Chapter 1429 The battlefield is silent (two chapters in one)
"Originally, when the regiment flag was rising over the Sixing Warehouse, I was extremely excited. It represented that the Imperial Army had won another brilliant victory on the Chinese position. Tears told me that they were sad and ashamed. My hand holding the pen couldn't help shaking, and my body even trembled with excitement. I had even thought about how I should publicize this time to my compatriots during the entire Songhu Battle. Although not many troops were involved in the battle, although it was difficult, the Imperial Army still won the final victory.
Perhaps, as the captain of the 36th Infantry Major said, only words like "the flowers of the empire are blooming over the Sihang Warehouse" can describe the glory of the Imperial Army at this time. They not only occupied positions, they also destroyed increased the confidence of Chinese people.
However, less than thirty seconds later, my nightmare came. The tall and sturdy four-row warehouse that could withstand 120mm cannons collapsed, just like a child's building blocks. It only took less than ten seconds, and it was on my side. In front of them, there was a pile of ruins. The regiment flag was gone, the military band of the 9th Division was gone, the flag guard of the 36th Infantry Regiment and their captain Jiro Wakiita were gone.
The only thing I saw was a steel helmet stained with blood, rolling down from the top of the five-meter-high ruins and rolling to my feet. The helmet was no longer as round as it was before, and was crooked with blood on it. Mao, I can completely imagine how helpless the owner of this helmet, a once heroic Imperial Army soldier, felt when this sudden disaster struck.
Through the dull eyes of the soldiers who were standing around and survived without entering the Sihang Warehouse, I knew that they were dead. Under the pressure of thousands of tons of reinforced concrete, no one could survive. Except for those on the roof of the building. Imperial officers and soldiers, and at least one infantry squad, totaling more than 300 people, were all buried in the occupied position at this moment.
The Chinese are so ruthless and ruthless. They are not only like foxes, but more like wolves. They did not give up their positions, but chose to die together with their enemies. From that moment on, I knew that the empire would win. We can't stop this damn war. They have a large population. Even if they exchange ten people for one of us, even if the empire includes the elderly, children, and women, it won't be enough.
It was from that moment that I knew that I had to return to the main island. Otherwise, sooner or later, I would be like the imperial officers and soldiers in the ruins, lying in the cold reinforced concrete and never see the rising sun again. to mom!
So, I am alive now, but hundreds of thousands of imperial officers and soldiers will never have the chance to return to their homeland because of this damn war."
After the war, this war correspondent who was sent home early because of the mental trauma he suffered in the Battle of Sihang Warehouse wrote in his memoirs. It was precisely because of his detailed account that the families of the 36th Infantry Regiment of the Ninth Division Finally, he learned the truth about the death of his relatives in the war.
In the battle of Sihang Warehouse, not including the reinforcements of the Bangzi Regiment, including the captain of the 36th Infantry Regiment, three major captains, captains, lieutenants, and second lieutenants, more than 28 people, the Japanese army killed more than 1,800 people. More than 1,100 people were seriously injured, and an infantry regiment existed in name only. Or to be more precise, the 36th Infantry Regiment could actually be removed from the Japanese Army's order, because their regiment flag was buried deep under thousands of tons of rubble. Without large-scale machinery to assist in excavation, no one would be able to find this united flag manually.
In fact, until the end of the entire Songhu Campaign, even the end of the Nanjing Campaign and the Xuzhou Battle, the Japanese army did not excavate the ruins. In fact, they lacked large excavators, and the 36th Infantry Regiment was commanded
The army was directly reduced, and all the soldiers who survived the battle have returned home and retired from active service. No one insists on spending a lot of manpower and material resources to dig concrete piles to do such useless things.
Their families received the obituaries of their loved ones who died in battle and a small wooden box of ashes. Little did they know that the box of ashes thought to be their loved ones was just the cremated ashes of more than 1,000 people from the 36th Infantry Regiment who had died in previous battles.
Come.
After the war, the Chinese government did not excavate and sort out the ruins of Sihang Warehouse. Instead, it built the Sihang Warehouse Monument on the top of the ruins. The list of all combatants of the 542nd Regiment of the 88th Division is included in it.
Buried under the monument are the regimental flags of the Japanese soldiers that were worth their lives and slowly decaying in the ruins of Sihang Warehouse, as well as hundreds of Japanese corpses that slowly rotted in the ruins until they turned into white bones.
Lao Zhou and the rickshaw driver, who became good friends because of the Battle of Sihang Warehouse, were lucky enough to survive the war and lived until sixty years later. They also served as the memorial hall of Sihang Warehouse for many years.
Volunteer commentators tell thousands of young pioneers in Shanghai the story of the thrilling week they witnessed and experienced decades ago.
Many people have asked them whether the last heroic unit successfully evacuated, or whether they died together with the Japanese invaders under this famous ruins. They shook their heads with red eyes and said they didn't know, until the mysterious final
Xiaoxiao was noncommittal.
Because, just when they thought they were about to go to heaven to reunite with the heroes in their hearts, an old man with white hair found them and told them that he had been cleaning the monument to the Battle of Sihang Warehouse for decades and explained it to countless future generations.
I would like to pay tribute to the Battle of Sihang Warehouse and thank them for paying homage to their comrades who died here during the Qingming Festival.
What made the two old men even more excited was that they finally heard the news that made them the happiest in the past fifty or sixty years. The old man participated in all the battles at Sihang Warehouse, including turning the Sihang Warehouse into a huge ruin and destroying the Japanese.
The Battle of the Burial of the Kou Army Colonel and their Regiment Flag.
Under the victory monument that they stop to look at every day, there is no sadness for the Chinese soldiers, only the ghosts of the Japanese invaders.
As living fossils at the Battle of Sihangkou Memorial Hall, they, who are over 90 years old, welcome all Chinese and even Westerners from all over the world who come to visit and lay flowers in commemoration, but they only reject the islanders.
The two stubborn old men waved their crutches and drove away the islanders who came all the way from the island country hoping to pay homage to their relatives, and even the government staff who came to persuade them for the sake of friendship between the two countries. The reason was extremely simple: this is a monument to the victory of the Chinese people.
, those island people buried here are sacrifices, how can there be any reason to enjoy sacrifices as sacrifices? They want to pay homage to their relatives, so who will pay homage to the tens of millions of white bones that were lost to them decades ago in China?
Even if you want to pay homage, you can kneel down under the monument and repent for their ancestors first! Otherwise, those bones will have to be buried alone under the monument of victory for hundreds of thousands of years.
The two gray-haired old men were on their deathbed. Their thin bodies could easily push them down even if pushed by a ten-year-old child. However, dozens of islanders had no choice but to retreat. The republic at that time was no longer
Decades ago, they were able to show off their might and conquer the old China. If they dared to take action, the thousands of Chinese people watching would dare to beat them to death.
What's more, in Lao Zhou's own words: "If you have the ability, show me your little finger and see if I don't blackmail you to death."
This is true. Some Chinese people are afraid of old men touching porcelain, let alone foreigners like them. If an old man in his nineties lies down on the ground, just check the diseases all over his body.
If it doesn't bankrupt them, it's nothing.
The tradition that only Chinese people are allowed to lay flowers in commemoration, and islanders are not allowed to worship, did not end with the death of the two old people. People living in that area have always kept this unwritten rule in mind, and even the government pretended not to
see.
Because they are monuments to the people. Even if they were once pushed down, they were eventually recognized and rebuilt.
Yes, as the soldier who survived until the war told the two old men, there may be blood and heroism of Chinese soldiers in the ruins of Sihang Warehouse, but this time there is no tragedy.
This time, it is the victory of wisdom.
All the traps that Wakitajiro discovered, the booby traps and explosives that he searched for were all designed by Chen Yunfa for him to discover. Otherwise, Chen Yunfa was worried that the warehouse would not be able to lure big fish to the bait. No matter how stupid the fish is, it will be caught by him.
After using the bait many times in a row, the bait has learned enough that it will not bite the hook easily.
Therefore, Chen Yunfa led his special forces and the infantry of the first company and spent a full five hours laying out decoys in the warehouse so that the Japanese army could not easily discover the decoys. If the Japanese army were really stupid enough not to discover these decoys, in fact,
These baits will not really explode. Once the 300 kilograms of explosives placed in the warehouse explode, the Chinese people on the south bank of the Suzhou River will definitely be unlucky. The concrete rising into the sky will cause a terrible bloody storm among the crowd.
The real killer move is to place explosives on all the load-bearing columns of the Sihang Warehouse five meters underground. Chen Yunfa has the building map of the Sihang Warehouse left by Boss Du. The Japanese army does not have it. Even if it does, they will not have time.
After occupying the Sihang Warehouse, dig a few meters into the ground to find some explosives.
The explosives with a total weight of more than 300 kilograms placed in more than 20 places were not enough to blow up the four-row warehouse with thousands of tons, but it was enough to break all the load-bearing columns. One or two load-bearing columns were broken. It was strong enough.
The four-row warehouse with walls may still be able to support it, but what if ten or twenty load-bearing columns are broken? No matter how thick the wall of the four-row warehouse is, it will collapse like an elephant that has lost the support of its bones.
This is similar to the principle of directional blasting of abandoned buildings in later generations. Special forces have been trained in this aspect during street fighting training. How to destroy more houses with the least amount of explosives can be used today.
.
This day was definitely a day with complicated emotions beyond words for Lieutenant Colonel Kitajima Takeo.
Being suppressed by Wakiitajiro to the temporary headquarters for legitimate reasons and not being able to participate in the flag-raising ceremony, Kitajima Takeo was so embarrassed and angry at that moment. For this Japanese Army Lieutenant Colonel, it was completely embarrassing.
He could even feel the pity in the eyes of his officers and soldiers. But he couldn't refute it. As the deputy captain, he had the responsibility of being in charge of the headquarters when the chief officer was absent.
He cursed the bastard Jiro Wakita in his heart when he went upstairs and broke his head and went downstairs and broke his leg. Then, his curse came to fruition. But it was a little bit more effective. Not only did Jiro Wakita break his head, but he even broke his leg.
My head was smashed.
Because he led nearly 2,000 men and horses to climb up and down the five-meter-high ruins, and he only pulled out a few broken arms and legs. Even if he clearly saw the body of a colleague being pressed into a specimen by a stone slab, he still couldn't.
There was no way to get the specimens out completely. This is because the Chinese attach too much importance to the treasury. Not only are the walls so strong that even the 120 cannon can't do anything about it, but even the inside of the warehouse does not cut corners at all. The thickness of the stone slab is just too thick.
It was more than half a meter long and three meters wide. More than twenty people were shouting slogans and exerting force, but the stone slab didn't even move.
Specimens can only become specimens permanently, together with the stone slab on which they are pressed.
As for those faint cries that are ten meters or even dozens of meters deep inside the ruins, they have been ignored by the Army Lieutenant Colonel. Not to mention that he is not a pangolin, even if a real pangolin comes, I am afraid he can only watch a bunch of non-human resources.
A large number of reinforced concrete blocks were shaken, so I decided to change to a place with soil to build a nest.
After spending half a day, Kitajima Takao, who had to accept that Wakibajiro had long since disappeared, brought the flag guard and the division military band to serve His Majesty the Emperor, reported to the division headquarters with extremely complicated emotions.
The anger of the division commander Yoshizumi Ryosuke in the telegram made Kitajima Takeo couldn't help but feel frightened, but he couldn't suppress the excitement that sprang up in his heart. Wakiitajiroya stood up, so he, the third
Isn’t it time for the deputy commander of the 36th Infantry Regiment to take up the position?
However, looking at the dejected subordinates in the trenches, Kitajima Takeo couldn't help but feel a little melancholy. Although the regiment was already miserable before today, there were still two major captains and five or six captain-level officers.
With all the soldiers, three or four infantry squadrons can be gathered together, but now, it’s good that this bastard Jiro Wakiita will not count his own death, but he also has to recruit the flag guard squadron and countless officers in the regiment. Now in the trenches except him
Lieutenant Colonel, the only remaining officer with the highest rank is Lieutenant Yamaki Ki, and a week ago, he was just a second lieutenant, okay?
Even if he is promoted to the captain of the 36th Infantry Regiment on the spot, the troops he can command now are actually only half of the brigade. He is not so much a captain as an infantry captain, or a deputy.
Damn it, is this the legendary tragedy of a daughter-in-law becoming a mother-in-law only to find she has no daughter-in-law?
The aching Kitajima Takeo ushered in the division commander Lieutenant General Yoshizumi Ryosuke and the division chief of staff Hirotaro Nakagawa who hurriedly arrived from 20 kilometers away. The frustrated Japanese Army Lieutenant General did not give the soon-to-be infantryman any favors.
The lieutenant colonel, the deputy captain of the army, had no face. In front of thousands of Japanese troops, he taught Takeo Kitajima a lesson in life with a few loud mouths and a cowardly trick. If it weren't for this lieutenant general, he would not have the right to directly enforce military law against the lieutenant general.
If so, everyone would believe that the poor scapegoat Lieutenant Colonel Kitajima Takeo would definitely be chopped into pieces of meat by Yoshizumi Ryosuke whose eyes were almost bulging out of his eyes, and could be made into dumplings.
Kitajima Takao, who was rolling on the ground, naturally did not have the courage to resist the Army Lieutenant General, so he could only put this debt on the head of Jiro Wakita. Anyway, he planned to excavate the ruins if the Lieutenant General requested it.
At that time, he had to work without exerting any effort. Even if that bastard Jiro Wakita was not stoned to death and still hid in the cracks of the rocks to survive, then he was destined to die of thirst and starvation in the cracks of the rocks.
If he is lucky enough to find potatoes or something in the cracks of rocks, let him learn to grow potatoes in the cracks of rocks! If Chinese damn potatoes can sprout.
Obviously, the huge concrete wreckage would not become lighter just because of the arrival of the Japanese Army Lieutenant General. Yoshizumi Ryosuke walked around the ruins a few times and wisely determined that all search and rescue operations were undoubtedly in vain.
Although he really wanted to kill this idiot Takeo Kitajima with a knife, as the division commander of the 9th Division, Yoshizumi Ryosuke was still rational. He understood that the battle damage to the Shihang Warehouse had become a fact, and he could not get angry no matter how much he did.
It will not help matters. Killing Takeo Kitajima to vent his anger will only add another list of Japanese high-ranking military officers to be killed in Chinese newspapers, and will also cause a lot of trouble for himself. Now his first priority is to keep the No. 1 military commander.
With the formation of the 36th Infantry Regiment, one could only pinch one's nose and appoint Takeo Kitajima as the captain of the 36th Infantry Regiment on the spot, and announced that the 36th Infantry Regiment would temporarily move to a position ten miles west of the Sihang Warehouse.
The Japanese army lieutenant general knew very well that after this battle, the 36th Infantry Regiment had lost all morale and its combat effectiveness was really vulnerable. Letting them go to the front line to confront the Chinese again would definitely be an act of giving away food. It would be better to let them
Serve as a guard to guard the baggage troops. Instead of going to the front line, just serve as a sentry headquarters for the baggage regiment!
A once-main force regiment had to serve as sentries for the baggage soldiers whom they despised. If it had been done in the past without the chief officer fighting for it, I am afraid that these troops would still have high morale when they boarded the warship and sailed to Songhu, ready to serve the emperor at all times.
The warriors of the Imperial Japanese Army who were loyal to His Majesty were the first to make noises, but at the moment when the Japanese Army Lieutenant General gave the order, all the soldiers of the 36th Infantry Regiment from Kitajima Takao down felt slightly relaxed.
For them, no matter what they do, they just need to leave this position. Every second they stay in this position that destroyed nearly 2,000 of their colleagues, they seem to be able to hear the faint crying coming from the huge ruins.
Voice.
Their feeling was actually right. In the dead of night, almost all the Chinese people walking on the south bank of the Suzhou River heard the wails coming from the Sihang Warehouse, like ghost cries, which lasted for more than half a month.
Some people even heard wailing sounds in the warehouse six months later. I don't know if it was the potato planting that Kitajima imagined had actually happened, or if it was the sound of the wind blowing in the holes in the ruins.
But there must be people alive in the warehouse at this time, but it is absolutely true that the Japanese army abandoned them categorically. Although everyone saw the huge reinforced concrete blocks in the Sihang Warehouse and thought that anyone who wanted to move it by hand was stupid x
, unless explosives are used...
Okay! If you use explosives, it would be a waste of explosives for saving people! Island people have always been very stingy.
But is it stupid to move reinforced concrete that cannot be moved by human hands? "It depends on the attitude of this nation towards life. Man can conquer nature. As long as you want to do it, nothing in this world is impossible. We in China
, didn’t you also use millet and rifles to defeat the Japanese who owned aircraft, ships and cannons?” This is what Liu Lang said categorically after the war when he came to the ruins of Sihang Warehouse and heard about this rumor.
Because he was the only one who knew that the Chinese had done this before. In the world-famous disaster decades later, Chinese soldiers also dug out reinforced concrete by hand without large machinery.
, saving all lives, whether they still exist or have passed away.
The Bangzi Regiment has lost their supreme commander. The only thing they can be thankful for is that, except for the unlucky Colonel Bangchui, they are much luckier than the 36th Infantry Regiment who likes to pick peaches. Except for the loss in the Sihang Warehouse yesterday,
Of the 800 people, none of them struggled to survive in the ruins of the collapsed Sihang Warehouse, nor did they have to watch helplessly being abandoned.
Therefore, after their deputy commander, who could hardly suppress his excitement, became the acting commander, they were directly taken away by the angry Yoshizumi Ryosuke and re-entered the front line against hundreds of thousands of Chinese soldiers.
Although morale is low and combat effectiveness is limited, it is still possible to serve as cannon fodder.
Yoshizumi Ryosuke took the lead, and Kitajima Takeo hurriedly led the more than 400 defeated soldiers of the 36th Infantry Regiment to retreat to the newly arranged position, much faster than they came, and they almost escaped by running.
They arrived at the position of Sihang Warehouse, as if they were too late, the elusive Chinese would pop out from the ground again and give them a terrifying left hook.
All the teeth in his mouth were knocked out. If he were hit again, he would die! Lieutenant Colonel Kitajima Takeo was ahead of all his subordinates this time.
In fact, he didn't know that being a sentry for the baggage regiment was not a very good job.
Ever since he and the 36th Infantry Regiment arrived at Sihang Warehouse, he and the defenders of Sihang Warehouse were destined to be entangled.
The night was dark, and this was already the night after the end of the Battle of Sihang Warehouse. The entire Zhabei area of Shanghai was silent. For some unknown reason, for two consecutive days, hundreds of thousands of Japanese troops in downtown Shanghai and hundreds of thousands of soldiers in western Shanghai
The Chinese army did not engage in any fighting. Both sides seemed to be accumulating strength and waiting for a larger-scale war. Or perhaps, both sides were waiting for something.
Here is a three-story building located 3 miles west of Sihang Warehouse in Zhabei, Shanghai. Dozens of Japanese soldiers are sleeping next to a bonfire lit in the open space outside the building. There are about ten cars lined up around them.
In a neat row, two groups of sentries were also sleepy not far away.
The urban area of Shanghai has been thoroughly cleared. Except for a small number of stragglers who have not had time to escape, there are no longer any organized Chinese troops. The Japanese troops who have participated in the war for nearly a month are also extremely exhausted. What's more, they are only responsible for transporting ammunition and food.
The heavy baggage of soldiers, tired bodies and insufficient understanding of the cruelty of war caused them to lose all vigilance.
On the battlefield, this is undoubtedly fatal.
Their hazy sleepy eyes prevented them from seeing that in a dilapidated house twenty meters away from them, a cover was quietly opened, and a thick hand stretched out...