readx;? Li Taoheng, the commander of the 53rd Division, was taking out a pack of cigarettes and scattering them one by one. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 After Wang Haitao said that he would not smoke, Division Commander Li Taoheng lit one by himself, took a few sharp breaths, and said to Wang Haitao after exhaling a long breath: "Division Commander Wang, the brothers have fought hard in this battle! Several divisions of the best-equipped Central Army have withdrawn, leaving only us, the miscellaneous divisions, to carry it.

The firepower of the little Japan is too fierce, Commander Wang, you can see for yourself how many heavy weapons the little Japanese have on the other side of the bridge, as soon as the little Japan attacked, the light and heavy machine gun bullets were like torrential rain, and the soldiers in the fortifications couldn't raise their heads at all. The few heavy machine guns that were originally small were destroyed by the artillery fire of the little Japanese in less than two days, and the current position can only be supported by a few light machine guns.

Originally, our 53rd Division and 145th Division each defended a bridge, but in an attack by the small Japanese on the bridgehead position, a company of soldiers sent to it would lose more than half of its men, and it was really unaffordable, so we had to blow up the wooden bridge and concentrate two divisions to defend a bridge. Now there are only three or four thousand people in our two divisions combined. If it hadn't been for the fact that yesterday Shangfeng told us that your new 90th Division had reinforced the Suzhou Creek position, we might not have been able to hold on. ”

As soon as Division Commander Li Taoheng finished speaking, gunshots and explosions were heard from the direction of the bridgehead. After hearing the gunshots, Wang Haitao walked to an old-fashioned "V" periscope in the headquarters and observed the situation on the front position in front of the mirror. Division Commander Li was not wrong, the defenders after the fortifications were simply pressed by the Japanese light and heavy machine guns and could not lift their heads, and several light machine guns had just fired a shuttle of bullets, and the machine gunners died under the muzzle of the Japanese guns, and then replaced by a machine gunner. When the Japanese infantry reached the center of the bridge, the defenders relied on grenades to repel the Japanese attack.

After reading it, Wang Haitao frowned and said to the two division commanders: "It's not okay to defend like this, the heavy firepower is too little to suppress the Japanese firepower, which puts too much pressure on the defenders on the position, and the fortifications are not in place." After thinking for a while, Wang Haitao shouted: "Tang Weimin!" Tang Weimin, the head of the 543rd Regiment, stood up and replied: "Here!"

Wang Haitao said: "Your 543rd Regiment entered the position here after dinner, there is no bunker, there is no trench, you have to find a way to improve the fortifications on the position. The mortars in the regiment were placed in the back, and the artillery positions and heavy machine gun positions of the Japanese troops on the opposite side were knocked out with artillery fire early tomorrow, so as to give the Japanese troops a little bitter taste first. Tang Weimin replied: "Yes, the 543rd Regiment will guarantee the completion of the task." ”

Wang Haitao nodded and said, "Okay! Here I will hand it over to you Tang Weimin, if there is any difficulty, report it in time, but without my order, you are not allowed to retreat a step." After Tang Weimin replied "yes!" again, Wang Haitao turned to the two division commanders and said: "After the 543rd Regiment comes, please ask the two division commanders to take more care, and the officers and men of the 2nd Division will retreat to the back of the defense line to rest and recuperate, while doing reinforcements, and in case the 543rd Regiment is not supported, please also ask the two division commanders to provide timely support." ”

Li Taoheng, commander of the 53rd Division, and Rao Guohua, commander of the 145th Division, replied at the same time: "They are all party members, and this is all within their duties, so please rest assured that Commander Wang." At this point, Wang Haitao and the others left the headquarters after saying goodbye and went to the next place of fierce fighting, while Tang Weimin rushed back to the camp and gathered the 543rd Regiment to prepare to reinforce this position.

The second place is the Fahua Bridge Position, which is garrisoned by the 144th Division and the 146th Division of the Sichuan Army, and it is also the one with the largest casualties. Wang Haitao saw why when he arrived at the scene. This Fahuadu Bridge is a railway bridge, which was originally used for the railway from Shanghai West Railway Station to Shanghai East Railway Station, and the bridge deck is wider, although there are railroad tracks, but the Japanese army chariots can drive on the bridge deck.

At this time, there were still two bombed-out chariots on the bridge deck, and the remains of Sichuan soldiers were densely covered near the chariots. At a glance, it is clear that in order to blow up these two tanks, the officers and men of the Sichuan army paid a great price. Looking at the battlefield in front of him, Guo Xunqi, commander of the 144th Division, and Fan Shaozeng, commander of the 146th Division, were also silent beside Wang Haitao, and Fan Shaozeng, the commander of the 146th Division, was also wounded, hanging with a bandage on one arm.

Looking at the only light machine gun on the front-line position, and the old rifles in the hands of the soldiers, the original color of the military uniform and the black skin, there is no need for the two division commanders to say more, Wang Haitao knows that it has reached the most critical time here. Wang Haitao asked, "How many soldiers are left?" Guo Qiqi replied: "There are still 3,000 soldiers in the two divisions, but the bullets are running out, and there are not many grenades left." ”

Wang Haitao shouted: "Wei Hai, you immediately go back to the camp and lead the 544th Regiment to take over the position here." Let Wei Yonglu go to the logistics office and get five more 82 recoilless guns. I'm going to make these little Japanese tin kings suffer a little. Wei Hai replied loudly: "Yes! After saying that, he turned around and ran in the direction of the barracks.

Wang Haitao said to the two division commanders again: "The brothers of the Sichuan army have suffered, hold on a little longer, and after my troops take over the defense, you will withdraw to the second-line position to rest." I still have some captured Japanese-style weapons, and I will add them to you, these old weapons can be scrapped. The two division commanders said gratefully: "I have long heard that the 26th Division Commander Guo praised Master Wang's benevolence and righteousness, and it really deserves its reputation. On behalf of the brothers of the Sichuan Army, I have thanked Master Wang. ”

When Wang Haitao and his entourage came to the last main position, the Zhongshan Road and Bridge position, Lieutenant General Yang Guozhen, commander of the 147th Division of the Sichuan Army, and Lieutenant General Chen Wancheng, commander of the 148th Division, greeted them. The situation here is also not optimistic, but the south of the bridge is an industrial area, there are several factories, and the Sichuan army occupies several buildings and factories by the bridge, so they can condescendingly block this more than 20 meters wide Mixed Earth Bridge.

Even so, the Sichuan army, which did not have many heavy weapons, was extremely difficult to defend, as if the Japanese army had invested chariot troops here, and these chariots made the Sichuan army suffer enough, and if they wanted to blow up a Japanese chariot, they would have to fight with a dozen or even dozens of lives. Several times the Japanese tanks were blown up after they broke through to the south of the bridge, and the Sichuan army held the position with broadswords and human lives.

The terrain here is open, the bridge deck is wide, and the buildings of several factories have to be occupied, so Wang Haitao sent the 545th Regiment and the 546th Regiment to jointly garrison the position here, and asked the veterans of the former 547th Regiment who can use bazookas in the 546th Regiment to receive 10 40 rocket launchers and vehicles equipped with rockets to deal with the Japanese army.

After inspecting the entire position, Wang Haitao chose Chaowangmiao Heights as his division headquarters. Although it is called a high ground, that is, a dirt slope, there is a small temple on the top of the slope, which has become an empty temple at this time, the guard company cleaned up, Wang Haitao and others entered this temple and set up the wartime new 90th Division headquarters.

After settling down, Wang Haitao's first order was to send half of the heavy artillery regiment to the Japanese troops on the north bank of the Fahuadu Bridge and Zhongshan Road Bridge, and wait for the order to bombard. At this time, Wang Haitao still had the 542nd Regiment with the strongest combat effectiveness in the whole division, and in the face of such a dangerous position, Wang Haitao did not have a unit with combat effectiveness as a reserve, and it was very uneasy for Wang Haitao to have a unit with combat effectiveness as a reserve.

The headquarters hung up a newly drawn map of Shanghai's enemies and friends, and Wang Haitao stood in front of this map, looking at the map for a long time without saying a word. Su Zuxin and the others knew that Wang Haitao was thinking about the problem, and no one bothered him. What Wang Haitao was thinking about was how long his troops could hold on to the position, and how long could the whole of Shanghai hold on?

The 544th Regiment was the first to take over the position, and two companies of troops were placed on the first line, and the soldiers had all 38-type rifles and some submachine guns, as well as dozens of light and heavy machine guns. The Sichuan troops who withdrew from their positions were envious, and they were even more surprised when they saw the 82 recoilless guns and more than 10 60 mortars on the second-line positions, and even the two division commanders of the Sichuan Army were surprised by the heavy firepower of the 544th Regiment.

Division Commander Guo of the 144th Division said to Commander Fan of the 146th Division: "No wonder this new 90th Division can achieve so many achievements, just looking at the heavy weapons of one of their regiments, we can't reach it." Division Commander Fan replied: "Yes, there are dozens of mortars in this regiment alone, and there are even more light and heavy machine guns. ”

After the handover, before the 544th Regiment could repair the fortifications, the Japanese launched an attack on the position. Because the bridge was a fish-bellied steel structure bridge, the steel beams on the top of the bridge made the Japanese artillery useless, so the Japanese did not carry out artillery bombardment, but launched an attack on the south of the bridge with an infantry brigade under the cover of light and heavy machine guns and three Japanese tanks.

The two companies of the 1st Battalion on the front-line position were equipped with four Japanese-style heavy machine guns, six Type 57 heavy machine guns, 10 Type 56 light machine guns, and eight Japanese-style light machine guns. As for the three chariots that the Japanese army rushed to the front, in front of the armor-piercing shells of the five 82 recoilless guns, it was a piece of tofu Nao, and after a few armor-piercing shells, these three Japanese chariots became a pile of burning scrap metal.

The Sichuan officers and soldiers and the two division commanders who had not yet withdrawn couldn't believe their eyes, the two companies of the new 90th Division not only completely suppressed the firepower of the Japanese army in terms of firepower, but even the most difficult Japanese tanks, they had no trouble dealing with them, and before they could understand what was going on, the three tanks became fireballs.

The fire was suppressed, the three chariots were blown up at once, the attacking infantry had no support, and those who rushed up were knocked down by the dense fire of the defenders, and after holding on for ten minutes, the Japanese reluctantly ordered to retreat. This attack resulted in the loss of more than a hundred soldiers at once, which surprised the Japanese commander north of the bridge.

The defenders on the opposite side suddenly had so many light and heavy machine guns, as well as new weapons that could easily deal with the Imperial Army's chariots, and the news was reported from below to Lieutenant General Yamamuro Sotake, the commander of the 11th Division of the Japanese Army. This also made these high-ranking commanders of the Japanese army suspicious and temporarily stopped the attack on Qiaonan.