Chapter 590: Defending Harbin in the Northeast of the Anti-Japanese War (5)

Many people may have watched the hit TV series "Breaking through the East of the Guandong" that year, and because of this scene, many people also know about the twin castles.

In the TV series, Commander Zhu Chuanwu led a regiment to launch the Battle of Two Castles, killing more than 400 Japanese soldiers in one fell swoop (all killed, injuries are not counted), and many light and heavy weapons were captured.

Obviously, Zhu Chuanwu's heroic deeds in the TV series are based on Zhao Yi. Afterwards, Zhao Yi himself said that the battle severely damaged the Japanese Amano Brigade, and it is estimated that hundreds of Japanese soldiers were killed and wounded.

So is this really how this battle was fought? Is there really such a big result?

Song Zhewu was very skeptical of this, and his suspicions were well-founded.

In Song Zhewu's memory, although the Japanese army also paid considerable casualties in this battle, this casualty was not as big as Zhao Yi and others said. Decades later, in the archives of the former Ministry of War released by the Japanese army, the 4th Wing had a total of 14 casualties in the list of the dead in this battle, and the highest position was Sato Shichiro Cao Chang, followed by 6 such as Commander Fumio Sato, and 7 senior private Tani Shinichi. Including the battle wounded, the Japanese casualties in this battle were about 60. Considering that the Japanese army was still in peacetime, there were 60 casualties in a brigade, and the casualty rate was actually relatively large.

Considering that the Japanese army did not have a vacancy, and that the Japanese troops at this time were all veterans with high technical and tactical skills, and that the Kwantung Army was on the defensive side, the reliability of the number of war dead reported by the Kwantung Army should be high.

Since the Japanese army only suffered dozens of casualties in a big battle, the argument that Zhao Yi won in the Twin Castles and was a big victory is obviously untenable.

Song Zhewu thought that Zhao Yi must have exaggerated the results of this battle, and it was even likely to be defeated, and the casualties were probably not small. Otherwise, it would be impossible for Zhao Yi to take his 22nd Brigade and appear in Harbin, where he was very reluctant to go immediately after the war.

After learning that Zhao Yi led his troops to return to Shuangci, Song Zhewu urgently called Han Guangdi, "The 22nd Brigade is not strong in its will to fight, and it is afraid that it will be difficult for the enemy to advance eastward into the Japanese army. ”

The reason why Han Guangdi and Wang Tiehan did not rush to the Twin Castles in the early morning was mainly due to three reasons.

First, more than 2,000 puppet soldiers were captured in this war, and these people need to be screened and resettled, and the wounded also need to be treated.

Second, although they were accustomed to the indifference of the generals of the Northeast Army to them, they were still a little annoyed by Zhao Yi's refusal to meet them, and they had the intention to make Zhao Yi suffer a little.

Third, they thought that with Zhao Yi's national defense brigade, although it was impossible to block the Kwantung Army's eastward advance into Harbin, there should be no problem in blocking a dissatisfied, Japanese army wing for a day or two.

It was the evening of the next day when Han Guangdi received Song Zhewu's telegram, and after discussing it with Wang Tiehan, both of them felt that Song Zhewu's concerns were reasonable.

Now is different from summer, this is the coldest season of the year in Northeast China, this year's snow is particularly heavy, the lowest temperature has been close to minus 40 degrees, Songhua River has long been frozen. Even if the 22nd Brigade blew up the river bridge, it would be difficult to prevent the Japanese army from crossing the Songhua River.

If the Kwantung Army's eastward advance was large enough, the 22nd Brigade, which had only more than 4,000 people, would have been able to hold back the Japanese army, and it would have to suffer a big loss. Judging from the time, it is estimated that Zhao Yi will rush back to the Twin Castles tonight, and they must act overnight.

Han Guangdi decided to send a battalion to escort more than 2,000 prisoners and wounded to the north, chasing the recruit troops led by Wang De.

However, at this time, Zhao Yi was already a beat slower. Almost as soon as he ordered his troops to return to the Twin Castles, the Japanese troops at the Stone Wagon Station were boarding their trains and heading for the Twin Castles, 50 kilometers away.

If you just look at the distance, Zhao Yi's location is closer to the twin cities. However, the Kwantung Army was on a train, while the 22nd Brigade was running on two legs, especially in January this year, when the snow fell heavily, and the snow on the ground was a foot deep. …,

By the time Zhao Yi led his troops back to Shuangcheng sweating profusely, it was already dark. Zhao Yi looked from afar and found that there were two trains parked at Shuangcheng Station, and there was a bonfire on the platform, and the Kwantung Army had already arrived in Shuangcheng before them.

Zhao Yi's original plan was to break through each one, defeat the puppet army first, and then return to the division to defend the double castle to meet the Japanese army, but now the Japanese army took the lead and entered the double castle station.

The strong attack, the weak defend, this is military common sense. If the Kwantung Army occupied the Twin Castles and prepared for defense, if Zhao Yi wanted to attack so strongly, the weak Northeast Army would die an ugly death.

Just when Zhao Yi was almost desperate, he suddenly found that his luck had come.

The scouts sent reported that for some reason, the Kwantung Army was concentrated at the Shuangcheng Railway Station and did not occupy the Shuangcheng Castle. With the exception of a few soldiers on alert, the large army was already resting. In other words, the Kwantung Army was only camped at the Twin Castle Station, and it did not put on a tight defensive posture as if facing a great enemy.

A strong attack is a painful thing, but if the other party is unprepared and turns into a sneak attack, then the crooked attack will become a good thing.

However, why are the Japanese on the other side so sloppy?

Zhao Yi didn't know who his opponent was at this time. Many years later, he wrote literary and historical materials, and also described his opponent as the Japanese Amano Brigade. In fact, this Japanese army was the 3rd Brigade and 4th Wing commanded by Major General Hasebe. And there is not even a wing of men.

At this time, the Japanese troops were all peacetime establishments, and the 4th Wing originally had only two brigades, one of which was transferred to Dunhua and had not yet been rebuilt. At present, the Kwantung Army troops at the Twin Castle Station have only one infantry brigade, the 1st Brigade of Shinichiro Shikano Shosa, and Hasebe himself, the brigade headquarters and the troops directly under the brigade have not yet arrived.

Luye got on the train from the stone car station in the afternoon and arrived in Shuangcheng in the evening. Because the station was still a mile away from the county seat of Shuangcheng, the Japanese army did not enter the city after getting off the train. Seeing that there was no resistance, and there was nothing unusual, the Japanese army camped at Shuangcheng Station.

The Twin Castle Station, which still stands a hundred years later, is now a cultural relics protection unit in Heilongjiang Province. Anyone who has been to this station will definitely find it interesting, the exterior of this station is in the style of a Chinese palace, but when you walk in, you will find that the inside is completely Russian and Western.

In fact, this architectural style is almost the best annotation of the characteristics of the Eastern Railway. When the railway station was built in 1899, the Eastern Railway was completely controlled by the Russians, so the Twin Castle railway station was completely Russian-style. After the October Revolution in Russia, China took back part of the rights of the Eastern Railway and turned it into a Sino-Soviet joint venture railway. As a result, when it was later rebuilt, the station was built in a Chinese style on the outside and a Russian style on the inside.

The county seat of Shuangcheng is a small square city that looks very regular, and it is four or five miles from the south gate to the north gate. Out of the north gate, walk three miles away, is the twin castle railway station. The Eastern Railway runs from southwest to north through here.

Zhao Yi had been stationed in Shuangcheng for a long time and was very familiar with the terrain here, so he did not attack immediately, but took the team to Anxi Station, which was north of Shuangcheng Station.

First, the troops were very tired after returning from long distances. Second, he thought it was a good opportunity to sneak attack, and he would have to wait a little longer to launch the attack.

According to reconnaissance, part of the Japanese army slept in the box office of the Twin Castle Station, and part of it slept on the north side of the station, although it is not clear how many troops the Kwantung Army had, but judging from the area where the Kwantung Army camped, it is estimated that the total strength will not exceed 2,000 people.

Zhao Yi now has five battalions in his hands, with nearly 3,000 troops, twice as many as the enemy, and a strong attack may not be feasible, but if it is a sneak attack, it is still very likely to succeed.

So Zhao Yi divided the five battalions into three routes, the 1st Battalion and the 2nd Battalion as the main force of the two roads deployed north of Shuangcheng Station, with the 1st Battalion attacking the Shuangcheng Station box office from the north, and the 2nd Battalion attacking the Japanese army at the railway crossing on the north side of the station from the left flank. …,

And Zhao Yi also has a big killer weapon at this time, that is, two field artillery.

As mentioned earlier, Jilin's national defense brigade was used by concentrated artillery, and after the artillery regiment was wiped out by the Japanese, the heavy weapons of the national defense brigade were very weak, and Zhao Yi did not have field artillery. But Ding Chao in Harbin wanted to pull Zhao Yi to fight together, and Zhao Yi was not polite enough to dig up half an artillery company and two field guns from Ding Chao's provincial defense brigade. Zhao Yi himself also has a mortar company, armed with six mortars. Zhao Yi concentrated these artillery troops behind the flank of the Japanese army, and the artillery position was set up in Wanjiashack south of the Shuangcheng Railway Station, which was less than a mile away from the nearest railway line to the west, and about four or five miles away from the Shuangcheng Railway Station. The remaining 3 battalions of the 662nd Regiment were responsible for protecting the artillery company and acting as a reserve, responsible for controlling the west crossing south of the station and cutting off the retreat of the Japanese army.

Zhao Yi has a great appetite, and he is not preparing to repel the Japanese army at all, but wants to attack from the north and south and annihilate this Japanese army. And he didn't find out that the Japanese army in front of him had heavy weapons, let alone mental calculations. Zhao Yi had the upper hand before the fight began.

On this night, it was the twenty-third day of the lunar month, and the surrounding people were celebrating Chinese New Year's Eve. And the Japanese soldiers who were camping gradually fell asleep. The officers and men of Zhao Yi's 22nd Brigade, after several hours of preparation, quietly launched an attack.

This attack started quietly, and Zhao Yi still wanted to achieve the effect of a surprise attack. The 662nd Regiment marched in unison with two battalions as the main force, with the 2nd battalion on the left and the 1st battalion on the right, with the machine gun company in the center, scattered in a line, and quietly approached the Japanese from the northwest of the station.

However, in January, the land of the Northeast is covered with snow. No matter how careful the soldiers of the 662nd Regiment were, when they stepped on the snow, they would eventually make a crunching sound, not to mention that more than a thousand people stepped on the snow to advance, and this sound could not be hidden. Just as the troops approached the northwest corner of the station, the Japanese sentry shouted in surprise and fired three warning shots in succession, and the battle of the two castles began.

Thanks to "Xu Rongguang" and "Lao Zhou" for their monthly passes and comments!

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