Chapter Fifty-Five Interlude

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  On the evening of July 19, fierce battles were still raging between Wu Song Town and Zhang Hua Bin. To the south, the last remnants of the 11th Division (excluding several thousand non-combat troops such as logistics units that had not yet landed) were engaged in intense hand-to-hand combat with the continuously arriving 16th, 19th, and 6th Divisions. In the center, the main force of the 3rd Division was making its last stand against the fierce attacks of the 18th and 14th Divisions. To the north, the 18th Brigade and other units were desperately resisting the advance of the 8th Division. The two sides were intermingled in combat, rendering the heavy cruisers of the 6th Squadron on the river ineffective, as they could only blindly shell the rear areas in an attempt to block the arrival of reinforcements.

  As the 11th Division's resistance weakened, many Japanese troops jumped into the river and swam towards their ships. At 9:40 PM, the 5th Torpedo Squadron (the Japanese Navy called destroyer squadrons "torpedo squadrons") with 8 destroyers, under the cover of the 6th Squadron's searchlights, inserted themselves at high speed into the narrow waterway between the 6th Squadron and Puxi, with their backs to the heavy cruisers. Using their 127mm main guns and 25mm anti-aircraft guns, they fired at point-blank range at the still-entangled Zhanghuabin area, sweeping everything on shore with hundreds of 127mm high-explosive shells and tens of thousands of 25mm cannonballs. Thousands of men from both sides were blown to pieces in an instant! The 6th Division suffered especially heavy losses due to its proximity to the riverbank; after finishing their attack, the 5th Torpedo Squadron did not turn back but instead picked up some lucky survivors from the 11th Division and headed directly towards Wusong Town. The 6th Squadron on the outside also retreated downstream at the same time. At 10:05 PM, the 4 heavy cruisers and destroyers of the 6th Squadron opened fire together, reenacting this scene with their more powerful 203mm main guns in the Wusong area; of course, this was after the order to retreat had been given from the north. The Japanese troops did not linger either, withdrawing the remnants of the 3rd Division (including the 11th Division and a small number of survivors from the Heavy Artillery 10th Regiment) onto their ships. After that, the Japanese used explosives, torpedoes, and naval guns to destroy over a dozen crippled and useless warships, towing behind them the barely-seaworthy Myoko-class cruisers as they retreated ignominiously out of the Huangpu River.

  At the same time, the Zhang Liang submarine was taking aim. In the background of the twinkling lights of Nagasaki harbor, a 10,000-ton tanker was slowing down to prepare for entry into the port. Suddenly, two columns of water shot up from the left side; afterwards, there came a loud "boom" sound. A 5,000-ton cargo ship that had cut its anchor chain and was preparing to escape was also hit by two torpedoes. More than twenty minutes later, in front of the arriving torpedo boats and patrol boats, it sank into the sea floor along with another ship. At this time, the Zhang Liang had already left Nagasaki waters, leaving behind only two sunken merchant ships and six mines on the navigation channel.

  While the Ministry of Land Forces is discussing where to throw the first batch of reserve corps that are about to be mobilized, the result is similar to history - 'both hands must be grasped'!

  However, unlike the past, the 13th Division of the second batch of ground troops of the Japanese army landed on Chongming Island at dawn on the 20th, and the warships and defeated soldiers who retreated from the Huangpu River also retreated there; Under the cover of the security team, the few remaining residents fled to northern Jiangsu.

  At 2:00 pm, the official residence meeting room

  "Yesterday evening, our air force fought bravely and damaged all 3 of the enemy's aircraft carriers, causing dozens of their fighter jets to crash into the river with nowhere to land."

  "Last night, our army fought fiercely on the banks of the Huangpu River and annihilated the entire 11th Division of the enemy and most of the 3rd Division, totaling over 30,000 people. Our army has now fully recovered the Puxi area this morning; the remaining enemy forces have escaped across the Huangpu River under naval cover."

  "Last night from 6 to 7, the naval submarine force launched an attack on the enemy destroyer fleet escorting a convoy carrying the 9th Division and military supplies in the central waters of the East Sea. According to comprehensive naval reports, military intelligence monitoring, and internal messages, our army sank 5 enemy transport ships, heavily damaged one merchant ship and one destroyer; it is estimated that over 10,000 enemy troops were eliminated along with a large number of weapons and equipment. Our submarine 'Zhongzhu' has gone missing."

  The successive victories made Zhang Zhizhong's morale high, Chen Shaokuan and Zhou Zhirou were complacent, the conference room was filled with excitement, and the heavy losses were thrown on the table without anyone looking at them. I knew that only the 6th Division had lost more than 4,000 people, which was even greater than the loss of the 67th Division! Just as I was savoring this vastly different historical process, what should the army do next?

  "Zi'an, what are you thinking about?" Old Jiang asked as he noticed I was clearly distracted.

  "I'm wondering if the Japanese army will put its main force into North China or land again with its main force near Shanghai?"

  "What did you say? Is the Japanese army daring to land?"

  "As long as the Japanese have a strong navy, they certainly have the strength to land at any coastal or riverine location in China. This time it's just that the Japanese army was too impatient and forced its way into Wusong, where our troops caught them off guard."

  "Let's focus on the safety of our children first. Even if the Japanese army dares to land again, that's a matter for later. For now, let's pay more attention to what's happening in North China!"

  The enemy's North China forces have invaded our Pingjin area, and after our army won the great victory in Chahar Province, the enemy's main force is now preparing to attack our troops who have retreated to the Baoding line. The 6th, 14th, and 20th Divisions of the Japanese army have been identified as the main forces in this operation. On the western front, the 5th Division is launching an attack on our troops at Nan'kou. In Chahar Province, the Kwantung Army is assembling its second batch of troops to prepare for an attack on our troops in Suiyuan. As for our army, except for the 29th Corps which is still retreating, all other units are following the predetermined plan and establishing layered defenses from Baoding to Shimen (Shijiazhuang). The troops, excluding the 52nd Corps and those preparing to move north, are divided into two groups, taking turns using them as defensive forces, alternating resistance and replenishment. This is in line with the Chairman's advocacy of a long-term war of resistance, adopting a strategic guideline of trading space for time.

  "The enemy's offensive is so strong, and our limited troops in the north are divided into three groups? How can we resist? Whose idea was this?" Bai Chongxi spoke up.

  Zhang Zhizhong was in an awkward position because this was his idea, but it had already been approved by Old Chiang; now that Bai asked him like this, how could he respond?

  Not only was Zhang embarrassed, but Old Jiang also had nothing to say; looking at everyone, I could only take it upon myself!

  "General Bai, this is in response to the proposal of the Chairman. Now that the war on the southern front has come to an end, our troops in the west and south are also being reinforced to the east and north China, and the strength of our troops in north China is rapidly increasing. With our military scale, we can completely divide into three groups to implement alternating warfare."

  "Alright, alright! I understand what you mean. But don't just think about the victories we've won in the past few days, those were when the enemy's main forces hadn't been deployed yet, and we relied on our long-term preparations and concentrated attacks to win, even so, our air force, navy, and army artillery suffered heavy losses; In North China, the enemy's main forces have been committed to battle, with large-scale ground offensives supported by a large number of land-based air forces, although our military strength has an advantage, but combat effectiveness is insufficient, in the severe lack of heavy weapons, even defense will suffer heavy losses, and if there are fewer troops, it can't be defended at all."

  "General Bai, we will resist at every step, using space to exchange for time as our long-term strategy, rather than defending a place to the death."

  "Not to yield an inch of ground is right, but it does not mean defending a place to the death and then retreating; instead, defense should be auxiliary to counter-attacks, which should be the main thing. Defense should be used to wear out the enemy, create opportunities for counter-attacks, and wipe out the enemy in counter-attacks, improve the situation; only after that can we defend again and launch another counter-attack... This is the only way to conform to the long-term strategy of protracted war; if we keep retreating, there will be no place to retreat to before long."

  It seems that Little White is indeed a strategic genius! However, it's all just empty talk! "General Bai has a high-level view, but this approach requires a large number of elite troops skilled in offense to maintain and develop; looking at our current situation, only a small number of units have this capability, occasionally grasping opportunities can work, such as General Fu and General Ma's victory in Chahar and Suiyuan; following General Bai's idea as the main measure lacks powerful troops as its foundation?"

  Bai Chongxi flipped through the list with a pretentious air, humming. Just those dozen or so troops, can't you remember?

  "Hmm, currently there aren't many troops in Northern China that are good at attacking! However, Chairman, now that the battles on the southern front have subsided, our Guangxi troops are willing to head north and participate in the resistance war in Northern China!" (In history, the Guangxi Army indeed arrived at the Lianyungang line first before transferring to Shanghai to participate in the resistance war)

  Are you guys the aborigines? Modern warfare is not something you can play with! To avoid a repeat of the tragic loss of the Guangxi Army in the Shanghai War, I hastily interjected: "Although the Guangxi troops are brave and good at fighting, their training and equipment are not suitable for modern warfare; if the Chairman agrees to go north to participate in the war, I suggest that the Guangxi troops can stop at Pukou Port for a while, and some experienced officers and soldiers from the 36th, 87th, and 88th Divisions, which are currently resting, can be sent for targeted training and preparation; Zhongyang can also allocate some special forces and equipment to strengthen them."

  "Right, the new-style recoilless gun and dual-purpose gun developed by Zi'an are both effective. The Jinling factory is working overtime to produce them. I think we can equip each army in Guangxi with a mixed regiment; also, heavy hand grenades can be provided in batches."

  "Thank you, Chairman and Brother Zi An. We can receive it when we pass through Pukou. The military situation is urgent, so there's no need to stop training."

  "Great, great, great!" Old Chiang was delighted and laughed. "And there's more good news! Soong has just successfully negotiated with Russia, we will import a large batch of military equipment from Russia in exchange for cash and crude minerals! The first batch is mainly combat aircraft, including 240 I-16 fighter planes and 60 SB-2 bombers!"

  Between 1937 and 1940, China purchased 985 aircraft from the Soviet Union using foreign exchange and rare metals, mainly including I-15, I-16 fighters and SB bombers.

  I turned around and asked: "Bai Fu brother, is the fighter plane the 'current version' or the fire-enhanced type we discussed?"

  Zhou Zhihua replied: "In order to rush for time, they promised to provide us with 60 brand-new fighter jets first, and the subsequent ones would all be equipped with 12.7mm heavy machine guns; the previous 60 could also be upgraded in the follow-up provision."

  "That's great!"

  Bai Chongxi heard it and said "Guangxi Air Force..." Apparently they were just bragging, haha.

  At noon, I slipped into the backyard as usual to have lunch with San Jie, but was stopped by Old Jiang who passed by, "Zi An, tell me about Gui Jun."

  "Just like those irregular troops, the Brave Suicide Squad." I said with a wry smile: "First fight a defensive war and learn about modern warfare, maybe it can still be used. As soon as you take the stage, you'll be in charge of the main attack. Unless it's a special situation like last night where you just need to dare to fight desperately, otherwise you'll definitely suffer a crushing defeat in one battle, and then be demoralized for a long time."

  Old Chiang's meaningful "oh..."

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