On 8 November, Songjiang was lost, and the news from Brussels made Chairman Chiang even more disappointing, and Chairman Chiang finally ordered that the 85 divisions on the Songhu front should urgently withdraw to the four permanent defense lines of Wufu, Xicheng, Jiacha, and Haijia to build the second and third defense chains.

However, at this time, it was a little late to remember the retreat.

Eighty-five exhausted remnant divisions, a full 500,000-strong army, how can it be said that they can be withdrawn? How to determine the order of retreat of the various divisions? How to draw the specific retreat route? How to set up military stations along the way and how to supply military supplies? More critically, where exactly did each division retreat?

Also, how did the counties, towns, and townships along the way connect with the army?

Wait, wait, wait, usually the transfer of one or two divisions can make the staff officers busy shedding a layer of skin, but now that more than 80 divisions are retreating together, how can the dozen or so staff officers of the commander's department of the three theaters be busy? In fact, almost as soon as the order to retreat was given, except for a few divisions left behind, the rest of the troops were in disarray.

More than 500,000 people from more than 80 divisions rushed to retreat, and the few railways and highways that were there were all crowded out, coupled with the bombing of Japanese planes in the sky and the bombardment of artillery underground, the entire Songhu battlefield suddenly turned into a chaotic whirlpool, and Anting Town, which is located on the banks of the Wusong River, is undoubtedly the center of this whirlpool.

Open the map of Shanghai during the Republic of China, you will find that the railway from Shanghai to Nanjing, the highway from Shanghai to Kunshan, and the highway from Jiading to Songjiang all pass through Anting, and even the Wusong River also flows through Anting.

What's more, after the 10th Army landed from Jinshanwei, it had formed a flanking posture with the Shanghai Dispatch Army, and nearly 300,000 Japanese troops in nine divisions were like a big iron tong that was being disturbed, and this disturbance point was chosen in Anting! If the Japanese army was allowed to occupy Anting in front of the national army, then the hundreds of thousands of national troops in western Shanghai would be finished.

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Shanghai Japanese Concession, Japanese Navy Club.

Since the Chinese army had been fully defensive, and the Japanese concession had been completely under the control of the Japanese army, Matsui Ishine moved his headquarters from the Kaga air carrier to the naval club in Yangshupo.

When Matsui Ishone walked into the war room surrounded by a large number of officers, including Major General Tsukada Tsukashi, chief of staff of the Central China Front, Major General Mamoru Iinuma, chief of staff of the Shanghai Dispatch Army, and Major General Tadaharu Sakaga, commander of the 3rd Flying Regiment, the operational staff officers of the Front Headquarters had already drawn six slender red arrows on the huge map.

These six slender and long red arrows are like three iron gates, and they have a great deal of strength to wipe out more than 80 national army divisions on the battlefield in western Shanghai.

"Your Excellency, General." A staff officer strode forward, bowed to Matsui Shigen, and then picked up a wooden pole and pointed to the map to explain, this Nakasa's name is Changyong, more than a month later, the commander of the Shanghai Dispatch Army, Asakanomiya Hatohiko, ordered to kill all the prisoners of war in Nanjing, and this telegram was drafted by this old devil.

"Up to now, the 10th Infantry Brigade of the 11th Division has been directly inserted into Jiading from Liuhe, and the 11th Infantry Brigade of the 6th Division has been directly inserted into Qingpu from Songjiang.

The 18th Division was directly inserted from Jinshan County to Pingwang, and the Shigeto Detachment was directly inserted from Baimaokou to Zhitang, and the two armies would encircle Suzhou east of Taihu Lake and west of Dianshan Lake to form a second interception line; In addition, the 16th Division will take Changshu and Wuxi from Baimaokou, and the 114th Division will take Nanxun and Wuxing from Jiaxing, forming a third interception line west of Taihu Lake.

Your Excellency, with this triple interception line in front and rear, it can be said that there is nothing to be done, and the more than 500,000 troops on the battlefield in western Shanghai are already unable to fly. ”

"Yo West, Yo West, Yo West." Matsui Shigen said several times, and then changed the conversation and continued, "But we can't underestimate the reaction speed of the Chinese army, according to the aviation reconnaissance, the Shanghai and Western Chinese army has begun to retreat on the whole line, and the Chinese army does not have too much heavy equipment, the speed of retreat is not slow, and this triple interception line may not be able to stop them." ”

The commander of the 3rd Flying Regiment, Major General Tadashi Shiga, said loudly: "Your Excellency, the 3rd Flying Regiment has gone all out and launched an all-out bombardment of the Shanghai-Nanjing Railway, the Kunming-Shanghai Highway and the Songjia Highway. ”

"Yo Xi, the all-out bombing of the 3rd Flying Regiment is very important." Matsui Ishine nodded happily, but immediately changed his tone and continued, "However, the all-out bombardment of the flying regiment can only play the role of delaying and disrupting, but cannot fundamentally prevent the retreat of the Shina army. ”

He had nothing to say, indeed, his flying regiment could do whatever it wanted over the Songhu battlefield, but it was impossible for him to become an infantry and fall to the ground to block the attack, thinking of this, he reminded him of the old words again, and said to Matsui Ishone: "Your Excellency, General, it is time for the empire to form its own airborne troops." ”

Matsui Shigen waved his hand, he didn't take this stubble, this matter is not something that he can decide as a commander of the front army, it has to be decided by those bureaucrats in the staff headquarters.

At that moment, Matsui Shigen changed the topic and said: "I don't know if you have noticed a fact, after the loss of Dachang, most of the Zhina army retreated to the south bank of the Wusong River, and now Songjiang has been captured by the 6th Division, the Shanghai-Hangzhou Railway and the Shanghai-Hangzhou Highway have been cut off by the imperial army, and the Zhina Army gathered on the south bank of the Wusong River has only one way to retreat. ”

"Anting!" Major General Tsukada Tsukashi, chief of staff of the Central China Front, took over the conversation and said, "The Chinese army on the south bank of the Wusong River had to cross the bridge from Anting, and then retreat to Kunshan along the Shanghai-Nanjing Railway and the Kunming-Shanghai Highway. ”

"That's right." Matsui Shigen took the wooden pole from Changyong's hand, pointed to the map and said, "It's Anting, if we can manage to blow up the Anting Bridge, then the Zhina army gathered on the south bank of the Wusong River, whether it is to build a pontoon bridge or take a small road, will be delayed for at least a few days, and this time, they will really have wings and it will be difficult for them to fly." ”

"It's not easy." He Zhongzhi subconsciously frowned, the 3rd Flying Regiment also had dive bombers, but it was not so easy to blow up the Anting Highway Bridge, the Chinese army's anti-aircraft machine guns were not a big threat, the problem was that it was difficult for high-speed dive fighters to lock on to the target, Zuihou often threw many heavy aerial bombs, and the bridge still failed to blow up.

Otherwise, the railway and highway bridges in western Shanghai would have been blown up by naval aviation many times.

Matsui Shigen smiled silently, relying on the aviation to blow up the Anting Highway Bridge is of course unrealistic, and he has never pinned his hopes on the aviation troops.

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Ohara Shigemi had half a cigarette in her mouth, a medium formal rifle on her shoulder, an armed belt pinned to her waist, dirty rubber-soled black cloth shoes on her feet, and the military uniform on her body was also torn and tattered, and even the steel helmet on her head was dented by bullets, and the whole was no different from the soldiers of the national army who were constantly flowing on the bridge.

If I had to find something different, it would be a white towel around Ohara's neck.

Among the soldiers of the national army who are standing, sitting or even lying down waiting to cross the bridge, there are also many people with white towels around their necks, and these soldiers communicate with Ohara Shigemi standing under the bridge from time to time.

Shigemi Ohara's special combat team was mixed into the national team last night.

At this time, the various units of the national army on the north and south banks of the Wusong River had already become a pot of porridge, and the army commander could not find the division commander, the division commander could not find the regiment commander, and the regiment commander could not find the battalion commander, and it was chaotic, plus these troops came from all over the country, and no one doubted Ohara Shigemi's thick northeast accent.

Ohara Shigemi stood under the bridge, coldly watching the national troops coming and going on the bridge, this bridge is the only highway bridge across the Wusong River nearby, and the dozens of divisions of the national army still stranded on the south bank of the Wusong River want to retreat westward, whether they take the road or take the train to cross the bridge from here, once this highway bridge is blown up, the national army will be in big trouble.

There are bridge guarding troops, the number is the 87th Division Engineer Battalion, in fact, it is more appropriate to say that they are the bridge bombing troops, because they have already placed explosives on the piers of the bridge, and the detonation headquarters is located in the small wooden board room under the south bridgehead, through the open wooden door, Ohara Shigemi can even clearly see the detonator.

Shigemi Ohara wanted to rush straight up and press down the detonator, but as soon as the bridge exploded, his mission was complete.

However, Ohara Shigemi did not do this, the reason is very simple, because the national army guarding the bridge built two ring barricades with sandbags outside the detonation headquarters, and set up two Makqin heavy machine guns, and anyone who tried to approach would be stopped.

The detonation headquarters was heavily guarded, but there was chaos on the Anting Bridge.

A small number of troops went south, more troops rushed north, and a few Bufos mountain guns tried to cross the bridge, only to be unceremoniously pushed into the mud under the piers by the infantry on the bridge, and a company commander was dragging dozens of soldiers to the bank of the river with hemp ropes, and a battalion commander was scolding his father on the bank.

At this time, there is a high possibility of making a rash move.

Shigemi Ohara noticed that when the bomber group of the aviation regiment appeared, the national troops on the bridge and those waiting to cross the bridge would fall into chaos, and the national troops guarding the bridge would also hide in nearby bunkers, and that was when the national army's security was the most lax, and Shigemi Ohara decided to do it at that time, and the probability of success was at least sixty percent!

He took out his pocket watch from his coat pocket and looked at it secretly, from the last wave of air raids to now, the time has only passed fifteen minutes, and the bomber group of the aviation regiment has returned, refueled, hung up bombs, and then taken off again, no matter how fast it is, it will take at least half an hour to catch up, so he has to continue to wait.