Section 166 Reasons for the collapse of the 58th Division

Shi's anger was not without reason, he had fought so many battles with his troops, and he also knew that there was a huge gap between the combat effectiveness of the national army and the Japanese army, and it was normal to evacuate if he could not win. However, there is also a retreat to pay attention to retreat, and retreating in an orderly manner and scattering in a hurry are two completely different concepts, the former can establish the next line of defense after retreating to favorable terrain and continue to fight the Japanese army, while the latter is a rout, a rout, and can only wait for the enemy's pursuit. Especially when the commander is in a bloody battle on the front line and the soldiers under his command have fled, it means that these people do not have any blood, a group of bloodless people, what kind of battle can a bloodless army fight?

The cavalry battalion soldiers who followed closely behind the stone raised their cavalry rifles one after another, pointing at the officer and the soldiers behind him, Zhao Yidao took two steps forward, and his right hand clenched the narrow saber. His expression was grim, his face was murderous, and he stared at the major tightly, like a tiger waiting to be devoured, which made the major feel breathless. The sun in the sky was very hot, and the sunlight sprinkled on the major's body, but it made him feel a cold sweat all over his body, looked at Zhao Yidao, and then looked at the stone sitting on the back of the horse with an arrogant expression, he couldn't help but shiver.

"Brothers, turn back, Deputy Master Zhang is still fighting with the devil, we can't just take care of our own lives, kill back and rescue Deputy Master Zhang!" The major finally reacted, he gritted his teeth and yelled at the brothers behind him, and with his roar, the deserters of the 58th Division who were stunned behind him also reacted. Looking at the cavalry unit in front of them, they felt fear, and when they thought that the major general on horseback was likely to be the head of the stone regiment who killed the enemy like a dog, a glimmer of hope rose in their hearts. The stone has been through a hundred battles, and has not been defeated, and the battle behind him means that there are countless military exploits.

They collapsed and fled, just because they couldn't see the hope of winning, just because they didn't want to die in vain because of fear in their hearts, but now, an undefeated myth is in front of them, and an opportunity to get promoted and rich is in front of them.

"Kill, brothers, the stones of the independent regiment are here, let's go back and kill the devils together!" I don't know who yelled so loudly after turning around, and in a blink of an eye, a boiling stream of people formed, and countless people followed him and shouted: "The stone of the independent regiment is here, brothers kill devils together!" ”

In the area near the Chishi River, fierce battles are going on. I saw that on the position on the north bank of the river, there were bursts of violent roars, and the positions of the national army on the south bank were covered by fierce artillery fire from beginning to end, billowing smoke and dust straight to the sky, and even the blazing sunlight was blocked by these thick smoke and dust, so that the people in it felt like they were in hell, and they only felt dark.

The Chishi River is not actually a separate river, but still a Laodao River, but the rivers in this area are very different from other places. The banks of the river are not the usual muddy embankments, but dark brown rocks, which are usually as shocking as if they were stained red with blood when the sun shines on them, hence the names "River of Blood" and "River of Red Stone".

At this moment, this became the main part of the Japanese attack, and since the beginning of the battle, the Japanese troops have been constantly attacking the positions on the south bank along the long river embankment and in the dark brown stone forest. In particular, their artillery unit was constantly firing artillery from beginning to end, constantly covering the assault troops to cross the river, and after the offensive of this unit began, the 58th Division stationed here already felt that this unit was different from other Japanese units.

The enemy army in front of him is far more cruel than other Japanese troops! Why? Generally speaking, the Japanese offensive will be divided into several phases, the artillery attack of the air force and the suppression of artillery, followed by the assault of the infantry. However, this Japanese army at this moment is not like this, their artillery only carried out a few simple rounds of attacks in the early stage, which did not look like fire suppression at all, but more like to adjust the direction of the firing. The attacking troops began to assault, using small boats scavenged from all sides, and continued to advance towards the south bank.

In the midst of such an attack, the artillery bombardment from the rear of the Japanese position never stopped, and on the river that stretched for several miles, countless small boats carrying the Japanese attack troops rushed to the south bank like moths to the fire in the face of enemy fire and artillery bombardment. Countless bullets and shells fell into the river, setting off huge waves and amazing waves, and from time to time a small boat was hit by a cannonball flying from an unknown direction, and the boat was destroyed and people died. However, such losses did not make the Japanese army retreat in the slightest, and even the attack became more and more fierce, and this crazy momentum alone plunged the 58th Division on the south bank into chaos.

The 58th Division is a unit brought out by Yu Jishi, even if the 74th Army has reached its peak under the command of Wang Yaowu at this moment, and Wang Yaowu's own prestige among the officers and men of the 74th Army has also reached its peak, but the troops of the 58th Division are still under the control of Yu Jishi's cronies. This is also the reason why Liao Lingqi is a small teacher, but he doesn't buy Wang Yaowu's account much. Because Liao Lingqi knew that he and Wang Yaowu were completely two different people, as long as he always obeyed the orders of the old commander, as long as he tried his best to ensure that the troops were not greatly damaged, there would be no problems in the 74th Army. However, it is extremely unfortunate that before the battle began, Liao Lingqi happened to go because of his family.

At this moment, the command of the 58th Division was taken over by Deputy Division Commander Zhang Lingfu, and the whole division fought against the enemy under his command. If it is an ordinary battle, Zhang Lingfu designated the 58th Division to fight, there will be no problem, although Zhang Lingfu was born in the 51st Division and is Wang Yaowu's cronies, but Zhang Lingfu brought victory and glory to the 58th Division in the first battle of Shanggao, which made him initially win the trust of the officers and men of the 58th Division. However, at this moment, it is a big battle related to the survival of the 58th teachers and students, the strength of the enemy army in front of them is far beyond their imagination, a division is hard to resist the attack of the enemy and a division, and this division is not like the kind of garrison division faced by the 57th Division during the battle of Shanggao, but a division of the first type, and many people in the 58th Division are afraid.

Zhang Lingfu is still as brave as when he was in Luodian, although the troops under his command are not enough, he is very confident that he can block the devil on the river. At this moment, the Japanese army opened a long line of skirmishers, using countless small boats to carry out assaults, trying to tear apart the defense line on the south bank, but Zhang Lingfu was not concerned about this, he did not pay much attention to these troops, but ordered all units to hold their own defense line, even if they were killed by the enemy ashore, they would never allow unauthorized attacks and evacuation. His eyes were always on the place where the Japanese troops had built the pontoon bridge, and he personally took the 173rd Regiment to guard in this area, and with this unit that had followed him during the Battle of Shanggao, he was waiting to fight the devil to the death here.

Zhang Lingfu was very aware of the seriousness of the battle in front of him, and he was also very aware of the tactics of the Japanese army on the other side. The 6th Division of the Japanese Army on the other side of the river was the most capable unit of the Japanese army, and it was also the most feared enemy, not only because of the enemy's strong strength, but also because of their cruel methods, cruel to themselves and even more cruel to the enemy. Wherever this division goes, there will be rivers of blood and corpses, and in the eyes of this division, no one else should exist in this world except for them Japanese. This kind of almost extreme thinking made them the initiators of the "Nanjing Massacre", and hundreds of thousands of innocent people died tragically under the swords and guns of the Japanese army.

In the city of Nanjing, corpses are piled up like mountains, bleeding and drifting!

Zhang Lingfu decided to attack the Japanese army here, a bloody national shame! Although many Japanese soldiers could go ashore in this way, he believed that these Japanese troops did not have heavy weapons, and it was impossible to conquer the positions on the south bank and take the strongholds one by one, as long as the pontoon bridge erected by the Japanese engineer wing on the river was blocked, and as long as the heavy weapons and formed troops of the Japanese army could be prevented from crossing the river, the Chishi River could definitely be defended. This is not his arrogance and overconfidence, but his judgment after knowing the strength and weapons of the enemy and our armies.

However, the war is sometimes too complicated, and Zhang Lingfu's estimated strength and combat strength are not problematic, but he did not predict the determination of the officers and men of the 58th Division to resist the war, or his prestige in the 58th Division. This is no longer the original 153 Brigade, this is not the 51st Division where he has always been, this is the old capital of Yu Jishi, the old commander of the 74th Army, and Yu Jishi's cronies, the officers of each department do not know Zhang Lingfu's thoughts, do not know what his determination to win is, watching the Japanese troops on the river constantly rushing ashore under the cover of artillery, constantly establishing beachheads, and the 58th Division collapsed. At this time, the thing they were thinking about was, would Zhang Lingfu take this opportunity to wipe out the 58th Division? And then take this opportunity to transfer a large number of people over and directly master the 58th Division?

Once people have an idea, this idea will spread wildly like a vine, and with dark speculation about Zhang Lingfu's idea, this idea will take root in their minds, and gradually make themselves believe that this is the truth. The positions of the 58th Division collapsed immediately, and the 172nd Regiment, the 174th Regiment, and the Field Supplementary Regiment immediately retreated frantically, desperately fleeing backwards.

Zhang Lingfu did not retreat, hearing the news that the three regiments collapsed and retreated, he did not hesitate to pull out the pistol on his waist, and then pushed it to the head of Cai Renjie, the commander of the 173rd regiment, and asked simply, "Do you want to die now, or will you die?" ”

Cai Renjie was dumbfounded, the entire military headquarters was silent, and everyone was stunned by Deputy Division Commander Zhang's actions, and looked at him in horror one by one.

Cai Renjie had no choice, at this time he had no choice at all, so he could only grit his teeth and say: "I am willing to fight to the end with Deputy Master Zhang, and never die!" ”

"Very good, after this battle, if we don't die, you will be the deputy commander of the 58th Division." As Zhang Lingfu spoke, he nodded to the guards on the side, and then the two guards took over Zhang Lingfu's actions and put a gun on Cai Renjie's chest.