But this time, it's not because of how powerful the independent regiment's reconnaissance brigade is. The special forces are well-known in the independent regiment, but they are not well-known outside and few people know about it; nor is it Liu Tuanzuo of the independent regiment.
His reputation was big enough. Although Liu Tuanzuo was famous for fighting against Japan and was the nephew of the number one man in Sichuan Province, the Army Lieutenant General who was also considered the number one figure in Sichuan Province did not have to fight with him across the distance.
Liu Lang means good things.
In the absence of military orders from Huang Qixiang, acting commander-in-chief of the Right Wing Corps of the Third Theater, Lieutenant General Guo asked him to lead his troops and stay at the 43rd Army Headquarters. This was mainly due to Liu Xueyuan's relationship.
The Army Lieutenant General who had a great impression of Liu Xueyuan still hoped that this beautiful and strong war reporter could leave Songjiang alive and well. The equipment of the Independent Regiment was very powerful in the Sichuan Army. Although Yu Xiancheng and his soldiers had great combat effectiveness,
It is not known how strong the Army Lieutenant General is, but just looking at Yu Xiancheng and the two independent regiment soldiers standing at the door who had not entered the temporary military headquarters courtyard and were heavily armed, the Army Lieutenant General felt that Liu Xueyuan's security could not be guaranteed.
Entrusting the work to them is obviously more reliable than the guys under him.
What's more, he currently has too few people under his command.
Yes, no matter how small the 43rd Army is, it still has one infantry division and four infantry regiments, plus a supplementary regiment known as the Young Men Regiment, which is actually an infantry regiment reserve. It has more than 9,000 troops. However, when you think about it,
Considering the defenses surrounding Songjiang City and the defenses on the Huangpu River outside the city, these more than 9,000 people seemed too few.
As a Southwester, the Army Lieutenant General was not the first time to Jiangnan, nor the first time to Shanghai, but it was his first time to the small town of Songjiang.
On the hurried march to Songjiang, he had already begun to conceive of the layout and fortifications of Songjiang's defense.
But when he arrived at Songjiang, a "small city" that had only appeared in books, the Army Lieutenant General felt a little bitter. This city was really not a small city. His more than 9,000 people wanted to defend the city, and their military strength was
It's really a bit stretched, especially if you have to take into account the defense on the riverside outside the city.
Indeed, people who don’t know the history of Songjiang city may think that it must be a small place when they hear this inconspicuous name. But if you know, the history of the ancient city of Songjiang can even be traced back to the Spring and Autumn Period, to the Yuan Dynasty
In the Ming Dynasty, it was called Songjiang Prefecture, with Shanghai County under its jurisdiction. To put it bluntly, in history, Shanghai, a metropolis that only emerged in modern times, was just a small county under Songjiang, and Songjiang was the area.
The eldest son.
Songjiang Castle is really not small.
Especially when Songjiang Security Commander Wang Gongyu was ordered to come over with a map of Songjiang City, Lieutenant General Guo felt even more painful.
Just take a look at the Zhongshan Road that runs from east to west in Songjiang City. After Mr. Sun visited Songjiang in the first year of the Republic of China, Songjiang people renamed the "Ten Mile Long Street" that runs through the east and west gates of the ancient city to commemorate the Zhongshan Road. Just take a look at it.
As the name of this ten-mile street indicates, the ancient city is ten miles long from east to west, at least two kilometers long.
The distance between the north and south gates is also more than 1,000 meters. If you calculate it this way, the city wall alone is 12 miles long. On the city wall alone, a 6,000-meter position is needed. Even if a person is placed ten meters away, it will take a
If you add the infantry battalion, light and heavy firepower, etc., you may have to put an infantry regiment on the city wall alone.
On the bank of the Huangpu River outside the city, if you want to give the Japanese troops coming from the Huangpu River a head-on attack, you will need at least one infantry regiment! Then you will only have two regiments and one infantry regiment with much inferior combat effectiveness.
Replenishing the regiment, the Army Lieutenant General's forehead hurt when he thought of this. The number of troops under his command was still too small to defend such a large city.
Therefore, since Yu Xiancheng did not want to leave and wanted to stay here to help, the Army Lieutenant General naturally followed the trend and stayed, and issued a warrant to him. He and his subordinates from the independent regiment's reconnaissance brigade could go to any place in the position and anyone
No need to stay in trouble. This was mainly to facilitate Liu Xueyuan's interviews at various positions.
"Commander Wang, let's go and walk around the city wall with me." After receiving Liu Xueyuan and Yu Xiancheng, Army Lieutenant General said resolutely to Wang Gongyu, then Songjiang Security Commander, who was standing aside.
Naturally, Wang Gongyu nodded quickly and agreed. The Army Lieutenant General said it very politely, but if he, a little security commander, really took politeness as politeness, then his life would have been in vain. Not to mention the military order from the Military Commission,
Lieutenant General of the Army is the deputy commander-in-chief of Songjiang Defense, which is the third theater. This Lieutenant General of the Army is currently the number one person in the Songjiang military.
Turning his attention to Liu Xueyuan and Yu Xiancheng, the Army Lieutenant General sighed slightly and said: "Why don't Reporter Liu and Chief of Staff Yu come to see it together? It's a pity that a thousand-year-old city is about to be destroyed by war like this!"
"Being respectful is worse than obeying orders!" Liu Xueyuan said. "Commander Guo, please relax. As long as our Chinese people are here, we can rebuild any city."
"Haha, well said!" The Army Lieutenant General glanced at Liu Xueyuan in surprise and laughed.
Liu Xueyuan's words are just a different way of expressing the classic saying of the red leader: "Save the land and lose the people, and everyone and the land will be lost. Save the people and lose the land, and both the people and the land will survive." As an army
General, how could the famous general of the Sichuan Army not know its meaning!
However, the general did not refute the female reporter's good intentions of consoling her. That was because she was not familiar with military affairs after all. This battle was different. He would rather lose both people and land than retreat. If he retreated, hundreds of thousands of elite troops would be completely wiped out.
They have no way to retreat. They have no way to retreat. China does not know when it will be able to gather hundreds of thousands of elite troops with such equipment.
Currently in Songhu, there is not only the Central Army, but also the Sichuan Army, the Gui Army, the Hunan Army, the Yunnan Army, the Northeast Army, and the Northwest Army... This is one of the reasons why all armies have to fight tooth and nail during the war.
, there are their comrades from the same province everywhere. If they escape without fighting, even if they can return to their hometown, they will probably be scolded to death by the elders in their hometown.
People during the Republic of China, especially those who had read books, were still quite old-fashioned and attached great importance to reputation.
Naturally, Yu Xiancheng didn't say much. He gave a military salute and followed behind.
It's just a matter of time, but in fact, those who surveyed the terrain and deployed defense and were able to walk up the city wall, in addition to the Lieutenant General of the Army, also had Lieutenant General Liu Yuqing, deputy commander and commander of the 26th Division, Major General Xiao Yisu, Chief of Staff of the Army, and the Infantry Corps.
Major General Zhu Zaitang, Commander of the 76th Brigade, Major General Wang Zhendong, Commander of the 78th Infantry Brigade, Colonel Fu Bingxun, Commander of the 151st Regiment, Colonel Xie Guji, Commander of the 152nd Regiment, Colonel Wang Jun, Commander of the 154th Regiment, and Colonel Hu Dang, Commander of the 156th Regiment.
It can be said that, except for some deputies who are responsible for organizing and assembling personnel at various temporary headquarters, all the chief officers above the 43rd Army Corps were called by the lieutenant general of the Army to go to the city wall to conduct on-site inspections and discuss defense. It can be seen that this person is not only
In the 43rd Army, he kept his word, but he was actually a very pragmatic person.
Naturally, Yu Xiancheng didn't know that this man was hailed as a strong enemy in the battle with the Red Army a few years ago. There are really no more than two people who can be rated as strong enemies by future generals. Looking at the generals in the government, there are really not more than two
A slap.
Naturally, the arrogant Sixth Division and the arrogant Hisao Tani did not know that in the next few days, they would encounter the top five hard-core infantry divisions among China's million-strong army and their lieutenant general.
Although everyone walked very fast, it still took nearly an hour and a half to complete the entire circuit of Songjiang Castle's walls.
As a former prefectural city, the ancient Songjiang City had a lot of protection. The city was tightly surrounded by a city wall that was five to six meters high and three to four meters wide at the top. There was also a moat around it and four city gates in the east, west, south and north.
There are also four water gates.
Perhaps because they have experienced too much wind and rain, the bricks on some city walls have disappeared, leaving only mounds. The inner city wall is no longer vertical, but has slopes. People can run up to the city wall.
The slopes are covered with small trees and weeds.
Looking from the city wall, although it is pitch black at night, the moon is bright and the stars are few, and there are some street lights on the main roads, which is extremely rare to see in major cities in Sichuan Province. You can still see the darkness shrouded in the night.
The outline of the city has fallen into sleep. There are many small boats parked in the moat, which are fishermen who can go fishing in the Huangpu River along the waterway in the early morning. The houses in the city are one after another, and the old-fashioned houses with large roofs are lined up next to each other.
They are arranged in a row, very neatly, and the courtyard is surrounded by volcanic walls and horse head walls of varying heights.
The city is very ancient, but also modern. It is worthy of being a city adjacent to the oriental metropolis Shanghai, at least in the eyes of these Sichuan Army soldiers.
Moreover, the city is not just a city surrounded by city walls. Outside of the city walls and moats, there are also homes. Along the paths on both sides of the moat, there are densely packed houses. Especially the Zhongshan Road that passes through the East and West Gate, known as Zhongshan Road, is full of houses on both sides.
Residential houses and small roads crisscross the area.
There is no doubt that this is a "small town" with a large population, worthy of its historical status as Songjiang Prefecture in Jiangsu Province.
The Army Lieutenant General standing on the east gate tower had his brows furrowed as tightly as his subordinates.
Dense population is a good thing for a city, but it is a very bad thing for a battlefield.
If the Japanese aggressors attacked and fired a random shot, dozens of lives would be lost. The army lieutenant general who had seen the brutality on the front line in Songhu knew that the Japanese would never distinguish between military targets and civilian areas.
I took a deep breath and was about to speak when I saw the commander of the military communications battalion hurried over with a message. From a distance, everyone could feel his panic.
"Why are you panicking? It's nothing more than the little Japs coming, can the sky still fall?" The Army Lieutenant General's face turned even darker. He dodged the telegram in the hands of the communications battalion commander, unfolded it and took a long breath.
"You are so stupid, the devil is really here."
All the soldiers present could not help but look solemn.
Then I heard the Army Lieutenant General say decisively: "All troops, prepare for war immediately."
"Yes!" the officers responded loudly.
"Commander Wang, I will give you half a day, and the Songjiang Security Group will be responsible for evacuating all the people in and outside Songjiang City from Songjiang City."
"Ah?" Songjiang Security Commander Wang Gongyu was dumbfounded. "How can we do this in time?"
"Is it too late? Then let me tell you, the Jinshan Guards in Hangzhou Bay have more than a hundred large transport ships alone, and the invading force will never be less than a hundred thousand." The Army Lieutenant General's teeth shone coldly in the moonlight, "
Colonel Wang, I don’t care what method you use, you must evacuate all the people from Songjiang City before 12 noon, whether it is to visit relatives and friends, or to avoid the countryside, but there is one person who remains in the city, and the military order is like a mountain. You know
of."
This time, the Lieutenant General of the Army directly addressed him by rank instead of position. That meant that military orders could not be violated.
The lieutenant general looked back at the coast farther east, with a faint red light imprinted in his pupils, and said quietly: "It is still unknown whether Commander Tao, with the strength of one division, can resist until 12 noon."