Chapter 6 The battle was hard

After getting acquainted with the teacher who joined the army, Carlson walked into an army canteen.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 Fumma Konoe 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 7th 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 1st, 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 is difficult for the night battle to receive the same miraculous effect as it did at the beginning. . The 58th Division has a battalion commander from Guizhou named Tong Gang.He had a Huangpu classmate who had a good personal relationship with him in the 34th Brigade, and it happened that the defense line of the 34th Brigade was next to the 58th Division, so Tong Gang took some time to visit his old classmate.The two hadn't seen each other for nearly ten years, so they were very close and warm. That day, the classmate asked Tong Gang to stay for dinner. Before the meal was finished, the deputy battalion commander called Tong Gang to go back, saying that the troops would attack Luodian at night.

When saying goodbye, Tong Gang said to his classmates: "See you when you come back from the victory." But he failed to fulfill this promise. Tong Gang was shot in the head during the night battle, and unfortunately died for the country. Even if you don't take the initiative to attack, staying at home and defending without moving is not a joy.Because it is located in the coastal area, the water level is relatively high. You can see the water when you dig one meter below the ground. The deeper you dig, the more water will accumulate in the pit. The soldiers' feet can only be soaked in the muddy muddy water for a long time. .At the same time, for air defense, many positions cannot light fires for cooking during the day, and can only rely on meals delivered from the rear to eat at night.In case of bad luck, the logistics staff who delivered the food were blown up halfway. In that case, they would not even be able to eat dinner. Accumulated water to satisfy the hunger and wrap the stomach.

"The battle was bitter." Wu Yafu, who was the acting battalion commander of the 58th Division, couldn't remember how he survived the time in the trench. Flying over, the explosion was deafening. The Chinese soldiers who were covered under the rain of death were not intimidated by hardships and hardships. When the Japanese stopped shelling and launched an attack with infantry, they were still greeted with violent machine gun bullets. Position back. As of September 9, the two Japanese divisions that had landed on the south bank of the Yangtze River were unable to launch an offensive due to heavy casualties.The Japanese High Command was forced to increase its troops again. With the arrival of reinforcements, the frontal Japanese army became active again.After two unsuccessful attacks on the Shi Xianggongmiao position where the 51st Division was stationed, they used the method of coordinated combat by infantry and vehicles to target the 58th Division.

As a Class A division, the 58th Division is well equipped with firepower in the Chinese army, ranging from mountain artillery to mortars and flat-firing artillery. Although the number is not large, if used in battle, it will be of great use. Small.When the 58th Division entered the position, many local residents did not evacuate. Knowing that the troops were going to deploy artillery positions, the common people not only took the initiative to demolish their houses, clear the firing range for the artillery shells, but also found things like greenhouses and sacks. Put it on top of the dug trench for cover.

As soon as the Japanese army attacked upwards, the 58th Division immediately organized concentrated artillery bombardment.It had just rained that day, and it was muddy after the rain. Most of the Japanese reptile-like tanks were stuck in the mud, and the infantrymen who lost their cover were blown into darkness.The 58th Division took advantage of the situation to rush forward and started hand-to-hand combat with the Japanese army. When it comes to hand-to-hand combat, I am afraid that no country among the great powers attaches as much importance to it as Japan.Even Carlson knows that bayonet fighting has always been the best and best of the Japanese infantry.In addition to the general implementation of high-intensity training for soldiers, the Japanese 38-type rifle (that is, "38 big cover") is almost tailor-made for this purpose.Its gun body is both long and light. As the saying goes, an inch is long and an inch is strong, which gave Japanese soldiers a big advantage in stabbing.In addition, the quality of the steel mouth of the bayonet equipped with the "March 8 Cover" is also extremely high.During World War II, some people conducted a comparative test on the main rifle bayonets equipped by various countries. The conclusion was that the bayonet of the "38 big cover" had the best steel, and it was the only bayonet in the test that did not curl the blade or break the mouth.

However, in the hand-to-hand combat on the Songhu battlefield, the Japanese army did not have an overall advantage. Instead, the Chinese soldiers were often driven back with bayonets.There are many reasons for this. First of all, most of the Chinese troops who first went to Shanghai to participate in the war were the main elite, and many veterans had relatively skilled fighting skills.Secondly, the Japanese soldiers wore leather boots like Carlson's. If they walked on the road, they would naturally protect their feet, but if they were running around on muddy roads with ponds and ponds, it would be different. Don't pay attention. , the boots would sink into the mud.In contrast, Chinese soldiers wearing cloth shoes, straw sandals or even bare feet are much more flexible and quicker in response.

During the mechanical hand-to-hand combat training, Japanese soldiers had developed the habit of first unloading the bullets when fighting and stabbing, and then fighting wholeheartedly.The Chinese army is not so routine. According to the experience of the civil war, soldiers usually throw a row of grenades before rushing forward with bayonets.Don't underestimate this row of grenades. Even if they can't kill the Japanese soldiers in front of them in advance, they will affect the performance of the opponent's technical moves in the next fight. After observing, Carlson deeply felt that "the disadvantages of Japanese infantry in hand-to-hand combat are surprising."It was through hand-to-hand combat that the 58th Division repelled the Japanese army. When cleaning the battlefield, the division captured a Japanese regiment flag and a considerable amount of military supplies. Having tasted the taste of Chinese artillery, the Japanese army began to use aircraft to bomb the positions of the 58th Division.With the continuation of the war, they have basically mastered the position structure of the defenders through aerial reconnaissance, so this kind of bombing is still somewhat accurate. The bombing lasted for three days, and the plane bombs fell from morning to night, with almost no gaps. After the bombing, the ground with a radius of hundreds of miles was full of large craters.In the Wu Yafu battalion alone, more than a dozen officers and soldiers were killed or injured, and the entire cooking squad three miles behind was taken away, and none of the cooking soldiers survived. The Japanese army estimated that the bombing had achieved its intended purpose, that is, it dispatched infantry to attack.After this bombing, the 58th Division did not dare to use artillery to shoot intensively, for fear of being destroyed by Japanese aircraft or artillery after locking on to the target.A Chinese teacher said very truthfully: "(Using artillery) cannot be forced, we are inferior equipment, if the two guys are smashed, there will be nothing." Fortunately, the combat effectiveness of the 58th Division was still there. The three battalions of the 347th Regiment where Wu Yafu belonged to attacked from three sides, repelled the Japanese attack again, and seized a whole truckload of sabers, mortars, guns and ammunition. The Japanese always want to pick the softest persimmon on the front line of Luodian.Frustrated by the 58th Division, they hurriedly turned around to the 51st Division. On September 30, the front line of Shi Xianggong Temple suffered the last powerful attack of the month.However, the 51st Division was quite experienced in dealing with this type of attack. When the Japanese army was far away, the troops would not fire a single shot to avoid unnecessary consumption of ammunition. The battle at the front of Shi Xianggong Temple continued until dawn.The 51st Division tried its best, and five officers under battalion commander Liu Zhenwu were killed in the fierce battle. Through bloody fighting, the division finally blocked the Japanese army from the main defensive position.