Tiger Troops: The 74th Army of the Kuomintang Anti-Japanese Ace

Chapter 2 Where is the Secret (Battle of Songhu) (2)
After daybreak, the Japanese planes still came to harass them as usual. In addition, the power of the Japanese long-range naval guns on the river should not be underestimated, they could hit Jiading.The information Qiu Weida got was that some friendly troops were blown up by shells during the reinforcement process, and the troops suffered heavy losses.In order not to repeat the same mistakes, he ordered all the officers and soldiers to camouflage and use the drainage ditches on both sides of the road to advance covertly to Shi Xianggong Temple.

At [-] o'clock in the afternoon, the battalions reported entering the position one after another, and completed part of the defense with the [-]th Division.At this moment, Qiu Weida breathed a sigh of relief. He believed that as long as the first step was firmly established, there would be plenty of solutions in the future.

Smart fight

If you don't use your brain to fight, you may always fight stupid battles.After officially taking over the position of Shi Xianggongmiao, Qiu Weida began to ponder how to fight smartly.

The Japanese army has a fixed rule in terms of attack: they always use planes to bombard the Chinese positions indiscriminately for a while at dawn; then they raise the wind-type observation balloons and instruct the land artillery and naval guns to make a second attack. Bombardment; at the last step the infantry would attack directly.

Cotton fields are everywhere around Luodian. Although the cotton stalks are not as tall and dense as the sorghum in the north, if the troops are scattered and hidden in it, it is difficult for the Japanese planes to find them. He would also make fun of it: "Look, the old crow is laying eggs again."

The bombardment guided by the observation balloon is different. In this case, if you run into the cotton field, it is tantamount to death.At that time, the Chinese army was generally not very particular about fortifications. The trenches were neither deep nor strong enough, and they were easily exposed. Within one to two hours of shelling, many soldiers were killed by shell fragments. .Once, a shell landed in the shelter of a certain company of the [-]th Division, killing and injuring a reserve platoon, and the company commander was blown to the point where he had only one leg left.

Experienced veterans usually know how to defend against artillery.For example, if you see a pile of fireworks, you can immediately conclude that a cannonball is about to fly over, and if the direction of this pile of fireworks is directly directed at your position, you have to move away quickly.Even more powerful, it is also possible to identify the flying direction and possible attack point of the shell directly based on the howling sound of the shell.

However, the basis here is mainly the civil war experience, and the situation on the Luodian battlefield is completely different.The Japanese army fired almost all heavy artillery, and it was very dense. As the shells fell in rows, the strong smell of gunpowder was enough to choke everyone's breath.At this time, it is difficult to distinguish any sound. No matter how hard you prick your ears, what you can hear is like "one hundred thousand big gongs are beating at the same time".

In a panic, some officers and soldiers who lack combat experience often abandon the trenches and drill into bamboo forests or hills, but this is in the hands of the enemy.Bamboo forests, small hills, and cotton fields had obvious targets, and they could aim all their artillery fire at them. The result was self-evident, and more people were killed or injured in places that seemed suitable for hiding.

To say a thousand words and ten thousand, we still have to rely on fortifications for defense and cover.In the past, the quality of the fortifications was mediocre. That was because most of the two sides in the civil war did not have any heavy firepower, and it was enough to block bullets with it. No one thought that there was no need to make the fortifications so elegant.It was different now. Qiu Weida stipulated that from the regiment command post to the front line, bunker trenches and communication trenches must be built, and the work should be completed within three days.

Tragedy such as one shell blowing up a platoon should be avoided as much as possible.Qiu Weida's countermeasure was to evacuate and deploy troops in depth, not to mention a platoon, a squad should be dispersed to avoid being trapped by Japanese artillery shells.Another point that he has never forgotten is to fully camouflage the troops and positions. In short, the deeper the concealment, the better.

By August 8, the position of the 29th regiment was ready for deployment.At that time, because Chiang Kai-shek admired Zeng Guofan's way of using troops very much, even the Huangpu textbooks used "Zeng Hu Zhibing Quotations".Qiu Weida is a fourth-year student in Whampoa. He is convinced of a famous saying of Mr. Zeng: "In war, don't rush, seek stability first, and seek change second."

Obviously, if you attack blindly without confidence, you will only get a result of "facing the deep pool in the middle of the night". Only after you have built a solid position can you seek "change".

In the past few days, because the Japanese army controlled the air, the soldiers would be strafed and bombed by the Japanese planes during the day when they cooked and smoked.

How to seek "change" is to look for opportunities to find gaps.Qiu Weida believed that this was a good opportunity not to be missed. Late at night, he sent the third battalion to attack the Japanese army in Luodian.

Under the command of battalion commander Hu Hao, the third battalion rushed into the position on the south side of Luodian in one go while the enemy was unprepared, breaking a gap of more than 60 meters.Prior to this, other Chinese friendly forces fought in positional warfare, and there was no similar surprise attack. The Japanese army was caught off guard, and had to pick up weapons and shoot randomly in all directions in the dark.

After knocking the mountain and shaking the tiger, the third battalion did not continue to go deeper, but closed it as soon as it was good, and left with a gun.Wherever the Japanese army was willing to give up, they followed behind and chased after them.According to the pre-planned plan, Hu Hao fought and retreated, and kept chasing the enemy to his own position.

Forgive you for being as fine as a ghost, but you can't avoid drinking footwashing water.Seeing that the opponent had fallen for the trick, Qiu Weida immediately fired a red signal flare, concentrated the light and heavy firepower of the whole regiment, and fired violently at the Japanese troops exposed in front of the position.

Fighting until dawn, the sound of guns and artillery on the battlefield gradually became sparse.Qiu Weida raised his binoculars to observe, and saw that the Japanese soldiers at the front of the position suffered heavy casualties, which indicated that the Japanese troops who had come to pursue them had been defeated.All that remains for the battalions is to clean up the battlefield and collect weapons.

According to Chinese records, this battle killed nearly 300 Japanese squadron commander Hideyoshi Saburo, the Japanese joint commander Takeda was injured, and more than 200 people under the battalion commanders Zhan Wen and Liu Zhenwu of the 51th Regiment were killed. It was a worthwhile victory.The morale of the entire [-]st Division was greatly boosted by this. Since entering the Songhu battlefield, the officers and soldiers have more or less had some fear of the enemy, and it has disappeared so far.Although it is impossible to repeat the success of the night attack again and again, it still cannot stop the "envy, jealousy and hatred" of the friendly troops: "Master Wang Yao fought the enemy in Shi Xianggong Temple, and every night attack can get ten or eight. Rifle, or kill or capture a bunch of enemies."

On the second day of the night attack, Shanghai's "Shenzhen" and "Ta Kung Pao" both reported the 51st Division's record in a prominent position, and also distributed a large photo of the division commander Wang Yaowu. The 51st Division's great victory in resisting the enemy, its bravery and wit, really inspired the spirit of the people of the whole country."

The Battle of Songhu basically assembled all the elite of the Kuomintang army at that time, which can be described as a gathering of big names.For example, the No. 51 division that the 11st Division was defending was the original unit of Chen Cheng's "Civil Engineering Department". Chen Cheng equipped it with the best weapons and what he considered the best generals. The 51st Division was stunned to rely on their own performance and hard work to create their own world in Shanghai Bund.

big joke

On August 8th, the Eighth Division, headed by Yu Ji at the time, arrived in Jiading from the training ground in Hankou.

The 58th Division, like the 51st Division, originally belonged to the designation of the local army. Later, the old 58th Division was defeated in the battle with the Red Army, and the unlucky division commander was taken off his black hat.When Yu Jishi took office, in addition to the original remnants, the division was also merged into three provincial security regiments in Zhejiang Province, and gradually developed into a Division A division with two brigades and four regiments.

During that time, there was a steady stream of troops from all over the country pouring into Shanghai to participate in the war. In order to facilitate coordination and cooperation, the High Command reorganized a batch of military-level designations and organized each division into the new army. On August 8, the order to establish the No.30 Fourth Army was officially issued. The No.70 Fourth Army consists of the 70st Division, the 51th Division, and the 58th Brigade, whose officers and soldiers are mostly from Guizhou. Yu Jishi served as the commander of the army and the commander of the 34th Division.

Before the Anti-Japanese War, whether it was the Central Army of the Kuomintang or local warlords, the scope of troop control was generally delineated according to factions. This army-building rule, which was unbelievable in the West and even in Japan, has long been a practice in China.If it were not for the need of the Anti-Japanese War, it would be difficult to break such a vicious circle, because it involves a topic that is most taboo for military officials: "annexation." Wang Yaowu once racked his brains to avoid this big pit.

The Anti-Japanese War made everyone consciously put down this detailed account.Wang Yaowu didn't care. Since the supplementary brigade period, it was because of Yu Jishi's care that his troops were able to be as stable as Mount Tai. Wang Yaowu himself was also very knowledgeable. To send a copy of the daily march and battle situation to Yu Jishi, it seems that Yu Jishi is regarded as his eternal boss.Such a close relationship made the merger of the two divisions a matter of course.As for the 34th Brigade alone, its combat power is extremely limited. There are two Central Army-level troops blocking the front, which undoubtedly relieves a lot of pressure on them.

After the establishment of the 74th Army, the 51st Division was mainly responsible for the defense of Shixianggong Temple, while the 58th Division held the position on the northwest side of Luodian. Relatively speaking, the 34th Brigade only needed to guard the mouth of the Liuhe River to prevent Japanese troops from landing there.

The tenacity of the Chinese resistance in Shanghai far exceeded the expectations of the Japanese government and even Western observers.

Carlson, an American, had come to Shanghai on the passenger ship "President McKinley".This was his third visit to Shanghai, and his original purpose was not to watch the battle, but to learn Chinese, but he did not expect that he would plunge into the vortex of war, and the war would turn out like this.

When Carlson first came to China in 1927, it was the time of the Northern Expedition. At that time, China was called unified, but in essence it was still a mess.As a soldier, he had a very low evaluation of the Chinese army at that time. On the one hand, he saw that the Chinese army was quite problematic in terms of organization, training, and equipment; on the other hand, he also found that the loyalty of Chinese soldiers, especially military leaders, was not high. " The head of the city changes the king's flag", and it is almost a common phenomenon in the Qin and Mu Chu Dynasties.

What Carlson saw, the Japanese also saw, and it was precisely because of this that the leaders of the Japanese government brazenly launched a war of aggression against China.They fully thought that as soon as the war broke out, China would have a situation that had occurred many times in civil wars, and what they would have to face at that time was a weak country divided into pieces and many different military and political parties who quarreled and hindered each other. faction.According to their thinking, to deal with this group of Chinese who are busy with internal friction, at most it only needs to be cut and punctured with a little force like pulling facial tissues out of a cardboard box.

This is obviously the rhythm of "many land, weak people, come quickly", but the reality is still a big joke with the crazy Japanese.No matter how fierce the Japanese army attacked and how scary their fangs and claws were, they continued to resist, and from the beginning to the end, none of the important Chinese military and political leaders split or fell to their side.

Where is the secret?
Carlson's interest was greatly increased. He simply gave up the original plan, and then, as an official observer of the US Navy, he tried every means to get a pass to go to the front line for interviews.

When Carlson entered the front-line trenches with his pass, he found that the weapons and equipment of the Chinese army were still very shabby.The backwardness of the country's military production and the arms embargoes of various countries in the world have made all kinds of guns that should have been eliminated many years ago still popular, and soldiers have a variety of gun models, German, Russian, and Czech. have.

Due to the serious shortage of automatic firearms, German-made shell guns outside the scope of the embargo became a highlight. They were mounted on wooden butts and used as submachine guns.

Seeing Carlson enter their bunker, the officers and soldiers showed expressions of surprise.Carlson had studied Chinese for two years when he was working in Beiping. He greeted with the customary greeting in rural China: "Hi, fellow!"

This foreigner with a high nose and blue eyes immediately amused everyone and shortened the distance between them.In the traffic trench leading to the rear, Carlson met a private who asked him in very fluent English: "Are you American?"

Now it was Carlson's turn to be surprised.In his impression, although China has a large population, there are not many highly educated people, and there has always been a proverb that "good iron does not make nails, and good men do not serve as soldiers".

Seeing Carlson's unbelievable expression, the private soldier told him with a smile that he graduated from an American university and became a teacher after returning to China.

Carlson immediately became very interested in what Private Bing said: "Are there many people like you in the Chinese army?"

The private replied in the affirmative: "In our country, it is precisely the students in middle schools and universities who have maintained nationalist ideals for many years and insisted on resisting the Japanese."

Compared with the equipment that can be seen at a glance, Carlson pays more attention to the mental outlook and professionalism displayed by the troops. The difference from ten years ago is that at least the soldiers now know what they are fighting for.

The battle was hard

After getting acquainted with the teacher who joined the army, Carlson walked into an army kitchen.A cooking soldier asked him curiously: "What do people eat in your country?"

Carlson answered truthfully: "Meat, potatoes, peas, and corn."

"No rice?"

"Eat a little too, but we often treat it as a dessert."

The rice used to survive is actually used as a sweet or a snack?The cooking soldier couldn't imagine it at all, he was shocked.

The conversation then turned to Carlson's leather boots: "How can you walk in such heavy shoes?"

Carlson didn't know how to explain it for a while, but could only say: "I'm used to these boots, and they can keep my feet from eating mud and stones."

The cooking soldier wore a pair of cloth shoes. He could not agree with Carlson's statement: "If it is in the mud, I will take off my shoes."

Wearing stitched cloth shoes or bare feet, and then shedding blood desperately to resist the Japanese, the soldiers called it "national self-rescue".

"The enemy wants to occupy our homeland, and if we work together, we can defeat them!"

On the way back to the city, Carlson thought that Japan must have made a mistake. They thought they could bully China as they did in the past, and they could continue to gain infinite benefits from their noses, but they never thought that once this nation How powerful it will be when it explodes.

As Carlson realized, during these ten years, the Chinese military and civilians have indeed gradually formed a consensus, that is, civil war is one thing, and resistance to foreign aggression is another.

Of course, the Japanese cannot understand this kind of national consciousness and national spirit.In the Showa era in Japan, from the common people to the military and political leaders to the emperor, they were all surrounded by a tide of militaristic fanaticism, and their inner superiority was bursting like soap bubbles. Only they have the national spirit. When will it be the turn of the poor and weak China?
The resistance of the Chinese army in Shanghai angered the Japanese government. Prime Minister Konoe Fumimaro delivered a speech, claiming: "Japan's course of action is to beat China to its knees and surrender, so that it no longer has the fighting spirit."

China's territory is too large. In terms of the strategy of invading China, Japan began to think about eating slowly, so as not to be too anxious to choke itself. Therefore, after the "July [-]th Incident", the appetite shown by the government and the military was to control Hebei. , Shanxi, Shandong, Chahar and Suiyuan five northern provinces.Konoe's intimidation shows that they have decided to abandon this "non-expansion policy" of swallowing province by province, and they will roll up their arms and sleeves and conquer China in an all-round way.

From September 9st, the Japanese army continued to increase its troops in Shanghai.The Chinese troops participating in the Battle of Songhu felt the pressure doubled.Under normal circumstances, they defended during the day and then attacked the Japanese army at night. However, with the Japanese army on guard, it was difficult for the night battle to receive the same miraculous effect as it did at the beginning.

(End of this chapter)