Quartermasters can also fight the devils

Chapter 118 Arrival in Shanghai

After arriving in Jinling City, the superiors first summoned Xiong Tianyi. When asked about his thoughts after the inspection, Xiong Tianyi replied: "Sir, I have seen the offensive situation of the troops and I am not optimistic. I personally think that this battle cannot be fought."

After hearing what he said, the person above said that he understood and let him go back to rest. However, when Xiong Tianyi left, the person above looked unhappy.

When Deputy Minister Chen entered the meeting room of his superiors, the superiors had already adjusted their mood and asked Deputy Minister Chen to sit down with a smile.

After Deputy Director Chen sat down, the person above asked, "Just now, Xiong Tianyi told me what he saw. He told me that this battle cannot be fought. What do you think, Deputy Director Chen?"

When Deputy Minister Chen saw his superiors asking questions, he immediately responded, "Sir, this is not a question of whether we can fight, but a question of whether we should fight."

After hearing Deputy Minister Chen's answer, the superior immediately understood what he meant. Last time, Deputy Minister Chen had analyzed the area of ​​the decisive battle with the Japanese army and the strategic pros and cons. So he answered Deputy Minister Chen affirmatively: "Fight! Fight! We must fight."

When Deputy Minister Chen heard that his superiors were determined to confront the Japanese army in Shanghai, he immediately felt relieved. He was afraid that his superiors would hesitate and think of retreating after only a few days of fighting in Shanghai. That would neither achieve the goal of attracting Japanese troops from the north to Shanghai, nor the intention of changing the direction of the Japanese army's strategic offensive. In addition, troops would be lost in vain and the morale of the troops would be hit. It would be a loss.

So Deputy Minister Chen said quickly: "If the Supreme Commander has made up his mind, then we must fight the battle in Shanghai, and we must fight hard. I have seen the situation over there with Zhang Wenbai, and it is not very good. The strategic intention to eliminate the Japanese troops stationed in Shanghai has not been completed. In addition, the Japanese army has issued an order to increase troops in Shanghai a few days ago. Now we must also send a large number of troops to Shanghai, otherwise we will fail."

The person above stood up, walked around the room twice, and said to Deputy Director Chen: "Deputy Director Chen, the subsequent battles in Shanghai will still require your planning. I have planned to appoint you as the commander-in-chief of the Third War Zone and the commander-in-chief of the 15th Army Group. Do you have any questions?"

Deputy Minister Chen immediately stood at attention and said, "Since the Northeast Incident, I have vowed to fight the Japanese invasion of China and serve on the battlefield. Now I can say that my wish has come true. Thank you, Supreme Commander, for your help."

On August 3, the National Government divided the north-south battlefields of the country into five war zones: The First War Zone was responsible for operations in the Pinghan and northern section of the Jinpu Railway. The commander-in-chief served concurrently, and it had three army groups under its jurisdiction. The Second War Zone was responsible for operations in Shanxi, Chahar, Suiyuan and other places. The commander-in-chief was Yan Laoxi, and it had two army groups under its jurisdiction. The Third War Zone was responsible for operations in Nanjing and Shanghai. The commander-in-chief was Feng Diaoge and the deputy commander-in-chief was Gu Mosan. It had four army groups under its jurisdiction. The Fourth War Zone was responsible for operations in Guangdong and Fujian. The commander-in-chief was He Jingzhi and the deputy commander-in-chief was Yu Han. They had two army groups under their jurisdiction. The Fifth War Zone was responsible for operations in northern Jiangsu and southern Shandong. The commander-in-chief served concurrently, and the deputy commander-in-chief was Han Paopao, and it had two army groups under its jurisdiction.

In addition, the local powerful troops of the southwestern provinces were organized into four reserve armies and sent to the front: the commander-in-chief of the first reserve army was Li Delin, and the deputy commander-in-chief was Bai Jiansheng; the commander-in-chief of the second reserve army was Liu Fucheng, and the deputy commander-in-chief was Deng Jinkang; the commander-in-chief of the third reserve army was Long Dengyun, and the deputy commander-in-chief was Xue Yangyue; the commander-in-chief of the fourth reserve army was He Xuezhu, and the deputy commander-in-chief was Xu Kecheng

After lunch that day, Zhang Wenwu prepared to continue to the roadside to watch other troops advancing towards the Shanghai front. He met several classmates from the 36th Division that he passed by a few days ago. At that time, Zhang Wenwu had a brief chat with them and gave them several cartons of cigarettes he bought. He took the few cartons of cigarettes he bought in the morning with him to see if he could meet his classmates again today so that he could give them some gifts.

As a result, before Zhang Wenwu walked out of the temporary stationing yard, he heard the signalman running all the way to announce: "All officers of the division headquarters are going to the division headquarters operations hall for a meeting. All officers of the division headquarters are going to the division headquarters operations hall for a meeting immediately."

When Zhang Wenwu heard that there was going to be a meeting, he immediately ran back to the house to put away his cigarettes, and then hurried to the temporary operations hall of the division headquarters. He was excited in his heart, because it was finally his turn to take the stage. The days of waiting were really too hard to bear.

The temporary operations hall of the division headquarters was a small hall, and all the officers could not squeeze in, so Division Commander Huang Jinxian stood at the door of the operations hall and spoke to everyone facing the yard: "Brothers, you must have been going crazy during this period. Commander Luo just sent a telegram to our division. Our 18th Army is officially assigned to the Central Army Group to fight in Shanghai and is under the command of Commander Zhang Wenbai. Commander Zhang ordered all units of our 18th Army to rush to the Shanghai front on the 22nd. All units should start preparing to set off immediately. The meeting is adjourned."

As the order was issued, the entire 102nd Division was in an uproar. The entire garrison was filled with the shouts of people and the neighing of horses. The marching sequence of the troops had been organized. The 210th Brigade Headquarters led the 655th Regiment as the vanguard of the entire division, the division headquarters and the direct-affiliated team and the 656th Regiment served as the second echelon, and the 211th and 657th Regiments of the 658th Brigade followed in turn.

After the troops arrived at Nanxiang Station by train, they had to move on foot to their destination. Because of the bombing by Japanese planes, there were anti-aircraft forces around Nanxiang Station responsible for air defense, but they could not withstand the frequent bombing by Japanese planes. When Zhang Wenwu got off the train, he saw that the entire Nanxiang Station had been bombed beyond recognition. The station was full of officers and soldiers who had just got off the train. There were also engineering troops stationed at Nanxiang Station, who were carrying rails and sleepers to the destroyed section of the road for repairs. There were also military police troops busy putting out fires, and logistics troops busy directing civilians to quickly carry ammunition.

When the troops were getting off the train and lining up, a signalman ran to Division Commander Huang Jinxian with a telegram and handed him the latest order. When Division Commander Huang Jinxian saw the telegram, he immediately shouted for the troops to gather quickly and asked the signalman of the division headquarters to find the 210th Brigade and the 655th Regiment, which had arrived earlier, and asked them to march quickly to the new destination.

At this time, a signalman quickly found Zhang Wenwu who was on the platform and asked him to go to the division headquarters carriage as soon as possible, as Chief of Staff Zhao had an order to convey.

Zhang Wenwu immediately ran to the carriage where the division headquarters was. As soon as he arrived in front of the carriage, he saw Chief of Staff Zhao Dong getting off the carriage. When he saw Zhang Wenwu, he hurriedly said, "Wenwu, the troops have received an emergency order. The Japanese army has landed in Wusongkou, Shizilin, and Chuansha. Commander-in-Chief Chen ordered our 18th Army to go to meet the Japanese army and try to annihilate this Japanese army while they have just landed and are unstable. The troops must travel light and fast. I will leave you a platoon of the division headquarters military police company. You are responsible for safely transporting all the supplies behind. Do you understand?"

Zhang Wenwu heard this, although he didn't know how the 18th Army came under the command of Deputy Chief Chen, but he immediately replied: "I understand, I will escort the supplies safely to the designated location, please rest assured, Chief of Staff."

Zhao Dong patted Zhang Wenwu on the shoulder and turned around to quickly catch up with the troops that had already set out and left Nanxiang Station. Zhang Wenwu then quickly asked Lei Dong to take the remaining platoon of military police to help carry the supplies that followed the train, and he quickly found the Nanxiang military station. He needed to find a few carriages from the tight transportation capacity to transport these supplies.

With the help of cigarettes and money, Zhang Wenwu spent four hours to gather 15 carriages, and then quickly found the civilians at the station and asked them to move the supplies to the carriages. Fortunately, it was already dark, so there was no need to worry about the bombing of Japanese planes. After doing this, Zhang Wenwu spent money to buy a few buckets of rice and vegetables from the military station, and asked the brothers of the military police company to take turns to eat dinner. He was also very hungry, so he quickly ate dinner with everyone else.

It was not until 9: in the evening that Zhang Wenwu and a platoon of brothers led the convoy towards Wusongkou.

The road to Shanghai was full of troops heading to the front line. At an intersection, several military police stood by a temporary road sign to direct traffic and give directions to the troops. Zhang Wenwu asked the entire escort team to rest on the side of the road. He walked to the intersection and found a military policeman and asked, "Brother, I am from the 102nd Division of the th Army. Which way is the road to Wusongkou?"

The military policeman looked at Zhang Wenwu's rank and immediately stood at attention and saluted, saying, "Sir, the road on the left leads to Wusongkou. Are you from the 102nd Division of the th Army? There is a signalman in your division waiting here. I guess he is waiting for you."

When Zhang Wenwu heard that someone from his own unit was coming, he immediately asked the military police to call the messenger from his unit over. After a while, the military police led a young signalman over. When the signalman saw Zhang Wenwu, he immediately stood at attention and saluted, saying, "Deputy Director Zhang, Chief of Staff Zhao asked me to wait for you here. He asked me to tell you that the troops have changed their direction to Luodian and to notify you to transport the supplies to Luodian."

When Zhang Wenwu heard this, he was shocked! Why did the 102nd Division go to Luodian? Will the 102nd Division still exist after this battle? But he still thanked the military police first, then took the division's communications soldier back to the convoy, and ordered the convoy to continue its journey to Luodian to meet up with the division headquarters.

What Zhang Wenwu didn't know was that on that day, the Japanese 3rd and 11th Divisions, under the cover of intensive naval artillery fire, landed at the Wusongkou Railway Wharf, Shizilin, and Chuanshakou, and attacked the Chinese troops' positions in Baoshan, Yuepu, Luodian, and Zhuozaobang. Deputy Chief Chen was appointed commander-in-chief of the Third War Zone and commander-in-chief of the 15th Army Group. The 18th Army, as his own unit, was naturally placed under Deputy Chief Chen's command.

Regarding the issue of the 18th Army's change in combat sequence, the specific reason was that when the Chinese troops went to prepare to block the landing of the Japanese troops that day, they discovered during the attack that Japanese troops had already appeared in the strategic town of Luodian. When this situation was reported, the Shanghai War Zone Command learned that Luodian had been lost.

Due to insufficient manpower, the Chinese army did not deploy defenses in Luodian Town, an important transportation hub. In addition, the sudden landing of the Japanese army caused the Shanghai War Zone Command to not have time to dispatch troops to set up defenses. As a result, the Japanese army occupied this strategic location without firing a single shot. This confused the Japanese army. They believed that the Chinese army must have set up some trap here, otherwise it would be impossible for them to deploy defenses in such an important place. So after occupying Luodian, the Japanese army did not dare to continue the attack, but reported the situation to the commander in the rear, Matsui Iwane. Before waiting for specific orders, the Japanese army stopped in Luodian.

When the superiors learned that the strategic location Luodian was lost, they hurriedly called Deputy Chief Chen, who had just been appointed as the commander-in-chief of the front line, and asked him to immediately organize troops to retake Luodian. Deputy Chief Chen immediately proposed to his superiors that the 18th Army be placed under his command to retake Luodian. The superiors agreed immediately, and this led to the 18th Army's collective turn again.

However, the people above were in a hurry to inform Zhang Wenbai, the commander-in-chief of the Central Group, about the change in the battle sequence of the 18th Army, which resulted in a big mistake.