Chapter 21: Drumming Up Support (Part 1) (Tears of Blood Begging for Votes)

  On November 8, 1937, the Japanese Tenth Army landed at Kinshanwei and advanced northward under the command of Lieutenant General Rikichi Andō. They captured Songjiang, thus cutting off both railway lines connecting Shanghai with the outside world. The dozens of National Revolutionary Army divisions defending western Shanghai were suddenly placed in a desperate situation of being attacked from both front and rear.

  Chiang Kai-shek, who had originally thought of holding on for a few more days, finally woke up like a dream and ordered the troops in the Songhu War Zone to withdraw immediately.

  But at this time, the best opportunity for retreat had been lost. Moreover, the deputy commander of the Third War Zone, Gu Zhuang, did not have enough prestige to effectively suppress the various National Army units. As a result, each group army and division retreated in disorder, with dozens of elite divisions crowded on the only highway from Shanghai to Nanjing, resulting in chaos and complete loss of control.

  Japanese bombers arrived in droves, indiscriminately bombing along the highway, and Japanese spies mixed with the National Army, constantly creating chaos. This hasty retreat ultimately ended in a disastrous defeat, nearly 100,000 brave National Army soldiers did not fall on the front line where bullets were flying everywhere, but died under the feet of their comrades and brothers in a most humiliating way!

  At the same time as the main force of the National Army was defeated, the Baoshan Camp's resistance at the Sihang Warehouse also entered its most difficult phase.

  On the same evening when various circles in Shanghai sent comfort goods and more than 100 supplementary soldiers to the Sihang Warehouse, the 1st Brigade of the Puppet Manchukuo Peace Preservation Army arrived at the Japanese front-line position north of the warehouse. The next day, the 9th Division of the Japanese army launched a fierce attack on the warehouse with the cooperation of the Ziyuan Brigade (the 36th Brigade) of the Puppet Manchukuo Army.

  It must be admitted that the tactical literacy of Colonel Iwao Sakai, commander of the 36th Division of the Japanese Army, was still quite high.

  In the past few days of attack, the Sui-Sakai coalition did not fight with all its might, but rather made a targeted and fake attack to consume as much ammunition from the Shina army as possible, while putting pressure on the concession authorities, in an attempt to defeat the enemy without fighting. Now that the plan to put pressure on the Shina government through the concession and force the Shina garrison to surrender has fallen through, they have again adjusted their tactics, sealing off all contact between the Sino-French Warehouse and the outside world with all their might, while launching a fierce attack on the warehouse in coordination with the puppet Peace Maintenance Army.

  In this round of attack, Sugasawa Jirō also creatively used a large number of "new-type tanks".

  The so-called new tank is actually just nailing a few millimeters thick steel plate on the tabletop and sides of many eight immortals tables, instantly becoming a movable infantry fortress. The light and heavy machine gun bullets of the National Army can't penetrate the steel plate at all, only the armor-piercing shells of the war defense guns can effectively destroy these simple infantry fortresses.

  In addition, the Japanese army also deployed an anti-tank artillery squadron and exchanged fire with the National Army.

  What is called a war defense gun is actually an anti-tank gun, mainly used to strike armored targets.

  The Japanese Army's 37mm tankette gun was a copy of the German KWK36 anti-tank gun, although its power was not enough to be compared with the genuine products imported by the National Army from Germany, but the armor-piercing explosive shells it fired were also quite powerful. Moreover, the direct fire of the tankette gun could pose a direct threat to light and heavy machine guns in hidden shooting holes!

  As a result, the National Army immediately suffered casualties, with light and heavy machine guns and snipers suffering particularly heavy losses!

  The fierce battle lasted until dusk, and the original six Maxim guns of the Baoshan camp were damaged, four of them were damaged, nine Czech-style guns were damaged, two of them were damaged, and four 92-style guns were damaged. Three of them were damaged, but the six "crooked handle" guns were intact. The loss of machine gunners was also extremely heavy, and Niu Dagen's machine gun company originally had more than 60 people, but now only 40 or so people are left.

  …………

  Warehouse 4th floor, Baoshan Camp Command Center.

  Two lanterns hung on the wall, casting dim light into the empty hall. Yue Weihan sat quietly in the corner of the hall, his face looking somewhat pale. The four warehouses had been fighting against the Japanese until now, and their history had deviated greatly from what he was familiar with. Commander Xie Yuan's 524th regiment had only lost four men when they retreated to the concession area, while the Baoshan battalion had already lost at least thirty brothers today!

  However, Commander Xie Yuan's 524th Regiment only held out for four days at the Sihang Warehouse.

  Yue Weihan and his Baoshan Regiment had already defended the Sihang Warehouse for over ten days, while more than 70 National Revolutionary Army divisions in the Songhu Battle Zone were defeated, but the Baoshan Regiment still stood firm at the Sihang Warehouse!

  In the heavy footsteps, Cao Xinglong, the company commander of the first battalion, Chi Chengfeng, the company commander of the second battalion, Niu Dagen, the machine gun company commander, and Liu Tiezhu, the guard platoon leader, came to Yue Weihan together. Niu Dagen still had a bandage tied around his right shoulder, this afternoon, a shell from the devils' anti-tank gun exploded after piercing through the wall and took away another layer of skin on his right shoulder, fortunately it didn't hurt any tendons or bones.

  "This won't do, going on like this." Cao Xinglong said.

  "His grandma, this little devil's defensive cannon is too powerful." Chi Chengfeng also said.

  "Niu Dageng also said: 'Commander, we must think of a way, otherwise our machine gun company will be completely wiped out.'"

  "What's going on?" Yue Weihan furrowed his brow and asked Liu Tiezhu, "Tiezhu, what's the situation with the casualties of our brothers?"

  "The casualties have been counted." Liu Tiezhu nodded and said gloomily, "The entire regiment has lost 39 men, 17 seriously injured, and about 60 lightly injured, but none of them are serious. Also, the vast majority of those killed or seriously injured were new recruits, as well as the brothers from the heavy machine gun squad."

  He nodded silently, and Yue Weihan also felt a deep sense of regret in his heart.

  War has its own rules, and they are absolutely cruel and ruthless. On the battlefield, the ones who die the most are always new recruits. Due to a lack of psychological adaptation, new recruits who have just stepped onto the battlefield will instinctively react slowly and lose their composure, greatly increasing their chances of death.

  However, Yue Weihan had no time to bother with these new recruits and immediately asked: "How is the tunnel digging going?"

  Liu Tiezhu scratched his head, somewhat uncertainly saying: "It should be over a hundred meters now? However, the excavation speed is much slower than at the beginning. The mud excavated from the front takes a long time to transport out, and it's really too stuffy inside. The brothers can't stay for long before they have to come out to breathe, it's too troublesome."

  Yue Weihan said coldly: "No matter how difficult or bitter it is, we must dig, and we must speed up the progress as much as possible!"

  After saying this, Yue Weihan said: "However, the inside is too stuffy and it's indeed a problem. In that case, I'll discuss with Mr. Yang later to see if he can think of a way to get us a few bottles of oxygen from the hospital in the concession."

  "If we can really get oxygen, then the remaining hundred or so meters will definitely be dug out within ten days."

  "There's something else to note," Yue Weihan suddenly reminded, "Now the tunnel is close to the enemy command center. If it's too quiet at night, it's likely that the devils will detect the movement underground, so when you're on guard duty, occasionally fire a few shots or cannons to make some noise and not let the little devils be too comfortable."

  "Yes." Liu Tiezhu suddenly puffed out his chest and said loudly, "I'll go make arrangements right away."

  Yue Weihan then said to Cao Xinglong, Chi Chengfeng and Niu Dagen: "The little devils have improved their tactics, and our tactics must also be adjusted accordingly. From tomorrow on, the war defense artillery will no longer engage in direct fire with the devils. The devil's artillery training is good, after firing a cannon, they immediately transfer the position, can't be killed at all. Moreover, our shells are not many, the remaining dozen or so shells must be used to deal with the little devil's tanks, as for their 'earth tank', use cluster hand grenades to blast when approaching!"

  "All the light and heavy machine guns in the company were moved to the bottom floor. When the devils launched an attack, we tried our best to use the devils' infantry and 'earth tanks' to block the devils' anti-tank guns' field of fire. The deputy gunners of each machine gun must observe at all times, and once the firing point is exposed in the field of fire of the devils' anti-tank guns, they immediately shift."

  "Hey, this is a great idea! How come I didn't think of it?" Niu Dageng slapped his thigh heavily.

  "Your grandma, or else how would someone be a battalion commander and you're just a company commander?" Chi Chengfeng slapped Niu Dageng's forehead and sneered, "If you could also think of it, wouldn't you have become a battalion commander too?"

  "What's wrong with you!" Niu Dageng suddenly covered his head and angrily said, "Why are you hitting me again?"

  "Ah, sorry, really sorry, Uncle Niu." Chi Chengfeng said awkwardly, "My hand was too fast, couldn't hold back."

  "Get out! Get out!" Yue Weihan waved his hand irritably, "Go to the edge, go as far as you can!"

  Cao Xinglong and the other two immediately hid their heads and scattered, each busy with their own affairs. Yue Weihan finally arrived at the fifth floor, coming to the temporary military supply warehouse of the Baoshan Garrison. This morning, the devils launched a large-scale attack, and the blockade on the Suzhou River was also strengthened. Yue Weihan had been too busy to escort the photographer back, so he temporarily stayed behind as a military supply officer.