Chapter 5: The Terrible War (1)

On August 20, 1937, China and Japan completed the increase of troops at the same time! The war began again, and a conflict station turned into a tug-of-war, a war of fuel. The casualties on both sides www.biquge.info continue to expand.

On the 15th, RB officially announced the formation of the SH Dispatch Army, with General Matsui Ishine as the commander, leading the forces of two divisions to SH for reinforcements to further expand the war of aggression against China.

After the Japanese reinforcements landed in the rear of the Chinese army, the Chinese side was no longer able to destroy the Japanese marines, and the Chinese army headquarters headed by ****** considered that it would be more convenient to fight in SH than in the far northern Great Plains, and to avoid the Japanese army with superior mobility.

On the 16th, the Japanese retreated to the stronghold centered on the RB Marine Corps Headquarters in Jiangwan.

In view of the expansion of the war, the Nanjing Military Commission issued a war guidance and operational plan on 20 August to achieve the basic purpose of a protracted war, draw up an offensive and defensive plan, and divide it into five theaters, of which the Songhu area belongs to the third theater.

On the whole, the Chinese army concentrated in North China with overlapping fortifications to block the southward movement of the Japanese army in North China along the Tianjin-Pudong Railway, and at the same time garrisoned the key points along the South China coast with a minimum of troops.

Finally, the main forces of the Chinese army should quickly sweep the Songhu and Japanese naval bases, successfully prevent the enemy from landing, and ensure that SDSX seeks to buy time to contain and deplete the enemy.

On the morning of 20 August, the Chinese army launched a fourth attack, and after a day and night of fighting, it reached the Huishan wharf, but the Chinese offensive was halted by the arrival of Japanese reinforcements and the threat to the Songhu defenders.

On the morning of August 23, Japanese reinforcements landed near Wusong, Baoshan, and Chuanshakou to seize key points along the river. At the same time, the Chinese army was responsible for the garrison on the south bank of the Yangtze River and the 9th Group Army for operations in SH City, and the newly formed 15th Group Army was responsible for the south of Wusong Town.

However, the Japanese army was equipped with the support of combat vehicles and heavy artillery, and the coastal operations were carried out, and the Japanese army could rely on the cooperation of the navy and air force to fight, resulting in heavy casualties among our troops.

In late August, Chinese troops continued to besiege the Japanese troops entrenched in the Marine Corps Headquarters and Yangshupu and other strongholds.

The 36th Division, the elite division of the newly arrived Chinese army, quickly entered the battle and attacked the Huishan pier under the cover of tanks, while the air force again flew out to bombard Japanese targets on the ground and on the river.

In the end, our army was at a loss in the face of reinforced concrete fortifications due to inferior equipment and insufficient firepower.

At 1 a.m. on August 20, the 51st Division of the National Revolutionary Army received a telegram issued by the Military Commission ordering it to enter Shanghai to participate in the war, and within four hours, it assembled its headquarters at the Baoji Railway Station and drove to Songhu to participate in the SH operation.

From the morning of August 20 to August 22, the attacks of Song Xilian's 36th Division, Wang Jingjiu's 87th Division, Sun Yuanliang's 88th Division, and Xia Chuzhong's 98th Division were all blocked, with heavy casualties. The battle situation reached a stalemate, and the Japanese army retreated to the stronghold and stubbornly resisted and waited for reinforcements.

At dawn on 23 August, the vanguard of the reinforcements of two divisions led by Matsui Ishine of the Japanese army, under the cover of naval and air firepower, landed in Shishilin, Chuanshakou, Zhanghuabang, and other areas, and ****** heard the news, and urgently ordered Chen Cheng, vice minister of the Ministry of Military Affairs, to be the commander-in-chief of the 15th Group Army, commanding the 98th Division, the 11th Division, and the 67th and 14th Divisions, which had just arrived in Jiading, to quickly go to various places to resist the enemy's landing.

The personnel adjustment of the Third Theater was carried out, and Feng Yuxiang was transferred to the newly established Sixth Theater to become commander, and the post of commander of the Third Theater was concurrently held by ****** himself.

After the Chinese army increased its strength in the fierce battle with the Japanese army in Zhabei, the fierce battle between the two sides became more intense.

Beginning on 23 August, the enemy's 3rd and 11th divisions, under the cover of intensive naval artillery fire, landed at Wusongkou Railway Wharf, Shishilin, and Chuanshakou, and attacked the Chinese positions in Baoshan, Yuepu, Luodian, and Fuzaobang.

Zhang Zhizhong sent Wang Jingjiu as the commander of the former enemy in Songhu to command the troops under the jurisdiction of the 9th Group Army to resist the landing of the Japanese army.

At the same time, the newly formed 15th Army, under the command of Luo Zhuoying, launched a counterattack against the enemy who landed at Baoshan and Chuanshakou, and the 98th Division repelled the Japanese army that captured Lion Forest on August 24, annihilating thousands of enemies.

The 11th Division braved the heavy bombardment of aircraft to retake Luodian; Unwilling to be defeated, the Japanese army mobilized tanks, planes and heavy artillery to counterattack, and launched a tug-of-war around Luodian, and the defenders' positions changed hands several times.

Huang Wei, who had just returned from Germany and rushed to the front, led the 67th Division to break through, and was immediately repulsed.

At dawn on August 31, the Japanese army attacked Wusong with more than 30 planes and naval guns and forcibly landed.

Another part of the Japanese army landed at the city ferry terminal. A regiment of the 61st Division of the Chinese defending Wusong suffered more than half of the casualties and did not retreat;

However, the Wusong Fort was still guarded by the SH Security Corps. Lieutenant General Zhang Zhi transferred Liu Xing's Sixth Division to Yanghang and Wusong to expel the enemy who had landed. On the night of the 31st, the division advanced to attack Wusong, and encountered the enemy in the area north of Yanghang, where a fierce battle broke out.

The 61st Division was reduced to a regiment due to heavy losses, the division commander Yang Bufei was dismissed, and the Ministry of Military Affairs ordered the second division to supplement the brigade (that is, the independent 20th brigade) to reorganize the division, and the reorganized 61st Division had two brigades, Zhong Song served as the division commander, Yang Wenying served as the commander of the 181st Brigade, and Deng Zhongmei served as the commander of the 183rd Brigade. Commander of the 365th Regiment Tivepe).

On September 1, more than 1,000 Japanese troops besieged the Lion Forest Fort.

In order to connect and expand the landing grounds of the two divisions, the Japanese launched a fierce attack on the central part of Xiachu of the Chinese 98th Division, which was defending Yuepu and Baoshan, with the support of warships, aircraft, and tanks from September 2 to 5.

From September 2, the Japanese army attacked the position of the 6th Division of Sanguantang with heavy troops, and forcibly crossed the Sitang River, but was repulsed.

From the 3rd to the 4th, the Japanese army continued to attack the area around Sanguantang. The 18th Brigade of the 6th Division bravely resisted the attack and destroyed many enemies, but the brigade suffered many casualties, and the brigade commander Weng Guohua and regiment commander Zhu Fuxing were wounded.

On the morning of the 5th, the enemy attacked the position from Baoshan to Sanguantang from Wusong, Zhang Huabang and Shalongkou. The 6th Division suffered from the enemy, all the villages were burned, all the defenders of the Gunpowder Bureau were killed, and the commander of the 17th Brigade, Ding Yousong, suffered more than half of the casualties, and held out until noon, and the division retreated to the Sitang River. The Japanese army crossed the Sitang River Bridge and invaded westward, so the communication channel between Shishilin and Wusong was opened by the enemy, and the Chinese defenders of Baoshan City fell into a heavy siege.

On the same day, the Japanese army concentrated more than 30 warships to cover the army to launch a fierce attack on Baoshan, the Chinese army stubbornly resisted, and more than 500 people from the 3rd Battalion of the 583rd Regiment of the 98th Division, which was ordered to hold Baoshan, under the leadership of the battalion commander Yao Ziqing, held the determination to live and die with the position, and repelled the enemy's crazy attacks again and again.

The Japanese army used sulfur bombs, and the city was set on fire, and all the buildings were reduced to rubble.

On the morning of the 7th, the Japanese army broke into the city with tanks as the forerunner, Yao Ziqing led the whole battalion of officers and soldiers to fight with the enemy in the streets, firing the last bullet, and at 10 o'clock in the morning of the same day, except for one person who was ordered to break through the siege and report the military situation to his superiors the night before, all the others died heroically.

At the same time as the Battle of Baoshan was underway, Luo Zhuoying's 15th Army fought fiercely with the Japanese army again for Kefuluodian.

However, after occupying Baoshan, the Japanese army attacked westward along the Baoluo Highway, and the Japanese army on the Wusong side also crossed the Sitang River to attack westward.

By mid-September, Japanese reinforcements had arrived one after another, and the Chinese side, lacking air and sea supremacy, suffered heavy losses in attacking enemy strongholds, resisting enemy landings, and fighting for land by place.

Previously, on September 6, the second phase of the combat plan issued by the Third Theater of Operations: The SH Theater aims to protract the war of resistance, limit the development of the enemy who lands, and strive to achieve the effect of each defeat. When the breakthrough cannot be achieved, they will retreat to the vested land outside the range of the enemy ships in turn, put up stubborn resistance, and wait for the rear troops to arrive, and then carry out a decisive battle to win the final victory. Preparations have been made to turn from attacking fortified positions to defensive operations.

Battle of Songhu On September 9, the Japanese army launched a powerful offensive against the Chinese army along the military industrial road, the Songhu highway and the line of Yuepu and Luodian, and our army fought to the death with the enemy.

On September 11, the right flank position of the 15th Group Army was broken through, and the troops were seriously reduced, so they gradually retreated to the pre-built positions of Shixianggongmiao and Liuhe line south of Luodian.

The 9th Army also moved to the pre-built positions on the line of the North Station, Jiangwan, Miaohang, and the right bank of Fuzaohama to form a confrontation with the Japanese army.

On September 21, the deployment of front-line troops was also adjusted to meet operational needs: the 15th and 19th Group Armies were organized into the left wing corps, with Chen Cheng as the commander-in-chief, under the jurisdiction of 3 corps, the general headquarters of the Jiangfang Army and the general reserve, a total of about 16 divisions, 2 fortress headquarters, 4 independent regiments, and 1 JS security team; The combat area is Wanqiao, Luodian and Guangfu areas north of Fuzaobang;

The 9th Group Army is the Central Corps, with Zhu Shaoliang (replacing Zhang Zhizhong, who was transferred to the base camp management department as the head of the department due to illness) as the commander-in-chief, with 18 divisions of 7 armies, 1 independent brigade, 1 artillery brigade, 1 Songhu garrison headquarters and 1 SH security corps; The combat area is the North Station, Jiangwan, Miaohang Line and its west area;

The 8th and 10th Group Armies are the right-wing corps, with Zhang Fakui as the commander-in-chief, under the jurisdiction of 10 divisions, 3 independent brigades, 3 newly formed brigades, 1 Central Military Academy Teaching Corps and 1 coastal defense unit; The combat area is from the south of Suzhou Creek to the north bank of Hangzhou Bay.