gun in his hand was ready, some of the thirty or forty soldiers around him were wounded, some were still embarrassed, and the guys in their hands were all on the top of the rifled fire, Wan Qiong looked at the Japanese infantry that was gradually clear, and the dozen or so sharp soldiers at the head were charging rapidly, but it was still too far away.

At 200 meters, Wan Qiong put their heads into the crosshair on the left side of the barrel and watched as the Japanese army got closer and closer.

Under the order to "hit", the guns and cannons rang out, and seven or eight Japanese troops who rushed to the front fell, and the momentum of the Japanese attack was frustrated by the 151st Brigade's return fire. The 153rd Brigade on the city wall also opened fire to help the battle, and Saigong Bridge and Shuixi Gate, the two points of repeated contention, fell into a fierce battle again.

After accepting Wang Yaowu's order, Qiu Weida, the commander of the 306th Regiment, began to plan the 151st Brigade to fight, and his battalion commander Hu Hao rushed out of the door with the officers and soldiers of the battalion to reinforce the officers and soldiers of the 302nd Regiment in the area of Saigong Bridge.

Wan Qiong was copiing the Czech-style beating, and when she saw Hu Hao's department coming to help, she was also overjoyed, "Brother Hu, your 306th regiment is also here." Hu Hao's troops immediately joined the battle, and the surging firepower immediately suppressed the Japanese troops in front.

"Commander Wan is polite, they are all brothers of one army and one division." After saying that, he threw a grenade. Looking at the endless stream of Japanese infantry, Hu Hao also frowned. The defenders of Saigong Bridge Water West Gate added up to less than 2,000 people, including reinforcements and miscellaneous personnel of the 153rd Brigade. The current consumption is too much of a loss.

The Japanese began to advance gradually, with grenadiers and other suppressive firepower pouring grenades on the defenders' positions, and light and heavy machine guns also suppressed the defenders' positions. The 30 heavy machine guns of the 151 Brigade were temporarily beaten to the point that they could not raise their heads, and the fire composed of grenadiers and machine guns caused the casualties of the defenders to begin to increase.

The heavy machine gunners of the 302nd Regiment spent half a day finishing a box of ammunition and changing positions, but the machine guns broke down again.

"Damn, this Shanghai-made just doesn't work." The captain of the machine gun cursed, and the deputy squad leader next to him began to use a wrench to assist him in disassembling the receiver and pulling out the jammed magazine.

"Alright, alright, reload." The repaired heavy machine guns began to spew tongues of fire, and the first round of strafing knocked down three or four Japanese soldiers, and the Japanese fire quickly shifted the target and opened fire on the heavy machine guns.

This time, the attacking Japanese troops directly brought in 92 infantry guns and seconded 81-mm mortars to bombard the positions of the national army, and the mortar shells hit the bunkers where the sandbags were piled up, and the scattered fragments made the defenders flesh and blood fly, and some soldiers were broken arms, some were broken legs, threw away their weapons and cried on the ground. All the comrades next to them could do was drag them aside.

The Japanese army's flat fire gradually knocked out the defenders' machine gun fire, and the mortars had shells that killed and injured the living forces behind the bunkers, and the entire front began to be compressed. The advance speed of the Japanese infantry gradually accelerated, and with the crisp sound of the 38 rifles, several Japanese rifle groups turned from crawling forward to low-level rush, and the grenadier groups behind them cooperated to take cover.

The grenade exploded behind the bunker, the grenade of the rifle group flew after it, two rounds exploded, and only two soldiers of the squad behind the bunker remained. The attacking infantry group quickly leaped forward and broke into the defenders' positions, and the two surviving Chinese soldiers hid behind the bunkers, and when they saw the Japanese rushing in, the two immediately left the sandbags they were leaning on, and before they had time to aim, the quick-reacting veteran fired a shot in the general direction.

The bullet hit the Japanese soldier in the shin, and one of them staggered to the ground. The people behind ignored him, and the six people who rushed over scuffled with two Chinese soldiers. The veteran took the butt of his gun and smashed open the Japanese soldier in front of him, and slashed it with his backhand, and the Japanese soldier was beaten to blood.

The other recruit was too frightened to fight back, and stayed where he was with Hanyangzao in his hand, and the Japanese soldier laughed evilly, raised his bayonet and stabbed the recruit.

"Ah, get up." The veteran rushed over and pushed away the Japanese soldiers, and the recruits who reacted only then remembered to fight back, picked up Hanyangzao and shot at the Japanese soldiers who were pushed away. The Japanese soldiers twitched in pools of blood, and several other Japanese soldiers also pulled the bolts of their guns.

After a few shots, two Chinese soldiers fell to the ground, stepped over the Japanese troops in the position, stepped on the corpses and continued the attack.

With the attack of infantry artillery and mortars, the positions of the defenders outside the Shuixi Gate were lost one after another, Wan Qiong watched the positions lost one by one, anxious but powerless, and had no power to fight back.

Anyway, if you live and die, instead of waiting to lose your position, it is better to use a counterattack to resist them, at least, it can drag on longer. Wan Qiong picked up the Czech style and jumped out of cover.

"Brothers, the regiment commander is gone, many of the brothers are gone, we are going to finish today, but we must also do our duty, the officers and soldiers of the whole battalion, follow me, don't wait for death in the position, kill!" With the sound of Wan Qiong's machine gun, more than 100 people of the remnants of Wan Qiong's battalion launched a charge against the attacking Japanese army.

Wan Qiong's Czech-style spat tongues of fire, and the other officers and soldiers behind him didn't care about aiming, and kept firing at the enemy group while running, firing, and firing.

The two groups of people left corpses all the way on two opposite paths, and finally, collided together.