"Click-"

The engines roared, and eight tanks painted with blue sky and white sun emblems rumbled towards the Japanese stronghold. Behind the tank, the officers and men of the 36th Division of two companies launched a mighty charge.

"Da-da-"

The guns of the Japanese army rang out, and tongues of fire erupted everywhere in the warehouses, buildings, basement windows and sandbag fortifications, and locust-like bullets weaved into a dense net of fire, casting the shadow of death over the attacking team from all sides.

The attacking officers and men of the two companies were in great confusion, and those who were lucky enough to be uninjured hurriedly lay down on the ground or hid in the porches on both sides of the street, crackling and firing back. At this time, the cannons on the Japanese warships in the direction of Huishan Wharf lost no time in firing the ranks, and the cannonballs that had been pre-measured to shoot Zhuyuan whistled in, and the air reverberated everywhere with the huge sound of the shell explosion, and the hideous Grim Reaper danced wildly in the frightening flames and smoke.

The ranks that followed the tank attack quickly disorganized, and some of the officers and men of the 36th Division were beaten by guns and artillery, and the rest hurriedly dodged and retreated, except for the tanks continuing to advance, there was no shadow of infantry behind them.

"Boom-"

A large-caliber anti-aircraft artillery shell with a sharp whistle flew and hit a moving tank, a ball of flames rose up, the tank was immediately torn off the turret, a large hole was torn open in the front armor, and the fuel tank was on fire. Then, a swarm of shells whizzed in, forming a network of fire around the tanks, some of which tried to retreat but were hit by the shells and burned, while the remaining tanks returned fire and rushed across the road at full speed, forcing the Japanese stronghold to avoid the threat of artillery fire. Unexpectedly, at this time, several groups of demomen rushed out of the Japanese stronghold at the same time, they carried explosive bags, used the corners of the wall, or with the cover of broken fortifications, crawling and jumping to approach the tank with agility and agility.

At this time, there was no infantry cover around the tank, and the Japanese demomen approached the tank unscrupulously, and a loud and sharp blasting sound came, and the tanks were paralyzed on the ground, some caught fire and burned, and some turned into the trench next to the road. The heroic tank crews escaped from the turret, were immediately covered in blood by rows of bullets, hung upside down on the turret, and were quickly surrounded by fire.

At this point, the tank units assigned to the 36th Division were completely annihilated, and the Chinese army's offensive was once again declared a failure.

Nanjing National Government, West Garden, Conference Room of the Military Commission.

In accordance with the spirit of the 51 st meeting of the Kuomintang Central Political Committee on 11 August, it was decided to set up a "Supreme Council for National Defense" and stipulate that the National Defense Council is the highest decision-making organ for national defense and is responsible to the Political Committee of the Kuomintang Central Executive Committee. On 16 July, the Supreme Council of National Defense appointed Chiang Kai-shek as the generalissimo of the army, navy, and air force to command the army, navy, and air force throughout the country to fight against Japan.

The foreign war prompted a scattered China to temporarily rally closely around the central government with Chiang Kai-shek as the commander-in-chief, and realized the personal wish that Chairman Chiang Kai-shek had dreamed of for many years, but Chiang Kai-shek's good mood did not last long.

The Nanjing government's successive delaying tactics by the Japanese, hoping that the European and American powers would be involved, finally relieved the Japanese, but now the front-line offensive has been continuously defeated, and the Chinese and Japanese armies have formed a tug-of-war situation in the downtown area of Shanghai, which made Chiang Kai-shek, who was originally full of confidence, wake up from his dream and regret it.

Now that Shanghai is in danger, the military committee and the bigwigs are all blind, and they can't come up with a way to deal with it except for mobilizing troops from the rear to reinforce it.

Chiang Kai-shek scolded Niang Xipi in his heart, at the beginning, He Yingqin and Qian Dajun patted their chests one by one and promised that the European and American powers would definitely come forward to get involved, and the Sino-Japanese war still had the dawn of peace, but now they all stopped talking.

Chiang Kai-shek looked around expressionlessly, couldn't help it any longer, and asked with chagrin and anger: "Now that Shanghai is in danger, I don't know what you can do to solve it?" ”

The German advisers tightened their faces and shrugged their shoulders to say that they could not help, and they were resolutely opposed to a hasty truce when the war went well, but Chiang Kai-shek did not listen to them, believing that the Chinese army attacked Shanghai and hit the Japanese seven inches, and perhaps they could rely on the mediation of the European and American powers to restore peace between China and Japan.

Chiang Kai-shek's face was very ugly, and he turned his gaze to Yang Jie, Gong Hao, Chen Bui and others, they were also very anxious one by one, but they did not have the means to resolve the crisis in a snap of their fingers, which made Chiang Kai-shek shake his head again and again

Qian Dajun's eyes narrowed, coughed slightly, and said to Chiang Kai-shek: "Commission, I have a way, I don't know if it is feasible or not?" ”

"Oh? Mu Yin, is there any way to listen to it?"

Chiang Kai-shek was indeed in a hurry, and Japanese reinforcements could be sent to Shanghai at any time, and if he could not destroy the Japanese troops entrenched in Hongkou, Yangshupu and other places, the consequences would be unpredictable.

"Commission, the situation in Shanghai is ...... now" Qian Dajun originally wanted to show off, but unexpectedly, Chiang Kai-shek's brows furrowed, and there were signs of anger, Qian Dajun hurriedly pointed to the map and said: "Now the Japanese troops entrenched in the downtown area of Shanghai are mainly marines, and there are also volunteers composed of some expatriates, as long as the marines are annihilated in one fell swoop, the battle will be much easier......

Chiang Kai-shek rolled his eyes, isn't this nonsense? Everyone wanted to destroy the Japanese marines, but the opponent was well-equipped and relied on strong fortifications for cover, so how could the combat effectiveness be doubled? Coupled with the threat of Japanese naval artillery on the Huangpu River, the three German armor divisions in front are already at the end of their crossbows, so how easy is it to achieve the goal?

Qian Dajun bent down slightly, with a hint of flattery on his face: "Bench, Wu Ming's new Second Division is now subordinate to Zhang Xianghua's Eighth Group Army, and now the Eighth Group Army is performing well, and the battle situation in Hangzhou Bay and Pudong is stable, and the elite force of the New Second Division cannot be used for the time being." If the new Second Division, which has super combat strength, is transferred to the command of General Zhang Wenbai of the Ninth Group Army at this time, and the 36th, 87th, and 88th Divisions are flanked and covered, I believe that it will be easy to take the battle in the downtown area of Shanghai. ”

"Wu Ming?"

Chiang Kai-shek carefully considered Qian Dajun's words, and the more he thought about it, the more he felt that it made sense.

After telephone and telegraph exchanges with his eldest son, Chiang Ching-kuo, Chiang Kai-shek had a better understanding of Wu Ming's new Second Division. In terms of combat effectiveness, the new 2nd Division was by no means below the three German divisions. Because of this, Wu Ming arrested Kong Shenxi's cousin Kong Erye, and Chiang Kai-shek did not blame him in the slightest.

Chiang Kai-shek pondered for a while, and finally nodded, and asked Chen Cheng next to him: "Resignation, if Wu Ming's troops are transferred to join the Songhu battlefield, are you sure to take the concession area where the Japanese army is entrenched?" ”

Through the mouth of Major General Xia Chuzhong, the commander of the 98th Division under his command who was split and used by Zhang Zhizhong, Chen Cheng knew that the Japanese Marine Corps was well-equipped and extremely strong in combat effectiveness, and the three German armament divisions plus several divisions attached to the 18th Army took turns to attack and were beaten back, and this hard bone was difficult to gnaw. But when Chiang Kai-shek asked, Chen Cheng couldn't help but answer, thought about it, and said:

"I don't dare to say that I will definitely be able to take it, but there is at least hope for dispatching the new Second Division, unlike the current dilemma of not going up or down, which makes people feel unsure."

Although Chen Cheng's tone was not so sure, it was still surprising, and no one expected that Chen Cheng would respect Wu Ming so much.

Chiang Kai-shek finally made up his mind: "Okay, transfer the 45th Brigade of Zhang Luanji, drive to Zhapu, and take over the defensive position of the new Second Division." The Eighth Group Army was ordered to replenish the firepower and equipment of the New Second Division, and after the New Second Division completed the handover of defense, it quickly reorganized itself and sailed to Shanghai and transferred it to the command of the Ninth Group Army. ”

"Yes"

Xinfeng Town, northwest of Pinghu City, is the main battalion of the defense line of the new Second Division.

Du Pingzhang, the chief of the confidential section, hurriedly walked into the command headquarters, and saw Wu Ming, who was watching the staff office in front of the sand table to deduce the battle situation, and hurriedly stepped forward: "Divisional seat, military 丨 committee and staff headquarters emergency telegram"

Wu Ming took the telegram, glanced at it quickly, and his spirit was shocked: "Ziran, immediately draft an order, the whole division will quickly concentrate on the national defense line after handing over the defense to friendly forces, and the military committee requires us to rush to Shanghai as quickly as possible to reinforce the Ninth Group Army." ”

Dai Ziran quickly recorded Wu Ming's order, and then asked Wu Ming to sign his name, and immediately Du Pingzhang went to the telecommunications room to order the brigades.

After doing all this, Dai Ziran shook his head with a wry smile: "Worry about what's coming, we are really involved in the battle in Shanghai, fortunately, we have been mentally prepared, and we have specially done training and war situation deduction, otherwise there will really be problems."

Wu Ming patted Dai Ziran on the shoulder: "This is normal, we have been in the limelight with one enemy and three in the Yushan exercise...... If the bigwigs of the Military Committee still can't remember us at this juncture, I'm afraid we will have to worry about whether there will be any conspiracy against us."

"Okay, now that the order has been issued, what we need to do now is to strive to fight the war well, quickly cut through the chaos to eliminate the Japanese devils entrenched in the concession, and use real military exploits to fight back against those who have painstakingly calculated us."

Hearing Wu Ming say this, Dai Ziran couldn't help but say: "Yes, the old master was killed by fists, and the three strengthened German divisions took the Japanese stronghold, and our new second division may not be able to do it, this time we have prepared enough secret weapons, enough for the little devil to drink a pot."

"Don't boast about Haikou, go and prepare," Wu Ming ordered, and then came to the large map of Songhu hanging on one wall, pondering how to break the turtle of the Japanese devil while preserving himself

"Division Commander, Nanjing Emergency Electricity"

A confidential staff officer rushed into the headquarters, and Wu Ming took it and saw that it was a telegram from Chen Cheng. In the telegram, Chen Cheng repeatedly stressed that this trip to Songhu to fight was a national war, and asked Wu Ming to follow the order, not to lose his temper indiscriminately, and not to clash with friendly forces.

Chen Cheng confessed that Wu Ming could go to the quartermaster department of the Eighth Group Army to receive the necessary weapons, equipment and ammunition, and that the ammunition consumption could be replenished by the Ninth Army in the future.

Wu Ming hurriedly called back to express his gratitude, and then called Zhang Dongning, chief of staff, who was leading people to organize logistics supplies in Jiaxing, and asked him to immediately go to the headquarters of the Eighth Army to contact and receive weapons and equipment.