The Iron-Blooded Army of Beacon Fire

Chapter 242 Before the decisive battle

After the battle, Zhongshan East Road, which used to be extremely prosperous in the past, has now become a purgatory full of corpses and blood. The whole street is full of Japanese corpses.

In some places where the fighting was fierce, Japanese corpses, mules, horses, weapons and ammunition were piled up to half a meter high, and even places without corpses were in a mess.

The original color of the asphalt road can no longer be seen. After the tanks ran rampant and the front-line crushing attack was carried out, many Japanese corpses were crushed into meat pies and meat paste. After being crushed by the tanks' tracks, The human torso turned into various red powders and blood flowed everywhere, and the whole street was filled with an unpleasant smell.

Boom-boom

The officers and soldiers of the secret service battalion strolled along the bloody roads to count the results of the war and collect trophies. Loud noises were heard from time to time. In the buildings on both sides of the street, the corpses of Japanese soldiers were killed one after another by the officers and soldiers of the secret service battalion who were cleaning the battlefield in the building. It was roughly thrown out of the window and hit the ground in various twisted postures, making loud noises.

Of course, the officers and soldiers cleaning the battlefield would not be so rough once they encountered the bodies of brothers from the secret service battalion. Instead, they would carefully wrap them in white cloth and carefully carry them out of the building.

He Wei was sitting on the turret of a German-made No. 1 tank, briefly recording the situation of this battle in a notebook. This was to prepare for writing detailed battle reports in the future, and also to make a review of this battle. Simple record summary.

Of course, while writing and drawing, the corners of his mouth were slightly raised, because the results of this battle were beyond his expectation, and to some extent it could be said to be an unexpected gain.

According to the Japanese identity cards searched by the officers and soldiers cleaning the battlefield, the Japanese army that was eaten had the following unit numbers: 6th Division Infantry Regiment 45th Regiment 3rd Infantry Battalion 10th, 10th The 1st Squadron, the 3rd Heavy Machine Gun Squadron, the 3rd Infantry Brigade Headquarters, the 2nd Squadron of the 6th Engineer Regiment, and the 3rd Detachment of the 45th Regiment Artillery Squadron.

Based on the number of corpses on the battlefield and the Japanese military numbers found on the corpses, He Wei could conclude that the Japanese troops he annihilated this time were actually a fully organized and strengthened infantry brigade, the 45th Regiment. The third brigade.

This calculation method actually takes into account the batch of Japanese soldiers who were eaten by me at the intersection near Zhongshan North Road. Anyway, those batch of Japanese soldiers were also subordinate units of the third brigade. Taken together, they are just a reinforcement. Later formation of infantry brigade.

"Captain He, you fought so hard in this battle."

At this time, Li Muliang, commander of the second supplementary regiment of the 78th Army Supplementary Brigade, came over and said to He Wei with a smile on his face. He Wei immediately gave a military salute to the senior lieutenant colonel who graduated from the fifth phase of Huangpu, and then looked serious. Said: "Thanks to Commander Li for your assistance, otherwise I really wouldn't have been able to resolve the battle so quickly."

"Hey, if you ask me, I have to thank you. Today's battle was so enjoyable. No wonder Captain Zhao of the Chariot Company's eyes gleamed when he heard that he was going to fight with you. This time, I finally managed to win the battle in Songhu. The revenge of the battle has been avenged. After killing so many Japanese, my troops only suffered dozens of casualties. Needless to say, I am happy and happy."

He Wei nodded at the slightly rough lieutenant colonel commander. The troops who had just been reinforced by the 78th Army's supplementary brigade also killed very well. They followed the tank and pushed forward, beating the Japanese until they cried. With the help of the cover of the tanks, the reinforcements of the 78th Army's supplementary brigade suffered little loss, with only dozens of casualties.

Captain Li was also a ruthless character. First he fired with a Czech machine gun, and later he took the lead and fought hand-to-hand with the Japanese with a machete. He Wei saw with his own eyes that he chopped off the heads of two Japanese soldiers. The scene was quite bloody.

However, an infantry brigade of the Japanese army is not that easy to chew. As the main force of annihilating the enemy, the special agent battalion naturally did not suffer as few casualties as the 78th Army's supplementary brigade. In this battle, the infantry of the special agent battalion, which was the main force in annihilating the enemy, suffered The first company, the second infantry company, and the special agent platoon paid a total price of more than 80 killed and more than 40 minor or serious injuries.

The artillery company also paid the price with nearly twenty people killed and five injured. According to rough statistics after the war, which was not exhaustive, the total number of casualties in the battalion was more than 150, which can be said to be a serious injury.

Moreover, the second infantry company with relatively heavy casualties also lost a second lieutenant platoon leader. According to Fang Jing, commander of the second infantry company, this second lieutenant platoon leader also came from the Songhu battlefield. It was He Wei who asked Fu Chen to One of the officers they recruited from various field hospitals in Jinling was very good at fighting. He died in battle today, which made Fang Jing feel quite regretful.

He Wei felt deeply regretful after learning about it. He wouldn't feel bad if weapons and ammunition were lost or discarded. These dead objects could be replenished after they were lost, but experienced veterans and officers from the secret service camp were hard pressed to do so. Make up for the wealth.

But there's nothing he can do about it. This is a Japanese field infantry brigade that has been eaten alive. Of course, there will be a certain price of casualties.

Just at this moment, Fang Jing, commander of the second infantry company who was a little disappointed, came over, followed by more than 30 soldiers who didn't know which section they belonged to. He Wei looked at the group of soldiers and guessed that they were separated in the city. Skirmishers and defeated troops, the retreat of each unit is now very poorly organized, so small-scale routs and stragglers occur from time to time, and skirmishers and defeated troops are everywhere.

"Battal Commander, these people are broken troops from several units. They just ran into our battalion's territory randomly and were escorted over by soldiers from my company who were cleaning up the battlefield."

Fang Jing was quite absent-minded when he spoke.

He Wei nodded and knew what Fang Jing was thinking. He stepped forward and patted Fang Jing on the shoulder and said, "It's okay. I can always find a way to make up for you when the soldiers are gone. You can take the position of the platoon leader where your company commander was killed." What are you going to do?”

"Oh, I'm going to tell you about this too. There is a sergeant in my company who has a good platoon attachment. He is brave in combat and has good management. I plan to let him take over the position of platoon leader. I need to report it to you. "

He Wei said: "No problem, as long as you think it's about the same, ask him to arrive immediately. The formalities will be completed after the battle is over."

"it is good"

Fang Jing sighed and said.

Fang Jing was really worried. His second company suffered heavy losses in the battle just now, and the entire company was crippled. A wise woman cannot make a meal without rice. As his company commander has no soldiers, future battles will not be good either. beat.

He Wei was actually very worried. After all, they were all his soldiers. He would feel uncomfortable if one of them was defeated and one company was crippled.

Just as he was thinking about this thorny issue, He Wei's eyes suddenly fell on the defeated soldiers who were being held by the soldiers of the second company. The numbers and original units of these people were so diverse. Not only did they include soldiers from various field units of the garrison, but He Wei also We even saw a few soldiers from the Jinling Garrison Command wearing white armbands with the word "Garrison" written on them.

Looking at these soldiers, he suddenly had a plan in mind.

Now there is definitely no way to replenish the troops through formal channels, but these broken troops seem to be fairly decent soldiers. Source, most of these people have fought in battles, and their military quality is passable, and they are all running around. The broken troops had various numbers and original units. If they were released and left here, they would be running around unorganized and undisciplined.

Although on the front line of Xiaguan and Yijiangmen, in order to intercept the defeated troops and maintain order, the military police troops have made special preparations. Once they encounter the defeated troops, they will intercept them and then send them back one by one according to their serial numbers. The original troops continue to exert their combat effectiveness.

However, this is only an ideal situation. In fact, many defeated troops now do not retreat on their own in military uniforms. Instead, they throw away their weapons, put on civilian clothes, and run away among the civilian ranks.

In this way, this part of the defeated troops can escape and cannot regain their combat effectiveness in the subsequent battle.

This is not what He Wei wants to see. Instead of letting these people run away, it is better to recruit them into the special agent camp first. There are not many people anyway, there are more than a hundred people in total, and they come from different units and troops. Even if he is found out, he will never be charged with annexing friendly forces.

The more He Wei thought about it, the more he felt that this was something he could do, so he pointed at the defeated soldiers and said to Fang Jing: "If you want soldiers, these soldiers will come. Counting the more than 100 people we captured before, this batch There are quite a lot of defeated troops, so let’s make up for them in our camp.”

Subsequently, He Wei summoned the main officers of the secret service camp together and announced the matter, and the officers who were eager to recruit soldiers also unanimously agreed to He Wei's approach.

As a result, more than a hundred stragglers from various units on Zhongshan North Road broke up and were confused and had their badges removed by the veterans of the Secret Service Battalion, and then put on the bloody tactical vests left by the fallen officers and soldiers of the Secret Service Battalion. He made steel helmets with Germany, and then he was forcibly broken up and added to the various departments of the secret service camp, and he became a member of the secret service camp from then on.

And the spy camp, under He Wei's helpless method, recovered a certain amount of vitality.

After quickly cleaning the battlefield, the cadre troops on Zhongshan East Road quickly retreated and moved to Zhongshan North Road and Yijiangmen. When He Wei led the troops to rejoin the 78th Army's supplementary brigade, they saw There are not many civilians and broken troops visible in the Zhongshan North Road and Yijiangmen areas.

The people of the 78th Army's supplementary brigade were also preparing to retreat. Sun Xisheng, the communications platoon leader of the special agent battalion who did not attack with the special agent battalion, saw He Wei coming back with his troops, so he hurriedly brought a weapon to He Wei. Seal the telegram.

This telegram was sent by General Xiao from the Gendarmerie Headquarters. The main message of the telegram was that the main forces of the garrison units had all withdrawn to Xiaguan, and they had successively entered under the organization of the 36th Division and the Gendarmerie. In various positions within the Xiaguan defense circle, the fleeing people have been temporarily properly resettled, and the work of gathering stragglers and broken troops is also in progress. This is undoubtedly good news. He Wei also breathed a long sigh of relief after learning that the garrison troops did not collapse on a large scale, but were properly organized.

Of course, there is good news and bad news. While the various units of the garrison are organizing their retreat, the Japanese army attacking Jinling is also making rapid progress. Its leading troops have already surrounded Shimonoseki from the front line of Shogunate Mountain. The cavalry company of the 36th Division of the 18th Army encountered and discovered the enemy group. Song Xilian, commander of the 78th Army, personally commanded the 36th Division to launch an attack on the Japanese army. After several hours of fierce fighting, they were repelled. This Japanese army.

This is not good news. As soon as the various units of the garrison withdrew, the Japanese troops followed. It must be said that the Japanese's pursuit speed was too fast, and their purpose was also obvious, which was to attempt to The riverside cut off the retreat route of the Chinese army in Jinling City, and launched a complete battle of annihilation against the Chinese defenders in the city!

General Xiao, based on all the circumstances he now knows, has ordered the various units of the 78th Army that intercepted the defeated troops at various city gates to withdraw to Xiaguan. In the telegram, he also requested He Wei's special agent battalion and the 78th Army to supplement the brigade. Evacuate outside the city as soon as possible to avoid further delays.

Without further ado, He Wei immediately led the special agent battalion and the supplementary brigade of the 78th Army to withdraw to the Yijiangmen line.

When we arrived at Yijiang Gate, we saw busy gendarmerie troops everywhere. The heavy machine gun battalion troops directly under the gendarmerie headquarters that had been stationed on the city gate tower had withdrawn, and there was no one on the tower.

Near the city gate of Yijiang Gate, hundreds of military policemen were carrying sandbags and hemp bags, preparing to block the city gate. Those along the city wall were piled up with sandbags, and the simple pathways originally used to provide people with a quick exit from the city were all demolished and bulldozed. , some supplies that could not be taken away and buildings in the city near Yijiangmen were also doused with gasoline and set alight by the gendarmerie troops, setting off flames and thick smoke.

In the inner city of Yijiangmen, the wide streets where cars can pass are gradually blocked by various fortifications such as sandbags and deer villages. Some military police signal soldiers carrying wires are climbing up and down some unexploded telephone poles to evacuate. Electric wires, many trucks carrying ammunition, steel plates and other military supplies drove to the inner city wall of Yijiang Gate and stopped carefully.

There are also many military policemen going in and out along several tunnels from Yijiangmen City Gate to Bazi Mountain, and they are still carrying explosives and various detonating equipment into the tunnels.

He Wei knew at a glance that these military police were preparing to use explosives to blow up the tunnels to prevent them from being used by the Japanese army. After seeing it, he felt quite sorry. General Xiao had always used these tunnels as the command posts of the military police headquarters. At first, He Wei When discussing the military situation with General Xiao here, he once thought of using these tunnels to inflict pain on the Japanese, but now it seems that this is no longer possible.

Looking towards the river, hundreds of thousands of troops and an equal number of civilians have gathered in the Xiaguan defense circle. A bleak cold wind blows from the river, rolling up thick smoke all over the sky. Kanto is filled with a feeling of depression and chill before the war.

All the scenes near Yijiang Gate indicate that the garrison's maneuverable retreat to Xiangguan has been completed, and the defense in the city will be completely over. Next, is the final decisive battle of retreat! A decisive retreat that could determine the final fate of hundreds of thousands of garrison troops and hundreds of thousands of civilians!

After He Wei led the spy battalion through the city gate, two military police headquarters officers who were familiar to He Wei immediately found him in a car and informed him that General He Weixiao had important matters to discuss with him and brought him General Xiao's order for the next combat deployment of the Secret Service Battalion.

The content of the warrant was also very simple. It directly ordered the special agent battalion to move to the vicinity of the Gendarmerie Headquarters, the highest command institution of the Jinling Garrison in the Xiaguan Defense Circle, and to serve as a reserve force in the Xiaguan Defense Circle.

He Wei immediately handed over the troops to the command of Fu Chen. Fu Chen led a large number of troops including the special agent battalion and tank troops to the designated location, while he took the lead and rushed to the military police headquarters in a car.

At the command post of the Gendarmerie Headquarters in Xiaguan, General Xiao frowned and leaned on his marching chair with his eyes closed to rest. The radio stations around him were sending and receiving reports. Dozens of staff officers and officers were in this place. The semi-underground command post built a few months ago using reinforced concrete and steel plates was very busy.

At this time, Xiao Shanling had just concluded a large-scale military meeting here. The participants were all the top commanders of the various units in the Xiaguan defense circle. General Xiao, who closed his eyes to rest, thought of the familiar and unfamiliar people. The name makes me smile bitterly.

As a gendarmerie officer, it was very difficult for him to command the arrogant generals who integrated field troops from different factions. Fortunately, the gendarmerie was quite powerful, and General Xiao was also highly respected, so he was finally able to restrain him with both kindness and power. He persuaded the commanders of various field units of the garrison and allowed the troops of more than a dozen divisions to enter predetermined positions in the Xiaguan defense circle and consolidate the defense line.

A young officer in his thirties was sitting upright behind General Xiao at this time. This man's collar badge had a golden rank of major general, and his uniform was covered in blood.

Only the relatively clear badge can indicate the identity of this person - He Shaozhou, the deputy commander of the 103rd Army Division, Major General.

This person is He Shaozhou, the deputy commander of the 1rd Army Division. He is a graduate of the first class of Huangpu and a graduate of the tenth class of the regular class of Army University. He has served as the platoon leader of the 1st Teaching Regiment of Huangpu Military Academy and the lieutenant adjutant of the Eastern Expeditionary Army Headquarters. Captain of the 1st Brigade, staff officer and guard company commander, battalion commander of the 1st Division of the 1st Army, deputy commander of the 3rd Regiment of the st Division of the East Route Army General Headquarters, and commander of the National Guard Division.

In 1931, he served as the commander of the 2nd Regiment of the Tax Police Corps. Participated in the 103th Songhu Anti-Japanese War, and served as the brigade commander and deputy division commander of the 4rd Division's th Independent Brigade in the th Songhu Battle. This rd Division was a former Guizhou Army unit that was annexed by the Central Army. During the Battle of Jinling, he participated in the battles in Zhenjiang and other places in the outskirts. Not long ago, he withdrew into Jinling and traveled all the way here.

Of course, compared with his less than dazzling and even lagging military development experience, his family background is even more dazzling. His father is called He Yinglu, and his second uncle is the current Minister of Military and Political Affairs, Minister He. , and He Shaozhou also got the nickname Commander-in-Chief.

"Shao Zhou, thanks to you just now, otherwise I might not be able to control these people."

General Xiao opened his bloodshot eyes and said with a wry smile.

Indeed, although complete defenses had been prepared in advance, it was not easy to persuade the commanders of the various units under the garrison to honestly stay in the positions within the defense circle and fight the Japanese army.

Even General Xiao would not have been able to do it easily. After all, what was about to come was a bloody battle, a solid bloody battle. It was definitely not possible for these army captains to take their troops and their lives to fight the Japanese on the riverside. Easy.

At the military meeting just now, several army commanders even publicly proposed that they should take advantage of the opportunity to evacuate to the other side by boat as soon as possible. This was completely different or even contrary to General Xiao's plan of staying on the spot, covering the people, and alternately covering the retreat with various units. It was directly contrary to Xiao's plan. The general sang the opposite tune.

Fortunately, in the military meeting just now, the handsome nephew He Shaozhou took the initiative to side with General Xiao, and there was a flurry of words, coercion and inducement to make a show of love and shame with General Xiao. Finally, this group of arrogant warriors was able to conscientiously carry out General Xiao's order to stay on the spot and help General Xiao consolidate his command.

As a first-class graduate of Huangpu, He Shaozhou's military rank is only that of major general, and his position is only that of deputy division commander. He does not look outstanding among the first-class graduates of Huangpu No. 1 Middle School, but it is wise to look at the face of Buddha without looking at the face of a monk.

After all, although He Shaozhou's military rank and position were not high, his second uncle was something that these sub-unit commanders could not afford to offend easily.

In this way, with the giant Buddha of Minister He as his guardian, no one dared to offend He Shaozhou, and He Shaozhou publicly supported General Xiao. Naturally, this group of people no longer dared to have any thoughts of retreating and running away, and they all acted honestly Choosing to stand firm on the spot.

"General Xiao, you are the one who is loyal to the country, cares about the people, and can turn the tide. Otherwise, the consequences of the chaotic situation after the defeat of the garrison would be really unimaginable. You are not only the first contributor, but also the reborn parents of thousands of soldiers and civilians. Shao Zhou just tried his best."

General Xiao smiled and said: "I don't dare to claim the first credit. The real first credit is someone else. I predicted in advance that the garrison headquarters would abandon the garrison and retreat, and that the garrison would retreat and collapse. There is even another person who proposed and conceived the Xiaguan defense circle. Speaking of which, this person has some connections with your second uncle."

"Oh?"

He Shaozhou asked curiously.

"It's He Wei, the battalion commander of the Jinling City Defense Special Agent Battalion. He served as the platoon commander of the 10th Division during the Xinkou Battle and made meritorious service. It was your second uncle who awarded him the medal in person. Even the number of the special agent battalion is also your second uncle's. Approved personally."

"Is it the lieutenant platoon leader who captured the Japanese tank and regiment flag at the Battle of Xinkou?"

He Shaozhou asked with interest.

"That's right. Speaking of which, it can be considered as your family, both have the surname He, but that boy is from the Northeast. He was born as an exiled student and later passed the eleventh grade of Huangpu."

He Shaozhou nodded: "I have also heard from my second uncle about this person. My second uncle appreciates this person quite a lot, and I am also very interested in him."

General Xiao pointed outside and said with a smile: "What a coincidence, he will be here soon."

Just at this moment, a military police officer walked into the command post, came to General Xiao and said: "Reporting to the commander, the commander of the special agent battalion, He Wei, has arrived."

(End of this chapter)