Chapter 11 Chapter Eleven I Love You, China

After retreating to the south bank of the Suzhou River, Chen Cheng pushed another strong team to the front line. The name of this force is the Tax Police Headquarters. When it comes to the Tax Police Headquarters, you may laugh. Didn’t you say that this American army is no longer good? When will it become stronger again and become a "strong force". Indeed, the Tax Police Headquarters did not fight well in the front, with good weapons and equipment on the one hand, but weak combat effectiveness on the other. In the end, not only the central army but even the local army looked down on them.

On the Songhu South Battlefield, some of the positions of the Tax Police Headquarters were recovered by the Hunan Army who came in with reinforcements. When handing over the position, the Hunan Army also handed over the rout soldiers and some "American rifles" (actually, they should be German-made or Czech-made firearms) to the other side. Naturally, this scene couldn't be more ridiculous, and the "fake foreign devils" have to rely on old hats to protect them. The head of the Hunan Army called the battalion commander of the Tax Police Headquarters over, and before he spoke, he took a look at the "American rifle": take it, fight hard, and don't "break" again.

If there was a crack in the ground at that time, I think the battalion commander must have burrowed into the crack right away, what a shame. The officers and soldiers below were disheartened, and the face of the boss behind was also very ugly. Song Ziwen, the old club in the past, came back again, and clamored to return to the Tax Police Headquarters. According to Chiang Kai-shek's original intention, he wanted to use the Whampoa-style transformation to turn the Tax Police Headquarters into a sharp weapon similar to that of a German weapon master. Unexpectedly, the American style was not acclimatized, and the orange tree became a orange tree. , Biting in the mouth is no longer sweet.

Alright, I'll give it back to you. The Harvard God of Wealth took it in his hand, but his hands and feet were cold: Is this still "my regiment", the familiar American regiment? He called his brother-in-law over, "Old Kong, let's see if I'm wrong." Kong Xiangxi said, yes, I saw it too, one bad army. Song Ziwen was furious. Who is the current head of the regiment, come here for me. Huang Jie ran over tremblingly. Seeing that the royal relative lost his temper, he wanted to explain a few words, but Song Ziwen shut him up with a "SHUT UP". One raging soldier, one raging general, it's not that my Tax Police Headquarters is bad, the key is that the soldiers and generals are too bad, so I have to fuck a few.

Huang Jie was the head of the regiment sent by Chiang Kai-shek. Song Ziwen couldn't do too well without looking at the monk's face and the Buddha's face. The commanders of the entire detachment were all removed. The commanders of the two detachments were both from the first phase of Whampoa, and one of them was the nephew of He Yingqin, Minister of Military and Political Affairs. Song Ziwen said, don’t think that I don’t understand military affairs, and if I don’t know how to handle the spoon, I still don’t know how to taste it. Some of the first six regiments fought well, and the fourth regiment was good. Promote the leader of this regiment to be the commander of the second detachment officer.

He didn't miss the point. The Fourth Regiment had been playing well since it entered the Songhu battlefield, and the leader of the Fourth Regiment was indeed very remarkable. His man was Sun Liren, who was later called "Oriental Rommel" by the Americans. Sun Liren, born in Shucheng, Anhui, graduated from the 1927 class of the Virginia Military Academy in the United States. When it comes to the U.S. Military Academy, everyone is most familiar with West Point.But in fact, in the United States, Virginia and West Point are juxtaposed, one south and one north, and they can be called the twin stars of the US Army Military Academy.

West Point has Eisenhower, and Virginia has Marshall and Patton, both five-star or four-star generals in World War II, and no one is necessarily worse than the other. These military academies sound nice on the outside, but for many students, the life inside is unbearable to recall. There is neither running water nor heating in the dormitory, there is not even a place to take a shower, and the toilet is the most old-fashioned.As for the food, it is not like food for people at all. The bread is as hard as the sole of a shoe, and half of your teeth can be broken if you are not careful. Virginia is even more terrifying. There is also an unwritten system similar to the Sanbai Killing Stick, that is, new students must be beaten by old students, and this has nothing to do with whether you have made any mistakes.

Back then, Marshall was severely injured by an old student, but when the school asked him who beat him, Marshall didn't say a word. This is the so-called "hard spirit", which is almost equivalent to hell-style death training. Sun Liren is certainly no exception.I was beaten to the ground once while running, but even if you passed out, you can’t pretend to be a bear, because no one will take you to the hospital, and you have to run again after you wake up, and you have to be beaten if you run too slowly. It was in this cruel school life that Sun Liren honed his strong will and became a pure American soldier.

However, military students with British and American backgrounds were actually very embarrassed in the domestic military circles dominated by Whampoa, Baoding, and Lushi at that time. Among the classmates who graduated last year, they were ranked 12th, but just like that, the two of them failed to make any big waves afterwards. Fortunately, fighting is different. In the final analysis, the most suitable thing for soldiers is to go to the battlefield to experience, because in that occasion, you need to rely on craftsmanship, and the elimination rate is extremely high. If you have real skills, even the little lotus can Sooner or later, the sharp corners will be exposed.

Sun Liren's fourth regiment was the best among the six regiments of the Tax Police Headquarters, not because of luck but because of strength. After the "January 28th" battle, the regiment participated in a shooting competition in Jiangxi. Among the top ten individuals, they occupied seven seats, and the group took the first place. This is all practiced. Chiang Kai-shek wanted to use the Whampoa model to reform the Tax Police Headquarters, but it ended in failure. It is not that Whampoa is so backward, but that the two are too different. The overall style of Whampoa is closer to the Japanese-Soud system. Britain and the United States are not on the same path at all.This is equivalent to, you let our national football team learn to dance samba today, imitate the German chariot tomorrow, knead a piece of dough, and the final kneading team may be neither the Brazilian team nor the German team, but four different. .

After Huang Jie joined the Tax Police Headquarters, only the fourth regiment led by Sun Liren maintained the same old style, practicing as they should. The others were already busy catching up with the trend, changing their clothes, and adopting the Huangpu model. In the Songhu South Battlefield, the Fourth Regiment performed well. Not only were the officers and soldiers well-trained, Sun Liren also had his own uniqueness in command. He commanded from the front, lying in a trench with the soldiers. Of course, if you zoom in and look at it, it is not uncommon for regiment and battalion commanders and even division and brigade commanders to be on the front line during the Songhu battle.Slightly different from others, Sun Liren not only shot and threw grenades along with him, or shouted a few inspirational slogans, but he could really see things, and then respond according to the situation on the battlefield. When the battle became more and more fierce, the other regiments lost their positions. Only the fourth regiment's position was always safe. One principle, that is, if there are ten people in the position who can fight, at least three people must be sent to the back. The position of the Fourth Regiment was also breached by the Japanese army, but before the opening was completely cut, Sun Liren would immediately lead the reserve team to attack, so the position was gained and lost again. Then he drew the reserve team again, anyway, he kept such a cycle, so that he always had a bottom line in his heart under any circumstances. In the Tax Police Headquarters after the personnel adjustment, the first team is still directly managed by Huang Jie, but Sun Liren has actually controlled the entire team. Most of the six regiments have been beaten into battalions, so they can only be downsized and canceled. However, there are not many people, and if there are generals, there will be spirits. Under the leadership of those who are good at fighting, the team will be alive immediately. Seeing the return of his American army, Boss Song's enthusiasm rose again. If there is a shortage of fortification materials, the Ministry of Finance will transport them, such as steel plates, triangle irons, sandbags and sacks, and large trucks will deliver them one by one. I can’t eat during the day, the Ministry of Finance transports it, and the Japanese planes are circling in the sky 24 hours a day, waiting for the cooking smoke to rise below to throw bombs. I didn’t expect that the Tax Police Headquarters don’t cook anymore, and all they eat are foreign bread. What can I do. Song Ziwen, as before, took care of his soldiers to a meticulous degree.He even thought about whether there will be mosquitoes on the banks of the Suzhou Creek (actually, it is already autumn), and whether the brothers will have stomach troubles due to unhygienic conditions (refer to the standards of the Ministry of Finance), come on, give me the mosquito coils and disinfectant tablets. And take it with you. I don't know how to feel sorry for the general who commanded the battle. I looked up and saw that there was no brandy on the cabinet. Take it all. It's rainy in autumn, and drinking some foreign wine can prevent the wind and cold. Not only Sun Liren, but also all his staff officers, one bottle a day, can't be shaken. If the leader treats you like a human being, it would be too embarrassing if you don't work hard. "Oriental Rommel" is about to flex its muscles. On the north bank of the Suzhou River, the Japanese soldiers held their cheeks and thought, how to get across? There used to be bridges on the river, but as soon as the Chinese army passed by, they were all blown up with a bang. Looking at the fortifications on the other side, the repairs are very level, and even the materials are made of steel plates and triangle irons, especially the muzzle protruding from the gap, which is clearly made in the Czech Republic, and the firepower is not bad. If a pontoon bridge is erected straight on the water, it will be used as a target for the defenders. The former enemy commander of the Japanese army was quite brainy. After pondering, he discovered a pattern. The Suzhou Creek will be affected by the ebb and flow of the tide. When it is dark, the tide rises, and the river flows westward, and when the tide ebbs at dawn, it will follow the normal sequence of "a bend of the river flowing eastward". In this case, instead of building a bridge directly from the north bank to the south bank stupidly, you only need to build a pontoon bridge equal to the width of the river on the north bank at night, and wait until dawn, using the flow direction and buoyancy of the water, the pontoon will automatically float to the south bank, so Wouldn't it be done. If you can release a large number of smoke bombs when building a bridge, it will be seamless. Fighting sometimes requires brains. Many Japanese officers and soldiers have a certain level of education, and they are far behind us in this respect.However, this is only talking about the whole, narrowed down to the Battle of Suzhou Creek, the little devil's brain is not working well. Because they met a more cultured and intellectual. Under the command of Sun Liren, the Tax Police Headquarters built many temporary shelters on the shore with thick steel plates. The Japanese artillery shells could not hit them, but they could hide inside and wait for rabbits. On October 28, the Japanese army believed that they had waited for an opportunity. There was a heavy fog that morning, and it was hard to see people face to face, let alone across a river, so hurry up. But the stowaways didn't know that there were many hunters hiding on the shore, and the latter threw grenades when they saw the pontoon bridge, and the pontoon bridge was blown off immediately. Due to the large number of people, a group of devil soldiers went ashore and plunged into the coal storage cellar of a nearby spinning factory.The coal storage cellar was below a three-meter-high steep slope, out of reach of guns and guns, and grenades were useless. However, Sun Liren's first concern was not the ghosts in the coal storage cellar, but the rubber boats still floating in twos and threes on the water. Make a retaining wall with steel plates, and continue to throw grenades until all the remaining rubber boats are sunk. After a "grenade rain", not to mention the rubber boat, not even a piece of rubber can be seen. The Japanese soldiers on the north bank were jumping in a hurry, and the Japanese soldiers on the south bank were almost crazy, but none of them could do anything, and they couldn't find the target if they wanted to shoot. Well, there is no way out, you just wait to die in the coal storage cellar. Isn't there a spinning mill nearby? Sun Liren asked people to go to the spinning mill to carry cotton. Everyone didn't know what it was going to be used for, but the officer made such a request, there must be a purpose, so let's move it. More than a dozen bundles of cotton bales were moved to the top of the steep slope, poured with kerosene, lit with a bang, and pushed down the steep slope. Burning cotton bags sealed the opening of the coal storage cellar, and some rolled directly in. The Japanese soldiers inside probably felt good at first, quite hot, but soon exploded like wild bees in a honeycomb—— That’s not how sweet potatoes came about! For several days in a row, the Japanese army never dared to cross the Suzhou Creek again. On November 3, the main force of the Shanghai Dispatch Army gathered on the north bank. It happened to be another foggy day, so they used the rubber boat pontoon bridge to carry out another forced crossing. Compared with the last time, this time more troops were used and the scale was larger, and a considerable number of Japanese troops were able to land.Sun Liren had no choice but to organize death squads and compete with them from house to house, and finally regained most of the positions. After the battle, the Tax Police Headquarters was ordered to change defenses due to heavy losses, but Sun Liren suddenly changed his mind. The thing is like this, there is a stronghold called Xiaohonglou, and more than 20 devils got into it. Since it is a two-story building, it is easy to defend and difficult to attack. Before the Tax Police Headquarters could take it down, the order to change defenses arrived. Sun Liren not only has the potential of a famous general, but also has a very good and strong personality. He is completely different from his boss Huang Jie who is an Amitabha.He felt that it was better to deal with the devils in the Little Red Mansion first, so as not to leave any excuses for others, saying that I, Sun Liren, couldn't handle it by myself and wanted to throw this hot potato to others. As a person who fights with his brain, under normal circumstances, Sun Liren never advocated reckless action by sacrificing the lives of soldiers. He decided to use landmine blasting. When the mines arrived in the early morning of the next day, Sun Liren was overjoyed. Since it was still dark, he walked out of the command post and inspected it himself with a flashlight. Unexpectedly, at this time, the Japanese army was shelling. Since his command post was very close to the river bank, a shell exploded in the air. Sun Liren was lying on the ground covered in blood, almost making people think he was out of breath. The all-out war of resistance has just begun, and "Oriental Rommel" is finished before it has made much of its debut. What about the following book?So at the moment when the shell exploded, we specially put on a steel helmet for Sun Liren, and let him squat down, so that although the other places were horrible, his head was fine, and the eating guy was still there, so you don't have to worry too much. After Song Ziwen heard the news, he quickly sent an ambulance, but Sun Liren only accepted the wound dressing, but refused to get in the car. Then who, you command instead of me, be sure to use landmines to blow up the little red building. Hearing that the whole small building was blown down, Sun Liren got into the ambulance. After the complete fall of Shanghai, the Japanese army erected a stone tablet on the bank of the Suzhou River. Sun Liren, who was seriously injured, can only say goodbye to the battlefield temporarily. For him, the space given to him by the Songhu battlefield is still too small, and he can't even count as a small test of his skills.But at that time, he might not have imagined that a few years later, he would soar into the air on a foreign battlefield and achieve such a brilliant record that people like Sun Yuanliang would be amazed. While the Suzhou Creek was at a stalemate, the Japanese government, while refusing to attend the meeting of the signatories of the "Nine-Nation Pact", tried to conduct "secret peace talks" with China, using the German ambassador to China Tautman as an intermediary. The asking prices of China and Japan are far apart, and Chiang Kai-shek was naturally very upset when he saw it.What's more, the international meeting that the morning and the evening also think about has already been held, and the outcome is not yet decided. If you agree to your excessive demands at this time, how can I explain to the people? When he summoned Taudman, he asked the Germans to tell the Konoe cabinet that it was possible to talk about it, but they had to go to the meeting and discuss it openly. , That is nothing to talk about, if you want to fight, we will accompany you. One side wanted "secret peace talks" and the other side wanted "open negotiations", and if they couldn't agree, Taudman, as an intermediary, had to retreat in dismay. On the same day, the 10th Army, the fourth batch of reinforcements sent by Japan, quietly arrived at the sea near Jinshanwei. The 10th Army is composed of three divisions and one brigade, including the 6th Kumamoto Division drawn from the north.The organization of the 10th Army to attack Shanghai shows that Japan is ready to place its biggest bet on Shanghai. This day is November 5th. At dawn, there was heavy fog on the sea, and the line of sight was blurred, so the surveillance posts could not observe the movement of the Japanese warships. The 10th Army, which had been eyeing it for a long time, suddenly organized a beachhead attack. Only one artillery company and one infantry battalion were defended at Jinshanwei.After the artillery discovered the enemy's situation, they immediately carried out artillery fire to block, but the 10th Army landed far more than one point. If it bombed here, it would not be able to hit there, and fell into a situation of focusing on one thing and losing another. When the Japanese army approached, the artillery company even did not hesitate to use the zero-line sub-munitions that exploded from the chamber to block them, but the devil soldiers pouring in like a tide could not be stopped by a few artillery pieces, and the Jinshanwei position was lost. Seeing this, you may shout, the Japanese are best at counterattacks, wouldn't they be defensive and send more troops, because the losses from the "January 28" battle five years ago haven't suffered enough? It is true that the Chinese generals are not ignorant of soldiers.Originally, the two sides of the position, from Liuhe to Nanjing, from Pudong to Hangzhou Bay, were full of security corps to prevent the Japanese army from turning around, but soon this pattern was gradually broken. The reason is actually still in the inability to support it. When the Songhu battlefield was in full swing, the central position was often unable to make ends meet, and there were no troops to move behind. Emergency rescue was like putting out a fire, so troops had to be temporarily deployed from both sides. What this move means, everyone from Chiang Kai-shek to Chen Cheng knows that it is a huge risk, but what if you don’t draw people from there to rescue the emergency, no matter whether it is the northern battlefield or the southern battlefield, if there is no continuous relay of reinforcements, the defense line may collapse immediately Well, even if both sides are full of people, it's not the same as losing miserably. At the beginning, I thought about it very well, how many people were drawn out, and after the troops came from the rear, they would be replenished immediately, so that everything would be fine.But what I didn't expect was that anyone who came from the rear, no matter how many people they have or whether they have combat effectiveness, can take them all from the front line, otherwise the position will be lost or there will be gaps. There is nothing wrong with saying that this is drinking poison to quench thirst, but if it were not the case, the battle of Songhu could have been declared a defeat long ago. At the same time, China's defense against Jinshanwei has indeed relaxed a bit.Before the war, the Chinese High Command organized many surveys of the terrain around Jinshanwei, but they all believed that this place was shallow and deep, and it was difficult for ships to dock. It was definitely not an ideal landing place. After Shanghai dispatched troops to land from Chuanshakou and Wusong, and forced the defenders to the south bank of the Suzhou River, everyone instinctively believed that the Japanese army had fought smoothly from north to south, and even if they wanted to land again, they would definitely choose the south bank of the Yangtze River. Unexpectedly, attacking unprepared, the place that seems the most difficult to attack is often the weakest point. The 10th Army landed at Jinshanwei, which was the final word for the defeat of the Chinese defenders in Shanghai. This once again proves that the Japanese army does have its own uniqueness in offensive warfare, especially in outflanking. Today, when we go through all the memoirs and materials, although we sometimes blame you for his remarks, an unavoidable fact is that no one can accurately predict that the opponent will land in Jinshanwei, even the head of the German advisory group Falkenhausen made mistakes in judgment. He believed that the Japanese army's attempt to land again in various places in Jiangsu and Zhejiang was just a feint, and its purpose was to divert attention and disperse the Chinese combat forces in Shanghai. There are always so many surprises in this world. Shocked to learn that the Japanese army had landed at Jinshanwei, Chen Cheng sent two divisions to intercept them, but none of them could stop the fierce attack of the 10th Army. At this time Chiang Kai-shek called Chen Cheng and asked him: What should I do? Chen Cheng, who was never willing to admit defeat, also saw that the general situation was over, so he had to answer: The only way for the present is to withdraw from Shanghai as soon as possible and retreat to the defense line. The line of defense mentioned by Chen Cheng focused on the Wu-Fu Line (from Suzhou to Fushan in Changshu), which was known as the "Oriental Maginot Line of Defense" at the time. Chiang Kai-shek thought for half an hour and agreed with Chen Cheng.However, considering that the meeting of the signatories of the "Nine-Power Pact" has only been held for two days, if China withdraws from Shanghai at this time, China may lose face at the meeting and return without success, so Chen Cheng was asked to hold on for another three days. Then retreat to the defense line. Obviously, this is another example of diplomacy at the expense of military.For three days, the day lily was cold. On November 9, Chen Cheng ordered the entire army to retreat and move to the Wufu line, but it was too late. Taking advantage of your illness to kill you is the inevitable thinking of all bad people. The commander of the 10th Army, Liu Chuanpingsuke, saw that the roads in the south of the Yangtze River were narrow and it was still difficult for the whole army to cover up and kill them. He took the Kumamoto Division as the vanguard and headed straight for Kunshan on the Beijing-Shanghai Railway, thus cutting off the connection between the Shanghai defenders and the rear. The retreating troops were suddenly thrown into chaos. Unable to completely block all roads, Yanagawa sent out several small advance teams to advance lightly and attack around the front, which exacerbated the chaos. Just like the "Luandong Rout" in the late period of the Great Wall's War of Resistance four years ago, the orderly retreat also began to evolve into a disorderly "retreat", but the scale was larger and the scene was even more miserable. The retreat has almost become a chronic disease of the regular Chinese army.Bai Chongxi once compared his experience during the Northern Expedition, saying that the southern army at that time was like this. The typical characteristic was that it was appropriate to attack rather than defend, and the attack was full of arrogance. Everyone screamed and rushed upwards regardless of their lives, but the rules discouraged , all crowded on the same road and scrambled to run, everyone didn't care about others, they only hoped that they could escape the doom of being surrounded and wiped out as soon as possible. It is undeniable that the Battle of Songhu was indeed too tragic in the early stage, especially those who retreated to the south bank of the Suzhou River. Most of them were disabled. It can be said that they have reached the limit of consumption. heart of. During the rout, the commanders at all levels lost their effective control of their troops one after another. They couldn't find soldiers, and soldiers couldn't find generals. Hu Zongnan's headquarters by the Suzhou River was first attacked by Japanese smugglers. The staff and guards of the headquarters were killed and injured, and Hu Zongnan escaped alone. Another unlucky person is Xue Yue.He was suffering from a high fever at that time, and he was evacuating to the Wufu line in a car, but he was shot by machine guns from the Japanese advance team on the road, and the driver and guards were shot and died immediately. Xue Yue was an expert in the military who had served as the captain of the former Prime Minister's guard. Even when he was ill, he maintained a professional sensitivity.Seeing that the situation was not good, he kicked the car door, then jumped into the paddy field beside the road, and relying on the good water quality, he even swam five river ditches to escape the danger.If he had died in Shanghai at that time, we would never have seen the unique skills in the Changsha battle in the future. Throughout the Battle of Songhu, Lieutenant General Wu Keren, commander of the 67th Army of the Northeast Army, had the highest position as a sacrificed general, and Wu Keren was killed in the rout. The Songhu battlefield is a place where various armies compete for honor.Before going to the battlefield, Wu Keren told his subordinates that no matter what others do, our Northeast Army must no longer be stabbed in the back by others, scolding us will only shout anti-Japanese, but actually fighting is a fool. But Wu Keren did not expect that the battle would be so brutal.Watching the brigade commanders fall one by one in front of his eyes, although he said that "a corpse shrouded in horse leather is the most glorious home of a soldier", he cried while speaking, feeling extremely hurt in his heart. What is even more unexpected is that there is a big retreat. When withdrawing from the front line, there were only a few followers left by his side.Wu Keren couldn't help but shook his head and smiled wryly: I think how embarrassing Cao Cao was when he was defeated and went to Huarong Road, but I don't think we are much worse. There are many ravines in the south of the Yangtze River, and many northerners can't swim. They have nothing to do when they encounter a deep-water river. Fortunately, the attendants found a door panel nearby, which is undoubtedly a life-saving plank. Just as he was about to lean on the plank to cross, a civil servant of the local government also ran to the shore in a panic. Compared with the soldiers, he was more helpless. After Wu Keren asked about his identity, he couldn't help but let out a long sigh: Our soldiers have already been ashamed of everyone after losing the battle. If we only care about running for our lives, we will be even more ashamed. This piece of wood, you can use it first. The civil servant crossed the river gratefully, but the general was never seen again. Some people said that Wu Keren was shot to death by Japanese machine guns while crossing the river, while others said that he was seriously injured and drowned after being shot. Including Wu Keren, the Northeast Army killed five general-level officers on the Songhu battlefield, three were seriously injured, and the regiment commander suffered more than half of the casualties. In the end, an army with a strength of 50,000 troops could barely be reduced to a division. . On November 12, Shanghai completely fell.