The Japanese Navy's indiscriminate bombing lasted for more than three hours. If combined with the previous bombing by the Japanese Air Force, the entire bombing lasted for more than four hours. This also set a precedent since the Sino-Japanese War broke out. Even during the first Battle of Songhu, the Japanese had never carried out such intense bombing.
After 12 noon, the Japanese bombing finally ended.
There was silence on the battlefield, and it suddenly turned from extremely noisy to extremely quiet. My ears couldn't adapt to it, and they were still buzzing.
Li Yingqing came up from the underground shelter and looked around. He saw that the entire defensive position on the east bank of the Sitang River was shrouded in thick smoke. The air was filled with the pungent smell of sulfur. As far as he could see, there were people everywhere. Huge craters, several craters are still smoking, and some are still burning fiercely.
Those were sulfur bombs thrown by the Japanese, which could even burn the soil.
After walking a few steps forward, Li Yingqing saw a destroyed underground shelter.
When the Japanese bombed just now, Li Yingqing was still thinking that if the Japanese's large-caliber artillery shells directly hit the underground shelter, the consequences would be disastrous. Fortunately, until the bombing ended, not a single shell directly hit his underground shelter. , but the underground shelter next to it did not have such good luck.
A large-caliber artillery shell directly hit the underground shelter. The violent explosion lifted a dozen logs on the top of the shelter, and then released a large number of steel fragments into the shelter. They hid in the shelter. A dozen veterans were almost beaten to pieces by steel sheets, but they probably didn't feel much pain, because before the rain of steel bullets cut into their bodies, they were already stunned to death by the huge shock wave generated by the explosion. past.
But this was not bad. Another underground shelter further ahead was even worse. A large-caliber shell fell directly from the gap in the logs at the top and exploded violently in the underground space of the shelter. The huge air wave tore the dozen veterans hiding inside into pieces.
Of the dozen or so veterans hiding inside, not a single one of them had their bodies intact!
Li Yingqing stood in front of the underground shelter that was opened in the shape of a trumpet, feeling miserable.
Squatting down and rummaging around for a while, Li Yingqing found a palm in the burnt black soil. Three of the five fingers on the palm were missing, but even though only the index finger and thumb were left, they were holding on tightly. The Garand Rifle, even if only one handle of the Garand Rifle is left, is enough to prove this veteran's undying fighting spirit.
The body may die and the life may be lost, but the fighting spirit of our Chinese soldiers will never be lost!
At some point, Li Dan walked up to Li Yingqing and whispered: "Second brother, I have already counted them, and there are twenty-eight people left in our platoon!"
A reinforced platoon of 120 people only has 28 people left!
In just two days, more than 80% of the staff has been reduced, which is not a disaster!
"I got it." Li Yingqing nodded and said solemnly, "Give me the order to check the weapons and ammunition and prepare for battle!"
Now that the Japanese bombing has ended, it is time for the Japanese infantry to attack. Li Yingqing had a premonition that this would be their last battle! However, even so, Li Yingqing didn't have a trace of fear in his heart, and even had some faint expectations, an expectation that was almost fatal.
Soldiers should fight for the country, and they should be wrapped in horse leather!
However, before the Japanese attacked, battalion commander Wu Liang came over first, as well as company commander Hu Yi.
"Battal commander? Company commander?" Li Yingqing asked in surprise, "Why are you two here?"
Wu Liang nodded Qing solemnly and said, "I'm just coming over to see you, and I'll leave later."
"Battal Commander, don't wait any longer. The little Japs are about to start attacking as soon as they speak. You should leave quickly." Li Yingqing paused here and then said, "Seriously, we can't do anything if you stay here." Fight with peace of mind, I beg you, battalion commander and company commander, you two please leave as soon as possible."
"Okay, let's leave now. We won't cause any trouble to you." After Wu Liang said that, he turned around and left. But after taking two steps, he suddenly turned back and said, "Oh, by the way, Platoon Leader Li, the Japanese will start attacking later." After that, you don’t have to hold on, you just need to hold on for a symbolic moment and quickly retreat to the south gate, do you hear me?”
After Zhao Gong died, Li Yingqing also served as platoon leader.
But when he heard what Wu Liang said, Li Yingqing suspected that there was something wrong with his ears: "Batalion Commander, what did you say? Just keep a token hold and then retreat quickly? Isn't that right?"
"What's not!" Hu Yi said angrily, "It is!"
Li Yingqing scratched his head and asked blankly: "But, why?"
"Where do you get so many?" Hu Yi snorted, "Just obey the orders!"
"Yes!" Li Yingqing immediately stood up at attention and said proudly, "Two leaders, don't worry, we promise to complete the task!"
Wu Mingliang nodded, turned around and left with Hu Mu. Shortly after the two left, the little devil dispatched about a reinforced squadron of infantry and launched another attack.
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In this attack, the little devil also became ruthless.
Kashima Hideji, as the captain, went into battle shirtless himself. The old devil was shirtless, held up his saber, and rushed to the front of the queue, howling, until he rushed into the Sitang River. The old devil hurriedly lay down on the ground. Behind the broken-down armored vehicle, while waving the saber in his hand, he shouted "Quick, quick, quick, quick!"
Under the command of Kashima Hideji, the Japanese soldiers behind him overflowed the Sitang River like a tide.
Immediately afterwards, sparse gunfire rang out from the garrison position on the east bank of the Sitang River. Upon hearing the sparse gunfire, Kashima Shuji was overjoyed. He immediately stuck his head out from behind the armored vehicle and waved his saber. He shouted: "The Chinese army is dead, the Chinese army can't stand it any longer, Tao times change, Tao times change, Tao times change..."
Under Kashima Shuji's loud roar, more and more Japanese soldiers rushed across the Sitang River with bayonets in hand and broke into the defensive positions on the east bank. Kashima Shuji was also mixed in with the crowd, hurriedly holding out his saber. As soon as he set foot on the east bank, Kashima Shuji saw with excitement that more than 20 Chinese soldiers were retreating towards the Empress of Baoshan South Gate Cangcang.
The attacking infantry squadron was excited and wanted to continue the pursuit, but Kashima Shuji stopped him.
"Baga, stop chasing! Our mission is to occupy the position on the east bank of the Sitang River, hold it, and cover the engineering regiment to repair the Sitang River Bridge. As for the Chinese Army in Baoshan City, there are other regiments to deal with them!" Lu Shima Hideji stopped the pursuit of the sortie squadron and said, "Order, switch to defense on the spot!"
Kashima Hideji spoke, and the attacking infantry squadron immediately switched to defense on the spot.
After a while, the main force of the Ludao Brigade also crossed the Sitang River and entered the east bank position.
By this time, the captain of the 25th Infantry Regiment, Adachi Kantoshi, and the deputy commander, Aono Ryuta, were finally relieved. The Kashima Brigade had all crossed the Sitang River and established defenses. Position, now even if the Songhu Independent Regiment immediately concentrates its forces to launch a counterattack, they are not afraid anymore.
At that moment, Adachi Kantoshi breathed a long sigh of relief.
When it comes to nervousness, Adachi Kantoshi is the most nervous. He issued a military order in front of the division commander Kunisaki Noboru. If he cannot win the position today, he will commit hara-kiri to express his gratitude to the emperor. Now the position on the east bank of the Sitang River has finally been taken. , that is to say, he no longer has to commit seppuku, and his life is saved.
At that moment, Adachi Kantoshi turned to Aono Ryuta and said: "Aono-kun, you can send a report to the division headquarters, saying that the position on the east bank of the Sitang River Bridge has been captured, and that the first infantry battalion of our regiment has been established on the east bank. After setting up a defensive position, the engineering regiment can be dispatched to repair the Sitang River Bridge, and the field artillery regiment and baggage regiment can also prepare to cross the river."
"Hai!" Aono Ryuta gave a heavy nod and turned around.
However, Adachi Kantoshi is still too optimistic.
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Half an hour later, the Engineer Regiment of the 7th Division arrived at the Sitang River Bridge, along with the boat bridge equipment carried by the army. It is said that the Sitang River Bridge is just an ordinary small riverside, with a width of only 20 meters. Yu Mi, in theory, it only takes one afternoon at most, and the engineering team can complete the repair of the Sitang River Bridge.
But the problem is that actual combat never stays in theory!
The Japanese have forgotten that the Songhu Independent Regiment also has artillery!
As soon as the Engineer Regiment started building the bridge, the artillery hidden in Baoshan County would fire artillery shells in the direction of the Sitang River Bridge from time to time, sometimes one shot, sometimes two shots, and never more than five at most. However, the accuracy of the artillery bombardment is very high, and it will land on the bridgehead accurately almost every time.
This caused great difficulties for the Japanese engineers' repair project!
After suffering three shellings and killing more than a dozen engineers, the project could only be suspended.
Because both Adachi Kantoshi and Aono Ryuta have seen that it is almost impossible to repair the Sitang River Bridge without taking Baoshan and eliminating the artillery hidden in Baoshan County! Adachi Kantoshi also tried calling the artillery group of the 7th Field Artillery Regiment to counterattack the Chinese artillery in Baoshan City, but the effect was not ideal.
Because the Chinese artillery uses light mortars and rocket launchers, which can be quickly moved after the attack and are easy to conceal. Not to mention the artillery group of the 7th Field Artillery Regiment, even the large-caliber naval gun group of the Navy outside Wusongkou will have a hard time attacking them. Completely destroyed, so the battle situation returned to the starting point again! We still have to capture Baoshan City!
At this time, if Adachi Kantoshi and Aono Ryuta were wise enough, they should withdraw the troops crossing the river to the west bank. However, the two old devils were unwilling to accept it. The 25th Infantry Regiment paid such a heavy price and finally managed to win the east bank. The shore position is now about to be abandoned before a shot is fired. How can there be such a reason in the world
Not only did Adachi Kantoshi and Aono Ryuta refuse to give up their positions on the east bank, they even moved the First Infantry Brigade to the east bank, preparing to launch an attack on Baoshan from the east bank of the Sitang River early tomorrow morning. In this way, they could follow The second infantry group remaining on the west bank formed a pincer offensive and had a greater chance of winning!