Chapter 6 1. Jinshanwei

At this time, for the Chinese army, the worst situation was not the speed of the Japanese army's progress, but the chaos caused by the entire Songhu battle after the Japanese army landed from Hangzhou Bay and the command issued a retreat order.In the direction of Pudong, because the timing of the retreat was too late, and the method of issuing the order was extremely backward, it was already November 9 when the order reached Zhang Fakui, commander-in-chief of the right-wing army.When Zhang Fakui received the order, the right-wing army was in a state of extreme disorder, and it was difficult for the headquarters at all levels to control its troops.

Some troops did not receive an order to retreat, but only retreated when they saw friendly troops retreating.The sequential cover and occupation of positions stipulated in the order were not complied with at all, resulting in a situation where each retreated.In fact, even if we acted according to the order, it was difficult to avoid confusion, because the order did not distinguish the turning route of each army and division, let alone the time when each unit turned in, and they all retreated in the direction of Anting.Hundreds of thousands of troops were crowded on one or two limited highways, and with the bombing of planes above and the pursuit of Japanese troops below, one can imagine the scramble for the first.

The situation on the left wing was even worse. The left wing army, which was still fighting to the death with the Japanese army, never thought that the situation would turn out like this.Although before this, almost everyone realized that the crisis might be coming, but no one thought it would be so soon.Because just yesterday, November 7th, Yu Jishi's 74th Army had just been ordered to retreat to the south of Qingpu County with the 51st Division, and built fortifications along the line from Maqiao, Qingpu City, Tiediantang to Sanjiaodian to cover the frontline troops in Luodian. Retreat, thereby consolidating the security of the flank of the troops on the south bank of the Suzhou River.The 11th Division, which was on the flank of the 74th Army, launched a surprise attack on the 13th Division of the Japanese Army from Shiqiao and Jiangqiao Towns under the command of division commander Peng Shan. Zhuang line.But in a blink of an eye, the war actually developed into a "general retreat of the whole army".

"The headquarters of the commander of the war zone has issued a transfer order. The Central Corps will be transferred to Qingpu and Baihe Port. Wang Yaowu's 51st Division will use the first part as the general cover team, and the cover troops will evacuate safely." According to the order, the left-wing army should use the 51st Division Qiu Weida 306 The regiment occupied the front line of Qingpu to cover the retreat of the left wing troops.But no one took into account that the changes in the battle situation would end in a rout. The national army troops on the entire front, whether it is the left wing, the center or the right wing, all received the retreat order from the night of November 8th to 9th, and the retreat order was out of control almost at the same time, and it was even worse. The most striking thing is that the retreating troops of the left wing and the central corps did not retreat according to the prescribed route, but all retreated westward along the line of Anting, which made the situation worse.

In terms of military common sense, judging whether a unit is well-trained depends not only on whether ordinary soldiers are ordered or prohibited, but also on whether the commander-in-chief is good at organizing attacks and retreats, and whether the middle and lower-level officers are capable of organizing the unit well. Advance and retreat, especially the retreat organization, where thousands of people gather, if the organization is improper, the retreat is likely to turn into a rout. History has "Fu Jian's defeat at Feishui" as an example. When the High Command ordered the Songhu General to retreat, hundreds of thousands of Chinese troops scrambled for the road, and the order was chaotic, so that the combat capability was completely lost in the defeat.In the past three months, hundreds of thousands of soldiers of the national army fought hard and fought with the Japanese army. Although there were heavy casualties, the morale was still high and the fighting discipline was good.Even if a troop loses more than half of it, it can fight again as long as it is withdrawn and reorganized and replenished. After all, as long as the morale is still there, the military spirit of this troop is still there.However, from receiving the retreat order on the 8th to triggering a major retreat, within a few days, hundreds of thousands of elite troops who had fought bloody battles with the Japanese army for nearly a hundred days were all lost, and military discipline was ruined.Qian Dajun also quite agrees with the phrase "When the Japanese army captured Dachang, they retreated in a planned manner, so that hundreds of thousands of troops would not be defeated for thousands of miles", but what he didn't know was that the great defeat had just begun.

According to the battle report of the third war zone, Qian Dajun can see what happened on the Huxi battlefield in just three days from the time the retreat order was issued to today.Although the battle report was only a few hundred words, concise and clear, but Qian Dajun knew what it would be like to be so clear.Looking at the battle report at hand, Qian Dajun can sort out the situation in just three days: On the night of November 4, the Eighth Army of the Japanese Army, escorted by the Fourth Fleet of the Navy, entered Hangzhou Bay on about a hundred large ships. . At dawn on the 5th, under the cover of a rapid fire attack by naval artillery and aviation, the 18th Division moved from Jinshanzui and Caojing to the east of Jinshanwei, and the Guoqi Detachment of the 6th Division moved from Jinsiniangqiao and Quangongting to the west of Jinshanwei. Log in at the same time.The Jinshanwei-Quangongting area was originally deployed with a part of the 8th Army. Later, due to the tense battle situation in Shanghai, many troops were transferred to Pudong, and there was only a part of the 63rd Division on the coastline tens of kilometers around Jinshanwei. And a small number of local armed forces served as guards.

At dawn on November 5, facing nearly ten thousand Japanese troops who landed, the Chinese army on the coast only had a few companies of the 63rd Division, and it was impossible to resist the Japanese landing. On the morning of November 5, about two elite infantry regiments of the Japanese Army landed on both sides of Jinshanwei, thus successfully covering the Jinshanwei landing site.After receiving the report from the first-line troops, Zhang Fakui, the commander-in-chief of the 8th Army, and Huang Qixiang, the deputy commander-in-chief, dispatched the 62nd Division, the Independent 45th Brigade, and the newly arrived Fengjing 78th Division to reinforce them. And ordered the 67th Army in Qingpu to transfer to Songjiang.However, before the troops arrived, the 18th Division of the Japanese Army had entered the line of Tinglin Town and Songyin Town on the night of November 5, and the Guoqi Detachment of the 6th Division had entered Jinshan County, and the main force was heading towards the Shanghai-Hangzhou Railway. advancing.

On the same day, Chiang Kai-shek asked Chen Cheng, the former commander-in-chief of the enemy, for his opinion on combat guidance. Chen Cheng believed that he should retreat quickly and adjust the front line, but in the end Chiang Kai-shek decided to let the front-line armies hold out for another three days.However, before noon on November 6, the vanguard of the Japanese army had arrived near Mishidu, crossed the Huangpu River by force at dusk, and marched towards Songjiang after repelling the few defenders in front. Its left detachment has also entered the vicinity of Guangchen Town, and fought with a regiment of the 63rd Division and a battalion of the 62nd Division who came to block. On the 7th, the 62nd Division and the 79th Division fought back against the Japanese troops in Jinshan County and Tinglin Town, but were quickly repelled.In view of the fact that the main force of the Japanese army had entered the south bank of the Huangpu River, Huang Qixiang decided to transfer all the troops from the south bank of the Huangpu River to the north bank, and urgently ordered the 108th Division to block the Japanese troops crossing the river.

Closing the battle report, Qian Dajun was exhausted at this time, rubbing the corners of his eyes, he looked out of the window, and muttered to himself: "The army is defeated like a mountain! The army is defeated like a mountain!" "Director, there's an urgent telegram from ahead." The staff officer knocked on the door and passed the telegram to Qian Dajun who was working on the case. "Give me the command of the commander of the third war zone." After reading the telegram, Qian Dajun grabbed the phone and asked the switchboard to call Gu Zhutong, the deputy commander of the third war zone.Since November 5th, the 10th Army of the Japanese Army led by Yanagawa Heisuke successfully landed in Jinshanwei, and began to outflank operations in the direction of Shanghai. .

However, this time, the time left for the Supreme Military Council was too short. Only three days after the successful landing of the 10th Army, that is, on November 8, the Commander of the Third Theater Command issued an order to withdraw from the Shanghai battlefield.The ensuing retreat of the hundreds of thousands of national army troops on the entire Songhu battlefield was hasty and chaotic, and it can even be described as "retreat".In this case, the defense of the capital is imminent.What Qian Dajun needs to verify is: How long can the third war zone hold out. "Brother Mo, how is the situation now?" Qian Dajun changed the topic directly to the battle situation after a few words of pleasantries. "What else can we do, Brother Mu Yin, the retreat of the troops is already difficult to control. Now we can only hope to use Wu Fu's fortification line to stabilize the situation." Gu Zhutong on the other end of the phone pointed out the situation straightforwardly.

The voice of the Deputy Commander Gu Zhutong seemed very tired. It is no wonder that no one wants to see the current situation on the Songhu battlefield, and Qian Dajun also knows that the retreat plan formulated by the third theater is not There were not too many problems, but the general retreat order was issued too late, which made the implementation of this plan very unfeasible, and the Japanese army's rapid progress was also one aspect. From November 8th, the Japanese army began to attack the left flank guarded by Feng Shengfa's 58th Division of Yu Jishi's 74th Army. Every day, the Japanese army bombarded the 58th Division's position with scorching artillery fire and aircraft.After several days of hard fighting, the left front was abandoned on November 11 due to the casualties of many officers and soldiers, including Wu Jiguang, the commander of the 174th Brigade.After the left-wing front gave up, the original retreat route had to be changed. Therefore, under the fierce Japanese attack, the left-wing corps and the central corps had to retreat to the existing defense positions on the Wufu line at the same time, which also made the retreat easier. It's chaotic. And on November 11, under the order of Yanagawa Heisuke, the Japanese Army’s 10th Army Command decided to directly participate in the operations in Shanghai with a part of its combat troops, while the main force of the Israeli army marched towards the line from Pingwang Town to Jiaxing, preparing for the next battle. Suzhou direction launched an attack.This is equivalent to the 10th Army's decision to break through the prescribed battle line of the central province and department, and attack the front line of Nanjing.At the same time, in order to cooperate with the Shanghai dispatched army to encircle and wipe out the main force of the Chinese army as soon as possible, the 10th Army continued to pursue Kunshan with the main force of the 6th Division, and the 18th and 114th Divisions advanced towards Jiaxing. , The Central China Front Army Command issued an order to confirm the operations of the 10th Army, and the 6th Division was included in the combat order of the Shanghai Expeditionary Army in accordance with the order of the Front Army. Due to the rapid advancement of the 6th Division, the deterioration of the battle situation brought terrible chaos to the Chinese army. Under the roundabout encirclement of the Japanese army, the Chinese army retreated in an all-round way. In the case of indiscriminate bombing by planes on the ground, the Chinese army retreated all the way, and the retreating troops completely lost control. On November 12, 1937, the Chinese army withdrew on the sixth day after Yanagawa Hirasuke's 10th Army landed in Hangzhou Bay and launched a roundabout outflank to cooperate with the Shanghai Dispatch Army's pincer attack on the Chinese army on the Songhu battlefield. Shanghai South City, and then the soldiers of Fujita Jin's 3rd Division invaded the urban area of ​​Shanghai.The mayor of Shanghai issued a letter to the citizens, announcing with great sorrow that Shanghai has fallen, which means that from this day on, Shanghai has completely fallen. When he received the report of the fall of Shanghai, Qian Dajun was not too surprised, because all this had already been expected.From the day when the general retreat was ordered on November 8, the fall of Shanghai was a foregone conclusion.The fall of Shanghai also means that from now on, the defense of the capital Nanjing has become an urgent matter. Qian Dajun is well aware of the significance of the defense fortifications along the Wu-Fu line to the defense of the capital Nanjing, because the original plan of the Commander of the Third War Zone was to use the two defense lines built on the northern shore of Taihu Lake between Shanghai and Nanjing—— The first line of defense is the Wu (Suzhou) Fu (Fushan) line and the second line of defense is the Xi (Wuxi) Cheng (Jiangyin) line to build defensive operations.Since the two defense lines are mainly composed of large and small reinforced concrete bunkers, underground firepower points, various bunkers relying on trenches, and defensive trenches, it should not be a problem to use the defense lines to achieve an orderly retreat. On the phone, Gu Zhutong also told Qian Dajun that according to the original deployment of the retreat, Chen Cheng's left-wing army should have withdrawn Zhang Fakui's right-wing troops first, and then deployed layers of defenses during the retreat to cover alternately. With the detour of the Japanese dispatched army in Shanghai and the 10th Army on the southern front, the encirclement has begun. Therefore, after the final general retreat order was issued, the various units of the Chinese army, which had lost the opportunity to retreat, suddenly fell into chaos. It was difficult to implement, and then there was a situation where the army was defeated like a mountain. Closing his eyes, Qian Dajun could even imagine how chaotic the national army's troops, which had been fighting hard for three months on the Shanghai battlefield, were routed and crowded on the road leading to Nanjing. If the means are backward, the command will fall into chaos; coupled with the indiscriminate bombing of Japanese aircraft, the entire army will be in a state of panic and confusion. According to Gu Zhutong's description, for the retreating troops, not to mention the division commander could not find the regimental commander, even the company commander and platoon leader could not find their own troops.And the following Japanese combat troops were advancing so rapidly that after the national army retreated, it was too late to deploy defenses, and the Japanese army's vanguard had already followed, and the defense collapsed in one blow.Now Qian Dajun is worried about whether the Wu-Fu Line can withstand the Japanese attack. As early as September 1, the High Command had ordered Hu Zongnan's 1st Army to repair the fortifications of the Wu-Fu Line. On September 3, the High Command also ordered General Gu Zhutong, the deputy commander of the third theater, to assign troops to repair the defense fortifications and build infantry field fortifications. As far as Qian Dajun knows, the telegram sent to Gu Zhutong by the base camp at that time was nothing more than a few sentences: "Zha Wufu, Xicheng and the Shanghai-Hangzhou lines were formed. In addition to the original permanent defense fortifications, infantry bunkers, command The fortifications of the Wufu Line and the Xicheng Line shall be assigned by Commander Feng and Deputy Commander Gu, and the Shanghai-Hangzhou Line shall be dispatched by Commander-in-Chief Zhang. Kui assigned the troops in the area to be responsible for the construction respectively, and it will be completed before September 20." But after receiving the telegram, Gu Zhutong believed that the troops were insufficient to deploy at all, so he called back and said: "The repair of the permanent fortifications can be completed within the time limit. As for the field fortifications on the infantry line, please designate troops from Junzuo." Therefore, Under such circumstances, on September 10, the High Command called Feng Yuxiang, then the commander-in-chief of the Third War Zone, ordering the 66th Army to serve as the garrison of the Wu-Fu Line and to be responsible for the construction of infantry field fortifications.The corresponding order is to further instruct "to check Wufu's position, the infantry fortifications that should be strengthened are urgently needed to be completed", and specific deployments have been made: The army (66th Army) used one division to defend the positions from Wujiang to the south of Yangcheng Lake, and to construct infantry fortifications. And the garrison and infantry fortifications of the strongholds west of Chenghu, east of Tongli Town, and Zhenyi Town.One division of this army was in charge of defending the positions from Changshu to Fushan Town in Xiangcheng Town and constructing infantry fortifications. Its main force was controlled near Yangjian Town, and one division was responsible for the defense and infantry fortifications of the strongholds in Meili Town and Hupu Town. The construction.The army taught the defense and infantry fortifications of Luyuan Town, Xitangqiao, Yangsheying, Hexing Street, west of Shuangqiao, and Xinqiao to the north of Fushan Town.Its deployment and infantry fortifications are limited to completion before September 20, and notification is required.All the permanent and semi-permanent fortifications that have not been completed in Wu Fu's position will be quickly completed by the personnel sent by the city fortification team together with the army. However, in mid-September, the Military Commission of the Nationalist Government made a decision to devote all its efforts to the Battle of Songhu in order to defeat the invading Japanese army in Shanghai. Therefore, on September 12, the Military Commission transferred Feng Yuxiang, the commander of the third theater, to the sixth theater. The commander-in-chief, Chiang Kai-shek himself concurrently served as the commander-in-chief of the third theater.And just after the 66th Army arrived at the Wufu Line on September 15, the army was transferred to the Songhu battlefield to fight before it had time to start fortification repairs. It was not until September 24 that Tang Shengzhi, director of the executive department of the Military Commission and director of military law, and Gu Zhutong, deputy commander of the third war zone, jointly decided to dispatch three regiments from the 33rd Division and four regiments from the 76th Division to lead migrant workers to repair and build The construction of the Wufu Line is scheduled to start on September 27 and be completed on October 10.Although the construction of the Wufu Line has begun, the Military Commission has never deployed garrison troops, so that when the Songhu troops began to collapse, there were no defensive troops guarding the Wufu Line. The current situation is beyond Qian Dajun's expectation, and the tense situation on the front line is beyond the imagination of these high-level officials in Nanjing.