Chapter 608 Anti-Japanese War Shanghai Songhu Anti-Japanese War

The 156th Brigade has three regiments, in addition to the 6th Regiment guarding Zhabei, the 4th Regiment is stationed at Wusongkou, where it is necessary to prevent the Japanese army from landing, the 4th Regiment cannot be transferred, and the one that can be used as reinforcements is naturally Ding Rongguang's 5th Regiment stationed in Dachang Town, northwest of Zhabei, and the 5th Regiment has 1,538 officers and soldiers.

From Dachang to Zhabei Battlefield, it is about 15 miles. It was a little farther than the Japanese reinforcements, but the 5th Regiment was ready for battle. Therefore, after Ding Rongguang received the order of the brigade commander Weng Zhaoyuan, he immediately sent urgent reinforcements to the Zhabei battlefield.

The distance of 15 miles, as long as you are well prepared, is actually not slow to walk. The normal march can walk 7 to 10 miles per hour, not to mention that this is Shanghai, and the road conditions here are naturally much better than in other areas, and the 5th Regiment ran to the battlefield in only one hour with a rapid march.

The first to arrive was the 1st Battalion of the 5th Regiment, except for the 4th Company, which extended the defensive line and was deployed to the leftmost flank of the 6th Regiment, the remaining three companies (5th Company, 6th Company, and Machine Gun Company) were all assigned to the command of Zhang Junsong according to Weng Zhaoyuan's order.

At 2:30 a.m., the 1st Battalion of the 5th Regiment rushed to Zhabei and joined the defensive position of the 2nd Battalion of the 6th Regiment in the direction of Baoxing Road and Yokohama Road.

Under normal circumstances, after reinforcements arrive, the original defenders can shorten the battle line and give up part of their positions for reinforcements to take over. But at this time, because the casualties of the 2nd Battalion of the 6th Regiment were too great, and the Japanese army was still attacking fiercely, Xiong Biao, the commander of the 1st Battalion of the 5th Regiment who had come up, did not dare to directly take over the defense, but adopted the method of "increasing between the troops", that is, the 2nd Battalion did not withdraw the defense, and the reinforcements of the 1st Battalion of the 5th Regiment directly increased to the position of the 2nd Battalion, forming a situation where the two battalions were mixed together.

This kind of reinforcement, in which two units of different formations are mixed together, is obviously very unfavorable to command, and few people will use this method to increase troops unless they have to do so.

But in any case, when the battalion arrived on the battlefield, the originally shaky northern defense line was finally stabilized.

At 3:50 a.m., Ding Rongguang, the commander of the 5th regiment, led the remaining troops of the whole regiment (except for the 2nd battalion to monitor the direction of Jiangwan), and also rushed to the Zhabei battlefield.

At this point, the 19th Route Army on the front line increased from one regiment to two regiments. And with the reinforcements arrived, as well as the brigade commander Weng Zhaoyuan.

There is a famous saying in China, no one is perfect. But in fact, what we see is that there are countless perfect people, if they are perfect, they will inevitably be flawless, and if they are traitors, they will inevitably be useless.

Therefore, whenever Weng Zhaoyuan is mentioned in the section on Weng Zhaoyuan's follow-up to Chen Jiongming, many books are brushed aside, and it is really impossible to get around, saying how Weng Zhaoyuan resisted Chen Jiongming's counter-revolution, and does not mention Weng Zhaoyuan's loyalty to Chen Jiongming in the war. In terms of ethics, Weng Zhaoyuan's loyal behavior is not a very strange thing.

The headquarters of the 156th Brigade was originally in Dachang Town, 15 miles from the battlefield. However, Weng Zhaoyuan did not sit at the safe brigade headquarters to direct the battle, but rushed directly to the battlefield with reinforcements and stationed at the headquarters of the 6th Regiment.

The brigade commander arrived, and the troops were increased to two more regiments. The command power was naturally transferred from Zhang Junsong's hands to Weng Zhaoyuan.

At this time, on the Zhabei side, the third attack of the Japanese army had just been repulsed. Taking advantage of the break in the battle, Weng Zhaoyuan, who took over the command, began to readjust his deployment.

The southernmost part of the front was the 1st Battalion of the 6th Regiment, which continued to guard the area of Guangdong Road and Qiujiang Road. In the north, the area of Baoxing Road and Yokohama Road was handed over to the 1st Battalion of the 5th Regiment of the reinforcements, and to the north, the 2nd Battalion of the 6th Regiment, which suffered heavy casualties, shrank the defensive line to Tiantongan Road and Qingyun Road. The 3rd Battalion of the 5th Regiment of the last reinforcements to arrive continued to extend the defensive line to the left flank, that is, to the northwest, from Qingyun Road to Bazi Bridge.

In this way, Weng Zhaoyuan's troops on the front line increased from two battalions to four battalions, while the 3rd battalion of the 6th regiment continued to remain as a reserve.

Successfully resisting the three rounds of Japanese attacks, Weng Zhaoyuan was full of confidence, and as soon as his mind was hot, he decided to launch a full-front counterattack against the Japanese army with four battalions.

However, the counterattack did not achieve the desired effect. At the critical moment, it was the Japanese army's Viks armored vehicles that played a role. …,

These beetles stay far away in the barricades, relying on machine gun fire to block the streets, which is equivalent to a mobile bunker on the street, where there is a danger to reinforcements, and the insecticide of the 19th Route Army does not work at a distance. Half an hour after the fierce battle, although all the Japanese troops were driven back to the east of North Sichuan Road, their own casualties were very large, and the 1st Battalion of the 6th Regiment attached to Lu Bin died heroically in the counterattack, which was also the highest-ranking lieutenant ** officer killed in the entire Zhabei Street Battle.

As a last resort, Weng Zhaoyuan had no choice but to order the counteroffensive to be stopped, and the troops withdrew to the original defensive line.

Six hours had passed since the start of the war.

During these six hours, the Japanese launched three consecutive attacks, and the 19th Route Army also launched a counteroffensive. To read the latest chapters of this book, please go to Baidu search: Novel Network

After a few rounds, both sides fell into a standoff silence.

The soldiers on both sides are nervously guarding each other, preparing for the next round of attack and defense, and there is a hidden killing opportunity in the tranquility. In contrast to the silence on the ground, Japanese planes in the air were particularly active.

Because, the sky is starting to brighten.

The first sortie of Japanese planes was at night, because they could not see the ground targets clearly, and in fact they only relied on aimless and indiscriminate bombing to give the ground attack a strong momentum, and the actual effect was limited. But after dawn, the sight was good, and the Japanese machine made a comeback, and this time the threat to the Nineteenth Route Army was not only more direct, but also greater.

The first to be bombed by Japanese planes was Shanghai North Railway Station.

Shanghai North Railway Station is a transportation hub and the only way for the Zhabei Battlefield to connect with the General Headquarters of the 19th Route Army. Moreover, in the dense housing blocks, empty parking lots, and long railway lines, the Japanese machine overlooking the battlefield can easily find this big target.

At 8 a.m., Japanese planes dropped five bombs, two of which landed outside the office of the depot office, but luckily the bombs did not explode. The other three fell in the parking lot and did not cause major damage. The North Station escaped the first catastrophe.

In the second round of bombing, the bombs all fell on the roof of the locomotive room, and because there were no flammable materials, only a few large holes were blown up.

But good luck can't always be with Gare du Nord. In the third round of bombing, the bombs of Japanese planes hit the cargo warehouse of the North Station, and the raging fire suddenly raged.

And the deadliest came from the fourth round of bombing, and this time, the Japanese planes received the greatest results. The bomb hit the roof of the four floors of the station management office, and the fire extended from the roof to the downstairs. The fire that spread everywhere even burned the armored train hiding at the station.

When the Japanese planes did not participate in the war, the armored train patrolled the railway line majestically, and even the Japanese Beetles had to hide. But when an airplane drops a bomb overhead, a behemoth like an armored train has no power to parry, and can only hide back in the station.

But this time, Japanese planes bombed the train station, and they couldn't even hide.

The fire that ignited the armoured train caused an explosion of ammunition on the armoured train, damaging several wagons. At this time, the people of the former Songhu Garrison Command on the armored train were anxious and their lives were at stake, and they ignored the order, braved the bombing of Japanese planes, rushed out of the railway station in the armored train, and fled in the direction of Zhenru Station.

The armored train withdrew from the battlefield, and the situation suddenly changed, and the defense line backed by the armored train suddenly lost its support.

In addition to the Shanghai North Railway Station, the building near the battle line that could be used by the squadron was also a bombing target. The Oriental Library building of the Commercial Press was unfortunately hit by Japanese planes and caught fire.

In the Oriental Library, there are more than 30,000 ancient books of various generations, including the four libraries, and more than 20,000 local chronicles from all over the country. The fluttering ash was scattered into the surrounding blocks for miles. …,

These seaplanes of the Japanese army were Mitsubishi F1M Zero water reconnaissance aircraft. Seaplanes are divided into hull type and pontoon type, and the Mitsubishi F1M Zero water reconnaissance aircraft belongs to the latter.

Because the Chinese Air Force did not participate in the war, the bombing of Shanghai North Station was not attacked by ground fire, which made the Japanese planes very arrogant. Seaplanes, carrying two very exaggerated large pontoons, clumsily and without scruples, wantonly bombarded the positions of the 19th Route Army at a low altitude of 1,200 meters.

When the four seaplanes of the Japanese army began to bomb the position of the 19th Route Army defending the intersection of Tiantong'an Road, they were suddenly subjected to concentrated fire from more than a dozen 12.7mm large-caliber anti-aircraft machine guns on the ground.

The two planes that caught fire wanted to fly back in a hurry, but as soon as the two planes flew over the concession, they were loaded headlong into the ground. The remaining two fled to the surface in a hurry. It's just that the plane that dropped a pontoon may not be able to land safely.

Soon, after readjusting the deployment, Shark Island Guzhong launched the most fierce offensive since the Zhabei Street Battle.

Judging purely from the scene, the Japanese army was definitely in the upper hand at this time. After a night of fierce fighting, the 19th Route Army could not cross the North Sichuan Road, the road where the Japanese army attacked, and the casualties of the 19th Route Army were much greater than the Japanese army.

However, the commander of the Japanese Marine Corps, Sameshima, has unspeakable suffering.

Don't look at the Japanese army at this time, but this is the whole family of the Japanese marines. And his opponent was far from investing in the main force, only two regiments. Once the other party is fully committed, let alone maintaining the advantage, it is even a question of whether he can get out of the way.

Everything depends on time, and time is wasted on its own.

Sameshima Guzhong regretted his rash deployment at this time. I knew that the Chinese were so tenacious, and the idiots would disperse most of their forces and not use them, but only use only two squadrons to attack, and they also pushed flat at each intersection, and as a result, they increased their troops while fighting hard, and their sharp energy was exhausted, and in vain let the Chinese react from the initial chaos.

Now, it's too late to say anything. The most important thing is to defeat the squadron in front of you as soon as possible and disintegrate the opponent's defense system before the arrival of the opponent's reinforcements.

Once the enemy is no longer underestimated, Shark Island's heavy handling will be much calmer.

Sameshima knew that the longer it dragged on, the worse the situation would be for him. But this time, Sameshima Guzhong looked unusually calm. In this attack, Sameshima Gushige did not launch a hasty attack in a short period of time as before, but only began the attack at 10 a.m. after about three or four hours of thorough preparation.

In this attack, instead of dividing the troops evenly and going hand in hand as before, they concentrated their forces on the left flank and launched the most ferocious blow since the beginning of the war on the Qiujiang Road in the south of the battle line.

In front of them was still the 1st Battalion of the 6th Regiment. The officers and men of this battalion could be called the mainstay of the squadron in the fierce fighting all night. The 1st Battalion faced the largest number of Japanese troops, but its casualties were smaller than those of its neighbors, and its record was also the best.

However, no matter how hard the embankment is, it cannot withstand the endless erosion. After continuously repelling the Japanese army, the 1st Battalion paid a lot of price, and the last round of counteroffensive made the 1st Battalion pay a heavy price, and its strength has been greatly damaged. Worst of all, the 1st Battalion carried the heaviest burden, but neither received reinforcements nor shortened the front.

Reinforcements were sent to the north.

And the armored train, which was as stable as Mount Tai, has been blown out of the battlefield by Japanese aircraft. The tall buildings that can be relied on and even the rear have been blown up to the ground. The troops of the 1st Battalion stationed on Qiujiang Road were in danger under the onslaught of the Japanese army. …,

Under the continuous onslaught of the Japanese army wave after wave, the Japanese army soon rushed through the Songhu Railway and advanced towards the Shanghai North Railway Station. Although the officers and men of the 1st Battalion resisted with all their might, they were still beaten back and forth.

For the Japanese attack, Weng Zhaoyuan and Zhang Junsong were not defenseless. The 3rd Battalion of the 6th Regiment, as a reserve, has been hiding in the snow to deal with this sudden and bad situation. However, what they didn't expect was that after the 3rd Battalion was put into the battlefield, it still couldn't stop the fierce offensive of the Japanese army! In the bloody battle, Lin Yu, the company commander of the 9th Company of the 3rd Battalion, was even killed.

Shark Island has a heavy blow, which is ruthless enough, and full of stamina.

Each of the previous attacks, the Japanese army did not last long. However, in this attack, the Japanese army, which had concentrated its forces, attacked for more than two hours, and still continued to advance along the Qiujiang Road.

At this time, Weng Zhaoyuan had clearly seen that the important target of Shark Island was Shanghai North Railway Station. However, Weng Zhaoyuan was anxious to find that he had played all the cards in his hand, and there was no power to save this crisis.

Shanghai North Railway Station, which is the old Shanghai Railway Station, is called North Railway Station because there was a South Railway Station in the southern urban area. The North Railway Station is the site of numerous historical events, from where Sun Yat-sen boarded the train to Nanjing to take office as provisional president, and where Song Jiaoren was assassinated.

In order to strengthen the offensive in the south, at 11:30 p.m., Sameshima Gushige even ordered the Japanese 2nd Brigade in the north to abandon the position west of the Songhu Railway that it had already captured and return to the east of the railway, all for the offensive in the south.

The use of all the reserves could not turn the situation around, Weng Zhaoyuan had already played all the cards in his hand, and he only had the last glimmer of hope left, that is, he hoped that the defenders of Shanghai North Station would be able to withstand it.

Because the North Station is the hub of the entire defense system, the 19th Route Army is a linear defense in the entire defense area, and only at this point of the North Station, armored trains and the 1st Company of the 1st Military Police Regiment are arranged.

However, Weng Zhaoyuan will soon be on the verge of despair. This gendarmerie company, without a vicious fight, began to run away one after another. It turned out that the bombing of the North Station by Japanese planes turned many houses in the North Station into torches. The gendarmes could not withstand the scorching flames and left their positions one after another.

Maybe that's how it all ends. At this moment, Sameshima Gushige felt that victory was so close. Weng Zhaoyuan, on the other hand, was very anxious.

Taking the most important point of Shanghai North Railway Station, the defense system of the 19th Route Army was completely cut off, even if the Chinese did not give in and retreated, then it did not need to be very far to advance a little further, 500 meters ahead, it was the Huzhou Guild Hall, which was the regimental headquarters of the Sixth Regiment. Served it, a hundred.

However, the goddess of fate, the last favor, is Weng Zhaoyuan, not Shark Island.

Just when the Japanese army almost touched Shanghai North Railway Station and almost took it into its pocket, the reinforcements of the 19th Route Army, a reinforcement that even Weng Zhaoyuan himself did not expect, suddenly appeared.

At the critical moment, it was the gendarmerie who abandoned the position and retreated, and it was the gendarme who came up with reinforcements at the critical moment.

The defeat and retreat were a company of the 1st Military Police Regiment originally stationed at Shanghai North Railway Station, and a battalion of the 6th Military Police Regiment was reinforced.

How did this gendarmerie battalion appear?

Remember the 155th Regiment of the 6th Brigade preparing to move and retreat? Before the war, in order to prevent a conflict with the Japanese army, Nanjing sent the 6th Military Police Regiment to prepare to take over the defense of Zhabei, but the result was a mistake, and the 1st Battalion of the 6th Military Police Regiment only rushed to Zhenru Station that night, and it was too late to take over the defense. But this camping station is not far from Zhabei.

However, when the battle began, Weng Zhaoyuan did not expect the gendarmerie battalion to appear. The reason is simple, the gendarmerie battalion is under the jurisdiction of the gendarmerie command, not the troops of the 19th Route Army. Besides, the gendarmes maintain discipline in the army, and there are many people on duty in the rear, so it is almost impossible to send them to the front line to fight. …,

Therefore, when Weng Zhaoyuan asked Cai Tingkai for help, he didn't expect that it would be the military police.

In fact, if there are really reinforcements to be sent, Cai Tingkai will not use the gendarmerie. However, the development of the battle situation did exceed the expectations of the 19th Route Army before the war.

According to the pre-war arrangement, the 6th Regiment of the 155th Brigade of Zhang Junsong, stationed in Zhabei, should be able to support three days when it is attacked by the Japanese army, so as to facilitate the advance of reinforcements. But I didn't expect that the battle lasted less than half a day, and the 155th Brigade threw all two regiments, but the result was still in a difficult situation, and I asked for help again and again.

At this time, the main force of the 19th Route Army was still far away in Nanjing, Zhenjiang, and Suzhou, and it took time to assemble and transport, and there were not many reinforcements that could be put into battle immediately.

However, because Shi Ming's troops were scattered in various places, in order not to arouse suspicion, most of the troops were scattered in Jiangbei, and it took time to assemble, so far, only two battalions had been assembled, and at this moment they were changing into the uniforms and equipment of the 19th Route Army.

By mistake, the 1st Battalion of the 6th Military Police Regiment, which was camped at Zhenru Station, became the closest unit to the battlefield. If you don't use it, who else will you use?

It's just that the mission of the gendarmerie battalion was originally to take over the defense, not to participate in the war. How did the 19th Route Army command the gendarmes?

This is true, Jiang Guangnai and Cai Tingkai cannot directly order to the military police battalion, but the commander of the Songhu garrison is Dai Ji, and this is a member of the 19th Route Army. He can command the military police and police in Shanghai.

As a result, this gendarmerie battalion, which did not belong to the 19th Route Army, rushed to the battlefield as reinforcements after the battle began. Shi Ming, who got the news, also urgently took the two battalions that were hastily assembled, and rushed to Zhabei North Station half an hour later.

The gendarmerie battalion arrived at a good time, and just as the Japanese were about to capture the North Station, they arrived.

Li Shanggui, commander of the gendarmerie battalion who rushed to the north station, saw that the situation was urgent, and immediately divided the gendarmerie battalion into two roads. A group rushed into Shanghai North Railway Station in the midst of a fire and resisted the Japanese attack head-on. On the other hand, climb the tall building next to the station and shoot the Japanese army from a high position.

Li Shanggui knew that his gendarmerie battalion alone could not stop the Japanese army, and what he could do was to delay the Japanese offensive momentum as much as possible and wait for Zhenru's reinforcements to arrive.

If you want to talk about the combat effectiveness of the gendarmerie, then I'm afraid it's really not good. The 6th Military Police Regiment was originally adapted from the direct subordinate unit of the Military Police Department of the General Headquarters of the Nanjing Navy, Army and Air Force, and it has been in the rear for a long time, and of course it is not as experienced in a hundred battles as the field troops of the 19th Route Army. Moreover, the gendarmerie battalion only had long and short guns and a dozen light machine guns, no mortars, not even a single heavy machine gun, not to mention blocking the Japanese army, even against any local warlord army in the country, and the gendarmerie battalion could not bargain at all.

However, at critical times, in critical places, a small weight can also determine the tilt of the scale. Not to mention the fact that a battalion of gendarmes came.

At this time, the Japanese army had been attacking on the Qiujiang Road for three hours, and if we counted from last night, most of the Japanese troops had been fighting fiercely for more than 12 hours in a row. Since the beginning of the war, this was also the most powerful and fierce attack of the Japanese army. However, the end of the strong crossbow could not penetrate the reckless, and the Japanese army relied on the concentration of forces, although they successfully broke the resistance of the two battalions of the 6th Regiment in one go, but the attack momentum was already very weak.

At this time, the Japanese army had to deal with the 13 battalions of the 6th Regiment that were still fighting with them on both sides with heavy casualties, and also had to organize forces to attack the North Station.

The advent of the gendarmerie battalion made the victory that was originally easy to achieve even more out of reach. It's just that Sameshima Guzhong was very unwilling and ordered the marines to continue to storm the North Station.

At this moment, fierce gunfire suddenly sounded in the direction of the Songhu Railway behind the Japanese army, which made Sameshima Guzhong take aback. Judging by the sound of gunfire, there were not only many machine guns firing there, but also dozens of mortars. You know, the Japanese marines don't have so many mortars.

This time, more than 1,200 people were concentrated, which was the largest number of troops he could draw, and the rest of the troops were on the northern front to confront the 19th Route Army except for the important targets in the concession, and if he was surrounded by Chinese reinforcements here at this time, it would be a lot of luck