Xinjiang intersection, patrol battalion headquarters.
Looking at the pile of battle reports compiled, Xu Rui's face became a little solemn.
During the night battle, the Japanese launched no less than ten fierce attacks on the defense line of the Second Regiment of the Patrol Battalion from three directions. Among them, the northern defense line stationed by the Second Regiment and the Third Battalion suffered more than twenty fierce attacks from the Japanese. After a night of fierce fighting After that, the number of casualties of the Second Regiment was already considerable, especially that of the Third Battalion, which even suffered more than half of its casualties.
If Xu Rui hadn't asked Wu Liang to lead the guards ahead of time, the northern defense line might have been lost long ago.
Although Xu Rui had been mentally prepared for this, when he actually saw these cold numbers, his heart still tightened inexplicably. It was only one night! During the day today, the situation is probably going to be even worse than last night, because after daybreak, the Japanese aviation force can also go into battle.
At this moment, Xu Rui really felt great pressure.
Even so, the patrol battalion and Xu Rui have no way out, and this battle must be fought.
The situation was like this. As long as one of the three directions was breached, the second regiment's defense line would immediately collapse.
Once the defense line of the Second Regiment collapses, this carefully prepared drama will no longer be able to continue. In order to prevent the death of more than 4,000 officers and soldiers of the First Regiment and the Second Regiment, as well as more than 3,000 National Army veterans in the Sihang Warehouse, they will They can only play the trump card of Broadway Building in advance, which will inevitably affect the subsequent battle.
Without the trump card of Broadway Building, the subsequent battle would be difficult to fight.
After all, in at most half a month, the Little Japanese's 7th and 20th Divisions will arrive in Shanghai.
Based on the current situation in Shanghai, it is simply wishful thinking for the Songhu Military Division to withstand the attack of two fully-staffed permanent divisions of the Japs. After all, this is not Damei Mountain, but Shanghai. After all, Shanghai is a restricted area. The mass base is completely incomparable to that of the Dameishan base area.
Therefore, this battle must continue to be fought.
Leng Tiefeng was sitting next to him cleaning his gun. Seeing the expression on Xu Rui's face, he suggested: "Old Xu, why don't we transfer a team from Langya? I can guarantee that our traces will not be exposed."
If there could be a Wolf Fang squad to reinforce the northern defense line, that would be absolutely fine.
There is absolutely no doubt about the power of the Wolf Fang in jungle terrain or urban terrain.
Xu Rui shook his head decisively and said: "No, the Langya Brigade is the ace, and we can't move until the end! What's more, there is a more important task waiting for you, so absolutely not!"
Leng Tiefeng said: "Then what are you going to do? With the Second Regiment alone, it is simply wishful thinking to withstand the joint attack of two Japanese infantry regiments and two infantry brigades of the 6th Marine Corps! Last night because of the weather, Black, the Japanese aviation force cannot participate in the battle, so it can still hold on, but it will definitely not be able to withstand it during the day."
What Leng Tiefeng said was true. Even though the officers and soldiers of the Second Regiment were all veterans who fought in the Battle of Songhu, and even though Xu Rui ordered arms worth 50 million US dollars from the United States through David Arms Trading Company, the Second Regiment After all, there are only more than 2,000 people, but there are more than 10,000 Japanese soldiers on the opposite side.
Moreover, after daytime, the little devil's plane will also join the battle, and the situation will become even worse.
Xu Rui thought for a while and then said: "If it doesn't work, let the first regiment leave one battalion to monitor the Sihang Warehouse, and then add the other two battalions to the second regiment's defense line."
If the two battalions of a regiment are added, the strength of the patrol battalion will be five battalions, almost four thousand people! In this way, although the Japs are still at an absolute military disadvantage, at least the gap is not that big. Considering that this is a street battle, the Japs' heavy equipment is restricted by the narrow lane terrain and cannot be deployed, so this battle will have to be fought.
After all, Xu Rui does not require the first and second regiments to defeat the 9th Division, he only needs to withstand it for a few days!
Leng Tiefeng shook his head and said, "But this is only the first day. On just the first day, you have to transfer troops from the first regiment to strengthen the second regiment's defense line. What will you do next?"
"Ignore it for now, let's get through the first day first." Xu Rui said in a deep voice, "In any case, we must withstand the first three attacks of the little devil. My intuition tells me that as long as we withstand the first three attacks of the little devil, , turning into a stalemate will be a high probability event, after all, it is impossible for the little devil to maintain such a high intensity of consumption."
"Okay then." Leng Tiefeng said nothing more.
Xu Rui immediately sent Di Gua to give an urgent order to Shi Changqing, commander of the First Regiment, ordering the First Regiment to immediately dispatch two main battalions to the Second Regiment for coordinated defense. Although Shi Changqing felt a little unhappy, as a military commander, no one wanted to serve under him. The soldiers were transferred to other units, but Shi Changqing still resolutely carried out the order.
At six o'clock in the morning, the sky was just getting brighter. Two bomber squadrons from the Third Flying Corps of the Central China Dispatch Army and two bomber squadrons from the Naval Air Force that took off from the Kaga aircraft carrier successively flew to Hongkou. However, they were restricted by Due to the complex urban terrain of Hongkou, the Japanese Air Force was unable to carry out dive bombing, but could only carry out horizontal bombing.
Moreover, most of the aerial bombs dropped by the little devils were 20 kilograms, and their destructive power was also very limited.
However, the emergence of the Little Japanese Air Force still had a very serious impact on the battlefield situation, especially greatly weakening the morale of the Chinese defenders.
The situation on the battlefield began to tilt sharply towards the Japanese.
At ten o'clock in the morning, the Ishihara Brigade of the 19th Infantry Regiment even broke through the defense line of the 2nd Regiment and 3rd Battalion, and was about to penetrate the Gansu Road defense line.
Fortunately, at this moment, a group of reinforcements arrived.
It was the regiment and battalion that rushed to Gansu for reinforcements. After the regiment and battalion entered the battle, the situation on Gansu Road immediately reversed again. The exhausted Ishihara brigade was quickly defeated in the face of the counterattack of the regiment and battalion. When I got out of the battle, I not only lost the position I just took, I even vomited out what I had eaten last night.
The regiment and the battalion pursued the victory and once pushed the battle line to the vicinity of the North Railway Station. Seeing Hidezo, the forced people quickly ordered the other two infantry brigades of the 19th Infantry Regiment to shrink back, and finally forced the regiment and the battalion to retreat. However, in this way, the 19th Infantry Regiment lost the position it had captured before.
In other words, after working all day and night in vain, the battle line has returned to what it was before the war started.
In the other two directions, it was similar. After the reinforcements of the first regiment arrived on the battlefield, the two infantry brigades of the 36th Infantry Regiment and the 6th Marine Corps failed to make breakthrough progress.
Therefore, after dark, the division headquarters of the Ninth Division issued a new combat order. The combat goal was changed from an all-out attack to a limited attack and to maintain a high-pressure posture against the patrol battalion. Apparently Yoshizumi Ryosuke had realized that It is impossible to swallow up the main force of the besieged patrol battalion in one go, or the cost is too high to accept!
Therefore, Yoshizumi Ryosuke decisively changed his tactics to a long-term siege.
Xu Rui's intuition was right, the little devil really couldn't stand the intense consumption for a long time!
As a result, at various intersections such as North Tibet Road, Rehe Road, Gansu Road, and Xinjiang Road, there were spectacles of Chinese and Japanese soldiers desperately building fortifications. In some places, the distance between the two sides was even less than fifty meters. Although they were far away, they had a tacit understanding not to shoot, but to wait until the fortifications were completed before starting to fight.
(Dividing line)
Late at night, the headquarters of the Ninth Division.
After Yingzuo Zhenzhao made the call, he hurried back to the war room.
Yingzuo Zhenzhao had just gone to the communications office next door to talk to Broadway Building.
When the Ninth Division fought with the main force of the patrol battalion, the Broadway Building that entered the concession also fought with the patrol battalion that stayed in the concession. Obviously, the patrol battalion that stayed in the concession wanted to reopen the new garbage bridge, even if the new garbage bridge If the bridge is blown apart, they must also control the broken bridge before it is possible to repair the bridge.
Only by repairing the bridge can it be possible to bring back the main force trapped on the north bank of the Suzhou River.
Yingzuo Zhenzhao learned from the phone that the remaining troops of the patrol battalion attacked the Broadway Building very violently. However, what the old devil did not know was that the patrol battalion was actually only cannon fodder troops in the attack. It was just because the officers and soldiers of the patrol battalion were there. A heavy machine gun was set up behind them, so the cannon fodder had no choice but to rush forward.
Those cannon fodders actually wanted to surrender, but the Broadway Building across the street refused to let them go. After some of the cannon fodders who initially surrendered were killed, the remaining cannon fodders became desperate and began to rush forward in batches "without risking their lives." So judging from the scene, the attacks of these cannon fodders really have a fearless spirit of "seeing death as if they are home".
These are the information that Yingzuo Zhenzhao got through the secret spy.
Yoshizumi Ryosuke's eyes still stayed on the big map and asked without raising his head: "Kagezu-kun, is there any problem over there at Broadway Building?"
"No problem." Ying Zuozhen Zhaodun said, "The Sihang Warehouse and several blocks on the other side of the Suzhou River are still firmly in the hands of the Broadway Building. In addition, the two lifelines of Sichuan Road Bridge and Erbaidu Bridge are still in the hands of the Broadway Building. It has always been unobstructed, and although the patrol battalion launched several attacks, they were unable to take any advantage."
"Yoshi." Yoshizumi Ryosuke nodded happily, "That way there will be no problem."
"Hai." Ying Zuozhen Zhaodun said, "As long as a few blocks on the south bank of the Suzhou River are not lost, the patrol camp on the north bank will not get a grain of rice or a bullet from the concession! On the contrary, as long as Xichuan Road Bridge and Er The Baidu Bridge remains open, and our supplies can be continuously delivered to the Broadway Building."
"There are also defenders at the Sihang Warehouse." Yoshizumi Ryosuke said to Kagezao Masaaki again, "Kagesa-kun, you must contact the navy and ask the navy to dispatch gunboats from the Suzhou River to the troops defending the Sihang Warehouse. Providing enough supplies, they have been holding on at Sihang Warehouse for a day, and the consumption must be huge."
"Hai." Yingzuo Zhenzhao said after a heavy pause, "I'll contact the navy right now."
"Go." Yoshizumi Ryosuke waved his hand, his eyes fell on the map again, and he began to study the combat situation. Shadow Sadaaki then turned around and left.