Chapter 1937 November 6th Afternoon

On the afternoon of November 6th, 1937, with the help of the special operations company led by Lin Fan, the Jiangyin Fortress…

…fought the most satisfying battle since the start of the War of Resistance.

On this day, the entire Jiangyin Fortress shot down 113 enemy planes and sank seven enemy ships of various sizes.

A total of 237 Japanese pilots and naval soldiers were captured.

Such a battle report was placed on Chiang Kai-shek’s desk in the Presidential Palace in Nanjing.

But he couldn't be happy at all.

In the morning, he had issued an order to continue to defend, hoping that the world would see his efforts and strength when the Nine-Power Treaty was convened.

To get friendly nations to help him resist the Japanese.

But the situation on the front lines was not optimistic, not just not optimistic, but pessimistic.

On his desk, there was more than just the good news from Jiangyin Fortress.

There was also a request for assistance report from the 67th Army.

The 67th Army originally belonged to the Northeast Army, an elite force under Zhang Hanqing.

They were originally fighting a civil war in North China. General Wu Ke Ren was unwilling to fight a civil war between warlords.

What he wanted was to fight the Japanese and return to his hometown!

After the outbreak of the Battle of Songhu, the officers and men of the 67th Army unanimously requested to go to the front line to fight the Japanese.

On November 5th, the newly formed Japanese 10th Army landed in Hangzhou Bay.

On the same day, Wu Ke Ren’s 67th Army had just been ordered to arrive in Qingpu.

After the initial panic, the Nanjing Presidential Palace.

Immediately ordered the 43rd Army, which was closest to Songjiang, to go and intercept the Japanese army.

At the same time, Wu Ke Ren’s 67th Army was ordered to seize Songjiang immediately, to establish a defense line in Songjiang, and strive to defeat and rout this Japanese force.

General Wu Ke Ren’s 67th Army had just been transferred from the North China battlefield and had no time to rest.

After receiving the order, he immediately sent a vanguard force to Songjiang.

Also ordered to defend Songjiang were Guo Ru Dong’s 43rd Army and Wang Gong Yu’s Songjiang local defense force.

However, Guo Ru Dong’s 43rd Army only had about 500 men in Songjiang at this time, and their weapons were dilapidated, and their combat effectiveness was extremely low.

This unit was an army of the Sichuan Army. When they arrived on the Songhu battlefield, the entire army had more than 15,000 men.

They had fought fiercely on the Songhu battlefield for ten days, and now only these 500 men were left.

Less than one in ten survived!

Ma Fu Xiang, the Brigadier General of the Sichuan Army, saw the disappointed expression on the face of Wang Gong Yu, the Commissioner of the Songjiang Local Security.

He said with a smile: "Zhao Zilong is here!"

Wang Gong Yu looked at the more than 1,000 Sichuan soldiers who arrived, whose weapons were still old-fashioned Hanyang-made rifles.

The clothes of the officers and soldiers were also tattered, even worse than his local security team.

They were wearing straw sandals on their feet. It could be said that the Sichuan Army had the worst equipment on the entire Songhu battlefield.

Ma Fu Xiang comforted him: "Didn't Zhao Zilong also save his lord single-handedly?"

In fact, he knew in his heart that the ragged straw sandal soldiers behind him were the last seeds of the 43rd Army of the Sichuan Army, who had traveled thousands of miles from Sichuan to fight the Japanese.

Half a month ago, the 43rd Army, which only had one division under its command, walked to Changsha and was then transferred to the Songhu battlefield.

They were ordered to replace the main position at Dachang. After seven days and nights of fierce fighting, more than 10,000 soldiers were reduced to only 500.

Originally, they were ordered to withdraw to Hangzhou for rest, but because the Japanese suddenly landed in Hangzhou Bay, they were ordered to rush to Songjiang to intercept the Japanese army landing in Hangzhou Bay.

The commander of the 43rd Army was injured. The Sichuan Army did not have any stretchers and used a sedan chair to carry him to Songjiang.

Wang Gong Yu’s security force originally wanted to escape as soon as they heard that the Japanese were coming.

He had to suppress them strongly and personally stood on the city wall to keep the security force on the city wall of Songjiang.

What they had been looking forward to was such a force, and they were inevitably disappointed.

Ma Fu Xiang did not delay. After slightly checking the terrain, he immediately pointed to the south of the city and said:

"This location is the direction the Japanese will come from. They will definitely attack the south gate first.

I will take my team to intercept them outside the south gate, and Brother Wang, your security team will guard the city!"

After the discussion was settled, Ma Fu Xiang immediately led more than 500 Sichuan soldiers out of the city.

They dug trenches outside the city to prepare for interception.

Ma Fu Xiang counted the more than 100 Sichuan soldiers who could still fight and held their ground outside the south gate of Songjiang.

The combat effectiveness of Wang Gong Yu’s Songjiang local defense force was even lower.

Before the 67th Army arrived, the 43rd Army and the Songjiang Security Regiment had already fought a battle with the Japanese.

This was the first time the Japanese vanguard had encountered resistance after landing. Caught off guard, they suffered heavy casualties and had to withdraw from the battle.

Waiting for the arrival of the main force behind them.

The 43rd Army and the Songjiang Security Regiment finally guarded Songjiang and delayed until the 67th Army arrived.

The 67th Army was a Northeast Army. The entire army, whether in terms of equipment or training, was many times better than the Sichuan Army.

The entire defense task of Songjiang actually fell on Wu Ke Ren’s 67th Army.

After Wu Ke Ren led the entire army to Songjiang at full speed, he listened to the 43rd Army’s introduction to the situation.

He immediately ordered: The 108th Division should establish a defense line in the west of the city to prevent the enemy from continuing to advance.

The 107th Division should establish a defense line in the east of the city to prevent the enemy from advancing.

Tani Hisao, the commander of the Japanese 6th Division, was in a good mood today.

Yesterday, when they landed at Jinshanwei, they did not encounter the slightest resistance.

Optimistically estimating according to this situation: as long as the troops occupied Songjiang and Qingpu.

The entire right-wing force of the National Army would be completely trapped, and the 6th Division would have made a great contribution.

This was an encirclement of more than 200,000 troops of the National Army. As long as these troops were defeated.

The entire Battle of Songhu would be over.

Even if the National Army did not surrender, they would only be able to sign treaties that conformed to the interests of the Empire, just like before.

As a senior officer of the Empire, Tani Hisao knew that the Empire’s current situation was extremely pessimistic.

The entire domestic economy was on the verge of collapse.

The whole country was waiting for the National Government to propose a truce, negotiate peace, and pay reparations.

The entire empire was waiting for this once great empire to compensate a huge amount of wealth to save the collapsing imperial economy.

As long as their right-wing army was surrounded, this goal should be achievable!

The 6th Division was usually stationed in Kumamoto, Miyazaki, and Kagoshima, so it was also called the "Kumamoto Division."

The entire division had more than 22,000 men, equipped with twelve Type 41 mountain guns, thirty-six Type 38 field guns, twelve 37mm rapid-fire anti-tank guns, and twelve light armored vehicles.

However, because the mud at the Hangzhou Bay landing point was too deep, none of these heavy weapons and artillery had been landed yet.

Tani Hisao did not care about this at all. He believed that the soldiers of the 6th Division only needed a gun to complete the task.

The Komeda Yuto Battalion was a battalion under the 13th Regiment of the 6th Division.

They were the first vanguard to land in Hangzhou Bay, and of course, they were also the troops charging at the front.

Looking at Songjiang Town, which was close at hand, the Komeda Yuto Battalion Commander knew that this place was a key node for the retreat of the National Army’s right-wing army.

As long as this place was occupied, and then Qingpu was occupied, the entire right-wing army of more than 200,000 men would become turtles in a jar.

The Komeda Yuto Battalion Commander looked at the National Army soldiers rushing out in front of him, and he was not flustered at all.

With the experience of landing yesterday, the current 6th Division did not take these soldiers seriously at all.

Charging towards the Japanese troops was the 321st Brigade of the 107th Division of the 67th Army.

Brigadier General Zhu Zhirong commanded the entire brigade to launch an assault on the Japanese troops and drive them back into the sea!

Chiang Kai-shek sent the 67th Army to defend Songjiang for two purposes: First, if possible, to drive the Japanese back into the sea, which would be the best.

Second, if they could not drive the Japanese back into the sea, they had to hold Songjiang for three days no matter what.

In order to achieve the goal of driving the Japanese back into the sea, the 321st Brigade was executing the most ferocious fighting style.

The Komeda Yuto Battalion Commander had never imagined that there could be such a big difference between troops from the same country.

Yesterday, when they landed, they did not encounter the slightest obstruction.

It was as easy as a tourist trip to land. Today, outside the new east gate of Songjiang, they were actually counterattacked by the National Army.

As soon as the two sides came into contact, they entered a white-hot battlefield situation.

The Komeda Yuto Battalion of the 6th Division, which was acting as the vanguard, could not retreat at all.

The officers and soldiers of the 60th Army, who had just received orders, did not think about retreating at all.

They were all from the Northeast, and their hometown had been occupied by the Japanese for a full six years.

In these years, it was not that they had not fought, but they were all fighting against their own people of the same blood.

Today, this battle was the first justified battle they had fought against the Japanese after being forced to withdraw from the Northeast without firing a single shot.

The 321st Brigade Commander charged at the front of the team, and all the regimental commanders and battalion commanders under him were also setting an example in this way.

In this case, the order given by the officers was: "Brothers! Follow me!"

This sentence differed from "Brothers! Charge for me!" by only one word, but the difference in the morale boost to the entire battlefield was more than ten or a hundred times.

With the officers leading the charge, what else could the soldiers say?

The blocking battle outside the new east gate of Songjiang was actually turned into a pursuit battle by the 321st Brigade.

Neither side had artillery, tanks, or air support today.

The Komeda Yuto Battalion of the 6th Division soon could not hold on.

After leaving behind more than 400 corpses, the more than 1,000-man infantry battalion had to retreat in embarrassment.

The 321st Brigade, which had won a great victory, also paid a high price. Brigadier General Zhu Zhirong was killed in action, two of the three regimental commanders under him were killed, four battalion commanders were killed, and the entire 321st Brigade was reduced by 20% after this battle.

Such casualty data was placed in front of Chiang Kai-shek, making him very worried: Could Songjiang hold on for three days?

Now the right-wing army had to retreat. If they did not retreat and were surrounded by the Japanese, it would really be his dereliction of duty.

Chiang Kai-shek had to overturn the order he had just issued to hold on to their positions again: the right-wing army retreated, and the central army and the left-wing army continued to hold their ground.

Such an order did not make the generals under him feel strange at all: when the President commanded at the level of a field army, his military talent was that of a commander.

When he directly commanded at the level of a division or regiment, his talent was that of a company commander.

The entire Central China battlefield was now in chaos: the calm of the past few days had been broken.

The temporary lull of the Japanese these days was only to wait for the 10th Army to land in Hangzhou Bay.

Now the 10th Army had gained a firm foothold behind the National Army.

The entire Japanese army on the front line had begun to bombard and attack fiercely.

The entire Songhu front line was in a state of emergency everywhere, and everywhere was requesting reinforcements.

Lin Fan was now at the Jiangyin Fortress, and the news was not as sensitive as when he was in Shanghai.

In the afternoon, after repelling the combined sea and air attack of the Japanese.

The soldiers of the special operations company wiped the gun bore and maintained the 88mm anti-aircraft gun.

Lin Fan ordered the tankers he had trained to drive the captured tractors to the bottom of the fort.

He wanted to familiarize the team with the surrounding environment. Lin Fan really wanted to drag a cannon and move the battlefield ten kilometers forward.

To find a chance to give the Japanese fleet a hard blow.

But now, he still needed to train the skills of these drivers under him.

Fast attack and fast withdrawal not only required rapid disassembly and assembly of the artillery but also required the tractor to be able to drive and run in various complex situations.

This put very high demands on the training of the drivers, which could not be completed by the soldiers who could only drive the vehicle as Lin Fan was doing now.

But now was wartime, and everything could only be done as needed.

Needs were the highest guiding principle.

Lin Fan led the soldiers of the special operations company to collect aircraft wreckage around the entire city of Jiangyin.

These were all good things!

Now, the country’s industry was extremely backward, and the smelting and mining of various minerals were simply not enough to use.

Each of these downed aircraft could recover at least a thousand kilograms of scrap metal.

If they were made into bullets, they could be made into more than 100,000.

The soldiers of the special operations company tirelessly collected all the aircraft wreckage they could find and sent it to some places upstream.

Li Xian began to contact merchants in the rear to find buyers for these scrap metals.

Lin Fan thought of the "Old Stubborn" freighter that had just been sent away not long ago.

How great it would be if it could come back and pull away these scrap materials.

Now the entire country was concentrating its transportation capacity to rush industries from the most economically developed areas of the country to the interior.

It was really difficult to find transport ships for this kind of scrap iron.

Fortunately, Lin Fan’s intention was not to make money, he was just training soldiers and collecting materials along the way.

Training soldiers was the most important thing. In the current situation, if these soldiers were not allowed to run ten kilometers every day, Lin Fan was afraid that they would suffer in future guerrilla warfare.

When the soldiers of the special operations company returned to the駐地, they were all exhausted.

The friendly troops on the Xiaoshan Fort finally witnessed the ability of this team to eat.

The soldiers of this company were all like starving ghosts reincarnated, and one person’s food intake was enough to抵得上 two of them.

There was no meat in their meals today, but the soldiers of this company each had a can of meat to eat.

Seeing the envious eyes of other friendly troops, Lin Fan immediately knew that he had made a mistake.

Everyone was fighting the Japanese, so why should his team be so well-off?

Lin Fan quietly asked Li Xian to take out some more canned food and said loudly to all the soldiers of the Xiaoshan Fort:

"These are our spoils from the past few days. Brothers, take them and have a taste."

After handling this incident.

Lin Fan found Staff Officer He Hesong and requested to change barracks.

The reason was that the barracks were far from the gun positions, and there was not enough time to react in an emergency.

This reason was sufficient!

Now Lin Fan was the stabilizing force on the Jiangyin Fortress, and the issues he raised had to be taken seriously.

Staff Officer He Hesong immediately conveyed the problem that Lin Fan had reported to Commander Xu Kang.

The feedback came almost immediately: The barracks of the special operations company were adjusted to Xiaoshan Fort.

That place was of course close to the gun positions.

And there were air-raid shelters, and the entire company also had its own camp.

After conducting an on-site survey, Lin Fan was very satisfied. This was a place that had been tested by actual combat.

The special operations company began to study literacy again. Lin Fan expected the soldiers to complain and not want to study, but the scene did not happen at all.

When Li Xian gave lectures, these soldiers, who would usually be a little naughty, were all attentively listening.

There was not a single distraction, not a single one looking around.

Only those who lacked it understood the importance of knowledge more clearly.

Compared with the learning attitude of these soldiers, Lin Fan himself felt ashamed.

When he was in school, he did not have such difficulties and was not so serious.

After the knowledge class, it was night training again.

Tonight, Lin Fan organized the entire company to disassemble and assemble the 88mm anti-aircraft gun at night.

He required it to be carried out in complete darkness.

They had also done this kind of training before, but it was for the firearms in the hands of each soldier.

Now it was for this cannon.

When Lin Fan and his company were training, there were also soldiers from other gun positions watching around.

Although they could not understand what the point of their training method was, these officers and soldiers were very convinced of this team that had only been in Jiangyin Fortress for one day.

There was no other reason, whoever could shoot down dozens of enemy planes when they came, these officers and soldiers would be convinced of.

What was the greatest during wartime?

Being able to kill the enemy was the greatest!

Major Fujiwara Yushin stood on the "Hosho" aircraft carrier, looking at the planes constantly falling from the sky.

After more than an hour, and then looking at the "古鹰" cruiser, which could no longer hold on and had to ground itself.

Major Fujiwara Yushin immediately thought: The Jiangyin Fortress in front was a tough nut to crack.

It was time for his team to take action. If his team could go and destroy the artillery inside the fortress.

The entire fortress could be taken down in one fell swoop.

This idea kept echoing in his head.

How could they enter the Jiangyin Fortress?

That was a problem.

Now the area around the Jiangyin defense line was still the territory of the National Army. Only the Japanese warships could cruise freely in the Yangtze River.

If his team landed rashly like this, they would definitely be beaten to death like rats crossing the street.

What to do?

The method that Major Fujiwara Yushin thought of was the same as Lin Fan’s: disguise!

Disguise themselves as a defeated army of the National Army.

It was just that he did not have Lin Fan’s foresight, and there were no National Army uniforms in the entire Imperial Navy fleet.

Major Fujiwara Yushin immediately made his request to the logistics department.

The logistics department pointed out: Supply would take time, and it would definitely be too late today.

This kind of thing could not be rushed, and there was no hurry to attack the fortress.

Major Fujiwara Yushin had only one requirement: authenticity! It had to be absolutely authentic.

It would be best if it was stripped from the bodies of those prisoners of war.

While waiting for the equipment, the soldiers of the entire Fujiwara Special Forces did not rest.

They were all trained by Major Fujiwara Yushin according to the methods he had learned from Germany.

The soldiers on the entire aircraft carrier watched this Marine Corps run around the deck of the aircraft carrier.

No matter how these Marines trained, they were now the most despised team in the entire Navy series.

There was no other reason: It was because of the three-hour statement they made when attacking the Sihang Warehouse.

And the result of losing troops and generals, losing the entire empire’s face in front of the whole world.