Songhu: Never Give Up

Chapter 93: Bloody Battle at Yunzao Beach (2)

A string of bombs fell from the sky, raising dust all over the sky, destroying the trenches that the Second Battalion had dug with great effort piece by piece. The Japanese attack was so simple and brutal.

On the left wing of the 527th Regiment's defense zone was another elite tax police corps, which was organized as the 87th Division Independent Brigade during the First Battle of Shanghai. It was the private armed force of Song Ziwen, the emperor's brother-in-law. All its weapons were purchased from abroad, and its main officers were all graduates of West Point.

The commander-in-chief was Lieutenant General Huang Jie, the former commander of the Second Division. The subordinate regiment and battalion commanders were recommended by Lieutenant General Gui Yongqing of the Teaching Corps, but they had to obtain the approval of Song Ziwen. There were 6 infantry regiments under his command.

What Yue Qianli didn't know was that his little follower Zhao Tianci is now the commander of the first battalion of the fourth regiment, and this is the first time that these brothers have fought side by side.

On the right wing was the 88th Regiment of the 528th Division. Commander Gao Zhisong of the 264th Brigade placed the two regiments side by side to jointly guard the safety of the railway bridge.

As soon as the Japanese aircraft group left, the division's heavy artillery shells came down again. Compared with aerial bombardment, artillery has a higher hit rate.

The 2.7th Division attacked the defense zone near the railway bridge. This division was the vanguard of the invasion of China and the main force of the Japanese army during the First Battle of Shanghai. It was a Class A division with a total strength of .
Since the first Battle of Shanghai, the Japanese army has followed the international trend and upgraded its divisional artillery, replacing the 75mm field guns with the "Type 105" 150mm howitzers and the "Type " mm howitzers.

Since the 150mm howitzer was too bulky, it was used to form a separate heavy artillery regiment as army-level artillery. In this way, the 105mm howitzer became the largest caliber artillery at the division level.

The Type 105 20mm howitzer adopts an open-leg gun mount design, with a left and right firing range of 5 degrees each, and a vertical firing range of -45 degrees to + degrees. The firing range flexibility is average and barely sufficient;

The barrel length is 24 times the caliber, the shell has 4 grades of propellant, the maximum range is 10800 meters, the Type 16 grenade weighs 2.5 kilograms, contains 30 kilograms of explosives, and has a killing radius of about meters.

The Type 105 500mm howitzer also has a certain armor-piercing capability. At a distance of 90 meters, when hitting at a 76-degree angle, it can penetrate 1000mm steel plate, 70mm at 1500 meters, and 63mm at meters.

The Type 75 howitzer was only equipped with a few Class A divisions, while the other divisions were still equipped with 4mm field guns or mountain guns. Each division was equipped with a battalion, which had three squadrons. Each squadron was equipped with four guns, for a total of 12 105mm howitzers.

Each gun required six carefully selected horses, and artillery units usually had a few extra draft horses to serve as replacements in case the horses were injured or sick.

The entire division's field artillery regiment was equipped with 48 artillery pieces of 75 mm or above. Once it opened fire at full power, it would pose a huge threat to the Kuomintang's defense line.

Fortunately, not all of these shells fell on the Second Battalion, otherwise there would be heavy casualties. The focus of the Ninth Division's attack was still the Tax Police Corps, which was a Class A division with 6 infantry regiments. Even the 88th Division had only 4 infantry regiments plus 2 supplementary regiments. This shows how arrogant the king's uncle was.

The troops attacking the railway bridge were the 7th Infantry Regiment, the main force of the 9th Division, and the old rival of the 2nd Battalion during the First Battle of Songhu.
However, the commander of the regiment, Colonel Isa Kazuo, did not take the 527th Regiment seriously. During the artillery preparation, he could not help but boast to the senior staff of the regiment:
"Mr. Guishan, there are 100,000 elite Chinese soldiers gathered on the south bank. They want to rely on a small Yunzao Beach to hold off the attack of the martial arts group. This is simply a foolish dream.
Modern warfare is fought with firepower. Not to mention the powerful air force, a heavy artillery battalion of a division is more powerful than the combined firepower of 100,000 Chinese people. In the words of Guan Yu, in my opinion, they are like chickens and dogs!"

After Isa Kazuo finished speaking, he laughed arrogantly. Lieutenant Colonel Kameyama Shinji saw that the commander was very interested in talking, so he said in a playful way:
"Sir, according to intelligence, the defenders on the other side of the iron bridge are the 88th Regiment of the 527th Division, the elite Chinese troops who left a deep impression on the th Regiment in Miaohang a few years ago.
It is true that enemies often come together, and this time we will settle old and new scores together."

Isa Kazuo waved his hand domineeringly and said:
"Mr. Kameyama, this is a different time. The empire is developing at its peak. If the 88th Division could fight back and forth with the th Division in the first Battle of Shanghai,

The Ninth Division has now entered a wartime system, with its manpower and firepower more than doubled. The 88th Division is no longer qualified to be a match for the Wu Division. Even the Kanazawa Regiment alone can defeat them!"

"Sir, I heard that the 13th Division on the left wing is competing with the Military Division to see who can cross the river first. You must be the first to win."

"Kameyama-kun, this is inevitable. There are many meritorious deeds on the other side of the river. Time is running out! Order the First Infantry Battalion to launch an attack. Defeat the defenders before dark and spend the night on the other side of the river."

Lieutenant Colonel Kameyama took the order and left. He had no doubt about the commander's bold words. A small river could not stop the offensive of the Kanazawa regiment.

As soon as the artillery fire extended, the 7th Regiment launched an infantry charge. Nearly a thousand Japanese soldiers came screaming and rushing over, with great momentum and murderous intent.

The Japanese were divided into three attack groups: left, middle and right. The bridge was the focus of the Japanese attack. One squadron on each wing waded across the river and launched a diversionary attack on the south bank position.
In the middle were two infantry squadrons, with an infantry artillery squad and a machine gun squadron providing fire support on the north bank.

Yang Shiyuan, the former machine gunner of the first company, has been promoted to sergeant squad leader, the company's heavy machine gun squad leader, and his salary has also been increased by 2 yuan per month;

The only thing that made him unhappy was that after becoming the squad leader, he could no longer serve as the main shooter. He could not shoot at the Japanese like he did at the Lion Grove Fort, which was somewhat regrettable.

His former assistant shooter, Chen Yong, took over his position and said to him with a grin:
"Squad leader, the devils are coming, shall we fight?"

Yang Shiyuan was used to seeing Chen Yong's smug look, so he resisted the urge to beat him up and said:

"What are you still standing there for? Damn it! If the Japanese rush across the bridge, you should let Erkui take over as the main shooter."

The deputy shooter Erkui was eager to try, but Chen Yong glared at him and said:
"What are you thinking, kid? Hurry up and prepare your ammunition belt. If the machine gun runs out of bullets, I'll show you how I'll deal with you."

In the military, it's a place where the big fish eat the small fish, and the small fish eat the shrimp. Chen Yong didn't dare to attack the squad leader Yang, but it was still easy to deal with Er Kui.

Erkui couldn't afford to offend anyone, so he could only organize the ammunition belts honestly and not delay Chen Yong from killing the Japanese.

The bunker where Yang Shiyuan was located was the main bunker of the position south of the bridge. It was equipped with a Maxim heavy machine gun, a Type 92 heavy machine gun, and two Czech light machine guns, which completely blocked the Japanese's passage across the bridge.

Chen Yong was skilled and courageous. He had been keeping the enemy's vanguard on the other side of the bridge, and then he fired a long burst of shots at the enemy.

马克沁重机枪使用的是100发或250发帆布弹链供弹，一个长点射10至15发7.92毫米尖头弹，瞬间就扫倒了几个鬼子。

Yang Shiyuan was itching to kill the Japanese with his own hands. There were not many opportunities to slaughter the Japanese like this. If it weren't for the extra two dollars of military pay every month, he would rather kill the Japanese with his own hands.

"DaDaDa..."

"DaDaDa..."

Chen Yong had entered a state of ecstasy and quickly used up a 100-round belt of ammunition. Erkui handed him a round very skillfully, and the two of them cooperated well.

(End of this chapter)