Chapter 144: The Counterattack in the Battle of Shanghai (I)

"Liberation, how about Mishidu?" Huang Qixiang, who heard the sound of cannons, rushed back from the temporary headquarters of the 67th Army, asked as soon as he entered the door.

"The Artillery Regiment of the Sixth Division and the reinforcements of the 11th Brigade have arrived. The Neon Army on the other side of Mishidu has reached tens of thousands. This time the Japanese have made great efforts to cross the Huangpu River. The 40th Regiment is under great pressure now." Chen Xiuwen said with a frown. He had just contacted Teng Donglin and had learned the preliminary situation.

As he said that, Chen Xiuwen looked at Wu Keren, the commander of the 67th Army following Huang Qixiang, and said, "Fortunately, the vanguard of the 67th Army, with the commander of Wu, has arrived at the second-line position. It should be no problem to hold on to the main force of the subsequent reinforcements."

Chen Xiuwen's words meant that he was interested in showing goodwill to Wu Keren. Although he had no good feelings for the Northeast Army and Wu Keren, after all, the enemy was in front of him, so it was not advisable to have trouble.

Huang Qixiang nodded and said nothing. He had known about the information on the reinforcements of the Neon Army that the two regiments stationed in the county, the artillery battalion and fire battalion directly under the brigade did not move, and Chen Xiuwen did not take the initiative to ask for reinforcements from the vanguard regiment arranged in the second-line position, which shows that the problem is not very big and has not yet reached the point where the frontier position of Mishidu was lost.

Wu Keren, who was just a newcomer, did not understand the real situation of the 20th Independent Brigade. He heard that Chen Xiuwen was timid in China, and he also mistakenly understood the words of Chen Xiuwen to show kindness as the meaning of the 20th Independent Brigade that wanted to preserve its strength and allow him to have a vanguard regiment that had just arrived at the second-tier position. After all, whether it was the bandit suppression or the Great Wall War of Resistance, the Northeast Army suffered a lot of losses. He immediately said bluntly: "Brig Commander Chen, I hope you can stick to the scheduled time when the main force of our troops arrived."

Chen Xiuwen was immediately furious when he heard this, but considering Huang Qixiang's presence and the two armies' cooperation in the future, Chen Xiuwen held back his anger and said, "Please rest assured that our army will definitely hold on to its position and not allow the Japanese soldiers to cross the river. The position will be completely handed over to the army at 5 a.m. tomorrow."

Wu Keren looked at Chen Xiuwen with a little surprise and said, "Then I will wait for the good news." As he said that, he saluted Huang Qixiang, who was frowning slightly, and said, "Sir Huang, I have to urge my subordinates to arrive as soon as possible, so I will leave first."

Looking at Wu Keren's back as he went out, Huang Qixiang smiled bitterly and said to Chen Xiuwen: "Luan, you don't have to care. Although Jingshan is a little arrogant, he is still an open and honest man, and he will never be vague in war."

Chen Xiuwen smiled and shook his head and said, "Please rest assured, Chief Huang, now that the enemy is in front of you, Xiuwen will never abolish the public for personal gain."

Huang Qixiang also breathed a little relieved. Although the Sixty-Seventh Army had nearly 20,000 brigades of the 2nd Division and 4th Brigade, Huang Qixiang also knew that in terms of equipment and elite level, the key to defending Songjiang was the Independent 20th Brigade. If Chen Xiuwenzhen and Wu Keren had something unpleasant, it would be very unfavorable to defend Songjiang.

However, Huang Qixiang said with some concern: "The Neon Army landed in Hangzhou Bay this time has three divisions of 100,000. According to the current situation, they want to divide the troops into three groups, intending to go south to conquer our Fengjing and Jiashan lines, cut off the Shanghai-Hangzhou line, and then pass through Huzhou and Guangde to advance along the west bank of Taihu Lake. They want to go north to threaten our Songhu army's right wing and flanking encirclement; the third route goes west to conquer Songjiang and cut off the rear route of our Songhu army. The focus of the three Neon Army is the enemy we face in the middle road, and Songjiang is the top priority of the rear route of our Songhu army."

Chen Xiuwen understood what Huang Qixiang meant, and nodded with a wry smile and said, "Sir Huang, I understand what you said. To be honest, I have no intention of considering anything else now. Our task now is to defend Songjiang and ensure that the rear wing of the army is more united and cooperated with each other. However, Commander Wu may be a little disliked by me."

Seeing that Chen Xiuwen was in this attitude, Huang Qixiang felt relieved and waved his hand and said, "Luanfu, don't worry, I am the commander-in-chief of Songjiang Front. Besides, Wu Jingshan would not be so serious. The key now is to fight the battle in front of him well." As he said that, Huang Qixiang sighed again with a frown: "But now the Sixth Division has been divided into two groups, and the troops are at my Songjiang City. The Sixty-Seventh Army guards the periphery. You independent 20th Brigade guards the county town and passively defends."

When Chen Xiuwen heard Huang Qixiang say this, he felt a little moved. In fact, when he learned that the Sixth Division was attacking Songjiang, he had always had an idea to teach this notorious beast army in later generations. But firstly, his troops were insufficient, and secondly, Huang Qixiang intended to let him defend the last line of defense in the county, so he never dared to mention it.

Since Huang Qixiang also showed helplessness towards passive defense at this time, Chen Xiuwen hesitated and said: "Sir Huang, instead of passive defense, we should take the initiative."

"Take an initiative?" Huang Qixiang was stunned for a moment and asked quickly, "How do you say this?"

"Sir Huang, come and see." Chen Xiuwen pointed to the map on the wall and introduced to Huang Qixiang: "This time the Sixth Division divided its troops and launched an attack on Songjiang. From an offensive perspective, if we just kept defending, this would undoubtedly be the best choice. However, if our army changed to passive defense to actively attack, the division of the Japanese would also create opportunities for our army."

Huang Qixiang carefully looked at the terrain on the map and the situation between the enemy and us, pondered for a moment, and said, "What you mean is to block the enemy from the west, and then put the Japanese on the other side of Mishidu, and surrounded this route between Mishidu and the county town and annihilated them."

When Chen Xiuwen heard this, he couldn't help but sigh in his heart that Huang Qixiang was worthy of being the commander of the Iron Army and could see his intentions at a glance.

"But restoration, there are tens of thousands of enemies opposite Mishidu, and our current 20th Independent Brigade and 67th Army are only 30,000. We still have to block the enemy in the west. How can we gather and annihilate them?" Huang Qixiang shook his head worriedly again. He did not deny that Chen Xiuwen took the initiative to attack, but the combat effectiveness of the Neon Army is obvious to all. At the beginning of the war in Songhu, the 36th, 87th, and 88th Divisions, these three most elite troops of the country, and nearly 40,000 people cannot fully wipe out the No. 1 Special Marine Corps of the Neon Army Navy, which is entrenched in Yangshupu and Jiangwan Towns, not to mention that they have to face the 6th Division, the most elite troops of the Japanese Army.

"As long as the Sixty-Seventh Army can block the enemy in the west, our Independent Twenty Brigade will be sure to severely damage the Japanese who were put in." Chen Xiuwen said confidently: "Sir Huang, I not only want to let the Japanese pass the Huangpu River, but also put some Japanese into the city so that their planes and heavy artillery could not work, and then encircle them from outside the city and wipe them out in one fell swoop." Then Chen Xiuwen introduced his ideas in detail.

Huang Qixiang was very shocked by Chen Xiuwen's boldness, but he knew that if the 20th Independent Brigade had such combat power, this initiative would undoubtedly be feasible. At the same time, he was also an unconventional commander, otherwise he would not have become the commander of the Iron Army and the leader of the Third Party who had won many battles back then. After a long examination, he gritted his teeth and immediately made a decision: "Okay, I will immediately call Commander Wu and Commander Guo to discuss your plan."

"Brig Commander, do you really want to do this?" Qiao Zhen asked hurriedly after Huang Qixiang left.

Chen Xiuwen had discussed this plan with Qiao Zhen. The two of them planned the details of the plan together and deduced it on the map. However, Chen Xiuwen usually likes to deduce various situations with him, so Qiao Zhen didn't care. He didn't expect that Chen Xiuwen would really take out this plan to implement it.

"Brother Songlin, it's a rare opportunity." Huang Qixiang agreed to his plan and Chen Xiuwen seemed very excited and rubbed his hands and said, "The Sixth Division is opposite us, and I must regret coming to China."

At this time, the tidal flats of Mishidu were densely covered with the bodies of the Neon Army who had crossed the Huangpu River. The battle continued. The wooden boats behind and the Neon Army on the rubber boat were still jumping into the water in the rain of bullets, wading through the river water, stepping on the bodies of the companions to attack the beachhead positions.

"Fight, brothers, hit me hard." The original Czech light machine gun in Dong Tie's hand has now been replaced by a bayonet. His first battalion has repelled the Japanese attacks several times on the beachhead position. Two times the Japanese even broke into his position, but they were still beaten out. The official bayonet in Dong Tie's hand was covered in blood, stained with the blood of four Japanese.

At this time, the beachhead position was also covered with the bodies of Chinese soldiers, and the soil on the position had already been stained with blood. Many soldiers were still wounded. They were mechanically pulling the bolt and pulling the trigger, regardless of the dense bullets shot from the other side. Some people kept breaking down, and the sound of gunfire and screams were mixed together.

"Battery Commander, there are too many Japanese rushing up, we can't stand it anymore, so let's retreat." A captain covered in blood rushed to Dong Tieshi and cried.

"Wang Erniu, you dare to shake your morale and kill you." Dong Tie stared at his blood-red eyes, pulled out his self-defense Bronnie pistol and directly pressed it on the captain's forehead.

"Brother, look at how many of our brothers are left. I beg you to leave some seeds for our battalion, big."

Before Wang Erniu could finish speaking, he could hear a crisp sound of gunfire. A stream of blue smoke came out of the mouth of Browning's muzzle in Dong Tie's hand. Wang Erniu had already widened his eyes and fell to the ground, with a blood hole on his forehead.

"Brothers, if you are in a position, who dares to retreat lightly? Wang Erniu is a role model." Dong Tie shouted at the soldiers who were looking at him.

Retreat is death, and continuing to persevere may have a glimmer of hope. More importantly, there is a generous pension for death in battle, and if you are shot, you won’t get a penny. The soldiers dare not hesitate anymore. They shot bullets and grenades densely into the howling crowd of Japanese devils. They vented their hatred on the opposite devils. If these Japanese devils had not come to China, they might have lived a poor but happy life at home.

Dong Tie glanced at the little fellow villager who was lying on the ground who came out with him back then, and silently shouted in his heart: "I'm sorry, brother."

Colonel Kawashima on the other side was at his frontier command post at this time. The cover of heavy artillery had destroyed most of the firepower points of the Chinese army on the other side, but he had crossed several times in turn. He could break through the beachhead position of the Chinese army, but he couldn't get in. The brigade responsible for the attack had lost more than half. Kawashima couldn't help asking himself, is this the Chinese army he had fought in Northeast China and North China? He actually had the momentum that was not inferior to the Imperial Army. He was obviously bombed into ruins on the position, as long as his army rushed forward, there would always be someone coming out to fight back, and he was not afraid of death. In the telescope, he saw a Chinese soldier in his own eyes holding a bundle of cluster grenades and rushing directly to detonate, not only killing more than a dozen of his soldiers, but also giving them time to defend, allowing his troops to break into the frontier position to fail.

Tani Suo, accompanied by Tokutaro Sakai, the commander of the 11th Brigade, walked into Kawashima's frontier command post. Such fierce artillery fire still could not break through the defense line of Yoshido opposite. He had just received a report from Niushima Man, and Niushima Man also encountered the same problem. Although the Chinese army was not too large, they were well-equipped, and more importantly, their fighting will was very strong.

Tanisuo could no longer sit still and took Tokutaro Sakai to the command post of the Forty-fifth Regiment, which was already within the range of the Chinese army on the other side, regardless of his safety.

"The division commander, the Chinese army's defense line that is incompetent and cannot be broken through to this day." Kawashima stood in front of Tanishou with a dejected look like a defeated rooster at this time.

Tani Shoufu suppressed the desire to fly to Kawashima's face with his hand and shouted sternly: "Colonel Kawashima, you are the colonel of the Imperial Army and the captain of my 6th Division. I hope you can cheer up and not be intimidated by the difficulties in front of you."

Kawashima suddenly became clever and quickly raised his head and stood at attention: "Hayi."

"Your Excellency the division commander, if you continue to fight like this, you will only increase casualties. When the naval aviation reinforcements arrive at dawn, our army will definitely be able to break through the Yoshidu defense line and approach the city of Songe." Tokutaro Sakai spoke to Tanisuo at this time.

When Kawashima heard Tokutaro Sakai's suggestion to stop the attack, his eyes lit up and he looked at the major general who was not his immediate superior with gratitude.

"The reinforcements of the Chinese army will arrive tomorrow." Tanisuo looked at the fierce battlefield opposite and sighed.

"His division commander, we are currently facing the elite Independent 20th Brigade of the Central Army of China. Although they blocked our two groups of troops for a day and a night, I believe that Independent 20th Brigade will also suffer a heavy blow. As long as it is dawn, under the attack of the naval aviation force, the Independent 20th Brigade will be wiped out. According to the latest intelligence, the reinforcements of Songe are only the 67th Army of our defeated North China Army. In front of our army's more than 20,000 morale warriors, the 67th Army cannot block our way." Sakai Tokutaro said with a proud face.
Chapter completed!