readx;? The Japanese 6th Division finally came to Songjiang County with great difficulty, but he would face a steel defense line jointly built by the New 90th Division and the 108th Division. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 In front of the position outside the east gate, Major General Mitsuru Ushijima, commander of the 36th Infantry Brigade of the 6th Division, was standing next to Lieutenant General Toshio Tani, the commander of the division, and observed the defenders' positions in front of him with a telescope.

In the previous multi-day battle, the main attacker of the 6th Division was the 11th Brigade, and the 11th Brigade was defeated by the attack in these days, and in the face of the defenders' stronger defensive line, Gu Shoufu sent the 36th Brigade this time. Major General Ushijima, the commander of the 36th Brigade, was a fierce general, and on the battlefield in North China before coming to Shanghai, Ushijima led the 36th Brigade to attack the city and set up the fortress many times, and made the first contribution to the Japanese army's capture of Zhuozhou, Baoding, Zhengding, and other cities.

Ushijima Mitsuru and the 36th Brigade led by him were also executioners of all kinds of evil, and every time they occupied the city, they would go on a killing spree, and the 6th Division burned and killed traitors after occupying Baoding and Zhengding, and did all kinds of evil, and more than 9,000 civilians were killed alone. Now Tani Shofu has put his hope of capturing Songjiang County on Ushijima Mitsuru and the 36th Brigade.

Faced with the defenders' fortifications without any loopholes, Tani Shofu and Ushijima were extremely surprised, and the various bunkers and firing points in front of them, multiple barbed wire, and countless gun muzzles behind trenches and sandbags all made the two of them feel a sense of helplessness. But even if it is not easy to fight, in the eyes of the arrogant Tani Shofu and Ushijima, the Imperial Japanese Army will be invincible and invincible.

At nine o'clock in the morning, the Japanese attack began, as usual, with a bombardment of all the artillery. After twenty minutes of shelling, a battalion of infantry began to move forward, with artillery squads and machine-gun squadrons in the battalion taking up positions to cover the attack. Several one-meter-high barbed wire fences in front of the position were damaged a lot by Japanese artillery fire, and some gaps appeared, and the Japanese infantry brigade gathered at these gaps.

When the Japanese army was preparing to pass through these gaps, heavy machine guns rang out in many bunkers on the positions of the defenders who had already been prepared, and the bullets of the Type 57 heavy machine guns set off a bloody storm in the dense crowd of Japanese infantry. The Sixth Division is known as one of the two strongest and most effective units in the Japanese army, and for his own reasons, under the strafing fire of the defenders' heavy machine guns, these Japanese troops are still fearless to launch a charge against the defenders' positions.

The infantry guns, heavy machine guns, and mortars used for cover were also fired more happily and accurately. The shells exploded accurately in front of the bunker, and the smoke and dust raised seriously affected the sight of the defenders' heavy machine gunners, while the bullets of the Japanese heavy machine guns were near the firing port of the bunker, and from time to time bullets would penetrate the firing port, causing casualties among the defenders' soldiers. Tang Yishu, the commander of the second battalion, saw the situation and decided to destroy the infantry guns and heavy machine guns supported by the Japanese army.

The battalion itself had four 82 mortars, 12 60 mortars, plus 10 82 mortars and five 100 heavy mortars from the reinforced heavy fire battalion, and all of them were gathered together to have more than 30 mortars, which were used to deal with the two infantry guns and a few mortars and a few heavy machine guns supported by the Japanese army.

In order to prevent the Japanese army from retaliating back, Tang Yishu only used the twelve 60 mortars in his battalion to counterattack. With Tang Yishu's order, behind the defenders' position, twelve 60 mortars fired three rapid shots. Thirty-six mortar shells were enough to completely destroy the Japanese support artillery and the heavy machine guns.

Without cover, a large group of Japanese infantry retreated after heavy casualties, and more than 1,000 Japanese soldiers were killed in front of the position, no less than 500 were killed. The first attack made the commander of Ushijima's brigade frown, how to attack with such dense firepower, such tight fortifications, and without heavy artillery cover? This situation made Ushijima feel troublesome.

After attacking again and still not being able to attack, Tani asked for support from the plane. In the afternoon, the Japanese army dispatched dozens of planes and came to the sky over Songjiang County. In order to cover the infantry attack, the Japanese planes carried out another dive bombardment, regardless of the anti-aircraft weapons of the defenders, and bombed the positions outside the city and the anti-aircraft positions on the city walls in multiple waves.

A fierce ground-to-air battle was staged on the position in Songjiang County, and it should be said that Gao Ping's second use of twin heavy machine guns, a weapon that was beyond this era, had a considerable advantage over the old Japanese Type 97 carrier-based bombers, and the Japanese army only destroyed part of the fortifications on the defenders' positions outside Songjiang City after paying the price of 15 planes being destroyed, and the city wall of Songjiang County also collapsed more than 20 meters under the bombing of Japanese planes, and two Gao Ping and 2nd twin heavy machine guns and several Type 57 heavy machine guns were destroyed.

After the bombing, the Japanese launched several more attacks on the defenders' positions, but they were all blocked by the defenders with fortifications and dense firepower. On the first day of the attack, the three brigades of the 45th Wing of the 36th Brigade took turns to attack, but not only did they fail to take the positions of the defenders, but the 45th Wing also lost half of its soldiers, and the Japanese field hospital was full of wounded soldiers.

In the evening, in the headquarters of the new 90th Division in Songjiang County, Wang Haitao, Su Zuxin, Zhao Zhongwu, 271st Brigade Commander Tang Renxin, Deputy Brigade Commander Tang Yikuan, 272nd Brigade Commander Tang Longzai, Deputy Brigade Commander Tang Yiqun, 108th Division Commander Li Wenqing, 322nd Brigade Commander Wu Qiwen, and 324th Brigade Commander Xia Shuxun all gathered together. This was a consultative meeting of the two divisions convened by Wang Haitao. It had been more than 10 days since the Japanese landed at Jinshanwei to the order, and the New 90th Division was always engaged in the battle with the 6th Division and the Kunisaki Detachment, and the 108th Division had not fired a single shot.

At the meeting, Wang Haitao did not say much, and directly put forward the idea of completely annihilating the Sixth Division of the Japanese Army in Songjiang County. The people of the New Ninety Division were not surprised by Wang Haitao's idea, but several people from the One Hundred and Eighth Division widened their eyes in surprise. These members of the New 90th Division are well aware of the strength of the New 90th Division, and even if it has just replenished 5,000 new recruits and its combat effectiveness has declined, there is no division-level unit in the Chinese army that can match it.

As for a division of the Japanese army, in addition to surpassing the New 90th Division in terms of numbers, perhaps the individual ability of the current soldiers will surpass that of the New 90th Division, but neither the weaponry nor the tactical thinking can be compared with the New 90th Division. After putting forward this idea, Wang Haitao said: "At present, the strength of the Japanese Sixth Division still has an advantage, and what we have to do is to destroy his living forces as much as possible in a defensive battle, and use all means to strike at him, and when his losses reach the limit, it is time for us to launch a general attack on him." ”

Speaking of this, Wang Haitao looked at Zhang Wenqing and said: "Division Commander Zhang, your 108th Division may encounter the attack of the Japanese Kunizaki Detachment at the West Gate, and your division should try to use the existing fortification system to kill and injure Japanese soldiers and reduce the combat effectiveness of the Japanese army." When our new 90th Division launched a counteroffensive against the Japanese Sixth Division, your division had to drag the Kunisaki detachment so that the Kunisaki detachment could not support the 6th Division, and at the same time hold the county town of Songjiang, which was our most important task. ”

Zhang Wenqing had recovered from his surprise and said: "Division Commander Wang, our 108th Division will definitely fully cooperate with the New 90th Division, if the New 90th Division can really completely annihilate the 6th Division of the Japanese Army, it will be a serious blow to the Japanese army, and the next battle will be easy to fight." Wang Haitao said: "Thanks to Division Commander Zhang's support and cooperation, you really wiped out the Sixth Division, and your 108th Division also contributed a lot." ”

After the meeting, the spirit of the meeting was passed down from level to level, and all the troops on the defense line outside the city received orders to use all means to inflict blows on the Japanese army, and to kill and wound as many Japanese soldiers as possible. These spirits and Wang Haitao's thoughts, Gu Shoufu did not know. Gu Shoufu is now thinking about how to capture Songjiang County as soon as possible, so that he can send troops to Shanghai as soon as possible.

In the next few days, the Japanese army dispatched a large number of planes to bomb and bomb inside and outside Songjiang County without regard for losses. The 6th Division, under the dense firepower of the defenders, launched one charge after another against the fortifications outside Songjiang County. The defenders would put the Japanese within 150 meters of the Japanese infantry every time they charged, and at this distance, the Japanese charge would not quickly approach the position, and the defenders' light and heavy firepower could exert the maximum lethality.

Gu Shoufu sent the 11th Brigade to attack the south gate position of Songjiang County under the condition that the attack at the east gate was ineffective, and the south gate position was the main position outside Songjiang County, which was built more solidly than the positions in several other places, and was more perfect in all aspects, and the first battalion of the 543rd Regiment guarding the south gate position was the main battalion of the 543rd Regiment, and half of the soldiers in the battalion were veterans who had survived the previous defensive battles, and they had rich experience and strong combat effectiveness.

The 11th Brigade was bleeding in front of the South Gate position, and the soldiers who had already lost a lot of personnel suffered serious losses, and after three days of attack, less than one wing of soldiers in the entire brigade and regiment was still fighting power. After seven days of attacking the county seat of Songjiang, the 6th Division of the Japanese Army captured the first line of defensive positions at the south gate, and approached the city wall of the county town at the east gate.

The Kunisaki detachment fought with the 45th Brigade at the railway station for three days and three nights, and the 45th Brigade had to withdraw from the Songjiang Railway Station after losing most of its soldiers and most of its heavy weapons. After occupying the Songjiang Railway Station, the Kunisaki detachment took a short break and advanced towards Songjiang County, and met the 322nd Brigade of the 108th Division that had been waiting for a long time at the defensive position outside the west gate of Songjiang County.

The 322nd Brigade guarding the west gate of Songjiang was the 643rd Regiment, and the regiment commander Wang Xiduan. The 108th Division had resisted the Japanese attack on the battlefield in North China, and the soldiers had experience in fighting against Japan. After arriving in Songjiang County, there was time to rest and recuperate, and Wang Haitao also replenished a large amount of ammunition and heavy weapons, so although the combat effectiveness of the 108th Division was not as good as that of the New 90th Division, it should not be underestimated. After the 643rd Regiment strengthened its firepower, it was not difficult to block the Japanese Kunisaki Detachment, which was already at the end of its strength, with the help of the built peripheral fortifications.