The three eastern provinces were strong, and they had the experience of defeating the Japanese army, because neither Britain, nor the United States, nor Germany had put the Wehrmacht on the same level as the Nanking government.

Therefore, the attitude towards the two sides is completely different. Although most of the interests of the countries have been transferred to the three eastern provinces, after all, Shanghai is connected to the sea of the entire region.

It has an irreplaceable position, and the nations do not want war here. And who cares about the interests of the Nanjing government?! At least, no one in these countries cares.

Tokyo, Japan, August 11, 1937.

The General Staff Headquarters of the Japanese Army, just before launching a full-scale war, drew up the "Essentials for Handling the Current Situation in South China," which said:

"If the anti-Japanese act spreads to Central and North China, the principle is not to dispatch army troops." The Japanese General Staff Headquarters regards "preventing Manchuria" as its strategic focus, believing that China will not be able to launch an all-out war because of the division of southern China and the strong color of factional hegemony.

Kumao Imoto of the Japanese General Staff Headquarters plans to report:

"Needless to say, the restriction on the use of military force against China comes from the consideration of the Wehrmacht. The strength of the Wehrmacht, plus the reserves, is 23 divisions. The total mobilization force is 30 divisions and regiments, so only 7 divisions can be used against China. Therefore, there was no room for additional troops in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shanghai.

If there is a case, it is to transfer troops from the south of China to the northeast nearby; But I also realized that it was almost impossible to transfer such troops......"

Subsequently, the Japanese General Staff Headquarters formulated the "Outline of the Operational Plan against China" for this purpose:

"1. Conduct operations with the Chinese garrison and deal as heavy a blow to the squadron as hard as possible in the southeastern region. 2. Fight in the vicinity of Qingdao and Shanghai only as a last resort. ”

On August 10, the Japanese Navy wanted to control the Yangtze River Valley, and the Japanese Navy Minister Mitsumasa Yonechi asked the Navy and the Army to send troops together, but was opposed by Umezu Yoshijiro and Ishihara of the General Staff Headquarters, and Umezu Mijiro did not want the Navy to get too involved in the war. In his opinion, this is the best time for the army to strive for glory and overpower the navy in one fell swoop.

And Ishihara's idea is to update his weapons first, and the Korean war shows that the Japanese weapons are not small compared to the Wehrmacht! However, after heated arguments between the two sides, it was decided to send a minimum of troops to suppress it under the coordination of the Idle Palace.

On August 14, the Japanese Konoe Cabinet held an extraordinary cabinet meeting and decided to take "decisive measures" against China! Same. Japan ordered a general mobilization to form the "Shanghai Dispatch Army" with the 3rd and 11th Divisions as the backbone!

Emperor Hirohito of Japan appointed Senior General Matsui Ishine as commander with the task of "cooperating with the navy to destroy the central ** near Shanghai, and occupy the main line of Shanghai and its northern regions!"

At this point, the war in Shanghai is about to break out!

August 14, Nanjing Presidential Palace.

Jiang Zhongzheng pinched the joint request sent by Britain, the United States, France, Germany, and Italy, and trembled with anger! The rest of Yang Yongtai, Chen Bui, He Yingqin and others were all disgraced.

Without him, the demands put forward by these five countries after a series of coordination turned out to be: China and Japan withdraw their troops from Shanghai and designate Shanghai as a neutral zone! And even if it's such a concession. The Japanese still haven't agreed!

"! This is China! That's Shanghai in China! What do they want to do with these foreign devils?! What do they want to do?! Jiang Zhongzheng shouted angrily in his office.

Unfortunately, it didn't help. There is no doubt that Japan has taken this opportunity to mobilize its forces for war. Otherwise, with their character, even if they disagree, they will delay the time to gather troops and wait for the opportunity.

As we did in 128, let's talk about negotiation first. Then, when the troops arrived, they opened a condition that was unacceptable to the Nanjing government and used this as an excuse to continue the fight!

If you can't beat it, let's talk about negotiations. Talk about your own troops, and then give a condition that you can't accept and still fight!

On August 15, the Nanjing government ordered a general mobilization. Plan at the same time. Shanghai and Hangzhou are the third theater of operations.

Jiang Zhongzheng appointed General Gu Zhutong as deputy commander of the theater, and the operational policy was "to quickly encircle and annihilate the enemy near Shanghai for the purpose of consolidating the capital and maintaining the economic source of the theater." and break its attempts to land along the coast and along the river".

Subsequently, in order to strengthen control, Jiang Zhongzheng ordered the appointment of Chen Cheng as the commander-in-chief of the former enemy in the Third War Zone, but this caused Zhang Zhizhong's dissatisfaction: "Chen Cixiu's qualifications are too shallow, how can he command me?!" ”

Although Feng Yuxiang is the direct boss of the two, he has no strength to reconcile the friction between the two. Moreover, he himself was extremely dissatisfied with Chen Cheng running to serve as the commander-in-chief in front of the enemy! Meddling is not such a meddler!

On August 16, the Japanese government declared that the empire had reached the limit of its tolerance, and in order to punish the brutality of the Chinese army, it prompted the Nanjing government to reflect on itself. Now we have to take drastic measures!

On the same day, Japanese Prime Minister Fumima Konoe made a speech, saying: "The Chinese side took advantage of the imperial forbearance, and the trend of insulting Japan and resisting Japan became more and more intense, and the war situation finally spread to Central China. At this point, the government believes that it is no longer possible to clean up the situation by adopting the measures that have always been passive and partial. I had to actively and comprehensively give a decisive blow to the center! ”

On the same day, Japan announced the nationwide shift to a wartime system and ordered the sixth mobilization!

August 16, Zhabei, Shanghai.

At nine o'clock in the morning, the roar of tanks "rumbling ......" was heard on the deserted streets! but I saw it in the sun. Several Japanese ** tanks painted with the "Hinomaru" logo appeared on the street, slowly driving in from the concession towards Baoshan Road!

A terrible roar came from the garrison of the 88th Division of the Nanjing State Government Garrison in the Zhabei area: "The Japanese are coming!" It's called!! ”

"Tom...... Rumble!! "In response to him, it was a shell from a ** tank! The Japanese soldiers who followed behind the ** tank set up their heavy machine guns and swept at the position of the 88th Division, which was a "sudden ......"!

"Tutu Tu Tu ...... Bang! Bang! Bang......" The troops on both sides were suddenly killed, and at the same time, the Japanese ships staying in the harbor were no longer silent, and their battleships began to adjust their guns with "clicks......click", and after a while, the main guns were adjusted according to the coordinates provided by the army and began to shell Shanghai!

"Chirp...... Rumble! Rumble!! Boom ......" The ** position in Zhabei of Shanghai was suddenly filled with gunsmoke, and countless defenders were caught off guard by the Japanese naval artillery!

Those fortifications were suddenly bombed and flew all over the sky, and the Japanese army took this opportunity to continue to slowly kill the defenders' positions!

"Hold on! Resist! On the position, the officers of the defending army roared with all their might. The light and heavy machine guns never stopped roaring, and they "burst into ......" at the Japanese troops who rushed up!

In the strange roar of "buzzing ......", Japanese fighters appeared in the sky above the position! After dropping the bomb, he swooped down and fired at the position......!

"Dada...... Bang! Bang! Bang ...... "With the help of light machine guns and rifles, the defenders gritted their teeth and kept firing back at the Japanese troops who pounced.

When the battle started on Baoshan Road, there were also large-scale battles in Bazi Bridge, Tiantongan Road, Hongkou and other areas in the Zhabei area, and the first battalion of the 523rd Regiment of the defending army began to encounter Japanese marines at Bazi Bridge in Shanghai, and the two sides entered a combat state!

"Buzz...... At this time, a fierce battle in the air is being staged in Hangzhou and Guangde!...... Chen Xichun, a second lieutenant pilot of the 9th Squadron of the 2nd Brigade, piloted the fighter planes in the skies over Guangde and the Japanese fighters in the air constantly circling and fighting.

At 2:50 p.m., 18 Type 96 land attack planes of the Japanese Komu Sarazu Wing and the Luwu Wing took off from the newly built airfield in Shouning, Fujian, and then split into two routes, nine bombing China's Jianqiao Air Base in Hangzhou and nine bombing Guangde Airport.

Chen Yibai, the first major general and chief director of the Air Defense General Station of the Nanjing Aviation Commission, immediately made an urgent radio announcement from Nanjing to hold a meeting and flew directly to Major Le Yiqin, the commander of the Fourth Air Force Brigade who had just landed!

They did not receive the same training from Gao Zhihang as they did in history, but fortunately, there were Luftwaffe instructors with secret contacts with the Wehrmacht. It is not much worse than in history in terms of combat effectiveness.

Moreover, the Japanese army used the old Type 96 fighter jet, not the new Type 97. Yes, the two sides are evenly matched in the air!

"Suddenly, suddenly, ......" over Hangzhou, Le Yiqin piloted a fighter jet to hit a Type 96 land attack straight into black smoke and fell from mid-air with a whimper.

Later, I saw that Le Yiqin circled and avoided the attack of the Japanese army who came from the side! Pulled up the plane, circled the fuselage and fired at the Japanese army again "suddenly ......"!

"Boom!!" With a bang, this Japanese fighter plane was actually blown up in the air! Chen Huaimin, a second lieutenant pilot of the 21st Squadron of the 4th Air Brigade......, saw that his captain was so brave, and naturally he could not show weakness. "Bang!

Seeing that they couldn't take advantage of it, these Japanese fighters could only grit their teeth and choose to retreat.

In less than 30 minutes of air combat, Le Yiqin single-handedly shot down 2 Japanese planes, while the whole group shot down 6 Japanese planes. That night, Japanese broadcasts said that "13 of the 18 planes lost contact".

On the same day, Nanjing issued the "Declaration of Self-Defense and Anti-Japanese War"! The book says:

Forced by Japan's endless aggression, China had no choice but to defend itself against violence.

In recent years, the Chinese government and people have made concerted efforts to complete the construction of a modern country with a view to attaining a free and equal status. For this reason, China is committed to economic and cultural rejuvenation at home and respects peace and justice externally.

Gai believes that "independence" and "coexistence" are mutually reinforcing...... The outbreak of the July 7 Incident cut off China's little hope......

After the issuance of the "Declaration of Self-Defense and Anti-Japanese War", Jiang Zhongzheng, chairman of the Military Commission of the Nationalist Government, issued a general attack order, ordering the 88th and 87th Divisions to recapture the strongholds in the urban areas such as Zhizhi University, Wuzhou Cemetery, Hujiang University, and Baziqiao that were attacked and occupied by the Japanese army, and to attack the Japanese army's position yarn factory!

The Battle of August 16 and Songhu began! (To be continued.) If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for recommendation and monthly passes, and your support is my biggest motivation. )