Luodian is a small town in the north of Shanghai. It is adjacent to the Yangtze River in the north. It is an open land with an area of only 3 square kilometers. The water network in the town is crisscrossed, and there are 6 waterway docks alone;
The ancient town was built in the Zhizheng period of the Yuan Dynasty. As early as the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, Luodian was also a large commercial town with rich products and intensive commerce. By the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty, the cotton and cotton cloth trade was booming, and it was known as the "Jinluodian" .
At the 88th Division Independent Battalion Headquarters, although the Independent Battalion was still resting, their minds were still on the battlefield. The ongoing battle of Luodian naturally became the focus of their attention. They had nothing to do anyway, so Luo Ying simply He organized them to do a war game performance of the Luodian Battle, because he always had a hunch that he and the Independence Battalion might not be able to avoid this battle.
Luo Ying first introduced the basic situation of the Luodian Battle to several company commanders using the map:
"Brothers, look, Luodian Town is located in the middle section of the Hu-Taiwan Highway (Shanghai to Taicang), on the side of Songhu. It is the transportation hub from southern Jiangsu Province to Shanghai from the north.
Go south along Hutai Road, pass through Liuhang and Dachang, and go straight to the urban area of Zhabei, Jiangwan and Hongkou;
To the west, you can follow the Luojia Highway directly to Jiading;
To the east, you can go straight to Baoshan along the Baoluo Highway. Once the Japanese occupy Luodian, they can open up a channel to attack downtown Shencheng to the south, attack and occupy Zhabei, Jiangwan, and Hongkou, and encircle and annihilate the main force of the Ninth Group Army in the above areas.
This is not the biggest threat. If the Japanese have a bigger appetite and capture Jiading to the west, they can cut off the Hu-Nanjing Railway, the main land transportation line connecting the national army with the rear, which is equivalent to cutting off the rear of all national palaces in the Shencheng battlefield;
Materials and reinforcements from the rear cannot come in, and the Japanese can continuously increase their troops to Shencheng through the sea. When it reaches a certain scale, the main force of the national army gathered near Shencheng may be surrounded and annihilated by the enemy.
On the contrary, as long as Luodian is in the hands of the Kuomintang army, troops and supplies from the rear can continuously enter, and the enemy troops who land can be blocked to the east of Luodian with their superior strength, and they can even be driven into the sea. Even if they cannot win, We can also withdraw to Jiading and retreat to the defense line to deal with the enemy for a long time.
Therefore, whoever captures Luodian will have the initiative on the battlefield!
Naturally, the Japanese could see this, so after landing, the Japanese focused their attack on Luodian. Now the enemy's 11th Division is mainly attacking Luodian. This is also one of the Japanese's 17 standing divisions. It fights fiercely. Japanese General Matsui Iwane once served as the division commander of this division, so he valued this division very much.
The Japs currently deployed on the battlefield near Luodian mainly include the 11th and 3rd Class A Divisions. They have a large number of aircraft and warships to cooperate with their operations, making them very difficult to defeat;
What our government is fighting is Chief Chen's 15th Army, including the 18th Army, Chief Hu's First Army, our 88th Division Commander Chief Yu's 74th Army, and Chief Liu Heding's 39th Army. In addition to this, Except for the 39th Army, whose combat effectiveness is slightly inferior, the other three armies are direct descendants of our Central Military Army. The specific deployment is as follows..."
Following Luo Ying's explanation, Li Shuo and others had an intuitive understanding of the deployment of enemy and friendly forces around Luodian and Luodian's combat readiness. Everyone's expressions also became extremely serious. Unexpectedly, a little Luodian is related to the life and death of nearly 200,000 Central Army elites of the 9th and 15th Group Armies on the Shencheng battlefield. The fight between the two sides in Luodian is not about the overall situation, but also about the overall situation.
Li Shuo said on this topic:
"Battal Commander, I heard from some old classmates that the fighting in Luodian is very fierce now, and the positions have changed owners several times. The 67th Division and the 11th Division of the 18th Army are almost crippled. Our 88th Division is not far from Luodian. Although our 88th Division belongs to the battle order of the Ninth Group, it is now temporarily assigned to the Northern Route Army. Do you think that when the strength of the troops is tight, will Commander Chen also take over our 88th Division?"
Luo Ying shook his head with a wry smile and said:
"This is a high probability event. When the troops are tight, not to mention a main division, even a battalion. Commander Chen will be concerned about it. Any order of battle is secondary. We are all national troops. Based on this, Commander Chen sent Who dares to go up and who dares not to go up?”
After listening to this, Li Shuo and others showed excited expressions on their faces. It seemed that Luodian was not a flesh and blood mill, but a big cake. These Huangpu officers were really unambiguous in fighting the Japanese. As their battalion commander Naturally, you can't be vague, otherwise you won't be able to lead this team.
Luo Ying smiled and cursed:
"You guys, you haven't been fighting for a few days and you can't stand it anymore? Don't think that I don't know your little thoughts. Just stay here and take good care of your troops and train them well;
Luodian is no different from other places. The 201st Brigade of the 67th Division only fought one battalion. Everyone must be mentally prepared. It doesn’t matter whether we go up or not. As long as the commander gives the order, we will be independent when it is our turn. The camp will not be a coward! "
Third company commander Li Zhao also took over and said:
"Battal Commander, don't worry, brothers will not embarrass you. If it is our turn, we will always go up and meet the 11th Division."
Others also agreed and began to express their opinions one by one. The crowd was passionate and the morale was very good. Luo Ying could only encourage them one by one. Morale can only be encouraged, not vented.
After appeasing everyone, he continued:
"You see, currently north of Zhaizaobang and on the south bank of the Yangtze River, our Northern Army has formed a diamond-shaped defensive zone between the four points of Wusong, Baoshan, Yuepu, and Yangxing. The right wing is the line from Wusong to Baoshan to block the Japanese ace. The 3rd Division moved westward;
The line from Yuepu to Yangxing is on the left, blocking the enemy's 11th Division from going south;
The front is from Baoshan to Yuepu, and land enemies will land from Chuanshakou, Shidongkou, etc.;
The line from Luodian to Liuhang is the central hub of the entire diamond-shaped defense circle, and now it is the focus of the entire Shencheng battlefield.
After the desperate battle between the two sides in the past few days, the latest report on the battle situation is that Luodian was taken away by the Japanese again. The 201st Brigade of the 67th Division of our defenders was almost completely destroyed. After occupying Luodian, the Japanese placed a maimed man on top. The regiment has a total strength of approximately 2,000 men;
There is another regiment on the flank that responds to it, and there are two regiments on the periphery. It is not that the Japanese do not have the strength to send troops up there, but Luodian is only so big, and if they send too many troops, they will be killed. The Chinese government army also has them. Heavy artillery. "
Li Shuo raised his hand and said:
"Battal Commander, I have a question. Since the Japanese have occupied Luodian, why don't they move westward or southward in a big way, but instead have to fight against our army in Luodian?"
Luo Ying nodded and said:
"Two reasons. The first is that the Japs don't have enough troops. They currently have only two main divisions in Shencheng. They want to encircle and annihilate our 15th and 9th armies. They don't have enough troops. They are dispatching troops and generals from North China. and mobilize troops from home. As long as they keep occupying Luodian, they will dare to continuously invest troops on the northern front;
The first reason is that the Japs want to use the flesh-and-blood mill of Luodian to consume a lot of our main force and attract more national troops to gather in Shencheng. It is best to attract all the main forces from across the country, and then the Japs can complete their work and fight in one battle. The Shencheng area annihilated the main force of the Kuomintang army in order to achieve their goal of preparing for a decisive battle! "
After hearing this, everyone took a deep breath and cursed the Japanese for their ambition. Zhou Shuzhuang even cursed:
"These little dwarfs have big appetites, and they are not afraid of bursting their bellies!"
Luo Ying's misfortune destroyed everyone's morale. In another time and space, the Japs did this. With the cooperation of someone, the battle in Songhu almost wiped out all the blood. Fortunately, he did not choose to surrender as the Japs wanted. Whether we win or lose, we keep fighting. In the end, God will bless China and we will survive until the day when the international situation changes.
Just when several people were getting excited, the communications staff came in and reported:
"Report to the battalion commander. The division headquarters has asked you to go over for a meeting. There are important arrangements."
"Damn it, everything that's supposed to come will come!"
