In the living room, the big pendulum clock made a "ticking, ticking" sound. This slight sound made the hall more peaceful. Under the light, several people on the table sat quietly like sculptures.

Everyone can learn something about the current war situation from the newspapers. After what they have seen in the past few days, they all know that the things in the newspapers are not necessarily true, even the most authoritative "Declaration". After listening to Lin Xiaocheng's story

, everyone is worried, but the one who really has an accurate assessment of the battle situation is probably Yang An at the table.

Yang An was also lost in thought. Although he, like everyone else, eagerly hoped that the Japanese army would get the punishment they deserved and that the Chinese army would win the war as soon as possible, after all, the war did not depend on human will. In the end, it had to rely on

Strength speaks.

Regarding the current war, he thought: In the past, his master once said that the most dangerous battle is close combat. In this war in Shanghai, the national army tried to drive the Japanese troops in Shanghai into the sea. But what was actually going on was urban attack and defense.

War, there is a close attack,

There are close defenses and encounters. These urban offensive and defensive battles are undoubtedly urban street battles, undoubtedly urban fortification battles, and undoubtedly the most dangerous battles. In addition, the Japanese army has already used reinforced concrete to make this place impregnable and has fortresses.

, there is a bunker

There are also barricades with steel plate shields. No matter which one, they will probably far exceed the urban combat that the master has described before. In the past, the master believed that the most dangerous thing was the urban melee between warlords. Compared with the Japanese army that had been preparing for many years, this

The sub-national army really encountered

Now comes the hard nut. The most important thing is that the National Army High Command issued orders to stop the offensive three times on August 12, 14, and 18. This gave the Japanese troops stationed in Shanghai time to calmly adjust their military deployment and allowed them to hold on to their strongholds.

Waiting for aid

The army has brought too many uncertain favorable factors. Not to mention the Japanese reinforcements, the Japanese troops currently stationed in Shanghai plus the local braves, ronin, and retired Japanese troops in Shanghai already have an armed force of several thousand people.

fortifications and powerful air and sea fire

It is difficult to say who will win in this military contest. Of these three orders to stop the attack, it should be said that the first order caused greater losses to the national army. The Japanese troops in various strongholds expanded outward in an orderly manner and established a military buffer zone.

This prevented the national army from directly

Dividing, surrounding and attacking core military strongholds also caused huge casualties to the national army. More importantly, it allowed the Japanese Marine Corps Headquarters, Huishan Pier, Gongda Cotton Mill and other core military strongholds to form mutual care and support.

The combat situation has greatly increased the difficulty of offensive operations. I don’t know whether the Japanese reinforcements will come from Japan, from the Northeast, from Qingdao, or... I don’t know how many days they can arrive in Shanghai at the earliest, and how many there will be at one time.

Troops are delivered to the battlefield….

The people at the table are thinking about the current war with their own thinking, but after all, their understanding of military affairs and the actual situation on the battlefield is too limited. In fact, the war is far more complicated and complicated than everyone imagines.

severe.

After the "July 7th Incident" broke out, anti-Japanese voices rose across the country, and the situation in Shanghai became increasingly tense. Lieutenant General Kiyoshi Hasegawa, commander of the Japanese Navy's Third Fleet, analyzed the Sino-Japanese war situation, combined with the actual situation in Shanghai, and made suggestions to the Naval Command

: Requested an early military occupation of Shanghai to destroy the economic foundation on which the Republic of China government relied for survival, and requested the dispatch of additional troops to Shanghai to strengthen the Japanese combat power in Shanghai.

Japan had made military deployments to Shanghai as early as mid-July. Japanese Navy Minister Yonei held an emergency meeting to conduct various deductions on the Chinese Navy's military operations based on the state of war, and proposed various military response plans. The Japanese military

The "Operation Plan against China" decided by the General Staff Headquarters proposed a military plan to use part of the force to fight in the direction of Qingdao and Shanghai. In late July, the Japanese troops stationed in Shanghai organized targeted military exercises in the Jiangwan area for several days. The Japanese government is still

In late July, an emergency evacuation order was issued to abandon the interests along the Yangtze River and evacuate nearly 30,000 overseas Chinese back to the country.

In early August, Japan ordered more than 20 Sasebo battleships and five transport ships to sail to Shanghai. At the same time, the Japanese troops stationed in Shanghai and the embassy and consulates also mobilized the Yong and armed ronin in Shanghai to participate in the war against China, together with the Marine Corps

, the armed force was close to 10,000 people. Before the war in Shanghai started, there were more than 4,000 regular Japanese troops in Shanghai, 4 150mm howitzers, 8 150mm mortars, 4 120mm howitzers, and 12 75mm mountain guns.

There are 4 70mm infantry guns, 4 37mm rapid-fire guns, 4 75mm anti-aircraft guns, 3 medium tanks, 4 light tanks, and 11 armored vehicles. The Japanese Navy's First Fleet has gathered in the direction of the Yangtze River Estuary, and the

The Third Fleet has three aircraft carriers and more than 30 warships. These warships have hundreds of super-large-caliber, large-caliber and medium-caliber artillery pieces.

At the beginning of the Shanghai War, the 87th and 88th Divisions of the National Army that attacked the Japanese Marine Corps had more than 20,000 men. Their strength was nearly five times that of the Japanese regular army. The heavy artillery regiment of the National Army that entered Shanghai had

There are 8 German 150mm howitzers, 8 Liao 14-type 150mm howitzers, and 24 75mm Bu-type mountain guns. From a purely ground perspective, the Chinese army can be said to have an absolute advantage. However, due to urban street fighting, terrain restrictions

It is difficult for the national army to concentrate its superior forces to make a breakthrough. Even though these two German divisions participated in the "128" Anti-Japanese War and had experience in urban combat, compared with the Shanghai Anti-Japanese War five years later, they had limited urban combat experience.

, it was completely difficult to adapt to the urban attack on the Japanese steel and concrete military fortresses. In addition, the Japanese army had dozens of warships with large-caliber naval guns with ultra-long range and extremely powerful fire support, and three aircraft carriers and aircraft kept cruising and bombing. The Chinese artillery could still survive.

There are difficulties, and as for its firepower advantage, it is even more difficult to bring into play. With the powerful firepower support of the Japanese navy, the advantages of the national army in strength and artillery fire have long been gone, and it is even at an absolute disadvantage.

On August 16, after several days of continuous fighting, the Chinese army had formed an encirclement of the main Japanese military stronghold in Shanghai. Vice Admiral Hase Kiyokawa, commander of the Japanese Third Fleet, felt more and more the pressure from the Chinese army's offensive.

He became more and more desperate, worried that the national army would break through the defense, so he personally dictated telegrams and sent three telegrams to his superiors that day, each one becoming more and more desperate, and claiming that the troops in Shanghai could only hold on for six more days. Late that night

, the Japanese Navy received the third telegram from Hase Kiyokawa and decided overnight to send more troops to support the war in Shanghai. A total of 1,400 soldiers from two Marine Corps units in Qingdao on combat readiness were ordered to rush to Shanghai by boat, and more troops would be sent to Shanghai later.

A large number of troops rushed to Shanghai to support.

As early as August 13, the Nanjing Military Commission decided to use Shanghai as the main battlefield of the Anti-Japanese War, and ordered the Beijing-Shanghai garrison to be reorganized into the Ninth Army, with Zhang Zhizhong as the commander-in-chief, and attack the enemies in Hongkou and Yangshupu on the 14th; Jiangsu, Zhejiang

The border troops were reorganized into the Eighth Army, with Zhang Fakui as the commander-in-chief. They guarded the north bank of Hangzhou Bay and swept away enemies in Pudong. They supported the operations of the Ninth Army with artillery. The Air Force launched an attack on the 14th to coordinate with the Army and provide air defense in key areas. In addition, the order

The 115th Division, the 141st Division, and the 67th Division of Luo Zhuoying's 18th Army stopped moving north and moved toward Suzhou; security guards from Guangdong, Guangxi, Hunan, Guizhou, Yunnan, Sichuan, Hubei, Shaanxi and other places
Chapter completed!