August 23, 1937.
Shanghai.
Wusongkou.
As soon as the sky in the east dimmed, the entire Wusongkou turned gray, and the moist, dewy air was filled with the smell of gunpowder and blood.
The sound of gunfire was heard not far away, accompanied by the light of fire.
The water surface in Wusongkou is very peaceful, just like before.
Arriving at Wusongkou at 1:30 in the morning, Major General Yi Anhua, commander of the 259th Brigade of the 87th Division, ordered more than a hundred soldiers to build fortifications and dig foxholes to prevent enemy ship bombardment.
Release a squad of outposts, and immediately alert the Japanese landing troops if they find them.
All the remaining soldiers slept on the spot 200 meters away from the position and took the time to rest.
This time, the task of sniping the enemies at Wusongkou fell on the shoulders of General Yi Anhua and the 2,000 soldiers he led.
The order given by the division commander Wang Jingjiu was to hold on for three hours at all costs and wait for reinforcements to arrive.
During this period, the soldiers of the 88th Division, the 87th Division and the 20th Independent Brigade were very tired from attacking the Japanese army for days.
Many soldiers fell asleep as soon as they lay on the ground.
Some soldiers fell asleep while sitting back to back on the ground holding their guns.
Some soldiers were holding their guns, lying on their sides on the wet ground, and fell asleep as soon as they closed their eyes.
Some soldiers still held the dried bun heads in their hands, chewing them in their mouths before falling asleep soundly.
they are too tired
In the past ten days, the Chinese army has been vigorously attacking in order to encircle and annihilate the Japanese Marine Corps stationed in Shanghai. However, the defensive positions built by the Japanese army using steel and concrete were too strong. The Chinese army was helpless without heavy weapons. Many artillery shells When it fell on the Japanese defensive fortress, it could only dig a small hole and could not destroy it at all.
The soldiers took turns building fortifications.
Due to the urgency of the march, defensive artillery was not brought. The soldiers could only dig trenches, lay out trenches, and dig foxholes to fight against the Japanese army, which had advanced weapons and was armed to the teeth.
In order to carry out this sniper attack, the Chinese army brought enough light weapons, and more than a dozen engineers laid landmines at the places where the Japanese troops would land.
500 meters in front of the position, a dozen engineers also laid mines.
Knowing that the two thousand men he led would be outnumbered and weak against the strong, General Yi Anhua used everything he could use. Their mission was to block and delay the enemy's landing, so he brought a large number of troops with him when they arrived. Mines were all placed on the shore where the Japanese troops landed.
Ten minutes ago, the outpost sent out reported back that the Japanese forward troops would reach the beach in another 20 minutes.
General Yi Anhua ordered to wake up the sleeping soldiers, spread them out, and hide around 200 meters away from the forward position, ready to fight at any time!
Withdraw all soldiers who planted mines.
five minutes later.
Sudden!
"boom!"
A blaze of fire soared into the sky from the water about five kilometers away from the shore and headed straight towards Wusongkou Pier. Then, the sound of explosions was loud and powerful, and countless rays of fire came from the water far away and hit Wusongkou Pier.
"The Japanese battleships opened fire!"
A scout shouted loudly. As soon as he finished speaking, a cannonball landed on the Chinese army's position. Suddenly, the soil flew up, and a large pit more than one meter deep and two meters wide appeared on the ground. The smoke was pungent.
Ship-based artillery shells landed on the Chinese army's positions one after another, destroying some newly constructed simple fortifications.
Major General Yi Anhua, the brigade commander, ordered loudly: "Leave the reconnaissance squad and the demolition platoon to monitor the enemy. Everyone else retreats 100 meters back and is ready to fight at any time!"
Immediately, the soldiers ducked and retreated 100 meters.
Leave a squad of scouts on the position to hide in foxholes, continue to observe the enemy's movements, the scope and method of their attack, and the layout and configuration of firepower, and report to the headquarters at any time.
General Yi Anhua's temporary headquarters is stationed 100 meters away from the most forward position.
A platoon of demolition soldiers left on the position hid in foxholes to prepare for battle. After the enemy stopped artillery attacks, they would then send out infantry attacks. The soldiers of the demolition platoon could use their superb bomb-dropping skills to temporarily block the enemy's advance. The footsteps allowed the soldiers hundreds of meters away from the position to enter the position.
After more than ten days of continuous fierce fighting, the soldiers have recovered from the state where they were so frightened that they lay on the ground and did not dare to move when they first heard the explosion of artillery shells. Now, the soldiers have become accustomed to the explosion of artillery shells. After these days, Life and death, they have long understood that cannonballs don't have eyes, and God knows who will fall next to them. Instead of being frightened and trying to find a safe place on the battlefield, it is better to lie down where they are and wait for their fate to come.
There is no safe place on the battlefield.
On the position blindly hit by continuous artillery fire, there were no tens of thousands of enemies, only the living and the dead.
The shells are falling, damn it, you can't hide even if you want, you can't survive even if you want.
You can't just dodge the cannonballs if you want.
Whoever the Japanese artillery shells fall next to will die. There is no room for negotiation with the artillery shells.
No matter you are a general or a soldier, an old man or a child, you are all equal in front of cannonballs and bullets.
Even if you are not killed by shrapnel from the shell, the shock wave generated when the shell explodes can kill anyone within three meters around you.
Many soldiers on the battlefield did not have any external injuries on their bodies, but they bled to death from all their orifices. They were all shocked to death by artillery shells.
Ten minutes later, with fierce shelling suppressing the Chinese army's defensive positions, the Japanese began to land.
The Japanese's landing tools are very advanced. A steel protective shield is arched on the bow of the small landing ship. The soldiers hide behind the protective shield. As long as they are not hit by artillery shells, ordinary machine guns and rifles cannot do anything to them.
The Japanese stormed the beach.
The Chinese defended the beach.
Since the beach defense troops marched immediately after emergency mobilization, they did not bring heavy weapons. The most lethal ones were howitzers and heavy machine guns, but these posed little threat to the Japanese landing ships.
On the water, the Japanese landing boats were densely packed. Under the cover of artillery fire, they moved unimpeded and without any resistance, the landing boats arrived at the shore.
The soldiers of the Japanese army's landing vanguard armed with weapons, jumped into the water one after another, waded into the water to attack the shore. When they reached the shore, they immediately set up machine guns and howitzers to bombard the Chinese positions.
The Japanese army, known as the world's largest army, has rich battlefield experience. Their commander knew that under the fierce artillery fire of the fleet, the Chinese beach defense troops would definitely not be able to enter the position. They could only ambush around the position and wait for the artillery fire to stop before immediately entering the position.
This is what the Japanese commander wanted, to use the powerful artillery fire of the fleet to suppress the Chinese army and stop the bombardment only when the imperial vanguard troops were approaching the Chinese defensive positions. At that time, the Chinese army rushed into the position and could not effectively attack the imperial vanguard troops. With lethal defense, the two sides will enter a melee, so that subsequent landing troops can board the beach unimpeded.
This is the Japanese tactics.
Japan deserves to be known as the world's best army. They fought in an orderly and unified manner. As soon as the soldiers jumped off the landing craft, they immediately spread out to prevent the Chinese army from shelling. Individual soldiers were used as combat units and they advanced to the shore in an orderly manner.
Just as the Japanese vanguard jumped off the landing craft and began to seize the beach, the Japanese surface ships were still suppressing the Chinese positions on the shore with artillery fire.
The Japanese soldiers who have landed are moving forward step by step. Every time they advance a dozen or dozens of meters, they will immediately build simple fortifications on the spot, and then arrange various heavy machine guns, light machine guns and mortars, etc. After the fire suppression on the ship stopped, it covered the subsequent landing soldiers to attack the Chinese position.
The Japanese vanguard troops were very experienced. After landing on the beach, they could see at a glance where the Chinese engineers had laid mines on the beach. Then, under the cover of several soldiers, the engineers began to clear the mines.
The quality of the Japanese army is absolutely superb.
Just when the Japanese vanguard troops poured onto the beach in an orderly manner.
Sudden.
Two Chinese fighter planes appeared at the 10 o'clock and 3 o'clock positions on both sides of the Chinese defensive position. From an altitude of 1,000 meters, they successfully avoided the Japanese artillery fire that bombarded the defensive position and dived towards the landing Japanese vanguard.
This high-flying aircraft was beyond the reach of the Japanese light machine guns, rifles and howitzers.
The sudden appearance of Chinese fighter planes caught the Japanese landing vanguard a little unprepared. They all lay down on the wet soil on the shore, and some raised their light machine guns and fired into the air.
"boom……"
In panic and panic, many Japanese soldiers touched the landmines laid by Chinese engineers on the shore. Suddenly, limbs and limbs flew everywhere where the mines exploded.
Under the impact of Hawker 2 fighter planes, the Japanese beach troops became more panicked, and more and more soldiers triggered landmines. The explosions were accompanied by screams, and the limbs, trunks and internal organs were scattered on the beach and in the water. Blood stained the waters red.
Before takeoff, everything that could be dismantled from the two Hawker 2 aircraft was dismantled, and as much ammunition as possible was carried. The mechanics installed two more machine guns on both sides of the wings.
What is needed is fierce firepower.
Modifying machine guns on the wings has advantages and disadvantages. The advantage is to increase the firepower. The disadvantage is that having two more machine guns on the wings will cause the aircraft's body to become unstable during fast flight.
The appearance of two Chinese Air Force Hawker 2 fighter jets immediately disrupted the artillery fire of Japanese surface ships attacking the Chinese position.
The two Hawker 2s launched a swooping advantageous attack on the Japanese troops who were landing or had already landed from the left and right sides, and threatened the Japanese landing warships full of soldiers at any time.
The two Japanese warships immediately sounded the siren, and many ship-based artillery fires attacking the Chinese defense positions immediately stopped attacking, adjusted their gun heads, and prepared to intercept the incoming Chinese fighter planes.
There are hundreds of Japanese soldiers on each landing ship. Once Chinese fighter planes break in and a shell falls, the Japanese soldiers on the landing ship will be killed and injured countless times.
The two fighter planes started to attack from both sides of the landing Japanese army. They did not attack the ships on the water for the time being. They used the maximum firepower to attack the landing Japanese army with the strategy of surrounding Wei and saving Zhao. This bought time for General Yi Anhua's defense forces. , quickly enter the position and quickly complete the defense formation.
The Chinese Air Force appeared too timely.
Just at the critical moment when the Japanese beach troops were about to break into the Chinese defense positions, General Yi Anhua was about to order the troops to risk their lives to enter the position. Fortunately, Chinese fighter planes appeared in time and provided strong assistance, suppressing the Japanese vanguard troops.
The Chinese army quickly entered the position, set up machine guns, assembled howitzers, filled the position with grenades, and installed bayonets...
"Whoosh whoosh..."
The red flames spit out from the machine guns of the two Hawker fighters, which looked particularly dazzling in the gray sky.
Today, the loading mode of the two Hawker 2 fighter jets was changed from the previous loading mode of 4 armor-piercing bullets + 1 tracer bullet to tracer bullets.
All the shots fired from the machine gun are tracer bullets, which look very ferocious, which enhances the deterrent effect on enemy soldiers.
Under the fierce attack by two Air Force fighter planes, the Chinese defense position was completed again and began to launch a fierce attack on the Japanese troops on the stall.
Just after the construction of the Chinese defense position was completed, two Hawker 2 fighter jets rushed towards the Japanese ship at a low altitude. They wanted to kick away the anti-aircraft fire of the Japanese fleet.
Dozens of Japanese warships opened fire almost at the same time, organizing a powerful fleet defense firepower network, and like a meteor shower in the gray sky, they attacked the two Hawk 2s attacking at low altitude.
Ren Songling and Yan Haiwen responded with concentration, flying Hawker fighter jets at low altitudes, constantly dodging Japanese anti-aircraft fire, and shooting at crowded places with Japanese troops with their airborne machine guns.
From the current point of view, the tactics deployed by the Chinese Air Force are successful. The timely appearance of the two of them gave the ground defense forces some breathing time.
The Japanese soldiers who were standing in the water during the landing also stopped landing. They raised their light machine guns and 38-gauge rifles and fired at the Chinese fighter planes that kept flying low.
Just when the attention of the Japanese fleet was attracted by two Chinese Hawker 2 fighter jets, a Chinese Martin 139 WC heavy bomber appeared in the sky. In a diving attitude, it launched a fierce fire defense towards the two Hawker 2 fighter jets. Japanese warships pounced.
Behind the two wings of Martin's heavy bombardment were two Fighter MKI fighter jets.
"Woo..."
Zhou Zhihan turned on the air-driven sound device installed under the nose of the Martin Heavy Bomber. Suddenly, a shrill sound similar to an air defense siren sounded in the air.
The Japanese fleet, which was organizing artillery fire to intercept the two Hawker 2s, discovered the three incoming Chinese Air Force aircraft in advance when Martin Heavy Bomb made a harsh dive attack sound.
"Well……"
Almost at the same time, the Japanese warship sounded the fleet's air defense alarm again.
Just now, when two Hawk 2s with average performance appeared, only one or two Japanese warships sounded the air defense alarm. But now the Chinese Air Force's best bomber, the Martin Heavy Bomber, and the best destroyer, the Fighter MKI fighter, appeared at the same time. This gave The Japanese fleet posed a huge threat.
Just when the Japanese fleet collectively sounded the air defense alarm, the Japanese fighter jets that had been deployed in the surrounding high-altitude clouds emerged from the clouds and intercepted the swooping Martin Heavy Bomb and Fighter MKI fighter jets.
Half an hour ago, the Japanese Type 96 and Type 95 naval battles had already appeared in the clouds above Wusongkou. Their target was not the Chinese army who were building simple defenses on the ground. These two thousand people were in the Empire. Under the attack of the landing marines, it will not last long, and the main task of the Japanese Air Force today is to encircle and suppress the Chinese Air Force.
The Japanese army knew the Chinese Air Force well and knew that the Chinese Air Force's fighter planes could not withstand the attrition.
Therefore, Kiyoshi Hasegawa arranged a plan to kill two birds with one stone, which was to use the landing plan of the Imperial Marine Corps to draw out the Chinese Air Force for encirclement and suppression. After the Chinese Air Force completely disappeared over the battlefield, the Japanese fighter planes would dominate the sky over Shanghai. , bombing Chinese troops at will.
