readx;? Wang Haitao received an order to block the enemy for 48 hours, and there was no big problem here in Suzhou Creek, mainly in Xuhui District, where the remnants of the 18th and 5th Divisions of the Japanese army directly entered Xuhui District after occupying Minhang District. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

In such a situation, Wang Haitao had to use the 542nd Regiment in his hand. Wang Haitao ordered the 542nd Regiment to immediately rush to the Caogang River in Xuhui District, set up a blocking position on the north bank of the Caogang River, and must block the Japanese army for 48 hours. Tang Yikuan, the commander of the 542nd Regiment, took the 542nd Regiment to run towards the Caogang River after receiving the order.

In view of the slow movement of the heavy artillery regiment, Wang Haitao ordered the heavy artillery regiment and the logistics department to retreat immediately and stand by behind the Wufu defense line on the front line of Suzhou. At the same time, he also sent a telegram to Zhao Zhongwu of Sheshan, ordering him to retreat on his own after blocking the enemy for forty-eight hours.

When the 147th and 1482nd Divisions were preparing to retreat, they found that a brigade of the 9th Division of the Japanese Army, after defeating the 154th Division of the Left Route Army, had crossed the Suzhou Creek from Huangdu Town and rushed along the Suzhou Creek towards downtown Shanghai. The situation was critical, and if this brigade of the 9th Division attacked the defenders from the flank, the defensive position on the south bank of the Suzhou Creek would inevitably collapse at once.

After discussing with Yang Guozhen, commander of the 147th Division, and Chen Wancheng, commander of the 148th Division, they resolutely decided to lead the rest of the 147th and 1482nd Divisions north to block the brigade of the 9th Division of the Japanese Army. When this situation was reported to Wang Haitao by Zhao Fei, the head of the 545th Regiment, Wang Haitao was also deeply moved by the Sichuan army's behavior of standing up regardless of life and death.

Wang Haitao telegraphed the 545th and 5462nd regiments to cover the safe transfer of the 147th and 1482nd divisions of the Sichuan Army after completing the task of blocking the attack. Twenty-four hours passed, and the Japanese army seemed to have received the news that the defenders of Shanghai were in full retreat, and the attacks on the first line of Suzhou Creek became more and more ferocious, but these attacks were desperately blocked by the officers and men of the new 90th Division.

At 12 o'clock in the afternoon of 8 January, the new 90th Division had completed the order issued by General Gu Zhutong to block the enemy for 48 hours. Wang Haitao first issued an order to all regiments of the division to hold out until dark and retreat on their own, and the whole division to assemble in Chonggu Town, a suburb of Shanghai. At six o'clock in the evening, although the Japanese attack did not stop, the intensity of the attack was much smaller.

The regiments began to withdraw from their positions, leaving dozens of fighters on each position for final cover. Basically, after being wounded in battle, these fighters had difficulty moving and were unwilling to drag down the movement of the large army, so they stayed on the ground with the intention of death. After all the troops had withdrawn from their positions, Wang Haitao's division headquarters began to retreat under the protection of the guard company and the reconnaissance company.

At three o'clock in the night, Wang Haitao's division headquarters successfully arrived at Chonggu Town, and at this time, the 542nd Regiment and the 547th Regiment and Zhao Zhongwu's headquarters had already arrived at Chonggu Town and began to guard around Chonggu Town. At 5:00 a.m., the 543rd and 544th regiments also arrived at Chonggu Town, but only the 545th and 546th regiments and the 147th and 148th divisions of the Sichuan Army did not arrive.

Just when Wang Haitao was anxiously waiting for the troops that had not arrived, the reconnaissance company came to report that the Japanese army had been found in the southwest of Chonggu Town. After receiving the report, Su Zuxin, Zhao Zhongwu and others advised Wang Haitao to withdraw first, and just leave a force here to meet the troops that had not arrived. Wang Haitao said categorically: "No, from the independent regiment to today, we have always held the purpose of not giving up and not abandoning. Now that you have asked me to leave those officers and soldiers who have not yet arrived, how will I deal with those brethren in the future?"

Until seven o'clock in the morning, fierce gunfire rang out in the northeast of Chonggu Town in the morning light. Wang Haitao ran up to the east wall, raised his binoculars and looked in the direction of the gunshots. The distance is a bit far, and the vision is not very good, so Wang Haitao can't see what the situation is. Wang Haitao said to the Tangshan leopard beside him: "Your guard battalion will go out of the town to pick it up, no matter what kind of troops it is, it will come to the town and talk about it." Tangshan Leopard agreed, turned around and went to assemble the guard battalion out of town.

Wang Haitao also asked the troops to add a few heavy machine guns to this wall, aiming them in the direction from which the gunfire came. An hour later, a team appeared in Wang Haitao's telescope, judging by the costume, it should be the Sichuan army. Immediately after that, the troops of the new 90th Division appeared behind the Sichuan Army. Wang Haitao hurriedly asked people to open the gate of the town and let these troops into the town.

The troops in front entered the town, and the soldiers of the guard battalion after the break were fighting and retreating, and the soldiers of the guard battalion were 400 meters opposite to the Japanese troops on the left and right. When the pursuing Japanese troops were less than 800 meters away from the wall, Wang Haitao ordered the heavy machine gunners on the wall: "Hit, give me a hard beat!"

The six Type 57 heavy machine guns on the wall roared at the same time, and the rainstorm of bullets brought down the Japanese troops chasing in front in pieces, and the Japanese soldiers behind couldn't help but be startled and stopped the pursuit. The soldiers of the guard battalion outside the city took the opportunity to enter the town and closed the gates. And Wang Haitao also walked down the wall at this time, and the two division commanders of the 147th Division and the 148th Division of the Sichuan Army greeted him.

Chen Wancheng, the commander of the 148th Division, was also slightly injured, and Wang Haitao said to the two division commanders: "The brothers of the Sichuan Army have worked hard. The two division commanders said at the same time: "Master Wang is polite, this is our responsibility." Wang Haitao replied: "Don't say more, the two of you will take the brothers to rest first, and we may continue to retreat soon." ”

After the two division commanders took the Sichuan army down to rest, Wang Haitao asked Su Zuxin and the two brigade commanders to count the number of people, weapons and ammunition, and then came to the temporary headquarters to study the map. When it was almost noon, Su Zuxin and the two brigade commanders came to the temporary headquarters, and Su Zuxin said to Wang Haitao: "Division, the count has been counted, and there are still 3,826 officers and soldiers in the town, of which 452 are lightly wounded and 89 are seriously injured, and there are sufficient weapons and ammunition. ”

Wang Haitao asked again: "Which regiment suffered the most serious losses?" What about the Sichuan army?" Su Zuxin replied: "The most serious losses are the 547th Regiment and the 544th Regiment. There were only 900 people left in the 544th Regiment, the second battalion commander Tang Weichu was martyred, and the third battalion commander Wei Yunbao was seriously injured. There were 560 men left in the 547th Regiment, the regiment commander Zhang Lingfu was wounded in the leg, the second battalion commander Gao Guangshi was seriously injured, and the third battalion commander Li Dehai was martyred. The Sichuan army also suffered heavy casualties, and the two divisions combined only had more than 1,000 officers and soldiers left, and several regimental and battalion-level officers were martyred. ”

As soon as Su Zuxin finished reporting, Tang Xiaoshan, the commander of the reconnaissance battalion outside the gate, came to report: "Report to the division, the Japanese army has surrounded Chonggu Town from all sides, the west and south of the city are the 22nd Division of the Japanese Army, the north of the city is the 29th Brigade of the 3rd Division of the Japanese Army, and the east of the city is the 22nd Brigade of the 11th Division of the Japanese Army. ”

Wang Haitao said: "You go and inform the commanders of the whole division to come to the meeting, and invite the two division commanders of the Sichuan Army to come as well." Tang Xiaoshan agreed and ran away, and after a while, everyone came to the temporary headquarters. Wang Haitao saw that everyone was coming, and said: "Everyone, don't hide it from you, the information you just got is that the Japanese army has surrounded this Chonggu town, and there are nearly 20,000 Japanese soldiers around this small Chonggu town. I'm ready to break through. ”

Speaking of this, Wang Haitao paused for a moment and continued: "My plan is this, gather all the mortars in the whole division, aim at the Japanese troops outside the west gate, and after the shelling, let the whole regiment of the 543rd Regiment be equipped with automatic weapons to be the pioneer, and at the same time use all the tanks and armored vehicles of the armored battalion. Once the 543rd Regiment opened the gap, the 545th Regiment was responsible for tearing up the gap and ensuring that the main force broke through, and after the guards were broken, the 542nd Regiment and the reconnaissance battalion were responsible for the central guard tasks. ”

Speaking of this, Wang Haitao looked at the crowd and asked, "Does anyone still have a problem?" After waiting for a while, no one answered, and then said: "Okay, everyone will go separately to make preparations, start shelling at two o'clock in the afternoon, break through the siege on time at half past two, and after the breakout, the troops will advance in the direction of Suzhou City in the west." They got up and replied, "Yes!" ”

At 1:40 a.m., all the mortars of all calibers in the division were gathered together, and there were more than 200 of them, and the average shells of each gun were no less than 50 rounds. After setting up the firing elements, the artillerymen stood quietly next to the gun emplacement, waiting for the firing order. This is under the personal command of Wang Haitao, and there is a company of the reconnaissance battalion surrounding Wang Haitao, and the guard battalion is serving as a guard on the wall.

The Japanese may have known that the main force of the New 90th Division had surrounded the Chinese people, and after the report, the two division commanders of the 3rd Division and the 11th Division of the Japanese Army ordered to besiege Chonggu Town, and then attack after they arrived with artillery units. Therefore, at this time, the town of Chonggu was not attacked by the Japanese army.

At two o'clock in the afternoon, Wang Haitao looked at his watch and shouted: "Let's start!" Suddenly, more than 200 mortars fired their first shells at the same time. The 65th Brigade of the 22nd Division of the Japanese Army was the unit guarding outside the West Gate. Since the landing, the 22nd Division, under the cover of heavy artillery and aircraft, has been attacking smoothly, and it was only at the foot of Sheshan that it encountered a little resistance from the Chinese army.

It is said that the main force of the Shina people resisted, and some artillery was also resisted, but under the attack of the Japanese Imperial Army, they only resisted for two days and fled from the position with heavy casualties. Therefore, the 65th Brigade did not pay attention to the Chinese army surrounded in Chonggu Town at all. Major General Sadaharu Nakamura, the commander of the 65th Brigade, had in his heart that the besieged Shina army would be wiped out except to surrender.

It was almost two o'clock, and Major General Sadaharu Nakamura was eagerly awaiting the order to attack, and his soldiers were ready to attack. But what they were waiting for was a merciless attack from more than 200 mortars in the town at the same time. The Japanese soldiers' eyes widened in surprise as they looked at the dense cannonballs flying in the sky.