Chapter 594: Defending Harbin in the Northeast of the Anti-Japanese War (9)

The hospital street position in the left flank garrison area of the Northeast Army and the area around the Baijia shack were the main direction of attack of the Japanese army. The 15 Brigade, which was tasked with the attack, did not prepare for artillery fire for long, and pounced on it when it pulled out of its position. But what the Japanese army didn't expect was that as soon as they went up, they hit a big nail.

For the Northeast Army, it is true that it is impossible to dig trenches in the cold, but the situation on Hospital Street is a bit unspecial.

Hospital Street, now known as Harbin Summer Garden, was named after the Russian-built Middle East Railway Hospital nearby.

There are many Russian-style stone buildings on Hospital Street, and many of them are even made of reinforced concrete, which is very solid.

The Northeast Army had no trenches, but it could use these solid stone walls and buildings as shelters. As long as it is not a direct attack by artillery, with the Japanese machine guns and rifles, there are only a few white marks on the wall. Moreover, the area around Hospital Street and Baijia Huts (now Baijiabao in Harbin) had a wide field of vision, and it was difficult for the Japanese army to approach under the fire of the Northeast Army.

The battle began at 3:30 p.m. and lasted until 11 p.m., and under the stubborn resistance of the Northeast Army, the Japanese army achieved extremely limited results, and was forced to stop its advance when it approached a distance of five or six hundred meters from the position of the Northeast Army.

On this day, the 29th Infantry Wing of the Japanese Army suffered hundreds of casualties here. On the west side of the railway, the 30th Wing of the 15th Brigade also launched a counter-attack on the left flank garrison area of the Northeast Army on the Guxiangtun side, but after paying heavy casualties, the attack was also fruitless.

The Japanese army rushed into battle, although the bows were fired on both sides, but as a result, both sides touched a nose of ash. Annoyed, the embarrassed and angry Mén began to change his play. At half past eleven o'clock that night, more mén adjusted the deployment.

The 3rd Brigade on the right flank maintained the existing line and prepared to continue the offensive the next day, while the 15th Brigade on the left flank left only 1 squadron to monitor the enemy in front of Guxiangtun, and the main force was all withdrawn as a reserve. The artillery on the second day covered the attack of the 3rd Brigade on the right flank with all its might, and the left and right bows turned into a little breakthrough.

Dormén hoped to break through from the direction of Hospital Street and tear apart the junction of the two defensive areas of the Harbin defenders.

However, what Duomén never expected was that the next day dawned, before the Japanese army began to attack. The Northeast Army took the lead in launching a counterattack.

It turned out that although the Japanese attack on the first day was repulsed, it caused large casualties to the defenders of the Northeast Army, and the Northeast Army suffered more than 1,000 casualties in total. Such heavy casualties mainly came from Japanese artillery fire and dozens of Japanese planes that were constantly sweeping and bombing at low altitudes in the sky.

There were so many casualties on the first day, which made the generals of the Northeast Army feel uneasy. Some of the battalion commanders below have already suggested that they should not fight hard with the Japanese army, but should first withdraw from Harbin and then deal with the Japanese army.

However, Ding Chao, Xing Zhanqing, Zhao Yi, Wang Zhiyou, and Feng Zhanhai were resolutely opposed. Their reason was that after leaving Harbin, it would be difficult to raise funds for food and medical treatment, and the morale of the army would be easily weakened.

Although Li Du and Ding Chao supported the withdrawal of Harbin and then made a plot, they also felt a little unwilling to withdraw after only one day. In order to boost morale, it was decided that Ding Chao would organize a small-scale counterattack to boost the morale of the army.

There was nothing sudden in this counterattack, and the Northeast Army began to launch heavy artillery attacks on the Japanese before dawn.

Because the shelling lasted too long, the Japanese did not expect that the Northeast Army, which had been beaten by them yesterday and could only parry, would counterattack. And because of the interference of the shelling, until half past nine in the morning, the Japanese offensive was not launched.

At this moment, the Northeast Army launched a local counterattack with the strength of a battalion.

The left flank of the Northeast Army's hospital street position was originally a little behind, and if it wanted to attack here, the Japanese army had to move the starting position of the attack forward, and its left flank was facing the central garrison area of the Northeast Army, forming a salient. Five or six hundred officers and men of the 28th Brigade of the Central Garrison of the Northeast Army launched a counteroffensive on the flank of the 29th Wing from here. …,

The counteroffensive of the Northeast Army surprised the Japanese and sent a squadron of the Japanese salient back step by step.

According to the history of the Japanese army, the counterattack was "in a state of bitter fighting for a while."

However, on the white and unobstructed land, the officers and soldiers of the Northeast who counterattacked were attacked by the fierce fire of the Japanese artillery that was angry and angry, and the Japanese tanks that were originally assigned to the 29th Wing to participate in the attack also entered the counteroffensive queue of the Northeast Army.

Although the counterattack achieved certain results and defeated the Japanese offensive deployment, the generals of the Northeast Army were worried and had no joy.

The Japanese army's ferocious firepower and frantic attack made Li Du, Ding Chao, Xing Zhanqing and others understand that Harbin is now in urgent need of reinforcements.

Are there any reinforcements? It is said that there really is, and it is at Songpu Station on the other side of the Songsha River in Harbin. Whose reinforcements are this?

In Songpu, Jiangbei, it was the troops of Ma Zhanshan, chairman of Heilongjiang Province.

Ma Zhanshan, chairman of Heilongjiang Province, is now a well-known anti-Japanese hero throughout the country because of a Jiangqiao War of Resistance, and his reputation is as high as the sky.

Crossing the Songsha River from Harbin to the north, it is the territory of Heilongjiang Province, and there is also a Huhai Railway here, as long as Ma Zhanshan is willing, the reinforcements from Heilongjiang can take a train to Harbin in less than an hour. Moreover, during the Jiangqiao Anti-Japanese War, Ding Chao also sent a regiment across the river to reinforce. Therefore, at first, the Harbin side was initially optimistic about Ma Zhanshan's support.

Indeed, as they expected, before the Japanese attack, Li Du, Ding Chao, Wang Zhiyou and other generals of the Harbin Northeast Army had crossed the river to meet with Ma Zhanshan. Ma Zhanshan promised at the time that he would definitely send troops across the river to support the operation, and gave Li Du 500,000 rounds of ammunition on the spot.

After the start of the battle in Harbin, Ma Zhanshan's Lao Fifth Regiment and other troops did drive to the north bank of the Songsha River in Harbin. However, when the Harbin front was in a critical situation, no matter how urged by this side, Ma Zhanshan's troops just stayed quietly on the north bank of the Songsha River, sat on the train, and refused to cross the river. However, Japanese planes wantonly and indiscriminately bombed the positions of the Northeast Army in Harbin every day, but they turned a blind eye to the Songpu Station and Jiangqiao, which were separated by a river, and not only did they not bomb Songpu and Jiangqiao, but they did not even fly across the river.

Li Du called Ma Zhanshan, but Ma Zhanshan didn't answer at all.

In the end, Wang Xiangjiu, the liaison officer sent by Ma Zhanshan to Harbin, was angry, and to tell the truth, Ma Zhanshan was observing the situation. The situation in Harbin is good, and he is naturally willing to come to add to the cake, and if the situation is relatively bad, he will never be willing to cross the river and fight a tough battle with the Japanese army.

Sure enough, on the 5th, when the battle situation in Harbin was critical and the Northeast Army was still struggling to support, Ma Zhanshan's reinforcements had already turned around and left.

As soon as Ma Zhanshan's Heilongjiang Provincial troops withdrew, it dealt a great blow to the generals of the Northeast Army in Harbin, and they were holding a meeting to discuss how to deal with Li Du, Ding Chao, Xing Zhanqing, Zhao Yi, Wang Zhiyou, and others who urged Ma Zhanshan to cross the river, and Feng Zhanhai even threw the teacup in his hand to the ground.

They all knew what it meant for Ma Zhanshan's Heilongjiang troops to withdraw, which meant that they would be completely alone, without any reinforcements.

Feng Zhanhai said hatefully: "Mom, the young marshal is really blind, he raised a group of white-eyed wolves, the Japanese have arrived at our house, and they are still sweeping the snow before each other, and they are still taking care of each other, he Ma Zhanshan is still a anti-Japanese hero, he can't save him when he dies, his conscience lets the dog eat, is he still from the Northeast?" ”

Although Feng Zhanhai was scolding Ma Zhanshan, it also made Ding Chao, Xing Zhanqing and Zhao Yi feel slightly hot on their faces, and Zhao Yi coughed lightly and dryly a little unnaturally: "Brother Shoushan, don't move, as the saying goes, husband and wife are birds in the same forest, and when the disaster comes, they fly separately, and everyone has their own ambitions." If Ma Zhanshan didn't have a heart, it would be useless for his troops to stay in Jiangbei. ”…,

Looking at Feng Zhanhai, who was still angry, Zhao Yi turned his head, glanced at Ding Chao and Xing Zhanqing, and said to Li Du: "Brother Zhichu, in fact, Ma Zhanshan is crossing the river, and it won't help us much." ”

Seeing that everyone was paying attention, Zhao Yi continued: "Ma Zhanshan has just suffered a big defeat in Longjiang, and the morale of the army in Heilongjiang Province is already very low. ”

Li Du sighed and said: "Otherwise, if Ma Zhanshan can cross the river, he will definitely be able to strengthen the confidence of the army and people in Harbin in the War of Resistance, and his withdrawal will inevitably shake the hearts of our army and make Harbin dangerous!" ”

Feng Zhanhai slapped the table and said in a rough voice: "Without him and Ma Zhanshan, I don't believe that I can't make a trough cake." Harbin must be defended, as long as you don't leave, I, Feng Zhanhai, and thousands of my brothers will never be deserters. ”

Zhao Yi looked down on Feng Zhanhai, who started with Zhang Zuoxiang, and said with a slight smile: "Brother Shoushan's courage is commendable, but fighting a war is not just about being willful. ”

Zhao Yi obviously had something to say, how could Feng Zhanhai not hear it, his eyes were about to attack.

Ma Zhanshan is gone, there can be no more internal contradictions here in Harbin, Ding Chao saw that the situation was not right, and hurriedly said: "Brigade Commander Zhao, if you have any high opinions, just say it directly." ”

Ding Chao's words couldn't help but make Li Du and Xing Zhanqing's eyes light up, which also reminded Xing Zhanqing.

Xing Zhanqing asked, "Brigade Commander Zhao, can you contact Shangdongkang?" ”

As soon as they heard about the Eastern Resistance, everyone couldn't help but hold their breath and nervously waited for Zhao Yi's next words.

Under everyone's attention, Zhao Yi said with some pride: "When I joined forces with the Twin Castles and the Eastern Resistance Jiangbei Column to annihilate the wing led by Hasebe, Han Douzhan gave me a password, promising me that I could contact him at a critical moment and support each other. ”

As soon as they heard that they could contact Han Guangdi, everyone felt a burst of excitement, but immediately Li Du and Ding Chao's faces were lonely. They have already rejected Han Guangdi's request to protect Harbin, at this time, together with Ma Zhanshan, who is the Northeast Army, refused to rescue, and Han Guangdi, who had a previous suspicion of the Eastern Resistance, was willing to lend a hand? They were all worried that Han Guangdi would not come.

It's just that whether there are reinforcements or not is no longer just a matter of face, but a question of whether the morale of the army is stable and whether Harbin can be defended.

However, Li Du couldn't show it, he smiled with a smile on his face and said, "Good! Good! Since Brigade Commander Zhao can get in touch with Dou Zhan, I believe that Dou Zhan will definitely lend a hand, and Brigade Commander Zhao will quickly contact Dou Zhan, so that we will be able to succeed in keeping Harbin. ”

Foreign aid has been cut off, but the strong enemy is still intensifying its attacks......

……