binnovel Chapter 120 The First Battle Begins
Chapter 120 The First Battle Begins
The direction of Luodian was now simply the exit for the Japanese to unleash their firepower. After the planes had finished bombing, the Japanese field artillery came into play. As soon as the field artillery stopped, the large-caliber naval guns came down with a long whistling sound and smashed down towards Luodian Town. Even where Zhang Wenwu was standing, he could feel the obvious vibration.
Zhang Wenwu's heart was filled with shock. The power of this ship's gun was too great. Such a strong vibration could be felt from such a long distance. How would the brothers in Luodian Town feel? Is anyone still alive?
"Deputy Director Zhang, Deputy Director Zhang, Chief of Staff Zhao is looking for you. He wants you to go to the division headquarters to receive the mission." A signalman quickly ran to Zhang Wenwu, who was still staring in the direction of Luodian, and reported.
Zhang Wenwu shook his head and quickly followed the signalman to the division headquarters.
As soon as he entered the large ancestral hall of the temporary division headquarters, Zhang Wenwu saw the busy staff marking the latest enemy and friendly situation on the map, while others were conveying orders to the troops in front over the phone. Chief of Staff Zhao Dong and Division Commander Huang Jinxian were discussing something while lying on the table in front of the map.
"Reporting to the Chief of Staff, I, Zhang Wenwu, have been ordered to come here to receive the mission." Zhang Wenwu walked to Chief of Staff Zhao Dong, stood at attention and saluted.
Chief of Staff Zhao Dong was obviously startled by Zhang Wenwu's shout, while Commander Huang seemed not to have heard Zhang Wenwu's voice at all and was still concentrating on looking at the battle map.
"Wenwu, we just received a telegram from the military. The Japanese have landed too many troops. The previous strategic concept is impossible to achieve. Deputy Commander Chen of the theater has ordered our 102th Army to hold the key place of Luodian and not to retreat a single step. Our nd Division is responsible for the defense of the left wing of Luodian in accordance with the requirements of the military. Since our defense area is all wilderness and farmland, there are no houses to rely on, the troops in the front are now stepping up the construction of field fortifications, but we urgently need wood for building fortifications. From now on, you will take the platoon of officers and soldiers assigned to you to immediately try your best to collect all kinds of wood to ensure the smooth construction of the front-line fortifications. Do you understand?" Chief of Staff Zhao Dong explained the task to Zhang Wenwu, and then continued to discuss the deployment of troops with Division Commander Huang Jinxian.
Zhang Wenwu replied, "Yes, sir," and walked out of the ancestral hall. At this time, he found that the officers and soldiers of the special forces battalion were dismantling the door panels and larger furniture of the whole village and carrying them to the front line to repair the fortifications. What's more, they even carried out the coffins stored in the homes of the people and sent them to the front.
Zhang Wenwu first found the kitchen. He asked Old Man Hong to quickly prepare some food for the people in his quartermaster department. Only after they had a full meal would they have the strength to get wood. Zhang Wenwu planned to use local materials and cut down trees in the woods to the west. Otherwise, he really had no place to get so much wood.
Old Man Hong sent four cooks to carry large wooden barrels filled with rice, meat and vegetables to the temporary military supply office. The hungry soldiers hurriedly filled their cups with rice and meat, squatted on the ground and began to wolf them down. They had just heard Zhang Wenwu say that they would go to chop trees after dinner, which was physical work. If they didn't eat more, they would be hungry after a while. Then who knew when they would have the next meal.
In the afternoon, Zhang Wenwu couldn't help it and asked Lei Dong to continue leading everyone to cut down trees, while he ran to the division headquarters in the ancestral hall to listen to the battle situation report.
"Staff Officer Liu, do you have a battle situation report?" Zhang Wenwu found the training staff officer Liu Sihao. He knew that these battle situation reports were compiled by Staff Officer Liu.
"Deputy Director Zhang, here are all battle situation reports. You can take a look at them, but don't take them away. The chief of staff and the division commander will need to check the latest reports to do a map review." When Liu Sihao saw that it was Zhang Wenwu, he handed some battle situation report telegrams to Zhang Wenwu.
Looking at Zhang Wenwu who was concentrating on the information in his hands, Liu Sihao couldn't help but say: "Deputy Director Zhang, you don't need to do your homework, and you don't need to charge into battle. Why do you always look at the battle report?" He felt that Zhang Wenwu was just idle and the kind of person who worried about nothing.
Zhang Wenwu couldn't help but curl his lips in his heart. Liu Sihao simply didn't treat bean buns as dry food. After all, he was a graduate of a military academy. Although he was "first", he still graduated. Of course, Liu Sihao graduated one year earlier than him, was his senior, and was indeed very capable in military business. He had no reason to refute him.
"Staff Officer Liu, I see that the 11th Division is fighting very hard in Luodian Town." Zhang Wenwu said after reading the internal report sent by the military headquarters.
Liu Sihao leaned closer and whispered, "That's not hard at all, it's extremely tragic. According to the military report received at noon, the 11th Division lost a battalion commander, two company commanders, and five platoon leaders in the attack last night. As of noon today, two battalions have been killed. It's only been a short time. However, the Japanese 11th Division did not gain any advantage in the attack. The battle report said that including last night's battle, a total of more than 500 Japanese soldiers were killed or wounded. I think if we discard some of the water, it should be no problem to eliminate more than 300 Japanese."
Zhang Wenwu felt very uncomfortable after hearing this, so he changed the subject and asked, "Staff Officer Liu, it seems that there is no major movement in our division."
When talking about the situation of the 102nd Division, Liu Sihao was obviously silent for a few seconds, and then he said in a low voice: "Well, we haven't detected any large Japanese troops ahead during the day, but according to the enemy situation report sent down from above, it is estimated that our division will come into contact with the landing Japanese troops tonight or tomorrow morning. The superiors predict that it will be the Japanese 3rd Division."
Zhang Wenwu understood what Liu Sihao meant, which was that the Japanese landing troops had not yet completed their landing. It was estimated that the 3th Division would be transported ashore first, and after consolidating the landing site, the rd Division would be transported ashore one after another.
It's no wonder that the Japanese are so cautious. The war report said that when the 11th Division landed a few days ago, it was discovered by the Chinese Air Force, so they held a comfortable "welcome ceremony" for the Japanese troops who had not yet completed their landing. After the ceremony, more than a thousand names of the Japanese 11th Division were crossed out from the roster.
After reading the battle report, Zhang Wenwu walked towards the quartermaster department. In his mind, he couldn't help but make a comparative analysis between the 102nd Division and the Japanese rd Division.
The Japanese Army's 3rd Division was one of Japan's regular main divisions. It was a Type A division and had two infantry brigades, a cavalry regiment, a field artillery regiment, an engineering regiment and a logistics regiment. The entire division had more than 25,000 people.
As a newly formed Central Army unit, the 102nd Division has two brigades and four regiments, plus the divisional units, with a total of only people, and its firepower is even more incomparable. So, although his unit was not filled in the big hole in Luodian Town, the defense mission on this flank was not so easy to accomplish.
That night, Zhang Wenwu sat in the tent that served as his office and smoked a cigarette. The sound of gunfire from the direction of Luodian had not stopped all day until it quieted down after dark. Both sides were no longer able to fight. The Japanese army failed to occupy Luodian after a day of attack, while the 11th Division took advantage of darkness to transport the wounded from the front and at the same time send in reinforcements that had been prepared long ago.
At eight o'clock the next morning, the Japanese carrier-based aircraft appeared in the sky above Luodian Town on time, as if they were going to work. However, the number of Japanese aircraft today was obviously more than yesterday. Some of the aircraft did not launch an attack on Luodian Town, but continued to fly towards the left wing of Luodian Town.
The 34th Infantry Regiment, which was affiliated with the 29th Brigade of the 3rd Division of the Japanese Army, had successfully landed yesterday evening under the leadership of Colonel Hachiro Tagami, the regiment commander. As the first batch of troops of the 3rd Division to fully land, Colonel Hachiro Tagami received orders to attack the Chinese army on the left wing of Luodian, launch an attack on Luodian Town from the flank, and cooperate with the troops of the 11th Division to occupy the strategic town of Luodian.
"Your Excellency the Wing Commander, the naval aviation force has arrived on time, and the onboard liaison officer asked if we can start attacking the Chinese army's positions now." Lieutenant Colonel Yamagami Akira, Chief of Staff of the 34th Wing, walked up to Tagami Hachiro and asked.
"Well, the naval aviation arrived just on time. Yamagami-kun, tell the aviation to start air strikes on the Chinese army's positions. Also, have the First Battalion send out a squadron to conduct an exploratory attack to test the strength of the Chinese army." Colonel Hachiro Tagami looked up at the planes in the sky, then gave the order to Yamagami Bin.
The 102nd Division's front-line deployment was that the 210th Regiment of the 656th Brigade was responsible for the left section of the defense line, and the 211th Regiment of the 657th Brigade was responsible for the right section. Huang Jinxian knew that his troops had just been formed not long ago. In order to prevent the front line from loosening and causing collapse under the attack of the Japanese army, he ordered that the headquarters of each regiment on the front line must be at the front line, the brigade command post must be moved forward to a position two kilometers away from the front line, and the division command post must be four kilometers away from the front line. No one was allowed to retreat without orders, otherwise they would be subject to military law.
Guo Ruixin, the head of the 656th Regiment, looked at the Japanese planes circling above his head, wondering if the Japanese planes were coming for reconnaissance. Why didn't they drop bombs? Before he could think about it, he suddenly saw the Japanese planes in the air begin to dive down towards the front-line positions in front of him. As the Japanese planes dived, he could clearly see two black bombs dropped from the planes. As the first Japanese plane dived and dropped bombs, the remaining planes also dived down towards the positions of the 656th Regiment one after another, and the 102nd Division's first battle in Shanghai officially began.
The attack of the Japanese aircraft was like the whistle to start the game. The entire frontline position was quickly covered by the Japanese infantry artillery fire. At the same time, the officers and soldiers of the second squadron of the first battalion of the Japanese army's first wave of exploratory attacks also launched a rapid and orderly attack on the Chinese army positions in the front from the starting position.
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