Age of Conquest Reborn

Chapter 480 Bloody Shanghai

Nakajima Imaogo, who ran to the landing craft, let out a long breath. Listening to the sound of gunfire that had just died down on the attack road, he felt unspeakable bitterness in his heart. The result was beyond his expectation. This sudden appearance

The troops, the ferocity of the firepower, and the clever use of tactics were completely different from the Chinese army he was familiar with.

Instead of establishing a blocking position at the beach, but adopting an ambush method along the way, does this mean that his landing plan has long been under the control of the Chinese army? This is a question that he cannot understand. Nakajima does not think that he ordered it

The retreat order was cowardly and cowardly. Under the circumstances, even if the entire division was filled in, it would not help.

Even if the blocking Chinese army is finally eliminated, how many troops will the 16th Division have left? Can it still complete the task assigned by the base camp to cut off the Beijing-Shanghai railway and highway, and cut off the retreat route of the Chinese defenders in the Songhu area? The answer is definitely not.

What should we do next? Wait for the heavy weapons to arrive ashore and fight again with the blocking Chinese army. Are we sure to defeat or annihilate this blocking Chinese army? Nakajima is not sure of victory now.

Soon, he received a notice from the base camp to attack the main force in the Songhu area. Lieutenant General Yanagawa Heisuke, the commander of the 10th Army, was unfortunately hit by enemy artillery fire when he went to the front line to command the operation. He was loyal to His Majesty the Emperor.

, all the accompanying senior staff officers were in pieces, the troops lost more than 50,000 people, and have now retreated to the outer sea of ​​Hangzhou Bay.

At the same time, in view of the unfavorable situation in the war situation and the failure of the Hangzhou Bay landing plan, the 16th Division must not go deep alone and ordered it to return to the sea and wait for the next order. Nakajima Jinzhao had cold sweat on his forehead. He was shocked and secretly thought

Fortunately, good to see you

The opportunity was early, and he did not blindly attack the blocking position of the Chinese army. Otherwise, whether he could come back is still unknown, because Nakajima knew the current affairs, and among the Japanese troops attacking the Songhu area in three directions, the 16th Division in a separate direction

The regiment's losses were minimal.

Compared with the 16th Nakajima Division, the Shanghai Expeditionary Force, with Masao Ishihara, the former deputy chief of staff of the base camp, as its commander, faced a much more tragic experience, although Masao Ishihara had been mentally prepared.

Songhu garrison commander Zhang Zhizhong did a solid job in preparing for the war. He built three solid lines of defense in the area chosen by the first Japanese army to land. He and Tang Qiuli had the same idea, regardless of whether the Nanjing Armistice Agreement between China and Japan was

Sign, with the Japanese people's habit of being treacherous and extremely greedy, how do you believe that they can just stop?

Only those high officials in Nanjing had such naive ideas. Zhang Zhizhong, who fought the Japanese for thirteen days in the First Battle of Songhu, did not believe that the Japanese had good intentions to cease the war. In addition, his relationship with Tang Qiuli

After a long conversation, he realized more about the wolfish ambitions of the Japanese.

The secret fort on Changxing Island was completed before the end of October. Eighteen large-caliber coastal defense guns were installed. However, due to confidentiality requirements, no live ammunition test firing was conducted. Together with the Wusongkou Fortress fort, it constitutes an important force to contain the inflow of the Yangtze River.

Not only that, there are two iron gate bolts on the main channel of Haikou. The channel between Changxing Island and Chongming Island is covered with new magnetic mines provided by the Navy Division. More than 90,000 troops are on the alert and never relax.

Masao Ishihara's Shanghai Expeditionary Force fell into an unknown bloody storm as soon as it started to attack. First, the landing troops who detoured through the waterway between Changxing Island and Chongming Island were blown up by mines. They cried for their fathers and mothers.

The commanding division commander panicked and reported that the troops might be attacked by China Navy submarines because the explosion points came from below the waterline of the landing craft.

Of course Ishihara didn't believe his lies, China submarine? Are you kidding? It was true that the troops were attacked. Just listening to the continuous explosions, you can also imagine what happened to the troops. He had no choice but to give up the order to bypass the channel outside the Yangtze River mouth.

Join him at the same place and attack the landing sites around Wusong, Chuansha River Mouth, and Lion Grove with all your strength.

As soon as the Japanese troops entered the main channel of the Yangtze River Estuary, the landing craft was sunk by coastal defense artillery from Changxing Island and Wusongkou Fort. Like the 16th Division, Ishihara's troops did not have the main battleships of the Japanese Navy to provide firepower.

Cover, the Wusongkou area was a sad place for the Japanese navy.

However, after all, he came from the base camp, so he had some face. The Fourth Fleet allocated him five small gunboats. Unfortunately, the gunboats, which were much larger than the landing craft, became the main target of the fort's attack. The five gunboats attacked from both sides.

They were all bombed and sunk into the water of the main channel of the Yangtze River Estuary. Thanks to these gunboats, which attracted the firepower of the coastal defense artillery on both sides, the Shanghai dispatched force commanded by Masao Ishihara was able to drive more than half of the landing craft to the beach at the landing site.

At this moment, the remaining troops in Ishihara were no more than 80,000, and the rest were floating on the sea. The Japanese troops who were still wading to land were knocked down by the dense rain of bullets fired from the beachhead position.

The waves drift to the depths of the sea.

The Japanese troops landed on the beach and could no longer move forward. Zhang Zhizhong had no intention of letting them go. The artillery unit of the Central Army, which had already calibrated the coordinates in advance, covered the area where the Japanese troops landed with artillery fire like a volcanic eruption. Ishihara did not know the other two troops yet.

However, he felt that he had attracted all the firepower of the Chinese defenders, so Yanagawa Heisuke and Nakajima Konaga should be fine, right?

With this breath of strength, Ishihara ordered the troops to dig field fortifications on the spot, stick to the landing point, and wait to join the Tenth Army that landed in Hangzhou Bay. Braving intensive artillery fire, the Japanese soldiers began to dig fortifications at an extremely fast speed and the sand was fine.

It's as soft as a lover's hand, but it just can't bear the cannonball.

Ishihara gritted his teeth and endured it. His troops faced the threat of ferocious shelling from the Chinese defenders. Many soldiers were buried alive in the beach fortifications he dug. What was hateful was that there were four regiments of heavy artillery, but they could not establish an artillery force.

Ishihara didn't even think about it. It was tantamount to committing suicide to let the soldiers with rifles attack the Chinese troops relying on reinforced concrete fortifications to defend the position.

His only idea was to persist until the Tenth Army appeared behind the China defenders. At that time, it would be time for Shanghai to send troops to avenge the shame. Time seemed to have frozen, and the Tenth Army and the soldiers could not be received for a long time.

The news that the 16th Division had successfully entered Shanghai was followed by increasingly heavy casualties.

Ishihara Masao really can't stand it anymore. His brave soldiers are being killed by the damned Chinese people all the time. How long can he hold on? Will all the firepower of the Chinese defenders come down on him? Even if he wants to retreat at this moment, he can't.

He had to pay a huge price, so he had no choice but to pass through the base camp and asked the navy to send planes to bomb the urban area of ​​Shanghai and the China garrison positions to reduce the pressure on Shanghai's dispatched troops.

At the same time, I hope that the base camp will urge the Tenth Army and the Sixteenth Division to speed up the pace of the pincer attack on Shanghai. My troops are enduring endless artillery fire from the Chinese at all times. When I received the telegram from Ishihara, the Japanese base camp was

one

In the gloomy fog, two of the three groups of attacking troops had been beaten to death and returned defeated. The main attacking force, the Tenth Army, was even worse. Even the commander was killed, and the headquarters, the Tenth Army, were also taken with him.

The army is now leaderless.

The Shanghai Expeditionary Force, the only one still on land, was suppressed on the beach by the firepower of the Chinese troops and unable to move. This kind of corrupt situation was something that the senior generals in the base camp never expected. The only thing they can do now is

Just send planes to support Masao Ishihara.

After receiving the order, Japanese aircraft aboard the aircraft carriers of the Japanese Navy's Third and Fourth Fleets were loaded with bombs and rushed toward Shanghai with murderous intent.

After learning from the first Battle of Songhu that the troops were attacked by Japanese air power and suffered serious losses, Zhang Zhizhong paid special attention to strengthening the air defense force. On the basis of the original four air defense regiments, he did everything possible to add three more air defense regiments.

Anti-aircraft firepower protected the sky in the area defended by the Central Army like an iron barrel.

The Japanese bomber group did not take any advantage in the outer positions of Shanghai. The sky in the battle area between the two sides was filled with smoke clouds and shrapnel caused by the explosion of deadly anti-aircraft shells. From time to time, Japanese bombers whined and plunged into the sea.

The aerial bomb inside exploded, causing conflicting water columns on the sea surface.

With the cover of anti-aircraft weapons, the Central Army's pressure on the Japanese landing troops continued unabated. Ishihara was almost desperate. He was now in a dilemma. He could not attack. The Chinese defenders relied on complete defenses to build a copper wall and an iron wall.

, Evacuate? If you can't evacuate, you will be counterattacked by the Chinese *** team and driven into the sea to feed the sharks.

The Japanese bomber group could not take advantage in the warring area. The commander leading the group was extremely angry. With so many bombs, they couldn't be brought back to the aircraft carrier, right? He issued an order for the group to bomb the urban area of ​​Shanghai.

Hundreds of Japanese bombers and escorting fighter planes, like ominous crows, pounced viciously on downtown Shanghai.

All the air defense artillery fire is concentrated on the outer positions of Shanghai. The air defense force in the city is almost blank. To these bandits from the air, Shanghai is an undefended city, just like a beautiful ** girl.

, facing a group of hungry strong men, without the ability to resist.

Howling bombs fell from the sky and fell on the heads of innocent civilians. Jiading and Baoshan areas were bombarded by Japanese bombers indiscriminately. High-rise buildings collapsed, houses caught fire, and the flesh and blood of innocent citizens flew across the Japanese bombs.

The beautiful Shanghai has turned into a hell on earth.

The Japanese fighter pilots were even more frenzied. They flew over the urban streets at very low altitudes and fired wildly at the fleeing citizens. The flames sprayed from the nose of the aircraft were like the devil's grin. Innocent lives were brutally taken away one by one. In such a situation, the Japanese pilots

In the wanton killing, he got great pleasure, whistling and swooping down again and again, like the god of death spreading his wings.

Whether they are cars or running pedestrians, all moving targets on the ground have not escaped the clutches of the beastly Japanese pilots. They have not even seen any moving targets. As long as they are willing, they can shoot at any target that is willing to fire. This kind of

The beastly behavior of attacking unarmed civilians was obviously approved by the top brass of the Japanese Navy.

(To be continued) Piao Tian Literature registered members recommend this work